Nov2019 GK Digest PDF

RBI Grade B GK Digest: November 2019
CONTENTS
RBI Notifications: OcTober 2019 .................................................................................................................................3
Lending by banks to InvITs ................................................................................................................................................. 3
What are InvITs? ............................................................................................................................................................. 3
Circular ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Conditions ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Expanding and Deepening of Digital Payments Ecosystem .............................................................................................. 4
Revision in Proforma and Reporting of Bank / Branch details under the Central Information System for Banking
Infrastructure (CISBI) .......................................................................................................................................................... 4
Government Schemes: October 2019..........................................................................................................................5
Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2019 – 20 ........................................................................................................................... 5
The main features of the SGB are: ................................................................................................................................. 5
PM-ASMI ............................................................................................................................................................................. 5
PM- ASMI will do this by integrating following schemes: ............................................................................................ 5
Free Medicines Scheme for tea garden Workers .............................................................................................................. 6
Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan(SUMAN)........................................................................................................................... 6
Benefits ........................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Delhi government agreed to Implement PM-KISAN ......................................................................................................... 6
Awards and Honours- October 2019 ...........................................................................................................................7
List of Appointments- October 2019 ...........................................................................................................................8
List of Summits and conferences- October 2019 ........................................................................................................ 10
Monthly Banking and Financial Awareness Digest: October 2019 .............................................................................. 12
UCO Bank launches UCash, Digilocker and an App ......................................................................................................... 12
RBI reduces repo rate by 25 basis points in 4th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy ............................................................... 12
Axis Bank launches short-term online fixed deposits ..................................................................................................... 13
SBI launches debit card with EMI facility ........................................................................................................................ 13
ICICI Bank partners CSC e-Governance Services India to expand rural reach ................................................................ 13
Bank of Baroda signs MoU with Indian Army for customized services .......................................................................... 14
SBI, Bank of Baroda squeeze micro-ATM transactions of other banks .......................................................................... 14
State Bank of India has launched SBI Card Pay ............................................................................................................... 14
Team Cashless India Campaign was launched by MasterCard ....................................................................................... 14
Reserve Bank of India has stopped printing Rs.2000 currency notes ............................................................................ 14
Guidelines on ‘On tap’ authorization of payment system has been issued by Reserve Bank of India on 15th October
2019 .................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
Meity Startup Hub Portal has been unveiled by the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology.................. 15
www.BankExamsToday.com Page 1
Government has launched BHIM-2.0 .............................................................................................................................. 15

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has launched a programme to strengthen ‘Make in India’ ....... 15
Reserve Bank of India has given the final nod for the setting up of Kerala Bank .......................................................... 15
State Bank of India has decided to charge processing fee on Home-loans, top-up plans and real-estate company
loans .................................................................................................................................................................................. 15
Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has signed a MoU with Union Bank of India for providing services related to
transfer of funds ............................................................................................................................................................... 16
State Bank of India has reduced the savings interest rates by 25 basis points ............................................................. 16
Conference on One Nation One Tag-FASTag was held in New Delhi ............................................................................. 16
India’s Ratings and research group has lowered India’s GDP forecast for Financial Year-2019-20 to 6.1%................. 16
Union Government has approved 5% additional dearness allowance for the Central Government Employees ......... 16
Government of India has launched National e-Assessment scheme ............................................................................. 16
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has brought a new rule to impact foreign funds .......................... 17
ICICI Bank has crossed the Rs.3 trillion market capitalization for the first time. .......................................................... 17
RBI has announced a ban on banks in order to deploy direct selling agents to sell retail loans. ................................. 17
Council meeting of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) was chaired by the Union Finance Minister at
New Delhi. ........................................................................................................................................................................ 17
9.89% stake of the total share capital of Bandhan Bank has been acquired by HDFC. ................................................. 17
Vreedhi Financial Services has received a non-banking Finance company licence from RBI . ...................................... 17
Union Bank of India (UBI) partnered with Srei Equipment Finance Ltd. ........................................................................ 18
Government of India has announced the eligibility for Overseas citizens of India to apply for National Pension
system at par with NRIs. .................................................................................................................................................. 18
Monthly One-Liner GK Digest-October 2019 ............................................................................................................. 18
International News ........................................................................................................................................................... 18
National News .................................................................................................................................................................. 19
Banking ............................................................................................................................................................................. 24
Reports.............................................................................................................................................................................. 25
Index and Ranking ............................................................................................................................................................ 25
Appointments ................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Awards and Honours ........................................................................................................................................................ 27
Important Days ................................................................................................................................................................. 27
Mou’s signed .................................................................................................................................................................... 28
Government Schemes ...................................................................................................................................................... 29
Defence ............................................................................................................................................................................. 29
Science and Technology ................................................................................................................................................... 30
Sports ................................................................................................................................................................................ 31
Summits and Conferences ............................................................................................................................................... 32

KURUKSHETRA MAGAZINE SUMMARY: OCTOBER 2019 ............................................................................................. 33
TOPIC: AGRICULTURAL REFORMS .................................................................................................................................... 33
Major Schemes launched for by the Government for Agricultural reforms .............................................................. 33
Government initiatives for Agricultural reforms ............................................................................................................ 34
Farming techniques in India ............................................................................................................................................. 35
Initiatives for Women in Agriculture Sector.................................................................................................................... 35
Initiatives for Rural Youth ................................................................................................................................................ 35
Initiatives for Water Conservation in irrigation .............................................................................................................. 36
Data ................................................................................................................................................................................... 36
Facts .................................................................................................................................................................................. 36
Current Happenings ......................................................................................................................................................... 36
Swachh Mahotsav 2019 ............................................................................................................................................... 36
YOJANA MAGAZINE SUMMARY: OCTOBER 2019 ....................................................................................................... 37
Topic: INVALUABLE LEGACY ............................................................................................................................................. 37
Books based on Mahatma Gandhi’s life .......................................................................................................................... 37
Current Happenings covered in Yojana ........................................................................................................................... 37
Current Affairs Question Bank: October 2019 ........................................................................................................... 37
Answers................................................................................................................................................................... 57
RBI GRADE B GK DIGES T: NOVEMBER

2019
RBI NOTIFICATIONS: OCTOBER 2019
LENDING BY BANKS TO INVITS
WHAT ARE INVITS?
 Infrastructure investment trusts, or InvITs, are instruments that work like mutual funds. InvITs are designed to
pool small sums of money from a number of investors to invest in assets that give cash flow over a period of
time. Part of this cash flow would be distributed as dividend back to investors.
 Often, infrastructure projects such as roads or highways take some time to generate steady cash flows.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure company has to pay interest to banks for the loans taken by it. An InvIT essentially
gives the company the leeway to fulfil its debt obligations quickly.
CIRCULAR
 Banks and other stakeholders have been seeking clarity on provision of credit facilities to InvITs. The matter has
been examined and it has been decided that banks may be permitted to lend to InvITs subject to the following
conditions:
CONDITIONS
 Banks shall put in place a Board approved policy on exposures to InvITs

 Without prejudice to generality, banks shall undertake assessment of all critical parameters including sufficiency
of cash flows at InvIT level to ensure timely debt servicing. The overall leverage of the InvITs and the underlying
SPVs put together shall be within the permissible leverage as per the Board approved policy of the banks. Banks
shall also monitor performance of the underlying SPVs on an ongoing basis as ability of the InvITs to meet their
debt obligation will largely depend on the performance of these SPVs.
 Banks shall lend to only those InvITs where none of the underlying SPVs, which have existing bank loans, is
facing ‘financial difficulty’ as defined in Prudential Framework for Resolution of Stressed Assets
 Bank finance to InvITs for acquiring equity of other entities shall be subject to the conditions given in Master
Circular on Loans & Advances – Statutory & Other Restrictions.
 The Audit Committee of the Board of banks shall review the compliance to the above conditions on a half yearly
basis.
EXPANDING AND DEEPENING OF DIGITAL PAYMENTS ECOSYSTEM

 With a view to expanding and deepening the digital payments ecosystem, it has been decided that all State/ UT
Level Bankers Committees (SLBCs/ UTLBCs) shall identify one district in their respective States/ UTs on a pilot
basis in consultation with banks and stakeholders. The identified district shall be allotted to a bank having
significant footprint which will endeavour to make the district 100% digitally enabled within one year, in order to
enable every individual in the district to make/ receive payments digitally in a safe, secure, quick, affordable and
convenient manner. This would, inter alia, include providing the necessary infrastructure and literacy to handle
such transactions.
REVISION IN PROFORMA AND REPORTING OF BANK / BRANCH DETAILS UNDER THE

CENTRAL INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR BANKING INFRASTRUCTURE (CISBI)
 The Reserve Bank of India has overhauled the daily reporting system at cooperative banks after the collapse of
Punjab and Maharashtra Bank following the uncovering of Rs.4000 crore fraud at the Mumbai based
cooperative bank. Reserve Bank has asked all such lenders to replace the existing system of email-based
reporting at the branches to a web-based central system.
 RBI has released a new reporting system – Central Information System for Banking Infrastructure (CISBI) for all
co-operative banks.
 Under CISBI, co-op banks will submit information related to the opening/closing/conversion of branches, non-
administratively independent offices (extension counters, satellite offices), and ATMs in a single proforma
online.
 Bank Branch Statistics Division (BBSD) in the Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM), RBI
will act as the nodal agency for CISBI.
 The information relating to opening, closure, merger, shifting and conversion of bank branches/offices should be
submitted immediately (in any case not later than 1 week).
GOVERNMENT SCHEMES: OCTOBER 2019
SOVEREIGN GOLD BOND SCHEME 2019 – 20

 The SGB will be issued in six tranches from October 2019 to March 2020
 The Bonds will be sold through:
Scheduled Commercial banks (except Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks)
 Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL)
 Designated post offices
 Recognised stock exchanges viz., National Stock Exchange of India Limited and Bombay Stock Exchange
Limited
THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE SGB ARE:
 It will be issued by Reserve Bank India on behalf of the Government of India.

 The Bonds will be restricted for sale to resident individuals, Universities, Charitable Institutions, HUFs and Trusts
 The tenor of the Bond will be for a period of 8 years with exit option after 5th year to be exercised on the
interest payment dates.
 The minimum permissible investment will be 1 gram of gold.
 The maximum limit of subscribed shall be 4 KG for individual and HUF each and 20 Kg for trusts and similar
entities per fiscal (April-March) notified by the Government from time to time.
 In case of joint holding, the investment limit of 4 KG will be applied to the first applicant only.
 The investors will be compensated at a fixed rate of 2.50 % per annum payable semi-annually on the nominal
value.
 Bonds can be used as collateral for loans.
PM-ASMI
 Health Minister Harsh Vardhan launched PM-ASMI (Pradhan Mantri – Assured and Safe Motherhood initiative)
for infants and mothers.
 The Scheme aims to bring down maternal and infant death to zero by providing quality medical service to them
in public healthcare.
 Through PM-ASMI both infrastructure and quality of service will be improved with taking care of dignity of
women.
PM- ASMI WILL DO THIS BY INTEGRATING FOLLOWING SCHEMES:
 Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram which provide free drugs and diagnostics, free provision of blood, free
delivery, free diet (during stay in hospital or health institute), free transport from home to hospital etc. to
pregnant women and infant.
 Pradhan Mantriva Abhiyan under which free ante-nate checkups by private medical practitioners are provided
to women.
 LaQshya which aims to improve the condition of Labour rooms.
FREE MEDICINES SCHEME FOR TEA GARDEN WORKERS

 The Assam Government has launched the Free Drug Scheme for giving medicinal security to the tea garden
workers.
 The Free Drug scheme will provide medicines including 142 essential drugs, 47 surgical items, 45
consumables/linens and 6 numbers of disinfectants free of cost to 651 tea garden hospitals in the State garden.
 20 crores will be allotted each year on this scheme. This scheme is similar to already available scheme Mobile
Medical Unit (MMU) which was operational in 442 tea garden and has a wage compensation of Rs12,000 which
given in four instalments to pregnant women working tea garden.
 Add to this Assam government is planning to reduce cost of foods under National Food Security Act i.e. rice from
Rs3/kg to free 5kg rice/family and 2kg/family to 4 lakh family.
 Government will also stress on setting up more educational institutes. These all measures are being taken as tea
industry is in financial crisis due to price stagnation and overproduction.
SURAKSHIT MATRITVA AASHWASAN(SUMAN)

 Ministry of Health and Family has launched Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan, SUMAN, initiative on 10th October
2019.
 The initiative is launched at the 13th Conference of Central Council of Health and Family Welfare.
 Under the SUMAN scheme, pregnant women, mothers up to 6 months after delivery, and all sick new-borns will
be able to avail free healthcare benefits.
BENEFITS
 Several free services are also entitled for beneficiaries visiting public health facilities, that include:
o At least four antenatal check-ups that also includes one checkup during the 1st trimester
o At least one checkup under Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan
o Iron Folic Acid supplementation
o Tetanus diptheria injection
o Other components of comprehensive ANC package
o Six home-based newborn care visits
DELHI GOVERNMENT AGREED TO IMPLEMENT PM-KISAN

 Delhi government has approved the implementation of the central scheme Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi
(PM-KISAN).
 The PM-KISAN scheme was announced on 1st February 2019, during the interim budget presented by stand-in
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.
 The scheme aims to supplement the needs of the Small and Marginal farmers in crop production and its yield
and improve their income.
 The scheme credits an amount of Rs 6000 in 3 instalments into farmers account through DBT (Direct Benefit
Transfer) i.e. Rs 2000 in each instalment.
 The scheme has a total budget of Rs 75,000 crore and covers over 1 crore small and marginal farmers.
 The revised scheme envisages to cover around 2 crore more farmers increasing the coverage of the PM-
KISAN to around 14.5 crore beneficiaries. So the total burden on the exchequer will increase by Rs 12,000 crore
to Rs 87,217.50 crore for the year 2019-20.
 West Bengal and Delhi Governments had earlier refused to implement the scheme. But Delhi Government has
now sent names of 11,000 farmers for availing the benefits.
 The scheme was first implemented by the Telangana government as Rythu Bandhu scheme, in which a certain
amount was given to eligible farmers.
AWARDS AND HONOURS- OCTOBER 2019

Awardee Award
Sachin Tendulkar Swachchta Ambassador Award
Azizbek Ashurov UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) prestigious
Nansen Award
Ben Stokes Professional Cricketers’ Association player of the year
“Spirit Of Kerala” People’s Choice Award
Nick Hague “The Order of Courage“
Ashleigh Barty ‘The Don’ Award
Ramesh Pandey Asia Environmental Enforcement Award
Chandi Prasad Bhatt 31st Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration
Noted Director and Producer Priyadarshan Madhya Pradesh government’s National Kishore Kumar
Award
Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo 2019 Booker Prize
Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra “Orchestra of the year award 2019”
K Parasaran Most Eminent Senior Citizen Award
Jennifer Aniston People’s Icon Award 2019
“Gully Boy” & “Delhi Crime” Asian Academy Creative Awards
Ilham Tohti Sakharov Prize
BharatPe DigiDhan Mission Fin-tech Award
Anup Singh Udyog Rattan Award
Nedumangad 2019 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran
Puraskar Award
YES Bank DigiDhan Mission Digital Payments Award
Dutee Chand Vogue Award for Sportsperson of the Year
Sanjay Kapoor Most Inspiring Indian Bollywood Actor in UK
Kavitha Gopal President of India Prize 2019
Kalli Purie India’s Most Powerful Women in Media

Nobel Prize 2019
Winners Award
William G. Kaelin, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Semenza
Scientists Michel Mayor, James Peebles and Didier Queloz 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics
John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2019
Yoshino
Austrian author Peter Handke Nobel Prize in Literature 2019
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali Nobel Peace Prize for 2019
Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer Nobel Prize in Economics 2019
LIST OF APPOINTMENTS- OCTOBER 2019

Name of the Person Designation
KS Dhatwalia Principal Director General of Press Information Bureau
Jai Bhagwan Bhoria New Administrator for PMC Bank
Surjit S Bhalla Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund
Air Marshal S K Ghotia Chief of South Western Air Command
SS Mallikarjuna Rao Managing Director(MD)and Chief Executive of the Punjab
National Bank(PNB)
Former Indian Captain Kapil Dev Chairman of Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC)
Amur S Lakshminarayanan Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer
Amrit Lugun Next Ambassador of India to Greece
Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi Next High Commissioner of India to Niue
Sushil Chandra Mishra Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Oil India
Limited
Lingappa Narayana Swamy Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court
Ravi ShankerJha Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court
Indrajit Mohanty Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court
J.K. Maheshwari Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court
S. Manikumar Chief Justice of Kerala High Court
Arup K. Goswami Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court
Ajai Lamba Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court
Vijay Patil and Sanjay Naik President of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA)
Justice Vinod Kumar Sharma New Punjab lokpal
Anita Pai Chief Operating Officer of the Yes Bank
Jasneet Bachal Chief Marketing Officer of the Yes bank
Vikas Varma Chief Operating Officer (COO) of MasterCard India
K Satish Reddy President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA)

Kishan Dan Dewal Next Ambassador of India to Georgia
J. P. S. Chawla New Controller General of Accounts (CGA)
Anoop Kumar Mendiratta New Law Secretary
Sajjan Jindal Vice-Chairman of the World Steel Association
Anup Kumar Singh Director-General of the National Security Guard (NSG)
Sudhaker Shukla Whole-Time Member, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of
India (IBBI)
Christine Lagarde New Chief of the European Central Bank
Rajnish Kumar New chairman of Indian Banks’ Association
Upender Singh Rawat Next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Nicaragua
Sourav Ganguly New President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI)
Pramod Kumar Das New CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI)
Godavarthi Venkata Srinivas Next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Cabo Verde
Ashok Malik Policy Advisor in the External Affairs Ministry
Amit Khare Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy
Joko Widodo President of Indonesia
Kannan Ramesh Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court of Brunei
Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora Vice Chief of the Air Staff
Arvind Singh Chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI)
Braj Raj Sharma Chairman of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC)
Tuhin Kanta Pandey Secretary of the Department of Investment and Pubic
Asset Management (DIPAM)
Pradeep Kumar Member Signal and Telecom, Railway Board
Gitesh Sarma India’s Next High Commissioner to Australia
Manohar Lal Khattar Chief Minister of Haryana
Girish Chandra Murmu Lt. Governor of Jammu-Kashmir
R K Mathur Lt. Governor of Ladakh
P.S. Sreedharan Pillai New Governor of Mizoram
Dineshwar Sharma Administrator of Lakshadweep
Rajesh Bhushan Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs
Dushyant Chautala Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana
Sanjeev Nandan Sahai Secretary of Power Ministry
Sanjeev Gupta Secretary of Inter-State Council Secretariat
Sailesh Secretary of the Department of Public Enterprises
Alok Tandon Secretary in the Department of Administrative Reforms
and Public Grievances
Nagendra Nath Sinha Secretary in Department of Border Management

Kais Saied President of Tunisia
Alberto Fernandez Presidential election of Argentina
Birender Singh Yadav Next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Iraq
Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Datta Padsalgikar Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA)
Rafael Mariano Grossi New Director-General of the International Atomic Energy
Agency
LIST OF SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES- OCTOBER 2019

Name of the Organized /led by Venue Aim/Theme
Summit/Conference
3-day India International National Cooperative New Delhi Enhancing rural and farm prosperity
Cooperative Trade Fair Development (doubling farmers income by 2022) by
Corporation (NCDC) promoting cooperative to cooperative
trade within India and abroad
9th RCEP Intersessional Bangkok, Thailand To achieve mutually beneficial
Ministerial Meeting economic partnership agreement
among the ASEAN member states and
ASEAN's FTA partners
2nd India-China Informal Chennai, India To work on additional Confidence
Summit Building Measures to resolve the
border issue permanently.
2019 First Global DXB Sheikh Hamdan Bin Dubai To address the world’s most critical
Challenge Mohammed bin environmental issues such as pollution,
Rashid Al Maktoum wastage of water, sustainability etc.
G20 Okayama Health Presidency of Japan Okayama City, Japan The deliberations of the G 20 Health
Ministers’ Meeting Ministers focused on four major global
health issues:
1. Achievement of Universal
Health Coverage
2. Response to population aging
3. Management of health risks
4. Health security management
including Anti-Microbial
Resistance (AMR)
DEFCOM 2019 Corps of Signals, Manekshaw Centre, It is a flagship event in the area
Indian Army and New Delhi of military communication and
Confederation of symposium for collaboration between
Indian Industry (CII)/ the Indian armed forces, research and
Society of Indian development organisations,
Defence Information Technology Industries.
Manufacturers
(SIDM)
29th BASIC Ministerial H.E. Mr. LI Beijing, China The member countries urged the
Meet on Climate Change Ganjie, Minister of developed nations to deliver on their
Ecology and commitment to provide $100 billion to
Environment of the the developing nations as climate
People’s Republic of finance for proper implementation of
China the climate action plan.
State Power Ministers’ Gujarat Ministry Gujarat To brainstorm new ideas in sustainable
Conference and renewable energy sector, as well as
discuss the current challenges faced by
the power sector, a two-day State
Power Ministers' Conference will take
place starting October 11 at Kevadia, on
the banks of Narmada river.
1st India Sports Union Minister of New Delhi To induce a national sporting culture
Summit 2019 Youth Affairs and with the aim to make India a sporting
Sports powerhouse at the event.
‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Prime Minister Delhi To develop a holistic national
Bharat’ perspective on important issues and
encourage the celebration of India’s
vibrant regional cultures.
1st National Hindi Science Dr Shakuntala Mishra Lucknow, Uttar To promote the use of Hindi and other
Writers Conference 2019 National Pradesh Vernacular languages in science writing.
rehabilitation
university
‘One Nation One Tag – Union Road New Delhi It aims to integrate the collection of toll
FASTag’ Transport & digitally and ensure seamless mobility
Highways Minister of vehicles across India.
41st DRDO Directors New Delhi To ensure technological advancement
Conference of the Indian forces to safeguard the
country.
11th Edition of Nuclear India Energy Forum New Delhi The aim is to use the hall in the process
Energy Conclave 2019 (IEF) of educating students and the public
about the applications of nuclear
energy.
18th Non-Aligned Baku, Azerbaijan To ensure political consultations and
Movement (NAM) Summit cooperation that promote and
strengthen international peace and
security, as well as ensure the
achievement of the Sustainable
Development Goals.
1st India-Bangladesh India Guwahati The objective of the meet is to
Stakeholders’ put Assam at the focus point of India's
trade expansion with the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations as well as
Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.
Global Bio-India 2019 DBT, Ministry of New Delhi The mega event for the biotech
Science & community would showcase
Technology, opportunities in the Indian

Government of India Biotechnology sector to the world.
International Conference NIPER-Ahmedabad Gandhinagar, Gujarat To explore and encourage approaches
on Neurological Disorders to stimulate new ideas for research and
and Therapeutics (ICNDT) treatment, which will be beneficial
across the spectrum of neurological
disorders.
1st Edition of ASIA HEALTH Confederation of New Delhi The mega healthcare platform, aims to
2019 Indian Industry (CII) bring multiple stakeholders together to
deliberate or discuss the future of
Health.
17th Meeting of Maritime Ministry of Shipping New Delhi To develop synergy between the Major
States Development and Minor ports. It aims to bring port-
Council (MSDC) led development in the country.
33rd India Economic Ministry of New Delhi The leaders and officials will be
Summit Commerce and discussing the emerging technologies
Industry and industry such as artificial intelligence (AI) and
body CII drones, environmental reforms,
infrastructure, gender parity, start-up
unicorns, education, and South Asia's
economic outlook.
MONTHLY BANKING AND FINANCIAL AWARENESS DIGEST:

OCTOBER 2019
UCO BANK LAUNCHES UCASH, DIGILOCKER AND AN APP

 UCO Bank launched three products- UCash, Digilocker and an App.
 All the three products were launched by the bank's managing director and CEO, A K Goel in Kolkata.
 UCash will enable customers to withdraw money from ATMs through mobile banking without using their debit
cards.
 Digilocker has been launched with an aim to eliminate the use of physical documents. It will enable sharing of
verified electronic documents.
 The third product, a new mobile app, is the integration of four existing apps of the bank - UCO Mbanking, UCO
UPI, UCO Mpassbook and UCO Secure- in a single interface.
 UCO Bank also became the regional bank of east recently.
RBI REDUCES REPO RATE BY 25 BASIS POINTS IN 4TH BI-MONTHLY MONETARY

POLICY
 The Reserve bank of India has once again reduced the repo rate consecutively for the fifth time in its fourth bi-
monthly policy.
 With this cut, the new policy rates are-

o Repo Rate- 5.15%
o Reverse Repo Rate- 4.90%
o Bank Rate- 5.40%
o Marginal Standing Facility (MSF)- 5.40%
o Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)- 4%
o Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)- 18.75%
 RBI has also cut the GDP growth estimates for 2019-20 to 6.1% from 6.9% earlier.
 The next bi-monthly monetary policy review will be held from December 3-5, 2019.
AXIS BANK LAUNCHES SHORT-TERM ONLINE FIXED DEPOSITS

 Axis Bank has announced the launch of ‘Express FD’.
 Express FD is a digital fixed deposit (FD) product that will allow a customer to open an FD account in three
minutes through the digital mode without opening a savings account with the bank.
 Along with this Express, FD will also offer attractive interest rates, zero issuance fees and no penalty on pre-
mature withdrawal of up to 25% of the amount.
 A customer can open an Express FD account by investing a minimum Rs 5,000 up to Rs 90,000, for the tenure of
6 to 12 months.
 Customers will be able to deposit funds in Express FD through net-banking, debit card or via UPI.
 Axis Bank is India’s third-largest private sector bank.
SBI LAUNCHES DEBIT CARD WITH EMI FACILITY

 The State Bank of India launched ‘Debit Card EMI facility’ for its customers.
 Under this facility, the existing customers of the bank will be able to opt for EMI tenure of minimum six months
to 18 months.
 The bank said that its customers could buy the products at 40,000 plus merchants and stores in over 1,500 cities
having Pine Labs branded POS (point of sale) machines totalling more than 4.5 lakhs.
 Some of the benefits of this facility are- no processing fee, zero documentation, instant disbursal, no branch
visit, and zero cost EMI on select brands.
ICICI BANK PARTNERS CSC E-GOVERNANCE SERVICES INDIA TO EXPAND RURAL

REACH
 ICICI Bank has signed a pact with CSC e-Governance Services India with an aim to extend its banking and other
services to the country's rural regions.
 As per the MoU, ICICI Bank will engage more than 3 lakh CSCs (common service centres) working at the last mile
as banking correspondents.
 Under the partnership, people in rural areas will be able to deposit, withdraw and transfer money from their
ICICI bank account, subscribe to term deposit plan, obtain small-value loans, pay bills and other services through
CSCs.
BANK OF BARODA SIGNS MOU WITH INDIAN ARMY FOR CUSTOMIZED SERVICES
 Bank of Baroda (BoB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Army.
 According to the MoU, the bank will offer customized services along with a host of facilities to account holders
(Indian Army).
 The MoU includes an overdraft facility up to three times of monthly net salary, handsome free personal accident
insurance cover and free air accident insurance cover of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.
 These features will also be applicable for pensioners of Indian Army up to the age of 70 years.
SBI, BANK OF BARODA SQUEEZE MICRO-ATM TRANSACTIONS OF OTHER BANKS

 SBI and Bank of Baroda have limited the cash withdrawals of customers using micro-ATMs of other banks to just
four times a month.
 BoB is allowing customers to do four transactions a day while SBI has limited it to just one.
 SBI account holders who are not part of the government’s direct benefit transfer scheme are allowed to do five
transactions a month.
 These limits by the banks will only apply in the case when the customer uses the micro-ATM terminal of another
bank.
STATE BANK OF INDIA HAS LAUNCHED SBI CARD PAY

 It is a contactless mobile payment facility for credit cardholders.
 This feature is based on Host Card Emulation (HCE) technology which ensures faster and secure card payments
through mobile phones.
 Per transaction limit using this facility is Rs.20000 and daily transaction limit is Rs.10000.
TEAM CASHLESS INDIA CAMPAIGN WAS LAUNCHED BY MASTERCARD

 It was launched by the Brand Ambassador of Mastercard-M.S. Dhoni.
 The main aim of this campaign is to bring more merchants and customers on board in order to boost digital
payments in India.
 The major objective of this campaign is to equip 10 million merchants in India with digital payment acceptance
capabilities by 2020.
RESERVE BANK OF INDIA HAS STOPPED PRINTING RS.2000 CURRENCY NOTES

 According to the reports, not a single Rs.2000 note has been printed in the Financial Year-2019-20.
 RBI has taken this step because the circulation of Rs.2000 notes will defeat the Government’s motive as
smuggling of high-denomination notes is easier.
GUIDELINES ON ‘ON TAP’ AUTHORIZATION OF PAYMENT SYSTEM HAS BEEN ISSUED

BY RESERVE BANK OF INDIA ON 15TH OCTOBER 2019
 Aim-To encourages innovation and competition among the entities namely-Bharat Bill payment operating unit,
Trade receivable discounts system and White label ATMs.
 The guidelines state that the payment system operator should ensure interoperability among retail payment
systems.
MEITY STARTUP HUB PORTAL HAS BEEN UNVEILED BY THE MINISTRY OF

ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
 It is a platform which connects startup ecosystems.
 Ministry has launched this portal for facilitating their vision of promoting startups technology, innovation and
creation of intellectual properties.
GOVERNMENT HAS LAUNCHED BHIM-2.0

 This new version is highly upgraded and supports three additional languages-Konkani, Haryanavi and Bhojpuri.
 It has also included Donation gateway.
 It has also increased the transaction limits for high-value transactions by increasing the existing cap of Rs.20000
and now up to Rs.1 lakh for verified merchants.
CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT TAXES AND CUSTOMS (CBIC) HAS LAUNCHED A

PROGRAMME TO STRENGTHEN ‘MAKE IN INDIA’
 The programme has been launched under the Bond scheme of Customs Act, 1962.
 It aims to attract investment into India and Strengthen ‘Make in India’ through manufacturing and other
operations.
RESERVE BANK OF INDIA HAS GIVEN THE FINAL NOD FOR THE SETTING UP OF
KERALA BANK
 It will be the largest banking network in Kerala.
 Kerala Bank will be formed by amalgamating 13 District Co-operative Banks (DCBs) with Kerala State Co-
operative Bank.
 As per the directions of RBI, State should submit the final compliance report by 31st March 2020.
STATE BANK OF INDIA HAS DECIDED TO CHARGE PROCESSING FEE ON HOME-

LOANS, TOP-UP PLANS AND REAL-ESTATE COMPANY LOANS
 The processing fee will be around 0.4% ranging from Rs.10000 to Rs.30000 for individual borrowers.
 The processing charge for builders and real-estate companies will be Rs.5000.
GOVERNMENT E-MARKETPLACE (GEM) HAS SIGNED A MOU WITH UNION BANK OF

INDIA FOR PROVIDING SERVICES RELATED TO TRANSFER OF FUNDS
 It will facilitate cashless and paperless payment on the portal.
 It will also promote transparency in the procurement of goods and services.
STATE BANK OF INDIA HAS REDUCED THE SAVINGS INTEREST RATES BY 25 BASIS
POINTS
 It has now been reduced from 3.5% to 3.25% for deposits up to Rs.1lakh.
 SBI has taken this step to boost adequate liquidity in banking.
 The new rates will be effective from 10th October 2019.
CONFERENCE ON ONE NATION ONE TAG-FASTAG WAS HELD IN NEW DELHI

 Purpose-To rolls out the process for having a unified electronic system across the country.
 An MoU has been signed between Indian Highways Management Company Ltd. And Goods and Services tag
Network (GSTN) for the integration of FASTag with GST e-way bill system.
 It was inaugurated by Union Minister of Roads and Transport-Nitin Gadkari.
INDIA’S RATINGS AND RESEARCH GROUP HAS LOWERED INDIA’S GDP FORECAST
FOR FINANCIAL YEAR-2019-20 TO 6.1%
 GDP forecast was 6.9% in August 2019.
 The slowdown in rural and urban consumption demand growth has been cited as the key reason for this
downward revision of GDP forecast.
UNION GOVERNMENT HAS APPROVED 5% ADDITIONAL DEARNESS ALLOWANCE

FOR THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
 Currently, the dearness allowance is 12% of the basic pay which will be now increased to 17% of the basic pay.
 Similarly, it has also been increased by 5% for the Central Government pensioners.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA HAS LAUNCHED NATIONAL E-ASSESSMENT SCHEME

 The purpose of this scheme is to make income tax assessment faster, smoother and hassle-free.
 It focuses on the elimination of any middle-men between the tax-payer and the Income-tax officer.
 The regional e-Assessment centres will be established in six cities-Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad
and Hyderabad.
THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE BOARD OF INDIA (SEBI) HAS BROUGHT A NEW
RULE TO IMPACT FOREIGN FUNDS
 The new rule implies that only Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) located at Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
countries can deal in participatory notes to invest in Indian stock markets.
 Participatory notes are financial instruments which allow the investors to invest in Indian stock markets even if
they are not registered with SEBI.
 This new rule is based on the H R Khan committee recommendation.
 Increased inflation, Trade war between India and China and rising prices of crude oil are some of the reasons
behind the imposition of this rule.
ICICI BANK HAS CROSSED THE RS.3 TRILLION MARKET CAPITALIZATION FOR THE
FIRST TIME.
 It has become country’s 4th bank to achieve this milestone.
 Stock touched a fresh record of Rs.460 on BSE which is 2.3% higher than its previous scale.
 Before ICICI, only HDFC bank, SBI and Kotak Mahindra achieved this milestone.
RBI HAS ANNOUNCED A BAN ON BANKS IN ORDER TO DEPLOY DIRECT SELLING

AGENTS TO SELL RETAIL LOANS.
 This ban aims to reduce data theft and operational risks.
COUNCIL MEETING OF NATIONAL INVESTMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE FUND (NIIF)

WAS CHAIRED BY THE UNION FINANCE MINISTER AT NEW DELHI.
 Government of India contributes 49% of the total commitment to the NIIF Scheme.
 Total proposed corpus for NIIF is Rs.40000crore.
9.89% STAKE OF THE TOTAL SHARE CAPITAL OF BANDHAN BANK HAS BEEN
ACQUIRED BY HDFC.
 This merger is a part of stake dilution exercise in order to meet RBI’s stipulation.
 15.93crore share of the Bandhan Bank has been transferred to HDFC.
VREEDHI FINANCIAL SERVICES HAS RECEIVED A NON-BANKING FINANCE COMPANY

LICENCE FROM RBI .
 Its major objective is to provide credit and services to micro-enterprises.
 This company is going to form a digital lending model in the next financial year.
UNION BANK OF INDIA (UBI) PARTNERED WITH SREI EQUIPMENT FINANCE LTD.
 This partnership aims to provide loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and retail sectors.
 Srei Equipment Finance Ltd. is a non-banking financial company (NBFC).
 They have also organized ‘Loan Utsav’ across 20 cities in India.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA HAS ANNOUNCED THE ELIGIBILITY FOR OVERSEAS

CITIZENS OF INDIA TO APPLY FOR NATIONAL PENSION SYSTEM AT PAR WITH NRIS.
 OCIs can apply for the pension according to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFDRA)
act 2013.
 They can join the National Pension system till the age of 65 years.
MONTHLY ONE-LINER GK DIGEST-OCTOBER 2019
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
IMF downgrades India’s growth Projection to 6.1%
 In the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report released on 15th October 2019, IMF has downgraded India’s
growth projection by 1.2% from its April projections.
 India suffered the sharpest cut, next only to Saudi Arabia, which saw a cut of 1.7 percentage points in the
growth rate.
International Jury of 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI)
 John Bailey, Cinematographer will chair the International Jury of 50th International Film Festival of India
(IFFI), Golden Jubilee edition.
 Malayalam film Jallikattu directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and Marathi film Mai Ghat: Crime No.
103/2005 directed by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan are the two Indian films competing at 50th IFFI (Golden
Peacock Award).
UP Govt Organized First Training Programme
 The Culture Department of Uttar Pradesh government has organized the first training programme of KHON
(खोन )Ramlila in collaboration with the Thailand government.
 KHON Ramlila of Thailand is included in the list of UNESCO’s Intangible cultural heritage.
Sri Lanka removed from FATF's Grey List
 Srilanka has been removed from the Financial Action Task Force's grey list at the five-day plenary concluded in
Paris.
 The FATF was established in 1989, is an inter-governmental body to combat terror financing, money laundering
and related financial and cybercrimes.
Rohingya refugees to be Relocated to Camp at Bhashan Char Island

 The relocation camp built at Bhashan Char will accommodate about 1lakh people and has the facilities of
warehouse, embankment, etc.
 Rohingya are an ethnic group (largely Muslims), who moved to certain parts of India and Bangladesh
from Myanmar, where they are classified as resident foreigners or as associate citizens.
2nd Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA)
 ISA is the Indian government’s initiative, launched by Indian Prime Minister and the President of France on 30th
November 2015 at Paris, France.
 The Alliance was formed on the side-lines of the COP-21, with 121 solar resource rich countries lying fully or
partially between the tropic of Cancer and tropic of Capricorn as prospective members.
NATIONAL NEWS
Railway to launch Pilot Project to introduce Industry 4.0
 The pilot project has been launched by the Ministry of Railways and the Department of Science and
Technology in partnership with IIT Kanpur.
 The department of Science and Technology has recently launched 'Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems
(ICPS)' to enhance research and development work in this field.
‘Consumer App’ Launched by MCAFPD
 Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution launched ‘Consumer App’: A one stop solution for
consumer grievance redressal’.
 Consumers get information about 42 Sectors including e-commerce, Banking, Insurance, Consumer Durables,
Electronic Products, etc.
Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat Express
 The train operation aims the speedy development of the Jammu and Kashmir region and make it par with the
other states.
 This will also improve connectivity along with spiritual tourism of devotees to Vaishno Devi.
India and Mauritius jointly launched Projects
 The grant (total $353 million) was awarded by the Government of India to Mauritius in March 2017.
 In 2017, India provided a Special Economic Package of $353 million for the execution of five projects in
Mauritius, of which the Metro Express project and the ENT hospital are the part.
'Sarbat Da Bhala Express'
 Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal requested to rename the train on the occasion of the 550th Parkash
Purb i.e. the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
 In Sultanpur Lodhi only, Guru Nanak Ji spent 14 years of his life and taught that all communities are one.
Financial assistance for the State of Karnataka and Bihar
 Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah has approved the advance release of Rs.400 crore and Rs.1200
crore to the State of Bihar and Karnataka respectively, from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).
 During the South West Monsoon 2019, 13 States have been affected from unprecedented floods/landslide.
eDant Seva Website & Mobile Application
 The first ever oral health awareness website and mobile application are launched by the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in collaboration with the Union Health Ministry.
 The 'e-DantSeva' digital platform will contain the information about the National Oral Health Programme, list of
dental colleges and facility etc.
Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at West Jalefa, Tripura
 The Tripura government submitted a proposal in June this year, to the Ministry of Industries and Commerce for
the setting of an agro-based SEZ at Jalefa.
 An estimated investment of around Rs. 1550 crore will be made in setting up first-ever SEZ.
Youth Co:Lab jointly launched by NITI Aayog and UNDP
 The Youth Co: Lab is launched with the aim of accelerating social entrepreneurship and innovation in young
India and promote youth leadership.
 The Youth Co:Lab will give a chance to the young entrepreneurs and innovators, to connect with governments,
investors, mentors, incubators etc. who will help equip them with entrepreneurial skills.
Vayoshreshtha Samman-2019
 It is a scheme of awards gradually upgraded to the status of National Awards and is instituted by the Social
Justice and Empowerment Ministry.
 International Day of Older Persons was observed on 1st October and these awards are presented as a part of
it.
50th International Film Festival of India 2019
 The Golden Jubilee edition of the festival will showcase 200 best films from 76 countries, 26 feature films and
15 non-feature films in the Indian Panorama section.
 Information and Broadcasting Ministry said that for the first time, films with audio deion will be screened for
the visually impaired.
National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC)
 The National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) is launched for better taxpayer service and promotion of ease of
doing business.
 NeAC, an Income tax department, will avoid face-to-face interaction between taxpayers and tax officials and
shall impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in the assessment process.
Innovation Learning Programme, DHRUV
 The programme is started at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and will conclude on 24th of this
month at IIT, Delhi.
 Under the DHRUV programme, 60 talented students will be chosen from Science, Mathematics and Performing
Arts and they will be mentored in the centre of excellence for 14 days so that they can reach their full potential.
Disaster Warning Device Launched by the Government
 GEMINI stands for Gagan Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information.
 The device is developed by the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) which is an
autonomous body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), and Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship Programme
 The programme is designed under the Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion
(SANKALP) which is World Bank loan assisted project for skill development.
 The MGNF programme will provide the students an in-built component of on-ground practical experience with
the district administration.
‘Garbage Cafe' in Chhattisgarh's Ambikapur
 The collected plastic waste will be sold at Solid-Liquid Resources Management Centre which will then be turned
into granules and will then be used in the construction of roads in the city.
 Ambikapur is the first dustbin-free city of Chattisgarh and was ranked as the 2nd cleanest city in the country in
Swachhata rankings.
SARAS Aajeevika Mela
 The SARAS initiative is undertaken by the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods
Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).
 The marketing arm of the Ministry, Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology
(CAPART) is administering the Mela.
Mobile App, “mHariyali” Launched
 The mobile app, “mHariyali” has been launched for ‘Environment Protection in Government Colonies’.
 “Haryali Mahotsav”, a mass plantation drive was launched in San Martin Park, Chanakyapuri on 28th July 2019
by Secretary HUA in which approx 500 plants were planted.
10th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav
 Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav is the flagship and premier festival of Ministry of Culture, launched in the year
2015.
 The Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme was launched on 31st October, 2016 with the aim to promote
engagement and enhance mutual understanding amongst the people of different States/UTs for securing a
strong cultural bond.
Air India: 1st Airline to use Taxibot
 The taxibot was used on an A-320 aircraft with passengers on board.

 The bot was flagged off by Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani, at Terminal 3 of the Delhi
Airport - to Mumbai.
2nd Phase of LOTUS-HR Launched
 LOTUS-HR is a water laboratory that aims to produce clean water through a holistic waste-water management
approach that can be reused for various purposes.
 The LOTUS-HR initiative is jointly supported by Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and
the Department of Biotechnology, the Ministry of Science and Technology.
CBIC launched programme to attract Investments into India
 Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has launched a revamped programme to attract
investments into India.
 CBIC has launched a dedicated microsite https://www.investindia.gov.in/bonded-manufacturing in
collaboration with Invest India to provide information about the scheme.
RIL became 1st Indian Company to hit Rs 9 lakh crore m-cap mark
 The RIL shares rose nearly 2% in Friday trading session to hit Rs1,423 whereas, India’s benchmark Sensex Index
rose 0.5% or 200 points to hit 39,252 points.
 According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch RIL can become the first Indian company to achieve a market
capitalisation of $200 billion in the next two years.
91st Interpol General Assembly
 The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) is an international police cooperation organisation,
based in Lyon, France. It has 194 member states and 100 years of experience of international cooperation in
policing.
 Rishi Kumar Shukla, the director of the CBI is the representative of Interpol in India.
PM Modi meets the delegation of USISPF
 PM Modi meet the delegation of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) on 21st October 2019 in New
Delhi.
 The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) was established in 2017 with the objective of creating
meaningful opportunities of entrepreneurship, employment-creation, and innovation for the citizens of both the
countries and to strengthen their economic and commercial ties.
Zomato tie up with BioD
 The partnership is for the purpose of collecting the used cooking oil from restaurants around the country and
convert it into biodiesel.
 This a step in the direction of environment friendly measure with the aim to collect 1,000 tonnes of used
cooking oil per month.
Training of 2nd group of Nepalese Officers at NACIN Started
 The training is given on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism at NACIN Regional centre
in Bengaluru.
 The course is being provided under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme of
Ministry of External Affairs and is fully supported by the Government of India.
25 years of Pulse Polio Programme
 The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was launched by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 1988.
 In India, the Delhi government had first launched the immunization programme on a pilot basis on 2nd October
1994 with the tagline ‘Do Boond Zindagi Ki’.
Hindustan Petroleum, Power Grid Corp got 'Maharatna' Status
 The government has accorded ‘Maharatna’ status to state-owned Hindustan Petroleum and Power Grid
Corporation.
 The Department of Public Enterprises, under the Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises, issued the
orders to this effect on 23rd October 2019.
BSNL, MTNL to be Merged
 As per the merger, MTNL will act as a subsidiary of BSNL (both together holds 14% market share in mobile
business in India).
 The revival package of Rs 70,000 crore includes raising sovereign bonds, monetising assets and voluntary
retirement scheme (VRS) for employees.
World Bank signed Loan Agreement for Odisha Farmers
 In Odisha, farming is largely dominated by farmers with landholdings of less than two hectares and the
frequency of droughts in the state has increased from 1 in 5 years to 1 in 2 years.
 The $165 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a maturity
of 24 years and a 6-year grace period.
Ease of Doing Business-Implementation of RFID
 Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Shipping and Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mansukh Mandaviya,
inaugurated the Ease of Doing Business-Implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) based Port
Access Control System (PACS) at Kolkata Dock System (KDS).
 RFID based Port Access Control System (PACS) will provide single window system to the Port users for
obtaining permit/ pass through 100% cashless transaction.
Odisha-Mo Parivar Launched
 Chief Minister and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik have launched ‘Odisha-Mo Parivar’ initiative on 26th October
2019.
 Under the Programme, the party leaders of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) will dedicate themselves to protect the
environment with trees planting and generate awareness among the public.
Vote through Postal Ballots for Octagenarians & Persons with Disability
 The Ministry has amended the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 to allow them for postal ballots and ease the
process of voting to all such categories of electors.
 As per the amended Rule, the person will make an application in a new Form 12 D, which will reach the
Returning Officer within 5 days following the date of notification of election.
14th National Health Profile, 2019
 The NHP is published since 2005 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
 The e-book of NHP was also released by the ministry, as digital documents give us an opportunity for wider
dissemination of information.
Overseas Citizen Permitted to Enroll in NPS
 Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is a statutory Authority that functions to
regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the National Pension System (NPS).
 Earlier, NPS was notified for central government employees joining service after 1st Jan 2004 and was later
adopted by state governments employees.
BANKING
RBI cuts Repo Rate by 25 Basis Points
 The cut has been made to 5.15% from 5.40% earlier, while the reverse repo rate has been adjusted to 4.90%
and bank rate at 5.40 %.
 RBI has revised the GDP outlook from 6.9% in previous Monetary Policy committee meet in August to 6.1% for
2019-20.
Swiss Bank Shared Financial Info with India
 Switzerland Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has exchanges information on financial accounts with 75
countries, about their nationals within the AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information) framework.
 The AEOI implementation is reviewed by the Global Forum of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development.
Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
 The amount raised through Bharat-22 would help the government meet its disinvestment target of Rs 1.05 lakh
crore for the current financial year.
 State Bank of India (SBI). Indian Bank and Bank of Baroda are the only three public sector banks that figure in
Bharat-22 index.
Govt. announced 5% DA for Central Employees
 The Union cabinet has also decided to relax the date for mandatory requirement of Aadhaar seeding for release
of benefits under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKSN) till 30th November 2019.
 The scheme provides income support of Rs 6,000 per year to landholding families and the amount is released in
4 instalments of Rs 2000 each.
Bangladesh becomes 2nd Fastest Growing Economy
 The World Bank released the report 'South Asia Economic Focus, Making (De) Centralization Work' on 13th
October 2019.
 The report shows that the GDP growth rate of Bangladesh is projected to be 7.2% for the FY 2019 and 7.3% for
FY 2020.
RBI guidelines on 'on tap' Authorisation on Payment Systems
 Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) - Entities who are desirous to operate or provide platforms for
BBPOU, should have a 100 crore rupees net worth and should be maintained at all times.
 Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) - the minimum paid up equity capital should be 25 crore rupees.
No MDR on Digital Payment to Large Firms
 The government has said that banks or system providers will not impose Merchant Discount Rates (MDR) on
customers/merchants on digital payment to large firms having a turnover in excess of Rs 50 crore.
 Amendments have been made into the Income Tax Act as well as the Payment and Settlement System Act
2007 to enact the new provisions.
SEBI norms dealing with Auditor Resignation
 The Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has tightened the disclosure norms dealing with resignations of
statutory auditors in listed companies.
 As per the new norm, if the auditor resigns within 45days from the end of the quarter in a Financial Year, the
auditor has to issue the audit report for such a quarter before the resignation.
Penalty Imposed on TMB
 RBI has imposed Rs 35 Lakh penalty on TMB for non-compliance of provisions issued by RBI on “Reserve Bank of
India (Frauds classification and reporting by commercial banks and select FIs) directions 2016”.
 RBI is vested with powers under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking
Regulation Act, 1949 to impose such penalty.
RBI imposed Penalty on Jalgaon Peoples Co-operative Bank Ltd
 RBI has imposed the penalty with the power vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with
Section 46(4)(i) and Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
 On 1st March 2018, the statutory inspection of the bank was conducted by RBI, with reference to the financial
position of the Bank.
RBI imposed Penalty on Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd
 RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 crore on Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd., Pune by an order dated 16th
October 2019.
 RBI has imposed the penalty with the power vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with
Section 46(4)(i) and Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
RBI imposed Penalty on Bandhan Bank Limited
 The penalty has been imposed for the for non-compliance with the guidelines on promoter holding contained
in ‘Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in Private Sector’, read with the conditions imposed by RBI in exercise
of powers under section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
 RBI is vested with powers under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking
Regulation Act, 1949 to impose the penalty.
REPORTS
India ranks 63rd in World Bank’s Doing Business Report
 The DBR ranks countries on the basis of Distance to Frontier (DTF) and this year India’s DTF score improved
to 71.0 from 67.23 in 2018.
 India has improved its rank in 7 out of 10 indicators that includes Construction Permits, Registering Property,
Getting Electricity, Starting a Business, Paying Taxes, Trading Across Borders and Resolving Insolvency.
INDEX AND RANKING

World Digital Competitiveness Rankings
 The largest jump was registered by Indonesia and China i.e. from 62nd to 56th and 30th to 22nd respectively.
 The Index ranks 63 nations and measures their capacity to adopt digital technologies as a key driver for
economic transformation in government, business, and society.
School Education Quality Index (SEQI)
 The index provides States and UTs with a platform to identify their strengths and weaknesses and aims to bring
an ‘outcomes’ focus to education policy.
 This is the 1st edition of SEQI which foster the spirit of competitive and cooperative federalism and consists of
30 critical indicators.
Swacch Bharat cleanliness Assessment 2019
 The North Western Railways headquartered at Jaipur has maintained top rank consecutively for the second
year.
 Jaipur Junction and Gandhinagar Jaipur stations have made the facility to treat single use plastic, and bottle
crushing machines have been planted at the station.
India Innovation Index 2019
 The index aims to benchmark the performance of 29 state and 7 Union territories with each other through a
holistic tool to identify challenges in the economic growth and promote competitive federalism.
 Among the category of major states, Maharashtra performs the best in the dimension of Enablers. Sikkim took
the top spots among the northeastern & hill states, and Delhi among the union territories/city states/small
states.
India ranked 57th in Global Health Security Index
 US has topped the list and is followed by UK and Netherlands at 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
 The report is a project of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health
Security, with research by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
APPOINTMENTS
Name of the Person Designation

J.P.S. Chawla New Controller General of Accounts (CGA)
Amit Khare Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy
Anup Kumar Singh Director-General of the National Security Guard (NSG)
Pankaj Kumar New CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI)
Pramod Kumar Das Minority Affairs Secretary
Rajesh Bhushan Secretary (Coordination) in the Cabinet Secretariat
Tuhin Kanta Pandey Secretary in the Department of Investment and Public
Asset Management
Braj Raj Sharma Chairman of Staff Selection Commission
Sanjeev Nandan Sahai Power Secretary

Sanjeev Gupta Secretary of Inter-State Council Secretariat
Sailesh Secretary of the Department of Public Enterprises
Alok Tandon Secretary in the Department of Administrative Reforms
and Public Grievances
Nagendra Nath Sinha Secretary in Department of Border Management
Kais Saied President of Tunisia
Alberto Fernandez Presidential election of Argentina
Girish Chandra Murmu Lt. Governor of Jammu-Kashmir
R K Mathur Lt. Governor of Ladakh
P.S. Sreedharan Pillai New Governor of Mizoram
Dineshwar Sharma Administrator of Lakshadweep
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Award Awardee
Saraswati Samman Award Telegu poet K Siva Reddy
Asia Environmental Enforcement Award Ramesh Pandey
Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine 2019 Scientists William G Kaelin, Gregg L Semenza and Jr Peter J
Ratcliffe
Nobel Prize for Physics 2019 Scientists Michel Mayor, James Peebles and Didier Queloz
Nobel Prize in Literature 2019 Austrian author Peter Handke
Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2019 Scientists Stanley Whittingham, John Goodenough and
Akira Yoshino
Booker Prize 2019 Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood
Nobel Prize for Economics 2019 Michael Kremer of the United States, Abhijit Banerjee and
Esther Duflo
IMPORTANT DAYS
Date Day Theme

nd
2 October 2019 Father of the Nation Mahatma --
Gandhi and Former Prime Minister Lal
Bahadur Shastri
2nd October To 13th October 2019 Paryatan Parv 2019 --
th th
7 October To 11 October 2019 World Cotton Day --
th
9 October 2019 World Post Day --
th
16 October 2019 World Food Day --
rd
23 October 2019 International Snow Leopard Day --
th
27 October 2019 Infantry Day --
28th October to 2nd November 2019 Vigilance Awareness Week Theme- “Integrity- a way of life”
MOU’S SIGNED
Bilateral talks between India and Bangladesh
 A total of seven agreements were signed between India and Bangladesh in several areas including education,
health, defence, trade and connectivity, development cooperation etc.
 She was the chief guest at the 33rd India Economic Summit which was organised by the World Economic
Forum in New Delhi on 3rd October 2019.
GeM signs MOU with Union Bank of India
 The MoU will offer paperless, cashless and transparent payment and procurement system for government
entities on the GeM portal.
 GeM has already signed MoU with 14 Public Sector and private banks to enable online integration for payments
and various banking services.
MoUs signed between India and Sierra Leone
 Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu on his visit to Sierra Leone has signed 6 agreements with Mr Julius Maada
Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
 India was among the first countries to contribute to the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) with the
deployment of the 4000 strong Indian Military contingents.
India-Netherlands bilateral Ties
 India and the Netherlands have a bilateral trade turnover of USD 12.87 billion (2018-2019).
 The Netherlands is India’s 4th largest trading partner in the European Union with a cumulative investment of $
23 billion for the period 2000 to 2017 (Dec).
GeM Signed MoU with Federal Bank
 The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Federal Bank
for Payment Services.
 Government launched GeM portal in August 2016 for seamless procurement of goods and services by the
government departments in a transparent manner.
Ministry of Railways signed MoU with ISB
 ISB has been training the Indian Railway officers for their mid-career training requirements through its Centre
for Executive Education (CEE).
 Indian School of Business (ISB) is a global business school that provides management education across its two
campuses – Hyderabad and Mohali.
GOVERNMENT SCHEMES
Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2019 – 20
 The maximum limit of subscribed shall be 4 KG for individual and HUF each and 20 Kg for trusts and similar
entities per fiscal (April-March) notified by the Government from time to time.
 In case of joint holding, the investment limit of 4 KG will be applied to the first applicant only.
PM-ASMI to integrate Existing Schemes to fight against Maternal Mortality
 The Scheme aims to bring down maternal and infant death to zero by providing quality medical service to them
in public healthcare.
 Through PM-ASMI both infrastructure and quality of service will be improved with taking care of dignity of
women.
Assam Launched free Medicines Scheme for tea garden Workers
 The Free Drug scheme will provide medicines including 142 essential drugs, 47 surgical items, 45
 20 crores will be allotted each year on this scheme. This scheme is similar to already available scheme Mobile
Medical Unit (MMU) which was operational in 442 tea garden and has a wage compensation of Rs12,000 which
given in four instalments to pregnant women working tea garden.
Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan, SUMAN launched
 Under the SUMAN scheme, pregnant women, mothers up to 6 months after delivery, and all sick new-borns will
be able to avail free healthcare benefits.
 In order to end all preventable maternal and newborn deaths, the initiative aims to provide quality health
service at no cost for denial of services for every woman and newborn visiting the public health facility.
Delhi government agreed to Implement PM-KISAN
 The PM-KISAN scheme was announced on 1st February 2019, during the interim budget presented by stand-in
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.
 The scheme credits an amount of Rs 6000 in 3 instalments into farmers account through DBT (Direct Benefit
Transfer) i.e. Rs 2000 in each instalment.
DEFENCE
India received its 1st Rafale Fighter Jets
 India had signed an agreement worth Rs 59,000 crore with France in September 2016 for the procurement
of 36 Rafale fighter jets.
 This was the formal handover ceremony and the 1st batch of 4 Rafale jets will fly in India by May 2020 and the
other sets are expected to arrive by September 2022.
2nd Edition of Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT)
 BNS Ali Haider, BNS Shadinota from Bangladesh and INS Ranvijay (a guided-missile destroyer) and INS
Kuthar (an indigenously built missile Corvette) from India will participate in the exercise.
 In the current edition, mutual cooperation whilst patrolling near the International Maritime Boundary Line
(IMBL) will be practised.
DHARMA GUARDIAN – 2019
 DHARMA GUARDIAN-2019, Joint Military Exercise between India and Japan is scheduled to be conducted at
Vairengte, Mizoram from 19th October to 2nd November 2019.
 25 soldiers from each country would be teamed for the Indian Army and Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces
(JGSDF), to participate in the exercise.
President's Colours to the Army Aviation Corps
 The president awarded the Colours during the ceremony at the Combat Army Aviation Training School.
 President’s Colours is an acknowledgement of the meritorious service rendered by the Army Aviation Corps
over the years.
Joint Exercise EX-EASTERN BRIDGE-V
 EX-EASTERN BRIDGE-V, the joint exercise between the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Royal Air Force of Oman
(RAFO), has started from 17th October till 26th October 2019.
 From India, MiG-29 fighter aircraft will participate in the exercise and this is the first time it is participating in an
International Exercise outside India.
DAC approved Indigenous Military Equipment Procurement
 The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the
procurement of indigenously developed military equipment worth Rs 3300 crore for the armed forces.
 The third-generation Anti-Tank Guided Missiles would provide Fire and Forget and Top Attack capabilities to the
troops.
Rudrashila: White Water Rafting Expedition
 The white water rafting expedition- ‘Rudrashila’ was flagged in on 25th October 2019 at Jodhpur Military
Station.
 The soldiers covered a total distance of over 140km from Rudraprayag to Rishikesh in river Ganga along
Uttarakhand mountains.
Indo-French Joint Exercise Shakti-2019
 Exercise SHAKTI is a biennial exercise between India and France and is conducted alternatively in India and
France since 2011.
 The Indian side is represented by the Sikh Regiment of Sapta Shakti Command (Indian Army) and the French
army is represented by troops of 21st Marine Infantry Regiment of 6th Armoured Brigade.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
BRAHMOS Supersonic Cruise Missile Successfully Test-Fired
 BRAHMOS is a medium range, supersonic cruise missile, made with a joint venture of DRDO, India and Russian
Federation's NPO Mashinostroyeniya.
 The name BrahMos is formed from combining the names of two rivers, the Brahmaputra of India and the
Moskva of Russia.
DNA Technology Regulation Bill
 The bill has been referred to the Standing Committee on Science and Technology and Environment and Forests.
 The bill seeks to control the use and application of the Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) technology for establishing
the identity of missing persons, suspects, offenders, victims and under-trials.
First all-Female pairing to Spacewalk
 Jessica Meir is a marine biologist has now become the 15th Women and 228th person in the world to conduct a
spacewalk.
 This was Christina Koch’s 4th spacewalk, who is an electrical engineer.
IndiGen Genome Project
 The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Ministry of Science & Technology has conducted Whole
Genome Sequencing of 1,008 Indian under the IndiGen Genome project.
 CSIR has led human genomic sciences in India for studying the “Indian Genome Variation”.
SPORTS
Sumit Nagpal won the title of ATP Challenger Tournament
 Sumit Nagpal clinched the men's singles title of ATP Challenger Tournament, held on 30th September 2019.
 He defeated Facundo Bognis by straight-sets 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 37 minutes.
Surender Singh creates three World Records
 The World Powerlifting Championship is being held in Berlin, Germany.

 Under the superb guidance of International Coach Dronacharya Bhupender Dhawan, Three-time World
Champion Mukesh Singh added another gold only to be known as 4-time World Champion.
Bahrain International Series 2019
 Priyanshu Rajawat clinched the men's singles title at the Bahrain International Series Badminton.
 He has defeated Jason Anthony Ho-Shue from Canada in the finals from 16-21, 21-7, 21-12.
 Indian mixed double pair of Juhi Dewangan and Venkat Gaurav Prasad also finished with the gold.
Kiran Uniyal created Individual Guinness World Records
 She has so far achieved 15 World Records, including 10 Guinness World Records in Martial Arts, Social Work and
Fitness.
 Kiran Uniyal created her 1st Individual Guinness World Record for “The most full contact elbow strikes (466
strikes) (one hand) in 3 minutes.
Kuhoo Garg-Dhruv Rawat won Egypt International Mixed Doubles Title
 The match was held in Cairo, Egypt on 20th October 2019.

 The two played against Ahmed Salah and Hadia Hosny of Egypt, the second seed in the all-Indian final.
 It was 16-21 21-19 19-21 to third seeds Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker.
Praveen Kumar: 1st Indian to win Wushu World Championships
 The 15th edition of the championship was held in Minhang Gymnasium in Shanghai, China on 23rd October
2019.
 Praveen Kumar has defeated Russel Diaz of Philippines in the 48kg category.
India won Silver at French Open
 The doubles pair lost to world No.1 Indonesian pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in
the finals of the French Open.
 Partho Ganguli and Vikram Singh were the last doubles pair from India to win the French Open in 1983.
Tiger Woods equals US legend Sam Snead's all-time Record
 American Golfer Tiger Woods equals world record for most career titles on PGA Tour with his 82nd win
in Japan, equalling Sam Snead's 54-year-old record.
 He is the youngest player to achieve the career Grand Slam, and is only the second golfer (after Nicklaus) to
have achieved a career Grand Slam three times.
2024 Olympic Games Logo
 The organising committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris has unveiled the logo for the 2024
Olympic Games.
 Pierre-Olivier Beckers-Vieujant is the chairman of the International Olympic Committee Coordination
Commission.
SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES

India International Cooperative Trade Fair
 The first ever India International Cooperative Trade Fair is aimed at enhancing rural and farm prosperity
(doubling farmers income by 2022) by promoting cooperative to cooperative trade within India and abroad.
 This will be India's first and the largest international cooperatives trade fair.
9th RCEP Intersessional Ministerial Meeting
 Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is to attend the 9th RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership)
Intersessional Ministerial Meeting.
 RCEP was commenced in 2013 with the objective is to achieve mutually beneficial economic partnership
agreement among the ASEAN member states and ASEAN's FTA partners.
2nd India-China Informal Summit
 The 70th anniversary of the establishment of India-China relations in 2020 will be fully utilized to deepen
exchanges at all levels including between their respective legislatures, political parties, cultural and youth
organizations and militaries.
 Both the countries agreed to establish sister-state relations between Tamil Nadu and Fujian Province which is
the link of the age-old commercial and people-to-people contacts between the countries.
2019 First Global DXB Challenge
 The 2019 First Global DXB Challenge is a large gathering for creative young minds in the fields of robotics and
artificial intelligence.
 The competition is organised by the Dubai Future Foundation and the theme is ‘Ocean Opportunities’.
G20 Okayama Health Ministers’ Meeting
 The G20 Okayama Health Ministers’ Meeting was held under the Presidency of Japan in Okayama City,
Japan on 19th-20th October 2019.
 The G20 Health Ministers meeting concluded by adopting the “Okayama Declaration of the G 20 Health
Ministers”. The declaration endorses the Commitment of G20 countries to address the major global health
issues, towards an inclusive and sustainable world.
DEFCOM 2019
 DEFCOM is jointly organised by the Corps of Signals, Indian Army and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)/
Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM).
 The event stresses on the need and measures for seamless communication between the three services.
29th BASIC Ministerial Meet on Climate Change
 The meeting was chaired by H.E. Mr. LI Ganjie, Minister of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of
China.
 The member countries urged the developed nations to deliver on their commitment to provide $100 billion to
the developing nations as climate finance for proper implementation of the climate action plan.
KURUKSHETRA MAGAZINE SUMMARY: OCTOBER 2019
TOPIC: AGRICULTURAL REFORMS
MAJOR SCHEMES LAUNCHED FOR BY THE GOVERNMENT FOR AGRICULTURAL REFORMS
 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN): provides assistance to Small and Marginal farmer families
with an amount of Rs 6000 per year. The scheme initially covered only Small and Marginal farmer families with
land holding up to 2 hectares, but the union government has extended the scheme to all land holding farmer
families irrespective of land holding size
 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY): to provide end to end solutions in the irrigation supply chain
by bringing “Har Khet Ko Paani”, Per Drop More Crop and Watershed Development under one umbrella scheme.
The scheme has an outlay of Rs 50,000 and is to be implemented in a five year span from 2015-16 to 2019-20.
 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PM-KMY): provides payment of a minimum pension of Rs 3000 per
month to eligible small and marginal farmers on attaining the age of 60 years. It is a voluntary contributory
pension scheme with an entry age of 18 to 40 years and the monthly contribution by farmers ranges between Rs
55 to 200 depending on their age. Central government contributes an equal amount to the scheme
 National Agriculture Market Scheme (e-NAM): stands for Electronic National Agriculture Market is a pan-India
trading portal launched in 2016 and ensure real-time better price discovery, bringing in transparency and
competition to enable farmers through a unified national market to get improved remuneration for their
produce, aiming towards ‘One Nation One Market’
 Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY): is an elaborated component of Soil Health Management (SHM) of
major project National Mission of Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) to promote organic farming in the country by
increasing soil health and organic matter content
 Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY): was launched in 2016 and offers crop insurance at a very negligible
cost to the farmers. The farmer has to pay an annual premium of 2% for Kharif crop, 1.5% for Rabi and oilseed
crops and 5% for commercial/horticulture crops. The rest of the premium amount is being borne equally by
central and respective state/UT governments
 Interest Subvention Scheme: was launched for short term crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh at a reduced the interest
rate of 7% p.a. The scheme provides interest subvention of 2% per annum to Banks on the use of their own
resources. An additional incentive of 3% is also given to farmers for prompt repayment of loans (thus the net
interest rate is 4% only)
 Soil Health Card Scheme: launched in 2015, ensure site-specific nutrient management and is based on 5 Rs: the
right time, the right amount, the right place, the right source, the right manner for feeding crops with nutrients
as and when needed
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES FOR AGRICULTURAL REFORMS

 The High Powered Committee of Chief Ministers of 7 states- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Arunachal
Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh for ‘Transformation of Indian Agriculture’ has been
constituted to deliberate and firm up their report
 National Food Security Mission (NFSM)-for cereals, pulses, oilseeds, Nutri-rich cereals, commercial crops
 Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) for high growth rate of horticulture crops
 National Mission on oilseeds and oil Palm (NMOOP) launched in 2014-15 for increasing production of oilseeds
and Oil Palm
 The Model Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Promotion & Facilitation Act,2017 to promote
alternative competitive marketing channels with private investment and includes setting up of private markets,
declaring warehouses/cold storages etc.
 Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) are electronically linked to e-NAM portal and exempted from regulations
of Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) to make direct sale to consumers and bulk purchasers
 Price Support Scheme (PSS) for procurement of oilseeds, pulses and cotton by central agencies at MSP at the
request of State government concerned
 ‘Har Medh Par Ped’ launched during 2016-17 to encourage tree plantation on farmland along with
crops/cropping system
 Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for procurement of agriculture & horticulture products, which are
perishable in nature and are not covered under PSS
 Government provides total interest subvention up to 5% on short-term crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh and the loans
are available to farmers at 4% per annum on prompt repayment
 For Dairy development, there are 3 important schemes : National Dairy Plan-1 (NDP-1), National Dairy
Development Program (NPDD) and Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme
 Rashtriya Gokul Mission was launched in December 2014 for gene pool of indigenous cattle and buffaloes
FARMING TECHNIQUES IN INDIA

 Conservation Agriculture: is based on i) minimum soil disturbance with no-tillage or reduced tillage ii)
maintenance of permanent soil cover iii) cropping system diversity, crop rotation. This method is regarded as
the best solution for crop residue burning
 Integrated Farming System (IFS): is a method of building farm resilience through spreading risks i.e. not putting
all fruits in one basket. The IFS is the integration of livestock rearing with crop production
 Crop Diversion: to diversify crop cultivation with pulses, oilseeds, fiber crops etc. for efficient management of
natural resources and productivity
 Resource Conservation Technologies: are those practices that conserve resources ad ensure their optimal
utilisation and include zero or minimum tillage laser land levelling, system of Rice Intensification etc.
 Protected Cultivation: also called as greenhouse cultivation and Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) is
mainly for the horticultural crop. It involves crop cultivation in a controlled environment wherein factors like
temperature, humidity, light, soil, water etc. are manipulated to attain the maximum produce
INITIATIVES FOR WOMEN IN AGRICULTURE SECTOR

 Support for Women Food Security Groups (FSGs): Women farmer group are recognised under ATMA
(Agricultural Technology Management Agency) as a compulsory activity at Rs 0.10 lakh per group/year for
attaining food security at the domestic or the household level, by setting up kitchen gardens, promoting off-
farm activities with cattle
 Procurement of Agricultural Machinery & Equipment (Subsidy pattern): in which women farmers gets over and
above benefits offered to men farmers for the purchase of essential agricultural equipment
 Integrated Scheme for Agricultural Marketing (ISAM): that includes 33.33% subsidy (on capital cost) for women
as compared to 25% for men
 The Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry established Indian Council of Agricultural Research, ICAR, a
central Institute for analysing Women’s role in Agriculture and make study based report in Bhubaneswar,
Odisha in the year 1996
INITIATIVES FOR RURAL YOUTH

 Skill Training of Rural Youth (STRY): offers modular skill training opportunities to rural youth (above 18 years of
age) in farm and non-farm sector in accordance with the requirement of local agr0-based industries
 Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY): launched in 2014, focus on rural youth in the
age group of 15-35 years. Under the programme, it is mandatory to give a minimum 160 hours of training in soft
skills, functional English and computer literacy etc.
 Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Shiksha Abhiyan (PMGDISHA): launched in 2017, impart digital literacy in rural
areas to the age group 14 to 60 years with the aim to empower at least one person per rural household with
crucial digital literacy skills.
INITIATIVES FOR WATER CONSERVATION IN IRRIGATION

 Micro Irrigation Technologies: includes mainly sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation
 Improved irrigation Methods: Micro Irrigation was launched in 2005-06 as centrally sponsored scheme and was
upscaled to National Mission on Micro Irrigation (NMSA) in 2014-15 and was taken under ‘More crop per drop’
component of PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana in 2015
 A Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) of Rs 5000 crore was allocated in the Union Budget 2017-18 to help the states to
mobilize additional resources for increasing micro irrigation
DATA
 National Centre for Cold Chain Development while describing the vast gap in infrastructure, estimated a gap of
99% in packhouses, 85% in reefer vans, 10% in cold storages and 91% in ripening chambers
 Central Groundwater Board has estimated that 16.2% of the assessed units in India are ‘overexploited’ and 14%
are either ‘critical’ or ‘semi-critical’
 As per the 2011 census, the total number of female workers engaged in agricultural activities in India stood at
65%, with 30.3% of the total cultivators and 42.6% of the total agricultural labourers being women
 Out of 313 million main workers in the country, 166 million (53%) are engaged in agricultural and allied sector
 The NSSO survey on Household Consumption Expenditure for the year 2011-12 showed that more than one-
fifth (22.4%) of rural households with agriculture as their principal occupation were having income below
poverty line
 As per NITI Aayog, irrigation consumes 84% of water and it is estimated that 52% of cropped areas are without
irrigation in India
FACTS
 The annual water availability is at 1554 m3 per capita in India
 The government has implemented the interest subvention on the recommendation of the Sarangi Committee
2016
 The Small and Marginal farmers constitute 86% of farm households and 45% of area but sell only 12-33% of
their output
 Agriculture accounts for 18% of GDP (precisely 17.25%) in India’s economic growth
 India is the largest producer of milk, jute and pulses in the world accounting for 25% of global pulses production
 India is the 2nd largest producer of rice, Wheat, groundnuts, cotton and sugarcane in the world
 India is also the 2nd largest fruit and vegetable producer after China, accounting for 10.9% and 8.6% of the
world’s produce respectively
 Share of agriculture sector in total export of the country is 11.76% for the year 2018-19
 Maharashtra is the first state to roll out its Maharashtra Public Private Partnership for Integrated Agricultural
Development (PPPIAD) project to develop integrated value chains for selected crops through PPP and co-
investment
CURRENT HAPPENINGS
SWACHH MAHOTSAV 2019
 The Swachh Mahotsav 2019 was organised by the Ministry of Jal Shakti on 6th September. President Ram Nath
Kovind presented the Swachh Bharat awards in various categories and himself received the Swachh Bharat
Mission’s Book on Behavior Change from the Ministry.
YOJANA MAGAZINE SUMMARY: OCTOBER 2019
TOPIC: INVALUABLE LEGACY

 The invaluable legacy is a tribute to the Father of the nation “Mahatma Gandhi” on his 150th Birth Anniversary
for showing us the path of non-violence, truth, ethics of Satyagraha, Trusteeship, etc.
BOOKS BASED ON MAHATMA GANDHI’S LIFE

 Mahatma Gandhi: A Life through Lenses- the 1st edition was published in 1954 and displays photographs from
the Sarvodaya Diwas Pradarshni organized at Rajghat in January 1949 to mark the first anniversary of Gandhi’s
death
 Satyagraha Geeta and Uttar Satyagraha Geeta- “Satyagraha Geeta” was published for the 1st time in Paris in
1932 and deals with Gandhi’s life up to Gandhi-Irwin Pact. Its 2nd part “Uttar Satyagraha Geeta” was published
in 1940s and brings the story of the great struggle to the 75th birthday of Gandhiji. The writer of the two books
is Pandita Ksama Rao
 Women in Satyagraha- was written by Aparna Basu
CURRENT HAPPENINGS COVERED IN YOJANA

 The Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and Information & Broadcasting, Prakash Javedekar
presented the first copies of the books “The Republican Ethic” (Vol-2) and “Loktantra Ke Swar” (Kaand-2) to
the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind.
 Both the books contain the selected speeches of the President, delivered by him in his 2nd year in office
 The books are published by the Publications Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
 The Publications Division released 5 books at the 25th Delhi Book Fair 2019, held on 11th September 2019.
 Kasturi Parimal (Hindi)- by Dr. Vishwas Patil on Kasturba Gandhi
 1921 Ke Asahayog Aandolan ki Jhankiyan (Hindi)- Preface by former President V.V.Giri
 Gandhi Katha (Hindi and Urdu)
 Women in Satyagraha (Gujarati)- by Aparna Basu
 Homage to Mahatma: All India Radio Tributes (Tamil)
 The Book Fair is annually organized by the Federation of Indian Publishers (ITPO)
 Publication Division of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has published the book “Romain Rolland
and Gandhi Correspondence”- a collection of letters, diary extracts, and articles of the Noble Laureate from
France, Romain Rolland’s correspondence with and about Mahatma Gandhi on the 150th birth anniversary of
Mahatma Gandhi.
CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTION BANK: OCTOBER 2019
Q.1 Which Coach Factory of Indian Railways has recently launched a pilot project for ushering in Industry 4.0?
a) Integral Coach Factory

b) Rail Coach Factory
c) Modern Coach Factory
d) Both a and b
e) None of these
Q.2 What was India’s rank in the IMD world digital competitiveness ranking 2019 (WDCR)?
a) 42nd
b) 43rd
c) 44th
d) 45th
e) None of these
Q.3 The BRAHMOS missile, which is a joint venture between India and Russia, has been named after?
a) Brahmaputra and Moskva river

b) God Brahma and Mosya
c) An earlier used Russian Cruise Missile
d) Indian Navy’s decommissioned Ship
e) None of these
Q.4 Who has won the men's singles title of ATP Challenger Tournament 2019?
a) Facundo Bognis
b) Sumit Nagpal
c) Mohit Rohanty
d) Suresh Prakash
e) None of these
Q.5 The word Plogging is currently in the news in which context?
a) Fitness and Cleanliness

b) Education and Health
c) Money and cleanliness
d) Fitness and Money
e) None of these
Q.6 The School Education Quality Index (SEQI) is released by?
a) NITI Aayog
b) Ministry of Human Resource Development
c) Ministry of Science & Technology
d) Ministry of Labour & Employment
e) None of these
Q.7 Choose the correct option in the context of Sovereign Gold Bonds?
a) In case of joint holding, the investment limit of 4 KG will be applied to the first applicant only.
b) Minimum permissible investment will be 1 gram of gold.

c) Bonds can be used as collateral for loans.
d) All a, b and c are correct
e) Only a and b
Q.8 Which app has been recently launched by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution for
providing a one-stop solution for consumer grievance redressal?
a) Grievance App
b) Consumer App
c) Redressal App
d) Buyer & Seller App
e) None of these
Q.9 Which train has been recently flagged off between New Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir for speedy development of
the later?
a) Delhi-Srinagar Vande Bharat Express

b) Delhi-Jammu Vande Bharat Express
c) Delhi- Mirpur Vande Bharat Express
d) Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat Express
e) None of these
Q.10 The Paryatan Parv 2019 is organized by which Ministry/Ministries?
a) Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

b) Ministry of Tourism
c) Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
d) Jointly by a, b and c
e) None of them
Q.11 The Vayoshreshtha Samman-2019 is conferred for which purpose?
a) Doing excellent work towards rural sanitation

b) Rendering service for the cause of elderly persons
c) Rendering service for the cause of women empowerment
d) Doing excellent work towards Urban sanitation
e) None of these
Q.12 To whom the prestigious Saraswati Samman award was conferred to in the year 2019?
a) Poet K Siva Reddy

b) Poet Laxmi Agarwal
c) Poet Meena Alexander
d) Poet Syed Waheed Ashraf
e) None of these
Q.13 India has recently inaugurated a Metro Express in which country under a Special Economic Package given by it
earlier to this country?
a) Vietnam
b) Srilanka
c) Mauritius
d) Laos
e) None of these
Q.14 The Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is managed by whom?
a) ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund

b) Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund
c) UTI Mutual Fund
d) Axis Mutual Fund
e) None of these
Q.15 Which train was recently renamed as the 'Sarbat Da Bhala Express'?
a) New Delhi-Amritsar Intercity-Express

b) New Delhi-Ludhiana Intercity-Express
c) New Delhi-Udhampur Intercity-Express
d) New Delhi-Jalandhar Intercity-Express
e) None of these
Q.16 RBI has recently cut the repo rate by 25 basis points, which is the _____ rate cut in 2019?
a) Forth
b) Sixth
c) Fifth
d) Seventh
e) None of these
Q.17 Which railway station has topped the Swacch Bharat cleanliness assessment 2019?
a) Jodhpur
b) Durgapur
c) Ajmer
d) Jaipur
e) None of these
Q.18 The Youth Co: Lab was recently launched by?
a) NITI Aayog and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India

b) NITI Aayog and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
c) Ministry of Human Resource and Development and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India
d) Ministry of Human Resource and Development and United Nations Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO)
e) None of these
Q.19 The World Cotton Day is observed on?
a) 5th August
b) 7th October
c) 5th September
d) 7th November
e) None of these
Q.20 What is the Centre’s contribution to the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the General Category States?
a) 60%
b) 75%
c) 80%
d) 85%
e) None of these
Q.21 With which country India has signed an agreement to build Vivekananda Bhavan recently?
a) Sri Lanka
b) Myanmar
c) China
d) Bangladesh
e) None of these
Q.22 Swiss Bank has recently exchanged financial account details of nationals with India under the framework of?
a) Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA)

b) Cybersecurity Information Exchange (CYBEX)
c) Secured Currency Money Transfer (SCMT)
d) Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI)
e) None of these
Q.23 The e-DantSeva is launched by which Ministry?
a) Ministry of Science & Technology

b) Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
c) NITI-Aayog
d) Ministry of Women and Child Development
e) None of these
Q.24 Which edition of the India International Cooperative Trade Fair will be held in 2019?
a) 1st
b) 2nd
c) 3rd
d) 4th
e) 5th
Q.25 Which place has been recently approved by the central government for setting up of a Special Economic Zone
(SEZ)?
a) Jalefa, Tripura
b) Balaghat, MP
c) Betul, MP
d) Kalimpong, West Bengal
e) None of these
Q.26 The International Film Festival of India has celebrated which edition of the festival in 2019?
a) 25th edition
b) 50th edition
c) 75th edition
d) 100th edition
e) None of these
Q.27 The newly launched scheme PM-ASMI stands for?
a) Pradhan Mantri – Assured and Safe Motherhood initiative

b) Pradhan Mantri – Assured safety Malaria initiative
c) Pradhan Mantri – Assured safety Measles initiative
d) Pradhan Mantri – Assured Sewage Management initiative
e) None of these
Q.28 Which state government has launched the Free Drug Scheme for tea garden workers?
a) Assam
b) Tripura
c) Manipur
d) Sikkim
e) None of these
Q.29 Who has been recently selected from India for the Asia Environmental Enforcement Award by the United
Nations Environment Programme?
a) Rakesh Pandey
b) Ramesh Pandey
c) Mohan Pandey
d) Suresh Pandey
e) None of these
Q.30 Who has received the Nobel awards in Medicine for 2019?
a) William G Kaelin
b) Gregg L Semenza
c) Jr Peter J Ratcliffe
d) All of the above
e) None of these
Q.31 The World Powerlifting Championship 2019 is held at?
a) Paris, France
b) Rome, Italy
c) Berlin, Germany
d) Vienna, Austria
e) None of these
Q.32 The Finance Ministry’s National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) is launched for?
a) E-commerce Companies
b) PSUs Disinvestment
c) Taxpayers
d) Money laundering
e) None of the above
Q.33 India had signed an agreement worth Rs 59,000 crore with France in _________for the procurement of 36 Rafale
fighter jets?
a) August 2017
b) September 2016
c) August 2016
d) September 2017
e) None of these
Q.34 Who has received the Nobel Prize 2019 for Physics?
a) Michel Mayor
b) James Peebles
c) Didier Queloz
d) All a, b and c
e) None of them
Q.35 The World Post Day is observed on?
a) 7th October
b) 8th November
c) 9th October
d) 10th December
e) None of these
Q.36 The Central government has recently announced _____ Dearness Allowance for Central Government employees
and pensioners?
a) 4%
b) 7%
c) 5%
d) 10%
e) None of these
Q.37 Recently, the DHRUV programme was launched by the government for which section?
a) To select 10 students for experiencing the Gaganyaan Mission by ISRO

b) To mentor 60 talented students from Science, Mathematics and Performing Arts
c) To select 5 students to represent India at the National Youth Conference
d) Both a and c
Q.38 Which device has been recently launched by the Ministry of Earth Science to provide emergency Disaster
Warning to fishermen?
a) GRADED device
b) GROUND device
c) GEMINI device
d) GROSS device
e) None of these
Q.39 The Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship Programme is launched by which Ministry?
a) Ministry of Human Resource and Development

b) Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
c) Ministry of Science and Technology
d) Ministry of Labour and Employment
e) None of these
Q.40 Which city is in the news for commencing the first-of-its-kind initiative 'Garbage Cafe'?
a) Kolhapur
b) Raipur
c) Ambikapur
d) Bhopal
e) None of these
Q.41 Who has won the Nobel Prize 2019 in Literature?
a) Olga Tokarczuk
b) Peter Handke
c) Margaret Drabble
d) Frédéric Beigbeder
e) None of these
Q.42 Ministry of Health and Family has recently launched______ scheme to provide free healthcare benefits to
pregnant women, mothers up to 6 months after delivery, and all sick new-borns?
a) SWASTHYA
b) SUMAN
c) SHILP
d) SOUMYA
e) None of these
Q.43 Which among the following doesn’t come in the list of 6 ASEAN FTA partners?
a) India
b) Pakistan
c) Australia
d) New Zealand
e) None of these
Q.44 President’s Colours is an acknowledgement of the meritorious service rendered by the ______________ over the
years?
a) National Cadet Corp (NCC)
b) Army Aviation Corps (ACC)

c) National Defence Academy (NDA)
d) Indian Coast Guard (ICG)
e) None of these
Q.45 The SARAS Aajeevika Mela was recently organised by?
a) Ministry of culture
b) Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
c) Ministry of Rural Development
d) Ministry of Tourism
e) None of these
Q.46 Recently, the mobile app, ________ has been launched by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs for
‘Environment Protection in Government Colonies?
a) uGreen
b) mSanrakshan
c) uEnvironment
d) mHariyali
e) None of these
Q.47 Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has recently signed MoU with which bank to provide paperless and cashless
payment and procurement system for government entities?
a) Union Bank of India

b) Bank of Baroda
c) Punjab National Bank
d) State Bank of India
e) None of these
Q.48 Which edition of the Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) was held recently between the navies of India and
Bangladesh?
a) 2nd
b) 3rd
c) 4th
d) 5th
e) None of these
Q.49 The Nobel Prize 2019 in Chemistry was awarded for?
a) Development of rechargeable Helium batteries

b) Development of lithium-ion batteries
c) For discovering the power of evolution through enzymes
d) For discovering the evolution in plants through chlorophyll
e) None of these
Q.50 DHARMA GUARDIAN-2019, is a Joint Military Exercise between India and?
a) China
b) Bangladesh
c) Japan
d) Singapore
e) None of these
Q.51 Which edition of the Ministry of Culture’s flagship programme Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav was recently held in
Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh?
a) 4th
b) 6th
c) 8th
d) 10th
e) None of these
Q.52 The _____India-China Informal Summit was held in Mamallapuram, Chennai in 2019?
a) 1st
b) 2nd
c) 3rd
d) 4th
e) None of these
Q.53 The 2019 First Global DXB Challenge will be held in _________?
a) Rome
b) Paris
c) Dubai
d) South Africa
e) None of these
Q.54 Republic of Sierra Leone, of the _______ Nation, was recently in the news for the first-ever visit of an Indian Vice
President to the country?
a) African
b) South American
c) Chinese
d) North American
e) None of these
Q.55 As per the latest report of the World Bank, which country has become the 2nd fastest growing economy in South
Asia after Bhutan?
a) India
b) Bangladesh
c) Srilanka
d) Maldives
e) None of these
Q.56 Netherlands is India’s ____ largest trading partner in the European Union?
a) 2nd
b) 3rd
c) 4th
d) 5th
e) None of these
Q.57 Which is the 1st airline in the world to use a Taxibot?
a) Singapore Airlines
b) Qatar Airways
c) Air India
d) Virgin Atlantic Airways
e) None of these
Q.58 The RBI has set the minimum paid up equity capital of _______, for Entities who are desirous to operate or
provide platforms for Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS)?
a) Rs 100 Crore
b) Rs 25 crore
c) Rs 50 Crore
d) Rs 150 Crore
e) None of these
Q.59 The 2019 Booker Prize is won by?
a) Bernardine Evaristo
b) Margaret Atwood
c) Salman Rushdie
d) Both a and b
e) Both a and c
Q.60 Which Indian shuttler has won the men's singles title at the Bahrain International Series Badminton?
a) Priyanshu Rajawat
b) Rohan Kapoor
c) Venkat Gaurav Prasad
d) Kanyanat Sudchoeichom
e) None of these
Q.61 The LOTUS-HR project is a joint initiative between India and _______, for clean water through water
management?
a) Russia
b) France
c) Netherland
d) Germany
e) None of these
Q.62 Which Indian-American has won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics?
a) Abhijit Banerjee
b) Saumik Banerjee
c) Sourabh Banerjee
d) Amit Banerjee
e) None of these
Q.63 Who has recently created Individual Guinness World Records for most full contact knee strikes in 3 minutes in
one leg, female category?
a) Kiran Uniyal
b) Supriya Darshini
c) Mahima Pandey
d) Visha Chaudary
e) None of these
Q.64 Who is recently appointed as the new Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Department of Expenditure,
Ministry of Finance?
a) Anil Bansal
b) J.P.S. Chawla
c) Kumar Mahendra
d) Abhijit shahi
e) None of these
Q.65 The World Food Day is observed on?
a) 21st November
b) 16th October
c) 25th August
d) 20th September
e) None of these
Q.66 Section 65 of the Customs Act, 1962 was recently in the news, is concerned with___?
a) Manufacturing activity in a ship warehouse.

b) Manufacturing activity in a customs bonded warehouse.
c) Manufacturing activity in a Private bonded warehouse.
d) Manufacturing activity in a Co-operative bonded warehouse.
e) None of these
Q.67 Which state has topped the India Innovation Index 2019 in the overall ranking?
a) Madhya Pradesh
b) Karnataka
c) Gujarat
d) Telangana
e) None of these
Q.68 The joint exercise EX-EASTERN BRIDGE-V is conducted between India and _____?
a) Bangladesh
b) France
c) Oman
d) Indonesia
e) None of these
Q.69 Which Indian company has recently crossed Rs 9 lakh crore of market capitalization?
a) Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)

b) Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
c) ITC Limited
d) State Bank of India
e) None of these
Q.70 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed India’s GDP growth projection for the year 2019 to ______?
a) 5.9%
b) 6%
c) 6.1%
d) 6.2%
e) 7%
Q.71 KHON Ramlila is a masked form of Ramlila art of _______?
a) India
b) China
c) Vietnam
d) Thailand
e) Myanmar
Q.72 Who is the Chairman of the International Jury of 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI)?
a) Zhang Yang
b) John Bailey
c) Robin Campillo
d) Lynne Ramsay
e) None of these
Q.73 The biodiesel manufacturer, BioD energy, has recently come into a partnership with ________, to collect the
used cooking oil from restaurants around the country and convert it into biodiesel?
a) Swiggy
b) UberEats
c) Zomato
d) Faasos
e) None of these
Q.74 The Government has recently put _______ charge or Merchant Discount Rates (MDR) on customers/merchants
on digital payment to large firms having a turnover in excess of Rs 50 crore?
a) 2%
b) 3%
c) 4%
d) 5%
e) Zero
Q.75 As per the new norms of SEBI, if the auditor resigns after____ days from the end of the quarter in a Financial
Year, the auditor has to issue the audit report for such a quarter as well?
a) 15 days
b) 30 days
c) 45 days
d) 50 days
Q.76 The Okayama Declaration was recently adopted by _______?
a) BRICS
b) G7
c) G20
d) SAARC
Q.77 The key components of the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill include?
a) Establishment of a DNA Regulatory Board

b) Accreditation of DNA laboratories undertaking DNA testing, analysing, etc.
c) Establishment of the National and Regional DNA Data Banks, for forensic investigations
d) All the above
e) None of these
Q.78 India will host the General Assembly of Interpol in ______?
a) 2020
b) 2021
c) 2022
d) 2023
e) None of these
Q.79 Which two female NASA astronauts have become the first all-female pairing to carry out a spacewalk?
a) Christina Koch and Jessica Meir

b) Sally Ride and Judith Resnik
c) Irina Solovyova and Valentina Ponomaryova
d) Svetlana Savitskaya and Valentina Tereshkova
e) None of these
Q.80 Who has won the mixed doubles title at the Egypt International 2019?
a) Kuhoo Garg and Dhruv Rawat

b) Ahmed Salah and Hadia Hosny
c) Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker
d) Koceila Mammeri and Linda Mazri
e) None of these
Q.81 US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) was in news, who is the Chairman of USISPF?
a) John Mickle
b) John Missale
c) John Chambers
d) John Adam
e) None of these
Q.82 The Ministry of Defence has recently approved the procurement of indigenously developed military equipment
worth ________ for the armed forces?
a) Rs 3000 crore
b) Rs 3200 crore
c) Rs 3300 crore
d) Rs 3500 crore
e) None of these
Q.83 Choose the correct statement about the scheme Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme?
1. It covers Small and Marginal farmers

2. It covers landless farmers
a) Only 1
b) Only 2
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2
e) None of these
Q.84 Which country was recently removed from the Financial Action Task Force's grey list at the five-day plenary
concluded in Paris?
a) Bangladesh
b) Sri Lanka
c) Iran
d) Pakistan
e) Turkey
Q.85 The Bhashan Char Island recently in the news, is in______?
a) India
b) Myanmar
c) Sri Lanka
d) Bangladesh
e) None of these
Q.86 India has recently provided training at NACIN to the 2nd batch of _________ official under the Indian Technical
and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme?
a) Chinese
b) Bangladeshis
c) Nepalese
d) Bhutanese
e) None of these
Q.87 Who has been recently appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI)?
a) Praveen Kumar
b) Kumar Pranav
c) Pankaj Kumar
d) Kumar Prakash
e) None of these
Q.88 The International Snow Leopard Day is celebrated on ________ every year?
a) 20th October
b) 20th September
c) 23rd October
d) 23rd November
e) None of these
Q.89 The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has announced to celebrate 25 years of Pulse polio programme in the
year______?
a) 2019
b) 2020
c) 2021
d) 2022
e) None of these
Q.90 Which among the following will host the 2024 Olympic Games?
a) Tokyo
b) Los Angeles
c) Beijing
d) Paris
e) None of these
Q.91 The National Panchayat awards 2019, recently in the news is given by which Ministry?
a) Ministry of Panchayati Raj

b) Ministry of Rural Development
c) Ministry of Tourism
d) Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
e) None of these
Q.92 Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises has recently accorded ‘Maharatna’ status to?
a) Hindustan Petroleum
b) Power Grid Corporation
c) Both a and b
d) Neither a nor b
e) None of these
Q.93 The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has recently signed MoU with __________ for Payment Services?
a) Yes Bank
b) Pay Pal
c) Federal Bank
d) Pay U
e) None of these
Q.94 The government has recently approved the merger of which two telecom companies?
a) BSNL and Airtel

b) MTNL and Jio
c) BSNL and MTNL
d) MTNL and Jio
e) None of these
Q.95 Recently the World Bank has signed a $165 million loan agreement for a Climate Resilient Agricultural Project
with which state?
a) Madhya Pradesh
b) Odisha
c) Chhattisgarh
d) Rajasthan
e) None of these
Q.96 What is India’s rank in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2020?
a) 77th
b) 63rd
c) 66th
d) 73rd
e) None of these
Q.97 ___________ is the 1st Indian man to win gold at the Wushu World Championships?
a) Kumar Kartik
b) Mahesh Kumar
c) Praveen Kumar
d) Sourabh Kumar
e) None of these
Q.98 The National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards is conferred by which Ministry?
a) Ministry of Corporate affairs

b) Ministry of Commerce & Industry
c) Ministry of Company Affairs
d) Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
e) None of these
Q.99 What was India’s rank in the Global Health Security Index 2019?
a) 52nd
b) 54th
c) 55th
d) 57th
e) None of these
Q.100 The theme of the Vigilance Awareness Week 2019 is?
a) Gratitude-a way of life

b) Remove Corruption- Make Incredible India
c) Integrity- a way of life
d) Remove Corruption-Heart of Darkness
e) None of these
Q.101 The DEFCOM 2019 was organized at_____?
a) Guwahati
b) Bhopal
c) New Delhi
d) Imphal
e) None of these
Q.102 Who has been appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of the recently formed Union Territory, Ladakh?
a) R K Mathur
b) Girish Chandra Murmu
c) Satya Pal Malik
d) P.S. Sreedharan Pillai
e) None of these
Q.103 Recently Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system is installed at ports for?
a) Eliminating manual checking of documents at port gate

b) Real time tracking of movement of vehicles, men and materials
c) Both a and b
d) Not Ease of doing business with Port users
Q.104 What is the name of the project launched by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Ministry of
Science & Technology for Genome Sequencing of Indians?
a) India’s Genome Sequencing Project

b) IndiGen Genome project
c) Genome India Project
d) Indi Science Genome Project
e) None of these
Q.105 Recently the Kalidhar Battalion conducted the white water rafting expedition named ____________, to
commemorate its 75th Raising Day?
a) Rudraprayag
b) Rudrarishi
c) Rudrashila
d) Rudrasmita
e) None of these
Q.106 The 29th ministerial meeting of the BASIC countries was recently held in____?
a) Beijing, China
b) Tokyo, Japan
c) Pretoria, South Africa
d) New Delhi, India
e) None of these
Q.107 India has won _______ in the Men's doubles at the French Open 2019?
a) Gold
b) Silver
c) Bronze
d) Both a and b
Q.108 The ‘Odisha-Mo Parivar’ initiative launched recently by the Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik is for?
a) Encouraging environment protection

b) Health care service: Blood donation
c) Welfare of Odias in distress
d) All of the above
e) None of these
Q.109 Exercise SHAKTI is conducted between the armies of India and ______?
a) Russia
b) USA
c) France
d) Indonesia
e) None of these
Q.110 Tiger Woods is associated with which sports?
a) Golf
b) Shooting
c) Tennis
d) Gymnastics
e) None of these
Q.111 Who among the following can vote through postal ballots as per the recent amendment made into the Conduct
of Election Rules, 1961 by the Ministry of Law and Justice?
a) Persons over 80 years of age and person with disability

b) Persons over 70 years of age and person with disability
c) Persons over 65 years of age and person with disability
d) Persons over 60 years of age and person with disability

e) None of these
Q.112 RBI has recently imposed a monetary penalty on Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd (TMB) with the power vested to
RBI under________?
a) Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934

b) Banking Regulation Act, 1949
c) Banking Regulation (Companies) Rules, 1949
d) Reserve Bank of India (Amendment and Misc. Provisions) Act, 1953
e) None of these
Q.113 The National Health Profile (NHP) released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provides data and
information on?
a) Housing and amenities

b) Population
c) Employment
d) All the above
e) None of these
Q.114 The Ministry of Railways has recently signed a MoU with _______________ for an Executive Education
Program?
a) International School of Management (ISM)

b) Research Schools Network (RSN)
c) Indian School of Business (ISB)
d) The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF)
e) None of these
Q.115 The 2nd Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA) is to be held in _______?
a) New Delhi
b) Paris
c) Berlin
d) Beijing
e) None of these
Q.116 Which authority regulates the National Pension System (NPS)?
a) Personal Retirement Savings Accounts Authority (PRSAA)

b) Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare (DPPW)
c) Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)
d) Pension Distributing and Regulatory Authority (PDRA)
e) None of these
Q.117 Recently RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 25 lakh on Jalgaon Peoples Co-operative Bank Ltd. for non-
compliance of which norm?
a) Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in Private Sector

b) Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms
c) Frauds classification and reporting by commercial banks and select FIs directions 2016
d) Both a and c
Q.118 RBI has recently imposed Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd for non-compliance with directions on IRAC norms that
stands for?
a) Income Registration and Asset Classification

b) Income Recovery and Asset Categorisation
c) Income Recognition and Asset Classification
d) Income Requirement and Asset Categorisation
e) None of these
Q.119 The penalty of Rs 1 crore was recently imposed on the Bandhan Bank Limited by RBI for non-compliance with
the guidelines on ______?
a) Frauds classification
b) Asset Classification
c) Promoter Holding
d) Income Registration
e) None of these
ANSWERS
Ans.1 (C) The Modern Coach Factory in Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli district has launched a pilot project for ushering in
Industry 4.0. The pilot project has been launched by the Ministry of Railways and the Department of Science and
Technology in partnership with IIT Kanpur.
Ans.2 (C) The largest jump was registered by Indonesia and China i.e. from 62nd to 56th and 30th to 22nd
respectively. The Index ranks 63 nations and measures their capacity to adopt digital technologies as a key driver for
economic transformation in government, business, and society.
Ans.3 (A) BRAHMOS is a medium-range, supersonic cruise missile, made with a joint venture of DRDO, India and Russian
Federation's NPO Mashinostroyeniya. The name BrahMos is formed from combining the names of two rivers, the
Brahmaputra of India and the Moskva of Russia.
Ans.4 (B) Sumit Nagpal defeated Facundo Bognis by straight-sets 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 37 minutes. It won his 2nd
challenger title after winning the Bengaluru Challenger event in 2017 and grabbed his Grand Slam debut last month.
Ans.5 (A) 'Fit India Plog run’ has been flagged off by the Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju at Indira Gandhi stadium in
New Delhi. Plogging is a concept in which participants pick up plastic and other waste from the road while jogging that
ultimately benefits health and make a clean environment.
Ans.6 (A) NITI Aayog released the School Education Quality Index (SEQI). School Education Quality Index (SEQI) evaluates
the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector.
Ans.7 (D) The minimum permissible investment will be 1 gram of gold. The maximum limit of subscribed shall be 4 KG
for individual and HUF each and 20 Kg for trusts and similar entities per fiscal (April-March) notified by the Government
from time to time.
Ans.8 (B) Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution launched ‘Consumer App’: A one-stop solution for
consumer grievance redressal’. Consumers get information about 42 Sectors including e-commerce, Banking, Insurance,
Consumer Durables, Electronic Products, etc.
Ans.9 (D) The train has the facilities of GPS Based information system, onboard Wi-Fi internet, CCTV Surveillance and Bio
vacuum toilet. The first Vande Bharat Express train was operated between Delhi to Varanasi in February 2019.
Ans.10 (D) The parv is jointly conducted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Tourism and
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. The tourist's data given by the Ministry of Tourism shows that about 1.05 crore
tourists are coming to India every year.
Ans.11 (B) President Ram Nath Kovind will confer the Vayoshreshtha Samman-2019 on 3rd October 2019. The award is
presented to the institutions/organisations/individuals involved in rendering distinguished service for the cause of
elderly persons.
Ans.12 (A) Vice President, M Venkaiah Naidu conferred the prestigious Saraswati Samman award, conferred by the KK
Birla Foundation. The award was given to the Telegu poet K Siva Reddy for his collection of poems titled Pakkaki
Ottigilite.
Ans.13 (C) India has granted $14 million for the new Hospital Project and $275 million for the Metro Express project. The
grant (total $353 million) was awarded by the Government of India to Mauritius in March 2017.
Ans.14 (A) The 4th tranche of Bharat-22 aimed at mopping Rs 8,000 crore from investors. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund
manages the Bharat-22 ETF.
Ans.15 (B) It is the renamed New Delhi-Ludhiana Intercity Express. Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal requested to
rename the train on the occasion of the 550th Parkash Purb i.e. the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji.
Ans.16 (C) The cut has been made to 5.15% from 5.40% earlier, while the reverse repo rate has been adjusted to 4.90%
and bank rate at 5.40 %. All the six members of the MPC voted in favour of a rate cut, which is the fifth rate cut in 2019.
Ans.17 (D) Jaipur Junction and Gandhinagar Jaipur stations have made the facility to treat single-use plastic, and bottle
crushing machines have been planted at the station.
Ans.18 (A) Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India have
jointly launched Youth Co: Lab in 4th October 2019. Youth dialogue series will be convened across the cities to promote
entrepreneurship across India.
Ans.19 (B) WTO is hosting the event at the request of the Cotton – 4 countries, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali. The
4 countries in their official application to WTO had asked for the recognition of 7th October as World Cotton Day by the
United Nations.
Ans.20 (B) 75% of the SDRF fund is contributed by the Central Government and for the General Category States and 90%
for North-Eastern and Hilly States in each allocation year.
Ans.21 (D) A total of seven agreements were signed between India and Bangladesh in several areas including education,
health, defence, trade and connectivity, development cooperation etc. Ms Hasina was on a four-day visit to India and
has arrived on 3rd October 2019.
Ans.22 (D) Switzerland Federal Tax Administration (FTA) has exchanges information on financial accounts with 75
countries, about their nationals within the AEOI (Automatic Exchange of Information) framework.
Ans.23 (B) The first-ever oral health awareness website and mobile application are launched by the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in collaboration with the Union Health Ministry. A unique feature called the ‘Symptom
Checker’ is also available on the app/website.
Ans.24 (A) The first-ever India International Cooperative Trade Fair is aimed at enhancing rural and farm prosperity
(doubling farmers income by 2022) by promoting cooperative to cooperative trade within India and abroad.
Ans.25 (A) The Tripura government submitted a proposal in June this year, to the Ministry of Industries and Commerce
for the setting of an agro-based SEZ at Jalefa. An estimated investment of around Rs. 1550 crore will be made in setting
up first-ever SEZ.
Ans.26 (B) The 50th International Film Festival of India, IFFI 2019, will be held in Goa from 20th to 28th November
2019. The Golden Jubilee edition of the festival will showcase 200 best films from 76 countries, 26 feature films and 15
non-feature films in the Indian Panorama section.
Ans.27 (A) The Scheme aims to bring down maternal and infant death to zero by providing quality medical service to
them in public healthcare. Through PM-ASMI both infrastructure and quality of service will be improved with taking care
of the dignity of women.
Ans.28 (A) The Assam Government has launched the Free Drug Scheme for giving medicinal security to the tea garden
workers. The Free Drug scheme will provide medicines including 142 essential drugs, 47 surgical items, 45
Ans.29 (B) The 1996-batch IFS officer, Ramesh Pandey is known for his investigation and intelligence gathering on
poachers when he was posted as Chief Conservator Forests in Lucknow and Secretary, UP State Bio-diversity Board.
Ans.30 (D) Scientists William G Kaelin, Gregg L Semenza and Jr Peter J Ratcliffe were awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for
Physiology or Medicine. The award was given to them jointly for their discoveries of "how cells sense and adapt to
oxygen availability”.
Ans.31 (C) The World Powerlifting Championship is being held in Berlin, Germany. Under the superb guidance of
International Coach Dronacharya Bhupender Dhawan, Three-time World Champion Mukesh Singh added another gold
only to be known as 4-time World Champion.
Ans.32 (C) The National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) is launched for better taxpayer service and promotion of ease of
doing business. NeAC, an Income tax department, will avoid face-to-face interaction between taxpayers and tax officials
and shall impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability in the assessment process.
Ans.33 (B) This was the formal handover ceremony and the 1st batch of 4 Rafale jets will fly in India by May 2020 and
the other sets are expected to arrive by September 2022. The Rafale is a twin-jet fighter aircraft and is capable of doing
operations from both an aircraft carrier and a shore base.
Ans.34 (D) The prize is given to three scientists Michel Mayor, James Peebles and Didier Queloz. The award is given for
their contribution to the understanding of the evolution of the universe and earth's place in the cosmos.
Ans.35 (C) 1969 Universal Postal Congress in Tokyo, declared the Ninth of October as the World Post Day to mark the
anniversary of the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) creation in 1874.
Ans.36 (C) The government in its Cabinet meeting on 9th October 2019, has announced 5% Dearness Allowance for
Central Government employees and pensioners. It will benefit 50 lakh Central Government employees and 65 lakh,
pensioners.
Ans.37 (B) The DHRUV programme, 60 talented students will be chosen from Science, Mathematics and Performing Arts
and they will be mentored in the centre of excellence for 14 days so that they can reach their full potential.
Ans.38 (C) The Ministry of Earth Science has launched a device named GEMINI to provide information related to disaster
warnings to fishermen. GEMINI stands for Gagan Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information.
Ans.39 (B) The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship along with IIM Bangalore has launched the Mahatma
Gandhi National Fellowship Programme. This is a two-year fellowship programme to boost skill development at the
district level.
Ans.40 (C) The ‘Garbage Cafe' is run by the Ambikapur municipal corporation and the café provides free food in
exchange for one kilogram of plastic. Health Minister of Chhattisgarh T. S. Singh Deo has inaugurated the café on 9th
October 2019.
Ans.41 (B) The Nobel Prize 2019 has been given to Austrian author Peter Handke and the Nobel Prize 2018 to Polish
writer Olga Tokarczuk. Peter Handke was awarded the prize for his work that linguistic ingenuity has explored the
periphery and the specificity of human experience.
Ans.42 (B) The SUMAN scheme, pregnant women, mothers up to 6 months after delivery, and all sick new-borns will be
able to avail free healthcare benefits. Free transport from home to health institutions is also provided under the
scheme.
Ans.43 (B) The RCEP negotiations were launched by leaders from:
1. 10 ASEAN member states- the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam and Cambodia.
2. 6 ASEAN FTA partners- India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, People's Republic of China and New Zealand.
Ans.44 (B) The Army Aviation Corps has been conferred with 2 Maha Vir Chakra, 115 Sena Medals, 16 Vir Chakra, 13
Shaurya Chakra and 45 Mention in Despatches.
Ans.45 (C) The SARAS initiative is undertaken by the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods
Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).
Ans.46 (D) The mobile app, “mHariyali” has been launched for ‘Environment Protection in Government Colonies’. The
app is aimed to encourage Public engagement in planting trees and other such Green drives.
Ans.47 (A) A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Government e-Marketplace (GeM) and Union
Bank of India (UBI) on 10th October 2019. The MoU will offer paperless, cashless and transparent payment and
procurement system for government entities on the GeM portal.
Ans.48 (A) BNS Ali Haider, BNS Shadinota from Bangladesh and INS Ranvijay (a guided-missile destroyer) and INS
Kuthar (an indigenously built missile Corvette) from India will participate in the exercise. In the current edition, mutual
cooperation whilst patrolling near the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) will be practised.
Ans.49 (B) The 2019 Nobel Prize for Chemistry is given to three scientists Stanley Whittingham, John Goodenough and
Akira Yoshino. The three scientists have been jointly awarded the coveted prize for their development of lithium-ion
batteries.
Ans.50 (C) DHARMA GUARDIAN-2019, Joint Military Exercise between India and Japan is scheduled to be conducted at
Vairengte, Mizoram from 19th October to 2nd November 2019. DHARMA GUARDIAN exercise is being conducted
in India since 2018 and is an annual training event.
Ans.51 (D) The 10th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav is being inaugurated on 14th October 2019 at Jabalpur, Madhya
Pradesh by the Ministry of Culture from 14th to 21st October 2019. The Mahotsav is organised under the Ek Bharat
Shrestha Bharat initiative in Madhya Pradesh.
Ans.52 (B) The 2nd India-China Informal Summit held between the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and President
of the People's Republic of China Mr Xi Jinping in Chennai, India. The two Leaders have decided to designate 2020
as Year of India-China Cultural and People to People Exchanges.
Ans.53 (C) The 2019 First Global DXB Challenge is a large gathering for creative young minds in the fields of robotics and
artificial intelligence. The competition is organised by the Dubai Future Foundation and the theme is ‘Ocean
Opportunities’.
Ans.54 (A) Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu on his visit to Sierra Leone has signed 6 agreements with Mr Julius Maada
Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. This is the first-ever visit of an Indian Vice President to the African
Nation, Sierra Leone.
Ans.55 (B) The World Bank released the report 'South Asia Economic Focus, Making (De) Centralization Work' on 13th
October 2019. The report shows that the GDP growth rate of Bangladesh is projected to be 7.2% for the FY 2019 and
7.3% for FY 2020.
Ans.56 (C) India and the Netherlands have a bilateral trade turnover of USD 12.87 billion (2018-2019). The Netherlands
is India’s 4th largest trading partner in the European Union with a cumulative investment of $ 23 billion for the period
2000 to 2017 (Dec).
Ans.57 (C) The taxibot was used on an A-320 aircraft with passengers on board. The bot was flagged off by Air India
Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani, at Terminal 3 of the Delhi Airport - to Mumbai.
Ans.58 (B) RBI has decided to offer on-tap authorisation for:
1. Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) - Entities who are desirous to operate or provide platforms for
BBPOU, should have a 100 crore rupees net worth and should be maintained at all times.
2. Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) - the minimum paid up equity capital should be 25 crore rupees.
3. White Label ATMs (WLAs) - The minimum net worth for entities should be 100 crore rupees.
Ans.59 (D) Bernardine Evaristo and Margaret Atwood have jointly won the 2019 Booker Prize. Both the winners were at
the tie and the award was jointly shared by the two.
Ans.60 (A) Priyanshu Rajawat clinched the men's singles title at the Bahrain International Series Badminton. He has
defeated Jason Anthony Ho-Shue from Canada in the finals from 16-21, 21-7, 21-12.
Ans.61 (C) The 2nd Phase of the Local Treatment of Urban Sewage Streams for Healthy Reuse, LOTUS-HR was launched
by the Union Minister Harsh Vardhan in New Delhi on 14th October. LOTUS-HR is a water laboratory that aims to
produce clean water through a holistic waste-water management approach that can be reused for various purposes.
Ans.62 (A) Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee studied at the University of Calcutta, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Harvard
University (where he received his PhD in 1988). He is currently the professor of economics at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Ans.63 (A) She has so far achieved 15 World Records, including 10 Guinness World Records in Martial Arts, Social Work
and Fitness. Kiran Uniyal created her 1st Individual Guinness World Record for “The most full contact elbow strikes (466
strikes) (one hand) in 3 minutes.
Ans.64 (B) J. P. S. Chawla is a 1985-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) Officer, officiating as CGA with effect
from 1st September 2019. He has replaced Girraj Prasad Gupta.
Ans.65 (B) The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan launched a various initiative on
the World Food Day which was observed on 16th October. A FSM is an individual professional (Digital Mitra, Trainer
Mitra and Hygiene Mitra), certified by FSSAI, who will assist in compliances related to FSS Act, Rules & Regulations.
Ans.66 (B) CBIC has launched a dedicated microsite https://www.investindia.gov.in/bonded-manufacturing in

collaboration with Invest India to provide information about the scheme. Section 65 of the Customs Act, 1962 allows
manufacturing activity in a customs bonded warehouse.
Ans.67 (B) Karnataka ranked at the number one position in the overall ranking. Among the category of major states,
Maharashtra performs the best in the dimension of Enablers. Sikkim took the top spots among the northeastern & hill
states, and Delhi among the union territories/city states/small states.
Ans.68 (C) The joint exercise will be conducted at Air Force Base Masirah in Oman. The last exercise, EX-EASTERN
BRIDGE-IV between the two countries was held in 2017 at Jamnagar.
Ans.69 (A) The RIL shares rose nearly 2% in Friday trading session to hit Rs1,423 whereas, India’s benchmark Sensex
Index rose 0.5% or 200 points to hit 39,252 points. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch RIL can become the first
Indian company to achieve a market capitalisation of $200 billion in the next two years.
Ans.70 (C) The world economy is expected to grow by 3%, marginally lower than 3.2% projected in July. IMF has made a
similar forecast for China and India, with the projected growth rate at 6.1% for both the countries. In China, the GDP
grew at 6.6% in 2018.
Ans.71 (D) KHON Ramlila is a masked form of Ramlila art of Thailand. After the training, the artists will perform the art at
Grand Deepotsav function to be held on 26th October in Ayodhya.
Ans.72 (B) John Bailey, Cinematographer will chair the International Jury of 50th International Film Festival of India
(IFFI), Golden Jubilee edition.
Ans.73 (C) The biodiesel manufacturer BioD energy has come into a partnership with food delivery service
aggregator Zomato. The partnership is for the purpose of collecting the used cooking oil from restaurants around the
country and convert it into biodiesel.
Ans.74 (E) The government has said that banks or system providers will not impose Merchant Discount Rates (MDR) on
customers/merchants on digital payment to large firms having a turnover in excess of Rs 50 crore. The directive will
come into effect from 1st November 2019.
Ans.75 (C) Resigning after 45days of the quarter will require the auditor to issue the audit report for such a quarter as
well. The auditor shall have to issue the audit report for the last quarter before resignation if he has signed the audit
report for the first three quarters of a financial year.
Ans.76 (C) The G20 Health Ministers meeting concluded by adopting the “Okayama Declaration of the G 20 Health
Ministers”. The declaration endorses the Commitment of G20 countries to address the major global health issues,
towards an inclusive and sustainable world.
Ans.77 (D) The DNA Technology Regulation Bill has been referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee for
examination on 19th October 2019. The bill has been referred to the Standing Committee on Science and Technology
and Environment and Forests.
Ans.78 (C) India will host the 91st Interpol General Assembly in 2022 as part of celebrations of the 75th anniversary of
Indian Independence. Rishi Kumar Shukla, the director of the CBI is the representative of Interpol in India.
Ans.79 (A) Jessica Meir is a marine biologist has now become the 15th Women and 228th person in the world to
conduct a spacewalk. This was Christina Koch’s 4th spacewalk, who is an electrical engineer.
Ans.80 (A) Kuhoo Garg and Dhruv Rawat put up a brilliant effort to win the mixed doubles title at the Egypt
International 2019 in Cairo. It was 16-21 21-19 19-21 to third seeds Simran Singhi and Ritika Thaker.
Ans.81 (C) PM Modi meet the delegation of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) on 21st October 2019 in New
Delhi. The delegation was led by USISPF Chairman John Chambers.
Ans.82 (C) The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the
procurement of indigenously developed military equipment worth Rs 3300 crore for the armed forces.
Ans.83 (A) The PM-KISAN scheme was announced on 1st February 2019, during the interim budget presented by stand-
in Finance Minister Piyush Goyal. The scheme aims to supplement the needs of the Small and Marginal farmers in crop
production and its yield and improve their income.
Ans.84 (B) FATF has taken the decision due to new measures taken by the country on financial security against money
laundering. Srilanka was included in the blacklist for the first time in 2011.
Ans.85 (D) Bangladesh Refugee Commissioner Mahbub Alam Talukder, has said that the Rohingyas will be relocated to
the Bhashan Char Island in Bangladesh.
Ans.86 (C) The course is being provided under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme of
Ministry of External Affairs and is fully supported by the Government of India. The first group of 20 Nepali officers had
successfully completed their training on 24th August 2019.
Ans.87 (C) Pankaj Kumar, 1987 batch IAS officer is appointed as the new CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI).
Ans.88 (C) The International Snow Leopard Day is celebrated on 23rd October every year with the aim to protect and
conserve the snow leopards. The national portal is to enumerate the snow leopard population in the country.
Ans.89 (A) The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) was launched by the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 1988. In
India, the Delhi government had first launched the immunization programme on a pilot basis on 2nd October 1994 with
the tagline ‘Do Boond Zindagi Ki’.
Ans.90 (D) Marianne, the female traits has been symbolised by Paris 2024 to pay tribute to a woman who is a French
national symbol and embodies the revolutionary spirit that infuses the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Ans.91 (A) ‘Gram Manchitra’ App was also launched at the Occasion which is a Geo-Spatial based decision support
system for panchayats and help them monitor, develop and plan developmental activities on a real time basis.
Ans.92 (C) HPCL was incorporated through the Esso (Acquisition of Undertaking in India) Act passed by Parliament in
1974. India’s largest electric power transmission utility firm, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited was incorporated
in 2007.
Ans.93 (C) The MoU will provide an efficient procurement system for the government with the cashless and paperless
transfer. Government launched GeM portal in August 2016 for seamless procurement of goods and services by the
government departments in a transparent manner.
Ans.94 (C) The government will also allocate 4G spectrum to BSNL and MTNL and will allocated at 2016 price. BSNL had
an estimated loss of Rs 13,804 crore in 2018-19 and MTNL losses pegged to Rs 3,400 crore in 2018-19.
Ans.95 (B) The loan agreement has been signed to strengthen the production system and support smallholder farmers
of Odisha. The project is named an Odisha Integrated Irrigation Project for Climate Resilient Agriculture.
Ans.96 (B) India has been ranked at 63rd position in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report (DBR, 2020), released on
24th October 2020. India has jumped 14 positions against its rank of 77 in 2019.
Ans.97 (C) The 15th edition of the championship was held in Minhang Gymnasium in Shanghai, China on 23rd October
2019. Praveen Kumar has defeated Russel Diaz of Philippines in the 48kg category.
Ans.98 (A) President Ram Nath Kovind has conferred the National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards (NCSRA) on
29th October 2019 in New Delhi. The National CSR Awards has been instituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Ans.99 (D) India has been ranked at 57th Position in the Global Health Security Index, among 195 countries. US has
topped the list and is followed by UK and Netherlands at 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.
Ans.100 (C) The theme of the Vigilance Awareness Week 2019 is “Integrity- a way of life”. The Central Vigilance
Commission aims to promote integrity, transparency and accountability in public life and to achieve a corruption free
society.
Ans.101 (C) DEFCOM 2019 is scheduled to be held on 26th& 27th November 2019 at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi.
DEFCOM is jointly organised by the Corps of Signals, Indian Army and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)/ Society of
Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM).
Ans.102 (A) 1977-batch IAS officer R K Mathur has been appointed as Lt. Governor of Ladakh. He has served as the
Defence Secretary and is a former Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).
Ans.103 (C) The RFID project has been launched for:
1. Eliminating manual checking of documents at port gate.

2. Secure and systematic entry and exit of vehicles and visitors in Kolkata Dock System.
3. Ease of doing business with Port users.
4. Real time tracking of movement of vehicles, men and materials.
Ans.104 (B) The Union Minister of Science & Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan, has launched the IndiGenome card and
IndiGenome mobile application to enable participants and clinicians to access clinically actionable information in their
genomes.
Ans.105 (C) The white water rafting expedition- ‘Rudrashila’ was flagged in on 25th October 2019 at Jodhpur Military
Station. The expedition is undertaken by Kalidhar Battalion to commemorate its 75th Raising Day.
Ans.106 (A) The 29th ministerial meeting of the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) countries on Climate Change
was held at Beijing, China on 25th-26th October 2019. The meeting was chaired by H.E. Mr. LI Ganjie, Minister of
Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China.
Ans.107 (B) Men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won silver at the French Open. The doubles
pair lost to world No.1 Indonesian pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the finals of the
French Open.
Ans.108 (D) This is a social service initiative aimed at:
1. Encouraging environment protection

2. Health care service: Blood donation
3. Welfare of Odias in distress
Ans.109 (C) Exercise SHAKTI is a biennial exercise between India and France and is conducted alternatively in India and
France since 2011. The exercise is to be conducted at Foreign Training Node at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges, Rajasthan.
Ans.110 (A) American Golfer Tiger Woods equals world record for most career titles on PGA Tour with his 82nd win
in Japan, equalling Sam Snead's 54-year-old record. He has made history by winning the Zozo Championship in Japan.
Ans.111 (A) Persons over 80 years of age and person with disability are covered under the amendment. Such voters will
have both the choices available of either voting through postal ballot or going to the polling station on polling day for
voting.
Ans.112 (B) RBI is vested with powers under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read with Section 46(4)(i) of the Banking
Regulation Act, 1949 to impose such penalty. The statutory inspection of the bank with reference to its financial position
was done on 31st March 2017.
Ans.113 (D) Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan, has released the 14th National Health
Profile (NHP) 2019 on 30th October 2019. The NHP is published since 2005 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Ans.114 (C) Indian School of Business (ISB) is a global business school that provides management education across its
two campuses – Hyderabad and Mohali. The ISB is one among the select 100 global b-schools to have AACSB and EQUIS
accreditation.
Ans.115 (A) The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is hosting the 2nd Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA)
on 30th & 31st October 2019 in New Delhi. ISA is the Indian government’s initiative, launched by Indian Prime Minister
and the President of France on 30th November 2015 at Paris, France.
Ans.116 (C) Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is a statutory Authority that functions to
regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the National Pension System (NPS). Earlier, NPS was notified for central
government employees joining service after 1st Jan 2004 and was later adopted by state governments employees.
Ans.117 (B) RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 25 lakh on the Jalgaon Peoples Co-operative Bank Ltd.,
Jalgaon, Maharashtra. The penalty has been imposed for non-compliance with directions issued by RBI on Income
Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms and Management of Advances.
Ans.118 (C) RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 crore on Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd., Pune by an order dated 16th
October 2019. RBI has imposed the penalty with the power vested in RBI under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(c) read
with Section 46(4)(i) and Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
Ans.119 (C) The penalty has been imposed for the for non-compliance with the guidelines on promoter holding
contained in ‘Guidelines for Licensing of New Banks in Private Sector’, read with the conditions imposed by RBI in
exercise of powers under section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

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RBI Grade B GK Digest: November 2019

Government has launched BHIM-2.0 .............................................................................................................................. 15

Summits and Conferences ............................................................................................................................................... 32

RBI GRADE B GK DIGES T: NOVEMBER

LENDING BY BANKS TO INVITS

WHAT ARE INVITS?

 Banks shall put in place a Board approved policy on exposures to InvITs

EXPANDING AND DEEPENING OF DIGITAL PAYMENTS ECOSYSTEM

REVISION IN PROFORMA AND REPORTING OF BANK / BRANCH DETAILS UNDER THE

GOVERNMENT SCHEMES: OCTOBER 2019

SOVEREIGN GOLD BOND SCHEME 2019 – 20

THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE SGB ARE:

 It will be issued by Reserve Bank India on behalf of the Government of India.

PM- ASMI WILL DO THIS BY INTEGRATING FOLLOWING SCHEMES:

FREE MEDICINES SCHEME FOR TEA GARDEN WORKERS

SURAKSHIT MATRITVA AASHWASAN(SUMAN)

DELHI GOVERNMENT AGREED TO IMPLEMENT PM-KISAN

AWARDS AND HONOURS- OCTOBER 2019

Kalli Purie India’s Most Powerful Women in Media

LIST OF APPOINTMENTS- OCTOBER 2019

K Satish Reddy President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA)

Nagendra Nath Sinha Secretary in Department of Border Management

LIST OF SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES- OCTOBER 2019

Technology, opportunities in the Indian

MONTHLY BANKING AND FINANCIAL AWARENESS DIGEST:

UCO BANK LAUNCHES UCASH, DIGILOCKER AND AN APP

RBI REDUCES REPO RATE BY 25 BASIS POINTS IN 4TH BI-MONTHLY MONETARY

 With this cut, the new policy rates are-

AXIS BANK LAUNCHES SHORT-TERM ONLINE FIXED DEPOSITS

SBI LAUNCHES DEBIT CARD WITH EMI FACILITY

ICICI BANK PARTNERS CSC E-GOVERNANCE SERVICES INDIA TO EXPAND RURAL

SBI, BANK OF BARODA SQUEEZE MICRO-ATM TRANSACTIONS OF OTHER BANKS

STATE BANK OF INDIA HAS LAUNCHED SBI CARD PAY

TEAM CASHLESS INDIA CAMPAIGN WAS LAUNCHED BY MASTERCARD

RESERVE BANK OF INDIA HAS STOPPED PRINTING RS.2000 CURRENCY NOTES

GUIDELINES ON ‘ON TAP’ AUTHORIZATION OF PAYMENT SYSTEM HAS BEEN ISSUED

MEITY STARTUP HUB PORTAL HAS BEEN UNVEILED BY THE MINISTRY OF

GOVERNMENT HAS LAUNCHED BHIM-2.0

CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT TAXES AND CUSTOMS (CBIC) HAS LAUNCHED A

STATE BANK OF INDIA HAS DECIDED TO CHARGE PROCESSING FEE ON HOME-

GOVERNMENT E-MARKETPLACE (GEM) HAS SIGNED A MOU WITH UNION BANK OF

CONFERENCE ON ONE NATION ONE TAG-FASTAG WAS HELD IN NEW DELHI

UNION GOVERNMENT HAS APPROVED 5% ADDITIONAL DEARNESS ALLOWANCE

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA HAS LAUNCHED NATIONAL E-ASSESSMENT SCHEME

RBI HAS ANNOUNCED A BAN ON BANKS IN ORDER TO DEPLOY DIRECT SELLING

COUNCIL MEETING OF NATIONAL INVESTMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE FUND (NIIF)

VREEDHI FINANCIAL SERVICES HAS RECEIVED A NON-BANKING FINANCE COMPANY

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA HAS ANNOUNCED THE ELIGIBILITY FOR OVERSEAS

MONTHLY ONE-LINER GK DIGEST-OCTOBER 2019

International Jury of 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI)

UP Govt Organized First Training Programme

Sri Lanka removed from FATF's Grey List

Rohingya refugees to be Relocated to Camp at Bhashan Char Island

2nd Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA)

‘Consumer App’ Launched by MCAFPD

Delhi-Katra Vande Bharat Express

India and Mauritius jointly launched Projects

'Sarbat Da Bhala Express'

Financial assistance for the State of Karnataka and Bihar

eDant Seva Website & Mobile Application

Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at West Jalefa, Tripura

Youth Co:Lab jointly launched by NITI Aayog and UNDP

50th International Film Festival of India 2019