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 TITLE PAGE

NATIONAL NEWS 03

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 54

BANKING AND ECONOMY 69

APPOINTMENTS 96

IMPORTANT DAYS 98

AWARDS 103

SPORTS 109

MISCELLANEOUS 113

QUESTION BANK 118

ANSWERS 156

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 NATIONAL NEWS

1. According to the first ever ranking of 28 states and 8 UTs released by central govt on the
basis of direct benefit transfer (DBT) payout, Haryana has topped in terms of DBT
payout with Rs 4,782 crores payment in 2019-20.
• West Bengal is the worst performing state at the 36th position. The state does not
implement several central schemes in which subsidies are involved.
• Govt has claimed to save nearly Rs 28,700 crore in the first nine months of 2019-20
through DBT.
• Through the Central DBT schemes, central govt has disbursed over Rs 2.25 lakh
crores through 439 schemes run by 56 ministries and departments in 2019-20.

Note: - In the picture, Uttar Pradesh has the highest amount of DBT payouts and number of
transactions. However, Haryana has been given the 1st rank, which I found in every news
article. Therefore, the rankings are little ambiguous. Focus on the ranks of states instead of
the number of transactions and amount.

2. Himachal Pradesh has become the first state in India to have 100% LPG coverage under
the PM Ujjawala Scheme (PMUY).
• ‘Himachal Grihini Suvidha Yojana’ was launched in 2018 to provide LPG connections
to the remaining households which are left in the PMUY.
Note: PMUY scheme has been covered in detail in ESI >> Govt scheme.

3. According to a progress report 'Transforming Nutrition in India: Poshan Abhiyan',

released by the NITI Aayog, 1 in 3 Aadhaar-based payments made under the Pradhan
Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) was credited to a wrong bank account.
• Out of the 31.29 lakh Aadhaar-based payments, 28% are going to different bank
accounts than what had been provided by the beneficiaries.
• Only 66% of the direct benefit transfers were based on Aadhaar.
• NITI Aayog has proposed “rationalise” the mandatory waiting period of 180 days
before the second instalment is released as well as the compulsory birth certificate
for the release of the third instalment.
• In this report, states were ranked on the basis of their readiness to implement the
Poshan Abhiyaan across four themes: governance and institutional mechanism;
strategy and planning; service delivery and capacities; and programme activities and
intervention coverage.
• Jammu & Kashmir is considered as a state.

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 Category Top ranker Bottom Ranker
Larger states (with more than 1. Andhra Pradesh 17. Karnataka
70% score) 2. Chhattisgarh 18. Assam
3. Madhya Pradesh 19. Kerala
(average score below 55%)
Smaller states (score 75%) 1. Mizoram 6. Tripura,
Note: - all small States had a 2. Sikkim 7. Manipur
score above 55% 8. Goa
(average score below 60%)
UTs (scored above 75%) 1. Dadra and Nagar Haveli 6. Delhi
2. Chandigarh 7. Lakshadweep
3. Daman and Diu (average score below 50%)

4. J&K govt along with AICTE signed MoU with 4 IITs (Guwahati, Ropar, Pune, and
Bhubaneshwar) and 3 Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs of
Orrisa, Pune and Kolkata).
• Purpose of MoU: To provide a two-month internship to 500 final year students of
J&K during the 2020-21 academic session.
• It is the first-of-a-kind internship initiative where the travelling expenses of students
will be funded by the Ministry of HRD through AICTE while the hostel and tuition
expenses will be borne by the host institutions.

5. International Conference on Banana (ICB) 2020 was held in Trichy, Tamil Nadu.
• Award: - Dr N Kumar (Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University) was
awarded with ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ given by ICAR-National Research
Centre for Banana.
• Organizer: - ICAR-National Research Center for Banana, Bioversity International
(Rome)- International Center for Tropical Agriculture.
• Theme: - Innovations in Sustainable Production and Value Chain Management in
Banana.

6. Ministry for Human Resource Development has launched the “Higher Education
Leadership Development Programme for Administrator”.
• University Grants Commission (UGC) and British Council under the UK-India
Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) have jointly launched this initiative.
• Objective: - to train the senior and middle level academic administrators to bring
about systemic changes in Universities in India.

7. National Cyber Research, Innovation and Capacity Centre has been inaugurated at
Central Detective Training Institute (CDTI) in Hyderabad, Telangana to combat cyber
threats.
• This centre has been set up by the Bureau of Police Research and Development
(BPR&D) under Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C).

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 • It is one of the 7 major units to be established under I4C.
Note: - I4C is discussed in July Spotlight (National News).

8. First-ever National conference on Coastal Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience was
organized by the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) in Delhi.

9. International conference on “Ensemble Methods in Modelling and Data Assimilation”

(EMMDA) has been organized in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
• Organizer: - National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting under Ministry
of Earth Sciences
• There were 6 key themes of the conference.

10. 16th Joint Ministerial Commission of India and Australia was held in New Delhi.
• Indian Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Shri Piyush Goyal and Simon
Birmingham - Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment of Australia have co-
chaired the meeting.

11. ISRO and NASA have collaborated to launch the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar
(NISAR) mission in 2022 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra
Pradesh.
• It is the world’s first dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar on an Earth
observation satellite which will use radar imaging in dual frequencies (L and S Band).
• Purpose: - It will collect 100 terabytes of data per day and use AI to analyse Earth’s
ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, natural disasters.
• Budget: - ISRO – 788 crore and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) – over $800
million.
• Amazon’s Alexa will help the scientists in organizing daily tasks in this mission.

12. US First Lady Melania Trump had attended a ‘Happiness Class’ at a govt school in South
Delhi.
• Aam Aadmi Party had launched the concept of ‘Happiness Class’ in 2018 to burst the
stress of students in Delhi.

13. During the foundation day celebrations of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation
(ESIC) on 24 Feb, Minister of State for Labour & Employment and Chairman of ESIC -
Santosh Kumar Gangwar - has announced a ESIC Special Services Fortnight from
24.02.2020 to 10.03.2020.
• ‘Santusht’ mobile App will be soon launched for the benefit of ESI beneficiaries.
• Monthly contribution of employers in the ESI Scheme has been reduced from 4.75%
to 3.25% and employees contribution has been reduced from 1.75% to 0.75%.
Renaming of ESIC hospitals:-
• ESIC Hospitals, Basaidarapur, New • ESIC AYUSH Hospital, Narela, Delhi
Delhi has been renamed as Sahib has been renamed as Padma

5
 Singh Verma ESIC Hospital, Vibhushan Brihaspati Dev Triguna
Basaidarapur, New Delhi. ESIC AYUSH Hospital.

14. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has launched three
new systems for climate forecast for the benefit of fishermen, people living in coastal
areas of South India and others.
• First - Small Advisory and Forecast Services System (SVAS) to warn about the
potential zones where boat can overturn, 10 days in advance. It is based on Boat
Safety Index (BSI).
• Second - Swell Surge Forecast System (SSFS) to predict about the sea surges (aka
Kallakkadal in Kerala) in the coastal region.
• Third - Algal Bloom Information Service (ABIS) to warn about the harmful algal
blooms (the spread of phytoplankton blooms) that are harmful for fisheries and
coastal population (causing them respiratory problems).

15. World’s largest species of cave fish – Tor putitora – has been found in Jaintia Hills,
Meghalaya by a team of experts from UK, Switzerland and India.
• The fish (over 40 cm) has no eyes and is white due to lack of melanin pigmentation.
• The study was published in the Cave and Karst Science journal, published by British
Cave Research Association.
• “Caving in the Abode of the Clouds” project was started in 1992 to explore and map
the caves of Meghalaya.

16. According to the National Health Authority’s analysis on the portability feature, 81,254
patients are availing the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana- Ayushman Bharat (PM-
JAY) benefits.
• Madhya Pradesh has topped the list for outgoing patients at a number of at least
11,765.
• Under the PM-JAY, patients can avail the benefits across the states under
‘portability’ option. MP has sent most of its patients to Gujarat.

17. Union Cabinet has ordered to implement 37 central laws mentioned in the concurrent
list in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
• The order has been issued under the Section 96 of Jammu and Kashmir
Reorganisation Act, 2019.
Section 96 of Jammu and Kashmir Concurrent List
Reorganisation Act, 2019

6
 • Under it, the Central Government
has requisite powers to make
adaptations and modifications of
the laws whether by way of repeal
or amendment.
• Concurrent List or List-III is given in
the 7th schedule (under Article 246)
to the Constitution of India.
• State and Central govt can both
decide on the subject matter of this
list.
• In case of dispute between Centre
and State, Centre’s decision is
applicable. But states can take
President’s permission to
implement its decision.
• Union List and State List are the
other two lists which define the
legislative powers of the govts.

18. Union Cabinet has approved the National Institutes of Food Technology,
Entrepreneurship & Management (NIFTEM) Bill, 2019 to grant the status of national
importance to two food technology institutes in Haryana and Tamil Nadu.
• National Institutes of Food Technology in (Kundli, Haryana and Thanjavur, Tamil
Nadu) will be given the special status.

19. Union cabinet has amended the “Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands Land
Revenue and Tenancy Regulation, 1965” to give occupancy rights to the Scheduled
Tribe (ST) population of Lakshadweep.
• Lakshadweep Governor - Dineshwar Sharma

20. Union Cabinet has approved three MoU signed between India and Myanmar for
cooperation in the field of combating timber trafficking, conservation of tigers & other
wildlife, and petroleum products and communications.
• As part of the MoU on petroleum products, India and Myanmar will establish a joint
working group.

21. Minister of Minister of Food Processing Industries has launched the first-of-its-kind
Market Intelligence and Early Warning System (MIEWS) Portal to monitor the prices of
TOP Crops (Tomato, Onion and Potato).
• MIEWS portal would help in planning and timely intervention for price stabilisation.

22. Govt has approved five projects worth Rs 426 crore and a grant of Rs 162 crore for the
Operation Greens scheme.
In the budget speech of Union Budget 2018-19, a new Scheme “Operation Greens” was
launched under the Ministry of Food Processing to promote TOP farmers, producers
organisations, agri-logistics, processing facilities and professional management.
Total budget – Rs 500 crore

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 The scheme has two components - Short term Price Stabilisation Measures and Long
Term Integrated value chain development projects.
NAFED is the nodal agency for implementing price stabilization measures.

23. Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog has partnered with NASSCOM to launch the
artificial intelligence (AI) based module in schools.
• As part of the partnership, 5000 Atal Tinkering Labs will get AI kits to benefit the 2.5
million students.

24. International Conference on Standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies in

Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha Systems of Medicine (ICoSDiTAUS-2020) was held in New
Delhi to emphasize the potential of traditional medicine.
• Organizer: - Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa
and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) and WHO.
• 16 countries participated in the biggest international conference on standardisation
of Diagnosis and Terminologies of Traditional Medicine.

25. National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has released its 1st NCAER
Land Records and Services Index 2019-20.
• Top ranker – Madhya Pradesh (score – 74.9) followed by Odisha (67.5) and
Maharashtra (65.3).
• Bottom ranker – Ladakh UT (score – 2)
• Total states and UTs ranked – 33
• Parameters – under the NCAER Land Policy Initiative (NLPI) are: -

26. Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana, central govt has approved 32
projects across 17 states that will leverage investment Rs 406 crore.
Note: - the scheme is covered in ESI >> Govt Schemes.

27. New Light Combat Helicopter Production Facility, with a capacity to manufacture 30
LCH in a year, has been inaugurated at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s (HAL)
complex in Bengaluru, Karnataka (HQ of HAL).
• HAL Chairman - R. Madhavan

28. Minister of Tribal Affairs - Arjun Munda - has launched the “Programme for Capacity
Building of Scheduled Tribe Representatives in Local Self Governments” in
Bhuvneshwar, Odisha to increase the participation of STs in local self govt bodies.
• He also launched “1000 Spring Initiatives” and an online portal on Spring Atlas (to
provide spring data).

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 • Purpose of “1000 Spring Initiatives” – The initiative will help in increasing the
potential of perennial springs’ to address natural scarcity of water in tribal areas.
• Training under Spring initiative – youth from three districts of Odisha – Kalahandi,
Khandamal and Gajapati – were trained for identification and mapping of springs,
and undertaking rejuvenation and protection measures in their habitations.
Y Key elements of 1000 Spring Initiatives: -

infrastructure for
piped water supply
for drinking

generating
sustainable livelihood provision of water for
opportunities for the irrigation
tribal people

provision for water

community-led total
for backyard
sanitation initiatives
nutrition gardens

29. “Yard 45006 VAJRA” – 6th offshore patrol vessel – was manufactured by Larsen &
Toubro (L&T) under the ‘Make in India’ initiative and it was launched in Chennai to
enhance coastal security.
• A total of 7 OPVs will be developed by L&T.

32.1) L&T also delivered 5th offshore patrol vessel – ‘ICGS Varad’ – to Indian Coast Guard
in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
• ICGS Varad has become the first major defence ship to clear all sea acceptance trials
in a single sea sortie.

33. Maharashtra’s govt has announced to rename its “Smart gram yojana” after former
Deputy CM late Raosaheb Ramrao Patil.
• Smart gram yojana was launched in 2016 in Maharashtra to increase the
performance of gram panchayats at taluka and district level.
• Also, the scheme aims to develop the rural areas of Maharashtra.

34. 19th World Productivity Congress will be organized in Bangalore, Karnataka in May
2020. Last time, WPC was held in India in 1974.
• Theme: Industry 4.0 - Innovation And Productivity

9
 • Organizer: World Confederation of Productivity Science (HQ- Montreal, Canada since
1969) and PDA Trade Fairs Pvt Ltd.
• The theme reflects the Fourth Industrial Revolution which is based on “cyber-
physical systems” that merge the capabilities of humans and machines.

35. New Zealand’s Deputy PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Winston Raymond Peters
has visited India.
• Before his arrival, “India-New Zealand 2025: Investing in the relationship” report
detailing about the six relationship goals of New Zealand with India was released.
• FICCI had organized the India-New Zealand Business Forum 2020 in New Delhi,
attended by Mr David Parker (Minister for Trade and Export Growth, New Zealand).
New Zealand Capital Currency PM
Wellington Dollar Jacinda Ardern

36. Indian Railways has launched its First "Restaurant on Wheels” at Asansol Station,
West Bengal for railway passengers and citizens of the city.
• The restaurant aims to generate Rs 50 lakhs of non-fare revenue during next 5 years.

37. First ever “Nimad Chilli Festival 2020” (locally known as ‘Mirch Mahotsav’) was
organised in Khargone district, Madhya Pradesh to promote chilli production
(particularly Nimari brand of chilli).
• Mascot – chilli chacha – has been launched to increase the chilli production in MP.
• Khargone is the largest chilli producing district in Madhya Pradesh as well as the
largest chilli mandi of Asia.

38. In its budget 2020-21, Punjab govt has allocated ₹100 crore for giving 10 lakh free
smartphones to the youth.
• Also the retirement age of state government employees has been reduced to 58
from 60.

10
39. Before COP 13 of Conservation of Migratory Species, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI)
had, for the first time, compiled a list of total migratory animals present in India.
• After COP 13, the total number of migratory species from India that are listed on
CMS is 457, out of which 83% (380 species) are birds.
• COP 13 has added 6 new Indian migratory species on the CMS appendices which
are Asian elephant, Great Indian Bustard, Bengal Florican, Oceanic white-top shark,
Urial and smooth hammerhead shark.
• Globally, more than 650 species are listed on CMS out of which India accounts for
457.
• ZSI has pegged the total number of migratory species in India at 451. The bird family
Muscicapidae has the highest number of migratory species.

40. According to a study published in the Water Policy journal, 8 towns out of the 13
towns that were surveyed in the Himalayan region of Bangladesh, Nepal, India and
Pakistan were facing water deficiency of 20%-70%.
• As per the study, the demand-supply gap of water may double by 2050.
• Presently, only 3% of the total Hindu Kush Himalayan population lives in larger cities
and 8% in smaller towns, but projections show that over 50% of the population will
be living in cities by 2050, which will put “tremendous stress” on water resources.

41. Indian Navy has decided to cut down on the requirement of minesweepers from 12 to
8 and additional P-8I long-range patrol aircraft from 10 to 6.
• Reason: - Its reduced share in the Defence budget for the Indian Navy at ₹26,688
crore against its committed liabilities of ₹45,000 crore.
• Indian Navy is procuring 10 General Atomics Seaguardian High Altitude Long
Endurance (HALE) armed drones from the U.S. for maritime surveillance.
• Navy is planning to procure the second Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-II) for
₹45,000 crore.

11
 • Navy is also procuring six additional Boeing P-8I aircraft and 13 BAE Systems MK45
naval guns from USA.

42. High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL – DRDO’s lab) Pune and IISc-
Bangalore have jointly developed the RaIDer-X device which can detect explosives in
both pure as well as contaminated forms from a standoff distance.
• It was unveiled during the National Workshop on Explosive Detection (NWED-2020)
in Pune.
• The workshop was organized by HEMRL Pune on its 25th anniversary.

43. India has won the contract for supplying 4 SWATHI weapon-locating radars to
Armenia (country located in Europe) for $40 million.
• DRDO has developed the radars and Bharat Electronics Ltd has manufactured them.
Defence Exports Targets: -
Year Target
2016-17 Rs 1,500 crore
2017-18 Rs 4,500 crore
2018-19 Rs 10,700 crore
2019-20 Rs 20,000 crore
BY 2024-25 Rs 35,000 crore

44. Indian Air Force and Savitribai Phule Pune University have signed an MoU to establish
the "Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh Chair of Excellence" at Department of
Defence & Strategic Studies in the university.
• Purpose: - to enable IAF officers to pursue research and higher studies in the area of
National Defence and allied fields of Indian Air Force.

45. PM Narendra Modi has launched the 10,000 farmer produce organizations at
Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh to provide technology, quality seed, fertilizers and
pesticides including requisite finances to farmers.
• PM also launched a saturation drive for distribution of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to all
the beneficiaries under the PM-KISAN Scheme.
• Over 6.5 Crore of the approx. 8.5 Crore beneficiaries under PM-KISAN Scheme,
possess the Kisan Credit Cards.
Note: details of farmer produce organizations scheme is covered in February 16-23 doc. PM-
KISAN Scheme is covered in Government schemes 2019 document.

46. PM Narendra Modi attended the Samajik Adhikarita Shivir – biggest ever distribution
camp in terms of the number of beneficiaries covered – organised by the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
• The camp was organized to distribute 56,000 assistive aids and devices to 26,000
Senior Citizens and Divyangjans (PwD) under the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana.

12
Note: - Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana has been covered in ESI >> Govt scheme >> Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment document.

47. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has launched the "Suposhit Maa Abhiyan" in his
constituency in Kota (Rajasthan) to provide nutritional support to pregnant women
and adolescent girls.
• In the Phase 1, 1,000 kits of 17 kg balanced diet were provided to 1,000 pregnant
women.

48. Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has signed an MoU with Patanjali Bio
Research Institute (PBRI) to increase research in the field of agriculture.
• ICAR’s Director General – Trilochan Mohapatra
• PBRI’s CEO – Acharya Balkrishna.

49. Krishi Vigyan Mela 2020 was organized in New Delhi by Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR).
• 11th National Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Conference was also held in New Delhi.
• First KVK was established in 1974 at Puducherry.

50. Historic City Chowk (in Jammu) has been renamed as ‘Bharat Mata Chowk’.
• The starting point of the circular road (near Panjtirthi in Jammu) has been named as
'Atal Chowk' in the memory of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

51. Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa informed Parliament that funds are being
provided to the Kaziranga National Park under the CAMPA Act, 2016.
• Govt has set up Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning
Authority to regulate the afforestation funds.
• Besides this, Rs 33 crore was also given to Kaziranga under Project Tiger scheme.

52. Indian Government has proposed two monuments – Dholavira: A Harappan City and
Monuments and Forts of Deccan Sultanate (which includes 4 monuments) – to be
included in World Heritage List of 2020.
• Dholavira is located in Kutch Desert Wildlife Sanctuary - largest wildlife sanctuary in
India in terms of area.
• ‘Flamingo City’ which is the only breeding site for flamingos in Asia is also located in
Kutch.

53. During its 19th foundation day, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has launched star
rating programme for Light Commercial Air Conditioners and Deep Freezers under the
Energy Conservation Act, 2001.
• BEE, in collaboration with World Resources Institute, launched Urja Dakshata
Information Tool (UDIT) to aware users about the energy efficiency platforms in
India.

13
54. National Chambal sanctuary (in Madhya Pradesh) has been declared as an eco-
sensitive zone by the central government.
• Gharials, Gangetic dolphins and freshwater turtles are among the major species
found in this sanctuary.
• More than 75% of the Gharial population (which is critically endangered) is based in
the sanctuary.
• Implication – corporates will now be forbidden to construct hotels or resorts in the
region which will help maintain distance between the human settlement and the
sanctuary.

55. According to the Ministry of Jal Shakti’s data presented in the Rajya Sabha, nine
districts in Delhi had contaminated groundwater in 2019.
• At least 30 districts in the National Capital Region (which includes parts of Haryana,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh apart from Delhi) had some form of pollutants in their
groundwater.

56. Punjab Cabinet has approved to introduce Punjab Lokayukta Bill, 2020 to repeal the
existing Lokpal Act 1996.
• The new bill will be applicable on the Chief Minister, Ministers, non-officials of all
public offices to curb corruption.

57. For the first time, the benefits of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) have been extended to the
farmers of pisciculture (rearing of fish) in Rajasthan for providing short-term loans to
them.
• KCC will cover the cost of establishing the fisheries units and their maintenance for
these farmers.
• In July 2019, govt extended the facility of KCC to fisheries and animal husbandry
farmers to help them meet their working capital needs.

58. Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu had requested PM Narendra Modi to include
them in Atal Bhujal Yojana. But the Government decided not to include them under
the scheme.
• The scheme is being implemented in 7 states – Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh during 2020-21 and 2024-25.
Note: - the scheme is covered in December Spotlight >> National News (page no- 32)

59. Delhi and Ahmedabad have topped in the average consumption of added fats
according to an analysis of food habits of the citizens of India conducted by Indian
Council of Medical Research.
• The study said that vegetarians consume more fat than non-vegetarians.
• The survey is based on the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau’s data.
• People in the age group of 36 to 59 had the highest intake of added fat at 36.1 gram
per person in a day and children under-5 had the least intake (15.7/g/person/day).

14
60. Govt has launched the PM Kisan Mobile App on the 1st anniversary of PM Kisan
Samman Nidhi scheme on February 24, 2020.
• Purpose: to connect better with farmers and fasten the process of doubling farmers’
income by 2022. [scheme is covered in ESI >> govt schemes]

61. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has installed 10 lakh smart meters across
India under the Smart Meter National Programme (being implemented by the EESL).
• Budget 2020 allocates Rs 22,000 crore for the power and renewable energy sector
and urged the states to implement smart meters in 3 years.
• According to the Power and Renewable Energy Minister - R K Singh, distribution of
over 36 crore LED bulbs by EESL has resulted in a reduction of carbon dioxide
emissions by 80 million tonnes every year under UJALA scheme (largest domestic
lighting project).
• EESL is a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power and was established in
2009.
• RK Singh has also announced the commissioning of 100 megawatt of decentralised
solar power plants connected to agriculture feeders in Maharashtra.

62. Ministry of Home Affairs has approved an amendment to the Arms Act, 1959 and
Arms Rules, 2016 to allow renowned shooters and international medallists to keep : -

If the sportperson is If the sportsperson is

8 weapons if an Earlier the maimum
expert in 2 events, an expert in more than
individual is an expert limit of weapons was
he/she can hold 10 2 events, he/she shall
in 1 event 7.
weapons hold 12 weapons.

63. A workshop “Enabling Procedures for Increase of Steel Usage for the Growth of
Economy” has been organized by Ministry of Steel, CII and Ministry of Economy,
Trade, and Industry (Japan) in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• India and Japan explored the opportunities to make Odisha - the center of Mission
Purvodaya in the steel sector.
• Kalinga Nagar (in Odisha) has been selected to establish the steel hub due to its
strategic location.
Þ Odisha is India’s highest steel producing state. By 2030, Odisha's steel production alone is set to cross
100 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).
Þ Launched in Jan 2020, PURVODAYA - mission for accelerated development of eastern India through
integrated steel hub - was set up in Kolkata, West Bengal which encompassed 4 states - Odisha,
Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal.
Note: - Mission Purvodaya is covered in Jan Spotlight 2020.

64. Odisha has conducted the 4th edition of dolphin census in the Gahirmatha Marine
Sanctuary (which is located inside the Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha).
• Gahirmatha is the largest breeding place of sea turtles in the world.

15
 • Dolphin has been included in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972,
Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
and in Appendix II of the Convention on Migratory Species.

v Number of dolphins in the v Dolphins in Chilika Lake: -

state – 233 (down from 259
in 2019)
v Population in the Sanctuary:
Ø Overall - 62
Ø Irrawaddy dolphins – 60 v Chilika — spread across Puri,
(increased from 14 in
2019)
Ø Bottle-nose dolphins - 2
(reduced from 14 in
2019).
Ø Irrawaddy dolphins -
146
Ø Bottle-nose dolphins –
17
Khurda and Ganjam districts
— had been designated a
Ramsar site in 1981,

65. 108th Indian Science Congress will be held at the Symbiosis International University's
Lavale campus in Pune in 2021.
• Theme: Science and Technology for Sustainable Development with Women
Empowerment.
• Dr Vijay Laxmi Saxena has been elected as the general president of the Indian
Science Congress, 2021.

66. Minister of State for Tourism & Culture - Prahlad Singh Patel - has launched
‘Incredible India’ website and mobile app in Chinese, Arabic and Spanish languages to
boost tourism.
• Earlier, the website was available in English and Hindi only.

67. Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute of Medical Science and Technology (SCTIMST) has
developed ‘Chitra Flow Diverter’ intracranial stent for treating aneurysms of brain.
• SCTIMST is an institute under the aegis of Department of Science and Technology
located in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• Aneurysms causes enlargement of arteries in the brain due to weakening of inner
vessels.

68. Tamil Nadu CM - Edappadi K. Palaniswami - has launched Tamil Nadu Health System
Reform Programme (TNHSRP) for 5 years to improve the management of non-
communicable diseases and remove inequalities in healthcare services in the state.
• Total cost of the project is Rs 2,857 crores out of which Rs 1999 crores is funded by
World Bank.
• It is the first Program-for-Results project of the World Bank in India and the first
program for Tamil Nadu.

16
69. Tripura govt and Airport Authority of India (as part of its Corporate Social
Responsibility) have signed an MoU for construction of six equipment hiring centres in
Tripura.
• Purpose: the centres will lend the equipment to farmers, self-help groups at a
minimal cost.

70. Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) will be established under section 10 (1)
of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 which replace the Consumer Protection Act,
1986.
• Function – CCPA will protect the rights of the consumer and inquire into the cases of
unfair trade practices, and false and misleading advertisements etc.
• Section 20 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 gives powers to the proposed
authority to recall/withdraw goods or services that are “dangerous, hazardous or
unsafe for the customers”.
• Section 21 – gives the powers to the CCPA to crack down on false or misleading
advertisements. Penalties for harmful products under the new act: -

If injury is not caused to a consumer-

If injury is caused-
Fine up to Rs 1
lakh If grievous hurt is caused-
Fine up to Rs 3
Imprisonment lakh In case of death-
Fine up to Rs 5
up to six months
Imprisonment lakh Fine of Rs 10
up to one year
Imprisonment lakh or more
up to 7 years
Imprisonment of
7 years
extendable up to
life
imprisonment
71. Uttar Pradesh has announced to pay Rs 900 per month to farmers who will provide
shelter to stray cattle.
• Problem – increasing population of stray cattle destroy the crops and cause traffic
menace.
• Solution – UP govt had launched the “Chief Minister Destitute Cow Participation
Scheme” in 2019 to provide Rs 900 to farmers who shall adopt cows from shelter
homes and take them home. Now, this assistance is being extended to all individuals
who are willing to keep stray cattle in their homes.

17
72. Ministry of Tribal Affairs has set up a committee, headed by NC Saxena, to examine
the Community Forest Resources (CFR) Guidelines, 2016 and suggest measures to
simplify them.
• The Committee has been constituted under Forest Rights Act, 2006.

73. Agricultural and Processed Food Export Development Authority (APEDA) has signed
MoU with following institutions to implement the Agriculture Policy, 2018.
• The policy aims to double farmers income by 2022 by increasing agricultural exports.

IIT-Delhi •To collaborate on technology development.

•To develop training material on various QCI Certification Schemes such as

Quality Council of INDGAP in consultation with APEDA to improve the quality of agri-goods.
India (QCI) •INDGAP is the INDIA Good Agriculture Practices Certification Scheme,
launched in 2014 by QCI.

•To enhance the supply chain of agricultural goods for higher value realization
Indian Chamber of for exports.
Food and Agriculture •To support agri-startups in scaling up their businesses and commercializing
their products.

Shree Guru Gobind

Singh Tricentenary •To develop disease-resistant and drought resistant varieties of crops.

University

PEARL ACADEMY •Develop appropriate media and marketing strategies for promotion of
Agriculture and Processed food export through Digital Marketing.

74. Union Cabinet has permitted 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Air India Ltd by
Non-resident Indians, who are Indian Nationals, through automatic route.
• As per the present FDI Policy, 100% FDI is permitted in scheduled Air Transport
Service/Domestic Scheduled Passenger Airline (through automatic route up to 49%
and through government route beyond 49%).
• However, 100% FDI is permitted under automatic route in Scheduled Air Transport
Service/Domestic Scheduled Passenger Airline for NRIs.

75. In its budget 2020-21, Jharkhand has proposed to set up a ‘Jharkhand Rajya Kisan
Rahat Kosh’ (farmers relief fund) from this Kharif season, changing the form of PM
Fasal Bima Yojana.
• Budgetary allocation for the same is Rs 100 crore.
• Rs 30 crore has been allocated under the "Mukhya Mantri Visesh Chhatra Vriti
Yojana" (CM Special Students Scholarship), to give scholarship to all students of
Class I to XII of the government schools.

18
 • Govt has introduced the "Short Term Agriculture Loan Relief Yojana" at Rs 2,000
crore cost for 2020-21.
• “Baba Saheb Ambedkar Awas Yojana” – launched in 2016 to provide housing to
widows – has been given Rs 4,199 crore for constructing five thousand housing units.

76. National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and IIT-Hyderabad have signed
an agreement to support start-ups through a joint incubation programme and set up
an innovation and incubation centre.
• i-TIC foundation of IIT-Hyderabad signed the pact.
• NMDC will contribute Rs 10 crore for this programme and to support at least 15
start-ups.

77. 35th edition of AAHAR - the Food and Hospitality fair has been organized by India
Trade Promotion Organisation, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, and
Agriculture and Processed Food Products Development Authority in New Delhi.

78. On the International Women’s Day (March 8), Ministry of Finance has announced the
outcomes of its various schemes and the number of women beneficiaries covered
under the schemes. [All the schemes have been covered in ESI >> Govt scheme >>
Ministry of Finance doc]

19
79. Union government has allowed all airlines operating in India to provide in-flight wi-fi
services to its passengers.
• Vistara CEO Leslie Thng has announced that it would be the first plane in India to
provide in-flight Wi-Fi services.

80. Central govt has approved the Genome India Project (worth Rs 238 crore) to map the
genes of India population to fight genetic/hereditary diseases.
• Centre for Brain Research (under IISc-Bangalore) will be the nodal agency in the
project.
• 20 institutions will participate in it.

81. Google has announced to open Delhi cloud region – its 2nd cloud region in India after
Mumbai in 2017 – to avoid disruptions in network.
• Google’s existing network has eight cloud regions in the Asia-Pacific, and 22 regions
globally.
• Delhi’s cloud region will be launched in 2021.

82. Tamil Nadu Food Safety and Drug Administration has recently asked the temple
administrators to obtain BHOG certificate from FSSAI to ensure the hygiene of
oblations being offered to deities and devotees.
• BHOG (Blissful Hygiene Offering to God) certification project was launched in 2018.

83. Economic Times Global Business Summit 2020 was held in New Delhi on the theme of
‘Collaborate to Create: Sustainable Growth in a Fractured World’.
• Organizer: ET and YES Bank.

84. Supreme court bench, headed by Rohinton F Nariman, has scrapped the 2018 circular
of RBI which banned the use of Cryptocurrency by banks.

20
 • However, banks have been directed to remain cautious about cryptocurrency and
digital payment instuments.
• Banning of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of official Digital Currency Bill, 2019 is
still pending in the parliament.

85. Chandrayaan 3 will be launched in the first half of 2021.

• 4 biological and 2 physical science experiments related to micro-gravity will be
conducted during Gaganyaan project, according to Jitendra Singh (Minister of State,
in PM’s Office).

86. International Conference on Nano-Science and Nano Technology (ICONSAT) was

organized by Department of Science of Technology in Kolkata, West Bengal.
• Nano-science includes 5Ms –– Material, Mechanical, Manufacturing, Manpower and
Machines.

87. Parliament has passed The Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020 for amending the
Mines & Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 (MMDR Act) and The Coal
Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 (CMSP Act).
• The Bill replaces the ordinance for amendment of the MMDR Act 1957 and CMSP Act
which was promulgated on 10th January 2020.
Key Provisions of the Bill: -
¨ Eligibility of companies for participation in coal/lignite auctions: - All companies have been
allowed for participating in the auction.
¨ Removal of restriction on end-use of coal: The Bill removes the restriction on the use of coal
mined by such companies.
o Thus, these companies will be allowed to carry on coal mining operation for own
consumption, sale or for any other purposes, as may be specified by the central government.
¨ Composite license for prospecting and mining: The Bill adds a new type of license, called
prospecting license-cum-mining lease. It will be a composite license providing for both
prospecting and mining activities.
¨ Transfer of statutory clearances to new bidders: The Bill provides that the various approvals,
licenses, and clearances given to the previous lessee will be extended to the new lessee for a
period of 2 years for continuation of business.
¨ Prior approval from the central government: The Bill provides that prior approval of the central
government will not be required by the state government in granting licenses for coal and lignite,
in certain cases.

88. Uttarakhand CM - Trivendra Singh Rawat - has announced to make ‘Gairsain’ as the
summer capital of the state.
• Dehradun is also Uttarakhand’s Capital.
• Jammu and Kashmir also has two capitals - summer in Srinagar and winter at
Jammu.

89. Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel has presented its state budget for 2020-21.
Schemes mentioned in the budget are:

21
 A) Success of "Mukhyamantri Suposhan Abhiyan" has now been institutionalised
into the scheme namely "Mukhyamantri Suposhan Yojana" with provision of Rs 60
crore.
B) Dr. Khubchand Baghel Swasthya Sahayta Yojana: It was launched to provide the
health assurance coverage to 100% of population of Chhattisgarh & to make the
process of availing services simple to the general public.
C) A new scheme - Rajiv Gandhi Nyay Yojana - will be launched to provide fair price
of crops to farmers.
a. Benefit of the scheme will be available for 2019-20 as well. Provision of
5,100 crore has been made for the scheme.
D) Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme:
a. National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) started in 1995 at the
national level. It has 4 components: -
i. Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS),
ii. Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS),
iii. Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS),
iv. National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) and Annapurna.
E) Rajiv Yuva Mittan Club Scheme: The Mittan clubs will be formed at the Gram
Panchayat level and in urban bodies for leadership capacity, skill development
among the youth in the state.
F) Jawahar Setu Yojana: It was launched for construction of bridges by the state.
a. Provision of Rs 240.50 crore for construction of new major bridge and Rs
151 crore under for construction of new medium bridge.
G) Mahtari Jatan Yojana: It was launched to provide nutritional support to pregnant
women.
H) Mukhyamantri Vishesh Swasthya Sahayta Yojana: - Launched in 2019 to merge
all the health benefit schemes including Dr. Khubchand Baghel Swasthya Sahayta
Yojana under this one scheme.
I) Mukhyamantri Haat Bazar Clinic Yojana: Launched in 2018 to make health
facilities available to the people through easily accessible clinics.
J) Mukhyamantri Shahri Slum Swasthya Yojana: Under the scheme, mobile medical
teams go to urban slum and conduct medical examination.
K) Krishak Jeevan Jyoti Yojana (Chhattisgarh Sahaj Bijli Bill Yojana): Launched in
2018 to provide relief to farmers in electricity for agricultural pumps.
a. Provision of Rs. 2,300 crore for free power supply to agro-pumps upto 5
HP.
L) Mukhyamantri Ward Karyalay Yojana has been started to solve the basic
problems of urban citizens at ward level with a provision of 5 crore.
M) Mukhyamantri Mittan Yojana is being started for the residents of 13 Municipal
Corporation area. A provision of 10 crore has been made for this.
N) Mukhyamantri Khiladi Protsahan Yojana was also mentioned in the budget.

22
90. India has signed an agreement with USA for Rs 1,200 crore to procure the missile
protection suites for two new Boeing-777 VVIP planes (expected to arrive by mid-
2021).
• ‘Air Force One’ will be the codename of these missile protection suites.
• Boeing-777 VVIP planes are being acquired for President and Prime Minister’s
domestic and international visits.

91. Central Government aims to replace all level crossings on National Highways with the
Road Over/Under Bridges under the Setu Bharatam scheme.
• Purpose: - to decrease road fatalities on highways by 50% by the end of 2020 and
ensure safe and smooth flow of traffic.
• Setu Bharatam scheme was launched in 2016 by the Ministry of Road Transport
and Highways for safe and seamless travel on National Highways.
Note: the scheme is covered in detail in ESI >> Govt scheme >> Ministry of Road Transport.

92. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Northeast states have witnessed 70%
decline in insurgency incidents, 80% decline in civilian deaths and 78% reduction in
security forces casualties in 2019 as compared to 2013.
• A total of 1,824 surrenders by insurgents were witnessed between 2014 and 2019.

93. Ministry of Home Affairs has approved the Automated Facial Recognition System
(AFRS) set up by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for identification of
unrecognized bodies, missing children, persons and criminals by using police records.
• In 2019, India announced to launch the world’s largest facial recognition system –
AFRS.

94. 5th India Pharma 2020 and India Medical Device 2020 Conference and Exhibition will
be held at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• Organizers - Department of Pharmaceuticals (under Ministry of Chemicals and
Fertilizers) and FICCI.
• Theme of India Pharma: - Meeting Challenges of Affordable and Quality Healthcare
• Theme of India Medical Device: - Promoting Affordable responsible and Quality
Medical Device for Universal Health Care.
Fun Facts:
§ Indian pharmaceutical market is the 3rd largest in terms of volume.
§ It is the 13th largest in terms of value.
§ India is the largest supplier of generic medicines globally.
§ Indian medical devices industry is worth $5.2 billion, which contributes about 4-
5% of total Indian healthcare Industry (worth $96.7 billion).

95. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved an MoU between
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (India) and Ministry of Health and Public
Hygiene (Republic of Cote d’lvoire) for cooperation in the field of health.

23
 • A working group will be established in the future to monitor the implementation of
this MoU.
• The MoU ensures cooperation in 17 constituents of health including HIV/AIDS, Non-
Communicable Diseases; Occupational and Environmental Health etc.

96. 4th Global Ayurveda Festival (largest Ayurveda event in the world) will be held in
Kochi, Kerala in May 2020.
• Organizer: - Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA).
• Theme: - Ayurveda Medical Tourism: Actualizing India’s credibility.

97. Maharashtra has renamed Aurangabad Airport as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj

Airport to honour Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj (son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj).
• Mumbai airport is also known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Airport while
Kolhapur airport was earlier renamed as Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj Airport.

98. MicroSave Consulting released the “The real story of women’s financial inclusion in
India” report which mentions that the gender gap in financial inclusion has been
reduced by 14% during 2014-17.
• Number of bank accounts owned by women has also increased to 77% in 2017 from
43% in 2014 because of PM Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).
• However, 42% of these accounts are still inactive.
• Under PMJDY scheme, 60% of 34 crore account holders are women, according to the
govt.
• Bangladesh and Pakistan have just 36% and 7% share in women account ownership,
respectively.
• MicroSave Consulting also organized the Women Financial Inclusion event in New
Delhi in collaboration with NITI Aayog and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

99. Ministry of Jal Shakti has launched the Phase-II of Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen)
worth Rs 1.4 lakh crores (Rs 1,40,881 crore) for a period of FY21 to FY25 during a
National Dissemination and Consultation workshop in New Delhi.
• Focus of SBM (G) Phase II – strengthen efforts made under Phase I to make India
ODF free and strengthen solid and liquid waste management.

100. A study is done by the UNICEF and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) on the
impact of the SBM (G) on rural women. The study is named as - Impact of the Swachh
Bharat Mission (Grameen) on the convenience, safety and self-respect of women in
rural India.
• Coverage: It surveyed 6,993 women across the 5 states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, in February, 2020.
• Impacts:
o It reveals that the increased access to household toilets has led to the
improvement in the Suvidha, Suraksha and Swabhimaan of women in rural India.

24
 o 93% women feel safer from assault by not going out in the open to defecate
o 91% women save up to one hour of their day, earlier spent on walking to
defecation sites
o 88% of women are proud to own a toilet

101. Jammu and Kashmir has launched the Student Health Card scheme to improve the
health of over 12 lakh students of government schools.
• As part of the scheme, periodic health check-ups of school going children will be
held.
• The card will carry information about the immunisation record and other health
records of the children.

102. Ghojadanga (West Bengal) and Agartala (Tripura) have been designated as the land
immigration check posts under Passport (Entry into India) rules, 1950 to check all
passengers entering and exiting from India.
• Both these are located in Indo-Bangladesh border.

103. Under the ‘Agro Processing Cluster Scheme’ of PM Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY),
Ministry of Food Processing Industries has sanctioned 10 projects worth Rs 301.54
crores.
• Out of the total Rs 301.54 crores, ₹67.29 crore will be given as grant-in-aid under the
‘Agro Processing Cluster Scheme’ of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana.
• Eight food processing projects worth ₹220 crore have been sanctioned for Tamil
Nadu.
Some Steps taken to boost food processing industry in India: -
§ 100% FDI through automatic route in manufacturing of food products
§ 100% FDI under Government approval route for retail trading, including e-
commerce.
§ 100% exemption of Income Tax on profit for new food processing units
§ 100% exemption of income tax from profit derived by FPOs having annual
turnover of Rs 100 crore for activities such as post-harvest value addition to
agriculture.

104. According to a report by Comptroller and Auditor General for the year ended 2018,
Rajasthan has recorded the highest cases of environmental crimes at 40.59% in India
during 2014-16.
• Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, Sariska Tiger Reserve and Abheda Biological Park
(Kota) are located in Rajasthan.

105. India and European Union have collaborated to work on clean energy and climate by
increasing renewable sources of energy during India’s Smart Utility Week.

25
 • This collaboration will be a part of Mission Innovation. This mission is an initiative of
24 countries and European Commission (on behalf of EU) to enhance the use of
clean energy.
• India and Sweden will work together on Smart Grid Project, funded by Department
of Science and Technology.
• Smart Grids are electricity networks that allow devices to communicate.

106. Ministry of AYUSH has released a digital platform – AYUSH GRID to digitize the entire
AYUSH sector.
Additional Info. :-
Ministry of AYUSH has developed a portal named National AYUSH Morbidity and
Standardized Terminologies Portal (NAMASTE) on the occasion of 2nd Ayurveda Day
(17th October 2017) to provide Standardized Terminologies & Morbidity Codes for
Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani systems of medicine.

107. 9th edition of national level search and rescue exercise ‘SAREX-2020’ has been
conducted by Indian Coast Guard at Vasco, South Goa district.
• Theme: ‘Harmonization of Maritime and Aeronautical Search and Rescue’ (HAMSAR)
• For the first time, all 3 pillars of SAR mechanism i.e. Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of
Civil Aviation and Ministry of Defence attended the exercise.

108. Centre has reconstructed the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR)
and appointed Amit Shah as its chairman.
• NPDRR was established in 2013 to regulate the disaster management activities.

109. “Chapchar Kut” is the biggest and oldest (spring) festival of Mizoram. It is celebrated
by performing traditional dances like ‘Cheraw’ etc.
• It is celebrated after Jhum farming (slash and burn method of cultivation).

110. Ministry of Women and Child Development and the World Bank have organized a
discussion programme on the topic “The Future of

26
 Work: Women in India’s Workforce” in New Delhi as part of the International
Women’s Day 2020.
• Smriti Irani has announced a diet plan for women and lactating mothers which is
developed by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), for the 1st time.

111. Madhya Pradesh has approved to form a trust under the Chairmanship of CM Kamal
Nath for constructing ‘Ram Van Gaman Path’ project.
• Purpose: - to retrace the route believed to have been taken by Lord Ram during his
life in forest from Chitrakoot to Amarkantak.

112. Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur presented its budget for 2020-21, in which Rs
150 crore allocated for ‘Nayi Rahein Nayi Manzilen’ scheme.
• The scheme aims to beautify untapped areas of the state to promote tourism.
• ‘Him startup Yojana’ will be launched with the venture capital fund of Rs 10 crore
for the welfare of startups in the state.

113. Maharashtra Deputy CM and finance minister Ajit Pawar has presented Rs 1.15 Lakh
crore budget for 2020-21. Schemes highlighted in the budget are: -
• ‘Shiv Bhojan’ thali scheme – a subsidised food scheme for the poor – was allocated
Rs 150 crore.
• The Chief Minister’s Employment Generation Scheme was introduced for educated
unemployed people. The govt will bear 75% stipend cost during their training period
in new industries and will create 1 lakh new industrial units to generate
employment.
• Chief Minister’s Water Conservation Scheme was introduced for water and soil
conservation at an outlay of Rs 2,000 crore.
• Rs 22,000 crore allocated for Mahatma Jyotirao Phule loan waiver scheme to waive
loans up to Rs 2 lakh of farmers.
• One-time loan settlement scheme for farmers whose debt is more than Rs 2 lakh
was also introduced.
• Budget proposed to deposit Rs 2 lakh in bank accounts of farmers whose dues were
more than Rs 2 lakh till September 30, 2019.

114. Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar has announced to create more
than 14 lakh Self Help Groups to take their total to 75 lakhs by 2022.
• At present there are more than 60 lakh self-help groups (comprising 6.73 crore
women) in the country.

115. Telangana has presented its budget for 2020-21.

• Rs 14,000 crore has been allocated for ‘Rythu Bandhu’ scheme to provide
investment support to farmers.
• Rs 11,758 crore allocated to Aasara pension scheme. Last year, age limit for
eligibility of beneficiaries will be reduced in this scheme from 65 years to 57.

27
 • Telangana CM – K. Chandrashekar Rao

116. United Nations Global Compact Network India (UNGCNI) has organized the 3rd
Gender Equality Summit 2020 on the theme of “India Inc. For Generation Equality:
Decade of Action” in New Delhi.
• UNGCNI and Grant Thornton India have released a theme paper on “Rethinking
Gender Representation across Value Chains”.

Labour force Gaps in different Gender-Gap in India Global Women

conditions in India: fields:- •Among the 153 Workforce:
•According to the paper, •Indian women hold only countries, India is the Labour force participation
women’s income in India 14% of leadership only nation which has rate of women aged 25 to
is a 1/5th of male position (136th rank) economic gender gap of 54 is 55% versus 94% for
income. In terms of and only 30% of them 35.4% and political men in the same age
female income, India is involved in professional gender gap 41.1%. group.
ranked at 144th. and technical areas.
•India has closed two-
thirds (66.8%) of its Globally, 38.7% of
•India’s female labour- •If Women’s labour force employed women are
force participation in would have been same overall gender gap.
working in agriculture,
India has declined from as Men’s labour force
forestry and fisheries, but
34% in 2006 to 24.8% in then it would increase
only 13.8% of landholders
2020. GDP by 27%. are women.

117. During the 3rd Gender Equality Summit 2020, Best Practices Awards on Women at
Workplace were presented: -
Category Winner
Public Sector ONGC
Private Sector Nestle
NGO Bharti Foundation
Academic Sector Salipur School (Cuttack, Odisha)
Special Jury Recognition Award First Steps Babywear Pvt Ltd

118. Govt has set up the 12 member panel, chaired by Injeti Srinivas (Corporate Affairs
Secretary), to prepare an investigation manual for the Serious Fraud Investigation
Office (SFIO).
• Chairman of SFIO – Amardeep Singh Bhatia

119. Kerala will launch “I am also digital” digital literacy drive in the Thiruvananthapuram
Corporation to create awareness about e-governance and digital platforms.

28
 • Organizers – Kerala State IT mission and Kerala Literacy Mission.

120. President of India has launched initiatives for gender advancement and equality in
academic and research institutions on the National Science Day (28th February, 2020)
celebrations.
• Vigyan Jyoti Scheme: launched by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) to
encourage girls in high school to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) in their higher education.
• TIFAC under Ministry of Science and Technology launches Vigyan Jyoti
• The program taps 100 girl students in 550 districts from 2020-2025.
• GATI Scheme: The Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) will
develop Gender Equality in STEM.

121. National Conference on Women in Police and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) has
been organized in New Delhi.
• Organizer: Bureau of Police Research and Development.
• Themes of the Conference: ‘Cyber Stalking and Bullying of Women: Steps for
Protection” and ‘Challenges faced by CAPF Women in Operational Areas”.
• Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, has released a book titled
“To Greater Heights” (authored by Nitu – DIG and CRPF) and a hand-out ‘BPR & D
Mirror- Gender Bender’.

122. Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, in partnership with State Skill
Development Missions, has launched Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship
programme (MGNF) in IIM-Bengaluru to boost skill development for development of
districts.
• It is a part of Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion
(SANKALP) programme.

123. Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, has mandated
that sanitary pad manufacturers will have to supply biodegradable bag for disposal of
each pad from January 2021.
• SWaCH Pune (Solid Waste Collection and Handling) interacted with Javadekar.
• Waste pickers will be called as ‘Swachhta Sevakas’.
• SWaCH is India’s first wholly-owned cooperative of self-employed waste collectors.

124. Odisha has become the first state in India to constitute a separate department for
Self-Help Groups named as “Department of Mission Shakti” for the development of
women.
• Odisha launched the 'Mamata Scheme' in 2011 under which Rs 5000 is paid to
pregnant and lactating women in rural areas every year.

29
125. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has informed Parliament that Gujarat has
topped in the solar rooftop plants at 50,915 followed by Maharashtra.
• Gujarat has adopted “Surya Gujarat” scheme to increase the use of solar energy in
the state by covering more than 8 lakh domestic consumers by 2022.

126. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development (HRD) has

conducted the “Demands for Grants 2020-21 Analysis” which mentions that only 56%
of government schools in India have electricity with lowest rates in the states of
Manipur and Madhya Pradesh.
• In these two states, less than 20% of the schools have electricity.
• Less than 57% of public schools have a playground.
• Only 30% of schools in Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir have a playground.
• School Budget has been cut by 27%.
• Dropout rate has increased at secondary level (class 9-10) at 17% as compared to
elementary school (class 1-8) at 4% and upper secondary school (class 11-12) at 2%.

127. Andhra Pradesh has launched the NIGHA application to curb election malpractices
such as the use of money and alcohol in the upcoming elections of local body.
• The app was developed by Department of Panchayat Raj.

128. 1st phase of Jewar Airport in Uttar Pradesh has been included in the World’s 100
Strategic Global Infrastructure Projects of 2020 by CG/LA Infrastructure.
• UP (India) and Yugoslavia (Europe) have been chosen in the category of aviation.
• 13th Global Infrastructure Leadership Forum will be held in New York on March 25
to 27, 2020.

129. “Fagli” traditional festival is celebrated in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh to

denote the end of the winter and the start of the Spring.

30
130. Central government has set up a Delimitation Commission, headed by Justice Ranjana
Prakash Desai, for carrying out the delimitation process of Jammu and Kashmir UT,
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.
• The commission has been set up under the section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002.
• The commission will have Chief Election Commissioner (Sushil Chandra) and the
State Election Commissioners.
• Delimitation will be done on the basis of Census 2001.
• Under the Section 60 of the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, the Legislative Assembly
seats will be increased to 114 from 107.

131. Ministry of Home Affairs has formed two special committees to deal with issues and
approvals related to the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).
• First committee: To be headed by the home secretary - Ajay Kumar Bhalla - to deal
with issues decided between the Ministry of Home Affairs and these forces.
• Second committee: Headed by N N Sinha - Secretary (Border Management), and will
solve only the procurement matters.
• Assam Rifles is not a part of CAPF, yet issues related to it will also be dealt by these
two committees.
Central
Reserve
Police
Force

Border
Sashastra
Security
Seema Bal
Parts of CAPF Force
Forces aka
paramilitary
forces

Indo- Central
Tibetan Industrial
Border Security
Police Force

132. Department of Science and Technology (DST) has given Rs 7.25 crore to IIT-Mandi
under its National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) for
establishing a Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) on its campus.
• Purpose: - It will focus on human resource and skill development, entrepreneurship
and collaboration with other leading institutions.

133. International Yoga Day events on June 21 will be organized in Leh (capital of Ladakh).

134. Rajya Sabha has approved minor changes in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order
Amendment Bill, 2019 which seeks to include Parivara and Talawara tribal
communities of Karnataka in ST category.

31
 • Changes: to declare this bill as the 71st amendment bill instead of 70th and replace
figure ''2019'' to ''2020'' at line one in first page.

135. A Parliamentary Committee on Petroleum has presented some of its observations on

the performance of the PM Ujjwala Yojana (launched in 2016 by Ministry of
Petroleum) – which has been closed.
• The scheme has achieved its target of 8 crore LPG connections in September 2019.
• However, only 3 states (Haryana, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh) and 6 UTs (Delhi,
Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadar & Nagar Haveli, Andaman & Nicobar Island and
Puducherry) have become kerosene free.
• The committee observed that large segments of people in various states are still
depended on kerosene for cooking and household lighting.
Note: - The scheme is covered in ESI >> Govt scheme >> Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Gas.

136. Department of Posts has, for the first time in India, introduced a free digital parcel
locker service in the Kolkata – at Nabadiganta IT Post Office in Salt Lake City and New
Town.
• Purpose: it will enable customers to collect their parcels from the digital locker
within 7 days after the delivery of the parcel at the post office.

137. World's first Digital Solutions Exchange in the cloud – GOKADDAL – has been
launched in India.
• It is the first of its kind solutions aggregator, marketplace and cloud delivery
platform with focus on four A's: Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Analytics and
Augmentative Technologies.
• GOKADDAL is a cloud-based, solutions exchange platform to help technology
solution seekers find solution on this platform.
• GOKADDAL Technologies is a Dubai based emerging technology company (led by
Ravinder Pal Singh), a part of Merkado group.

138. Maharashtra govt will implement the "happy hour" for autorickshaws on the
recommendation of Khatua panel.
• The panel recommended to reduce the autorickshaws’ fare prices by 15% between
12 pm and 4 pm to turn the lean hours into happy hours for housewives, elder and
other citizens who travel during this time.
• Khatua panel, headed by BC Khatua, was formed by Maharashtra govt to review the
fares recommended by the single-member Hakim panel in 2012.

139. Government has formed a committee to work out modalities of Kisan Rail under the
aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare which will have representatives
from Agriculture and Railway ministries.
• Kisan Rail will be set up through the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode for a
cold supply chain to transport perishable goods.

32
 • Container Corporation of India Ltd (CONCOR) has already set up temperature-
controlled perishable cargo centres at Ghazipur Ghat (UP), New Azadpur (Delhi) and
Raja ka Talab (UP) as a pilot project under the Kisan Vision Project through a CSR
initiative.

140. 'Hola Mohalla' – a Sikh festival is observed in Punjab after Holi festival to showcase
the martial art skills of Punjabi community.

141. National Handicapped Finance Development Corporation (NHFDC) has organized the
“EKAM Festival” (Entrepreneurship, Knowledge, Awareness, Marketing) in Delhi.
• NHFDC operates under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• 3 new initiatives were launched during EKAM: -

NHFDC
Safe Cabs in Safe Drinking
Swavalamban
Delhi and Indore Water E Carts
Kendras
NHFDC has partnered with
NHFDC has recently agreed to
Sakha Cabs to allow women
finance E-carts fitted with RO
These will be PwD owned to drive the PwD owned
water dispensing vending
micro skill training centers commercial vehicles to
machines. These carts will sell
throughout the country. ensure safety of women,
water in paper glasses
children and senior citizen
maintaining the hygiene.
commuters

The carts will be supported in

These safe cabs are already in
Purpose: to provide quality
operation at New Delhi and
skill training to around 120
Indore Airport (financed by
PwDs per year
NHFDC).
operation by Bharat Jal. The
PwD owner is expected to
earn Rs 10,000/- to Rs
15,000/- per month through
these carts.

142. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is planning to set up logistics bases in Malaysia,
Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka to persuade these countries to buy India's light
combat aircraft Tejas and military helicopters.
• HAL has identified South East Asia, West Asia and North Africa to sell key platforms
like Tejas, attack helicopter Rudra and advanced light helicopter Dhruv.
• Tejas has been developed by Aeronautical Development Agency and the HAL.

143. Bhawna Dehariya (Indian mountaineer from Madhya Pradesh) has climbed Mount
Kosciuszko - the highest mountain peak in Australia.

144. Indo-U.S. Fellowship for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics &
Medicine (WISTEMM), under Department of Science and Technology (DST) in
association with Indo-U.S. Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF), provides
international exposure to several women scientists.

33
Purpose of To provide opportunities to Indian Women Scientists, Engineers &
WISTEMM Technologists to undertake international collaborative research in
institutions of USA.
Components It has two components: Women Overseas Student Internship (Module I)
and Women Overseas Fellowship (Module II).
Age Eligibility 21 to 45 years
Other Initiatives In 2014, Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through
- KIRAN Nurturing (KIRAN) was launched by DST which restructured all women
specific programmes under this one umbrella program.
KIRAN Program aims to bring gender parity in Science and Technology
through gender mainstreaming.
Other Initiatives It addresses challenges faced by S&T qualified women primarily due to
- Women social responsibilities.
Scientist
Scheme
International To provide opportunities to Indian Women Scientists, Engineers and
Fellowship for Technologists to undertake collaborative research and gain exposure to
Women in excellent research facilities at international level.
Science

145. Telangana Government has opened a monitoring cell under Mission Bhagiratha to
address the water scarcity in summers.
• Launched in 2016 by the Telangana Govt, Mission Bhagiratha aims to provide safe
drinking water to every household in the state from Godavari and Krishna rivers.

146. Karnataka CM and also Finance Minister BS Yediyurappa has presented the State
Budget for 2020-21.
• For the first time, state government has come up with a child budget in which all
policies & programmes for children below 18 years are consolidated, amounting to
(Rs. 36340 crore) Rs 15.28% of the total volume of the budget.
Schemes highlighted in the budget: -
A) Karnataka’s Bhagya Lakshmi Scheme was launched during 2006-07 to promote
the birth of girl child in BPL families and to raise the status of the girl child in the
family in particular and society in general.
B) Karnataka bicycle scheme for supplying free cycles to students began in 2006-07
to facilitate travelling from home to schools and vice-versa. Both the schemes will
be continued.
C) Rs 500 crore has been allocated for Kalasa-Banduri (or Bandura) drinking water
project in Karnataka, which proposes to divert water Mahadayi river (also known
as Mandovi) from Kalasa and Banduri canals into the Malaprabha river in
Karnataka.
o Aim: to facilitate drinking water to 13 towns in the northern Karnataka (2nd
most arid regions in India after Rajasthan).

34
 D) "Mukhya Mantri Nava Nagarothana" scheme for developing of Bengaluru city.
E) "Shubhra Bengaluru" scheme - for Solid Waste Management of Bengaluru and
developing lakes of Bengaluru.

147. Mumbai Central railway station (Western Railway) will be renamed as the Nana
Shankarseth Mumbai Central railway station.
• Jagannath (Nana) Shankarseth was a 19th century Maharashtrian philanthropist and
educationist who contributed a lot to the development of Mumbai.
• Maharashtra CM - Uddhav Thackeray

148. WION (World Is One News) global summit was held in Dubai, UAE.
• Theme: “Navigating and negotiating global imperatives”.
• During the event, Sir Creek pact between India and Pakistan was highlighted.
Sir Creek pact: -
Þ Sir Creek - named after a British representative - is a 96-km strip of water which is
disputed between India and Pakistan.
Þ The strip divides Sindh Province of Pakistan from the Rann of Kutch of Gujarat.
Pakistan claims its rights on the strip, citing the Bombay Government Resolution
of 1914 signed between Sindh govt and Rao Maharaj of Kutch.

149. The central govt is planning to set up a National Interlinking of Rivers Authority (NIRA)
to execute interlinking projects at inter and intra state levels.
• Special Committee on Interlinking of Rivers, headed by Minister of Jal Shakti –
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, had in its last meeting discussed about setting up NIRA.
• Once NIRA is approved, the projects will be pursued as National Projects wherein
90% of the cost will be borne by the centre and rest by the state.
• Currently, six projects are being considered:-
Ken-Betwa Damanganga – Pinjal Par-tapi-Narmada
Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga Mahanadi-Godavari Godavari-Cauvery (grand
anicut)

150. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has mentioned that ‘Bhoomi Rashi’ portal
(launched in 2018) has smoothened the process of land acquisition for the purpose of
National Highway projects.
• The portal was developed to fully digitize the entire process of land acquisition.
• The portal is linked with Public Financial Management System (PFMS) for depositing
the compensation in the account of interested/affected persons immediately.

151. Government mentioned that Rs 1.83 lakh crore has been spent under the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, (MNREGA) during 2017-2020.
• Till Now, 526.97 lakh families have been provided employment out of 603.81 lakh
families.
• During 2011-14, Rs 92,483 crore was spent for MNREGA.

35
 MNREGA was implemented in 2005 by Ministry of Rural Development to provide a 100
days employment guarantee to rural households.

152. WINGS INDIA 2020 – International Exhibition & Conference on Civil Aviation – was
held in Hyderabad on the theme of ‘Flying For All’.
• Organizers: - Ministry of Civil Aviation, Airports Authority of India and Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
• Spice Jet signed a tripartite MoU with GMR Hyderabad International Airport
Limited (GHIAL) and Ras-Al-Khaimah International Airport (UAE) to assist farmers in
transporting agricultural produce from India to UAE.
• The MoU is in line with the Krishi Udaan scheme of Ministry of Civil Aviation.
• Another tripartite MoU was signed between GHIAL, Airbus and the Telangana
government to explore IoT sensor-based monitoring of environment at Rajiv Gandhi
International Airport as part of sustainable aviation in Hyderabad.

153. Assam govt has provided Rs 300 crores for constructing 33 stadiums across the state
under the Uttaran Scheme.
• State Government adopted 'Uttaran Scheme' to implement innovative projects
suitable to local needs of the districts in the state.

154. Central Reserve Police Force has signed an MoU with Aditya Mehta Foundation to
train its 189 disabled CRPF personnel in the areas of cybersecurity, artificial
intelligence and paralympic sports.
• CRPF’s Director General – AP Maheshwari

155. Kerala has ordered poultry culling to control the Bird Flu in Parappanangadi.
• Poultry Culling is the reduction of an animal population by selective slaughter.
India is the 17th largest poultry producer in the world in 2019. Andhra Pradesh, Kerala,
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are the major Poultry producing states in the country.

156. Central government has notified the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences
(POCSO) Rules, 2020 to implement the recent amendments to the POCSO Act with
stricter punishment for child abuse.
• Under the rules, all state governments have been asked to form a child protection
policy based on the principle of "zero-tolerance" to violence against children.
• Under the new rules, any institution coming in regular contact with children must
ensure a police verification and background check on periodic basis of every staff.
• Any person who has get any pornographic material involving a child should report
the contents to the special juvenile police unit (SJPU) or cyber-police.
POCSO Act was enacted in 2012.
POCSO (Amendment) Act, 2019 was also approved in August last year.

36
157. The committee chaired by Bibek Debroy had recommended Concessioning of
commercial operation of train service like Rajdhani/Shatabdi to private parties.
• In 2019, a group of secretaries has been constituted, under Amitabh Kant - CEO of
Niti Aayog, to advise on allowing private passenger train operators to operate trains
with world class technology through PPP model with govt.
• For the first time in India, New Delhi Railway Station will be converted into a world-
class railway station at an estimated cost of Rs 6,500 crore by the Rail Land
Development Authority.

158. Central govt has sanctioned Rs 365 crore for setting the 2nd Integrated Check Post
(ICP) in Tripura at Sabroom district (Also, Sabroom is the 1st Special Economic Zone of
Tripura).
• 1st Integrated Check Post was set up in Akhaura district (Tripura) along the Indo-
Bangla border in 2013.
• Purpose: - to facilitate ease of travelling and transfer of goods between India and
Bangladesh.

159. First regional edition of “Divya Kala Shakti” event (Witnessing the Abilities in
Disabilities) was held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
• Organisers – National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple
Disabilities (NIEPMD), Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities
(Divyangjan) under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Purpose: to enable PwD to exhibit their talents.

160. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has launched the Cri-MAC and NCTC on its 35th
Inception Day on March 12.
• Crime Multi Agency Centre (Cri-MAC) was launched for sharing of information on
heinous crime for inter-state coordination and National Cybercrime Training Centre
(NCTC) was launched for providing eLearning services to various stakeholders on
cyber-crime investigation on large scale.
• National Fingerprint Identification System (NAFIS) is being setup by NCRB to help
police.
• NCRB has also organized the CCTNS Hackathon & Cyber Challenge 2020, in
collaboration with Cyber Peace Foundation.
• Reports – ‘Crime in India’, ‘Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India’, ‘Prison Statistics
India’ and ‘Finger Print in India’ are some reports released by NCRB.

161. Minister of MSME - Nitin Gadkari - has urged members of parliament to spread
information about “Udyam Sakhi” Portal for raising awareness about government
schemes and to facilitate the networking of women start-ups.
• Ministry of MSME had launched the Udyam Sakhi portal in 2018 for promoting
women entrepreneurship in India.

37
162. Scientists at Agharkar Research Institute (under the Department of Science &
Technology), Pune have enriched, isolated, and cultivated the 45 different strains of
methanotrophs and created the first indigenous methanotroph culture.
• Purpose: to reduce methane emissions in agriculture.
• Methanotroph are the prokaryotes that oxidize methane through anaerobic
metabolism.

163. Minister of State for Power, New and Renewable Energy - Raj Kumar Singh - has
launched a new website of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• Two additional portals - ‘AkshayUrja Portal’ & ‘India Renewable Idea Exchange’
(IRIX) have been launched in the website.

164. Ministry of Shipping has inaugurated ROPAX services – a water transport service
project from Bhaucha Dhakka in Mumbai to Mandwa under Eastern Waterfront
Development – at Alibag, Maharashtra.
• ROPAX aims to reduce the time taken in travelling between these locations.
• ROPAX Vessel M2M -1 was built in Greece.

165. Ministry of Jal Shakti has informed the Parliament that groundwater in India is
contaminated with Uranium at 30 micro-grams per litre, according to the WHO’s
report.
• As per WHO, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh,
Karnataka, Jharkhand, Odisha, Rajasthan, Punjab, Telangana, West Bengal, Uttar
Pradesh and Jammu Kashmir have presence of Uranium in ground water.
• Bureau of Indian Standards has permitted a maximum of 0.03 mg per litre of
Uranium in drinking water (as per WHO’s guidelines).

166. Union Cabinet has directed to remove the obscurity in the Modified New Pricing
Scheme-III (launched in 2014) to determine the costs of urea units.
• Due to the ambiguous language, the scheme could not be implemented. However,
the govt has now facilitated smooth implementation of the scheme with an
additional grant of Rs 350 per metric tonne to 30 urea manufacturing units.
• Also, a special compensation of 150 per MT will be granted to urea units which are
more than 30 years old and converted urea to gas.
Modified NPS scheme-III provides incentives to the domestic urea manufacturers,
encouraged investment in urea production sector to reduce imports of urea.

167. A Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice DY Chandrachud, has ruled out that
women officers entered through Short Service Commission would be given a
permanent commission in the Indian Navy.

168. Haryana Government has announced to rename the Amin village in Kurukshetra
district as Abhimanyupur.

38
169. India has pledged Nepalese Rs 107 million for the construction of 3 schools in Nepal
under the India-Nepal Development Partnership programme.
• Two MoU with Municipalities of Darchula and Dhanusha districts (Nepal) were
signed by Indian govt for the same.
• Two school buildings will be utilised by Shree Malikarjun Higher Secondary School in
Darchula and Baidyanath Devnarayan Public Higher Secondary School in Dhanusha.

170. Jharkhand has become the 3rd state in India (after Maharashtra and Odisha) to launch
the star-rating program for industries based on their pollutant emissions.
• Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) in association with the University
of Chicago has launched this system.

171. Central government has included Konark Sun Temple (Odisha) and Statue of Unity
(Gujarat) in the Iconic Tourist Sites list, increasing the total number of iconic tourist
sites places from 17 to 19.
• Konark temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

172. Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises - Prakash Javadekar - has
informed Rajya Sabha that the ministry has set a target of selling around 70 lakh
hybrid and electric vehicles by 2020 end.
• Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme
was launched in 2015 to boost indigenous manufacturing of e-vehicles in India.

173. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh informed the Rajya Sabha that indigenous
manufacturing of defence goods is increasing.
• The share of Indian companies getting defence contracts from Ministry of Defence
increased from 39.06% in 2015-16 to 75.03% in 2019-20.

174. Department of Space has informed the Lok Sabha that ISRO has designed NavIC
messaging system and receiver which is used by the Indian National Centre for Ocean
Information System (INCOIS) to broadcast emergency warning messages like cyclone,
tsunami and high waves.
• Apart from these, INCOIS broadcasts the information of Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ).
• Besides, ISRO has distributed NavIC system to various states for the benefit of
fishermen community.

39
175. Government has approved the 2nd phase of Swachch Bharat Mission under which
gram panchayats are required to use half of the fund allocated to them by the 15th
Finance Commission on sanitation and water activities.
• Every gram panchayat currently receives Rs 7-20 lakh — depending on the number
of households — under a development fund set up by the government.
• An additional Rs 5 lakh is allocated to each gram panchayat for solid and liquid waste
management under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme.
Note:- 2nd phase of Swachch Bharat Mission has been mentioned in February Spotlight.

176. Minister of New and Renewable Energy, R K Singh, informed Rajya Sabha that India's
rooftop solar energy capacity is 1,922 megawatt (MW) at present.
• So far, over Rs 1,874 crore has been released as central financial assistance towards
installation of capacities in the sector.
• Under Phase II of the Grid Connected Roof Solar Project, the government provides
CFA of 20% of the cost to group housing societies/resident welfare associations.
Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic Project:
v India implemented this project in 2016 with World Bank’s assistance at a cost of
$625 million.
v It aims to install 400 MW of solar rooftop.
v The Project is being implemented by the State Bank of India.
v The project is estimated to close by November 2021.
v India's has a target to achieve 40 GW solar rooftop energy by 2022.

177. Agricultural and Processed food product Export Development Authority (APEDA) has
signed an MoU with Small Farmers Agriculture-Business Consortium (SFAC) to link the
Farmer Producer Organizations and farmer cooperatives with the export value chain.
• APEDA and SFAC will also establish an Agri-Business Promotion unit in the North-
East and to mentor FPO in Northeast.

178. National Botanical Research Institute- Lucknow has developed a pest resistant cotton
variety to protect the cotton crops from whiteflies (one of the most devastating crop-
pest).
• The cotton variety will be tested at the Center of Punjab Agriculture University,
Faridkot, Ludhiana.
• BT Cotton is also a genetically modified cotton which is resistant to only two pests
(excluding whiteflies).

40
179. Defence Acquisition Council has approved to procure of 83 Light Combat Aircraft -
Tejas MK-1A for Indian Air Force.
• LCA Tejas are developed by Aeronautical Development Agency (agency under
DRDO) and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

180. Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has informed Parliament that the Drugs Prices
Control Order, 2013 (DPCO) has saved Rs 12,447 crores per annum.
DPCO, 2013:
it is an order issued by the
central govt under Essential
Commodities Act, 1955 to
keep the prices of life-
saving medicines in control

National Pharmaceuticals
Pricing Authority (NPPA)
implements the DPCO by
fixing the prices of
medicines mentioned in the
National List of Essential
Medicines

National List of Essential

Medicines, 2015 is
prepared by Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare.

181. For the first time, Supreme Court has removed a minister from state cabinet. Manipur
Minister T.H. Shyamkumar has been removed on the grounds of disqualification of the
minister.
• Article 212 prohibits all courts including Supreme Court to not interfere in the
proceedings of the Legislature of state.
• Article 142 allows SC to pass an order to do “complete justice” to matter pending
before it. In this case, the disqualification plea was pending before the speaker of
the assembly (Y. Khemchand) since 2017.

182. Ministry of Power has informed Parliament that India is the 3rd largest producer of
electricity in the world in 2019, as per International Energy Agency’s ranking.
• Also, India is ranked 106th in terms of per capital consumption of electricity in 2017.
• India has become a power surplus country. As of December 2019, the National
Electric Grid had an installed capacity of 368.79 GW.
• As of May 2019, 72% of India’s electricity was generated from coal-based power
plants.

41
183. India has signed an agreement with Israeli Weapon Industries for procuring 16,479
Light Machine Guns (aka Negev) for Rs 880 crores.

184. Lok Sabha has passed the Aircraft (Amendment) bill, 2020 to amend the Aircraft Act,
1934.
It will regulate three agencies – Bureau of Civil Aviation (BCA),
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Aircraft Accident
Investigation Bureau (AAIB) – to enhance security of aircraft operations.

It aims to give the status of statutory bodies to these three

organizations to allow them to impose financial penalties on violators of
aviation rules.

Once the bill becomes an act, the govt will get power to make rules for
regulating the operations and inspection of aircrafts from security point
of view.

A court that is equivalent or superior to metropolitan magistrate would

be allowed hear cases under this act (bill).

DGCA carries out safety and regulatory functions. BCAS oversees civil
aviation security functions. AAIB carries out investigations of air
accidents.

185. Government has set up an Economic Response Task Force, headed by Nirmala
Sitharaman (Finance Minister), to focus on impact of Covid-19 on lower class, middle
class and the BPL people.

186. Ministry Jal Shakti has informed Lok Sabha under the National Aquifer Mapping
Programme plans for mapping 11.8 lakh square km area have been developed out of
25 lakh square km of mappable area.
• Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) is implementing the mapping programme to
know about the available ground water in the country.

187. Dayananda Sagar University in association with Atal Innovation Mission and NITI
Aayog has established the Atal Incubation Centre-Dayananda Sagar University (AIC-
DSU) Foundation in Bengaluru.
• Purpose: To promote the culture of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit among
students and researchers.

188. Jammu & Kashmir UT has approved the J&K Health Scheme to provide health
insurance of Rs 5 lakh by merging with the Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan
Arogya Yojana (PMJAY).
• The scheme will benefit nearly 1.25 crore residents of the UT.

42
 • The govt employees will continue to get Rs 300 per month as medical allowances for
OPD treatment.

189. Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has mentioned that Rs 6.16 lakh crore investment
has been approved under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) so far. [the scheme is
covered in ESI >> Govt schemes]

190. Ministry of Railways is planning to electrify all broad gauge routes in India by
December 2023.
• Indian Railways plan to have approx. 1000 MW of solar power and 200 MW of wind
power in this project.
• Out of this power demand, about 204.82 MW (101.42 MW solar and 103.4MW wind
power) is already set up on the network.

191. Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has approved to procure defence equipment
consisting of Aerial Fuses and Twin-Dome Simulators for Hawk Mk32 aircraft for
Indian Aircraft Force for Rs 1,300 crore.

192. Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) has launched
the “Tech for Tribal” initiative to provide entrepreneurship skills to the tribal people.
• Partners in this initiative: - IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Roorkee, IIM-Indore, Kalinga Institute of
Social Science- Bhubaneshwar, and SRIJAN, Jaipur. These institutes will develop
course contents related to entrepreneurship.
• The initiative will be linked with Van Dhan Vikas Kendra (VDVK) in later stages.
Note: - Pradhan Mantri Van Dhan Yojana is covered in ESI >> Govt schemes >> Ministry of
Tribal Affairs.

193. Lok Sabha has passed a bill to accord the status of institution of national importance to
Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (based in Jamnagar, Gujarat).
• It will be done by merging the group of Ayurveda institutes at the Gujarat Ayurveda
University campus in Jamnagar.

43
194. Meghalaya has allocated Rs 724 crore for healthcare sector which also includes Rs 2.5
crore for Meghalaya’s Outcome Oriented Transformation in Heath, Education and
Rural Development (MOTHER) programme in its budget 2020-21.
• Promotion of Innovative and Market-Driven Enterprises (PRIME) programme of
Meghalaya has got Rs 10 crore allocation.

195. Himachal Pradesh CM Jairam Thakur has launched the Police Station Visitor Survey
System and e-Night Beat Checking System.
• Police Station Visitor Survey System will help in keeping the records of the visitors in
police stations.
• e-Night Beat Checking System will help the state police department to track the
suspected vehicles and criminals who move in the night.

196. Jammu and Kashmir has set up the “J&K Socially and Educationally Backward Classes
Commission”, headed by Justice (retired) G D Sharma, for backward class people in the
Union Territory under the Department of Social Welfare.
• The commission will also examine the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled
Castes Order, 1956 and the Constitution (Jammu and Kashmir) Scheduled Tribes
Order, 1989.
• Also, J&K Handicraft Corporation and J&K Handloom Development Corporation will
be merged and become J&K Handloom and Handicrafts Marketing Corporation
(JKHHMC) for effectiveness.

197. Administrative council (headed by Lt Governor G C Murmu) of Jammu & Kashmir has
implemented the Dairy cooperative scheme for dairy co-op society.
• National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) will support and sponsor
the scheme.
• Purpose: - to increase the milk production in J&K and create infrastructure for milk
processing.
• Fund: - The government will provide 50% of the loan; 20% of the share capital; 25%
subsidy and the owners contribution will be 5%.
• Committee: - A monitoring committee, headed by the Registrar Cooperative
Societies of J&K, is also established for smooth implementation of the scheme.
• Other provisions: - establishment of integrated dairy programs with the provision
for technical inputs for farmer’s organizations, mobile veterinary care and artificial
insemination.

198. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers, headed by

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, has submitted its report on whether genuine farmers are
getting fertilizer subsidy or not.
• As per the report, 1182.04 lakh metric tonnes of fertilizers have been sold under
Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme until December 2019.

44
199. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has proposed a new “Draft Defence Procurement
Procedure” (DPP) 2020 for replacing DPP 2016.
• It will be implemented from 1st April 2020 to March 31, 2025.
• A high-level committee, headed by Apurva Chandra, set up by Ministry of Defence
2019 has finalized the draft of DPP, 2020.
Some of the Important New Features:
¨ ‘Leasing’: - The new rules have allowed to acquire defence equipment on lease.
¨ Buy (Global – Manufacture in India) category introduced - Foreign products that
have a minimum of 50% indigenous content will come under this new category.
¨ Buy (Indian-IDDM) category – Under this category, only Indian products --
designed in-house, developed and manufactured with a minimum of 50%
indigenous content of the total contract value -- of an Indian vendor would be
classified.

200. Union Cabinet has approved the Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters Scheme
2.0 to enhance the growth of Electronics System Design and Manufacturing sector.
• Purpose: developing entrepreneurship, increase employment opportunities, attract
investment in this sector.
• The scheme will run for 8 years at a total outlay of more than Rs 3,000 crores
(Rs.3,762.25 crore).

201. Borders Road Organization has constructed a 360 feet long bridge across Teesta river
in North Sikkim under Project Swastik.
• Teesta river flows through the states of West Bengal and Sikkim and then flows to
Bangladesh into Bay of Bengal.
• India and Bangladesh signed the Teesta river sharing agreement in 1983.

202. Union Cabinet has approved the Production Incentive Scheme for large scale
manufacturing of Electronics to increase investments in mobile manufacturing.
• Electronics market in India has increased from $11 billion in 2015-16 to $20.8 billion
in 2018-19.
• The domestic production of electronic components is around $10 billion, out of
which $7.7 billion is consumed domestically.

203. Union Cabinet has approved the Medical Device Park Scheme for the next 5 years to
increase the production of medical devices.
• Medical device parks will be set up in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and Andhra
Pradesh at a cost of Rs 100 crores for each park.
Fun Fact:
India is the 4th largest market for medical devices in Asia.

204. Union Cabinet has approved to set up 12,500 Aayush Health and Wellness Centre
under Ayushman Bharat Mission at a cost of Rs 3,395 crores.

45
 • The centres are to be constructed within a time span of 5 years.
• In 2018, the govt had announced to set up 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres
under Ayushman Bharat in order to create a holistic wellness model based on AYUSH
principles.
• Union Cabinet has approved the inclusion of AYUSH Health and Wellness Centre -
component of Ayushman Bharat in the National AYUSH Mission (NAM).

205. Gujarat Police has become the first state police in India to use Taser guns.

206. Union Cabinet has approved the Promotion of Bulk Drug Parks scheme for financing
common infrastructure facilities in 3 Bulk Drug Parks at a cost of Rs. 3,000 crore for
next the 5 years.
• Centre will give Grants-in-Aid to states with a maximum limit of Rs 1,000 crore per
park.
• Purpose: - to reduce imports and manufacturing cost of bulk drugs.

207. India has approved further progress in implementing the Fleet Vessel Ship (FVS)
Agreement worth $2.3 billion with Turkey (which was put on hold in Oct 2019).
• As part of the agreement, Turkey company TAIS would manufacture FVS at
Hindustan Shipyard Ltd’s premise in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
• In 2016, the approval was given to procure 45,000 tonne FSV for Indian Navy.

208. Union Cabinet has also approved the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for
promoting domestic manufacturing of critical Drug Intermediates and APIs at a cost of
Rs 6,940 crore for next 8 years.
• Financial incentive will be given to eligible manufacturers of identified 53 critical
bulk drugs for a period of 6 years.

209. Union Cabinet has approved the Scheme for Promotion of manufacturing of
Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) to promote the supply chain of
an electronic product.

46
 • Under the scheme, a financial incentive of 25% of capital expenditure for the
manufacturing of goods that constitute the supply chain of an electronic product will
be given.
• Total cost of the scheme is approx. Rs.3,285 crore.

210. Netherlands’ Flying car-maker PAL-V has signed an MoU with Gujarat govt to set up a
manufacturing plant in Gujarat.
• For the first time in India, the Dutch car company has set up the firm and will
commence the production by 2021.

211. Ministry of Defence has informed the Parliament that it has acquired land in the Uttar
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu defence corridors to scale up the defence manufacturing.
• In 2019, government has set up defence industrial corridors in Uttar Pradesh and
Tamil Nadu to increase defence equipment production in India.
• FDI policy was also revised to allow 100% FDI in the defence sector through
Government route. 49% FDI is allowed in defence through automatic route.

212. For the first time in India, IIT-Madras will host the Global Hyperloop pod competition.
• India’s first Hyperloop Pod was being developed in Maharashtra between Pune and
Mumbai.
• Another project of Hyperloop pod transport was started between Vijayawada
(Andhra Pradesh) and Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh).
• International Hyperloop Pod Contest is conducted by SpaceX.

213. Govt plans to install 3 super computers at IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Hyderabad and JN Centre for
Advanced Scientific Research-Bengaluru by April 2020 under the National Super
Computer Mission (launched in 2015).
• Govt aims to install 11 new systems in NITs, IITs and IISERs by December 2020.
• India already has 5 super computers.
Extra Facts:
v USA super computer called Summit in the Ridge National Laboratory is the
world’s top super computer.
v National Super Computer Mission is jointly steered by Ministry of Electronics and
IT and Department of Science and Technology and implemented by the Centre for
Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and IISc-Bengaluru.

214. Tamil has formed its 38th Mayiladuthurai district from Nagapattinam.

47
215. Union Cabinet has approved an MoU signed between Ministry of Railways (India) and
DB Engineering & Consulting GMBH of Germany for technological cooperation in
Railway Sector.
• The MoU was signed in February, 2020.

216. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Deputy Executive Secretary Joyce
Msuya has praised India (Environment Secretary C K Mishra) for efficiently leading the
COP 13 of Conservation of Migratory Species.
• India was also praised for its efforts in phasing -out of single-use plastics. The target
year for phasing out single use plastic is 2022.
• India was also praised for its engagement in the Clean Seas Campaign.
UN Environment The campaign
launched the Clean contributes to the goals
Seas campaign in of the Global Partnership
on Marine Litter, a
2017 to fight against voluntary open-ended
the marine plastic partnership hosted by
pollution. UN Environment.

Clean Seas Global Partnership

Campaign on Marine Litter

217. Agharkar Research Institute- Pune (under DST) has developed a new variety
biofortified high quality wheat known as MACS 4028.
• Nutritional quality: - high protein content of about 14.7%, zinc 40.3 ppm, and iron
content of 40.3 ppm and 46.1 ppm respectively, good milling quality.
• MACS is the semi-dwarf wheat and matures in 102 days with a high yielding capacity
of 19.3 quintals per hectare.
• UNICEF funded the MACS 4028 to make India – “Kuposhan Mukt Bharat” by 2022.
• The discovery of MACS 4028 was published in the Indian Journal of Genetics and
Plant Breeding.

Indian Institute of
Wheat and Barley
research (under ICMR)
has launched All India
coordinated Wheat and
Barley improvement
programme to develop
more disease-resistant
varieties of crops.

48
 218. Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC), in partnership
with Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, has started to develop the first-ever
“Form Based Codes” for the development of railway land.
• Purpose: to develop pedestrian-friendly, market responsive and sustainable railway
stations and its surrounding areas.
• Habibganj in Madhya Pradesh and Gandhinagar in Gujarat are the first two railway
stations that are being developed into world-class transit hubs among other
stations.

219. Ministry of Finance announced Economic Package worth 1.7 lakh crore to provide
relief from Covid-19.
• For small companies with 100 employees or less, of whom 90% earn less than
₹15,000 a month, the Centre will bear the cost of both employer and employee
contribution (a total of 24%) to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for the next 3
months to benefit 80 lakh employees, and incentivise 4 lakh establishments.
• Collateral free loans provided for women self-help groups under the National Rural
Livelihood Mission are being doubled to ₹20 lakhs.

Pradhan Mantri
Pradhan Mantri PM Jan- Dhan
Garib Kalyan MNREGA
Ujjawala Yojana Yojana
Yojana

Launched recently to Daily Wages of workers

offer free cylinders to Women account holders
provide some under MNREGA
around 8.3 crore will receive Rs 500 per
foodgrains at free of increased to Rs 202 from
Below Poverty Line Rs 182. This is to benefit
month for the next
cost to beneficiaries three months.
Families around 5 crore workers.
through ration shops.

5 kg of free rice and wheat

in addition to the existing Sanitation workers will
Around 20 crore account
5 kg of rice and wheat for get double pay along
holders are to be
the next 3 months, 1 kg of with Rs 2000 extra for 3
benefitted
free pulses per household months.
will be given.

direct benefit
transfer of Rs 1000 to
old age, Divyangs and
widows.

insurance cover for

doctors, sanitation
workers, nurses,
paramedical staff working
to combat the virus.

49
220. Odisha has launched the “Mo Jeeban (My Life) Programme” to encourage people to
take a pledge to stay indoors due to Coronavirus outbreak.

221. National Book Trust (Delhi), under Ministry of Human Resources and Development,
has launched the “Stay Home India with Books” initiative wherein more than 100
books will be provided on the website of NBT.

222. Maharashtra has donated the highest number of organs for the benefit of around 449
patients followed by Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
• Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation- State Organ and Tissue
Transplant Organisation (ROTTO-SOTTO) along with four Zonal Transplant

50
 Coordination Centre (ZTCC) of Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, and Aurangabad in
Maharashtra were the top performers.
• On 10th Indian Organ Donation Day on 30th November, the National Organ and
Tissue Transplant Organisation presented the best state award to Maharashtra in
November last year.

223. Union Cabinet has approved to continue the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and
Levies (RoSCTL) w.e.f., April 1 until the scheme is merged with newly approved
Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) for textile sector.
• RoDTEP replaces the Merchandise Export from India Scheme-2015 (MEIS).

RoDTEP - Launched in 2020.

RoSCTL - It was launched in
2019 by Ministry of Textiles. Purpose: - for exporters to
reimburse taxes and duties
Purpose: - It was offered
paid by them such as value-
for embedded state and
added tax, coal cess, mandi
central duties and taxes
tax etc. which is not getting
that are not refunded
exempted or refunded
through goods and services
under any other existing
tax.
mechanism.

224. Indian Army has launched the “Operation Namaste” to reduce the spread of
Coronavirus in the country.

225. Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed an agreement with India
for three mega rail infrastructure projects worth Rs 15,295 crores.
• The three projects are Dedicated Freight Corridors between Delhi and Mumbai (to
tackle freight transport demand), Mumbai-Trans Harbour link project and Mumbai
Metro Line-3 Project.

226. In February, India and France have conducted their first-ever joint patrol from the
Reunion Island on P-8I aircraft to maintain the security of international maritime
routes.
• Reunion Island is the French naval base in the Indian Ocean.

227. According to Ministry of HRD, IIT-Madras has filed the highest number of patents at
186 in 2019-20 and became India’s leading technical institution in creating new
knowledge.
• IIT-Delhi (152) and IIT-Mumbai (135) are ranked next respectively.

51
228. MyLab Discovery Solutions Pvt Ltd (Pune-based testing services) has become the first
Indian company to develop and sell the first-ever India-made COVID-19 testing kits.
• Ms Minal D. Bhosale (Virologist) led the discovery of testing kit.

229. 5th edition of the ‘Boom and Bust 2020: Tracking The Global Coal Plant Pipeline’
released by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Greenpeace
International, Sierra Club and Global Energy Monitor mentions that 47.4 GW of coal-
fired power projects at different stages were cancelled in India in 2019.

Total capacity of coal power plants in India fell from 60.2 GW

in 2018 to 29.3GW in 2019.

Total capacity under construction and in pre-construction

phase declined 80% from 311.1GW in 2015 to 66GW in
2019, with only 2.8GW newly proposed in 2019.

8.8 GW of new coal-fired capacity has entered the under-

construction phase in 2019.

Globally, the coal production plant grew by 34.1 GW last

year. Nearly 64% of this newly commissioned capacity was
in China and 12% in India.

230. Centre has announced that medical insurance scheme for healthcare workers
(announced as part of the Rs 1.7 lakh crore economic relief package) will applicable to
private sector healthcare workers as well.
• The insurance is worth Rs 50 lakh for an individual health worker dealing with Covid-
19.
• Beneficiaries – 90 days insurance cover for around 22.12 lakh public healthcare
providers, ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers, community health
workers, and private hospital staff.
• The scheme will be funded by the budget of National Disaster Response Fund
(NDRF).

231. Ministry of Tourism has launched the “Stranded in India” portal to support foreign
tourists stranded in India due to lockdown.
• Function: the portal will provide information to foreign tourists about the steps
taken by Indian and foreign govt to contain the spread of Coronavirus and take them
home.

52
232. Extraordinary G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Virtual Meet was held recently.
• India informed G20 nations that India is supplying medical products to nearly 190
countries in the world amidst the threat of Covid-19.
• 2nd Extraordinary G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG)
meeting under the presidency of Saudi Arabia was also held.

233. Maharashtra hospitals have adopted a new technology named as “Scitech Airon” to
fight against COVID-19.
• Purpose: It helps to control bacteria, virus and fungal infections.
• The technology was adopted under NIDHI-PRAYAS Programme.
NIDHI-PRAYAS Programme:
v It was launched by Department of Science and Technology.
v NIDHI stands for National Initiative for Developing and Harnessing Innovations
v PRAYAS stands for PRomoting and Accelerating Young and ASpiring technology
entrepreneurs
v NIDHI-PRAYAS is a pre-incubation initiative to promote innovation in India.

53
 INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. Conference on Enhancing Energy Cooperation in the BIMSTEC Region was held in

Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• Organizers: - BIMSTEC Secretariat (in Dhaka) in collaboration with USAID-funded
program titled South Asian Regional Initiative for Energy Integration (SARI/EI).
• In 2018, BIMSTEC signed an MoU for Establishment of the BIMSTEC Grid
Interconnection to facilitate electricity trade among member countries. The MoU
came into effect in 2019.

2. As per the ‘Prospect of regional energy cooperation and cross-border energy trade in
the BIMSTEC region’ report released during the conference, India has the highest
energy resources – oil, gas, biomass, hydro, and coal (98%) – among BIMSTEC nations.
• Total BIMSTEC region has 3.23 lakh million tonnes of coal, 664 million tonnes of oil,
99 trillion cubic feet of gas, 11,346 MT of biomass, 328 GW of hydropower and 1,117
GW of renewal energy.
• India has the highest 3.19 lakh MT of coal resources, followed by Bangladesh 3,300
MTN and Thailand 1,063 MTN.

3. 9th edition of Hurun Global Rich List 2020 has been released.
Rank Richest person (rank-wise) Company Net Worth
1 Jeff Bezos Amazon $140 billion
2 Bernard Arnault LVMH (French $107 billion
company)
3 Bill Gates Microsoft $106 billion
9 Mukesh Ambani (only Asian Reliance $67 billion
in the top 10)
• Ritesh Agarwal (Oyo founder) has been named the youngest Indian in this list with a
net worth of $1.1 billion.
• He was 2nd youngest wealthiest startup founders in the world after Kylie Jenner.

54
 Country with most
Number of Number of
number of billionaires
billionaires in the list billionaires in India
(living in it)
• According to various • 137 (34 more than • China - 799
news articles, the 2019) billionaires
number of total • Mumbai has the • USA - 626
assesses was 2,817 highest no. of billionaires
billionaires from 71 individuals on the • India - 137
countries. Rich List at 50,
• As per Hurun's followed by New
website, the total Delhi (30) and
assesses were 2,816. Bengaluru (17).

Note: - In all the newspapers articles, the total number of billionaires in India is given as 138
whereas in the screenshot above (taken from Hurun’s website) the number is 137.
Therefore, it is a little ambiguous.
https://www.hurun.net/EN/Article/Details?num=775CEFAE8BF8

4. US and the Taliban have signed a peace agreement in Doha (Qatar) to end one of the
world’s longest-running conflicts after nearly 20 years of war.
• It could result in American troops leaving Afghanistan within 14 months.

5. According to the 2019 report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB),
released by United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), India is among the top
manufacturers of illegal and legal drugs smuggled to other countries.
• Most of the tramadol (a controlled substance) seized globally between 2013-17 was
originated in India.

55
 • UNODC has rebuked India for not submitting Form P which details about the
mandatory reports on manufacturing, importing and exporting of legal drug and raw
material data by the deadline.
• Largest seizure in India: - In a single day, 8 tons of pseudoephedrine (used for
decongestion) was confiscated in Noida, Uttar Pradesh in 2019, which is highest in
India till now.
• In India, seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants was highest at 931 kg in 2018. In
2016, 1.7 tons of seizures (highest so far) of amphetamine-type stimulants were
recorded. Apart from these, the report mentions about various drugs that have been
seized in India.
• China is the lead manufacturer of phenobarbital (a type of sleeping pill) with 154
tons in 2018, followed by India and Hungary, at 87.2 tons and 32.3 tons,
respectively.

6. US-based think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI) has released its report “Trade-
Related Illicit Financial Flows in 135 Developing Countries: 2008-2017” which ranks
India at the 3rd position in terms of trade-related illegal financial flows of $83.5 billion in
2017.
• Total number of countries assessed in this report is 135.
• Total value gaps between 135 developing countries and 36 advanced economies
during 2008-2017 is $8.8 trillion and in 2017, it is $817.6 billion.
• In terms of trade of 135 developing countries with 36 advanced economies, India
was ranked 6th (during 2008-17 and 2017) whereas China ranked 1st in both
durations.
• Asian region has the highest total value gaps in both durations in terms of trade
with 36 advanced economies.
• The three largest value gaps were identified in the trade of electrical machinery
(USD 153.7 billion), mineral fuels (USD 113.2 billion) and machinery (USD 111.7
billion) between the 135 developing countries and 36 advanced economies.
Top 5 countries with Largest Value Gaps (amount Top 5 countries with Largest Value Gaps
of trade that was not properly taxed) in 2017 during 2008-2017
Rank Country Amount (USD) Country Amount (USD)
1 China 457.7 billion China 482.4 billion
2 Mexico 85.3 billion Russia 92.6 billion
3 India 83.5 billion Mexico 81.5 billion
4 Russia 74.8 billion India 78 billion
5 Poland 66.3 billion Malaysia 64.1 billion

7. World Bank will provide an assistance of $12 billion to the member countries which are
grappling with economic impacts of coronavirus (Covid-19).
• Priority will be given to poor countries that are at highest risks.
• WHO has declared Covid-19 as a pandemic (means - a disease prevalent over a
whole country or the world).

56
8. Freedom House (USA company) has released the ‘Freedom in the World 2020” report,
that ranks countries on the basis of freedom given to the citizens and democratic
practices of a country.
• Total – 195 countries and 15 territories
• Top Ranker – Finland
• Bottom 3 Ranker – India, Timor-Leste and Tunisia respectively
• India’s Rank – 83rd along with Timor-Leste and Senegal.
• Jammu and Kashmir’s score (as a separate territory) has been reduced to 28 from
49. It has been shifted from ‘Partially Free’ and ‘Not Free’ category.
• Parameters – Total 25 indicators divided into two categories of political rights and
civil liberties.
• A total of 37 countries improved and 64 countries’ performance declined in terms of
political rights and civil liberties.

Scores: -
Each country and territory is assigned between 0 and 4 points on a series of 25 indicators,
for an aggregate score of up to 100. Political rights and civil liberties carry (0–40) and (0–
60) weightage respectively. The total scores determine whether the country or territory
has an overall status of Free, Partly Free, or Not Free.

9. European Commission (a part of EU) has launched the Global Coalition for Biodiversity
named as “United for Biodiversity” on the occasion of World Wildlife Day (on March 3).
• The coalition consists of national parks, aquariums, zoos, botanical gardens and
science museums of the world.
• The coalition aims to boost public awareness about the nature crisis before COP 15
of Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming, China in October 2020.

57
 • The Coalition cited Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem
Services’ (IPBES) report that more than 1 million species are at the verge of
extinction.

10. Luxembourg (2nd smallest country in the European Union) has become the first country
in the world to make all forms of public transport free.
• Its capital (also called Luxembourg) is the 53rd most congested city in the world
according to Traffic Index 2020 (covered in Feb Spotlight).

11. OPEC has decided to cut oil production in 2020 due to coronavirus.
• Saudi Arabia (major oil supplier in OPEC) has decided to cut its oil production by 1.5
million barrel a day from April 2020.
• OPEC+ has decided to extend its cuts of 2.1 million bpd, which means that the
proposed combined total of the cuts planned would have been 3.6 million bpd or
about 3.6% of global supplies.

12. 5th BIMSTEC Summit 2020 will be in Colombo, Sri Lanka under the chairmanship of Sri
Lanka in September 2020. [Sri Lanka is serving as chair of BIMSTEC from 2018 to 2020]
• 17th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting and 21st BIMSTEC Senior Officials Meeting will
be held before the Summit.
• During the meetings, it was decided that: -
o Sri Lanka will lead BIMSTEC nations in the science, technology, and
innovation sector;
o India will lead BIMSTEC nations in security sector;
o Bangladesh will lead Trade and Investment;
o Bhutan on Environment and Climate Change;
o Myanmar on Agriculture and Food Security;
o Nepal on People-to-People Contact;
o Thailand on Connectivity in BIMSTEC.

13. India has joined the Indian Ocean Commission as the 5th observer state.
• Other four observers are – Malta, China, European Union and OIF (International
Organization of La Francophonie).
• Purpose:- Joining the commission will help India in its SAGAR (Security and Growth
for all in the Region) policy.
Indian Ocean Commission:-
Launched – 1982 at Port Louis, Mauritius.
Members – It has five member nations- Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion (an
overseas region of France) and Seychelles. [All African countries]

14. Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released the 4th Inclusive Internet Index 2020,
commissioned by Facebook, that measures the internet access available to all citizens
and its outcomes.
• Total countries – 100

58
 • Top Ranker – Sweden (1st), New Zealand (2nd) and USA (3rd)
• Bottom Ranker – Burundi (100th)
• India’s Rank – 46
• Parameters – four categories which are Availability, Affordability, Relevance (extent
of local language content), Readiness (capacity to access the Internet).
• India’s rank on each parameters – 68th in Availability, 18th in Affordability, 46th in
Relevance, 12th in Readiness.

15. “Trends in international arms transfers 2019" report released by Stockholm

International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) mentioned that together, the top five
arms importing countries accounted for 36% of all arms imports during 2015-19.
Top 5 Importers Top 5 Exporters Top 5 arms importing regions
Saudi Arabia USA (31% share) Asia and Oceania (41% share)
India Russia (21%) Middle East (35%)
Egypt France Europe (11%)
Australia Germany Africa (7.2%)
China China Americas (5.7%)
- India at 23rd position (0.2% -
share of exports)
• Russia is India’ leading supplier of arms. However, its share of total Indian arms
imports declined from 72% to 56%.
• Between 2010-14 and 2015-19, total arms imports by India has decreased by 39%.

16. World Economic Forum has, for the first time, launched the COVID Action Platform to
strengthen the global response on Covid-19.
• WEF has launched this platform in collaboration with WHO.
• The platform will address the issue in 3 main ways: -

59
 Activating global business
community to take action against the
spread of Covid-19 through collective
action and by sharing best practises.

Provide everyones' livelihoods, and

ensure the continuity of business by
protecting employees and
maintaining operations.

Engage business for Covid-19

response by strengtheing the supply
chain of medical equipments and
funding the development of vaccines

17. World Economic Forum has released its new list of 115 Young Global Leaders 2020
which features young leaders below the age of 40.
• In 2020, over half the new members are women and nearly half of YGLs are from
emerging economies.
Some of the prominent Total 5 Indians on the list: -
leaders on this list includes:-

•Megan Rapinoe (US •Byju Raveendran

football team co- (founder of Byju
captain) Classes)
•Sanna Marin (Finland's •Gaurav Gupta (co-
youngest prime founder of Zomato)
minister) •Tara Singh Vachani
•Chew Shou Zi (Xiaomi's (CEO of Antara Senior
international business Living),
president) •Vinati Mutreja (MD &
• JR (world-renowned CEO of Vinati Organics
street artist) Ltd)
•Golriz Gharhaman •Swapan Mehra (CEO,
(New Zealand's first Iora Ecological
refugee Solutions)
parliamentarian)

18. Animal Protection Index (API) 2020 has been released by World Animal Protection to
rank countries on the basis of their animal welfare policy and legislation.
• Total countries – 50
• Parameters – 10 indicators divided into 4 goals:
o Recognition of animal sentience and prohibition of animal suffering
o Establishment of supportive government bodies

60
 o Presence of animal welfare legislation
o Support for international animal welfare standards
• Top country – Sweden, Denmark, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria got ‘B’
ranking. No country got ‘A’ rank.
• Bottom country – Iran and Azerbaijan got ‘G’ rank.
• India’s rank – 'C' ranking along with Spain, New Zealand, Mexico, Germany, Poland,
Italy, France and Malaysia.
• The index ranks countries from A, being the highest score, to G, being the weakest
score.

19. KPMG global Technology industry innovation survey 2020 ranked countries for their
innovation, adoption and promotion of new-age technologies such as artificial
intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), blockchain, internet-of-things, among others.
• KPMG has ranked Bengaluru at the 9th spot in the list of cities which are going to
become technology innovation hubs in the next four years outside Silicon Valley.
• Top 20 cities:

• Top 10 countries:

20. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has predicted that
coronavirus outbreak could cost the global economy up to $2 trillion this year.

61
 • It will cause a recession in some countries and reduce the global annual growth to
below 2.5% this year.
• Coronavirus’ trade impact for India is estimated to be about $348 million and India
figures among the top 15 economies most affected by Covid-19 due to slowdown in
manufacturing in China.
• Slowdown of manufacturing in China could result in a $50 billion decrease in exports
across global value chains.
• UNCTAD has mentioned that FDI flows will reduce by 5-15%.
• FDI inflow in India was over $318 billion between 2014 and 2019. In 2018-19, the FDI
inflow was the highest at $62 billion.

21. Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject 2020 has been
released.
• It ranks the world’s top universities in individual subject areas, in total 48 subjects.
• 4 Parameters – academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations per
paper, h-index (both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist
or scholar will be assessed).
Top 3 Universities (rank-wise) in different subjects and top Indian Universities: -

Arts & Humanities:- Engineering & Technology:-

University of Oxford
Harvard University
University of Cambridge
India = Jawaharlal Nehru University
(162nd rank)
Life Sciences & Medicine: -
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Stanford University
University of Oxford
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
India = IIT-Bomaby (rank 44)
India = AIIMS (rank 231)
IIT-Delhi (rank 47)

Social Sciences & Management:-

Natural Sciences: -
Harvard University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
London School of Economics and
Harvard University
Political Sciences (LSE)
Stanford University
Stanford University
India = IIT-Bombay (rank 108)
India = University of Delhi (rank 160)

• Total 26 Indian departments entered the top-100 list for their subjects. Also, QS has
seen an increase in the number of Indian programs ranking among the global top 50.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has emerged as the world’s best-
performing institution, achieving number-one in 12 subjects, followed by Harvard
University with 11 number-one positions and University of Oxford with eight top
ranked subjects.
Ranking of Indian Institutes’ subjects
Rank Institute Subject
IIT-Bombay’s Mineral & Mining
41st & Engineering program
University of Delhi's &

62
 Development Studies
program
IIM-Ahmedabad and IIM- Business and
51-100 band
Bangalore management studies

22. 14th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion will be held from 8-
11 November 2020 in Adelaide, Australia.
• Theme: Innovation, Engagement, Action: for a safer future
• Co-sponsor – World Health Organization.
• 22nd World Congress on Safety & Health at Work will be held in Toronto, Canada
from October 4-7, 2020.

23. Bangladesh celebrated 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman (also known as “Jatir Pita”, Father of Bangladesh and 1st president of
Bangladesh) on March 17.
• PM Modi participated in the celebrations through video conferencing.
• Current Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina is his daughter.

24. Many environmental organisations have raised objection on the proposed Danube-
Oder-Elbe Canal project which is going to connect 3 rivers - Danube, Oder and Elbe.
• It will provide an alternate route of navigation from Black Sea to Baltic Sea and
North seas across Europe.

25. 7th World Cities Summit will be held in Singapore in July 2020.

63
 • Organized – Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities and the Urban Redevelopment
Authority.
• Theme – Liveable and Sustainable Cities: Adapting to a Disrupted World.
• This summit was held alongside Singapore International Water Week and
CleanEnviro Summit Singapore.

26. 8th edition of the World Happiness Report 2020 has been released by United Nations on
International Day of Happiness (March 20).
• Total countries – 156
• Top Ranker – Finland (at 1st) for a 3rd time
• Bottom Ranker – Afghanistan (at 153rd)
• India’s Rank – 144 (score - 3.573)
• Parameters – GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy at birth,
freedom to make life choices, generosity, perception of corruption.
• Gallup World Poll was used majorly to rank these countries.

27. UN Food and Agriculture Organization has released a report on Peatlands which
mentions that though Peatlands cover only 3% of the earth’s surface, they trigger the
carbon that were locked in a few decades.
• As per the report, peatlands consists of 30% of world soil carbon. This soil has a
potential to release up to 1 giga tonne of carbon.
• Indonesia has 40% of tropical peatlands.
• In India, 320-1,000 square km area is occupied by the peatlands.
Peat : - Peatlands are formed due to accumulation of decomposed plant remains. These
plant remains stay in the land for years due to water-logging.

28. United Kingdom will become the first country to co-chair the Global Coalition for
Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
• CDRI was established by India in 2019 at UN Climate Action Summit 2019.

29. Heritage Foundation has released the 26th edition of the Economic Freedom Index 2020
to assess economic freedom given to these countries.
• Total – 186
• Parameters – 12 aspects of economic freedom measured in the Index are grouped
into four broad categories:
o Rule of law (property rights, judicial effectiveness, and government integrity);
o Government size (tax burden, government spending, and fiscal health);
o Regulatory efficiency (business freedom, labour freedom, and monetary
freedom); and
o Market openness (trade freedom, investment freedom, and financial freedom).
• Top Ranker – Singapore
• Bottom Ranker – North Korea
• India’s Rank – 120th (score 56.5)

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30. 46th G7 summit 2020, scheduled to be held in USA in June 2020, will be held through
video conferencing.

31. USA has tested its first hypersonic missile – common hypersonic glide body (C-HGB) –
which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads from its Pacific Missile Range Facility in
Kauai, Hawaii.

32. International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has launched the “Global Network
Resiliency Platform” to ensure that telecom services are provided to the consumers
effectively in the wake of COVID-19 crisis.
• Function: The platform will share methods to provide flexible telecom connectivity
to all.
About ITU:
HQ – Geneva, Switzerland

Secretary General – Houlin

Zhao

33. FIFA has launched the “Pass the message to kick out Coronavirus” campaign, along with
WHO, to raise awareness about Covid-19.
• A total of 28 celebrities worldwide have been chosen for the campaign. Sunil
Chhetri (Captain of Indian Football Team) is also a member of this campaign.

34. G20 countries have decided to inject $5 trillion in the global economy to fight Covid-19’s
impact during the G20 video summit (earlier the summit was scheduled to be held in
November. It was conducted now to discuss Covid-19 situation).
• G20 President for 2020 – Saudi Arabia
• Theme – Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for all

35. Pakistan’s 750-km missile - Babur II - has crashed to the ground.

65
36. US Space Force has launched sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite –
AEHF-6 – (developed by Lockheed Martin) to provide effective communication facilities
to its armed forces.
• Now, USA’s Space Force has begun its first National Security Mission for strategizing
warfare on ground, sea and air platforms.
• AEHF-6 was launched on United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

37. Global Energy Monitor, Sierra Club, Greenpeace International, and Centre for Research
on Energy and Clean Air have mentioned that the global coal power plant development
has declined by 13 GW of capacity construction in 2019 for the 4th consecutive year due
to Coronavirus.
• 16% drop in capacity under construction and development was seen in 2019.
• According to the annual survey, 15 major plants have been delayed so far due to
disruption in the supply chain and labour force availability.
• On the other hand, China’s coal plant capacity approved recently at 6.6 GW
(increased from 6.3 GW in 2019).

38. International Labour Organization released its preliminary assessment report titled
"COVID-19 and world of work: Impacts and responses" which mentions that 25 million
jobs are expected to be lost due to Covid-19 spread.
• ILO estimates the global unemployment to increase by 5.3-24.7 million from a base
level of 188 million in 2019.
• On the contrary, the 2008-09 global financial crisis increased global unemployment
by 22 million.
• Loss of jobs may increase income losses for workers to the tune of $860 billion and
$3.4 trillion by the end of 2020.
• Almost 8.8 and 35 million additional people will be in working poverty worldwide.

UPDATES ON 25 YEARS OF BEIJING DECLARATION AND PLATFORM FOR ACTION ON

GENDER EQUALITY

39. United Nations has adopted a political declaration to fully implement the Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action on gender equality.
• The declaration was adopted during the 64th session of the Commission on the
Status of Women held in New York, USA.
• Beijing Declaration was adopted in 1995 to promulgate equality among men and
women. 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of Beijing Declaration.

40. UNICEF, along with UN Women and Plan International, has released “A New Era for
Girls: Taking stock on 25 years of progress” report.
• According to the report, girls still face violence and discrimination even after 25
years of Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995).
Some Observations of the report: -

66
 In 2016, girls accounted for The literacy rate for female
Since 1995, the proportion of
about 23% of detected youth aged 15-24 years has
young women who were
trafficking victims globally, increased from 80 per cent to
married as children has
the majority of whom were 90 per cent since 1995, but
declined globally from 1 in 4
trafficked for sexual that means 1 in 10 are still
to approximately 1 in 5
exploitation. illiterate today

Adolescent girls and young

Number of girls out of school
has dropped by 79 million
between 1998 and 2018
worldwide
women aged 15–24 years
make up 56 per cent of the
global illiterate youth
population today compared
to 61 per cent in 1995.
Female Youth Labourforce
participation Rate – declined
from 47% in 1995 to 33% in
2020.

Anaemia - Slow Progress.

Overweight - number has
1 in 5 girls are moderately or nearly doubled since 1995
severely underweight in from 9% to 17%.
South Asian region.

41. United Nations Development Programme has released the first edition of Gender
Social Norms Index 2020 (GSNI) as part of the Human Development Reports.
• Total – 75 (covering 80% of the world population)
• The report finds out that more than 40% of the world population believe that men
have more rights to get a job when jobs are scarce.
• Moreover, 28% believe that it is justified for a man to beat his wife.
• The analysis also highlighted a bias shift in 30 countries.
• Only 24% of parliamentary seats are held by women and there are only 10 female
heads of government out of 193 Member States.

67
42. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has released an
analysis “The COVID-19 Shock to Developing Countries” which mentions that the world
will face recession in 2020-21.
• Leading exporting countries will witness a drop in investments of up to $2-3 trillion
in the next two years.
• However, the report states that India and China may stay out of the global recession.

43. Republic of North Macedonia has become the 30th member of North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO).
About NATO: About North Macedonia

•Headquarter – •Capital- Skopje

Brussels, Belgium
•Currency- Macedonian
•Members– 30 denar

•Secretary General– •President- Stevo

Jens Stoltenberg Pendarovski

44. NASA has announced to launch Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE)
mission to study about the Giant Solar Particle Storms in 2023.
• Six CubeSats will be deployed in Geosynchronous orbit of Earth as part of this
mission. Significantly, the mission will study sun’s spectrum.
• The mission is led by Justin Kasper (from University of Michigan, USA) and managed
by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

68
45. U.S. Air Force has cancelled Phase-I of Red Flag (USA’s flagship multilateral air exercise),
scheduled to be held in Alaska from April 30 due to Covid-19.
• Indian Air Force was to take part in the exercise with its Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

1. NABARD has given Rs 400.64 crore loan to Jammu and Kashmir for its infrastructure
development under the “Rural Infrastructure Development Fund – Trench XXV” in
FY20.

2. Microsoft and State Bank of India have partnered to train PwD people to find jobs in
the banking, financial services and insurance sector.
• 500 differently-abled young people will be provided skill-training in the first year.

3. Competition commission of India (CCI) has approved NTPC Ltd to acquire the issued and
paid-up share capital at –
• 100% in the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) and,
• 74.5% in Tehri Hydro development Corporation Ltd (THDC) and the remaining
25.5% stake will be held by Uttar Pradesh government.
NTPC’s CMD NEEPCO CMD THDC CMD
Gurdeep Singh Vinod Kumar Singh Dhirendra Veer Singh

4. Ministry of Corporate Affairs Secretary – Shri Injeti Srinivas – has inaugurated SPICe+
(Simplified Proforma for Incorporating Company Electronically Plus) web form to replace
SPICe form.
• Purpose: to offer 10 services of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Labour and
Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance and Maharashtra govt to new
companies.
• The portal will save time and cost for starting a business in India, companies from
following many procedures.

5. According to Ministry of Commerce’s data, bilateral trade between India and US was
$87.95 Billion in 2018-19 (highest among other countries).
• With China, it stood at $87.07 billion.
• During April-December 2019-20, bilateral trade between India and US was $68
billion. With China, it was $64.96 billion.

6. RBI has released a report titled “Assessment of the progress of digitisation from cash to
electronic” which observed that cash payments are still more prevalent than e-payment
methods. But Digital payments are also increasing.
• Parameters – Value of Currency in Circulation (CIC) versus GDP and the value of
ATM withdrawals were assessed in this report.

69
 • Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of CIC increased at 10.2% over the past 5
years between 2014-15 and 2018-19.
• Notes in circulation increased at an average rate of 14% between 2014 and 2016.
• Value of digital payments to GDP increased to 862% in 2018-19 from 660% in 2014-
15.
• CAGR of digital payments was 61% and 19% in terms of volume and value,
respectively over the past 5 years.

7. RBI has allowed Bandhan Bank to open new branches without prior permission by lifting
the ban put on it in 2018.
• However, RBI has directed the bank to open about 25% of the total banking outlets
in unbanked rural areas.
• Under the RBI’s Licensing Guideline, the bank was directed to reduce the stake of
Bandhan Financial Holdings Ltd (its promoter) from 82% to 40% by August 23, 2019
which it failed to meet.

8. Under the RBI’s Licensing Guideline, Kotak Mahindra Bank has been directed to cut the
stake of Uday Kotak (its promoter) to 15% over the next six months.
• RBI will limit his voting rights to 20% till 31 March, 2020 and further will reduce it to
15% overnight even if his actual shareholding is higher.

9. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has secured Rs 850 crore ($118 million) by issuing
offshore Indian rupee-linked 10-year bonds.
• The bonds have a semi-annual interest rate of 6.15% and priced to yield 6.19%.

10. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has formed a 9-
member committee, chaired by G. Srinivasan, to explore the possibilities of allowing
insurance companies to sell indemnity-based health policies.
• In 2016, IRDAI has banned the insurers from selling indemnity-based health policies.
• G. Srinivasan is the Director of National Insurance Academy.
• The committee is co-chaired by M R Kumar (Chairman of LIC of India).
Indemnity-based health policies – It is a health insurance plan that reimburses the
actual cost of medical expenses incurred during hospitalisation up to the total sum
insured agreed under the policy.

70
11. Ordnance Factory Boards (41 units) have become the first govt entity to adopt Trade
Receivables electronic Discount System- TreDS (centralized invoicing platform).
• Implication – It would allow MSME vendors to avail financing facilities through
TreDS by keeping the receivable invoices as collateral securities under the sovereign
guarantee.
• According to the current law, government departments such as the Defence Ministry
are mandated to transact only through a treasury account with the State Bank of
India.

12. RBI has released its working paper “Nowcasting Indian GDP growth using a Dynamic
Factor Model” authored by Soumya Bhadury, Saurabh Ghosh and Pankaj Kumar.
• In this working paper, 12 new parameters to be assessed for calculating India’s GDP.
• Reason for new indicators – slow economic growth (5% GDP growth rate in FY20).
12 Indicators: -
1) Auto Total
2) Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER)
3) IIP Core
4) Rail Freight
5) Sensex
6) Exports
7) Air Cargo
8) Non-oil non-gold imports
9) Bank Credit
10) Govt Receipts
11) Foreign Tourist

13. Bharti AXA General Insurance has become India’s 1st non-life insurance company to use
WhatsApp for delivering policy and renewal of documents.

71
14. Central govt has decided to include non-scheduled urban and district central
cooperative banks in the credit guarantee fund trust for micro and small enterprises,
credit linked capital subsidy scheme and interest subvention.
• The schemes aim to facilitate access to finance for the MSME sector. With this move,
the outreach of financial sector will be increased.

15. RBI has decided that all new floating rate loans to the Medium Enterprises extended by
banks from April 1, 2020 shall be linked to the external benchmarks.
• Fixed Rate Loan means a loan on which interest rate does not remain fixed during
the tenor of the loan.
• Floating rate loan means a loan on which interest rate does not remain fixed during
the tenor of the loan.

16. Minister of Finance has released the EASE Roadmap for Banking of the Future – EASE
3.0 Reforms Agenda to transform Public Sector Banks into Tech-Enabled Banking PSBs.
• EASE 3.0 seeks to enhance ease of banking in all customer experiences by using
technology. Reforms under the EASE 3.0 during 2020-21: -

On-the-spot Partnerships
palm banking,
EASE Banking cash-flow- with FinTechs
digitalised
Credit@click Outlets at based lending and E-
Dial-a-loan for branch
for end-to-end well- and tech- commerce
doorstep loan experience,
digitalised frequented enabled companies for
facilitation analytics-
lending places like agriculture customer-
based instant
malls and lending need driven
credit offers
stations credit offers

• State Bank of India has disclosed its Shishu e-Mudra app-based lending for instant
sanction of working capital loan up to Rs. 50,000 to existing small business
customers of the bank.
• SBI has also announced its plan to increase the amount of loan to Rs. 1 lakh through
the app.
• Ministry of Finance observed that the financial health of PSBs has improved in many
parameters such as: -
A. Gross NPAs reduced from Rs 8.96 B. Bank fraud occurrence declined from
lakh crore (14.6%) in March-2018 to 0.65% of advances during FY10-FY14

72
 Rs 7.17 lakh crore (11.3%) in
December-2019
C. Record recovery of Rs 2.04 lakh crore
in FY19-FY20 (9 months of FY20)
driven by newly setup dedicated
stressed account management
verticals in PSBs that have recovered
Rs 1.21 lakh crore in the same period
E. 12 PSBs reporting profits in (9 months
of FY20)
to 0.20% in FY18-FY20; due to fraud
prevention reforms and proactive
checking of legacy NPA
D. Number of PSBs under PCA reduced
down to four.
F. capital to risk weighted assets ratio
(CRAR) is 340 bps above the
regulatory minimum;

G. The highest provision coverage ratio -

of 77.5% in nearly eight years.

17. Capri Global Capital Ltd (CGCL- an NBFC of MSME and housing finance) has launched
“UDAAN”- to facilitate loans to women borrowers.
• Age Eligibility: for availing the loan – 18-45 years and must not be more than 60
years at the end of their loan repayment period.
• Loan Limit: Rs 40 lakh for business purpose only for 10-15 years.
• Capri Global Capital Ltd MD – Rajesh Sharma

18. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has amended the
Consolidated Foreign Direct Investment Policy 2017 (FDI Policy) to allow 100% FDI in
insurance intermediaries through the automatic route.
• Earlier, the FDI limit was 49%.

73
 Govt
rules In case of an insurance
intermediary, if majority is
held by foreign investors, then
the company has to be
incorporated as a limited
company under the provisions
of the Companies Act, 2013.

Also, one among the chairman,

chief executive officer,
principal officer, or managing
director should be an Indian
resident.

19. HDFC Bank has partnered with IndiGo airlines to launch its first travel credit card – ‘Ka-
Ching’. The card is powered by Mastercard.
• This co-branded card will be launched in 2 variants.

20. ONGC and its subsidiary Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) have acquired
17.28% stake each in Petronet MHB for Rs 371 crore.
• After acquisition, the total shareholding of HPCL and ONGC in Petronet will be about
49.9% each.

21. According to the government data, 76% (29.14 crore) of Jan Dhan account holders have
been issued a RuPay debit cards (which is an all-time-high).
• Public sector banks are the top issuers of RuPay debit cards at 24.42 crore, followed
by regional rural banks at 3.57 crore cards, and Private banks at 1.15 crore cards.
• Total 38.13 crore people are enrolled in this scheme with total deposits of over
₹1.16 lakh crore.
• RuPay debit card provides an added personal accident and permanent total disability
insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.

22. Government and RBI have prepared a backup rescue plan for YES Bank in case the bank
fails to raise $2 billion capital by March 14.
• The rescue plan includes temporarily selling of a small stake in YES Bank to a public
sector bank or selling pooled assets of YES to public sector banks.

23. Ministry of Finance has informed Lok Sabha that public sector bank (PSB) frauds have
declined sharply from Rs 50,329 crore in 2013-14 to just Rs 3,781 crore in the first three
quarters of 2019-20.

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 • According to RBI’s data, Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPA) of nationalised banks
has increased from over ₹1.9 lakh crore in 2015 to Rs 6.1 crore in 2018.
• ATM Fraud cases during Oct-Dec 2019 : - over 21,000 involving ₹128 crore.
• Measures taken by govt and RBI to curb frauds are: -

Govt RBI
Fugitive Economic Offenders Central Fraud Registry - set
Act, 2018 up in 2016 by RBI

National Financial Reporting

Authority – set up in 2018
under section 132 of the Central Fraud Registry was
Companies Act, 2013. set up to allow banks to
track and identify fraud
To ensure banks' compliance borrowers
with accounting and auditing
standards.

24. According to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas’ estimates, India’s demand for
the refined fuel will increase to 3.8% (at 222.79 million tonnes) in 2020-21 (FY21).
• In 2019-20, the oil demand is projected to be at 1.3% (lowest in 6 years).
• Diesel demand is estimated to rise 2.8% in FY21 compared with the 0.9% growth in
2019-20.
• India is the world’s 3rd largest oil importing country following by China and USA at
1st and 2nd places respectively.

25. Zomato has launched a co-branded credit card along with RBL Bank, and Mastercard to
strengthen its position in India.
• RBL and Zomato aim to issue 1 million credit cards to Zomato’s users in India in the
first 2 years.
• CEO of Zomato – Deepinder Goyal
• MD & CEO of RBL Bank – Vishwavir Ahuja

26. NABARD, IIT-Mandi and Enabling Women of Kamand (EWOK) Society have signed a
tripartite agreement to establish 3 Farmer Produce Organizations (FPO) in Mandi
district of Himachal Pradesh in 3 years.
• NABARD has given Rs 35 lakh to IIT-Mandi for the same.
• EWOK is an initiative of IIT-Mandi to train women entrepreneurs in setting up their
own enterprise in small enterprises in 5 panchayats of Mandi.
• Central govt will establish 10,000 FPOs by 2024.

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27. Minister of State for Labour & Employment - Santosh Kumar Gangwar - has launched
‘Humsafar’ mobile app to deliver diesel at the doorstep of bulk users such as hospitals,
malls, construction sites in National Capital Region.

28. NABARD has infused Rs 1.46 lakh crore in the rural banking system during FY20.
• NABARD provides short-term refinance, which is essentially production credit, to
banks to allow farmers meet their operational costs.
• Long-term refinance is provided to support sectors like dairy, poultry, fishery, farm
mechanisation, irrigation, and non-farm sectors, among others.

29. Union Cabinet has approved 72 amendments to Companies Act, 2013 through the
Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to promote FDI and ease of doing business in India.
• Changes: - 23 offences would be recategorized out of 66 compoundable offences.
Apart from these, 7 compoundable offences would be omitted.
• Companies which have a CSR obligation of less than Rs 50 lakh are not required to
constitute a CSR committee.

30. National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the merger of Vodafone India
Digital and Idea Telesystems with the parent company Vodafone Idea.

31. Citi Securities Services has become the first designated depository participant in India
to register a foreign portfolio investor (FPI) through the common application form
(CAF).
• In February 2020, SEBI has launched the CAF to enable FPIs to register with SEBI, to
obtain a permanent account number as well as open a bank account and
dematerialized securities account in India.
• National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) facilitated the FPI registration.

32. Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, has informed Lok Sabha that FDI in
defence industry was $8.82 million between April 2000 and December 2019.
• FDI in retail trading was $2 billion during 2000-19.
• Mauritius, Singapore, Japan, the Netherlands and USA were among the top FDI
contributors to India.

33. The parliamentary standing committee on finance, chaired by BJP member Jayant
Sinha, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 has hoped that
the amendments would increase the recovery rate under IBC.
• Currently, the rate of recovery under IBC is 43% (Rs 3.57 lakh crore out of Rs 8.4 lakh
crore).
• The new amendments aims to protect the new bidders from repercussions of
previous board’s misdeeds.
• Rajya Sabha has cleared the 2nd amendment bill.

76
34. Limited Liability Partnerships - LLP settlement Scheme, 2020 will release a one-time
settlement scheme to be in force from 16 March to 13 June.
• Purpose: - to provide a one-time relaxation in additional fee to LLPs who have
delayed in filing their statutorily required documents' with the Registrar of
Companies.
• LLPs are governed under the LLP Act, 2008 which is implemented by the Ministry of
Corporate Affairs.
• Also, the additional fee on these forms is.
• LLPs whose filings are due till 31 October, 2019 would also be permitted to submit
their documents at a reduced fee to Rs. 10 from Rs. 100 per day of delay with upper
cap of Rs. 5,000 per form.
• The scheme would be applicable for submission for four types of forms – 3, 4, 8 and
11 – disclosing the details of LLPs.

35. ICICI Prudential AMC has partnered with Saraswat Co-operative Bank (largest urban co-
operative bank in India) to distribute ICICI’s products to the banks’ customers across 6
states.
• ICICI Prudential AMC MD & CEO – Nimesh Shah
• Saraswat Co-operative Bank Chairman – Gautam Thakur

36. Pratt and Whitney (P&W), aircraft engine maker, has partnered with Air India
Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL) to provide maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO)
services to domestic carriers such as IndiGo and GoAir.
• Particularly, A320neo planes will be provided MRO services among other aircrafts.

37. Union Cabinet has approved the merger of 10 public sector banks into 4. The banks
have announced their share-swap ratios.
§ 1,150 equity shares of PNB are to be exchanged for every 1,000 equity shares
of Oriental Bank of Commerce.
o 121 equity shares of PNB are to be swapped for every 1,000 equity shares
of United Bank of India
§ 325 equity shares in Union Bank for every 1,000 equity shares in Andhra Bank.
o 330 shares in Union Bank for every 1,000 equity shares in Corporation
Bank.
§ 158 equity shares of Canara Bank for every 1,000 equity shares of Syndicate
Bank
§ For every 1,000 equity shares of Allahabad Bank, investors will get 115 equity
shares of Indian Bank.

38. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India has entered into a partnership with Tata Power Co. Ltd for
end-to-end e-vehicle charging solutions.
• Tata Power will provide charging solutions for JLR in India.

77
39. Government proposed to give a grant over Rs 1.1 lakh crore to state power distribution
companies under a new bailout scheme – Atal Distribution System Improvement
Yojana, or Aditya.
• The new scheme would mandate discoms with high losses to either privatise
operations or appoint distribution franchisees and invest in infrastructure
upgradation.
• Previous scheme Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) is expiring in March 2020.
• The new scheme aims to reduce electricity losses of discoms to less than 12%.
• In the Phase 1 of Aditya, central govt would spend 15% of the total outlay of Rs 2.3
lakh crore, and states would spend 10% for infrastructure upgradation (including
smart metering).

40. Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has reduced the interest rate on EPF
deposits to 8.5% for 2019-20 (which is a 7 years low) from 8.65%.
• EPFO has decided to restore pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS).
• It will be applicable for those who opted for commutation of their pension on or
before September 25, 2008 under the previous paragraph 12A of this scheme.
• EPFO has also approved to empanel Jammu and Kashmir Bank as one of the
collectors of EPF dues in the UT.
§ Commutation of Pension means payment of lumpsum amount in lieu of a portion
of pension surrendered voluntarily by the pensioner based on a duration of period
in relation to the age.

41. DAY-NULM mission has signed an MoU with Flipkart for selling the products of women
Self Help Groups on this e-commerce platform.
• DAY-NULM has also signed an MoU with Amazon for the same purpose as part of
2nd edition of Shehri Samridhi Utsav to be organized between 28 March to 12 April
2020.
• Shehri Samridhi Utsav (launched in 2019) is an initiative of Ministry of Housing and
Urban affairs to increase the outreach of DAY-NULM.
Amazon’s Saheli store – It is a platform dedicated to sell products of women entrepreneurs.

42. Tata AIA Life Insurance, in association with Oscar Foundation, has launched the
‘Bachhpan Ka Rakshakaran’ program.

78
 • Purpose: - to arouse interest in education by using football as a medium for the
under-privileged girls (aged 12-16).
• Tata AIA Life Insurance MD & CEO - Rishi Srivastava

43. “Wealth Report 2020” report has been released by Knight Frank LLP which mentions
that India had 5,986 Ultra high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs) in 2019.
• In India, the number of UHNWIs is expected to increase by 73% in the coming 5
years to double the current number of individuals to 10,354 by 2024.
• India ranks 12th. The number of billionaires in India, is likely to reach 113 by 2024, up
from 104 in 2019.
• USA topped the list with 240,575 UHNWIs followed by China and Germany at 2nd
and 3rd positions.
• Asia is the fastest growing region with 44% growth rate for 2019-24.

79
44. Ministry of Commerce and Industry has given approval to Tata Consultancy Services to
open an IT-enabled special economic zone in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
• Delhi Land and Finance (DLF) Ltd has also got approval to set up two IT-enabled
special economic zone in Haryana.

Committee on Special
Economic Zones
• Government had constituted a
Group of eminent persons under
the Chairmanship of Baba Kalyani,
to study the Special Economic Zone
(SEZ) Policy of India in 2018.

45. FICCI and Indian Bank Association have released the 10th edition of the FICCI-IBA survey
during July to December 2019 which analysed 18 banks.
• The survey, which is conducted twice every year, mentioned that only 39% of
responding banks have reported a decline in the level of NPAs against 52% last year.
• 28% of banks reported a rise in the NPA levels against 26% in the last survey.
• Share of corporate loans of banks has increased to 58%.
• Banks have shifted to External Benchmark Lending Rate to Marginal Cost of funds
based Lending Rate.
• Weighted Average Lending Rates (WALRs) of domestic banks on fresh rupee loans
have declined by 18 bps for housing loans, 87 bps for vehicle loans and 23 bps for
loans to MSMEs.

46. Mahindra & Mahindra has signed a share purchase agreement to increase its
shareholding in MITRA Agro Equipments Pvt. Ltd (an associate of M&M) to 39%.

47. PepsiCo Inc. will buy Rockstar Inc. (energy-drink maker) for $3.85 billion.
• PepsiCo’s CEO – Ramon Laguarta

48. Walt Disney Co. is going to complete its acquisition of Fox Star Studios.
• Disney-Fox entity will be headed by Bikram Duggal.
• Disney’s CEO Bob Iger will resign but will remain as the Chairman of Disney through
2021.
• Bob Chapek has been appointed as the CEO of Disney.

49. Malaysia have recorded a high sugar purchase from India during the first 3 months of
2020.

50. State Bank of India (SBI) has removed its requirement of keeping minimum balance in
the saving bank account (SB).
• It reduced interest on all SB accounts to 3%.

80
 • SBI also reduced its marginal cost-based lending rate (MCLR) by 10-15 basis points
(bps) across all tenors.

51. Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company has launched the
iSelect Term Plan.
• It is a pure protection plan to provide life insurance and terminal illness cover along
with accidental death/ disability cover.
About Canara
HSBC Oriental
Bank of
Commerce Life
Insurance
Company
Launched - 2008

By - Canara Bank
and Oriental Bank
of Commerce and
HSBC Insurance
(Asia Pacific)
Holdings Limited

MD & CEO – Anuj

Mathur

52. Government of India, Himachal Pradesh and World Bank have signed an agreement to
provide a loan of $80 million to improve water management practices and increase
agricultural productivity in selected gram panchayats in Himachal Pradesh.
• As part of this loan, Integrated Project for Source Sustainability and Climate
Resilient Rain-Fed Agriculture will be implemented in 428 gram panchayats in 10
districts for the benefits of over 4 lakh smallholder farmers, women and pastoral
communities.
• $80-million loan has a final maturity of 14.5 years including a grace period of five
years.

53. Competition Commission of India has approved following acquisitions: -

• 35% stake in Teesta Urja Ltd by Greenko Mauritius (a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Mauritius-based Greenko Energy Holdings).
o Teesta is a special purpose vehicle which was formed to implement the 1,200
MW hydro power project in North Sikkim.
• Setting up of Mindspace REIT (real estate investment trust) by K Raheja Corp Group.
• Acquisition of additional equity shares in Hero FinCorp Ltd (NBFC) by Otter Limited
(Mauritius based investment company) and Link Investment Trust (India-based
investment trust).

81
 o A share subscription agreement between these 3 companies was signed in
January, 2020.

54. Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIS) has signed an MoU with Gambia to
allow it to participate in the eVBAB Network Project.
• Gambia has become the 16th country to participate in the e-Network Project.
• Capital of Gambia - Banjul; Currency - Gambian dalasi; President - Adama Barrow.

In 2018, Ministry of External

Affairs and TCIL signed an
agreement for Phase 2 of
eVBAB Network project to
provide technological
assistance in health and
education to African countries.
[Phase 1 was signed in 2009]
e-AarogyaBharati - to provide
e-VidyaBharati - to provide
tele-medicine by linking
tele-education or virtual
hospitals in India with those
education to the participating
from the participating African
African countries.
countries.

e-VBAB Network
Project will be
completely funded by
the Government of
India for its entire
duration and will be
open for participation
to all partner countries
in Africa.

55. Google India, in association with Avtar and Indian School of Business, has launched
DigiPivot - an initiative to train women professionals in digital marketing.

56. According to the govt’s data, India’s thermal coal imports rose by 12.6% to 197.84
million tonnes in 2019, reflecting the second straight year of growth in fuel import.
• However, imports of coking coal (used in steel manufacturing) has reduced to 51.33
MT in 2019 from 51.63 MT in 2018.
• Indonesia was the major supplier of thermal coal (used for power generation) to
India at 60% during April-December 2019 period.
India is among the world’s largest importer, consumer and producer of coal.

57. ESP Properties- the entertainment and sports division of GroupM India- has released its
7th annual report ‘Sporting Nation in the Making’.
• As per the report, overall sports sponsorship in India grew 17% in 2019 to cross Rs
9,000 crore mark.

82
 • For the first time, on-ground sponsorship crossed Rs 2,000 crore mark (25% growth),
while media spends rose by 18% at Rs 5,232 crore.
• Ad endorsement industry rose 11% to Rs 537 crore where almost 85% of total brand
endorsements have come from cricketers, with Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni having 63%
of the total brand endorsements.

58. Airtel has bought nearly 10% stake in digital content firm – Spectacom Global (whose
founders are Adbab Adeeb and Zeba Zaidi).
• Fitch Ratings has also forecasted a ‘stable’ outlook for Airtel for FY21.
• Airtel is expected to add 30 million more subscribers in FY21, according to Fitch.

59. YES Bank will be replaced by Bandhan Bank on Bank Nifty index because of non-
availability of futures and contract options of YES.
• On Nifty 50 Value 20 index, ITC will replace YES Bank.

60. RBI has framed regulatory rules for implementation of Indian Accounting Standards (Ind
AS) on NBFCs and Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) for preparation of their
financial statements from FY 2019-20 onwards.
• All NBFCs covered under the Rule 4 of the Companies (Indian Accounting
Standards) Rules, 2015 are required to comply with Ind AS.
• For matters that are not covered in the regulatory guidelines, NBFC/ARC will have to
follow Institute of Chartered Accountants of India’s (ICAI) rules.

61. Government has hiked the Dearness Allowance by 4% from 17% to 21% for govt
employees on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission.

62. Union Cabinet has approved the introduction of the Remission of Duties and Taxes on
Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme to provide reimbursement of taxes/ duties/ levies
on exported products at the central, state, and local levels digitally.
• Currently, the reimbursement of taxes/ duties/ levies are not refunded.
• However, the taxes paid in the process of manufacture and distribution of exported
products are reimbursed.
• The scheme will replace the MEIS (Merchandise Export from India) Scheme.

83
63. Union Cabinet has approved the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for copra (dried
coconut kernels from which oil is obtained) for 2020 on Commission for Agricultural
Costs and Prices’ (CACP) recommendations.
• MSP for Milling copra – Rs 9,960 per quintal for 2020 (increased by Rs 439 from
2019)
• MSP for Ball copra – Rs 10,300/- per quintal for 2020 (increased by Rs 439 from
2019)
• National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED)
and National Cooperative Consumer Federation of India Limited (NCCF) will be the
nodal agencies for operationalizing MSP in coconut growing states.
India is the largest producer of Copra in the World.

64. HIL (India) Limited (under the Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals) has launched
the Customer Payment Portal, in association with Union Bank of India, to collect
payments from the customers through online modes.
• HIL’s CMD – S.P. Mohanty

65. YES Bank’s rescue plan has been approved under YES Bank Reconstruction Scheme
2020 under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
• In order to allow SBI to take 49% stake in YES, RBI has relaxed its own rules which
prohibit banks from holding more than 10% in another bank.
• This is the first-of-its-kind instance where both govt and RBI have strongly
capitalized public and private sector lenders to bail out a stressed private bank.

SBI has so far invested

₹6,050 crore. However, its Axis Bank will invest ₹600 Bandhan Bank and Federal
ICICI Bank and HDFC will
board had approved to crore while Kotak Mahindra Bank will invest ₹300 crore
invest ₹1,000 crore each
invest Rs 7,250 crores to buy Bank will put in ₹500 crore each
49% stake in Yes Bank.

According to a report by
IDFC First Bank will put in In total, the bailout plan is
CNBC-TV18, LIC would buy
₹250 crore 25 crore equity expected to be worth Rs
around 1.35 billion shares at
shares. 10,000 crores.
a price of Rs 10 apiece.

• RBI has approved to increase the authorized capital of Yes Bank to Rs 5,000 crore
(from Rs 600 crore currently) and the paid-up capital will be increased to Rs 4,800
crore.
• RBI has superseded YES Bank’s board and appointed Prashant Kumar as the new MD
& CEO (also administrator) and Sunil Mehta as Non-Executive Chairman along with
other 6 members of the board.
• YES bank's Additional Tier 1 (AT1) capital under the Basel III framework will stand
written down permanently. The bank has Rs 8,800 crore.

84
66. RBI has revised the exposure limits of urban cooperative banks (UCB) for single and
group borrowers at 15% and 25% respectively.
• Earlier, the limit was 15% (for single) and 40% (for group borrowers) of their tier-1
capital.
Loan Limit UCBs shall have at least 50% of their aggregate loans and advances
comprising loans of not more than ₹25 lakh or 0.2% of their tier I
capital, whichever is higher, subject to a maximum of Rs.1 crore, per
borrower/party.
Priority sector Overall priority sector lending target for UCBs will be 75% of their
lending target adjusted net bank credit or credit equivalent amount of off-balance
sheet exposure, whichever is higher. Earlier, the target was 40%.

67. Various banks are fast adopting the Account Aggregator (AA) framework, according to
Sahamati (a NGO collective of account aggregators headed by BG Mahesh).
• AA Framework – Account aggregators are responsible for transferring, but not
storing, client data.
• As per RBI’s vision, AA would be a platform for financial services companies to reach
out to the consumer to seek consent before using their personal data to optimise
their product offerings.

68. GST on smartphones has been increased from 12% to 18%.

• Purpose: - to correct the inverted duty structure in the smartphone industry.
• According to Pankaj Mohindroo (Chairman of Indian Cellular and Electronics
Association), India’s domestic consumption target of $80 billion (₹6 trillion) by 2025
will not be achieved due to the GST hike.
Inverted duty structure is a situation where import duty on finished goods is low
compared to the import duty on raw materials that are used in the production of such
finished goods.

69. According to Ministry of Commerce data, India’s gold imports has fallen by 8.86% to
$27 billion during April-February of FY20.
• India's trade deficit has been reduced to $143.12 billion due to decline in gold
imports during April-February of FY20.

85
 • Exports of gems and jewellery has declined 8.25% to $33.78 billion in April-February
of FY20.
Fun Facts about India-Gold relation:
Þ India is the largest importer of gold, which mainly caters to the demand of the
jewellery industry.
Þ In volume terms, the country imports 800-900 tonnes of gold annually.
Þ Import duty on gold has increased to 12.5%.

70. Lok Sabha has passed the Appropriation Bill 2020-21 to allow central government to
withdraw over ₹110 lakh crore from the Consolidated Fund of India for its operations
during 2020-21.

71. Microsoft India and NASSCOM have launched “Innovate for an accessible India
campaign” to empower people with disabilities.
• Partners in this campaign: - Department of Empowerment of Persons with
Disabilities (Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment), Department of Science &
Technology (Ministry of Science and Technology), and National Research and
Education Network.

72. In 2019, Competition Law Review Committee (Chaired by Mr. Injeti Srinivas) has
submitted its report to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs recommending amendments to
the Competition Act, 2002.
• Among other things, the committee recommended to establish a governing body,
which will have a Chairperson, six whole time members, and six part-time members,
to strengthen the accountability of the CCI.
• In order to speed up the process of approval for merger and acquisition of
companies, the committee suggested to create a ‘green channel’ under CCI.

73. L&T Technology Services and IIT-Kanpur have signed an MoU for research in
Cybersecurity Programs.
• C3i (Cyber Security and Cyber Defense of Critical Infrastructures): It is a govt-
funded cybersecurity research centre to protect critical infrastructure through
technology.

74. RBI has issued new guidelines for the payment aggregators (bank and non-bank) under
Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 w.e.f., April 1, 2020.
• RBI has reduced the minimum capital requirements (MCR) for PAs to Rs 15 crore
from Rs 100 crore for applying for license. However, the net worth shall be
increased to Rs 25 crore within 3 years of operations.
• This is for those PA which register on April 1, 2020.

75. Central government has sanctioned a loan of Rs 16,712 crore under the Stand-Up India
scheme since 2016 (its inception).

86
 • More than 81% account holders under this scheme are women.

76. Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of

Electronics and IT, and the Ministry of Consumer Affairs will prepare New Industrial
Policy and National E-Commerce Policy.
• New Industrial Policy: last developed in 1991.
• National E-Commerce Policy: it will focus on six broad areas – infrastructure, data,
e-commerce market places, export promotion, regulatory issues and promoting
domestic digital economy.

77. DBS Bank India Ltd (a wholly-owned subsidiary of DBS Bank of Singapore) has partnered
with Bharti AXA General Insurance Company to launch an insurance cover for
customers of DBS Bank covering Covid-19 and other medical illnesses.
• DBS bank has also launched ‘Emergency Global Medical Assist Program’ that
provides 24x7 access to medical support.

78. Paytm Payments Bank has announced to issue Visa virtual debit cards to its customers.
• It aims to issue over 10 million new digital debit cards in 2020-21.

79. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched the Swavalamban
Express to promote entrepreneurship in India.
• The train will travel in 11 entrepreneurial cities to train the entrepreneur skills to
youth to fulfil India’s goal of $5 trillion economy by 2024-25.

80. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has updated Rajya Sabha on
National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015.
• The policy was launched to provide skill training to Indian population at a large scale
with speed and standard (quality).

81. 15th Finance Commission has formed a committee, under the Chairmanship of N K Singh
(who is also the Chair of 15th Finance Commission), to build a new roadmap for fiscal
consolidation for centre and states govt.
• Fiscal Consolidation refers to the policy adopted by the government to reduce the
deficits.

82. RBI has opened an emergency line of credit of around ₹60,000 crore to Yes Bank for
paying back its depositors.

83. IRDAI has formed a 16-member committee, headed by Pravin Kutumbe, to improve
corporate governance systems of insurers, primarily on making key functions such as
risk management and internal audits independent of each other.
• IRDAI Chairman – Subhash C. Khuntia

87
84. Finance Bill, 2020 has been passed by the Parliament without any discussion. More than
40 amendments were introduced in the Finance Bill.
• Rajya Sabha has passed a total of 12 bills.
Provisions of the bill: -

Finance Bill also widens the ambit of the
“equalisation levy” introduced in 2016 on
payments made to non-resident service
providers for online advertisements or
digital advertising space or facilities.
Finance Bill, 2020 proposes to expand the scope of
the “equalisation levy” to include consideration
received by e-commerce operators from e-
commerce supply or services, and taxed at a rate
of 2%. This levy has an effective date of 1 April
2020.

Earlier Proposed limit - 120 days for an NRI to

NRIs who have more than ₹15 lakh income
from Indian sources will be deemed as
Indian residents for the purpose of taxation
if they had spent 120 days in India in the
previous year.
qualify as the "Indian Tax Resident" instead of
182 days.
Amendment - 120 days limit will not be
applicable on NRIs whose income from India is
less than Rs 15 lakh.

Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) is abolished DDT – It is the tax imposed by the govt
and instead made it taxable in the hands of on the dividend paid by companies to
investors at their marginal rate of taxation. their investors.

The bill empowers govt to raise the special

excise duty on petrol and diesel to a max. of Currently, the duty on petrol and diesel
₹18 per litre and ₹12, respectively. The max. was raised by ₹3 per litre.
increment limit would be Rs 8 each.

85. Karur Vysya Bank has launched India’s first-ever prepaid wallet card – ‘Enkasu’ (My
cash in Tamil) – in Tamil Nadu to promote digital India initiative of central govt.
• The bank undertook a Quit Cash Movement to reduce the usage of cash in the
district of Karur.

86. RBI has extended the regulatory restrictions on Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative
(PMC) bank by 3-month to June 2020 (earlier to be expired in March) under Section 35A
of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to work out a revival scheme.
• RBI also superseded the board PMC bank and appointed J B Bhoria as the
administrator of the bank.

87. International Monetary Fund (IMF) has turned its overall outlook for global growth to
‘negative’ for FY20 due to Coronavirus but IMF expects the growth to recover in 2021.
• As per IMF, the recession caused by Coronavirus could be worse than the 2009.
• According to IMF, investors have already withdrawn their investments worth $83
billion from emerging markets.
• IMF will deploy $1 trillion in relief measures of Covid-19.

88. Hindustan Unilever Ltd has signed an agreement with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd to
acquire its VWash (female intimate hygiene brand).
• The deal includes acquisition of intellectual property rights of VWash brand.

88
89. Invest India, in partnership with SIDBI and TiE-Delhi, has launched “The Invest India
Business Immunity Platform” on its own website to provide real time updates about
India’s measures against Covid-19.

Launched – 2009

Also Known as National Investment

Promotion and Facilitation Agency of
India

Invest India
It is a non-profit venture under the
Department for Promotion of Industry
and Internal Trade, Ministry of
Commerce and Industry

Purpose: To boost investment in India

by acting as first point of reference for
investors in India.

90. RBI has announced to implement priority sector lending (PSL) classification for bank
loans given to NBFCs for on-lending for 2020-21.
• Existing loans disbursed by NBFC under the on-lending model will continue to be
classified under priority sector till the date of repayment or maturity.
• Further, on-lending by banks to NBFCs and HFCs (other than Micro finance
Institution) will be allowed up to an overall limit of 5% of individual bank’s total
priority sector lending.

In 2019, RBI had

decided that the
banks' loan to
registered NBFCs
for on-lending will
be considered as
priority sector
lending.

91. SEBI has eased some compliance norms for brokers and mutual funds such as:

89
 • Penal provision for non-collection or short collection of margins by brokers, which
was to be implemented from April 1, will be deferred till April 30.
• Brokers would be placed in risk-reduction mode only after 90%, instead of the
current 85%, of their capital is used for margin requirements.

92. Government has asked banks to provide an additional 10% in funds over and above
sanctioned working capital loans, but not exceeding ₹200 crore ($26.33 million) per
loan account of corporates.
• Purpose: - To provide relief to corporates from coronavirus’s impact.
• State Bank of India has already rolled out this emergency credit line.

93. Fitch Ratings has turned its outlook of Tata Chemical Ltd’s long-term foreign-currency
issuer default rating (IDR) to stable at “BB+”.

94. Government has allowed the companies to use their CSR funds to fight Coronavirus
(notified disaster under Disaster Management Act, 2005).
Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) under
Companies Act, 2013
•The Companies Act
requires firms with a net
worth of at least ₹500
crore or revenue of ₹1,000
crore or net profit of ₹5
crore to spend at least 2%
of their net profit on CSR.

95. Jana Small Finance Bank has partnered with the National Payment Corporation of India
(NPCI) to launch the UPI QR-based loan instalment payment facility for its customers.
• UPI QR mode of payment is available for P2P (person to person) and P2M (person to
merchant) payments.

Jana Small
Finance Bank:-
HQ- Bengaluru
MD & CEO– Ajay
Kanwal

90
96. Union Cabinet has approved the recapitalization of Rs 1340 crore of regional rural
banks (RRB) which are unable to maintain their capital to risk weighted assets ratio at
the standard level of 9%.
• Rs 670 crore will be the share of central govt for the scheme.
• The govt has provided the minimum regulatory capital for 2020-21 also.
• Implication: - recapitalization will help RRBs to grant loans efficiently in rural areas.
RRBs are mandated to provide 75% of their total loan capacity towards Priority
Sector Lending (which includes loans for agriculture, MSME, micro entrepreneurs
etc.)
Important Facts
about RRBs

In 2011, govt launched the RBI fixes the CRAR for RRBs as
Scheme of Recapitalization of It was done on the recommendation
well.
RRBs of Dr K C Chakrabarty Committee.

The committee was set up in

2008 to recommend norms for
CRAR disclosers by RRBs.

97. Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has set up CII COVID - 19 rehabilitation funds to
help in the rehabilitation of MSMEs to fend off Coronavirus’ impact.
• Central govt has announced that it will suspend Section 7, 9 and 10 of the Insolvency
and Bankruptcy Code, for 6 months if the situation continues till April 30.
• Govt has also allowed MSMEs to repay their loans late.
Section 7 - allows Sectio 9 - Section 10 -
IBC

IBC

IBC

the creditors to Corporate empowers the

initiate insolvency Insolvencies are defaulting
proceedings initiated under company to
against defaulting this section approach an
companies adjudicating
authority to
declare itself
insolvent

98. ICRA has forecasted that Yes Bank would need an additional Rs 9,000-Rs 13,000 crore in
the next 1-2 years.
• After recent fund infusion and writing off of AT-I bonds, Yes Bank’s capital ratios are
expected to improve, with common equity tier-1 (CET-1) and tier-1 at 7.6% and
7.8%, respectively.

91
 • Capital-to-risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of Yes Bank will be more than 9%.

99. RBI has announced its 7th Monetary Policy (of 2019-20) to provide relief from Covid-
19’s impact.
• RBI aims to inject Rs 3.74 lakh crores in Indian economy.
• Repo rate cut by 75 basis points (bps) to 4.4%.
• Reverse repo rate was cut by 90 bps to 4%.
• 3-months moratorium announced on all term loans by banks and other institutions.
• Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was cut by 100 bps to 3% of Net Time and Demand
Liabilities (NTDL) for a period of 1 year.
• Both Marginal Standing Facility Rate and Bank Rate are reduced by 75 bps to 4.65%.
• Net Stable Funding (NSF) Ratio will be implemented in October 2020 instead of April
2020 by RBI.
!"#$%& #( )&*+,- ($%./%0 *1*/,*+,-
𝑁𝑆𝐹 𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 = > 100
!"#$%& #( )&*+,- ($%./%0 2-3$/2-.
Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) reduces funding risk of banks to fund their activities with
sufficiently stable sources of funding during a year to mitigate the risk of future funding
stress.

Note: - detailed measures have been analysed in this video -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MyL5ACSi-c

100. Chennai Port Trust has acquired 67% stake (of Central government) in Kamarajar
Port Ltd (in Chennai) for Rs 2,383 crore.
• Chennai Port Trust Chairman – P. Raveendran
• Kamarajar Port Ltd CMD: Sunil Paliwal

101. RBI has allowed Small Finance Banks (SFBs), which have completed 3 years of
operations, to carry out their non-risky financial activities without seeking RBI’s prior
approval.
• Now, SFBs need to seek a general permission to open banking outlets (particularly in
unbanked areas).

102. Asian Development Bank has announced to invest $100 million into the Fund of
Funds of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India.
• Now, this fund of funds has a total of $700 million in commitments.
• In 2018, Fund of funds was created to allow NIIF to invest in a variety of sectors.

103. Ministry of Labour and Employment has prepared the Employees Provident Fund
(Amendment) scheme, 2020 to amend the Employees’ Provident Funds Scheme 1952.
• Amendment – to allow the EPF members to withdraw a portion of their retirement
savings with immediate effect to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

92
 • The withdrawal amount should not exceed 75% of their savings or a maximum of
three months’ basic pay and dearness allowance from their provident fund account,
whichever is lower.

104. Ministry of Corporate Affairs has introduced the ‘Companies Fresh Start Scheme
2020’ to provide a one-time waiver of additional filing fees for delayed filings by the
companies.

105. RBI has introduced ‘Fully Accessible Route’ (FAR), a separate channel to enable non-
residents to invest in specified government bonds w.e.f., April 1.
• Already there are two existing routes for investors, viz., the Medium Term
Framework (MTF) and the Voluntary Retention Route (VRR).

GDP GROWTH RATE REVISIONS DUE TO CORONAVIRUS

106. S&P Global Ratings has reduced India’s GDP growth rate to 3.5% for 2020-21 due to
COVID-19 pandemic.
• For FY20 GDP growth rate – 5%
• For FY22 - 7.3%
• According to S&P, the estimated cost of the coronavirus outbreak would be $620
billion for 14 Asia-Pacific countries including India.

107. Crisil has reduced India’s GDP growth rate for 2020-21 to 3.5% due to the spread of
COVID19.

108. SBI has released its report “EcoWrap” which mentions that India’s GDP growth rate
will be 2.6% in 2020-21 due to COVID-19.
• GDP growth rate in 2019-20 is expected to decline to 4.5% from 5%.
• The lockdown may trigger losses of at least Rs 8.03 lakh crore on market value basis,
Rs 1.77 lakh crore loss in terms of income.

109. Moody’s has downgraded India’s GDP growth rate to 2.5% from 5.3% for FY20 in its
Global Macro Outlook 2020-21.
• For 2021-22, India’s GDP growth rate is 5.8%.
• GDP of G20 countries will decrease by 0.5% in 2020 and increase to 3.2% by 2021.

93
 • In November 2019, Moody’s had expected the global economy to grow by 2.6% in
2020.

110. OECD has downgraded GDP growth rate for India and G20 economies in its “OECD
Interim Economic Outlook Forecasts 2020” due to coronavirus outbreak.
• For India, GDP growth rate for FY20 – 4.9% and for FY21 – 5.1%
• For world, GDP growth rate for FY20 – 2.9% and for FY21 – 2.4%

Y OECD’s ASSESSMENT OF COVID-19’S IMPACT ON ECONOMIC CHANNELS: -

94
111. Fitch Ratings has also reduced India GDP growth rate to 4.6% for 2020-21 due to
coronavirus outbreak in its Global Economic Outlook 2020 report.
• GDP growth rate for 2019-20:- 4.9%

112. ICRA Ltd has reduced India’s GDP growth rate to 2% for 2020-21.

113. India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) has reduced India’s GDP growth estimates for
2020-21 to 3.6% from 5.5%.

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 APPOINTMENTS
1. Abhay Kumar Singh has been appointed as the CMD of National Hydroelectric Power
Corporation (NHPC).

2. Ajay Tyagi has got a 6 month extension as the Chairman of SEBI.

3. Muhyiddin Yassin has been elected as the new Prime Minister of Malaysia.

4. Pekka Lundmark has been appointed as CEO of Nokia.

5. Jochen Zeitz has been appointed as the acting president and CEO of Harley Davidson.

6. Sudhanshu Pandey has been appointed as the new CMD of Metals & Minerals Trading
Corporation (MMTC).

7. Amrish Rau has been appointed as the new CEO of PineLabs (payment solution
provider).

8. Daren Tang (from Singapore) has been appointed as the Director-General of World
Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).
• WIPO Headquarters – Geneva, Switzerland

9. Sanjeev Nautiyal has been re-appointed as the MD and CEO of SBI Life Insurance
Company.

10. Anurag Mehrotra (MD of Ford India) has been appointed as the CEO of new joint
venture between Mahindra and Ford w.e.f., April 1, 2020.
• In the joint venture, Mahindra has 51% stake and Ford has 49% stake.

11. Nupur Kulshrestha has become the first woman to get promoted the Deputy Inspector
General of Indian Coast Guard.

12. Lt Gen Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon has been appointed as the Director General of
Defence Intelligence Agency.

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 • Dhillon has also been appointed as the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff
under the Chief of Defence staff.

13. Amitabh Bachchan has been appointed as the first brand ambassador of IDFC FIRST
Bank.

14. P.V. Sindhu has been appointed as the brand ambassador for Andhra Pradesh
government’s anti-corruption helpline - 14400.

15. Sameer Aggarwal has been appointed as the CEO of Walmart India.
• Sameer Aggarwal has been appointed as the CEO of Best Price (Walmart Inc.’s
Indian cash payment business).

16. Latika Kundu has been appointed as the new CEO of Metropolitan Stock Exchange of
India.

17. Bansi Lal Bhat has been appointed as the officiating Chairperson of the National
Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) for 3 months or until a regular Chairperson is
appointed, whichever is earlier w.e.f., March 15, 2020.
• Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya (first Chairperson of NCLAT) has retired on March 13,
2020.

18. iQOO (Chinese smartphone brand and a sub-brand of Vivo) has appointed Virat Kohli as
its new brand ambassador.
• iQOO stands for 'I Quest On and On'.

19. President of India Ramnath Kovind has nominated Ranjan Gogoi (former Chief Justice
of India) as a member of Rajya Sabha (also called the council of states) under Article 80-
Clause (3).
• Article 80-Clause (3) of the constitution gives powers to President to appoint a
person with special knowledge in Rajya Sabha.
• Article 80 of the Constitution provides that 12 members will be nominated by the
President in Rajya Sabha (which has maximum 250 members).

20. James D. Taiclet has been appointed as the President and CEO of Lockheed Martin (US-
based defence goods manufacturer) with effective from June 15.

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21. Ravinder Singh Dhillon has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of
Power Finance Corporation.

22. Salesforce (US cloud-based service provider) has appointed Arundhati Bhattacharya
(former SBI chairperson) as CEO of the Salesforce India.

23. MS Dhoni has been appointed as the brand ambassador of the Khatabook startup.
• Dhoni has also announced to invest in this startup.
• Co-founder and CEO of Khatabook – Ravish Naresh

24. Rajiv Bajaj has been re-appointed as the MD & CEO of Bajaj Auto for 5 years.

25. Janani Narayanan and Vrinda Rathi were named as the members in the International
Panel of ICC Development Umpires.

26. Karan Bajwa has been appointed as the MD of Google Cloud India.

27. Shivraj Singh Chauhan (BJP leader) has been elected as the Chief Minister of Madhya
Pradesh for a 4th time.

28. Anil Aggarwal has been appointed as the non-executive Chairman of Vedanta Ltd (his
own company).
• Sunil Duggal has been appointed as the CEO of Vedanta Ltd.
• Navin Aggarwal will be the executive vice chairman of the board.

IMPORTANT DAYS

1. This year India has joined the ‘Protein Day’ for the first time on February 27 to draw
public attention, raise awareness, and educate India on the health benefits of protein.
• Right To Protein - a national-level public health initiative - has launched this day in
India on the theme of #ProteinMeinKyaHai.

2. National Science Day (NSD) is observed on February 28th on the theme of “Women in
Science”.
• History: - On this day, C V Raman discovered the ‘Raman effect’ in 1928 for which
he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930.
• Ministry of Women and Child Development has announced to establish 11 chairs in
the names of women scientists across the institutes.

98
3. World Wildlife Day is observed on March 3 by UN.
• Theme: - Sustaining all life on Earth
• The date marks the signing of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973.

4. World Hearing Day is observed on March 3 by WHO.

• Theme - Hearing for life

5. National safety day is observed on March 4 every year.

• Theme – “Enhance Health & Safety Performance by Use of Advanced Technology”
• National Safety Week is observed from March 4-10.
• National Safety Council observed this day to mark its foundation day on March 4
(1966).

6. Janaushadhi Diwas is observed on March 7 to mark the achievements of Pradhan

Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadi Pariyojana (launched in 2008).
• Purpose: for creating awareness about the use of generic medicines.
• Janaushadhi week is observed from March 1 to 7.
• On the 4th day, an event for empowering the women of India was held on the theme
of ‘Suvidha Se Sammaan’.

7. International Women’s Day is observed on March 8 by United Nations.

• Theme – “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights”
• Indian Railways launched a gender equality campaign on the theme of “Each for
Equal” to empower women passengers and enhance the role of women employees
in Indian Railways.
• Indian Army organized a self-defence rally on the theme of “Stronger You Stronger
Society” in Assam.
• Smt Juppi Bordoloi, DSP of Nalbari Police (Assam), and a senior women officer were
felicitated as women achievers of India.

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 • Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) has prepared a report “Status of
Women in Media in South Asia”.
• The report, sponsored by the UNESCO, has been researched jointly by the South
Asia Women’s Network (SWAN) and Institute for Studies in Industrial
Development.
• PM Modi has launched “She Inspires Us” campaign where he dedicated his twitter
account to 7 inspiring women’ stories.

8. 15th edition of World Kidney Day is observed on March 21, 2020.

• Theme: Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere – from Prevention to Detection and
Equitable Access to Care
• World Kidney Day is a joint initiative of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN)
and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations.

9. World Consumer Day 2020 is observed on March 15.

• Theme: - The Sustainable Consumer

10. Global Recycling Day is observed on March 18 by Global Recycling Foundation.

• Theme: - #RecyclingHeroes

11. International Day of Happiness is observed on March 20 by UN.

• Theme: “Happiness For All Together”

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 • The day was founded by Jayme Illien (CEO of United Nations New World Order
Project) in 2013.

12. World Sparrow Day is observed on March 20 by the Nature Forever Society of India
(which was founded by Mohammed Dilawar – an Indian conservationist).
• Theme: I Love Sparrow. It is pictured as ‘I Sparrow’.
• House sparrow is the state bird of Delhi.

13. International Day of Forests is observed on March 21 by UN.

• Theme: Forests and Biodiversity.

14. International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is observed on March 21
by UN.

15. World Water Day is being celebrated on March 22 by UN to achieve Sustainable

Development Goal 6 (Water and Sanitation for all) by 2030.
• Theme: Water and Climate Change

Water Situation

As per UN, More than 5.7 billion people

will live in water scarcity areas by 2050.
Demand of water will increase by 50% by
2040 all over the world.

United Nations mentioned that by 2050, 3.5

to 4.4 billion people will live with limited
access to water. Out of these, more than 1
billion people will live in major cities.

As per UN, there are 2.2 billion people in the

world who do not have access to safe drinking
water.

16. World Meteorological Day is observed on March 23 by World Meteorological

Organization (WMO) and United Nations.
• Theme: Climate and Water
• Slogan: “Count Every Drop, Every Drop Counts”
• Meteorology is the branch of science that studies the phenomena of atmosphere,
especially as a means of forecasting the weather.

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17. World Tuberculosis Day is observed on March 24 by WHO.
• Theme: It’s Time
o To Scale up prevention and treatments
o To build accountability
o To build financial sustainability towards research
o To put an end to discrimination and stigma
o To promote an equitable, rights-based and people-centered TB response
• On this day, Dr Robert Koch discovered the bacteria causing Tuberculosis in 1882.

Estb. -
1920

International
The Union is Union Against President –
an
organization
Tuberculosis Prof Guy
for promoting and Lung Marks
lung health.
Disease (aka (Australia)
The Union)

HQ –
Paris,
France

18. International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic
Slave Trade is observed on March 25 by UN.
• Theme: Confronting Slavery’s Legacy of Racism Together

19. Every year, “Earth Hour” is observed on last Saturday of March (this year March 28) by
the World Wildlife Fund for one hour (8.30 to 9.30 PM) to draw attention towards
global warming.
• WWF’s annual initiative began in 2007 to encourage people to switch off the lights
for 1 hour.

20. World Theatre Day is observed on March 27 by International Theatre Institute (ITI) to
promote theatre in all its forms across the world.

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 AWARDS

1. AICTE Chhatra Vishwakarma Awards 2019 were presented to 23 teams to honour the
innovative work of the students displaying exceptional skills in different categories.
• The awards were given on the theme of “How to enhance the income of a Village”.
• Utkrisht Sansthan Vishwakarma Award is the 2nd category of awards given to 6
AICTE approved institutions to raise their performance in the specific domain to
work towards a solution to “How to enhance the income of a Village”.

2. Indian Air Force contingent and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have been
named as the best marching contingent in Republic Day Parade 2020.

3. Jadav Payeng (aka the ‘Forest Man of India’) has won the 6th edition of annual Swami
Vivekananda Karmayogi Award 2020 (given by My Home India) for his efforts towards
afforestation.

4. National Awards for Outstanding efforts in Science and Technology were given in 21
categories.
Category Winner
Print Media (including books & Magazines) Dr Suryamani Behera and Dr Amiya
Rajbongshi
Popularization among children Deepak Sharma and Kisan Sewa Sansthan
of Basti District, Uttar Pradesh
Communication through Innovative and 1. Dr. Mahesh Verma (V-C of Guru Gobind
traditional methods Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi)
2. S. Nagarathinam (Prof at Madurai
Kamaraj University, TN)
3. Rajendra Kumar (Principal Scientist of
ICAR- Indian Agricultural Research
Institute)
Communication in the Electronic Medium Uma Kumar (AIIMS - New Delhi)
Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Ms.Chris Felshia and Joyita Sarkar
Research
SERB Women Excellence Award Niti Kumar, Deepa Agashe and K.
Geetharani
National Award for Young Woman Shweta Rawat (scientist at DIPAS of DRDO)
Showing Excellence through Application of and Shalini Gupta (Professor at IIT-Delhi)
Technology for Social benefits

5. Andhra Pradesh’s tourism corporation has won the Best Eco-Friendly Destination –
Maredumilli award at the India International Travel Exhibition (IITE) held in Vijayawada,
Andhra Pradesh.
• Anurag Gupta is the director of IITE.

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6. Swarajya Awards 2020 were presented in association with India Foundation and Indic
Academy.
• The award was presented by Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar and Speaker of
People’s Majlis (legislative body) of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed at the 6th India
Ideas Conclave in Gujarat.
Category Other winners
Dr. Syama Prasad Mukherjee award (for Politics) Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam CM)
Sree Narayana Guru Award (for Social Work) K Parasaran (lawyer)
Ustad Bismillah Khan Award (for Culture) Bharath Bala (filmmaker)
Dr B R Shenoy Award (for economics) N K Singh (IAS and chief of 15th finance commission)

7. 70th Berlin film festival 2020 awards were presented: -

Category Winner
There Is No Evil (director - Mohammad Rasoulof of
Golden Bear Prize for Best Picture
Iran)
Silver Bear for Best Director Hong Sang Soo for The Woman Who Ran
Silver Bear for Best Actress Paula Beer (for Undine)
Silver Bear for Best Actor Elio Germano (for Hidden Away)

8. Siddharth Kaushal - Superintendent of Police of Prakasam district (Andhra Pradesh) -

has been awarded the National SKOCH District Governance Award 2020 for the Abhaya
initiative of Prakasam Police.
• Abhaya is a vehicle operated from 9 pm to 5 am to drop women from their home to
their workplace or other necessary areas to ensure their safety.
• In 2019, Prakasam district police had won the SKOCH Award for its ‘Project JIO’
(Junior Investigation Officer) launched to impart good investigative skills to the
police personnel.
• Siddharth Kaushal became the first police officer from the State to win the ‘7th G
files governance award-2019’.
• The award is given by G Files magazine - a national magazine on bureaucracy and
governance - for good performance.

9. For the first time, an Irish and female combo - Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara -
have won the Pritzker Architecture prize 2020 (highest prize in the field of
Architecture).
• It is an annual award given by the Hyatt foundation (which was established by Jay
and Cindy Pritzker).

10. Jadav Payeng (environmental activist from Assam), was named as the winner of 128th
Commonwealth Points of Light Award for his service to environmental conservation.
• He is popularly called as the 'Forest Man'.
• Points of Light Award recognises people across the 53 Commonwealth nations for
their contribution towards society.

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11. President Ram Nath Kovind has presented 61st annual Lalit Kala Akademi awards 2020
to 15 excellent artists.
• 61st National Exhibition of Art and National Kala Mela has been inaugurated in New
Delhi.

12. Mint India Investment Summit and Awards 2020 were held in Mumbai.
Category Winners
Venture Capital Deal of the Year BlackBuck
Private Equity Deal of the Year General Atlantic
M&A Deal of the Year ArcelorMittal
Deal Maker Hall of Fame Hemendra Kothari

13. 4th edition of Times of India Sports Awards (TOISA) awards has named Rohit Sharma as
the Cricketer of the year and PV Sindhu as the Sportsperson of the year.
• Icon of the Century was given to Balbir Singh Sr. (hockey legend).

14. TIME Magazine has released the ‘100 women of the year’ list to recognize eminent
women from 1920 to 2019.
• India’s Freedom Fighter Amrit Kaur has been honoured as the ‘Women of the Year’
for 1947 & PM Indira Gandhi for 1976.
• Amrit Kaur became the first women health minister of India and also established
Indian Council for Child Welfare.
• Greta Thunberg is the Time’s Women of the Year for 2019.

15. BusinessLine Changemaker Awards 2020 has been organized by Hindu Business Line
(newspaper).

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 Category Winner Reason
Social Transformation Shanti Raghavan To help PwD people to find
jobs
Digital Transformation Government e-Marketplace -
Financial Transformation India Stack For creating Aadhar and
BHIM UPI apps
Young Changemaker Pradeep Mewada To remove open defecation
in villages
Iconic Changemaker Arunachalam Muruganandam For creating a low-cost
sanitary pad for women
Changemaker of the Year Dutee Chand Athlete
Changemaker of the year ISRO For Mars mission

16. NITI Aayog and UN have organized the 4th edition of Women Transforming India
Awards 2019 to honour a total of 15 women achievers. 1 jury award was also presented.
• Dr Praveen Nair (women) won the Jury Award for founding the Salaam Baalak Trust
that worked for rehabilitation of more than 81,000 homeless children.
Women Transforming India: -
§ Initiated in 2016 by NITI Aayog, MyGov and UN India to recognize women
achievers of India.
§ NITI Aayog’s Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) has been organizing the
awards since 2018 with a special focus on entrepreneurship.
§ WEP was launched in 2018 to empower women entrepreneurs.

17. Ministry of Women and Child Development has initiated the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’,
given to 15 women in 2019 to recognize their contribution towards women
empowerment.
Winner Reason
Bina Devi or ‘Mushroom Mahila’ from Bihar Popularizing mushroom cultivation
Arifa Jan Kashmiri artisan
Padala Bhudevi Working for development of Tribal People
Nilza Wangmo Entrepreneur promoting Ladakhi cuisines
Kalavati Devi- ‘lady mason’ Built over 4,000 toilets and created
awareness about open defecation
Tashi & Nungshi Malik First female twins to scale Mount Everest in
2013
Bhageerathi Amma (aged 105) and Became the oldest equivalency course
Karthyayini Amma (aged 96) student of Kerala.
Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawna Kanth & Mohana First Indian Women Pilots to take a solo
Singh Jitarwal (Indian Air Force) flight in MIG-21 in 2018

18. PV Sindhu (Indian badminton player) has won the inaugural edition of the BBC Indian
Sportswoman of the Year 2019 award.

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 • PT Usha (Indian athlete) has won the BBC Indian Lifetime Achievement Award 2019.
• PT Usha was also named as the Best Sportswoman of the Century by the Indian
Olympics Association.

19. Dr Jaimanti Bakshi, Department of Otolaryngology and Head Neck surgery at PGIMER
(Chandigarh), has been awarded the "Best Citizens of India Gold medal Award".
• Reason: - for her contribution in the field of ENT diseases and head and neck cancer.
• Global Economic Progress and Research Association (GEPRA) has presented this
award during the National Unity conference held at Chennai.

20. BBC World Histories Magazine' has named Maharaja Ranjit Singh (19th century ruler of
the Sikh Empire in India) as the "Greatest Leader of All Time" in the world.
• Amílcar Cabral (African Independence Fighter) is at the 2nd spot, followed by
Winston Churchill (Britain’s war-time Prime Minister) at 3rd spot.

21. 3rd Hockey India Annual Awards for 2019 have been announced.
• Hockey India President - Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad
Category Winner
Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Harbinder Singh
Award 2019
Dhruv Batra Player of the Year Manpreet Singh and Rani Rampal (captains
of men and women’s team)
Ajit Pal Singh Award for Midfielder of the Neha Goyal
Year
Dhanraj Pillay Award for Forward of the Mandeep Singh
Year
Asunta Lakra Award for Upcoming Player Lalremsiami
of the Year 2019 (Women, U-21)
Jugraj Singh Award for Upcoming Player of Vivek Sagar Prasad
the Year 2019 (Men, U-21)
Baljit Singh Award for Goalkeeper of the Krishan B Pathak
Year 2019
Defender of the Year Harmanpreet
Milestone Awards Deep Grace Ekka, Kothajit Singh and Savita
(for playing 200 international matches)
Hockey India Presidents Award for Government of Odisha
Outstanding Achievement 2019
Hockey India Jaman Lal Sharma Award for Sports Authority of India
Invaluable Contribution 2019

22. India's First Living Culinary Arts Museum – WGSHA (Welcomgroup Graduate School of
Hotel Administration located in Manipal, Karnataka) – has entered into the Limca Book
of Records.

107
 • Founder of WGSHA – Chef Vikas Khanna
Fun Fact:
Limca Book of Records is an indigenous catalogue of achievements made by Indians.

23. iSportconnect (Sports business network) has released its 'Influential Women in Sport'
list 2020 which includes Nita Ambani (owner of Mumbai Indians IPL team) in top 10.
• Gymnast Simone Biles was described as "one of the greatest athletes in the world”.

24. Hillel Furstenberg (from Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) and Gregory Margulis
(from Yale University, USA) have won the Abel Prize 2020.
• Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters presents this award to recognise the
extraordinary contributions to the field of mathematics. The award is funded by
Norwegian govt.
• The award has been instituted to honour Niels Henrik Abel – renowned
mathematician of Norway.

25. Zoya Akhter has won the IIFTC Tourism Impact Award 2020 held during the 8th India
International Film Tourism Conclave (IIFTC) in Mumbai.
• Zoya has won the award for promoting world tourism through her cinema.
• K S Ravikumar (Director of Tamil movies) has also won the award.

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26. Ruchika Tomar (Indian-American author teaching at Stanford University-USA) has won
the PEN/ Hemingway Award 2020 for her 1st novel “A Prayer for Travelers”.
• The award was founded in 1976 by Mary Hemingway after the name of Ernest
Hemingway to honour an American author.

27. Mirza Waheed has won The Hindu Prize 2019 in the category of Fiction for his book
“Tell Her Everything”.
• Santanu Das won the award in Non-Fiction for his book “India, Empire, and First
World War Culture: Writings, Images and Songs”.

28. Satyarup Siddhanta (from Kolkata) has entered the ‘Limca Book of Records’ for
becoming the first Indian to climb the highest volcanoes of 7 continents.
• He has become the world’s youngest mountaineer to climb both seven peaks and
seven volcanic summits.

SPORTS

1. FIDE Women Rankings as of 2nd March, 2020: -

Rank Player
st
1 Yifan Hou (China)
2nd Koneru Humpy (India)
9th Harika, Dronavalli (India)

2. Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has approved India to conduct

Commonwealth Archery and Shooting Championships in Chandigarh, Punjab in January
2022.
• Birmingham Commonwealth Games (BCG) will take place from July 27 to August 7,
2022 in Birmingham, UK.
• The results of this championship will be added in the final medal tally of BCG.
• National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) will fund the shooting championship and
Govt of India will fund the archery championship.

3. First edition of the Khelo India Winter Games 2020 – featuring three games: open ice
hockey championship, figure skating, and speed skating – has started in Ladakh.

109
4. Ms Jiya Rai (aged 11) has become the world’s fastest special girl to swim 14 Km in 3
hours 27 min and 30 sec in open water.
• She is a student of VI standard of Navy Children School, Mumbai.

5. Rafael Nadal (Spanish) has won the ATP Mexico Open 2020.
• Heather Watson (British) has won the WTA Mexico Open 2020.

6. Bred Kennedy (Australian) has won the New Zealand Open golf tournament.

7. Aryna Sabalenka (Belarusian tennis player) has won Qatar Open 2020 (WTA tennis
tournament).

8. Women’s Tennis Association’s Ranking for 2020: -

Rank Player

1 Ashleigh Barty (Australian)

11 Aryna Sabalenka (Belarusian)

161 Ankita Raina (top ranked Indian)

9. Panjab University has emerged winner with a total of 46 medals (including 17 golds) at
the 1st edition of the Khelo India University Games 2020 held in Bhuvneshwar, Odisha.
• Savitribai Phule Pune University was the 1st runner up with 37 total medals.
• Dutee Chand (athlete) has set a new national university record for covering 200 m in
23.66 seconds.

10. Novak Djokovic (Serbian tennis player) has won his 79th career title by winning the
Dubai Championships 2020 for the fifth time.
• Dubai has awarded him a 'golden visa' to honour him.
• Simona Halep has won the women’s singles at the Dubai Championship.

11. FIBA (International Basketball Federation) 3X3 Olympic basketball qualifying

tournament will be held in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• Basketball Federation of India’s President - K. Govindaraj
About FIBA: -
Headquarters – Switzerland
President - Hamane Niang

12. Fed Cup Asia-Oceania women’s tennis tournament 2020 will be held in Dubai, UAE.
• Fed Cup Finals 2020 (sponsored by BNP Paribas) will be held in Budapest, Hungary,
from 14-19 April 2020.

13. Thiago Seyboth Wild (Brazilian) has become the youngest champion on Latin America’s
clay court ‘Golden Swing’.

110
 • Thiago Wild also became the youngest Brazilian to win the ATP tournament.
• Before him, Rafael Nadal was the youngest tennis player to win ‘golden swing’ title
in 2005.

14. Casper Ruud had won the 2020 Argentina Open (tennis) and became Norway’s first
ever ATP champion and youngest player to win an ATP tour in Buenos Aires (Argentina).

15. ATP rankings 2020 (as of 2nd March 2020): -

• Sumit Nagal is the top-ranked Indian tennis player at 127th rank.
Rank Player Country
1 Novak Djokovic Serbia
2 Rafael Nadal Spain
3 Dominic Thiem Austria
4 Roger Federer Switzerland
5 Daniil Medvedev Russia

16. Asian Team Squash Championships 2020 was scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia from March 25 to 29.
• Asian Junior individual Squash Championship 2020 was scheduled to be held in
Quingdo, China. Both the championships have been postponed due to coronavirus
outbreak.

17. FIH (international body for regulating Hockey) has released its world rankings for 2020.
Men’s Rankings Women’s Rankings
st
Belgium – 1 Netherlands – 1st
Australia – 2nd Australia – 2nd
rd
Netherlands – 3 Argentine – 3rd
India – 4th (all time highest) India – 9th

18. Mumbai will host the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) session in 2023. [The
decision will be finalized at the 136th IOC session to be held in Tokyo in July 2020.]
• This session will be held in India after 40 years. Last time, it was held in 1983 in New
Delhi.

19. Badminton Asia Championships 2020 will now be held in Manila, Philippines instead of
Wuhan, China because of Covid-19 outbreak in April.

20. Tasnim Mir (aged 14) and Mansi Singh (aged 14) have become first Indians to win
bronze medals in the girls’ singles category in the BWF Yonex Dutch Junior
International 2020 held in Harleem, Netherlands.
• Aakarshi Kashyap and Anupama Upadhyaya have won gold and silver medals
respectively in the girls singles at BWF Kenya International 2020.

111
21. Prachi Choudhary (400 m runner) has been suspended by National Anti-Doping Agency
(NADA).

22. Sports Authority of India has launched the 1st edition of U-21 Khelo India Women’s
Hockey League in association with Hockey India.
• Hockey India will organize the tournament in 3 phases at three different venues
(capitals of Delhi, Karnataka, Odisha respectively) between Mar to Nov 2020.

23. Kieron Pollard (West Indies cricketer) has become the first player in the history of T20
cricket to play 500 matches.
• Dwayne Bravo is 2nd in the list with 453 matches.

24. Hockey India has become a member of World Master Hockey (WMH) thereby joining 38
National associations to develop Master Hockey across the world.
• International Hockey Federation (FIH) recognizes WMH as the regulator of
international master’s hockey globally.

25. Pankaj Advani has won the 34th National 6-Red snooker championship held in
Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

26. Asian/Oceanian Olympic qualifying event 2020 (for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic) was held
in Amman, Jordan.
• Winner - China topped the medal tally with 6 medals (4 gold and 2 bronze).
• India ranked 9th with total 8 medals (2 silver and 6 bronze).
Rank by total number of medals Country
1st India and Kazakhstan (with 8 medals)
rd
3 China (with 6 medals)

27. Nana Dzagnidze (from Georgia in Eurasian region) has won the FIDE Women's Grand
Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland.
• Harika, Dronavalli from India was at 6th rank.

28. All England Open 2020 was held in Birmingham, England.

Men’s singles Viktor Axelsen (Denmark)
Women’s singles Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei)

29. 2020 ITF Seniors (age group - 50-55-60) World Team & Individual Championships will
be held in Florida, USA in May 2020.

30. World Athletics Council has fined the Russian Athletics Federation (RusAF) with $10
million for breaching anti-doping rules.
• World Athletics President – Sebastian Coe

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31. Sharath Kamal has won the men’s singles at ITTF challenger plus Oman Open 2020 held
in Muscat (capital of Oman).

32. Manipur has created India’s first ever all transgender football team.
• Nick (captain), Silleibi (goalkeeper) and Lem (striker) are at top positions in the
team.
• Ya All (Imphal-based NGO) was started the six-a-side football matches for the
transgender community 2 years ago.

33. Indian Motor Sport Appellate Committee (IMSAC) has overturned a ban imposed on J.
Prithiviraj (president of FMSCI) from officiating in national championships.
• The ban was imposed after the death of three trespassing motorists during the Rally
of Jodhpur in 2019.

34. ATK FC (Kolkata) has won the Hero Indian Super League 2019-20.

35. Tokyo Olympics has been postponed to 2021 by International Olympic Committee.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. Katherine Johnson (famous NASA mathematician from USA) has passed away at 101
years.
• “Hidden Figures” book (written by Margot Lee Shetterly) and the movie (with the
same name) consist the details of Johnson’s life.

2. Peng Yao and his team at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao has discovered the
8,000 years old Carbon inside The Yongle Blue Hole (YBH) in the South China Sea.
• YBH is the world’s deepest blue hole (Blue holes are marine caves filled with water,
usually isolated from the ocean and don’t receive fresh rainwater).
• The discovery was published in journal JGR Biogeosciences.

3. Prof. Dorothee Huchon’s team discovered the world’s first animal – a jelly fish-like
parasite named Henneguya salminicola – that can survive without oxygen.
• Huchon belongs to Tel Aviv University of Israel.
• The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

4. According to a study published in Astrophysical Journal, astronomers from the

International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in Perth, Australia, have discovered
universe’s biggest explosion in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster (390 million light-years
away from Earth).
• It is the biggest explosion since the Big Bang.
• Lead author of the study is Dr Simona Giacintucci, from the Naval Research
Laboratory in America.

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5. Eurasian Otter and Smooth-coated Otter have been sighted in Chilika Lake (largest
internal saltwater lake in Asia), Odisha.

6. Jack Welch (former Chairman and CEO of General Electric – USA company) has passed
away.
• He was also known as “Neutron Jack”.

7. NASA has named its 5th Mars rover as Perseverance (earlier known as Mars 2020) on
the suggestion of Alexander Mather (7th class student).
• Perseverance will be launched in 2020.
• Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity are the previous 4 rovers of Mars, whose
names were suggested by school children.

8. Minister of Women & Child Development, Smriti Zubin Irani, has released “Chronicles
of Change Champions” book.
• The book is a compilation of 25 innovative initiatives taken at the state and district
levels under Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme.

9. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has released a comic book “The Adventures of the Daredevil
Democrat” based on his father Biju Patnaik’s life and work.
• The book has been prepared by the Kalinga Foundation Trust.

10. Tahira Kashyap has written her 4th book titled as “The 12 Commandments Of Being A
Woman”.
• “I Promise”, “Souled Out” and “Cracking the Code: My Journey in Bollywood”
(Ayushman Khurana’s biography) are her 3 other books.

11. Apoorva Purohit has written her second book – ‘lady, you’re the boss!’.
• Lady You're Not a Man was her first book.
• In 2019, Purohit was ranked 44th in the Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women list.
• She is the current President of Jagran Prakashan Ltd. and is also on the boards of
Mindtree, Midday Informedia Ltd and Music Broadcast Ltd etc.

12. Articles of Constitution in the News –

• Article 145: It details about the Rules of Court, etc. Law for Supreme Court can be
made by Parliament. Supreme Court may periodically, with President’s approval,
make rules for regulating the practice and procedure of the Court.
• Article 213: It provides the powers to Governor to promulgate an ordinance without
permission of the President when both legislative assembly and council are not in
session.

13. Sadguru Patil and Mayabhushan Nagvenkar (journalists) have written the book “An
Extraordinary Life: A biography of Manohar Parrikar”.

114
14. Bhalchandra Mungekar (Indian economist) has written “My Encounters in Parliament”
book.

15. Tarun Vijay has written the book ‘Invincible‘ – a tribute to Manohar Parrikar – on the
first death anniversary of Manohar Parrikar.

16. ‘Messiah Modi: A Great tale of expectations’ book has been written by Tavleen Singh.

17. Richard Cloutier (Paleontologist) from Universite du Quebec a Rimouski in Canada has
discovered the origins of the human hand after examining the 380 million years old
fossil of an Elpistostege watsoni (fish) which had finger bones in its front fins.
• The study is published in the journal Nature.
• The fossil was found in Miguasha National Park in Quebec, Canada.

18. University of Cambridge (UK) has discovered the fossil of world’s oldest known modern
bird’s (known as Wonderchicken) skull of 66.8 – 66.7 million years ago.
• The scientific name of the bird is Asteriornis maastrichtensis.
• The study (whose lead author is Daniel Field) was published in the journal Nature.

19. University of British Columbia (Canada) found an ancient continent – North Atlantic
Craton – was found to be 10% larger than previously estimated by geologists.
• The chance discovery was made while studying diamond samples from Baffin Island
– the largest island of Canada located in Nunavut.
• North Atlantic Craton (an ancient part of the earth's crust) which ran from Scotland
to North America broke up 150 million years ago.
• Lead Author - Maya Kopylova
• Published in - Journal of Petrology.

20. NASA’s InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat
Transport) is the first mission to study the deep interior of Mars launched in 2018.
• Designed and developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mission was
launched on the Atlas V 401 vehicle.

21. Chander Suta Dogra has written the book - “Missing in Action: The Prisoners Who
Never Came Back”.

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 • The book finds out the issue of the missing Indian soldiers during the wars of 1965
and 1971.
• “Manoj & Babli : A hate story” (True story) – first book of Dogra – explores the issue
of honour killing.

22. Albert Uderzo (French comic book artist and scriptwriter) has passed away.
• He is the creator of famous comic series Asterix and Obelix.

23. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology-Dehradun (under DST) has conducted the study
on the behaviour of glaciers in India since 1991 to 2015 on the basis of their length,
debris cover, area, glacial lakes & snow line altitude.
• These parameters were used for the first time in India to assess around 23 glaciers.
• Findings – larger glaciers are thinning and smaller glaciers are retreating. Since 2000,
melting of the western and central Himalayan glaciers has reduced whereas, melting
of Sikkim glaciers has increased.
• Reason – increased temperature.

24. Savita Chhabra has written her first book titled “Legacy of Learning” (selected verses
from Srimad Bhagavad Gita).
• Savita Chhabra is the Chairperson of Hygienic Research Institute Private Limited
(HRIPL).

25. Satish Gujral (architect, painter, muralist, sculptor and graphic artist) has passed away.
• “A Brush with Life” is Gujral’s autobiography.

26. Joseph E. Lowery (America’s civil rights leader) has passed away.

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27. World’s largest spiritual organization run by women - Brahmakumaris Sansthan’s - Chief
Rajyogini Dadi Janki passed away.

28. John Maxwell Coetzee has completed his trilogy with the final book “The Death of
Jesus”.
• The first two books of his Jesus trilogy are The Childhood of Jesus and The
Schooldays of Jesus.

117
QUESTIONS

118
Q.1) Which state has the highest DBT [a] Himachal Pradesh
payout according to the first ever ranking [b] Uttarakhand
of 28 states and 8 UTs released by central [c] Rajasthan
govt on the basis of direct benefit transfer [d] Madhya Pradesh
(DBT) payout? [e] Tamil Nadu
[a] West Bengal
[b] Haryana Q.6) With which institution has University
[c] Maharashtra Grants Commission partnered to launch
[d] Delhi the Higher Education Leadership
[e] Karnataka Development Programme for
Administrator?
Q.2) Which state has become the first [a] Inlingua
state in India to have 100% LPG coverage [b] Cambridge Institute of English
under the PM Ujjawala Scheme? Education
[a] Himachal Pradesh [c] Future Learn
[b] Madhya Pradesh [d] British Council
[c] Assam [e] Oxford School of English
[d] Karnataka
[e] Odisha Q.7) Recently, National Cyber Research,
Innovation and Capacity Centre has been
Q.3) Which state has topped in the larger inaugurated at Central Detective Training
states’ category in 'Transforming Nutrition Institute campus. In which city of
in India: Poshan Abhiyan' report released Telangana is it located?
by the NITI Aayog, on the basis of their [a] Warangal
readiness to implement the Poshan [b] Nalgonda
Abhiyaan? [c] Adilabad
[a] Jharkhand [d] Hyderabad
[b] Mizoram [e] Siddipet
[c] Andhra Pradesh
[d] Arunachal Pradesh Q.8) Where was the first-ever National
[e] Madhya Pradesh conference on Coastal Disaster Risk
Reduction and Resilience organized?
Q.4) With which of the following IIT, did [a] Madhya Pradesh
J&K govt and AICTE not sign an MoU to [b] Delhi
provide a two-month internship to 500 [c] Assam
final year students of J&K during 2020-21? [d] Telangana
[a] IIT-Hyderabad [e] Tamil Nadu
[b] IIT- Bhubaneshwar
[c] IIT-Guwahati Q.9) Where was the International
[d] IIT-Pune conference on “Ensemble Methods in
[e] IIT- Ropar Modelling and Data Assimilation”
organized?
Q.5) Where did the International [a] Poland
Conference on Banana 2020 held? [b] Spain

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[c] Netherlands
[d] India Q.14) Where is the world’s largest species
[e] USA of cave fish – Tor putitora – been found?
[a] Assam
Q.10) In which year do ISRO and NASA [b] Manipur
plan to launch the NISAR mission - world’s [c] Arunachal Pradesh
first dual-frequency synthetic aperture [d] Meghalaya
radar? [e] Sikkim
[a] 2021
[b] 2024 Q.15) In which article of the constitution,
[c] 2022 union list, state list and concurrent list are
[d] 2023 mentioned?
[e] 2025 [a] Article 130
[b] Article 151
Q.11) Recently, Melania Trump had [c] Article 231
attended a ‘Happiness Class’ at a govt [d] Article 147
school in ___? [e] Article 246
[a] Delhi
[b] Madhya Pradesh Q.16) With which country has India
[c] Uttar Pradesh recently signed three MoU for
[d] Assam cooperation in the field of combating
[e] Bihar timber trafficking, conservation of tigers &
other wildlife, and petroleum products
Q.12) Who is the Chairman of Employees’ and communications?
State Insurance Corporation? [a] Philippines
[a] Ram Vilas Paswan [b] Maldives
[b] Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi [c] Myanmar
[c] Ramesh Pokhriyal [d] Thailand
[d] Giriraj Singh [e] Indonesia
[e] Santosh Kumar Gangwar
Q.17) Which of the following crop is not
Q.13) Which institution has launched the covered in first-of-its-kind Market
Small Advisory and Forecast Services Intelligence and Early Warning System?
System, Swell Surge Forecast System and [a] Brinjal
Algal Bloom Information Service for the [b] Capsicum
benefit of fishermen, people living in [c] Turnip
coastal areas of South India and others? [d] Cauliflower
[a] Indian Institute of Climatology [e] All of the above
[b] Indian National Centre for Ocean
Information Services Q.18) When was the Operation Greens
[c] Indian Institute of Tropical scheme launched?
Meteorology [a] 2013-14
[d] Centre for Climate Change Research [b] 2008-09
[e] India Meteorological Department [c] 2014-15

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[d] 2015-16 [c] Karnataka
[e] 2018-19 [d] Kerala
[e] Mizoram
Q.19) Where was the International
Conference on Standardisation of Q.24) Who is the head of Delimitation
Diagnosis and Terminologies in Ayurveda, Commission?
Unani and Siddha Systems of Medicine [a] Kuldip Singh
organized? [b] Hrishikesh Roy
[a] Odisha [c] V. Ramasubramanian
[b] Andhra Pradesh [d] Krishna Murari
[c] New Delhi [e] A. S. Bopanna
[d] Tamil Nadu
[e] West Bengal Q.25) Where will the 19th World
Productivity Congress be held?
Q.20) Which state has topped in the 1st [a] Bangalore, India
NCAER Land Records and Services Index [b] Geneva, Switzerland
2019-20? [c] Dublin, Ireland
[a] Madhya Pradesh [d] Chandigarh, India
[b] Haryana [e] Lausanne, Switzerland
[c] Tamil Nadu
[d] Assam Q.26) What is the capital of New Zealand?
[e] Tripura [a] Male
[b] Wellington
Q.21) Who is the Chairman of Hindustan [c] Hanoi
Aeronautics Limited? [d] Jakarta
[a] R. Madhavan [e] Naypyidaw
[b] Dipali Goenka
[c] M S Unnikrishnan Q.27) At which station has Indian Railways
[d] Arundhati Bhattacharya launched its First "Restaurant on
[e] Arun Sawhney Wheels”?
[a] Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai
Q.22) Which ministry has launched the [b] Howrah Station, West Bengal
“1000 Spring Initiatives”? [c] Asansol Station, West Bengal
[a] Ministry of Tribal Affairs [d] Kanpur Central, Uttar Pradesh
[b] Ministry of Textiles [e] Vijayawada Station, Andhra Pradesh
[c] Ministry of Women and Child
Development Q.28) In which state has the first ever
[d] Ministry of Minority Affairs “Nimad Chilli Festival 2020” been
[e] Ministry of Jal Shakti organized?
[a] Jharkhand
Q.23) “Smart gram yojana” is the scheme [b] West Bengal
of which state? [c] Madhya Pradesh
[a] Maharashtra [d] Karnataka
[b] Madhya Pradesh [e] Kerala

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 [a] Jammu and Kashmir
Q.29) What is Mukesh Ambani’s rank in [b] Sikkim
the 9th edition of Hurun Global Rich List [c] Nagaland
2020? [d] Meghalaya
[a] 9 [e] Ladakh
[b] 17
[c] 23 Q.34) With which bank has Microsoft
[d] 20 partnered to train PwD people to find jobs
[e] 30 in the banking, financial services and
insurance sector?
Q.30) How many Indians were mentioned [a] State Bank of India
in the 9th edition of Hurun Global Rich List [b] HDFC Bank
2020? [c] Oriental Bank of Commerce
[a] 233 [d] Axis Bank
[b] 370 [e] Kotak Mahindra Bank
[c] 137
[d] 143 Q.35) How much stake will NTPC Ltd buy
[e] 100 in North Eastern Electric Power
Corporation (NEEPCO)?
Q.31) Where was the Conference on [a] 100%
Enhancing Energy Cooperation in the [b] 80%
BIMSTEC Region held? [c] 74.5%
[a] Bangladesh [d] 60%
[b] India [e] 53%
[c] Myanmar
[d] Nepal Q.36) Who is the CMD of Tehri Hydro
[e] Thailand development Corporation Ltd?
[a] Dhirendra Veer Singh
Q.32) Which country has the highest coal [b] Vinod Kumar Singh
resource at 98% among BIMSTEC nations, [c] Gurdeep Singh
according to the ‘Prospect of regional [d] Karuna Anand
energy cooperation and cross-border [e] Chetan Pujari
energy trade in the BIMSTEC region’
report? Q.37) Which country was India’s highest
[a] India trading partner in 2018-19, according to
[b] Bhutan Ministry of Commerce’s data?
[c] Bangladesh [a] Russia
[d] Thailand [b] China
[e] Sri Lanka [c] USA
[d] Netherlands
Q.33) To which state/UT has NABARD [e] Sweden
recently given Rs 400.64 crore loan for its
infrastructure development under the Q.38) According to RBI’s “Assessment of
“Rural Infrastructure Development Fund”? the progress of digitisation from cash to

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electronic” report, Compounded Annual [b] ICICI Bank
Growth Rate (CAGR) of Currency in [c] Oriental Bank of Commerce
Circulation increased at ___ percent [d] Axis Bank
during 2014-15 and 2018-19? [e] State Bank of India
[a] 10.2%
[b] 11% Q.43) Which company has launched the
[c] 28% “UDAAN”- to facilitate loans to women
[d] 30% borrowers?
[e] 12% [a] Rural Electrification Corporation
Limited
Q.39) Who is the Chairman of the group [b] Capri Global Capital Ltd
formed by IRDAI to explore the [c] Muthoot Finance Limited
possibilities of allowing insurance [d] Aditya Birla Finance Limited
companies to sell indemnity-based health [e] Capital First Limited
policies?
[a] G. Srinivasan Q.44) How much FDI has been allowed in
[b] Vishnu R. Dusad Insurance Intermediary through
[c] A. Vellayan automatic route?
[d] Anand Mahindra [a] 100%
[e] Himanshu Mishra [b] 27%
[c] 53%
Q.40) Which company has become the [d] 49%
first govt entity to adopt Trade [e] 80%
Receivables electronic Discount System-
TreDS? Q.45) HDFC Bank has launched its first
[a] Balmer Lawrie & Company travel credit card, in association with __?
[b] Ordnance Factory Boards [a] IndiGo airlines
[c] Antrix Corporation [b] GoAir
[d] Bharat Heavy Electricals [c] SpiceJet
[e] Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited [d] Alliance Air
[e] AirAsia India
Q.41) Which company has become India’s
1st non-life insurance company to use Q.46) According to the government data,
WhatsApp for delivering policy and ___ percent of Jan Dhan account holders
renewal of documents? have been issued a RuPay debit cards?
[a] Cigna TTK Health Insurance [a] 93%
[b] Cholamandalam MS General Insurance [b] 47%
[c] Apollo Munich Health Insurance [c] 58%
[d] Bharti AXA General Insurance [d] 76%
[e] Bajaj Allianz General Insurance [e] 100%

Q.42) Shishu e-Mudra is the app of which Q.47) Who has been appointed as the
bank? CMD of National Hydroelectric Power
[a] HDFC Bank Corporation?

123
[a] Abhay Kumar Singh Q.52) Who is known as the ‘Forest Man of
[b] Ravi Pandit India’?
[c] K. Venkataramanan [a] Jadav Payeng
[d] Ashok Goel [b] Donkupar Roy
[e] Prashant Ruia [c] DD Lapang
[d] SC Marak
Q.48) When is the ‘Protein Day’ observed? [e] Agatha Sangma
[a] February 27
[b] February 3 Q.53) Who has won the Swami
[c] February 19 Vivekananda Karmayogi Award 2020?
[d] February 21 [a] Kymen Shylla
[e] February 13 [b] S Swaminathan
[c] Ramesh Gupta
Q.49) What is the theme of National [d] Jadav Payeng
Science Day 2020? [e] Mayank Mishra
[a] Science for the People, and People for
the Science Q.54) Where will the Commonwealth
[b] Women in Science Archery and Shooting Championships be
[c] Science and Technology for a organized in 2022?
sustainable future [a] Chandigarh
[d] Science and Technology for Specially [b] Bhopal
Abled Persons [c] Indore
[e] Scientific Issues for Development of [d] Chennai
the Nation [e] Wayanad

Q.50) How many chairs will be established Q.55) Who has become the world’s fastest
by Ministry of Women and Child special girl to swim 14 Km in 3 hours 27
Development across the institutes in the min and 30 sec in open water?
names of women scientists? [a] Jiya Rai
[a] 11 [b] Neha Goel
[b] 20 [c] Priya Jindal
[c] 9 [d] Anshul Singh
[d] 15 [e] Kriti Aggarwal
[e] 7
Q.56) Who is the president of National
Q.51) When is the Rare Disease Day Rifle Association of India?
observed? [a] Raninder Singh
[a] February 2 [b] Krishna Bodanapu
[b] February 29 [c] Janmejay R Vyas
[c] February 18 [d] Sanjeev Duggal
[d] February 21 [e] Gopal Vittal
[e] February 11

124
Q.57) “Hidden Figures” book is the [a] 457
biography of which of the following [b] 650
personality? [c] 800
[a] Valentina Tereshkova [d] 1,137
[b] Svetlana Savitskaya [e] 200
[c] Katherine Johnson
[d] Judith Resnik Q.62) What is the name of the new device
[e] Anna Lee Fisher developed by DRDO’s lab and IISc-
Bangalore to detect explosives in both
Q.58) Who headed the team that pure as well as contaminated forms from
discovered world’s first animal – a jelly a standoff distance?
fish-like parasite named Henneguya [a] Steyr AUG
salminicola – that can survive without [b] FN SCAR
oxygen? [c] RaIDer-X
[a] Janice E. Voss [d] IMI Tavor TAR-21
[b] Dorothee Huchon [e] Vz. 58
[c] Nancy J. Currie
[d] Ellen Ochoa Q.63) India has won the contract for
[e] Catherine Coleman supplying 4 SWATHI weapon-locating
radars for $40 million to which country?
Q.59) Recently, Yousuf Abdulrahim Al [a] Armenia
Balushi has been banned by ICC. Which [b] Bulgaria
country does he belong to? [c] Russia
[a] Oman [d] Poland
[b] Bangladesh [e] Ukraine
[c] UAE
[d] Afghanistan Q.64) What is the Defence exports target
[e] Pakistan set by the government for 2019-20?
[a] Rs 20,000 crore
Q.60) Who has won the National Awards [b] Rs 50,000 crore
for Outstanding efforts in Science and [c] Rs 30,000 crore
Technology in the category of [d] Rs 5,000 crore
Communication in the Electronic [e] Rs 15,000 crore
Medium?
[a] Uma Kumar Q.65) Where is the Pakke tiger reserve
[b] Mahesh Verma located?
[c] Suryamani Behera [a] Kerala
[d] Deepak Sharma [b] Arunachal Pradesh
[e] Rajendra Kumar [c] Karnataka
[d] Mizoram
Q.61) How many total Indian migratory [e] Madhya Pradesh
species have been listed in the
Conservation of Migratory Species Q.66) How much total assistance has been
appendices? given by Asian Development Bank to

125
developing countries for combating [a] Jawaharlal Nehru University
coronavirus till now? [b] Jamia Milia Islamia University
[a] $5 million [c] Delhi University
[b] $4.5 million [d] Savitribai Phule Pune University
[c] $3 million [e] Indira Gandhi National Open University
[d] $4 million
[e] $2 million Q.72) In which city did the Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla launch "Suposhit Maa
Q.67) Who has been elected as the new Abhiyan" to provide nutritional support to
Prime Minister of Malaysia? pregnant women and adolescent girls?
[a] Anwar Ibrahim [a] Kota
[b] Vigeshwaran Sanasee [b] Ajmer
[c] Muhyiddin Yassin [c] Jaisalmer
[d] RS Thanenthiran [d] Bikaner
[e] M. Kayveas [e] Jaipur

Q.68) When is the Zero Discrimination Day Q.73) Who is the CEO of Patanjali
observed? Research Institute?
[a] March 1 [a] Santrupt Misra
[b] February 19 [b] Ajay Kapur
[c] April 23 [c] Prathap C Reddy
[d] January 16 [d] Rajiv Bajaj
[e] May 12 [e] Acharya Balkrishna

Q.69) What is the rank of Koneru Humpy Q.74) Where was the Krishi Vigyan Mela
in FIDE Women Rankings? 2020 organized?
[a] 2nd [a] Mumbai
[b] 1st [b] New Delhi
[c] 3rd [c] Ahmedabad
[d] 5th [d] Imphal
[e] 9th [e] Kolkata

Q.70) Which state’s university has won Q.75) When was the first Krishi Vigyan
the 1st edition of the Khelo India Kendra established?
University Games 2020? [a] 1980
[a] Punjab [b] 2002
[b] Maharashtra [c] 2006
[c] Andhra Pradesh [d] 2014
[d] Assam [e] 1974
[e] Meghalaya
Q.76) Where is the Flamingo City – which
Q.71) In which university has Indian Air is the only breeding site for flamingos in
force established the "Marshal of the Air Asia – located?
Force Arjan Singh Chair of Excellence"? [a] India

126
[b] Philippines Q.81) What is the new GDP growth rate
[c] Malaysia for the world for FY21 by OECD?
[d] Thailand [a] 3%
[e] Myanmar [b] 2.4%
[c] 2.7%
Q.77) Which organization has, in [d] 2.9%
collaboration with World Resources [e] 2.2%
Institute, launched Urja Dakshata
Information Tool (UDIT) to aware users Q.82) According to the Ministry of
about the energy efficiency platforms in Petroleum and Natural Gas’ estimates,
India? India’s demand for the refined fuel will
[a] National Thermal Power Corporation increase to ___ per cent in 2020-21?
[b] Bureau of Energy Efficiency [a] 2.1%
[c] Coal India Ltd [b] 4.1%
[d] Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited [c] 3.8%
[e] JSW Energy [d] 1.6%
[e] 3.7%
Q.78) What does ‘E’ stand for in the full
form of “EKAM” which is a festival Q.83) When is World Wildlife Day
organized by National Handicapped observed?
Finance Development Corporation? [a] February 21
[a] Enthral [b] April 16
[b] Entrepreneurship [c] May 20
[c] Epiphany [d] March 3
[d] Enlightenment [e] January 13
[e] Employment
Q.84) Who has been awarded the Dr.
Q.79) Where is the National Chambal Syama Prasad Mukherjee award (for
sanctuary located? Politics) 2020?
[a] Madhya Pradesh [a] K Parasaran
[b] Uttar Pradesh [b] N K Singh
[c] West Bengal [c] Bharath Bala
[d] Jharkhand [d] Sarbananda Sonowal
[e] Chhattisgarh [e] Ashok Gehlot

Q.80) What is the new GDP growth rate Q.85) Who is the top-ranked Indian tennis
for India for FY20 by Fitch Ratings? player in the ATP Ranking 2020?
[a] 5.1% [a] Sumit Nagal
[b] 6.1% [b] Rohan Bopanna
[c] 5.7% [c] Yuki Bhambri
[d] 4.9% [d] Leander Paes
[e] 4.6% [e] Prajnesh Gunneswaran

127
Q.86) What is the budgetary allocation for [d] Institute for cognitive science studies,
Jharkhand Rajya Kisan Rahat Kosh IIT-Bangalore
(farmers relief fund) proposed by budget [e] Centre for Genetic Syndrome, IIT-
2020-21? Mangalore
[a] Rs 100 crores
[b] Rs 55 crores Q.91) Google has announced to open its
[c] Rs 80 crores 2nd cloud region in India in which city?
[d] Rs 10 crores [a] Indore
[e] Rs 20 crores [b] Delhi
[c] Bhopal
Q.87) Baba Saheb Ambedkar Awas Yojana [d] Hyderabad
is the scheme of which state? [e] Bhuvneshwar
[a] Madhya Pradesh
[b] Karnataka Q.92) When was BHOG certificate project
[c] Arunachal Pradesh launched by FSSAI to ensure the hygiene
[d] Kerala of oblations being offered to deities and
[e] Jharkhand devotees?
[a] 2018
Q.88) Where was the 35th edition of [b] 2015
AAHAR - the Food and Hospitality fair [c] 2016
organized? [d] 2014
[a] Delhi [e] 2012
[b] Mumbai
[c] Chennai Q.93) Recently, Supreme court bench has
[d] Kolkata scrapped the 2018 circular of RBI which
[e] Bangalore banned the use of Cryptocurrency by
banks. Which judge headed the bench?
Q.89) According to a recent update from [a] Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai
Ministry of Finance, more than __ percent [b] Surya Kant
of women are account holders in Stand- [c] Aniruddha Bose
Up India scheme? [d] Rohinton F Nariman
[a] 81% [e] Hrishikesh Roy
[b] 63%
[c] 50% Q.94) What is India’s position in 2017 in
[d] 40% the “Trade-Related Illicit Financial Flows in
[e] 20% 135 Developing Countries: 2008-2017”
report?
Q.90) Which is the nodal agency in the [a] 9th
Genome India Project? [b] 10th
[a] Centre for Brain Research, IISc- [c] 4th
Bangalore [d] 1st
[b] Centre of Excellence, IIT-Delhi [e] 3rd
[c] Center for Mental Arts, IIT-Mandi

128
Q.95) Which country is the President of [c] 2013
the UN Security Council for the month of [d] 2019
March 2020? [e] 2017
[a] Dominica Republic
[b] China Q.100) Who has won the 128th
[c] India Commonwealth Points of Light Award for
[d] Poland his service to environmental
[e] Mauritius conservation?
[a] Jadav Payeng
Q.96) How much amount has been [b] Sumaira Abdulali
infused by NABARD in the rural banking [c] Norma Alvares
system during FY20? [d] Sarla Behn
[a] Rs 2 lakh crore [e] Indira Chakravarty
[b] Rs 5 lakh crore
[c] Rs 1.46 lakh crore Q.101) Where is the Sukhna Lake located?
[d] Rs 3.9 lakh crore [a] Chandigarh, Punjab
[e] Rs 4 lakh crore [b] Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
[c] Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
Q.97) According to the recent amendment [d] Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
in the Companies Act, 2013, companies [e] Nagpur, Maharashtra
which have a CSR obligation of less than
___ are not required to constitute a CSR Q.102) Who heads the committee formed
committee? by Ministry of Home Affairs to deal with
[a] Rs 20 lakh issues decided between the Ministry of
[b] Rs 50 lakh Home Affairs and CAPF forces?
[c] Rs 10 lakh [a] Ajit Kumar
[d] Rs 40 lakh [b] Ajay Kumar Bhalla
[e] Rs 15 lakh [c] Vikas Dholakia
[d] Subashish Pandey
Q.98) Which company has become the [e] Atanu Chakrobarty
first designated depository participant in
India to register a foreign portfolio Q.103) Where will the International Yoga
investor (FPI) through the common Day events 2021 be held?
application form? [a] Ladakh
[a] ICICI Prudential Equity & Debt Fund [b] Himachal Pradesh
[b] Axis Bluechip Fund [c] Jammu and Kashmir
[c] L&T Midcap Fund [d] Arunachal Pradesh
[d] Citi Securities Services [e] Meghalaya
[e] HDFC Small Cap Fund
Q.104) Recently, Rajya Sabha has
Q.99) When was the Limited Liability approved minor changes in the
Partnerships act implemented? Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order
[a] 2008 Amendment Bill, 2019 to include Parivara
[b] 2010 and Talawara tribal communities in ST

129
category. Which state do these tribes [e] Bihar
belong to?
[a] Mizoram Q.109) Which state has launched
[b] Nagaland 'Namaste over Handshake' campaign to
[c] Odisha advise people to keep a safe distance
[d] Tamil Nadu from one another to prevent the spread
[e] Karnataka of COVID-19?
[a] Punjab
Q.105) How many states have been [b] Jharkhand
declared as kerosene free under the PM [c] Madhya Pradesh
Ujjwala Yojana? [d] Karnataka
[a] 2 [e] Himachal Pradesh
[b] 5
[c] 3 Q.110) Which community celebrates the
[d] 4 'Hola Mohalla' festival to showcase their
[e] 10 martial art skills?
[a] Sikh
Q.106) In which state has the Department [b] Parsi
of Posts introduced the first-ever free [c] Muslim
digital parcel locker service? [d] Buddhist
[a] West Bengal [e] Jain
[b] Meghalaya
[c] Andhra Pradesh Q.111) Mount Kosciuszko is the highest
[d] Maharashtra mountain peak of which continent?
[e] Delhi [a] Australia
[b] South America
Q.107) In which country is the World's [c] North America
first Digital Solutions Exchange in the [d] Africa
cloud opened? [e] Antarctica
[a] Switzerland
[b] Denmark Q.112) With which country did India
[c] India partner to provide opportunities to Indian
[d] Britain Women Scientists, Engineers &
[e] Netherlands Technologists to undertake international
collaborative research in foreign
Q.108) Which state will implement the institutions?
"happy hour" concept to reduce the [a] USA
autorickshaws’ fare prices by 15% [b] Canada
between 12 pm and 4 pm on the [c] Mexico
recommendation of Khatua panel? [d] Australia
[a] Maharashtra [e] Japan
[b] West Bengal
[c] Odisha Q.113) When was the Karnataka bicycle
[d] Assam scheme launched for supplying free cycles

130
to students to facilitate travelling from Q.118) India is the ___ largest arms
home to schools and vice-versa? importer in the world during 2015-19,
[a] 2006-07 according to the “Trends in international
[b] 2010-11 arms transfers 2019" report of SIPRI?
[c] 2009-10 [a] 1st
[d] 2012-13 [b] 2nd
[e] 2015-16 [c] 5th
[d] 3rd
Q.114) Which state had launched the [e] 8th
Mission Bhagiratha to provide safe
drinking water to every household in the Q.119) Which country is India’s largest
state from Godavari and Krishna rivers? supplier of arms?
[a] Telangana [a] Russia
[b] Odisha [b] USA
[c] Madhya Pradesh [c] Israel
[d] West Bengal [d] UAE
[e] Kerala [e] Qatar

Q.115) Where was the WION (World Is Q.120) Which city has been ranked first in
One News) global summit held? the KPMG global Technology industry
[a] UAE innovation survey 2020?
[b] Oman [a] London
[c] Bahrain [b] Singapore
[d] Egypt [c] Tel Aviv
[e] Ethiopia [d] Tokyo
[e] New York
Q.116) Which organization has launched
the COVID Action Platform to strengthen Q.121) What is India’s rank in the Animal
the global response on Covid-19? Protection Index (API) 2020?
[a] World Economic Forum [a] A
[b] United Nations [b] B
[c] UNICEF [c] C
[d] World Bank [d] D
[e] International Monetary Fund [e] E

Q.117) How many Indians have featured Q.122) Which company has launched the
in the 115 Young Global Leaders 2020 list iSelect Term Plan insurance cover?
of World Economic Forum? [a] Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of
[a] 5 Commerce Life Insurance Company
[b] 20 [b] Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
[c] 12 [c] Reliance Nippon Life Insurance
[d] 30 Company
[e] 17 [d] ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
[e] Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

131
 [c] Aamir Khan
Q.123) Which state has received a loan of [d] Amitabh Bachchan
$80 million by World Bank to improve [e] Shahrukh Khan
water management practices and increase
agricultural productivity in selected gram Q.128) Who has been appointed as the
panchayats? brand ambassador for Andhra Pradesh
[a] Andhra Pradesh government’s anti-corruption helpline?
[b] West Bengal [a] P.V. Sindhu
[c] Maharashtra [b] Sunny Deol
[d] Himachal Pradesh [c] Akshay Kumar
[e] Odisha [d] John Ibrahim
[e] Amitabh Bachchan
Q.124) Which company is acquiring 35%
stake in Teesta Urja Ltd? Q.129) Who has been appointed as the
[a] Newmont Mining CEO of Walmart India?
[b] Fresnillo [a] Sameer Aggarwal
[c] Barrick Gold [b] Mahesh Mishra
[d] Greenko Mauritius [c] Yash Jain
[e] Rio Tinto [d] Chanchal Kumari
[e] Mrunal Kumar
Q.125) Which company has launched the
DigiPivot initiative to train women Q.130) When is the world kidney day
professionals in digital marketing, in observed?
association with Avtar and Indian School [a] March 21
of Business? [b] May 21
[a] Facebook [c] June 21
[b] Google [d] April 21
[c] Amazon [e] January 21
[d] Flipkart
[e] Snapdeal
Q.131) Which organization is
Q.126) What is the new world’s GDP implementing the Smart Meter National
growth rate for FY20 by Moody’s? Programme?
[a] 2.3% [a] Bharat Electronics Limited
[b] 1.9% [b] Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Corporation
[c] 1.5% [c] Central Electronics Limited
[d] 2.1% [d] Energy Efficiency Services Limited
[e] 1.6% [e] Bharat Earth Movers

Q.127) Who has been appointed as the Q.132) How many weapons are
first brand ambassador of IDFC FIRST sportspersons allowed to keep, if he/she
Bank? is an expert in 2 events, according to Arms
[a] Randeep Hooda Act, 1959 and Arms Rules, 2016?
[b] Irfan Khan [a] 12

132
[b] 9 [e] Section 21
[c] 10
[d] 3 Q.137) Which state had launched the
[e] 7 Chief Minister Destitute Cow Participation
Scheme in 2019?
Q.133) Where is Gahirmatha Marine [a] Madhya Pradesh
Sanctuary located? [b] Jharkhand
[a] Assam [c] Rajasthan
[b] Andhra Pradesh [d] Maharashtra
[c] West Bengal [e] Uttar Pradesh
[d] Odisha
[e] Maharashtra Q.138) Who heads the committee set up
by Ministry of Tribal Affairs to examine
Q.134) How many dolphins were present the Community Forest Resources
in Odisha, according to the 4th edition of Guidelines, 2016 and suggest measures to
dolphin census? simplify them?
[a] 233 [a] Pramod Kumar
[b] 400 [b] NC Saxena
[c] 167 [c] Sanjay Agarwal
[d] 343 [d] Tarun Shridhar
[e] 500 [e] N.C. Gautam

Q.135) Where will the 108th Indian
Science Congress take place in 2021?
[a] Symbiosis International University's
Lavale campus
[b] Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada
University
[c] Smt. Nathibai Damodar Thackersey
Women's University
[d] Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi
Vishwavidyalaya
[e] Kavi Kulguru Kalidas Sanskrit
Vishwavidyalaya
Q.136) Which section of the Consumer
Protection Act, 2019 gives the powers to
the Central Consumer Protection
Authority to crack down on false or
misleading advertisements?
[a] Section 70
[b] Section 12
[c] Section 80
[d] Section 37
Q.139) With which organization has
Agricultural and Processed Food Export
Development Authority (APEDA) signed an
MoU to enhance the supply chain of
agricultural goods for higher value
realization for exports?
[a] Pearl Academy
[b] IIT-Delhi
[c] Indian Chamber of Food and
Agriculture
[d] Quality Council of India
[e] Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary
University
Q.140) How much FDI is permitted in Air
India by NRI through automatic route?
[a] 100%
[b] 79%
[c] 50%
[d] 40%
[e] 27%

133
Q.141) Which country is the leading
manufacturer of phenobarbital, according
to the 2019 report of the International
Narcotics Control Board?
[a] China
[b] Brazil
[c] Russia
[d] India
[e] South Africa
Q.142) How much assistance will World
Bank provide to the member countries
which are grappling with economic
impacts of coronavirus?
[a] $12 billion
[b] $20 Billion
[c] $27 Billion
[d] $30 Billion
[e] $8 Billion
Q.143) Which organization has launched
the Global Coalition for Biodiversity
named as “United for Biodiversity” to
increase public awareness about the
nature crisis?
[a] International Union for Conservation
of Nature
[b] Wildlife Fund for Nature
[c] European Commission
[d] International Fund for Animal Welfare
[e] Wildlife Conservation Network
Q.144) Which country has become the
first country in the world to make all
forms of public transport free?
[a] Luxembourg
[b] Poland
[c] Spain
[d] Mexico
[e] Denmark
Q.145) Which bank has announced to
start giving loans on the basis of cash flow
134
statements instead of assets from April
2020?
[a] IDBI Bank
[b] State Bank of India
[c] Axis Bank
[d] Dhanlaxmi Bank
[e] Bank of Baroda
Q.146) Which company has recently
launched a co-branded credit card along
with RBL Bank, and Mastercard to
strengthen its position in India?
[a] Swiggy
[b] Zomato
[c] Uber Eats
[d] KFC
[e] McDonald
Q.147) Which country has been ranked
first in the FIH men’s ranking 2020?
[a] Belgium
[b] Australia
[c] Netherlands
[d] India
[e] Argentine
Q.148) Which ministry has launched
‘Humsafar’ mobile app to deliver diesel at
the doorstep of bulk users such as
hospitals, malls, construction sites in
National Capital Region?
[a] Ministry of Labour & Employment
[b] Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty
Alleviation
[c] Ministry of Corporate Affairs
[d] Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
[e] Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport
and Highways
Q.149) Who has been appointed as the
new CMD of Metals & Minerals Trading
Corporation?
[a] Sudhanshu Pandey
[b] Sudipta Bhattacharya
[c] Ashwani Lohani Q.154) Defence Production Act, 1950 is
[d] Santrupt Misra the act of which country?
[e] R.S. Sodhi [a] France
[b] USA
Q.150) When is the World Hearing Day [c] Canada
observed? [d] China
[a] March 3 [e] Russia
[b] February 13
[c] April 16 Q.155) What is the GDP growth rate for
[d] January 12 India for 2020-21 by SBI?
[e] May 1 [a] 2.6%
[b] 3%
Q.151) Which country’s International [c] 4.2%
Cooperation Agency has signed an [d] 2.9%
agreement with India for three mega rail [e] 3.2%
infrastructure projects worth Rs 15,295
crores? Q.156) What is the new GDP growth rate
[a] Japan for FY20 for India by Moody’s?
[b] France [a] 4%
[c] Russia [b] 5.1%
[d] USA [c] 3.7%
[e] England [d] 2.5%
[e] 3.8%
Q.152) With which country has India
conducted their first-ever joint patrol Q.157) What is India’s GDP growth rate
from the Reunion Island on P-8I aircraft to for 2021-22 by Moody’s?
maintain the security of international [a] 5%
maritime routes? [b] 4.9%
[a] Australia [c] 5.8%
[b] France [d] 6.3%
[c] Russia [e] 6%
[d] Sri Lanka
[e] Vietnam Q.158) What is the GDP growth rate for
India for 2021-22 by Fitch Ratings?
Q.153) Which IIT has filed the highest [a] 5%
number of patents at 186, according to [b] 6.2%
Ministry of HRD? [c] 5.9%
[a] IIT-Chennai [d] 6.4%
[b] IIT-Mandi [e] 5.3%
[c] IIT-Kolkata
[d] IIT-Delhi Q.159) Who has written the book “Legacy
[e] IIT-Madras of Learning”?
[a] Parul Khaitan
[b] Chanchal Bansal

135
[c] Savita Chhabra [b] Arunachal Pradesh
[d] Priya Darshani [c] West Bengal
[e] Neha Kumar [d] Tripura
[e] Bihar
Q.160) A Brush with Life is the
autobiography of which artist? Q.165) Which state observes “Phool Dei”
[a] Satish Gujral Harvesting festival?
[b] Anupam Kher [a] Nagaland
[c] APJ Abdul Kalam [b] Punjab
[d] M F Husain [c] Chhattisgarh
[e] Rabindranath Tagore [d] Jharkhand
[e] Uttarakhand

Q.161) When was the ‘Bhoomi Rashi’ Q.166) What is the percentage of
portal launched by Ministry of Road Dearness Allowance?
Transport and Highways? [a] 21%
[a] 2009 [b] 17%
[b] 2018 [c] 14%
[c] 2015 [d] 4%
[d] 2013 [e] 13%
[e] 2007
Q.167) What is the Minimum Support
Q.162) When was the Mahatma Gandhi Prices for Milling copra for 2020?
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act [a] Rs 6,750 per quintal
implemented? [b] Rs 9,960 per quintal
[a] 2005 [c] Rs 7,150 per quintal
[b] 2010 [d] Rs 2,050 per quintal
[c] 2009 [e] Rs 4,450 per quintal
[d] 2014
[e] 2013 Q.168) What is the new exposure limits of
urban cooperative banks (UCB) for single
Q.163) With which country has Spice Jet and group borrowers respectively?
and GMR Hyderabad International Airport [a] 15% and 25%
signed a tripartite MoU to sell agriculture [b] 30% and 40%
produce? [c] 10% and 25%
[a] Saudi Arabia [d] 20% and 50%
[b] UAE [e] 25% and 40%
[c] Bahrain
[d] Oman Q.169) Who has been appointed as the
[e] Qatar officiating Chairperson of the National
Company Law Appellate Tribunal for a
Q.164) Uttaran Scheme is the scheme of period of 3 months?
which state? [a] Bansi Lal Bhat
[a] Assam [b] NV Ramana

136
[c] SJ Mukhopadhaya
[d] Arun Mishra
[e] Kamya Khaitan
Q.170) When has been appointed as the
brand ambassador of Tata Power?
[a] Shardul Thakur
[b] Rahul Jain
[c] Shubham Prajapati
[d] Pradeep Kumar
[e] Rahul Saini
Q.171) Which railway station will be
converted into a world-class railway
station at an estimated cost of Rs 6,500
crore by the Rail Land Development
Authority?
[a] New Delhi Railway Station
[b] A N Dev Nagar
[c] Mumbai Central Station
[d] Howrah Railway Station
[e] Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
Q.172) Where was the first regional
edition of “Divya Kala Shakti” event
(Witnessing the Abilities in Disabilities)
held?
[a] Tamil Nadu
[b] Maharashtra
[c] Kerala
[d] Karnataka
[e] Madhya Pradesh
Q.173) Which ministry launched “Udyam
Sakhi” Portal for raising awareness about
government schemes and to facilitate the
networking of women start-ups?
[a] Ministry of Textiles
[b] Ministry of Women and Child
Development
[c] Ministry of Commerce and Industry
[d] Ministry of MSME
[e] Ministry of Skill Development And
Entrepreneurship
137
Q.174) Which institute has launched the
first indigenous methanotroph culture to
reduce methane emissions in agriculture?
[a] Sri Venkateswara Medical College
[b] Agharkar Research Institute
[c] National Institute of Occupational
Health
[d] National Centre for Disease
Informatics and Research
[e] National Institute of Traditional
Medicine
Q.175) UNCTAD has estimated that
Coronavirus’ trade impact for India will be
about ____?
[a] $348 million
[b] $109 million
[c] $200 million
[d] $430 million
[e] $120 million
Q.176) Which institute has topped the QS
World University Rankings by Subject
2020 in Arts & Humanities?
[a] University of Oxford
[b] Harvard University
[c] University of Cambridge
[d] Stanford University
[e] Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Q.177) Which bank is buying the highest
stake in Yes Bank as part of the YES Bank
Reconstruction Scheme 2020?
[a] HDFC Bank
[b] Axis Bank
[c] IDFC First Bank
[d] State Bank of India
[e] Punjab National bank
Q.178) Who has been appointed as the
new MD and CEO of Yes Bank?
[a] Nikesh Arora
[b] Prashant Kumar
[c] Dinesh Paliwal India's First Living Culinary Arts Museum –
[d] Sanjay K Jha located?
[e] Rakesh Kapoor [a] Karnataka
[b] Andhra Pradesh
Q.179) What is the new GST rate on [c] Mizoram
smartphones? [d] Kerala
[a] 12% [e] Odisha
[b] 18%
[c] 23% Q.184) Which Indian has featured in the
[d] 15% 'Influential Women in Sport' list 2020
[e] 20% released by the iSportconnect?
[a] Nita Ambani
Q.180) According to Ministry of [b] Saina Nehwal
Commerce data, India’s gold imports has [c] Swapna Barman
fallen by __ percent during April-February [d] Manika Batra
of FY20? [e] Pincky Balhara
[a] 8.86%
[b] 4.5% Q.185) Which article of the constitution
[c] 2.9% details about the Rules of Supreme court?
[d] 10.7% [a] Article 12
[e] 15% [b] Article 213
[c] Article 378
Q.181) Which company has developed a [d] Article 412
coronavirus tracking web portal --– [e] Article 145
bing.com/covid – to track the total
number of cases in each country on this Q.186) Ministry of Jal Shakti has informed
portal? the Parliament that groundwater in India
[a] Microsoft is contaminated with Uranium at ___
[b] Adobe micro-grams per litre, according to the
[c] Google WHO’s report?
[d] Apple [a] 30
[e] Intel [b] 40
[c] 20
Q.182) When is the World Sleep Day [d] 15
observed? [e] 60
[a] March 13
[b] March 20 Q.187) When was the Modified New
[c] March 30 Pricing Scheme-III launched to determine
[d] March 9 the costs of urea units?
[e] March 12 [a] 2014
[b] 2004
Q.183) Where is Welcomgroup Graduate [c] 2018
School of Hotel Administration (WGSHA) – [d] 2019
[e] 2017

138
 [e] March 13
Q.188) Where will the 14th World
Conference on Injury Prevention and Q.193) Which state has created India’s
Safety be held? first ever all transgender football team?
[a] Netherlands [a] Punjab
[b] Australia [b] Madhya Pradesh
[c] Switzerland [c] Haryana
[d] Denmark [d] Manipur
[e] Britain [e] Andhra Pradesh

Q.189) Where will the 22nd World Q.194) Which state observes the Chaitra
Congress on Safety & Health at Work be Jatra Festival?
held? [a] Odisha
[a] Canada [b] Telangana
[b] USA [c] Andhra Pradesh
[c] Poland [d] Kerala
[d] Italy [e] Karnataka
[e] Chile
Q.195) Who has written “An Extraordinary
Q.190) How much will the govt withdraw Life: A biography of Manohar Parrikar”
from the Consolidated Fund of India for its book?
operations during 2020-21 as per [a] Sadguru Patil
Appropriation Bill 2020-21? [b] Mayabhushan Nagvenkar
[a] ₹190 lakh crore [c] Sumelika Kashyup
[b] ₹200 lakh crore [d] Both A and B
[c] ₹140 lakh crore [e] Both B and C
[d] ₹110 lakh crore
[e] ₹90 lakh crore Q.196) Which state has become the 3rd
state in India (after Maharashtra and
Q.191) Who has been appointed as the Odisha) to launch the star-rating program
member of Rajya Sabha by President of for industries based on their pollutant
India under Article 80-Clause (3)? emissions?
[a] K Subramanium [a] Jharkhand
[b] Ranjan Gogoi [b] Madhya Pradesh
[c] N Gopinath [c] West Bengal
[d] Arvind Subramanian [d] Kerala
[e] Raghuram Rajan [e] Rajasthan

Q.192) When is the World Consumer Day Q.197) What is the target of Ministry of
observed? Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
[a] March 15 for selling ___ lakh hybrid and electric
[b] March 11 vehicles by 2020 end?
[c] March 9 [a] 70 lakhs
[d] March 21 [b] 45 lakhs

139
[c] 60 lakhs [d] Chennaiyin F.C
[d] 15 lakhs [e] Aizawl F.C.
[e] 20 lakhs
Q.203) Who has been appointed as the
Q.198) Which company has partnered brand ambassador of the Khatabook
with NASSCOM to launch the “Innovate startup?
for an accessible India campaign” to [a] MS Dhoni
empower people with disabilities? [b] Virat Kohli
[a] Amazon [c] Akshay Kumar
[b] Google [d] Shahrukh Khan
[c] Microsoft [e] Irfan Khan
[d] Apple
[e] Qualcomm Q.204) Who is the Principal Scientific
Advisor to the government?
Q.199) Who heads the Competition Law [a] Ajit Seth
Review Committee? [b] P. K. Sinha
[a] Atul Mishra [c] Rajiv Gauba
[b] Rajiv Kumar [d] Prof K VijayRaghavan
[c] Atanu Chakraborty [e] K. M. Chandrasekhar
[d] Injeti Srinivas
[e] Parul Mishra Q.205) To which country did India give an
assistance of Rs 107 million for developing
Q.200) Who has been appointed as the 3 school buildings in the Darchula and
Chairman and Managing Director of Dhanusha districts?
Power Finance Corporation? [a] Bhutan
[a] M Gopal Reddy [b] Nepal
[b] Hirdesh Kumar [c] Sri Lanka
[c] Arundhati Bhattacharya [d] Myanmar
[d] Ravinder Singh Dhillon [e] Philippines
[e] Chintan Banerjee
Q.206) Where was the International
Q.201) When is the Global Recycling Day Conference on Nano-Science and Nano
observed? Technology organized?
[a] March 18 [a] West Bengal
[b] March 30 [b] Maharashtra
[c] March 9 [c] Gujarat
[d] March 11 [d] Madhya Pradesh
[e] March 12 [e] Jharkhand

Q.202) Which football club has won the Q.207) What is the new proposed capital
Hero Indian Super League 2019-20? of Uttarakhand?
[a] ATK FC [a] Dehradun
[b] Bangalore FC [b] Bageshwar
[c] Punjab FC [c] Champawat

140
[d] Gairsain [c] Haryana
[e] Nainital [d] Bihar
[e] Assam
Q.208) Which state has proposed to
launch the Rajiv Gandhi Nyay Yojana to Q.213) When was the Setu Bharatam
provide fair price of crops to farmers scheme launched?
during its budget 2020-21? [a] 2011
[a] Punjab [b] 2014
[b] Haryana [c] 2016
[c] Chhattisgarh [d] 2017
[d] West Bengal [e] 2019
[e] Odisha
Q.214) Where will the 5th India Pharma
Q.209) Jawahar Setu Yojana is the scheme 2020 and India Medical Device 2020
of which state? Conference and Exhibition be held?
[a] Chhattisgarh [a] Gujarat
[b] Jharkhand [b] Telangana
[c] Haryana [c] Assam
[d] Kerala [d] Rajasthan
[e] Rajasthan [e] Jammu and Kashmir

Q.210) When was the Indira Gandhi Q.215) With which country’s Ministry of
National Widow Pension Scheme Health and Public Hygiene has India
launched? signed an MoU for cooperation in the field
[a] 2001 of health?
[b] 1995 [a] Republic of Cote d’lvoire
[c] 1989 [b] Nigeria
[d] 2011 [c] Democratic Republic of Congo
[e] 2006 [d] Ethiopia
[e] Algeria
Q.211) From which country is India
purchasing two VVIP helicopters for PM Q.216) With which urban cooperative
and President’s domestic and bank has ICICI Prudential AMC signed a
international flights? bancassurance agreement?
[a] USA [a] Bharati Sahakari Bank Limited
[b] Russia [b] Gopinath Patil Parsik Janata Sahakari
[c] Israel Bank Ltd
[d] China [c] Saraswat Co-operative Bank
[e] Japan [d] Kalyan Janata Sahakari Bank Ltd
[e] Nagpur Nagrik Sahakari Bank Ltd
Q.212) Mukhyamantri Haat Bazar Clinic
Yojana is the scheme of which state? Q.217) With which company has entered
[a] Jharkhand into a partnership with Tata Power Co. Ltd
[b] Chhattisgarh

141
for end-to-end e-vehicle charging [a] 43%
solutions? [b] 27%
[a] Volkswagen India [c] 18%
[b] Maruti Suzuki [d] 77%
[c] Jaguar Land Rover India [e] 12%
[d] Nissan Motor India
[e] Audi India Q.223) Which organization(s) has
released the “Impact of the Swachh
Q.218) When is the Janaushadhi Diwas Bharat Mission (Grameen) on the
observed in India? convenience, safety and self-respect of
[a] March 7 women in rural India” report?
[b] January 6 [a] Save the Children and Amnesty
[c] April 17 International
[d] May 20 [b] Transparency International and UN
[e] June 10 Women
[c] UNICEF and Bill and Melinda Gates
Q.219) Where will the Badminton Asia Foundation
Championships 2020 be held? [d] UNDP and Oxfam
[a] Russia [e] Care International and UNICEF
[b] Japan
[c] Malaysia Q.224) Which state/UT has launched the
[d] Philippines Student Health Card scheme to improve
[e] Britain the health of over 12 lakh students of
government schools?
Q.220) Who is the Chairman of Saraswat [a] Arunachal Pradesh
Co-operative Bank? [b] Delhi
[a] Aditya Puri [c] Jammu and Kashmir
[b] Gautam Thakur [d] Ladakh
[c] Shyam Srinavasan [e] West Bengal
[d] P Mukherjee
[e] V G Mathew Q.225) How much FDI is allowed through
automatic route in manufacturing of food
Q.221) Where will the 4th Global products?
Ayurveda Festival be held? [a] 60%
[a] Maharashtra [b] 49%
[b] Andhra Pradesh [c] 100%
[c] Kerala [d] 20%
[d] West Bengal [e] 47%
[e] Tripura
Q.226) What is the name of the portal
Q.222) What is the number of bank launched by Ministry of Ayush to provide
accounts owned by women in 2017, information about Ayush Morbidity and
according to The real story of women’s Standardized Terminologies?
financial inclusion in India report? [a] PENCIL

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[b] Swabhimaan [e] HR Khan
[c] NAMASTE
[d] Jawar Q.232) Who has been appointed as the
[e] Darpan Director-General of World Intellectual
Property Organisation?
Q.227) What is India’s rank in the [a] Guy Ryder
Freedom in the World 2020 report? [b] Qu Dongyu
[a] 83 [c] Audrey Azoulay
[b] 101 [d] Daren Tang
[c] 129 [e] Fang Liu
[d] 154
[e] 78 Q.233) Who has been re-appointed as the
MD and CEO of SBI Life Insurance
Q.228) Where will the 5th BIMSTEC Company?
Summit 2020 be held? [a] Padmaja Chundru
[a] Sri Lanka [b] Vishal Agnihotri
[b] Myanmar [c] Aakash Sharma
[c] Bhutan [d] Prakash Rawat
[d] Bangladesh [e] Sanjeev Nautiyal
[e] India
Q.234) Who has been honoured as the
Q.229) Which country has joined the ‘Women of the Year’ for 1976 by Time
Indian Ocean Commission as the 5th Magazine?
observer state? [a] Indira Gandhi
[a] Maldives [b] Eva Peron
[b] Myanmar [c] Rosalind Franklin
[c] India [d] Marilyn Monroe
[d] Sri Lanka [e] Irna Philips
[e] Vietnam
Q.235) Who has suggested to name the
Q.230) What is India’s rank in the Wealth NASA’s 5th Mars rover as Perseverance?
Report 2020 released by Knight Frank LLP? [a] Micheal Britney
[a] 10th [b] Nancy Walker
[b] 56th [c] Max Whitney
[c] 12th [d] Pratt Walter
[d] 47th [e] Alexander Mather
[e] 100th
Q.236) Where was the 9th edition of
Q.231) Who heads the Committee on national level search and rescue exercise
Special Economic Zones? ‘SAREX-2020’ conducted by Indian Coast
[a] Ashish Mehta Guard?
[b] Rajiv Gauba [a] Maharashtra
[c] Baba Kalyani [b] Goa
[d] Romesh Sobti [c] Karnataka

143
[d] Tamil Nadu [a] 24%
[e] Jharkhand [b] 10%
[c] 50%
Q.237) Who has been appointed as the [d] 33%
Chairman of the National Platform for [e] 67%
Disaster Risk Reduction?
[a] Narendra Singh Tomar Q.242) ‘Nayi Rahein Nayi Manzilen’ is the
[b] Piyush Goyal scheme of which state?
[c] Rajnath Singh [a] Himachal Pradesh
[d] Amit Shah [b] Uttarakhand
[e] Smriti Irani [c] Assam
[d] Tripura
Q.238) “Chapchar Kut” is the biggest and [e] Haryana
oldest (spring) festival of which state?
[a] Mizoram Q.243) Minister of Rural Development
[b] Tripura Narendra Singh Tomar has announced to
[c] Nagaland have a total of ____ lakh self-help groups
[d] Meghalaya in India by 2022?
[e] Arunachal Pradesh [a] 60 lakhs
[b] 45 lakhs
Q.239) Where did the Ministry of Women [c] 75 lakhs
and Child Development and the World [d] 30 lakhs
Bank organize a discussion programme on [e] 90 lakhs
the topic “The Future of Work: Women in
India’s Workforce”? Q.244) Who has won the Iconic Business
[a] New Delhi Leader of the Decade at the CNBC-TV18
[b] Bangalore India Business Leaders Awards?
[c] Chennai [a] Mukesh Ambani
[d] Mumbai [b] Ajay Banga
[e] Guwahati [c] Satya Nadella
[d] Gautam Adani
Q.240) Who has been appointed as the [e] Indra Nooyi
Chairman of ‘Ram Van Gaman Path’ trust
formed by Madhya Pradesh govt? Q.245) Who is the Chairman of HDFC
[a] Narottam Mishra group?
[b] Kamal Nath [a] Deepak Parekh
[c] Bhupendra Singh [b] RA Shankara Narayana
[d] Jyotiraditya Scindia [c] Uday Kotak
[e] Imarti Devi [d] T Latha
[e] AS Rajeev
Q.241) What is the female labour force
participation rate at present according to Q.246) Who is the Chairman of the 12-
the report – “A New Era for Girls: Taking member panel set up by Govt to prepare
stock on 25 years of progress” by UNICEF?

144
an investigation manual for the Serious Q.251) Which organization has won the
Fraud Investigation Office? Best Practices Awards on Women at
[a] Economic Secretary Workplace in the category of Public
[b] Finance Secretary Sector?
[c] Home Sectary [a] BHEL
[d] Revenue Secretary [b] SAIL
[e] Corporate Affairs Secretary [c] CONCOR
[d] ONGC
Q.247) Who is the head of Committee on [e] IOC
Corporate Governance?
[a] Naresh Chandra Q.252) What is the name of the initiative
[b] Injeti Srinivasan launched by President of India to increase
[c] UK Sinha Gender Equality in STEM?
[d] Amitabh Kant [a] Pragati
[e] Alok Srivastava [b] AaSha
[c] Bhoomi
Q.248) Which state has announced to [d] Prakriya
launch the “I am also digital” literacy drive [e] Gati
to create awareness about e-governance
and digital platforms? Q.253) Who is the author of “To Greater
[a] Kerala Heights” book?
[b] Madhya Pradesh [a] Anita Saini
[c] Karnataka [b] Kiran Kher
[d] Maharashtra [c] Twinkle Khana
[e] Odisha [d] Nitu
[e] Mehul Mehrishi
Q.249) How much of its overall gender
gap has India reduced according to the Q.254) In which institute has Ministry for
“Rethinking Gender Representation across Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Value Chains” report? launched Mahatma Gandhi National
[a] 80% Fellowship programme to boost skill
[b] 66.8% development?
[c] 75% [a] IIT-Roorkee
[d] 57% [b] IIM-Bangalore
[e] 43% [c] IIT-Madras
[d] IIM-Ahmedabad
Q.250) Where was the 3rd Gender [e] IIM-Kolkata
Equality Summit 2020 held?
[a] Netherlands Q.255) SWaCH is India’s first wholly-
[b] India owned cooperative of self-employed
[c] Switzerland waste collectors. Which state does SWaCH
[d] Denmark belong to?
[e] USA [a] Odisha
[b] Telangana

145
[c] Jharkhand [a] Think equal, build smart, innovate for
[d] Maharashtra change
[e] West Bengal [b] I am Generation Equality: Realizing
Women’s Rights
Q.256) Which state has topped in the [c] Time is Now: Rural and urban activists
solar rooftop plants according to the transforming women's lives”
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy? [d] Women in the Changing World of
[a] Gujarat Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030
[b] Maharashtra [e] Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for
[c] Jharkhand Gender Equality
[d] Tamil Nadu
[e] Kerala Q.261) Who has won the 4th Women
Transforming India Awards 2019 in the
Q.257) Which organization has released jury category?
the Gender Social Norms Index 2020? [a] Padala Bhudevi
[a] Economist Intelligence Unit [b] Nungshi Malik
[b] Transparency International [c] Arifa Jan
[c] SIPRI [d] Praveen Nair
[d] UNICEF [e] Avani Chaturvedi
[e] UNDP
Q.262) When did Niti Aayog launch the
Q.258) According to the 10th edition of Women Entrepreneurship Platform?
the FICCI-IBA survey during July to [a] 2011
December 2019, __ percent of banks [b] 2019
reported a rise in the NPA levels against [c] 2016
26% in the last survey? [d] 2018
[a] 30% [e] 2017
[b] 28%
[c] 40% Q.263) Who among the following is also
[d] 60% known as ‘Mushroom Mahila’?
[e] 15% [a] Nilza Wangmo
[b] Bina Devi
Q.259) Who has become the first woman [c] Kalavati Devi
to get promoted as the Deputy Inspector [d] Karthyayini Amma
General of Indian Coast Guard? [e] Mohana Singh Jitarwal
[a] Neha Parekh
[b] Priyal Kant Q.264) “The Adventures of the Daredevil
[c] Anamika Jharia Democrat” comic book is based on whose
[d] Nupur Kulshrestha life and work?
[e] Meghna Duggal [a] Biju Patnaik
[b] J Jayalalitha
Q.260) What is the theme of the [c] Sushma Swaraj
International Day of Women 2020? [d] Arun Jaitley
[e] Atal Bihari Vajpayee

146
 plant development has declined by ___
Q.265) Which of the following statement GW of capacity construction in 2019?
is correct about the Beijing Declaration [a] 20 GW
and Platform for Action? [b] 31 GW
[a] It was adopted in 1989 [c] 17 GW
[b] It was adopted by UN to promote [d] 13 GW
gender equality [e] 35 GW
[c] Adopted in 1995, the declaration aims
to promote water sustainability Q.270) How many jobs might be lost
[d] It was adopted by WHO to reduce the approximately due to Coronavirus
lung diseases according to the International Labour
[e] It was adopted to promote women Organization’s "COVID-19 and world of
entrepreneurship work: Impacts and responses" report?
[a] 10 million
Q.266) When was the Rebate of State and [b] 30 million
Central Taxes and Levies scheme launched [c] 25 million
by Government of India? [d] 40 million
[a] 2018 [e] 50 million
[b] 2019
[c] 2020 Q.271) What is the new GDP growth rate
[d] 2017 for India by CRISIL for FY21?
[e] 2015 [a] 4.7%
[b] 4%
Q.267) When was Remission of Duties and [c] 3.5%
Taxes on Exported Products scheme [d] 3.9%
launched? [e] 5%
[a] 2016
[b] 2017 Q.272) How much amount does RBI
[c] 2018 intend to inject in the Indian economy to
[d] 2019 reduce the impact of Coronavirus?
[e] 2020 [a] Rs 1.01 lakh crores
[b] Rs 3.11 lakh crores
Q.268) Babur II is the missile of which [c] Rs 4.78 lakh crores
country? [d] Rs 5 lakh crores
[a] Afghanistan [e] Rs 3.74 lakh crores
[b] Pakistan
[c] Oman Q.273) What is the new repo rate
[d] Israel announced by RBI in its 7th Monetary
[e] Turkey Policy?
[a] 4%
Q.269) According to Global Energy [b] 4.3%
Monitor, Sierra Club, Greenpeace [c] 5%
International, and Centre for Research on [d] 4.4%
Energy and Clean Air, global coal power [e] 5.2%

147
 [e] Himachal Pradesh
Q.274) Recently, RBI has allowed banks
and other institutions to impose a Q.279) Who heads the Delimitation
moratorium of ____ months on all term Commission for carrying out the
loans? delimitation process of Jammu and
[a] five Kashmir UT, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,
[b] three Manipur and Nagaland?
[c] six [a] Vipin Sanghi
[d] seven [b] Hima Kohli
[e] eight [c] Siddharth Mridul
[d] Ranjana Prakash Desai
Q.275) When is the World Theatre Day [e] J. R. Midha
observed?
[a] March 27 Q.280) What is India’s rank in the 4th
[b] April 27 Inclusive Internet Index 2020?
[c] May 27 [a] 46
[d] February 27 [b] 80
[e] June 27 [c] 79
[d] 101
Q.276) Which state has launched the [e] 121
NIGHA application to curb election
malpractices such as the use of money Q.281) Who has been appointed as the
and alcohol in the upcoming elections of CEO of Disney?
local body? [a] Marry T Barra
[a] Andhra Pradesh [b] Tim Cook
[b] Odisha [c] Safra Catz
[c] Arunachal Pradesh [d] Bob Chapek
[d] Uttar Pradesh [e] Brian Moynihan
[e] Gujarat
Q.282) Who has been appointed as the
Q.277) Where is the Jewar Airport being Director General of Defence Intelligence
constructed? Agency?
[a] Uttar Pradesh [a] Kanwal Jeet Singh Dhillon
[b] Andhra Pradesh [b] I.S. Mehta
[c] West Bengal [c] Rajiv Shakdher
[d] Odisha [d] Sangita Dhingra Sehgal
[e] Maharashtra [e] Prathiba M. Singh

Q.278) Which state observes the “Fagli” Q.283) Which country’s hockey federation
traditional festival? has recently become a member of World
[a] Sikkim Master Hockey?
[b] Punjab [a] India
[c] West Bengal [b] Sri Lanka
[d] Uttar Pradesh [c] Columbia

148
[d] Mexico Q.288) Who has been removed by the
[e] Russia Supreme Court from the Manipur
Legislative Assembly on grounds of
Q.284) Recently, Andre Schembri disqualification of the minister?
(Footballer) has announced retirement. [a] T.H. Shyamkumar
Which country does he belong to? [b] Leishiyo Keishing
[a] Malta [c] Rishang Keishing
[b] Palau [d] Ng Tompok Singh
[c] Malaysia [e] Kikhondou Newmai
[d] Philippines
[e] Guinea Q.289) With which country has India
signed an agreement for procuring 16,479
Q.285) Who is the writer of The 12 Light Machine Guns (aka Negev) for Rs
Commandments Of Being A Woman 880 crores?
book? [a] Israel
[a] Hari Shankar [b] Russia
[b] Navin Chawla [c] South Korea
[c] Tahira Kashyap [d] Japan
[d] Anu Malhotra [e] USA
[e] Yogesh Khanna
Q.290) Where will the 7th World Cities
Q.286) When did India implemented the Summit be held?
Grid-Connected Rooftop Solar [a] USA
Photovoltaic Project? [b] Singapore
[a] 2011 [c] India
[b] 2016 [d] Japan
[c] 2012 [e] Switzerland
[d] 2015
[e] 2019 Q.291) With which institution has L&T
Technology Services signed an MoU for
Q.287) With which organization has research in Cybersecurity Programs?
APEDA signed an MoU to link the Farmer [a] IIT-Kanpur
Producer Organizations and farmer [b] IIT-Kharagpur
cooperatives with the export value chain? [c] IIT-Madras
[a] NABARD [d] IIT-Chennai
[b] International Crops Research Institute [e] IIT-Delhi
for the Semi-Arid Tropics
[c] BAIF Development Research Q.292) What is the new GDP rate for India
Foundation for 2020 by S&P?
[d] Indian Council of Agricultural Research [a] 5.2%
[e] Small Farmers Agriculture-Business [b] 4.7%
Consortium [c] 4.2%
[d] 5%
[e] 6.3%

149
 Q.298) Which country has topped the
Q.293) RBI has reduced the minimum World Happiness Report 2020?
capital requirements for payment [a] Finland
aggregators to ___ from Rs 100 crore for [b] Denmark
applying for license? [c] Singapore
[a] Rs 15 crore [d] Bhutan
[b] Rs 80 crore [e] Nepal
[c] Rs 90 crore
[d] RS 60 crore Q.299) Which bank has launched the
[e] Rs 95 crore Swavalamban Express to promote
entrepreneurship in India?
Q.294) Who has been appointed as the [a] NABARD
MD of Google Cloud India? [b] SIDBI
[a] Karan Bajwa [c] ICICI Bank
[b] Sudeep Mishra [d] State Bank of India
[c] Mehul Mishra [e] HDFC Bank
[d] Kripa Krishna
[e] Nitu Gupta Q.300) Who heads the committee formed
by 15th Finance Commission to build a
Q.295) Who is the writer of ‘Invincible’ new roadmap for fiscal consolidation for
book? centre and states govt?
[a] Tarun Vijay [a] Nandan Nilekani
[b] J Jairam [b] Tapan Ray
[c] Krishna Parekh [c] NK Singh
[d] A S Patil [d] C K Mishra
[e] Piyush Mahajan [e] T N Manoharan

Q.296) What is the target year for Q.301) What is the new GDP growth rate
Ministry of Railways to electrify all broad for 2020-21 by Fitch Ratings?
gauge routes in India? [a] 5.1%
[a] 2021 [b] 6%
[b] 2023 [c] 4.9%
[c] 2022 [d] 4.2%
[d] 2025 [e] 5.1%
[e] 2024
Q.302) What is the GDP growth rate for
Q.297) What is India’s rank in the World 2020-21 for India by Crisil?
Happiness Report 2020? [a] 5.2%
[a] 144 [b] 5.4%
[b] 81 [c] 6%
[c] 90 [d] 5%
[d] 43 [e] 4.9%
[e] 57

150
Q.303) Who has been appointed as the Q.308) Who heads the J&K Socially and
CM of Madhya Pradesh? Educationally Backward Classes
[a] Manoj Kumar Agrawal Commission?
[b] Dinesh Ahirwar [a] G D Sharma
[c] Shivraj Singh Chauhan [b] Rajiv Shakdher
[d] Gulsher Ahmad [c] Rajiv Sahai Endlaw
[e] Nathu Ram Ahirwar [d] J. R. Midha
[e] Suresh Kumar Kait
Q.304) Which country does Andrew
Malcolm Ellis belong to? Q.309) What is the percentage of loan to
[a] Australia be provided by the govt to dairy
[b] France cooperative societies in J&K under J&K
[c] New Zealand Dairy cooperative scheme?
[d] England [a] 40%
[e] Sri Lanka [b] 25%
[c] 30%
Q.305) With which bank has Bharti AXA [d] 50%
General Insurance Company partnered to [e] 60%
launch an insurance plan for Covid-19
patients? Q.310) According to the Defence
[a] DBS Bank Procurement Procedure 2020, foreign
[b] ICICI Bank products that have a minimum of ___
[c] Punjab National Bank percent of indigenous content will come
[d] Oriental Bank of Commerce under this new category?
[e] Bank of Baroda [a] 30%
[b] 50%
Q.306) Which state had launched the [c] 40%
MOTHER scheme? [d] 55%
[a] Arunachal Pradesh [e] 60%
[b] Meghalaya
[c] Mizoram Q.311) Who heads the Parliamentary
[d] Himachal Pradesh Standing Committee on Chemicals and
[e] Uttarakhand Fertilizers?
[a] Dhirubhai Naranbhai Patel
Q.307) Which state has launched the [b] Hima Kohli
Police Station Visitor Survey System and e- [c] Vipin Sanghi
Night Beat Checking System? [d] Kanimozhi Karunanidhi
[a] Punjab [e] Siddharth Mridul
[b] Himachal Pradesh
[c] Haryana Q.312) According to UN Food and
[d] Uttarakhand Agriculture Organization, Peatlands cover
[e] Delhi __ percent of the earth’s surface?
[a] 5%
[b] 10%

151
[c] 3% [a] March 21
[d] 1% [b] January 12
[e] 2% [c] February 5
[d] June 12
Q.313) Which will become the first [e] July 17
country to co-chair the Global Coalition
for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure? Q.318) When is the World Water Day?
[a] United Kingdom [a] March 22
[b] Canada [b] April 6
[c] Russia [c] December 3
[d] USA [d] November 12
[e] Australia [e] August 14

Q.314) Who heads the 16-member
committee formed by IRDAI to improve
corporate governance systems of insurers,
primarily on making key functions such as
risk management and internal audits
independent of each other?
[a] Pravin Kutumbe
[b] Subhash C. Khuntia
[c] Rashid Khan
[d] Prahlad Singh
[e] Zain Abdullaha
Q.315) When is the World Sparrow Day
observed?
[a] April 11
[b] March 20
[c] May 1
[d] June 13
[e] August 18
Q.316) What is the theme of International
Day of Forests 2020?
[a] Forests and Education
[b] Forests and Sustainable Cities
[c] Forests and Energy
[d] Forests and Biodiversity
[e] Forests and water
Q.317) When is the International Day for
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
observed?
Q.319) What is the theme of the World
Meteorological Day 2020?
[a] The Sun, the Earth and the weather
[b] Weather-ready, climate-smart
[c] Climate and Water
[d] Understanding Clouds
[e] Earth and Climate Change
Q.320) Who has become the first Indian to
climb the highest volcanoes of 7
continents?
[a] Premlata Aggarwal
[b] M Purna
[c] Satyarup Siddhanta
[d] Chhanda Gayen
[e] Mohan Singh Gunjyal
Q.321) Which state has become the first
state to use Taser guns for its police?
[a] Andhra Pradesh
[b] Gujarat
[c] Haryana
[d] Punjab
[e] Rajasthan
Q.322) Where will the Netherlands’ Flying
car-maker PAL-V set up its manufacturing
plant for the first time in India?
[a] Gujarat
[b] Odisha
[c] Telangana

152
[d] Andhra Pradesh Q.328) When was the National
[e] Maharashtra Investment Promotion and Facilitation
Agency of India established?
Q.323) Which institution has launched [a] 2009
the Global Hyperloop pod competition for [b] 2014
the first time in India? [c] 2019
[a] IIT-Kolkata [d] 2002
[b] IIT-Delhi [e] 2017
[c] IIT-Rohtak
[d] IIT-Kharagpur Q.329) Government has asked banks to
[e] IIT-Madras provide an additional __ percent in funds
over and above sanctioned working
Q.324) When was the National Super- capital loans, but not exceeding ₹200
Computer Mission launched? crore per loan account of corporates in
[a] 2012 the wake of Covid-19 outbreak?
[b] 2014 [a] 10%
[c] 2015 [b] 22%
[d] 2017 [c] 24%
[e] 2019 [d] 30%
[e] 15%
Q.325) What is India’s rank in the
Economic Freedom Index 2020? Q.330) Which company has signed an
[a] 120 agreement with Glenmark
[b] 53 Pharmaceuticals Ltd to acquire its VWash?
[c] 60 [a] ITC
[d] 90 [b] Colgate-Palmolive
[e] 112 [c] Lakme
[d] Hindustan Unilever Ltd
Q.326) Which edition of G7 summit is to [e] Patanjali
be held in 2020?
[a] 41 Q.331) When is the World Tuberculosis
[b] 39 Day observed?
[c] 53 [a] March 12
[d] 46 [b] March 24
[e] 27 [c] March 7
[d] March 31
Q.327) Which bank has launched India’s [e] March 15
first-ever prepaid wallet card – ‘Enkasu’?
[a] Dhanlaxmi Bank Q.332) Who has won the Abel Prize 2020?
[b] Karur Vyasa Bank [a] Gregory Margulis
[c] SIDBI [b] Hillel Furstenberg
[d] Punjab National Bank [c] Margret Walter
[e] Oriental Bank of Commerce [d] Both A and B
[e] Both B and C

153
 [d] 2011
Q.333) When did NASA launch its first [e] 2019
mission to study the deep interior of Mars
– InSight? Q.338) Which institute has developed a
[a] 2019 new variety biofortified high quality
[b] 2018 wheat known as MACS 4028?
[c] 2015 [a] Indian Agricultural Research Institute
[d] 2016 [b] International Crops Research Institute
[e] 2017 for the Semi-Arid Tropics
[c] Agricultural and Processed Food
Q.334) Where is the headquarter of Products Export Development Authority
International Union Against Tuberculosis [d] Agharkar Research Institute- Pune
and Lung Disease? [e] Commission for Agricultural Costs and
[a] France Prices
[b] Japan
[c] Britain Q.339) What is the percentage of protein
[d] USA content in biofortified high quality wheat
[e] Switzerland known as MACS 4028?
[a] 9.09%
Q.335) As per Companies Act, 2013, firms [b] 18.7%
with a net worth of at least ₹500 crore or [c] 23.2%
revenue of ₹1,000 crore or net profit of ₹5 [d] 10.1%
crore need to spend at least __ percent of [e] 14.7%
their net profit on CSR?
[a] 2% Q.340) Where is the Pacific Missile Range
[b] 5% Facility located?
[c] 10% [a] USA
[d] 7% [b] Japan
[e] 4% [c] Russia
[d] Palau
Q.336) With which nation has India [e] Australia
recently signed an MoU for technological
cooperation in Railway Sector? Q.341) Recently, Finance minister Nirmala
[a] Germany Sitharaman has announced a relief
[b] Netherlands package to help companies and workers
[c] Denmark cope with the impact of coronavirus.
[d] Finland What is the new threshold limit of
[e] Switzerland payment defaults to start a bankruptcy
trial?
Q.337) When was Clean Seas Campaign [a] Rs 3 lakh
launched by UN? [b] RS 50,000
[a] 2014 [c] Rs 1 crore
[b] 2017 [d] Rs 10 lakh
[c] 2015 [e] Rs 90 lakh

154
 Q.347) Who is the CEO of Ayushman
Q.342) Who has won the IIFTC Tourism Bharat-PM Jan Aarogya Scheme?
Impact Award 2020? [a] Indu Bhushan
[a] Karan Johar [b] Harika Kumar
[b] Zoya Akhter [c] Omprakash Khuntia
[c] Anurag Kashyup [d] Abhishek Verma
[d] Ram Gopal Verma [e] Anita Desai
[e] Imtiaz Ali
Q.348) What is the total outlay of
Q.343) Who is the writer of A Prayer for economic package announced by Ministry
Travelers novel? of Finance to combat the impact of Covid-
[a] Ruchika Tomar 19?
[b] Mindy Kaling [a] Rs 1.9 lakh crore
[c] Bharati Mukherjee [b] Rs 3 lakh crore
[d] Paul Kalanithi [c] Rs 2.1 lakh crore
[e] Deepak Chopra [d] Rs 1.7 lakh crore
[e] Rs 2.3 lakh crore
Q.344) Which field does Albert Uderzo
belong to? Q.349) What is the name of the scheme
[a] Dance launched by Ministry of Finance to
[b] Music provide free foodgrains to fend off the
[c] Sports impact of Covid-19?
[d] Literature [a] Pradhan Mantri Ann Yojana
[e] Journalism [b] Pradhan Mantri Shram Mandhan
Yojana
Q.345) Where is the Nagarhole National [c] Pradhan Mantri Poor Welfare Scheme
Park, also known as Rajiv Gandhi National [d] Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana
Park, located? [e] Pradhan Mantri Poshan Vikas Yojana
[a] Madhya Pradesh
[b] Karnataka Q.350) Where is the headquarters of
[c] Maharashtra International Telecommunication Union
[d] Kerala located?
[e] Maharashtra [a] Switzerland
[b] Netherlands
Q.346) Which state has launched the “Mo [c] Denmark
Jeeban (My Life) Programme” to [d] USA
encourage people to take a pledge to stay [e] Mexico
indoors due to Coronavirus outbreak?
[a] Maharashtra Q.351) Which Indian has been appointed
[b] Telangana as a member in the “Pass the message to
[c] Tamil Nadu kick out Coronavirus” campaign of FIFA?
[d] Andhra Pradesh [a] Sunil Chhetri
[e] Odisha [b] Balwant Singh
[c] Bhaichung Bhutia

155
[d] Gurpreet Singh Sandhu the ‘Boom and Bust 2020: Tracking The
[e] Sandesh Jhingan Global Coal Plant Pipeline’ report?
[a] 40 GW
Q.352) Which bank has partnered with [b] 21.7 GW
the National Payment Corporation of India [c] 29.3 GW
to launch the UPI QR-based loan [d] 50.2 GW
instalment payment facility for its [e] 63 GW
customers?
[a] Janalakshmi Small Finance Bank Q.357) What is the amount of insurance
[b] Ujjivan Small Finance Bank an individual healthcare worker would get
[c] Jana Small Finance Bank under the medical insurance scheme for
[d] Capital Small Finance Bank healthcare workers which was announced
[e] Utkarsh Small Finance Bank as part of the Rs 1.7 lakh crore economic
relief package?
Q.353) What is the total outlay of [a] Rs 70 lakh
recapitalization of RRBs that was recently [b] Rs 40 lakh
approved by Union Cabinet? [c] Rs 30 lakh
[a] Rs 880 crore [d] Rs 50 lakh
[b] Rs 1340 crore [e] Rs 20 lakh
[c] RS 8901 crore
[d] Rs 1001 crore Q.358) Which ministry has launched the
[e] Rs 900 crore “Stranded in India” portal to support
foreign tourists stranded in India due to
Q.354) Who has been appointed as the lockdown?
CEO of Best Price (Walmart Inc.’s Indian [a] Ministry of Home Affairs
cash payment business)? [b] Ministry of Tourism
[a] Pawan Goel [c] Ministry of Finance
[b] Sameer Aggarwal [d] Ministry of Women and Child
[c] Keshav Jindal Development
[d] Bhuvnesh Bansal [e] Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
[e] Gopal Krishnamurthy
Q.359) Which country has become the
Q.355) Who has written the book - 30th member of NATO?
“Missing in Action: The Prisoners Who [a] Brazil
Never Came Back? [b] New Zealand
[a] Pawan Singh Kanwar [c] Guinea
[b] Kuldip Singh [d] Papua New Guinea
[c] Amardeep Sharma [e] North Macedonia
[d] Chander Suta Dogra
[e] Mirza Waheed Q.360) Where is the headquarters of
NATO located?
Q.356) What was the total capacity of coal [a] Belgium
power plants in India in 2019, according to [b] Netherlands
[c] Denmark

156
[d] USA [a] Asian Development Bank
[e] France [b] Softbank
[c] DBS Bank
Q.361) When will NASA launch its Sun [d] Deutsche Bank
Radio Interferometer Space Experiment [e] Bank of Merrill Lynch
(SunRISE)?
[a] 2025 Q.364) Who has been appointed as the
[b] 2023 CEO of Vedanta Ltd.?
[c] 2021 [a] Sunil Duggal
[d] 2026 [b] Anil Aggarwal
[e] 2024 [c] Mitesh Grewal
[d] Navin Aggarwal
Q.362) Which country has recently [e] Nimesh Mishra
cancelled its flagship multilateral air
exercise - Red Flag due to coronavirus? Q.365) In which month does World
[a] Australia Wildlife Fund observes the “Earth Hour”?
[b] Japan [a] June
[c] South Korea [b] March
[d] USA [c] April
[e] China [d] July
[e] August
Q.363) Which bank has recently invested
$100 million in the Fund of Funds of NIIF?

1 B 71 D 141 A 211 A 281 D 351 A

2 A 72 A 142 A 212 B 282 A 352 C
3 C 73 E 143 C 213 C 283 A 353 B
4 A 74 B 144 A 214 A 284 A 354 B
5 E 75 E 145 B 215 A 285 C 355 D
6 D 76 A 146 B 216 C 286 B 356 C
7 D 77 B 147 A 217 C 287 E 357 D
8 B 78 B 148 A 218 A 288 A 358 B
9 D 79 A 149 A 219 D 289 A 359 E
10 C 80 D 150 A 220 B 290 B 360 A
11 A 81 B 151 A 221 C 291 A 361 B
12 E 82 C 152 B 222 D 292 A 362 D
13 B 83 D 153 E 223 C 293 A 363 A
14 D 84 D 154 B 224 C 294 A 364 A
15 E 85 A 155 A 225 C 295 A 365 B

157
 16 C 86 A 156 D 226 C 296 B
17 E 87 E 157 C 227 A 297 A
18 E 88 A 158 D 228 A 298 A
19 C 89 A 159 C 229 C 299 B
20 A 90 A 160 A 230 C 300 C
21 A 91 B 161 B 231 C 301 A
22 A 92 A 162 A 232 D 302 A
23 A 93 D 163 B 233 E 303 C
24 A 94 E 164 A 234 A 304 C
25 A 95 B 165 E 235 E 305 A
26 B 96 C 166 A 236 B 306 B
27 C 97 B 167 B 237 D 307 B
28 C 98 D 168 A 238 A 308 A
29 A 99 A 169 A 239 A 309 D
30 C 100 A 170 A 240 B 310 B
31 A 101 A 171 A 241 D 311 D
32 A 102 B 172 A 242 A 312 C
33 A 103 A 173 D 243 C 313 A
34 A 104 E 174 B 244 A 314 A
35 A 105 C 175 A 245 A 315 B
36 A 106 A 176 A 246 E 316 D
37 C 107 C 177 D 247 A 317 A
38 A 108 A 178 B 248 A 318 A
39 A 109 D 179 B 249 B 319 C
40 B 110 A 180 A 250 B 320 C
41 D 111 A 181 A 251 D 321 B
42 E 112 A 182 A 252 E 322 A
43 B 113 A 183 A 253 D 323 E
44 A 114 A 184 A 254 B 324 C
45 A 115 A 185 E 255 D 325 A
46 D 116 A 186 A 256 A 326 D
47 A 117 A 187 A 257 E 327 B
48 A 118 B 188 B 258 B 328 A
49 B 119 A 189 A 259 D 329 A
50 A 120 B 190 D 260 B 330 D
51 B 121 C 191 B 261 D 331 B
52 A 122 A 192 A 262 D 332 D

158
 53 D 123 D 193 D 263 B 333 B
54 A 124 D 194 A 264 A 334 A
55 A 125 B 195 D 265 B 335 A
56 A 126 B 196 A 266 B 336 A
57 C 127 D 197 A 267 E 337 B
58 B 128 A 198 C 268 B 338 D
59 A 129 A 199 D 269 D 339 E
60 A 130 A 200 D 270 C 340 A
61 A 131 D 201 A 271 C 341 C
62 C 132 C 202 A 272 E 342 B
63 A 133 D 203 A 273 D 343 A
64 A 134 A 204 D 274 B 344 D
65 B 135 A 205 B 275 A 345 B
66 D 136 E 206 A 276 A 346 E
67 C 137 E 207 D 277 A 347 A
68 A 138 B 208 C 278 E 348 D
69 A 139 C 209 A 279 D 349 D
70 A 140 A 210 B 280 A 350 A

159
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