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TITLE PAGE

NATIONAL NEWS 03

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 52

BANKING AND ECONOMY 59

APPOINTMENTS 85

IMPORTANT DAYS 87

AWARDS 89

SPORTS 96

MISCELLANEOUS 107

QUESTION BANK 111

ANSWERS 161
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NATIONAL NEWS

1. Union Cabinet has approved the increase in the number of Supreme Court’s judges
from 31 to 34 through the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill.
 Reason: To quickly resolve the nearly 60,000 pending cases.

2. Delhi Public Library has commenced the Mobile library bus service under its “Ghar
Ghar Dastak Ghar Ghar Pustak” scheme.
 Purpose: - To provide books to the citizens of Delhi, especially to resettlement
colonies, slums and rural areas.

3. India’s first Rapid Rail Transit Corridor (RRTS) is being built between Delhi-Uttar
Pradesh (17-km-long between Duhai-Sahibabad) and is expected to be operational by
early 2023.
 Complete Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor will be operational by 2025.

4. Union Cabinet has approved the revised Chit Fund (Amendment) Bill 2019 (revised
version of the Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2018).
 It will replace the Chit Fund Act, 1982.
 The 2018 bill allows a chit to be drawn in the presence of at least 2 subscribers.
 It proposed to increase the maximum commission of the person who manages the
chit fund to 7% from 5%.
 The 2018 Bill proposed to remove the minimum amount limit of chits at ₹100, and
proposed to allow the State government to set the limit of minimum amount of chit
fund.

5. Cabinet has raised the subsidy of sulphur-based fertilizer to ₹350/100kg from ₹277
earlier under the Nutrient-based subsidy.
 The government is expected to incur ₹22,875.50 crore expenditure on total subsidy
burden for nutrient-based fertilizers.
Non-Urea Fertilizers New Subsidy Rates
Nitrogen (N) Rs 18.90 per kg
phosphorous (P) Rs 15.11 per kg
potash (K) Rs 11.12 per kg
sulphur (S) Rs 3.56 per kg

6. Cabinet approved the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Second Amendment) Bill,
2019, to allow 10% EWS reservation in educational institutions and government jobs
alongside existing reservations.
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7. Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan scheme aims to enrol 150 million workers of
unorganized sector in this scheme over the next 3 years.
 The scheme was launched in February 2019.

8. NITI Aayog’s Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC) have been opened up in New
Delhi with a focus 484 backward districts to provide access to latest technologies for
innovation to these areas.
 India is the 3rd largest consumer of energy in the world.
 These ACIC (opened as part of NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission) aim to
facilitate innovation in energy sector.

9. Andhra Pradesh has passed ‘School Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission
Bill, 2019’ to set up a state commission to monitor the school fees and implement the
Right to Education Act, 2009 in the state.
 According to 2011 Census, Andhra Pradesh has the higher number of uneducated
people (due to financial burden) at 33% as compared to national average of 26%.

10. Wing Commander of Indian Air Force, Tarun Chaudhari has become the first pilot to do
a wingsuit skydive jump.
 He jumped off from 8500 feet from Mi-17 helicopter on Kargil Diwas (26 July).

11. IIT-Kharagpur and Tata Medical Centre have partnered to set up the first-of-its-kind
Comprehensive Digital Archive of Cancer Imaging (CHAVI).
 CHAVI is being opened under the National Digital Library Initiative of the Ministry
of Human Resource Development.
 It will set up a data of images for cancer patients and for radio oncology (a method
of controlled use of radiation to treat cancer).

12. IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Lucknow based Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) has devised a
molecular framework to destroy superbugs.
 Superbugs is a drug-resistant bacteria that is estimated to kill 10 million people
across the globe by 2050.

13. USA will incur foreign military sales worth $670 million to support C-17 military
transport aircraft of India.
 Purpose: - To increase ability of C-17 to provide Humanitarian Assistance and
Disaster Relief (HA/DR) assistance in the Indo-Pacific region.
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14. According to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC),

Chhattisgarh and Telangana processed the maximum of its solid waste as of Nov. 2018.
 Chhattisgarh processed almost 84% of its total 601,885 metric tonne per annum
(MTPA) of solid waste generated.
 Telangana generated a total 2,690,415 MTPA and processed 73% of it.
 Maharashtra was the top solid waste producing state with 8,22,38,050 MTPA and
processed only 44% of it.

15. UK and India launched a joint initiative- “Innovation for Clean Air” for two years to
provide opportunities to various stakeholders to test interventions related to air quality
and e-Vehicle integration.
 Partners: - Indian Institute of Science- Bangalore (IISc), Confederation of Indian
Industries, C40 Cities and Clean Air Platform.

16. Ministry of Tourism is developing various areas in India into theme based tourist
circuits to promote tourism under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme.
 Themes of the circuit are: Spiritual, Ramayana, Krishna, Buddhist, Tirthankar.
 Swadesh Darshan Scheme was launched by Ministry of Tourism in 2014-15 to
develop theme-based tourist circuits across India.

17. Cabinet approved the MoU signed between ISRO and Bolivian Space Agency to co-
operate in the Exploration and Uses of Outer Space.

18. Union Cabinet has approved the MoU between India and Bahrain on co-operation in
the Exploration and Uses of Outer Space.

19. Cabinet approved to set up ISRO Technical Liaison Unit (ITLU) in Moscow, Russia.
 It will enable ISRO to collaborate with Space agencies in Russia and neighbouring
countries.
 It is the 3rd unit, previous two units were established in (Washington) USA and
(Paris) France.

20. For the first time, the 22nd edition of National Conference on e-Governance 2019 will
be held in North-eastern India (in Shillong, Meghalaya).
 Theme: - ‘Digital India: Success to Excellence’.
 Organizer: - Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Meghalaya
Government and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances.
 'Shillong Declaration on e-Governance’ has been adopted at the conference to
make e-Governance facilities available to each and every citizens of India.
 Central and State Governments would collaborate to improve the implementation
of India Enterprise Architecture (IndEA) to enhance citizens’ experience in govt.
services.
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21. Tamil Nadu has received the Rs 6.22 crore from Centre under the Silk Samagra program
for the development of its silk industry.
 It currently produces 2,072 metric tons of silk as of March 2019.
Silk Samgra Program
Launched 2017-18
Ministry Ministry of Textiles
Purpose To develop the silk industry in India through Central Silk Board at a cost of
Rs 2,161.68 crore for 3 years to 2017-20.

22. Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of Tiger Reserves in India 2018 report
recently released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) mentions that 5
tiger reserves in Karnataka have an overall score of 80.47.
 The report which ranks tiger reserves on various parameters, claims that major
improvements were seen in Kali and Bhadra tiger reserves (Karnataka).
 It is a 10% increase from the MEE evaluation in 2014 which indicates “better
protection status” of the reserves.

23. Maharashtra has launched the first-of-its-kind “Automated Multi-modal Biometric

Identification System” (AMBIS) to help police investigations.
 Function: - It is an upgraded version of Automated Fingerprint Identification
System, which includes iris detection along with fingerprint.
 It detects criminals based on the available biometric data as well as accidental
finger/palm-prints collected from crime scenes.

24. IIT-Kanpur has developed the world’s first robot hand (with two-fingers) to help the
patients of stroke and paralysis.
 The project was approved by Ministry of Human Resource Department, in
collaboration with British Council in 2018.
 Prof. Ashish Dutta and K S Venkatesh (IIT-Kanpur) partnered with Prof. Girijesh
Prasad (University of Ulster, UK) to develop this product.

25. One Nation One Ration Card scheme has been launched in 4 states namely Telangana,
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat on the pilot basis.
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 It is expected to be extended to whole India by 2020.

26. Water Stress Index, released by Verisk Maplecroft, mentions that India is at the 46th
position as a water stress country in the world.
 Parameters: - Water consumption rates of households, industries and agriculture,
available water resources, and population burden on water.
 11 cities out of India’s 20 largest cities are facing an ‘extreme risk’ of water stress.
 India is considered as a ‘high risk’ country in the Climate Change Vulnerability
Index.
 USA is the top waste producing nation and recycles the minimum portion of it.

27. Ministry of Culture has included Nepali and Santhali for the ‘Award of Senior/Junior
Fellowships to Outstanding Artistes in the Fields of Culture’ in the sub-field of
Literature.
 Nepali and Santhali languages are among the 22 official languages of India
mentioned in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

28. Ministry of Human Resource Development has inaugurated ‘Indian Air force
Facilitation-cum-Publicity Pavilion’ in National Bal Bhawan, New Delhi.

29. Department of Revenue under Ministry of Finance, will conduct 1st National Time
Release Study (TRS) to allow faster movement of cargo across borders to benefit
traders.
 World Customs Organization uses TRS to measure the efficiency and effectiveness
of international trade flows.

30. IIT-Kharagpur has developed a Hydro Thermal Carbonization (HTC) technology to

generate energy from solid waste with high moisture content.
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31. PM Narendra Modi attended his 30th interaction through PRAGATI (a multi-modal
platform for Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation).
 PM reviews the progress made under various schemes including Saugamya Bharat
Abhiyan.
PRAGATI is an interactive platform (developed by PMO team with the help of National
Informatics Center) launched by PM Modi in 2015.
Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (under Ministry of Social
Justice) has launched Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) in 2015 to
achieve universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities.

32. A report tilted as “Building Better Courts (Surveying the Infrastructure of India’s
District Courts)” released by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and Tata Trust, mentions that
Delhi is at the top position in terms of infrastructure with 90% score.
Kerala is the second best state in court Total 665 district courts were assessed, out
infrastructure with 84% score while Bihar of which only 39% were full-service court
and Manipur had the poorest complex.
infrastructure.
Parameters:- Ease of Access by public, According to National Court Management
waiting areas, hygiene, navigation, System (NCMS) committee (set up in
security, amenities and website. 2012), every court should have a map and
help desk.
But according to the report, only 20% Chandigarh District courts have been
district courts have guide maps and 45% ranked 1st in terms of security, followed by
have help desk. Delhi and Meghalaya respectively.

33. Bureau of Indian Standards, in association with lab of Ladakh Autonomous Hill
Development Council (LAHDC), will set up “Pashmina Testing Centre” in Leh, Jammu
and Kashmir.
 Aim: - To set BIS standards for Pashmina and check quality of Pashmina.

34. “Save Green, Stay Clean” campaign was launched in West Bengal to raise awareness
about planting trees.
 Tree cover has been increased to 19% from 11% in past 8 years.

35. Indian Army and Energy Efficiency Service Ltd. have signed an MoU to employ more e-
cars for the use of Army personnel in New Delhi, to give a boost to the e-vehicles.

36. For the first time, two TB vaccines- IMMUVAC and VPM1002 are being tested on a large
scale by Indian Medical Council Research.
 It will be first done in 12,000 households in Delhi, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana
and Karnataka states.
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37. Maharashtra will develop the world’s first fastest Hyperloop to connect Mumbai with
Pune at a cost of $10 billion.
 Hyperloop = It is a proposed mode of passenger or freight transportation through
which a pod may travel free of air resistance or friction at high speed.

38. 15th India-US Defence Policy Group meeting 2019 was held in Washington, USA.
 Agenda: - To promote co-operation between defence industry and start-ups.

39. Madhya Pradesh State Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance Containment (MPSAP-
ARC) has been released to fight antimicrobial resistance in the state.
 MP is the 2nd state (after Kerala) to release an action plan for Containment of
Antimicrobial Resistance.

40. Ministry of Earth Sciences and Ministry of Agriculture have together launched a mobile
app - “Meghdoot” (in vernacular language) to provide climate related guidance to
farmers.
 App Developers: - India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
 It will be launched in 150 districts initially and will be extended to whole India later
on.
 Also, IMD has developed new website to provide weather and climate information.

41. Microsoft India and Apollo Hospitals Group have partnered to set up the National
Clinical Coordination Committee (NCCC).
 Function: - NCCC will advise on the effective use of Artificial Intelligence in
cardiovascular treatment.
 AI-powered Cardiovascular Disease Risk Score API (application program interface)
will be built on Microsoft Azure to predict the risk of disease.
 Aim: - To reduce Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) and attain WHO’s target of
reducing the risk of premature deaths (between 30 to 69 years of age) from NCD by
25%, by 2025.

42. Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has successfully test-fired
the ‘Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile’ from Integrated Test Range in Chandipur,
Odisha.

43. ISRO will build the Space Situational Awareness Control Centre in Peenya, Bengaluru.
 Space Situational Awareness & Management (SSAM) would be the priority of this
centre to protect the Indian space assets from collision with inactive satellites,
pieces of orbiting objects, or any other space debris.
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44. IIT-Delhi has showcased its innovative projects (supported under the Uchchtar Avishar
Yojana and IMPRINT schemes of Ministry of Human Resource Development) at the
TechEx.

Uchchtar Avishar Yojana

Launched Date not confirmed; but in 2015 Minister for Human Resource
Development announced the annual investment of Rs.250.00 crore for
this scheme
Ministry Ministry of Human Resource Development
Purpose To promote innovation in students for the areas that are related to
manufacturing and design industry in order to link academia and
industry.

IMPRINT (Impacting Research, Innovation and Technology)

Launched 2015
Ministry Ministry of Human Resource Development
Purpose To boost technical and scientific knowledge in India by strengthening
technical institutions.

45. “Economic Valuation of Tiger Reserves in India: A Value+ Approach” Phase- II (2016-
19) report has been released by National Tiger Conservation Authority.
 Aim:- To highlight the economic value of tiger of conservation to humans.
 Authors: - Centre for Ecological Services Management at the Indian Institute of
Forest Management (IIFM), Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) and
National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
 Findings: - The total monetary valuation of these 10 tiger reserves range between
Rs. 5094.91 crore to 16202.11 crore annually.
 Reserves: - 10 tiger reserves were surveyed in Phase II which include:
Anamalai (Tamil Nadu) Bandipur (Karnataka) Dudhwa (Uttar Pradesh)
Melghat (Maharashtra) Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Pakke (Arunachal Pradesh)
(Andhra Pradesh)
Palamau (Jharkhand) Panna (Madhya Pradesh) Similipal (Odisha) and
Valmiki (Bihar)

46. Parliament has passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Bill 2019 to revoke the
Article 370 and Article 35(A).
 It also seeks to form two new Union Territories (one- J&K with legislature and
second- Ladakh without legislature).
 Article 370 was enacted in 1954 and Article 35A was added to the Constitution
through a Presidential Order- The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir)
Order, 1954.
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 Article 370 (under Part XXI of the Constitution): - defines that state's residents live
under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship, ownership of
property, and fundamental rights, as compared to other Indians.
 Article 35A (also known as Permanent Residents Law): - defines the permanent
resident of the Jammu and Kashmir. It bars any person from outside J&K from
acquiring property in the state.

47. Rajya Sabha has passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019, which seeks to give
power to government to frame laws to regulate the cab aggregators in India.
 The bill, for the first time, recognized cab aggregators (like Uber and Ola) as a
separate entity as digital intermediaries or marketplaces which can be used by
passengers to connect with a driver for transportation.
 The bill allows taxi aggregators to obtain licence from state government as it is a
state subject.
 Cab aggregators will also have to comply with Information Technology Act, 2000.

48. According to Global Witness’s (human rights watchdog) report, at least 164 land and
environmental activists were murdered in 2018 (207 deaths in 2017).
 Philippines (30 murders) became the most dangerous place for activists and
indigenous communities, by overtaking Brazil.
 India witnessed 23 deaths related to environmental activism in 2018 with the
biggest single massacre in Tamil Nadu (murdered 13 people) after protesting the
environmental impact of a copper mine.
 Guatemala recorded the sharpest rise, with 16 deaths in 2018, roughly 5X more
than 2017.

49. Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has decided to launch 200
projects worth Rs 3,000 crore for development of North-East Region.

50. Ministry of Environment has approved the Kosi-Mechi Interlinking project for
interlinking of Kosi and Mechi rivers of Bihar at a cost of Rs 4,900 crore.
 The first major river interlinking project- Ken-Betwa project- of India has been
initiated in Madhya Pradesh.
 Functions: - It will divert surplus water of Kosi river to Mechi River (a tributary of
Mahananda river) of Mahananda basin.

51. India’s 1st 3-D smart traffic signal - ‘Intelights’ (having a wireless sensor system) has
been installed at the traffic crossing near Quark City in Mohali, Chandigarh, Punjab.
 It has been designed by start-up – Anukai Solutions.

52. President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to Guinea, Benin and Gambia (all West African
nations).
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India has signed 4 MoU with Benin

Cultural Exchange Programme between MoU on Cooperation in the field of Export
the two countries for the years 2019-2023. Credit and Investment Insurance.
MoU for participation in e- VBAB Network Agreement on mutual exemption from the
Project. visa requirement for Diplomatic,
Official/Service Passports holders.
India gave $100 million line of credit to India also has a duty-free tariff preference
Benin scheme for Benin’s exports which grew to
$376 million (more than 68%) in 2018.
e- VBAB Network Project is an agreement between Ministry of External Affairs and
Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (signed in 2018) for the implementation of e-
VidyaBharati and e-AarogyaBharati (e-VBAB) Network Project.

India’s MoU with Gambia

India’s bilateral trade with Gambia crossed India granted $500,000 to Gambia for skill
$200 million in 2018-19, (nearly 100% development and cottage industry projects
increase in the last two years). along with concessional lines of credit
worth $78.5 million.
Another line of credit of $92 million was India and Gambia signed MoU for
also extended. cooperation in the field of Traditional
Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy.

India’s MoU with Guinea

MoU for cooperation in the field of MoU for Participation in the e-VBAB
traditional system of medicine and Network Project.
homeopathy.
MoU for cooperation in the field of India has given Line of Credit (Loc) worth
renewable energy. $170 million to Guinea for Conakry Water
Supply Project.
Guinea has awarded President Ram Nath Kovind with ‘The National Order of Merit’
(Guinea’s highest honour).
 Budget 2019: - India will launch 18 new missions across Africa.

53. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has exempted armoured and specialized
vehicles of armed and paramilitary forces from adhering to BS-VI norms w.e.f. April
2020.

54. Ministry of Environment has proposed a draft ‘National Resource Efficiency Policy
2019’ which aims to use of natural resources efficiently with minimum negative impact
on environment.
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India extracts 1580 tonnes/acre of In order to check the environmental impact

resources which is much higher than the of the stress on natural resources, the
world average of 450 tonnes/acre. policy intends to set up a National
Resource Efficiency Authority (NREA)
under Environment Ministry.
It seeks to promote zero landfill and 6R It also seeks to offer tax benefits on
approach (reduce, reuse, recycle, recycled materials, green loans to small
redesign, re-manufacture and refurbish). and medium enterprises and soft loans to
construct waste disposal facilities, and set
up Material Recovery Facilities (MRF).
Majority of the crucial natural resources are imported by India, in case of cobalt, copper
and lithium- it is 100% and crude oil imports are over 80%, along with 85% of coking coal
demand.

55. Rajasthan has launched a new higher education model named as Resource Assistance
for Colleges with Excellence or RACE.
 Purpose: - It will enable the distribution of faculty teachers and movable assets
among the government colleges at the district level.
 It will benefit the colleges which lack infrastructure and face the deficit in teacher
availability.

56. Ministry of Environment has unveiled the draft Environmental and Social Management
Framework (ESMF) which is part of a World Bank-funded project.
 Aim: - To effectively manage the infrastructure plans on the coastal zones and to
enhance the coast resource efficiency and resilience.
 Till now, only 3 coastal States – Gujarat, Odisha and West Bengal – have prepared
Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plans with support from the World Bank.

57. 3rd edition of ScooNews Global Educators Fest (SGEF) – India’s largest education
brainstorming event will be hosted by Udaipur, Rajasthan.
 Theme: - ‘Education for Sustainability: Moving on from conformity to creativity’.

58. Tamil Nadu (Tirunelveli district) has got the ‘Geographical Indication’ tag for producing
Pathamadai Silk Mat.

59. IIT- Guwahati (research team led by Parameswar K Iyer and Siddhartha S Ghosh) has
developed a low-cost, hand-held device to detect bacteria without indulging in time
consuming cell culture and microbiological assays.
 The study has been published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry of Royal Society
of Chemistry.
 The device has an Organic Field Effect Transistor (OFET) which is an electronic
device that works on the principle that a bacteria has electric charges on its surface,
which is registered and read by OFET.
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60. Budget 2019: - 10,000 new farmer producer organisations (FPOs) will be created in the
next five years to strengthen farmers.
 A study published by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic
Relations (ICRIER) emphasized on to encourage these FPOs to directly trade in the
commodities futures market to eliminate the need of middlemen.
 With this, farmers could make their cropping decisions based on next year’s prices
rather than last year’s rates and can trade on National Commodity and Derivates
Exchange (NCDEX).
 NCDEX is an online commodity Exchange on the nation-level to provide a commodity
Exchange platform to trade in a wide spectrum of commodity derivatives.

61. Andhra Pradesh’s Police Department has launched the “Cyber Mithra” program aimed
at ensuring women safety and help the victims of cyber-crime.
 As part of this, women can register complaints through toll-free helplines and a
WhatsApp number.
 A Facebook page ‘AP Police Women Safety Cyber Space’ has also been launched.

62. National Deworming initiative had been launched by Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare in 2018 to provide quality healthcare to more than 32 crore children.
 Purpose: - To make high quality healthcare accessible to every child and up to the
last mile.
 National Deworming Day is being observed on February 10 and August 10 each year
since 2015 to administer albendazole vaccine to children from 1-19 years of age
group in schools and Anganwadi centres.

63. Ministry of Health has released the Report Card on “Breastfeeding & Infant & Child
feeding Practices” which mentions that Manipur is the top state in terms of
breastfeeding practises in India.
 Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar are at the bottom positions in the report card.
 Parameters: - 3 indicators are early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive
breastfeeding for six months and complimentary feeding at 6-8 months of child’s
age.

64. Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) approved the procurement of Next Generation
Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries (NGMMCB) – which will be fitted into BrahMos
missile– and a Software Defined Radio.
 15

 SDR has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation,
Bharat Electronics Ltd. and Navy’s Weapons Electronics Systems Engineering
Establishment.
 DAC has also approved amendments to the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP),
2016, to improve the ease of business.

65. New changes proposed under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provides for
treatment of money laundering as a ‘stand-alone crime’ and gives more power to
Enforcement Directorate to conduct investigation.
It will also expand the ambit of “proceeds Sub-sections (1) of Section 17 (Search and
of crime” under Section 2 to assets that Seizure) and Section 18 (Search of
may have been derived from any other Persons) have been deleted to remove the
criminal activity related to scheduled formality of FIR or chargesheet by other
offences. agencies that are authorised to probe the
offences listed in the PMLA schedule.
A new explanation has been inserted in All PMLA offences will be cognisable and
Section 44 : - “The jurisdiction of the non-bailable under Section 45. Now, ED
Special Court, while dealing with the officers can arrest an accused without
offence under this Act, during warrant, subject to certain conditions.
investigation, enquiry or trial under this
Act, shall not be dependent upon any
orders passed in respect of the scheduled
offence, and the trial of both sets of
offences by the same court shall not be
construed as joint trial”.

66. IIT-Madras and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) have partnered for
developing turbines to generate electricity through ocean waves.
 The project is being funded by Ministry of Earth Sciences.

67. UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and National Institute of Solar

Energy (NISE) have partnered to develop a skill development program for different
levels of beneficiaries in the solar thermal energy sector.
 It is a part of the ongoing MNRE-GEF-UNIDO project jointly implemented by UNIDO.
 MNRE-GEF-UNIDO stands for Ministry of New and Renewable Energy – Global
Environment Friendly – United Nations Industrial Development Organization.

68. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting launched the e-version of Rozgar Samachar
(newspaper) to create awareness about new jobs in government sector.
 Employment News/Rozgar Samachar paper (launched in 1976) is published by
Ministry of I&B.
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69. MoU signed between Uttar Pradesh government and Netherlands have been for
another 5 years till 2024.
5 MoU were signed for cooperation on: -
Spatial planning Water management
Energy efficiency, sewerage and effluent Development of smart cities in UP, cultural
treatment, agriculture, dairy and heritage and cycle track infrastructure
horticulture
solid waste management -

70. India (total 46 countries signed it) has signed the UN Convention on International
Settlement Agreements (UNISA) also known as Singapore Convention on Mediation.
 The treaty provides a uniform framework for enforcing international settlement
agreements which results from mediation and it will boost ease of doing business in
India.
 It will assure foreign investors about India's commitment to adhere to international
practice on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

71. A 12-member committee, headed by Justice Mukundakam Sharma, has been formed to
select the awardees of: -
 Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Arjuna Award, Dronacharya Award (award for sports
coaches), Dhyan Chand Award (lifetime achievement), Rashtriya Khel Protsahan, &
National Sports Awards.

72. India’s 1st underwater train (16-km long) will be launched under Hooghly river in
Kolkata, West Bengal.

73. Ministry of Human Resource and Development has launched the Samagra Siksha – Jal
Suraksha drive to create awareness among school students about water conservation.
 Target: - To save 3,650 litres of water in 10 years (1 ltr. in 1 day) with the help of
school students.

74. University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to use Swedish software- ‘Urkund’
(free of cost) for detecting plagiarism in the thesis of Ph.D. students.
 17

 It will be used by 900 universities (public and private). Earlier, Turnitin software was
used by UGC.

75. ‘Odisha Small Savings Incentive Scheme’, under the notation AQ series, has been
launched, for the year 2019, to discourage people from investing/transacting with
‘suspicious’ NBFCs.
 Under the scheme, an incentive (cash prize) will be given to encourage the habit of
savings in people.

76. Odisha has released the Agriculture Policy 2019 draft to strengthen farmers with a
special focus on landless labourers in the state.
 Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme,
launched in 2018-19, aims to provide financial aid of ₹25,000 per farm family over 5
seasons to small and marginal farmers for purchase of inputs.

77. Uttar Pradesh has made the world record by planting over 22 crore saplings in 1 day on
77th anniversary of the Quit India Movement (started on 8 August 1942).
 UP has entered into the Guinness World Records’ for simultaneously distributing
76,823 saplings in just 6 hours across the state.

78. Digi Vyapari- Safal Vyapari initiative has been launched by Confederation of All India
Traders (CAIT) along with HDFC Bank, Mastercard, Common Service Centres and Global
Linkers.
 Purpose: - To promote digital payments among merchants by integrating the traders
on the e-commerce platform by creating a digital showroom for each of them.

79. Jharkhand has launched the Mukhyamantri Krishi Ashirwad Yojana (a direct benefit
transfer scheme) to provide financial assistance of Rs 5,000-25,000 to farmers having
less that 1 acre to 5 acres of land (5,000 to 1 acre; 10,000 to 2 acre so on).
 It aims to benefit approx. 35 lakh farmers and Rs 3000 crore will be deposited into
beneficiaries’ account by September-October.
80. Ministry of Agriculture is planning to launch a “Uber for tractors” app to facilitate hiring
of farm equipment on rent easily.
 Currently, there are more than 38,000 custom hiring centres which rent out 2.5 lakh
pieces of farm equipment every year.

81. Gogabeel, an ox-bow lake located in Katihar district of Bihar, has been declared as
state’s 1st ‘Community Reserve’.
 Gogabeel is formed from the flow of the rivers Mahananda and Kankhar in the
north and Ganga in the south and east.
 It has become the 15th Protected Area in Bihar with more than 90 bird species
(including 30 migratory birds) are found on this site.
 18

82. Central Govt., Tripura State Govt. and National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) have
signed a tripartite Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) to surrender 88 cadets of the
NLFT (a terror outfit).
 Surrendered cadets would get benefits under Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation
Scheme, 2018 of Ministry of Home Affairs.

83. India and Bangladesh set up a Joint Technical committee for optimum utilization of
Ganges water (received by Bangladesh) under the Ganga Water Sharing Treaty, 1996.
 A framework for temporary water-sharing agreement for 8 rivers including Feni,
Gumti and Teesta has been prepared.
 Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna mega-basin is the world’s 2nd largest hydraulic
region.
 Hydraulic Region:- Hydraulics is a mechanical function that uses liquid pressure to
create force that is applied at one point and is transmitted to another point

84. Ministry of Defence has extended the benefits of Child Care Leave to single male
service personnel along with woman officers for taking care of child with 40% disability
(without any restriction of age limit of child).
 Minimum period of CCL that can be availed in each case has been reduced to 5 days
from earlier limit of 15 days.

85. A research published in the ‘Lancet Global Health’ shows that 1/3rd of the Indians
suffered severe lung damage after successful treatment of TB.
 A total of 2,000 Indian patients of TB were assessed and the result shows that lung
infections has caused failure of 40% of the patients’ lung capacity in most cases.
 The study was conducted by University of Dundee (Scotland) and Respiratory
Research Network of India and funded by British Lung Foundation and European
Respiratory Society.

86. Virasat-e-Khalsa museum located in Punjab has created a record for having highest
visitors in a day at 20,569 on 20 March, 2019.
 It will be included in the Asia Book of Records as the most visited museum in Asian
sub-continent on a single day.

87. Central Government is planning to cover Cancer treatment into Ayushman Bharat
scheme.
 19

 According to World Health Organization, cancer is the second-most common

disease in India with a high mortality rate of about 0.3 million deaths per year.
 As per Government’s data, an estimated 2.25 million people are suffering from the
disease, with over 11 lakh new cancer patients being registered each year.
 In 2018, total 7,84,821 (Men: 4,13,519; Women: 3,71,302) deaths were caused due
to Cancer.

88. ISRO launched “Space on Wheels” exhibition inside the bus along with commemorative
coins, a Coffee Table Book and a photo album on the life and work of Dr. Vikram
Sarabhai to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Sarabhai (founder of ISRO).
 ISRO has launched for an year- long programme across 100 selected cities.

89. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to extend Rotavirus vaccine to all
states and UTs by September 2019 to achieve the target of ending diarrhoea in children
by 2022.
 The rotavirus vaccine was recommended by National Technical Advisory Group on
Immunization (NTAGI), in the Universal Immunization Programme(UIP).

90. Ministry of Health has re-initiated the process of amending the Cigarettes and Other
Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) 2003.
 Amendments Proposed: Ban on the sale of loose cigarettes and heavy fines on
violation of rules.
 Aim: - To effectively implement WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.
91. Census 2011: - Out of the total domestic migrants (moved for employment purposes),
only 63% have got the full time work, 25% were part-time workers and 12% were
unemployed.
Only in 6 (Mumbai Suburbs, Mumbai City, In 5 states/UTs – Daman and Diu, Delhi,
Delhi West, Surat, Daman and Mamit in Chandigarh, Maharashtra and Dadra and
Mizoram) of the 640 total districts in India Nagar Haveli– the 80% of migrant workers
had provided full time employment to the found full time employment.
90% of the migrant workers.
Among larger states, Karnataka, Tamil In 204 districts, only 50% of the migrant
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh (undivided) and workers found full-time jobs specifically in
Gujarat provided full time employment to Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, West
70-80% of workers. (Intra-state variation Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
still exists).
 20

82% of men’s migrant population got full
time employment while only 49% of the
women got full time employment. In only
20 districts, over 85% of women got full
time employment.
78% of the migrants got full time jobs in
urban areas while 58% of migrants got job
in rural areas.

92. Bar Council of India (BCI) has declared a 3-years moratorium (temporary prohibition of
an activity) for establishing new law universities (except National Law University).
 BCI has also mandated to improve faculty and infrastructure of law universities and
the universities with poor infrastructure and faculty will be shut.
 BCI was established under the Advocates Act, 1961.

93. Indian Army has launched ‘Mission Reach Out’ to ensure basic necessities and essential
services are available in J&K after the scrapping of Article 370 and 35A by passing the
‘J&K Reorganization Bill’.
 A high level 'Mission Reach Out' conference to review the prevalent situation in the
region was held in the Nagrota Military Station.

94. India’s first-of-its-kind clinical ecotoxicology facility has been launched at All India
Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.
 Purpose: - It will diagnose the diseases caused by environmental toxins which
contaminate water, food and air.
 Ecotoxicology refers to the branch of science that deals with the nature, effects, and
interactions of substances that are harmful to the environment and ecological
entities such as population.

95. Madhya Pradesh has launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Madad Yojana’ to provide help the
tribal families in the event of birth or death of a family member.
 Upon the birth, 50 kg of rice or wheat will be given and in the event of death 100 kg
of rice or wheat along with utensils for cooking food would be given.
 40 Eklavya Schools would be set up in tribal areas to provide quality education.

96. Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam Foundation has entered into the Champions Book of World
Records for making the longest (15-km) Tricolor flag by forming a human chain from
Raipur ,Chhattisgarh.

97. Delimitation Committee has begun the process of delimiting the constituencies in J&K
after the J&K Reorganization Bill has increased the number of seats to 114 from 107.
 The committee is headed by Justice Kuldip Singh.
 Delimiting will be done on the basis of Census 2011.
 Delimitation Commission (established under the provisions of Delimitation Act,
2002): - The main task of the commission is to redraw the boundaries of the various
assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on a recent census.
 21

Seat Matrix
New Old
Out of the 114 seats, 24 have been kept The old Assembly had a strength of 111
aside for areas under Pakistan-occupied seats (24 kept aside for PoK), while 4 seats
Kashmir (PoK), which means elections will for the Ladakh region.
be conducted for 90 seats.

98. India-Russia Cooperation in the Russian Far East forum was held in Vladivostok, Russia.
(5th edition of Eastern Economic Forum will also be held here in Sept).
 India and Russia have set a target to upscale bilateral trade between them to $30
billion by 2025 as compared to the $8.3 billion trade in 2018-19.
MoU Signed between India and Russia for Cooperation on: -
Trade, economy, investment, scientific and Amity University and Far East Federal
technical cooperation University have signed an MoU to enhance
cooperation in education and research.
An agreement was signed for establishing National Skill Development Corporation
Centre for Yoga, Representative Offices and Far East Investment and Export
and Pushkin Centre for Russian Language Agency signed MoU for skill development.
and Cultural Studies.

99. A high level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), headed by Injeti
Srinivas, has recommended Ministry of Finance to align schedule 7 of Companies Act
2013 with Sustainable Development Goals.
 Schedule 7 describes the kinds of activities that qualify as CSR.
 It also recommended to make CSR expenditure tax deductible. Indian companies
spend approx. ₹15,000 crore a year on CSR.
 Companies having CSR-prescribed amount below ₹50 lakh may be exempted from
forming a CSR Committee.
 Companies should be given 3-5 years to use up funds meant for ongoing CSR
projects before unspent amount is compulsorily transferred to the designated state
fund.
 It has also suggested to create “green channel” for quicker clearance for Mergers &
Acquisitions deals.

100. According to Ministry of Health data, 57.3% of personnel practising allopathic

medicine do not have a medical qualification at present.
 India has a poor doctor-population ratio of 1:1456 against the World Health
Organisation standards of 1:1000.
 Section 15 of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, prohibits a person other than a
medical practitioner enrolled on a State Medical Register to practice medicine in the
State.
 22

 A total of 11,46,044 allopathic doctors were registered with the State Medical
Councils/Medical Council of India as on December 31, 2018.

101. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the 5th edition of Swachh
Survekshan 2020 Toolkit, an AI-enabled ‘mSBM app’ and ‘Swachh Nagar’ (a waste
management app).
 Apart from this, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) Water PLUS Protocol and Toolkit
was also launched to ensure that no untreated waste-water is released into the
environment.
 mSBM app has been developed by National Informatics Centre.
 A song (sung by Kailash Kher and Monali Thakur) featuring Kangana Ranaut has also
been released on the theme of “Swachchta Adhikar Hai”.

102. According to Department of Agricultural Research and Education data, stubble

burning incidents have been reduced by 41% in 2018 under the ‘Promotion of
Agricultural Mechanization for In-Situ Management of Crop Residue in the State of
Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh & NCT of Delhi’ scheme (launched in 2018).
 More than 4500 villages of Punjab and Haryana were declared as Zero Stubble
Burning Villages during 2018.
 The scheme’s budget is Rs.1151.80 Crores. Happy Seeder or Zero Tillage Technology
was adopted in 8 lakh hectares of land in North- Western States of India.
 Indian Council of Agricultural Research is the implementing agency for this scheme.

103. Government has made wearing of helmets by children above 4 years of age under
the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2019.
 Section 129 of the original Motor Vehicles Act 1988 has been replaced with the
amendment mentioning that: -
“Every person above four years or age, driving or riding or being carried on a motorcycle
of any class or description shall, while in public place wear protective headgear
conforming to such standards as may be prescribed by the Central Government”.

104. National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had announced price ceiling on
orthopaedic knee implants in 2017 so that their cost does not increase beyond 10% in a
given year.
 NPPA (estb. in 1997 under Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers) controls the prices of
essential medical drugs and enforces the Drugs Prices Control Order (issued by
Govt. under Essential Commodities Act).
 Sales of knee implants has been increased by 30% during the period of July, 2018 to
June, 2019 due to affordable cost.

105. Western Ghats Ecological Expert Panel (known as Gadgil Commission), headed by
Madhav Gadgil (formed in 2010 by Environment Ministry) suggested that the large-
 23

scale cultivation of single commercial crops on steep slopes (which is leading to soil
erosion and increased run-off) should be shifted.
 It also suggested to control massive encroachment and deforestation in the
catchment areas of major rivers.
 It recommended issuing a moratorium on ongoing projects of dams and mines that
can impact water resources, until a Western Ghats Ecology Authority was set up to
decide whether to allow them to progress or not.

106. Karnataka has launched “E-Step” initiative to empower student start-ups as part of
the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS).
 Under the initiative, students/startups/entrepreneurs will be trained about the
basics of entrepreneurship.

107. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) has launched 5th Fast Patrol
Vessel (FPV) named Kanaklata Barua for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in Kolkata.
 This is the last FPV of the 5- FPV series to be built by GRSE for ICG.
 First FPV developed by GRSE is ICGS Priyadarshini (commissioned in March 2019).

108. President of India has approved the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment
(UAPA) Bill, 2019 under which individuals can be declared as terrorists, if they are found
to be linked with terrorist.
 Their properties will be seized and travel ban can be imposed upon them once they
are declared as terrorists.

109. Global Investors Summit 2019 will be held in Srinagar, J&K.

 Purpose: - To attract investment to J&K.
 Organizer: - Confederation of Indian Industries and J&K Trade Promotion
Organisation.

110. Naval Air Enclave (NAE) -a naval aviation facility in Kochi- has signed an MoU with
Cochin International Airport Ltd. (CIAL) to start Naval air operations from the airport.
 24

111. Swachch Bharat Abhiyan will now focus on solid and liquid waste management.
 Also, Swachchta Survekshan (SS) Grameen Phase-2 of 2019 has been launched by
Ministry of Jal Shakti.
 SS-2019 has covered 4,237 cities and Indore was ranked the most cleanest city and
Bhopal- was ranked as the cleanest capital.

112. Railway Protection Force (RPF) has launched ‘Operation Number Plate’ to verify
and curb the unauthorised parking in the railway premises.

113. National Green Tribunal has asked the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change to reduce the timeline for National Clean Air Program (NCAP).
 NCAP (launched in Jan 2019) aims to reduce the air pollution by 20-30% by 2024.

114. According to Indian Readership Survey 2019 Q2 (released by Media Research Users
Council), Hindustan Times is the top read English newspaper in major markets of India
with 3,50,000 issues.
 Mint is the 2nd most read paper in major markets with 3,10,000 issues.

115. PM Narendra Modi has announced to create a new post- Chief of Defence Staff
(CDS)- to bring efficiency in the operation of Defence forces.
 Functions of CDS: - CDS will be the head of the all three forces and supervise their
operations for optimum utilization of resources.
 Besides, the government will invest Rs 100 Trillion in infrastructure building.
 Govt. will spend Rs 3.5 Trillion in the Jal Jeevan Mission to ensure safe drinking
water to all households by 2024.

116. Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh has dedicated the 3rd phase of ‘Jung-E-Azadi’-
a memorial and museum being built in Kartarpur, to the victims of Jallianwala Bagh
massacre.

117. DRDO has selected 154.42 hectares of forest land (major part in Krishna Wildlife
Sanctuary) for setting up a missile test launch facility at Gullalamoda village in Krishna
district, Andhra Pradesh.
 An equivalent area (154.42 ha) of mangrove and mudflat adjacent to the Krishna
Wildlife Sanctuary would be included in the sanctuary.

118. Article 371H of the Constitution provides the special status to Arunachal Pradesh.
Provisions of Article 371H
Governor of the state has been given special rights in the matters of law and order.
Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh shall consist of not less than thirty members.
 Article 371F gives special status to Sikkim.
 25

119. Chhattisgarh CM Bhpesh Baghel has announced to convert the Lemru forest area in
Korba district into an “Elephant Reserve” to reduce the human-animal conflict.
 Besides, the reservations for OBCs and SCs have been increased to 27% and 13%
respectively (earlier it was 14% for OBCs and 12% for SCs). For ST the quota is same
at 32%.
 A new district – named as “Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi” – will be created out of the
existing Bilaspur, taking the total number of districts to 28.

120. Five female wild buffaloes will be transferred from Assam’s Manas National Park to
Chhattisgarh’s Udanti Wildlife Sanctuary.
 Global population of wildlife buffaloes is approx. 3,400 out of which an estimated
3,100 (91%) live in Assam.

121. Andhra Pradesh has launched the ‘Grama and Ward Volunteering System’ to
provide corruption-free governance, transparent and efficient delivery of welfare
scheme to the every citizen.

122. India’s first museum dedicated to postal communication in India has been set up at
the Museum Road, Bengaluru which stores all the old-age postal stamps, phone models
etc.

123. Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (Minister of External Affairs) has signed 4 MoUs with
China to organize 100 activities in coming months during his visit to Beijing, China.
Plan of Action to Implement the Protocol MoU on Sports Cooperation and Cultural
on Cooperation in Bilateral Relations, Exchange
2020
MoU Between Hubei Provincial Museum MoU Between National Administration of
(China) and National Museum (in New Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ministry
Delhi) of Ayush for cooperation in Traditional
Medicine.
 26

 2nd Meeting of Indo-China High-Level Mechanism on Cultural and People-to-People

Exchanges Held in Beijing, China.
 Jaishankar also inaugurated the 4th India-China Media Forum 2019 in Beijing.

124. Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Tata Educational and
Development Trust will build the ‘Indian Institute of Skills’ in Mumbai on a Public-
Private Partnership basis to provide both modern and traditional skills to people.
 Government is also planning to set up two more institutes in Ahmedabad and
Kanpur.
 7 candidates have been selected from Maharashtra in the 45th WorldSkills 2019
(known as Olympics of Skills) to be held in Kazan, Russia in August 2019.

125. IIT-Hyderabad and Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (Punjab)

researchers have developed a process for producing synthesized bone implant
materials from waste eggshells.
 The study was published in the journal Ceramics International.

126. Japanese Ship, JS Sazanami (Commander Shoji Ishkawa) has visited Kochi, Kerala on
a 2-day goodwill visit.
 JS Sazanami will depart for Bahrain from here.

127. Ministry of Railways has launched CORAS (Commandos For Railway Security), a
special unit of Commandos for the Railways Protection Force to strengthen security of
railways.
 Ministry will set up a commando training centre in Haryana to train these
commandos.

128. PM Narendra Modi has been declared as the new chairman of the reconstituted
Inter-State Council.
 Article 263 of the Constitution mandates to establish an Inter-State Council to
resolve the inter-state disputes and discuss issues of common interests of states.
 27

 Standing committee of the Inter-State Council, headed by Amit Shah, aims to

provide assistance to the council.

129. Palani Panchamirtham (given as ‘prasadam’) at Murugan temple in Palani, Tamil

Nadu has been given the Geographical Indication tag.
 It is the first ‘prasadam’ from Tamil Nadu to get the GI tag.

130. India’s first space museum has been inaugurated at B M Birla Science Centre in
Hyderabad by ISRO and B M Birla Science Centre.

131. Ministry of Textiles has signed MoU with 16 states out of 18 selected states for
developing skills of about 4 lakh workers under the ‘SAMARTH’ (technical name is
Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector- SCBTS).
 Two states- J&K and Odisha did not sign MoU.
 SAMARTH is a skill development scheme of Ministry of Textiles, launched in 2017. It
aims to train 10 lakh persons over 3 years (2017-20) at a budget of Rs. 1300 crore.

132. India has granted $1 million to United Nation Special Purpose Trust Fund (UN-SPTF)
for Resident Coordinator System.
 UN-SPTF is a specific fund established by UN Secretariat to manage all contributions
as well as financial transactions of Resident Coordinator system in a transparent and
effective manner.

133. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released a song titled Watan on the
occasion of Independence Day 2019.
 Singer: - Javed Ali.
 Lyricist:- Alok Shrivastav and Music Composer:- Dushyant.
 Producer: - Doordarshan and Prasar Bharati.

134. Tamil Nadu will trifurcate (divide into three districts) its Vellore district to carve out
two new districts namely Ranipet and Tirupattur.
 After trifurcation, total districts in Tamil Nadu would by 37.

135. Air India has become the first Indian airline to operate a commercial flight- Boeing
777 aircraft (Delhi to San Francisco) over the zero degrees North Pole flights overflying
polar region.

136. World’s first museum dedicated to the life of saint of 16th century Sri Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu has been inaugurated in Kolkata, West Bengal.

137. Indian Navy’s multilateral exercise ‘Milan’ 2020 will be held at Visakhapatnam for
the first time.
 Milan has always been conducted from Andaman and Nicobar since its inception in
1995 until last year.
 28

138. Assam’s first-ever CNG-fuel station has been inaugurated at Dibrugarh, Assam.

139. India has become the first nation in the world to develop a National Essential
Diagnostics List (NEDL)- prepared by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
 Purpose: - To regulate all the medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic device (IVD)
under regulatory provisions of the Medical Device Rules, 2017.
 In India, diagnostics follow a framework based on Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
and Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945.
 NEDL will help govt. to assess the different types of diagnostics required to be made
available in the country.
 WHO had released the first Essential Diagnostics List in 2018.

140. Mizoram has been granted GI tag for Tawlhlohpuan (a woven fabric) and Mizo
Puanchei (a colourful Mizo shawl) and Kerala got the GI tag for Tirur betel vine from
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

141. Indian Navy and Royal Navy of Britain will begin the 14th Edition of KONKAN-19
(their annual bilateral exercise) at the English Channel, UK.
 INS Tarkash and UK’s HMS Destroyers will participate in it.

142. Ministry of Defence has formed a 12-member committee, headed by Apurva

Chandra, the Director-General (Acquisitions) to review the Defence procurement
procedure.
 Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2006 and Defence Procurement Manual
(DPM) 2009 will be reviewed by the committee.
 DPP 2006 contains policies for procurement/acquisition of services or goods for
Defence from the capital budget of the Defence Ministry.
 DPM 2009 contains principles & procedures for procurement of goods and services
for the Defence Services, organisations and establishments.

143. Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) has launched a

Hackathon called “San-Sadhan” to sensitize and develop the PwD accessible toilets
people under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
 According to Census 2011, approx. 2.68 crore are Persons with Disabilities (PwD).
 Rights for PwD Act, 2016 mandates for universal access of PwD at public premises.

144. 2nd meeting of the High Powered Committee of Chief Ministers, headed by
Devendra Fadnavis, has decided to impose Essential Commodities Act, 1955 in
emergency cases such as famine and war only (where the prices rise by over 50% of
market rates).

145. 40 participants from 9 countries have participated in the 54th edition of Know India
Programme (KIP).
 29

 KIP is a 25-day orientation program, launched in 2004, organized by Ministry of

External Affairs to acquaint Indian diasporic youth with Indian culture etc.

146. India has granted Rs 400 crore to Bhutan for promoting its exports.
 In 2018, India has provided Rs 5,000 crore to Bhutan to support its 12th five-year
plan.

147. Odisha Wetland Authority has approved a plan at an estimated investment of ₹180
crore for conservation of Chilika Lake (India’s largest brackish water lagoon) and
Ansupa Lake (State’s largest freshwater lake).
A Lagoon Looks Like this

148. For the first time in India, aluminium coaches will be installed in the metros (total
102 coaches will be fitted in Pune Metro Project).
 The order for manufacturing of the these coaches has been given to a consortium
formed by Kolkata-based wagon manufacturer Titagarh Wagons with its wholly-
owned subsidiary Titagarh Firema SPA.

149. Federation of Obstetric & Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) has launched a
campaign - ‘Save The Uterus’ to sensitize its members (total 40,000 doctors) about the
ill-effects of hysterectomy and various ways to prevent it.
 Hysterectomy is the surgery to remove all parts of uterus.

150. Manipur has launched “School Fagadaba” (Make education better) scheme to
improve overall infrastructure and to provide quality education in the government
schools.
 1 Higher Secondary School from each of the 60 Assembly constituencies will be
selected under the phase-1 of the scheme.

151. IIT-Madras has developed a new Robotic hand called “GraspMan” which has similar
abilities to human hand.

152. ‘Hazratganj Chauraha’ in Lucknow, UP has been renamed as ‘Atal Chowk’ to

commemorate the first death anniversary of Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
 A memorial for Vajpayee named as “Atal Smriti Upvan” will also be built.

153. Ministry of Civil Aviation has formed a panel to review the additional taxes that
airlines have to pay while uplifting Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) from airports across India.
 30

 Ministry is planning to implement a direct billing mechanism between airline

companies and airport operators to remove the multiple taxes such as ‘throughput
charges’, 'into plane charges' and 'fuel infrastructure charges'.
 Direct billing can annually save up to Rs 400 crores of airlines as ATF currently
accounts for 40% of their total expenditure.

154. Ministry of Human Resource Development will launch the world’s largest teacher
training program called NISHTHA (National Initiative on School Teachers Head Holistic
Advancement) in August 22 to train over 42 lakh teachers.
 International Conference titled “Journey of Teacher Education: Local to Global”,
held in New Delhi, was organized by National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE)
as part of the silver jubilee celebration of its establishment in 1995.

155. Supreme Court has upheld the validity of an amendment to the Section 7 of
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) which gives homebuyers the status of a financial
creditor.
 According to SC, Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act must be in harmony
with IBC and Consumer Protection Act (CPA) to safeguard interests of homebuyers.
 Implication: - Now, an aggrieved homebuyer can seek relief under three laws—Rera,
CPA and IBC.

156. PM Modi (India), Australia and Spain have been invited as special partners for the
45th edition of G7 Summit 2019 to be held in Biarritz, France.
 Agenda: - Economy, foreign policy, environment, with a specific focus on tackling
inequalities.

157. Ministry of Home Affairs has fixed the retirement age of all Central Armed Police
Force (CAPF) personnel at 60 years.

158. A report by Greenpeace (NGO) “Global SO2 emission hotspot database: Ranking
the world’s worst sources of SO2 pollution” shows that India is the top emitter of
anthropogenic sulphur dioxide (SO2).
 31

 NASA’s Ozone Monitoring Instrument satellite has tracked that India has more than
15% of all the SO2 hotspots.
 Writer of report: - Sunil Dahiya and Lauri Myllyvirta.
 The largest SO2 emission hotspots are found in Russia, South Africa, Iran, Saudi
Arabia, India, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Serbia.

159. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is drafting the Medical Termination of
Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill 2019 to amend the MTP Act, 1971.
New Provisions (Proposed) Old Provisions
It seeks to allow abortion up to 26 weeks It allows the abortion till 12 weeks and in
in case of risk to foetus or mother survival. case of health risk, it is up to 20 weeks.

160. PM Modi, during his visit to Bhutan, has inaugurated the Mangdechhu hydroelectric
power plant in Bhutan (built with Indian assistance), which will export its surplus
electricity to India.
 MoU signed for Ground Earth Station and SATCOM network to utilize South Asia
Satellite in Bhutan to be developed with ISRO’s assistance.
 The currency swap limit for Bhutan has been increased under the SAARC currency
swap framework. An additional $100 million will be available to Bhutan under a
standby swap arrangement to meet its foreign exchange requirement.
 PM launched RuPay Card in Bhutan.
Total 10 MoU signed between India and Bhutan for cooperation on
Cooperation Relating to Aircraft Accident Power Purchase Agreement between PTC
and Incident Investigation India Ltd. and Druk Green Power
Corporation Ltd. for sale and purchase of
Mangdechhu Power.
Bhutan National Legal Institute and National Law School of India University,
National Judicial Academy, Bhopal signed Bangalore and Jigme Singye Wangchuck
MoU for Judicial Education and Mutual School of Law signed MoU for legal
Exchanges. education and research
Royal University of Bhutan signed MoU -
with IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi and
National Institute of Technology, Silchar
for STEM (Science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics).

161. Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) will launch a new scheme called
“Supra” (Scientific and Useful Profound Research Advancement) to fund science
research projects.
 High Risk-High Reward (HRHR) Research scheme, launched in 2017 by SERB, was
similar to Supra and now it has been withdrawn.
 SERB operates under the Department of Science and Technology.
 32

162. India’s first Central Institute of Chemical Engineering & Technology (CICET) will be
set up in Gujarat to boost research and innovations in the chemical industry.
 Also, Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology (CIPET) will be set up in
Valsad, Gujarat, at a cost of Rs 54 crore, to benefit tribal students and plastic
industry.

163. Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has launched SATAT (Sustainable Alternative
Towards Affordable Transportation) initiative in 2018.
 Purpose: - To set up Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) production plants and make
available CBG in the market for use in automotive fuels.

164. Academy of Maharashtra Research, Upliftment and Training (AMRUT) will be set up
in Maharashtra for the upliftment of general category people belonging to EWS quota.
 AMRUT will be an autonomous institution similar to BARTI, SARTHI and MAHAJYOTI
located in Maharashtra.
 In Maharashtra, Babasaheb Ambedkar Research and Training Institute (BARTI)
works for SC, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Research Training and Human
Development Institute (SARTHI) works for Maratha and Mahatma Jyotiba Phule
Research and Training Institute (MAHAJYOTI) work for OBCs.

165. Karnataka has implemented Karnataka Poisons (Possession and Sale) Rules 2019
(an amendment to 2015 rules) to classify Nicotine as “Class A poison” to strengthen the
ban on electronic cigarettes.
 High Powered Committee on Tobacco Control, headed Vandita Sharma,
recommended the ban on e-cigarettes.

166. Prasar Bharti will introduce two new awards- ‘Neelum Sharma Tejaswini award’
and ‘Achyutananda Sahoo Award’ in commemoration of Late Neelum Sharma (anchor
of DD News).

167. National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) has signed a MoU with Shri Mata Vaishno
Devi University to achieve the objective of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission
(NSM) through training, skill development and capacity building programmes launched
by NISE.
 NSM was launched in 2010, as part of National Action Plan on Climate Change
(launched in 2008) to generate 20 GW of solar power by 2022, which was increased
to 100 GW later on.
 33

168. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed the Mobile
Metallic Ramp for Indian Army.
 Purpose: - For provide strategic mobility of armoured and mechanised units of Army.

169. Amazon (HQ- USA) has opened its largest ever, in the world, office building in
Hyderabad, Telangana.

170. Ministry of Defence has approved to create two new vigilance cells –one for
corruption and the other for human rights violations– in the Army headquarters in
New Delhi.
 Vigilance Cell on Corruption will be headed by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
 Vigilance Cell on Human Rights will be headed by Additional Director General (who
will be subordinate to Vice Chief of Army Staff).

171. A study conducted by NGO Udayan Care (supported by TATA Trusts and UNICEF) in
Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan shows that 40% of children who
leave shelter homes after turning 18 are unable to complete schooling.
 50% of them, did not find employment and almost 70% were unaware about the
after-care entitlements under the Juvenile Justice Act (JJ Act), 2015.
 48% of them belong to government-run shelter homes and 52% were from NGO-run
institutions.

172. Maharashtra’s Tribal Development Department, in association with Pace

Educational Trust, has launched Super 50 initiative to train 50 meritorious tribal
students for medical and engineering exams.

173. “Agrarian Crisis and Farmers’ Suicides: An Empirical Study of Endemic State” report
conducted by National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj is based on a
2017-18 primary survey of 200 families affected by farm suicides.
 The report, submitted to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), analysed
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana (states having maximum
number of suicides).
 Average income of farm suicide families was ₹3,523 per month in 2016-17, below
₹4,561 estimate of National Sample Survey Office in 2012-13.
 92% of farm suicide families were not enrolled in the PM Fasal Bima Yojana.
 Majority of the deceased members (70%) were in the age group of 20-50 years,
while 59% were illiterate.

174. India Economic Summit 2019 will be organized in New Delhi by World Economic
Forum (WEF), in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
 34

 Aim: - To promote strong collaboration between South Asia and ASEAN nations.
 Theme: - ‘Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World’.
 Sheikh Hasina (PM of Bangladesh), Sania Mirza (UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador
for South Asia), Heng Swee Keat, Shobana Kamineni, and Shailendra Singh will be
the co-chairs for the Summit.

175. According to Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, ''Housing
for All'' target under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana will be achieved in 2020 (against the
deadline of 2022).
 Under the PMAY- Urban, 24 lakh houses have been handed over to beneficiaries
and 50 lakh houses will be given by end of 2019.
 PMAY aims to provide Rs 1.12 crore houses to all by 2022.

176. Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy- RK Singh has launched the first of
its kind index “SARAL-State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index” to evaluate states
based on their attractiveness for rooftop development.
 Karnataka is ranked at 1st position followed by Telangana, Gujarat and Andhra
Pradesh respectively.
 It has been produced by Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, in collaboration
with Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, Associated Chambers of Commerce
and Industry of India and Ernst & Young.
 Parameters: - Robustness of Policy Framework, Consumer Experience,
Implementation Environment, Business Ecosystem and Investment Climate.

177. India will introduce a flexible e-tourist visa for more than 160 countries based on
tourist footfall.
 e-tourist visa fee would be higher for peak season of July to March and a
considerably lower fee during lean period of April to June.
 Fee for e-visa with a validity of 30 days to 5 years ranges between $10 and $80.
No visa fee will be charged from tourists belonging to Forum for India-Pacific Islands
Cooperation (FIPIC), consists of 14 Pacific Island nations.
Fiji, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue Island, Palau, Papua
New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu -- and Myanamar,
Argentina, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa and Uruguay.

178. Ministry of Tourism has handed over 3 new MoUs and 5 new Letters of Intent (LoIs)
for the prospective ‘Monument Mitras’ (private or public sector companies and
individuals who adopt tourist sites will become monument mitras).
 Incredible India Tourist Facilitator Certification (IITFC) portal has also been
launched to provide certification as a tourist facilitator to individuals who enrol in
the IITFC program.
 Government will double the tourist footfall by 2024. There were more that 85 lakh
visitors according to the new Incredible India website (launched in 2018).
 35

179. National Health Mission has ranked Rajasthan at first position among 16 States for
effectively implementing its free medicine scheme (launched in 2011).
 Parameters: - Total 10 measures including stock of drugs, value of drugs about to
expire and compliance with the drugs and vaccine distribution management system.
National Health Mission
National Health Urban Mission- Launched in 2013
Two Components National Health Rural Mission- Launched in 2005

180. Haryana government has increased the income limit for qualifying as Below Poverty
Line beneficiary from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month.
 BPL income limit at National level is Rs 27,000 per annum.

181. Discovery India and World Wide Fund (WWF) India have partnered with Forest
Directorate (West Bengal) and local communities to protect Sundarbans forest.
 It will be a part of the global movement “Project CAT -Conserving Acres for Tigers”
and to reduce tiger-human conflict.
 Two Sundarbans Ecological Observatories will be set up, in collaboration with
Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, to look into the
effects of climate change.
182. Minister of Sports Kiren Rijiju and Baichung Bhutia have jointly launched the first-
of-its-kind in Asia, campaign named “Op-Blue Freedom” as a part of their parent
project– Special Forces Adventures (SFA) for PwD and able-bodied people.
 Aim: - To train adventurous people in skills like survival techniques, emergency first
response skills, unarmed combat, endurance and fitness.
 Op-Blue Freedom is a nation-wide adaptive scuba diving programme.

183. Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index has ranked Delhi at 10th position as the
fastest growing prime market globally, followed by Bengaluru at 15th and Mumbai at
30th position.
 Berlin (Germany) is at the top position while Istanbul (Turkey) and Vancouver
(Canada) are the weakest markets.
 This index recorded the luxury residential prices (cost of living) across 46 cities
globally.

184. India and Lithuania have signed two MoU - Agriculture and Allied sectors and
Cultural Exchange Program from 2019-21 during Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu’s visit
to Lithuania.
 36

185. India-Europe 29 Business Forum 2019 will be held in New Delhi in November to
strengthen cooperation between India and the 29 countries of Europe.
 Estonia has been invited at the forum by Indian VP Venkaiah Naidu during his visit to
Estonia.
 Bilateral trade between India and Estonia stands at $172 million.
 MoU was signed between India and Estonia for cooperation in the field of e-
governance, emerging digital technologies and Cyber-Security.

186. Army Welfare Housing Organization of Indian Army and Tata Realty have signed an
MoU to provide accommodation to Army personnel at a discount of 11% to 27%.
 Army Welfare Housing Organization (constituted under Indian Societies Registration
Act XXI of 1860) provides housing to Army personnel.

187. Ministry of Railways has mandated to completely remove single-use plastics from
all railways stations w.e.f., from 2nd October 2019.

188. Indian Government has opened 137 mountain peaks for foreigners in Jammu and
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim to promote tourism.
 Tourists need to obtain Mountaineering Visa (MX) for mountaineering and trekking.
 Ministry of Home Affairs has mandated the expedition teams to take prior
permissions from Department of Telecom for carrying satellite phones.

189. Census 2011: - India has 469 Urban Agglomerates (UA) which attracted 109 million
migrants out of which 31 million were in 5 UAs namely Delhi (42%), Greater Mumbai
(54%), Hyderabad (64%), Kolkata (37%) and Bengaluru (52%).
 Greater Mumbai, Hyderabad (part of undivided AP) and Bengaluru had witnessed a
higher population of migrants than the people born there.
 UAs is a continuous urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining outgrowths
or two or more physically adjoining towns together with or without outgrowths of
such towns.
 Out of the remaining 78 million, 14.6 million moved to Chennai, Pune, Surat,
Ahmedabad and Ghaziabad.

190. Ministry of Health has proposed to ban the production and import of e-cigarettes
by imposing a jail term of 3 years with Rs 5 lakh penalty for repeated offences.
 Rs 1 lakh penalty and 1-year jail term has been proposed for the first-time
offenders.
 India is second to China in terms of smoking with more than 9 Lakh people dying
every year due to tobacco-related diseases in India.

191. According to World Health Organization’s data, leprosy cases in India have
increased to 66% in the world.
 WHO had declared India leprosy-free in 2005. Now, in 2016-17 a total 1,35,485
cases of leprosy were recorded.
 37

 Currently, India has 108 discriminatory laws against persons with leprosy and the
law commission is working on the “Elimination of Discrimination Against People
Affected by Leprosy” (EDPAL) Bill.
 Leprosy is endemic in 128 districts in India with a prevalence rate of 1 per 10,000.
 WHO launched the Global Leprosy Strategy 2016-20 to eliminate leprosy.

192. India and Zambia signed 6 MoU for cooperation in the fields of: -

Geology and Mineral Resources Defence Arts and Culture

Foreign Service Institute of India and e-VBAB (e-education) Election Commission of
Zambian Institute of Diplomacy & Network Project Indian & Zambia signed
International Studies signed MoU MoU

193. 1st World Youth Conference on Kindness has been organized by UNESCO’s
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development
(MGIEP) in New Delhi.
 Theme: - ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Gandhi for the Contemporary World-
Celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’.
 Total 27 countries participated in it. It aimed to inspire youth to contribute towards
Sustainable Development Goals.
 10th edition of UNESCO MGIEP’s publication ‘The Blue Dot’ was also launched.

194. Common Service Centre (CSC) e-Governance Services India Ltd. has signed an MoU
with Ministry of Panchayati Raj to digitalize all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in India.
 Aim: - To provide easy access to government services and social schemes in rural
areas and promote rural BPO (business processing outsourcing).

195. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Nepal’s Department of
Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) have signed an MoU for improving on
food safety and standards.
 India has given Rs 153 crore (2.45 billion Nepali Rupees) for building houses in
Nuwakot and Gorkha districts during the 5th Indo-Nepal Joint Commission
conference in Kathmandu.
 38

 India also gave Rs 80.71 crore (out of the Rs 500 crore commitment) for building
roads in Nepal.

196. India-USA bilateral 2+2 Intersessional meeting 2019 was held in Monterey,
California.

197. Akshaya Patra Foundation has partnered with Bharti AXA Life Insurance to achieve
its target of feeding 5 million children by 2025 through its mid-day meal program.
 Currently, it feeds 1.76 million children per day in 12 states.

198. From India, Statue of Unity (Gujarat) and Soho House (Mumbai) have been included
in the TIME Magazine’s “World 100 Greatest Places” 2019 list.

199. Ministry of Women and Child Development has set a target to reach out to 44 crore
people in a month-long Poshan Abhiyaan.
[Details of the scheme is covered in Govt. Scheme 2018 PDF]

200. Ministry of New & Renewable Energy has classified ‘ocean energy’ (including all its
forms) as renewable energy.
 Now, State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERC) will have to purchase ocean
energy among other sources under the non-solar renewable purchase obligations
(RPO).
 RPO mandates SERC to purchase a certain percentage of power from renewable
energy sources.

201. Punjab government and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have
signed a Memorandum of Agreement for implementing Sustainable Development
Goals.
 Under it, a Sustainable Development Goals Coordination Centre (SDGCC) will also
be set up in Planning Department in Chandigarh.

202. Ministry of Textiles has launched ‘Project SU.RE (Sustainable Resolution)’ to

promote sustainable fashion in order to protect and promote clean environment.
 Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), United Nations in India, and
IMG Reliance are the participants in this project.

203. Ministry of MSMEs will launch Bharatcraft portal (an indigenous version of e-
commerce marketing platform) to boost the marketing and sales of MSMEs.
 Also, MSME Ministry has set a target to increase the contribution of MSMEs in the
manufacturing sector to 50% against the present level of 29% in the next 5 years.
 MSMEs contribute 40% towards the total exports.

204. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has decided to
waive off the lease rent of Rs 30,000 per Mega Watt (MW) for wind power projects.
 39

 It will provide clean energy at cheaper rates.

205. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has amended “Cigarettes and other Tobacco
Products (Packaging and Labeling) Second Amendment Rules, 2008” rules to issue new
set of pictorial warning on tobacco packets.
 A new helpline- QUIT LINE CALL 1800-11-2356- will be provided on the packet.
 As per 2nd Global Adult Tobacco Survey (2016-17), 61.9% of cigarette smokers,
53.8% of bidi smokers and 46.2% of smokeless tobacco consumers thought about
quitting in the age group of 15 years because of warning label on packets.

206. NITI Aayog, in association with Ministry of Jal Shakti and Ministry of Rural
Development, released the 2nd edition of “Composite Water Management Index
2019” (measuring performance for 2017-18 against the base year of 2016-17), ranks
Gujarat at the top position in water management.
 9 parameters were used to assess 25 states (excluding J&K, Manipur, Mizoram and
West Bengal) and 2 UTs (Delhi & Puducherry).
 It divides states in 3 categories: Himalayan (topped by Himachal Pradesh followed
by Uttarakhand), Non-Himalayan (top- Gujarat followed by Andhra Pradesh) and
UTs- topped by Puducherry.
 Incremental Performance: - Uttarakhand improved the most and was ranked at top
in Himalayan category while Haryana topped in Non-Himalayan category.
 Jharkhand (34), Bihar (38), and Uttar Pradesh (39) are the low performing states.

207. National Food Laboratory under the FSSAI’s control (in a PPP model- a first of its
kind approach in food lab sector) has been established in Ghaziabad, UP.
 The lab also has two training centres- Food Safety Solution Centre and Centre for
Microbiological Analysis Training.
 In 2016-17, 23.4% samples of food was found adulterated, while 26.4% samples in
2018-19 were adulterated.
 Uttar Pradesh has the highest samples of food adulteration with 45%, followed by
Jharkhand (40%), and Tamil Nadu (37%).
 Almost 23,441 (or 36%) out of the total 65,028 adulterated samples were found in
Uttar Pradesh in three years.
 40

208. Haryana will launch the Mukhya Mantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana to provide financial
benefit of Rs 6,000 p.a. (Rs 500 p.m.) to families with annual income of less than Rs
1,80,000 per annum or a total land holding of less than 2 hectares.
 Life insurance of Rs 2 lakh (given in case of death) would be provided to
beneficiaries between 18 to 50 years at a premium of Rs 330.

209. 4th edition of “Skin and Bones Unresolved: An Analysis of Tiger Seizures from 2000-
2018” report released by TRAFFIC (wildlife trade monitoring network) mentioned that
1,977 tigers were killed between 2000 and 2018 across 32 countries and 382 were
seized live.
Writers of the Report: - Ramacandra Wong India (with 2,967 tigers or 75.09% of the
and Kanitha Krishnasamy. estimated global population of 3,951) has
the highest number of poached tigers with
626 (26.5%) and 463 seizure cases.
Deaths happened in a total of 1,142 An average rate 60 seizures were recorded
seizure incidents, with 95.1% (1,086 annually, accounting for almost 124 tigers
incidents) were recorded in 13 Asian tiger- seized each year.
range countries, accounting for a minimum
of 2,241 seizures.
 41

210. A study conducted by National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)
shows that more than 22,000 children were employed as child labourers in mica mining
areas of Jharkhand and Bihar (highest mica mining states of India along with Rajasthan
and Andhra Pradesh).
 A total 4,545 children in the age group of 6-14 have left education.

211. India has granted $4.2-million for the development of Shri Krishna Temple in
Bahrain during PM Modi’s visit to Bahrain.
 PM Modi (first Indian PM to visit Bahrain) has been awarded with ‘King Hamad
Order of the Renaissance’.

212. Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has formed ‘Advisory Board for Banking
Frauds’ (ABBF), chaired by T.M. Bhasin, to examine bank fraud of over ₹50 crore and
recommend action.
 Banks would refer fraud cases above ₹50 crore to the ABBF and on its
recommendation, the bank would take further action in such matter.
 ABBF, earlier called as Advisory Board on Bank, Commercial and Financial Frauds,
examine cases which involves General Manager level officers and above in the PSB.

213. According to the IMF’s “Annual Observance Report of the Special Data
Dissemination Standard for 2018”, India has failed to comply with multiple
requirements of Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS) (a mandatory practice for
all IMF members) for the year 2018.
 As per the report, India has not maintained timely data for 2018. The last National
Crime Records Bureau data was released in 2016 and accident statistics was in 2015.
 42

 India defaulted in three categories: - First: delays in data dissemination, Second:

India did not list a data category in Advance Release Calendars despite being
mandated by SDDS. Third: Absence of data dissemination during a particular period.
 India has exceeded 100 day timeline for data dissemination in multiple cases, in
comparison to BRICS nations.
SDDS initiative (launched in 1996) aims to guide members to enhance data transparency
to assess economic situations of individual countries. India joined it in 1996.

214. Indian Air Force plans to replace the current 116 Jaguars with 80 jets (with more
powerful Honeywell F-125IN engines). The phase out plan will start from 2023.
 First Jaguar with DARIN-III upgrades (done by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.) has
completed corporate flying last week.
 Jaguars will get the first wing-launched short-range air-to-air missile (ASRAAM) of
European missile-maker MBDA.

215. IIT-Delhi and DESMI (Denmark company) have partnered to setup ‘DESMI Centre of
Excellence on Waste to Wealth’ at IIT Delhi.
 Purpose: - To clean water bodies in the city.
216. United States Coast Guard (USCG) ship Stratton has arrived at Chennai port as a
part of a goodwill visit to take part in the Indo-USCG joint exercise off the Chennai port.
 From Indian side, ICG Shaurya and ICG Abheek ships and Chetak helicopter took
part in the exercise.

217. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has inaugurated the ‘National
Centre for Avian Ecotoxicology’ at Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History
(SACON) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.
 Aim: - To study the impact of environment contamination on birds.

218. PM Narendra Modi has declared to observe September 2019 as the Poshan Abhiyan
month.
 In 2018, Gujarat had launched PURNA project (Prevention of under Nutrition and
Reduction of Nutritional Anaemia among Adolescent Girls) to eliminate malnutrition
among girls in between 14 to 18 years.

219. India and UAE discussed ways to strengthen the commitment of $75 billion
investment in India by UAE.
 UAE is the 3rd largest trade partner of India with approx. $60 billion worth of
bilateral trade.
 43

 UAE is also the 4th largest exporter of crude oil to India.

220. A research paper prepared by over 20 scientists across the world would help in
understanding Clouded Leopards’ Habitat and Migration Corridors And Laid Out
Conservation Strategies.
 From India, Dampa tiger reserve- Mizoram was chosen for survey which shows that
highest population of clouded leopards was found in this reserve.
 In Dampa, forest cover has been reduced by 35% and clouded leopard detection fell
by 25%.
 India has added clouded leopard in the Recovery Program For Critically Endangered
Species in 2018.

221. Maharashtra has inserted the ‘son of the soil’ clause into its new industrial policy to
reserve 80% of jobs for the local youth.
 The state plans to increase investment in MSMEs to Rs 10 lakh crore and increase
jobs up to 40 lakhs by 2023-24.

222. Amazon has partnered with Director General of Resettlement and Army Welfare
Placement Organization to provide jobs to the army personnel and their families across
its centres.

223. National AIDS Control Organisation (under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare),
and Department of Social Justice and Empowerment (under Ministry of Social Justice &
Empowerment) have signed an MoU for enhance the outreach in AIDS and drug
addiction.

224. Banjari village in the Katni district of Madhya Pradesh has become the first village to
be integrated in the Digital India mission.
 Digital India program aims to create 1,000 digital villages across the country in this
phase.
 Digital India program was launched in 2014 under Ministry of Electronics and IT to
transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

225. 4th edition of the ‘IoT India Congress 2019’ two-day event (organized by Institution
of Engineering and Technology) was held in Bangalore under the theme of
'Mainstreaming the Internet of Things'.
 The IoT India Congress is the platform of platforms for the Internet of Things.
 44

 Aruna Sundararajan, Arvind Tiwary, and Dr. Dhananjaya Dendukuri were awarded
with the ‘Thought Leadership Awards’ for their excellence and leadership in the IoT.

226. India and France will jointly develop and operate World’s first space-based
automatic identification system (AIS) satellites to track merchant ships on a real-time
basis in the Indian Ocean.
 France’s Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) and ISRO signed agreement to
develop a constellation of satellites.

227. Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defence (CHOD) Conference 2019 will be held in Bangkok,
Thailand under the theme of “Collaboration in a free and Open Indo – Pacific”.
 Indian Air Force Chief ACM BS Dhanoa will represent India.

228. Astra Rafael Communication System - India’s first private sector firm to
manufacture software defined radios in multiple variants has been established at
Hyderabad, Telangana.
 India-Israel partnered to establish it.

229. According to Census 2011, census towns in India have increased from 1,362 in 2001
to 3,894 in 2011.
 Census towns are the areas which have not been defined as towns by state govt. but
have urban characteristics such as a minimum population of 5,000 (with 75% of men
in working population) and a population density of 400 persons per sq. km.

230. The high-level committee on implementation of Assam Accord has sought public
comments on the implementation of clause 6 of Assam Accord.
 The committee was formed in Jan 2019 and headed by M.P. Bezbarauah, but
recently it has been reconstituted and Biraj Kumar Sarma has been appointed as the
new head of the committee.
 Clause 6 of Assam Accord: - It grants “Assamese people” the “constitutional,
legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate” to “protect,
preserve and promote the cultural, social, linguistic identity and heritage.”

231. World Vision India (NGO) and IFMR LEAD have jointly released the ‘Child Well-Being
Index 2019’, which mentions Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh at the top 3
positions respectively.
 Madhya Pradesh is the worst-performing state followed by Meghalaya and
Jharkhand.
 45

 24 indicators in 3 dimension were considered: - healthy individual development,

positive relationships and protective contexts.

232. The committee, headed by Balram Bhargava (director-general of Indian Council of

Medical Research), has denied to create a new category for ‘drug-eluting stents’ (DES)
and mandated to control the prices of stents in India.
 National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has started controlling the prices of DES
in 2017 after classifying it as Schedule 1 drugs (in 2016).
 The new category would allow stent makers to avoid price ceiling.

233. Ministry of Environment has maintained that India will restore 5 million hectare of
its degraded land by 2030.
 In 2011-2013, India had a land degradation area of 29.3% (or 96.4 million hectares)
of the total land area.

234. Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has developed a National

Digital Library under its National Mission on Education through Information and
Communication Technology (NMEICT).
 NMEICT was launched in 2009 by MHRD to enhance teaching and learning process
through ICT.
 National Digital Library has been integrated with UMANG App.

235. India and France signed MoU for cooperation in the field of: -
Skill Development and Vocational Training. ISRO and CNES (France) for developing a
‘Joint Maritime Domain Awareness’ to
detect and tackle threats in the sea.
Centre for Development of Advanced Ministry of Economy and Finance (France)
Computing (C-DAC India) and ATOS and Ministry of Electronics and
(French MNC) to work on AI- advancement. Information Technology (India) will be
 46

They are current working on National nodal agencies for implementation of Indo-
Supercomputing Mission (launched in French digital partnership.
2015).

236. PM Modi has launched Rupay Card in UAE (earlier was launched in Bhutan and
Singapore).
 PM Modi launched the commemorative postage stamps in UAE on Mahatma
Gandhi on his 150th anniversary.
 PM Modi, in his Bahrain visit, signed MoU in the fields of culture, space, solar
energy and RuPay card.

237. Boeing (USA) has delivered its 11th C-17 Globemaster III Transport Aircraft to
Indian Air Force to increase the efficiency in airlift requirements.

238. Tamil Nadu has launched the 24 hour TV channel- Kalvi Tholaikkatchi (covering the
syllabi from 1st to 12th standard) for school students in Chennai.
 40 Amma Police (specific police unit for women and girl child safety) vehicles were
also flagged off.

239. Ministry of Tourism has launched the integrated No Objection Certificate (NOC)
Online Application Processing System to grant permission to National Monuments
Authority for construction around the protected monuments in six states.
 6 states: - Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Jharkhand and
Telangana.
 The portal has been designed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) portal and has
been integrated with ISRO’s ‘Smarac’ mobile app.
240. Union Cabinet has approved the International Coalition for Disaster Resilient
Infrastructure (CDRI) to be presented at UN Climate Summit 2019 to be held in New
York.
 India has pledged Rs 480 crore to CDRI for technical and research projects, setting
up secretariat and funding recurring expenses of CDRI for the next 5 years.
 Coalition’s secretariat will be set up in New Delhi. It aims to help countries to
enhance their infrastructure abilities as per their vulnerability and disaster risk.

241. India, has become the world’s first country to issue a Biometric Seafarer Identity
Document (BSID), developed in collaboration with Centre for Development of
Advanced Computing (CDAC), to boost employment in the coastal shipping sector.
 The total number of Indian seafarers (employed on Indian or foreign flag vessels)
has increased by 35% from 2017 to 2019.
 BSID will help in identifying Indian seafarers from any location in the world (with
embedded chips in them) and thus increase their employment.
 BSID is in confirmation of the Convention No. 185 of International Labour
Organisation on BSID (India ratified the Convention in 2015).
 47

242. Microsoft India has launched the first-of-its-kind in India, “Digital Governance Tech
Tour” to guide and train the government’s IT officials about the high-tech skills.
 Microsoft will train 5,000 govt. employees with 12 months.

243. Union Cabinet has approved Rs 24,375 crore for establishing 75 new medical
colleges in unserved areas by 2021-22 as part of the Phase-3 of an ongoing centrally
sponsored scheme.
 58 new medical colleges were approved under Phase-I, and 18 were approved
under Phase-II.

244. Iran is planning to end the preferential trade agreement with India, which allowed
both countries to eliminate tariffs on each other’s imports, by the end of 2019.
 India and Iran are also planning to engage in a barter trade system to avoid threat of
US sanctions.

245. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has signed an MoU with Indian Navy for
handing over the charge of Cyclone Detection Radar (CDR) building in Kochi to the Navy.
 Indian Navy will utilise CDR building for meteorological purposes.

246. 12th India Security Summit, organized by Associated Chambers of Commerce and
Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), was held in New Delhi.
 Theme: - “Towards New National Cyber Security Strategy”.

247. Ministry for Chemicals and Fertilizers has launched “Janaushadhi Sugam” mobile
app to help people in locating Janaushadhi generic medicines and stores easily.
 “Jan Aushadhi Suvidha Oxo-Biodegradable Sanitary Napkin” (launched in 2018) will
now be available at only Rs 1 per pad instead of earlier price of Rs 2.5.

248. Three new committees have been formed to carve out modalities for converting the
state of J&K into a Union Territory.
 First Committee: - Headed by K K Sharma, this 12-member committee will look into
the administrative procedures.
 48

 Second Committee: - Headed by Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, this 5-member committee

will take care of financial matters.
 Third Committee: - Headed by Shaleen Kabra, this 6-member committee will look
into the staff requirement for UT of J&K and Ladakh.

249. Eastern Economic Forum (to be held in Sept): Russia plans to offer conventional
submarines to India on a govt-to govt basis under the “Project 75I”.
 It is also a possibility that Russia will offer Su-57 (Russian Fifth Generation Fighter
Aircraft (FGFA) to India.
 Project 75I was approved in Jan 2019 by Ministry of Defence to develop six
conventional submarines for Indian Navy under ‘Make in India’.
 Russia is also building 200 Ka-226T Utility helicopters for Indian Army and Air Force.

250. Delhi government has launched the ‘Jai Bhim Mukhya Mantri Pratibha Vikas
Yojana’ in 2018 to provide the free entrance coaching to the students of SC families
with annual income to less than Rs 6 lakh.
 The govt is planning to extend the benefits of the scheme to OBCs and EWS students
as well.

251. Maharashtra cabinet has approved the Nar-Par-Tapi water inter-linking

multipurpose project to provide 52 TMCft of water to Marathwada and northern
regions of Maharashtra.
 Par-Tapi-Narmada river interlinking project aims at diverting "surplus" water from
west flowing rivers like Par, Nar, Ambika and Auranga basins to eastern
Maharashtra.
 Maharashtra has signed an MoU with Israel for technical support for building the
Marathwada Water grid project to fulfil water need of Marathwada region
(comprising 8 districts).
 Maharashtra has also approved the Rs 100 crore for ‘Chul Mukt, Dhur Mukt’
(Smoke-free campaign) scheme to provide LPG connections to 41 lakh families by
March 2020.
 49

252. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has provided Rs 47,436 crore
to 27 states for afforestation, to be utilized as per the provision of Compensatory
Afforestation Fund (CAF) Act, 2016.
 CAF is a compensatory fund raised from industrialists who destroy the forests.
 54,000 crore has been received from industrialists in past decade.

253. Tamil Nadu has received the GI Tag for Dindigul lock and Kandangi Saree.

254. Union Cabinet of India has approved the signing of the MoU with Peru for
cooperation in the field of medicinal plants.
255. Madhya Pradesh has become the number one state in Jal Shakti Abhiyan for
conserving the water.
 An app has also been launched by the Municipal Corporation of MP to install a total
of 50,000 water harvesting systems in Indore.

256. India’s Foreign minister S Jaishankar has visited Hungary, Russia and Poland.

257. Ministry of HRD has launched the 'Shagun' app which is an online integrated
junction of various education portals to bring transparency in education system.
 The app has a feedback procedure structured for parents and all the details about
the education system in the country as well as detailed information about schools.

258. Odisha will extend the benefit of MAMATA scheme to all pregnant women of
Particularly vulnerable Tribal group (PVTG) for another 5 years.
 Mamata, launched in 2011, is a conditional cash transfer maternity benefit scheme
to reduce infant and maternity mortality rate by improving their health and
nutrition.

259. For the first time, Peacock Parachute Spider has been located outside its habitat
(Eastern Ghats) at the Pakkamalai Reserve Forests in Tamil Nadu.
 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has categorised it as
Critically Endangered.

260. National Green Tribunal committee headed by Justice S P Garg has recommended
to give Unique Identification Numbers to water bodies in Delhi after mapping them on
GPS to conserve them.

261. According to Census 2011, inter-district migration, in pursuit of education, has

increased by 62% to 5.45 million in 2011 as compared to 3.36 million in 2001.
 50

 More than 1,00,000 people migrated to only 2 districts of Bengaluru and Pune.
 4 districts of Andhra Pradesh alone, had witnessed 70,000-75,000 migrants each for
educational purposes.
 Of the 62% migrated for education to urban areas, about 1/2 of them moved from
rural areas. Another 31% moved from one rural area to another and 7% went from
urban to rural areas.
 62% of female migrated before the age of 19 as against 54% of males.

262. According to the Safe Cities Index 2019, released by Economist Intelligence Unit,
Mumbai ranks at 45th position while Delhi is at 52nd.
 Tokyo is the safest city while Lagos (Nigeria) is the most unsafe city in the world.
 Parameters: Urban Safety Indicators such as digital, health, infra and personal
security.
 India and China’s populations are expected to increase by 1.4% over the next
decade.

263. Arunachal Pradesh has the highest (about 60%) of India’s total potential in
harnessing hypropower.
 Presently, India has an installed capacity of 360.456 GW out of which 13% or 45.4
GW is hydropower.

264. Uttarakhand has decided to form a Special Tiger Force (having 85 posts) for Corbett
Tiger Reserve.
 51

 Three-tier protection to tigers at reserves include: 1st layer protection by beat level
forest guards through regular patrols; 2nd layer protection by Special tiger force;
3rd layer protection includes intelligence-gathering mechanisms.

265. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched Angikaar Campaign to bring all
the PMAY (U) beneficiaries under the Ayushmaan Bharat and Ujjawala Schemes.
 Ministry has approved 88 lakh houses against the demand of 1.12 crore.
 Ministry also launched the e-course on vulnerability atlas, in collaboration with
School of Planning & Architecture and Building Materials & Technology Promotion
Council, to raise awareness about the natural hazards.

266. Central TB Division of Ministry of Health has signed an MoU with Wadhwani
Institute for Artificial Intelligence to explore high-tech ways to combat tuberculosis
(TB).
 According to the WHO data, India records nearly 27 lakh TB cases every year and
4.23 lakh people die because of TB.

267. India’s first automated battery charging and swapping station for e-buses has been
inaugurated in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
 India’s first electric vehicle charging station was launched in Nagpur by Ola and
Indian Oil Corporation in 2017.

268. Maharashtra has approved International Standard Zoo and Biopark on forest land
at Gorewada in Nagpur.
 The state has also approved to form a Special Purpose Vehicle of Forest
Development Corporation of Maharashtra and a Joint Venture Company of private
investors under PPP mode of financing, with 51% government stake.
 52

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) Best Student Cities Ranking 2019, ranks London as the
world’s best city for students for the 2nd consecutive year followed by Tokyo and
Melbourne.
 Bengaluru (global rank- 81) is India’s best student city, followed by Mumbai (global
rank- 85), out of a total of 120 cities.

2. China and USA have jointly developed a computer model to accurately predict air
pollution levels in India.
 Function: - government will get help in forecasting aerosol pollution conditions in
winter and prepare action plan to control pollution.
 The study was published in the journal Science Advances.
 Over 1.2 million people died in India due to air pollution in 2017, according to State
of Global Air 2019 Report.

3. Nigeria has become the 4th country which joined the Global Coalition Group of the
Willing on Pollinators to protect pollinators.
 Currently, there are 28 signatories in this group.
 The pollination services annual market value is estimated at $235 billion to $577
billion worldwide.

4. 10th Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Ministerial Meeting was held in Bangkok,
Thailand.

5. 8th Interregional Ministerial Meeting of Regional Comprehensive Economic

Partnership (RCEP) 2019 was held in Beijing, China.

6. Netherlands has banned Burqa, niqab, motor helmets and ski masks at public places.
 France was the first European country which banned wearing of a full-face veil in
public places in April 2011.

7. Franky Zapata (from France) has become the first person to cross the English Channel
on his Flyboard Air, a jet-powered hoverboard.
 The English Channel is the body of water that links the southern part of the North
Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and separates Southern England from Northern France.
 53

8. United Kingdom and USA have formed a collision- “International Maritime Security
Mission” to protect ships in the Strait of Hormuz (from Iran’s “piracy attacks”).
 No other nation has been included in this mission yet.

9. 34th Asian Summit was held in Bangkok, Thailand under the theme of – Advancing
Partnership For Sustainability.
 The 2019 presidency of ASEAN is with Thailand.
 Conclusion: - It was decided to set up ASEAN-Japan Cybersecuriy Capacity-Building
Centre (AJCCBC) in Thailand among other things.
 ASEAN Summit is a biannual meeting held twice in a year, and next summit will also
be held in Thailand.
 26th Asean Regional Forum was also held in Bangkok, Thailand.

10. World Resources Institute's “Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas” shows that nearly a quarter
of world's population in 17 countries are facing extremely high water stress, bordering
on the condition of taps running dry.

Top 17 Highly Water Stressed Countries (Rank-Wise)

1. Qatar 2. Israel 3. Lebanon 4. Iran
5. Jordan 6. Libya 7. Kuwait 8. Saudi Arabia
9. Eritrea 10. UAE 11. San Marino 12. Bahrain
13. India 14. Pakistan 15. Turkmenistan 16. Oman and 17.
Botswana

11. Iran has disclosed three precision-guided missiles Yasin, Balaban and a new series of
Ghaem in Tehran.
 54

 Yasin is a smart, guided missile with folding wings, Balaban is guided by GPS and
sensors and Ghaem is a heat-seeking missile.

12. Bill Gates ($105 Billion net worth) has become the 2nd richest person in the world again
in the Bloomberg Billionaire Index 2019.
 Earlier, Bernard Arnault had been named as the 2nd richest person.

13. China has been designted as a ‘currency manipulator’ by USA.

 Reason: - China has allowed its currency (yuan) to fall below the level of 7 per US
dollar and Chinese firms have also stopped buying US’s farm produce.
 Currency Manipulator refers to a country which interferes in the international
market to manipulate the currency rate.

14. Bangladesh has signed a deal with Russia to supply of uranium for its 2400 MW
Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant during the entire life cycle of the nuclear plant.
 They have signed 'spent fuel sent back’ agreement in 2017 for management of the
nuclear waste of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.

15. USA has withdrawn from its Intermediate- Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INFT) with
Russia alleging non-compliance of Russia.
 INFT (formally known as Treaty Between USA and USSR on Elimination of Their
Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles) was an arms control treaty signed
in 1987 to ban land-based ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and missile launchers.

16. USA has added $4.4 billion import duty on wooden Chinese cabinets.
 US’s commerce department would collect cash deposits from importers of the
wooden cabinets and vanities from China, based on 229% subsidy rates.

17. According to a UN’s Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report- titled
as special report on ‘Climate Change and Land’, global warming can be reduced below 2
degree Celsius level by 2100 only by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.
 The report suggests that dietary changes can reduce land degradation and GHG gas
to 8 billion tonnes by 2050.
 The land surface air temperature has increased by 1.53º Celsius. Globally, total 37%
of the GHG is contributed by food sector.
 Wheat production has been reduced by 5.2% due to global warming.

18. UK-based University of Leeds, has created the world’s thinnest gold named as
“nanoseaweed” which is 0.47 nanometres – almost 1 million times thinner than finger
nail of human.
 The study has been published in the journal Advanced Science.

19. Papua New Guinea (island nation) has the maximum number of living languages- 840
presently, according to Ethnologue (total 7,111 are living languages in the world).
 55

Some Other Facts:

Indonesia (with 710) is 2nd and Nigeria is There are 2,895 endangered languages.
3rd with 524 living languages. India is
ranked at 4th position with 453 living
languages.
Asia has the highest number of indigenous According to UNESCO’s ‘Atlas of the
languages at 2303 followed by Africa at World’s Languages in Danger’, 228
2140. languages have so far become extinct.

20. All SCO members will jointly participate in the military exercise “Tsentr (centre) 2019”
under the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Orenburg, Russia (in Sept).
 The exercise was decided in the 34th SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure council
held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan earlier this year.
 Iran, Mongolia, Turkmenistan, and Belarus are the special invitees in the exercise.
 SCO members: -
China India Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan
Pakistan Russia Tajikistan Uzbekistan

21. A communication satellite of Israel - AMOS-17 (built by Boeing) has been launched on
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as a replacement Amos-5 satellite.

22. Kajin Sara lake (also locally known as Singar) has been recently discovered in Manang
district of Nepal.
 It is likely to set a new record by becoming the world’s highest lake at an altitude of
5,200 meters (1,500-metre-long and 600-metre-wide). [Official measurement are
yet to be announced].
 Currently, Tilicho Lake is the highest lake in the world at an altitude of 4,919 metres
in Nepal.

23. A study published in the journal Global Change Biology mentions that 88% of the 126
freshwater species are on the verge of extinction.
 The study assessed the species in 72 countries.
 Extinct Species: - Yangtze dolphin.
 Population of Mekong giant catfish in Mekong river (home of world’s largest catfish
in southeast Asia), stingray, gharial crocodiles in India, European sturgeon fell by
97% since 1970 across Europe, North Africa and Asia.
 56

24. Jyske Bank (Denmark) has launched the world’s first home loan with negative interest
rate at (-) 0.5% per year for a period of 10 years.
 Mechanism: - The borrowers will repay the loan on a monthly basis but the
outstanding amount will be reduced each month by more than the amount paid by
borrower.

25. Regional Cooperation for Economic Partnership’s intersessional meeting will take place
in Indonesia.

26. “Below the Canopy: Plotting Global Trends in Forest Wildlife Populations” the first-
ever global assessment of forest biodiversity released by World Wide Fund for Nature in
association with Zoological Society of London and UN Environment World Conservation
Monitoring Centre shows that: -
 Globally, forest wildlife population has declined on average by 53% since 1970 due
to habitat loss, degradation, over-exploitation and Climate change.
 The report includes data of 268 species (455 populations) based on the Living Planet
Index methodology.
 Major decline is among mammals, reptiles, and amphibians (particularly from the
tropical forests).

27. 28th session of BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, and China) Ministerial meeting 2019
on Climate Change has been concluded in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
 25th edition of Conference of Parties of United Nations Framework for Climate
Change (UNFCC) will take place in Santiago, Chile in December 2019.
 BASIC ministers urged developed countries to fulfil their commitment of helping
developing nations by providing financial aid of $100 billion annually by 2020, over
and above their 0.7% of Gross national product commitment with respect to Official
Development Assistance.
Additional Facts
BASIC was formed in 2009 to act jointly at China will host the 29th BASIC Ministerial
Copenhagen climate summit 2009. Meeting in 2020.

28. 5th BRICS Minister of Environment Meeting was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
 Partnership on Urban Environmental Sustainability Initiative (among BRICS) for
sharing knowledge & experience on major issues such as waste management,
sanitation, air quality, green cover etc. was discussed.
 Discussion were also held about BRICS Environmentally Sound Technology (BEST)
Cooperation Platform.

29. US based Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given approval to Pretomanid (a new
drug) for treating extensively drug resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB).
 It is used in combination with bedaquiline and linezolid called as BPaL regimen.
 57

 As per WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2018, approx. 4.5 lakh people across the
world have multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB) and nearly 37,500 people have XDR-TB.
 India has 24% of MDR-TB cases in the world.

30. USA has put the Chinese nuclear power company (a major state-owned company) and
three of its subsidiaries on its export blacklist i.e., “entity list”.
 Reason: - Accusations of stealing US technology for military use.

31. Okjokull glacier (Iceland) has completely lost its status as a glacier due to climate
change.
 July 2019 was the hottest month.

32. NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission took first high-resolution

measurements of an interplanetary shock made by particles and electromagnetic waves
launched by Sun.
 MMS mission was launched in 2015 to study Earth’s magnetosphere.

33. USA has agreed to sell 66 Lockheed Martin-built F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan for $8
billion.
34. USA startup Cerebras Systems has developed World’s largest processor with 1.2 trillion
transistors called Cerebras Wafer Scale Engine.
 The chip has a memory of 18 GB and is 56 times larger than Nvidia GPU.

35. Russia has sent its first humanoid robot named as Fedor/Skybot F850 on International
Space Station (ISS) to assist astronauts.

36. According to the “Quality Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis” report released by
World Bank, water pollution can affect a total of 1/3rd of potential economic growth in
heavily water polluted areas.
 Nitrates increases childhood stunting by up to 19%.
 Enough food to feed 170 million people is lost to saline water indicating a possible
dearth of food in near future.
 When Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) passes a certain threshold, GDP growth in
downstream regions is lowered by 1/3rd.
 58

 In middle-income countries – where BOD is a growing problem - GDP growth

downstream in highly polluted areas drops by 1/2.

37. NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission to study Jupiter’s smallest moon Europa in-depth is
expected to be launched by 2023.

38. SAARC’s foreign ministers informal meeting is expected to be held in Nepal in

September 2019 on the sidelines of 74th UN General Assembly (UNGA) session.
 20th SAARC Summit will be held in 2020 (venue not confirmed).
 19th SAARC summit was scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan in 2016 (which was not
conducted due to political reasons).

39. Asia-Pacific Group (APG) has put Pakistan in its “enhanced expedited follow-up list” (or
blacklist) for terror-financing and money laundering.
 APG on Money Laundering is the FATF-style autonomous regional body founded in
1997 in Bangkok, Thailand.

40. Iran has developed “Bavar-373” (its new indigenous air missile defence system).
 Bavar-373 is a long-range road-mobile surface-to-air missile system unveiled in 2016.

41. ‘Euromoney’ has named DBS bank as the ‘World’s Best Bank’ in its 2019 Awards for
Excellence.
 DBS has also been named as Asia’s Best Bank and Singapore’s Best Bank in 2019
Awards for Excellence.

42. 4th United States-India Maritime Security Dialogue was held in California, USA.

43. Serbia has become the 73rd official non-regional member of Asian Infrastructure
Investment Bank (AIIB).

44. Indonesia has decided to shift its capital city from Jakarta to Borneo Islands.
 Reason: - Over-burden on the city and concerns that by 2050, 1/3rd of it would be
submerged.

45. Pakistan and China have started the 8th edition of their joint military exercise- Shaheen
VIII in Holton, China.
 59

46. CITES- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species on Wild Fauna and
Flora- 71st and 72nd meeting of standing committee and 18th Conference of Parties
meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland.
 CITES lists plants and animals in 3 appendices based on the degree of protection
needed by them.
Flora and Fauna has been transferred among appendices: -
Animal Previous Appendix New Appendix
Star tortoises, smooth-coated Appendix II Appendix I
otter and small-clawed otters
(moved on India’s proposal)
Mulanje cedar (Malawi’s - Appendix II
national tree), and mukula tree
(a type of rosewood) of
southern and eastern Africa
Shortfin and longfin mako - Appendix II
sharks.
Giraffes (declared as - -
‘Endangered’) – population fell
by 40% in 30 years.

 Here, Vivek Menon was also awarded with Clark R Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement
Award 2019 for his contribution towards protecting wildlife.

47. 2nd High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation (UNSSC), or

BAPA+40 was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
 Purpose: - to carve out a way for achieving sustainable development goals 2030.
 UNSSC or BAPA+40 refers to the technical cooperation among developing countries
in the Global South.
 South-South cooperation, came into existence after the adoption of the ‘Buenos
Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation
among Developing Countries’ (BAPA) by 138 UN Member States in Argentina, in
1978.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

1. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) mentioned that India
received the highest-ever Foreign Direct Investment inflow of $64.37 billion in 2018-19.
 FDI inflow was $60.98 billion in 2017-18.

2. ICRA has reduced the term loan rating of Coffee Day Enterprises Ltd. (CDEL) under
‘rating watch with negative implications’.
 60

3. According to Controller General of Accounts (CGA) data, the fiscal deficit has increased
to 61.4% at ₹4.32 lakh crore of the Budget Estimate for 2019-20 at the end of June
quarter.
 The estimated the fiscal deficit was ₹7.03 lakh crore during 2019-20.
 Fiscal deficit was 68.7% of the 2018-19 Budget Estimate in 2018.

4. Ministry of Commerce and Industry released the Index of Industrial Production (IIP),
which rose by 0.2%, higher than June, 2018.
 IIPs include 8 Core Industries which constitutes 40.27% of the index.
 The combined Index of Eight Core Industries was at 131.4 in June, 2019, which was
0.2% higher than June, 2018.
 Its cumulative growth during April to June, 2019-20 was 3.5 per cent.
Core Sector Growth in % (from 2018) Cumulative Index (from April
to June 2019)- (‘-‘ indicates
decline)
Coal production 3.2% 2.7%
Crude Oil production - 6.8% - 6.8%
Natural Gas production - 2.1% 0.9%
Petroleum Refinery production - 9.3% -2.4%
Fertilizers production 1.5% -1.1%
Steel production 6.9% 13.7%
Cement production -1.5% 1.2%
Electricity generation 7.3% 6.9%

5. Crisil has reduced the GDP forecast for India to 6.9% for 2019-20 from earlier forecast
of 7.1%.
 Reason: - weak monsoon, slow global growth and low high-frequency data for the
first quarter.
 Corporate sector growth is expected to slow to 8% in 2019-20.
 NPAs are expected to reduce to about 8% in 2019-20 while Credit growth is
expected to recover to 14%, the highest in five years.

6. According to World Gold Council (WGC), demand for gold has risen 8% at 2,181.7
tonnes (a 3-year high growth) globally, in the first half of calendar year-2019.
 Central banks bought 374.1 tonnes in H1 of 2019 (the largest net H1 increase till
now).
 Exchange Traded Funds were at a 6-year high of 2,548 tonnes.
 India’s overall jewellery demand between Apr-Jun 2019 grew by 12% to 168.8
tonnes.
 Gold Supply: - 2,323.9 tonnes in H1 of 2019 (highest level since 2016).

7. Microsoft has acquired data privacy and governance service startup- BlueTalon.
 BlueTalon will be added to the Azure Data Governance group.
 61

8. Ministry of Finance has imposed a definitive ‘anti-dumping duty’ on Purified

Terephthalic Acid (PTA) goods imported from South Korea and Thailand.
 Import duty for all other exporters from South Korea is $78.28 per tonne whereas
for Taekwang Industrial Co Ltd. (South Korean company) it is $23.61 per tonne.
 Import duty for all other exporters from Thailand is $62.55 per tonne whereas for
Indorama Petrochem Ltd and TPT Petrochemicals Public Co Ltd. it is $45.43 per
tonne.
 PTA is a raw material used in making high-performance multi-purpose plastics.

9. Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance company has partnered with MobiKwik for providing
mobile-based group insurance to the customers of MobiKwik.

10. Department of Posts has decided to convert India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) into a
Small Finance Bank (SFB).
 Aim: - To provide seamless micro-credit to individuals and Small and medium-sized
enterprises at their doorstep.
 Postal department has partnered with Common Service Centre (CSC), to provide
services of banking, remittance, insurance, direct benefit transfer, bill and tax
payments etc. at post offices.
 The postal department seeks to open 1 crore accounts for IPPB in 100 days.

11. RBI has allowed the banks to sell their NPAs in manufacturing and infrastructure sector
directly to foreign investors as part of the one-time settlement (OTS) on behalf of the
borrowing company.
 Defaulters are also allowed to raise external commercial borrowing (ECB) to repay
domestic loans in India.
 Companies are also allowed to raise money through ECB to repay their rupee loans
that were raised domestically, and are classified as Special Mention Accounts (SMA-
2).

12. Flipkart has launched ‘Samarth’ initiative to empower Indian artisans, weavers and
craftsmen by bringing them onto the e-commerce.

13. RBI has given permission to Bank of China to operate as a commercial bank in India and
included in the Schedule- II of RBI Act, 1934.
 Jan Small Finance Bank has also been included in the Schedule II of RBI Act, 1934.
 Royal Bank of Scotland has been renamed as “NatWest Markets Plc” in the
Schedule- II.
 National Bank of Australia has been excluded from Schedule II and bank list (under
the Banking Regulation Act, 1949).
 Schedule II of RBI Act, 1934 mentions about the commercial banks of India.
 62

14. National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Ltd. (HCL), and Mineral
Exploration Company Ltd. (MECL) have set up a joint venture – “Khanij Bidesh India Ltd.
(KABIL)”.
 Aim: - To increase mineral availability in India and explore minerals outside India.

15. India is the 7th largest economy (with $2.72 Trillion GDP) in the world in 2018,
according to World Bank.
 In 2017, India was the 6th largest economy with $2.65 Tn GDP size.
 India is still the fastest growing nation and is expected to grow at 7% GDP growth
rate in 2019-20.
Top 6 Economies of The World in 2018
USA $20.5 Tn
China $13.6 Tn
Japan $4.9 Tn
Germany $4.0 Tn
United Kingdom $2.82 Tn
France $2.77 Tn

16. RBI fined Bank of India with Rs 1.5 crore for non-compliance of RBI’s directions in the
case of Rotomac group’s frauds.

17. State Bank of India’s (SBI) Shanghai branch, in china, is the first Indian Bank to get
connected with China’s National Advance Payment System (CNAPS) by People’s Bank
of China (central bank of China).
 It also got licence to operate in local currency in China.
 CNAPS (launched in 2008) allows PBOC to provide real-time settlement services for
all payments cleared in China and in all clearing banks in offshore yuan centres.

18. National Housing Bank (NHB) has invested Rs 10,000 crore recently in Housing Finance
Companies (HFCs) to provide liquidity for individual housing loans.
 Aim: - To smoothen the flow of funds to the housing sector.

19. RBI has restricted NBFCs (both deposits and non-deposit taking) from charging pre-
payment /foreclosure charges from individual borrowers on any floating rate term
loans.
 Foreclosure = Full repayment of the remaining loan amount in one single payment
instead of paying in the monthly instalments.
 Pre-Payment = Repay the loan before the schedule date to avail the benefit of lower
interest rates.
 63

20. Karnataka Bank has partnered with Finwizard Technology Pvt Ltd (also known as
fisdom) - a fintech company- to provide wealth management services to the bank’s
customers.
 The bank will provide services through its ‘KBL Mobile Plus’ application.

21. Reliance Industrial and Investments and Holdings Ltd. has bought 87.6% stake in
Shopsense Retail Technology Pvt Ltd for Rs 295.25 crore.

22. Government has relaxed rules for setting up branches by foreign re-insurers in the
International Financial Services Centre/ India’s financial special economic zone (IFSC).
 The minimum requirement of net owned funds has been reduced to Rs 1,000 crore
from Rs 5,000 crores.

23. Budget 2019: - It allows an additional deduction of up to Rs 1.50 lakh for interest on
loans borrowed up to March 31, 2020 to purchase of the house valued up to Rs 45 lakh.

24. RBI has released the ‘Fit and Proper’ Criteria for Elected Directors on the Boards of
PSBs Directions, 2019 to set up the Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC)
for electing director to the board of Director of Public Sector Banks.
NRC should include 3 non-executive As per the directions, the candidate should
directors (of these non-executive directors, be a graduate at least.
one-half shall be independent directors He/she should be between 35-67 years
and should include at least one member old.
from Risk Management Committee of the
board).
Any nominee director appointed by Impact: - No person with political
government and the director nominated connections will be able get into the PSB
under Section 19(f) of the SBI Act or boards as elected directors.
Section 9(3)(c) of the Banking Companies
(Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings)
Act, 1970/1980 should not be part of the
Committee.

25. Ministry of Consumer Affairs has disclosed the rules of draft e-commerce policy under
which following provisions are mandated: -
The e-tailers (e-retailers) have to refund E-tailers have to disclose all the details
the amount to customers within 14 days of about their suppliers on their website
such request. And make an effective including the terms of contract between
procedure to resolve customer grievances. them and the seller.
Personal data of customers should be Also, sellers need to adhere to Legal
protected under Information Technology Metrology (amendment) rules 2017 for
(Amendment) Act, 2008. pre-packaged commodities.
 64

According to Morgan Stanley’s report released in Feb 2019, the e-commerce sector in
India is estimated to reach $230 billion by 2028, accounting for 10% of India’s retail
market as India is adding one Internet user every 3 seconds.
 The provisions are open for comment till September. After finalization, these
provisions will be added to Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

26. Reliance industries has acquired the startup Fynd (which is a Google funded firm) for Rs
295 crore.

27. RBI has imposed a fine of Rs 1.5 crore on Oriental Bank of Commerce and 50 lakhs on
Punjab National Bank for delay in reporting the frauds of Kingfisher Airlines under the
Banking Regulation Act (BRA), 1949.
 A total of 9 banks (including PNB and OBC) have been fined by RBI for delay in
reporting frauds under the BRA Act.

28. IRDAI has proposed changes in the regulations governing Insurance Marketing Firms
(IMFs) which mandates IMFs to have a net worth Rs 5 lakh to launch operations in one
aspirational district.
 The net worth, in all other cases, would be a minimum of ₹10 lakh.
 An IMF is allowed to register for three districts in a State, with at least one of them
being aspirational district.
 IMFs can also engage with Agriculture Insurance Company of India and Export
Credit Guarantee Corporation in addition to existing norms two life, two general
and two health insurers.

29. According to “Top 100 Retailers in Asia 2019” report released by Euromonitor
International, Walmart Inc is the top retail firm of India in 2018.
 Amazon is India’s second largest retailer of India followed by Future Group at 3rd
position and Reliance Group at 4th position.
 In the Asian region, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is the top retail company, followed
by JD.com Inc, and Japan’s Seven and Seven & I Holdings Co Ltd.
 Total 100 countries were assessed in this report.
 65

30. AustralianSuper (Australia’s largest superannuation fund) and Ontario Teachers’

Pension Plan (Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan) have decided to invest $1
billion each in the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) Master Fund.
 Other investors in this fund: - Government of India, Abu Dhabi Investment
Authority, Temasek, HDFC Group, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance and Axis
Bank.

31. Reliance and UK-based BP have formed a joint venture to set up a retail service station
network and supply commercial aviation turbine fuel to airlines in India.
 Under the JV, 5,500 petrol pumps will be built in India over next 5 years.
 Proposed stake in the joint venture: - Reliance – 51% and BP –49%.

32. National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Singapore Exchange (SGX) have received approval
from their statutory regulators for a joint proposal named as “NSE IFSC- SGX Connect”.
 Under the joint proposal, both the exchanges can now operate jointly in Gujarat
International Finance Tec (GIFT) City under the proposed programme ‘connect’.
 Implication: -Nifty index, which is trading on SGX in Singapore, will be traded on a
joint platform of the NSE and the SGX in GIFT City.

33. Mastercard has launched “Identity Check Express”- mobile-first authentication solution
to increase security of transactions in online shopping.
 Global Mastercard Cybersecurity Summit 2019 was held for the first time in India
(New Delhi) where this new card payment feature was unveiled.
 The service will be provided for an amount less than Rs 2,000.

34. According to RBI’s data, the retail loans grew by 7.3% in the first half of 2019 as
compared to the 7.7% growth rate in the H1 of 2018.
 It is the slowest rate of loan disbursement by banks in 5 years.
 Total loans to personal retail sector was Rs 22.5 lakh crore in June 2019, out of
which the home loans were more than half of these advances at Rs 11.8 lakh crore.
 Personal retail sector loans include home loans, auto loans, personal loans, loans
through credit card.

35. Department of Telecommunications is planning to provide 100% subsidy on capital

expenditure to telecom companies for setting up the network connectivity
infrastructure in 43,000 villages without cellular network by 2020.
 66

 National Digital Communications Policy (approved in 2018) aims to set up 5 million

public wi-fi hotspots by 2020 and 10 million by 2022 through National Broadband
Mission.
 As of May 2019, 505.59 million were wireless subscribers out of which 43.52%
belonged to rural areas.

36. RBI has reduced the repo rate by 35 basis points (bps) to 5.4% to counter slow growth in
its third bi-monthly monetary policy. Total Rate cut till now is 110 bps.
Other Important Highlights of MPC-Policy
Reverse repo rate is revised to 5.15%. GDP growth forecast cut to 6.9% from 7%
for 2019-20. Reason: - receding growth of
automobile sector and consumer demand.
Monetary Policy stance remain same: - One-year Marginal Cost of funds based
Accommodative. Lending Rates (MCLR) declined to 8.25%
per annum, from 8.40% annum.
The cap on a bank’s exposure to a single RBI has decided to give ‘priority sector’ tag
NBFC has been increased to 20% of its tier- for banks’ lending to NBFCs, for on-lending
I capital from 15% now. to farm, SMEs and housing sector.
Banks have been allowed to lend to the The risk weight on bank’s consumer loans
NBFCs for on-lending to the agriculture has been reduced to 100% from 125%.
sector up to ₹10 lakh, up to ₹20 lakh to
SMEs, and for housing, up to ₹20 lakh per
borrower.
According to Ratings agency ICRA, a 25% NEFT system has been made available for
point reduction in risk weight may also 24x7 from December.
reduce the capital requirements of banks Currently, NEFT is available for 8 am to 7
by ₹12,500 crore and add 14 bps to their pm.
capital ratios.
Medium-term target for consumer price SBI has immediately cut its MCLR by 15 bps
index (CPI) inflation is 4% within a band of to 8.25% per annum from 8.40% to pass on
+/- 2 percent. the benefit of rate cut onto consumers.

37. PMS Bazaar has partnered with EbixCash Financial Technologies (ECFT) to provide
India’s first all-in-one “PMS & AIF tracking portal” for investors.
 Function: - The portal will enable investors to evaluate the entire gamut of
investments easily.
 PMS = Portfolio Management Services and AIF = Alternative Investment Funds.

38. National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has estimated India’s GDP
growth to be at 6.2% in FY 2019-20, declined from 6.8% in 2018-19.
 Annual Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices will grow at 6% for 2019-20 on a
year-on-year (y-o-y) basis (agriculture GVA at 0%, industry GVA at 6.1%, and services
GVA at 6.9% - all in real terms).
 67

 Nominal GDP (at market prices) will grow at 6%.

 Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation will be at 2.6% for FY20.
 Current account deficit will be 0.6% and central fiscal deficit will be 3.5% of GDP in
FY20.

39. RBI has allowed billers from all categories (except prepaid recharges) to participate in
Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) on a voluntary basis.
 Currently, BBPS (launched in 2013 by National Payment Corporation of India) covers
billers in 5 segments including DTH, electricity, gas, telecom, and water bills.
 BBPS is an inter-operable platform for repetitive bill payments.
 RBI has also allowed “on-tap authorisation” of retail payment systems to companies
looking to function as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU), Trade
Receivables Discounting System (TReDS), White Label ATMs.

40. Due to slowdown in automobile sector, 40,000- 50,000 workers have been retrenched
(lost their jobs) in Gurugram-Manesar (India’s biggest automotive hub districts of
Haryana.

41. City gas distribution companies – Indraprastha Gas Ltd. (Delhi), Mahanagar Gas Ltd.
(Mumbai), Gujarat Gas Ltd.– will set up 340 CNG pump stations, in their respective
areas, to make CNG available to the citizens.
 Central Government plans to make CNG available to 70% of the citizens.

42. Reliance has partnered with Tiffany & Co. (an American luxury jewellery) to open value
chain stores of Tiffany in India (first in Delhi and Mumbai).

43. SEBI has enhanced the ‘disclosure norms’ on encumbered shares along with the already
mandated disclosures on encumbrance of shares, invocation of encumbrance and
release of the encumbrance shares.
 Promoters of every listed company need to mention detailed reasons for
encumbrance, if the combined encumbrance by the promoter along with persons
acting in concert (PACs) with him exceeds 50% of their shareholding in the company
or 20% of the total share capital of the company.
 Stock exchanges also need to separately disclose the list of such companies along
with details of encumbrance on their websites.
 Encumbrance of Shares mean pledging shares of the company to take loan. The
shares act as security against the loan.

44. An analysis of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2017-18 by Ishan Anand (of
Ambedkar University) and Anjana Thampi (of IFMR LEAD) mentioned that 33% of the
skilled youth (15-29 years) was unemployed in 2017-18.
 3/5th of the skilled women were out of the labour force. (Skill refers to ‘industry-
relevant’ formal vocational training).
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45. Asian Development Bank has given $200 million loan to Maharashtra for improving
road infrastructure in 34 districts for better connectivity of rural areas.

46. The task force headed by Usha Thorat, was formed by RBI in Feb 2019, to examine the
issues relating to the offshore rupee markets and recommend appropriate policy
measures.
 The panel has suggested following recommendation: -

Users should be allowed to undertake Extend onshore market hours to improve

foreign exchange transactions up to $100
million in OTC currency derivative market
without the need to establish underlying
exposure.
Establish a central clearing and settlement
mechanism for non-resident transactions
in the onshore market to facilitate non-
residents to hedge their foreign exchange
exposure onshore.
access of overseas users and enabling
rupee derivatives (settled in foreign
currency), to be traded in the International
Financial Services Centres (IFSC) in India.
All the Indian banks need to freely offer
prices to global clients around the clock
task force on offshore rupee markets.

47. Indian Bank and Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Company have signed an agreement to
provide life insurance products to the bank’s customers.

48. Max Life Insurance Co Ltd has launched the “Speed Dial – your partner for life” to
quickly resolve the grievances of customers on one call.

49. Indian Bank and SBI Life Insurance have signed a ‘bancassurance’ agreement to provide
insurance products to bank’s customers.
 Bancassurance means selling of life insurance products by banks.

50. DBS Bank India has tied up with Social Alpha (non-profit start-up incubator) to support
startup enterprises that focus on sectors such as inclusion, healthcare, and environment.
 Under the partnership, 3 start-ups – Even Cargo, Trust Circle and Incredible
Devices– will be supported over the next 18 months.

51. RBL Bank and Practo (digital healthcare platform) have launched a health focussed
credit card called “RBL Bank Practo Plus” powered by Mastercard.
 The card aims to encourage prudent expenditure on health.

52. SEBI has proposed new changes in the Portfolio Management Services (PMS) in India, to
make it more transparent and investor friendly.
 Changes: - minimum investment in PMS increased from ₹25 lakh to ₹50 lakh,
reporting requirements have been standardized and trail model has been adopted
in place of upfront to trail model.
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 Loophole: - The recommendations do not mandate explicit public disclosure of

holdings and returns which makes comparison and selection of PMS products
difficult.
 In India, PMS are governed by the SEBI (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 1993.
Upfront commission: - It is a one-time payment that an Asset Management Company pays
a distributor on selling a mutual fund scheme to an investor.
Trail commission: - It is a recurring fee paid to a distributor until the investment is
withdrawn. Trail commission is calculated on an yearly basis and paid on a monthly basis.

53. India’s first corporate card- ‘Freedom Card’- has been launched by EnKash (a business-
to-business payments startup) for SMEs.
 Function: - It allows SMEs and startups to avail credit facility for immediate needs
and to manage liquidity.

54. Indian Bank and Cholamandalam MS (General Insurance Company) have signed a
corporate agency agreement to provide insurance to the bank’s customers across the
2,872 branches of the bank.

55. Saudi Aramco will acquire a 20% stake in Reliance’s refining and petrochemicals
business for an enterprise value of $75 billion.

56. Sintex Group has decided to sell its firm- Sintex NP SAS to Xtech Invest for £155 million.
 Sintex Group is the world largest producer of plastic water tank and also Asia's
largest producer of corduroy fabrics.

57. Morgan Stanley Capital International (an index compiler) has added HDFC Life
Insurance Company Ltd. to its Global Standard Index.
 It has removed Union Bank of India from its India Smallcap Index.
 In May, the index had deleted 10 stocks including from its Smallcap index and added
12 new companies of India.

58. Reliance Jio has partnered with Microsoft to open cloud data centres across the
country.
 Under the partnership, these cloud data centres would run on Microsoft’s Azure
software.
 70

59. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has increased the monetary limit for filing Income
tax appeals in the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 20 lakh.
 Aim: - To reduce the burden of litigations.
 The limit for filing I-T appeal in High Court has been doubled to Rs 1 crore from Rs 50
lakh.
 For Supreme Court the limit has been revised to Rs 2 crore from Rs 1 crore.

60. BlackRock (Private Equity firm) has bought a controlling stake in Authentic Brands
company (owner of Sports Illustrated magazine) for $870 million.
 It is the first major acquisition deal of BlackRock.

61. According to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) data, showed that
manufacturers accounted for 42% of all distressed companies out of the total 2,162
cases before the Insolvency and bankruptcy tribunals.
 Service sector accounted for 15% of the distressed companies.
 Till now, ₹1 trillion, or 43% of the admitted claims of ₹2.5 trillion has been recovered
by Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

62. Reliance Industries will launch Reliance New Commerce initiative to digitally connect
kirana stores on e-commerce platform across the country.
 This New Commerce is a $700 billion opportunity for kirana stores in smaller towns
digitally.

63. RBI has issued norms for Regulatory Sandbox to be used by FinTech companies.
 The minimum worth of the company should be Rs 25 Lakhs.
 The company should be registered or licensed to operate in India.
 Cryptocurrency, Credit Information, Credit Registry will not be a part of the
sandbox.

64. Ola has ‘acqui-hired’ AI start-up Pikup.ai.

 71

 Aqui-hire refers to buying out a company primarily for the skills and expertise of its
staff, rather than for the products or services it supplies.

65. As announced in the Budget 2019, government will give a one-time partial guarantee of
six months to banks for lending credit to fundamentally sound NBFCs/HFCs amounting
to a total of ₹1 lakh crore for first loss of up to 10%.
 Now, the Government has issued final guidelines for this, according to which: -
CRAR (capital to risk weighted assets As per the guidelines issued, the window
ratio) should not go below the regulatory for one-time partial credit guarantee will
minimum level during the period for be for a period of six months, or till such
exercise of the option to buy back the date by which ₹1 lakh crore assets get
assets. purchased by banks.
Promoter should ensure this by infusing It further said that the pool of assets
equity, when required. should have minimum rating of ‘AA’ or
equivalent at fair value prior to the partial
credit guarantee by the Government of
India.
Banks can borrow from the RBI by RBI has advanced a new mandatory
pledging their excess government bond government bond holding rule for banks
holdings to fund the purchase of NBFC to buy such assets, which could release Rs
assets. 1.3 lakh crore.

66. Oyo Hotels and Homes and ACKO General Insurance have partnered to provide
insurance cover to the customers of OYO as a complimentary benefit within booking
price in India.
 Insurance against accidental death, baggage damage, accidental medical expenses
up to Rs 10 Lakh, for the entire duration of their stay, will be offered.

67. Bank of Baroda has reduced its Marginal Cost of funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) to
8.35% (a 10 bps cut) from 8.45% after the repo rate cut.

68. RBI declared that Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) will be treated as a category of
NBFCs after the Finance Act, 2019 (proposed in Budget 2019) amended the National
Housing Bank Act (NHB), 1987, to confer certain powers upon RBI for regulation of
HFCs.
 A revised regulatory framework for these entities will be released soon by RBI.
 In the meantime, HFCs will comply with the directions issued by NHB’s until the RBI
issues a revised framework.
 Supervision, grievance redressal mechanism, returns of HFCs will be examined by
NHB.
Detailed Finance Bill is covered in July Spotlight : - https://anujjindal.in/wp-
content/uploads/2019/08/July-Spotlight.pdf
 72

69. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to invest $23 million in non-convertible
debentures of GR Infraprojects Ltd. (GRIL) for its road construction projects.

70. Axis Bank and Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co Ltd have signed a ‘bancassurance
agreement’ to provide insurance products to the bank’s customers.

71. Aditya Puri (HDFC’s CEO) is the highest paid bank CEO in India with a basic monthly
salary of Rs 89 Lakh excluding perks.
 Amitabh Chaudhry, CEO of Axis Bank, is the second highest paid bank CEO.

72. According to the “Agritech in India: Emerging Trends in 2019” report by NASSCOM,
more than 450 agritech startups are operating in India at present, against the 3100
agritech startups globally.
 As of June 2019, agritech sector has received more than $248 million funding, a rise
of 300% from 2017-18. Agritech sector in India is growing at 25% rate.
 B2B startups have received $200 million investment in the past 18 months, and
became an important revenue generating segment in the overall agritech sector.
 According to govt. data, post-harvest losses are high in fruits and vegetable sector
accounting for 16% of total produce being wasted.

73. According to National Payments Corporation of India, Aadhaar enabled Payment

System (AePS) was worth 220.18 million with transaction value Rs 9,685.35 crore during
July 2019 as compared to 194.33 million transactions at a value of Rs 8,867.33 crore in
June 2019.

74. RBI has directed all banks not to consider “failed transactions and non-cash
transactions at ATM” in the “Free ATM Transactions” category and subsequently do not
impose ATM charges on customers for these ATM transactions.
 Every month, banks provide a limited number of transactions at ATMs to its
customers.

75. A report from CB Insights (a global intelligence platform) mentions that India had
recorded 23 fintech deals worth $350 million as compared to 15 deals of China worth
$375 million in calendar year 2019.
 UK recorded $892 million worth from its 33 fintech deals in 2019.

76. Australia, Brazil and Guatemala have accused India in the World Trade Organization
Panel (formed for this case) for providing the extra subsidies such as ‘Minimum
Indicative Exports Quotas’ (MIEQ) to sugarcane industry.
 73

 The subsidies (in addition to tax rebates) has led to the oversupply of sugar and
sugarcane by India in the global market.
 According to Australia, India’s supply has increased from 22 million tonnes in 2016-
17 to 34 million tonnes in 2017-18, and a surplus of 12 million tonnes last year.
 These 3 countries are a part of Carins Group/Cairns Group of Fair Trading Nations
which is a group of 19 agricultural exporting countries which are: -
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala,
Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South
Africa, Thailand, Uruguay, and Vietnam.

77. Axis Capital former CEO Dharmesh Mehta has bought 100% stake in IDFC Securities Ltd
for an undisclosed amount.

78. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has declined its forecast for India’s GDP
growth rate to 6.2% from 6.5% in FY20.
 For FY21 it has been declined to 6.5% from 7.1%.

79. Ministry of Corporate Affairs has amended the Differential Voting Rights (DVR) under
Companies Act, 2013.
 The existing 26% of total post issue paid up equity share capital has been raised to
74% of total voting power with respect to shares with DVRs of a company.
 Requirement of distributable profits for 3 years has also been removed for a
company to be eligible to issue shares with DVR.
 Startups are now allowed to issue Employee Stock Options to promoters/directors
holding more than 10% of equity shares for 10 years from the date of incorporation.

80. According to RBI data, foreign exchange reserves increased to a life-time high of
$430.572 billion in week to Aug 9, 2019.
 Foreign currency assets have been increased by $15.2 million to $398.739 billion.
 Gold reserves increased by $1.591 billion to $26.754 billion.
 Special Drawing Rights with IMF has been increased by $6.7 million to $1.441
billion.
 Reserve position with IMF rose by $7 million to $3.636 billion.

81. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the proportion of fund managers who
believe that within 12 months global recession would prevail is higher.
 Therefore, a rise in demand of gold is witnessed in global markets despite high
prices.
 US yield curve’s inversion also indicates chances of a global recession.
[Detailed analysis of the yield curve inversion is done in this video: -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfBDT4rIBP8&t=488s]
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82. Tech Mahindra has divested 73.38% stake in its subsidiary FixStream Networks Inc to
Resolve Systems LLC (a US-based company) for $2 million.

83. Ministry of Corporate Affairs is planning to implement universal debt relief scheme for
small and marginal enterprises by using the ‘fresh start’ provision of Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Code.
 A budget of Rs 10,000 crores is being planned for the scheme.

84. HCL Technologies has signed MoU with Maharashtra Airport Development Company
for expanding its campus at the Multi-Model International Passenger and Cargo Hub
Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN), in line with its plan for Tier-II cities.
 HCL will acquire 90 acres of land to increase its existing 50-acre MIHAN campus.

85. The task force on direct taxes, headed by Akhilesh Ranjan, was set up in 2017 to form a
new ‘Direct Tax Code’ to replace the Income Tax Act, 1961 has submitted its report to
Ministry of Finance.
 Proposed Amendments: - Reduce tax slabs for Income tax; abolition of Dividend
Distribution Tax among other things.
[The recommendations have been analysed in detail in Finance Current Affairs Doc].

86. Government will soon release the new for Consumer Price Index for agricultural
workers (CPI-AL) and rural workers (CPI-RL) to determine their minimum wages.
 These indices were earlier prepared taking 1986-87 as the base year and now 2018-
19 is the new base year.
 The indices will promote Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (MGNREGS) (launched in 2006) as MGNREGS is linked to CPI-RL.
 Earlier, CPI-based on agriculture, industry and rural was discontinued in 2012 and
these five categories were included in the CPI: - food and beverage, fuel and light,
housing and clothing, bedding and footwear.

87. According to a report by Credit Suisse, NBFCs’ loan growth has dipped to 11% y-o-y (2%
q-o-q).
 Also, private banks’ loan growth also decelerated to 15% y-o-y (1% q-o-q) even as
deposit growth increased.

88. Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. (Mahindra Finance) will acquire 58.2%
stake in Ideal Finance Ltd. (subsidiary of Sri Lankan Ideal Group.) for LKR 2 billion until
March 2021.

89. Wipro and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have partnered to set up ‘Wipro IISc
Research and Innovation Network’ to conduct research in autonomous systems,
robotics and 5G.
 75

90. According to Ministry of Commerce data, India’s gold imports increased by 15.4% to
$13.16 billion during the April-July 2019 as against $11.41 billion in Apr-July 2018-19.
 Current Account Deficit increased to $57.2 billion or 2.1% of GDP in 2018-19 as
against 1.8% or $48.7 billion in 2017-18.
 Gems and jewellery exports declined 5.32% to $30.96 billion in 2018-19 and gold
imports fell by about 3% in value terms to $32.8 billion during 2018-19.

91. Maersk (Denmark-based container logistics firm) has partnered with BlackBuck (India's
largest trucking platform) to bring innovation in the logistics area.
 India is set to reduce its logistics cost from 14% of GDP to less than 9% by 2022.

92. RBI has imposed Rs 122.9 crore penalty upon banks for non-compliance during Jan-July
2019.

93. Ministry of Corporate Affairs has amended the Companies (Share Capital &
Debentures) Rules, 2014 to remove Debenture Redemption Reserve (DRR)
requirement for Listed Companies, NBFCs and Housing Finance Companies.
 Purpose: - To reduce the cost of capital for businesses. Earlier, 25% DRR was
required.
 Unlisted companies will now be required to create DRR of 10% of outstanding
debentures instead of 25% earlier.

94. RBI has permitted processing of e-mandate on debit/credit cards and Prepaid Payment
Instruments, including wallets for recurring transactions with additional factor
authentication (AFA) during registration.
 The maximum limit for such a transaction will be ₹2,000.
 RTGS transaction time has also been changed at 7 am from earlier 8 am.

95. Employees Provident Fund Organization has appointed HSBC Asset management
company, SBI Mutual Fund and UTI Asset management company as its fund managers
for 3 years.
 Fund managers invest 85% of EFPO’s money in debt instruments and 15% in equity
through exchange traded funds (ETF).
 EPFO has invested around Rs 70,000 crore in ETF.
 76

96. SEBI has eased regulatory norms for foreign portfolio investors on the
recommendations of HR Khan Committee (formed in 2018 to review foreign portfolio
investments) who were disinvesting from Indian market.
 Ist norm: - SEBI removed the requirement of minimum 20 investors in the board and
also simplified the Know-Your-Customer (KYC) document requirement for foreign
investors.
[Detailed analysis of its implications and other changes are covered in the Finance Current
Affairs Doc].

97. India’s GDP growth will further slowdown to 5.7% in April-June quarter of 2019,
according to Nomura Holdings Inc’s report.

98. Nazara Technologies (gaming platform) has bought 67% stake in Sportskeeda.com
(sports content website) for a total value of Rs 65 crore.

99. Ministry of Finance has launched the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution)
Scheme, 2019 (operational from Sept 1 with the window being open till Dec 31).
 Implication: - The scheme intends to give 4 months duration to assessees for
settling their legal tax disputes (initiated before introduction of GST) by offering 70%
off from the duty demand if the amount is up to Rs 50 lakh and 50% if it is over Rs 50
lakh.
 Purpose: - Closing pending disputes related to legacy Service tax and Central Excise
cases that are now subsumed under GST so that they can focus on GST.
 For confirmed duty demand, where there is no appeal pending, the relief offered is
60% if the duty is up to Rs 50 lakh and 40% if the duty is over Rs 50 lakh.
 Under it, assesees need to voluntarily disclose their due taxes and have to pay the
full amount, but under the scheme they will not face any legal action.

100. 68th edition of BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2019 ranks China, India,
USA, Japan and South Korea as the top 5 coal consumers respectively.
 Top Coal Producer: - China (1828.8 MT), USA (364.5 MT), and Indonesia (323.3 MT),
India (308.0 MT).
 Global carbon emission from energy use have increased to 2%.
 77

 China, USA and India together accounted for more than 2/3rd of the global increase
in energy demand.
 Top three oil consumers—USA (20%), China (13%), and India (5%) account for more
than 1/3rd of world’s consumption.
 Top three oil producers – USA (669.4 MT), Saudi Arabia (578.3 MT) and Russia
(563.3 MT) in 2018.

101. Central Board of Direct Taxes has clarified that startups with an annual turnover of
up to ₹25 crore will continue to get the tax exemption as per the Section 80-IAC of
Income Tax Act, 1961.
 According to Section 80-IAC, eligible start-ups would be get a 100% tax deduction of
the profits for 3 consecutive assessment years, out of the first seven years from the
date of incorporation of the company.

102. Digit Insurance has signed a bancassurance agreement with Karur Vysya Bank Ltd.

103. Amazon has acquired 49% equity stake in Future Coupons Ltd (comprising both
voting and non-voting shares).
 Amazon has also got rights to acquire all or part of the promoters’ shareholding in
Future Retail.

104. BookMyForex, YES Bank and Visa card have jointly launched a co-branded multi-
currency forex travel card to facilitate smooth payments for Indians traveling abroad.
 The card has 10 currencies.

105. Acko General Insurance and ZestMoney have partnered to provide credit insurance
to the customers of ZestMoney.
 78

 The consumers will provide insurance cover like hospitalization or critical illness.

106. SEBI has eased norms for Municipal bonds/Muni bonds by allowing smart cities to
raise money by issuing the muni bonds.
 Muni Bonds- It is a bond issued by a local government, or their agencies to finance
public projects such as roads, schools, airports etc.
 7 municipalities have raised around Rs 1,400 crore by issuing Muni Bonds under
SEBI (Issue and Listing of Debt Securities by Municipalities) Regulations, 2015 [Last
amended on February 15, 2017].

107. SEBI has also permitted startups (which should have a shareholder base of at least
200) to move from Innovators Growth Platform of stock exchanges to the main board.

108. Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the Employee Provident Fund Organization
(EPFO) has recommended amendment in Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) 1995 to
restore the commuted value of pension.
 The amendment will benefit approx. 6.3 lakhs pensioners.
 Commuted value refers to the present value of the future series of cash flows
required to fulfill a pension obligation.
 EPFiGMS 2.0 (EPFiGMS- a grievance redressal portal of EPFO) has been launched.
 CBT decided that funds will distributed in 50:50 ratio between Nifty 50 and Sensex
ETF (Exchange Traded Fund).

109. Moody’s Investors Service has reduced India’s GDP forecast for 2019 (calendar
year) to 6.2% from 6.8%.
 For 2020 (calendar year), the GDP forecast is 6.7%.

110. Bandhan Bank and Standard Chartered Bank have partnered to provide co-branded
credit cards powered by Visa.
 It includes three variants One- for the mass market, Plus- for the affluent segment
and Xclusive- for the premium segment.

111. Ministry of Finance has decided to withdraw the higher surcharges introduced in
the Budget 2019-20 to spur economic growth.
 EARLIER: - Budget proposed to increase surcharge from 15% to 25% for income ₹2-5
crore and from 15% to 37% for above Rs 5 crore.
 79

 In effect, a person earning more that Rs 2 crore will pay 39% tax Finance (no. 2) Act,
2019 on long and short term capital gains arising from transfer of equity shares/units
referred in section 111A and 112A respectively.
 A person earning more than ₹5 crore will pay 42.74%.
Other Measures taken by Finance Ministry: -
CSR rule violations will only be treated as Angel Tax provisions will NOT be
civil matter and not as criminal matter. applicable on startups and their investors.
All pending GST refunds to MSMEs till date Govt allows additional 15% depreciation
shall be paid within 30 days and 60 day on vehicles acquired from now till March
timeline has been set to sort future refund 2020.
matters.
Ban on govt departments for purchase of Govt will form a new scrappage policy to
new vehicles to replace old ones has been ensure scrapping of old vehicles.
lifted.

112. Ministry of Finance has allowed NBFCs to use Aadhaar-based bank KYC for
sanctioning loans to customers.
 Purpose: - To ease procedure for customers in availing loans.
 All India Pension Adalat (a strategic initiative of Department of Pension & Public
Welfare to resolve cases was launched in 2018) has been organised throughout the
country.
 A booklet “Know Your Retirement Benefits” has been released to guide people
about retirement benefits.

113. Retail loans (by banks) have increased by 16.6% year-on-year in June 2019 as
compared to 17.9% growth in June 2018.
 The quarter-on-quarter growth in bank retail loans during April-June 2019 was
1.49%.
 Overall retail loan segment has slowed down because of slow lending by NBFCs and
banks.
 Banks’ lending to NBFCs during April to June 2019 has been reduced by around 1%.
 Bank lending to NBFCs jumped 26.9% in 2017-2018 and 29.2% in 2018-2019, leading
to a total bank lending to NBFCs jumped from ₹3.9 trillion to ₹6.4 trillion.

114. Indian School of Business has signed an MoU with Microsoft to set up an ‘Artificial
Intelligence Digital Lab’.
 Microsoft also initiated a program- "Leading Business Transformation in the Age of
AI".

115. Google has launched its first smart display device - Nest Hub India- (specifically for
India) to provide products like Google Home, Pixels phones etc.
 80

116. Indian Bank and Tata AIG General Insurance have partnered to sell insurance
products to bank’s customers.

117. Intel Corp has developed its first AI-chip known as ‘Spring Hill’ (or Nervana NNP-I).

118. Indian Bank has opened its first MSME CPC (centralised processing centre) in
Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
 Purpose: - To improve credit quality and lessen processing time of transactions.

119. Farmers, who have paid their loans promptly, would get short-term loans at 4% p.a.
interest rate during FY19 and FY20 through the Kisan Credit Card (KCC).
 KCC has been recently extended to Fisheries and Animal Husbandry farmers (details
in July spotlight).

120. For the first time in India, one-time password facility for ATM withdrawals has been
launched by Canara Bank for cash withdrawal of over Rs.10,000 in a day.

121. Bimal Jalan Committee or Economic Capital Framework Committee has

recommended RBI to transfer Rs 86,000 crore in addition to the budgeted Rs 90,000
crore for 2019-20 (taking the total up to Rs 1.76 Trillion).
Other Recommendations: -
 The net income of RBI was Rs 1,23,414 crore for 2018-19, out of which Rs 28,000
crore has already been transferred to govt. as interim dividend. As of Feb 2019, RBI
has already transferred Rs 40,000 crore to govt.
It recommended to align RBI’s accounting RBI should form a framework for assessing
year (June-July) with the financial year the market risk of its off-balance sheet
(April-March) to eliminate the interim exposures.
dividend to government (RBI started
paying them in 2016-17) to efficiently
showcase the surplus transferred to govt.
Add Revaluation balances to RBI’s overall Surplus Distribution Policy: - The panel
risk buffers to address volatility. recommended to maintain realized equity
(a contingency reserve used to deal with
loss/risks) within the limit of overall
economic capital (a combination of
realized equity and revaluation reserve).
Currently, the realized equity or Rs 1.76 Trillion is equivalent to 0.5% of
Contingent Risk Buffer is 6.8% and the GDP.
panel recommended to reduce it to 6.5-
5.5% of the balance sheet. RBI has decided
to keep it at 5.5%.
RBI will transfer the additional Rs 52,637 Economic capital level is maintained at
crore to government. 24.5%-20% as on 30 June, 2019.
 81

122. India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has reduced its GDP projections for 2019-20 to
6.7% (a six year low) from 7.3%.
 Q1 (April-June 2019) grew at 5.7%. However, Q2 of 2019-20 is expected to grow at
7.4%.
 Reason: - slow demand, automobile crisis, uneven monsoon pattern, global trade
war, slow manufacturing growth and delayed resolution by Insolvency and
Bankruptcy code.
 Wholesale Price Index inflation to remain at 3.2% and Consumer Price Index to
remain moderate at 3.8% in FY20.
 Ind-Ra expects Current account deficit to decline to 1.9% of GDP in FY20 from 2.1%
of GDP in FY19.

123. FICCI’s ‘Economic Outlook Survey 2019’ projects India’s GDP rate at 6.9% for 2019-
20 (minimum rate of GDP growth at 6.7% and maximum rate of GDP growth at 7.2%).
 India's economy grew at 8.2% in April-June 2018-19.
 FICCI projected a median rate of 6% during the Q1 (April- June) of 2019-20.

124. Central Government has allowed 100% FDI in Coal mining and contract
manufacturing, while 26% FDI is allowed in digital media sector.
 49% FDI is allowed in broadcasting content services through government approval
route.
 82

 Before the amendment, 26% FDI in print media was allowed, and for news channels,
it was allowed up to 49% through government approved route.
Other decisions: -
Single Brand Retail Sugar Cane Subsidy
 For single brand retail traders  For sugarcane farmers, an export
having 51% FDI, local sourcing of up subsidy of Rs 10.45 per kg.
to 30% was mandatory earlier.  Subsidy aims to facilitate 60 lakh
 Now, this 30% will calculated on the metric tonne of exports, which will
basis of their first five years of cost Rs 6268 crore to government
operations. in marketing season of 2019-20.
 These companies are allowed to sell
products online also before setting
up a physical store in India (30%
local sourcing condition should be
met) within 2 years of starting
online trading.
125. S&P Global Rating has placed IDBI Bank’s 'BB' long-term and 'B' short-term foreign
currency issuer credit ratings on ‘Credit Watch’ with negative implications.

126. Toyota Motor Corp. and Suzuki Motor Corp. have announced a deal to purchase
shares in each other’s firms, to enhance cooperation in the long-term.
 Toyota will buy 4.96% stake (2.4 crore shares) at 96 billion yen while Suzuki will buy
shares worth 48 billion Yen.

127. Moody’s Financial Services has downgraded YES Bank’s ratings on long term foreign
currency issuer from Ba1 to Ba3 with overall a ‘negative’ outlook.
 Reason: low equity capital raised by the bank and potential risk of fall in its share
price which can affect its ability to raise further funds.

128. National Stock Exchange has decided to replace Indiabulls Housing Finance with
Nestle India on its Nifty index.
 Reason: - falling stock prices of Indiabulls (from Rs 1,300 in 2018 to Rs 457 in 2019)
and rising prices of Nestle India on BSE.

129. IIFL Wealth Group has acquired L&T Capital Markets (a subsidiary of L&T Finance
Holdings Ltd.).

130. IRDAI has set up a single point contact for its regulatory sandbox (RS) initiative to
assist new firms about the guidelines and use of RS.
 Sanjay Verma has been appointed as the "Single Point of Contact on regulatory
sandbox matters".
 83

131. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has partnered with Incuspaze
Solutions Private Ltd. to establish a first-of-its-kind co-working space- @Workspaze at
Connaught Place, New Delhi.
 It has been specially designed to boost MSMEs and startups.

132. Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has set up a first of its kind in India
‘Centre of Excellence in FinTech’ known as FinBlue in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
 FinBlue has received funding from Pontaq (a UK-based Venture Capital) along with
investment from central, state govt. and Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd.
 FinBlue will incubate 58 fintech startups in the next 5 years with Arun Jain as its
chief mentor.
 STPI has signed an MoU with National Research Development Corporation to
provide support to startups for filing for intellectual property rights.

133. RBI has released its annual report for 2018-19, which mentions that Bank frauds
have risen up by 73.8% (Rs 71,500 crore) in terms of value and 15% (3,766 cases) in
terms of transaction volume in FY19 as compared to FY18.
 Counterfeit notes of Rs 500 increased from 9,892 in FY18 to 21,865 in FY19.
[Detailed analysis of RBI’s annual report is covered in Finance Current Affairs Doc]

134. Samsonite and Panasonic have partnered together to develop the Internet of Things
IoT-enabled travel suitcases with tracking and tracing capabilities.
135. Essel Group will sell its 205 MW of solar energy assets to Adani Green Energy Ltd. at
an enterprise value of Rs 1,300 crore.

136. Telangana state govt and T-Hub (startup incubator) had entered into joint venture
for launching the T-Angel program to help startups in fund raising.
 LetsVenture platform will execute the program.

137. Union Budget has allowed a 100% FDI through automatic route in Insurance
intermediaries sector to boost the investment in this sector.
 Earlier, a 49% FDI was allowed in this sector under automatic route.

138. Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and SIDBI have signed an MoU to help MSMEs,
Start-ups, Self-Help Groups and Women Entrepreneurs in growing.

139. Samsung India has partnered with RBL Bank and Mastercard to allow RBL Banks’
Mastercard Credit Card holders to link their cards with Samsung Pay to make payments
easily.
 84

140. GoDaddy has launched its Online Starter Bundle for MSMEs.
 Under the bundle, MSMEs can create their 1-page website at a daily cost of less than
Rs 3 to increase their outreach.

141. Rupee Co-operative Bank Ltd. (Pune) has been given extension for its banking
license till November 30, 2019 by the RBI.
 Rupee Bank and Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank Ltd. are planning to merge.

142. Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has released its 3rd
Advanced Estimate for 2018-19 for area and production of Horticulture Crops.
 Overall production of horticulture crops have risen to 313.85 million tonnes (MT) in
2018-19, against 311.71 mt in 2017-18.
 Overall production of vegetable crops have risen to 185.88 mt against 184.39 mt in
2017-18.
Vegetable 2017-18 2018-19
Onion 23.48 mt 23.48 mt
Potato (higher by 3.4%) - 53.03 mt
Tomato (fell by 1.8%) - 19.39 mt
Fruits 97.36 mt 98.57 mt
Spices 8.6 mt 9.22 mt

143. President of Asian Development Bank, Takehiko Nakao, has announced to provide
$12 billion lending over next 3 years (2020-22) to support Modi government’s
initiatives.
 Every year, ADB’s sovereign lending to India is $3 billion and non-sovereign lending
(including private entities) stands at $1 billion.
 ADB has announced to invest $100-million in National Investment and
Infrastructure Fund.
 85

APPOINTMENTS

1. S.S Deswal has been appointed as the Director General of National Security Guard
(NSG).
 He is the current DG of Indo-Tibetan Border force and NSG is an additional charge for
him.

2. Atish Dabholkar has been appointed as the new director of Abdus Salam International
Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy.
 ICTP is an international research institute for physical and mathematical sciences,
operating under a tripartite agreement between the Italian Government, UNESCO,
and International Atomic Energy Agency.

3. Ram Raghavan has been appointed as the Managing Director of Colgate-Palmolive

(India) Ltd.

4. Rakesh Asthana has been appointed as the chief of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).

5. Girraj Prasad Gupta has been appointed as the Controller General of Accounts (CGA).

6. Abhay Thakur has been appointed as the next permanent representative of India to
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
 ECOWAS is a regional political and economic union of 15 countries of West Africa.
7. Siddhartha Mohanty has been appointed as the MD and CEO of LIC Housing Finance.
 He was earlier appointed as the Chief Operating Officer of LIC Housing Finance.

8. Ananth Narayanan has been appointed as the CEO of e-pharma company- MedLife.
 Narayanan has also been recognized as the co-founder of MedLife after investing an
undisclosed amount in the company.

9. Kandikuppa Sreekant has been appointed as the new Chairman and MD of Power Grid
Corporation of India.

10. Valentina Sampaio has become the first transgender model of the Victoria’s Secret.
 Victoria’s Secret is an American designer, manufacturer, and marketer of women's
lingerie, womenswear, and beauty products.
 86

11. Dinesh Kumar Khara’s tenure as MD of State Bank of India has been increased for 2
years.

12. Chandrima Shaha has been appointed as first woman president of the Indian National
Science Academy (INSA).
 INSA (HQ- Delhi; Estb.- 1935) is the apex body of Indian scientists representing all
branches of science and technology.

13. Malabar Gold and Diamonds has appointed Anil Kapoor as its brand ambassador.

14. Justice Madan Lokur has been appointed as the non-resident panel of Supreme Court
Judge of Fiji.
 It is the first time that an Indian has been appointed to the Supreme Court of
another country.

15. M S Dhoni has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Cars24 (a used cars selling
platform). Dhoni has also bought equity in Cars24.
16. VG Somani has been appointed as the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), who will
now head the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO).
 CDSCO aims to ensure the circulations of safe and quality drugs within India and
approves new drugs.

17. Harshad Pandurang Thakur has been appointed as Director of National Institute of
Health and Family Welfare for 5 years.
18. Ravinder Takkar has been appointed as new MD and CEO of Vodafone Idea.

19. Rajiv Gauba has been appointed as the new Cabinet Secretary for 2 years.

20. Tractors and Farm Equipment (TAFE) has appointed Sandeep Sinha as its new CEO.
 Chairman: - Mallika Srinivasan.

21. Amit Nayyar has been appointed as the new president of Paytm.
 Earlier, Madhu Deora had been promoted as the president of Paytm on August 19.
Now, Paytm has appointed a new president which is Amit Nayyar.
 87

22. Shalija Dhami (Indian Air Force’s Wing Commander) has become India’s 1st female
flight commander of a flying unit (of a Chetak helicopter).

23. Pramod Agrawal has been chosen as the new Chairman and Managing Director of Coal
India Ltd. by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB).
 PSEB’s decision needs to be approved by Central Government.

24. Pramod Chandra Mody has got one year extension as the chairman of Central Board
of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

IMPORTANT DAYS

1. World Breastfeeding Week 2019 has been observed between August 1-7 in 120 nations.
 Theme: - “Empower parents, Enable Breastfeeding”.
 It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration signed in 1990 by WHO, UNICEF and
other organizations to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.

2. 5th National Handloom Day is observed on August 7 across the nation with a focus to
empower women. (1st handloom day was observed in 2015).
 More than 50% of total weavers population of India live in Eastern and North
Eastern Regions and most of them are women.

3. International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is observed on August 9 by UN.

 Theme: - Indigenous Peoples’ Languages
 According to UN’s data, approximately 370 million indigenous people live across 90
countries in the world.
 According to UN Human Rights Experts, 4 in 10 indigenous languages are at risk of
disappearing. Total 7,000 indigenous languages are spoken in the world.

4. World Biofuel Day is observed on August 10.

 Theme 2019: - ‘Production of Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil (UCO)’.
 88

 Rajasthan has become the first state to implement the biofuel rules 2019 to
promote the use of biofuels instead of fossil fuels.

5. World Elephant Day is observed on August 12. (First one was celebrated in 2012).
 Singapore has declared to ban on domestic ivory trade w.e.f. September 2021.
 However, international ivory trade has been banned under the Convention on the
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 1990.

6. International Youth Day is observed on 12 August by UN to bring the issues faced by

youth in the attention of international community.
 Theme for 2019: - ‘Transforming education’.
 It supports Goal 4 of Sustainable Development Goal 2030 to ensure equitable and
inclusive education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

7. World Organ Donation Day is observed on August 13.

 According to National Health Portal, approx. 5 Lakh people, in India, are dying due
to lack of organ availability.

8. National tribal festival called as “Aadi Mahotsav” will be held for August 17-25 in Leh-
Ladakh under the theme of “A celebration of the spirit of Tribal Craft, Culture and
Commerce”.
 It is an initiative of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Tribal Cooperative Marketing
Development Federation of India (TRIFED).

9. World Humanitarian Day (WHD) 2019 is observed on August 19 by UN.

 Campaign for 2019: ‘Women Humanitarians’.
10. Every year on the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi on 20th August, Sadbhavana Divas
or Harmony Day is observed. (2019 is 75th anniversary of Gandhi)
 Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award was instituted in 1992.

11. 2nd International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism is
observed on August 21, 2019 by UN.

12. International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is
observed on August 23 by UNESCO.
 Theme for 2019: - Remember Slavery: The Power of the Arts for Justice.
 89

13. National Sports Day is observed on August 29 on the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan
Chand.
 Fit India Movement, to encourage fitness in everyday lives, was launched on this day
by PM Modi and Ministry of Sports.
 An Advisory Committee of 28-members, headed by sports minister Kiren Rijiju, has
been formed to advise government on the Fit India Movement.

14. National Eye Donation Fortnight is observed every year from Aug 25- Sept 8, 2019.
 Aim: - To create awareness about eye donation and to motivate people to pledge
their eyes for donation after death.
 According to WHO, corneal diseases are among the major causes of vision loss and
blindness, after cataract and glaucoma.

15. International Day against Nuclear Tests (IDANT) is observed on August 29 every year by
UN (since 2010).
 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was introduced in 1996 to ban
nuclear testing. Unfortunately, this has yet to enter into force.

AWARDS

1. Kapil Dev will be awarded with the Bharat Gaurav - highest honour of The East Bengal
football club.

2. Dinesh Tiwari (Advocate) has been awarded with ‘The Society Global Indian Icon Award
2019′, by the Society Magazine.
 Reason: - His excellence in the field of law.
 90

3. Dr Vinayak S Hiremath has been awarded with ‘Pride of Nation Award’ by the Rajnath
Singh (Defence Minister of India) at a ceremony held on Kargil Vijay Diwas (July 26).

4. Ruhan Rajput (Co-founder and director of Einfolge Technologies Pvt Ltd.) was awarded
with ‘Entrepreneur of The Year Award 2019’ by Entrepreneur India (an American
business magazine) and Franchise India.
 He has won this award in the category of ‘Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Service
Business- BPO/KPO’.

5. NDTV Journalist Ravish Kumar has been chosen for the Ramon Magsaysay Award 2019
(Asian version of Nobel Prize) for his ethical journalism.
 This Award is named after the 3rd President of Philippines, and is given by Ramon
Magsaysay Award Foundation.
Other awardees of this award
Ko Swe Win Myanmar
Angkhana Neelapajit Thailand
Raymundo Pujante Cayabyab Philippines
Kim Jong Ki South Korea

6. From India, Statue of Unity has been shortlisted for “The Structure Award 2019” given
by UK-based Institution of Structural Engineering Award.
 A total of 49 monuments across the world have been selected for this award (to be
announced in November 2019).

7. Andy Serkis (Actor and Director) has been chosen for the “International Honor for
Excellence” (highest award of International Broadcasting Convention- IBC).
 Reason: - For his excellence in depicting extraordinary humanity in the computer-
generated characters.

8. Cricketer Arun Lal has been conferred with Lifetime Achievement award of the Cricket
Association of Bengal.

9. Naaz Joshi has, for the 3rd consecutive time, won the title of Miss World Diversity 2019
held in Port Louis, Mauritius.
 She is the first person to win the title for three consecutive years and also the first
transwoman from India to win it.

10. Rhiannon Giddens (singer and musician) and late Frank Johnson (musician) will be
awarded with the first ‘Legacy of Americana Award 2019’.
 Americana Music Association and National Museum of African American Music
have partnered to establish the inaugural Legacy of Americana Award in Music.
 91

11. Shah Rukh Khan will be awarded with 'Excellence in Cinema' award at the 10th edition
of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, Australia.
 Theme of the Festival: - Courage.

12. Bharat Ratna Award 2019 has been awarded to Pranab Mukherjee, Late Nanaji
Deshmukh, and Late singer Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Hazarika.

13. ISRO has announced a new category of award - ‘Vikram Sarabhai Journalism Award in
Space Science, Technology and Research’ which will award journalists who contributed
towards the space science and technology etc.
 This year is celebrations of 100 years of Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the father of Indian
space programme.

14. 66th edition of the National Film Awards 2019 (given in 31 categories) has been
announced.
 Best Film on Social Issues: - Padman (director: - R. Balki)
 Best Film on Environment Conservation: - Paani (Marathi) directed by Adinath
Kothare.
 Best Feature Film: - Hellaro (Gujarati) directed by Abhishek Shah
 Best Director: - Aditya Dhar for Uri: The Surgical Strike
 Best Actor: - Ayushmann Khurrana (Andhadhun), Vicky Kaushal (Uri: the Surgical
Strike)
 Best Actress: - Keerthy Suresh (Mahanati)

15. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has announced the 4th edition of
National Entrepreneurship Awards 2019 to honour the entrepreneurs.

16. NITI Aayog has launched the 4th edition of Women Transforming India (WTI) Awards
under the theme of ‘Women and Entrepreneurship’.
 WTI are provided under the Women Entrepreneurship Platform of NITI Aayog.

17. Rajasthan has been awarded with the “best innovation and initiative leadership” award
for its achievements in higher education at the 14th “World Education Summit” held in
New Delhi.
 Bihar School Examination Board has won an award in ‘government’s initiative to
promote and develop the technologies’ category for promoting technology in
conducting exams.
 92

 Purpose of the summit is to focus on the academic sector, challenges and

opportunities in the respective field.

18. Priyam Chatterjee has become the first Indian chef to be awarded with the “Chevalier
de l’Ordre du Merite Agricoleto” (Order of Agricultural Merit) honour by France.
 Reason: - For promoting gastronomic activities in India.
 Gastronomy is the study of relationship between food and culture, the science of
good eating.

19. Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai has been awarded with the 2019 Prem Bhatia Award given
by the Prem Bhatia Memorial Trust for his outstanding political reporting.

20. ISRO Chairman K. Sivan has been awarded with Dr APJ Abdul Kalam award by Tamil
Nadu.

21. Prakash Jadhav has received the Kirti Chakra (gallantry medal) on 73rd Independence
Day.
 Vir Chakra has been conferred upon Abhinandan Varthaman.
 These awards are announced twice a year – 1st on Republic Day and 2nd
Independence Day.
 Order of precedence of the awards is Param Vir Chakra, Ashoka Chakra, Mahavir
Chakra, Kirti Chakra, Vir Chakra and Shaurya Chakra.

22. British Academy of Film and Television Arts- Los Angeles branch (BAFTA LA) will honour
actor Steve Coogan with the “Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for excellence in
Comedy” 2019.

23. President Ram Nath Kovind has presented Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman and a
Certificate of Honour to various scholars on Independence Day.
 Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman (introduced in 2002) is given for contributions in
9 languages namely- Sanskrit, Prakrit, Persian, Pali, Arabic, and Classical languages of
Oriya, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu.
 93

 Certificate of Honour (with Rs 5 Lakh prize) is awarded to scholars of 60 years or

above.

24. Kumarasamy Thangaraj (chief scientist at the CSIR- Centre for Cellular and Molecular
Biology, Hyderabad) has been awarded J C Bose Fellowship 2019 for his contribution in
the field of population and medical genomics.
 JC Bose Fellowship (named after scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose) is awarded in the
field of science and engineering.

25. Start-up TouchVision (incubated by IIT-Delhi) has won the NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal
Design Award 2019 for developing a multisensory kit for visually impaired people.
 The award (started in 2010) is given by National Centre for Promotion of
Employment for Disabled People, with the support of Mphasis, to honour people
doing work for PwD.

26. Meeta Narain (JNU Professor) has been awarded the ‘Pushkin Medal - 2019’ (highest
honour given to an Indian scholar by Russia).
 It is the highest honour given to a scholar of Russian language and literature for
contributing to Russian studies abroad.

27. Deepa Malik (Para Athlete) and Bajrang Punia (Wrestling) have been selected for Rajiv
Gandhi Khel Ratna Award 2019.
 Dronacharya Lifetime Achievement Award: - Merzban Patel (Hockey) Rambir Singh
Khokhar (Kabaddi) Sanjay Bhardwaj (Cricket).
 Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Maka) Trophy, 2019:- Panjab University, Chandigarh.

28. Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions has presented the 4th edition of
ANUBHAV awards, 2019.
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 ANUBHAV portal was launched in 2015 to create a digital repository of experience of

retired personnel.
 An award scheme- ANUBHAV Awards- was started in 2016 to incentivize the
contribution of these retired people.

29. Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MoDNER) has awarded ‘Smart
Policing Awards’ (instituted by FICCI) to Haryana and Pune police at Homeland Security
2019 Conference, held in New Delhi.

30. Scarlett Johansson (with $56 million) has topped the Forbes’s world’s Highest-Paid
actresses list of 2019 followed by Sofia Vergara ($44.1 million) and Reese Witherspoon
($35 million).

31. Akshay Kumar is at the 4th position (pay- $65 Mn) in the Forbes’s Highest-Paid Actors
2019 annual list while Dwayne Johnson is at 1st position (with $89.4 Mn).

32. Serena Williams (US tennis player) topped Forbes list of the highest paid sports women
for the fourth consecutive year.
 She earned $29.2 million in one year ending June 1.
 Naomi Osaka (Japanese) is 2nd in the list with $24.3 million.
 From India, PV Sindhu is at 13th position on a tie with Madison Keys with $5.5
million earning.

33. ‘Maitri’ mobile application has been awarded with bronze medal at the global tech
competition called ‘Technovation Challenge’ held in San Francisco, USA.
 Maitri was developed by Amity International School students to connect children at
orphanages with senior citizens in old-age homes to remove their loneliness.
 Technovation is world's largest technology and entrepreneurship programme for
girls.

34. Taylor Swift (with $185 million of annual earnings) has been ranked first in ‘World’s
Highest-Paid Women In Music’ 2019 list of Forbes.
 Beyoncé is at the 2nd rank (with $81 million earnings).
 Taylor Swift is also ranked at 1st position in the Forbes’ Highest-Paid Celebrities
2019 list followed by Kylie Jenner.
 95

35. Likee has entered into the Guinness World Records 2019 for making the largest online
video album of over 1 lakh people waving Indian flag during its ‘No matter where I am,
#IAMINDIAN‘ campaign.

36. Prabhakar Singh (Director-General of Central Public Works Department) has been
chosen for Eminent Engineer Award 2019 given by Institution of Engineers (India).

37. The first of its kind in India, Kalinga-FCC Awards for Excellence in Journalism for 2019
were awarded to: -
Name Categories of Award
Reuters (9-member team) Print Journalist of the Year
Rajini Vaidyanathan (BBC reporter) for Television Journalist of the Year
covering 'Me Too' Movement in Bollywood
Rakesh Nagar (PBS News Hour) for 'Music Video Journalist of the Year
in the Mountains' documentary
Harish Tyagi (EPA) Photo Journalist of the Year
Reuters (8-member Team) Digital/Online Journalist of the Year
 Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia (FCC) and Kalinga Institute of Industrial
MTechnology (KIIT), Bhubaneswar, had signed an MoU, in Feb 2019, to institute the
Kalinga-FCC Awards for Excellence in Journalism (to be given annually).

38. Gagan Narang has been chosen for the award of Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar
2019 in recognition of his contribution towards spreading shooting sport in India.

39. Vigil van Dijk (footballer) has won the UEFA’s Men’s Player of the Year and Defender of
the Season Awards in football.

40. Indian documentary film ‘I'm Jeeja’ (Director- Swati Chakraborty) has won the top
award in 'Under 30 minute' category at the 14th 'We Care Film Festival on Disability
Issues' festival.
 Total 10 films from 9 countries were awarded in this one-of-its-kind international
travelling film festival on disabilities.
 The festival is co-founded by UNESCO, UN’s Information Centre for India and
Bhutan, and a New Delhi-based NGO, Brotherhood.

41. Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) has

won the 2019 SKOCH Governance Gold Award for its ‘Portal for Affordable Credit and
Interest Subvention Access’ (PAiSA).
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 PAiSA (launched in 2018) is a centralized-IT platform under DAY-NULM (designed by

Allahabad Bank) for quick processing of loans under Direct Benefit Transfer mode.
SKOCH AWARDS: -
SKOCH Award, instituted in 2003, is the highest civilian honour in India conferred by an
independent organisation. It recognises people, projects and institutions that go the
extra mile to make India a better nation.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM)

Launched 2013 (DAY-National Urban Livelihoods Mission)
2014 (Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana)
Ministry Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Aim To uplift the urban/rural poor by providing sustainable livelihood
through skill development.
Branches National Urban Livelihoods Mission (renamed as Deendayal Antyodaya
Yojana) and National Rural Livelihoods Mission (renamed as Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana).

SPORTS

1. Ellyse Perry (Australian) has become the first cricketer (of either gender) to score 1000
runs and take 100 wickets in T20 format during the women’s Ashes tour in England.

2. For the first time, Oval cricket ground (in England) has named a room after a woman
player- Janette Brittin in the member’s pavilion.
 Janette Brittin is one of the pioneers of women’s cricket and a legend woman
cricketer from England.

3. Vidit Gujrathi has won the Biel International Chess Festival held in Biel, Switzerland.

4. FIFA has increased the number of teams for the Women’s World Cup from 24 to 32
from 2023 World Cup onwards.

5. National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) has decided to drop out para shooting events
from all its competitions including the national championships.
 Instead, mixed skeet event will be part of the National championships and also
events for juniors will be conducted.
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6. Badminton World Federation released their latest rankings: -

 Satwiksairaj Rankireddy -Chirag Shetty have been ranked at 9th in the men’s
doubles category.
Women’s Rankings
Top Akane Yamaguchi (Japan)
India PV Sindhu (5th position) & Saina
Nehwal (8th position)

Men’s Rankings
Top Kento Momota (Japan)
India Kidambi Srikanth (10th position)
& Sameer Verma (13th position)

7. Four Football players :- 3 from Kyrgyzstan - Kursanbek Sheratov, Vladimir Verevkin and
Iliaz Alimov, and Abduaziz Mahkamov (from Tajikistan) have been banned for life by
Asian Football Confederation.
 Reason: - Match-fixing in AFC Cup in 2017 and 2018.

8. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the men’s doubles title at Thailand
Open BWF Super 500 Badminton Championship 2019 held in Bangkok.
 They have become the 1st Indian Pair to Win (Badminton World Federation) BWF
Super 500 Tournament.

9. Lewis Hamilton has won the Formula 1 of Hungarian Grand Prix 2019 (motor race).
 Mick Schumacher won the Formula 2 race in Hungarian Grand Prix.

10. Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling) won the Gold medal in the Poland Open held in Warsaw,
Poland.

11. Alex Marquez won the Czech Moto2 Grand Prix (motorcycle racing) held in Brno, Czech
Republic.
 Marc Marquez won Czech Moto Grand Prix (recording the 50th win of his career).

12. Dominic Thiem won the Kitzbuhel Clay Court Tournament 2019 (organized by
Association of Tennis Professionals) held in Kitzbuhel, Austria.

13. Borussia Dortmund Football club has won the 10th edition of German Super Cup 2019,
also known as DFL-Supercup (football).
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14. Lovlina Borgohain and Neeraj won the gold medals at the 21st edition Magomed Salam
Umakhanov Memorial International Boxing Tournament 2019 held in Kaspiysk, Russia.
 It was organised by European Boxing Confederation (EUBC).
 India won 6 medals - 2 golds, 1 silver and 3 bronze.

15. Algeria has won the Africa Cup of Nations 2019 (men’s football championship) held in
Cairo, Egypt.

16. 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification championship will be organized by Asian Football
Confederation (AFC) in Qatar from June 2019 to November 2021.

17. Dwayne Johnson, also known as “The Rock”, has announced his retirement from World
Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
 He is an American actor, producer, and a professional wrestler.

18. Hinako Shsibuno (Japanese) has become the 2nd Japanese woman to win a major
international medal at women’s British Open LPGA (Golf tournament) 2019 held in
Woburn, England.
 Her nickname is “Smiling Cindrella”.
19. 16th edition of Toyota Thailand Open BWF Super 500 Badminton Championship 2019,
held at Bangkok, Thailand, winner: -
 Men’s Singles: - Chou Tien-chen (Taiwan)
 Women’s Singles: - Chen Yufei (China)

20. Fiona Kolbinger has become the first woman to win 4,000 km (from Bulgaria to France)
cycling race in the Transcontinental Race (Cycle) 2019.

21. Shally Pearson (an Australian hurdler) has announced retirement.

22. India has been awarded with Bronze medal for the IAAF World Race Walking Cup 2012
held in Saransk, Russia.
 History: - India had won the 4th position while Ukraine was at 2nd position.
Recently, a member named Ruslan Dmytrenko of Ukraine’s team has been
disqualified for violating anti-doping rules and this has led to India’s ascending above
to 3rd position.
 China had won the event.

23. Steve Smith (Australian cricketer) has become the second fastest batsman to score 25
centuries in 119 innings in the test matches, by overtaking Virat Kohli (127 innings).
 99

 Number 1 batsman with highest test centuries is Sir Don Bradman with just 68
innings.
 He has become 5th Australian to score hundreds in both innings of an Ashes Test.

24. Surya Shekhar Ganguly has won the Belt and Road China Hunan International
tournament 2019 held in Hunan Province of China.

25. R. Praggnanandhaa (aged 13) has finished 3rd in the Abu Dhabi International blitz
Chess tournament 2019.

26. Washington Open (Citi Open) 2019 Tennis tournament for men and women was
organized by ATP and WTA repectively.
 Men’s Singles: - Nick Kyrgios (Australia)
 Women’s Singles: - Jessica Pegula (America)

27. For the first time, 10th edition of Asia Swimming Federation (AASF) Asian Age Group
Championships 2019 will be hosted by Bangalore, Karnataka.
 It will be organized by Swimming Federation of India (SFI) and it has approved by
FINA (International Swimming Federation) as a qualifier event for 2020 Tokyo
Olympics.

28. World Archery Federation has suspended the Archery Association of India (AAI).
 Reason: - Internal dispute in the AAI.
 Implication : - The last event in which Indian athletes can participate is the world
youth championships in Madrid (in August 2019).

29. World Women’s Boxing Championships 2019 will be held in Russia in October.

30. Dutee Chand (Sprinter) has signed agreement with PUMA for a formal association (to be
included in the list of world class PUMA athletes).

31. Colin Ackermann (South African) has set a new world record in T20 cricket format by
taking 7 wickets in just 18 runs.
 The match in this T20 series- Vitality Blast was held in England and Wales- was
played between Leicestershire Foxes (Colin’s club) and Birmingham Bears.

32. BCCI has agreed to come under the jurisdiction of National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

33. Chinese Taipei has won the Asian Under-23 Men’s Volleyball Championship 2019 held
in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
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34. Mahak Jain (tennis player) won her first ATP tour title at Nairobi, Kenya.

35. India won 6 medals–3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze at the Bulgarian Junior International
Badminton Championships 2019 held in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria.
 Indian Gold Winners: - Samiya Imad Faruqui, Edvin Joy and Shruti Mishra, Tanisha
Crasto and Aditi Bhatt.

36. Chennai Lions has won the Ultimate Table Tennis League held in New Delhi.

37. Bajrang Punia has won gold medal at Tbilisi Grand Prix 2019 held in Tbilisi, Georgia (a
country at the intersection of Europe and Asia).
 Vinesh Phogat has won gold (her 4th consecutive gold) at the Medved event in
Minsk, Belarus.

38. Sourabh Verma has won men’s singles title in the Hyderabad Open BWF Tour Super
100 tournament.
 Women’s Singles Title: Yeo Jia Min (Singapore).

39. Rogers Cup (Tennis), also known as Canadian Cup, was held in Toronto, Canada.
 Winner of 139th edition of Men’s Singles: - Rafael Nadal
 Winner of 128th edition of Women’s Singles: - Bianca Andreescu

40. Spain’s U-20 team has won the Cotif Cup (football) tournament held in Valencia, Spain.
 India’s U-20 women team (won 2, lost 2 matches) has won a third placed trophy and
the Fair Play Award for its good performance.

41. Aishwarya Pissay has become the first Indian women to win FIM World Cup 2019
(motocross racing) held in Varpalota, Hungary.

42. Chess World Cup will be held in Khanti-Mansiysk, Russia in September.

43. Thailand Women’s Cricket team has made a world record by winning the 17th
successive T20-I match in the ongoing quadrangular series in the Netherlands.
 Earlier the record was made by Australian Women’s team with 16 victories.

44. For the first time since 1998, cricket has been added in the Commonwealth Games by
adding Women’s T20I series.
 It will be played in 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games to be held in
Birmingham, UK where 8 international cricket teams will participate.
 101

 Beach volleyball and Para-table tennis games have also been added.
 Shooting sport will not be a part of this game.

45. Wesley Sneijder (Netherlands' most-capped footballer) has announced retirement.

46. YONEX BWF World Senior Championships 2019 (organized by Badminton World
Federation) has been won by Ajith Haridas and Vijay Lancy (both at 40+ age) in men’s
doubles category, held at Katowice, Poland.
 Men’s Singles: - Hirofumi Fujino (Japan)
 Women’s Singles: - Molthila Kitjanon (Thailand)

47. PT Usha has been appointed as a member of the Asian Athletics Association’s (AAA)
Athletes Commission for a second time.
 The other members of the commission are Olga Rypakova (Kazakhstan), Wang Yu
(China), Lee Hup Wei (Malaysia) and Saad Shaddad (Saudi Arabia).

48. Cricket Australia has disclosed its first elite cricket policy to include transgender people
in its Cricket team following ICC’s guidelines for the same.

49. Simone Biles (American) has become the world’s first woman gymnast to make a
“triple-double” floor exercise landing at the US Gymnastics Championships 2019 held
at Kansas City, USA.

50. Egypt’s women’s team has won the WSF World Junior Squash Championship 2019
(organized by CIMB Foundation) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
 USA will host the 2019 WSF Men’s World Team Squash Championship in December.

51. Global T20 Canada 2019 has been won by Winnipeg Hawks cricket team held in
Ontario, Canada.

52. USA Central (girls) and USA West (boys) have won the 2019 Junior NBA (National
Basketball Association) Global Championship held in Orlando, USA.
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53. Deepak Punia has won gold in the Junior World Wrestling Championships 2019 held at
Tallinn, Estonia.
 In total, India has won 3 medals including 2 bronze by Sajan Bhanwal and Viky.

54. Cricket Association of Uttarakhand has been recognized as a full member by the BCCI.

55. Liverpool (it is their 4th title) has won the 44th edition of UEFA Super Cup (Football)
held in Istanbul.

56. A new hockey academy namely ‘Naval Tata Hockey Academy’ has been inaugurated at
the Kalinga stadium, in Bhubaneswar, Odisha to promote sports in the state.
 The academy is named after Naval H. Tata to recognize his contribution to hockey.
57. India has won T20 Physical Disability World Cricket 2019 held in Worcester, England.
 Organiser: England and Wales Cricket Board.

58. Indian Army team has won the 5th edition of ‘International Army Scout Masters
Competition 2019’ held in Jaisalmer Military Station, Rajasthan.
 The competition was held in India for the first time.

59. For the first time, India has won the Gold medal at the UCI (Union Cycliste
Internationale) Junior Track Cycling World Championships 2019 held in Frankfurt,
Germany.
 Indian Team Winners:- Esow Alben, Ronaldo Singh, James Singh and Rojit Singh.
 Egypt (Cairo) will host the 2020 UCI Junior Track Cycling World Championships.

60. Chennai City Football Club has partnered with ‘uhlsport’ (German sports goods
supplier) to develop grassroots football in Tamil Nadu and across India.

61. Virat Kohli has become the 3rd cricketer to have a stand named after him at the
Ferozeshah Kotla stadium in recognition of his sport abilities.
 Bishan Singh Bedi and Mohinder Amarnath were the earlier cricketers to have a
stand named after them in the stadium.

62. Athletics Federation of India will organise the Indian Grand Prix-VI in New Delhi in
September as a qualifying event for the World Championships.
 For male athletes, the events will be 400m hurdles, pole vault, long jump, triple
jump, shot put, javelin throw and 4x400m relay.
 For women, the events will be 100m, 200m, 400m and the long jump.
 World Athletic Championships 2019 will be held in Doha, Qatar.
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63. Hima Das and Mohammad Anas have won gold medals in women’s and men’s 300m
races respectively at the Athleticky Mitink Reiter event held in Czech Republic.

64. France has won the mixed triathlon test event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics held in
Tokyo.

65. Mahak Jain (tennis player) won a singles and doubles title (with Sathwika Sama) at the
$15,000 ITF women’s tournament held in Nairobi, Kenya.

66. World Para Powerlifting Championships 2019 was held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
 Malaysia’s Bonnie Bunyau Gustin (aged 20) has made a world record by lifting 207kg
in 65 kg men’s category and won 2 Gold medals.
 Folashade Oluwafemiayo (Nigerian) has made the world record in women’s
category by lifting 150 kg and Enkhbayar Sodnompiljee (Mongolia) have made the
world record the men’s category by lifting 247 kg.
67. India has won the U-12 Asian Tennis Team Championship 2019 held in Kazakhstan.
 Gold Winner: - Manas Dhamme, Arnav Paprakar and Pranav Rethin.

68. Esow Alben (India) has won two medals at the UCI World Junior Track Championships
2019 held in Frankfurt, Germany.
 India won a gold, silver and bronze each and was ranked sixth in the medals tally.

69. Daniil Medvedev has won the ATP Masters 1000 held in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.

70. Mumbai will host the World Youth Chess Championship 2019.

71. World Wrestling Championships 2019 will be held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan in

September, 2019.

72. Former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has been elected as an Honorary Life
Member of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
 MCC is a cricket club founded in 1787 in London, England.

73. For the first time, 9th edition of Rugby World Cup 2019 will be held in Asia (in Japan).
 Rugby (originated in England) is the third largest international sport after
Olympics/Paralympics and FIFA World Cup.
 104

74. AIBA World Boxing Championships 2019 will take place in Yekaterinburg, Russia in
September.
 11th edition of Women’s AIBA World Boxing Championships 2019 will be held in
Ulan-Ude, Russia in October.

75. Paytm has received the sponsorship rights of title for international and domestic
matches of BCCI.

76. Para swimmer Satendra Singh Lohia has become the 1st Asian swimmer to cross the
Catalina Channel of USA.
 He was a part of the Indian para-swimming team of 6 members. Rohan More was
the coach of the team.

77. Two pre-season games of the NBA India Games 2019 will be held in Mumbai.
 It is the first time North American sports league teams (Sacramento Kings and
Indiana Pacers) will play in India.

78. India’s National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) has been suspended by World Anti-
Doping Agency (WADA) for 6 months for non-compliance with International Standard
for Laboratories.
 Implication: - NDTL has been prohibited from carrying out any anti-doping activities.

79. Alex Rins has won the British Motorcycle Grand Prix (MotoGP) 2019 held at Silverstone
circuit, UK.

80. PV Sindhu has become the first Indian shutter to win the gold at BWF World
Championship 2019 (Badminton) held at Basel, Switzerland.
 Sai Praneeth has won a bronze in men's singles category.

81. Shanghai 2019 Hyundai Archery World Cup Stage 2, held in China, winners: -
 Men’s Recurve: - Lee Woo Seok; Women’s Recurve: - Kang Chai Young
 Compound Men: - Braden Gellenthien; Compound Women: - So Chaewon

82. Komalika Bari has won gold medal in Recurve Cadet Women category in World Archery
Youth Championships 2019 in Madrid, Spain.
 Markoo Raginee and Sukhbeer Singh (junior mixed team) won gold.
 Sukhbeer Singh, Sangampreet Singh Bisla and Tushar Phadtare (junior compound
men’s team) won the bronze medal.
 105

83. Jasprit Bumrah has become the fastest Indian bowler to take 50 wickets (11 test
matches) in Test cricket in the 2-day test series against West Indies, held in Antigua and
Barbuda.
 R Ashwin was the previous fastest bowler to take 50 wickets.

84. Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) of India has won 10 medals (5 gold, 3 silver and 2
bronze) at World Police and Fire Games 2019 (WPFG) held at Chengdu, China.
 Gold Medals to India: -

Name of the Gold Winners Sport

Ashish Kapoor (2 golds) Both singles and doubles Tennis events
Manjit Wrestling
Anjum Moudgil Rifle
Lajja Gauswami Rifle
Anjum, Monu, Vimlesh and Shamsher In team competition (shooting)
Vimlesh Kumar Rathour Rifle
Monali Jadhav (2 golds and 1 bronze) WPFG International Championship 2019 in
Archery
 WPFG-2021 Venue: Rotterdam, Netherlands.
 WPFG-2023 Venue: Winnipeg, Canada.

85. Jin Young Ko has won the CP Women’s Open 2019 (LPGA- Golf tour) held at Magna Golf
Club, Canada.

86. Zurich will host the IAAF Diamond League in 2020 and 2021.
 Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions
started in 2010.

87. Kento Momota has won the men’s singles at the BWF World Championship 2019 held
in Basel, Switzerland.
 Men’s Doubles: - Mohamad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia).
 Women’s Doubles: - Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Nagahara (Japan).

88. Anil Puri has become the first serving Lt. General-rank officer of the Indian Army who
completed the France’s oldest cycle competition- 1200 km long Paris Brest-Paris circuit
(PBP) 2019.
 Audax Club Parisien (cycling club in Paris) has organized it.

89. Athletics Federation of India has chosen Nestle Milo as its title sponsor for National
Inter-District Junior Athletics Meet 2019 (NIDJAM).
 NIDJAM is one of the world’s largest talent hunt programmes for a single sport (for
U-14 and U-16 athletes).
 106

90. Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has decided to rename the Feroz Shah
Kotla Stadium as Arun Jaitley Stadium.
 The ground will continue to be called the Feroz Shah Kotla.

91. A new mobile app “IndTokyo” has been launched by Arhan Bagati (Awareness and
Impact Ambassador of Paralympic Committee of India) to help para-athletes track place
in Tokyo during the 2020 Paralympics Games.
 16th edition of 2020 summer Paralympics Venue: Tokyo, Japan
 17th edition of 2024 summer Paralympics Venue: Paris, France

92. 3rd leg of Dream Big Challenger - UTR tennis tournament will be held in Hyderabad,
Telangana.
 UTR- Universal Tennis Rating is a global tennis player rating system to produce an
index of players' skill.

93. ICC Men’s Cricket Rankings: - Best Batsman- Virat Kohli followed by Steve Smith
 Best Bowler – Pat Cummins followed by Kagiso Rabada (7th- Jasprit Bumrah)
 Best Team – India.

94. Cecil Wright (West Indies) has announced retirement from cricket at the age of 85.

95. India has won 12 medals at the BWF Para Badminton World Championships was held in
Basel, Switzerland.
 3 Gold medals: - Pramod Bhagat in men’s singles; Manasi Joshi in women’s singles;
Pramod Bhagat and Manoj Sarkar in men’s doubles.
 4 Silver medals and 5 Bronze medals were also won by India.

96. 45th WorldSkills Competition 2019 was held at the KAZAN EXPO International
Exhibition Centre in Kazan, Russia.
 India won 4 medals :- 1 gold by S Aswatha Narayana, 1 silver by Pranav Nutalapati
and 2 bronze medals by Sanjoy Pramanik and Shweta Ratanpura.

97. Ashish Kasodekar has become the first Indian to complete the 555 kms long ''La Ultra
The High'' marathon in Ladakh.
 107

98. VK Vismaya (sprinter) won gold medal in women 400m run at the International Athletic
Meeting - Josef Seckar Memorial (MJS) held in Brno, Czech Republic.
 Poovamma Machettira won silver and Subha Venkatesan won bronze.

99. Jalaj Saxena has set a record of scoring 6000 runs in first-class cricket during 58th
season of Duleep Trophy 2019-20 held in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
 He has also taken 300 wickets in first-class cricket.

100. International Champions Cup 2019 (football tournament) has been won by Portugal
football club- Benfica in men’s category.
 ICC Women’s Cup was won by Lyon Football Club of France.

101. Italy has won the maximum medals (1-gold and 2-bronze) at the ISSF World Cup
Shotgun 2019 was held in Lahti, Finland.

102. Asian Women's Volleyball Championship 2019 (held in Seoul, South Korea) has
been won by Japan’s team.
103. Ding Liren won the 2019 Sinquefield Cup held at St. Louis Chess Club, St. Louis
County in USA.

104. FINA World Junior Swimming Championships 2019 was held in Budapest, Hungary.

MISCELLANEOUS

1. NASA’s TESS has discovered the First Super Earth named as Gj 357d outside solar
system which could be habitable. It is 31 light years away from Earth.

2. “Interrogating Indus inscription to unravel their mechanism of meaning conveyance”

published in Palgrave Communications (a Nature group journal) states that Indus Valley
inscriptions were written logographically.
 Logographically means by using word signs. The inscriptions were not written with
phonograms (sounds symbols).
 The study was authored by Ms. Bahata Ansumali Mukhopadhyay.

3. “Tools and Weapons: The Promise and The Peril of the Digital Age” book has been co-
authored by Brad Smith (President of Microsoft) and Carol Ann Browne.

4. Hilary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea Clinton have co-authored a book called “The
Book of Gutsy Women” which honours famous women personalities.
 The book includes stories of more than 100 influential women including Mary curie,
Greta Thunberg etc.

5. Author Toni Morrison has passed away at 88.

 108

6. The fossils of the world’s smallest monkey (lived 18 million years ago) have been
discovered in Amazon forests by Duke University (USA) and National University of
Piura (Peru).
 It was published in journal Human Evolution.

7. Fossils of a giant sized parrot (almost 1 meter tall and weigh 7 kg), which is named as
Heracles Inexpectatus, have been found in near St. Bathans, New Zealand.
 The study was published in the Biology Letters.
 The fossils were first discovered in 2008.

8. A book- Oru Manidhan, Oru Iyakkam on the life and work of former CM of Tamil Nadu
and DMK president M. Karunanidhi has been released.

9. A sequel to Emerging India (2012) book- ‘Resurgent India’ has been written by Bimal
Jalan.

10. Sandra Pascoe Ortiz (Mexican researcher) has invented a new technique to make
biodegradable plastic from cactus leaves (juice).

11. ‘The Diary of Manu Gandhi’ has been released by National Archives of India, in
collaboration with Oxford University Press.
 Originally written in Gujarati, this diary has been translated by Dr. Tridip Suhrud.

12. ‘Listening, Learning and Leading’ book based on the life and works of M. Venkaiah
Naidu’s two years in office as Vice President of India has been released.

13. Sanjay Suri has written book- “A Gandhian Affair” that studies “India’s portrayal of love
in cinema” in 60s and 70s era.
 109

14. Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched “JAYA HO” book which records
the historic “Praja Sankalpa Yatra” (an election campaign walkathon of Reddy) from
Idupulapaya to Ichchapuram (covering 3,648 km).
 The book has been completed under the journalist K Ramachandra Murthy.

15. A book on the life of actress Sridevi – “Sridevi: Girl Woman Superstar”- has been
written by Satyarth Nayak and has been published by Penguin Random House India.

16. Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and University Observatory (Germany)
has discovered a Super Massive Black Hole (SMBH) with a mass of 40 billion suns (solar
masses).
 The discovery is published in Astrophysical Journal.
 It is twice the size of two huge black holes and is located in the midst of Holmberg
15A galaxy (galaxy located in the centre of Abell 85 galaxy cluster).
 It is located at a distance of 700 million light years from Earth.
 It is expected to be 4 to 9 times larger than expected galaxy’s stellar mass.

17. Rajiv Dogra has written his 3rd novel “Second Night”.
 The first two novels are “Where borders bleed: An insider’s account of Indo-Pak
Relation” and “Durand’s curse: A line across Pathan Heart” (based on the Durand
Line- the border line of Pak and Afghanistan).

18. ‘Kashmir’s untold story: Declassification’ book has been written by filmmaker Iqbal
Chand Malhotra and defence analyst Maroof Raza.
 The book covers the entire history of Jammu and Kashmir since the beginning i.e.,
1889 to 2019.

19. “100 Years of Chrysostum”, a biographical documentary on Philipose Mar Chrysostum,

has entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest documentary.
 Chrysostum (aged 102-year-old) is the Metropolitan Emeritus of the Malankara Mar
Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar.
 The film has been directed and scripted by Blessy.

20. A giant guitar (70-foot-tall) made from metal waste, prepared by Industrial Training
Institute- Odisha, has entered the Asia Book of Records and India Book of Records.

21. “Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story” has been written by Mihir Dalal.

22. Chandrayaan-2 has sent the photo of Mitra crater (named after Indian scientist and
pioneer of radio technology Sisir Kumar Mitra) on moon’s surface.
 International Astronomical Union (IAU), which is responsible for naming planetary
features in solar system, had named the crater after Mitra in 1970.
 110

23. “Obama: The Call of History” book has been written by Peter Baker (published by
Penguin India).

24. Jessi Combs (car-racer) died in a car race held at Harney County, USA while trying to
make a record.

25. NASA’s InSight lander has named a rock on Mars as ‘Rolling Stones Rock’ in honour of
the English band- ‘The Rolling Stones’.
 NASA’s InSight mission is led by Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
 111

QUESTIONS
 Q.1) What is the new strength of judges in [A] IIT-Kharagpur
the Supreme court as approved by Union [B] IIT-Lucknow
Cabinet? [C] IIT-Kanpur
[A] 23 [D] Both A and B
[B] 31 [E] Both B and C
[C] 24
[D] 34 Q.6) Who among the following has
[E] 25 become the first wing commander of
Indian Air Force to perform wingsuit
Q.2) Between which two states is skydive jump?
the India’s first Rapid Rail Transit Corridor [A] Tarun Sharma
being built? [B] Tarun Jadhav
[A] Delhi-UP [C] Tarun Mahopatra
[B] Bihar-Chhattisgarh [D] Tarun Singhal
[C] Bihar-Assam [E] Tarun Chaudhari
[D] Punjab-Himachal Pradesh
[E] Maharashtra- Karnataka Q.7) With which institute has Tata Medical
Centre partnered to set up the first-of-its-
Q.3) How many workers from kind Comprehensive Digital Archive of
unorganized sector are targeted by Cancer Imaging?
government to be included in PM Shram [A] IIT-Delhi
Yogi Maan-dhan Yojana? [B] IISc-Bangalore
[A] 480 million [C] IIT-Kharagpur
[B] 150 million [D] IIT-Mysore
[C] 270 million [E] IIT-Bombay
[D] 890 million
[E] 230 million Q.8) Which state has processed the
maximum percentage of its total solid
Q.4) Which state has passed the School waste generated till November 2018,
Education Regulatory and Monitoring according to Environment Ministry?
Commission Bill, 2019 to monitor the [A] Maharashtra
school fees and implement the Right to [B] Karnataka
Education Act, 2009? [C] Telangana
[A] Maharashtra [D] Uttar Pradesh
[B] Andhra Pradesh [E] Chhattisgarh
[C] West Bengal
[D] Assam Q.9) When was Swadesh Darshan Scheme
[E] Bihar launched?
[A] 2014
Q.5) Which of the following Indian [B] 2016
Institute(s) of Technology has developed [C] 2017
the molecular framework to destroy [D] 2019
superbugs? [E] 2003

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 113

[C] Massachusetts
Q.10) Where is ISRO going to set up [D] London
its ISRO Technical Liaison Unit? [E] Paris
[A] Germany
[B] Switzerland Q.15) How much FDI inflow did India
[C] Italy receive during 2018-19, according
[D] Japan to Department for Promotion of Industry
[E] Russia and Internal Trade data?
[A] $77.07 billion
Q.11) Innovation for Clean Air is a joint [B] $64.37 billion
initiative between India and for two [C] $16.137 billion
years to test interventions related to air [D] $43.91 billion
quality and e-Vehicle integration? [E] $54.01 billion
[A] United Kingdom
[B] China Q.16) Who has been appointed as the
[C] USA new director general of National Security
[D] Bolivia Guard?
[E] Brazil [A] A V Ramakrishnan
[B] N V Ramana
Q.12) What is the theme of the 22nd [C] K D Gopal
edition of National Conference on e- [D] S S Deswal
Governance 2019? [E] S A Chandran
[A] Transforming Agriculture through AI
[B] AI: New Era of Industrialization Q.17) Who has become the first cricketer
[C] Digital India: Success to Excellence in the world to score 1000 runs and take
[D] Digital Economy: Paving Way for 100 wickets in T20 format?
Sustainable Development [A] Suzie Bates
[E] None of the Above [B] Stafanie Taylor
[C] Meg Lanning
Q.13) With which country has India signed [D] Mithali Raj
an MoU for providing e-Arogyabharati [E] Ellyse Perry
(tele-medicine) and e-Vidyabharati (tele-
education) services? Q.18) Who has won the Biel International
[A] Benin Chess Festival 2019?
[B] Cuba [A] Magnus Carlsen
[C] Peru [B] Wilhelm Steinitz
[D] Argentina [C] Anatoly Karpov
[E] Laos [D] Vidit Gujrathi
[E] Alexander Alekhine
Q.14) Which city has topped the QS
(Quacquarelli Symonds) Best Student Q.19) Where was the fossils of world
Cities Ranking 2019? smallest monkey found?
[A] San Francisco [A] Crooked forest
[B] California [B] Amazon forests
 114

[C] Hyrcanian forests [A] Karnataka

[D] Miombo Woodlands [B] Madhya Pradesh
[E] Congo Basin Forest [C] Maharashtra
[D] Andhra Pradesh
Q.20) Where is the Temghar, [E] Odisha
Khadakwasla, Panshet, Varasgaon dam
located? Q.25) One Nation One Ration Card
[A] Telangana Scheme has not been launched in which
[B] Andhra Pradesh of the following state?
[C] Maharashtra [A] Maharashtra
[D] Tamil Nadu [B] Delhi
[E] Meghalaya [C] Gujarat
[D] Andhra Pradesh
[E] Telangana
Q.21) Where is the Bandipur Tiger Reserve
located? Q.26) What is India’s position in the Water
[A] Meghalaya Stress Index released by Verisk
[B] Andhra Pradesh Maplecroft?
[C] Maharashtra [A] 23
[D] Kerala [B] 46
[E] Karnataka [C] 67
[D] 27
Q.22) Under which ministry was the silk [E] 12
samgra program launched?
[A] Ministry of Labour and Employment Q.27) Which schedule of Indian
[B] Ministry of Home Affairs constitution states about official
[C] Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer languages of India?
Welfare [A] 1st
[D] Ministry of Social Justice and [B] 5th
Empowerment [C] 9th
[E] Ministry of Textiles [D] 8th
[E] 6th
Q.23) Which institute has developed
world’s first robot hand? Q.28) Which ministry is going to conduct
[A] Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur the 1st National Time Release Study to
[B] Harvard University allow faster movement of cargo across
[C] University of California borders?
[D] University of Chicago [A] Ministry of Road Transport and
[E] Stanford University Highway
[B] Ministry of New and Renewable
Q.24) Which state has developed Energy
the Automated Multi-modal Biometric [C] Ministry of Defence
Identification System to help police [D] Ministry of Finance
investigations through biometric data?
 115

[E] Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and [E] PhonePe

Public Distribution
Q.34) Which company has launched the
Q.29) When was Sugmaya Bharat Abhiyan Samarth platform to empower Indian
launched? artisans, weavers and craftsmen by
[A] 2011 bringing them onto the e-commerce?
[B] 2012 [A] Amazon
[C] 2013 [B] Flipkart
[D] 2014 [C] Google
[E] 2015 [D] Microsoft
[E] Intel
Q.30) Which country have collaborated
with USA to form a computer model to Q.35) Who has been appointed as the
detect air pollution levels in India? Controller General of Accounts?
[A] Italy [A] Girraj Prasad Gupta
[B] China [B] Ganesh Thakur
[C] England [C] Gagan Sachdev
[D] Australia [D] Gaureesh Naidu
[E] South Korea [E] Ganendra Pandey

Q.31) What is the new GDP forecast for Q.36) Who has been appointed as the
2019-20 for India, according to Crisil? chief of Narcotics Control Bureau?
[A] 6.1% [A] Aarav Mukherjee
[B] 7.3% [B] Vihaan Saxena
[C] 8.1% [C] Rakesh Asthana
[D] 7.7% [D] Arjun Batra
[E] 6.9% [E] Aditya Mannan

Q.32) Which company has acquired the Q.37) What is the new increased strength
data privacy and governance service of teams of FIFA Women’s World Cup
startup- BlueTalon? approved by FIFA?
[A] Amazon [A] 23
[B] Flipkart [B] 25
[C] Microsoft [C] 35
[D] Google [D] 16
[E] Apple [E] 32

Q.33) With which payment company of Q.38) Who has topped the women’s
India has Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance ranking of Badminton World Federation?
partnered? [A] PV Sindhu
[A] Paytm [B] Serena Williams
[B] PayPal [C] Akane Yamaguchi
[C] Cashpay [D] Nozomi Okuhara
[D] Mobikwik [E] Caroline Marin
 116

Q.39) Which of the following events has Q.44) Which state is going to develop the
been shunned by National Rifle world’s first fastest hyperloop?
Association of India? [A] Madhya Pradesh
[A] Mixed Doubles Rifle [B] Karnataka
[B] Mixed Doubles Pistol [C] Kerala
[C] Individual Shotgun [D] Telangana
[D] Mixed Skeet [E] Maharashtra
[E] Para Shooting
Q.45) Which one is the second state in
Q.40) Where is Bhadra Tiger Reserve India to launch the State Action Plan on
located? Antimicrobial Resistance Containment?
[A] Uttarakhand [A] Uttar Pradesh
[B] Assam [B] Mizoram
[C] Karnataka [C] Arunachal Pradesh
[D] Kerala [D] Andhra Pradesh
[E] Uttar Pradesh [E] Madhya Pradesh

Q.46) Which ministry has launched the

Q.41) Which state is at the top position in “Meghdoot” app to help farmers in
terms of court infrastructure according getting environment related information?
to Building Better Courts (Surveying the [A] Ministry of Agriculture
Infrastructure of India’s District Courts)? [B] Ministry of Electronics and Information
[A] Maharashtra Technology
[B] West Bengal [C] Ministry of Earth Sciences
[C] Delhi [D] Both A and B
[D] Tamil Nadu [E] Both A and C
[E] Karnataka
Q.47) Which of the following bank has
Q.42) Which state has launched the “Save been included in the Schedule II of RBI
Green, Stay Clean” campaign? Act, 1934?
[A] Rajasthan [A] Bank of Australia
[B] Assam [B] Deutsche Bank
[C] Bihar [C] South Korean Bank
[D] Delhi [D] Bank of China
[E] West Bengal [E] Shinhan Bank

Q.43) With which company has Indian
Army signed an MoU for procuring e-cars?
[A] Hero Moto Corp
[B] Energy Efficiency Service
[C] Hyundai Ltd.
[D] Bharat Heavy Electric Ltd.
[E] Maruti Suzuki
Q.48) What is the name of the new joint
venture formed by National Aluminium
Company Ltd., Mineral Exploration
Company Ltd. and Hindustan Copper Ltd.?
[A] Khanij Bidesh India Ltd.
[B] Dhaatu Bidesh India Ltd.
[C] Khanijjal Bidesh India Ltd.
 117

[D] Padaarth Bidesh India Ltd. India to Economic Community of West

[E] Prrakritik Bidesh India Ltd. African States?
[A] Rahul Jain
Q.49) What is India’s GDP ranking position [B] Himanshu Gokhriyal
in world in 2018, according to World [C] Abhay Thakur
Bank? [D] Akhilesh Goel
[A] 5th [E] Manish Singhal
[B] 6th
[C] 7th Q.54) Who has been appointed as the MD
[D] 8th and CEO of LIC Housing Finance?
[E] 10th [A] Siddhartha Mohanty
[B] Sumesh Mohanty
Q.50) Which bank has been fined with Rs [C] Sankalp Mohanty
1.5 crore by RBI for non-complying with [D] Shubham Mohanty
RBI’s directions in Rotomac Groups’ [E] Sameer Mohanty
fraud?
[A] Indian Overseas Bank Q.55) What is the theme of World
[B] Bank of Baroda Breastfeeding Week 2019?
[C] Bank of India [A] Mother’s Milk: A Boon to Child Health
[D] Allahabad Bank [B] Reducing Child Deaths
[E] ICICI Bank [C] Empower parents, Enable
Breastfeeding
Q.51) Which bank has become first Indian [D] Increasing Nutrition: Physical and
Bank to get connected with China’s Mental Health
National Advance Payment System by [E] Empowering Mothers: A Healthy
People’s Bank of China? Approach
[A] Punjab National Bank
[B] State Bank of India Q.56) Which Indian journalist has been
[C] HDFC Bank chosen for Ramon Magsaysay Award
[D] Exim Bank 2019?
[E] UCO Bank [A] Barkha Dutt
[B] Rajdeep Sardesai
Q.52) How much money has been infused [C] Sudhir Choudhary
by National Housing Bank in Housing [D] Ravish Kumar
Finance Companies to ease loans to [E] Rana Ayyub
Housing sector?
[A] Rs 25,000 crore Q.57) Recently, four footballers have been
[B] Rs 15,000 crore banned for life by Asian Football
[C] Rs 20,000 crore Confederation for match fixing. Which of
[D] Rs 10,000 crore the following is NOT among the them?
[E] Rs 30,000 crore [A] Kursanbek Sheratov
[B] Iliaz Alimov
Q.53) Who has been appointed as [C] Denis Cheryshev
the next permanent representative of [D] Vladimir Verevkin
 118

[E] Abduaziz Mahkamov [C] Indian Institute of Technology, Kerala

[D] Indian Institute of Forest Management
Q.58) Who is the author of Tools and [E] Indian Institute of Taxonomy
Weapons: The Promise and The Peril of
the Digital Age? Q.63) Which company has partnered with
[A] Shastri Akella Apollo Hospital Group to set up
[B] K Anis Ahmed the National Clinical Coordination
[C] Brad Smith Committee for AI-powered cardiovascular
[D] Marjorie Agosín projects?
[E] Mai Al-Nakib [A] IIT-Delhi
[B] Amazon
Q.59) When was RBI Act enacted? [C] Google
[A] 2002 [D] AIIMS
[B] 1956 [E] Microsoft India
[C] 1949
[D] 1934 Q.64) Where will ISRO built its Space
[E] 1927 Situational Awareness Control Centre?
[A] Chennai
Q.60) Which bank has been renamed as [B] Bengaluru
NatWest Markets Plc in the Schedule-II of [C] Mumbai
RBI Act? [D] Delhi
[A] ACLEDA Bank [E] Vijayawada
[B] Arab Banking Corporation
[C] Azizi Bank Q.65) In which part of the constitution is
[D] China Development Bank the Article 370 described?
[E] Royal Bank of Scotland [A] 21
[B] 7
Q.61) When was IMPRINT scheme [C] 9
initiated? [D] 10
[A] 2014 [E] 15
[B] 2015
[C] 2016 Q.66) How many people were killed for
[D] 2017 environmental activism in 2018 in the
[E] 2018 world, according to Global Witness’s
Report?
Q.62) Which organization has [A] 207
collaborated with Centre for Ecological [B] 164
Services Management and National Tiger [C] 200
Conservation Authority for releasing [D] 187
Economic Valuation of Tiger Reserves in [E] 156
India: A Value+ Approach report?
[A] Indian Institute of Science Q.67) Who has become the first man to
[B] Indian Institute of Tropical cross the English Channel by flying on his
Management Hoverboard?
 119

[A] Grayson Allen [E] Rs 9000 crore

[B] Jaxon Wright
[C] Achestan Barritt Q.72) Who has been chosen for
[D] Franky Zapata the International Honor for Excellence
[E] Harry Barker Award given by International Broadcasting
Convention?
Q.68) Which country has recently banned [A] Leonardo DeCaprio
the wearing of Burqa, niqab, motor [B] Johnny Depp
helmets and ski masks at public places? [C] Andy Serkis
[A] France [D] Will Smith
[B] Sweden [E] Matt Damon
[C] England
[D] Germany Q.73) Which of the following is the first
[E] Netherland Indian pair to win the Thailand Open BWF
Super 500 Badminton Championship
Q.69) Which bank has partnered 2019?
with Finwizard Technology Pvt Ltd to [A] Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag
provide wealth management services to Shetty
the bank’s customers? [B] Vijay Amritraj and Somdev Devvarman
[A] Axis Bank [C] Ramesh Krishnan and Anand Amitraj
[B] Karnataka Bank [D] Sakeeth Miyani and Zeeshan Ali
[C] United Bank of India [E] Akhtar Ali and Vishnu Vardhan
[D] Allahabad Bank
[E] State Bank of India Q.74) Who has won the Formula 1 race of
Hungarian Grand Prix 2019?
Q.70) What is the minimum number of [A] Valentino Rossi
members required in the Nomination and [B] Marc Marquez
Remuneration Committee formed in [C] Lewis Hamilton
accordance with RBI new rules of ‘Fit and [D] Jack Miller
Proper’ Criteria for Elected Directors? [E] Max Verstappen
[A] 5
[B] 2 Q.75) Who has won gold medal at Poland
[C] 3 Open Wrestling Championship 2019?
[D] 7 [A] Becky Lynch
[E] 4 [B] Charlotte Flair
[C] Vinesh Phogat
Q.71) What is the new requirement set up [D] Sasha Banks
by Government for setting up branches by [E] Amy Dumas
foreign re-insurers in the International
Financial Services Centre? Q.76) Who among the following has
[A] Rs 5000 crore recorded his career’s 50th win at the
[B] Rs 7000 crore Czech Moto Grand Prix Tournament
[C] Rs 1,000 crore 2019?
[D] Rs 3,000 crore [A] Marc Marquez
 120

[B] Alex Marquez [C] Kenya

[C] Joan Mir [D] Gambia
[D] Lonis Capirossi [E] Benin
[E] Mick Doohan
Q.82) When was e-VBAB Network Project
Q.77) Who has won the Kitzbuhel Clay launched by Ministry of External Affairs?
Court Tournament 2019? [A] 2019
[A] Roger Federer [B] 2017
[B] Rafael Nadal [C] 2015
[C] Dominic Thiem [D] 2013
[D] Novak Djokovic [E] 2018
[E] Alexander Zverev
Q.83) How much financial aid has been
Q.78) Who has won Gold in men’s singles granted by India to Gambia for skill
at the 21st edition Magomed Salam development and cottage industry
Umakhanov Memorial International projects?
Boxing Tournament 2019? [A] $200,000
[A] Neeraj [B] $300,000
[B] Tyson Fury [C] $450,000
[C] Gennady Golovkin [D] $809,000
[D] Shiva Thapa [E] $500,000
[E] Canelo Álvarez
Q.84) When was Article 370 enacted?
Q.79) Which country has won the Africa [A] 1934
Cup of Nations (football) 2019? [B] 1949
[A] Egypt [C] 1954
[B] Algeria [D] 1980
[C] Congo [E] 1974
[D] Zimbabwe
[E] Kenya Q.85) How many new missions is India
planning to launch in Africa, according to
Q.80) Where is Koundinya Wildlife Budget 2019?
Sanctuary located? [A] 10
[A] Maharashtra [B] 5
[B] Andhra Pradesh [C] 11
[C] Karnataka [D] 18
[D] Tamil Nadu [E] 23
[E] Kerala
Q.86) In which state will the Kosi-Mechi
Q.81) Which country has honoured Interlinking project be implemented?
President Ram Nath Kovind with The [A] Madhya Pradesh
National Order of Merit? [B] Gujarat
[A] Myanmar [C] Maharashtra
[B] Guinea [D] Andhra Pradesh
 121

[E] Bihar [D] Sellers need to adhere to Legal

Metrology (amendment) rules 2017 for
Q.87) With which country has United pre-packaged commodities
Kingdom formed International Maritime [E] e-commerce sector in India is
Security Mission for protection of ship estimated to reach $230 billion by 2028
vessels in the Strait of Hormuz?
[A] France Q.91) Which is the top retailer company of
[B] Russia India in 2018, according to Top 100
[C] USA Retailers in Asia 2019 report?
[D] Netherlands [A] Alibaba
[E] India [B] Paytm
[C] Amazon
Q.88) What was the theme of 34th ASEAN [D] Reliance
Summit 2019? [E] Walmart
[A] Digital Economy, Sustainable
Development Q.92) On which bank has RBI imposed a
[B] Logistics: A New Realme for penalty of 1.5 crore for delay in reporting
Partnership the fraud of Kingfisher Airlines?
[C] Countering Terrorism [A] UCO Bank
[D] Advancing Partnership For [B] Indian Overseas Bank
Sustainability [C] Standard Chartered Bank
[E] Developing ASEAN: Protecting [D] Oriental Bank of Commerce
Environment [E] Punjab National Bank

Q.89) Which of the following country is Q.93) Who has been appointed as the
NOT a member of ASEAN? new CEO of MedLife?
[A] Myanmar [A] Ananth Narayanan
[B] Thailand [B] Akshay Tyagi
[C] Cambodia [C] Avinash Bohra
[D] China [D] Anand Maitrayee
[E] Vietnam [E] Akhilesh Singhal

Q.90) Which of the following statement is Q.94) Who has been awarded with
TRUE about the new provision of e- the Lifetime Achievement award of the
commerce policy draft? Cricket Association of Bengal?
[A] The e-tailers (e-retailers) have to [A] Sachin Tendulkar
refund the amount to customers within 14 [B] Kapil Dev
days of such request [C] Rishabh Pant
[B] E-tailers have to disclose all the details [D] Arun Lal
about their suppliers on their website [E] MS Dhoni
[C] Personal data of customers should be
protected under Information Technology Q.95) With which sport is Dwayne
(Amendment) Act, 2008. Johnson related to?
[A] Athletics
 122

[B] Squash [B] 10

[C] Cricket [C] 13
[D] Badminton [D] 8
[E] Wrestling [E] 5

Q.96) Who has won the women’s British Q.101) In which state has India’s first 3-D
Open LPGA tournament 2019? traffic signal- Intelights- been installed?
[A] Ko Jin Young [A] Delhi
[B] Hinako Shsibuno [B] Haryana
[C] Inbee Park [C] Punjab
[D] Paula Creamer [D] Bihar
[E] Karrie Webb [E] Jharkhand

Q.97) Who has won the men’s singles at Q.102) Which state has launched the
the Thailand Open BWF Super 500 RACE- a new higher education model to
Badminton Championship 2019? facilitate movement of faculty and
[A] Chou Tien-chen movable property among government
[B] Lee Chong Wei colleges?
[C] Carolina Marin [A] Madhya Pradesh
[D] Li Xuerui [B] Rajasthan
[E] Lin Dan [C] Karnataka
[D] Kerala
Q.98) Which is Asia’s top retailer [E] Chhattisgarh
company, according to Euromonitor
International’s report ‘Top 100 Retailers in Q.103) Yasin, Balaban and Ghaem are the
Asia 2019’? missile of which country?
[A] Walmart [A] Japan
[B] Apple [B] North Korea
[C] Intel [C] Iran
[D] HCL Technologies [D] Afghanistan
[E] Alibaba [E] UAE

Q.99) When was Information Technology Q.104) Which country has been
(Amendment) Act enacted? designated as ‘currency manipulator’ by
[A] 2010 USA?
[B] 2003 [A] Iran
[C] 2005 [B] North Korea
[D] 1998 [C] China
[E] 2008 [D] Japan
[E] India
Q.100) What is India’s rank in the World
Resources Institute's “Aqueduct Water Q.105) Which country has signed
Risk Atlas”? agreement with Russia for a lifetime
[A] 12
 123

supply of uranium for its Rooppur Nuclear [B] Rs 2 Lakh

Power Plant? [C] Rs 3 Lakh
[A] India [D] Rs 4 Lakh
[B] Pakistan [E] Rs 5 Lakh
[C] Nepal
[D] Bangladesh Q.110) NSE IFSC- SGX Connect is a joint
[E] Bhutan proposal between National Stock
Exchange and to jointly carry out
Q.106) Between which two countries was operations in GIFT city?
the Intermediate- Range Nuclear Forces [A] Mongolian Stock Exchange
Treaty (INFT) signed? [B] Singapore Exchange
[A] Iran and Japan [C] Osaka Securities Exchange
[B] USA and Japan [D] Shenzhen Stock Exchange
[C] North Korea and USA [E] Shanghai Stock Exchange
[D] USA and USSR
[E] Iran and United Kingdom Q.111) Which card payment company has
launched the “Identity Check Express” to
Q.107) Which fund has become the increase security of transactions while
largest infrastructure fund of India after shopping online?
the latest infusion of $2 billion [A] Bharat UPI
by AustralianSuper and Ontario Teachers’ [B] Visa
Pension Plan? [C] RuPay
[A] Franklin Build India Fund [D] American Express
[B] SBI Infrastructure Fund [E] Mastercard
[C] TATA Infrastructure Fund
[D] National Investment and Q.112) How much retail loans have
Infrastructure Fund increased during the first half of 2019,
[E] Reliance Power and Infra Fund according to RBI data?
[A] 6%
Q.108) With which company has Reliance [B] 5.4%
formed a joint venture to set 5,500 petrol [C] 7.3%
pumps in India and supply commercial [D] 8%
aviation turbine fuel to airlines in India? [E] 9.4%
[A] Saudi Armaco
[B] Boeing Q.113) How much villages are targeted by
[C] BP Department of Telecommunication for
[D] Tata Consultancy Services providing network connectivity by 2020?
[E] PetroChina [A] 12,000 villages
[B] 23,000 villages
Q.109) What is the minimum net worth’s [C] 45,000 villages
limit set by IRDAI for Insurance Marketing [D] 27,000 villages
Firms to launch operations in one [E] 43,000 villages
aspirational district?
[A] Rs 1 Lakh
 124

Q.114) Who has been appointed as the Q.119) Who has written the “The Book of
new CMD of Power Grid Corporation of Gutsy Women”?
India? [A] Hilary Clinton
[A] Kandikuppa Sreekant [B] Chelsea Clinton
[B] Kartikeya Yedurappa [C] Caroline Clinton
[C] Sadananda Reddy [D] Both A and B
[D] Aadil Sahni [E] Both B and C
[E] G. Bhageeratha
Q.120) Where is Kanha Tiger Reserve
Q.115) When is first National Handloom located?
Day observed? [A] Karnataka
[A] 2013 [B] Madhya Pradesh
[B] 2016 [C] Uttarakhand
[C] 2015 [D] Assam
[D] 2012 [E] Uttar Pradesh
[E] 2019
Q.121) How many states in India
Q.116) Who has won the Miss World have Integrated Coastal Zone
Diversity 2019 title? Management Plans in place?
[A] Ruhi Sahni [A] 5
[B] Sumitra Bansal [B] 11
[C] Nutan Sharma [C] 7
[D] Naaz Joshi [D] 15
[E] Shalini Goel [E] 3

Q.117) Who among the following has Q.122) Which state will hold the 3rd
become the first woman to win 4,000 km edition of ScooNews Global Educators
cycling race in the Transcontinental Race Fest?
(Cycle) 2019? [A] Kerala
[A] Heller Barty [B] Rajasthan
[B] Chelsea Britton [C] Uttarakhand
[C] Fiona Kolbinger [D] Rajasthan
[D] Mary Cohens [E] Madhya Pradesh
[E] Rosy Williams
Q.123) Which institute has developed
Q.118) Who has become the the low-cost, hand-held device to detect
second fastest batsman to score 25 bacteria without indulging in time
centuries in 119 innings? consuming cell culture and microbiological
[A] Virat Kohli assays?
[B] Daniel Vittori [A] IIT-Delhi
[C] Peter Coman [B] IIT-Kharagpur
[D] Steve Smith [C] IIT-Meerut
[E] Richard Hadlee [D] IIT-Guwahati
[E] IIT-Chennai
 125

Q.129) How much is the medium-term

Q.124) Which state has been given the GI consumer price index inflation target set
tag for producing Pathamadai Silk Mat? by RBI for 2019-20?
[A] Kerala [A] 3.2%
[B] Karnataka [B] 4.0%
[C] Tamil Nadu [C] 2.8%
[D] Odisha [D] 3.7%
[E] Uttar Pradesh [E] 4.2%

Q.125) Which university has developed
the world’s thinnest gold named as
nanoseaweed?
[A] University of Minnesota
[B] University of Massachusetts
[C] University of La Trobe
[D] University of California
[E] University of Leeds
Q.126) What is the new GDP projection
for FY20 by RBI?
[A] 7%
[B] 7.2%
[C] 6.9%
[D] 6%
[E] 5.4%
Q.130) What is the new repo rate?
[A] 6%
[B] 7.1%
[C] 8%
[D] 5.4%
[E] 9.3%
Q.131) With which company has PMS
Bazaar partnered to provide India’s first
all-in-one “PMS & AIF tracking portal” for
investors?
[A] Cashfree Payment gateway
[B] EBS Payment Gateway
[C] EbixCash Financial Technologies
[D] PayPal Payment Gateway Service
[E] CCAvenue Payment Gateway

Q.127) What is the new cap introduced by Q.132) What is the new GDP growth rate
RBI on a bank’s exposures to a single for 2019-20 by National Council of Applied
NBFCs? Economic Research?
[A] 15% [A] 6%
[B] 20% [B] 7.1%
[C] 25% [C] 7.3%
[D] 30% [D] 5.4%
[E] 35% [E] 6.2%

Q.128) The risk weigh on banks’ consumer Q.133) How many new CNG units will be
loans has been reduced to from set up by Indraprastha Gas Ltd.,
125%? Mahanagar Gas Ltd., Gujarat Gas Ltd.?
[A] 100% [A] 340
[B] 110% [B] 450
[C] 105% [C] 670
[D] 115% [D] 780
[E] 95% [E] 920
 126

Q.134) Which company has partnered

with Tiffany company to open Tiffany’s Q.139) Which country will host the 10th
chain stores in India? edition of Asia Swimming Federation
[A] P&P Jewelers Asian Age Group Championships 2019?
[B] Reliance [A] China
[C] Titan [B] Philippines
[D] Levi Strauss & Co. [C] Singapore
[E] Park Avenue [D] Indonesia
[E] India
Q.135) Who is the first transgender
women model of Victoria’s Secret? Q.140) Who has won the Belt and Road
[A] Valentina Sampaio China Hunan International tournament
[B] Andrew Sullivan 2019?
[C] Renée Richards [A] Magnus Carlsen
[D] Chris Mosier [B] Fabiano Caruana
[E] Mianne Bagger [C] Surya Shekhar Ganguly
[D] Levon Aronian
Q.136) Who among the following are the [E] Wesley So
first awardees of maiden Legacy of
Americana Award 2019? Q.141) How many new farmer producer
[A] Rhiannon Giddens organisations does the government aim to
[B] Jay z create in the next five years?
[C] Frank Johnson [A] 45,000
[D] Both A and B [B] 13,000
[E] Both A and C [C] 10,000
[D] 15,000
Q.137) Who has been chosen for the [E] 17,000
“Excellence of Cinema” award to be given
at the 10th Indian Film Festival of Q.142) Which state has launched the
Melbourne 2019? Cyber Mithra program to help women
[A] Dia Mirza victims of cyber-crime?
[B] Shahrukh Khan [A] Maharashtra
[C] Tom Hanks [B] Madhya Pradesh
[D] Johnny Depp [C] Kerala
[E] Will Smith [D] Andhra Pradesh
[E] Uttarakhand
Q.138) Who has been ranked at the top
spot in Forbes list of the highest paid Q.143) When was National Deworming
sports women? Initiative launched?
[A] Naomi Osaka [A] 2013
[B] Simona Halep [B] 2002
[C] Maria Sharapova [C] 2018
[D] Serena Williams [D] 2009
[E] PV Sindhu [E] 2017
 127

[B] Telangana
Q.144) In which section of the Prevention [C] Nagaland
of the Money Laundering Act has the new [D] Manipur
explanation been added – “The [E] Meghalaya
jurisdiction of the Special Court, while
dealing with the offence under this Act, Q.148) How many countries have recently
during investigation, enquiry or trial under signed UN Convention on International
this Act, shall not be dependent upon any Settlement Agreements?
orders passed in respect of the scheduled [A] 54
offence, and the trial of both sets of [B] 46
offences by the same court shall not be [C] 78
construed as joint trial”? [D] 29
[A] Section 13 [E] 33
[B] Section 27
[C] Section 50 Q.149) Where will the meeting of
[D] Section 34 conference of parties of
[E] Section 44 CITES- Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species on Wild Fauna and
Q.145) With which institute has Flora be held?
the National Institute of Ocean [A] Switzerland
Technology partnered to generate [B] Netherland
electricity through ocean waves? [C] France
[A] IIT-Delhi [D] England
[B] IIT-Bangalore [E] USA
[C] IIT-Madras
[D] IIT-Chennai Q.150) Which country has the highest
[E] IIT-Meerut number of living languages, according to
Ethnologue?
Q.146) Which ministry releases the e- [A] Indonesia
version of Rozgar Samachar? [B] Kenya
[A] Ministry of Labour and Employment [C] Papua New Guinea
[B] Ministry of Women and Child [D] Japan
Development [E] India
[C] Ministry of Commerce and Industry
[D] Ministry of Information and Q.151) According to a UN’s Inter-
Broadcasting Governmental Panel on Climate Change
[E] Ministry of Electronics and Information report ‘Climate Change and Land’, global
Technology warming can be reduced below degree
Celsius level by 2100 only by reducing
Q.147) Which state has topped in greenhouse gas emission?
the Report Card on Breastfeeding & Infant [A] 1.5
& Child feeding Practices released by [B] 3
Ministry of Health? [C] 2
[A] Bihar [D] 1.3
 128

[E] 2.3 [A] Space Science, Research and

Technology
Q.152) Which Indian state has recently [B] Consumer Social Responsibility
received the $200 million loan for [C] Health and Microbiology
developing its road infrastructure? [D] Botany and Space
[A] Andhra Pradesh [E] Polity, Defence and Legal
[B] Uttarakhand
[C] Maharashtra Q.157) Where will the World Women’s
[D] Uttar Pradesh Boxing Championship 2019 be held?
[E] Gujarat [A] Brazil
[B] Russia
Q.153) When was Usha Throat [C] Venezuela
commission formed by RBI to examine the [D] Netherlands
issues relating to the offshore rupee [E] England
markets?
[A] 2014 Q.158) Who is the writer of Resurgent
[B] 2019 India book?
[C] 2013 [A] Nandan Nilekani
[D] 2017 [B] Bimal Jalan
[E] 2016 [C] Viral Acharya
[D] Mahesh Kumar Jain
Q.154) With which bank has SBI Life [E] BP Kanungo
Insurance signed ‘bancassurance’
agreement to provide insurance products Q.159) Who among the following has
to bank’s customers? made the world record in T20 cricket
[A] HDFC Bank format by taking 7 wickets in 18 runs?
[B] ICICI Bank [A] Steve Smith
[C] Punjab National Bank [B] Colin Ackermann
[D] Indian Bank [C] Virat Kohli
[E] Indian Overseas Bank [D] David Gower
[E] Fred Trueman
Q.155) Who among the following has
been awarded with the Bharat Ratna Q.160) Where is Tungabhadra Dam
Award 2019? located?
[A] Pranab Mukherjee [A] Karnataka
[B] Pratibha Patel [B] Tamil Nadu
[C] Anandibai Patel [C] Andhra Pradesh
[D] PT Usha [D] Madhya Pradesh
[E] Sachin Tendulkar [E] Uttar Pradesh

Q.156) Which new category has been Q.161) What is the overall horticulture
added in the Vikram Sarabhai Journalism production in 2018-19, according to 3rd
Award 2019? Advanced Estimate of Department of
 129

Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Q.166) How many medals have been won
Welfare? by India in the BWF Para Badminton
[A] 218.85 MT World Championships 2019?
[B] 577.05 MT [A] 12
[C] 276.90 MT [B] 21
[D] 432.11 MT [C] 17
[E] 313.85 MT [D] 19
[E] 23
Q.162) How much credit will be given by
Asian Development Bank to India over the Q.167) Who has become the first Indian to
next 3 years for India’s flagship programs? complete the 555 kms long ''La Ultra The
[A] $37 Bn High'' marathon in Ladakh?
[B] $45 Bn [A] Akshita Awasthy
[C] $69 Bn [B] Disha Singhania
[D] $71 Bn [C] Mehul Parsi
[E] $12 Bn [D] Ashish Kasodekar
[E] Keshav Bhargava
Q.163) Who has won the Kalinga-FCC
Awards for Excellence in Journalism for Q.168) Who has set a record of scoring
2019 in the category of Television 6000 runs in first-class cricket during 58th
Journalist of the Year? season of Duleep Trophy 2019-20?
[A] Rajini Vaidyanathan [A] Rahul Chahar
[B] Rakesh Nagar [B] Priyam Garg
[C] Harish Tyagi [C] Milind Kumar
[D] Pragati Seth [D] Rajesh Mohanty
[E] Bharati Sehgal [E] Jalaj Saxena

Q.164) Which documentary film has won Q.169) Recently, Jessi Comb has passed
the top award in 'Under 30 minute' away. With which sport is Comb related
category at the 14th 'We Care Film to?
Festival on Disability Issues' festival? [A] Athletics
[A] I'm Jeeja [B] Archery
[B] Powerless [C] Shooting
[C] Placebo [D] Car Racing
[D] The World Before Her [E] Gymnastics
[E] Children of the Pyre
Q.170) How many medals have been won
Q.165) When was PAiSA portal launched? by India at the 45th WorldSkills
[A] 2011 Competition 2019 at Kazan?
[B] 2014 [A] 12
[C] 2018 [B] 4
[D] 2013 [C] 7
[E] 2019 [D] 9
[E] 10
 130

[C] Digitalization
Q.171) Who heads the 12-member [D] Linking Tax to e-Governance
committee formed to choose awardees [E] Smart Cities
for National Sports Awards, Rajiv Khel
Awards etc? Q.176) Which state has created a world
[A] Mukundakam Sharma record by planting more than 22 crore
[B] Rahul Dravid plant saplings in one day?
[C] Sunil Gavaskar [A] Meghalaya
[D] Navjot Singh Sidhu [B] Mizoram
[E] Ravi Shastri [C] Arunachal Pradesh
[D] Maharashtra
Q.172) Which ministry has launched [E] Uttar Pradesh
the Samagra Siksha – Jal Suraksha drive to
aware about water conservation? Q.177) What is the name of the joint
[A] Ministry of Health and Family Welfare military exercise conducted by Shanghai
[B] Ministry of Human Resource Cooperation Organization?
Development [A] Militår
[C] Ministry of Jal Shakti [B] Pratique
[D] Ministry of Women and Child [C] Tsentr
Development [D] ISALEX’19
[E] Ministry of Skill Development [E] IndSpaceEx

Q.173) University Grants Commission has Q.178) Which company has launched the
decided to use ‘Urkund’ software for first Corporate Credit Card of India for
detecting plagiarism. Which country does SMEs and startups?
the software belong to? [A] Paytm
[A] Netherlands [B] Visa
[B] United Kingdom [C] American Express
[C] France [D] BharatPe
[D] Germany [E] EnKash
[E] Sweden
Q.179) Which organization has launched
Q.174) Where will the first underwater the Digi Vyapari- Safal Vyapari initiative in
train of India be built? association with HDFC Bank, Mastercard,
[A] Gujarat Common Service Centres and Global
[B] Tamil Nadu Linkers?
[C] Maharashtra [A] Department of Revenue
[D] West Bengal [B] Department of Investment and Public
[E] Odisha Asset Management
[C] Department of Promotion of Industry
Q.175) What is the basic agenda of the and Internal Trade
recently adopted Shillong Declaration? [D] Confederation of All India Traders
[A] Logistics [E] Confederation of Indian Industry
[B] e-Governance
 131

Q.180) When is International Day of the Q.185) Which state has launched
World's Indigenous Peoples observed? the Mukhyamantri Krishi Ashirwad
[A] July 17 Yojana?
[B] August 9 [A] Chhattisgarh
[C] September 23 [B] Bihar
[D] October 19 [C] Jharkhand
[E] December 11 [D] West Bengal
[E] Madhya Pradesh
Q.181) Which state is the India’s first state
to release Biofuels Rules 2019? Q.186) Where is Gogabeel ox-bow lake
[A] Madhya Pradesh located?
[B] Rajasthan [A] Madhya Pradesh
[C] Uttar Pradesh [B] Bihar
[D] Madhya Pradesh [C] Maharashtra
[E] Sikkim [D] Bihar
[E] Rajasthan
Q.182) Which film has received the Best
Feature Film award at the National Film Q.187) With which nation has India
Awards 2019? decided to set up a joint technical
[A] Hellaro committee for optimum utilization of
[B] Paani Ganga under Ganga Water Sharing
[C] Padman Treaty?
[D] Badhai Ho [A] Pakistan
[E] Andhadhun [B] Nepal
[C] Bhutan
Q.183) Who has received the Best Actress [D] Bangladesh
Award at the National Film Awards 2019? [E] Myanmar
[A] Deepika Padukone
[B] Kirti Kharbanda Q.188) In which Indian company is Saudi
[C] Anushka Sen Aramco buying 20% stake?
[D] Kajal Aggarwal [A] Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
[E] Keerthy Suresh [B] Tata Petrodyne
[C] Gas Authority of India
Q.184) What is the theme of Women [D] Reliance Industries Ltd.
Transforming India Awards 2019? [E] Essar Oil Limited
[A] Equality: The Voice of New Age
[B] Gender Equality and Entrepreneurship Q.189) What is the new investment limit
[C] Women and Entrepreneurship for Portfolio Management Services as
[D] Entrepreneurship: The Building of A proposed by SEBI?
New Nation [A] 25 Lakh
[E] Creativity and Women [B] 35 Lakh
[C] 60 Lakh
[D] 10 Lakh
[E] 50 Lakh
 132

[C] Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

Q.190) Recently, Ministry of Defence has [D] Gagandeep Kang
extended the benefits of Child Care Leave [E] Padmaja Alaganandan
to single male service personnel also for
taking care of child with disability Q.195) Which team has won the Ultimate
(without any restriction of age limit of Tennis Table Championship 2019?
child)? [A] Falcons TTC
[A] 20% [B] Puneri Paltan
[B] 30% [C] Chennai Lions
[C] 40% [D] U Mumba TT
[D] 50% [E] Dabang Delhi
[E] 60%
Q.196) On which vice-president’s life and
Q.191) Which of the following tourist work in office is the book ‘Listening,
place has made a record by becoming Learning and Leading’ written?
the most visited museum in Asian sub- [A] Mohd. Hamid Ansari
continent on a single day? [B] Sarvapalli Radhakrishna
[A] Gardens by the Bay [C] Krishna Kant
[B] Great Wall of China [D] Shankar Dayal Sharma
[C] Virasat-e-Khalsa museum [E] M Venkaiah Naidu
[D] Boracay
[E] Phi Phi Islands Q.197) Who is the writer of “A Gandhian
Affair” book?
Q.192) Which company is acquiring the [A] Barkha Bisht
Sintex NP SAS? [B] Ravish Kumar
[A] Reliance Industries Ltd [C] Kocheril R. Narayan
[B] Hamleys [D] Sanjay Suri
[C] Xtech Invest [E] Kavita Devi
[D] Thyssenkrupp
[E] Boeing Q.198) How many medals have been won
by India at the Bulgarian Junior
Q.193) Which company has been recently International Badminton Championships
added in the Global Standard Index 2019?
prepared by Morgan Stanley? [A] one
[A] Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Company [B] three
[B] Sumitomo Life Insurance Company [C] six
[C] China Life Insurance [D] four
[D] Softbank [E] two
[E] HDFC Life Insurance Company
Q.199) Which bank has been excluded
Q.194) Who is the first women president from the Morgan Stanley Capital
of Indian National Science Academy? International’s Global Standard Index?
[A] Indra Nooyi [A] HDFC Bank
[B] Chandrima Shaha [B] Indian Bank
 133

[C] UCO Bank [C] 27%

[D] Karnataka Bank [D] 33%
[E] Union Bank of India [E] 63%

Q.200) Where is Mettur Dam located? Q. 205) How many districts are present in
[A] Tamil Nadu India, according to Census 2011?
[B] Maharashtra [A] 530
[C] Kerala [B] 640
[D] Karnataka [C] 600
[E] Uttar Pradesh [D] 980
[E] 720
Q.201) Which disease is the second most
lethal disease in India killing approx. 0.3 Q. 206) When was Cigarettes and Other
million people every year, according to Tobacco Products Act enacted?
WHO? [A] 2010
[A] Diarrhoea [B] 2003
[B] Cancer [C] 2007
[C] Brain Tumor [D] 2014
[D] Hepatitis B [E] 2009
[E] AIDS
Q. 207) Where has the Mission Reach Out
Q.202) On whose centenary birth been launched by Indian Army to ensure
anniversary has ISRO organized the the availability of basic necessities and
“Space on Wheels” exhibition? essential services?
[A] APJ Abdul Kalam [A] Uttarakhand
[B] Vikram Sarabhai [B] Assam
[C] Homi J. Bhabha [C] Jammu and Kashmir
[D] Srinivasa Ramanuja [D] Karnataka
[E] C.N.R. Rao [E] Kerala

Q. 203) By which year is Ministry of Q. 208) Where has the India’s first-of-its-
Health planning to completely eliminate kind clinical ecotoxicology facility been
Rotavirus disease? inaugurated?
[A] 2022 [A] Indraprastha Apollo Hospital
[B] 2023 [B] Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital
[C] 2024 [C] BLK Super Speciality Hospital
[D] 2025 [D] Fortis Memorial Research Institute
[E] 2026 [E] All India Institute of Medical Science

Q. 204) How many domestically migrant
people got full time employment
according to Census 2011?
[A] 50%
[B] 43%
Q. 209) Which state has launched
the Mukhyamantri Madad Yojana to
provide help to tribal families in the event
of birth or death of a family member?
[A] Chhattisgarh
 134

[B] Madhya Pradesh [D] Skill Development: Way Ahead for

[C] Rajasthan Sustainable Development
[D] Assam [E] Equal Opportunities
[E] Bihar
Q.215) Who has won the women’s singles
Q.210) Where has the Kajin Sara lake been in the Rogers Cup 2019?
recently discovered? [A] Serena Williams
[A] Bangladesh [B] Maria Sharapova
[B] Bhutan [C] Matina Navratilova
[C] Myanmar [D] Bianca Andreescu
[D] Nepal [E] Simona Halep
[E] Indonesia
Q.216) Who has become the first Indian
Q.211) Which company has partnered women to win FIM World Cup 2019?
with Microsoft to open cloud data [A] Alisha Abdullah
centres? [B] Aishwarya Pissay
[A] Tata Consultancy Services [C] Garima Avtar
[B] IBM Technology [D] Mira Erda
[C] Reliance [E] Nilima Dabas
[D] ITC Ltd.
[E] Infosys Technologies Ltd. Q.217) Which Chief Minister’s journey
does the Jaya Ho book records?
Q.212) What is the bad debts recovery [A] Raghubar Das
rate of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, [B] B. S. Yediyurappa
according to IBBI data? [C] Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy
[A] 52% [D] Pinarayi Vijayan
[B] 37% [E] Kamal Nath
[C] 43%
[D] 27% Q.218) What is the new monetary limit for
[E] 16% filing income tax appeal in the Income Tax
Appellate Tribunal?
Q.213) When is World Elephant Day [A] Rs 35 Lakhs
observed? [B] Rs 40 Lakhs
[A] September 1 [C] Rs 65 Lakhs
[B] August 12 [D] Rs 50 Lakhs
[C] January 15 [E] Rs 80 Lakhs
[D] March 11
[E] June 29 Q.219) How many freshwater species are
facing the threat of extinction according
Q.214) What is the theme of International to a study published in journal Global
Youth Day 2019? Change Biology?
[A] Education for All [A] 88%
[B] Equality and Inclusion in Education [B] 23%
[C] Transforming Education [C] 33%
 135

[D] 67% [C] 124

[E] 90% [D] 130
[E] 112
Q.220) Where is Krishna Wildlife
Sanctuary located? Q. 225) What is the name of the AI-
[A] Karnataka enabled app launched by Ministry of
[B] Andhra Pradesh Housing and Urban Affairs at the launch of
[C] Telangana Swachch Survekshan 2020?
[D] Odisha [A] e-Abha
[E] Maharashtra [B] e-Swachchta
[C] e-SBM
Q. 221) Who heads the Delimitation [D] e-ANM
Committee of India? [E] e-Surlabh
[A] Justice Kuldip Singh
[B] Justice R Banumathi Q. 226) According to Department of
[C] Justice N V Ramana Agricultural Research and Education data,
[D] Justice Ranjan Gogoi stubble burning incidents in 2018 have
[E] Justice SA Bobde been reduced by ?
[A] 35%
Q. 222) Which state has launched the E- [B] 43%
Step initiative to empower student [C] 21%
startups? [D] 19%
[A] Madhya Pradesh [E] 41%
[B] Maharashtra
[C] Andhra Pradesh Q. 227) Who is the head of the Western
[D] Karnataka Ghats Ecological Expert Panel?
[E] Odisha [A] Madhav Gadgil
[B] Nandan Nilekani
Q. 223) Recently, India and Russia have [C] Sunil Mehta
committed to increase their bilateral [D] Sourabh Choudhary
trade to by 2025? [E] Rakesh Aggarwal
[A] $15 Billion
[B] $25 Billion Q. 228) When was National
[C] $50 Billion Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority
[D] $74 Billion established?
[E] $30 Billion [A] 1910
[B] 1963
Q. 224) Recently, the number of seats of [C] 1978
Lok Sabha has been increased from [D] 1989
Jammu and Kashmir constituency to [E] 1997
from 107 after the passing of J&K
Reorganization Bill? Q. 229) What is the minimum net worth
[A] 114 requirement for the fintech companies to
[B] 120 operate on regulatory sandbox?
 136

[A] Rs 40 Lakh Q.234) Who has appointed as the brand

[B] Rs 25 Lakh ambassador of Cars24?
[C] Rs 70 Lakh [A] Priyanka Chopra
[D] Rs 10 Lakh [B] MS Dhoni
[E] Rs 55 Lakh [C] Virat Kohli
[D] Kunal Khemu
Q.230) What is the amount on which [E] Rishabh Pant
government will give a one-time partial
guarantee of six months to banks for Q.235) Who has been appointed as the
lending credit to fundamentally sound judge of the non-resident panel of
NBFCs/HFCs? Supreme Court of Fiji?
[A] Rs 1 Trillion [A] Abhay Manohar Sapre
[B] Rs 6 Trillion [B] Madan Lokur
[C] Rs 2 Trillion [C] R.F. Nariman
[D] Rs 4 Trillion [D] Arun Mishra
[E] Rs 3 Trillion [E] R Banumathi

Q.231) With which company has OYO Q.236) When is World Organ Donation
partnered to provide complimentary Day observed?
insurance cover to its customers? [A] July 23
[A] Bharati AXA General Life Insurance [B] April 19
[B] Bajaj Alliance General Insurance [C] March 14
[C] Tata AIG General Insurance [D] August 13
[D] ACKO General Insurance [E] June 18
[E] ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
Q.237) Who has become the first Indian
Q.232) When was National Housing Bank chef to be awarded with the “Chevalier de
implemented? l’Ordre du Merite Agricoleto” (Order of
[A] 1990 Agricultural Merit) honour by France?
[B] 2002 [A] Sanjeev Kapoor
[C] 2007 [B] Tarla Dalal
[D] 1975 [C] Gaggan Anand
[E] 1987 [D] Priyam Chatterjee
[E] Nita Mehta
Q.233) Which schedule of Companies Act
describes about the types of corporate Q.238) Which state has won the “best
social responsibility? innovation and initiative leadership”
[A] 9 award at the 14th World Education
[B] 11 Summit held in New Delhi?
[C] 12 [A] Andhra Pradesh
[D] 7 [B] Kerala
[E] 8 [C] Rajasthan
[D] Assam
[E] Odisha
 137

Q.239) Which sport has been recently Q. 244) How many cities were covered in
included in the 2022 Birmingham the Swachch Survekshan 2019?
Commonwealth Games? [A] 2,370
[A] Tennis [B] 7,320
[B] T20-I Women’s Cricket [C] 2,900
[C] Polo [D] 4,237
[D] Bowling [E] 5,116
[E] Golf
Q. 245) What is the name of the operation
Q.240) Who has been appointed as a launched by Railway Protection Force to
member of the Asian Athletics check and curb the unauthorized vehicle
Association’s Athletes Commission from parkings?
India? [A] Operation Check and Hit
[A] Hima Das [B] Operation Stop the Car
[B] PT Usha [C] Operation Number Plate
[C] Dutee Chand [D] Operation Steer Clear Vehicle
[D] Mohd. Anas Yahiya [E] None of the Above
[E] Ravichandran Ashwin
Q. 246) Which newspaper has the highest
Q. 241) Where is the Chilika Lake located? readership according to Indian Readership
[A] Odisha Survey 2019 Q2?
[B] Karnataka [A] The Hindu
[C] Kerala [B] Hindustan Times
[D] Andhra Pradesh [C] Livemint
[E] Maharashtra [D] Economics Times
[E] Financial Express
Q. 242) In which state will the Global
Investor Summit be held? Q. 247) In which company’s non-
[A] Goa convertible debentures has Asian
[B] Sikkim Development Bank invested $23 million
[C] Arunachal Pradesh for supporting road projects?
[D] Nagaland [A] Reliance Industries Ltd.
[E] Jammu and Kashmir [B] IL&FS
[C] L&T Infrastructure Development
Q. 243) With which airport has the Naval [D] GR Infraprojects Ltd
Air Enclave signed an MoU to run its [E] Jaiprakash Associates Limited
operations?
[A] Indira Gandhi International Airport Q. 248) Who heads the panel which
[B] Cochin International Airport recommended Ministry of Finance to
[C] Rajiv Gandhi International Airport make CSR-expenditure tax deductible?
[D] Chhatrapati Shivaji International [A] Injeti Srinivas
Airport [B] Aruna Sundaranjan
[E] Kempegowda International Airport [C] Arun Goyal
 138

[D] Samant Goel [D] Punjab

[E] SK Sinha [E] Haryana

Q. 249) Who has won the 2019 Prem Q. 254) In which wildlife sanctuary has
Bhatia Award for Outstanding Political DRDO set aside land for establishing its
Reporting? missile test facility?
[A] Ravish Kumar [A] Arial Island Wildlife Sanctuary
[B] Barkha Dutt [B] Bornadi Wildlife Sanctuary
[C] Rajdeep Sardesai [C] Chakrashila Wildlife Sanctuary
[D] Rana Ayyub [D] Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary
[E] Arnab Goswami [E] Nambor Wildlife Sanctuary

Q.250) Which female gymnast has Q. 255) Which article of the constitution
become the first woman to perform gives special status to Arunachal Pradesh?
“triple-double” floor exercise landing at [A] 256AA
the US Gymnastics Championships 2019? [B] 430B
[A] Shannon Miller [C] 350F
[B] Gabby Douglas [D] 371H
[C] Simone Biles [E] 113FF
[D] Dominique Moceanu
[E] Carly Patterson Q. 256) Where is the Udhanti Wildlife
Sanctuary located?
Q. 251) What is the name of the Japanese [A] Arunachal Pradesh
ship arrived at Kochi (Kerala)? [B] Meghalaya
[A] Seta [C] Mizoram
[B] Sazanami [D] Assam
[C] Fushimi [E] Chhattisgarh
[D] Katada
[E] Warabi Q. 257) From which district of
Chhattisgarh is the new district “Gaurela-
Q. 252) In his Independence Day speech, Pendra-Marwahi” being extracted?
PM Narendra Modi has declared to invest [A] Balod
trillion in the infrastructure sector? [B] Gariaband
[A] Rs 500 Tn [C] Dantewada
[B] Rs 100 Tn [D] Bilaspur
[C] Rs 200 Tn [E] Dhamtari
[D] Rs 300 Tn
[E] Rs 600 Tn Q. 258) Where is India’s first postal
communication museum inaugurated?
Q. 253) Where is ‘Jung-E-Azadi’- a [A] Karnataka
memorial and museum located? [B] Chhattisgarh
[A] Chhattisgarh [C] Jammu and Kashmir
[B] Madhya Pradesh [D] Assam
[C] Goa [E] Bihar
 139

[D] Piyush Goyal

Q. 259) Which Institute has developed [E] Narendra Modi
the developed a process for producing
synthesized bone implant materials from Q.264) How many states have signed MoU
waste eggshells along with Dr BR with Ministry of Textiles for
Ambedkar National Institute of implementation of SAMARTH scheme?
Technology? [A] 16
[A] IIT-Madras [B] 19
[B] IIT-Chennai [C] 14
[C] IIT-Bangalore [D] 9
[D] IIT-Mumbai [E] 10
[E] IIT-Hyderabad
Q.265) Who is the singer of Watan song
Q.260) Where will the Indian Institute of released by Ministry of Information and
Skills be established? Broadcast?
[A] Jaipur [A] Shreya Ghosal
[B] Lucknow [B] Sonu Nigam
[C] Delhi [C] Javed Ali
[D] Chennai [D] Atif Aslam
[E] Mumbai [E] Alok Srivastav

Q.261) Where is the India’s first space Q.266) Which bank has launched the
museum located? world’s first home loan with negative
[A] Hyderabad interest rate of (-) 0.5%?
[B] Lucknow [A] Deutsche Bank
[C] Bangalore [B] Syndicate Bank
[D] Delhi [C] Standard Chartered Bank
[E] Mumbai [D] Jyske Bank
[E] Bayerische Landesbank
Q.262) Recently, Ministry of Railways has
launched the CORAS for Railway Q.267) How many agri-tech startups are
Protection Force to strengthen security of present in India, according to “Agritech in
railways. What does ‘C’ stands for? India: Emerging Trends in 2019” report by
[A] Control NASSCOM?
[B] Cardinal [A] 670
[C] Commandos [B] 800
[D] Central [C] 970
[E] Chieftain [D] 450
[E] 300
Q.263) Who is the head of the Inter-state
council? Q.268) Who has been appointed as
[A] Narendra Singh Tomar the Drug Controller General of India?
[B] Smriti Irani [A] VG Somani
[C] Nirmala Sitharaman [B] Krishan Bhagwani
 140

[C] Mahesh Mohapatra [B] Assam

[D] Brijesh Khandelwal [C] West Bengal
[E] Rajesh Jindal [D] Karnataka
[E] Chhattisgarh
Q.269) Which actor has been awarded
with the BAFTA LA Charlie Chaplin Q. 274) Where will the multilateral
Britannia Award for excellence in Comedy exercise MILAN 2020 of Indian Navy be
2019? conducted?
[A] Robert Downey [A] Andhra Pradesh
[B] George Clooney [B] Telangana
[C] Christian Bale [C] Odisha
[D] Vin Diesel [D] Kerala
[E] Steve Coogan [E] Andaman and Nicobar

Q.270) Who has won the Junior World Q. 275) Which state has launched the Mo-
Wrestling Championships 2019? Sarkar initiative launched to bring
[A] Ghulam Muhammad transparency in the government’s
[B] Udey Chand operations?
[C] Deepak Punia [A] Maharashtra
[D] Sushil Kumar Solanki [B] Odisha
[E] Sakshi Malik [C] Madhya Pradesh
[D] Haryana
Q. 271) What would be the total number [E] Punjab
of districts in Tamil Nadu after the
trifurcation of Vellore district? Q. 276) Which country has become the
[A] 43 first nation to release the National
[B] 27 Essential Diagnostics List?
[C] 18 [A] Germany
[D] 50 [B] England
[E] 37 [C] France
[D] India
Q. 272) Which airlines has become India’s [E] China
first airline to fly a commercial flight over
North Pole? Q. 277) Which state has got the GI tag
[A] Spice Jet for Tirur betel vine?
[B] Air India [A] Karnataka
[C] GoAir [B] Telangana
[D] IndiGo [C] Madhya Pradesh
[E] None of the Above [D] Kerala
[E] Maharashtra
Q. 273) Where has the world’s first
museum dedicated to Chaitanya Q. 278) Konkan is the bilateral exercise
Mahaprabhu located? between India and ?
[A] Jharkhand [A] Malaysia
 141

[B] Bangladesh by Australia and New Zealand Banking

[C] UK Group?
[D] Australia [A] 7%
[E] USA [B] 6.8%
[C] 8%
Q. 279) How many people belong to [D] 7.2%
Person with Disability according to Census [E] 6.2%
2011?
[A] 2.79 crore Q.284) What is the theme of Aadi
[B] 3.09 crore Mahotsav 2019?
[C] 4.80 crore [A] A celebration of the spirit of Tribal
[D] 5.11 crore Craft, Culture and Commerce
[E] 7.79 crore [B] A celebration of Tribal Cult
[C] A celebration of Tribal India, Artefacts
Q.280) Who heads the panel formed by and Geography
Ministry of Defence to review the Defence [D] A celebration of Tribal Civilization:
Procurement Procedure? From Tradition to the Modern
[A] Rahul Tyagi [E] A celebration of Tribes India: To drive
[B] Chander Mohapatra Inclusive Growth
[C] Apurva Chandra
[D] Akash Dwivedi Q.285) Which country has for the first
[E] Prakash Malhotra time won the UCI Junior Track Cycling
World Championships 2019?
Q.281) When was Know India Program [A] Australia
launched by Ministry of External Affairs? [B] Malaysia
[A] 2019 [C] Thailand
[B] 2014 [D] India
[C] 2004 [E] China
[D] 2001
[E] 2010 Q.286) In how many languages is the
Maharshi Badrayan Vyas Samman given?
Q.282) According to Below the Canopy: [A] 7
Plotting Global Trends in Forest Wildlife [B] 9
Populations, forest wildlife population has [C] 8
declined on average by since 1970? [D] 5
[A] 60% [E] 10
[B] 53%
[C] 45% Q.287) Startups have been permitted by
[D] 23% Ministry of Corporate Affairs to issue
[E] 17% Employee Stock Options to
promoters/directors holding more than
Q.283) What is the new GDP growth rate of equity shares for 10 years from the
projection of India for 2019-20 date of incorporation?
[A] 12%
 142

[B] 10% [C] Mumbai

[C] 21% [D] Kolkata
[D] 15% [E] Pune
[E] 19%
Q. 293) Hysterectomy is a surgery to
Q.288) Who is the writer of Second Night remove all parts of ?
book? [A] Gall Bladder
[A] Rajiv Dogra [B] Ball and Socket Joint
[B] Triveni Acharya [C] Lungs
[C] Veena George [D] Uterus
[D] Rana Ayyub [E] Kidney
[E] Radhika Nagrath
Q. 294) Which state has launched the
Q.289) Who among the following is the “school Fagadaba” scheme to improve
author of the Kashmir’s untold story: overall infrastructure of government
Declassification? schools?
[A] V. M. Girija [A] Meghalaya
[B] Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar [B] Manipur
[C] Iqbal Chand Malhotra [C] Haryana
[D] Ruchira Gupta [D] Tripura
[E] Jameela Nishat [E] Meghalaya

Q.290) What is the name of the drug Q. 295) Recently, Hazratganj Chauraha has
approved by Food and Drug been renamed as the Atal Chowk. Where
Administration to treat anti-drug resistant is the Chauraha located?
TB? [A] Uttarakhand
[A] Pneumococcal Conjugate [B] Karnataka
[B] DTaP [C] Kerala
[C] Pretomanid [D] Uttar Pradesh
[D] MMRV [E] Madhya Pradesh
[E] HPV9
Q. 296) What is the name of world’s
Q. 291) Ansupa Lake is the largest largest teacher training program to be
freshwater lake of which state? launched by Ministry of HRD?
[A] Madhya Pradesh [A] Adhyapaan
[B] Rajasthan [B] Nishtha
[C] Maharashtra [C] Adhyapika
[D] Uttar Pradesh [D] Taaleem
[E] Odisha [E] Shikshan

Q. 292) Which state’s metro will have the Q. 297) Where was the 28th session of
first aluminium coaches in India? BASIC ministerial meeting held?
[A] Delhi [A] South Africa
[B] Hyderabad [B] India
 143

[C] China [A] Tamil Nadu

[D] Brazil [B] Delhi
[E] Chile [C] Arunachal Pradesh
[D] Odisha
Q. 298) Which country’s nuclear power [E] Gujarat
company has been included in the ‘entity
list’ (or blacklist) of USA? Q.303) Who among the following has won
[A] Russia a gold medal in Athleticky Mitink Reiter
[B] Iran event held in Czech Republic?
[C] Afghanistan [A] Suresh Sathya
[D] China [B] Jata Shankar
[E] Syria [C] Dharambir Singh
[D] Anand Shetty.
Q. 299) Which company has sold its [E] Hima Das
73.38% stake in FixStream Networks to
Resolve System LLC? Q.304) Who is the director of 100 Years
[A] Reliance Industries Ltd. of Chrysostum- a biographical
[B] Wipro documentary on Philipose Mar
[C] HCL Technologies Chrysostum?
[D] Tech Mahindra [A] Martin Scorsese
[E] IBM Technology [B] James Cameron
[C] Blessy
Q.300) How much FDI is allowed in digital [D] Ridley Scott
media sector through government [E] Clint Eastwood
approved route?
[A] 26% Q.305) Where is the Srisailam Dam
[B] 43% (India’s 2nd largest capacity working
[C] 60% hydroelectric station) located?
[D] 54% [A] Telangana
[E] 47% [B] Karnataka
[C] Andhra Pradesh
Q.301) Which football club has partnered [D] Tripura
with German sports goods supplier- [E] West Bengal
uhlsport to promote grassroots football
across India? Q.306) Which country has been invited as
[A] Mohun Bagan FC the special guest at the G7 summit 2019?
[B] East Bengal FC [A] India
[C] Baarhoongkha AC [B] Brazil
[D] Amity United Football Club [C] England
[E] Chennai City FC [D] Italy
[E] Russia
Q.302) Where will the Indian Grand Prix-
VI 2019 be organized by Athletics
Federation of India?
 144

Q.307) What is the new retirement age of Research Board to fund the scientific
Central Armed Police Force as proposed research programs?
by Ministry of Home Affairs? [A] Supra
[A] 45 years [B] Sashakt
[B] 50 years [C] Sampriya
[C] 60 years [D] Ojaswi
[D] 65 years [E] Prabal
[E] 40 years
Q.312) Where will India’s first Central
Q.308) What is the new proposed time Institute of Chemical Engineering &
limit for termination of pregnancy as Technology be launched?
proposed by Medical Termination of [A] Madhya Pradesh
Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill 2019? [B] Maharashtra
[A] 20 weeks [C] Andhra Pradesh
[B] 18 weeks [D] Karnataka
[C] 12 weeks [E] Gujarat
[D] 22 weeks
[E] 26 weeks Q.313) When was Sustainable Alternative
Towards Affordable Transportation
Q.309) Which country is the top emitter of initiative launched?
anthropogenic sulphur dioxide, according [A] 2013
to Greenpeace’s Global SO2 emission [B] 2018
hotspot database: Ranking the world’s [C] 2015
worst sources of SO2 pollution report? [D] 2019
[A] China [E] 2002
[B] England
[C] Iran Q.314) Recently, Okjokull glacier has
[D] India completely lost its status as a glacier due
[E] USA to climate change. Where is this glacier
located?
Q.310) With which country has India [A] Iceland
signed an MoU to develop Ground Earth [B] Puerto Rico
Station and SATCOM network for [C] United Kingdom
utilization of South Asia Satellite (for the [D] Canada
use of this country)? [E] Ireland
[A] Indonesia
[B] Malaysia Q.315) Who heads the task force on direct
[C] Thailand taxes formed to create a new direct tax
[D] Bhutan code?
[E] Nepal [A] Akhilesh Rajan
[B] Ashutosh Pawar
Q.311) What is the name of the scheme [C] Shivam Singhal
launched by Science and Engineering [D] Chetan Khandelwal
[E] Himanshu Patel
 145

Q. 321) Where will the AMRUT academy

Q.316) What is the base year for the for the upliftment of general category
(proposed) Consumer Price Index for people belonging to EWS quota be
agricultural workers (CPI-AL) and rural established?
workers (CPI-RL)? [A] Andhra Pradesh
[A] FY11 [B] Gujarat
[B] FY19 [C] Maharashtra
[C] FY16 [D] Kerala
[D] FY14 [E] Odisha
[E] FY17
Q. 322) Prasar Bharti will introduce new
Q.317) Who has been appointed as the award- ‘Achyutananda Sahoo Award’ in
new President of Paytm? commemoration of which anchor?
[A] Aabharana Khatri [A] Sweta Singh
[B] Abhimanini Ahuja [B] Richa Anirudh
[C] Madhu Deora [C] Neelum Sharma
[D] Sudarshan Laghari [D] Naghma Sahar
[E] Anand Maitreya [E] Rahul Kanwal

Q.318) When is World Humanitarian Day Q. 323) With which university has
observed? National Institute of Solar Energy has
[A] August 19 signed an MoU to achieve the objective of
[B] July 16 Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission?
[C] September 21 [A] University of Kota
[D] October 23 [B] Rajasthan Technical University
[E] December 2 [C] IGNOU University
[D] Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University
Q.319) In which field is J C Bose [E] APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University
Fellowship 2019 awarded?
[A] Science Q. 324) When was NASA’s
[B] Literature Magnetospheric Multiscale mission
[C] Dance launched?
[D] Performing Arts [A] 2014
[E] Theatre [B] 2015
[C] 2016
Q.320) Which country will host the World [D] 2017
Youth Chess Championship 2019? [E] 2018
[A] Goa
[B] Kerala Q. 325) Which company has acquired
[C] Maharashtra 58.2% stake in Ideal Finance Ltd?
[D] Uttarakhand [A] HDB Financial Services
[E] Punjab [B] IDFC Mutual Funds
[C] Mahindra Finance
[D] Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd
 146

[E] LIC Housing Finance Ltd [A] ixigo.com

[B] LogiNext
Q. 326) With which company has Indian [C] Kisan Network
Institute of Science signed an MoU to [D] TouchVision
conduct research in autonomous systems, [E] niki.ai
robotics and 5G?
[A] HCL Technology Q.331) Where country will host the Rugby
[B] Wipro World Cup 2019?
[C] Amazon [A] Germany
[D] Microsoft [B] Russia
[E] Google [C] Japan
[D] France
Q. 327) With which Indian company has [E] USA
Maersk partnered to expand its logistics
sector? Q.332) Who has been recently included as
[A] Rapido the Honorary Life Member in the
[B] Warburg Pincus Marylebone Cricket Club?
[C] Nexus Venture Partners [A] Steve Smith
[D] BlackBuck [B] Mitchell Johnson
[E] Carlyle Group [C] David Warner
[D] James Anderson
Q. 328) According to Companies (Share [E] Kane Williamson
Capital & Debentures) Rules, 2019,
Debenture Redemption Reserve is Q.333) Where will World Wrestling
required to be created by which of the Championships 2019 be held?
following industry? [A] Qatar
[A] NBFCs [B] Kazakhstan
[B] Housing Finance Companies [C] Australia
[C] Listed Companies [D] Germany
[D] Unlisted Companies [E] USA
[E] All of the Above
Q.334) Which state has recently declared
Q. 329) Sadbhavana Divas is observed in e-cigarettes as Class A poison?
commemoration of which prime minister? [A] Rajasthan
[A] Lala Lajpat Rai [B] Madhya Pradesh
[B] Indira Gandhi [C] Punjab
[C] Lal Bahadur Shastri [D] Sikkim
[D] Morarji Desai [E] Karnataka
[E] Rajiv Gandhi
Q.335) Where is Kamlang Wildlife
Q.330) Which company has won the Sanctuary located?
NCPEDP-Mphasis Universal Design Award [A] Gujarat
2019 for its contribution towards uplifting [B] Andhra Pradesh
physically disabled children? [C] Arunachal Pradesh
 147

[D] Maharashtra [E] South Asia, ASEAN: Strengthen the

[E] Madhya Pradesh Eastern Ties

Q.336) In which country has Amazon Q.340) What is the new deadline for
established its largest ever office building? completion of PMAY-Urban Housing
[A] France project, according to Minister of Housing
[B] Switzerland and Urban Affairs?
[C] India [A] 2021
[D] USA [B] 2024
[E] England [C] 2022
[D] 2020
Q.337) Recently, Ministry of Defence has [E] 2023
created two new vigilance cells to look
into the issues of and ? Q.341) To which country has USA decided
[A] Defence Procurement and Illegal to sell F-16 fighter jets?
Smuggling [A] Vietnam
[B] Human Trafficking and Infiltration [B] Hong Kong
across borders [C] Taiwan
[C] Public Order Crime and Border [D] Philippines
Infrastructure [E] Malaysia
[D] Corruption and Human Rights
Violations Q.342) Which company has launched the
[E] All of the Above world’s largest processor with 1.2 trillion
transistors?
Q.338) Which state has launched the [A] Haptik.ai
Super 50 initiative to train 50 meritorious [B] HCL Technology
tribal students for medical and [C] Intel
engineering exams? [D] Cerebras Systems
[A] West Bengal [E] LogiNext
[B] Chhattisgarh
[C] Maharashtra Q.343) Which of the following committee
[D] Andhra Pradesh has recommended to change the
[E] Nagaland minimum member requirement for
Foreign Portfolio Investments?
Q.339) What is the theme of the Indian [A] HR Committee
Economic Summit 2019? [B] Bimal Jalan Committee
[A] Innovating for India: Strengthening [C] K Kasturirajan Committee
South Asia, Impacting the World [D] Nandan Nilekani Committee
[B] Digital Transformation: Spearhead of [E] Aruna Sundarajan Committee
New Era
[C] Dignity, respect, and justice for all Q.344) How many companies have been
[D] Diversity, Equality, Unity: Boosting appointed as the Fund Managers by
Regional Ties Employees Provident Fund Organization?
[A] 3
 148

[B] 4 [C] Russia

[C] 5 [D] Singapore
[D] 6 [E] Malaysia
[E] 2
Q.350) Who among the following is the
Q.345) Which company has acquired 67% first Asian swimmer to cross Catalina
stake in Sportskeeda.com? Channel?
[A] Dream11 [A] Satendra Singh Lohia
[B] Sports365 [B] Shinri Shioura
[C] Xtreme Zone [C] Zhang Lin
[D] Protege Sports [D] Sun Yang
[E] Nazara Technologies [E] Yan Zibei

Q.346) What is India’s rank in 68th edition Q. 351) Which state has been ranked 1st
of BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy by National Health Mission for
2019 in terms of coal consuming implementation of free medicine scheme?
countries? [A] Bihar
[A] 2nd [B] Jharkhand
[B] 1st [C] Punjab
[C] 3rd [D] Haryana
[D] 5th [E] Rajasthan
[E] 6th
Q. 352) Which state/UT has recently
Q.347) Which Indian has won the Pushkin increased the below poverty line
Medal – 2019? requirement from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000?
[A] Meeta Narain [A] Punjab
[B] Meera Deol [B] Odisha
[C] Piyush Rana [C] Haryana
[D] Amrita Sehgal [D] Maharashtra
[E] Meenakshi Sinha [E] Delhi

Q.348) Who among the following has Q. 353) What is the name of the first of
been selected for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna its kind program launched by Kiren Rijiju
Award 2019? and Baichung Bhutia to train people about
[A] Sania Mirza basic survival techniques?
[B] Hima Das [A] Op-Blue Freedom
[C] S Sreenath [B] Op-Strike Hard
[D] Deepa Malik [C] Op-Fly High
[E] Vinesh Phogat [D] Op-Be Ready
[E] Op-Resilience
Q.349) Where will the AIBA World Boxing
Championships 2019 be held? Q. 354) With which company has West
[A] China Bengal’s forest department and World-
[B] Japan
 149

Wide Fund India partnered to protect the [B] 71%

Sunderban forests? [C] 21%
[A] PTC India [D] 13%
[B] Wildlife Trust of India [E] 66%
[C] Wildlife SOS
[D] Discovery India Q.360) Which country has sent Skybot
[E] Param Foundation F850 (humanoid robot) on to the
International Space Station to assist
Q. 355) Which city has topped the Knight astronauts?
Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index 2019? [A] Germany
[A] Delhi [B] USA
[B] Berlin [C] Russia
[C] London [D] England
[D] St. Petersburg [E] France
[E] Zagreb
Q.361) of potential economic growth
Q. 356) In which state will India-Europe 29 can be affected due to water pollution,
Business Forum 2019 be held? according to World Bank’s “Quality
[A] Maharashtra Unknown: The Invisible Water Crisis”
[B] Delhi report?
[C] Karnataka [A] 1/3rd
[D] Telangana [B] 1/2nd
[E] Odisha [C] 3/4th
[D] 2/3rd
Q. 357) How many mountain peaks have [E] 1/5th
been opened for foreigners by Indian
Government to increase tourism? Q.362) Which country will launch the
[A] 129 Europa Clipper Mission to study Jupiter’s
[B] 137 moon-Europa?
[C] 140 [A] Russia
[D] 113 [B] England
[E] 129 [C] France
[D] Australia
Q. 358) How many Urban Agglomerates [E] USA
exists in India, according to Census 2011?
[A] 500 Q.363) How much relief from the duty
[B] 278 demand will be given to asseeses if the
[C] 469 amount is up to Rs 50 lakh, according to
[D] 109 Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute
[E] 723 Resolution) Scheme, 2019?
[A] 70%
Q. 359) What is the percentage of cases of [B] 45%
leprosy in India, according to WHO’s data? [C] 30%
[A] 51% [D] 60%
 150

[E] 80% [D] Kevin Spacey

[E] Dwanye Johnson
Q.364) With which bank has Digit
Insurance signed a bancassurance Q.369) Who has translated the ‘The Diary
agreement? of Manu Gandhi’?
[A] HSBC Bank [A] Tridip Suhrud
[B] Lakshmi Vilas Bank [B] Srikanth Hirakud
[C] Karur Vyasa Bank [C] Anjali Deosthalee
[D] UCO Bank [D] Parul Karwarkar
[E] Bank of India [E] Bhraghukant Jadhav

Q.365) Which company has acquired the Q.370) Where is FINA World Junior
49% stake in Future Coupons Ltd? Swimming Championships 2019 being
[A] Zomato held?
[B] Grofers [A] Hungary
[C] Amazon [B] Canada
[D] Uber Eats [C] Switzerland
[E] Swiggy [D] New Zealand
[E] South Korea
Q.366) Which bank has partnered with
BookMyForex and Visa card to launch a Q. 371) Where has the 1st World Youth
co-branded multi-currency forex travel Conference on Kindness held?
card? [A] Germany
[A] HDFC Bank [B] Switzerland
[B] Allahabad Bank [C] New Zealand
[C] Standard Chartered Bank [D] Australia
[D] Union Bank of India [E] India
[E] YES Bank
Q. 372) Common Service Centre e-
Q.367) Which institute has entered in the Governance Services India Ltd. has signed
Asia Book of Records and India Book of an MoU with Ministry of Panchayati Raj to
Records for making a giant guitar of 70- digitalize all gram panchayats?
foot-tall? [A] 1.5 lakh
[A] IIT-Guwahati [B] 2.5 lakh
[B] ITI-Odisha [C] 3.5 lakh
[C] IISc-Bangalore [D] 5 lakh
[D] IIT-Delhi [E] 4.5 lakh
[E] IIT-Mysore
Q. 373) With which country’s Department
Q.368) Which actor has topped the of Food Technology and Quality Control
Forbes’s Highest-Paid Actors 2019? has FSSAI signed an MoU for improving
[A] Al Pacino food safety and standards?
[B] Robert De Niro [A] Bolivia
[C] Akshay Kumar [B] Nepal
 151

[C] USA implementing Sustainable Development

[D] Kenya Goals?
[E] Zambia [A] Madhya Pradesh
[B] Uttarakhand
Q. 374) With which company has Akshaya [C] Arunachal Pradesh
Patra Foundation partnered to supports [D] Punjab
its mid-day meal project? [E] Haryana
[A] Bharti AXA Life Insurance
[B] Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Q. 379) What is the name of the project
[C] HDFC Life Insurance launched by Ministry of Textiles to
[D] SBI Life Insurance promote sustainable fashion?
[E] Tata AIG General Insurance [A] SU.RE
[B] HIT Streets
Q. 375) Which of the following monument [C] Clean and Green Fashion
has been included in the World 100 [D] Sustainable Blitz
Greatest Places 2019? [E] Fashionova
[A] Ajanta and Ellora Caves
[B] Statue of Unity Q.380) What is the name of the e-
[C] Rani ki Vav commerce marketing platform that
[D] Taj Mahal government plans to launch for MSMEs?
[E] Fatehpur Sikri Fort [A] Bharat Draksha
[B] Bharat Akshat
Q. 376) Which form of energy has recently [C] Bharat Maan
been classified as renewable energy by [D] Bharatcraft
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy? [E] Bharat Nabh
[A] Thermal Energy
[B] Ocean Energy Q.381) Which state has topped the 2nd
[C] Hydroelectric energy edition of Composite Water Management
[D] Both A and B Index 2019?
[E] Both B and C [A] Haryana
[B] Gujarat
Q. 377) Who heads the 28-member panel [C] Madhya Pradesh
formed to advise government on Fit India [D] Rajasthan
Movement? [E] Arunachal Pradesh
[A] Ravi Shastri
[B] Bajrung Punia Q.382) Where has the National Food Lab
[C] Kiren Rijiju been established?
[D] Vinesh Phogat [A] Uttar Pradesh
[E] Baichung Bhutia [B] Rajasthan
[C] Madhya Pradesh
Q. 378) Which state has signed a [D] Sikkim
Memorandum of Agreement with United [E] Tripura
Nations Development Programme for
 152

Q.383) Which country recorded the [D] Giraffe

highest cases of tiger poaching, according [E] Langur
to Skin and Bones Unresolved: An Analysis
of Tiger Seizures from 2000-2018 report? Q.388) What is the new GDP growth
[A] China forecast for India for the year 2019 by
[B] Japan Moody’s Financial Services?
[C] Thailand [A] 6.2%
[D] India [B] 6.7%
[E] Vietnam [C] 5.8%
[D] 7%
Q.384) Which state has launched the [E] 6.1%
Mukhya Mantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana to
provide financial benefit of Rs 6,000 p.a. Q.389) With which bank has Bandhan
to families? bank collaborated to launch a co-branded
[A] Gujarat card?
[B] Andhra Pradesh [A] HSBC Bank
[C] Delhi [B] Oriental Bank of Commerce
[D] Haryana [C] ICICI Bank
[E] Punjab [D] Standard Chartered Bank
[E] UCO Bank
Q.385) Which country has recently
become the 73rd official non-regional Q.390) Who has been awarded with the
member of Asian Infrastructure Clark R Bavin Wildlife Law Enforcement
Investment Bank? Award 2019 at 18th Conference of Parties
[A] UAE of CITES?
[B] India [A] Anita Narain
[C] Serbia [B] Pushpa Goswami
[D] Palestine [C] Vivek Menon
[E] Qatar [D] Vichitra Suman
[E] Abhimanyu Anand
Q.386) Which bank has been named as
the World’s Best Bank by Euromoney? Q.391) Which country has been included
[A] Deutsche Bank in the “enhanced expedited follow-up list”
[B] Standard Chartered Bank of Asia-Pacific Group?
[C] DBS Bank [A] Afghanistan
[D] HDFC Bank [B] Pakistan
[E] Bank of China [C] Iran
[D] Syria
Q.387) Which animal has been recently [E] Ukraine
added in the CITES list of endangered
species? Q.392) Bavar- 373 is the indigenous air
[A] Elephant missile defence system of which country?
[B] Wild Boar [A] Iran
[C] Tiger [B] China
 153

[C] India [A] Bahrain

[D] USA [B] UAE
[E] Russia [C] Saudi Arabia
[D] Qatar
Q.393) Who has written the Big Billion [E] Oman
Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story book?
[A] Arundhati Roy Q.398) Who heads the committee formed
[B] Vikram Seth by Central Vigilance Commission for
[C] Kiren Desai examining bank frauds of over Rs 50
[D] Nayantara Sehgal crore?
[E] Mihir Dalal [A] T.M. Bhasin
[B] Kiren Grewal
Q.394) Which country’s National Anti- [C] Mahendra Jadon
Doping Agency has been banned by World [D] Vishwas Prasad
Anti-Doping Agency? [E] Nandan Nilekani
[A] India
[B] China Q.399) Which member country has been
[C] Myanmar found as non-compliant in the IMF’s
[D] Sri Lanka Annual Observance Report of the Special
[E] USA Data Dissemination Standard for 2018?
[A] China
Q.395) When is International Day for the [B] India
Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its [C] France
Abolition observed? [D] England
[A] August 11 [E] Brazil
[B] August 16
[C] August 3 Q.400) Which Indian Institute of
[D] August 19 Technology has partnered with DESMI to
[E] August 23 setup ‘DESMI Centre of Excellence on
Waste to Wealth’?
Q.396) Which state(s) have the highest [A] IIT-Mysore
population of child labourers in mica [B] IIT-Hyderabad
mining, according to the National [C] IIT-Kerala
Commission for Protection of Child [D] IIT-Delhi
Rights? [E] IIT-Chennai
[A] Jharkhand
[B] Madhya Pradesh Q.401) Recently, Stratton ship has arrived
[C] Rajasthan at Chennai’s port on a goodwill visit.
[D] Arunachal Pradesh Which country does the ship belong to?
[E] Karnataka [A] China
[B] France
Q.397) Which country has felicitated PM [C] Japan
Modi with the King Hamad Order of the [D] Israel
Renaissance? [E] USA
 154

Q.407) Who has become the first Indian

Q.402) Where has the National Centre for shuttler to win gold at BWF World
Avian Ecotoxicology been established? Championship 2019?
[A] Kerala [A] Saina Nehwal
[B] Tamil Nadu [B] Pullela Gopichand
[C] Uttarakhand [C] PV Sindhu
[D] Delhi [D] Prannoy Kumar
[E] Kerala [E] Chirag Shetty

Q.403) Which month has been declared as Q.408) Who, among the following, has
Poshan Abhiyan Month by PM Narendra won gold medal in World Archery Youth
Modi? Championships 2019?
[A] December [A] Komalika Bari
[B] October [B] Srikanth Kidambi
[C] February [C] Ajay Jayaram
[D] March [D] Parupalli Kashyap
[E] September [E] Srikanth Kidambi

Q.404) Where is Dampa tiger reserve Q.409) Recently, a rock on Mars has been
located? named after the The Rolling Stones band.
[A] Meghalaya Which country does this band belong to?
[B] Mizoram [A] England
[C] Nagaland [B] Canada
[D] Tripura [C] Netherlands
[E] Assam [D] Germany
[E] Russia
Q.405) Which actress has topped the
Forbes’s world’s Highest-Paid actresses Q.410) Who has won the CP Women’s
list of 2019? Open 2019 (LPGA golf)?
[A] Scarlett Johansson [A] Lee Jeongeun
[B] Natalie Portman [B] Jin Young Ko
[C] Jennifer Lawrence [C] Jutanugarn Ariya
[D] Emma Stone [D] Minjee Lee
[E] Gal Gadot [E] Inbee Park

Q.406) Who has been chosen for the Q. 411) With which company has Director
award of Eminent Engineer Award 2019 General of Resettlement and Army
given by Institution of Engineers? Welfare Placement Organization
[A] Prabhakar Singh partnered to provide jobs to army
[B] Prashant Desai personnel and their families?
[C] Prakhar Maitrayee [A] Flipkart
[D] Pushkar Singhania [B] Amazon
[E] Piyush Goswami [C] Future Retail
[D] D-Mart
 155

[E] Google [C] China

[D] Philippines
Q. 412) With which department has [E] Singapore
National AIDS Control Organisation signed
an MoU to enhance outreach in AIDS and Q. 417) Which city is the new proposed
drug addiction? capital of Indonesia?
[A] Department of Defence Production [A] Surabaya
[B] Department of Economic Affairs [B] Tangerang
[C] Department of Health and Family [C] Batam
Welfare [D] North Jakarta
[D] Department of Public Enterprises [E] Borneo Islands
[E] Department of Social Justice and
Empowerment Q. 418) What is the amount of total
surplus funds being transferred to
Q. 413) When was Digital India program government by RBI on the
launched? recommendation of Economic Capital
[A] 2013 Framework committee?
[B] 2014 [A] Rs 3.91 Trillion
[C] 2015 [B] Rs 2.61 Trillion
[D] 2016 [C] Rs 1.76 Trillion
[E] 2017 [D] Rs 7.45 Trillion
[E] Rs 0.76 Trillion
Q. 414) Where was the 4th edition of the
‘IoT India Congress 2019’ organized? Q. 419) Which company has launched the
[A] Bangalore smart display device- Nest Hub India
[B] Chennai (specifically for India)?
[C] Mysore [A] Amazon
[D] Delhi [B] Flipkart
[E] Mumbai [C] Netflix
[D] Google
Q. 415) With which country has India [E] Microsoft
signed an MoU to develop and operate
World’s first space-based automatic Spring Hill is the first AI-chip
identification system? of which company?
[A] Russia [A] Microsoft
[B] USA [B] Intel
[C] Israel [C] Qualcomm
[D] France [D] Samsung
[E] UAE [E] Tencent

Q. 416) Where is Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Who has been appointed as the

Defence Conference 2019 be held? CEO of TAFE?
[A] Indonesia [A] Sandeep Sinha
[B] Thailand [B] Surjit Mukherjee
 156

[C] Vikas Kukreja [D] Chander Chowdhury

[D] Ranjeet Singh Jadon [E] Deepak Dalal
[E] Arpit Sachdeva
Where has the Astra Rafael
Who has won the men’s singles in Communication System been
the BWF World Championship 2019? established?
[A] Lee Chong Wee [A] Karnataka
[B] Victor Axelsen [B] Andhra Pradesh
[C] Kento Momota [C] Telangana
[D] Carolina Marin [D] Madhya Pradesh
[E] Son-Wan Ho [E] West Bengal

Who among the following is the How many census towns exist in
first Indian Lt. Gen (serving) India, according to census 2011?
who completed the Paris-Brest- [A] 3,894
Paris circuit? [B] 2,110
[A] Anil Puri [C] 1,980
[B] Priya Kumble [D] 1,120
[C] Mallika Khatri [E] 3,178
[D] Shreya Bakshi
[E] Mahesh Balakrishna Which state has topped the ‘Child
Well-Being Index 2019’?
With which company has Athletics [A] Karnataka
Federation of India chosen as title [B] Kerala
sponsor for its National Inter- [C] Madhya Pradesh
District Junior Athletics Meet [D] Telangana
2019? [E] Assam
[A] Oppo
[B] Nestle Milo When was the National Mission
[C] Nissan on Education through Information
[D] Sahara and Communication Technology
[E] Byju’s launched? [A] 2001
[B] 2010
Where is Somasila Dam located? [C] 2003
[A] Karnataka [D] 2009
[B] Kerala [E] 2005
[C] Madhya Pradesh
[D] Andhra Pradesh In which of the following country
[E] Maharshtra has PM Modi recently launched
RuPay card?
Who heads the high-level [A] UAE
committee on implementation [B] Qatar
of Assam Accord? [C] Kuwait
[A] Biraj Kumar Sarma [D] Malaysia
[B] Abhijeet Balakrishnan [E] Philippines
[C] Bhuvan Burman
 157

Who has become the first

Which state has launched the female officer to be appointed as
Amma Police unit for women flight commander of a flying
and child safety? unit?
[A] Karnataka [A] Shalija Dhami
[B] Tamil Nadu [B] Shreya Dhawan
[C] Uttarkhand [C] Keshav Maitreya
[D] Andhra Pradesh [D] Balram Deva
[E] Maharashtra [E] Munshi Bhargava

Shaheen is the military What is the name of the app

exercise between China and developed by Arhan Bagati to
? para- athletes track place in
[A] India Tokyo during the 2020
[B] France Paralympics Games?
[C] Sri Lanka [A] IndTokyo
[D] South Korea [B] HelpDesk
[E] Pakistan [C] Locate Tokyo
[D] Find Your Place
Where has the Indian Bank [E] Paratool
opened its first MSME centralised
processing centre? On whose name has the Mitra
[A] Maharashtra crater on moon been named?
[B] Arunachal Pradesh [A] Sanjay Kumar Mitra
[C] Odisha [B] Bansi Kumar Mitra
[D] Tamil Nadu [C] Sisir Kumar Mitra
[E] Telangana [D] Balram Kumar Mitra
[E] Keshav Kumar Mitra
Which bank has launched the
India’s first OTP service on Which ministry has launched the
ATM withdrawal? NOC Online Application Processing
[A] Punjab and Sindh Bank System to grant permission to
[B] UCO Bank National Monuments Authority for
[C] HDFC Bank construction around the protected
[D] Canara Bank monuments in six states?
[E] Axis Bank [A] Ministry of Culture
[B] Ministry of Tourism
What is the average GDP growth [C] Ministry of Home Affairs
rate for India for 2019, according [D] Ministry of Commerce and Industry
to FICCI? [A] 6.1% [E] None of the Above
[B] 5.7%
[C] 5.9% Q. 441) Which country has become the
[D] 6.9% first nation in the world to issue a
[E] 7.1% Biometric Seafarer Identity Document?
[A] China
[B] India
 158

[C] USA Q. 446) What is the new GDP projection of

[D] Russia India for 2019-20 by Ind-Ra?
[E] Japan [A] 6.1%
[B] 6.3%
Q. 442) Which company has initiated the [C] 6.7%
first-of-its-kind in India, “Digital [D] 6.4%
Governance Tech Tour” to guide and train [E] 6.9%
the government’s IT officials about the
high-tech skills? Q. 447) Which company will replace
[A] Amazon Indiabulls Housing Finance on Nifty Index?
[B] Google [A] Nestle India
[C] Microsoft [B] Hindustan Unilever Ltd
[D] Apple [C] Indian Oil
[E] Facebook [D] Tata Motors
[E] Bharati Airtel
Q. 443) What is the name of the app
launched by Ministry of Chemicals and Q. 448) S&P Global Rating has placed
Fertilizers to help people in locating Bank’s 'BB' long-term and 'B' short-term
generic medicines and stores easily? foreign currency issuer credit ratings on
[A] Chikitsak Sugam ‘Credit Watch’ with negative implications?
[B] Vaidhak Pragati [A] HDFC Bank
[C] Aayurvigyaan [B] Indian Bank
[D] Janaushadhi Sugam [C] Canara Bank
[E] Sugam Aushadh [D] Andhra Bank
[E] IDBI Bank
Q. 444) Where has the Software
Technology Parks of India set up a first of Q. 449) How much FDI is allowed in digital
its kind ‘Centre of Excellence in FinTech’- media sector in India?
FinBlue? [A] 31
[A] Tamil Nadu [B] 26
[B] Kerala [C] 17
[C] Karnataka [D] 50
[D] Madhya Pradesh [E] 45
[E] Odisha
Who has been appointed as
Q. 445) How many medical colleges does the president of Paytm?
the government plan to open by 2021-22? [A] Mehak Jyoti
[A] 80 [B] Pramod Agarwal
[B] 75 [C] Madhu Deora
[C] 60 [D] Abhimanyu Khattar
[D] 54 [E] Amit Nayyar
[E] 110
Who has been awarded with the
Rashtriya Khel Protsahan
Puruskar 2019?
 159

[A] Gagan Narang [B] Uttar Pradesh

[B] Hima Das [C] Delhi
[C] Baichung Bhutia [D] Haryana
[D] Sachin Tendulkar [E] Punjab
[E] Ravi Shastri
Which state has launched the
Who has written the Obama: The Chul Mukt, Dhur Mukt scheme to
Call of History book? provide LPG connections to 41
[A] Peter Williams lakh families by March 2020?
[B] Peter Blake [A] Andhra Pradesh
[C] Peter Williamson [B] Gujarat
[D] Peter Cummins [C] Rajasthan
[E] Peter Baker [D] Maharashtra
[E] West Bengal
Who has topped the Forbes’
Highest-Paid Celebrities 2019 list? Which state has got the GI tag for
[A] Beyoncé Dindigul lock and Kandangi
[B] Taylor Swift Saree?
[C] Dwayne Johnson [A] Maharashtra
[D] Kylie Jenner [B] Gujarat
[E] Scarlet Johansson [C] Tamil Nadu
[D] Madhya Pradesh
What is Jasprit Bumrah’s rank in [E] West Bengal
ICC Test Rankings 2019?
[A] 1st What is the name of the app
[B] 2nd launched by Ministry of HRD to
[C] 5th integrate various education
[D] 7th portals to bring transparency in
[E] 9th education system?
[A] Meher
With which company has [B] Shikhar
SIDBI partnered to set the [C] Shagun
@Workspaze specifically for [D] Niyog
MSMEs and startups? [E] Nidhi
[A] Instamojo
[B] Haptik Which state has launched
[C] Paisabazaar.com MAMATA scheme to reduce infant
[D] Incuspaze and maternity mortality rate of
[E] Fynd Particularly vulnerable Tribal
group by improving their health
Which state has launched the Jai and nutrition?
Bhim Mukhya Mantri Pratibha [A] Rajasthan
Vikas Yojana to provide the free [B] Odisha
entrance coaching to the [C] Chhattisgarh
students of SC families? [D] West Bengal
[A] Maharashtra [E] Nagaland
 160

What is the percentage of [E] Delhi

inter- district migration for
educational purposes, When was Buenos Aires Plan of
according to census 2011? Action for Promoting and
[A] 47% Implementing Technical
[B] 53% Cooperation among Developing
[C] 62% Countries adopted?
[D] 91% [A] 1981
[E] 23% [B] 1998
[C] 1945
Which city is ranked first at [D] 1978
the Safe Cities Index 2019 [E] 1967
released by Economist
Intelligence Unit? According to RBI’s annual
[A] Dublin report 2018-19, bank frauds in
[B] London FY19 has increased by ?
[C] Paris [A] 67.1%
[D] Mumbai [B] 50.9%
[E] Tokyo [C] 71.2%
[D] 73.8%
What is the name of the campaign [E] 91.2%
launched by the Ministry of
Housing and Urban Affairs to Recently, Union Budget has
bring all the PMAY (U) allowed a 100% FDI through
beneficiaries under the automatic route in Insurance
Ayushmaan Bharat and Ujjawala intermediaries sector. What was
Schemes? the FDI limit in insurance sector
[A] Agnikaar earlier?
[B] Pushkar [A] 34%
[C] Dhul Har [B] 29%
[D] Mishrit [C] 49%
[E] Vishwaas [D] 31%
[E] 27%
Where will the International
Standard Zoo and Biopark on With which bank has Government
forest land be established? e-Marketplace partnered to help
[A] Odisha MSMEs, Start-ups, Self-Help
[B] Rajasthan Groups and Women
[C] Meghalaya Entrepreneurs in growing?
[D] Mizoram [A] SBI
[E] Maharashtra [B] PNB
[C] ICICI
Where was India’s first electric [D] SIDBI
vehicle charging station established? [E] HDFC
[A] Ahmedabad
[B] Nagpur Which company has launched
[C] Mumbai Online Starter Bundle for MSMEs
[D] Noida to allow
 them to create their own website at a daily cost of less than Rs 3?
[A] Amazon
[B] GoDaddy
[C] Flipkart
[D] PhonePe
[E] Intel

1 D 51 B 101 C 151 C 201 B 251 B 301 E 351 E 401 E 451 A

2 A 52 D 102 B 152 C 202 B 252 B 302 B 352 C 402 B 452 E
3 B 53 C 103 C 153 B 203 A 253 D 303 E 353 A 403 E 453 B
4 B 54 A 104 C 154 D 204 E 254 D 304 C 354 D 404 B 454 D
5 E 55 C 105 D 155 A 205 B 255 D 305 C 355 B 405 A 455 D
6 E 56 D 106 D 156 A 206 B 256 E 306 A 356 B 406 A 456 C
7 C 57 C 107 D 157 B 207 C 257 D 307 C 357 B 407 C 457 D
8 E 58 C 108 C 158 B 208 E 258 A 308 E 358 C 408 A 458 C
9 A 59 D 109 E 159 B 209 B 259 E 309 D 359 E 409 A 459 C
10 E 60 E 110 B 160 A 210 D 260 E 310 D 360 C 410 B 460 B
11 A 61 B 111 E 161 E 211 C 261 A 311 A 361 A 411 B 461 C
12 C 62 D 112 C 162 E 212 C 262 C 312 E 362 E 412 E 462 E
13 A 63 E 113 E 163 A 213 B 263 E 313 B 363 A 413 B 463 A
14 D 64 B 114 A 164 A 214 C 264 A 314 A 364 C 414 A 464 E
15 B 65 A 115 C 165 C 215 D 265 C 315 A 365 C 415 D 465 B
16 D 66 B 116 D 166 A 216 B 266 D 316 B 366 E 416 B 466 D
17 E 67 D 117 C 167 D 217 C 267 D 317 C 367 B 417 E 467 D
18 D 68 E 118 D 168 E 218 D 268 A 318 A 368 E 418 C 468 C
19 B 69 B 119 D 169 D 219 A 269 E 319 A 369 A 419 D 469 D
20 C 70 C 120 B 170 B 220 B 270 C 320 C 370 A 420 B 470 B
21 E 71 C 121 E 171 A 221 A 271 E 321 C 371 E 421 A
22 E 72 C 122 D 172 B 222 D 272 B 322 C 372 B 422 C
23 A 73 A 123 D 173 E 223 E 273 C 323 D 373 B 423 A
24 C 74 C 124 C 174 D 224 A 274 A 324 B 374 A 424 B
25 B 75 C 125 E 175 B 225 C 275 B 325 C 375 B 425 D
26 B 76 A 126 C 176 E 226 E 276 D 326 B 376 B 426 A
27 D 77 C 127 B 177 C 227 A 277 D 327 D 377 C 427 C
28 D 78 A 128 A 178 E 228 E 278 C 328 D 378 D 428 A
29 E 79 B 129 B 179 D 229 B 279 A 329 E 379 A 429 B

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30 B 80 B 130 D 180 B 230 A 280 C 330 D 380 D 430 D

31 E 81 B 131 C 181 B 231 D 281 C 331 C 381 B 431 A
32 C 82 E 132 E 182 A 232 E 282 B 332 B 382 A 432 B
33 D 83 E 133 A 183 E 233 D 283 E 333 B 383 D 433 E
34 B 84 C 134 B 184 C 234 B 284 A 334 E 384 D 434 D
35 A 85 D 135 A 185 C 235 B 285 D 335 C 385 C 435 D
36 C 86 E 136 E 186 B 236 D 286 B 336 C 386 C 436 D
37 E 87 C 137 B 187 D 237 D 287 B 337 D 387 D 437 A
38 C 88 D 138 D 188 D 238 C 288 A 338 C 388 A 438 A
39 E 89 D 139 E 189 E 239 B 289 C 339 A 389 D 439 C
40 C 90 E 140 C 190 C 240 B 290 C 340 D 390 C 440 B
41 C 91 E 141 C 191 C 241 A 291 E 341 C 391 B 441 B
42 E 92 D 142 D 192 C 242 E 292 E 342 D 392 A 442 C
43 B 93 A 143 C 193 E 243 B 293 D 343 A 393 E 443 D
44 E 94 D 144 E 194 B 244 D 294 B 344 A 394 A 444 A
45 E 95 E 145 C 195 C 245 C 295 D 345 E 395 E 445 B
46 E 96 B 146 D 196 E 246 B 296 B 346 A 396 A 446 C
47 D 97 A 147 D 197 D 247 D 297 D 347 A 397 A 447 A
48 A 98 E 148 B 198 C 248 A 298 D 348 D 398 A 448 E
49 C 99 E 149 A 199 E 249 C 299 D 349 C 399 B 449 B
50 C 100 C 150 C 200 A 250 C 300 A 350 A 400 D 450 E