Maharashtra Current Affairs 2019 by AffairsCloud

Current Affairs State-Wise PDF
CURRENT AFFAIRS PDF PLANS
Current Affairs PDF 2019: Study, Pocket and Q&A PDF’s
Current Affairs PDF 2018: Study, Pocket and Q&A PDF’s
CRACK HIGH LEVEL PDF PLANS
Crack High Level: Puzzle & Seating Arrangement Questions PDF 2019
Crack High Level: English Language Questions PDF 2019
Crack High Level: Data Interpretation Questions PDF 2019
Suggestions & Feedback are welcomed –

https://www.affairscloud.com/subscriber-feedback/
1|Page
Follow Our Current Affairs Copyright 2019 @ AffairsCloud.Com
Maharashtra Current Affairs 2019

Table of Contents
Maharashtra Current Affairs - January 2019 ................................................................................................................ 3
Maharashtra Current Affairs - February 2019 ............................................................................................................ 11
Maharashtra Current Affairs - March 2019 ................................................................................................................. 16
Maharashtra Current Affairs - April 2019 ................................................................................................................... 20
Maharashtra Current Affairs - May 2019 .................................................................................................................... 20
Maharashtra Current Affairs - June 2019 .................................................................................................................... 24
Maharashtra Current Affairs - July 2019 ..................................................................................................................... 25
Maharashtra Current Affairs - August 2019................................................................................................................ 28
Maharashtra Current Affairs - September 2019 ......................................................................................................... 34
Maharashtra Current Affairs - October 2019 .............................................................................................................. 43
2|Page
Maharashtra Current Affairs - January 2019

Encouraging farmers to enrol farmers for the Atal Solar Krishi Pump Yojana: Maharashtra govt
On January 5, 2019, Maharashtra Government announced distribution of free sops to encourage farmers to
enrol in the Atal Solar Krishi Pump Yojana.
i. The things included: two LED bulbs, a DC fan and a mobile charging socket.
About Atal Solar Krishi Pump Yojana (ASKP):
• Launched in October 2018, it aims to reduce losses due to non-payment of electricity bills and also
promote solar energy.
• Farmers with less than five acres will have to pay 5 per cent of the cost of a 3 HP solar pump while
farmers with more than five acres will get a 5 HP solar pump and the sops.
• It would provide subsidy of upto 95% on solar agriculture pumpsets.
• Also around 1 lakh solar pumps were distributed to farmers to irrigate 14,000 Ha land.
• The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd (Msedcl) is the implementing agency.
Maharashtra Government launched Special Scheme to Curb infant deaths

On 30th January 2019,A special scheme is launched by Maharashtra government with an aim to curb infant
deaths.Child development Minister Pankaja Munde distributed baby care kits to the children born in Primary
health centre and Government Hospitals.
Key Points
i. The baby care kit contains a blanket, a small mattress, a towel, a thermometer, baby oil, shampoo, toys, nail
cutter, gloves, socks, among other items. The kit costs around Rs.2000
ii. The scheme is applicable only for first child of the parents. It will be beneficial for around 4 lakh women
across Maharashtra.
iii. The government allocated Rs.20cr for the scheme. Similar scheme launched by Andhra Pradesh, Telangana
and Tamil Nadu were successful in bringing down the infant mortality.
iv. Infant mortality is the death of young children under one year. India is among the countries having highest
number of deaths among newborns.
PM Modi launches road, sewerage projects in Maharashtra

On January 9,2019,PM Modi, launched the four-laning of Solapur-Osmanabad section of NH-211,
underground sewerage system and three sewage treatment plants.It was launched in road and
underground sewerage system projects developed at an investment of Rs.1,100 crore.
KeyPoints:
i. Mr. Modi also laid the foundation stone for a Rs.1,811 crore housing project of 30,000 units under the
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.Mr. Modi commissioned the four-laned 98.717 km Solapur- Tuljapur-Osmanabad
section on NH-211 (New NH-52). The Rs.972.50-crore toll road project will improve connectivity between
Solapur and the Marathwada region.
ii. The housing project will benefit the homeless poor like rag pickers, rickshaw pullers, textile and beedi
workers.
iii. Mr. Modi laid the foundation stone for the Rs.244 crore water supply and sewerage system as part of area-
based development in the Solapur smart city area.This project, developed under the smart city mission, is
expected to bring about significant improvements in service delivery.
PM Narendra Modi Inaugurates Country’s First National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai
On 19th January 2019,Prime Minister of India,Shri Narendra Modi launched the Country’s First National
Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai,Maharashtra, that seeks to portray over a century-old journey of
movies in India.
3|Page
Salient Features of the Museum:

i. The state-of-the-art museum has been built at a cost of Rs 140.61 crore and is housed in two buildings – the
New Museum Building and the 19th century historic palace Gulshan Mahal – in the Films Division campus in
Mumbai.
ii. The National Museum of Indian Cinema was build under the guidance by the Museum Advisory Committee
headed by noted film maker Shyam Benegal. An innovation Committee headed by lyricist Prasoon Joshi
was also constituted to provide an upgrade to NMIC.
iii. The building has four exhibition Halls.
• Mahatma Gandhi and his impact on Indian cinema

• Children’s Film Studio
• Technology creativity
• Vibrant cinematographic culture across India
iv. The objective of the Museum is to take its visitors through an absorbing journey of over a century of Indian
cinema in a story telling mode with the help of visuals, graphics, artifacts, interactive exhibits and multimedia
expositions.
Nagpur, the city of Oranges host the 4-day 2nd World Orange Festival for the first time
On January 18, 2019, the 4-day 2nd world Orange Festival commenced in Nagpur, the city of oranges, for
the first time.It will conclude on 21st January,2019.
i. The festival will also showcase and brand the exquisite fruit in order to boost its export.
ii. The festival is bring presented by UPL and hosted by Maharashtra Tourism.
For more information: Click Here
Eight-member Group of Ministers under Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar panel is
formed to study uniform tax rate on lottery
On 16th January 2019, the GST council has constituted an eight member Group of Ministers(GoM) headed
by Maharashtra State Finance Minister, Sudhir Mungantiwar to suggest whether a uniform tax rate should
be imposed on lotteries or the current differential tax rate system be continued.
The Complete list of Group of Ministers (GoM)
Name Designation with State

Sudhir Mungantiwar Maharashtra State Finance Minister
Thomas Isaac Kerala Finance Minister
Amit Mitra West Bengal Finance Minister
Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
Manpreet Singh Badal Punjab Finance Minister
Mauvin Godinho Goa Panchayat Minister
Krishna Byre Gowda Karnataka Finance Minister
Jarkar Gamlin Arunachal Tax and Excise Minister
Key Points
i. Joint Secretary of CBIC, Shri Manish Sinha will be the Secretary of the Group of Ministers (GoM).
ii. GoM will be assisted by a Committee of Officers from the Centre and State on the issues relating to lottery.
iii. Currently a state authorized lottery attracts 28% tax while state organized lottery attracts 12% tax.
iv. The committee will also look whether private persons authorized by the states are misusing the lower rate
and getting enriched themselves at the cost of the state or not and suggest measures to curb it.
v. The GoM will submit its report on the issues relating to the lottery to GST Council in the next meeting of GST
Council.
4|Page
About GST council

i. GST Council is the governing body of GST having 33 members
ii. The council is headed by the union finance minister Arun Jaitley assisted with the finance minister of all the
states of India.
iii. At midnight of 1st July 2017 GST was launched by then President of India Shri.Pranab Mukherjee and
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
25th edition of Partnership Summit held in Mumbai

On 12th January 2019, the 25th edition of the CII Partnership Summit 2019, a global platform for dialogue,
debate, deliberation and engagement among Indian and global leaders on economic policy and growth trends in
India, kicked off in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The event will be concluded on 13th January 2019.
Key Points:
i. The summit which was inaugurated by the Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu also saw the presence
of Chief Minister, Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, Governor of Maharashtra C. Vidyasagar Rao and Union
Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu besides other dignitaries.
ii. The summit will offer new partnerships and investment opportunities in sectors like Artificial Intelligence,
big data, agri and food processing, defence and aeronautics, renewable energy and tourism.
iii. The summit is being organised by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce
and Industry, Maharashtra Government and Confederation of Indian Industry.
iv. The inaugural session of the summit themed at `New India: Rising to Global Occasions‘ will be attended by
over 1000 delegates from 40 countries.
v. This edition of the summit will showcase India in the present landscape of an emerging “New India”, the
“New Global Economic Address”.
vi. On the side-lines of the Summit, Union Commerce Minister, Suresh Prabhu will also hold bilateral meetings
with various foreign dignitaries.
Suresh Prabhu inaugurates Global Aviation Summit 2019 in Mumbai

On 15th January 2019, the Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Shri Suresh
Prabhu inaugurated the 2 day Global Aviation Summit (GAS) 2019 with a theme:‘Flying for all-especially
the next 6 Billion’.It is being organised by Ministry of Civil Aviation in association with Airport Authority of
India (AAI) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in Mumbai.The Summit
Concluded on 16th January 2019.
Key Points:
• Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Dr Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, President of the
Council ICAO, Jayant Sinha, MoS, Ministry of Civil Aviation, were present in the inaugural session of the
summit.
• The Vision 2040 for aviation sector and the Air Cargo Policy was launched during the summit.
• Civil Aviation secretary R N Choubey informed that India would be adding 1,000 aircraft over the next
7-8 years and one billion trips in the next 15 years.
• The domestic aviation market in India has been growing at 20 percent annually for the last four years
and this growth has been the highest in the world.
• Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the Navi Mumbai international
airport (NMIA) will be ready by the middle of 2020 and is expected to contribute 1% to the country’s
GDP.
• The event will also examine the future of drones, sustainable growth of aviation, cargo and logistics in
the aviation industry and all the factors behind building great aviation business.
• Around 13 transport and civil aviation ministers, 36 civil aviation authorities, 800 delegates, more than
35 exhibitors from over 80 countries across the world are participating in the summit.
5|Page
Suresh Prabhu released the Vision 2040 document in the Global Aviation Summit 2019
On 15th January 2019, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Shri Suresh
Prabhu unveiled the Vision 2040 document for aviation sector in the Global Aviation Summit (GAS) 2019, in
Mumbai. The document is prepared by consultancy firm KPMG and industry body Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in consultation with the government.
Key Points:
i.The Vision 2040 document aims to have 1.12 billion air passengers in 2040 from 187 million air passengers
in 2018. This comprises around 821 million domestic passengers and around 303 million international
passengers (to and from India).
ii.It further states that India will need 200 airports and an investment of $40-50 billion to handle at least 1.1
billion passengers flying to, from and within the country.
iii.India, which is currently the seventh-largest aviation market in 2017-18, is expected to become the third-
largest by 2022, inching closer to the U.S., which is projected number two. Besides the Indian commercial air
fleet is expected to be 2,359 by March 2040.
iv.India will establish its own aircraft leasing industry which may handle almost 90% of aircraft being ordered
in India by 2040. Besides India’s tax structure and repossession processes will be equally or more attractive
than those in leading global jurisdictions.
v.The incremental land requirement for airport expansion is expected to be around 150,000 acres.
vi.It further said that the government may consider establishing a Nabh Nirman Fund (NNF) with a starting
corpus of around $2 billion to support low traffic airports in their initial phases.
vii.The vision document says that aviation sector which employs around five million people in India currently
will create a total of 25 million jobs in the country.
viii.Air cargo will reach 17 million MT per annum by 2040, up from 3.35 million MT per annum in 2018.
Recommendations for Growth:
• The document suggested amendments to Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Restructuring Act, 2013
and adopting “land-pooling” techniques to develop newer airports.
• Lower Goods and Services Tax (GST) and inclusion of aviation turbine fuel (ATF)under GST at the
earliest.
• Airlines must try to reduce dependence on ATF by adopting biofuels and explore issuing masala bonds
to raise funds for themselves.
• Some other recommendations include automatic de-registration and repossession system, making
registrar repository public, incorporation of ratified CTC 2001 conventions, making taxation of aircraft
leasing more attractive and simplification of brown/green field airport agreements.
3-day 9th International Micro irrigation conference was inaugurated by Water Resource minister Nitin
Gadkari in Aurangabad, Maharashtra
On January 16, 2019, Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the three-day long 9th
International Micro irrigation conference at Aurangabad, Maharashtra. The conference would conclude on
January 18, 2019.
i. Aim of the conference was to share experiences the use of new technologies and best management practices
in drip, micro-sprinkler, and other localized irrigation systems.
ii. The Theme of the conference was: “Micro Irrigation and Modern Agriculture”.
iii. The conference was organized by Ministry of Water Resources and River Development.
iv. 740 delegates including 100 foreign delegates from 56 countries are participating in the conference.
6|Page
Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the 10th edition of the India Rubber Expo – 2019 in
Mumbai
On January 17, 2019, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the three-day
10th India Rubber Expo – 2019 at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai.It concludes on 19th
January,2019.
i. He announced that a National Rubber Policy would soon be put to place to improve productivity of the
sector enabling India’s efforts to become a 5 trillion-dollar economy.
ii. The India Rubber Expo is Asia’s largest rubber expo. The event offers a unique opportunity for Indian
companies to meet and collaborate with overseas companies.
2nd Regional Conference on “Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)” held at Mumbai
On January 17, 2019, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Department of Empowerment of
Persons with Disabilities organized the 2nd regional conference at Nehru Centre, Mumbai, on a scheme
titled ‘Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)’.
i. The conference consisted of Programme Implementing Agencies (PIAs) from the Western Region of the
country which further would culminate in a National Conference in New Delhi.
ii. The Regional Conference was organized in order to disseminate the provisions of the revised scheme (2018)
and to create better linkages between the department, agencies and stakeholders associated with the scheme.
iii. The western states concerned were, namely, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Goa and two
Union Territories i.e., Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.
About the scheme DDRS:
i. DDRS is a Central Sector Scheme of Government of India which is being implemented since 1999 for
providing financial assistance to NGOs working for education and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.
ii. The objective of the scheme is ensuring welfare of Divyangjan and the dignity they deserve.
iii. Under DDRS, Grant-in-Aid is released to about 600 NGOs every year.
iv. About 10% of total NGOs under DDRS, 10% of total grant and 10% of Special School for Children with
Intellectual Disabilities are from Western Indian States
v. Currently in 2018, it was revised and the revised scheme is being implemented since 1st April 2018.
vi. In the revised scheme, the following changes were made:
• increase in the cost norms by 2.5 times,

• streamlining the procedure of application,
• increasing the funding of projects from 75% to 90% of their total cost,
• extending special benefits to special areas such as Left Wing Affected Districts,
• removal of limit in increase of number of beneficiaries.
Three day 4th India Steel 2019 Exhibition and Conference inaugurated in Mumbai
On 22nd January 2019,Three day 4th International Exhibition & Conference on Steel Industry, India Steel 2019
Exhibition and Conference was organised by Ministry of Steel in association with Federation of Indian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) at NSE Complex Goregaon, Mumbai.It will conclude on 24th
January 2019.
Key Points:
i. The theme of the event is “Balancing Steel Demand & Supply Dynamics: Building a New India”.
ii. The three-day event provided an opportunity for all the stakeholders to deliberate and identify ways to
contribute towards building a robust roadmap for the further growth of the steel sector.
iii. The biennial event will see over 250 exhibiting companies from 15 countries, over 200 International buyers
and more than 10 thousand business visitors both from India and abroad.
7|Page
iv. A Reverse Buyer Seller Meet (RBSM) is also planned during India Steel Expo 2019 where more than 300
Foreign Buyers from Africa, CIS, Middle East, Developing Asia including SAARC and other important regions
will be invited and hosted by the FICCI.
v. The India Steel-2019 is part of series of initiatives to develop a globally competitive steel industry in line
with National Steel Policy (NSP)-2107 which envisages production of 300 million tonnes of steels by 2030-
31.
vi. India has become the second largest producer of crude steel during 2018. Besides the country is also
the largest producer of sponge iron in the world and the 3rd largest steel consumer in the world after China
and USA.
JNPT becomes the only Indian port to be listed amongst the world’s top 30 container ports
On January 22, 2019,TheJawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s container port got listed in the top 30
container ports .
i.It managed to place itself 28th in the list,5 place up from the previous position.
ii.JNPT also launched their App service to facilitate better tracking of consignment and ease the trade process
for their EXIM partners.
Albumin better indicator of diabetes: study by scientists of NCL, Pune

On January 14, 2019, scientists at the National Chemical Laboratory, Pune suggested that albumin can be a
better indicator of diabetes
i. This can be achieved based on measurements of levels of free albumin and albumin attached to glucose
molecules in the blood.
ii. Glycation is binding of glucose to protein or lipid molecules and glycated hemoglobin is the percentage of
glucose bound to hemoglobin.
iii. These albumin levels in blood influence glycation of haemoglobin which further helps in diagnosis of
diabetes.
Maharashtra armed with triple-drug therapy to fight elephantiasis

On January 21, 2019,Maharashtrain collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended
triple-drug therapy for lymphatic filariasis to speed up elimination of the disease in Nagpur.
Key points:
i. Actor Swapnil Joshi is assigned as brand ambassador for this project.
ii. This disease is transmitted through mosquitoes. The infection is usually acquired in childhood, causing
hidden damage to the lymphatic system.
Nashik in Maharashtra to be the site of the country’s second defence innovation hub after Coimatore,
TN: MoS Defence
On January 18, 2019, Union Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre announced that Nashik in
Maharashtra will be the site of the country’s second defence innovation hub after Coimbatore in Tamil
Nadu.
i. It was announced at a defence industry stakeholders meeting in Ojhar, Nashik.
ii. This is in line with the Defence Ministry’s target of making the country among the top five arms exporters
by 2025.
iii. By that timeline, India aims to achieve annual arms exports of Rs 35,000 crore.
India Africa Field Training Exercise (IAFTX) 2019 to be held in Pune

On 23rd January 2019, the final planning conference to work out the modalities for India Africa Field Training
Exercise (IAFTX) which is to be held from 18th to 27th March 2019 commenced in Pune, Maharashtra.
8|Page
Key Points
i. India Africa Field Training Exercise (IAFTX) 2019 will boost strategic Cooperation, political and military ties
between the countries.
ii. Representatives from Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia, Mozambique,
Uganda, Niger, and Zambia are attending the conference.
iii. Field Training Exercise will be carried out at Aundh Military station and College of Military Engineering in
Pune.
iv. At present, the Chinese Military has spread its tentacles in Africa through military hardware cooperation.
The exercise will unify humanitarian action and joint peace operation.
v. As part of the exercise initial planning conference was held in December 2018. IAFTX will be the first ever
exercise with several armies from Africa although Indian armed forces had given training to some military
personnel from few African Nations.
ATP World Tour tennis tournament (Maharashtra Open 2019)

From 31st December 2018, 24th Edition of ATP World Tour Tennis tournament, Maharashtra Open – 2019 also
known as Tata Open Maharashtra organized by Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) was held in Pune,
Maharashtra. The event concludes on 5th January 2019.
Key Points:
i.The total Prize money was US $527,880.
ii.The tournament is played on outdoor hard courts at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune,
Maharashtra.
World number six Kevin Anderson of South Africa defeated Ivo Karlovic in Men’s Singles at the
Maharashtra Open
On 5th January 2019, world number six Kevin Anderson of South Africa won the three-set finals against Ivo
Karlovic of Croatia to clinch the Tata Open Maharashtra singles title in Pune.
Key Points:
i. It was Anderson’s fourth victory in five meetings against Karlovic and sixth career title overall.
ii. Karlovic became the oldest player at 39 to play a tour-level final since 1977.
iii. In another record, Anderson at 6-foot-8 (2.03 meters), and Karlovic at 6-foot-11 (2.11 meters), combined to
make it the tallest final in the Open era.
iv. The Maharashtra Open is viewed as a key warm-up event for the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian
Open, which starts in Melbourne on 14 January.
Indian tennis pair of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan defeated the United Kingdom’s Luke Bambridge
and Jonny O’Mara and clinched the ATP tour title in men’s doubles event at the Maharashtra Open
On 5th January 2019, Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan, the Asian Games 2018 gold medallists, started the
2019 season by winning India’s only ATP 250 tournament, Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune after beating a
British pairing of Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara in straight sets by 6-4, 6-3.
Key Points:
i. This was two-time champion Bopanna’s 18th tour-level trophy, while for Sharan it was his fourth trophy from
five tour-level doubles finals.
ii. The winning pair will next participate in the Davis Cup, scheduled for February 1-2 at the South Club in
Kolkata.
Maharashtra to host Khelo India Youth Games 2019

From 9th January 2019, Maharashtra is going to host the second edition of the Khelo India Youth
Games which includes completions in 18 different disciplines at Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune. The event
will conclude on 20th January 2019.
Key Points
i. Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) is a part Khelo India which is the revamped national programme for
development of sports in India.
9|Page
ii. Students from colleges and universities are participating in the event for the first time.
iii. Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister of State for Youth affairs and
sports Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore will attend a virtual touch ceremony at Shree Shiv Chatrapati Sports
Complex.
iv. More than 6000 Under–17 and Under-21 athletes from all over the India are participating in the games.
v. There are 6 team sports in KIYG and agenda includes Kabaddi and Kho-Kho.
vi. Khelo India Youth Games 2018 was held at Delhi.
Khelo India Youth Games: Hosts Maharashtra finish top with 228 medals
On 20th January 2019, the Khelo India Youth Games concluded at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex,
Balewadi in Pune with the host Maharashtra leading the medals table by winning a mammoth 85 gold, 62
silver and 81 bronze for a total of 228 medals in the Games.
Key Points:
i. With a total of 228 medals, hosts Maharashtra also walked away with the Overall Trophy at the Khelo
India Youth Games.
ii. Union Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar and Maharashtra Sports
Minister Vinod Tawde presented the winning trophy at the closing ceremony in Pune.
iii. Haryana, stood at second place with 62 gold, 56 silver and 60 bronze for a total of 178 medals.
iv. Delhi stood third with 48 gold, 37 silver and 51 bronze, a tally of 136 medals.
v. Individually, Karnataka swimmer Srihari Nataraj became the most medals winner by competing
in seven events in the U-21 category and winning all of them. The 16-year-old’s timing of 26.16 secs in 50m
backstroke was a senior national record.
vi. In the closing ceremony Maharashtra Government announced that there would be one hour of sports every
day for students in all schools in the State of Maharashtra.
vii. The theme of the Games revolved around ‘kheloge toh khiloge’ (if you play, you will prosper).
viii. About 10,000 participants, including about 6,000 athletes, from across the country participated in this
year’s Khelo India Youth Games.
Dronacharya awardee and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar’s coach Ramakant Achrekar Passed away in
mumbai
On January 3, 2019, 1990 Dronacharya awardee cricket coach Ramakant Achrekar, who coached Cricketer
Sachin Tendulkar passed away at 86 in Mumbai.
i. Besides Tendulkar, he also coached other prominent players like Vinod Kambli, Pravin Amre, Sameer Dighe
and Balwinder Singh Sandhu.
ii. Because of his contribution to the sport, he was honoured with Padma Shri in 2010.
iii. The Kamath Memorial Cricket Club in Dadar was founded by him.
Former banker and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Meera Sanyal passed away
On January 12, 2019, banker-turned-politician Meera Sanyal passed away at 57.
i. She was the country chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland when she quit and joined the Aam Aadmi Party.
ii. She also unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha election from Mumbai twice, in 2009 and 2014.
iii. In 2018, she also wrote a book named: ‘The Big Reverse: How Demonetization Knocked India Out’.
Former Maharashtra Minister Shivajirao Deshmukh dies

On 14th January 2019, 83 year old Shivajirao Deshmukh, former chairman of the state legislative council and
senior Congress leader died follwing long illnesses while under treatment at Mumbai, Maharashtra.His last rites
to be performed at Shirala on 15th January.
Key points
i. He belongs to Shirala tehsil in Sangli district of western Maharashtra.
10 | P a g e
ii. Shivajirao Deshmukh served as revenue minister in the Vasantsada Patil government in 1976-85.
iii. He was also the former speaker of Maharashtra legislative assembly.
iv. He won the assembly polls four times from Shirala seat in 1978, 1980, 1985 and in 1990. In 2008 he was
elected as Chairman of the upper house and continued till 2015.
Maharashtra Current Affairs - February 2019

Suresh Prabhu initiated two schemes in Mumbai for women SHG
On February 9,2019,Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu launched
two schemes,the Hirkani Maharashtrachi and District Business Plan Competition in Mumbai.
About Scheme
i. Under Hirkani Maharashtrachi, women’s Self-help group(SHGs) will display their business plan at taluka
level. Ten groups will be selected from each taluka and Rs. 50,000 will be given to each SHG to implement their
idea.Five SHGs at district level will be selected and Rs. 2 lakh will be given to each SHG to take the idea forward.
ii. Under District Business Plan Competition, competitors at district level will display ideas, out of which five
ideas will be selected from agriculture, social service, education and Work order worth Rs. 5 lakh will be given
to the 5 selected ideas to implement the same.
Kala ghoda festival 2019 was held in Mumbai

On 2nd February 2019, the Kala ghoda festival-KAGF, India’s largest multi-cultural street festival begins
in Mumbai to celebrate it’s 20 years of art and culture through cinema, theatre, dance,literature and sculpture.
Key points
i. The festival hosted the exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of
Mahatma Gandhi and some rich history of Mumbai.
ii. Maneck Davar is Chairman of Kala Ghoda Association.
Words Count Festival 2019 was held in Pune

On February 4,2019, second edition of World Count festival 2019 was held in Pune, Maharashtra, with an aim
to bring together speakers from several socio-political spheres and share their insights on various issues.
Important Facts:
i. The Festival, was hosted by the award -winning screenwriter, author and columnist Advita Kala.
ii. Pavan Kumar Verma,A career diplomat and famous writer was honored with first Word Smith Award 2019
for his contribution in Indian Literature.
iii. During this festival,Ahmedabad Textile Industry Research Association (ATIRA)’s new composite carbon
fabric which is lightweight, durable, and high heat resistance and which is now replacing metal parts of
satellites and is of low cost was launched by Union Textile Minister Smriti Irani.
7th edition of Kolhapur International film festival inaugurated in Kolhapur,Maharashtra

The 7th edition of the film festival began on February 7 th of 2019 in Kolhapur, Maharastra.It is eight day
festival,in which Veteran actress Rohini Hattangadi is chief guest at the inaugural function.
Important points:
i. Veteran filmmaker Govind Nihalani was honoured with the Kalamaharshi Baburao Painter Award for his
contribution to the film industry.
ii. Focus country of the festival is the Hungarian cinema.
iii. Abhijit Deshpande, editor of Marathi films like ‘Deool’, ‘Bucket List’ and ‘Elizabeth Ekadashi’, will be
presented the Chitramaharshi Anandrao Painter Award at the closing ceremony of the festival.
11 | P a g e
Pune hosted the First State Level Awareness Programme on Agriculture Export Policy
On 2nd February 2019, First State Level Awareness Programme on Agriculture Export Policy to create
awareness among farmers and stakeholders was held in Pune,Maharashtra.
i. The Export Policy was created by the State Governments and the Policy will be implemented in the respective
State Agriculture and horticulture departments.
Key Information Discussed in the Programme:
i. India Produces 600 Million tones of Agriculture,Horticulture Products and in which 30 percent of the
Horticulture products are wasted.
ii. Saudi Arabia has vast interest in providing cold chain and warehousing facilities for importing agro and
processed food Products to Saudi Arabia,Oman,Kuwait and Qatar.
Important Facts to be known:
♦ Union cabinet approved the Agriculture Export Policy 2018 with an Objective of Doubling Farmers income by
2022.
Smriti Irani instigated India Size project in Mumbai

On February 7,2019, Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani launched the India Size project in Mumbai with a
aim to get a standard Indian Size for the ready-to-wear clothing industry, on the lines of the standardized
sizes available in countries such as the USA and the UK.
i. During this ceremony,Minister also launched a Study of Apparel Consumption in India. The report of this
study would released by July 2019.
UNICEF in Maharashtra joined hands with Goa WCD for addressing issues in child protection
In order to focus on the issues in the area of child protection in the state, the UNICEF in Maharashtra joined
hands with Goa Women and Child Development (WCD).
i. Discussion was held on “Key challenges around child protection in Goa” at a training programme on
Integrated Child Protection Scheme(ICPS), by WCD, which saw the participation of Ms. Rajeshwari
Chandrasekar, Chief Field Officer,UNICEF Maharashtra and Ms. Alpa Vora, Consultant, Child Protection, UNICEF.
ii. Issue of migrant children who face a whole lot of different problems linked with challenges of livelihood,
alcoholism, etc., of their poor parents, or the children themselves were brought to light, among other issues.
Overview of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Maharashtra
On 16th February 2019, The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi visited Yavatmal and
Dhule in Maharashtra to unveil various development projects.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s Visit to Yavatmal

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari were also present
with Prime Minister in Yavatmal. The Highlights of Prime Minister’s Yavatmal visit is given below:
A Foundation Stone of Road Project worth Rs 500 crore is laid by Prime Minister in Yavatmal
• Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi laid foundation stone of Road Project worth Rs 500
crore funded by Central Road Fund in Yavatmal, Maharashtra.
• The project includes 10 road construction projects under which 176 km of roads will be constructed
in Yavatmal at a cost of Rs. 456 crore.
Eklavya Model Residential School of Nanded was inaugurated by Narendra Modi
• Prime Minister inaugurated the Ekalavya Model Residential School which has a capacity of 420 students
in Nanded, in order to improve the quality of education amongst tribal people.
12 | P a g e
• The School is spread in 16 acres and equipped with modern facilities including provision for food,
residential facility, playground and IT facilities.
Humsafar Express connecting Ajni (Nagpur) with Pune was flagged-off by Prime Minister
In order to boost connectivity in the Yavatmal and nearby areas, Prime Minister flagged off Humsafar Express
which will run between Ajni (Nagpur) and Pune.
Other Highlights
i. Narendra Modi announced that around 14500 houses are built at Yavatmal under Pradhan Mantri Awas
Yojana (PMAY) which aims at provide housing to all by 2022.
ii. Certificates and cheques were distributed to Self Help Groups (SHGs) under Maharashtra State Rural
Livelihoods Mission by Prime Minister.
iii. A research centre is being built at Chandrapur to tackle with the Sickle cell disease.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s Visit to Dhule

On 16th February 2019, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi visited Dhule after Yavatmal to inaugurate various
development projects. The main highlights of his visit are given below:
Lower Panazara medium Project under PMKSY was inaugurated by Prime Minister
• Prime Minister, Narendra Modi inaugurated Lower Panazara Medium Project which has a total water
storage capacity of 109.31 Mcum and irrigation potential of 7585 hectares, under Pradhan Mantri
Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).
• This Project will provide irrigation facility to 21 villages of Dhule District in Maharashtra.
A Foundation stone of Sulwade Jamphal Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme was laid by Mr. Modi
• A foundation stone of Sulwade Jamphal Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme which will lift 9.24 TMC of
flood water during the 124 days of monsoon season from river Tapi in Dhule, was laid by Prime
Minister, Narendra Modi
• The lifted water from the river Tapi during monsoon season will be used for irrigation purpose in
around 33,367 hectares land area of 100 villages in Dhule District.
Jalgaon-Udhana Railway line was inaugurated by Prime Minister
• Jalgaon-Udhana Railway line after Doubling and Electrification was inaugurated by Prime Minister,
Narendra Modi in Dhule district.
• The railway line will improve regional connectivity and increase the capacity of ferrying passengers and
goods. This is boost development opportunities in Nandurbar, Vyara, Dharangaon and other nearby
areas of Dhule district.
Bhusaval-Bandra Khandesh Express Train was flagged off by Prime Minister
Bhusaval-Bandra Khandesh Express Train which will run between Mumbai and Bhusaval in three days of
the week was flagged off by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi through video conference
RBI Lifted up the restrictions on BoI, Bank of Maharashtra, Oriental Bank of Commerce
On February 1,2019, The Reserve Bank of India eased out the operational curbs on three banks, Bank of
India (BoI),Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and also allowed them to
have a exit from the Prompt Corrective Action ( PCA) framework fully.
Points to be Noted:
i. These three banks were part of 11 government-owned banks that were put under the Prompt Corrective
Action framework in 2017 and 2018. And the government gave a capital infusion of Rs 10,000 crore for Bank
of India, Rs 5,500 crore for Oriental Bank of Commerce and Rs 4,500 crore for Bank of Maharashtra, which
helped the banks to come out of the framework.
ii. Based on the norms of minimum regulatory capital, net NPAs(Non-performing assets) and leverage ratio and
marked improvements in asset quality , RBI eased out the curbs and is allowed to open branches and extend
loans freely.
13 | P a g e
Government sets up committee to explore prepaid payments by discoms to generator companies

A committee containing chairmen of distribution companies of Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, representatives
from Power Ministry and Power associations was set up under the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to
explore the prepaid payments by state electricity distribution companies to power plants.
Key Points
i. The aim of the committee is to study the working capital cycles of power distribution companies and
generation companies so as to identify the gaps which are contributing to the stress in the sector.
ii. The Committee will also suggest a mechanism for prepaid system of transactions after studying the
regulations with respect to payment mechanism and transaction across power sector value chain.
iii. In order to put in place a bill discounting mechanism ahead of General Elections, a Group of Ministers (GoM)
headed by Finance Mininster is also looking at the recommendation made by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha
simultaneously.
iv. P K Sinha committee had suggested that Financial institutions like REC (Rural Electrification Corporation)
and PFC (Power Finance Corp) may discount receivables from discoms and make payment to generators.
Maharashtra govt constituted a committee to review welfare schemes for tribals

The Maharashtra government has formed a 17-member committee, for the revision of various schemes,
implemented, for the welfare of tribal’s in the state.
i.The committee is headed by former MLA and Shramjeevi Sanghatna president Vivek Pandit.
ii.It will suggest measures to ensure that children in tribal regions were not deprived of education.
67th Annual Armed Forces Medical Conference is being organized by AFMC, Pune
On 5th February 2019, the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune organized the 67th Annual Armed
Forces Medical Conference which is the largest gathering and the only multi-specialty conference of its kind
in the country. The conference will conclude on 8th February 2019.
Key Points:
i. The 4 day conference which was organised under the supervision of Surg Vice Admiral Ravi Kalra was
inaugurated by Lt Gen Bipin Puri, Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services.
ii. The conference witnessed the marking of platinum jubilee year of the Medical Journal Armed Forces India
(MJAFI) which is the official quarterly Journal published by the Armed Forces Medical Services of India and
contains high quality biomedical multi-speciality research from doctor scientists across the world.
iii. The conference will also include the 57th Armed Forces Medical Research Committee Meeting to discuss
new research proposals. It is scheduled on February 6 and 7.
8th World CSR Congress 2019 in Mumbai

World Corporate Social Responsibility Congress (World CSR Congress 2019) is one of the admired
meetings which promote Entrepreneurship, Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Social Development.
i. 8th World CSR Congress held between Feb 17 and Feb 18 ,2019 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.It was attended by
participants from 33 countries to encourage the efforts of individuals and organizations.
ii. Theme of the year 2019 is ‘Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)’ to focus on corporate
strategies,innovation, and strategic alliances.
Dr.Soumitro Chakraborty won ‘CEO of the year’ award
♦ CEO of Innovative Financial Advisors Pvt Ltd, (Fiinovation), Social Entrepreneur Dr.Soumitro Chakraborty
was awarded ‘CEO of the year’at the 8th World CSR Congress.
♦ He has been recognized for implemented various programmes in partnership with various corporations and
NGOs in the field of health, environment, education and livelihood.
14 | P a g e
International Vision Zero Conference’ to promote Occupational Safety and Health inaugurated in
Mumbai, Maharashtra
From 18th to 20th February, a 3 day ‘International Vision Zero Conference’ was inaugurated in Mumbai,
Maharashtra to promote occupational safety and health.
i. The Conference was organized by Directorate General Factory Advice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI),
Ministry of Labour and Employment, German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), Germany along
with Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and International Social Security Association –
Manufacturing, Construction and Mining. It was inaugurated by Shri Heeralal Samariya,
Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment.
ii. ‘Vision Zero’ is based on four principles:
• Life is non-negotiable.
• Humans are fallible.
• Limits of tolerance defined by physical resistance of humans.
• People are entitled to safe transport and safe workplaces.
Key points
i. It aims to help the government to enhance workplace security and reduce occupational hazards by controlling
risks, ensuring safety and health in machines, equipment and workplaces and skill upgradation of workforce.
ii. DGFASLI, Ministry of Labour and Employment has signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) to enhance safety and health at work, to reduce the
occurrence of work related accidents and diseases and to promote social protection.
Regional Maritime Safety Conference 2019 held in Mumbai

The 2-day long Regional Maritime Safety Conference 2019 was held in Mumbai to discuss maritime safety
in the India-ASEAN sub-region, safeguarding our shores and promoting maritime trade.
i. It was organized by India for the first time, by the National Maritime Foundation (NMF), in coordination
with Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of External Affairs.
ii. It addressed a range of issues that affect regional maritime safety, including transport safety, maritime law,
ship building, transportation of hazardous goods, marine oil spill, pollution and environmental safety.
iii. UnionShipping and Water Resources Minister,Nitin Gadkari inaugurated an upgraded version of e-
commerce portal Port Community System (PCS) called ‘PCS1x’, developed in record time by the Indian Ports
Association, based on feedback from stakeholders using PCS.
AMRUT cities and Municipal Corporations of Raigarh, Ambikapurand Kumbakonam won the top
Swachhata Excellence Awards 2019
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) cities and municipal corporations
of Raigarh (1st prize), Ambikapur (2nd prize) and Kumbakonam (3rd prize) won the top Swachhata
Excellence Awards 2019. The prizes were awarded by Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of
Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) at the Shehri Samridhi Utsav, an initiative organized by MoHUA
in New Delhi.
i. In the category of ‘Statutory Towns’, Nagar Palika Parishad Jashpur Nagar, Malappuram
Municipality and Nagar Palika Parishad Surajpur were declared winners.
ii. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation was awarded 1st prize for ‘Million Plus Cities’, and for
‘Aspirational Districts’, Chas Municipal Corporation has been awarded a consolation prize.
15 | P a g e
Boeing 747-200-Air India’s first ever Flight Simulator was exhibited in Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai
Air India’s First ever Flight Simulator named ‘Boeing 747-200’ was exhibited in Nehru Science Centre,Mumbai
during Innovation Festival.The Simulator was acquired by Air India in 1980,which is designed and
manufactured by the CAE(Canadian Aviation Electronics),Canada.
Keypoints:
i. After serving 21 years, it became obsolete, so donated to Nehru Science Centre, with a purpose to create
awareness about the significance in the field of aviation among the public in general and students in particular.
ii. During the occasion Airports Authority of India and National Council of Science Museums signed a
Memorandum of Agreement worth 2 crore rupees for development of Aviation Gallery – Hall of Aerospace,
Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai.
Indian Army carried out the annual exercise named ‘Exercise Topchi’
Indian army demonstrated its artillery firepower, aviation and surveillance capacity at the annual ‘Exercise
Topchi’ at Deolali Camp near Nashik.
i. The latest ultra-light Howitzer M-777, self-propelled gun K-9 Vajra and indigenous Swathi weapon-locating
radar was demonstrated.
ii. The aviation assets showcased were the indigenous advanced light helicopter, light combat helicopter,
Cheetah & Chetak helicopters.
Related points
♦ Chief of the Army Staff – General Bipin Rawat
Hum Aapke Hain Koun Producer Rajkumar Barjatya Passes Away

On 21st February 2019, popular Bollywood film producer Rajkumar Barjatya passed away in Mumbai,
Maharashtra.
i. He was the producer of popular films like Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo (2015), Hum Saath Saath
Hain (1999), Hum Aapke Hain Koun (1994) and Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) etc. He owned a production
house- Rajshri Films.
ii. He was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Maharashtra Current Affairs - March 2019

Creation of post of Technical Members in SAT, Mumbai approved by the Cabinet
Cabinet has approved the proposal for creation of the Post of Technical member in Securities Appellate
Tribunal (SAT), Mumbai which will facilitate creation of an additional bench in SAT for speedy disposal
of appeals.
Maharashtra government launches ‘Atal Aahar Yojna’ for construction workers

On 7th March 2019, Maharashtra government launched a special scheme ‘Atal Aahar Yojna’ for construction
workers in the state which will provide good quality food at a highly subsidised rate.
Key Point
i. The target is set to cover 20000 workers and provide them with good quality food at a nominal cost of
Rs.5 in the first phase of the scheme.
ii. The government is already providing a Subsidy of Rs.4.5 lakh to labourers for house construction and is
planning to provide help in education, income and health as well.
iii. Maharashtra government also launched Shramev Jayate Yojana under which a pension of Rs.3000 is
given to construction workers above the age of 60 years. If the worker died, the pension will be given to his
widow.
16 | P a g e
India’s first LGBTQ Clinic and HIV treatment centre inaugurated by Humsafar Trust in Mumbai
The first HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) treatment centre and holistic clinic for lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) by Humsafar trust in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Key Points
i. The founder of Humsafar Trust, Ashok Row Kavi announced that the center will be open for all and it will
give provide counselling.
ii. The centre will also offer Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) which is a HIV medicine to treat infection.
India and Saudi Arabia plan to revive the USD 44 bn West Coast refinery project in Maharashtra
In a meeting between Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and his Saudi counterpart and the chairman
of Saudi Aramco,Khalid A Al-Falih, in New Delhi, it was decided that India and Saudi Arabia will revive and
expedite the implementation of USD 44 billion West Coast refinery project in Maharashtra, in which Saudi
Aramco will be holding a considerable stake.
i. The ministers reviewed various Saudi investment proposals in the Indian oil and gas sector, including the
urgent steps to be taken to expedite the implementation of the first joint venture West Coast
Refinery and Petrochemical Project in Maharashtra, estimated to cost the USD 44 billion, which will be the
largest greenfield refinery in the world.
ii. Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) had formed a joint venture with Indian
state-run oil marketing companies — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation
(BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) — to hold 50% stake in Ratnagiri Refinery and
Petrochemicals (RRPCL).
iii. The progress of the project had faced issues after 42,000 notices for land survey and acquisition were
served to families in 17 villages of Ratnagiri district and were put on hold by the State Government.
iv. It is still not clear whether the government may be looking for alternate location, outside Ratnagiri for the
project.
Maharashtra’s interim budget for 2019-20 with Rs 19,784 cr estimated revenue deficit presented by FM
Sudhir Mungantiwar
Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar presented the interim budget for the fiscal 2019-20 with
an estimated deficit of Rs 19,784 crore and a provision of special fund for farm loan waiver at the State
Assembly in Mumbai.
i. The revenue receipts are expected at Rs 314,489 crore against an estimated revenue expenditure of Rs
334,273 crore.
ii. The state’s annual plan outlay has been fixed at Rs 99,000 crore for implementing various schemes and
the government would attempt to rein in deficits by scrapping unnecessary expenses and effectively
augmenting revenues.
iii. The Government has made maximum allocation of Rs 8733 crore for irrigation, with a focus
on Vidarbha and Marathwada.
iv. Some of the major provisions include Rs 90 crore for a skill development programme in the memory of
late Union Minister Pramod Mahajan, Rs 8,431 crore towards a tribal sub-plan and Rs 9,000
crore for district annual plans.
v. The Maharashtra Government will table the full budget after 4 months.
Nagpur hosted Heat Wave 2019 Workshop

Maharashtra government with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has conducted a two-day
national workshop on Preparedness, Mitigation and Management of Heat Wave in Nagpur.This was the third
annual workshop conducted by NDMA to build a momentum ahead of the start of the Heat Wave season.
Key Points
i. The main motive behind this workshop was to aim to sensitize state to the need of preparing and
implementing specific Heat Action Plans in line with NDMA’s national guidelines on Heat Wave.
17 | P a g e
ii. This workshop focused on mid and long-term mitigation solutions to identify new islands of heat wave and
to find local remedies for local problems.
Welfare Schemes for Dhangars was announced by Maharashtra’s Chief Minister

On 2nd March 2019, The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis announced various welfare
schemes for the Dhangar community including 10,000 houses, AshramShalas, Scholarships, admission seats
and Hostels for students belonging to this community.
i. AshramShalas will be constructed in the vulnerable areas which was identified by Tata Institute of Social
Sciences (TISS).
New 5 year industrial policy unveiled by Maharashtra CM

On 6th March 2019, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis unveiled the State’s new 5 year industrial
policy which will be effective from 1st April, 2019.
Key Points
i. The policy emphasizes on high technology and employment generating businesses which aims to attract
investments worth 10 lakh crore rupees.
ii. It will create nearly 40 lakh Jobs by 2023-24 and the goal is to turn Maharashtra into a trillion dollar (one
lakh crore) economy.
iii. In Maharashtra the rate of conversion of Memorandum of Understanding into actual investments after a
period of one year from the agreement is more than 45% in comparison to the national average of 30-35 per
cent.
Param Bir Singh appointed as DG of Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau

1988 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Param Bir Singh appointed Director General (DG) of
the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau.
i. He will replace Sanjay Barve who was appointed to the coveted post of Mumbai Police Commissioner.
ii. He has held posts like that of Thane Police Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in
several important zones in Mumbai, and also Superintendent of Police in districts
like Chandrapur and Bhandara
Mumbai become world’s 16th most costly prime residential market: Knight Frank Report
According to a “Knight Frank Prime International Residential Index (PIRI 100)” Report, Mumbai, the capital
of Maharashtra and the financial capital of India, has become the 16th most expensive prime residential
market in the world and is the only Indian city to feature in the global top 20 list of expensive prime residential
markets recorded in The Wealth Report 2019.
i. In terms of the growth in prices of prime residential properties globally, Mumbai ranked 67th with 0.3% rise
in prices in 2018.
ii. Delhi (55th) and Bengaluru (56th) did better than Mumbai with a 1.4% and 1.1% price appreciation,
respectively.
iii. The Philippines’ capital Manila topped the global list with the highest price appreciation of 11.1% last
year, followed by Edinburgh (Scotland) in second position with 10.6% rise.
iv. The German cities of Berlin and Munich took the third and fourth positions, respectively, followed by
the Argentine capital Buenos Aires in fifth rank.
v. Singapore was the only Asian city after Manila to feature in the top-ten list, with a price appreciation
of 9.1%.
Swati Shingade conferred with first prize of DD Mahila Kisan Award

Swati Shingade of Pune, has bagged the first prize of DD Mahila Kisan Award for 2018-19.
i. A Surya Prakash, the Chairman Prasar Bharati, gave this award to Ms Swati Shingade at a grand finale event
organized by DD Kisan Channel in New Delhi.
18 | P a g e
ii. The Kisan Channel has provided a platform to the women farmers and the main purpose of the channel is to
make aware the people about the various schemes of the government.
Mumbai social worker Gauri Sawant has been designated as first transgender election ambassador
On 20th March 2019, 38-year-old transgender activist ShreeGauri Sawantfrom Mumbai has been appointed
as first transgender election ambassador by The Election Commission of India.
Key Points:
i. There was no separate classification of transgenders as voters till 2014 but after that transgenders were first
enrolled as voters along with males and females.
ii.The highest enrolment of transgenders (324) is in Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency.
Hyper local connectivity app “Bhonga” initiated in Mumbai

A hyper-local connectivity app called “Bhonga” has been developed by Mumbai-based Company Linkus
Infratech, to connect users to their neighborhood people in the city even without an Internet connection.
i. “Bhonga” is a Marathi word which means megaphone or loudspeaker.
ii. This app automatically provides the lists the user living within the radius of one kilometre. The app
supports voice notes as well as photos.
iii. Anyone can open their phone and send a message that is delivered to other users in the neighbourhood,
wherever they are.
iv. The app is available for Android as well as iOS users and supports Hindi and English languages.
India–Africa Joint Field Training Exercise AFINDEX-19 started in Pune, Maharashtra

The 10 days long Africa-India Joint Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX-19) between the Indian Army and 16
African nations was commenced in Pune, Maharashtra on March 18, 2019 for training the participating
contingents in Humanitarian Mine Assistance (HMA) and Peace Keeping Operations (PKO) under the United
Nations Charter.
Key Points:
i.It will be held in two locations in Pune viz. Foreign Training Node at Aundh Military Station and College of
Military Engineering in Kirkee.
ii.The Indian army is represented by Maratha Light Infantry while African continent is comprised of 10
personnel, from each of the participating nations.
iii.The exercise is expected to facilitate sharing of Indian Armed Forces experiences in United Nations Peace
keeping operations with countries in Africa and shall remarkably boost relations with the African continent.
Bengaluru FC won their first ISL Title beating FC Goa by 1-0

Bengaluru Football Club (FC) won their first Indian Super League (ISL) title at the Mumbai Football Arena
defeating FC Goa by 1-0 in the final.
i. Both teams did not score any goals in the 90-minute time frame and the game went on for extra time.
ii. In the 118th minute, Rahul Bheke jumped up to shoot a header into the far corner and get Bengaluru their
winning goal.
Mumbai activist HS D’Lima passed away aged 84

On 26th March 2019, Mumbai activist HS D’Lima who fought against illegal constructions and slumification of
Mumbai’s gaothans passed away at the age of 84 years.
Key Points:
i. He was from Andheri Gaothan, Maharashtra.
ii. He was attacked with knives and stabbed in the back because of his activism against noise pollution.
19 | P a g e
Maharashtra Current Affairs - April 2019

India’s First Foreign Interactive Bird Park launched by EsselWorld in Mumbai
On 11th April 2019, India’s first exotic Bird Park ‘EsselWorld Bird Park’ was launched by EsselWorld Leisure
Pvt. Ltd., the family entertainment arm of the $6-billion Essel Group in Mumbai.
Key Points:
i.The Park is spread over 1.4 acres of land and surrounded by flora and fauna.
ii. It is home to over 500 exotic birds from more than 60 species of flying, terrestrial and aquatic birds and has
200 species of special plants and trees for the birds.
iii. The star attractions at the Bird Park are the African Grey Parrot, Blue Gold Macaw, Cockatiel, Rainbow
Lorikeet, Toucan, Black Lory, Violet Turaco and many other varieties of bird.
iv. EsselWorld is the largest amusement park in the country and Water Kingdom is one of the largest
Theme Water Parks in Asia.
Justice Pradeep Nandrajog appointed as the Chief justice of Bombay High Court
On 31st March 2019, Justice Pradeep Nandrajog was sworn in as the Chief Justice of Bombay high Court.
Priorly, he was serving as the Chief Justice of the Rajasthan High Court.
i. His oath was administered by Maharashtra Governor CH Vidyasagarrao at Raj Bhavan,Mumbai.

ii. He succeeds Justice Naresh Patel, who retired from his services.
iii. Justice Nandrajog,61 , was enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi in 1981.
Renowned Hindi poet Pradeep Choubey passed away aged 70

On 12th April 2019, Hindi poet Pradeep Choubey passed away at the age of 70 in his home due to a cardiac
arrest.
Key Points:
i. He was born on August 26, 1949, in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district.
ii. He was also suffering from cancer.
iii. To pursue his passion for poetry, he quit his job at Dena Bank.
DD Director Kismat Sagar passes away at 47

Lucknow Door Darshan Kendra Director Ms.KismatSagar has passed away at the age of 47 during her treatment
in a hospital in Mumbai.
Key Points :
i. She was suffering from cancer.
ii. She was a 1998 Batch Indian Information Service Officer.
iii. She also worked in several media units like DAVP, DFP, PRO Defence in Lucknow under Ministry of
Information & Broadcasting.
Maharashtra Current Affairs - May 2019

The Maharashtra Cabinet provides approval for the promulgation of ordinance on Maratha quota
In order to provide reservation to Maratha students in postgraduate medical courses, the Maharashtra
Cabinet approved to circulate an ordinance to amend the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes
(SEBC) Reservation Act, 2018, and also approved to recompense the fees to the general category-
students, who will be affected after the promulgation of the ordinance.
20 | P a g e
Key Points:
i. Previously the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court did not grant 16% reservation to the Maratha
community students for admissions to post-graduate (PG) medical courses and dental courses because the
admission process had begun much earlier.
ii. After the Supreme Court’s decision, the Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell had
issued cancellation of admissions’ notice under the SEBC quota, which affected around 290 students from
Maharashtra.
Centre issued Drought Advisory to six states

Recently, centre has issued a “drought advisory” to six states named Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu due to water storage in dams dropped to a “critical level”. Centre has
asked these 6 six states to use water judiciously.
Key Highlights
i. Central Water Commission (CWC) always issues drought advisory whenever the water level in reservoirs is
20 percent less than the average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years.
ii. According to figures released by CWC, the total water storage available was 35.99 billion cubic metres, which
is 22 percent of the total storage capacity of these reservoirs.
About CWC :
It functions as an attached office of Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation,
Government of India, and monitors total water storage available in 91 major reservoirs across the country.
Maharashtra Day is celebrated every year on 1st May to mark the Maratha speaking region that
attained statehood on 1st May 1960
Maharashtra Day is celebrated every year on 1st May to mark the Maratha speaking region that was founded on
1st May 1960.
i. This year, the state government of Maharashtra organized the main function in Mumbai and celebrated this
red-letter day at Shivaji Park, central Mumbai.
ii. Most educational institutions like schools, colleges, offices remain closed on this day.
How is Maharashtra Day Celebrated?
i. The day is celebrated by organizing exhibitions, ceremonies, and parades in the public areas of Maharashtra.
ii. Private celebrations also take place around the city, including traditional Lavani performances, narration of
poems written by Marathi saints and folk songs.
History of Maharashtra Day or Maharashtra Diwas
i. In 1956, the States Reorganisation Act was enacted that restricted Indian state boundaries according to
language.
ii. When this act was enacted, it created the State of Bombay which then had a different language being
spoken, namely, Kutchi, Konkani, Gujarati, and Marathi.
iii. The Sanyukta Maharashtra Samiti was then formed which strived for the division of the Bombay state in 2
halves. In 1 half would be the people who spoke Marathi and Konkani and in the other state would be the
people who spoke Gujarati and Kutchi. This resulted in the proposal of the Bombay Reorganization Act.
iv. The official effect took place on 1st May 1960 and this is how Maharashtra attained its statehood in India.
Basava Jayanti 2019 observed on May 7

On 7th May 2019, Basava Jayanthi was celebrated in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh to
commemorate the birth of Basavanna, a Hindu Kannada poet of the 12th century. It was traditionally observed
by the Lingayats. He is believed to be the founding saint of the Lingayat section.
21 | P a g e
i. Basavanna was born Karnataka’s Ingaleshwar, Bagewadi town on 20th March 1134, the third day of Vaisakha
month of the Anandanama (Samvatsara) in the year 1134 A.D. According to believers, with the birth of the
prophet Basavanna, a new era began.
ii. In the Panchangas, Basava Era count from Basava birth onwards in 2012 Basava Shake is 879.
iii. People refer to the year as ‘Basava Era‘ or ‘Basaveshwar Era’.
v. His father’s name was Madaras and mother’s name was Madalambe.
Ajoy Mehta has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra

Ajoy Mehta (1984-batch I.A.S- Indian Administrative Officer), the municipal commissioner of Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC) also known as Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has been
appointed as the new Chief Secretary (CS) of Maharashtra.
Key points:
i. He holds the distinction of being the longest-serving BMC commissioner.
ii. Mehta’s predecessor UPS Madan (1983 batch IAS officer), who has opted for voluntary retirement (under
V.R.S.- voluntary retirement scheme) after serving the post of CS for just 44 days makes him the shortest-
serving CS of Maharashtra. He still had five months of service left and for that period he has been appointed
as the chairman of SICOM (State Industrial Investment Corporation Of Maharashtra) and also as special
advisor to Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis.
iii. 1985-batch I.A.S officer- Praveen Pardeshi (the additional chief secretary to chief minister Devendra
Fadnavis) has been appointed as the new municipal commissioner chief of Mumbai, succeeding Ajoy Mehta.
iv. Mehta will retire in September 2019.
v. One of the notable works of Mehta as the principal secretary, department of energy under Maharashtra
government include the transition of the state-owned Maharashtra State Electricity Board into 3
independent companies which were dedicated to generation, transmission, and distribution.
MMOPL tied-up with Instamojo for card payments

The Reliance Infrastructure promoted Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) has announced a tie-up
with Instamojo, a payment gateway. The purpose of this tie-up is to enable card payments aimed at boosting
cashless travel. The total 4.50 lakh commuters can now pay for all kinds of ticketing products by using debit or
credit cards.
i. To pay for their tickets, commuters can scan the static QR code or type the Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
at any Metro ticket counters and then enter the debit/credit card details and then make the payments.
Maharashtra proposed single-window registration of land titles

Maharashtra government has proposed to introduce the Maharashtra Land Titling Act which will be used for
a single-window mechanism for authenticating land titles. This initiative will be first implemented
in Mumbai as linking of various departments and digitising records.
Key Highlights
i. Under the Maharashtra Land Titling Act, the state government will first set up the Maharashtra Land Titling
Authority which will undertake the implementation.
ii. Under the same act, state government will also set up one or more tribunals for land titling and one or more
appellate tribunal and also appoint the title registration officer. The award provided by Appellate Tribunal can
be challenged in a special bench of High Court.
Maharashtra government introduced ordinance to bring medical admissions under SEBC quota
Maharashtra government has introduced an ordinance to provide quota to candidates seeking admissions to
medical courses under Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) Reservation Act, 2018.
i. Other than this ordinance, the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (Amendment and Validation)
Ordinance, 2019 will introduce reservation in appointments in public services and other posts in the state.
22 | P a g e
SWIFT India and South Asia Conference was held in Mumbai

The SWIFT India and South Asia Conference was held successfully on 9 May 2019 at the St Regis Mumbai. The
conference saw the participation of 500 delegates representing financial institutions, regulators, market
infrastructure experts, multinational corporations, and other industry professionals, to discuss the most
pertinent issues concerning the nation’s financial market.
i. It was organized and hosted by SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication).
ii. The theme of the conference was “Digitisation in transition: The future of innovation and cyber
security”.
iii. The objective of the conference was to discuss these key issues with a specific focus on innovation and our
preparedness to face challenges around cybersecurity.
iv. At the conference, BCG (Boston Consulting Group) also released a paper titled “Unlocking Success in
Corporate Banking Through Digital”.
About SWIFT India:
♦ It is the local unit of SWIFT global that facilitates international payments functions for banks.
♦ Chairman – Mrs Arundhati Bhattacharya
Mumbai tops the list of most vulnerable cities to cyberattacks in 2019

Recently, Quick Heal Security Labs in its report titled “The Annual Threat Report 2019” has disclosed that
Mumbai topped the list of 15-city which are more vulnerable to cyberattcks in 2019. The other two cities which
followed Mumbai are: Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Pune
i. The report has also revealed that Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal are the top three states which are
prone to cyber attacks.
Bajirao, the last captive white tiger at Mumbai’s national park, dies at 18
The last captive white tiger at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Borivali, Mumbai named Bajirao died
due to old age related problems at the age of 18. He was born at the SGNP
in 2001 to tigress Renukaand tiger Sidharth.
i. He suffered from chronic ankylosis on left shoulder and chronic senile generalised arthritis for the last four
years.
ii. The tiger’s autopsy was conducted by the pathology department of the Bombay Veterinary College(BVC),
Mumbai.
iii. The white tigress Renuka and white tiger Siddharth were brought from Aurangabad Zoo in 1999. Renuka
died in 2009 due to skin cancer at th age of 13 and Siddharth died on June 4, 2015, due to old age at the age of
20.
Former billiards player Derek Sippy Passed Away

On 6th May 2019, Former Indian Cue sports Player, Coach and administrator Derek Sippy, who was in his 60s,
died due to a massive heart attack in Mumbai, Maharashtra. His death was confirmed to Press Trust of India
(PTI) by Manav Panchal, Honorary Secretary of the Billiards and Snooker Association of Maharashtra
(BSAM).
i. He had served as secretary of BSAM for several years.

ii. He was the Indian team’s coach at recently concluded Asian Under-21 Boys Snooker and Asian Women
Snooker tournament in Chandigarh which was held from April 27th to May 3rd, 2019 at Community Centre,
Sector 19, Chandigarh.
23 | P a g e
Maharashtra Current Affairs - June 2019

Elephanta Festival kicked off in Mumbai
Elephanta festival, a two day festival of art and culture organized by Maharashtra Tourism Development
Corporation (MTDC) held on Elephanta-Gharapuri (island), Mumbai to promote tourism and culture in
Maharashtra. The festival was inaugurated by tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal on Gateway of India.
Key points:
i. The theme for this year is ‘Swarang’
ii. Elephanta caves located on this island are UNESCO world heritage sites. They are a collection of cave
temples mostly dedicated to Lord Shiva.
iii. The Elephanta festival was started in the year 2012 to celebrate the heritage and culture of the city.
Maharashtra government announced scheme for smokeless kitchens ‘Chullah-free and smoke-free
Maharashtra"
The project named "Chullah (wood-fired stove)-free and smoke-free Maharashtra" will be launched by
the Government of Maharashtra. The announcement was made by the Finance Minister of Maharashtra,
Sudhir Mungantiwar in his Budget speech on June 18, 2019.
Key Points:
i.A pilot project is aimed at providing smoke-free environment in the kitchen for women.
ii.It will target the women who are not benefited under the Ujjwala or any other LPG (Liquefied petroleum gas)
distribution scheme.
iii.It will be implemented in Naxal- affected areas as well as the districts where farmer suicide rate is high.
10th edition of Regional GRIHA Summit 2019 was held in Nagpur,Maharastra

On June 15, 2019,The 10th edition of Regional Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) summit
,2019 was held in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari addressed this meeting.
Key points:
i. The theme of this year’s 2019 summit was "Transformation Strategies for Built Environment". This theme
was adopted to focus on impact of incorporating sustainability initiatives into functioning public buildings.
ii. The summit was organized with help of the Public Works Department (PwD) of the state Government.
About GRIHA:
i. It is rating tool that helps people assesses the performance of their building against certain nationally
acceptable benchmarks.
ii. It is given by GRIHA Council, a not-for-profit society jointly setup by The Energy and Resources Institute
(TERI) and Unon Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) to promote green buildings in India.
Maharashtra topped the USGBC list of Top 10 States for LEED in India
In the Second Edition of the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) list of India’s top 10 states
which have maximum number ofLeadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified green
buildings, Maharashtra bagged the top slot with 334 LEED-certified green buildings. It was followed
by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with 232 and 157 buildings respectively.
Key Points:
i. LEED is a widely used green building rating system which ranks states in terms of cumulative Gross Square
Feet (GSF) of certified space. They were ranked as on December 31, 2018.
ii. In the 1st Edition of the list, Tamil Nadu was ranked first with 118 buildings.
iii. Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan is the Managing Director, Southeast Asia and Middle East, USGBC and Green
Business Certification Inc. (GBCI).
24 | P a g e
Rank State No. of LEED certified projects Certified GSF in Millions
1. Maharashtra 334 106,057,234
2. Karnataka 232 85,887,580
3. Tamil Nadu 157 58,809,553
4. Haryana 125 56,351,837
5. Uttar Pradesh 82 45,734,497
6. Telangana 91 40,609,702
7. Delhi 57 27,929,152
8. Gujarat 53 23,990,638
9. West Bengal 35 20,898,539
10. Rajasthan 19 9,221,494
Actor and Padma Shri awardee Dinyar Contractor passed away aged 79 in Mumbai, Maharashtra
Actor and Padma Shri awardee(2019) Dinyar Contractor passed away aged 79 in Mumbai, Maharashtra due to
age-related illnesses. He was best known for his comic roles. He hailed from Mumbai. He was awarded the
Padma Shri in January 2019.
Key Points:
i. He had appeared in the films like Baadshah, Khiladi, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Daraar and 36 China Town.
ii. He had been a part of shows like Khichdi, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Hum Sab Ek Hain, Do Aur Do
Paanch, Dil Vil and Karishma.
iii. The theatre artist had begun his professional career in 1966.
iv. He had played in Gujarati as well as Hindi plays. He started working on television programs when Mumbai
Doordarshan launched their DD-2 channel in Mumbai with a Gujarati show titled “Aao Marvao Meri Saathe” and
other shows like “Adi Marzban”.
Maharashtra Current Affairs - July 2019

Approval given to national permit scheme for inter-state travel for bus operators
During the International Bus and Car show, Prawaas 2019 which was held in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Union
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari informed that approval was given to the national permit scheme for inter-
state travel for bus operators. It will increase the state revenue by 3-4% as the money will be directly credited
to the states in a proportionate manner.
i. Government is also working on alternative fuels such as deriving ethanol from sugarcane which will be cost-
effective and pollution-free.
The National Museum of Indian Cinema launched “NMIC Bulletin“

On July 9, 2019, The National Museum of Indian Cinema launched a fortnightly bulletin named “NMIC
Bulletin“ in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was brought out by the Films Division with veteran filmmaker Jahnu
Barua.
25 | P a g e
i. It will be a physical document to cherish and get relevant information for several educational institutions and
students of media studies who visit Museum regularly.
The 3rd edition of International Sunflower Seed and Oil Conference(ISSOC) 2019 will be held in Mumbai
India will be hosting the 3rd edition of International Sunflower Seed and Oil Conference (ISSOC) 2019 in
Maharashtra, Mumbai (on July 19-20) with the aim to encourage better communications among sunflower oil
producers, industry groups, academic researchers and local governments.
Key points:
i. The event hosted by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) & Organized by International
Sunflower Oil Association (ISOA) will see the participation of around 300 delegates from across the world with
interests in sunflower seed, oil, and meal.
ii. The 1st edition was held in 2015 at Shanghai, China and the 2nd edition was held in 2017 at Odessa, Ukraine.
iii. India is the largest importer of sunflower oil with imports of about 2.8 million tones and globally the import
is about 9.6 million tonnes.
iv. In 2018-19, globally the sunflower seed production is at 51.41 million tonnes, sunflower oil at 19.45 million
tonnes and sunflower meal at 20.90 million tonnes.
Western Railways first printing press heritage gallery opened at Mahalaxmi, Mumbai
Western Railways (WR) opened its first printing press heritage gallery named Western Railway Mahalaxmi
General Stores Depot (GSD) at Mahalaxmi in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was inaugurated by V P Pathak,
Member (Materials Management) of the Railway Board.
Key Points:
i. It became the first press in Indian Railways to portray a heritage gallery of the printing and allied machines
used in the Western Railway Printing Press since 1948.
ii. The press came into existence in 1912 under the Greater Indian Peninsular Railway (GIP) Bombay, as the
railway was in need of stationery and tickets to run the operations. In 1953, it was shifted to GSD Mahalaxmi at
the WR.
Damanganga-Pinjal project to meet water needs of Mumbai till 2060

On June 28, 2019, The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis announced that Damanganga-
Pinjal project will meet the water needs of Mumbai till 2060. It will solve the crisis of drought facing a large
section of the state and also enhance water resources for fast-growing urban areas.
i. The Damanganga-Pinjal project will divert excess water from reservoirs in the Damanganga basin to Mumbai
Pinjal dam, built on the Pinjal river in Vaitarna basin.
ii. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority will provide Rs 403 crore for the Kalu dam. It will
fulfill the water needs of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
Maharashtra Govt approves Rs 3500 cr for a multi-modal integration project

On July 8, 2019, The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis has approved Rs 3500 crore for multi-
modal integration project at the 148th board meeting of the MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Development Authority ) in Mumbai. It will help commuters enjoy the smooth commuting experience.
Key points:
i. Indian Port Rail and Ropeway Corporation Ltd (IPRCL) was also appointed to prepare a detailed project
report (DPR) for ropeway projects between Malad to Marve and Gorai to Borivali – both 4.5km projects in the
state.
ii. These projects can establish East-West Connectivity along with connectivity to Malad Metro station and
Gorai Jetty.
iii. Financing Konkan Irrigation Development Corporation (KDIC) for the construction of Kavdas Dam is
another important step taken by authorities.
26 | P a g e
Maharashtra government raises financial aid for martyrs’ kin to Rs 1crore

State Government of Maharashtra increased the financial aid to families of Jawans Martyred in war or war like
situations and to disabled soldiers hailing from the state from Rs25 lakhsto Rs 1 crore.
i. The government will provide Rs 60lakh to soldiers left 51 to 100% disabled instead of the current Rs
15lakh.
ii. Those with 25% disability will be given assistance of Rs20 lakh from Rs5lakh.
iii. Those with disability up to 50% will be given assistance of Rs 34lakh from Rs 8.5lakh.
More about Maharashtra cabinet
Recently Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis inducted 13 new ministers in the cabinet.
i. Out of the total 13 ministers,eight are of cabinet rank and the rest five are ministers of state.
ii. It is also to be noted that 6 ministers from the present cabinet were dropped as well. With the expanded
cabinet many young and new faces got a place in the cabinet.
iii. RadhakrishnaVikhe Patel, from Congress was the first person to be sworn in as cabinet minister in among
the recently inducted 13 cabinet ministers
Maharashtra tops in ATM frauds: RBI

According to the data of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), accessed by the Times of India
(TOI), Maharashtra registered the highest number of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) frauds in India for
the FY 2018-19. It was followed by Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka. Amounts of less than Rs 1 lakh were not
considered for the data.
The following are the details:
State/UT Cases Amount

Maharashtra 233 Rs 4.8 crore
Delhi 179 Rs 2.9 crore
Tamil Nadu 147 Rs 3.63 crore
Karnataka 65 Rs 1.3 crore
Haryana 58 Rs 1.1 crore
i. There was an increase in ATM fraud cases up from 911 cases in 2017-18 to 980 in 2018-19.
ii. The amount involved was decreased from Rs 65.3 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 21.4 crore in 2018-19.
iii. With regard to ATM/Debit card, Credit card and Internet banking transactions of over Rs 1 lakh, there were
1,367 frauds reported in FY 2016-17; 2,127 frauds in FY 2017-18; and 1,477 frauds in FY 2018-19
iv. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura were the only three states which did not report a single incident.
Basant Kumar Birla, Indian industry stalwart and Birla group patriarch passed away at the age of 98 in
Mumbai
Basant Kumar Birla, Indian businessman and Birla group patriarch passed away recently in Mumbai at the
age of 98. He was born in Kolkata, West Bengal.
KeyPoints:
i. He was the chairman of the Krishnarpan Charity Trust, BK Birla Institute of Engineering & Technology
(BKBIET) and various educational trusts and institutes .
ii. He wrote several books including an autobiography titled ‘Svantah Sukhaya’
Co-founder of Dalit Panther, Raja Dhale passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra

On July 16, 2019, An Indian writer, artist & activist, Raja Dhale passed away at the age of 78 in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. He was one of the founding members of the Dalit Panther started in April 1972, alongside
Namdeo Dhasal and Arun Krushnaji Kamble. He was born in Maharashtra.i. He belonged to the Republican
Party of India.
ii. Apart from Social Service he authoured two books namely, Dalit Pantherchi Sansthapana: Vastusthiti Ani
Viparyas”, “Arun Kolhatkarchi Gacchi: Ek Nirupan”.
27 | P a g e
Maharashtra Current Affairs - August 2019

Pilot basis of one Nation one ration card scheme launched in 4 States
In order to boost the National Food Security, the pilot basis of One Nation One Ration Card scheme was
launched by the government in four states namely Telangana , Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
Families holding this card can buy subsidized rice and wheat from any ration shop in these four states.
Key points
i. This program is expected to be implemented by August next year.
ii. A trial run of the project was conducted by the Telangana Civil Supplies Corporation last week where
consumers from Andhra Pradesh bought their commodities from the fair price shop in Hyderabad.
iii. White ration cardholders can buy the subsidized rice and wheat from any fair price shops in these state and
this same facility is available in Andhra Pradesh also through POS (Point Of Sale) machines.
• 28 Crore customers have been benefited with this ration portability introduced in Telangana last year.
• 56 lakh beneficiaries are covered under the National Food Security Act.
Availing the scheme
To avail, this One Nation One Ration Card scheme, the family’s ration card should be linked with their Aadhaar
number.
Maharashtra Govt launches Automated Multi-modal Biometric Identification System (AMBIS) for crime
detection
On July 29,2019, Maharashtra Chief Minister(CM) Devendra Fadnavis has launched a special digitized policing
system called “Automated Multi-modal Biometric Identification System (AMBIS)” to aid police
investigations & it will soon be expanded across the country.
Key Highlights:
i. Detection: AMBIS adopted by the Maharashtra Police, is an advanced crime detection database, detects
crime based on the available fingerprint, palmprint and iris scan data of criminals on record as well as
accidental finger/ palm-prints collected from crime scenes.
ii. AMBIS: It is an updated version of Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), which has limited
utility, providing only one-to-one fingerprint matches has been used by Indian law enforcement agencies to
explore finger and palm prints.
iii. Service: The system is said to be first-of-its-kind in the country and the state has helped to crack 85 open
cases of theft and break-ins and make 120 arrests during its one year testing period.
iv. Features:
• It can be useful in identifying bodies, especially in cases where the body is mutilated.
• Facial recognition of suspects in cases of mob violence and mob lynching with the help of photographs
and CCTV footage.
• It has a backup facility option, so there will be no data loss by using this system.
• Data can be accessed anywhere, anytime as it can be interfaced with any other operating system(OS)
Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan inaugurates interstate portability in two clusters of states
Shri Vilas Paswan, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution inaugurated the inter-
State portability in two clusters of adjoining States of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana and Gujarat & Maharashtra,
as a major step towards achieving the objective of ‘One Nation One Ration Card’.Under the National Food
Security Act, beneficiaries can avail the benefits from any of the two cluster States.
28 | P a g e
Key points
i. 11 States/UT have implemented the intra-State portability. The 11 states are
• Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan,
Telangana and Tripura.
ii. Having implemented intra-State portability already, the inter-State portability will be introduced in these 11
States by 1st January 2020.
iii. Other states apart from these 11 states will be included in the inter-state portability in a phased manner
starting from 1st of June 2020.
iv. To sustain the reforms brought in by the ongoing scheme of ‘End-to-End Computerization of TPDS
Operations’ and to introduce new reforms, the Department of Food & Public Distribution, is targeting
implementation of nation-wide portability in distribution of subsidised foodgrains to the beneficiaries without
the need of obtaining a new ration card under ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ System.
v. electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices supported by the biometric/Aadhaar authentication will be installed
at Fair Price Shops(FPS)
vi. More than 4.1 lakh (77%) ePoS devices are already operational across the country. 25 States/UTs have
either completed the installation in all FPSs or having significant progress. More than 85% ration cards (at least
one member) in the country are linked with the Aadhaar numbers of the beneficiaries.
President Ram Nath Govind inaugurates Bunker Museum at Raj Bhavan

On August 18,2019 the president of India, Shri Ram Nath Govind inaugurated the 15,000 square feet
underground bunker museum at Maharashtra Raj Bhavan (Governor’s government house) in Mumbai.
Key points
i. It is a bunker of the British era in the 19th century and was discovered in 2016. It was used to fire cannons at
enemy ships and the other section depicts the history of Raj Bhavan.
ii. It has 13 rooms comprising of shell store, Gun shell, Cartridge store and Central Artillery store. The museum
is expected to be opened to the public by the end of 2019 with online booking facility.
iii. The museum has virtual reality booths where visitors can virtually time travel to the 19th century.
Jal Bhushan: The president also unveiled the foundation stone for the reconstruction of Jal Bhushan. It is the
Governor’s office-cum-residential building with a history of nearly 200years. The present building has
undergone renovation.
It was the residence of British governors in 1885 and was shifted to Malabar Point from Parel,Mumbai.
Members present:
The members present during the function were
• Savita Govind, First lady of India.
• C Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra
• Devendra Fadnavis, Chief minister of Maharashtra.
• Chandrakant Patil- state minister for revenue and public works.
• Vinod Tawde- Minister of Higher and technical Education.
Smriti Irani launches sustainable fashion project,’SU.RE’ in Mumbai

On August 22, 2019, The Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani has inaugurated
Project SU.RE(Sustainable Resolution), a joint project of CMAI(Clothing Manufacturers Association of
India)& IMGReliance(International Management Group, during Lakme Fashion Winter/Festive 2019) in
Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Key points:
i. The project was launched by Smriti Irani as well as the organizers of Lakme Fashion Week (CMAI, United
Nations in India, and IMG Reliance).
ii. The aim of this initiative is to move towards sustainable fashion that contributes to a clean environment.
29 | P a g e
iii. It is the 1st ever project in India’s apparel industry that 16 biggest fashion brands of India (such as Future
Group, Aditya Birla Retail, Shoppers Stop, Arvind Brands) come together to set a sustainable pathway for the
Indian Fashion Industry and is also a major step towards responsible and smart business. The combined
industry value of the the 16 signatories to the resolution is around Rs 30,000 crore.
iv. It would help the Indian fashion industry to reduce carbon emissions, increase the efficiency of resources,
combat waste and water management, and create positive social impact to achieve long-term sustainability
targets.
v. The 5major Sustainable Resolution are,
• To understand the environmental impact of the garments being currently produced.

• To create a sustainable framework for prioritizing & utilizing certified raw materials that have a
positive impact on the environment.
• To make a better decision by selecting sustainable and renewable materials and ensuring their
traceability.
• To reach this initiative effectively to consumers through online and physical stores, product
tags/labeling, social media, advertising campaigns, and events.
• To shift a significant percentage of supply chain to a sustainable chain by the year 2025 & to address
critical global issues such as climate change.
About Ministry for Textiles:
Headquarters: New Delhi
Founded: 1999
King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan launches heritage postal stamp of Bandra station
On August 24, 2019, Indian actor, film producer, Shah Rukh Khan (SRK) has introduced heritage postal
stamp of Bandra station in Mumbai, Maharashtra on the completion of 150 years of the railway station.
Key points:
i. He urged the people present at the launching event to use the postal stamps instead of online texting.
ii. Ashish Shelar, minister of School Education, Sports and Youth Welfare of Maharashtra was also present at
the event.
World’s first ultra-fast Hyperloop project granted to Maharashtra

The infrastructure project status worth $10billion (Rs. 70,0000 crore) was granted to Maharashtra by India,
to establish the world’s first ultra-fast Hyperloop project. This project stretching over 117.5km, will
link Mumbai with the neighboring city of Pune and travels to the destination in about 35 minutes.
i. Hyperloops freight at speeds up to 1200 km per hour (750miles per hour) using magnetic to levitate pods
inside an airless tube.
Indian Institute of Skills (IIS) will be set up in Mumbai in association with the Tata Trust
On August 14,2019, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)
stated that world-class Indian Institute of Skills (IIS) will be set up in Mumbai, Maharashtra in association
with Tata Educational and Development Trust (TEDT) aimed at scaling up of skill training enabling the young
generation to acquire skills at par with global standards.
Key points:
i. P-P-P model: The Government has provided 4.5 acres of land for the project, which will be executed on a
Public-Private Partnership (P-P-P)basis, where the TEDT will invest around Rs. 300 crore for the construction
of IIS ,which will have a capacity to train 10,000 trainees in various areas including security, aerospace, iron
and natural gas.
ii. Another 2: The government also plans to set up 2 more institutes in Ahmedabad and Kanpur by 2022.
30 | P a g e
iii. Skilling of youth: The state government of Maharashtra has made remarkable progress in skill
development and has set the benchmark for other states by skilling a large number of the youth, farmers in way
of skilling programs.
iv. Pandey also praised seven top-performing candidates from Maharashtra, who have made their way to
WorldSkills 2019 (known as Olympics of Skills) will be held in Kazan, Russia from August 21 -27, 2019. He also
attended CII (Confederation of Indian Industry ) convention &discussed the role of corporate India in skill
development and laid emphasis on increasing engagement with apprentices within the industry.
Government gives nod to set up Gorewada International Zoo in Nagpur, Maharashtra

On August 29,2019, The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Information and
Broadcasting, Prakash Javadekar has announced the approval for the establishment of new International
Standard Zoo and Biopark on 1914 hectares in the forest land at Gorewada in Nagpur, Maharashtra.
Key points:
i. The Zoo will be equipped with Bio Park, Indian Safari, African Safari, Night Safari, Research, Education and
Training, facilities for tourists among others. Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (FDCM),
a wholly-owned company of the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) has been established for this purpose.
ii. The Government will provide Viability Gap Funding (VGF) of Rs 200 crore for this project.
iii. Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV) formation was approved between the Forest Development Corporation of
Maharashtra (FDCML) (having 51% shareholding) and the Joint Venture(JV) Company of private investors
under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode Partner (with 49%).
iv. The cost estimate is Rs. 392 Crores for this project.
Former Palghar MLA of Maharashtra Navnitbhai Shah passed away at 96

On August 26, 2019, Socialist leader and former MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) of Palghar town in
Maharashtra, Navnitbhai Shah passed away at the age of 96 at a hospital in Mumbai due to old age-related
ailments.
Key points
i. Born in Maharashtra, Shah served as Palghar MLA in 1957 and 1962 before which he served as the first
Sarpanch (village head) of Palghar in 1952. He had tabled the resolution for Sanyukta Maharashtra that called
for separate Marathi-speaking state out of the (then-bilingual) State of Bombay in western India.
ii. He also took part in the freedom struggle in 1942 at the Gowalia Tank maidan in Mumbai and was an active
member of Rashtra Seva Dal between 1943-1949.
2nd meeting of High powered panel of CM’s headed by Devendra Fadnavis for the transformation of
Indian agriculture held in Mumbai
On August 16, 2019, The 2nd meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi formed a High Powered Committee
(HPC)of chief ministers headed by Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for transforming Indian
agriculture and raising farmers’ income, under NITI (National Institution for Transforming
India) Aayogheld in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Key suggestions:
i. Agricultural pricing: For the benefit of small traders and farmers, the panel decided the imposition of
the Essential Commodities Act,1955, only in rare cases (such as scarcity and war)where the commodity
prices rise by over 50% of market rates.
ii. GM crops: The panel sought states’ views on whether GM (genetically modified) crops could be used in
restricted spaces to boost productivity& export in the agriculture sector.
iii. Discussion: It also discussed the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act, 2003, Contract
Farming Act,2018 & unexpected unusual rainfall in south-central India lead to crop loss.
31 | P a g e
iv. Participants: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani,
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, Uttar Pradesh
Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi, Odisha Agriculture Minister Dr. Arun Kumar Sahoo, Haryana Chief
Minister Manohar Lal Khattar have attended the meeting.
v. Background: The 1st meet was held on July 18, 2019, where the discussion focussed on the growth of the
food processing industry &ways to promote the infusion of new-age technology and attract private investment
to modernize agriculture.
About Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare:
Founded: 1947
NGT panel headed by S P Garg suggests unique ID numbers for water bodies in Delhi
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) committee headed by former high court judge Justice S P Garg suggested
that all water bodies in Delhi must be provided with Unique Identification Numbers (UID) after properly
demarcating them and mapping them on GPS (Global Positioning System) platforms in order to conserve them.
Key Points:
i. Recommendations: The authorities have been directed to install CCTV cameras at prominent places to spot
polluters. Signboards or banners which display that throwing waste is not allowed shall be put up near lakes,
warning of legal action in case of violation.
ii. Measures: The panel informed a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel that the
water bodies should be secured by constructing boundary walls and relevant entries in the revenue records.
iii. Eutrophication: It is when a water body becomes overly enriched with minerals and nutrients which
induce excessive of algae. According to the panel, lakes and ponds are victims of eutrophication. It results in the
prolific growth of aquatic weeds in lakes and ponds which must be cleaned on time.
iv. Statistics: In 2018, the Delhi government had announced that there were around 1,000 – 1,200 water
bodies in the city, out of which around 600 could be revived. The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is reviving around 200
such water bodies. The irrigation and flood control department would revive another 100.
v. Monitoring committee: The agencies shall have exclusive dedicated staff to take care of the water bodies.
DJB has designated Rakesh Sahni as SE (Water Bodies).
About NGT:
♦ Established: 2010
♦ First Chairperson: Lokeshwar Singh Panta
Mumbai ranks 45th & Delhi 52nd in 2019 world’s Safe Cities Index
On August 29, 2019, According to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit sponsored by NEC corporation’s
(formerly Nippon Electric Company), World’s Safe city index(SCI) for the year 2019, Mumbaiwas
ranked 45th safest city whereas Delhi stood at the 52nd position. The overall list was topped by Tokyo(Japan)
followed by Singapore and Osaka in 2nd and 3rd spots respectively.
Key points
i. A total of 6 out of 10 cities of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, made it to the top 10 spots. Other cities Sydney
and Melbourne were also placed in the top 10 list.
ii. Seoul (South Korea) along with Copenhagen (Denmark) took the eighth spot.
iii. Low scored states: Yangon (Myanmar), Karachi (Pakistan) and Dhaka (Bangladesh) were ranked at the
bottom of the list.
iv. The SCI ranks 60 cities based on 57 indicators under digital security, health security, infrastructure security
and personal security. While the overall spot was topped by Tokyo, several other cities topped in those certain
individual categories. They are as follows,
32 | P a g e
Rank Digital security Health security Infrastructure Personal Overall

security security.
1 Tokyo(Japan) Osaka(Japan) Singapore Singapore Tokyo
2 Singapore Tokyo (Japan) Osaka(Japan) Copenhagen Singapore.
(Denmark)
3 Chicago(America) Seoul (South Korea) Barcelona(Spain) Hong Osaka.
Kong(China)
Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central Tejas Express and the Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express to be run by IRCTC
Indian Railways has decided that Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central Tejas Express and the Delhi-Lucknow
Tejas Express will be run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a subsidiary of
the Indian Railways, for a period of 3 years as a pilot project. The fares of these trains will be flexible and will be
decided by the IRCTC. The proposal was mooted by the railways in its 100-day plan.
Mumbai Man Chinmay Prabhu creates 2nd world record for solving pyraminx puzzles
A 20-year-old Chinmay Prabhu from Mumbai has created a world record for the 2nd time under his name of
solving 176 pyraminx (pyramid-shaped Rubik’s cube) puzzles while riding a bicycle in 1 hour and 7 minutes.
He broke the record of solving 111 pyraminx puzzles.
Key points:
i. On December 2018, He had set the Guinness Book of World Records of solving 9 rubik’s cubes underwater in
1 minute and 48 seconds.
ii. Prabhu also made an entry into the Limca Book of Records for solving mirror cube blindfolded.
iii. He has been solving Rubik’s cube puzzles since the year 2015.
Mumbai to host 2019 World Youth chess meet

The 2019 World Youth chess championship is to be held in Mumbai from October 1-13, at the Renaissance
Hotel in Powai, Mumbai under the aegis of All-India Chess Federation and organized by the All-Marathi chess
Association. World’s second youngest GrandMaster(GM) R.Pragganandhaa(14) from Chennai and Nagpur’s
Divya Deshmukh will take part in the event.
Key points
i. India’s challenge in the girls’ category will be led by Divya Deshmukh.
ii. Players from 62 countries including Russia, America, France, Italy, and Azerbaijan have confirmed their
participation.
iii. Players will be seen in three age group for boys and girls: under(U)-14, U-16 and U-18.
iv. Pragganandhaa is the sibling of Vaishali.R, the youngest International Master(IM) and the fourth-youngest
GrandMaster in history.
Veteran cricket commentator of All India Radio, Anant Setalvad passed away
Long term member in Cricket Club of India and veteran cricket commentator, Anant Setalvad from Mumbai,
passed away at the age of 84 due to old age ailments. He is survived by his two sons.
Key points
i. He was a cricket commentator for All India Radio (AIR) in Ranji Trophy, BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in
India) tournaments and also for some test matches from the mid-1960s13 to 1980s.
ii. He shared the mike with former test opener and ex-selection panel Chief Vijay Merchant on AIR
iii. His last rites would take place at Worli crematorium,Mumbai.
33 | P a g e
About AIR
founded- 1930
Motto- Bahujanahitaya Bahujanahitaya
Owner- Prasar Bharati
Headquarters- New Delhi.
Veteran Bollywood filmmaker J. Om Prakash passed away aged 92

On 6 August 2019 veteran Bollywood filmmaker and also the maternal Grandfather of Bollywood actor Hritik
Roshan, J. Om Prakash, passed away at his residence in Mumbai at the age of 92.
Key points
i. He was born on 24 January 1927 in Punjab’s Sialkot.
ii. Om Prakash made his debut in with actor Rajesh Khanna’s “Aap ki Kasam” in 1974 which became a huge
success. His other notable films include Aakhir Kyon and Aadmi Khilona Hai.
iii. He served as President of Film Federation of India (FFI) from 1995-1996.
iv. He also produced many films like Aas Ka Panchhi, Ayee Milan Ki Bala, Aaye Din Bahar Ke.
Veteran actress Vidya Sinha passed away at the age of 71

Veteran Bollywood actor Vidya Sinha, aged 71 years passed away at Criticare Hospital in Mumbai, due to lung
and heart disorders.
Key points
i. Born on 15 November 1947 in Bombay to film producer Rana Pratap Singh, Vidya Sinha is popularly known
for her roles in movies like Rajnigandha(1974), Chhoti Si Batt(1976) and BR Chopra’s Pati, Patni Aur
Woh(1978).
ii. She last featured in actor Salman Khan’s Bodyguard. Later she was engaged in television shows such as Ekta
Kapoor’s Kaavyanjali, besides Kulfi Kumar Bajewala.
India’s first woman DGP Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya passed away in Mumbai
On August 26, 2019, India’s first woman Director General of Police (DGP), Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya,
passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra after an illness. She was born in Himachal Pradesh and lived in Amritsar,
Punjab and Delhi. She was the second woman IPS (Indian Police Service) officer of India after Kiran Bedi.
i. She is a 1973 batch IPS officer.

ii. She was appointed the DGP of Uttarakhand in the year 2004 and retired as the DGP on October 31, 2007.
iii. She also contested in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on an Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) ticket from Haridwar
constituency. But failed to win.
iv. She was awarded President’s Medal for long and meritorious services in 1989, President’s Medal for
distinguished services in 1997 and Rajiv Gandhi Award in 2004 for excellent all-round performance and as an
outstanding woman achiever.
Maharashtra Current Affairs - September 2019

‘Terracotta Grinder’ Launched by KVIC at Varanasi to Re-use wasted pottery
On September 2, 2019 the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) based at Mumbai, has launched
‘Terracotta grinder’ at Sewapuri, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. It is manufactured under KVIC’s
project REPLAN (REducingPLAstic in Nature) and grinds waste and broken pottery items for reuse in pottery
making. It is designed by KVIC chairman Shri Vinai Kumar Saxena and Fabricated by Rajkot(Gujarat) based
engineering unit.
34 | P a g e
Key points
i. Saxena, also distributed 200 electric pottery wheels and pottery machines to the villagers whereby job
opportunity will also be increased and has also created demand for terracotta products by the Ministry of
Railways to Zonal Railways and IRCTC(Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) in Varanasi and
Raebareilly stations.
First ‘Make in India’ Metro Coach In Mumbai inaugurated by PM Modi in Mumbai

On September 7, 2019, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi inaugurated the first Metro Coach in Mumbai
under the ‘Make in India’ initiative at Jio World Centre, Maharashtra, Mumbai. He also launched Rs.19,000
crore worth metro projects with previous investment of Rs 1.5Lakh crore and laid foundation stone of 3 Metro
lines to the metro network of the city expected to be operational from 2031.
Visit to Mumbai
i. Metro projects: The metro projects were launched with vision ‘Mumbai in Minutes’.
ii. Metro Bhavan: PM laid foundation stone of the state-of-the-art Metro Bhavan which is a 32 storey centre
and would control 14 metro lines around 337 km radius. It would be constructed on the 20,387 square meter
plot with buildable area 1,14,088 square meters.
iii. Metro Coach: The metro coach was made in a record time of 75 days with design speed 90 kmph and
operational speed 80 kmph. It was designed by Bharat Earth Movers Ltd(BEML) in Mumbai.
iv.Metro station: Bandongri Metro Station in Kandivali East of Maharashtra was inaugurated by PM.
v. The three metro lines:
• 9.2 km long Gaimukh to ShivajiChowk Metro-10 corridor

• 12.7 km long Wadala to ChhatrapatiShivajiMaharaj Terminus Metro-11 corridor and
• 20.7 km long Kalyan to Taloja Metro-12 corridor.
vi. Document release: Brand Vision Document for Maha Mumbai Metro developed by Mumbai Metropolitan
Region Development Authority (MMDRA) was released.
Visit to Aurangabad:
In Aurangabad shri Modi addressed ‘MahilaSakshamMelava’ (Empowered Women’s Meet) of the Self Help
Groups(SHG) organised by the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission (MSRLM).
i. AURIC: The first phase of Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) of 10,000 acre area developed under Delhi-
Mumbai Corridor at the Shendra industrial area, Maharashtra was observed to become an industrial centre in
the near future with more job generation. AURIC in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, is the first
Greenfield industrial smart city in the country.
ii. AURIC hall and chatbot: A 6 storey AURIC hall was inaugurated and an Auricchatbot to address city
administration problem was launched.
iii. LPG distribution: Achievement of 8 crore Liquified Petroleum Gas(LPG) connections distributed under the
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was made on the occasion. This marks the achievement of 8 crore gas
connections 7 months ahead of the target period.
iv. Book release: PM launched a book titled “Transforming Rural Maharashtra”.
v. Mega water scheme: Under the JalJeevan mission the government is to spend Rs. 3.5 lakh crore in the next
5 years to provide piped water connection (HarGharJal) to all rural households by 2024. This move is
dedicated to legendary socialist late Ram ManoharLohia for his dream of providing water to lessen the water
issues faced by women.
vi. Members present:
• Bhagat Singh Koshyari- Governor of Maharashtra.

• Shri Devendra Fadnavis- Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
• Shri PiyushGoyal- Union minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways and other officials.
35 | P a g e
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar flags off ‘Jaldoot’ bus for water conservation initiative in Pune
On September 14, 2019 the union minister for environment, forest and climate change Shri Prakash
Javadekar (also Information & Broadcasting minister) flagged off a bus named “Jaldoot” in Pune, Maharashtra
which showcases the importance of water conservation. This bus which is redesigned to create “Jaldoot:
Travelling Exhibition on Jalshakti Abhiyan”, would travel to 8 districts of Maharashtra for 2 months and
would also convey to people about the work of govt. in last 100 days, along with bold initiatives and decisions
undertaken.
Key points
i. The bus was developed by Regional Outreach Bureau(ROB) of Pune under the ministry of information and
broadcasting in association with MSRTC (Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation). Oath on
‘swachhta’(cleanliness) was undertaken in the event, administered by Javdekar.
ii. The aim of jal shakti ministry to provide piped drinking water by 2024 was reminded.
iii. Members present: Girish Bapat and Supria Sule(both Members of Parliament(MP)), Satyendra Sharan-
Director General of ROB, RN Mishra- director general of Press Information Bureau(PIB)- west zone and other
officials were present.
Javadekar inaugurates the renovated Jayakar bungalow at NFAI in Pune, Maharashtra

On September 15, 2019, Shri Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Environment,
Forest and Climate Change has inaugurated the renovated Jayakar bungalow (a famous heritage building of
Pune) at National Film Archive of India (NFAI)in Pune, Maharashtra. The bungalow has been renovated with
an outlay of 3 crore rupees.
Key points:
i. The renovated bungalow have a digital film library and private space to watch the films of NFAI’s collection.
Javadekar also released a special booklet ‘Parampara: An ode to Jayakar Bungalow’, which tells the history
of the bungalow as well as its restoration. The special feature of this booklet is that eminent film personalities
like Shabana Azmi and Rehana Sultan have shared their experiences. Javadekar also launched a mobile app for
booking to watch movies at NFAI.
ii. Jayakar Bungalow was originally built in 1910. It is named after the first Vice Chancellor of the University of
Pune, MR Jayakar. In the past, the ownership of the bungalow came from the hands of Jayakar to the Indian Law
Society and then to FTII (Film and Television Institute of India ) and finally to NFAI.
iii. The two-storey bungalow is designed with wooden floors, The narrow staircases and high shelves of books
symbolize British architecture.
About NFAI:
i. It is India’s premier organization for film preservation, conservation, and restoration.
ii. It works under the aegis of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Polish Minister Marcin Przydacz unveils memorial pillar in Valivade, Kolhapur in memory of refugee
Polish families during WWII
On September 14, 2019, Marcin Przydacz, the deputy foreign minister of Poland unveiled a memorial pillar
in Valivade in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra in memory of the 5000 polish refugee families that settled in
Valivade during World War II (WWII) 80 years ago.
Key points
i. A permanent museum is also expected to be set up within 1 year in memory of the refugees containing
Photographs, paintings, and other important materials from that era.
ii. Members present: Polish Ambassador to India Adam Burakowski and Guardian Minister of Kolhapur
Chandrakant Patil and other officials were present during the event.
36 | P a g e
Indian Railways for the first time installed PET bottle crush machine in Mumbai Rajdhani express
For the first time in India, Indian Railways installed Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) bottle crush machine
in Mumbai Rajdhani Express which runs between Mumbai Central and New Delhi. It was implemented by
the Western Railways as part of the Indian Railways’ Swachh Bharat and Go Green missions associated with
the ban of single-use plastic imposed by the Centre.
Key Points:
i. This machine can crush up to 3,000 bottles per day, enable recycling of 90% PET waste bottles from 200 ml-
2.5 litre size, reduce carbon footprint by 100% recycling and avoid littering in landfill from bottle waste.
ii. It has an internal storage bin of approx 20 litres which is equivalent to 1500 bottles.
iii. Western Railways has set up selfie points at Churchgate and Andheri stations, Mumbai to raise awareness
on plastic ban.
About Western Railways:
♦ Headquarters: Churchgate, Mumbai
♦ General Manager: Shri Anil Kumar Gupta
Veteran music director Usha Khanna to be honoured with Maharashtra government’s “Lata Mangeshkar
Award” for the year 2019-20
The Cultural Affairs Minister of the government of Maharashtra, Mr. Vinod Tawde announced that Veteran
music director Usha Khanna, aged 78, has been awarded the Maharashtra government’s “Lata Mangeshkar
Award” for the year 2019-20.
Key Points:
i. Khanna began his career through the Bollywood film “Dil Deke Dekho” (1959). Her last movie as a music
composer was “Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya” (2003). She also composed music for some Hindi television serials.
Yesudas, bagged the Filmfare Award 1980 for male playback singer for the song “Dil Ke Tukde, Tukde Karke”
(Dada, 1979) composed by Khanna.
ii. The award was instituted in 1993 and consists of Rs 5,00,000 cash, a citation and a memento.
iii. The previous recipients of the award include Krishna Kalle, Ram-Laxman, Uttam Singh, Pushpa Pagdhare
and other personalities.
Congress veteran & freedom fighter BJ Khatal Patil passed away at 100 in Maharashtra
On September 16, 2019 Congress veteran BJ Khatal Patil passed away at the age of 100 due to Pneumonia at
his residence in Rangaragalli in Sangamner town of Maharashtra. Born on March 26, 1919, in Sangamner town
in Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, Khatal served as a lawyer and took part in the Indian independence
struggle and Non-cooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.
Key points
i. He served in the Maharashtra legislative assembly as a minister between 1962 and 1985.
ii. He also authored several books where his first book “Antariche Dhave” was first published in the year 2011.
Maharashtra govt. to set up “Swachh Bharat World University” at Sevagram in wardha district of
Maharashtra
On September 18, 2019 In order to focus on cleanliness and sanitation research, the state govt
of Maharashtra has decided to set up ‘Swachh Bharat World University’ to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th
birth anniversary. The university will be set up at Sevagram town, Wardha, in vidarbha region of Maharashtra.
A seven-member committee headed by Vinod Tawde, education minister of Maharashtra has been formed to
study about the university requirements.
Key points
The reason Wardha region was selected to establish the university was because, the region also has Mahatma
Gandhi’s Sevagram Ashram and Institute of Gandhian Studies (Gandhi VicharParishad).
37 | P a g e
Maharashtra set to become India’s first state to formulate vertical property rules
The cabinet of Maharashtra cleared the “vertical property rules” to create a database of all flats, buildings
and commercial complexes with an aim to prevent property-related frauds. It is set to become India’s first state
to formulate vertical property rules.
Key Points:
i. The draft rules will be inserted into the Maharashtra Land Revenue Record of Rights and Registers for
Apartments and Building Rules 2019 by the Revenue Department of the Maharashtra government.
ii. After the implementation, the current property cards, or 7/12 extract (a property document where there are
no city survey numbers) will become the main document of ownership.
iii. The property card of the apartment will be the supplementary document.
Election Commission appoints Ms Madhu Mahajan & Shri B Murali Kumar as special expenditure
observers for Maharashtra
On September 23, 2019, The Election Commission of India (ECI) has appointed two former Indian Revenue
Service (IRS) officers Madhu Mahajan (ex IRS 1982) and B. Murali Kumar (ex IRS 1983) as Special
Expenditure Supervisors for the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Key points:
i. The appointment was made by ECI exercising the powers conferred on it under Article 324 of the
Constitution and Section 20B of The Representation of the People Act 1951.
ii. In consultation with the Chief Electoral Officer at Mumbai , Maharashtra, Mahajan will oversee the conduct of
Elections with special emphasis on controlling the abuse of money power, while Kumar would similarly be
based in Pune to oversee matters in rest of the state with officers and election authorities
iii. They will watch the work being done by the electoral department and ensure that stringent action taken
based on intelligence inputs and complaints received through the app C-VIGIL (citizens’ vigil), Voter Helpline
1950 against all persons/entities trying to induce voters in order to impair the poll exercise.
About ECI:
Formed: 25 January 1950
Chief Election Commissioner: Sunil Arora
Election Commissioner : Ashok Lavasa, Sushil Chandra
Actress Madhuri Dixit appointed as a goodwill ambassador for Maharashtra Assembly polls
Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Office appointed Indian actress Madhuri Dixit as a goodwill ambassador
for Maharashtra Assembly polls to create awareness among people about the importance of voting which are
scheduled to be held on October 21, 2019. She will be seen in a video titled ‘Let’s Vote’.
7th World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) 2019 held in Mumbai, Maharashtra
A 3-day event of 7th World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) 2019 held at Hotel Grand Hyatt in Mumbai,
Maharashtra from 27- 29, September, 2019 with the theme “Prosperous Society: Stronger Society” to bring
together financially successful members in Hindu society such as such as traders, bankers, technocrats,
investors, industrialists to share business knowledge, expertise and resources with their fellow brethren.
Key points:
i. The event witnessed the keynote speeches of UP (Uttar Pradesh) Chief Minister Adityanath & and
Maharashtra chief minister,Devendra Fadnavis in the presence of forefront industry leaders including Piramal
Group’s chairman Ajay Piramal, and senior executives from Lockheed Martin US (United States), Tata Sons’
defence business and Larsen & Toubro(L&T), Indian Space Research Organisation Chairperson AS Kiran
Kumar, State Bank of India (SBI) Chairperson Rajnish Kumar.
ii. More than 1000 delegates comprising business stalwarts and policy makers were present on this occasion.
38 | P a g e
iii. The WHEF journey began in 2012 in Hong Kong, followed by successful annual forums in Bangkok 2013,
New Delhi 2014, London 2015, Los Angeles 2016, Chicago 2018.
WHEF 2020 will be organized in The Hague, Netherlands.
Mumbai ranks 5th and New Delhi 11th in the 2019 Knight Frank Co-Living Index across Asia-Pacific,
Beijing tops
On September 9, 2019, the Co-living index for the year 2019 titled “Insights on Co-living – An Asia-Pacific
Perspective” across the Asia-Pacific region was released by London based consultancy agency Knight Frank.
Among the Indian cities, Mumbai ranked at the 5th spot, New Delhi ranked at the 11th spot and the electronic
city of India, Bengaluru ranked at the 19th spot in the index. The index was topped by Beijing (China)
followed by Tokyo(Japan) and Shanghai(China) in the second and third position respectively.
Key points
i. Ranking factor: The index was made on 6 key attributes namely, Tech & Financial Hub, housing affordability,
University population, venture capital deals & growth, quality of life and general population & human
development index. It has covered twenty major Asia-Pacific cities.
Rankings:
Rank City
1 Beijing(China)
2 Tokyo (Japan)
3 Shanghai (China)
5 Mumbai( Maharashtra, India)
11 New Delhi(Delhi, India)
19 Bengaluru (Karnataka, India)
About Knight Frank:
Founded- 1896.
Founder- John Knight, Howard Frank, William Rutley.
Headquarters- London, England.
India’s DAIS, Mumbai ranks 10th in 2019 “Global Top 50 IB Schools 2019″ list, Anglo Chinese of
Singapore tops
In the “Global Top 50 IB Schools 2019″ list released on September 7, 2019, by United Kingdom(UK) based
education consultancy ‘Education Advisers ltd’, India’s Dhirubhai Ambani International School (DAIS), Mumbai,
Maharashtra was ranked at 10th position in the list. It is also the only Indian International Baccalaureate (IB)
school featured in the list.
Key points:
i. Since its inception in 2013, the DAIS has been ranked 1st position in International School in India by
‘Education World’ for 7 consecutive years.
ii. The list is topped by Anglo Chinese of Singapore followed by Godolphin & Latymer of UK and St Josephs
Institution of Singapore at 2nd and 3rd position.
IIT Bombay tops the Indian institutes, and MIT overall, in 2020 QS Graduate Employability Rankings
On September 19, 2019, in the latest QS(Quacquarelli Symonds) Graduate Employability Rankings 2020, the
Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Bombay topped all the Indian institutes in the list with band ranking 111-
120, which is now up from 141-150 of the year 2018. The other two best ranked Indian institutes are IIT Delhi
at band ranking 151-160 and IIT Madras at band ranking 171-180.The Birla Institute of Science and
Technology (BITS) Pilani, Rajasthan, for the first time entered the QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2020 in
the 201-250 band ranking. The list was topped overall by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United
States (US).
39 | P a g e
Key points
i. Other rankings: Globally, IIT Madras ranks 3rd in terms of ‘graduate employment rate indicator’, University
of Delhi ranks 20th in ‘alumni outcomes’, BITs ranks 72nd in ‘employer-student connection indicator’.
ii. The ranking covers 500 universities globally under a unique five-metric method to rank them. Out of 15
Indian institutes that participated in the list, only 10 made it to the publishing list.
President appoints 5 new Governors

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind on August 31st, 2019 has appointed 5 new governors namely
Dr.Tamilisai Soundararajan, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Kalraj Mishra, Arif Mohammed Khan and Bandaru
Dattatreya for Telangana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Kerala, and Himachal Pradesh respectively.
Key points
i. Tamilisai Soundararajan: She is appointed as the governor of Telangana. She is the former Tamilnadu chief
of the BJP(Bharatiya Janata Party) and its National secretary. The governor post was preceded by ESL
Narasimhan who was the Governor of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (AP) after its Bifurcation since
2014. He is also recently replaced by Biswabhusan Harichandan as AP governor.
ii. Bhagat Singh Koshyari: He was the former Chief Minister(CM) of Uttarakhand (2nd CM), who also served as
National Vice President of BJP and party’s 1st State president in the state. He is now appointed as the governor
of Maharashtra succeeding VidyaSagar Rao whose 5-year term comes to an end.
iii. Kalraj Mishra: He is appointed as the Governor of Rajasthan replacing Kalyan Singh. He served as former
union minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) under Prime Minister Modi’s first government.
Prior to his appointment he served as the Governor of Himachal Pradesh.
iv. Arif Mohammed Khan: He is appointed as the Governor of Kerala replacing P Sadhasivam (former chief
justice of india) whose 5-year term comes to an end. He served as Former civil aviation minister.
v. Bandaru Dattatreya: He is appointed as the governor of Himachal Pradesh replacing Kalraj Mishra. He
previously served as the national vice-president of the BJP, labour&employment minister, and also as a
Member of Parliament
State New governor Preceded by

Telangana Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan E S L Narasimhan
Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari Vidya Sagar Rao
Rajasthan Kalraj Mishra Kalyan Singh
Kerala Arif Mohammed Khan P Sathasivam
Himachal Pradesh Bandaru Dattatreya Kalraj Mishra
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd delivered second Scorpenesubmarine“KHANDERI” to Indian Navy in

Mumbai
On September 19, 2019 India’s biggest warship builder Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd(MDL), delivered the
second of the 6 scorpene class submarine, Indian Naval Ship (INS) khanderi to the Indian Navy in Mumbai,
Maharashtra. The submarine will be commissioned at Naval dockyard by the Union Defence Minister Shri
Rajnath Singh on September 28, 2019.The ship is designed by French company Naval Group (earlier known as
DCNS)
Key points
i. The acceptance document was signed by Rakesh Anand, Chairman & Managing Director(MD) of MDL and
Rear Admiral B Sivakumar, Chief of Staff Officer (Tech), Western Naval Command.
ii. The first of the scorpene submarine named INS Kalvari, was commissioned in the year 2018. The last of the
submarine is expected to be delivered by 2022.
iii. Khanderi name: The submarine Khanderi is named after wide snouted Sawfish, which is a deadly sea
predator of the Indian Ocean.
40 | P a g e
Rajnath Singh Commissions 2nd INS Khanderi Attack Submarine, 1st P-17 Shivalik-Class Frigate INS
Nilgiri & The Largest Aircraft Carrier Drydock
On September 28, 2019, The Defence Minister of India, Mr Rajnath Singh commissioned India’s second
Scorpene-class attack submarine INS Khanderi, India’s first P-17 Shivalik-class frigate INS Nilgiri and the
largest aircraft carrier drydock into the Indian Navy in a ceremony held at the Mazagon Docks in Mumbai,
Maharashtra in the presence of Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh and others.
INS Khanderi
The motto of INS (Indian Navy Ship) Khanderi is ‘Akhand Abhedya Adrishya’ that implies unity of the crew
and its stealth capabilities. Its name and features are inspired by the fish named ‘Kanneri’, found in Arabian
Sea.
The features of the submarine are as follows:

i. Launched in August 2017, it is the second class attack submarine under Project 75, the first being INS
Kalvari.
ii. The diesel-electric fully automated submarine was manufactured by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders
Limited (MDSL) in Mumbai.
iii. The state-of-the-art features of the submarine include superior stealth and the ability to launch a crippling
attack on the enemy using precision-guided weapons.
iv. It successfully cleared all the rigorous sea trials and tests over the last two and a half years.
v. It is capable of saving oxygen availability and can stay underwater for long periods.
vi. It reduces its noise when it is under the sea and can roll-in a crew of 36 members.
vii. It comprises a set of missiles and torpedoes along with a sonar suite which helps the submarine to detect
the enemies from a long distance and classify its targets.
viii. It is 67.5 metres long and 12.3 metres tall.
ix. The submarine’s permanently magnetised propulsion motor is powered by 360 battery cells. Each battery
cell weighs 750 kg.
Project 75/ P-75

India aims to build a total of 6 Scorpene-class submarines under P-75 in collaboration with France’s Transfer of
Technology from Naval Group at a cost of around Rs 25,000 crore. The other 4 ships are INS Karanj, INS Vagir,
INS Vagsheer and INS Vela.
INS Nilgiri
i. It is the first Alpha Shivalik-class frigate, a stealth warship built under a programme Project-17 worth over
Rs 45,000 crore. Its launch weight was 2,650 tonnes.
ii. The delivery date of the frigate is 2022.
iii. It consists of a series of 7 ships- 3 to be built by the MDSL in Mumbai and 4 by Garden Reach Shipbuilders &
Engineers (GSRE) in Kolkata.
iv. It is a follow-up to the first ever frigate by MDSL in 1970s (decommissioned now).
v. 5 ships of the Nilgiri-class (P-17A frigates) are named after the famous hill ranges of India- Himgiri, Udaygiri,
Dunagiri, Taragiri and Vindhyagiri. The last frigate (7th) will be named as Mahendragiri.
vi. Each of the frigate is expected to cost around $900 million which roughly translates to Rs 6,500 crore.
Other Specifications of Frigate

i. It is powered by two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines and two MAN manufactured diesel engines.
ii. It will be equipped with two long range surface to air Barak missile, surface to surface Brahmos supersonic
cruise missile to deal with threats from the air. The Barak missiles will be supplied by Bharat Electronics
Limited (BEL) in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
iii. Its construction will adopt the modern Integrated Construction (IC) methodology.
iv. It will be fitted with a pair of RBU-6000 rocket launches and two triple tube torpedo launchers.
41 | P a g e
v. It would be also fitted with defence mechanisms like four decoy launchers and two anti-torpedo decoy
systems.
Aircraft carrier drydock

i. It is the largest drydock of the Indian Navy.
ii. It helps in maintenance works, provides facilities for refueling and repairs and is capable of dry docking INS
Vikramaditya, the modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier of Indian Navy.
iii. Defence minister termed it as an “edifice of modern India”.
About Indian Navy:

♦ Navy Day: 4th December
♦ Motto: Sham No Varunah (May the Lord of the water be auspicious unto us)
KiranNagarkar- noted novelist and playwright passed away in Mumbai

On September 5, 2019 Mumbai born noted novelist and playwright KiranNagarkar passed away at the age of
77 due to old age ailments at a hospital in Mumbai. He is known for authoring the books, ‘Cuckold,'(1997)
which won him the 2001 SahityaAkademi award and ‘Bedtime Stories’. He was also awarded the Order of Merit
of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2012.
Key points
i.His other famous works were ‘SaatSakkamTrechalis’ (Seven Sixes Are Forty Three) (1974), ‘Ravan and Eddie’
(1994).His most recent work(book) was “The Arsonist: Poet, Weaver, Seer, Blasphemer” that was released in
June 2019 and his last novel was written in November 2017 named “Jasoda”.
ii.He is also a novelist, playwright, film and drama critic, and screenwriter both in Marathi and English.
Bollywood actor and renowned Kathak dancer Veeru Krishnan passed away
Bollywood actor and renowned Kathak dancer Veeru Krishnan has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
i. He worked in many films such as “Ishq”, “Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke” and “Raja Hindustani”. He mostly appeared
in supporting roles in the films in the 1990s.
ii. Besides being an actor, he was also a famous kathak dancer. Many Bollywood celebrities like Katrina Kaif,
Athiya Shetty, Karanvir Bohra, and others were trained in Kathak by him.
Famous filmmaker Shyam Ramsay passes away at Mumbai, Maharashtra

Bollywood’s famous horror film producer Shyam Ramsay (one of the seven Ramsay Brothers) has passed
away in Mumbai, Maharashtra after suffering from pneumonia. He was 67.
i. Born on 17 May 1952, Shyam Ramsay has made a tremendous identity in Hindi cinema through horror films
such as,Purana Mandir (1984), Andhera (1975), saboot (1980), Purani Haveli (1989), and Dhund: The Fog
(2003) during his career. He also made films like Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh” (1954) and “Rustom Sohrab”
(1963).
ii. Ramsay Brothers (Kumar, Tulsi, Shyam, Keshu, Kiran, Ganguly and Arjun)came to Mumbai from Karachi
after partition and decided to get into the business of film production
Former Indian test cricketer Madhav Apte passed away at the age of 86 in Mumbai
On September 23, 2019, former Indian test cricketer and opener Madhav Apte passed away at the age of 86 in
a hospital in Mumbai due to cardiac arrest. Born in Mumbai, Maharashtra as Madhavrao Laxmanrao Apte in
1932, he had played 67 first class matches inclusive of 46 Ranji trophy matches for Mumbai and three for
Bengal scoring 3336 runs with 6 centuries and 16 half centuries.
Key points
Apte who played seven tests in the early 1950s scoring 542 runs, with a lone hundred and three fifties to his
credit, also served as the President of the Cricket Club of India(CCI) for some years and the ‘Legends Club’ till
his last breath.
42 | P a g e
Owner of the Britannia & Co restaurant, Boman Rashid Kohinoor passes away in Mumbai, Maharashtra
Mr Boman Rashid Kohinoor, senior partner at the iconic Britannia & Co restaurant (Mumbai) has passed
away at the Parsee General Hospital in Mumbai, Maharashtra due to cardiac arrest. He was 97.
i. Boman Kohinoor’s father Rashid Kohinoor, a Zoroastrian immigrant from Iran started this restaurant in the
south Mumbai, in the year 1923.
ii. Boman, who called himself “the Royal family’s fan number 1”, had taken over the responsibility of the
hotel (most famous for its berry pulao, sali boti, and dhansak) after his father died in an accident.
iii. Kohinoor had met Prince William and Catherine at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in the British dynasty in 2016.
This was the meeting that crossed the outline of the scheduled program.
Veteran Bollywood actor, Viju khote passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra

Bollywood veteran actor Viju Khote, best known for playing the role of ‘Kalia’ in the film Sholay, has passed
away at his home in Mumbai , Maharashtra due to multiple organ failure. He was 77.
i. Born on 17 December 1941, khote was most remembered for his work in more than 440 films in Hindi and
Marathi cinema.
ii. The several popular feature films that Khote was a part of also included , Robert in Andaz Apna Apna (1994),
Maan Singh in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988),Shirish Appa in Ventilator (2016) & TV (Television ) show
Zabaan Sambhalke (1993).
iii. He was the brother of Bollywood’s famous actress Shubha Khote.
Maharashtra Current Affairs - October 2019

5th World Parliament of science, religion and philosophy 2019 held in Pune, Maharashtra
A 3-day event of 5th World Parliament of Science, Religion and Philosophy 2019 with the theme of ‘Role of
Science, Religion and Philosophy for World Peace and well-being of Mankind’ organised by MIT
(Maharashtra Institute of Technology) World Peace University in association with World Peace Centre, Alandi,
MAEER’s MIT Group of institutions and MIT ADT University ,was held at the world’s largest dome philosopher
Saint Dnyaneshwara World Peace Prayer Hall, Loni Kalbhor in Pune, Maharashtra from October 2-4,
2019..The primary objective of the event was to create and promote interfaith and inter-religious movement
for World Peace.
Key points:
i. The 3-day event also witnessed award presenting ceremony.The list of Awardees are as follows,
S.No Award Name Winner of the award Conferred by
Vishwa-Vigyan-Darshanik Sumitra Mahajan (Former Union

1 Award Prof Dr Vishwanath D Karad Minister and Ex LokSabha Speaker)
Dnyaneshwara World Former union minister Padma Arif Mohammad Khan (Governor of
2 Peace Prize 2019 Bhushan Dr Karan Singh Kerala)
ii. Former speaker of Loksabha Sumitra Mahajan, Prof Dr Vishwanath D Karad – UNESCO(United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Chair Holder; Founder, MIT World Peace University, Dr R C
Sinha, President, Indian Council of Philosophical Research, Prof Ambika Datta Sharma, Secretary, Akhil
Bharatiya Darshan Parishad, New Delhi, Prof Dr Ashok Vora, Professor of Philosophy, Delhi University and
Rahul V Karad, Executive President, MIT-WPU were present in the event.
43 | P a g e
Scientists discover 6 new lizard species of ‘Dravidogecko’ family at western ghats in Aurangabad,
Maharashtra
On October 22, 2019, A group of scientists have discovered Six new species of Lizard in the Western Ghats
Mountains in Aurangabad,Maharashtra. The discovery is crucial as only one species of the ‘Dravidgerco’
family (of Dravidogecko anamallensis described in 1875 by German-born British zoologist Albert Gunther was
recognised under this genus) showed up to date.
Keypoints:
i. The six new species have been named as Dravidogecko septentrionalis, D janakiae (after botanist Janaki
Ammal from Kerala), D tholpalli, D meghamalaiensis, D douglasadamsi (after British author and satirist Douglas
Noel Adams) and D smithi (in honour of British herpetologist Malcolm Arthur Smith).
ii. The research that has been written about this new species has been published in New Zealand’s ‘Zootaxa’
journal. The leader of the study team was Bengaluru-based herpetologist R Chaitanya.
iii. Dravidergo was evolved when the Indian subcontinent separated from Africa around 58 million years ago.
They are usually nocturnal and capable of wandering around.
In addition to the jungle, they build nests in abandoned houses and tree trunks.
The Western Ghats:
It is a group / chain of mountains along the western coasts of Gujarat,Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and
Tamil Nadu.
10th edition of Indo Maldives joint exercise Ekuverin 2019 begin at Aundh Mil Stn, Pune
On October 7, 2019 the 10th edition of the joint exercise between India and Maldives named Ekuverin for the
year 2019begun at Aundh Military Station in Pune, Maharashtra. This 14 day joint exercise between Indian
Army(IA) and Maldives National Defence Forces will be conducted till October 20, 2019.
Key points
i. Focus: Under the United Nations(UN) mandate,the exercise focuses to enhance interoperability between the
two nations in carrying out counter insurgency and counter-terrorism operations in a semi-urban environment
while sharing best practices.
ii. Previous edition: The previous/9th edition of the exercise was conducted at Northern Area
Headquarters,Lhaviyani Atoll, Maalifushi of Maldives in 2018.
About Ekuverin:
Ekuverin meaning ‘Friends’ in the Dhivehi language(official language of Maldives) was first conducted in 2009,
Thereon conducted every year alternatively in India and Maldives.
Overview of World Youth Chess Championship 2019 held in Mumbai, India

World Youth Chess Championship 2019 was held in Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel
in Mumbai, India from 1st to 13th October, 2019. The Championship was organized by the Fédération
Internationale des Échecs(FIDE) or International Chess Federation.India bagged seven medals(higgest
medals than any other country) in the Championship including 1 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medal. Russia won
5 medals in the Championship and followed by India.
Medals won by Indian Players in the World Youth Chess Championship 2019:
Indian Player Event Medal
Praggnanandhaa R Open U18 Gold
Agrawal Vantika Girls U18 Silver
Srihari L R Open U14 Silver
Deshmukh Divya Girls U14 Silver
44 | P a g e
Ghosh Aronyak Open U16 Bronze
Sreeshwan Maralakshikari Open U14 Bronze
Ravi Rakshitta Girls U14 Bronze
Key Players to be noticed in this event:

i. R Praggnanandhaa coveted gold in the U-18 Open category in the World Youth Chess Championships.
ii. Polina Shuvalova defended her title in the Girls Under 18 category and became the two-fold champion.
About the World Youth Chess Championship 2019:
The Championship was held in Girls U14, Open U14, Girls U16, Open U16, Girls U18, and Open U18
categories.
Youngsters from 66 countries were competing in the Championship.
India’s first floating basketball court opens in Arabian Sea in Mumbai, Maharashtra
For the first time, a floating basketball court was brought to India in the Arabian Sea near the Bandra Worli
Sealink in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It has been brought for the National Basketball Association (NBA) game
2019, which features the Sacramento Kings and Indiana Pacers, who play two pre-season games on October 4 &
5 , 2019 at the Dome, NSCI (National Sports Club of India), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP)Indoor Stadium in
Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Key points:
i. On 20 December 2018, NBA India has announced the first NBA game in the country would be held in Mumbai
on October 2019.
ii. It’s the first time teams from a North American sports league have ever played in India.
45 | P a g e
Good Luck with Your Exams!!!!!
Subscribe(Buy) Current Affairs PDF 2019 - Pocket, Study

and Q&A (English & Hindi)
Suggestions & Feedback are welcomed –

https://www.affairscloud.com/subscriber-feedback/
AC Useful Links:
 Current Affairs
 Current Affairs 2019
 Current Affairs in Hindi
 Current Affairs Quiz
 Current Affairs Today
46 | P a g e

Maharashtra Current Affairs 2019 by AffairsCloud

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Maharashtra Current Affairs 2019 by AffairsCloud

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Current Affairs State-Wise PDF

CURRENT AFFAIRS PDF PLANS

Current Affairs PDF 2019: Study, Pocket and Q&A PDF’s

Current Affairs PDF 2018: Study, Pocket and Q&A PDF’s

CRACK HIGH LEVEL PDF PLANS

Crack High Level: English Language Questions PDF 2019

Crack High Level: Data Interpretation Questions PDF 2019

Suggestions & Feedback are welcomed –

Maharashtra Current Affairs 2019

Maharashtra Current Affairs - January 2019

Maharashtra Government launched Special Scheme to Curb infant deaths

PM Modi launches road, sewerage projects in Maharashtra

Salient Features of the Museum:

• Mahatma Gandhi and his impact on Indian cinema

Name Designation with State

About GST council

25th edition of Partnership Summit held in Mumbai

Suresh Prabhu inaugurates Global Aviation Summit 2019 in Mumbai

• increase in the cost norms by 2.5 times,

Albumin better indicator of diabetes: study by scientists of NCL, Pune

Maharashtra armed with triple-drug therapy to fight elephantiasis

India Africa Field Training Exercise (IAFTX) 2019 to be held in Pune

ATP World Tour tennis tournament (Maharashtra Open 2019)

Maharashtra to host Khelo India Youth Games 2019

Former Maharashtra Minister Shivajirao Deshmukh dies

Maharashtra Current Affairs - February 2019

Kala ghoda festival 2019 was held in Mumbai

Words Count Festival 2019 was held in Pune

7th edition of Kolhapur International film festival inaugurated in Kolhapur,Maharashtra

Smriti Irani instigated India Size project in Mumbai

Overview of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Maharashtra

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s Visit to Yavatmal

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s Visit to Dhule

Government sets up committee to explore prepaid payments by discoms to generator companies

Maharashtra govt constituted a committee to review welfare schemes for tribals

8th World CSR Congress 2019 in Mumbai

Regional Maritime Safety Conference 2019 held in Mumbai

Hum Aapke Hain Koun Producer Rajkumar Barjatya Passes Away

Maharashtra Current Affairs - March 2019

Maharashtra government launches ‘Atal Aahar Yojna’ for construction workers

Nagpur hosted Heat Wave 2019 Workshop

Welfare Schemes for Dhangars was announced by Maharashtra’s Chief Minister

New 5 year industrial policy unveiled by Maharashtra CM

Param Bir Singh appointed as DG of Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau

Swati Shingade conferred with first prize of DD Mahila Kisan Award

Hyper local connectivity app “Bhonga” initiated in Mumbai

India–Africa Joint Field Training Exercise AFINDEX-19 started in Pune, Maharashtra

Bengaluru FC won their first ISL Title beating FC Goa by 1-0

Mumbai activist HS D’Lima passed away aged 84

Maharashtra Current Affairs - April 2019

i. His oath was administered by Maharashtra Governor CH Vidyasagarrao at Raj Bhavan,Mumbai.

Renowned Hindi poet Pradeep Choubey passed away aged 70

DD Director Kismat Sagar passes away at 47

Maharashtra Current Affairs - May 2019

Centre issued Drought Advisory to six states

Basava Jayanti 2019 observed on May 7

Ajoy Mehta has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra

MMOPL tied-up with Instamojo for card payments

Maharashtra proposed single-window registration of land titles

SWIFT India and South Asia Conference was held in Mumbai

Mumbai tops the list of most vulnerable cities to cyberattacks in 2019

Former billiards player Derek Sippy Passed Away

i. He had served as secretary of BSAM for several years.

Maharashtra Current Affairs - June 2019