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Table of Contents
Sr. No. Topic
1. Top 100 Current Affairs of May
2. Top 50 Banking and Business Affairs of May
3. What is RBI’s Ways and Means Advances?
4. Word Power: Made Easy

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TOP 100 CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MAY

APPOINTMENTS
1. Nigerian Professor, Tijjani Mohammad Bande, has been appointed as the new
President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) for its 74th session.
2. Retd. Justice A K Sikri is appointed as the chairperson of News Broadcasting
Standards Authority (NBSA) by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA).
3. Admiral Karambir Singh assumes charge as the new Chief of Indian Navy. He
is the 24th Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS).
4. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has appointed chartered accountant M Jayshree
Vyas as its first independent woman director to the board.
5. Kumar Sangakkara, former Sri Lanka cricket captain has been named as the first
non-British president of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC).
6. Retired judge of Indian Supreme Court Madan B Lokur has been appointed as a
judge of Supreme Court of Fiji’s (Capital: Suva, Currency: Dollar) non-resident
panel.
7. YSR Congress Chief Jagan Mohan Reddy sworn in as the new chief minister of
Andhra Pradesh.
The Reserve Bank of India has appointed its former Deputy Governor R.
Gandhi as an additional director on the board of private sector lender Yes
Bank.
8. Incumbent Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Joko Widodo have been re-elected
as the Presidents of South Africa and Indonesia respectively.
9. The Sikkim Kranti Kari Morcha (SKM) leader Prem Singh Tamang, better known as
PS Golay is the new Chief Minister of Sikkim. He succeeds Pawan Kumar Chamling
who holds the record of the longest serving CM of India.
10. A tribal woman from Odisha, Chandrani Murmu aged 25 of Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
party became the youngest MP in the country after the recent general election
results.
11. Pema Khandu has taken oath as the next Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh.
12. Scott Morrison from Liberal Party has sworn in as 30th Prime Minister of
Australia.
13. Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Naveen Patnaik took oath as CM of Odisha for a
record 5th consecutive term.

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SCHEMES
14. Under ‘Tandrust Punjab Mission’ Punjab government has asked the online
food delivery platforms to conduct audit of restaurants and food joints to check
on their cleanliness and hygiene and provide a hygiene rating.
15. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has
undertaken a project to create DNA Profiles of all rhinos present in India. The
deadline of the project is 2021. After the completion of project, Indian rhino could
become India’s first wild animal species to have all its members DNA-sequenced.
16. Union Environment Ministry has launched the song “Hawa Aane De” to
spread awareness about Air pollution.
17. The Young Scientist Programme ‘Yuvika2019’ has been inaugurated by
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is a two-week residential summer
vacation programme spread over four ISRO centres in Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram,
Ahmedabad and Shillong.
18. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has constituted
a committee headed by CK Mishra to implement the National Clean Air
Program (NCAP). The objective is to reduce the PM (particulate matter) 2.5 and PM
10 concentration by 20% to 30% in at least 102 cities by 2024.
STATES
19. The last captive white tiger at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP)
named Bajirao passed away in Borivali, Mumbai.
20. Cyclone Fani with a maximum wind speed of 240-250 kmph recently hit coastal
areas of West Bengal and Odisha. The word Fani (pronounced as Foni) means snake
was suggested by Bangladesh
21. The Chhattisgarh police have deployed first ever Anti-Naxal women’s
commando unit named ‘Danteshwari Ladake’ or ‘Fighters of Goddess
Danteshwari’.
22. The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu called for protecting and
promoting the indigenous Ongole cattle breed of Andhra Pradesh.
23. A recent report by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) (Headquarters:
Kolkata) revealed that about 35 % of India’s total Graphite reserves is found in
Arunachal Pradesh.
24. Sahara: Hostel for the ‘Veer Naris’ was recently opened in New Delhi for
the widows of the Navy Martyrs.
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding MoU with The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to set up
an IITG-ISRO Space Technology Cell (STC).
NATIONAL

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25. The leaders of the BIMSTEC (The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral
Technical and Economic Cooperation) group were during the oath-taking
ceremony of the PM Modi for the 17th Lok Sabha.
26. India’s only orangutan named Binny died at the age of 41 in Nandankanan
Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
27. Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth made history when she became the first
women of Indian Air Force to qualify to undertake combat mission on a fighter
jet.
28. FSSAI has permitted small organic producers, having an annual turnover of
over Rs 12 lakh, to sell their produce directly to end consumers without
certification till April 2020, but will not be able to use ‘Jaivik Bharat logo’ on their
products.
29. India's first Tree Ambulance initiated in Chennai by Green man of India Dr K
Abdul Ghani and it is sponsored by the SASA Group.
30. Aarohi Pandit a commercial pilot became world’s first woman to cross Atlantic
Ocean (AO) solo in a Light Sports Aircraft (LSA) named Mahi.
29. India’s beloved children’s author Ruskin Bond recently released a new memoir
set against the backdrop of the partition- “Coming round the Mountain” on the
occasion of his 85th birthday.
30. In Harda district of Madhya Pradesh, women handled the entire work of
counting votes in the first of its kind initiative.
31. BSNL recently became the 1st operator to start optical fibre-based high-
speed broadband service “Bharat Fibre” in Pulwama.
32. Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru is the highest ranked Indian
institute (position at 29th) in the top 50 Times Higher Education (THE) Asia
University Rankings.
Among IITs, IIT – Indore was ranked the highest.
33. Recently, an international collaboration of 20 research organizations led by
Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics
(ICRISAT) identified climate resilient genes in chickpea.
34. After 36 years of service (commissioned in 1983), Indian Navy’s frontline missile
destroyer, INS Ranjit has been decommissioned at the naval dockyard in
Visakhapatnam.

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INTERNATIONAL
35. World Health organization (WHO) collaborated with the International Food
and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) to eliminate industrially produced trans-fat (i-
TFA) from food supply worldwide by 2023.
36. Former Supreme Court judge, KS Radhakrishnan has been appointed as a
member of Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal (CSAT).
37. The United Nations Secretary–General Antonio Guterres has appointed 17 new
advocates to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include the
Indian actress Dia Mirza and the Chief of Alibaba Group, Jack Ma.
38. Guided Missile Destroyer, INS Kolkata and INS Shakti participated in ‘Group
Sail’ exercise with Japan, Philippines and USA Navy in the disputed South China Sea.
39. AMUL has announced to sponsor Afghanistan team in World Cup 2019 which
will be held in England and Wales.
40. Microsoft has announced the launch of “Election Guard”, a free open-source
Software Development Kit (SDK) to help nations to carry out secure and verifiable
voting.
41. India and Bangladesh will co-produce a film on the life and works of
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a documentary on Bangladesh
Liberation War.
42. US Air Force General Tod D. Wolters has been declared as the top military
officer of the 29-nation NATO military alliance. (NATO Headquarters Belgium).
43. New Zealand to become the world's first country to measure its success
based on the well-being of its citizens.
44. Nepali teenager, Bandana danced continuously for 126 hours to set a
Guinness World Records on “Longest Dancing Marathon by an Individual”.
45. Taiwan recently passed a legislation and became the first Asian country to
legalise same-sex marriage.
46. PCT (Pehal Charitable Trust) Humanity, a charity run by an Indian named
Joginder Singh Salaria in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), sets a new Guinness
World Records for ‘Longest Line of Hunger Relief Package’ (Iftar) in Abu Dhabi.
47. Australian flight carrier, Qantas has operated world’s first zero waste
commercial flight named QF739 from Sydney to Adelaide which disposed all waste
through compost, reuse or recycle.
48. India has been unanimously chosen by member countries as next co-chair
of Consultative Group (CG) of Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and
Recovery (GFDRR) for the year 2020. This year the meeting of CG – GFDRR was
recently held in Geneva, Switzerland.
EVENTS

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49. India and France held their bilateral naval exercise, “Varuna” in Arabian Sea
off the Goa coast.
50. Asia Cooperation Dialogue’s (ACD) 16th Ministerial Meeting was held in Doha,
Qatar recently. The theme of the dialogue: Partners in Progress.
51. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will hold Ocean Conference 2020 in
Lisbon, Portugal with a theme of “Scaling up ocean action based on science and
innovation for the implementation of Goal 14: stocktaking, partnerships and solutions.”
It will be co-hosted by the Governments of Portugal and Kenya.
52. India for the first time will host the ‘Army scouts Masters competition’ (5th
edition) in Jaisalmer in the month of August. Competition is a part of International
Army Games led by Russia.
53. Global Influence of Asian Civilizations Forum begun was recently held in
Beijing, China. The theme of the forum was: Asian Values for the World.
54. The 72nd session of the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s World Health
Assembly (WHA72) was recently held in Geneva, Switzerland. Theme:
“Universal Health Coverage: Leaving no one behind”.
55. INS Kolkata and INS of the Indian Navy participated in International
Maritime Defence Exhibition Asia (IMDEX Asia-2019) held in Singapore. After
IMDEX, the ships participated in the 26 th edition of Singapore India Maritime Bilateral
Exercise (SIMBEX).

56. India hosted the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial meeting of
developing countries in New Delhi recently. The aim was to discuss various
challenges being faced by multilateral rules-based-trading system.
57. In 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (BC
COP-14), the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam
Convention (RC COP-9) and the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the
Stockholm Convention (SC COP-9) was held recently in Geneva, Switzerland.
The theme of the meeting was “Clean Planet, Healthy People: Sound Management of
Chemicals and Waste”.
58. UN Environment India and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) of India
have launched an awareness campaign ‘Not all animals migrate by choice’. The
campaign aims at creating awareness and garnering public support for the protection
and conservation of wildlife, prevention of smuggling and reduction in demand for
wildlife products.

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59. Indian Army, Navy and Air Force hold joint exercise Bull Strike at Teressa
Island in Andaman and Nicobar.
60. Indian Air Force chief, Birendra Singh Dhanoa led a group of four Mig-21
aircraft that flew in a “missing man" formation in Bhisiana, Bhatinda to honour
the valour and supreme sacrifice of men killed in action during Operation ‘Safed
Sagar’ at Kargil.
61. In 2019, as Japan will host the G20 Summit, Tokyo will host the Second U20
Mayors Summit was recently held in Tokyo before the G20 summit to be held in
Osaka.
62. The 5th Smart Cities India 2019 expo, including Transport India, Solar India,
Buildings India and Water India expos, was recently held at the Pragati Maidan,
New Delhi. It was organised by India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO).
63. The 2019 (8th edition) of the Indo-Myanmar coordinated patrol (IMCOR)
between the Navies of India and Myanmar was recently held in Port Blair at
Andaman and Nicobar.
RANKS
64. According to a recent report by Pune based antivirus firm Quick-heal, Mumbai is
the most vulnerable city to cyberattacks in 2019.
65. India has moved up one place to rank 43rd most competitive economy in world
in annual competitiveness rankings compiled by International Institute for and
Development (IMD).
66. Indian YouTuber Ajey Nagar has been named by Time magazine in its list of
top 10 'Next Generation Leaders' 2019. He runs a YouTube channel named
CarryMinati.
67. India was ranked at 117th position out of 181 countries in the Kids Right
Index, the annual global index which ranks how countries adhere to and are equipped
to improve child rights.
Countries are judged on five indicators: right to life, right to education, right to
health, right to protection and enabling environment for child rights.
68. In a survey conducted by Air Help, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport of
Hyderabad has been ranked as the world’s 8th Best Airport.
69. The report titled “India Inbound Tourism: Unlocking the Opportunity”
shows that India’s MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibition) tourism
are growing at 8 per cent a year. The report is published by FICCI in collaboration
with Yes Bank.
India has ranked 24th in MICE tourism worldwide.
AWARDS
70. Former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief AS Kiran Kumar has
been conferred with France’s highest civilian award “Knight of the Legion of

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Honour”. This award is for his invaluable contribution to the development of the India-
France space cooperation.
71. India’s most reputed cardiac surgeon and humanitarian, Dr. Devi Prasad
Shetty was awarded 27th P.C. Chandra Puraskaar.
72. Indian –origin journalist (worked in South Africa) G D ‘Robert’ Govender was
recently conferred with V K Krishna Menon Award 2019 posthumously in UK for
his contribution as a pioneer of decolonised journalism.
73. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) conferred
‘Sasakawa Award 2019’ for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) to Pramod Kumar
Mishra (Additional Principal Secretary to PM).
74. Professor Balram Bhargava, Director General of Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR) jointly won the 2019 Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for
Public Health at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
75. Indian writer Annie Zaidi announced as the 2019 winner of the Nine Dots
Prize; a prestigious book prize created to award innovative thinking that addresses
contemporary issues around the world.
76. John Bailey, President of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences which is
popularly known as Oscar Academy, e-launched the Hindi translation of
Academy Publication “Digital Dilemma”.
77. Indian peacekeeper, Late IPS Jitender Kumar will be honoured with
prestigious UN medal called Dag Hammarskjöld Medal for courage and sacrifice
in line of duty.
78. Bengaluru-based medical doctor Hema Divakar was honoured with the
'Global Asian of the Year 2018-19' award for her services and contributions to the
women's healthcare ecosystem.
79. Indian artist Nalini Malani has won the biennial Joan Miro Prize for 2019. The
award is named after Spanish painter and sculptor Joan Miró, one of the most
influential artists the 20th century.
80. Former Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will be honoured with Japan’s
Second Highest National Award called ‘The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver
Star”.
Jokha Alharthi, an author from Oman won the prestigious Man Booker
International Prize for her Arabic novel “Celestial Bodies”. She will share the
prize with her UK based translator named Marilyn Booth.
81. Patanjali Ayurved Limited's Managing Director, Acharya Balkrishna received
the 'UNSDG 10 Most Influential People in Healthcare Award'.

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82. Sri Lankan writer Guy Gunaratne was announced as the winner of 2019’s
Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize. He won the award for his
debut novel ‘In Our Mad and Furious City’.
SPORTS
83. India's Apurvi Chandela won the women's 10m Air Rifle event, Rahi Sarnobat
clinched gold in the women’s 25m pistol at this year's third International Shooting
Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle/ Pistol stage in Munich, Germany.
84. In Sudirman Cup Badminton title 2019 China beats Japan in men’s doubles,
women’s singles and men’s singles held in China.
85. Croatia’s Igor Stimac has been appointed as Indian men’s football team
coach.
86. The International Cricket Council (ICC) launched the criiio campaign on the
occasion of ICC Men’s World Cup in England.
87. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes won Monaco and Spanish Grand Prix.
88. India bags a total of 57 medals including 12 Gold, 18 Silver and 27 Bronze at
India Open International Boxing tournament in Guwahati.
MC Mary Kom, Shiva Thapa, L Sarita Devi and Naman Tanwar won gold in their
respective categories.
89. Mahesh Mangaonkar won the Sekisui Open (Squash tournament) held in
Kriens, Switzerland recently.
90. Sethu FC clinched their first ever Indian Women’s League trophy defeating
Manipur Police at the Guru Nanak Stadium, in Ludhiana, Punjab.
91. Indian cricketer GS Lakshmi became the first ever, female match referee,
to be included into the International Cricket Council (ICC)’s International Panel of
Match Referees.
92. World’s first exclusive women’s cricket magazine “CRICZONE” released with
Indian women’s cricket team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana featured as the cover story.
The publisher of the magazine is Yash Lahoti.
93. Mumbai Indians won their 4th IPL title after defeating Chennai Super Kings by
1 run at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.
David Warner and Imran Tahir won the Orange and Purple cap respectively
and Andre Russel won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
94. Shahid Afridi, former captain of the ‘Pakistan national cricket team ‘has written
his autobiography titled, ‘Game Changer’.
OBITUARIES
95. Prominent writer and academician, Maramraju Satyanarayana Rao passed
away recently.

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96. Renowned academician and father of modern Indian Legal Education, Dr.
Neelakanta Ramakrishna Madhava Menon (NR Madhava Menon) passed away
recently.
98. Renowned singer, Yakshagana ‘Bhagawatha’ Nebburu Narayana Hegde
passed away in Mangaluru, Karnataka recently.
99. Renowned filmmaker, film historian, researcher, and educationist Vijaya
Mulay passed away recently.
100. Baidyanath Mishra, a renowned economist, and educationist passed away
recently.

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TOP 50 BANKING AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS OF

MAY
1. Max Life Insurance Co Ltd has announced that the 6th day of each month as
‘Protection Day’. The objective of this initiative was to raise awareness on financial
protection.
2. To give a fillip to digital lending, SIDBI has started a pilot scheme to extend
financial assistance of up to Rs. 10 crores to new-age fintech non-banking
finance companies (NBFCs) engaged in financing small businesses and other
income-generating activities.
3. BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) has launched 'BSE StAR MF' app to enable more
participation and help mutual fund distributors process transactions faster.
4. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) have enabled secondary market trading recorded
on blockchain for bond-i (blockchain operated new debt instrument), making this
the first bond whose issuance and trading are recorded using distributed ledger
technologies.
5. The Reserve Bank of India told non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) with
assets size of over Rs 5000 crore to appoint a chief risk officer to improve
standards of their risk management.
6. According to a United Nations’ report titled World Economic Situation and
Prospects (WESP) Report 2019 Mid-year Update, India’s economy is projected to
grow at 7.1 % in fiscal year 2020.
8. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has surpassed the Reliance Industries
Limited (RIL), in terms of market capitalisation and became the India’s most
valued firm by market capitalisation (Rs. 8.13 trillion).
9. IBM India tied-up with HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, to co-create
new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solutions.
10. Corporation Bank (Headquarter: Mangaluru) launched ‘Corp SME Suvidha’,
a product for GST-registered MSMEs as part of the bank’s efforts to provide the best
products to the MSME sector.
11. Facebook has chosen London as the centre for the global roll-out of
WhatsApp pay.
12. FICCI’s (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) economic
outlook survey has projected India’s GDP growth rate to be 7.1% for FY20 and
7.2% for FY21.
13. Bharti AXA Life Insurance, a private life insurer, has been conferred with the
FICCI Claims Excellence Award. The recognition comes for its customer-friendly
claims services in the life insurance sector.

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14. Kerala became the first state to tap into masala bond market by listing the
Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB)’s masala bond worth of
USD 312 million (Rs 2,150 crore) in London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s International
Securities Market (ISM).
15. SBI has announced a strategic partnership with the FMCG arm of The Art of
Living — Sri Sri Tattva. Under this partnership, YONO users can avail a discount of
15 per cent on the entire range of products offered by Sri Sri Tattva.
16. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed an agreement worth $750
million to electrify railway tracks in India under Railways Track Electrification Project
in India.
17. Paytm has collaborated with Citibank and launched its first credit card called
‘Paytm First Card’.
18. A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between
National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), INTACH (The Indian National Trust for Art
and Cultural Heritage) and HCL Foundation for plantation of 10,000 Rudraksh
trees in catchment area of river Ganga Basin in Uttarakhand.
19. ICICI Bank bought a 9.9% stake in India International Exchange (INX), a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) for nearly Rs. 31 crores.
20. Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company (AMC) become the first Indian fund
house to launch WhatsApp transaction platform for mutual fund transactions for
new as well as existing investors.
21. Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCL), has acquired the Philippines-
based personal care maker Splash Corporation.
22. India’s fintech start-up Bharat Pe launched a new app named ‘Bharat Pe for
Merchants’ that allows merchants to keep a track of their cash/credit
(UDHAR) sales customer wise, to request the accounts receivable from customers
through SMS payment links and keep track of accounts payable to suppliers, among
other services.
23. ISRO’s new commercial arm called New Space India Limited (NSIL) was
recently inaugurated in Bengaluru.
It will act as an aggregator for all space related activities in industry. It will also develop
private entrepreneurship in space related technologies.
24. SpiceJet became fourth Indian airline to have a 100 aircraft in its fleet after
a recent induction of a Boeing 737 which became its 100th plane. AIR India, now
grounded Jet Airways and Indigo are the other three.

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25. Reliance Brands has acquired 100% stake in British toy company Hamleys
Global Holdings Limited in a cash deal of worth USD 88.6 million (Rs 620 crore).
26. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between National Small
Industries Corporation Limited (NSIC) and Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME) for the year 2019-20.
The MoU envisages provision of enhanced services by NSIC under its Marketing,
Financial, Technology and Other support services schemes, for MSMEs in the country.
27. The RBI recently released a vision document titled ‘Payment and Settlement
Systems in India: Vision 2019 – 2021, the core theme of the document is:
Empowering Exceptional E-payment Experience.
• As per the document digital transactions in country is expected to increase
more than four times to 8,707 crores in December 2021.
• Digital payment systems like UPI and IMPS are most likely to register an
average annual growth of more than 100%, and NEFT will grow at 40% over
the period of 2019 – 2021.
28. Mauritius (USD 13.41 billion) and Singapore (USD 9.27 billion) are the top two
countries for FDI in India during 2017-18.
Netherlands became the third largest source of Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) in India during 2017-18 (investment of USD 2.67 billion) across all sectors.
29. RBI announced that the time-window for using the Real Time Gross Settlement
System (RTGS) for customer transactions will be extended from 4:30 pm to 6
pm (i.e. 8 am to 6 pm) on all working days. It will be effective from June 1, 2019.
30. According to Sunday Times Rich List 2019, Indian-origin Billionaire Hinduja
brothers (Sri and Gopi Hinduja) were named as wealthiest people in the UK
continuously for a third time.
31. Flipkart-owned fashion e-commerce platform Myntra has appointed Virat Kohli
and Anushka Sharma as its first ever official brand ambassadors.
32. Sanjiv Puri was appointed as new Chairman and Managing Director of the
ITC group.
33. The RBI has constituted a six-member committee under Harsh Vardhan, to
review existing state of mortgage securitisation in India and suggest measures to
develop the market further.
34. Chief Economic Adviser (CEA), Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian has been
included as the member of the Advisory Council to the 15 th Finance
Commission headed by N.K. Singh. The Advisory Council now has 12 members.
35. According to a recent report “Women in Business and Management: The
business case for change” released by International Labour Organization (ILO),
companies that improve gender diversity perform better and rake in higher
profits.

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36. Sri Lanka, India and Japan have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC)
to jointly develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port in Sri
Lanka.
37. Vodafone Idea Ltd, India’s largest telecom operator signed a 5-year multi-
million-dollar IT outsourcing deal with IBM (International Business Machines
Corporation).
38. A subsidiary of NABARD – “Nabventures” notified its first-time funding
termed ‘NABVENTURES Fund I ‘which is a Rs 700-crore venture capital fund for
equity investments to provide support for agriculture, food and rural start-ups.
39. Facebook plans to launch its own cryptocurrency “Global Coin” in 2020.
40. Salman Khan has been named as the brand ambassador of Merchant service
and UPI payments app BharatPe.
41. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has banned NSE, National Stock
Exchange from gaining access to the securities market for a period of 6 months.
SEBI also fined NSE a sum of Rs.1,000 crore.
The decision was taken due to NSE’s failure to exercise effective due diligence
during co-location facility. The amount is to be deposited in the Investor Protection
and Education Fund (IPEF).
42. RBI recently fixed the investment limit at Rs 54,606.55 crores for foreign
portfolio investors (FPIs) under the voluntary retention route (VRR), which allows to
park funds in both government securities as well as corporate debt.
43. Niti Aayog recently proposed a Rs 7,500 crore initiative for the
establishment of AIRAWAT, a cloud computing platform along with research
institutes.
44. India's economy will grow at 7.5% by 2020 buoyed by rural consumption and
subdued inflation, as per Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD).
45. A rating agency India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) estimated India GDP
Growth at 6.9% in FY19.
46. RBI has recently constituted a six-member task force headed by T.N.
Manoharan on the development of secondary market for corporate loans, so
that banks get another alternative apart from AMC (Asset Management Companies)
and can offload their stressed assets and those get traded.
47. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has toppled state-owned Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC) to become the country’s biggest company by revenue.

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48. Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has launched a mobile van facility named
“Bank on Wheels” in 14 districts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Vijayawada region of
Andhra Pradesh to provide door-step banking facility, especially for senior citizens.
49. Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched 5$ billion Action Plan for Healthy
Oceans and Sustainable Blue Economies for the Asia and Pacific region. This will
support ADB’s developing member countries’ efforts for achieving the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), inclusive of the SDG 14: Life Below Water.
50. RBI has directed Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and Small Finance Banks (SFBs)
to enhance the housing loan limits under priority sector lending (PSL).
Now like other scheduled commercial banks RRBs and SFBs can give loans to individuals
up to Rs. 35 lakhs in metropolitan centres (with population of 10 lakh and above) and
Rs. 25 lakhs in other centres, provided the overall cost of the dwelling unit in the
metropolitan centres and at other centres does not exceed Rs. 45 lakh and Rs. 30 lakhs,
respectively.

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WHAT IS RBI’S WAYS AND MEANS ADVANCES?

The temporary or short-term loan facilities extended by the Reserve Bank of India to
the centre and state governments is called Ways and Means Advances (WMA). The
provision of WMS illustrates that the RBI is the banker to the government.
Why in News?
The Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the Government of India, has decided
that the limits for Ways and Means Advances (WMA) for the first half of the financial
year 2019-20 (April 2019 to September 2019) will be Rs 75000 crores.
Salient features of Ways and Means Advances (WMA) to the Central
Government
• The WMA scheme was introduced on April 1, 1997 to finance the Central
Government deficit or short-term money requirement. WMA replaced a four-
decade old system in which Treasury Bills were used for the same.
• The government needs to repay the amount within three months/90 days.
• The interest rate on WMA will be Repo Rate (current repo is 5.75%).
• The Reserve Bank may trigger fresh floatation of market loans when the
Government of India utilises 75% of the WMA limit.
• When WMA is crossed the government can avail overdrafts which are allowed at
an interest rate 2% above the repo rate. However, they cannot be extended
beyond 10 consecutive working days.
Salient features of Ways and Means Advances (WMA) to the State
Governments
• For financing state governments’ short-term needs, the RBI employs two types
of WMA – Special and Normal WMA. Special WMA and Normal WMA.
• Fund under Special WMA schemes is extended against the collateral (mortgaging)
of the government securities held by the State Government.
• After the exhaustion of the special WMA limit, the State Government is provided
a normal WMA, which is an unsecured loan given at bank rate.
• The withdrawal above the WMA limit is considered an overdraft. A State
Government account can be in overdraft for a maximum 14 consecutive working
days with a limit of 36 days in a quarter.

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WORD POWER: MADE EASY

A Reading Comprehension passage accounts for around 30% of the verbal section of
most banking and government exams. Due to the lack of a regular reading habit,
many students are unable to score marks in this section. PracticeMock is here to help
such students gain mastery over this part of the verbal section through a holistic
approach. In this initiative, we will be picking passages that span a variety of topics,
ranging from economics to environmental science from prominent newspapers such
as The Hindu, Economic Times, etc, and provide the meanings of all the difficult
words/ phrases used in the passage. We hope this will help you not only to master
your vocabulary but also to understand the contextual usage of the words. Let’s see
today’s analysis of the below editorial.

NETANYAHU’S ISRAEL
The April 9 parliamentary elections in Israel have underscored (highlighted;
रे ख ांकित िरन ) the structural shift in the country’s democracy — the right wing reigns (to
hold influence; प्रभ वित किय ) supreme. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had faced
serious challenges during the campaign. He faces corruption allegations (charges;
आरोप ) that could lead to his indictment (impeachment; मह भभयोग ). The Blue and White
party, formed a few weeks ahead of the election, had quickly risen to become
the principal (main;मुख्य ) opposition force, giving Mr. Netanyahu a scare (tough
competition; िठिन प्रततयोगगत ). He had lost some allies (partners; सहयोगी) even before
the elections. In the event, Mr. Netanyahu has emerged victorious (winner; विजेत ).
While both Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party and the Blue and White got 35 seats each (after
98% of the votes were counted), he could become Prime Minister for a fifth time with
support from rightwing parties. Likud has markedly (significantly; स्पष्ट रूप से)improved
its performance from 2015, when it had won 30 seats and still formed the government.
The orthodox (traditional; रूठ़िि दी) Jewish parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, which
won seven and six seats respectively in 2015, secured eight each this time. The Union of
Rightwing Parties and the right-nationalist Yisrael Beytenu have won five seats each, while
the centrist Kulanu has got four. With the support of these potential (possible;
सांभ वित ) allies, Mr. Netanyahu would have the backing(support; समर्थन) of 65 MPs, well
past the halfway mark in the 120-member Knesset.
Mr. Netanyahu ran a contentious (controversial; विि द स्पद), ultra-nationalist campaign
to drum up (to bring together; स र् ल न ) support for Likud and its allies. He had
publicly aligned (formed an alliance; गिबांधन ) with Jewish Power, a fringe (not
mainstream; मुख्यध र से अलग ) party known for its racist, anti-Arab views. If Mr.
Netanyahu had said there wouldn’t be any Palestinian state under his watch during the
2015 election campaign, this time, a few days ahead of the poll, he said he would annex
(merge; श भमल िरन ) parts of the West Bank to bring Jewish settlements under
Israeli sovereignty (rule; श सन ). He also exploited (took advantage of; फ यद उि न
)the security concerns of Israeli voters by presenting himself as the only leader capable of
keeping them safe from “Palestinian terrorists” as well as Iran. Mr. Netanyahu is credited
(given credit for; श्रेय ठदय गय ) with stabilising the Israeli economy and, more
controversially, clinching (achieving; प्र प्त िरन ) major diplomatic coups (successfully
achieving something difficult; सफलत पूिि
थ िुछ िठिन प्र प्त िरन ) such as the U.S.

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recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the occupied Syrian Golan as Israeli
territory, thanks to American President Donald Trump. Mr. Netanyahu is now set to
become the longest-serving Prime Minister, overtaking(to surpass; प र िरन ) David
Ben-Gurion, the country’s founder. But the Israel he leads today is totally different from
what even Ben-Gurion and the early socialist Zionists had imagined. With Mr. Netanyahu
showing no interest in the peace process and the occupation of Palestine being deepened
(to become more intense;अत्य गधि गांभीर होन ) both militarily and through Jewish
settlements in the West Bank, Israel, which is described by a Basic Law passed last year as
“the nation state of the Jewish people”, is a de facto (to exist in reality;
ितथम न/ि स्तविि ) apartheid (discrimination on grounds of race; रां गभेद /नस्ल िे आध र पर
भेदभ ि) state. Given his record, there is little reason to hope that Mr. Netanyahu will break
the status quo (the existing state of affairs; यर् स्स्र्तत/मौजूद म मलों िी स्स्र्तत) during his
next term.

We hope that this analysis has helped you in understanding this editorial better. Have
a look at the previously published similar articles.

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