SNAP 2017 CURRENT AFFAIRS

I. CURRENT AFFAIRS

 Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra Retd. has been appointed new Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
 Satya Pal Malik appointed Governor of Bihar.
 Banwarilal Purohit appointed Governor of Tamil Nadu.
 Prof Jagdish Mukhi appointed Governor of Assam.
 Ganga Prasad appointed Governor of Meghalaya.
 Devendra Kumar Joshi appointed as Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
 The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog in partnership with US
Government hosted 8th annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES 2017).
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Chennai hosted 3rd India International Science Festival (IISF-2017).
 Infant Mortality Rate(IMR) in India has declined by three points from 37 per 1000 live
births in 2015 to 34 per 1000 live births in 2016 according to Govt. sources.
 Gujarat will become second state after Goa to use Electronic Voting Machine (EVMs)
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equipped with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in Assembly Election 2017. This
process prevents fraud and makes election transparent. India’s Chief Election
Commissioner is Achal Kumar Jyoti.
 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has decided to increase its annual lending to India to
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maximum of $4 billion between 2018 and 2022. This will fasten the process of
development. ADB is led by Takehiko Nakao.
 India is at 40th spot among 137 countries in World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global
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Competitiveness Index (GCI) 2017-18. Was ranked 39th last year. Switzerland ranks 1,
followed by USA & Singapore.
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 Kandla Port, situated on Gulf of Kutch has been renamed as Deendayal port.
 ISRO’s Mars mission ‘Mangalyaan’ completed 3 years in 2017.
 Joint military exercise between Russia & Pakistan named DRUZBA (Friendship) took place
in Minralney, Russia.
 India has 3rd highest number of installed nuclear installations for power generation. China
has the most.
 Stratolaunch is world’s largest aircraft. It has been designed to launch satellites into low-
Earth orbit.
 Ministry of Power launched Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana –“Saubhagya”
with an aim at providing last mile electricity connectivity to all people who are above the
poverty level.
 New Economic Advisory Council (EAC) has been constituted which will be headed by Bibek
Debroy. Other members are Dr Surjit Bhalla, Dr Rathin Roy, Dr Ashima Goyal and Ratan
Watal.
 Rajiv Mehrishi is the new Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) of India. Succeeded
Shashi Kant Sharma.
 Bharat Ratna Prof C.N.R. Rao was awarded 2017 Von Hippel Award, the highest
international prize in materials research. First Indian & Asian to receive the same.
 SBI has launched India’s first bond index series for overseas investors at London Stock
Exchange(LSE). SBI in partnership with DTSE has launched this bond.
 Hindi film, Newton has been selected to officially represent India at Oscars 2018. Has been
directed by Amit Masurkar.
 INS Kalavari, India’s first indigenous built submarine has been inducted by Indian Navy.
Admiral Sunil Lanba heads the Indian Navy.
 India’s first electric bus service was launched at Rohtang Pass, Himachal Pradesh.
 India to hold 1st BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise this year. BIMSTEC includes
Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
 MS Dhoni nominated for Padma Bhusan award for 2017.
 Jharkhand Govt. has launched Shaheed Gram Vikas Yojana for developing villages of
freedom fighters in the state. It was launched from Ulihatu village, the birthplace of Birsa
Munda.
 Google has launched its own Unified Payments Integration (UPI) based digital payment

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service called Tez in India.
 13th edition of Yudh Abhyas, a joint military exercise between India & USA was held in
Washington.
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England wins men FIFA U-17 World Cup held at Yuva Bharati Kirangan (Salt Lake Stadium),
Kolkata defeating Spain 5-2.
 Australian deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was disqualified from his post. He has
been guilty of holding dual citizenship.
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 PV Sindhu won the Korean Open 2017 title.

 India is currently 6th in forex reserve rankings. China is the topmost holder followed by
Japan and Switzerland.
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 Snow Leopard is no more in the list endangered animals.

 Astra is an indigenously built beyond visual range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) missile by
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India.
 Union Home Ministry will be granting citizenship to Chakma & Hajong refuges from
Bangladesh.
 The first Bullet train project i.e. Mumbai to Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project
 will be of 508km –long. Will be completed by 2022.
 Government has launched Operation Insaniyat to help Rohingya refugee in Bangaldesh.
 India has been ranked 103rd out of 130 countries surveyed on World Economic Forum’s
(WEF) Global Human Capital Index (GHCI) 2017. Norway leads the ranking, followed by
Finland & Switzerland. Sri Lanka was ranked best among the South Asian countries at 70th.
 India’s first all-women crew circumnavigation expedition named as Navika Sagar
Parikrama started from Goa on INSV Tarini.
 ‘Project Insight’ has been launched by Union Ministry of Finance to monitor high value
transactions and detect tax evaders using technology.
 Rafael Nadal wins US Open 2017. Sloane Stephens won the women’s title.
 Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) will become Maharatna category company.
 India’s first Hyperloop project will come up in Andhra Pradesh, connecting Vijaywada &
Amravati.
 India’s UJALA scheme launched in Melaka, Malaysia.
 IISc, Bengaluru is the highest ranked University from India.
 SLINEX 2017, joint maritime naval exercise between India & Sri Lanka was held in Bay of
Bengal.
 9th BRICS Summit was held in Xiamen, China.
 HDFC Bank has been listed in India’s Domestic Systemically Important Banks. SBI & ICICI
Bank are already part of this.
 Surya Kiran is a joint military exercise between India & Nepal.
 Oscars 2017 Winners – Moonlight (Best Picture), Emma Stone (Best Actress), Casey Affleck
(Best Actor), The Salesman (Best Foreign Film), Zootopia (Best Animated Feature Film),
Damien Chazelle (Best Director for La La Land).
 India attracted $48 Billion FDI in 2016.
 India’s first Gramin Khel Mahotsav will be held in New Delhi.
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Indian Railways has unveiled Antyodaya Express, a new train for the unreserved
passengers.
 Shurhozelie Liezitsu (81) was sworn-in as the 17th Chief Minister of Nagaland.
 Jammu & Kashmir to observe 2017 as Year of Apple.
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 Virat Kohli is India’s first sportsperson to sign Rs100-crore deal with single brand. He did
this deal with Puma.
 India’s first online debit card was launched by Airtel Payments Bank in collaboration with
Mastercard.
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 South Asian Speakers Summit 2017 was held at Indore, MP.

 Edappadi K Palaniswamy is new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
 Dassault & Reliance have form JV for manufacturing of Rafale jets.
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 India has been ranked 143rd in the Annual Economic Freedom Index 2017.
 UAE has unveiled 100 year plan to build first city on Mars in year 2117.
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 Hindi writer Surendra Verma selected for 2016 Vyas Samman award.
 Sachin Tendulkar adopts Donja Village in Maharashtra under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
(SAGY).
 Jean-Pierre Lacroix appointed as new UN peacekeeping chief.
 NITI Ayog has declared Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Limited (GNFC) Township at
Bharuch as India’s first cashless township.
 Indian tabla player Sandeep Das won the 59th annual Grammy Award for the Best Global
Music category.
 Sandeep Jajodia appointed President of ASSOCHAM.
 70TH BAFTA Awards 2017 Winners – La La Land (Best Film), Damien Chazelle (Best
Director), Casey Affleck (Best Actor), Emma Stone (Best Actress).
 59th Grammy Award Winners – 25 by Adele (Album of the Year), Hello by Adele (Record &
Song of the Year).
 Karnataka Govt. passes bill to allow Kambala and bullock cart racing.
 INS Sarvekshak becomes India’s first ship to go green by installing Solar Power system.
 Frank-Walter Steinmeier elected President of Germany.
 Hindustan Motors (HM) has sold its car brand Ambassador to French company Peugeot.
 India has been ranked 43rd in 2017 International Intellectual Property Index.
 ‘Kheleao’ is the official mascot of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 to be held in India.
 Ajay Tyagi is the new SEBI Chairman.
 China is world’s largest Solar Energy producer.
 ‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan’ (PMGDISHA) has been approved by
PM Modi to make 6crore rural households digitally literate.
 Kathmandu to host 4th Bay of Bengal Initiative on Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit 2017.
 Anushka Sharma appointed Ambassador of Swach Bharat Abhiyan campaign.
 Delhi will host 1st India Mobile Congress (IMC 2017). It will be first such event to take place
in India.
 New Rs1 note printed by Union Government will soon be circulated by RBI.
 C.A. Bhavani Devi is first Indian to win Gold at International Fencing competition.
 World’s largest Telescope will be built in Chile.
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Google’s Rajan Anandan appointed Chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of India
(IAMAI).
 Mumbai is 2nd most crowded city of the world after Dhaka.
 Tata Advanced Systems Ltd and US plane maker Lockheed Martin Corp. have signed an
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agreement to produce F-16 fighters in India.
 52nd Annual General Meeting of the African Development Bank took place in
Gandhinagar.
 Paytm launches Payments Bank. Other payment bank currently operational are Airtel
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Payments Bank & India Post Payments Bank.

 NASA has named a new bacteria discovered on the filters of the International Space
Station (ISS) as Solibacillus Kalamii after late President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
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 Hassan Rouhani re-elected as Iran’s President.

 Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercises 2017 (SIMBEX) is a joint naval exercise
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between India & Singapore.

 India’s first Nuclear power plant was built at Tarapur, Maharashtra.
 Operation ‘Clean Money’ has been launched by Income Tax department to investigate tax
evaders.
 Edouard Philippe is new Prime Minister of France.
 India is ranked 26th in World Bank’s Power Accessibility list.
 World Health Organization (WHO) has appointed Amitabh Bachchan as its Goodwill
Ambassador for Hepatitis in South-East Asia Region.
 Nirmala Sitharaman appointed as India’s first Woman Defence Minister.
 More than 500-year old walled city of Ahmedabad gets World Heritage City tag by
UNESCO.
 Rajiv Kumar appointed Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog.
 Justice Mudgal appointed as Chairman of FIFA Governance Committee.
 Mahabaleshwar Sail given Saraswati Samman 2016.
 Taranjeet Singh is new Twitter India head.
 Democratic Party’s Moon Jae-in is new President of South Korea.
 Jhulan Goswami is now world’s highest wicket taker in ODI (Women).
 IMF has predicted India’s growth for the period 17-18 to be 7.2%.
 Emma Watson is first to receive genderless award for best acting at MTV Awards. This
category had no separate nomination based on sexes.
 Gobindobhog rice from West Bengal has received GI status.
 The Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) as launched world’s first diamond futures
contracts to provide exporters with a hedging tool.
 Justice Dipak Misra appointed as 45th Chief Justice of India by President.
 Ashwani Lohani is new Chairman of Railway Board.
 Supreme Court has declared Triple Talaq as unconstitutional, illegal and void. Has asked
Union Government to come up with a new law.
 Devendra Jhajharia (para athlete) and Sardara Singh (hockey) were awarded Rajiv Gandhi
Khel Ratna Award 2017.
 India’s first calf born to surrogate cow has been named Vijay.
 Emmanuel Macron has been elected new President of France. He is also the youngest

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President of France till now.
 Indra tri-services exercise is a joint military exercise between Russia & India involving
Army, Navy & Air Force.
 India-ASEAN Youth Summit 2017 took place in Bhopal.
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 Union Ministry of Environment & Forest has launched a campaign called ‘Gaj Yatra’ to
protect Elephants in India. According to report its population has decreased in past few
years.
 Prasoon Joshi appointed new Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
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 Venkaiah Naidu is 13th Vice-President of India.

 India is ranked 43rd position in 2017 Global Retirement Index (GRI).
 Year 2017 is the 75th anniversary of Quit India Movement.
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 Qatar will be first Arab nation to offer permanent residency certificate to non-citizens.
 Shahid Khaqan Abbasi elected as new Prime Minister of Pakistan. Will be replacing Nawaz
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Shariff.
 Facebook has launched ‘Express WiFi’ services in India.
 Indore has been adjudged as the cleanest city of India in Swachh Sarevkshan 2017.
 Madhya Pradesh becomes the first state to shift Financial year to Jan-Dec.
 New premier train named ‘Tejas Express’ has been launched which will run between
Mumbai & Goa.
 Aizwal FC has become the first North-Eastern state to win I-League.
 Kerala hosted India’s first Transgender Athletics meet.
 Veteran filmmaker Kasinadhuni Vishwanath wins DadaSaheb Phalke award 2017.
 India is world’s 5th largest military spender. USA remains the top spender.
 Video Gaming will be included as a full sport at Asian Games 2022 Hangzhou, China.
Palembang, Indonesia will host 2018 Games.
 World Bank has predicted India’s GDP rate to be 7.2% for 2017-2018.
 ‘Sagarmatha Friendship 2017’ is a joint military exercise between Nepal & China.
 GBU-43 is a non-nuclear bomb dropped by USA over Afghanistan.
 ‘Operation Durga’ has been launched by Government of Haryana to provide and ensure
women security.
 Rex Tillerson is USA’s Secretary of State.
 Malala Yousafzai has been appointed United Nations youngest Messenger of Peace.
 Colson Whitehead has won Pulitzer Prize 2017 in drama category for fiction ‘The
Underground Rail’.
 Joint Military exercise named ‘Nomadic Elephant’ between Indian & Mongolian army took
place in Mizoram.
 India has been ranked 40th in 2017 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index released by
World Economic Forum.
 64th National Film Award Winners – Kasaav (Best feature film), Fireflies in the Abyss (Best
non-feature film), Rajesh (Best Director), Akshay Kumar (Best Actor) & Surabhi Lakshmi
(Best Actress).
 Raman Roy new Chairman of NASSCOM.
 Rajiv Kumar Chander appointed as India’s new Ambassador and permanent representative
of India to the United Nations (UN).

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 Japan has officially recognises Bitcoin making it a legal money.
 Lenin Moreno is the new President of Ecuador.
 Sunaina Singh appointed Vice-Chancellor of Nalanda University.
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Members of South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) are Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
 Tamil Nadu won the Deodhar Trophy 2017.
 Carrie Lam is the first woman Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
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 India ranks 79th in Corruption Perception Index.

 Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi was the Chief Guest at
68th Republic Day Parade.
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 Tamil Nadu govt. passes Jallilkattu Bill to allow traditional sport of Jallikattu.
 India is now world’s 3rd largest aviation market. USA leads the ranking followed by China.
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 Osmania University, Hyderabad to host 105th Indian Science Congress.

 Amarinder Singh is new Chief Minister of Punjab.
 Manohar Parrikar is new Chief Minister if Goa.
 Biren Singh is new Chief Minister of Manipur.
 Sachin Tendulkar was the official Ambassador of ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2017.
England defeated India in final.
 India has been ranked 92nd in 2017 Global Talent Index.
 India is ranked 60th in Inclusive Development Index by World Economic Forum.
 62nd Filmfare Award 2017 Winners – Aamir Khan (Best Actor), Alia Bhatt (Best Actress),
Dangal (Best Film), Nitesh Tiwari (Best Director for Dangal) & Shatrughan Sinha (Lifetime
Achievement).
 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas was held in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
 Axis Bank is third after ICICI Bank and Yes Bank to offer block chain services.
 Chinese mobile company Gionee has appointed Virat Kohli as its Brand Ambassador.
 India’s first International stock exchange ‘India INX’ has come up at GIFT City,
Gandhinagar.
 Now Aadhar is mandatory for MGNREGA workers.
 Pakistan’s former Army Chief Gen. Raheel Sharif will head the Islamic Military Alliance.
 United Nations (UN) has declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism
for Development.
 Finland is the first European country to pay its unemployed citizens a basic monthly
income of 560 euros.
 General Bipin Rawat is 27th Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) India.
 India is world’s 3rd largest beef exporter. Brazil is the leader followed by Australia.
 Delhi Metro is world’s first completely green metro system.
 Ram Nath Kovind is 14th President of India.
 Roger Federer wins 2017 Wimbledon Title. Garbine Muguruza of Spain won the women’s
title.
 India has been ranked low 116 out of 157 nations on the 2017 Sustainable Development
Goal (SDG) Index.
 Malabar Exercise is a trilateral naval exercise involving India, Japan & USA in Bay of

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Bengal.
 12th G-20 Summit concluded in Hamburg, Germany.
 India ranks 23rd in Global Cyber security Index.
 Maitree 2017 is a joint military exercise between Indian Army & Thai Army.
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 Germany won the FIFA Confederation Cup 2017 title by defeating Chile in Final.
 KK Venugopal is the new Attorney General of India.
 UAIDAI CEO Ajay Bhusan Pandey has been appointed interim Chairman of Good and
Services Tax Network (GSTN).
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 Asian Development Bank (ADB) will be providing a support of USD 10 Billion for
development of Indian states.
 UAE’s Sharjah has been named the World Book Capital by UNSESCO.
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 GST was implemented in India from 1st July, 2017 onwards.

 New type of Ransomware named Petya affected the computer and online business across
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the world.
 Election Commission of India has joined hands with Facebook to increase first time voters
registration.
 The first ATM service was provided by Barclays Bank in England.
 Kaushik Basu is new President of International Economic Association (IAE).
 China has unveiled first train which runs on virtual track.
 Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace hotel has acquired an ‘image trademark‘ under the Trademark
Act of 1999, making it is the first building in the country to do so.
 India is ranked 60th in World Global Innovation Index 2017.
 Israeli author David Grossman has won the Man Booker International Prize for his novel “A
Horse Walks into a Bar“.
 AUSINDEX-2017 is a Bilateral Maritime Exercise between Australia & India.
 Rafael Nadal wins French Open 2017. Jelena Ostapenko won the female title.
 Sher Bahadur Deoba elected 40th Prime Minister of Nepal.
 Indian origin Leo Varadkar is new Prime Minister of Ireland.
 Shashi Shekar Vempati appointed as CEO of Prasar Bharati.
 India is ranked 137th in Global Peace Index 2017.
 USA has decided to withdraw from 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
 England wins FIFA Under-17 World Cup by defeating Spain in final at Yuva Bharati Kirangan
stadium, Salt Lake.
 Indian Oil Corporation has purchased and imported crude oil from USA. This is for the first
time India is purchasing crude oil from USA.
 Three American scientists Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne have won 2017
Nobel Prize in Physics. Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson are the
winners for the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Japanese-born English novelist Kazuo
Ishiguro has been selected for the 2017 Nobel Prize in literature.
 First ever ASEAN-India music festival to be held at Purana Qila, New Delhi.
 Nobel Committee has selected Geneva-based International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear
Weapons (ICAN), a coalition of non-governmental organisations from over 100 nations.
 Richard H. Thaler has won 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to
behavioural economics.
 HDFC Bank has launched service bot called ‘Neo’.

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 Ukhnaa Khurelsukh appointed as Prime Minister of Mongolia.
 Rajnish Kumar appointed new Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI).
 Anupam Kher appointed new Chairman of FTTI.
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India has been ranked 100th among 119 countries on Global Hunger Index (GHI).
 Audrey Azoulay will be succeeding Irina Bokova as Director General of UNESCO.
 Gautam Bambawale appointed India’s Ambassador to China.
 India’s first All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) was inaugurated in New Delhi by PM
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Narendra Modi.
 Prof Hans Joachim Schellnhuber from Germany won 2017 Blue Planet Prize.
 Rafael Nadal won the US Open 2017 title. Sloane Stephens won the women’s title.
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 Roger Federer won the Australian Open 2017. Serena Williams won the women’s title.
 INDRA-2017 is first tri-services military exercise between India and Russia.
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 Peru has legalise Marijuana for medicinal purposes. Uruguay was the first country to
legalise.
 PM Modi has launched South-Asia’s first Ro-Ro ferry service in Gujarat.
 Maruti is top exporter of passenger cars from India.
 Cristiano Ronaldo named as 2017 FIFA Men’s Player.
 Popular classical singer, Girja Devi popularly known as Queen of Thumri passed away.
 Popular Director Kundan Shah (Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron fame) passed away.
 Suresh Sethi appointed as MD & CEO of India Post Payments Bank.
 India is ranked 75th among the 94 countries in Global Passport Power Rank 2017.
Singapore tops the ranking.
 The 14th South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation in Law (SAARCLAW)
Conference was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
 Operation Euphrates Shield was launched by Turkey to target ISIS & Kurdish militants
inside Syria.
 West Bengal won the 2017 Santosh Trophy.
 India’s first vertical garden has come up in Bengaluru at the Hosur Road Electricity City
Flyover.
 Mathematician Yves Meyer of France has won the prestigious 2017 Abel Prize for his
pivotal role in the development of the mathematical theory of wavelets.
 India ranks 131st in Human Development Index (HDI) 2016.
 Tamil Nadu won the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2017.
 India ranks 122nd in World Happiness Report.
 Uttrakhand High Court has recognized Ganga & Yamuna river as living entity.
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Yogi Adityanath is 21 Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
 Trivendra Singh Rawat is new Chief Minister of Uttrakhand.
 Union Government has launched Mission Fingerling to achieve Blue Revolution.
 India is ranked 100th in Ease of Doing Business 2017 rankings by World Bank. Up from 130th
position last year.
 NTPC has built India’s largest floating Solar Park in Kerala.
 Eleventh edition of joint military exercise ‘Surya-Kiran’ between India & Nepal took place

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in Uttrakhand.
 Al-Nagah II is a joint military exercise between India & Oman.
 Facebook has launched SheLeadsTech programme to nurture and mentor startups by
women.
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 World’s oldest aircraft carrier INS Viraat has been decommissioned.
 India is now world’s 2nd largest mobile market. India has replaced USA. China is the leader
in mobile market.
 Google launches its new smartphone Pixel 2 .
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 Maximum amount of cash donation, a political party can receive, will be 2000/- from one
person.
 Existing rate of taxation for individual assesses between income of 2.5 lakhs to 5 lakhs
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reduced to 5% from the present rate of 10%.

 Virat Kohli has declined to promote Pepsi.
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 First Prime Minister of Pakistan was Liaquat Ali Khan.

 Ramon Magaysay 2017 winners – Lillia de Lima (Philippines), Yoshiaki Ishizawa (Japan),
Abdon Nabadon (Indonesia), Philippine Educational Theatre Education, Gethsie
Shanmugam (Sri Lanka) & Tony Tay (Singapore).
 Committee headed by Madhav Chitale has recommended for De-Silting Ganga.
 A committee constituted by HRD Ministry headed by Minister Kadiyam Sihari will look into
issues of girl’s education.
 A committee headed by former diplomat Afzal Amanullah will look into the issue of
subsidy for Haj pilgrimage.
 Pulella Gopichand, Abhinav Bindra, Rajesh Kalra, Om Pathak, Viren Rasquinha, S. Baldev
Singh, Prof. G.L. Khanna and Sandeep Pradhan are the members of task force committee
for preparing action plan for 2020 Olympic Games.
 Willian Gopallawa was the first President of Sri Lanka while DS Senanayake first Prime
Minister.
 China has shut down Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Exchanges.
 Mumbai Indians won IPL 2017.
 Patna Pirates won Pro-Kabaddi League 2017.
 Real Madrid won the UEFA Champions League 2017. While Manchester United won the
UEFA Europa Cup.
 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been awarded the highest public service
honour by the United Nations for her project on girl child empowerment- Kanyashree.
 George Saunders has won Man Booker 2017 for ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’.
 Services sector contributes highest to India’s GDP. Followed by Industry and Agriculture.
 Dr. Harsh Vardhan is Union Minister for Environment , Forest & Climate.
 Piyush Goyal is new Railways Minister of India.
 Radha Mohan Singh hold the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare.
 Suresh Prabhu is new Minister of Commerce and Industries.
 USA along with Israel have both quit UNESCO.
 Arab nations cut-off diplomatic relations with Qatar over allegations that it was
supporting terrorism.
 Doklam is a narrow plateau lying in the tri-junction of Bhutan, China and India. Recently it

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has been in news over the standoff between the armies of both India & China.
 China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a billion dollar initiative of Chinese govt. to
build infrastructure projects in Pakistan.
 The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, better known as the
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One Belt and One Road Initiative (OBOR), The Belt and Road (B&R) and The Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) is a development strategy proposed by China's paramount leader Xi Jinping
that focuses on connectivity and cooperation between Eurasian countries, primarily the
People's Republic of China (PRC), the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) and the
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oceangoing Maritime Silk Road (MSR).

 Philipp Budeikin is the creator of Blue Whale online game originated in Russia.
 Rohingyas are ethinic group, majority of them Muslims who have been living in Rakhine
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state, Myanmar. They have been migrating in large number to Bangladesh after
widespread violence against them in Myanmar.
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 Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is new Sports Minister of India.

 Marshall of Indian Air Force and oldest serving soldier of India, Arjan Singh passed away.
 Mankind Pharma has appointed Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador.
 Fortune Oil appointed Akshay Kumar as its brand ambassador.
 Nawazuddin Siddiqui named as brand ambassador of Janalakshmi (Jana Small Finance
Bank).
 NSE, Pratap Snacks, SBI Life, HUDCO, Cochin Shipyard, Central Depository Services, Sultan
Chand, Reliance Nippon AMC are the list of companies which went for IPO this year.
 Aditya Birla Online Fashion (ABOF) will be shutting down its business.
 Ad-free subscription service similar to NetFlix named ‘ALTBalaji’ app has been launched by
Balaji Telefilms.
 Lok Sabha has passed Payment of Wages(amendment) bill 2017 which allows for
payments of wages digitally or through cheque directly into account.
 For the first time in history Supreme Court had to issue a contempt notice on a sitting
judge of Calcutta High Court, Justice CS Karnan.
 Antyoday Express has been launched which is a fully unreserved train with colorful
coaches.
 Rajasthan Government has launched Rajasthan Heart Attack Treatment Programme
(RAHAT) for prompt treatment of heart disease.
 India & Israel are celebrating 24yrs of Diplomatic relations in 2017.
 India’s first Smart Police Station has come up at Nagarampalem in Guntur City, Andhra
Pradesh.
 Gujarat first state to establish cashless system for distribution of food grains (PDS).
 India’s first floating Elementary school has come up on Manipur’s Loktak Lake.
 Kerala’s govt will launch India’s first sex offenders registry.
 Liker and Leh Dosmochey festival takes place in Leh.
 Khajuraho Dance Festival takes place in Bhopal.
 India’s first Hill Station Bicycle Path unveiled in Darjeeling.
 Tesla Motors Inc. has launched world’s largest Battery storage plant in California.
 India was the guest country at 2017 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
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The Qatar Airways has launched world’s longest scheduled commercial flight which will ply
between Doha and Auckland.
 Shawna Pandey will be third Indian origin after Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams to go
into Space in2018.
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 Venezuela and Libya suspended from UN General Assembly (UNGA) over debt dues.
 The 4th session of BIMSTEC was held in Kathmandu.
 South Asian Speakers Summit was held in Indore. Inaugurated by Sumitra Mahajan.

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Mobile World Congress (MWC) takes place in Barcelona.

 USA is world’s largest arms exporter.
 Samit Ghosh is MD & CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank.
 Tata Motors has launched a new sub brand called ‘Tamo’.
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 Microsoft has entered into a strategic partnership with Flipkart.

 Rajasthan is 2nd largest oil producer in India. While Bombay High is largest crude producer
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of India.
 OBOR – It stands for One Belt One Road. Also known as Silk Road Economic Belt or 21st-
centrury Maritime Silk Road. It is an initiative by China. The One Belt One Road initiative
focuses on improving connectivity and cooperation among Asian countries, Africa, China
and Europe. The emphasis is on enhancing land as well as maritime routes. Only India and
Bhutan are the two countries to not involve themselves in this initiative from South Asia
region.
 38th Parallel is the border between South Korea and North Korea.
 Book 'Hit Refresh' written by Satya Nadella.
 Maruti Suzuki is India's largest exporter of passenger vehicles.
 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was India's first Vice-President. Venkaiah Naidu is 13th Vice-
President.
 Sarojini Naidu was the first female to become the governor of an Indian state (UP).
 ‘Football Takes Over’ was the official slogan of FIFA Under-17 World Cup, 2017 India.
Mascot of the games was a clouded leopard called 'Kheleo'.
 New Rs1 note to be released by Government of India will have the signature of Finance
Secretary of India i.e. Shaktikanta Das (was finance secretary when notes were printed).
New Finance Secretary of India is Hasmukh Adhia. FYI Rs1 note is issued by Government of
India.
 Suez Canal connects Red Sea with Mediterranean Sea via Isthmus of Suez.
 CEO of World Bank - Kristalina Georgieva
 President of International Economic Association (IEA) – Kaushik Basu
 Project Tiger was launched in year 1973 by then PM Indira Gandhi.
 Hero Motocorp is the title sponsor of ISL 2017.
 Chinese smartphone companies Vivo and Oppo are owned by same Chinese company i.e.
BBK.
 Virat Kohli is the only Indian sports player/athlete to feature in Forbes list of World’s
highest-paid athletes list 2017.
 Kisan Kanya was India's first colour film.
 Bhanu Athaiya was India's first to receive Oscar. For designing costumes of Sir Richard
Attenborough's Gandhi. Satyajit Ray became first Indian to receive an Honorary Oscar

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Award in 1992.
 Rabindranath Tagore was first person of Indian origin and also first Asian to be awarded
Nobel Prize. He received the prize for Literature in 1913. CV Raman won Nobel for Physics
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in 1930.
 Mother Teresa got Nobel for Peace in 1979. Amartya Sen got Nobel for Economics in 1998.
C. Rajagopalachari, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan & CV Raman were first recipients of Bharat
Ratna. Were given in year 1954.
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 Khashaba Jadhav was India's first individual Olympic medallist. He won bronze in 52kg
bantomweight freestyle wrestling at Helsinki Olympic, 1952. Karnam Malleswari was the
first Indian women to win medal. She won Bronze in Weightlifting at Sydney 2000.
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Abhinav Bindra is India's first to win individual Gold medal. Won at Beijing 2008 in 10m air
rifle.
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 India won their first Cricket World Cup in 1983 under Kapil Dev at Lords. Won 2nd Cricket
World Cup at Wankhade under leadership of MS Dhoni. India also first T20 World Cup in
2007 under MS Dhoni at Jonahannesburg.
 The 7th Pay Commission was headed by Justice Ak Mathur.
 HDFC Standard Life Insurance listed on Stock Exchange. Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) is
the oldest Stock Exchange of Asia.
 China is Asia's first country to launch Moon mission. India is first Asian country to reach
Mars via the it's program called Mars Orbiter Mission(MOM) or Mangalyaan.
 Shyam Saran Negi is Independent India's first voter. He voted in polling station of Kinnaur,
Himachal Pradesh in 1951.
 Janet Yellen is current Chairman of Federal Reserve. Jerome Powell will succeed her
January 2018.
 Laureus Award 2017 winners

*Sportsman of the year- Usain Bolt

*Sportswoman of the year- Simone Biles

 *Team of the Year- Chicago Cubs

 Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was India's first home minister.

 Terrorist Organizations of the world:

*ISIS - Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham(Levant/Syria).

* Boko Haram - Nigeria

*Hezobollah-Lebanon

*Al-Shabab-Somalia

*Hamas—Palestine

*FARC(Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) - Colombia

*PKK(Kurdistan Worker's Party) - Turkey fighting for independent Kurdish state.

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* Irish Republican Army-Ireland

*The Lord's Resistance Army(LRA) - South Sudan/Congo/Uganda/Central African Republic

 Nitin Gadkari heads Ministry of Shipping.

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 CEOs of India Origin:

*Indira Nooyi - Pepsico

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*Satya Nadella – Microsoft

*Sundar Pichai - Google

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*Sanjay Mehrotra –Sanjay Mehrotra

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*Rajeev Suri -Nokia

*Shantanu Narayen – Adobe

*Sanjay Jha – Global Foundries

*George Kurien – NetApp

*Francisco D’Souza - Cognizant

*Dinesh Paliwal – Harman International

*Ashok Vemuri – Conduent Inc

*Ivan Menezes – Diageo

*Ajaypal Singh Banga – Mastercard

 Dr. Bhupen Hazarika Setu over Brahmaputra river in Assam is the longest bridge in India.
Was inaugurated by PM Modi.
 Monetary Policy Committee(MPC) is a six-member team to decide RBI's monetary policy.
Six members are RBI Governor Urijit Patel, Deputy Governor Viral V Acharya, Chetan
Ghate, Pami Dua, Ravindra Dholakia & Michael Debabrata Patra. Urijit Patel is Chairman of
the committee and has veto power.
 Bandhan Express is new train between India & Bangladesh. It will run between Kolkata &
Khulna.
 Adidas's Telstar 18 is the official match ball of 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia.
 Gautam Sinha - CEO of Times Internet
 The Pacific Rim is a geographic area surrounding the edges of the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific
Rim covers the western shores of North America and South America, in addition to
Australia, eastern Asia and the islands of the Pacific.
 GST came into existence in India from 1st July, 2017.
 Russia is the first team to qualify for FIFA World Cup 2018. Always host Nation qualifies
first.

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 About European Union (EU)- It was founded on 1st November, 1993 with the
implementation of Treaty of Maastrich. Headquarters is situated in Brussels, Belgium.
Official currency of European Union member nations is Euro. European Parliament
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President – Antonio Tajan. European Commission President – Jean Claude Juncker.
European Council President – Donald Tusk. Member nations – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece,
Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland,
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Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden & United Kingdom. England (part of UK) will
be leaving EU
 President of India administers the oath to Prime Minister. President of India administers
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the oath to Chief Justice of India. Chief Justice administers oath to President of India.
Governor of a State administer oath to Chief Minister. Chief Justice of High Court
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(respective states) administers oath to Governor of respective State.

 Reserve Bank of India has the authority to decide Monetary Policy.
 The various instruments of Monetary Policy are Repo Rate, Reverse Repo Rate, Liquidity
Adjustment Facility, Marginal Standing Facility, Corridor, Bank Rate, Cash Reserve Ratio,
Statutory Liquidity Ratio, Open Market Operations & Market Stabilisation Scheme.
 Sophia is World's First Robot Citizen. She was recognized with citizenship of Saudi Arabia.
 KGB was a secret service agent of Soviet Union until it's breakup in 1991. Mossad is an
Israeli security agent similar to RAW of India. MI5 is the secret security service of UK.
While NSA(National Security Agency) is of USA.
 Netflix co-founder and CEO is Reed Hastings.
 About ASEAN:
*ASEAN stands for The Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
*Was established on 8 August 1967. Founding member nations are Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei, Lao DPR, Myanmar, Vietnam & Cambodia
joined in later.
*Headquarters is in Jakarta, Indonesia.
 *Philippines is the Chair of ASEAN for 2017 and the theme of its ASEAN Chairmanship is
“Partnering for Change, Engaging The World.”
*PM Modi will be attending the Indo-ASEAN meet on the backdrop of ASEAN meet.
 Snow Leopard is no more on the endangered animal list. It is out of the list for the first
time in 45 years. This was announced by The International Union for the Conservation of
Nature (IUCN).
 GST technology network in India has been built by Infosys.
 Year 2017 is 50th Anniversary of ASEAN.
 Zabivaka is the official mascot of FIFA 2018 World Cup Russia. It is a wolf. FIFA World Cup
2018 Russia sponsors are Budweiser, Hisense, McDonald & Vivo. FIFA Partners are Adidas,
Coca-Cola, Wanda, Gazprom, Hyundai/KIA Motors, Qatar Airways & VISA.
 India's National helicopter operator Pawan Hans will operating 'Dilli Darshan' tours.
 Madhya Pradesh govt. has launched 1year diploma course for teaching priesthood.
 ASCI - Advertising Standards Council of India.
 India will be hosting 18th World Road Meeting 2017. Theme is 'Safe Roads and Smart
Mobility:The Engines of Economic Growth'.

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 Indian Railways for the first time in India has handed Habibganj station, MP to Private firm
for operating.
 India' travel and tourism sector ranks 7th in the world in terms of its total contribution
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towards GDP of nation.
 Gandhiji's Sabarmati Ashram completed 100 years this year.
 Narendra Modi is Instagram's most followed world leader.
 GBU-43 (non-nuclear bomb dropped by USA in Afghanistan).
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 Saudi Arabia has launched first Islamic bond.

 President of Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte has topped the TIME's magazine's Readers Poll
of the 100 most Influential People 2017.
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 Shah Rukh Khan is first Indian actor to deliver speech at TED.

 Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark & Iceland are commonly known as Scandinavian
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countries. Scandinavia is a large region of Northern Europe that is mainly made up of the
Scandinavian Peninsula.
 Treaty of Versailles is a peace document signed at the end of World War I by the Allied and
associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles,
France, on June 28, 1919; it took force on January 10, 1920. This treaty brought World War
I to an end.
 On August 6, 1945 World's first Nuclear bomb was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan by an
American B-29 bomber. 3 days later 2nd bomb was dropped over Nagasaki. Emperor of
Japan during that period was Hirohito. USA's President was Harry Truman.
 Litecoin, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Zcash, Dash, Monero & Ripple are various types of popular
crytptocurrency.
 The Indian Army's 9th Gurkha Rifles (GR) regiment is celebrating 200 years of its raising.
 Dinesh Sharma is leading the committee made by Ministry of Finance to examine existing
framework regarding Virtual currencies.
 Sex ratio in India according to 2011 census is 943 females per 1000 males. Population
Density according to 2011 census is 382 persons per sq km. Sex ratio in Rural area 949
 while in Urban are it is 929. India's population according to 2011 census is 1,210,569,573.
Uttar Pradesh is the most populated state, followed By Maharashtra and Bihar. Bihar is
most densely populated state followed by West Bengal. Among Union Territories Delhi is
the most densely populated.
 Seven Indian States have Bicameral Legislature i.e. States having both Vidhan Sabha &
Vidhan Parishad. States are Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir,
Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
 Current CJI Deepak Misra is 45th Chief Justice of India.
 Sikkim has the smallest population in India according to 2011 census.
 China has the largest forex Reserve in the world. Forex Reserve are Reserve assets held by
a central bank in foreign currencies, used to to back liabilities on their own issued currency
as well as to influence monetary policy.
 The services sector remains the key driver of India's economic growth. Grew at 7.7% in
2016-2017 period.
 London has hosted Summer Olympics most number of times. In year 1908, 1948, 2012.
 The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games will be

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hosted by Pyeongchang, South Korea.
 Cressida Dick appointed to lead Scotland Yard. First woman to lead.
 Radhanagar Beach on the Havelock Island in the Andaman and Nicobar has featured in top
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10 islands by TripAdvisor.
 Antyoday Express has been launched which is a fully unreserved train with colorful
coaches.
 Indian singer Niti Mohan has collaborated with United Nations for the Women
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Empowerment. The project has been named "Music to Inspire - Artists United Against
Human Trafficking".
 he Union Budget of India is also referred to as the Annual financial statement in the Article
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of 112 of the Constitution of India. The first Union Budget of Independent India was
presented by RK Shanmukham Chetty on November 26 1947.

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Denmark PM - Lars Lokke Rasmussen

 Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker - M.Thambi Durai of AIADMK
 Leader of the House(Lok Sabha) - Narendra Modi
 Currently there is no leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha as no party has the required
number of Mrs for which they get the status of leader of Opposition.
 Chairman of Rajya Sabha - Venkaiah Naidu (Vice-President of India)
 Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha - PJ Kurien(INC)
 Leader of the House (Rajya Sabha) - Arun Jaitley
 Leader of the Opposition (Rajya Sabha) - Ghulam Nabi Azad (INC)
 BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) is a mobile app developed by National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI), based on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI). It was launched
by PM Narendra Modi at Digi Dhan mela at Talkatora stadium in New Delhi on 30th
December 2016.
 Fiscal Deficit in 2016-2017 period was 3.5% to the GDP. While for the period 2017-2018
fiscal deficit has been projected 3.2%.
 The person behind Versova beach, Mumbai cleanup was Afroz Shah. UNDP has called it
World's largest beach clean-up in history. Afroz Shah has been awarded with UN's top
environment accolade i.e. Champions of the Earth award at Cancun, Mexico.
 Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine died this year.
 Sangai festival is celebrated in the state of Manipur.
 Nalanda University was founded by Gupta Emperor KumarGupta. It is located in Rajgir,
Nalanda, Bihar.
 Sansad Bhavan or Parliament House was designed by British architect Edwin Lutyens and
Herbert Baker.
 The garden located inside Rashtrapati Bhavan has been named Mughal Gardens.
 14th Finance Commission was headed by former RBI Governor YV Reddy. The
recommendations of the commission is valid for 5 year through March 2020.
 Center has set up seven-member task force to draft new Income Tax law. Arbind Modi will
led the panel. Direct taxes have been in force since 1961.
 India's nominee Justice Dalveer Bhandari has been re-elected to the International Court of
Justice(ICJ). The Headquarters of ICJ is in The Hague, Netherlands.

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 Kidambi Srikanth has won 4 Badminton Super Series Premier title this year. They are
Australian Open Series, Indonesia Super Series, Denmark Open Super Series and French
Open Super Series.

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BCCI's President Anurag Thakur and Secretary Ajay Shirke were sacked by Supreme Court
early this year for not implementing Lodha Committee reforms.
 B Sai Praneeth has won the Singapore Open Super Series Title in Badminton. Defeated
Kidambi Srikanth.
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 Video Gaming (e-sports) will be included as full sport or medal sport for the first time at
Asian Games 2022.
 Sagar Baheti is first visually impaired Indian runner to complete Boston Marathon.
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 Haryana was the Champion at National Youth Athletics Championship.

 Kerala has hosted India's first Transgender Athletics Meet in 2017.
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 Durand Cup is India's oldest football tournament.

 CA Bhavani Devi is first Indian to win Gold in International Fencing Tournament.
 Only 4 Indias (Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina) have featured in ESPN's
ranking of 100 most famous athlete in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo has topped the
rankings.
 Tokyo Olympics 2020 will have many new events for the first time. They are 4X400m relay,
3-on-3 basketball, mixed relay, mixed swimming, mixed team archery, BMX freestyle,
mixed Judo, mixed double table tennis, mixed triathlon.
 Nico Rosberg of Mercedes was the Formula 1 World Champion in 2016
 FIA - Federation Internationale de I'Automobile. It is the governing body of motor sports.
 Mountain Railways of India i.e. Darjeeling, Nilgiri and Kalk are UNESCO Cultural Heritage
sites.
 Kaspersky Lab is a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider
headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Founder & CEO is Eugene Kasperksy. The firm is in news
over helping Russia spread fake news during US Elections 2016.
 Donald Trump of Republican Party is 45th and current President of USA. Defeated Hillary
Clinton of Democratic Party.
 India formally became an associate member of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear
Research) this year. CERN as an organisation is world’s largest nuclear and particle physics
laboratory. It is situated in North West suburbs of Geneva on France-Swiss Border. It has
22 members and 4 associate members (including India, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine).
 World Economic Forum (WEF) takes place in Davos, Switzerland every year.
 Kirameki-2 is first military communication satellite of Japan.
 World's smallest pacemaker named Micra Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) has been
tested in USA.
 The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is a specialised agency
of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Headquarters is in
Rome, Italy. Head is Jose Graziano da Silva.
 Silver Iodide is used for creating artificial rain.
 PAU Bt 1 and F1861 are India's first genetically modified (GM) cotton developed by Punjab
Agricultural University (PAU).

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 Cotton is the only GM crop allowed to be cultivated in India.
 World's first fluorescent frog has been discovered in Argentina. Scientific name Hypsiboas
punctatus.
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WHO has started an initiative called Call To End TB by 2030 to end Tuberculosis in South
East Asia region.
 Bharati and Maitri is the name of the two Indian bases in Antarctica.
 National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is the drug price regulator of India.
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Recently it has ordered to reduce the price of stent.

 BRABO is first 'Made in India' Industrial robot built by TAL Manufacturing, a subsidiary of
Tata Group.
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 Tianzhou-I is China's first cargo spacecraft.

 US space agency NASA has named a new bacteria discovered on the filters of the
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International Space Station, ISS, as Solibacillus Kalamii to honour the late president of
India.
 Stars. Neutron stars are created when giant stars die in supernovas and their cores
collapse, with the protons and electrons essentially melting into each other to form
neutrons.
 NASA has launched world's lightest satellite weighting only 64gms made by Indian boy.
The satellite has been named KalamSat after former President late Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam.
 JIGYASA - Is a student-scientist connect programme launched by the government.
 Tata Motors has unveiled India's first bio-CNG bus which will run on methane.
 Vijay is the name of India's first calf delivered by a surrogate or recipient cow through IVF
method.
 Versius is world's smallest surgical robot.
 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is India's Telecom Regulator. RS Sharma
is the Chairman.
 India’s first Hyperloop project will come up in Andhra Pradesh, connecting its city centres,
Vijayawada and Amaravati. Elon Musk is the man behind this Hyperloop technology.
 Hyperloop is a proposed system of transport that would see pods or containers travel at
high speeds through a tube that has been pumped into a near-vacuum. The train pods
would either float using magnetic levitation technology or float using air caster "skis",
similar to how pucks travel across an air hockey table.
 Russia has launched World's largest Nuclear powered ice-breaker named Sibir.
 USSR was the first in the world to launch Artificial Satellite.
 Facebook's India head Umang Bedi has step down. Sandeep Bhusan will replace him.
 STAR India won the Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights(TV & digital) for 2018-2022
with a bid of ₹16,347.5 crore.
 WHO has appointed Dr. Saumya Swaminathan as one of the two deputy director general.
 Vice President Venkaiah Naidu has released Rs100 & Rs10 commemorative coins on 101st
birth centenary of Carnatic musician Dr. M Subbulakshmi.
 Railway Board new Chairman - Ashwani Lohani
 Harikatha is an art form composed of storytelling, music, drama, dance, poetry, and
philosophy in South India especially in the villages of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and
Tamil Nadu.

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 Brazil is the only nation to play in all edition of FIFA World Cup tournament.
 Tom Alter was a popular Bollywood actor was passed away recently. Was honoured with
PadmaShri also.

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Length of India's coastline is 7517 km.
 India joined International Monetary Fund (IMF) on December 27, 1945.
 IMF has predicted India's growth to be 7.4% for 2018. While 6.7 for 2017 period. World
Bank has predicted GDP growth for 2017-2018 period to be 7% for India. While 7.5% in
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2019-2020 fiscal period. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has predicted GDP growth rate to
be 7% for 2017-2018 fiscal period. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) has predicted India's GDP growth to be at 6.7% for 2017-2018 fiscal
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period.
 Rivers which ends in Bay of Bengal are Ganga, Yamuna, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi,
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Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Subarnarek, Periyar, Mahananda & Vaigai.

 Rivers which ends in Arabian Sea are Narmada, Tapti & Indus.
 Canada has the longest coastline in the world.
 Godavari is the longest river of Southern India while Ganga is the longest river of India.
 Tokyo will host 2020. Paris will host 2024. Los Angeles will host 2028
 9th BRICS Summit 2017 took place in Xiamen, China. Theme of the Summit was
"BRICS:Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future". 10th BRICS Summit 2018 will be hosted
by Johannesburg, South Africa. G20 Summit 2018 will take place in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. G20 2019 Summit will take place in Tokyo, Japan. G20 2020 will be hosted by
Saudi Arabia.
 Fifa u-17 world cup:

*Winner-England

*Runners up-Spain

*Semifinalist- Brazil, Spain, Mali, England

 *Golden Ball- Phillip Foden

*Golden Boot-Rhian Brewster

*Best Goalkeeper - Gabriel Brazao

 IIFA 2017

*Best Actor - Shahid Kapoor for Udta Punjab

*Best Actress - Alia Bhatt for Udta Punjab

*Best Film - Neerja

*Best Director - Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury for Pink.

*New York hosted IIFA Awards 2017.

 According to World Bank & World Economic Forum world's fastest growing economies in

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2017:

* Ethiopia - 8.3%

*Uzbekistan - 7.6%
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* Nepal - 7.5%

*India 7.2%
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* Tanzania 7.2%

*Djibouti - 7%
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*Laos - 7%
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*Cambodia - 6.9%

*Myanmar- 6.9%

*Philippines - 6.9%

*16. China - 6.5%

 India's first laser technology based advanced AVMS RTO check post has been launched at
Shamlaji in Gujarat.
 Maharashtra govt has decided to ban Purse Seine Nets for fishing to protect fingerlings, a
fish species.
 Supreme Court has announced no politician can seek votes in the name of caste, language
or religion. Doing such will be considered as corrupt practice. Was delivered by former CJI
TS Thakur.
 India's first Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) is at Kakrapar, Gujarat.
 500 cities are included in SwachSurvekshan 2017.
 Japan will be helping to develop Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities.
 Delhi Government has launched "Good Samaritan Policy" to encourage people to help
accident victims.
 Union Power Ministry Piyush Goyal has launched Worlds largest Street light replacement
programme.
 Assam govt has launched its own e-wallet called Tokapoisa.in
 Supreme Court has ordered to introduce Voter Verifier Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in
Electronic Voting Machines.
 Child Sex Ratio at Birth in Haryana touched 900 mark for the first time. It is 914. While
India's ratio is also 914.
 Kent Betwa River linking project will benefit states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
 Saksham-2017 is a month long gas conservation campaign launched in Dimapur, Nagaland
by Petroleum Ministry.
 Mission 41K is an initiative of Railway Ministry to save energy worth ₹41,000 crore.
 Dharamshala declared 2nd capital city of Himachal Pradesh.
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World Bank will contribute to 80% of the funding for Railways of India Development Fund
(RIDF). India's fastest train is Gatiman Express @160km/hr.
 Stamp cover on PV Sindu, Sakshi Malik and Dipa Karmakar has been launched by India
Post.
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Operation Clean Money was launched by Income Tax department to verify Cash deposited
after demonetisation.
 Theme of 2017 Republic Day was Skill India and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao. The parade was
led by UAE's soldiers contingent for the first time.
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 Delhi University is India's first public University to get Monumental Flag.

 BargahDhanuaJatra takes place in Odisha.
 350th Guru Govind Singh Jayanti was celebrated in 2017. Prakash Parv takes place in birth
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place i.e. Patna.

 India's largest public WiFi service was launched in Mumbai.
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 World's first Gender Literature festival was held in Patna.

 Asia's cleanest village is Mawlynnong, Meghalaya.
 Finland is World's first country to pay basic income to unemployed citizens.
 Shangri-la of the World is longest bullet train launched by China.
 Norway to become world's first country to switch off FM radio.
 Saudi Arabia has increased Annual Haj quota for India from 1,36,020 to 1,70,520.
 Hong Kong has withdrawn visa on arrival facility for Indians.
 China has setup world's biggest solar Park, Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in Qinghai
province.
 Donald Trump banned people from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen
from entering USA.
 Ireland is first country to stop investing in fossil fuels.
 Chief Guest at 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas was Portuguese PM Antonio Costa.
 A committee was formed at WEF, Davos to develop vaccine against Middle East
respiratory syndrome (MERS)- coronavirus, Lassa fever and Nipah virus.
 Bengaluru has been ranked as Most Dynamic City in WEF report.
 Munich Re is one of the first foreign reinsurers to receive approval for a dedicated branch
in India following the 2015 amendment of the Insurance Bill.
 As per report, 1% of India's population holds 58% of the country's wealth.
 Karang Island in Manipur is India's first cashless island.
 AIIB-Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.
 France has issued its first Green Bond. Will help to finance expenditure on green projects.
 Apple named as the most innovating company of 2016 by BCG.
 Bengal's Sitalpati' or cool mat has been included in UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage.
 Jinnah Often Came to Our House is written by Kiran Doshi.
 Vladimir Putin awarded with first Hugo Chavez Peace Prize.
 Iris Mittenaere is Miss Universe 2017.
 Paul Ryan - Speaker of US House of Representatives
 Karan Bajwa new MD of IBM India. Replaced Vanitha Narayana.
 Rajesh Gopinathan is new CEO of TCS.
 Xiao Nan is World's first robot journalist.


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Goku from DragonBall Z will be brand ambassador for Tokyo Olympics 2020. Goku will
have Naruto, Shin Chan, Sailor Moon, Petty Cure, Luffy and Astroboy for company.
 The Union Budget of India is also referred to as the Annual financial statement in the
Article of 112 of the Constitution of India.
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 The first Union Budget of Independent India was presented by RK Shanmukham Chetty on
November 26 1947.
 Total budget expenditure allocated for 2017-2018 is ₹21.47 lakh crores.

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Sachin Tendulkar has adopted Donja village in Maharashtra under Sansad Adarsh Gram
Yojana. Earlier had adopted Puttamraju in Andhra.
 Indian singer Niti Mohan has collaborated with United Nations for the Women
Empowerment. The project has been named "Music to Inspire - Artists United Against
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Human Trafficking".
 Lok Sabha has passed Payment of Wages(amendment) bill 2017 which allows for
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payments of wages digitally or through cheque directly into account.

 For the first time in history Supreme Court had to issue a contempt notice on a sitting
judge of Calcutta High Court, Justice CS Karnan.
 Antyoday Express has been launched which is a fully unreserved train with colorful
coaches.
 Radhanagar Beach on the Havelock Island in the Andaman and Nicobar has featured in top
10 islands by TripAdvisor.
 Cressida Dick appointed to lead Scotland Yard. First woman to lead.
 Jeakson Singh Thounaojam is first Indian to score a goal in FIFA World Cup. He scored in
FIFA U-17 World Cup against Colombia.
 Samsung's de-facto chief Jay Y. Lee was sentenced to 5 year jail on corruption charges. He
was the heir of Samsung Group.
 Park Geun-hye had to resign as President of South Korea over political corruption last
year.
 Qatar faced sanctions and diplomatic relations were cutoff by Arab Nations over
allegations that it was supporting terrorism.
 Venezuela faced hunger crisis this year because of hyperinflation in the nation. President
of Venezuela is Nicolas Maduro.
 Bajaj V is a motorcycle from Bajaj made from scrap metal of Indian Navy ship INS Vikrant.
 Five permanent members of UN Security Council are China, Russia, UK, USA & France.
 Mumbai Warriors retained the Indian Premier Futsal League title after beating Delhi
Dragons 6-3 in 2017's final at Al Wasl Indoor Stadium in Dubai.
 France won the Hopman Cup 2017 title. It is Tennis tournament which takes place in Parth,
Australia.
 The USA won the Fed Cup 2017 title after defeating Belarus in Final. 18th title of USA. Fed
Cup is women Tennis team tournament in which the nation takes part.
 World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are also known as The Bretton Woods
Institutions.
 Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel represents Christian Democratic Union of Germany
party.
 USA has withdrawn from Paris Climate Agreement. It was inked in 2015. Was signed by
195 Nations.

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 Official languages of UN are Arabic, Chinese, English, Spanish, French and Russian.
 In 2016 USA received highest FDI inflow. India was ranked 10th. Mauritius is India top FDI
inflow source, followed by Singapore.

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Services sector received the highest FDI followed by Telecommunications sector. India
received $46.4 billion FDI.
 Virat Kohli is the only Indian sport player/athlete to feature in Forbes list of world's
highest paid athlete list 2017.
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 Kaushik Basu is President of International Economic Association (IEA).

 Railways to develop first ever railway line in Andaman and Nicobar. Train will run between
Port Blair and Diglipur.
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 Kashmir govt has launched e-prison project to digitize the the record of jail inmates.
 Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat is built over Narmada river. Was inaugurated by PM Modi
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recently.
 HRIDAY - Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana. Scheme of Ministry of
Urban Development.
 The Ministry of IT and Electronics (MEITY) to promote digital transactions in India.
 Pilgrim center Sabarimala is located at the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the western ghat in
Kerala.
 Khajuraho dance festival takes place in Bhopal.
 Right to Information (RTI) Act has come into effect in Sri Lanka for the first time.
 Kuwait had suspended Visa for people from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan to
stop illegal terrorist.
 2017 National Women's Parliament was held in Andhra Pradesh. Theme was "Empowering
Women-Strengthening Democracy".
 Mumbai is India's richest city. It has 46000 millionaires and 28 billionaires.
 AirAsia is the first foreign airline to operate from Srinagar Airport, J&K.
 Kalimpong is the 21st district of West Bengal.
 Paytm has launched a new app called Paytm Mall.
 Internet Security company Lucideus won the Best IT Startup award at National
Entrepreurship Awards 2016.
 Vikram Limaye is CEO & MD of National Stock Exchange (NSE).
 Sanjeev Sanyal appointed Principal Economic Advisor in Ministry of Finance.
 Folk singer from Punjab Satinder Sartaaj roped in by UN to campaign against human
Trafficking.
 West Bengal has given official status to tribal language Kurukh.
 Lok Sabha has passed Maternity Benefits(amendment) bill, 2016 to raise maternity leave
to 26 weeks.
 Bhagoria is a tribal festival which takes place in Jhabua, MP.
 Vijaywada airport has been renamed as Nadamuri Taraka Rama Rao while Tirupati airport
renamed as Sri Venkateswara Airport.
 Medha is India's first Made-In-Train. Will run in Western Railway's Mumbai sector.
 Palmyra is ancient city of Syria.
 Pakistan conducted its first census in 19years in 2017.


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New Zealand's Whanganui river granted legal status as a person. Thus first to get such
status.
 Montenegro is NATO's 29th member.
 Euphrates Shield was the name of the military operation by Turkish army in Northern
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Syria.
 El Salvador is World's first country to ban metal mining.
 21 nation Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit took place in Jakarta. India is also a
member.
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 India has third largest domestic aviation traffic. USA has the most followed by China.
 HDFC Bank has launched India's first AI based banking Chatbot EVA (electronic virtual
assistant) for customer service.
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 Facebook has launched a new initiative called SheLeadsTech to support startups which are
founded or co-founded by women.
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 Sachin Tendulkar was the official ambassador of ICC Women's world cup 2017 England.
 Amitabh Bachchan is brand ambassador of One plus India.
 PV Sindhu is brand ambassador of Gatorade.
 Carrie Lam is first women Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
 Bharti Airtel will be merging its business with Milliom International in Ghana.
 IndusInd Bank has acquired IL&FS Securities Services.
 ONGC to acquire entire stake OF GSPC in KG block.
 Sachin Tendulkar has launched an app called 100MB. It is dedicated to Sachin himself.
 India to train Myanmar army.
 AL NIGAH II is joint military exercise between India and Oman.
 Uttrakhand High Court has recognized Ganga as India's first living entity.
 India's U17 football team coach was Luis Norton de Matos.
 David Rockefeller, billionaire philanthropist died this year. Was head of Chase Manhattan
Corp
 My Story is an autobiography of Michael Clarke.
 Actor Vinod Khanna passed away this year. Was BJP MP from Gurdaspur, Punjab.
 Section 139AA - Aadhar to be mandatory for IT return or for getting a PAN number.
 Chenani-Nashri all-weather Road tunnel in J&K is India's longest Road tunnel.
 Belgium has become the first country to open honorary consulate in GIFT City, Gujarat.
 Israel has approved settlement within West Bank for the first time in 2 decades.
 SACEC-South Asian Sub-regional Economic Cooperation. It's a program of Asian
Development Bank. Myanmar has joined as 7th member.
 WTO has set up a panel to resolve steel dispute between India and Japan.
 Iceland will be making mandatory for equal pay for men and women. Malala Yousafzai is
youngest UN messenger of Peace.
 Hyderabad is hosting 8th Annual Global Entrepreurship Summit.
 Cuba and Morocco re-establish diplomatic ties after 37 years.
 NASA Astronaut Peggy Whitson is the first woman to command the space station twice.
 Two Indian i.e. Narendra Modi and Vijay Shekhar Sharma have featured in TIME's 100
most Influential People of 2017. The list also has Jeff Bezos, Donald Trump, Simone Biles,
James Comey.


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India was the 5th largest military spender in 2016. USA topped the list followed by China,
Russia, Saudi Arabia.
 World Bank has approved $375 million for India's first waterway project which will be
between Varanasi and Haldia.
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 Nokia has inked a deal with Airtel and BSNL to bring 5G to India.
 India replaced Japan as 2nd largest importer of LPG. China is 1st.
 Infosys has launched Artificial Intelligence platform called Nia.
 Dawit Isaak to receive UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize 2017.
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 Italy's Mayor Glusi Nicolini has been awarded UNESCO Peace Prize.
 Entire Assam was declared as disturbed area under AFSPA for three months this year.
 Odisha's Sualgiri and Swalgiri communities notified as Scheduled castes by Government.
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 Tejas Express runs between Shivaji terminus Mumbai and Karmali in Goa.
 Madhya Pradesh is first Indian state to switch to the January-December financial year from
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the existing April-March cycle.

 Telengana, the first state to have logo for vehicles driven by persons with hearing
impairment.
 Nagpur is India's first city with electric mass mobility system.
 Dubai is first city to get its own Microsoft font.
 India has been elected as President of UN-Habitat for next two years.
 Japan to build World War II museum in Bishenpur, Manipur.
 Women television channel 'Zan TV' has been launched in Kabul.
 Two-day conference on China's One Belt One Road initiative took place in Beijing.
 2017 NATO Summit was held in Belgium. Agenda of the meet was terrorism. 2018 NATO
Summit will take place in Istanbul.
 Hinduja Brothers(Srichand & Gopichand) have topped the 2017 list of richest people in UK.
 Facebook has launched 'Express Wi-Fi' in India in partnership with Airtel.
 Three India brands among the World's 50 luxury goods companies in fourth Annual Global
Powers of Luxury Goods report. Gitanjali Gems, Titan and PC Jeweller.
 The Square' has won top award at Cannes Film Festival 2017.
 Apple is the first US company to hit $800 billion valuation mark.
 Apple has launched its first store in Southeast Asia in Singapore.
 C919 is first Chinese built passenger jet.
 Ransom ware cyber-attack named 'WannaCry' hit companies, govts, organisations
worldwide. Russia and Ukraine were most affected.
 Pentagon is US Military Headquarters.
 'Eager Lion' is a joint military exercise between US and Jordan.
 Bhubaneshwar, Odisha hosted 22nd Asian Athletics Championship. Mascot of the Games
was Ridley Turtle named 'Olly' The Warrior. India topped the medals tally.
 Amul was the prime sponsor of New Zealand cricket team in the ICC Champions 2017.
 Taj Palace or Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai is first building to get itself trademarked.
 Kolkata will have India's first underwater Metro.
 PM Modi is first Indian PM to visit Spain in 30 years.
 18th Indo-Russian Annual Summit took place in St. Petersburg, Russia.
 Five Nations have been selected as non-permanent members of UN Security Council. They

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are Cote DIvoire, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Poland and Peru. All elected for 2 years.
 Denmark has revoked it's 334-year old blasphemy law.
 Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain had cut ties with Qatar over charges that it was
supporting terrorism.
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 India has been awarded contract to complete Kaladan Road project in Myanmar.
 Fuxing is China's fastest bullet train.
 UN designates Hizbul chief Syed Salahuddin as global terrorist.

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India has been ranked 1 in Global Retail Index replacing China.

 Walmart has topped the list of Fortune America's top 500 companies.
 According to CRY report Uttar Pradesh has highest number of children as labour.

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Indian stars SRK, Salman and Akshay have been ranked 65th, 71st and 80th respectively in
Forbes list of World's Highest Paid Celebrities of 2017.
 India ranks 93rd in Social Progress Index 2017.
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 Switzerland has ratified an automatic exchange of financial account information with

India.
 RBI has announced an Overseeing Committee to look over the NPAs. Chairman of the
committee is Pradeep Kumar. Members are Janki Ballabh, YM Deosthalee, MBN Rao, S
Raman.
 World's first ATM machine by Barclay's turns 50 in 2017.
 NSE has launched its International Exchange at GIFT City.
 European Union has imposed a fine of $2.42 million on Google.
 Reliance Defense inks pact with Serbia's Yugoimport to make ammunition in India.
 Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee has been conferred with highest French civilian honour,
the Legion d'Honneur.
 Sonam Kapoor's fashion label Rheson has won PETA award.
 UN has honoured Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee with UN Public Service award for her govt
scheme 'Kanyashree Prakalpa'.
 Miroslav Lajack has been elected as new President of UN General Assembly.
 EasyDiner has appointed Yuvraj Singh as global brand ambassador.
 Amitabh Bachchan has been appointed by govt to promote GST.
 Aadhar Housing Finance has merged with DHFL Vysya Housing Finance.
 NASA to launch world's first mission to Sun in 2018.
 Competition Commission of India has fined ₹87 crore on Hyundai Motor India.
 Petya Ransomware similar to WannaCry hits India's JNPT.
 Ministry of Finance has increased the the maximum age of joining National Pension
Scheme (NPS) from the existing 60 years to 65 years.
 Karnataka’s Mudhol Hound becomes the first Indian Dog breed to to be trained for Army.
 PM Modi inaugurated India’s first ‘World Food Fair’ in New Delhi.
 Indian Railways has set up Asia’s largest Solid State Interlocking (SSI) at Kharagpur.
 Anurakthi is World’s first 3D Sanskrit film.
 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) took place in Panjim, Goa.
 Walmart India has launched its first fulfilment centre in Mumbai.
 West Bengal gets GI tag for ‘Rasogolla’.
 Kazakhstan will change its name to Qazaqstan.


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India re-elected to UNESCO’s executive board.
 Sarajevo Haggadah, the 14th-century richly illuminated Hebrew manuscript, has been
included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
 ‘Ayodhya Mahotsav’ to be held in Seoul and Gimhe cities of South Korea.
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 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 took place in Hyderabad. Theme was
“Women First, Prosperity For All”. Ivanka Trump led the US delegation. Made in India
robot ‘Mitra’ greeted all personalities.
 India has been ranked 108th out of 144 countries on Global Gender Index 2017 by WEF.
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Iceland topped the rankings.

 Paytm unveils ‘Inbox’ messaging platform for Android.
 Dubai based Emirates NBD Bank has started its operation in India for the first time in
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Mumbai.
 PayPal has launched its domestic operation in India.
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 SEBI has imposed fine on Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani’s family for manipulative trading.
 Moody’s upgrades India’s Sovereign Credit rating from Baa3 to Baa2.
 Reliance General Insurance company has inked Bancassurance pact with Yes Bank.
 The Government has given Infrastructure status to Logistics sector.
 S&P has maintained India’s Sovereign rating to BBB.
 BillDesk launches cryptocurrency exchange Coinome.
 Finance Minister Arun Jaitely launches Paytm Payments Bank.
 Reliance Communications to shut voice service from December 1, 2017.
 China to shut down steel plants for 5-months to curb air pollution.
 India is world’s 2nd largest fish producing country.
 ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar and Priyanka Chopra have featured on Forbes 100 Most
Powerful women in the world. The list was topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
 Krishna Sobti receives Jnanpith Award 2017.
 2017 Indira Gandhi Peace Prize was given to Manmohan Singh.
 Manushi Chhillar of Haryana wins Miss World 2017.
  Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters is crowned Miss Universe 2017
 Emmerson Mnangagwa sworn in as Zimbabwe’s President.
 Meredith Corp. is acquiring Time Inc.
 Chelsea FC won the English Premier League (EPL) title 2016-2017.
 Real Madrid FC won the Spanish La Liga 2017-2018 Title and UEFA Champions League
2017-2018 Title.
 Bayern Munich FC won the German Bundesliga Title.
 Manchester United won the UEFA Europa Cup 2016-2018.
 Juventus FC won the Italian Serie A Title.
 Athletic de Kolkata won the Indian Super League (ISL) 2016 Title.
 Mike Pence is Vice-President of USA.
 PSG won the French Ligue-1 Title.
 US Moto GP racer and former Champion Nicky Hayden died this year after collision.
 Bengaluru and Jamshedpur are the two new teams at ISL 2017-2018.

II. UNION BUDGET 2017-2018 HIGHLIGHTS

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 Total budget expenditure allocated for 2017-2018 is Rs21.47 lakh crore.
 Agriculture sector is expected to grow at 4.1% in the current fiscal.
 Amount allocated for MNREGA is Rs48,000 crore.
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 Budget was presented in 1st February for the first time. Railway Budget was merged with
Union Budget for first time.
 Amount allocated for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is Rs19,000 crore.
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 Amount allocated to Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) is Rs23,000 crore.

 Govt aims to achieve 100% village electrification by 1 May 2018.

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Mission Antyodya to make 1 crore households and 50000 gram panchayats poverty free
by 2019 i.e. 150th birth anniversary of Gandhiji
 Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion Programme
(SANKALP) has been launched this year at cost of Rs4000 crore to provide relevant
training to 3.5 crore youth.
 PMKK – Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras
 STRIVE (Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enchancement) launched at Rs2200 crore.
 SWAYAM – Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds
 Action plan made to eliminate Kala-Azar and Filariasis by 2017, Leprosy by 2018 , Measles
by 2018 and TB by 2025.
 Rashtriya Rail Sankraksha Kosh created with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore over the period of
5-years for safety of passengers.
 BharatNet project allocated Rs10,000 crore.
 DigiGaon initiative to be launched to provide tele-medicine, education and skills through
technology
 Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to be abolished.
  Sabarmati Ashram will celebrate 100 years.
 Centenary year of Champaran Satyagraha will be celebrated this year

III. MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

 Amazon has acquired UAE’s E-commerce online store Souq.com.

 Airtel to acquire Tata Teleservices .
 ONGC to acquire 51% of stake of Union Govt. in HPCL.
 Idea Cellular to merge with Vodafone India.
 Kishore Biyani’s Big Bazar to acquire Hypercity Retail for Rs 655crore.
 ZEE Group acquired 9X Media for Rs 160crore.
 Piramal Enterprises completes acquisition of business from Mallinckrodt LLC.
 Taro Pharma, an indirect arm of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is to fully acquire Canada’s
Thallion Pharmaceuticals for 2.7 million Canadian dollars.
 Tech Mahindra Ltd acquires CJS Solutions.

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 Cognizant Technology Solutions acquires Brilliant Service Co. Ltd.
 Sony Corporation acquires TEN Sports from Zee Group.
 Bharti Airtel acquires Telenor India.
 Havells India acquires Lloyd Electric’s Consumer Durable Business.
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 Housing.com merges with PropTiger.
 Flipkart has acquired Ebay India’s business.
 Axis Bank acquired FreeCharge from Snapdeal.
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 Google acquires Bengaluru based Halli Labs.

 Goodricke Group acquires Tea business of Godfrey Phillip.
 Flipkart acquires minority stake in BookMyShow.
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 Cricketer Chris Gayle has picked up a minority stake in augmented reality (AR) start-up
FlippAR.
 Amazon has acquired 5% equity in Shoppers Stop.
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 Shareholders of Tata Sons Ltd voted in favour of the Tata group holding firm becoming a
private company.
 Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd has acquired Erkunt Traktor Sanayii AS, a Turkish tractor
maker and its foundry business for Rs800 crore.
 Ford Motors and Mahindra enter alliance to develop electric cars.
 Zomato acquires Delivery Start-Up Runnr.
 Sequoia Capital acquires Faces Cosmetic Canada from Everstone Group.
 PayTm buys stake in ticketing company Insider.in.
 ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd has agreed to take over the life insurance business
of Sahara India Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
 Education technology start-up Byju’s (Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd) has acquired global
education company Pearson Plc.’s TutorVista and Edurite for an undisclosed amount.
 Online entertainment ticketing firm BookMyShow (BMS) has acquired Burrp, a Mumbai-
based local restaurant recommendation engine, from Network18.
 Quikr acquires Babajobs.
  Jyoti Bansal’s AppDynamics acquired by Cisco.
 Chinese company Fosun Pharma has acquired 74% stake in Gland Pharma.
 IndusInd Bank does a takeover of Bharat Financial Inclusion ltd (earlier known as SKS
Microfinance).
 HP acquires printer business of Samsung for $1.1 billion.
 Qatar Airways acquires 49% stake in Italia’s Meridiana.
 Google will acquire HTC Pixel smartphone business unit.
 Thomas Cook to buy forex, travel units of Tata Capital.
 Nestle has acquired majority stake in California based Blue Bottle Coffee.
 Marico acquires South African hairstyling brand Isoplus for Rs36 crore.
 RIL acquires 25% stake in Balaji TeleFilms.
 Amazon to buy upscale US grocer Whole Food Market.
 Denstu Aegis Network acquires SVG Media.
 Heritage Food has acquired Reliance Retail’s dairy business.

IV. WORLD ORGANIZATIONS

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 World Trade Organization/Geneva*/ Roberto Azevedo**
 World Health Organization/ Geneva*/ Tedros Adhanom**
 International Monetary Fund/ Washington DC*/ Christina Lagarde**
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 Asian Development Bank/ Manila*/ Takehiko Nakao**
 World Bank/Washington DC/ Kristalina Georgieva**
 Interpol/ Lyon*/ Meng Hongwei**
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 European Central Bank/ Frankfurt*/ Mario Draghi**

 FIFA/ Zurich*/ Gianni Infantino**
 International Olympic Committee/ Lusanne*/ Thomas Bach**
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 International Cricket Council/ Dubai*/ Dave Richardson**

 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries/ Vienna*/ Mohammed Barkindo**
 ASEAN/ Jakarta*/ Le Luong Minh**
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 International Labour Organization/ Geneva*/ Guy Ryder**

 New Development Bank BRICS/ Shanghai*/ KV Kamath**
 UNESCO/ Paris*/ Irina Bokova**
 UN/ New York*/ António Guterres**
 International Atomic Energy Agency/ Vienna*/ Mukhisa Kituyi**
 United Nations Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD)/ Brussels*/ Jens
Stoltenburg**
 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)/ Singapore*/ Alan Bollard**
 European Commission/ Brussels*/ Jean-Claude Juncker**
 UNICEF/ New York*/ Anthony Lake**

Abbreviation: *-(headquarters), **-(Heads)

V. PRESIDENTs/PMs
  USA – Donald Trump
 Canada – Justin Trudeau(PM)
 Russia – Vladimir Putin; Dmitry Medvedev (PM)
 Turkey - Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Binali Yildrim (PM)
 Spain – Mariano Rajoy (PM)
 Italy - Sergio Mattarela; Paolo Gentiloni (PM)
 Australia – Malcolm Turnbull (PM)
 New Zealand – Jacinda Arden (PM)
 Pakistan – Manmoon Hussain; Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (PM)
 Sri Lanka – Maithripala Srinisena; Ranil Wickremesinghe (PM)
 Bangladesh – Abdul Hamid; Shiekh Hasina (PM)
 Bhutan – Tshering Tobgay (PM)
 Nepal – Bidhya Devi Bhandari; Sher Bahadur Deuba (PM)
 Afghanistan- Ashraf Ghani
 China – Xi Jinping; Li Keqiang (PM)

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 Japan – Shinzo Abe (PM)
 South Korea - Lee Nak-yeon
 Singapore – Lee Hsien Loong (PM)
 Thailand – Prayut Chan-o-Cha (PM)
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 Malaysia – Najib Rezak (PM)
 Indonesia – Joko Widodo (PM)
 Taiwan – Tsai Ing-wen
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 North Korea – Kim Jong-un (Supreme Leader)

 Brazil – Michel Temer
 Mexico – Enrique Pena Nieto

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Argentina –Mauricio Macri

 Bolivia – Eva Morales
 Ecuador – Lenin Moreno
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 France – Emmanuel Macron; Eduoard Philippe (PM)

 England – Theresa May (PM)
 Ukraine – Petro Poroshenko; Volodymyr Groysman (PM)
 Iraq – Faud Masum; Haider al-Abadi (PM)
 Iran – Hassan Rouhani
 Qatar - Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (Emir)
 Maldives – Abdulla Yameen
 South Africa –Jacob Zuma
 Germany – Frank-Walter Steinmeier; Angela Merkel (Chancellor)

VI. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES

 Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) – To provide zero-balance account for people
below poverty line.
  Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) – To provide insurance cover to Kharif & Rabi
crops.
 Pradhan Mantri Sukanya Samridhi Yojana (PMSSY) – It aimed at opening bank accounts for
a girl child. Till she turns 14, money is to be deposited, minimum deposit can be of Rs.1000
per year and maximum can be 1.5 lakh per year.
 Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) – To provide loans to small businessmen and
medium enterprises.
 Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) – To provide life insurance for all. This
scheme is open for all people between the age group 18 to 50 years.
 Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) – Aims to provide accident insurance
cover for citizens between the age group 18 to 70 years.
 Atal Pension Yojana (APY) – Aims at increasing the number of people covered under
pension scheme mainly for private unorganized sector.
 Shyam Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) –Build infrastructure projects in rural
ares.
 Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) – To provide LPG cylinders to first timers in rural

am
areas. Was launched in Ballia, UP.
 Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana (Saubhagya) – To provide electricity for all
people in rural and urban area.

Ex
Pradhan Mantri Gram Parivahan Yojana (PMGPY) - The government would provide
interest free loans to women self help group to buy commercial passenger vehicles in rural
areas.
 Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY) – New pension schemes for senior citizen
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implemented by LIC.
 Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) – To provide financial support to
pregnant and lactating mothers for the first five month.
ar

 Sankalp Se Siddhi – A New India Movement from 2017 to 2022 launched by Ministry of
Culture.
Le

 Ujjwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) – This schemes by Union Ministry of Power aims
at reviving the financial turnaround of debt stressed electricity distribution companies of
India (DISCOM).
 Ude Desh Ke Aam Nagrik (UDAN) – To develop and make airports operational at new
areas.
 Revenue Insurance Scheme for Plantation Crops (RISPC) – To protect the growers of
plantation crops from twin risks. Launched by Ministry of Commerce.
 Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA) – To make 6 crore rural
households digitally literate.
 Unnat Jeevan by Affordable LEDs and Appliances for ALL (UJALA) – To provide energy
efficient LED bulbs to citizens.

VII. BOOKS & AUTHORS

 ‘India 2017’ & ‘Bharat 2017’ – Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (was released
by Venkaiah Nadu)
 Amarinder Singh’s Biography “The People’s Maharaja” – Khushwant Singh
 Autobiography My Story – Michael Clarke
 Numbers Do Lie - Cricketer Aakash Chopra
 Flaming Tresses of Draupadi – Veerappa Moily
 The Ministry of Utmost Happiness – Arundhati Roy
 Indira Gandhi- A Life in Nature – Jairam Ramesh
 Yug Purush, Bharat Ratna, Atal Ji – Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’
 Playing With Fire – Katie Price
 I Do What I Do - Raghuram Rajan
 Immortal India – Amish Tripathi
 Hit Refresh – Satya Nadella
 Unstoppable: My Life So Far – Maria Sharapova
 How India Sees the World – Shyam Saran
 Lincoln in the Bardo – George Saunders
 Exist West – Mohsin Hamid
 What Happened – Hillary Clinton

am
 Home Deus:A Brief History of Tomorrow – Yuval Noah Harari
 The Emergency - Indian Democracy’s Darkest Hour' – Surya Prakash
 A Horse Walks Into a Bar – David Grossman
 Rekha : The Untold Story – Yaseer Usman
Ex
 The Golden House – Salman Rushdie
 Death Under the Deodars – Ruskin Bond
 Long Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela
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 My Life, Our Times – Gordon Brown

 Thinking Out Loud: Love, Grief and Being Mom and Dad – Rio Ferdinand
 Recovery : Freedom From Our Addictions – Russell Brand

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Origin – Dan Brown

 Camino Island – John Grisham
 Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience and Finding Joy
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 Renegades – Merissa Meyer

 Wires and Nerve – Merissa Meyer
 One Indian Girl – Chetan Bhagat
 Lone Fox Dancing – Ruskin Bond
 The Coalition Years: 1996 to 2012' by Pranab Mukherjee