SPOTLIGHT

MONTHLY CURRENT AFFAIRS

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RBI GRADE B 2019
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NABARD GRADE A 2019
SPOTLIGHT – JULY 2020
BY – ANUJ JINDAL
 KEY BENEFITS OF OUR COURSES

Our course structure includes a lot of perks that are otherwise

unavailable elsewhere.
It is a comprehensive guide to help you crack the paper & secure your
dream position.

We provide personal solutions all queries using a Telegram group wherein Anuj Jindal himself
will clarify your doubts.

We curate the learning strategies of past year toppers to help you learn from the success
of the best
Table of Contents
NATIONAL NEWS ....................................................................................................................................4
• MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MoU) ............................................................................ 57
INTERNATIONAL NEWS ......................................................................................................................... 63
BANKING AND ECONOMY ..................................................................................................................... 93
APPOINTMENTS.................................................................................................................................. 119
IMPORTANT DAYS .............................................................................................................................. 123
AWARDS............................................................................................................................................. 127
SPORTS ............................................................................................................................................... 134
MISCELLANEOUS ................................................................................................................................. 138
QUESTIONS......................................................................................................................................... 143
 NATIONAL NEWS
1. According to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute’s data, India’s marine fish
production has registered a marginal increase of 2.1% in 2019 AS compared to the previous
year.
• The country recorded 3.56 million tonnes in total landings (production) during 2019.
• Tamil Nadu took the first position in landings with 7.75 lakh tonnes. It was followed by
Gujarat (7.49 lakh tonnes) and Kerala (5.44 lakh tonnes).
• India is ranked 3rd after China (at 1st) and Indonesia (at 2nd) in world marine fish
production.

2. Goa govt has allocated 14,380 square metres of land to Konkan Maritime Cluster (a group of
49 MSME units) for setting up India’s first Maritime Cluster.
• CMD of the project, Suraj Dialani, asserts that this cluster will build world class facilities
for ship designers, ship and boat builders, ship repairers etc.
• The project is supported by Union Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of MSME and the state
govt of Goa.

3. Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa has launched ‘Skill Connect Forum’ - a portal to connect

job seekers with employers on a common platform where the information regarding available
jobs will be provided.
• An unemployed person will be skill-trained to get a job on this platform.
4. Assam government has announced an ordinance to allow conversion of land by MSME to
set up industries on the basis of a self-declaration — without the requirement of any
“permission, clearance or licence” for three years.
• The ordinance is yet to receive the Governor’s approval.

5. Madhya Pradesh has launched a ‘Hamara Ghar-Hamara Vidyalaya’ means My Home-My

school scheme, in which children will be taught at home in a school-like environment.

6. Ministry of MSMEs has launched “Udyam Registration” - a new portal for MSME
registration and classification (as per the new definition) w.e.f., July 1.
• Govt has clarified that except this portal and the government’s Single Window Facilitation
System, no other private online or offline system, service, agency or person is authorised
or entitled to do MSME registration.

7. Asia’s First Continuous Galvanized Rebar Production Facility has been established near
Gobindgarh in Punjab by International Zinc Association (IZA) and Madhav KRG Group,
along with Hindustan Zinc Limited.
• It has an annual capacity of over 30,000 tonne. The plant will manufacture ZnCoat
TempCore TMT bars under the brand name, 'Jyoti'.
• Jyoti will be the first brand in Asia to use Continuous Galvanized Rebar (CGR) technology
that increases the life span of rebars thereby reduces the overall maintenance cost.
• Rebar is used in buildings to strengthen their structure.

8. Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has extended the Operation Greens
Scheme (launched in 2018) from tomato, onion and potato (TOP) crops to all Perishable
Fruits & Vegetables (TOP to Total) by adding 18 more crops.
• Aim – to protect the growers of fruits and vegetables from making distress sale due to
lockdown and reduce the post -harvest losses.
• Duration of Scheme: – 6 months w.e.f., 11th June, 2020.
• 50% subsidy will be provided to farmers on transportation and storage facilities cost for a
maximum of 3 months.
9. NITI Aayog and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) have released Towards a Clean Energy
Economy- Post-Covid-19 Opportunities for India’s Energy and Mobility Sectors report.
• The report suggests about the measures for a clean, resilient, and least-cost energy
future for India.
• India’s transport sector can save 1.7 giga tonnes of cumulative CO2 emissions. It can
also avoid about 600 million tonnes of oil equivalent in fuel demand by 2030.

10. India and Bangladesh have formed a 50:50 Joint Venture Company for conducting LPG
business in Bangladesh.
• Parties in JV: - IOC Middle East FZE, Dubai (subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation) and RR
Holdings Ltd., Ras Al Khaimah, UAE (the holding company of Beximco LPG of
Bangladesh).

11. The Amendments in the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 brought through Finance Act 2019 will come
into effect from 1st July, 2020.
• The amendments will facilitate ease of doing business and bring in uniformity of the stamp
duty on securities across States and build a pan-India securities market.
• Under it, states will collect stamp duty on securities market instruments at one place by one
agency (through Stock Exchange or Clearing Corporation or the Depository authorized by
the state) on one Instrument.
• The present system of collection of stamp duty on securities market transactions lead to
multiple rates for the same instrument which raises the transaction costs in the securities
market.

12. India and Japan have conducted a joint naval exercise PASSEX (passing exercise) in the
Indian Ocean Region.

13. Kerala government has launched the ''Dream Kerala Project'' to provide jobs to the skilled
people who are returning from abroad and other states after losing their jobs due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
 • Purpose: to use the knowledge and skills of the NRIs for the development of Kerala.

14. Odisha Government has announced to launch 'Sabuja Odisha' initiative to increase green
cover of the state through extensive plantation on over 1,30,264 hectares of land.

15. Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has launched Accelerate Vigyan (AV)
scheme and its portal to strengthen scientific research mechanisms and scientific manpower
in India.
• An Inter-Ministerial Overseeing Committee (IMOC) has also been constituted for
supporting SERB in implementing the AV scheme.

ABHIYAAS: It is a component of the AV scheme. Under it,

How PG/PhD students will attend high-end research workshops
(named as KARYASHALA). Subsequently, these students will
will be enrolled in the internship program (named as VRITIKA).

AV SAMMOHAN: This component of AV is sub-divided into

work? SAYONJIKA and SANGOSHTI.
• SAYONJIKA - Under SAYONJIKA, the capacity building
activities of all government funding agencies, in science and
technology sector, will be catalogued.
• SANGOSHTI is a pre-existing program of SERB.
16. On National Doctor’s Day, Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan released
the Good Clinical Practice Guidelines Handbook and Prospectus for Fellowship Programme
for International Students (FPIS) of the National Board of Examinations (NBE).
• FPIS Prospectus for 2020-2021 was launched in 11 specialties. NBE (under Health
Ministry) aims to improve quality of the Medical Education at the post-graduate level on an
all India basis.
• This is the first time that the fellowship is being launched for international students from all
countries, incl. SAARC nations, at Post MD/MS level.
17. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the toolkit for the Swachh
Survekshan-2021 - the 6th edition of the annual cleanliness survey conducted across India.
• Swachh Survekshan-Urban is conducted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• Swachh Survekshan-Rural is conducted by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.

A new category of awards titled ‘Prerak Dauur

Samman’ has been announced as part of Swachh NEW CATEGORY
Survekshan 2021.
OF AWARD
▪ The Prerak Dauur Samman has a total of five LAUNCHED:
additional subcategories namely:
oDivya (Platinum),
oAnupam (Gold),
oUjjwal (Silver),
oUdit (Bronze) and
oAarohi (Aspiring). Integrated SBM-Urban
MIS Portal launched.
▪ Criteria of 2021 awards: In Swachh Survekshan 2020, oThe integrated
cities were evaluated on the criteria of ‘population Management
category’ but for 2021, they will be categorised on Information System
the basis of six select indicator wise performance
criteria.
(MIS) portal was also
launched.
oSegregation of waste into Wet, Dry and Hazard
categories. oIt aims to bring the
oProcessing capacity against wet waste generated. numerous digital
initiatives on a single
oProcessing and recycling of wet and dry waste.
platform and ensure a
oConstruction and Demolition waste processing.
unified and hassle-free
oPercentage of waste going to landfills. experience for states
oSanitation status of cities. and cities.

18. National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is in the process of setting up an Infrastructure
Investment Trust (InvIT) to facilitate investment in the highways sector.
• This will be the first InvIT to be sponsored by any government entity in the country.

19. Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) has been on board the Indian Venus mission
Shukrayaan-1 (that will be launched in 2023), to explore Venus for the second time.
 • Now, IRF's satellite instrument Venusian Neutrals Analyzer (VNA) will study how the
charged particles from the Sun interact with the atmosphere and exosphere of our planet.
• For the first time, IRF and ISRO collaborated for Chandrayaan-1 in 2008-09 when SARA
(Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer) of IRF was on-board the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft.

20. Ministry of Home Affairs has formed a Committee for Reform in Criminal Law, headed by
Ranbir Singh (V-C of National Law University-Delhi), to bring reforms in the Indian criminal
laws. The committee will work online.

21. Government has launched a first of its kind national initiative - Drug Discovery Hackathon
2020 (DDH2020) for supporting the drug discovery process.
• Purpose: to identify drug candidates against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) by in-silico drug
discovery. In-Silico means performed on computer.
• DDH2020 is a joint initiative of the Ministry of HRD, All India Council for Technical
Education (AICTE) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and
supported by partners like Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC),
MyGov and private players.
• It will primarily focus on computational aspects of drug discovery and will have three
Tracks.

22. ‘Fit Hai to Hit Hai India’ program has been launched by the Ministry of Human Resource
Development and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports under ‘Fit India Movement’.
• Purpose: to inspire and motivate the school children about the importance and need to stay
fit during this pandemic.
• For this, talk sessions named ‘Fit India Talks’ will be organized in which leading sports
celebrities will share their life experiences.

23. ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM/Magalyaan) has captured the image of Phobos - the
closest and biggest moon of Mars.
• Mars Colour Camera’s image captured the Stickney (the largest crater on Phobos) along
with the other craters.
24. India’s Vice President Venkaiah Naidu has launched the Elyments app – which claims to be
India’s first official social media super app.
• The app has been built by over a thousand IT professionals.

25. Central govt has launched the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Challenge’ for techies
around India and the start-up community for creating world class ‘Made in India’ apps.
• This initiative is created by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
in partnership with Atal Innovation Mission to identify the best Indian Apps and scale up
their potential.
• There are eight categories of app which can participate in this challenge: Office
Productivity & Work from Home, Social Networking, E-Learning, Entertainment, Health &
Wellness, Business including Agritech and Fintech, News and Games.

26. All India Radio (AIR) will broadcast its first-ever 'News Magazine' programme in Sanskrit to
be called as 'Sanskrit Saptahiki'.
• The program will have Sukti (beginning), Prasang, Saptahiki, Sanskrit Darshan, Gyan
Vigyan, Bal Vallari, Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat, and Anvikshiki (ending) components.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated DD News for completing five successful
years of continuous broadcast of Sanskrit News Magazine ‘Vaartavali’.

27. Madhya Pradesh has launched 'Intzaar Aap Ka' (Waiting For You) social media campaign to
attract tourists to the state.
• Under the campaign, the state’s tourist department describes various tourists spots in an
enticing manner along with this tagline.

28. Ladakh UT has launched the Ladakh Food Security Scheme (LFSS), w.e.f., July 1, 2020.
With the implementation of the LFSS, the Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Food Entitlement Scheme
(MMSFES) of the erstwhile State of J&K is discontinued.
 • The beneficiaries will get an additional 5 kg per person of food grains over and above the
food entitlements of 35 Kgs per family under the National Food Security Act, subject to the
maximum of 50 Kgs per family.

29. Delhi government has launched LEAD (Learning through E-Resources Made Accessible for
Delhi) online portal for classes 1 to 12.
• LEAD will make textbooks, study material and course content as per the syllabus of CBSE,
NCERT and Delhi government’s curriculum accessible to students.
• Developer - State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT)
• Delhi government will upload its curriculum on the Ministry of HRD’s Diksha platform to
make the LEAD content accessible to all students across the country.

30. A new service ‘M.V. Asiatic Moon’ vessel has started between Kolkata’s Syama Prasad
Mookerjee Port and Bangladesh’s Chattogram port through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route.
• This is the biggest vessel by size to ply between Kolkata and Chattogram till date. The
vessel can carry up to 600 containers in a single voyage to Chattogram.

31. Odisha government has launched 'Balaram', a first of its kind scheme in the country, to
provide agricultural credit to landless farmers in the wake of coronavirus outbreak.
• The scheme has been designed in collaboration with NABARD. Scheme’s Budget is Rs
1,040 crore.
• Under the scheme, farmers will be able to take loans on the guarantee of joint liability
groups (JLG) which will act as the 'social collateral'.
• Institute on Management of Agricultural Extension and the Agricultural Technology
Management Agency (ATMA) - will be the nodal agencies at the state and district levels
respectively for implementation of the scheme.
• It was decided that each lender will finance at least 10 JLGs in a year.

32. Karnataka has launched ‘Nekar Samman Yojana’ (means Weaver Samman Yojana) to
provide financial help of Rs 2000 to the weaver community in the state.
33. Himachal Pradesh has become the first state in the country to have 100% households with
LPG gas connections.
• ‘Himachal Grihini Suvidha Yojana’ was launched in 2018 to provide LPG connections in
the state.

34. Asia’s largest ultra- mega solar plant of 750 MW has been inaugurated in Rewa, Madhya
Pradesh.
• Presently, India is the world’s fourth-largest producer of solar power. India is also the third-
largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world after the United States and China.
• India is the second-largest importer of the dry-fuel.

35. Assam government has decided to upgrade the Dehing Patkai wildlife sanctuary into a
national park.

36. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Facebook have partnered to launch
curriculum on digital safety and online well-being and Augmented Reality for students and
educators.
• The modules are for secondary school students. In the first phase of this program, a
three weeks training will be conducted by Facebook for 10,000 CBSE teachers in India who
will teach 30,000 students in the second phase.
• Under the second category of the partnership, a new curriculum named as ‘Facebook for
Education’ has been introduced by CBSE.
37. Maharashtra has launched the Maha Jobs Portal to provide employment opportunities to
local residents to facilitate recruitment of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled employees.

38. Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) has signed a License Agreement and Transfer of
Technology (LAToT) with DRDO for Akash Missile Weapon System. (BDL is the lead
integrator for Akash Weapon System).
• DRDO has also partnered with IIT-Hyderabad to set up a research centre at IIT to develop
critical defence technology indigenously.
39. Maharashtra has inaugurated Yotta NM1 data centre building of Hiranandani Group in
Panvel, which is Asia’s largest data centre and second largest in the world.
• Yotta NM1 is the first of five data centre buildings coming up at the Integrated Yotta Data
Center Park.

40. US Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy (MNRE) have partnered for clean energy development during US-India Strategic
Energy Partnership meetings.
• USAID-supported South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE) and MNRE's National
Technical Institutions have also been launched to execute this partnership.
• SAGE will provide advanced technical knowledge on clean energy development to the
MNRE's National Technical Institutions and other public institutes.
• SAGE will contribute towards achieving the goals of the US government's Asia Enhancing
Growth and Development through Energy (Asia EDGE) Initiative.
• Asia-EDGE is a primary pillar of the US Government's Indo-Pacific vision in South Asia and
the US-India Strategic Energy Partnership.

41. India has attended the 4th edition of the virtual Ministerial on Climate Action, co-chaired by
European Union, China and Canada, to discuss the full implementation of the Paris
Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• India’s total forest and tree cover is 8,07,276 sq. km. which is 24.56% of the total
geographical area of the country.
• India highlighted that developed nations have not fulfilled their target of $1 Tn funding to
developing countries by 2020.

42. Rajasthan has launched 'Pure for Sure' - a week-long campaign - to ensure the purity of milk
and its products.

43. Union Cabinet has approved development of Affordable Rental Housing Complexes
(ARHC) for urban migrants and the poor at a cost of Rs 600 crore, as a sub-scheme under
the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
 • Under the proposal, vacant government housing complexes will be converted into
ARHCs under a concession agreement for 25 years.
• After the completion of the term, the complexes will once again become urban local bodies,
to enter the next cycle.

44. India Global Week 2020 – attended by 5,000 participants from over 30 nations – has been
organized in London, UK.
• Theme – "Be The Revival : India and a Better New World".
• Recently, World Bank predicted that the global economy will shrink by 5.2% this year – the
steepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

45. Union Cabinet has extended the time limit of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana
(PMGKY) for Ujjwala beneficiaries by three months till September 2020.
• It provides the free LPG cylinders to Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana beneficiaries.

46. Government has decided to continue the payment of the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF)
contributions of 24% (12% each on behalf of both employers and employees) for another three
months, i.e., till August 2020 under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana.
• Purpose: to give further relief to small businesses who are facing cash crunch due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
 • The payment will be made for the organisations having up to 100 employees and up to
90% of its employees earning wage up to Rs 15,000 per month.

47. Union Cabinet has approved Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (central sector scheme) to
provide formal credit to farm and farm-processing based activities under the Rs. 20 lakh
crore stimulus package.
• Aim: To provide medium -long term debt financing facility for building the infrastructure
for post-harvest management and community farming assets.
• Duration: Financial Year 2020 to 2029
• Beneficiaries: Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Marketing Cooperative
Societies, Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), Self Help Group (SHG), Farmers, Joint
Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Agri-entrepreneurs and
Central/State agencies or Local Bodies sponsored by Public Private Partnership Projects
will get a loan of total Rs. 1 Lakh Crore.
• Amount: Rs. 1 Lakh Crore loan will be disbursed in 4 years. In the 1st year, Rs. 10,000
crore and Rs. 30,000 crore each in next three financial years will be given.
• Moratorium: for repayment may vary between 6 months to 2 years.
• Interest Subvention: 3% per annum up to a limit of Rs. 2 crore for a maximum period of 7
years.
• Guarantee: A credit guarantee for loans of up to Rs 2 crore will be given under Credit
Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme. In case of
FPOs, the credit guarantee will be given by FPO promotion scheme.

48. IIT-Hyderabad, in collaboration with NVIDIA (a technology MNC), will be establishing India’s
first ‘NVIDIA AI Technology Centre’ (NVAITC) to increase research on Artificial
Intelligence and promote its commercial adoption.
• IIT Hyderabad will also offer India’s first BTech in AI program.
• This collaboration between IIT-Hyderabad and NVIDIA will focus on advancing AI research
in the areas of Agriculture and Smart Cities besides Language Understanding.
• Telangana has announced 2020 as the ‘Year of AI’.
49. Odisha is the first State to launch an advanced system “BLUIS” which uses space
technology and artificial intelligence to safeguard government land in the Capital city and
ensure planned development.
• Bhubaneswar Land Use Intelligence System (BLUIS) was developed to monitor changes
in all government land in the Capital city by leveraging high resolution satellite imagery.
• Litigation Management System was also launched to provide end to end communication
between government officials and advocates.
• ‘BLUIS’ and ‘Litigation Management System’ are among the 8 Technology-driven
Solutions that were launched under the 5T initiatives of the state.

50. Indian Ministry of Culture has re-printed the first set of 5 manuscripts of Mongolian Kanjur
(a Buddhist text in 108 volumes) for the Mongolian govt under its National Mission for
Manuscripts (NMM).
• A total of 108 manuscripts (including the aforementioned five manuscripts) will be published
by 2022.
• NMM was launched in 2003 by Ministry of Culture for preserving and spreading the
knowledge contained in the manuscripts.

51. ISRO has announced to launch Brazil’s Amazonia-1 satellite (first satellite that has been
designed and developed in Brazil) in August onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle
(PSLV).
• Amazonia-1 satellite will help in monitoring the deforestation activities in Amazon forests.
• In 2004, India and Brazil’s space agencies had signed an agreement for cooperation in
the field of outer space. By virtue of which, Brazil received data from ISRO's remote
sensing satellite ResourceSAT-1.

52. New Uttar Pradesh Startup policy 2020 has been approved by state cabinet to promote
start-ups in the state by establishing at least one incubator in each district and 100
incubators across the state.
• The policy aims to create an ecosystem for establishment of around 10,000 startups
across the state. The new policy will be applicable for the next five years.
 • Also, the state cabinet amended Uttar Pradesh Pharmaceutical Policy 2018, whereby,
pharmaceutical units would be given Rs 1,000 a month per trainee for maximum of 50
trainees p.a. for 5 years to promote skill development in this sector.
• The state cabinet also approved rules and guidelines for implementing Police
Commissionerate system in Lucknow and Noida.

53. India is planning to invite Australia to join the annual Malabar naval exercise to be held in
the Bay of Bengal at the end of the year to complete the Quad countries grouping.
• Malabar is conducted between India, Japan and the U.S.

54. Ladakh has launched the Mission Organic Development Initiative (M.O.D.I) and a
Greenhouse Project in Leh and Kargil Hill Councils.
• M.O.D.I’s budget is Rs 500 crores and it will be implemented in three phases in both
districts’ to make them organic by 2025.
• Organic agriculture produce aims to increase income of Ladakh farmers by 40%.
• Ladakh Greenhouse Project aims to improve vegetable availability in Ladakh
throughout the deep winters through the polycarbonate greenhouse technology - developed
by Defence Institute of High-Altitude Research (DIHAR).
• Both initiatives aims to achieve the Prime Minister Modi’s vision of a “Carbon Neutral
Ladakh".

55. National Human Rights Commission has formed an 11-member expert committee, headed
by Dr K S Reddy (President of Public Health Foundation of India), to study impact of Covid-19
on human rights and suggest future response of the government.
• The expert panel would also study the migrant crisis in detail.

56. Indian Railways has set up a solar power plant in Bina (Madhya Pradesh) to directly power
the Railway Overhead Line.
• This is the first of its kind project in the world to supply solar power to Railways
Overhead Line.
 • Developer – This 1.7 MW solar power plant has been set up by Indian Railways in
collaboration with Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) on railway land.

57. UNICEF has released “Community based programme for children below 5 years of age with
severe acute malnutrition in India—Progress so far and lessons learned 2020” report.
• According to the report, covid-19 pandemic has disrupted optimal care for children,
especially those who are malnourished.
• This may increase the overall severe and acute burden and massive disruptions in
continuity of food availability and livelihood.
• This report assessed the condition of malnutrition in 12 states.
• The report identified barriers in the state-level Community Management of Acute
Malnutrition (CMAM) Programme.
• According to the state wide data on malnutrition released by the Indian Council of Medical
Research, PHFI, and National Institute of Nutrition in 2019, there were 706,000 deaths
because of malnutrition.
• As per the National Family Health Survey-4 (2015-16), 35.7% children under 5 years of
age are underweight, 38.4% are stunted, and 21% are wasted.

58. Maharashtra govt, in association with State Bank of India, has set up a stress fund for
resuming the stuck slum rehabilitation projects in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) or
other urban areas of the state.
• The state government will infuse Rs 700-1,000 crore in this fund to revive such projects.
SBI will bring in a much larger amount and also be responsible for managing the fund.

59. T-Hub (startup incubator at Hyderabad) has partnered with Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology (MeitY) and Digital India to promote startups and make them ready
in terms of product, investment and new market access.
• T-Hub will help in Digital India’s Scale Up program for hardware and IoT startups across
India.
• MeitY Startup Hub has been set up in order to facilitate MeitY’s vision of promoting
technological innovation, startups and the creation of intellectual properties.
60. Union Government has announced to set up Fish Cryobanks in different parts of the country
to facilitate all time availability of fish sperms of desired species to fish farmer.
• Purpose: this will enhance the fish production and productivity in India.
• India is the world’s first country to establish fish cryobank.

61. Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has developed the AI-based
Aatmanirbhar Skilled Employee Employer Mapping (ASEEM) portal to help skilled migrant
people find jobs.
• Developer: National Skill Development Corporation and BetterPlace
• It will provide employers a platform to assess the availability of skilled workforce and
formulate their hiring plans.

62. Chhattisgarh has organised India's first e-Lok Adalat. It solves cases related to money like
settlements, accident claims, bouncing of cheques besides family disputes etc.
• Lok Adalat is a forum where disputes/cases pending in the court of law or at pre-litigation
stage are settled.

63. Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of NITI Aayog has launched ‘ATL App Development
Module’ - a free online app development course for school students across the country.
• This online course – having six modules – aims to make school students under Atal
Tinkering Lab initiative of AIM.
• NITI Aayog’s AIM and Plezmo (Indian startup) have developed the module.
• This would be one of the largest App learning and development initiatives at a school
level in any country.
• AIM has launched the #TinkerfromHome campaign to foster learning and creativity within
young students of Atal Tinkering Labs

64. NITI Aayog has presented India’s second Voluntary National Review (VNR) at the United
Nations High-level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, 2020.
 • The India VNR 2020 report is titled Decade of Action: Taking SDGs from Global to
Local.
• Theme of UN High Level Political Forum: - Accelerated action and transformative
pathways: realizing the decade of action and delivery for sustainable development.
• As per the report, India has significantly reduced multidimensional poverty, provided food
safety, education for all, universal access to electricity, clean cooking fuel and sanitation,
while also operationalized the world’s largest health insurance programme (Ayushmaan
Bharat).

65. Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the India
Cycles4Change Challenge to inspire and support Indian cities to quickly implement cycling-
friendly initiatives in response to COVID-19.
• Aim - to increase the usage of cycle as a personal vehicle in the wake of Covid-19.
• This challenge is open to all cities under the Smart Cities Mission, capital cities of
States/UTs, and all cities with a population of more than 5 lakh people.
• Institute for Transportation and Development Policy’s (ITDP) India Programme will be
the knowledge partner of the Smart Cities Mission to assist the Mission.
• The Challenge will run in two stages – October 2020 and May 2021. In the first stage,
cities will get Rs 1 crore to scale-up initiatives for Stage two.
• Kolkata has proposed a dedicated cycle corridor by reclaiming parking spaces. The city
will conduct a preliminary road survey within four months, after which the project will be
implemented by early next year.

66. Madhya Pradesh has launched the ‘Roko-Toko’ campaign to create awareness about the
importance of wearing masks.

67. Defence Acquisition Council is in the advanced talks to acquire 200 unmanned aerial
vehicle Raven (RQ-11 UAV) from US and Israeli Spike Firefly “loitering” bombs.
• Raven can fly up to 10 Km at an altitude of 500 feet at a speed of 95 kmph. The bombs
have a range of 40 km.
 • Meanwhile, Indian navy is all set to commission its second ballistic missile-firing nuclear
submarine, INS Arighat.

68. Minister of HRD, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, has released the PRAGYATA guidelines on
digital education to boost the online education ecosystem in India.
• PRAGYATA –– Plan- Review- Arrange- Guide- Yak (talk)- Assign- Track- Appreciate –
– are the eight steps of online learning that need to be followed.
• These guidelines have provided do’s and don’ts in detail for parents, teachers, and students
while studying online. For eg. Online class time has been recommended.
Class Recommended (screen-time per
day)
Pre-primary to Maximum 30 min
KG
Class 1 to 8 Maximum 1.5 hours
Class 9 to 12 Maximum 3 hours

• Apart from this, all the below-mentioned initiatives related to digital education will be
unified under PM e-Vidya scheme.
o Diksha, Swayam Prabha, Swayam, ITPAL (for IITJEE/NEET preparation), Special e-
content for visually and hearing impaired, Radio Vahini, Shiksha Vaani.

69. Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has laid foundation stone for 11
national highway projects worth Rs 20,000 crore in Haryana for developing the "new
economic corridor".
• It will ensure smooth connectivity from Haryana to other states, including Punjab, Delhi and
Uttar Pradesh.

70. PLR Systems (Madhya Pradesh) is set to develop the Arad and Carmel assault rifles of
Israel in India under the ‘Make in India’ campaign.
• PLR Systems is a joint venture between Israel Weapons System (IWI) and Fouraces
System India Pvt Ltd.
71. UNICEF INDIA has partnered with FICCI and Socio Economic Development Foundation
(SEDF) to jointly develop UNICEF’s #Reimagine Campaign.
• Purpose: to support the most vulnerable populations and children during the COVID-19
response and its after-math in India.
• FICCI and UNICEF will work on an action plan based on the document that is being
developed jointly by the International Chambers of Commerce and UNICEF for
governments and businesses to support the post-pandemic recovery.

72. GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) has established India's 1st and
only completely contactless car parking amid Covid-19.
• GHIAL, in collaboration with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has also
scaled up its FASTag Car Parking services.

73. Poba Reserve Forest in Assam will be upgraded to Wildlife Sanctuary.

74. India’s first cable-stayed railway bridge – named as Anji Khad Bridge – will be developed
in Jammu and Kashmir for joining Katra with Reasi.
• It is developed by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited as a part of the Udhampur-
Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project.
• USBRL project also involves the Chenab river bridge. The Chenab bridge, once
completed, will become the world’s highest rail bridge.
• Cable-stayed bridge = a bridge in which the weight of the deck is supported by a number
of cables running directly to one or more towers.

75. Coal Ministry is “planning” to link the mining plan portal with Parivesh website to allow
mining firms take faster environment clearances for opening mines.
• PARIVESH (Pro-Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive, Virtuous and
Environmental Single-window Hub) is a web based single window for environment, forest,
wildlife and CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) clearance processes.
• PARIVESH is under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
76. Andhra Pradesh is the first state for which the Central government has launched the online
NISHTHA programme (launched in 2019) for training of 1,200 key resources persons through
the NISHTHA portal.
• These resource persons will help in the mentoring of teachers of Andhra Pradesh, who will
take online NISHTHA training on DIKSHA portal later on.

77. Ministry of Shipping has issued the draft of the Aids to Navigation Bill, 2020 that aims to
replace the British era law of Lighthouse Act, 1927.
• The bill aims to empower the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships
(DGLL) with additional power and functions to strengthen the marine navigation system in
India.
• The draft bill will have a new schedule of offences, along with penalties for damaging the
aids to navigation, and non-compliance with directives of the government.

78. Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan met with the 15th Finance Commission and
announced that government aims at increasing the public health expenditure to gradually 2.5%
of the nation's GDP by the year 2025 from about 1.3% now.
• Primary health expenditure will also be made nearly 2/3rd of the total public health
expenditure in the country.

79. Andhra Pradesh Police has launched the first of its kind initiative named Operation
Muskaan to protect the street children from getting affected by coronavirus.
• A.P. police will trace child labourers and orphans wandering at railway stations, bus stands
and other public places and take them to the nearby hospitals to get them tested for
COVID-19.

80. Expert Committee on Non-Personal Data Governance Framework, set up under Kris
Gopalakrishnan (Infosys co-founder) in 2019, has submitted its draft report on framing rules
for non-personal data governance.
81. India and European Union conducted their 15th summit virtually to resume talks on the free
trade agreement that is known as EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement
(BTIA) – talks on which was stalled in 2013.
• Chair of the summit – PM Narendra Modi (India), Charles Michel (President of European
Council) and Ursula von der Leyen (President of European Commission).

Highlights of the summit:

 India and EU adopted joint declaration on Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy to
share best practises to achieve energy efficiency.
 India and EU have agreed to renew the Agreement on Scientific cooperation for the next five
years (2020-2025).
 The two sides has announced to launch a new maritime security dialogue. Also, discussion
to strengthen the cooperation between Indian Navy and the European Union Naval Force –
Atalanta were held.
 India and EU prepared the roadmap to 2025 for cooperation in various field such as security,
human rights, trade and investment, promoting multilateralism on international fora such as
UN, WTO etc.
 India and EU decided to continue their cooperation on Clean Energy and Climate
Partnership (agreed to in 2016). The partnership aims to build sustainable energy resources
by promoting renewable energy, e-vehicles, low GHG emissions etc.
 India and EU decided to scale up the performance of International Platform on Sustainable
Finance (IPSF).
About International Platform on Sustainable Finance (IPSF):
o Launched in October 2019 by European Union in collaboration with
Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, India, Kenya and Morocco.
o Purpose: to mobilise the private capital towards environment friendly projects
globally. The platforms aims to encourage private sector to invest in eco-
friendly projects worldwide.
o Members at present (A-Z) – Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, India, Kenya,
Indonesia, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, and the
European Union.
  Due to the Covid-19 situation, the Fifth Session of the International Conference on
Chemicals Management (ICCM5) has been rescheduled to take place from 5 to 9 July 2021
in Bonn, Germany under the Presidency of Germany Minister Gertrud Sahler.
 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) will be held in Kunming, China during 17 - 30 May
2021.
 India and EURATOM of EU (European Atomic Energy Community) signed an agreement for
ensuring peaceful use of nuclear energy.
 India and EU have launched a high-level economic and investment dialogue, headed by
commerce minister Piyush Goyal and EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan, to discuss a
bilateral trade and investment pact.
 EU-India Cooperation and Dialogue on Migration and Mobility was launched in 2017 till
August 2020 to better governance of migration and mobility between the EU and India.

82. Atal Innovation Mission of Niti Aayog has concluded the “Demo Days” initiative to identify
startups that can produce innovative solutions to combat Covid-19.
• Under the initiative, the identified startups will be given funding and assistance for
developing innovative solutions.
• Partners in this initiative – Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC),
Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), AGNi,
Startup India.

83. 5th Edition of the Conference on Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing Technologies
was held in New Delhi.
• Theme – Empowering India with ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Mission’.
• Targets – to increase domestic defence production to $26 billion by 2025 and $70 billion by
2030.
• Organizers – Tamil Nadu Technology Development and Promotion Centre, Society of
Indian Defence Manufacturers and Confederation of Indian Industry.
 • Defence corridors – There are two defence corridors in India – one in Tamil Nadu and
another in Uttar Pradesh.
• Defence sector has grown at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 9.7% from 2008 to 2016.

84. India and Bhutan have opened a new trade route between Jaigaon in West Bengal and
Ahlay, Pasakha in Bhutan.

85. India has signed agreements with France, US, UK, UAE, and Germany to set up air bubble
with them.
• Air Bubble – An air bubble is a bilateral arrangement between two countries under which
airlines from both countries can operate international flights with a set of regulations and
restrictions.

86. Government has launched the implementation guidelines for Animal Husbandry
Infrastructure Development Fund (AHID).
• India is producing milk of 188 million tonnes and by 2024 the milk production is expected to
rise up to 330 million tons.
• Only 20 to 25% milk is coming under processing sector and Government is trying to bring
the same up to 40%.

87. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by Congress leader Anand
Sharma, has recommended the Centre govt to set up a national database of migrant
workers to extend social security cover to them comprehensively.

88. India's first trans-shipment hub named as “Vallarpadam Terminal” or “Kochi International
Container Trans-shipment Terminal (ICTT)” has been established at Cochin Port, Kerala.
• Trans-shipment Hub is the terminal at the port which handles containers, stores them
temporarily and transfers them to other ships for the onward destination.

89. Indian Railways has announced to introduce the first passenger train to be run by private
train operator by 2023-24 and all such 151 trains by 2027.
 • All high density and high utilization network of 34,462 km (carrying 96% of the traffic)
will be doubled and electrified by 2024.
• Railways will spend ₹13 trillion on infrastructure in the next five years. It will also run all
passenger trains at the speed of 160 km per hour by 2025.

90. First container ship (carrying steel and pulses) from Kolkata to Agartala (Tripura’s capital)
through Chattogram Port of Bangladesh was flagged off.
• This has been done under the Agreement on use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports for
movement of India's transit cargo through Bangladesh.
• It will reduce time taken for transportation of goods to Northeast in India and create jobs
and improve logistic sector in Bangladesh.

91. During the meeting of Sustainable Growth Pillar –an integral part of the India-US Strategic
Energy Partnership co-chaired by NITI Aayog and USAID– an India Energy Modelling
Forum was launched.
• SG pillar focuses on three key activities i.e., energy data management, energy modelling
and collaboration on low carbon technologies.
• Aim - To examine the important energy and environmental related issues, and facilitate
exchange of ideas. So that, the govt can take informed decision in the nick of time.
• Niti Aayog will initially coordinate the activities of the forum and finalize its governing
structure.

92. World Bank has submitted its report on Health, Nutrition and Population to the 15th Finance
Commission of India (chaired by NK Singh).
• India’s health spending is 1% of its GDP which is one of the lowest in the world.
• High level expenditure is being incurred on health by individuals.
• 95,000 additional TB deaths over the next five years are estimated due to the collateral
effects of Covid-19.
• International Monetary Fund Data estimates India’s per capita GDP to fall by 6%
besides a revenue contraction of about 2% of GDP.
 • For the first time, the finance commission will devote an entire chapter on health financing
in its final report.

93. National Institutes of Design (NID) have entered into the Anabin database of Germany
which makes it easier for the students of NID to get work permits in Germany.
• Anabin database is the central database of Germany that keeps all records of foreign
qualifications to ensure that foreign students seeking work in Germany are at par with
German residents in excellence.
• Anabin database is operated by Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) – Germany’s
sole authority for the evaluation of foreign qualifications.

94. UNICEF India has partnered with SAP India to provide career counselling to young people
to improve their employability skills.
• UNICEF is collaborating with YuWaah (Generation Unlimited) under this initiative to
provide digital education and occupational skillset to the underserved young people.
• The partnership aims to impact 1 million young people by 2022.
• YuWaah was launched in 2019 by Ministry of Women and Child Development and UNICEF.

95. Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) has released a
report titled ‘Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients- Status, Issues, Technology Readiness,
and Challenges’. Prominent Recommendations: -
• Boost API production in India by setting up mega drug manufacturing clusters with common
infrastructure in India.
• Build a Technology platform for bio-catalysis to reduce cost at large scale and invest in
the fermentation sector of large capacity.
• Develop infrastructure for manufacturing of antiviral drugs - Thymidine, Cytosine, Adenine
and Guanine - none of which are manufactured in India because of lack of
manufacturing plants.
Key Terms:
 A) Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients – Most important raw material used in
manufacturing of drugs/medicines.
B) Bio-catalysis – The process of catalysing (speeding up) a chemical
reaction by using biological sources.
Plain Facts:
a) India’s Pharmaceutical Industry is the 3rd largest in the world, in terms of
volume, behind China and Italy, and 14th largest in terms of value.
b) To boost Pharma sector in India, Scheme on Promotion of Bulk Drug
Parks and Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and Scheme to promote
domestic manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials/Drug
Intermediates and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients were launched in
2020.

96. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar
Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) App to provide a digital interface to lending institutions for executing the
scheme.
• The app will help lenders in processing of loan applications, conducting e-KYC, monitoring
the implementation of the scheme in real-time.

97. J&K administration approved the “J&K Housing, Affordable Housing, Slum
Redevelopment and Rehabilitation and Township Policy, 2020”.
• The policy aims to provide rental housing, affordable housing to the people of J&K, and
conduct slum redevelopment and rehabilitation work.
• The policy has set an initial target of constructing 1 lakh housing units over the next 5
years.

98. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has announced to provide pension to the members of
transgender community under the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY).
• The scheme (launched in 2008) aims at providing financial assistance to the destitute
elderly, differently-abled persons and widows.
 • Around 5,000 transgenders will get a monthly pension in between Rs 500 and Rs 900
depending on their age.
• The govt will also give one-time additional assistance of Rs 1,000 to each of 48 lakh
existing beneficiaries under the MBPY scheme in view of the COVID-19 crisis.

99. IIT-Kharagpur, in collaboration with Ministry of Earth Sciences, has launched two projects -
‘Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa’ and ‘Forecasting Agricultural output using Space,
Agrometeorology and Land- based observations’ - to provide weather information to
farmers to improve their output.
• The institute, in collaboration with the India Meteorological Department, is already
providing agro-advisory to cultivators to improve their production in different weather
conditions.
100. Maharashtra becomes the first state in the country to use drones for aerial surveillance
and inspection of power transmission lines and towers.

101. Telangana Police launched a month-long virtual awareness campaign 'CybHER' to create
awareness about cybercrime against women and children in the state.
• For this, the police has partnered with the legal aid cell of Symbiosis Law College.
• Other initiatives – the state had earlier launched “SHE Teams” to handle eve-teasing
cases and 'Bharosa' centre for assisting women to deal with legal matters and to provide
shelter to victims of trafficking.

102. DRDO has developed P7 Heavy Drop System which is capable of para dropping military
stores up to 7-ton from IL 76 aircraft.
• The system has been manufactured by L&T. Parachutes were developed by Ordnance
Factory.

103. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has partnered with IBM to integrate
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the high school curriculum for Grade XI and XII for the current
academic year (2020 – 2021).
 • IBM co-developed the AI curriculum with Macquarie University of Australia and Learning
Links Foundation and 1M1B of India to fulfil the requirements of CBSE.

104. Special bulletin on Maternal Mortality in India 2016-18 was recently released by the
Office of the Registrar General’s Sample Registration System (SRS).
• MMR in India has declined to 113 in 2016-18 from 122 in 2015-17 and 130 in 2014-2016.
• 5 states with High MMR – Assam (215), Bihar (149), Madhya Pradesh (173), Chhattisgarh
(159), Odisha (150).
• 5 states with Low MMR – Andhra Pradesh (65), Telangana (63), Karnataka (92), Kerala
(43) and Tamil Nadu (60).
• Global target - The target 3.1 of SDG aims to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio
(MMR) to less than 70 per 1,00,000 live births.

105. Indian Navy and US Navy have conducted Passage exercise (PASSEX) off the coast of
Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
• US’s nuclear-powered ship USS Nimitz — the world’s largest warship — participated in
it. It is named after US World War II commander Chester W. Nimitz.
106. During the 2nd ministerial meeting of the U.S.-India Strategic Energy Partnership
organized by US-India Business Council, India and US have signed an MoU for
collaborating on India’s first-ever Solar Decathlon (means a competition) in 2021.
• Solar Decathlon is a competition for college level students to innovate on the high level
design and high efficiency buildings powered by renewables.
List of MoU signed:
a) EESL, NTPC, and USAID MoU for retrofitting (improve) of buildings to improve indoor
air quality, safety, and efficiency.
o EESL and USAID launched “Retrofit of Air Conditioning to Improve Air Quality
for Safety and Efficiency” (RAISE) initiative for developing efficient and healthy
buildings.
b) USAID announced partnership with Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO)
to develop India’s National Open Access Registry (NOAR).
c) Both countries launched a public-private Hydrogen Task Force to produce hydrogen
from renewable energy and fossil fuel sources.
o It will reduce the cost of deployment for enhanced energy security and improve
resiliency.
d) Statement of Intent was signed between the U.S. Department of State and India’s
Ministry of Power under the Flexible Resources Initiative of the U.S.-India Clean
Energy Finance Task Force to enhance the flexibility and robustness of India's
electricity grid.
o Both countries will collaborate in improving India’s transition to renewable energy.
e) U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has funded projects to implement
virtual pipeline infrastructure with Arush Gas Technology Services (AGTS) and
projects to improve carbon capture and utilization technologies in refineries with Indian
Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).
f) U.S.-India Gas Task Force was established in 2018. During this SEP, various MoU
were signed.
o US’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and India’s Petroleum Natural
Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) MoU – on information exchange in oil & gas
regulatory frameworks.
 o MOU between Bloom Energy and Indian Oil on fuel cell technology.
o Letter of Cooperation among ExxonMobil, Chart Industries IOCL for enhancing
demand of LNG through a virtual pipeline network and manufacturing and using
ISO containers in India.
o MOU between Agility Fuel Solutions LLC and Indrapastha Gas Limited (IGL) to
explore the viability, usefulness, and feasibility of advanced clean fuel systems
including Type IV cylinders in India.
o MOU between Gasway USA, Inc. and Indrapastha Gas Limited (IGL) to explore the
feasibility of a pilot virtual gas pipeline project.
o ExxonMobil and GAIL have made significant progress on the MOU they signed in
2019 to enhance India’s natural gas access and aim to increase use of LNG as fuel
in heavy commercial vehicles.
g) US Department of Commerce launched an Energy Industry Working Group for
India under the Asia EDGE initiative to facilitate private sector connections and ideas
for U.S.-India energy cooperation.
o Asia EDGE initiative was launched in 2018.
h) USAID launched the South Asia Women in Energy (SAWIE) platform to promote
gender equality in the power sector and in the technical sectors.
i) U.S. DOE National labs and the Indian National Institutes have collaborated under the
South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE – launched by USAID).
o To conduct joint research on development and deployment of advanced clean
technologies.
j) USAID and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation established a
new $25-million credit guarantee for India’s Small and Medium Enterprise sector to
deploy rooftop solar power plants.
k) They agreed to collaborate on advanced high-efficiency coal technologies with low-
to-zero emissions.
o Both nations will focus on USDOE’s Coal FIRST (Flexible, Innovative, Resilient,
Small, Transformative) initiative to develop 21st Century coal energy systems.
107. Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), in collaboration with New Delhi Municipal
Council (NDMC), has established India’s first of its kind public EV Charging Plaza in
Central Delhi.
• Purpose: For enhancing energy efficiency and promoting e-mobility.
• This plaza will host 5 EV chargers of different specifications.
Difference between EV station and EV Plaza:-
Plaza includes two or more charging stations whereas a charging station is a
single physical object that might contain one or more than one charging ports.

108. Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar has launched a new scheme under the cooperative
department of the state will establish 2000 new retail outlets under the brand name “Harit”
to promote youth entrepreneurship.
• These outlets will have products from state's own brand Vita as well as items from other
states like dairy products, fruit juices, bottled water, items prepared from Self Help Groups
etc.

109. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has signed a memorandum of intent with
UNICEF’s YuWaah to mobilise 1 crore youth volunteers to achieve goals of Atmanirbhar
Bharat.
• Aim - to promote volunteerism among India’s youth.
• YuWaah (Generation Unlimited) platform was signed in November 2019 by UNICEF to
promote skilling among youth (aged 10-24).

110. Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has come into force on 20th July 2020.
• The Bill will replace the earlier Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Highlights:

I) Establishment of the o Aim - to promote, protect and enforce the rights of

Central Consumer consumers.
Protection Authority o Ensure consumer welfare, redress their complaints and
(CCPA) fair advertisement practises in trade.

II) Consumer Protection (E-
commerce) Rules, 2020
III) Concept of product For any claim for compensation, following three will be liable.
liability
manufacturer
IV) Alternate Dispute
Resolution mechanism of
Mediation
V) Central Consumer
Protection Council
VI) Punishment
VII) Consumer protection
act 1986 V/s Consumer See the picture below carefully.
protection act 2019
o Penalize the violators of the Act.
o These rules fall under the Act. They are mandatory
and not advisories.
o e-commerce entities (e-tailers) will have to provide
every detail relating to return, refund, exchange,
warranty and guarantee, security of payment methods,
charge-back options and so on, including country of
origin of products.
o Redress the complaint of consumers efficiently.
Product Product service
product seller
provider
o It will simplify the adjudication process.
o There will be no appeal against settlement through
mediation.
o Simplify the consumer dispute adjudication process.
o It will be an advisory body on consumer issues.
o It will have a three-year tenure.
o License will be suspended for 2 years on first
conviction and will be cancelled permanently on
second conviction.
o In case of injury: Fine up to Rs 5 lakh along with up to
seven years imprisonment.
o In case of death: Minimum fine of Rs 10 lakh and
seven years in prison, extendable to life imprisonment.
o Time consumption will be less.
111. Indian Navy will get the twin-engine aircraft carrier-based fighter aircraft by 2032 which
will replace Russian MiG-29K carrier jets in service.
• Manufactured by - Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL)
• Navy currently operates Russian-origin carrier INS Vikramaditya and expects to have the
first indigenous aircraft-carrier INS Vikrant operational by 2022.
• DRDO has offered to develop twin-engine deck-based fighter Jet for the Navy by 2026.

112. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has called for speedy settlement of claims under
the insurance scheme announced for frontline healthcare workers under the Pradhan Mantri
Garib Kalyan Insurance scheme.
• Amount – Rs 50 lakh in case of death
• Tenure – Applicable till September 2020
 • **Financing Agency – National Disaster Response Force (new point)
• Scheme launched – March 2020
• Beneficiaries - safai karamcharis, ASHA workers, nurses, ward boys, paramedics,
technicians, doctors and specialists, besides other health workers, in case of loss of life on
account of contracting covid-19.

113. Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has launched ‘Navin Rojgar Chhatri Yojana’ for an
all-round development of the Scheduled Castes.

114. Zoram Mega Food Park – first Mega Food Park of Mizoram – was inaugurated in
Khamrang village in Kolasib District, Mizoram.
• It was opened under the Mega Food Park Scheme (launched in 2008) of the Ministry of
Food Processing Industries.

115. Union Environment Minister Prakash Javdekar has appreciated the KURMA mobile
application as a unique tool for tracking and reporting Indian turtles.
• App developers - Indian Turtle Conservation Action Network (ITCAN) in collaboration with
the Turtle Survival Alliance-India and Wildlife Conservation Society-India launched the app
on World Turtle Day (on May 23).
• Theme of the World Turtle Day – Adopt, Don’t Shop.

116. Haryana Cabinet has introduced the ‘Samadhan se Vikas’– a one-time settlement
scheme modelled on central govt’s ‘Vivad se Vishwas 2020’ scheme – for the recovery of long-
pending dues of External Development Charges (EDC).
• Many of colonisers and builders, mostly in Gurgaon and Faridabad, are liable to pay the
state government over Rs 10,000 crore as EDC.
• Principal EDC amount, interest and penal interest will be taken care of in the scheme.

Different provisions (in case of payment made within 6 months from the date of
notification of this scheme)
 Provision 1 – full payment of o Govt will waive off the rest 75% interest.
principal amount and 25% of
interest and penal interest
Provision 2 – paid 50% principal, o Balance 50% interest will be waived off.
50% interest and penal interest o And, balance 50% of principal will be
recovered in four EMIs of 6 months each at
an interest rate of 8% p.a. (on delayed
period) and an additional 2% p.a. (on default
period).
Provision 3 – in case of non- o If the coloniser does not pay the rest 50% of
payment the principal (mentioned in Provision 2), the
deduction of 50% interest shall stand
annulled.
o He/she will have to then pay the entire
amount.
Note:
 External Development Charges are paid for the development of necessary
infrastructure around the houses (usually in a housing project). The actual
incidence of paying these charges is of the homebuyers.
 According to RERA Act 2016, external development works includes: roads and
road systems, landscaping, water supply, sewage and drainage systems, electricity
supply, transformer, sub-station, solid waste management and disposal or any
other work.

117. Rajasthan govt has launched the “One-Stop Shop” scheme to give all statutory
clearances to investors at one place and make the entire process of obtaining clearance
simple.
• According to the scheme, entrepreneurs investing above Rs 10 crore will get 98 types of
clearances at one place.
• The scheme will operate under the State’s Bureau of Investment Promotion.
 Learn Something More:
• ‘The Rajasthan Enterprises Single Window Enabling and Clearance Act,
2011’ was amended recently to form a Board of Investment under the
chairmanship of the Chief Minister to facilitate investment in the state.
• MSME (Facilitation of Establishment and Operation) Act, 2019 exempted
small industries in the state from securing the government’s clearances for
initial three years.
• Now, this “One-Stop Shop” scheme will make the process easier for all
investment proposals of MSMEs above ₹10 crore.

118. Rajya Sabha secretariat has launched “Shri Arun Jaitley Financial Assistance for
Group C Employees” – an Employees’ Welfare Scheme in the name of former Union finance
minister Arun Jaitley.
• Jaitley was also the head the Rajya Sabha.

119. Ministry of Civil Aviation has set up an Investment Clearance Cell (ICC), headed by
Amber Dubey (joint secretary in the aviation ministry).
• Aim – It is a single-window for obtaining clearances for various investment proposals in the
domestic aviation industry.

120. India and the United States have announced to collaborate on research on
transformational power generation and advanced coal technologies, including carbon
capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS).
• Both nations have decided to collaborate on Clean Coal Technologies, Supercritical Carbon
Dioxide (sCO2) Power Cycles and Carbon Capture Utilisation & Storage (CCUS)
technologies.
• India and US have been collaborating on Programme for Accelerating Clean Energy –
Research (PACE-R).
• India and US have also collaborated for Accelerating CCUS Technologies (ACT)
platform.
121. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has suggested certain
measures to boost defence sector of India as part of new industrial policy (which is in
progress).
• As part of 20-lakh crore stimulus package, FDI limit in defence sector through automatic
route will be raised to 74% from 49% to push 'Make-in-India' in defence sector.

Suggestions: freeze any new changes in defence procurement policy for 4-5 years to
provide confidence to industry for making long-term investment
decisions;

increase research and development activities in the defence sector

and involve private sector into it; give incentives to firms in this sector;

increase the period of performance for offsets to 10-12 years (as

against the 2 years after fulfilling terms of contract in present
scenario);

An offset agreement is one where the exporting country (company)

agrees to generate the economic value equivalent to the amount
agreed in the contract in the importing country.

This new industrial policy aims to boost manufacturing of large

platforms and complex systems which are currently imported.

122. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has approved the 'Mukhya Mantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana'
to deliver the ration from PDS shops to the residences of beneficiaries.
• The scheme will be launched in 6-7 months. The day, this scheme will be launched,
Centre’s One Nation One Ration Card will be implemented in the UT.

123. India has revived discussion about the Preferential Trade Agreement with South African
Customs Union [comprising South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini].
 • In 2019-20, the total trade between India and Africa was $66.7 billion, out of which $10.9
billion was between India-SACU.

124. India is looking to procure four more P-8I multi-mission aircraft from the US in 2021.
These P-8I (where ‘I’ stands for India) is used for maritime patrolling by Indian Navy.
• India is also planning to buy six more long-range anti-submarine aircraft from Boeing in
2021.

125. US- India Business Council will host the India Ideas Summit 2020 on July 22.
• Theme - Building a Better Future

126. India successfully tested helicopter-launched Nag missile (HeliNa), renamed as

Dhruvastra, from a defence base off Odisha coast.
• Developed by – Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
• The missile HeliNa has been named after the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv,
which will be equipped with the missile.
• Eight missiles can be integrated with the helicopter (with four twin launchers) that is
specially designed for the weapon.

127. Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar has launched the e-Sachivalaya portal to provide govt
services to people in a transparent and effortless manner through digital technology.
• Citizens can take prior appointments of the secretariat through this portal as well as through
Atal Seva Kendras (rural) and Saral and Antyodaya Kendras (cities).
• Also, Haryana Udhyam Memorandum Portal was launched by the state govt to help
MSMEs.

128. DRDO’s lab – Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (Chandigarh) – has developed
the world’s most agile and lightest surveillance drone name “Bharat”.
129. Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy R K Singh has declared that India is
likely to have 510 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, which includes 60 GW of
hydro power.
• It was declared during a webinar organised by The Energy Resource Institute (TERI).
• He also proclaimed that India’s clean energy capacity including under development
projects and hydro-electric power is around 190 GW, which is more than the target of 175
GW by 2022.
• India will have 60% of its installed electricity generation capacity from clean sources by
2030.
• World Sustainable Development Summit 2021 will be held in New Delhi under the
theme of ‘Redefining Our Common Future: Safe and Secure Environment for All'.
o WSDS is the annual flagship event of TERI. 2021 will be the 20th anniversary of
WSDS.
o TERI has launched “Youth Unite for a Safe and Secure Environment” initiative
to encourage youth to participate in climate protection programs.
• During the webinar, he released two books prepared by Energy Transitions Commission
(ETC) India (based at TERI’s headquarters in New Delhi).

‘Renewable Power Pathways: Modelling the Integration of

Wind and Solar in India by 2030’

‘Bending the Curve: 2025 Forecasts for Electricity Demand by

Sector and State in the Light of the COVID Epidemic’.

130. Manipur Water Supply Project is being developed under the Jal Jeevan Mission to
provide Freshwater Household Tap connections (FHTCs) to the rural households of Manipur.
• Funding Agency – New Development Bank (Shanghai, China)
• Budget – Rs 3000 crore approx.
• 2024 – Year by which Jal Jeevan Mission aims to provide FHTC to all rural households of
the country.
131. India and Israel have partnered to develop rapid Covid-19 testing technology.
• Israel’s team of defence scientists and health experts, led by Ron Malka (Israeli
ambassador to India), have reached New Delhi to test the technology, which can provide
results in 30 seconds (as Israel claims).
• Indian scientists were led by K Vijayraghavan (principal scientific advisor to the PM), and
experts from the DRDO.

132. Karnataka Cabinet has approved the formation of Karnataka Digital Economy Mission
(company) under the Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013.
• Aim- to promote startups, e-commerce and gig economy companies in the state.
• Karnataka govt will hold 49% stake and the balance 51% will be held by the industries and
other stakeholders.
• Karnataka is the first State to form a company under Sec 8 which is led by industrialists.

133. Digiantra Research and Technology (a space tech startup) has developed India's first
In-orbit Space Debris Monitoring and tracking system based on the LIDAR (Light Detection
and Ranging) technology.
• Purpose: To deploy a constellation of cost-efficient nanosatellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
for tracking aircrafts and space objects.
• LIDAR is a method of measuring distances with the help of laser light.

The startup was founded by Anirudh Sharma (also the CEO) & Rahul Rawat in 2018.
Digantara is India’s first air and space surveillance company.

134. Ministry of HRD has conducted the first-ever Indian Scholastic Assessment (IND-SAT)
Test 2020 under its ‘Study in India’ programme.
• Purpose: to allow foreign students to study in Indian universities under different streams.
• Study in India is a programme of MHRD under which foreign students come to study in
116 select higher education institutions in India for UG/PG programmes.
135. Shri Arjun Munda, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs has inaugurated an e-Symposium
on Handicrafts titled “Emergent North-East India: Strategic and Developmental
Imperatives in Handicrafts”.
• Organizer - Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy Research and Analysis, IIM-Shillong.
• This is part of the e-Symposia Series initiated by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Centre for Policy
Research and Analysis, IIM Shillong.

136. Bombay Flying Club (Mumbai) has become the India’s first DGCA-approved drone
training school.
Fun Fact:
• Father of Indian aviation J R D Tata received his pilot licence (which was
India’s first pilot license) in February 1929 from this club only.

137. Guwahati in Assam has got Northeast’s first manhole cleaning robot named
BANDICOOT which has been developed by Genrobotics startup with the help of funding from
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL).
• Guwahati is the third city in the entire country to procure this innovative technology to clean
manholes after Gurugram and Coimbatore.

138. Kerala has launched the 'Chief Minister's Entrepreneurship Development Programme’
to facilitate working capital and ensure availability of credit to start-ups and small
entrepreneurs.

139. Punjab Cabinet has approved a $285.71 million project for developing canal-based water
supply project for Amritsar and Ludhiana.
• Financing Agency - World Bank will give $200 million for this project. Punjab Government
will fund $85.71 million.
• The project will be developed under the Punjab Municipal Services Improvement
Project.
Another Decision:
 Amendment To The Land Pooling Policy:
• Punjab cabinet approved the amendment to the land pooling policy of the
state under the jurisdiction of Greater Mohali Area Development Authority
(GMADA).
• As per the new amendment, govt will give land for acquiring land in lieu of
cash. Basically, govt will compensate the landowners by offering them land
instead of cash.
• 1,000 square yards of developed residential plots and 200 square yards of
commercial plot, excluding parking, will be given in lieu of cash
compensation for every 1 acre of land to be acquired for the upcoming
Aerotropolis Residential Estate.
• This policy has also been extended to the industrial sector of the state.
• As per the new policy, the validity of the ‘Sahuliyat Certificate’ would be
counted from the date of allotment of plot to the land owner. Earlier, validity
was 2 years from the date of announcement of award.
• Sahuliyat Certificate is given to the land owners opting for land pooling
policy.

140. Minister of MSME, Nitin Gadkari, has launched RestartIndia – a mentoring platform – to
help MSMEs restart their business.
• The platform, conceptualized by Muthoot Fincorp and INKtalks, will provide information
about various govt schemes as well as address the queries of entrepreneurs with the help
of experts.

141. Indian Ministry of Science and Technology and European Union have jointly started the
‘SPRING’ project for purification of sewage water flowing into the Ganga and Godavari rivers.
• SPRING – which stands for Strategic Planning for Water Resources and Implementation of
Novel Biotechnical Treatment solutions and Good Practices – will run for 3 years starting
from June 2020.
• IIT- Banaras Hindu University will play an important role in developing a biotechnology-
based water treatment system for this project.
 • SPRING will apply geo-spatial analysis to identify the point and non-point sources of
pollution for the first time.

142. Adani Ports and Special economic Zone Limited (APSEZ) has become India’s first and
world’s 7th port to sign the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
• APSEZ has also signed commitment as a supporter to the Taskforce on Climate Related
Financial Disclosure (TCFD), which helps companies in disclosing climate-related
financial risks to their investors, lenders, insurers, and other stakeholders.
• A total of 16 Indian companies are supporting the TCFD out of which two are Adani Group’s
subsidiaries.
• Total 43 Indian companies (incl. APSEZ) have committed to SBTi.
Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)
 SBTi is a collaboration between CDP (earlier known as Carbon Disclosure
Project), UN Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and the
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
 Purpose: - It allows companies to set science-based emissions reduction
targets across their entire value chain.
o To keep global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

About Adani Group:

• APSEZ CEO – Karan Adani

• Adani group has also set a
goal to become the world’s
largest solar power
company by 2025 and the
world’s largest renewable
power company by 2030.

143. Indian Navy’s largest solar power plant (of 3 MW capacity) has been established at the
Indian Naval Academy (INA), Ezhimala, Kerala.
 • The project was executed by the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd.
• Another 2 MW Solar Power Plant has been inaugurated at Naval Station Karanja, Uran
(Maharashtra).

144. Ministry of Environment has launched the National Transit Pass System (NTPS) to
allow easy transit of forest produce such as bamboo and timber.
• Purpose: to facilitate ease of movement of goods.
• The transit pass will be provided digitally to expedite the whole process of transportation of
goods.
• It has been launched in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana on a pilot basis for now.

145. Haryana has organised a five-day Sub-Tropical Fruit Expo 2020 at the Indo-Israel
Centre of Excellence for subtropical fruits in Ladwa, Haryana.
• Aim: to provide a platform for farmers to learn the latest technologies in the field, especially
for the ‘Mera Pani - Meri Virasat’ crop diversification scheme of the State.
(Note: ‘Mera Pani - Meri Virasat’ is an important scheme and has come in the news frequently.
Read its details in June 2020 Spotlight.)

146. Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu has launched 'Macadamisation Program'
for the improvement of roads across Jammu and Kashmir.
• Macadamisation means to construct or pave (a road) with macadam (broken stone, asphalt
or hot tar).

147. Ministry of HRD has set up a committee, under the chairmanship of D. P. Singh
(Chairman of UGC), to form guidelines and suggest measures to ensure that more students
study in India.
• Also, the committee will ensure a smooth transition for students returning from abroad due
to COVID-19 situation.
• As per this government’s manifesto, the govt will increase seat capacity in all premier
institutions by 50% till 2024. Also, the number of Institutes of Eminence will be increased
to 50 by 2024.
148. A World Class State of Art Honey Testing Laboratory has been established at Anand in
Gujarat by National Dairy Development Board and National Bee Board.
• Purpose – to promote sweet revolution in the country.
• Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare has approved the National
Bee Keeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) for a period of 2 years between 2018-20.
• It is the first honey lab in India that is accredited by National Accreditation Board for
Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).

149. World’s first electrified rail tunnel that is fit to run double stack containers has been
constructed on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) near Sohna, Haryana.
• Developer - Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL).

150. India govt has amended the General Financial Rules 2017 to impose restrictions on
public procurement from countries which share a land border with India.
• From now onwards, every bidder from land-border sharing countries needs to be registered
with a Competent Authority in India.
• The Competent Authority for registration will be set up by the Department for Promotion
of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
• Political and security clearance from the Ministries of External and Home Affairs,
respectively, will be mandatory.

151. Indian government has sent $1 million worth of anti-tuberculosis medicine to North Korea
on the request of World Health Organization (WHO).
• The humanitarian grant has been given under the WHO’s anti-tuberculosis programme
in North Korea.

152. Department of Science and Technology (DST) has launched the India-Russia Joint
Technology Assessment and Accelerated Commercialization Programme.
 • Partners in the program – Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
(FICCI) and Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE) of the
Russian Federation.
• Purpose: to connect Indian and Russian SMEs and Start-ups (specialized in science and
technology) for joint research and development activities to encourage cross-country
technology adaptation.
• DST will provide funding up to Rs 15 crore to SMEs in India and FASIE will provide similar
funding to SMEs in Russia.
Know More:
 President Vladimir Putin will visit India in 2020 for the 21st India-Russia
Annual Summit.

153. Union Health Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan, has attended Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) Health Ministers’ meeting.
• He informed that India uses Arogya Setu application coupled with ITIHAS system to track
the spread of COVID-19 along with other measures.

154. Government has reduced the average time period for completion of houses under Pradhan
Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin to 114 days from 314 days earlier.
• PM Awas Yojana aims to provide housing to all by 2022.
• PMAY-G also helps poor people to get up to 90-95 days of work under Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Fun Fact:
 PMAY-G was earlier known as Indira Awas Yojana.

155. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has launched a job portal named "Rozgar Bazar" to revive the
economy.

156. Karnataka Cabinet has approved the new Industrial Policy for 2020-25 to facilitate
investments in the state and ease regulatory processes.
 • The policy will introduce significant fiscal, labour, and land reforms.
• The policy aims to promote Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as engines of economic growth.
Tier 1 cities Tier 2 cities Tier 3 cities
Developed cities Developing cities All cities except Tier 1
and 2 cities.

157. Karnataka Cabinet has approved the 'Industrial Disputes and Certain Other Laws
(Karnataka Amendment) Ordinance' 2020 to make amendments to certain labour laws.
• Industrial Disputes Act, 1947:- Factories with 300 workers are not required to take govt
permission for shut down, layoff, or retrench. Earlier, the number was 100 employees.
• Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970: - The number of worker threshold
has been increased from 10 to 20 in units that use power and from 20 to 50 in units that do
not use power, to function without government’s permission or inspections.
• Factories Act, 1948: - Under it, the limit on overtime per quarter has been increased to 125
hours instead of the existing 75 hours.
• Minimum Wages Act, 1948:- The wages will be linked to factors like inflation and the
consumer price index.

158. Air Force Commanders’ Conference (AFCC) was held at Air Headquarters (Vayu
Bhawan) in Delhi.
• Theme - ‘IAF in the Next Decade’

159. Government has capped the limit of import of crucial bulk drugs at 30% under the
production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme worth ₹6,940 crore.
• The scheme aims to reduce India’s dependence on Chinese imports of bulk drugs.
• The PLI scheme will boost the production of 41 critical bulk drugs.

160. Govt has formed a committee, under the chairmanship of P.D. Vaghela (Secretary,
Department of Pharmaceuticals), to form a new policy to boost research and development in
the field of novel drugs.
 • The committee will work on the new policy which will also look into measures to boost drug
discovery in India.

161. Draft of Personal Data Protection Bill 2018 was submitted to the Ministry of Electronics
and IT by Justice B. N. Srikrishna Committee.
• Recently, probe agencies such as National Investigation Agency (NIA) and National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB) have suggested that Section 35 and 36 of the bill should be
merged.
• Section 35, read along with 36, gives the union government the power to exempt any
government agency from provisions of the bill for a wide range of purposes.

Privacy Alert!!
• These two sections give unlimited power to the Centre and
impinge upon the privacy of citizens.

162. Central Govt plans to have one solar city in every state and UT to boost green energy as
well as increase demand for solar energy equipment.
• As part of the ‘Development of Solar City Programme’ of Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy, states and UTs have been asked to choose one city from a list of 60 cities.
• India has 34.6 GW of solar power and plans to achieve 100 GW solar capacity by 2022.

163. According to data released by air quality life index (AQLI), a tool developed by the
Energy Policy Institute of The University of Chicago (EPIC), air pollution reduces average
life expectancy in India by 5 years.
• A quarter of India’s population is exposed to pollution levels which is not seen in any
other country.
• Particulate pollution in India has increased by 42% in the last two decades and is the
greatest risk to human health in pre and post covid-19 era.
• A 25% nationwide reduction in pollution levels would increase India’s national life
expectancy by 1.6 years and by 3.1 years for Delhi residents.
 In 2019, the Centre had launched the National Clean Air
Programme (NCAP) to reduce particulate pollution by 20-
30% relative to 2017 levels by 2024.

164. Minister of Consumer Affairs, Ram Vilas Paswan, has launched ‘BIS-Care’ mobile app to
allow consumers to check the authenticity of ISI-marked and hallmarked products and also
lodge complaints.
• The mobile app 'BIS-Care' is operational in Hindi and English languages and it can be
operated on any Android phone.
• Apart from this, Consumer Affairs Minister also launched three portals of the Bureau of
Indian Standards (BIS) on standardisation, conformity assessment and training.
• Consumers and stakeholders can login through www.manakonline.in.

165. Union Home minister Amit Shah has distributed 100 electric potter wheels to 100
trained artisans of Gujarat under the 'Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana'.
• Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana has been launched by Khadi and Village Industries
Commission (KVIC) for empowerment of pottery community through technologies.
• The scheme is operational in many states such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, J&K, Haryana, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat,
Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Telangana and Bihar.

166. Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Shri DV Sadananda Gowda, has
launched four schemes of Department of Pharmaceuticals for promotion of domestic
manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices parks in India.
• The minister also launched guidelines for implementing the schemes.
• India is often referred to as ‘the pharmacy of the world’.
• Similarly in medical devices sector, India is dependent on imports for 86% of its
requirements of medical devices.
 Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for promoting domestic
manufacturing of Medical Devices

• Aim - to boost domestic manufacturing of medical devices in four target

segments by giving financial incentives on sales to a maximum number of
28 selected applicants for a period of 5 years.
• Incentive rate – 5% of the sales of domestically manufactured medical
devices w.e.f., FY 2021-22.
• Eligibility - Any company with a minimum net worth of Rs.18 crore can
apply for incentives under the scheme.

Note: These schemes were originally announced and approved in March 2020.

167. Central govt, in collaboration with the World Bank, has decided to convert large area of
ravines in Gwalior-Chambal belt of Madhya Pradesh into arable (cultivable) land.

168. Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) launched ‘Dare to Dream
2.0’ contest on the fifth death anniversary of former president and missile man of India, APJ
Abdul Kalam.
• Aim - to promote the innovators and startups of the country in aerospace technology.
• Award money, up to Rs 10 lakh for startup and Rs 5 lakh to the winner from the individual
category, will be given.
169. As per a report published in Indian Journal of Medical Research journal by ICMR-
National Institute of Medical Statistics and the National AIDS Control Organization under
the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India would miss its target of eliminating AIDS by
2030.
• The decline in annual new HIV infections was only 27% from 2010 to 2017 against a
national target of a 75% decline by 2020.
• The national adult prevalence of HIV was estimated to be 0.22% in 2017. Mizoram,
Manipur and Nagaland had the highest prevalence of over 1%.
• An estimated 2.1 million people were living with the HIV, in 2017, with Maharashtra having
the highest number followed by Andhra Pradesh.
• Telangana had the largest share of the 88,000 annual new HIV infections nationally in
2017.

170. Ministry of Earth Sciences has launched “Mausam” mobile app to provide city-wise
weather forecasts and warnings.
• Developed by – International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT),
Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), and Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM-
Pune).
• “Mausam Application” will issue colour coded alerts (red, orange and yellow) twice a
day up to five days to warn people.

171. Mizoram has launched Green-Ag project, funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF),
for sustainable transformation of agriculture in the state.
• Mizoram is among the five states where the project is being implemented. The other states
are Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
• The project will be implemented in Dampa Tiger Reserve and Thorangtlang Wildlife
Sanctuary of the state which covers more than 30 villages.
• India is a donor as well as a receiver of GEF fund.
 • It was • It provides • It funds 5 major • GEF projects

Global Environment Facility

Global Environment Facility

Global Environment Facility

Global Environment Facility

established on grants to almost conventions: address six
the eve of the 183 developing • the Minamata designated focal
1992 Rio Earth countries for Convention on areas:
Summit. environment Mercury, the • Biodiversity,
projects Stockholm Climate Change,
through its GEF Convention on International
Trust Fund. Persistent Organic Waters, Ozone
Pollutants (POPs), the Depletion, Land
UN Convention on Degradation
Biological Diversity, and Persistent
the UN Convention to Organic
Combat Pollutants.
Desertification and
the UN Framework
Convention on
Climate Change.

172. Bijapur district (Chhattisgarh) has topped the list of aspirational districts in the delta
rankings of February-June 2020 period as per the NITI Aayog.
• Ri-Bhoi (Meghalaya) and Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh) are at second and third positions
respectively.
• NITI Aayog launched the aspirational districts programme (in 2018) to transform under-
developed districts.
• Parameters of the rankings of over 112 aspirational districts:-

Agriculture
Health And
Education And Water
Nutrition
Resources

Financial Skill Basic

Inclusion Development Infrastructure

173. Ministry of Human Resource Development has been renamed as the Ministry of
Education.
• Union Cabinet has approved the new National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.
• NEP was prepared by Dr K Kasturirangan Committee.
 • NEP proposed to set up National Assessment Centre named as PARAKH as a standard-
setting body for setting norms, standards, and guidelines for student assessment and
evaluation for all recognized school boards.
• Full form of PARAKH – Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for
Holistic Development.
(Note: The complete policy has been discussed comprehensively in the link –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1Qlft467nk)

174. Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar has
released the detailed Status of Tigers Report 2018 on the eve of Global Tiger Day.
• Tigers were observed to be increasing at a rate of 6% per annum in India from 2006 to
2018.
• In 1973, Project Tiger started with nine tiger reserves which has gone up to 50 tiger
reserves in India.
• 70% of the world’s tigers population is currently in India.
• Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Karnataka witnessed a rise in tiger population.
• North-eastern parts of India, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha have seen loss in the
number of tigers.

175. Ministry of Environment released ‘Status of Tigers Co-predators and Prey in India’ on
the eve of Global Tiger Day.
• Corbett Tiger Reserve of Uttarakhand has recorded the highest tiger population (at 231)
amongst 50 tiger reserves in India.
• The CTR (Click-Through Rate) has 14 tigers per 100 square km which is highest in India.
• As per the All India Tiger Estimation Report 2018 (released in July 2019), there are 442
tigers in Uttarakhand.
Rank Reserves Tiger Density
2nd Nagarhole Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) 127
3rd Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) 126
4th Bandhavgarh National park (M.P.) & 104
 Kaziranga National park (Assam)
(Note: Uttarakhand has two tiger reserves- Corbett and Rajaji.)
176. United Nations has released “Report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions
Monitoring Team concerning ISIS”.
• The report mentions that there is a significant increase in ISIS terrorists in Kerala and
Karnataka.
• Operation Pigeon was launched in Kerala in 2016 to protect youth from involving in ISIS
activities.

177. TRIFED has partnered with IIT-Delhi to boost livelihood opportunities and income
generation for tribal communities under the ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’ (UBA).
• Benefits – this partnership enables tribal entrepreneurs to get access to the expertise of
research institutions under the UBA, as part of the TRIFED’s ‘Van Dhan’ programme.
• TRIFED stands for Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India.
• This partnership will receive help from Vijnana Bharti (Vibha) initiative.

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MoU)

1. Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and UK India Business Council

(UKIBC) have signed an MoU to strengthen the investment ecosystem and improve the
business environment of the state.
• It will help strengthen the state’s collaboration with British business.

2. India and Afghanistan have signed five MoU for the development of educational
infrastructure in four Afghan provinces namely Nooristan, Farah, Badakhshan and Kapisa.
• These MoU have been signed under the High Impact Community Development Projects
(HICDP) which is implemented by India in Afghanistan.
3. National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) and ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic
Resources (NBPGR) have signed an MoU to conserve the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants
Genetic Resources.
• On behalf of the ICAR, NMPB and ICAR-NBPGR would develop detailed modalities for
seed storage of these resources.

4. Indian and Indonesian Coast Guards have signed an MoU for cooperation in the domains of
maritime law enforcement, maritime search and rescue and marine pollution response.

5. Flipkart has signed an MoU with Karnataka govt to promote local art, craft and handlooms
under its Samarth programme.
• Famous Karnataka brands such as Cauvery and Priyadarshini Handlooms will join the
Samarth program.

6. Jharkhand government has signed a MoU with HDFC Bank to offer digital payment solutions
to traffic violators.

7. National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) has signed an MoU with National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB) to access the centralised online database on FIRs and stolen vehicles.
• The MoU will give NATGRID access to the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and
Systems (CCTNS) database, a platform that links around 14,000 police stations.

8. India and Israel have signed an agreement to further expand collaboration in dealing with
cyber threats amid increasing digitisation due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Parties to the MoU – Indian Computer Emergency Response Team and Israel’s National
Cyber Directorate.

9. India has signed an MoU with US during the US-India Strategic Energy Partnership
Ministerial meeting in the field of petroleum.
• Purpose: India aims to store crude oil in America to increase India’s oil stockpile in the
wake of decreasing crude prices.
10. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has signed an MoU with the Ministry of MSME for
sharing data on income tax returns filed by micro and small enterprises.
• Purpose: to ensure that MSMEs do not misuse the concessions given by the government
and also classify them in the MSME category as per the new criteria notified by the
government.

11. Punjab government has signed an MoU with IIT-Ropar for facilitating Skill Development in
Chandigarh.
• As part of the MoU, the IIT-Ropar will impart skill development to various govt colleges.

12. Andhra Pradesh govt signed an MoU with AMUL company to empower women self-help
groups by encouraging milk cooperatives in government sector.

13. Green Energy Development Corporation of Odisha Limited (GEDCOL) and the National
Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) have signed an MoU to form a joint venture
company.
• Purpose: to develop floating solar power projects with a total capacity of 500 MW.
• The project will be implemented under Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Power Parks
scheme of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• The first phase of the project is likely to be commissioned by March, 2022.
Learn Something More:
 This MoU will help the state in achieving its targets set under the Odisha
Renewable Energy Policy, 2016 for setting up 2,200 MW solar and 550 MW
non-solar renewable projects by 2022.

14. UK India Business Council signed an MoU with Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb) of
Gujarat to boost business and industrial development in the state.
• The MoU will also enhance the state’s relations with UK industries.
15. Union Cabinet has given its approval to an ex-post facto agreement between India and
Zimbabwe for cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine and homeopathy.
• The MoU was signed on November 3, 2018.

16. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan of IIT-Delhi
and Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) have signed a tripartite MoU.
• Purpose: to collaborate for rural development of India through CSIR technologies.
• The MoU will ensure effective coordination between CSIR, IIT Delhi, and Vijnana Bharti
(Vibha) towards meeting the objectives of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (2014):
It is a flagship national program of HRD
Ministry to strengthen rural
development processes with the help of
knowledge institutions.
VIBHA (1991):
It was started in 1991 on a national level
to promote Swadeshi Science Movement
that aims to encourage science with a
Swadeshi spirit for development of India.
The movement was founded by IISc-
Bangalore's scientists.

17. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and SEBI have signed an MoU for data exchange
between the two organizations on an automatic and regular basis.

18. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has signed an MoU with IIT Alumni Council (largest global
body of IIT students, faculty, and alumni) to facilitate listing of SMEs and startups.
• Function: reduce listing time, complexity and cost for SMEs and startups by easing out the
documentation processes; and attract investments for them.
• Category 1 merchant banks will be empanelled to help automate the listing process on
BSE Startup platform.

19. Airports Authority of India has signed an MoU with Bharat Electronics Ltd to grab the
emerging global opportunities in the airport business, including those in the Asia-Pacific
region.
20. NTPC Ltd (largest power generation company in India) has signed an MoU with National
Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) to explore opportunities for investments in areas
like renewable energy and power distribution in India.
• NIIF Master Fund is the largest infrastructure fund in the country and invests in core
infrastructure sectors such as transportation and energy.

21. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has renewed its MoU with the International Energy
Agency (IEA) for enhancing the resilience of the energy sector in Asia-Pacific region during
first-ever IEA's Clean Energy Transitions Summit 2020.
• This MoU was first signed in March 2017 for three-years to advance clean energy
development in ADB's developing member countries.
• Last month, ADB's 15th Asia Clean Energy Forum 2020 was also held.
• Under Strategy 2030, ADB aims to give $80 billion from its own resources by 2030 and for
at least 75% of its country operations to feature climate adaptation and mitigation initiatives.

First-ever IEA's Clean Energy Transitions Summit 2021 G7 President

2020 - United Kingdom
• chaired by IEA Executive Director Dr Fatih Birol. 2021 G20
President - Italy
• IEA’s Sustainable Recovery Plan, developed in
cooperation with the IMF, would boost global 2022 G20
economic growth by 1.1% per year, save or create 9 President - India
million jobs per year. (India will complete
• It would help in structural decline of CO2 75 years of
emissions. It would require an investment of $1 independence
trillion annually over the next three years. coinciding with its
presidency in the
G20 summit.)

22. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and
Customs (CBIC) have signed an MoU for data exchange between the two organisations on an
automatic and regular basis.
 • Also, a Data Exchange Steering Group has been set up to monitor the regular exchange
of data.

23. GAIL (India) has signed an MoU with Carbon Clean Solutions (CCSL) for exploring business
opportunities in Compressed Biogas (CBG) value chain in India.
• Through the MoU, CCSL will initially build four CBG plants using their own funding,
technology, and expertise with a 10-year CBG off-take agreement with GAIL.
• These plants will be in line with the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable
Transportation (SATAT) initiative of the Government.
New Term –
An offtake agreement is an arrangement between a producer and a buyer to
purchase or sell portions of the producer's upcoming goods.
 INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has released the State of the World Population
2020 report, titled ‘Against my will: defying the practices that harm women and girls and
undermine equality’.
Key Facts of the Report:
• Over a 5 year period (2013-17), annually, there were 1.2 million missing
female births, at a global level.
• Missing female births (term coined by Amartya Sen) refers to the number
of women missing from the population at given dates due to postnatal (after
World birth) and prenatal (before birth/foetus) sex selection.
• Female genital mutilation (FGM) – An estimated 4.1 million girls will be
subjected to female genital mutilation in 2020.
• Every day, around 33,000 girls under age 18 are forced into marriage,
usually to much older men.
• India has the highest rate of excess female deaths - EFM (deaths of girl
child due to avoidable reasons such as deliberate neglect of girls because
of a culture of son preference) at 13.5 per 1,000 female births; or one in
nine deaths of females below the age of 5 due to postnatal sex selection.
• 46 million out of the total 142 million missing female births both pre- and
post-natal, is from India. This means that one in three girls missing globally
India
due to sex selection is from India.
• In India, around 4,60,000 girls went missing at birth each year between
2013 and 2017.
• Rate of female foeticide was second highest in India (40%) preceded by
China (50%). Both of them account for around 90% of the estimated 1.2
million girls lost annually.
2. Uganda has become the first African country to submit the results for Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) to the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• Now, Uganda has become eligible to request funding from UN through the Green Climate
Fund’s forest conservation scheme.

3. New Zealand has announced to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s
summit 2021 in a virtual format (earlier, it was to be held in Auckland).
• Malaysia is hosting the virtual APEC meetings in 2020.

4. World Trade Organization (WTO) has agreed to set up an adjudication panel over India’s
customs duties on imports of certain information and communications technology (ICT)
products on the request of EU.
• China, the US, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Canada, Turkey, Korea, Brazil, Indonesia, Norway,
Singapore, Thailand, Russia and Pakistan reserved their third party rights to participate in
the proceedings.
• EU exports around 400 million euros of annual ICT products to India and increased import
duties will affect the exports and benefit China.

5. Every year on July 1st, the World Bank assigns the world’s economies to four income
groups—low, lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries – on the basis of
their GNI per capita in current USD (using the Atlas method exchange rates) of the previous
year.
• India is the lower-middle-income country.

Group July 1, 2020 (new) July 1, 2019 (old)

Upper-middle income 4,046 - 12,535 3,996 - 12,375
Lower-middle income 1,036 - 4,045 1,026 - 3,995
Low income < 1,036 < 1,026
High income > 12,535 > 12,375
Facts Only For Reference:
> The income classification of countries changes for two reasons:
o First - Change in the method of calculation of national income by the
country.
o Second - Due to the impact of inflation.
 o In 2020, the income threshold for classifying countries has been
increased.

6. UN General Assembly President, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, has launched an Alliance for

Poverty Eradication at the UN for Member States to raise awareness about the danger that
poverty poses to world peace, human rights and sustainable development.
• India has become a founding member of the alliance, which aims to boost global
economy in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

7. UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres has formed a scientific group ahead of the 2021 Global
Food Summit to offer scientific solutions to build more sustainable and resilient food systems.
• Chair of the group - Dr. Joachim von Braun (Bonn University Germany).
• Members from India - Rattan Lal (Prof of soil sciences at Ohio State University) and Dr.
Uma Lele (President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists; she is also
first woman to get a Ph.D. in agricultural economics by Cornell University).
• 2020 is the Decade of Action to deliver the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs).

8. UNCTAD has released the “COVID-19 and Tourism: Assessing the Economic
Consequences” report.
• World’s tourism sector could lose at least $1.2 trillion or 1.5% of the global GDP due to
Covid-19 pandemic.
• In the worst-affected countries, unemployment for unskilled workers could rise by up to
17%.
• In case of a 12-month break in international tourism, the losses to the world economy would
be $3.3 trillion or 4.2% of global GDP.
• Tourism is a backbone of many countries’ economies and a lifeline for millions of people
around the world, having more than tripled in value from $490 billion to $1.6 trillion in the
last 20 years.
 • UNCTAD therefore estimates that for every $1 million lost in international tourism revenue,
a country’s national income could decline by $2 million to $3 million.

9. NASA astronaut Bob Behnken has captured the images of the comet Neowise from
International Space Station (ISS) by using the Neowise space telescope.
• NEOWISE stands for Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.

10. 3rd edition of the Global E-waste Monitor 2020 report (released by UN & WHO along with
other organizers) has found that the world dumped a record 53.6 million tonnes (an average
of 7.3 kg per capita) of e-waste in 2019. Out of which just 17.4% was recycled.
• On average, the total weight (excluding photovoltaic panels) of global Electrical and
Electronic Equipment (EEE) consumption increases annually by 2.5 million metric tons
(Mt).
• China, with 10.1 million tonnes, was the biggest contributor to e-waste, and the USA
was second with 6.9 million tonnes. India, with 3.2 million tonnes, was third.
• Together these three countries accounted for nearly 38% of the world's e-waste last year.
• Although India is the only country in South Asia to draft legislation for e-waste, its
collection remains rudimentary (not systematic).
• 98 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents were released into the atmosphere as a result of
inadequate recycling of "undocumented" refrigerators and air conditioners.
11. Germany has become the first major economy that has declared to phase-out coal and
nuclear resources as an energy source.
• The country will phase out nuclear power by 2022.
• Germany Parliament has passed bills for shutting down the last coal-fired power plant by
2038 and spending some 40 billion euros to help affected regions cope with the transition.

12. WHO has verified that Maldives and Sri Lanka are the first two countries in South-East
Asia Region that have eliminated rubella and measles ahead of the 2023 target.
• In 2019, the 11 countries in WHO's South-East Asia region set 2023 as a target for the
elimination of measles and rubella.
• 11 countries are Bangladesh, Bhutan, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar,
North Korea, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
• According to WHO, till now, Bhutan, East Timor and North Korea have succeeded in
eliminating measles.
13. USA has notified United Nations of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization
amidst the raging coronavirus pandemic.
• In mid-April, USA has stopped funding WHO by accusing it of siding with China in the
matter of Covid-19 pandemic.

14. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) has released "Cancer preparedness in Asia-
Pacific: Progress towards universal cancer control" report, in association with Roche,
which examines the findings from the EIU's Index of Cancer Preparedness.
• Total – 10 Asia-Pacific countries were assessed which includes Australia, China, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
• India is at 8th position 51.6 out of 100, below the regional average of 66.5. India is followed
by Vietnam (44.5) and the Philippines (42.6).
• Top – Australia (92.4), South Korea (83.4) and Malaysia (80.3) were at top 3 ranks.
• Parameters – policy and planning, care delivery and health system and governance.

15. World’s emptiest airport – Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Sri Lanka – will not
be run by Indian govt in a joint venture, on the request of Sri Lanka govt.
• In 2018, India and Sri Lanka have agreed to run the airport in a joint venture.

16. China’s Kuaizhou-11 carrier rocket suffered a failure during its maiden flight.
• Kuaizhou, meaning fast ship in Chinese, is a low-cost solid-fuelled carrier rocket. The
rocket was designed to launch low-Earth and Sun-synchronous orbit satellites.
• China has also launched ‘APSTAR-6D’ communication satellite on Long March 3B rocket.

17. Newly-launched ‘Clean Air Counter’ has assessed the health and economic impacts of air
pollution in 28 major cities, out of which, Delhi has the highest burden of air pollution
induced economic impact (at 5.8% of Delhi’s annual GDP) followed by Beijing and Mumbai.
• The assessment is based on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. It was done for a
period of 1st Jan- 30th June, 2020.
 • Shanghai (China) has registered the highest number of deaths due to air pollution at
27,000 in the first half of 2020, followed by New Delhi with around 25,000 deaths.
• ₹26,230 crore is the total estimated cost of air pollution in New Delhi during the first half
of 2020.
• The tool was launched by Greenpeace South Asia, Centre For Research on Energy and
Clean Air (HQ- Finland’s Helsinki) and IQAir AirVisual.

18. According to the China Nuclear Energy Association, China will build six to eight nuclear
reactors in a year between 2020 and 2025 to raise the total nuclear power capacity to 200
GW by 2035.
• China's total installed nuclear capacity is expected to stand at 52 GW by the end of 2020,
falling short of a 58 GW target.

19. World Health Organization has launched an independent panel for Pandemic
Preparedness and Response, headed by former New Zealand PM Helen Clark and former
Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, to review its response to the pandemic.
• European Union has tabled the resolution calling for an “impartial, independent and
comprehensive evaluation”.

20. Israel has launched “Ofek 16” – a new spy satellite (reconnaissance satellite) – into orbit on
Shavit 2 rocket.

21. World Drug Report 2020 was released by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) on International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (June 26).
• According to the report, India was at 4th position in terms of opium seizures (4 tonnes),
preceded by Iran (644 tonnes), Afghanistan (27 tonnes), and Pakistan (19 tonnes) in
2018.
 • In terms of heroin seizure, India (with 1.3 tonnes) was at the 12th position in the world.
Again, Iran reported the highest seizure of heroin (25 tonnes), followed by Turkey, United
States, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• Opium is illicitly produced in about 50 countries. However, close to 97% of the total global
production of opium in the past fi71ve years came from only three countries. Out of this,
about 84% of the total opium was produced in Afghanistan.
• Global area under opium poppy cultivation declined for the second year in a row in 2019. It
went down by 17% in 2018 and by 30% in 2019.
• Opium (704 tonnes), followed by heroin (97 tonnes) and morphine (43 tonnes) account
for the largest quantity of opiates seized in 2018. Nonetheless, heroin remained the most
trafficked opiate in 2018.
• Asia was the largest producer (90%) and consumer (80%) of the opiates in 2019.

22. Cambridge University Press has released the Sustainable Development Report 2020
consisting of SDG Index and Dashboard 2020.
• Total – 166 countries
• Top – Sweden (score 84.7)
• Bottom – Central African Republic (score 38.5)
• India’s Rank – 117 (score 61.9)
• Parameters – performance on 17 SDG set by UN

23. “INFORM Report 2020: Shared evidence for managing crises and disasters” has been
released by INFORM - research centre operating under European Commission.
• It ranks countries on the basis of the degree of disasters and crises a country is facing.
Higher score means high risk.
• Total – 191
• Top – Somalia (score 8.9), Central African Republic (score 8.6), South Sudan & Yemen
(score 8.1)
• Bottom – Singapore (score 0.5) at 191st rank
• India’s rank – 31st (score 5.4)
 • Parameters:-

24. Jones Lang LaSalle’s (JLL) has released its biennial Global Real Estate Transparency
Index (GRETI) 2020.
• Total – 99 countries and territories, and 163 city regions
• Top – United Kingdom
• India’s rank – 34th
• Parameters – This latest survey has been extended to quantify 210 separate elements of
transparency, with additional coverage on sustainability and resilience, health and wellness,
prop-tech, and alternatives sectors.
• India’s real estate industry has registered one of the largest improvements globally and
regionally in the index because of Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016
and Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016.
25. World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has forecasted that at least one or more
months during the next five years will be 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial
levels in its Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update for 2020-24.
• As per the update, annual global temperature is likely to be at least 1˚ C warmer than pre-
industrial levels (average temperature of 1850-1900) in each of the coming five years and is
very likely to be within the range of 0.91 – 1.59˚ C.
• In 2020, the Arctic is also likely to have warmed by more than twice as much as the
global mean.
• In India, the average temperature observed a change of 0.7˚ C.
• Last year, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had, in its special report
“Global Warming of 1.5 Degrees”, mentioned that many regions, including India, will record
extreme temperatures; increase in heavy rainfall and droughts.

26. Iran has dropped India out of an agreement (signed in 2016) to develop a rail line from the
Chabahar port (in Iran) to Zahedan (in Iran along the border with Afghanistan), which will be
further extended to Zaranj (in Afghanistan).
• Reason – Iran cited the delay in receiving funds from India.
• Benefit – The infrastructure was being developed to ease the trade between India, Iran and
Afghanistan and also, extend it to Central Asia.
 • China’s role – Recently, China has finalized a $400 billion deal with Iran for developing the
port. After this, Iran decided not to wait for funds from India and start the construction on its
own. However, India could still join at a “later date.”

27. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has released its World Wildlife Crime
Report 2020 which highlights that illegal trade of wildlife increases the risk of zoonotic
diseases.
• Zoonotic diseases accounts for 75% of all emerging infectious diseases and include
SARS-CoV-2 that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Pangolin – Suspected source of Coronavirus; most trafficked animal in the world; seizures
of pangolin scales having increased tenfold between 2014 and 2018; China is the primary
exporter of pangolin followed by Vietnam.
• Nearly 6,000 species have been seized between 1999-2019 from almost 149 countries and
territories.
• Declining demand – ivory and rhino horn.
• Increasing demand – tropical hardwood timber, African rosewood, tiger products.
• The report highlighted the need for a strong international legal system to stop this illegal
wildlife trade.
• Tiger trade – India and Thailand are the two major sources of illegal trade of tiger parts
(accounting for almost 82% of the world trade in tiger parts between 2007-2018).
o India has the highest tiger population in the world (almost 70%).
o Thailand has one of the world’s biggest captive tiger populations and only fewer
than 200 tigers are reported to be living in the Wild in the country.
• Almost 18% of the identifiable traffickers belonged to India out of the total cases, preceded
by China (29%) at 1st position.
Fun Fact:
• This is the 2nd edition of the World Wildlife Crime Report.
• While the first Report in 2016 was UNODC’s initial global assessment of the
state of wildlife crime, this second edition is rather an evaluation of trends and
changes.
28. “State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020” report has been jointly released
by Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development,
UNICEF, UN World Food Programme and WHO.
• The report suggested many measures for policymakers to reduce the impact of hunger and
poverty such as: -
o Putting the goal of nutrition in national social protection schemes and investment
strategies;
o Make nutrition a central theme in their approaches to agriculture;
o Extend support to local small-scale producers etc.
• In 2019, 21.3% (144.0 million) of children under 5 years were stunted, 6.9% (47.0 million)
wasted and 5.6% (38.3 million) overweight.
Highlights:

An additional 60 million people have

690 million (8.9% of Covid-19 can add
become affected by hunger between 2014-
world's population) another 83 million to
19. If this trend continues, the number of
people were hungry in 132 million people into
undernourished people will exceed
2019 worldwide. the hunger list in 2020.
840 million by 2030.

Zero Hunger target of

More than 3 billion
the Sustainable Asia is home to more than half of the total
people cannot afford
Development Goals (SDG undernourished people in the world – an
healthy diets in the
2) will not be achieved estimated 381 million people in 2019.
world.
by 2030.

Africa has highest

prevalence of
undernourishment.

29. UAE has announced to launch its first ever Mars Mission named HOPE (announced in 2015)
from Tanegashima Space Center (Japan) in July 2020 to study the atmosphere of Mars.
• Hope is the Arab world’s first mission to Mars.

30. India, Chile and UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) co-hosted the High-Level
Political Forum side-event 'On the road to the (UN) International Year of Fruits and
 Vegetables 2021: Highlighting health and nutritional benefits through sustainable production
and consumption of fruits and vegetables'.
• The side-event highlighted the need to bring seed diversity back as the use of genetically
uniform, high-yielding breeds has reduced the resilience of crops.
• 75% of the world’s plant genetic diversity has been lost since the 1900s, as farmers
have shifted from local varieties to high-yielding crop breeds, which reduced the ability of
crops to survive when faced with challenges.
• Food security is linked with sustainable agricultural practices, such as seed diversity,
as good quality food will reduce the malnutrition levels.
Fact Check – India’s Fruit and Vegetable Production:
 Fruit – 2nd largest producer in the world with an annual production of 98
million tonnes (equal to 10.9% of the total world production).
 Vegetable – 187 million tons p.a. which is 8.6% of world production.
 Land under cultivation – It increased by about 11% between 2013-14 and
2017-18.
 India has just 2.4% of the world’s land area.

31. PM Narendra Modi will address the valedictory session of the High-Level Segment of the UN
Economic and Social Council session (ECOSOC) along with PM of Norway, Mr Erna
Solberg & UN Sec-Gen.
• Theme of the segment – "Multilateralism after COVID-19: What kind of UN do we need at
the 75th anniversary"
• It is India’s first address at the UN after winning seat in UNSC for 2021-22 term.
Fun Fact :-)
 India was the first president of UN’s ECOSOC in 1946. Presidency was held
by Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar.
 PM Modi had earlier delivered a keynote address virtually at the 70th
anniversary of ECOSOC in January 2016.
 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of UN (established in 1945).
32. China has launched the second Shiyan-6 remote sensing satellite and Gaofen ‘multi-mode’
Earth observation satellite. Both satellites were launched on Long March rockets (family of
Rocket operated by China).
• Xibaipo Science Popularization Satellite was also launched by China.
• China will launch its Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter and rover next week on the Long March 5
launch vehicle. Tianwen-1 is China’s 1st Mars mission.

33. WHO has launched Access Initiative for Quitting Tobacco to help the world's 1.3 billion
tobacco users quit.
• It is being led by the WHO, together with the UN Interagency Task Force on Non-
communicable Diseases, PATH and the Coalition for Access to NCD Medicines and
Products, with support from the private sector.
• Around 60% of tobacco users worldwide say they want to quit, only 30% of them have
access to the tools that can help them do so. The Access Initiative for Quitting Tobacco is
designed to deliver anti-tobacco services to people.
34. UNICEF and WHO has mentioned that Covid-19 has led to a lack of access to vaccination
services for children which can pose a serious health risk to children.
• Even before the pandemic, the immunisation coverage was at 85% for DTP3 (diphtheria,
tetanus and pertussis) and measles vaccines.
• In 2019, nearly 14 million children missed out on life-saving vaccines such as measles
and DTP3. Most of these children live in Africa.
• Two-thirds of them are concentrated in 10 middle- and low-income countries - Angola,
Brazil, Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Philippines.
• This is the first time in 28 years that the coverage of DTP3 vaccine has reduced.

35. NASA has postponed the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (space observatory)
from March 2021 to October 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
• Webb, world's most complex space observatory, will help in solving the mysteries of solar
system and probe the origins of our universe.
• It has a 6.5-meter primary mirror which is the largest NASA has ever built.

36. According to a report published in The Lancet, world population will be at its peak in 2064 at
9.7 billion and will reduce thereby to 8.8 billion by 2100.
 • India will be the most populous country with 1.09 billion people, followed by Nigeria,
China, US and Pakistan by 2100.
• Working-age population will decline in almost all countries. Only, India, Nigeria, China
and US will have the largest working-age populations respectively by 2100.
• 23 countries will see a drastic reduction in population by more than 50%.
• Demographically, people above 65 years (2.37 bn) will exceed those under 20 years (1.7
bn) in population. Rest will be between 21-65 years.
• China is expected to overtake the US as the largest economy of the world in 2035. In
2098, US will once again become the largest economy.
• Total fertility rates (TFR) below replacement level will be 2.1 births per woman in 183 of
195 countries by 2100.

Parameter used – Data from the

This research was done by
Institute for Health Metrics and
Evaluation (IHME) at the
University of Washington.
Global Burden of Disease Study
2017 has been used for this
study of population, mortality,
fertility, and migration in 195
countries.

37. Global Skills Index 2020 has been released by HAYS Plc and Oxford Economics.
• Title - The Global Skills Dilemma How Can Supply Keep Up With Demand?
• The report tracks the current trends in labour markets across the globe.
• Total – 34 labour markets (countries)
• Top – Luxembourg (score 6.8)
• India – 5.4 score
• Bottom – China (score 3.7)
 Parameters:
Wage Wage
Labour
Labour Overall Pressure Pressure in
Education Market Talent
Market Wage in High- High-Skill
Flexibility Participati Mismatch
Flexibility Pressure Skill Occupation
on
Industries s

38. 2020 Global Manufacturing Risk Index (MRI) has been released by Cushman & Wakefield.
• Total countries – 48
• Parameters – 20 variables classified under cost, competitiveness and operating conditions.
• The index puts countries in three scenarios: Baseline, Cost and Risk.
• India is an upcoming manufacturing hub globally.
Scenarios
Rankings
Baseline Cost Risk
Top 3 China China Canada
US Vietnam US
India India Singapore
India 3rd 3rd 30th
Note: -
 Baseline scenario – It looks equally at operating conditions and cost-
competitiveness but does not consider impact from the current pandemic.
 Cost scenario – It places greater emphasis on cost reduction to give a
higher score to countries where operating costs, including labour, are lower.
  Risk scenario – Countries that present lower levels of political and
economic risks are ranked higher.

39. SpaceX has successfully launched South Korea's first military satellite called Anasis-II on
its Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, US.

40. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human
Development Initiative (OPHI) have released the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index
(MPI) 2020.
• Title – Charting pathways out of multidimensional poverty: Achieving the SDGs
• Parameters – 10 indicators classified under the three dimensions of Health, Education and
Standard of Living.
World India
• 65 countries out of the total 75 • India saw the most people
countries surveyed, significantly moving out of multidimensional
reduced their multidimensional poverty – some 270 million
poverty levels between 2000 and people between FY06 to FY16.
2019. • India was one of four countries
• Across 107 developing countries, (incl. Armenia, Nicaragua, and
1.3 billion people (22% of global North Macedonia) that halved its
population) live in multidimensional poverty
multidimensional poverty. index value.
• 40% of the total unvaccinated
children for DTP3 (essential
vaccine for children) live in just
four countries: Nigeria, India,
Pakistan and Indonesia.
41. Scientists from around 30 institutions have prepared the world’s largest-ever 3D map of the
universe under the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) project.
• The map has measured more than 2 million galaxies, stretching from our Milky Way to
ancient objects more than 11 billion light-years away.
• Lead Researcher of the study - Kyle Dawson, a cosmologist at the University of Utah, US.

42. International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has released the 7th edition of the Global
Rights Index 2020 that ranks countries on the degree of respect for workers' rights.
• Total – 144 countries
• India, Egypt and Honduras have entered the list of ten worst countries for workers in
2020.
• India has been given 5 rating (No guarantee of rights).
• Total 12 countries have been given 1 rating (Sporadic violations of rights).
• Middle East And North Africa (score 4.44) is the worst region and Europe (score 2.49) is
the best region for workers.
• Parameters – 97 indicators were clubbed into 5 categories.
 Parameters

Right to Right to
Civil Trade union Right to
establish or collective
Liberties activities strike
join unions bargaining

• List of 10 worst countries:

• Scores given to countries.

• Global situation of workers’ rights:

43. Washington-based World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA) has released
the “Global Direct Selling – 2019 Retail Sales” report.
o The global direct selling industry has reported an overall decline of
4.3% in sales to $180.47 billion in 2019.
o Top 5 countries in direct selling:-
Rank 1: US contributed 20% in the global direct selling market
World with sales of USD 35.21 billion. However, it registered a
marginal de-growth of 0.4% in 2019.
Rank 2: China (13% contribution)
Followed by Korea (10%) and Germany (10%) and Japan
(9%).
o Sales – Direct selling industry has recorded sales of USD 2.47 billion
in 2019, which is an increase of 12.1% from 2018.
o India’s rank in direct selling improved to 15th in the world from 19th a
year before.
India o Sellers – In terms of the number of direct sellers, India has been
ranked at 6th position, providing employment to 57.50 lakh people.
o CAGR – In 2019, India’s direct selling industry recorded highest
CAGR of 16.3% over the period of last three years. CAGR is
Compounded Annual Growth Rate.

44. Pakistan and China have signed an agreement for developing the 700 MW Azad Pattan
Hydel Power Project on Jhelum River in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
 • This is the second project being developed under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC). The first one is Kohala project on Jhelum river.
• Mahl, Kohala, Chakothi, Azad Pattan, and the Karot project are the five hydropower
projects being developed on the Jhelum River in PoK.

45. Nicaragua has become the 87th signatory country to the International Solar Alliance, an
initiative led by India, to promote sustainable solar energy.

46. Turkmenistan has become the 25th country to become an observer of the World Trade
Organization.
• After receiving the observer status from WTO, Turkmenistan has become the last former
Soviet republic to join WTO.

47. India and Maldives have signed a contract to set up Geydoshu Mas Plant (neighbourhood
fish processing plants) at two islands – Maradhoo and Hulhudhoo – in the Addu city of
Maldives.
• In 2019, Maldives and India signed MoU to set up three neighbourhood fish processing
plants or 'Geydhoshu Mas Plants' in Maradhoo, Hithadhoo and Hulhudhoo at a cost of $1.5
million.

48. World Health Organization (WHO) has launched the first of its kind COVID-19 Law Lab – a
database of laws implemented by different countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Purpose: - The database will help countries to implement strong legal frameworks to
manage the pandemic. Also, it will ensure that laws are in resonance with the international
human rights standards.
• WHO’s partners in this initiative – UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN
Programme on HIV/ AIDS (UNAIDS) and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health
Law at Georgetown University.
49. UN General Assembly will convene a Biodiversity Summit at UN Headquarters in New York
on the lines of 75th session of the UN General Assembly in September 2020.
 • Theme of the Biodiversity Summit 2020 – “Urgent Action on Biodiversity for Sustainable
Development.”
• 75th session of UNGA will be held virtually for the first time.
• A high-level meeting to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on
Women (FWCW), which took place in Beijing (China) in 1995 (Beijing+25), will also be
held.
• Also, climate week will be observed on 10 thematic areas during the session.

50. World’s first Global Fintech FEST 2020 was organized online by National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI), Fintech Convergence Council (FCC) and Payments Council
of India (PCI).
• Theme of the fest - 'Fintech : With and Beyond COVID'
• Co-organizers - Department of Economic Affairs (Ministry of Finance) and Reserve Bank
of India.

51. As per the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020 released by FAO, India has
ranked third among the top 10 countries that have gained in forest areas between 2010-2020.
• India accounts for 2% of total global forest area. During 2010-20, India reported 0.38% gain
in forest area annually.
• Asian continent recorded the highest net gain in forest area at 1.17 million hectares (ha)
per year between 2010-2020.
 • In India, the forest area managed by local, tribal and indigenous communities increased
from zero in 1990 to about 25 million ha in 2015.
• In terms of employment in forestry sector, India is the highest ranked nation among the
136 countries (which account for 91% of world’s forest).
• Out of total 12.5 Mn employees in forestry globally, India accounts for 50% (6.23 Mn)
employees.
• The top 10 countries (rank-wise) that have recorded the maximum average annual net
gains in forest area during 2010-2020 are:-

China Australia India Chile

United
Vietnam Turkey France
States

Italy Romania

52. U.N. Environment Programme and the International Energy Agency have released
“Cooling Emissions and Policy Synthesis” report.
• As per the report, the world would need 14 billion air conditioners as against the present
3.6 billion AC by 2050 due to the increasing temperature.
• Energy-efficient AC will save up to $2.9 trillion by 2050 and reduce global GHG emissions
by 460 billion metric tons (equivalent to 8 yrs. of emissions based on 2018 levels).
• An additional $1 trillion in spending over the next three years could increase GDP by 3.5%,
decrease global carbon emissions and create millions of jobs.
• 2020 will be among the hottest years in recorded history. 2019 was the second-hottest year
ever. This is the world’s hottest decade in recorded history.

53. Comparitech has released the World’s Most Surveilled Cities index 2020.
 • Total – 150 most polluted cities
• Top – Taiyuan, China (with 119.57 cameras per 1,000 people)
o China leads the world in CCTV surveillance. 18 out of the top 20 cities are from
China in this index.
• India – Hyderabad at 16th rank (with 29.99 cameras per 1,000 people) followed by Chennai
(at 21st) and Delhi (at 33rd rank).
• Parameters – number of CCTV camera used for surveillance purpose.
• 20 most populated cities in the world (and their camera figures):
Rank Cities
1st Tokyo, Japan
2nd Delhi, India
3rd Shanghai, China
9th Mumbai
15th Kolkata

54. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has planned to launch ASTHROS Mission from
Antarctica in December 2023 to study the air currents above the continent.
• ASTHROS stands for –Astrophysics Stratospheric Telescope for High Spectral Resolution
Observations at Submillimeter-wavelengths.
• The football stadium sized balloons (equipped with telescope and other technology) will
be sent into the stratosphere under this mission.
• Balloon missions have lower costs as compared to space missions and they also have
shorter times between early planning and deployment.

55. China has launched Ziyuan-III 03 satellite – a new high-resolution mapping satellite on Long
March-4B rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, China.

56. UNICEF has released the “Childcare in a global crisis: The impact of COVID-19 on work
and family life” report.
• 22 million children from South Asian countries have missed out on early childhood
education in their pre-school year due to Covid-19.
 • Globally, 40 million children have missed out on early childhood education in their pre-
school year.
• South Asian Region includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka for the research.

57. SCO Heads of State Council meeting 2020 has been postponed. It was scheduled to be held
in St. Petersburg, Russia.
• BRICS leaders’ meeting 2020, which was also scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg, has
also been postponed.
• Russia’s is the President of SCO and Chairman of BRICS in 2020.

58. India and UK have conducted the 14th Joint Economic and Trade Committee meeting.
• Co-chairs – Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal and UK Secretary of State
for International Trade, HE, Elizabeth Truss.

59. Poland has announced to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention (2011). However, the final
decision on it has not been taken yet.
• Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and
domestic violence was adopted by Council of Europe in 2011.
• Council of Europe is an international organisation that aims to protect human rights,
democracy and the rule of law in Europe.

60. According to a study published in The Lancet titled ‘Impacts of COVID-19 on childhood
malnutrition and nutrition-related mortality’, Covid-19 can raise the prevalence of child wasting
(lower weight for height) by 14.3% globally in 2020.
• This rise is equivalent to an additional 6.7 million U-5 children suffering from wasting.
• Reason - the pandemic caused disruption of food systems and impeded access to
healthcare services.
• The total number of wasting children, under the age of 5, for 2020 to 53.7 million.
61. China has suspended the Hong Kong’s extradition treaties with Canada, Australia and
Britain in retaliation to the similar decisions taken by those countries over the new security law
of Hong Kong.

62. According to a report released by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and
anti-slavery organisation Walk Free on the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons (July 30),
India performed the worst in terms of actions taken for eradicating modern slavery.
• India has no national body as well as national plan to curb modern slavery.
• Commonwealth countries account for about 40% of people living in conditions of modern
slavery in the world.
• Total 54 nations including India were not taking sufficient actions to eradicate modern
slavery by 2030.
• As per the report, 1/3rd of the Commonwealth countries had criminalised forced marriage.
On the other hand, 23 had not even criminalised commercial sexual exploitation of children.

63. UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres has launched a Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change
(which will have young people aged between 18-28) to provide advisory to him on climate-
related matter.
• The initiative is also aligned with the Secretary-General’s vision for the UN Youth Strategy
(launched in 2018).
• Archana Soreng has been selected from India for this group.
o She has studied regulatory governance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences
(TISS) Mumbai and is the former TISS Students Union President.
 Nisreen Elsaim
from Sudan
ARCHANA
Fiji’s Ernest
SORENG
from Gibson
FROM INDIA

Members of
Paloma Costa Vladislav Kaim
from Brazil the Groups from Moldova

Nathan Sophia Kianni

Metenier from from United
France States
64. Maldives launched nine community-based development projects under $5.6 million grant from
the Indian government.
• In 2019, both countries announced to develop High-Impact grant projects (HICDPs) in
Maldives with USD 5.6 million grant from India.

65. Iran has launched an underground ballistic missiles during its ‘Great Prophet 14’ military
exercise near Gulf waters.

66. SABIC's polycarbonate facility in Spain is set to become the world's first large scale
chemical production plant to run entirely on renewable power.
• To achieve this, SABIC has signed an agreement with Iberdrola (an electricity utility
company).
• The plant is expected to be completely operational by 2024 and is expected to help SABIC
reach it's 2025 clean energy target.

67. US Congress’s House Foreign Affairs Committee has passed Gandhi-King Exchange
Act/Bill (which was formulated by John Lewis – a social activist – inspired by his visit to India
in 2009) to promote the ideals of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.
 • The bill is co-sponsored by Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro
Khanna, and Raja Krishnamoorthi.
• The bill aims to set up US-India Gandhi-King Development Foundation and Gandhi-
King Global Academy to spread the ideology of these two leaders.

68. Australia has announced that Google and Facebook will have to pay the royalty fees, if they
publish any new content, to protect the jobs of journalists in the country.
• If this step goes well with the stakeholders, then the govt will make it a law.
• Australia would be the first country to levy royalty fees on Google and Facebook for news
content.

69. 6th edition of BRICS Environment Ministers Meeting and BRICS Working Group on
Environment were held under the Chairmanship of Russia.
• India will assume the BRICS Presidency in 2021.
 BANKING AND ECONOMY

1. Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has manufactured the 1,250 tonne single largest cryostat of the
world's largest nuclear fusion reactor – ITER – in France.
• ITER (aka International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) is the world's largest nuclear
fusion reactor that is being built in southern France by seven elite countries at a cost of $20
billion.
• The ITER Members are China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, Russia and the
United States.

2. IRDAI has constituted a working group under the chairmanship of G Srinivasan (Director of
the National Insurance Academy) to study the suitability of offering surety bonds to
contractors by the insurance companies.
• Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had requested IRDAI to examine the
possibility of such bonds as it guarantee satisfactory completion of a project by a contractor
and assures performance guarantee of contractors.
• Currently, surety bonds for contractors are not offered by insurance companies in India.

3. Central government has approved the Special Liquidity Scheme for NBFCs and Housing
Finance Companies (HFCs) to improve their liquidity position.
• The scheme would provide additional liquidity facility to NBFCs/HFCs on the lines of Rs
30,000 crore special liquidity scheme for NBFCs (launched in May 2020).
• Under the scheme, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) would be set up to provide liquidity
to the NBFCs/ HFCs by issuing securities such as NCDs or commercial papers, which
would be guaranteed by the government and purchased by the RBI only.
• The proceeds of sale of such securities would be used by the SPV to acquire short-term
debt of NBFCs/HFCs.
• The Scheme will be administered by the Department of Financial Services (Ministry of
Finance).
 • As per the Government decision, SBICAP – a subsidiary of the State Bank of India – has
set up as SPV (SLS Trust) to manage this operation.

Eligibility Their net NPAs should not be more than 6% as on March 31, 2019 to
of an become eligible for this scheme.
NBFC/HF
C They should have made net profit in at least one of the last two
preceding financial years of 2017-18 and 2018-19.

They should not have been reported under SMA-1 or SMA-2 category
by any bank for their borrowings during the last one year prior to 1st
August 2018.

CRAR/CAR of NBFCs/ HFCs must not be below the regulatory

minimum, i.e., 15% and 12%, respectively, as on March 31, 2019.

Special mention account classification

SMA – loans are where the payment overdue is
0 between one and 30 days
SMA-1 31 and 60 days
SMA-2 61 to 90 days
Note: The asset is termed NPA after being overdue
for 90 days.

4. Jindal Steel and Power Ltd has decided to sell its entire stake in Jindal Steel Co LLC (JSIS
Oman) to promoter company Templar Investments Ltd for $1 billion to pay off entire its debts.
• JSIS Oman was held through JSPL’s subsidiary Jindal Steel and Power (Mauritius) Ltd.

5. Income-tax (14th Amendment) Rules, 2020 notified by the CBDT states that the investors
buying the shares of a restructured company will not have to pay the taxes on discounts
availed by them on buying the shares of these companies.
 • Till now, tax was to be levied when an investor would buy shares at discount and the
amount of discount was more than Rs 50,000.

6. According to Fitch Ratings, Indian banks will require at least $15 billion in fresh capital to
meet a 10% weighted-average common equity tier 1 ratio under a moderate stress
scenario.
• In a high-stress situation, this requirement could go up to $58 billion, if the domestic
economy fails to recover from the coronavirus pandemic-related disruption.

7. As per the International Labour Organization (ILO), if another covid-19 wave hits in the
second half of 2020, there would be global working-hour loss of 11.9% which is equivalent to
the loss of 340 million full-time jobs.
• Recovery in global labour market for the rest of the year is uncertain.
• However, in case of fast recovery, the global loss of working hours would fall to 1.2% (34
million full-time jobs).
• These findings were published in the 5th edition of International Labour Organisation (ILO)
Monitor: COVID-19 and the world of work.

8. SAP India (German technology firm) has launched the Global Bharat program (digital literacy
program) to help Indian MSMEs become globally competitive by equipping them with digital
technologies.
• Partners in this initiative: Nasscom Foundation, United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and Pratham InfoTech Foundation.
• Aim: to empower the MSME sector by providing them access to global marketplace, digital
skilling for the workforce through CODE UNNATI (SAP’s platform) and transforming
business processes.

9. HDFC Bank has launched ‘e-Kisaan Dhan' app to provide a bouquet of services, both
banking and agriculture, to farmers through their mobile phones.
 • 'e-Kisaan Dhan’ will provide value-added services like mandi prices, latest farming news,
weather forecast, information on seed varieties, SMS advisory, e-pashuhaat, Kisan TV, and
more.

10. Fitch Ratings has released its June update of Global Economic Outlook. India’s GDP
growth rates are: -
• GDP for 2019-20: 4.2%
Year Fitch Moody’s S&P
2020-21 -5% -4% -5%
2021-22 8% (down from 8.7% 8.5%
9.5%)
2022-23 5.5% 6% -
Note: These forecasts are subject to frequent change. Cover them immediately before your exam
only. You can note down the organization releasing the above forecast i.e., FICCI.
11. RBI has released data relating to India’s International Investment Position (IIP) 2019-20.
• International financial liabilities of India increased by $16.3 billion because:-
o FDI investment in India rose by $19 billion and other investments increased by $11
billion.
• International financial assets of Indian residents increased by $73.9 billion because
o Reserve assets of Indians increased by $64.9 billion and overseas direct
investment rose by and $13.0 billion.
• Portfolio investment declined by $13.7 billion. Other investments also declined
marginally.
• Overall, net claims of non-residents on India declined by $57.6 billion during the year.
• Ratio of net IIP (Assets - Liabilities) to GDP improved to (-) 14% in FY20 as against the (-)
15.9 of FY19.

12. Edelweiss General Insurance (EGI) has partnered with PolicyBazaar to offer its on-demand
multi vehicle floater policy named Edelweiss Switch where the insurance is calculated on
the age and experience of the driver.
 • The policy allows vehicle owners to turn on and off their motor insurance and covers
multiple vehicles under a single policy.

13. According to the govt’s data, India’s imports from China reached $65.26 billion in 2019-20;
exports to China were $16.6 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of $48.66 billion in 2019-20.
• Declining Trade Deficit - In 2018-19, the trade deficit stood at $53.56 billion whereas it
was $63 billion in 2017-18.
• Declining Chinese FDI in India - $163.78 million in 2019-20; $229 million in 2018-19;
$350.22 million in 2017-18.
• From April 2000 to March 2020, India attracted FDI worth $2.38 billion from China.

14. Bharti Enterprises Ltd and the UK government have jointly acquired OneWeb (satellite
operator based in London) for 45% stake held by each of them at an investment of $500 million
each.
• This acquisition will help Bharti in providing internet access to remote areas of the world.
• OneWeb has the 2nd largest low-earth orbit satellite broadband network in the world
after Elon Musk’s Starlink.

15. Intel Capital (the investment arm of the US chipmaker) will invest ₹1,894.50 crore for a 0.39%
stake in Jio Platforms.
16. ICICI Bank has launched the 'Insta Loans against Mutual Funds' facility, in partnership with
Computer Age Management Services (India’s registrar and transfer agency for mutual
funds).
• The facility allows the retail customers to take loan of up to a maximum of Rs 1 crore by
pledging their holdings of mutual funds.
• This loan will be extended as an Overdraft and therefore, the customers only need to pay
interest instead of fixed EMI.
17. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has joined the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for
Greening the Financial System (NGFS) as an observer.
• NGFS was launched at the Paris One Planet Summit on 12 December 2017.
• NGFS is a group of central banks and supervisors that aim to share best practices and
contribute to the development of environment and climate risk management in the financial
sector.

18. PSUs- NLC India Ltd and Coal India Ltd have formed a joint venture in 50:50 partnership to
develop solar and thermal power assets to the tune of 5,000 megawatts.
• The Joint Venture Company will be set up under the Ministry of Coal.
• Coal India is the single largest coal producer worldwide and operates through 83 mining
areas spread over eight states in India.

19. IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Ltd has partnered with BOB Financial Services Ltd, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda, to offer a unique group insurance cover to
provide financial support upon hospitalisation or on COVID-19 diagnosis.

20. World Bank has approved $750-million loan to provide funding to micro, small, and
medium enterprises (MSMEs) in India to support the Atmanirbhar Bharat campaign.
• India’s MSME sector contributes around 30% of India’s GDP and 40% of India’s exports,
and is central to India’s growth and job creation. It is currently facing severe liquidity
problems.
21. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has limited the maximum number of
liquidation proceedings that can be handled by a single insolvency professional (IP).
• An IP can handle a maximum of 5 assignments if he is handling accounts with turnover of
less than ₹1000 crore, 4 assignments in the case of accounts with turnover of ₹1000-5000
crore, 3 cases if he is handling ₹5000-10,000 crore turnover accounts and 1 if it’s a large
account of more than ₹50,000 crore.
• An Insolvency Professional (IPs) is authorized by IBBI to act on behalf of insolvent
individual, companies etc. in the liquidation proceedings.

22. SEBI has relaxed the norms for issuance of preferential shares by stressed companies.
Now, the promoters of such companies can attract financial investors on board without losing
their power as the promoters of the company.
• Benefit - promoters may prefer restructuring of company through these guidelines, due to
such flexibility, as a better and faster alternative than going through IBC.
Note: in June, Sebi introduced guidelines on relaxing pricing and open offer requirements for
listed stressed companies to enable easier fund raising through preferential allotment by stressed
listed companies.

23. Microsoft and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) have partnered to
provide digital skills to more than 1 lakh youth in India over the next 12 months amid the
covid-19 crisis.
• Through NSDC’s eSkill India portal, Microsoft will provide free access to learning resources
and conduct digital skilling awareness drives.
• The partnership is an extension of Microsoft’s global skilling initiative that aims to
educate 25 million people worldwide in digital skills.

24. Karur Vysya Bank has entered into a bancassurance agreement with Bajaj Allianz Life
Insurance company to sell the life insurance covers to its customers.

25. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has granted a $100 million loan as external
commercial borrowing to L&T Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd.
 • Its first tranche of $50 million has been released.

26. Competition Commission of India has approved the proposed merger involving Eros
International Plc (Eros Plc), STX Filmworks Inc (“STX”) and Marco Alliance Limited
(Marco).

27. IRDAI has formed a 9-member Working Group under the Chairmanship of Suresh Mathur
to look into the possibility of forming ‘Pandemic Risk Pool’ to help offset economic losses.

28. According to the Dun and Bradstreet's Country Risk and Global Outlook Report, the
global economy is likely to contract by 5.2% in 2020.
• This report covered 132 countries. It mentioned that the global economy will not reach pre-
pandemic levels of activity again before 2022.

29. BP and Reliance Industries Ltd have announced the start of their new Indian fuels and
mobility joint venture, Reliance BP Mobility Ltd. (RBML) under the brand name of “Jio­BP”.
• All Reliance fuel stations will be rebranded as Jio- BP in due course.
• In 2019, BP had bought a 49% stake in the fuel retailing business of RIL.

30. KKR and Co. has agreed to buy Global Atlantic Financial Group.

31. According to Bank of America’s (BofA) forecast, India’s GDP will contract by 3% in FY21
because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Note: These forecasts are subject to frequent change. Cover them immediately before your exam
only. You can note down the organization releasing the above forecast i.e., FICCI.

32. Paytm has announced to acquire Raheja QBE (general insurance company) for Rs 570 crore.
• Paytm Founder – Vijay Shekhar Sharma – will hold 51% stake in QBE whereas One97
Communications (Paytm’s Parent company) will hold the rest 49%.
33. Yes bank has launched ‘Loan in Seconds’ initiative to enable instant disbursement of retail
loans for the bank’s pre-approved customers.

34. SBM Bank India (promoted by Government of Mauritius) and Mastercard have partnered to
facilitate cross-border payments and remittances services through 'Mastercard Send'.
• SBM Bank India is the first bank to receive universal banking licence from the RBI to set
up and operate as a scheduled commercial bank through the wholly-owned subsidiary
mode.

35. Liberty General Insurance has launched ‘Liberty Assure’ service as a part its existing
Private Car Package Policy to provide relief to its customers.
• The auto insurance customer who avail this service, will no longer need to pay the
'compulsory deductible' for every claim. No extra premium will be charged from the buyers
to provide this unique cost-effective feature.
• This is the first of its kind insurance service.

36. Fino Payments Bank Limited has launched 'Bhavishya' – a subscription-based savings
account scheme for minors aged between 10-18 years.
• The bank will initially introduce the Bhavishya savings account in UP, Bihar, and MP and
gradually in other states.

37. IRDAI has allowed general and health insurers to offer cover for more than ₹5 lakh, under
Arogya Sanjeevani, the standard individual health insurance product.
• The cover will pay claims starting from Rs 50,000.

38. Petronet LNG Ltd, India’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure company,
will develop larger LNG infrastructure on highways, where LNG is largely unavailable for
heavy vehicles.
• India has 87 National Highways connecting New Delhi and state capitals through important
cities.
 • In the first phase, by 2021, the company will build 50 stations off five major highways,
across the western and southern corridors. In the second phase, it plans to set up 300 LNG
dispensing stations across all highways, while in the third phase 1,000 stations will be
added.

39. Reliance Industries Limited has become India’s first company to hit Rs 11.5 trillion market
capitalization.

40. SEBI has changed the eligibility criteria for registered investment advisers (RIAs).
• Net worth of an Investment Adviser should be Rs.50 lakhs (from Rs 25 lakhs earlier) for
non-individuals and Rs 5 lakhs (from Rs 1 lakh) for individuals.
• Experience of five years for individual investment adviser or a principal officer of a non -
individual investment adviser is mandatory.
• Individuals registered as investment advisers whose number of clients exceed 150 in total,
shall apply for registration with SEBI as non- individual investment adviser.

41. SEBI has re-constituted its 20-member advisory committee on regulation and development of
mutual fund industry.
• New Chairman – Usha Thorat
• The panel had 15 members and was headed by Janki Ballabh earlier in 2013.

42. Mastercard has announced to invest additional ₹250-crores – over and above the USD 1
billion committed for the Indian market till 2025 – to help small businesses in India.
• The investment will focus on helping small businesses go digital, making access to credit
easier and also supporting women entrepreneurs.

43. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Qatar-based Education Above All (EAA)
Foundation have partnered to spend $100 million in joint projects to put out-of-school and
at-risk children into quality primary education.
• The agreement was signed at a special side event to the United Nations High Level
Political Forum 2020.
 • The projects will be implemented in up to 10 countries to put at least 320,000 out-of-school
children, including refugees and internally displaced children, into primary education.
• 10 countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, INDIA, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan,
Papua New Guinea, Philippines, and Sri Lanka.

44. Qualcomm Ventures has announced to invest Rs 730 crore in Jio Platforms for a 0.15%
stake.

45. During the Google for India 2020 event, Google launched the “Google for India Digitization
Fund” worth $10 billion to digitize the Indian economy over next 5-7 years.
• Purpose: increase access to internet in vernacular language, empower SMEs in their
digital transformation, improve digital literacy, outbreak predictions etc.

46. FICCI has released the Economic Outlook Survey (June 2020) which projects India’s GDP
growth rate at (-) 4.5% – with a minimum and maximum growth estimate of (-) 6.4% and 1.5%
respectively – for 2020-21.
• There is a possibility of V-shaped recovery.
Note: These forecasts are subject to frequent change. Cover them immediately before your exam
only. You can note down the organization releasing the above forecast i.e., FICCI.

47. Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s data mentions that USA is India's top trading
partner for the second consecutive year in 2019-20.
• China was India’s major trading partner till 2017-18. In 2018-19, the USA surpassed China
to become India's top trading partner.
Category (2019-20) USA China
India’s Total Trade with- $88.75 billion (increased $81.87 billion (decreased
from FY19) from FY19)
India’s Trade $17.42 billion (-) $48.66 billion
Deficit/Surplus • Deficit reduced from
$53.57 billion in FY19.
 • Surplus increased
from $16.86 billion in
FY19

48. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has launched a new Utility Tool named as
‘Verification of Applicability u/s 194N’ to facilitate accurate TDS deduction on cash withdrawal
from banks and Post Offices across the country.
• Any non-filer of Income-Tax Return is subject to TDS if he/she withdraws ₹20 lakh or more
in a financial year.
New TDS rates applicable from July 1st, 2020
TDS Amount withdrawn
percentage
2% Rs 20 lakh or more
5% Over Rs 1 crore
Note: - TDS will be applicable on the amount
withdrawn over and above Rs 20 lakh and Rs 1
crore.

49. IRDAI has announced the guidelines for two standard COVID-19 health insurance policies
–'Corona Kavach' and 'Cornoa Rakshak' – which will have uniform features, terms and
conditions to provide better health insurance coverage to people.
• No geographic location or zone-based pricing of premium for both policies will be allowed.
• 'Corona Kavach' is an indemnity based policy which will cover the cost of co-morbidities
as well in addition to Covid-19 disease for a tenure of 3.5 to 9.5 months.
• 'Corona Rakshak' is a benefit-based policy which will give pre-agreed lump-sum amount,
if the policyholder is hospitalised - at least for 72 hours - after testing positive for COVID-19.
Tenure - 3.5 months, 6.5 months or 9.5 months.

50. On its 39th foundation day, NABARD has organized the 'Digital Choupal' to discuss progress
made under NABARD’s seven projects.
 • Seven projects – Rural Livelihoods Matter Immensely, Empowering Tribal Communities,
Soil Health is Real Health, Direct Marketing to Urban Consumers, Climate Resilience,
Climate Proofing of Koutuguda, and Collectivisation of Weavers.

51. Mukesh Ambani has become the 6th richest man in the world with a net worth of $72.4
billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index 2020.
Top 3 Companies
(respectively)
Jeff Bezos Amazon
Bill Gates Microsoft
Bernard Arnault LVMH
(France)

52. Google has announced to invest Rs 33,737 crore for a 7.73% stake in Reliance Jio Platforms
as part of its $10 billion commitment to India.
• Google is the 2nd biggest foreign investor in Jio Platforms after Facebook.
• It is the first time that two FAANG companies – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and
Alphabet (formerly known as Google) – have invested in the same venture.

53. According to Hurun Research’s data, Mukesh Ambani is the 5th richest man in the world.
Jeff Bezos is the first.

54. NABARD has disbursed ₹2.51 crore of grant assistance to Self Help Groups (SHGs) of
Karnataka for promotion, skill development and digitisation of their records.
• The project E-Shakti for digitisation of SHGs is under implementation in seven districts of
the state.
• NABARD has also extended a grant of Rs 221.89 crore to support 298 watershed projects
in Karnataka in over three lakh hectares.

55. National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has launched the NSE Refiner Standards (NRS)
for BIS – Standard Gold.
 • Benefit – NSE Refiner Standards for BIS – Standard Gold would enable the use of gold
bars produced in India, for settlement of the gold futures contracts traded on the NSE
platform w.e.f., July 10, 2020.
• Earlier, NSE used gold bars delivered by London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) for
settlement of the gold agreements.

56. NABARD has launched a Rs 5,000 crore grant-based scheme for computerisation of 35,000
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) by FY23.
• As many as 5,000 PACS will be upgraded this year while 15,000 PACS each during next
two fiscal.
• The scheme aims to integrate these PACS with the Core Banking System (CBS) of District
Central Co-operative Banks (DCCBs) to ensure smooth flow of credit.
• The concessional line of assistance will be available for three years until 2022-23. The
scheme will focus on watershed development projects.

57. According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) report titled Global EV Outlook
2020, the world had 7.2 million electric cars in 2019, a 40% jump over 2018.
• Benefits of EVs to India - India imports 85% of its oil demand, EVs can reduce this
dependence.
• India’s targets – EV sales of 30% for private cars, 70% for commercial cars, 40% for
buses, and 80% for 2 and 3 wheelers by 2030.
• EV composition in India – Majority of EVs are two-wheelers (almost 7.5 lakh), followed by
cars which account for 0.07% (or about 5,000) of the total global e-cars at the end of 2019.
• Global EV leader – China has emerged as the global leader in EV’s possession, be it two-
wheelers (300 million) or cars (3.4 million or 47% of the total e-cars in the world) at the end
of 2019.
Know More: -
o As per a report of NITI Aayog and the Rocky Mountain Institute, in India,
EVs can cumulatively save up to 474 million tonnes of oil over their lifetime,
which is worth ₹15.21 lakh crore.
 o Nearly 20% of carbon dioxide emissions and 30% of particulate emissions
in India are caused by two-wheelers running on petrol and diesel.
o As per IEA, India has lagged behind in EVs because of a lack of charging
infrastructure and the high import of lithium-ion batteries on which EVs run.
o In India, EV adoption rate is low because of the time taken for charging
them dissuades consumers. Also, the interest component on consumer
loans to buy EVs afflicts the sales.

58. NABARD has sanctioned ₹795 crore for reconstructing infrastructure in West Bengal, that
was damaged by cyclone Amphan in May, under its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
(RIDF).
• NABARD has already provided ₹145 crore under RIDF to the state as special liquidity
support for boosting rural infrastructure in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

59. According to Ministry of MSME, the export of coir and coir products increased to 988,996
MT (valued at $391.25 million) in 2019-20 in comparison to the 964,046 MT (valued at
$387.01 million) in 2018-19.
• The increased level of exports is an all-time high in coir segment.
• Major items - Coir pith, Coir fibre and total value-added items accounted for 49%, 18%,
and 33% of the total coir exports respectively.
o Out of the value-added items, Tufted Mats were the most exported item, accounting
for 20% of the total value-added items.
• Major Ports – Tuticorin, Chennai (both in Tamil Nadu), and Cochin Ports (Kerala)
accounted for almost 99% of coir and coir products exports.

60. ICRA has forecasted that India’s GDP growth rate would shrink by 9.5% in 2020-21.
61. Rating Agency Ind-Ra has forecasted that central govt's fiscal deficit is expected to touch
7.6% in 2020-21, more than double the Budget Estimate.
• States will have 4.5% of fiscal deficit. Therefore, the combined fiscal deficit of both centre
and states will be 12.1%.
• India’s GDP growth rate will contract by 5.3% in FY21.
Note: These forecasts are subject to frequent change. Cover them immediately before your exam
only. You can note down the organization releasing the above forecast i.e., Ind-Ra.

62. International Centre of Automotive Technology (ICAT) has launched the automotive
technology e-portal ASPIRE – Automotive Solutions Portal for Industry, Research and
Education.
 • Purpose: - to make Indian automotive industry self-reliant by assisting in innovation and
adoption of global technological advancements.
• The platform will conduct R&D, product technology development, technological innovations,
manufacturing and process technology development activities among other things.

63. Refinitiv-Ipsos have released the Consumer Sentiment Index for the month of July 2020. It
sees growth in consumer sentiment in July.

64. Directorate General of Trade Remedies- India (DGTR) has announced that India will
continue with the safeguard duty imposed on imports of solar cells from China, Thailand
and Vietnam for one year period effective July 31.
• Imports of solar cells from other developing countries will not attract the safeguard duty
except imports from China, Thailand and Vietnam (which individually exports 3% each of
solar cells to India).

65. Central Board of Direct Taxes has allowed the Income Tax Department to share the PAN
data of individuals with the Financial Intelligence Unit to find out the suspicious fraud cases.
• CBDT and the FIU will soon a sign an MoU to formalise this data sharing mechanism.
• FIU is the nodal central agency authorised to obtain cash transaction reports (CTRs) from
public and private sector banks every month to find out the suspicious cases.
• FIU-India was set in 2004 as the national agency responsible for examining information
relating to suspicious financial transactions.

66. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has introduced a new UPI AutoPay feature
which allows customers to set an e-mandate for recurring payments of up to Rs. 2,000 on the
UPI platform.
• For recurring payments above Rs. 2,000, customers will have to follow the due procedure
to make payment.

67. Nomura has forecasted that India’s GDP will contract by 6.1% in FY21.
Note: These forecasts are subject to frequent change. Cover them immediately before your exam
only. You can note down the organization releasing the above forecast i.e., FICCI.

68. National Financial Reporting Authority (audit regulator in India) has formed a technical
advisory committee (TAC), under the chairmanship of R. Narayanaswamy (Professor at
IIM-Bangalore).
• The committee would advise the executive body of the NFRA on issues relating to the
improvement of audit quality and on drafting accounting standards and auditing standards.

69. HIL has supplied 20.60 MT of DDT 75% WP to South Africa for their Malaria control
program.
• HIL is a PSU under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and is the sole manufacturer
of DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) in the world.
• South Africa is highly affected with Malaria having high morbidity and mortality of malaria.
• HIL will supply DDT 75% WP to Zimbabwe (128 MT) and Zambia (113 MT) in the 2020-21.
• HIL has recently exported 25 MT of Malathion Technical to Iran for Locust Control and
Agrochemical-fungicide (32 MT) to Latin American region.
(Note: Refer to World Malaria report 2019 of WHO in December Spotlight.)

70. FamPay has become India's first neo-bank or payment app that launched India’s first
numberless card – FamCard – in collaboration with IDFC Bank.
• Aim - to allow teenagers to make payment freely online and offline.
• The FamPay card has no numbers on it as all the details are stored on the app which
eliminates the need to refer to the physical card during online transactions.

71. Union Bank of India has signed a corporate agency agreement with Life Insurance
Corporation of India (LIC) to distribute the latter’s policies to its customers.

72. Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved acquisition of Krishnapatnam Port
Company Ltd by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited.
73. Mukesh Ambani is the world’s 5th richest and Asia’s most richest man as per the Real-
Time Billionaires list 2020 of Forbes.
• Reliance Industries Ltd. has now become world’s 46th largest company and Asia’s
10th largest by market- capitalization of Rs 13 lakh crore.
• US has listed Reliance Jio in the list of "Clean Telcos" companies because it has rejected
doing business with "tools of the China’s surveillance state”.
• RIL has become the world’s second most valuable energy company with an m-cap of
over ₹14 trillion.

74. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has launched a revised auto-generated Form 26AS
namely “Annual Information Statement” (AIS) from this assessment year of 2020-2021
w.e.f. June 1.
• Purpose: it is an annual tax assessment form to enhance the flow of information between
taxpayers and tax authorities.
• The new form includes the details of “Statement of Financial Transactions” (SFT) i.e. all
high-value transactions of individuals, companies, partnership firms, etc.
• The SFT is filed under Section 285BA of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

75. DBS Singapore has forecasted that India’s GDP growth rate will contract by 6% in FY21.

76. Bank of Baroda has launched ‘Insta Click Savings Account’, a digital self-assisted online
savings account, for all its customers.
• The bank’s Insta Click Savings Account will offer innovative digital solutions to customers,
from the comfort of their homes.
• BoB MD and CEO – Sanjiv Chadha

77. Airtel Payments Bank Ltd and National Skill Development Corporation have (NSDC)
partnered to train and provide skill to young people in rural areas on financial services.
• They will enable the rural population to find jobs and become entrepreneurs in the financial
services sector.
78. ‘Empowering Payment: Digital India on the path of revolution’ report has been released by
PwC.
• The report mentions that India will contribute 2.2% of Global Digital Payment Market by
2023.
• Global transaction value for digital payments expected to reach $12.4 trillion by 2025.
• UPI platform is expected to register 59 billion transactions by 2023.
Learn Something New
 Digidhan mission: - The mission was set up under the Ministry of Electronics
and Information Technology to facilitate digital payment transactions in financial
year 2017-18.
 As per the latest update, the mission was extended till 31 st March 2020.

79. SEBI has disclosed new rules for mutual funds (MF) under which MF will undertake at least
10% of their secondary markets trade in corporate bonds through the Request for Quote
(RFQ) from 1 October.
• It also mutual funds to disclose their portfolio every 15 days. Currently, most of the mutual
funds disclose month-end portfolios.
• Apart from this, SEBI also asked mutual funds to disclose the yield (return on investments)
on each instrument of their portfolios.
• Currently, these funds disclose the yield of the entire portfolio (collection of investments) but
not of each individual underlying instrument.
• This is based on recommendations of Mutual Fund Advisory Committee (MFAC).

80. Nandan Nilekani (architect of Aadhar) has launched the Open credit enablement Network
(OCEN) at Global Fintech Festival, 2020.
• OCEN is built by the Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable (iSPIRT), a think-
tank of the software industry.
• OCEN is a marketplace which connect lenders and borrowers for facilitating easy access
to credit. It aims to democratize credit to even small businesses at low-cost interest rate.
• This platform will collaborate with account aggregators (compilers of financial data).
 Fun Fact: -
 In July, last year, Nilekani introduced the Account Aggregator (AA) platform,
a digital public infrastructure developed in collaboration with major Indian
financial regulators, to manage data on behalf of consumers and streamline
its access to payment and financial service providers.

81. SEBI has formed a high-level committee to look into key aspects of financial and regulatory
technology.
• Functions - This committee will examine the best use of technology for the betterment and
development of capital markets in India.

82. Minister of Finance, Nirmala Sitharaman, declared that 81 projects have been approved so
far under the Special Window for Affordable and Mid Income Housing (SWAMIH) fund
while reviewing the scheme.
• Nearly 60,000 homes across India will get completed with this aid under SWAMIH
Investment Fund I.
• SWAMIH fund was set up in November 2019 to complete the construction of RERA-
registered affordable and mid-income category housing projects which were stalled due to
lack of funds.
• The fund was set up as a Category-II AIF (Alternate Investment Fund) debt
fund registered with SEBI.
• Investment Manager of the Fund – SBICAP Ventures.
• Sponsor of the Fund – Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.

83. US has designated Spice Jet as the scheduled services carrier which allows Spice Jet to
operate between India and US.
• SpiceJet Ltd will be the only private airline in addition to the state-run Air India Ltd, to fly
to the US.

84. Wipro Ltd has signed an agreement to acquire Belgium- based 4C, one of the largest Sales-
force partners in UK, Europe and West Asia, for €68 million.
85. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched RuPay commercial card
(powered by API platform Yap) for entrepreneurs and business owners.
• EnKash (fintech startup) and SBM Bank India will become the first two organisations to
offer this card.
• This card will streamline business expenditure and finances etc.

86. PhonePe has partnered with ICICI Lombard to offer hospital daily cash benefit which can
be bought from PhonePe’s app.
• In this policy, a discharge certificate would be sufficient in most cases for processing a
claim.

87. Amazon Pay has partnered with Acko General Insurance Ltd to offer insurance for two- as
well as four-wheelers in India.
• Customers will have an option to select from a list of add-ons such as zero-depreciation,
engine protection and more.

88. RBI has released the ‘Report of the Committee for Analysis of QR (Quick Response)
Code’.
• Committee Chair – Prof. D.B. Phatak
• Date of formation – December 23, 2019
• Purpose – to review the prevalent system of QR Codes in India for facilitating digital
payments and submit recommendations.
• Major Recommendations –

 Proprietary and closed loop QR codes are a hindrance to an open, interoperable

payments ecosystem. Therefore, they should be phased out.
 Multiple interoperable QR codes have potential to drive the acceptance
infrastructure of QR codes in coming years. So, they need to be promoted.
 Government / RBI should not allow zero Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on QR
code / UPI / RuPay Debit card transactions.
 o Rather, govt/ RBI should allow a controlled interchange of MDR on them.
 Govt should give tax incentives to merchants who accept payments through
electronic mode.
 Government should provide incentives to customers for using QR codes to
increase the popularity of QR code transactions in the country.
 Small value merchants may be allowed to access the Bharat QR ecosystem to
allow them more payments acceptance options.

89. RBI has extended $400 million currency swap facility to Sri Lanka under the SAARC
Currency Swap Framework to address the economic retardation caused by the pandemic.
• This currency swap arrangement will remain available till November 2022.

90. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) have partnered for a
“green recovery” of member countries which are grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Purpose: to explore opportunities for a low-carbon and climate-resilient development for
ADB member countries in Asia and the Pacific region.
ADB’s commitment:-
 ADB has announced that, by 2030, 75% of its projects will support climate
change mitigation and adaptation under its Strategy 2030.
 Climate finance from ADB’s own resources will reach $80 billion
cumulatively from 2019 to 2030.
 Established in 1966, it is owned by 68 members—49 from the region.

Green Climate Fund: -

 GCF is the world’s largest dedicated fund for helping developing
countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and enhance their ability
to respond to climate change.
 It was set up by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) in 2010.
 It also plays a major role in fulfilling the goals of Paris Agreement (2015).
91. Ministry of Corporate Affairs, in consultation with the National Financial Reporting
Authority, has amended the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS 103 and 116) which are
related to leasing.
• These changes to Ind AS will allow companies to show the Covid rental concessions in
their P&L accounts.
Earlier Situation – Until now, if any terms and conditions of an existing lease
contract changed, then the company has to show the benefit in its present value
after adjusting the rental concession, which would be lower than the current value.
Present Situation – The latest amendment does away with the need for such
recalculations, and the benefit can be taken into the P&L for the current period,
simplifying the accounting to a great extent.

92. Bank of Maharashtra has partnered with Uniken (digital security platform) to counter cyber
fraud.
• Under this partnership, the bank will use Uniken’s REL-ID technology for multiple security
on its online banking app MahaSecure.

93. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) chief MS Sahoo has announced that a
special resolution framework for MSMEs is being prepared to protect MSMEs in the times of
Covid-19.

94. RBI has published its 21st Financial Stability Report (released bi-annually by RBI).
• The report is published by the Financial Stability and Development Council (set up in
2010). Union Finance Minister is the Chairperson of the council.
Highlights –
 Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) ratio of all scheduled commercial
banks (SCBs) may increase from 8.5% in March 2020 to 12.5% by March
2021.
 GNPA ratio may increase to 14.7% under very severe stress.
  However, the financial system in India remains sound.
 Public sector banks (PSBs) may see their GNPA ratio of 11.3% in March
2020 increase to 15.2% by March 2021 under the baseline scenario.
 Under the severe stress scenario, FSDC assumes hypothetically that the
GDP would contract by 8.9% in 2020-21.
o In the baseline case, the GDP is assumed to contract 4.4%.
 Ratios (in March 2021): -
o Capital to risk-weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of SCBs – 13.3% under the
baseline scenario and 11.8% under the very severe stress scenario.

95. Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (listed in Nasdaq) has acquired New Signature, one
of the largest independent Microsoft public cloud transformation specialists based in
Washington.

96. Government has amended the FEMA (nondebt instruments) Rules, 2020 to allow 100% FDI
by NRIs in Air India.

97. ITC Ltd. has acquired Sunrise Foods Private Ltd. (spices manufacturer) for ₹2,150 crore.

98. Total SA (French energy company) and Indian Oil Corp (IOC- top oil company in India) have
formed a 50:50 joint venture to manufacture and market high-quality bitumen products for
road-building industry in India.
• The joint venture company will set up manufacturing units across India.
• The JV will start operations by taking over an existing plant of Total at Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

99. State Bank of India (SBI) has announced to provide $16.20 million liquidity support to local
businesses of Maldives. q
• Besides, SBI has also deferred loan repayment for over 200 retail accounts of Maldives.
• 'India First' policy of Maldives and 'Neighbourhood First' policy of India have been
strengthening India-Maldives relationship.
100. Bharti AXA General Insurance has launched 'Bohot Zaroori Hai' – a crop insurance
campaign for 3 years – to encourage farmers of Maharashtra and Karnataka about their yield
protection and financial security.
• This has been launched under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). The
scheme provides protection to farmers against the losses occurring to their yields.

101. SBI Card, in collaboration with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, has
launched the IRCTC SBI Card.
• This card will offer various benefits to consumers of Indian Railways such as bonus points
to avail free ticket etc.

102. NASSCOM, in association with Google and Indian Council for Research on
International Economic Relations (think-tank) released a report titled “Implications of AI on
the Indian Economy”.
• A unit increase in artificial intelligence (AI) intensity by Indian firms can result in a 2.5%
increase in India’s GDP in the immediate term.
• Generally, AI intensity is measured as the ratio of AI to total sales of the firm.
• An increase of 1.3 times in AI intensity can result into an increase of 3.2% in India’s GDP.

103. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved the $3 million grant to India under the
ADB’s Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund (APDRF).
• This is funded by Japanese government to India to support the Government’s emergency
response to COVID-19.
• Earlier in April 2020, ADB has launched COVID-19 pandemic response option (CPRO)
worth $20 billion for helping developing member countries in tackling pandemic under the
ADB’s Countercyclical Support Facility.
• In April, ADB approved a $1.5 Billion COVID-19 Active Response and Expenditure
Support (CARES) Program for India’s under CPRO.

104. 5th edition of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s (AIIB) Annual Meeting was held
virtually from its headquarters in Beijing, China.
 • A roundtable discussion was held on the theme “AIIB 2030-Supporting Asia’s
Development over the Next Decade”. The lead speaker of the meet was Nirmala
Sitharaman.
• Jin Liqun has been re-elected as President of AIIB for a 5 year term beginning Jan 2021.
• 6th Annual Meeting of AIIB will be held in Dubai, UAE in October 2021. This will be the first
annual meeting of AIIB in the Middle East.
• During this meeting, Liberia joined the organization and became the 103rd member of it.
Now, AIIB now has 10 members and nine prospective members from Africa.

105. BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL) has chosen Fiserv Inc. (a leading global
provider of payments and financial services technology solutions) to enable the digitization of
their operations.
• BFSL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda.

APPOINTMENTS
1. Nitin Menon (aged 36) has become the youngest umpire to enter International Cricket
Council's Elite Panel of Umpires for 2020-21.
• He is only the third from India to enter into the prestigious group after former captain
Srinivas Venkatraghavan and S Ravi.

2. Shrikant Madhav Vaidya has been appointed as the chairman of Indian Oil Corporation.

3. Ravinder Bhakar has been appointed as the CEO of Central Board of Films Certification.

4. S.P. Kochhar has been appointed as the director general of Cellular Operators
Association of India.

5. V Suryanarayanan has been appointed as the MD of Cholamandalam MS General

Insurance Co. Ltd.
6. Jayant Krishna has been appointed as the CEO of UK India Business Council (UKIBC).
• Krishna will be the first Indian CEO of UKIBC.

7. Injeti Srinivas has been appointed as the first chairman of the International Financial
Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) for the Gujarat International Finance Tech (GIFT) City.

8. Lee Hsien Loong has been elected as the Prime Minister of Singapore. Lee is the 3rd PM of
the country.

9. Ashok Lavasa (Election Commissioner of India) has been appointed as the new vice-
president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for Private Sector Operations and Public-
Private Partnerships.
• Lavasa can join ADB only after resigning from his current job.

10. Shyam Srinivasan has been re-appointed as MD & CEO of Federal Bank till September
2021.

11. Kulmeet Bawa has been appointed as the President and MD of SAP India.
• He will report to Scott Russell (President of SAP Asia Pacific Japan).

12. Prabhjeet Singh has been appointed as the president of Uber Technologies for India and
South Asia operations.

13. Indian-origin Chan Santokhi has been appointed as the President of Suriname (country in
South America).
• Hinduism is the second most practiced religion in the country after Christianity.

14. Rose C.O. Raponda is the first woman Prime Minister of Gabon (central African country).

15. Ashwini Kumar Tewari has been appointed as the MD & CEO of SBI Cards and payment
services.
16. Ramesh Babu Boddu has been appointed as the new MD & CEO of Karur Vysya Bank for a
period of 3 years.
• He has also been co-opted as an additional director of the bank.

17. Sanjiv Bajaj has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Bajaj Finance Ltd. w.e.f., 1st
August, 2020.

18. Roshni Nadar Malhotra has become the first woman in India to be appointed as the
Chairperson a listed IT company i.e., HCL Technologies.
• She will continue to be the CEO of HCL Corporation.
• Shiv Nadar (former Chairperson) will remain the MD of the company.

19. Sumit Deb has been appointed as the CMD of the National Mineral Development
Corporation (NMDC) till 2023.

20. Prakash Chandra Kandpal has been appointed as the MD & CEO of SBI General
Insurance.

21. Arun Kumar (DG of Indian Railway Protection Force) has been appointed as the Vice-
Chairman of the Security Platform of International Union of Railways (UIC – based in Paris)
for 2020-22.
• For the 2022-24, Kumar will become the chairman of the Security Platform of UIC.
• UIC Chairman - Gianluigi Castelli

22. Sahil Seth has been appointed as an honorary adviser to the steering committee for the
BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) young leaders for the period 2020-2023.
• Founded in 2012, the BRICS CCI is the parent organisation which promotes commerce and
industry in the BRICS nations.
23. Partha Pratim Sengupta has been appointed as the new MD and CEO of the Indian
Overseas Bank.

24. Thierry Bolloré has been appointed as the new chief executive officer of Jaguar Land
Rover (subsidiary of Tata Motors Ltd).
• Tata Group Chairman – Natarajan Chandrasekaran

25. ICRA Ratings has appointed N Sivaraman as its MD & Group CEO.

26. Dr. Alok Misra has been appointed as the CEO and Director of Microfinance Institutions
Network (MFIN) w.e.f., 1st August 2020.
• MFIN is the premier industry association and Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) for the
microfinance industry in India.

27. Naveen Tahilyani has been appointed as the CEO and MD of Tata AIA Life Insurance Ltd.
(This appointed needs to be approved by IRDAI.)
• Tahilyani will take over from current CEO, Rishi Srivastava, who has been appointed as
the new CEO of Group Agency Distribution, AIA Group, Hong Kong.

28. Central government has appointed Anil Kumar Jha (former chairman of Coal India) as a
member of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC).
• EAC was formed by the Ministry of Environment to appraise (assess) projects that are
commissioned without obtaining prior environmental clearance.
• The panel was earlier constituted in June 2017 for three years. Its tenure has now been
extended till June 2021.
 IMPORTANT DAYS
1. World Allergy Week 2020 will be observed on 28 June - 4 July 2020 by the World Allergy
Organization.
• Theme - "Allergy care does not stop with COVID-19."

2. International Day of Cooperatives is observed on the first Saturday of July (4th July, 2020)
since 1923 by UN.
• Theme - Cooperatives for Climate Action

3. United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) has observed the 2nd Counter-
Terrorism Week from July 6- 10, 2020.
• Theme: “Strategic and Practical Challenges of Countering Terrorism in a Global Pandemic
Environment”
• The first ever United Nations Global Congress of Victims of Terrorism at UN’s
headquarters in New York was scheduled to happen during the week but it is now
postponed due to Covid-19.
• United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre also launched the first virtual exposition:
“UNCCT Virtual EXPO – real impact”.

4. National Fish Farmers’ Day is observed on July 10 by India.

• Dr Hira Lal Chaudhry gave induced breeding technology to ‘Blue Revolution’ in India.

5. World Population Day is observed on July 11 by UN.

• Theme: Protecting women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health in the Pandemic

6. World Youth Skills Day is observed on July 15 by UN.

 • Virtual event will be conducted by Sri Lanka and Portugal on this day on the theme of
“Skills for a Resilient Youth”.
• According to latest ILO’s “Global Employment Trends for Youth 2020: Technology and
the future of jobs” report, number of youth who are not in employment, education or
training (NEET) has increased since 2017.
• 259 million young people were NEET in 2016. In 2019, 267 million were in NEET, and it
will increase to 273 million in 2021.
• Percentage wise youth in NEET – 21.7% in 2015 rose to 22.4% in 2020. It implies that the
international target to reduce the NEET rate by 2020 will be missed.

7. Nelson Mandela Day is observed on July 18 by UN to take action and inspire change.
• The day commemorates the birth anniversary of Mandela.
• Marianna Vardinoyannis of Greece and Morissana Kouyate of Guinea have won the UN
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize 2020.

8. International Chess Day is observed on July 20 since 1966 to mark the foundation day of
FIDE (World Chess Federation) which was set up in 1924.
• To raise awareness about the importance of Chess and FIDE, UN had passed a resolution
in December 2019 to observe July 20 as the World Chess Day.
• Therefore, the World Chess Day is being observed for the first time in 2020.
Fun Fact:]
 Chess was invented in India in 5th century.

9. UN General Assembly has declared 2021 as the International Year for the Elimination of
Child Labour.
• Purpose: to step up efforts to eradicate forced labour and child labour.

10. International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystems is observed on July
26 to raise awareness about the importance of mangrove ecosystems.
 • Godrej & Boyce, in association with WWF India, has launched ''Magical Mangroves''
campaign for conservation of mangroves.
• It will be launched in eight states including Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha and West Bengal.
• Aim – to create awareness about the importance of mangroves ecosystems and involve
citizens to make volunteers in this campaign.
• Initiatives launched to protect Mangroves:

International Union for

Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
and the United Nations
In order to save mangroves,
Development Programme
Global Mangrove Alliance was
(UNDP) developed Mangroves for
launched in 2017.
the Future initiative in 2006 to
promote investment in coastal
ecosystem conservation.

11. United Nations has declared 2020 as the International Year of Plant Health (IYPH).

12. United Nations has declared 2021 as International Year of Peace and Trust.
• Purpose: to strengthen the ideals of peace in the world.
• The day was recommended by Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov (current President of
Turkmenistan) at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly.

13. UN has declared 2021 as the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable
Development.
• Aim - to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth with respect for human rights.
• The proposal for designating the year was forwarded by a group of countries (led by
Indonesia).

14. World Nature Conservation Day is observed on July 28.

15. World Hepatitis Day is observed on July 28 by WHO.
• Theme - Hepatitis-free future
• Om Birla, Speaker of Lok Sabha inaugurated the 2nd Empathy e-Conclave organised by
the Institute of Liver and Biliary Science (ILBS) and Airport Authority of India (AAI) to
create awareness about the World Hepatitis Day among the parliamentarians.
• Theme of 2020 e-Conclave – “Keep your Liver Safe in COVID times”.
• 28 July is the birth anniversary of Baruch Blumberg (person who discovered Hepatitis).
Sneak Peak:
Major Health Days observed by WHO: -
 World Health Day – April 7
 World Blood Donor Day – June 14
 World Immunization Week – April 24-30
 World Tuberculosis Day – March 24
 World No Tobacco Day – May 31
 World Malaria Day – April 25
 World AIDS Day – December 1

16. Global Tiger Day is observed on July 29 in accordance with the Saint Petersburg
Declaration on Tiger Conservation that was signed in 2010 to double the tiger population by
2022.
• Slogan for 2020 – ‘Their Survival is in Our Hands’.

17. World Day Against Trafficking In Persons is observed on July 30 by UN.

• Theme – to focus on the first responders to human trafficking. For eg. people belonging to
different fields like identifying, supporting, counselling and working to provide justice for
victims of trafficking.
• UN has also initiated 'The Blue Heart Campaign' to raise global awareness to fight human
trafficking and its impact on society.
18. India observed August 1 as the Muslim Women’s Rights Day to commemorate the passing
of Triple Talaq Act, 2019.

AWARDS
1. India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been named as the India’s ‘Most Valuable Player’
(MVP) of the 21st century by Wisden.

2. AI-enabled 'MyGov Corona Helpdesk' has won two awards in –'Best Innovation for Covid-19
– Society' and 'People's Choice Covid-19 Overall Winner' categories – at the CogX 2020.
• The helpdesk was built by MyGov, Jio Haptik Technologies Ltd. and WhatsApp to help
citizens clear their queries on COVID-19.
• CogX is a prestigious Global Leadership Summit and Festival of AI and Emerging
Technology held annually in London.

3. Carnegie Corporation of New York has named Siddhartha Mukherjee (author and
oncologist) and Raj Chetty (Professor at Harvard University) as '2020 Great Immigrants'
honourees because of their efforts in mitigating the Covid-19 crisis.
4. The Mon District of Nagaland has won three SKOCH awards under the categories of
Financial Inclusion, District Response to COVID-19 and Skill Development during the 65th
SKOCH Summit.
• Three awards - SKOCH Crucible Award for financial inclusion, SKOCH Order of Merit to
prevent Covid-19, and SKOCH Honourable mention for skill development.
• SKOCH Award, instituted in 2003, is the highest civilian honour in the country conferred by
an independent organisation.

5. KHANA Centre for Population Health Research’s (Cambodian NGO) WhatsApp chatline
named ‘SMARTgirl Chatline’ has won a reward of $1 lakh from the World Bank & Sexual
Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) under Development Marketplace Award initiative.
• The chatline offered 24 hours response and support against gender-based violence to
female entertainment workers in Cambodia.
 • Development Marketplace Award is given by World Bank and SVRI to individuals for
finding innovative solutions to curb gender-based violence.
• From India, Institute for Human Development has won the award for assessing the
impact of liquor on gender-based violence. (case-study of liquor ban in Bihar was taken up
by the institute.)

6. Nadaun police station of Himachal Pradesh was declared as one of the best police in the
country by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

7. UNIFIL’s Indian Battalion (INDBATT) has been ranked 1st in the annual UNIFIL Environment
Award 2020 for creating awareness about sustainable waste generation, reusing plastic,
building green houses and compost pits.
• 2nd award goes to Irish-Polish Battalion (IRISHPOLBATT) for a project that aimed at
turning food waste into compost and donating to the host communities.
• UNIFIL – United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon – Environment Award has been given
to seven Missions for implementing projects to preserve environment.

8. Rotary International (HQ- Chicago, US) has honoured Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K
Palaniswami with Paul Harris Fellow recognition.
• The award is given to honour people who render efficient services in providing drinking
water, sanitation, prevention of diseases, environment, world peace etc.

9. Kezang D Thongdok (filmmaker from Arunachal Pradesh) has won the Dadasaheb Phalke
Award 2020 for his short documentary 'Chi Lupo' (based on honey-hunting practices of A.P.’s
Shertukpen Community).

10. 4th edition of India’s tiger census (conducted in 2018-19) has entered into the Guinness
Book of World Record for being the largest ever camera trap wildlife survey.
• This is the most comprehensive census to date, in terms of both resource and data
amassed.
 About the Census:
• It is conducted once in 4
years by National Tiger
Conservation Authority
(NTCA) and the Wildlife
Institute of India (WII).
• As per 2018's census,
India's tiger population is
nearly 70% of the world’s
tiger population.

11. Sachin Awasthi (President of National Media Club and Founder of Shri Ram Seva Mission)
has been awarded the “Top Publicist” honour at “Global Humanitarian Awards 2020”.
• The “Global Humanitarian Awards 2020” were given by World Humanitarian Drive (UK) to
honour the people who have contributed towards betterment of society.
• Awasthi’s National Media Club inaugurated the Swachh Bharat - Sundar Bharat Mission
in 2014 and also released India’s first toll-free number for cleanliness.

12. Mukhyamantri Darpan portal and mobile App of Chhattisgarh has been awarded the
"Elites Excellence Awards-2020" at the national level by IT institution Elites Technomedia
under the 'Digital India initiative'.
• The portal contains the details of all the flagship schemes of the Chhattisgarh government
including the ambitious 'Suraji Gaon Yojana' (launched in 2019 to tackle the problem of
stray cattle in the state).
• Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society (CHiPS) has developed this portal and app last
month.
13. University of Toronto Scarborough has launched The Navalar Nedunchezhiyan Lecture
Series and Navalar Nedunchezhiyan Tamil Literary Prize to commemorate the 100th birth
anniversary of V.R. Nedunchezhiyan (leader of AIADMK political party of Tamil Nadu).
• The award will be given to an outstanding local or international scholar in the field of Tamil
Studies.
• In the lecture series, students will be taught about pluralism, multiculturalism, and inclusive
global societies.
Fun Fact:
Nedunchezhiyan was a politician and a Tamil scholar
who was also known as ‘Navalar’ because of his
rhetorical skills.

14. ISRO chief Dr K Sivan has been honoured with the Von Karma Award 2020 (to be given in
Paris in 2021) by International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
• The award – highest honour given by IAA – has been named after Theodore von Karman
(an aerospace engineer known for his key achievements in aerodynamics).
• K Sivan is the 3rd Indian to get this award after Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan and U.R.
Rao.

15. N Chandrasekaran (Chairman of Tata group) and Jim Taiclet (CEO of Lockheed Martin)
will receive the USIBC Global Leadership Award 2020.
• USIBC Global Leadership Award is given to executives in recognition of outstanding
leadership and for promoting Indo-US trade and business.
• Both of them are co-chairs of US-India CEO Forum.

16. Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has announced four journalists as the winners of
International Press Freedom Awards 2020.
• Aim - to recognize the courageous journalists who preserve the freedom of press despite
oppression.
 Shahidul Alam Mohammad Mosaed Dapo Olorunyomi

Journalist,
Journalist Journalist co-founder
Bangladesh Iran & CEO of
Premium
Times
newspaper
Nigeria

Svetlana Prokopyeva Amal Clooney

Lawyer
Journalist Winner of
Russia Gwen Ifill
Press
Freedom
Award 2020

17. Actress Kate Winslet has been chosen for the Tribute Actor Award at 45th edition of
Toronto International Film Festival 2020, to be held virtually in September.

18. NTPC Ltd (India’s largest power generation company) has won the CII-ITC Sustainability
Award 2019, under Outstanding Accomplishment in Corporate Excellence Category.
• Also, the company has received Commendation for Significant Achievement in the
category of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
• One of the prominent CSR initiative of NTPC is GEM (Girl Empowerment Mission) which
was launched to benefit the school going girls from underprivileged background.
• Other winners (private companies) in the same category: ACC limited, Grasim
industries, Hindalco Industries, and Hero Motocorp.

19. National Academy of Agriculture Research Management (NAARM), Hyderabad, has won
four prizes at the 92nd foundation day and award ceremony of the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research (ICAR).
• Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Award for outstanding Research in Agricultural Sciences 2019 under
Natural Resources Management & Agricultural Engineering category.
 • Dr B.S. Sontakki (of NAARM) has won the Swamy Sahajananda Saraswati Outstanding
Extension Scientist Award.
• Under the Cash Awards Scheme 2019 Administrative Category and Support Staff
Category -- N. Vijayalakshmi and S.N. Rasool (of NAARM) respectively received the
awards.
Other Awardees along with Categories:-

Krishi Vigyan Kendra at Wyra in

Maj Manmohan Singh Verka, a T. Purushothaman, a shrimp
Telangana won Pandit Deen
renowned orchardist, won farmer won Jagjiwan Ram
Dayal Upadhyay Krishni Vigyan
Jagjiwan Ram Abhinav Kisan Innovative Farmer Award of
Prothsahan Puraskar given by
Puruskar (National) for 2019 ICAR
ICAR.

Best Agriculture University

ICAR-Central Institute for Award for the rapid strides
ICAR- Central Marine Fisheries
Research on Cotton (growth) -Agricultural
Research Institute, Cochi won
Technology, Mumbai won best Universities and Deemed
Best Institution Award among
ICAR institution among smaller universities, Govind Ballabh
the large institute category
ICAR Institutes category Pant University of Agriculture &
Technology, Pantnagar

20. Greta Thunberg (Swedish Climate activist) has become the first person to win the
Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity given by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal).
• She will donate the 1 million euros prize money to NGOs working for climate change.

21. As per the survey Twiplomacy rankings 2020 released by Burson Cohn & Wolfe, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has become the 2nd most followed leader on Twitter.
• For the fourth year running, U.S. President Donald Trump is the most followed world
leader on Twitter.

22. Lionel Messi has won the Pichichi Trophy 2020 given by the Spanish sports newspaper
Marca to the top goal-scorer of each La Liga season.
• It is the 7th Pichichi trophy of Messi’s career.
23. Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) has conferred the National
Award of Excellence for Outstanding Research in Forestry 2019 upon Kannan CS
Warrier (Scientist at the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore).
• Reason – for developing 3 salt-tolerant clones of Casuarina equisetifolia (a plant known
for its nitrogen fixing abilities) for sodic soils, for first time in India.
• ICFRE is the apex body for forestry research in India.

24. Govt has launched the restructured scheme for PM’s Awards for Excellence in Public
Administration 2020.
• For the first time, new category 'Good Performance for Ganga Rejuvenation Award' has
been instituted.
• Award categories – District Performance Indicators Programme, Innovation General
Category, Aspirational Districts Program and Namami Gange Program.
• “The Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration” scheme was
launched in 2006 to honour the work done by Districts/ Organizations of the Central and
State Governments.

25. Five nurses were awarded the Singapore’s President’s Award for Nurses for serving on the
frontline during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Indian-origin Kala Narayanasamy (Deputy Director of Nursing at Woodlands Health
Campus) was one such recipient among others.
• Singapore’s President – Halimah Yacob

26. Late Arnab Chaudhuri (animation director) has been chosen for Legend of Animation
Award 2020, to be given at virtual Animation Masters Summit 2020.
• Award given by – Toonz Media Group

27. Ministry of Earth Sciences has announced awards in various fields of Earth System Science.
 Life Time Excellence Award
Prof Ashok Sahni

National Award for Ocean Science and technology

V. V. S. S. Sarma and M. Ravichandran

National Award for Atmospheric Science and

technology
Dr. S. Suresh Babu

National Awards for Geoscience & Technology

N. V. Chalpathi Rao

National Award for Ocean Technology

Dr. Atmanand

28. Aditya - ‘India’s first solar ferry’ - has been declared the winner of Gustave Trouvé Awards
2020 under category III (excellence in electric boats designed for paying passengers).
• Gussie's electric boat award is the world’s only international award exclusively for
electric boats.
• Aditya is owned and operated by the Kerala state water transport department.
• It has been designed and manufactured by NavAlt Solar and Electric Boats under the
Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM).

SPORTS
1. Lt Col Bharat Pannu (a serving Indian Army Officer) has secured the 3rd rank in the first
edition of the Virtual Race Across America (vRAAM) 2020.
• With this, he has become the first Indian ever to win a podium place at an international
ultra-cycling race.
 • Race Across America (RAAM) is a 5000 km transcontinental race from the West Coast to
the East Coast of the United States of America with a cut-off time of 12 days. This year, it
was held virtually.

2. Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju has announced to launch Target
Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) for junior athletes to train them for 2024 Paris and 2028
Los Angeles Olympics.
• The announcement was made during the 'Fit Hai to Hit Hai India' webinar.

3. Lin Dan (China's two-time Olympic badminton champion) has announced retirement.

4. Raneem El Welily (World No.1) has announced immediate retirement from squash.
• PSA World rankings were released following the retirement of Egyptian World No. 1
Raneem El Welily. Egypt’s Nouran Gohar is the new No. 1.
Professional Squash Players Rankings (July 2020)
Rank Men’s Women’s
1st Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egypt) Nouran Gohar (Egypt)
India Saurav Ghosal at 13th rank Joshna Chinappa at 10th rank

5. Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has cancelled the 2020 Asia Cup T20 to be held in Pakistan in
September.
• ACC will now conduct the cup in June 2021 in Sri Lanka. Pakistan will host the Cup in
2022.

6. Ryder Cup (golf showdown between Europe and USA) is now scheduled to be held in USA
in 2021.

7. Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) has released its ranking for 2020. The
ranking is released for different categories in weight.
India’s Highest Rankers:
 Men Women
Amit Panghal at 1st rank in 52 kg category Manju Rani at 2nd rank in 48 kg category
- MC Mary Kom at 3rd rank in 51 kg
category

8. Real Madrid has won the La Liga (Spanish football league) 2019-20 for a 34th time.

9. International Olympic Committee (IOC) has postponed the 2022 Dakar Youth Olympics (to
be held in Senegal) by four years till 2026, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• The Summer Youth Games would be the first Olympics organised in Africa.
• 2020 Tokyo Olympics has been postponed to 2021.
• Beijing Winter Olympics has been scheduled to 2022.

10. Andre Schurrle (Germany) has announced his retirement from football.

11. Fabio Quartararo has become the first French man to win the Moto Grand Prix in Spain
since 1999.

12. ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 will be held in India. For this, ICC has launched the ICC
Men's Cricket World Cup Super League.
• ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2020 has been postponed to 2022 (venue not announced).

13. Jon Rahm has become the first Spanish golfer since 1989 to rank at the first position in
the world in golf rankings.
• He recently won the US PGA Memorial tournament.
• Rory McIlroy (from Ireland) is at the 2nd position in the rankings.
14. Hero Indian Super League (ISL) has been inducted into the World Leagues Forum (the
association of professional football leagues) which includes the likes of Premier League, La
Liga and Bundesliga.
• ISL has become the first league from South Asia and seventh in Asia to join the WLF.

15. Liverpool football club has won the Premier League trophy 2020.

16. 4th edition of Khelo India Youth Games will be held in Haryana after Tokyo Olympics in
2021.
• Star Sports will be the Official Broadcast Partner of the Khelo India Youth Games.

17. Magnus Carlsen has won the chess24 Legends of Chess.

18. England has won the Wisden Trophy against West Indies.
• This was the last match of the Wisden Trophy which is being replaced by Richards-
Botham trophy for future England-West Indies Tests.
• The trophy is an honour for the West Indies batsman Viv Richards and England all-rounder
Ian Botham.

19. Indian 4x400m mixed relay team’s silver medal in the 2018 Asian Games has been
upgraded to gold due to the disqualification of original winners (Bahrain) on the charges of
doping.
• Indian 4x400m mixed relay team consists of Mohammed Anas, MR Poovamma, Hima
Das, and Arokia Rajiv.
• Also, Anu Ragavan’s 4th place in the women’s 400m hurdles has been upgraded to Bronze
medal.
20. P. Harikrishna has finished at overall second spot in the Grandmaster Triathlon Tournament
at 53rd Biel International Chess Festival (held in Biel, Switzerland).
• He had also won Chess960 tournament and classical event of the festival.
• Poland's Radoslaw Wojtaszek has come at the first position.

21. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has constituted a Selection Committee for selecting
awardees for the National awards.
• Chairperson - Justice Mukundakam Sharma (Retired Supreme Court)
• Award Category - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Dronacharya Awards, Arjuna Awards, Dhyan
Chand Awards, Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar Award and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Trophy.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. Everton Weekes (legendary batsman of West Indies) has passed away. Weekes, along with
Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott, is famed as “Three W’s” of West Indies cricket.
• Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has announced to honour Weekes by featuring him
in its proposed museum at the Eden Gardens.

2. Shri. M. Venkaiah Naidu (Vice President of India) has released “Future of Higher Education
– Nine Mega Trends” book.
• Author - CA V Pattabhi Ram
3. TOI-849b – estimated to be the first-ever known planetary core (innermost layer of a planet)
– has been discovered by Dr David Armstrong’s team from University of Warwick (UK).
• This planet is 39 times bigger than Earth and orbits a star, which is a bit smaller and cooler
than the sun, at a very close distance. It completes its orbital round in just 18 hours.
• The study is published in journal Nature.

4. On the birth anniversary of former Andhra Pradesh CM, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, current CM
Jagan Mohan Reddy (son of YS Rajasekhara) has observed the farmers day (Rythu
Dinotsavam) on July 8.
• Naalo.. Naatho... YSR (Within me…With me…YSR) book, written by Vijayalakshmi (mother
of Jagan Mohan Reddy), was also released.

5. “Mahaveer: The Soldier Who Never Died” book has been written by Rupa Srikumar and
A.K. Srikumar.

6. Golden Birdwing (female) has become the largest butterfly of India with a wingspan of 194
mm. It was found in Uttarakhand.
• Southern Birdwing (190 mm) – founded by Brigadier William Harry Evans in 1932 – was the
largest butterfly of India till date.
• The study, which is authored by Shristee Panthee and Peter Smetacek, is published in
Bionotes.

7. “Too Much and Never Enough” - How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man
book has been written by Mary L. Trump (niece of US President Donald Trump).
• The book presents a portrait of the President as a transactional narcissist and accidental
commander in chief.
8. Ravindra Chandra Bhargava (Chairman of Maruti Suzuki) has written “Getting Competitive:
A Practitioner’s Guide for India” book.

9. Urjit Patel (former RBI Governor) has written ‘Overdraft: Saving the Indian Saver’ book on
dealing with the issue of NPA.

10. Tenzin Geyche Tethong has written 'His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An
Illustrated Biography'.

11. Ruskin Bond has written “A Song of India” book.

• It is the fourth book in his memoir series after "Looking for the Rainbow" (2017), "Till the
Clouds Roll By" (2017) and "Coming Round the Mountain" (2019).

12. ‘Ypthima watsoni’ butterfly commonly known as ‘Looped three-ring’ has been rediscovered
after 61 years in Tripura.
• The discovery was published in journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies.

13. "Swabhiman Anchal" - Recently, Border Security Force has started the first ever bus service
in this region of Odisha. Gurupriya Bridge is also situated in this region which facilitated the
road transport in this region.
14. “If It Bleeds” book has been written by Stephen King.

15. IIT-Delhi has developed the world’s most affordable COVID-19 kit “COROSURE”.
• It is the RT-PCR based diagnostic kit.

16. Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) has harnessed the magnetic mineralogy technique
to study the climate changes from fossils, minerals and other sources of the previous era.
• The study was published in Sage Journal.
• Magnetic mineralogy is the study of the magnetic properties of minerals.

17. Actor Sonu Sood has launched 'Pravasi Rojgar' app to help migrant workers find job
opportunities in various sectors across the country.

18. “The Pandemic Century” book has been written by Mark Honigsbaum (British Medical
Historian).

19. Hussain Zaidi has written the 'The Endgame' novel.

• His other books – 'Black Friday', 'Mafia Queens of Mumbai', 'Dongri to Dubai' and 'Byculla
to Bangkok'.
• Documentary – ''Terror in Mumbai', based on the 26/11 terror attacks.

20. Uttar Pradesh has re-named Chauk Chauraha as Lalji Tandon Chauraha and Lucknow-
Hardoi Road as Tandon Marg in the memory of Late Lalji Tandon (Madhya Pradesh
Governor).

21. Viral Acharya (former Deputy Governor of the RBI from 2017 to 2019) has written “Quest for
Restoring Financial Stability in India” book.
• The book is a compilation of his speeches given during his tenure at RBI.

22. "The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World" book has been authored by Dr. S
Jaishankar.
23. Olivia de Havilland (British-American actress and a two time Oscar winner) passed away.

24. Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu has released the 'Padi Bhavajalalu', a translation
of the English book "Ten Ideologies- The great asymmetry between agrarianism and
industrialism".
• Author of the book – Late S Jaipal Reddy (former Union Minister and outstanding
Parliamentarian).

DAYS LEFT OUT FROM SPOTLIGHT EARLIER: -

A) Prevention of Blindness Week 2020 is observed from April 1-7 every year by the
Government of India.
• The day was first started by Jawaharlal Nehru and Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur in 1960.

B) Earth hour is observed on last Saturday of March (March 28, 2020) every year by the
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
• Purpose: It is observed for one-hour between 8.30 P.M- 9.30 P.M to create awareness
about protecting nature.
• 2020 focus: ‘Raise your voice for nature’ and call for stronger climate action.

C) World Oral Health Day is observed on March 20.

• The campaign to raise awareness about oral health was organized by the FDI World
Dental Federation.
• Theme of campaign 2020: Say Ahh: Unite for Mouth Health.

D) International Commonwealth Day is observed on 2nd Monday of March (March 9, 2020).

• Theme: 'Delivering a Common Future'
• India observes the Commonwealth Day on May 24.
 QUESTIONS
Q.1) According to the Central Marine [b] Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Fisheries Research Institute’s data, India’s [c] Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
marine fish production has registered a [d] Dili, Timor-Leste
marginal increase of ____ % in 2019? [e] Hanoi, Vietnam
[a] 5%
[b] 3.4% Q.5) Recently, govt has announced to extend
[c] 5.1% Operation Greens Scheme from TOP to
[d] 2.1% TOTAL crops to cover all Perishable Fruits &
[e] 4.7% Vegetables. How many crops have been now
added into this scheme?
Q.2) Which state has launched ‘Skill Connect [a] 18
Forum’ - a portal to connect job seekers with [b] 20
employers on a common platform where the [c] 17
information regarding available jobs will be [d] 33
provided? [e] 50
[a] Andhra Pradesh
[b] Karnataka Q.6) What is the rate of excess female deaths
[c] Kerala in India according to the State of the World
[d] Odisha Population 2020 report?
[e] Jharkhand [a] 27.4%
[b] 13.5%
Q.3) Where has the India’s first Maritime [c] 20.1%
Cluster – Konkan Maritime Cluster – been [d] 11.5%
established? [e] 8.7%
[a] Uttarakhand
[b] Kerala Q.7) Which Indian company has
[c] Tamil Nadu manufactured the 1,250 tonne single largest
[d] Maharashtra cryostat of the world's largest nuclear fusion
[e] Goa reactor – ITER – in France?
[a] SAIL
Q.4) Where is the Asia’s First Continuous [b] L&T
Galvanized Rebar (raw steel) Production [c] BHEL
Facility established? [d] JSW
[a] Punjab, India [e] Tata Steel
Q.8) Which company has announced to Q.12) India’s international financial liabilities
acquire about 25% stake in Nxtra Data – in 2019-20 increased by ___ billion USD as
Bharti Airtel’s data centre business? per RBI’s India’s International Investment
[a] Microsoft Position (IIP) 2019-20 data?
[b] Adobe [a] $29.1 billion
[c] IBM [b] $47.9 billion
[d] Carlyle Group [c] $19.2 billion
[e] Intel [d] $23.7 billion
[e] $16.3 billion
Q.9) Who heads the IRDAI’s working group
formed to study the suitability of offering Q.13) Who has become the youngest umpire
surety bonds to contractors by the insurance to enter International Cricket Council's Elite
companies? Panel of Umpires for 2020-21?
[a] Girish Sachdeva [a] Nitin Menon
[b] G Srinivasan [b] David Boon
[c] Ritesh Krishanan [c] Chris Broad
[d] Mahesh Kandpal [d] Ranjan Madugalle
[e] Dhruv Prakash [e] Andrew Pycroft

Q.10) Which company has launched the Q.14) Who has been appointed as the
Global Bharat program (digital literacy chairman of Indian Oil Corporation?
program) to help Indian MSMEs become [a] Shrikant Madhav Vaidya
globally competitive by equipping them with [b] Gautami Tadimalla
digital technologies? [c] Narendra Kohli
[a] Facebook [d] Naresh Chandra Lal
[b] Google [e] Neil Herbert Nongkynrih
[c] SAP India
[d] UNESCO Q.15) Who has been appointed as the CEO
[e] Microsoft of Central Board of Films Certification?
[a] Mihir Bhutia
Q.11) Which bank has launched ‘e-Kisaan [b] T.S. Nagabharana
Dhan' app to provide a bouquet of services, [c] Waman Kendre
both banking and agriculture, to farmers [d] Vani Tripathi Tikoo
through their mobile phones? [e] Ravinder Bhakar
[a] Oriental Bank of Commerce
[b] Federal Bank Q.16) Who has been given the Sports
[c] HDFC Bank Achiever Award 2020 by the Rotary Club of
[d] Axis Bank Madras?
[e] ICICI Bank [a] Ajinkya Rahane
[b] W.V. Raman [e] Amit Chaudhary
[c] Rahul Dravid
[d] Sachin Tendulkar Q.21) What is the expected date of
[e] Ravi Shastri Shukrayaan-1’s launch?
[a] 2025
Q.17) Who has been named as the India’s [b] 2023
‘Most Valuable Player’ (MVP) of the 21st [c] 2021
century by Wisden? [d] 2026
[a] Virat Kohli [e] 2024
[b] MS Dhoni
[c] Ravindra Jadeja Q.22) Who heads the Committee for Reform
[d] Manish Pandey in Criminal Law formed by Ministry of Home
[e] Shreyas Iyer Affairs?
[a] Ranbir Singh
Q.18) Which of the following govt’s initiative [b] Komal Patra
has received two awards in –'Best Innovation [c] Kishan Singh
for Covid-19 – Society' and 'People's Choice [d] Giriraj Mukherjee
Covid-19 Overall Winner' categories – at the [e] Kesha Pandey
CogX 2020?
[a] #IndiaFightsCorona Q.23) Which country’s Institute of Space
[b] Corona Virus Tracker Physics has partnered with ISRO to explore
[c] Kill Corona Campaign Venus during the Shukrayaan-1 mission?
[d] MyGov Corona Helpdesk [a] Netherlands
[e] Mask Force [b] USA
[c] Denmark
Q.19) Where is the Sakteng Wildlife [d] UK
Sanctuary located? [e] Sweden
[a] India
[b] Nepal Q.24) What is the name given to the
[c] Indonesia internship program of Accelerate Vigyan
[d] Vietnam scheme of Science and Engineering
[e] Bhutan Research Board (SERB)?
[a] VRITIKA
Q.20) Who is the author of Bharatiya [b] KARYASHALA
Loktantra Ka Koras: Kuch Bisari Bikhari [c] SAMMOHAN
Dhwaniyan book? [d] SAYONJIKA
[a] Nikita Singh [e] SANGOSHTI
[b] Vikram Chandra
[c] Priyamvad Q.25) Recently, govt has announced to
[d] Akhil Sharma categorize cities on the basis of six select
indicator wise performance criteria for Q.29) 'Sanskrit Saptahiki' is the first-ever
Swachh Survekshan 2021. Which of the 'News Magazine' programme in Sanskrit of
following is not an indicator? which media channel?
[a] Segregation of waste into Wet, Dry and [a] Doordarshan
Hazard categories. [b] Zee Entertainment
[b] Processing capacity against wet waste [c] Viacom 18
generated. [d] All India Radio
[c] Percentage of waste going to landfills. [e] DD News
[d] Processing and recycling of wet and dry
waste. Q.30) Which state has launched 'Intzaar Aap
[e] Method of e-waste processing by a city Ka' (Waiting For You) social media campaign
to attract tourists to the state?
Q.26) What is the name of Mars’s moon [a] Gujarat
(image captured by Mangalyaan)? [b] Madhya Pradesh
[a] Phobos [c] Andhra Pradesh
[b] Stickney [d] Tamil Nadu
[c] Genus [e] Kerala
[d] Europa
[e] Valetudo Q.31) As per the World Bank’s classification
of countries on the basis of GNI per capita in
Q.27) Which of the following is India’s first current USD, India is a ___ income country?
official social media super app? [a] middle
[a] Mitron [b] upper-middle
[b] Sathi [c] lower-middle
[c] Elyments [d] Both A and B
[d] Chat With Me [e] Both B and C
[e] Chattel
Q.32) Who is the chair of the scientific group
Q.28) Which ministry has launched formed ahead of the 2021 Global Food
‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation Summit to offer scientific solutions to build
Challenge’ for creating world class ‘Made in more sustainable and resilient food systems?
India’ apps? [a] David Lubin
[a] Ministry of Science and Technology [b] Norman Borlaug
[b] Ministry of Information and Broadcasting [c] M. S. Swaminathan
[c] Ministry of Communication [d] Sonny Perdue
[d] Ministry of Electronics and IT [e] Joachim von Braun
[e] Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Q.33) How much is India’s trade deficit with
China in 2019-20, according to recent govt’s
data?
[a] $48.66 billion [d] V Suryanarayanan
[b] $65.26 billion [e] Nitin Gupta
[c] $16.6 billion
[d] $53.56 billion Q.38) When is the World Sports Journalists
[e] $38.78 billion Day observed?
[a] June 29
Q.34) Which company has jointly acquired [b] July 14
OneWeb in collaboration with UK [c] August 16
government? [d] July 2
[a] Amazon [e] September 19
[b] Salesforce.com
[c] SAP Q.39) Recently, the Mon District has won
[d] Bharti Enterprises Ltd three SKOCH awards under the categories of
[e] Oracle Financial Inclusion, District Response to
COVID-19 and Skill Development during the
Q.35) Which bank has launched ZipDrive to 65th SKOCH Summit. Where is the district
offer auto loans online to its customers located?
across 1,000 cities? [a] Meghalaya
[a] ICICI Bank [b] Nagaland
[b] HDFC Bank [c] Mizoram
[c] Axis Bank [d] Arunachal Pradesh
[d] Oriental Bank of Commerce [e] Assam
[e] SBI
Q.40) Who is the first Indian to win a podium
Q.36) Which bank has joined the Central place at an international ultra-cycling race in
Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the first edition of the Virtual Race Across
the Financial System (NGFS) as an America (vRAAM) 2020?
observer? [a] Bharat Pannu
[a] Asian Development Bank [b] Mahesh Keshav
[b] IMF [c] Dhruv Handa
[c] World Bank [d] Amit Sachdeva
[d] Federal Reserve [e] Aditya Khurrana
[e] Reserve Bank of India
Q.41) Which state has launched LEAD
Q.37) Who has been appointed as the MD of (Learning through E-Resources Made
Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Co. Accessible for Delhi) online education portal
Ltd.? for classes 1 to 12?
[a] Binny Bansal [a] Assam
[b] Venugopal Dhoot [b] Delhi
[c] Amitabh Chaudhary [c] Tamil Nadu
[d] Odisha
[e] Telangana Q.46) Which country is the highest contributor
of e-waste, as per the Global E-waste Monitor
Q.42) Which state has launched 'Balaram', a 2020 report?
first of its kind scheme in the country, to [a] India
provide agricultural credit of Rs 1,040 crore to [b] China
landless farmers in the wake of coronavirus [c] US
outbreak? [d] Canada
[a] Maharashtra [e] Germany
[b] Gujarat
[c] Rajasthan Q.47) When is the International Day of
[d] Himachal Pradesh Cooperatives observed?
[e] Odisha [a] Second Tuesday of June
[b] first Saturday of July
Q.43) Which state has become the first state [c] Third Wednesday of August
in the country to have 100% households with [d] Fourth Saturday of September
LPG gas connections? [e] First Monday of July
[a] Himachal Pradesh
[b] Maharashtra Q.48) Who has won the $150,000 Chessable
[c] Karnataka Masters 2020?
[d] Andhra Pradesh [a] Fabiano Caruana
[e] Telangana [b] Liren Ding
[c] Anish Giri
Q.44) Where is the Asia’s largest 750 MW [d] Magnus Carlsen
Rewa ultra mega solar plant located? [e] Nikita Vitiugov
[a] Telangana
[b] Andhra Pradesh Q.49) Where is the headquarters of WTO?
[c] Meghalaya [a] Switzerland
[d] Arunachal Pradesh [b] USA
[e] Madhya Pradesh [c] Denmark
[d] Netherlands
Q.45) With which company has CBSE [e] France
partnered to launch curriculum on digital
safety and online well-being and Augmented Q.50) Where is the Sriram Sagar dam
Reality for students and educators? located?
[a] Microsoft [a] Andhra Pradesh
[b] Google [b] Madhya Pradesh
[c] Facebook [c] Telangana
[d] Flipkart [d] Karnataka
[e] Byju’s [e] Tamil Nadu
Q.51) Where has Yotta NM1 data centre Q.55) Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is valid
building – Asia’s largest data centre and till which year?
second largest in the world – been [a] 2025
inaugurated? [b] 2029
[a] Telangana [c] 2030
[b] Tamil Nadu [d] 2022
[c] Himachal Pradesh [e] 2026
[d] Maharashtra
[e] Uttarakhand Q.56) How much interest subvention is
provided under the govt’s Agriculture
Q.52) Which state has launched 'Pure for Infrastructure Fund?
Sure' - a week-long campaign - to ensure the [a] 5%
purity of milk and its products? [b] 4%
[a] Jharkhand [c] 6%
[b] Rajasthan [d] 9%
[c] Uttarakhand [e] 3%
[d] Tamil Nadu
[e] Himachal Pradesh Q.57) In which institute will the India’s first
NVIDIA AI Technology Centre be
Q.53) What is the theme of India Global established?
Week 2020? [a] IIT-Madras
[a] Economic Revival In the Post-Covid World [b] IIT-Calcutta
[b] Post-Covid Recovery: Enhancing Global [c] IIT-Hyderabad
Resilience [d] IIT-Delhi
[c] Be The Revival: India and a Better New [e] IIT-Bombai
World
[d] Economic Strengthening: De-clutter The Q.58) Recently, ISRO has announced to
Turbulence launch Brazil’s first indigenously developed
[e] Boosting Infrastructure : Strengthening satellite on a PSLV rocket in August. What is
Economic Resilience the name of the satellite?
[a] Brasilia-1
Q.54) How much govt will contribute in total [b] Insight-1
to the Employees' Provident Fund under the [c] Skylab-1
PM Garib Kalyan Yojana till August 2020? [d] Amazonia-1
[a] 12% [e] Stardust-1
[b] 10%
[c] 24% Q.59) How many startup incubators does
[d] 15% Uttar Pradesh aim to establish under the New
[e] 30% Uttar Pradesh Startup policy 2020?
[a] 100 possibility of forming ‘Pandemic Risk Pool’ to
[b] 500 help offset economic losses?
[c] 300 [a] Vibhor Krishna
[d] 200 [b] Mahesh Mathur
[e] 600 [c] Dharmesh Kumar
[d] Suresh Mathur
Q.60) Which countries have become the first [e] Srishti Saxsena
two countries in South-East Asia Region to
eliminate rubella and measles ahead of the Q.64) Which country will be the president of
WHO’s 2023 target? G7 in 2021?
[a] Indonesia and Vietnam [a] UK
[b] Thailand and Singapore [b] Italy
[c] Maldives and Sri Lanka [c] India
[d] Philippines and Cambodia [d] Singapore
[e] Laos and Myanmar [e] Canada

Q.61) What is India’s rank in the "Cancer Q.65) When is the National Fish Farmers’
preparedness in Asia-Pacific: Progress Day observed?
towards universal cancer control" report of [a] June 29
Economist Intelligence Unit? [b] July 10
[a] 6th [c] April 17
[b] 8th [d] May 13
[c] 4th [e] August 21
[d] 2nd
[e] 3rd Q.66) Which country’s ‘SMARTgirl Chatline’
initiative has won World Bank & Sexual
Q.62) Which of the following company has Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) under
partnered with National Skill Development Development Marketplace Award 2020?
Corporation to provide digital skills to more [a] Brazil
than 1 lakh youth in India over the next 12 [b] Finland
months amid the covid-19 crisis? [c] Cambodia
[a] Microsoft [d] New Zealand
[b] Adobe [e] Thailand
[c] Google
[d] Flipkart Q.67) Which Indian squash player has ranked
[e] Amazon in the top 10 of the PSA world ranking 2020?
[a] Dipika Karthik
Q.63) Who is the chairman of the Working [b] Saurav Ghosal
Group formed by IRDAI to look into the [c] Mahesh Mangaonkar
[d] Vikram Malhotra
[e] Joshna Chinappa [d] Karnataka
[e] Chhattisgarh
Q.68) Which country will host the Asia Cup
T20 2021? Q.73) What is the name of the portal
[a] Sri Lanka launched by Ministry of Skill Development
[b] Maldives and Entrepreneurship to help skilled migrant
[c] Thailand people find jobs?
[d] India [a] Pragyata
[e] Pakistan [b] Prakashta
[c] Samridhi
Q.69) Who is the author of Mahaveer: The [d] Sankalp
Soldier Who Never Died book? [e] Aseem
[a] Rupa Srikumar and A.K. Srikumar
[b] Mahesh Mathur and Bishwanath Ghosh Q.74) Which organization helped NITI Aayog
[c] Sunil Gangopadhyay and Madan G. in preparing the ‘ATL App Development
Gandhi Module’?
[d] Hari Kumar K and V. V. Giri [a] ixigo
[e] Kiran Desai and Arun Joshi [b] Plezmo
[c] Locus
Q.70) Who is the author of Too Much and [d] Haptik
Never Enough book? [e] Rapstik
[a] Walter Abish
[b] Alice Adams Q.75) Who heads SEBI’s advisory committee
[c] Henry Adams on regulation and development of mutual
[d] George Ade fund industry?
[e] Mary L. Trump [a] Y.V. Reddy
[b] Usha Thorat
Q.71) Which is the world’s first country to [c] D. Subbarao
establish Fish Cryobank? [d] B.N. Adarkar
[a] Indonesia [e] Bimal Jalan
[b] India
[c] Vietnam Q.76) Who is the Prime Minister of
[d] Cambodia Singapore?
[e] Laos [a] Lee Hsien Loong
[b] Nguyen Xuan Phuc
Q.72) Which state has organised India's first [c] Prayut Chan-o-cha
e-Lok Adalat? [d] Thongloun Sisoulith
[a] Tamil Nadu [e] Hun Sen
[b] Telangana
[c] Andhra Pradesh
Q.77) In which month does United Nations [d] Japan
Office of Counter-Terrorism observe the [e] China
Counter-Terrorism Week?
[a] June Q.82) What is the maximum time limit for a
[b] August student of Class 1 to 8 to be online as per the
[c] July PRAGYATA guidelines?
[d] September [a] 2.5 hours
[e] December [b] 1 hours
[c] 2 hours
Q.78) When is World Population Day [d] 3 hours
observed? [e] 1.5 hours
[a] July 17
[b] July 6 Q.83) Which state has launched the ‘Roko-
[c] July 11 Toko’ campaign to create awareness about
[d] July 21 the importance of wearing masks?
[e] July 19 [a] Madhya Pradesh
[b] Karnataka
Q.79) Nadaun police station was declared as [c] Tamil Nadu
one of the best police in the country by the [d] Telangana
Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Which state [e] Uttarakhand
does it belong to?
[a] Kerala Q.84) Recently, Google launched the “Google
[b] Punjab for India Digitization Fund” to digitize the
[c] Uttarakhand Indian economy over next 5-7 years. What is
[d] Andhra Pradesh the corpus of the fund?
[e] Himachal Pradesh [a] $5 billion
[b] $5 billion
Q.80) A Song of India is written by whom? [c] $10 billion
[a] Anne Fine [d] $25 billion
[b] Susan Cooper [e] $15 billion
[c] K L Ramanath
[d] Ruskin Bond Q.85) Which country is India’s top trading
[e] Jacky Wilson partner in 2019-20, as per the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry’s data?
Q.81) India is planning to acquire 200 [a] China
unmanned aerial vehicle Raven from which [b] Saudi Arabia
country? [c] USA
[a] Israel [d] Russia
[b] US [e] Singapore
[c] Russia
Q.86) How much TDS is applicable on Q.90) Which company has won the CII-ITC
withdrawal of over Rs 1 crore (as per the Sustainability Award 2019, under Outstanding
recent guidelines)? Accomplishment in Corporate Excellence
[a] 2% Category?
[b] 5% [a] BHEL
[c] 3% [b] Indian Oil Corporation
[d] 6% [c] NTPC Ltd
[e] 4% [d] MTNL
[e] Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd
Q.87) Who has been awarded the “Top
Publicist” honour at “Global Humanitarian Q.91) Where is India's first trans-shipment
Awards 2020”? hub located?
[a] Sachin Awasthi [a] Karnataka
[b] P S Tyagi [b] Andhra Pradesh
[c] Keshav Mahadevan [c] Maharashtra
[d] Priyal Deshpande [d] Kerala
[e] Tanya Gupta [e] Odisha

Q.88) Mukhyamantri Darpan portal and Q.92) Recently, National Institutes of Design
mobile App has been awarded the "Elites (NID) have entered into the Anabin database
Excellence Awards-2020" at the national level which makes it easier for the students of NID
by IT institution Elites Technomedia under the to get work permits in ___?
'Digital India initiative'. They have been [a] Britain
launched by which state? [b] New Zealand
[a] Himachal Pradesh [c] Russia
[b] Chhattisgarh [d] Germany
[c] Telangana [e] Japan
[d] Andhra Pradesh
[e] Odisha Q.93) What is Indian Pharmaceutical
Industry’s position globally in terms of
Q.89) Who has been honoured with the Von volume?
Karma Award 2020 by International Academy [a] 2nd
of Astronautics? [b] 3rd
[a] Jim Bridenstine [c] 5th
[b] Dmitry Rogozin [d] 14th
[c] Hiroshi Yamakawa [e] 10th
[d] Zhang Kejian
[e] Dr K Sivan Q.94) With which country has India signed
MoU for storing its crude oil reserves?
[a] US
[b] France
[c] Thailand Q.99) How much will be the world population
[d] Mexico in 2064, according to a recent report
[e] Canada published in The Lancet by the Institute for
Health Metrics and Evaluation?
Q.95) Madhu Babu Pension Yojana is the [a] 10 billion
scheme of which state? [b] 9.7 billion
[a] Odisha [c] 7.7 billion
[b] Tamil Nadu [d] 12.5 billion
[c] Telangana [e] 15 billion
[d] Maharashtra
[e] Madhya Pradesh Q.100) What will be the total fertility rates
below replacement level by 2100, according
Q.96) Which IIT has launched ‘Gramin Krishi to a Institute for Health Metrics and
Mausam Sewa’ in collaboration with Ministry Evaluation’s recent report published in The
of Earth Sciences to provide weather Lancet?
information to farmers? [a] 3.1 births per woman
[a] IIT-Madras [b] 4 births per woman
[b] IIT-Delhi [c] 2.1 births per woman
[c] IIT-Ropar [d] 1.7 births per woman
[d] IIT-Kharagpur [e] 1.5 births per woman
[e] IIT-Bhopal
Q.101) Which country has topped the Global
Q.97) What is the maternal mortality ratio of Skills Index 2020 (released by HAYS Plc and
India in 2016-18, as per the SRS’s Special Oxford Economics)?
bulletin on Maternal Mortality in India 2016- [a] Luxembourg
18? [b] Netherlands
[a] 121 [c] Denmark
[b] 190 [d] Finland
[c] 223 [e] Germany
[d] 113
[e] 150 Q.102) Which coir item accounted for the
highest share in total exports of coir products
Q.98) What is the launch date of NASA’s in 2019-20?
James Webb Space Telescope? [a] Coir pith
[a] 2020 [b] Coir fibre
[b] 2022 [c] Tufted Mats
[c] 2025 [d] Doormats
[d] 2023 [e] Coir Brushes
[e] 2021
Q.103) What is India’s rank in the 2020 [d] May 29
Global Manufacturing Risk Index’s Risk [e] April 17
scenario?
[a] 13th Q.108) Mohammad Mosaed is one among
[b] 5th the four winners of the International Press
[c] 10th Freedom Awards 2020 given by Committee
[d] 30th to Protect Journalists. Which country does he
[e] 25th belong to?
[a] India
Q.104) What is the name of the e-portal [b] Pakistan
launched by International Centre of [c] Bangladesh
Automotive Technology to make Indian [d] Iran
automotive industry self-reliant through [e] Turkey
technology?
[a] Spring Q.109) Recently, Real Madrid has won the La
[b] Aspire Liga. Which sport is the league connected to?
[c] Wing [a] Badminton
[d] Lead [b] Football
[e] Champions [c] Squash
[d] Tennis
Q.105) Who has been appointed as the [e] Golf
President and MD of SAP India?
[a] Praneet Randhawa Q.110) Where will the 2022 Youth Olympics
[b] Shreya Sharma be held?
[c] Ishita Ganguly [a] Senegal
[d] Pranav Mehrishi [b] China
[e] Kulmeet Bawa [c] Russia
[d] Qatar
Q.106) Who is the President of Suriname? [e] US
[a] Rose C.O. Raponda
[b] Chan Santokhi Q.111) Recently, India and US signed an
[c] Clarice Lispector MoU for collaboration on India’s first-ever
[d] Jorge Amado Solar Decathlon. In which year will the
[e] Moacyr Scliar competition take place?
[a] 2022
Q.107) When is World Day For International [b] 2021
Justice observed? [c] 2023
[a] July 17 [d] 2020
[b] June 19 [e] 2024
[c] August 15
Q.112) With which Indian company has US’s
Bloom Energy signed an MoU for cooperation Q.116) Which ministry has signed a
in fuel cell technology? memorandum of intent with UNICEF’s
[a] Indian Oil YuWaah to mobilise 1 crore youth volunteers
[b] NTPC to achieve goals of Atmanirbhar Bharat?
[c] EESL [a] Tribal Ministry
[d] Arush Gas Technology Services [b] HRD Ministry
[e] Power System Operation Corporation [c] Sports Ministry
[d] Textile Ministry
Q.113) Where has India’s first of its kind [e] MSME Ministry
public EV Charging Plaza been established?
[a] Andhra Pradesh Q.117) How many people have moved out of
[b] Maharashtra multidimensional poverty in India between
[c] Himachal Pradesh FY06 to FY16, according to the Global
[d] Delhi Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2020?
[e] Rajasthan [a] 270 million
[b] 420 million
Q.114) Which of the following statement is [c] 380 million
not true about the Consumer Protection Act, [d] 199 million
2019? [e] 200 million
[a] It will simplify the adjudication process
[b] It will set up Central Consumer Protection Q.118) What is the percentage of people
Council living under multidimensional poverty in rural
[c] It will ensure consumer welfare, redress areas in the world?
their complaints and fair advertisement [a] 60.5%
practises in trade [b] 40.7%
[d] It also regulates e-tailers [c] 50.4%
[e] The amount of pecuniary jurisdiction of [d] 70.8%
Supreme Court under the Consumer [e] 84.2%
Protection Act, 2019 has been increased to
above Rs 10 cr from Rs 5 cr earlier Q.119) National Academy of Agriculture
Research Management has won four prizes
Q.115) What is the name of cooperative at the 92nd foundation day and award
brand of Haryana under which it will open ceremony of the Indian Council of Agricultural
2000 new retail outlets? Research. Where is the Academy located?
[a] Udyog [a] Vishakhapatnam
[b] Samarth [b] Hyderabad
[c] Uttam [c] Mangalore
[d] Udhyam [d] Calicut
[e] Harit [e] Cochi
 [b] Andhra Pradesh
Q.120) Where is the Lusail Stadium located? [c] Arunachal Pradesh
[a] Doha [d] Mizoram
[b] Nur-Sultan [e] Maharashtra
[c] Ankara
[d] Amman Q.125) What is the name of the assessment
[e] Muscat and evaluation system launched under the
National Education Policy 2020?
Q.121) 'Kumhar Sashaktikaran Yojana' has [a] JAANCH
been launched by ___? [b] PARAKH
[a] Ministry of Consumer Affairs [c] PARIKSHA
[b] DPIIT [d] VIVECHANA
[c] Khadi and Village Industries Commission [e] IMTIHAAN
[d] Cotton Corporation of India
[e] Ministry of MSME Q.126) Where is the Bandhavgarh National
park located?
Q.122) How much prize money will be offered [a] Madhya Pradesh
to the winners of DRDO’s ‘Dare to Dream 2.0’ [b] Kolkata
challenge in the startup category? [c] Arunachal Pradesh
[a] Rs 10 lakh [d] Gujarat
[b] Rs 25 lakh [e] Tamil Nadu
[c] Rs 15 lakh
[d] Rs 20 lakh Q.127) Who has been elected as the member
[e] Rs 5 lakh of the UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres’s Youth
Advisory Group on Climate Change from
Q.123) What is the name of mobile app India?
launched by Ministry of Earth Sciences to [a] Piyali Sharma
provide city-wise weather forecasts and [b] Dev Patel
warnings? [c] Rishikesh Mukherjee
[a] Mausam [d] Debjyoti Sen
[b] Ritu [e] Archana Soreng
[c] Jal-vayu
[d] Vatavaran Q.128) Which of the following country is not a
[e] Ushma part of the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance?
[a] Canada
Q.124) Which Indian state has launched [b] New Zealand
Green-Ag project, funded by Global [c] Australia
Environment Facility (GEF), for sustainable [d] Britain
transformation of agriculture in the state? [e] India
[a] Tripura
Q.129) Which country has announced to [a] Jin Liqun
become the first country to levy royalty fees [b] Danny Alexander
on Google and Facebook for news content? [c] Sandie Okoro
[a] New Zealand [d] Antonella Bassani
[b] UK [e] Imrana Jalal
[c] Russia
[d] Australia Q.134) Who has been appointed as the CEO
[e] Singapore and Director of Microfinance Institutions
Network?
Q.130) Which country will be the President of [a] Alok Misra
BRICS in 2021? [b] Arvind Krishna
[a] India [c] M Deepika
[b] China [d] Suresh Chandra Sharma
[c] Brazil [e] M Nagaraj
[d] South Africa
[e] Russia Q.135) Who has been appointed as the CEO
and MD of Tata AIA Life Insurance Ltd.?
Q.131) Which company has formed a 50:50 [a] Suresh Kumar
joint venture with Total SA to manufacture [b] Jeffrey Rosen
and market high-quality bitumen products for [c] Naveen Tahilyani
road-building industry in India? [d] Gursimran Singh
[a] Indian Oil Corp [e] Sanjay Manohar
[b] Reliance BP Mobility Ltd
[c] Petronet LNG Q.136) When is the World Nature
[d] Deep Industries Conservation Day observed?
[e] Oil India [a] June 17
[b] April 19
Q.132) Which company has launched 'Bohot [c] May 16
Zaroori Hai' – a crop insurance campaign for [d] August 19
3 years – to encourage farmers of [e] July 28
Maharashtra and Karnataka about their yield
protection and financial security? Q.137) When is the Global Tiger Day
[a] Acko General Insurance Ltd. observed?
[b] Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co. Ltd. [a] August 19
[c] Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd [b] September 29
[d] Bharti AXA General Insurance [c] June 10
[e] Navi General Insurance Ltd. [d] July 29
[e] April 13
Q.133) Who is the President of Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank?
Q.138) When is the World Day Against [b] K S Reddy
Trafficking in Persons observed? [c] J S Singhal
[a] January 13 [d] P R Trivedi
[b] May 22 [e] Piyush Shergill
[c] April 16
[d] August 19 Q.143) “Ofek 16” is the spy satellite of which
[e] July 30 country?
[a] Israel
Q.139) Which day has been designated as [b] Iran
the Muslim Women’s Rights Day in India? [c] Afghanistan
[a] June 15 [d] Saudi Arabia
[b] August 1 [e] UAE
[c] July 19
[d] September 24 Q.144) Which country is the highest opium
[e] October 27 producer as per the World Drug Report
2020?
Q.140) Wisden Trophy (cricket) has been [a] Afghanistan
replaced with Richards-Botham trophy to [b] Iran
honour ___ and ___, legends of cricket? [c] India
[a] Viv Richards and Ian Botham [d] Pakistan
[b] Karl Richards and Teddy Botham [e] Bhutan
[c] George Richards and Gerry Botham
[d] John Richards and Jeffrey Botham Q.145) As per the World Drug Report 2020,
[e] Denis Richards and Frank Botham India is at _ position in terms of opium
seizures in 2018?
Q.141) Which state/UT the has launched the [a] 4th
Mission Organic Development Initiative [b] 2nd
(M.O.D.I)? [c] 1st
[a] Ladakh [d] 3rd
[b] Himachal Pradesh [e] 5th
[c] Madhya Pradesh
[d] Andhra Pradesh Q.146) What is India’s rank in Sustainable
[e] Delhi Development Report 2020?
[a] 121
Q.142) Who has been appointed as the chief [b] 109
of National Human Rights Commission’s [c] 100
committee to study impact of Covid-19 on [d] 117
human rights and suggest future response of [e] 89
the government?
[a] P K Mohan
Q.147) Which country has topped the [d] Priya Ghosal
“INFORM index 2020”? [e] Preetam Gupta
[a] Somalia
[b] Yemen Q.152) When is the World Zoonoses Day
[c] Oman observed?
[d] Iran [a] August 11
[e] Kazakhstan [b] July 6
[c] September 18
Q.148) Which country has topped the Global [d] November 9
Real Estate Transparency Index 2020? [e] December 16
[a] India
[b] Singapore Q.153) Who has topped the AIBA ranking in
[c] Canada men’s 52 kg category?
[d] UK [a] Amit Panghal
[e] USA [b] Mike Tyson
[c] Manny Pacquiao
Q.149) Which bank has launched ‘Loan in [d] George Foreman
Seconds’ initiative to enable instant [e] Canelo Alvaraz
disbursement of retail loans for the bank’s
pre-approved customers? Q.154) Who is the author of “Getting
[a] HDFC Bank Competitive: A Practitioner’s Guide for India”
[b] ICICI Bank book?
[c] Kotak Mahindra Bank [a] Anamika Sen
[d] Axis Bank [b] Kumar Vishwas
[e] Yes Bank [c] Aditi Chopra
[d] Priya Gangawal
Q.150) Who has been appointed as the CEO [e] Ravindra Chandra Bhargava
of UK India Business Council?
[a] Abhishek Rawal Q.155) Who has written ‘Overdraft: Saving
[b] Piyush Banerjee the Indian Saver’ book on dealing with the
[c] Jayant Krishna issue of NPA?
[d] Megha Snagwal [a] Urjit Patel
[e] Kirti Deshmukh [b] K Kasturiranjan
[c] Rsaghuram Rajan
Q.151) Who has been appointed as the first [d] Shaktikant Das
chairman of the International Financial [e] Gita Gopinath
Services Centre?
[a] Injeti Srinivas Q.156) In which state has Minister of Road
[b] P K Sinha Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari laid
[c] Krishna Gopinath foundation stone for 11 national highway
projects worth Rs 20,000 crore for developing [a] Tamil Nadu
the "new economic corridor"? [b] Uttar Pradesh
[a] Punjab [c] Chhattisgarh
[b] Odisha [d] Jharkhand
[c] Haryana [e] Andhra Pradesh
[d] Bihar
[e] Arunachal Pradesh Q.161) As per the World Wildlife Crime
Report 2020 of United Nations Office on
Q.157) Which airport has established India's Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Zoonotic
1st and only completely contactless car diseases accounts for __ percent of all
parking amid Covid-19? emerging infectious diseases?
[a] Cochin International Airport [a] 80%
[b] Chennai International Airport [b] 40%
[c] Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport [c] 75%
[d] Indira Gandhi International Airport [d] 60%
[e] GMR Hyderabad International Airport [e] 90%

Q.158) Where will India’s first cable-stayed Q.162) How many people were hungry in
railway bridge – named as Anji Khad Bridge 2019 as per the “State of Food Security and
be established? Nutrition in the World 2020” report?
[a] J&K [a] 690 million
[b] Uttarakhand [b] 800 million
[c] Himachal Pradesh [c] 900 million
[d] Telangana [d] 500 million
[e] Tamil Nadu [e] 620 million

Q.159) Central govt aims to increase Q.163) Which year has been designated as
increasing the public health expenditure to the UN’s International Year of Fruits and
gradually ___ percent of the nation's GDP by Vegetables?
the year 2025 from about 1.3% now? [a] 2022
[a] 2.5% [b] 2021
[b] 2.9% [c] 2024
[c] 5% [d] 2025
[d] 3.8% [e] 2030
[e] 3.1%
Q.164) India is the world’s __ largest
Q.160) Which state’s Police has launched the producer of fruits?
first of its kind initiative named Operation [a] 2nd
Muskaan to protect the street children from [b] 5th
getting affected by coronavirus? [c] 10th
[d] 9th [c] 33.5%
[e] 50th [d] 23.5%
[e] 30.1%
Q.165) Recently, National Stock Exchange of
India (NSE) has launched the NRS for BIS – Q.169) When is World Youth Skills Day
Standard Gold to enable the use of gold bars observed by UN?
produced in India, for settlement of the gold [a] August 15
futures contracts. What does ‘R’ stand for in [b] April 15
NRS? [c] July 15
[a] Refiner [d] May 15
[b] Reclaimed [e] September 15
[c] Resettle
[d] Re-engage Q.170) Who is the author of “If It Bleeds”
[e] Retract book?
[a] Armando Lucas Correa
Q.166) Who has been appointed as the new [b] Jess Kidd
vice-president of the Asian Development [c] Stephen King
Bank for Private Sector Operations and [d] Martha McPhee
Public-Private Partnerships? [e] Helen Phillips
[a] Ajay Singhal
[b] Pratyush Banerjee Q.171) Which state has launched ‘Navin
[c] Anirudh Sen Rojgar Chhatri Yojana’ for an all-round
[d] Ashok Lavasa development of the Scheduled Castes?
[e] Sunil Arora [a] Gujarat
[b] Uttar Pradesh
Q.167) Who has been appointed as the brand [c] Madhya Pradesh
ambassador of SportsAdda? [d] Jharkhand
[a] Steve Smilth [e] Uttarakhand
[b] Joe Root
[c] Jofra Archer Q.172) When is the World Turtle Day
[d] Brett Lee observed?
[e] Jos Buttler [a] July 28
[b] June 10
Q.168) What is the percentage of youth [c] August 19
under NEET (not in employment, education [d] May 23
or training) in 2020 as per the ILO’s “Global [e] April 12
Employment Trends for Youth 2020:
Technology and the future of jobs”? Q.173) Which state has introduced the
[a] 22.4% ‘Samadhan se Vikas’– a one-time settlement
[b] 21.1% scheme modelled on central govt’s ‘Vivad se
Vishwas 2020’ scheme – for the recovery of South African Customs Union (SACU). How
long-pending dues of External Development many countries are a part of the SACU?
Charges? [a] 6
[a] Haryana [b] 10
[b] Gujarat [c] 2
[c] Punjab [d] 4
[d] Bihar [e] 5
[e] Tamil Nadu
Q.178) How much FDI is allowed in Defence
Q.174) Which state has launched the “One- Sector?
Stop Shop” scheme to give all statutory [a] 74%
clearances to investors at one place and [b] 49%
make the entire process of obtaining [c] 63%
clearance simple? [d] 44%
[a] Telangana [e] 23%
[b] Andhra Pradesh
[c] Rajasthan Q.179) Which UT has approved the 'Mukhya
[d] Madhya Pradesh Mantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojana' to deliver
[e] Gujarat the ration from PDS shops to the residences
of beneficiaries?
Q.175) Who heads the Investment Clearance [a] Andaman and Nicobar Islands
Cell of the Ministry of Civil Aviation? [b] Delhi
[a] Keshav Pandey [c] Jammu and Kashmir
[b] Amber Dubey [d] Ladakh
[c] Priya Mishra [e] Puducherry
[d] Raghav Desai
[e] Abhishek Yadav Q.180) Recently, India successfully tested
helicopter-launched Nag missile (HeliNa)
Q.176) With which country is India which has been renamed as ___?
collaborating on Programme for Accelerating [a] Varunastra
Clean Energy – Research (PACE-R) to boost [b] Tejastra
research in clean energy sector? [c] Agniastra
[a] Germany [d] Nagastra
[b] UK [e] Dhruvastra
[c] Portugal
[d] France Q.181) Anasis-II is the first military satellite of
[e] US which country?
[a] North Korea
Q.177) Recently, India has revived discussion [b] Qatar
about the Preferential Trade Agreement with [c] India
[d] South Korea [e] P. Suchitra
[e] Singapore
Q.186) Who has been appointed as the MD &
Q.182) Which of the following is not a CEO of SBI Cards and payment services?
parameter of the ITUC’s Global Rights Index [a] Ashwini Kumar Tewari
2020? [b] P.K. Goel
[a] Civil Liberties [c] Piyush Bansal
[b] Right to establish or join unions [d] Himanshu Moudgil
[c] Trade union activities [e] Vibhor Gupta
[d] Right to collective bargaining
[e] Right to protest against sexual Q.187) Who has been appointed as the new
harassment at workplace MD & CEO of Karur Vysya Bank?
[a] V. Vaidyanathan
Q.183) What is the percentage of decline in [b] Chanda Kochhar
the global direct selling in 2019 as per the [c] Ramesh Babu Boddu
“Global Direct Selling – 2019 Retail Sales” [d] R K Chhibber
report? [e] Rajiv Lall
[a] 1.7%
[b] 5.3% Q.188) Which year is the UN International
[c] 4.3% Year for the Elimination of Child Labour?
[d] 4.7% [a] 2020
[e] 3.2% [b] 2023
[c] 2021
Q.184) Which country has contributed the [d] 2024
highest in global direct selling market in 2019 [e] 2022
as per the “Global Direct Selling – 2019 Retail
Sales” report? Q.189) Which is UN International Year of
[a] India Plant Health?
[b] US [a] 2020
[c] China [b] 2025
[d] Russia [c] 2027
[e] South Korea [d] 2030
[e] 2029
Q.185) Who heads the technical advisory
committee formed by National Financial Q.190) Where is the Kakrapur Atomic Plant
Reporting Authority? located?
[a] K.V. Deosthale [a] Tamil Nadu
[b] Pravisht Bhargava [b] Kerala
[c] Meghna Patel [c] Karnataka
[d] R. Narayanas¬wamy [d] Gujarat
[e] Madhya Pradesh [b] Mukesh Ambani
[c] Sunil Chhetri
Q.191) Who has become the first person to [d] Sunil Gavaskar
win the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity 2020? [e] Sonu Sood
[a] Autumn Peltier
[b] Leah Namugerwa
[c] Isra Hirsi Q.196) Which state has recently launched an
[d] Xiye Bastida e-Sachivalaya portal to provide govt services
[e] Greta Thunberg to people in a transparent and effortless
manner through digital technology?
Q.192) Which footballer has won the Pichichi [a] Punjab
Trophy 2020 for a 7th time in his career? [b] Haryana
[a] Cristiano Ronaldo [c] Madhya Pradesh
[b] Lionel Messi [d] Gujarat
[c] Luka Modrić [e] Jharkhand
[d] Virgil van Dijk
[e] Andrés Iniesta Q.197) Which lab of DRDO has developed
Bharat – world’s most agile and lightest
Q.193) Which country will host the ICC Men’s surveillance drone?
ODI World Cup 2023? [a] Aeronautical Development Establishment
[a] Australia [b] Centre for Air Borne System
[b] New Zealand [c] Defence Institute of High Altitude
[c] West Indies Research
[d] England [d] Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory
[e] India [e] Centre for Advanced Systems

Q.194) Who has become the first Spanish Q.198) Where will the World Sustainable
golfer since 1989 to rank at the first position Development Summit 2021 take place?
in the world? [a] New Delhi
[a] Justin Thomas [b] Surat
[b] Rory McIlroy [c] Ahmedabad
[c] Webb Simpson [d] Chennai
[d] Dustin Johnson [e] Bangalore
[e] Jon Rahm
Q.199) Which company has developed
Q.195) Which of the following celebrity has India's first In-orbit Space Debris Monitoring
launched the 'Pravasi Rojgar' app to help and tracking system based on the LIDAR
migrant workers find job opportunities in (Light Detection and Ranging) technology?
various sectors across the country? [a] Digiantra
[a] Sachin Tendulkar [b] VizExperts
[c] ideaForge [d] Urgent Action on Biodiversity for
[d] CRON Systems Sustainable Development
[e] CM Environsystems [e] Business and Biodiversity: Recoup to Pre-
Pandemic Levels
Q.200) Which IIM has organized an e-
Symposium on Handicrafts titled “Emergent Q.204) Which organization has organized the
North-East India: Strategic and World’s first Global Fintech FEST 2020?
Developmental Imperatives in Handicrafts”? [a] National Payments Corporation of India
[a] IIM- Bangalore [b] Fintech Convergence Council
[b] IIM- Lucknow [c] Payments Council of India
[c] IIM- Indore [d] Reserve Bank of India
[d] IIM-Shillong [e] All of the Above
[e] IIM- Visakhapatnam
Q.205) Which company has become India's
Q.201) Which country has become the 87th first neo-bank or payment app that launched
signatory country to the International Solar India’s first numberless card in collaboration
Alliance? with IDFC Bank?
[a] Nicaragua [a] FamPay
[b] Maldives [b] PhonePay
[c] Philippines [c] Paytm
[d] Togo [d] CashKaro
[e] Algeria [e] Google Pay

Q.202) Which has become the 25th country Q.206) Which bank has launched ‘Insta Click
to become an observer of the World Trade Savings Account’, a digital self-assisted
Organization? online savings account, for all its customers?
[a] Turkmenistan [a] Bank of Maharashtra
[b] Israel [b] Bank of India
[c] Marshall Islands [c] Bank of Baroda
[d] Nauru [d] Canara Bank
[e] Palau [e] Punjab National Bank

Q.203) What is the theme of UN Biodiversity
Summit 2020?
[a] Ecological Civilization: Building a Shared
Future for All Life on Earth
[b] Investing in biodiversity for people and
planet
[c] Promote Scientific, Technical and
Technological Research and Innovation
Q.207) Which payments bank has partnered
with National Skill Development Corporation
to train and provide skill to young people in
rural areas on financial services?
[a] India Post Payments Bank
[b] Airtel Payments Bank
[c] Fino Payments Bank
[d] Paytm Payments Bank
[e] Jio Payments Bank Q.212) Who has been appointed as the CMD
of the National Mineral Development
Q.208) What is the quantum of secondary Corporation?
markets trade in corporate bonds that is [a] Sumitra Pandey
required to be done through Request for [b] Gomit Tripathi
Quote by mutual funds? [c] Mehul Mishra
[a] 15% [d] Bipul Chakrobarty
[b] 25% [e] Sumit Deb
[c] 5%
[d] 20% Q.213) Who has been appointed as the MD &
[e] 10% CEO of SBI General Insurance?
[a] Prakash Chandra Kandpal
Q.209) Who has launched the Open credit [b] Sanjay Dwivedi
enablement Network (OCEN)? [c] Indra Mani Pandey
[a] Abhijit Banerjee [d] Ravinder Bhakar
[b] Amartya Sen [e] V Suryanarayan
[c] Nandan Nilekani
[d] Bibek Debroy Q.214) Who has been appointed as an
[e] Amiya Kumar Bagchi honorary adviser to the steering committee
for the BRICS Chamber of Commerce and
Q.210) Which company is the investment Industry young leaders?
manager of the Special Window for [a] Jayant Krishna
Affordable and Mid Income Housing [b] Rajeeva Swarup
(SWAMIH) fund? [c] Sahil Seth
[a] HDFC Capital Advisors Ltd [d] Andrzej Duda
[b] Central Depository Services (India) Ltd [e] Vidhu P Nair
[c] Bajaj Finserv Ltd
[d] SBICAP Ventures Q.215) Which year has been designated as
[e] Axis Mutual Fund Trustee Ltd the International Year of Creative Economy
for Sustainable Development?
Q.211) Who has become the first woman in [a] 2021
India to be appointed as the Chairperson a [b] 2023
listed IT company i.e., HCL Technologies? [c] 2024
[a] Roshni N. Malhotra [d] 2025
[b] Priyamvada N. Malhotra [e] 2026
[c] Keshavi N. Malhotra
[d] Madhavi N. Malhotra Q.216) Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov
[e] Urmila N. Malhotra recommended UN to declare 2021 as the
International Year of Peace and Trust. He is
the current President of which country?
[a] Turkey [c] Pepsi
[b] Turkmenistan [d] Sahara
[c] Oman [e] Hero
[d] Qatar
[e] UAE Q.221) With which organization has Ministry
of Science and Technology partnered to
Q.217) When does India celebrate National launch the ‘SPRING’ project for purification of
Broadcasting Day? sewage water flowing into the Ganga and
[a] July 23 Godavari rivers?
[b] August 14 [a] World Bank
[c] September 19 [b] International Monetary Fund
[d] October 21 [c] European Union
[e] November 17 [d] African Union
[e] Asian Development Bank
Q.218) Who has won the National Award of
Excellence for Outstanding Research in Q.222) Which has become India’s first and
Forestry 2019 given by Indian Council of world’s 7th port to sign the Science Based
Forestry Research and Education? Targets initiative?
[a] Naveen Tahilyani [a] Adani Ports and Special economic Zone
[b] Hichem Mechichi Ltd
[c] Riva Ganguly Das [b] Hutchison Port Holdings
[d] Sanjiv Bajaj [c] Kamarajar Port Limited
[e] Kannan CS Warrier [d] Mormugao Port Trust
[e] Evergreen Shipping Agency India Private
Q.219) Which football club has won Premier Ltd.
League trophy 2020?
[a] Arsenal Q.223) Where is the Indian Navy’s largest
[b] Chelsea solar power plant established?
[c] Liverpool [a] Indian Naval Academy, Dehradun
[d] Paris Saint-Germain [b] Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala
[e] FC Bayern München [c] Indian Naval Academy, Dundigal
[d] Indian Naval Academy, Warangal
Q.220) Recently, Indian Super League has [e] Indian Naval Academy, Pune
been inducted into the World Leagues Forum
(the association of professional football Q.224) Where is the first NABL accredited
leagues). Which company is the biggest Honey Testing Laboratory of India
sponsor of the league? (ISL is named after its established?
sponsor.) [a] Madhya Pradesh
[a] Moto [b] Andhra Pradesh
[b] Coca-Cola [c] Gujarat
[d] Telangana Q.229) Which city has topped in the World’s
[e] Haryana Most Surveilled Cities index 2020?
[a] Taiyuan
Q.225) Where is the world’s first electrified [b] Chicago
rail tunnel established? [c] San Francisco
[a] India [d] Dallas
[b] China [e] New York
[c] Vietnam
[d] US Q.230) Who is the head of the Committee for
[e] UK Analysis of QR Code?
[a] P.M. Khaibar
Q.226) Which ministry operates the ‘Unnat [b] P.K Sinha
Bharat Abhiyan’? [c] K Madhavan
[a] Ministry of Rural Development [d] D.B. Phatak
[b] Ministry of Women and Child [e] P.S. Krishna
Development
[c] Ministry of Earth Sciences Q.231) Which multilateral agency has
[d] Ministry of Home Affairs partnered with the Green Climate Fund for a
[e] Ministry of HRD “green recovery” of its member countries in
post-covid era?
Q.227) Recently, the govt has increased the [a] European Central Bank
average time period for completion of houses [b] Asian Development Bank
under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to ___? [c] Federal Reserve
[a] 227 days [d] International Monetary Fund
[b] 105 days [e] World Bank
[c] 317 days
[d] 100 days Q.232) As per the 21st Financial Stability
[e] 114 days Report, Gross Non-Performing Assets
(GNPA) ratio of all scheduled commercial
Q.228) What is India’s rank among the top 10 banks may increase from 8.5% in March
countries that have gained in forest areas 2020 to ___ by March 2021 under severe
between 2010-2020, as per the Global Forest stress?
Resources Assessment (FRA) 2020 released [a] 11.5%
by FAO? [b] 9.8%
[a] 5th [c] 15.6%
[b] 3rd [d] 14.7%
[c] 7th [e] 13.9%
[d] 8th
[e] 10th
Q.233) To which country has RBI extended [e] Aashima Jain
the $400 million currency swap facility under
the SAARC Currency Swap Framework? Q.238) Which section of the Personal Data
[a] Sri Lanka Protection Bill 2018 gives the union
[b] Bhutan government power to exempt any
[c] Maldives government agency from provisions of the bill
[d] Bangladesh for a wide range of purposes?
[e] Nepal [a] Section 35
[b] Section 48
Q.234) Who has been appointed as the new [c] Section 36
MD and CEO of the Indian Overseas Bank? [d] Both A and B
[a] P.P. Sengupta [e] Both A and C
[b] Keshav Rana
[c] Madhav Singhal Q.239) According to data released by air
[d] Govind Kumar quality life index of Energy Policy Institute of
[e] Abhishek Gupta The University of Chicago, air pollution
reduces average life expectancy in India by
Q.235) Where will the 4th edition of Khelo _____ years?
India Youth Games be played? [a] 2 years
[a] Kerala [b] 3 years
[b] Punjab [c] 1 year
[c] Delhi [d] 6 years
[d] Haryana [e] 5 years
[e] Odisha
Q.240) Ziyuan-III 03 satellite belongs to which
Q.236) Which state/UT has launched "Rozgar country?
Bazar" job portal to revive the economy? [a] South Korea
[a] Andhra Pradesh [b] Israel
[b] Assam [c] Qatar
[c] Delhi [d] China
[d] Jammu and Kashmir [e] UAE
[e] Ladakh
Q.241) How many children have missed out
Q.237) Who heads the govt committee that on early childhood education in their pre-
was formed to boost research and school year globally, as per the “Childcare in
development in the field of novel drugs? a global crisis: The impact of COVID-19 on
[a] P.D. Vaghela work and family life” report?
[b] Nimesh Mehta [a] 16 million
[c] Keval Jadhav [b] 30 million
[d] Vandana Joshi [c] 40 million
[d] 55 million
[e] 60 million Q.246) Who has been appointed as the new
chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover?
Q.242) Which country is the president of [a] Thierry Bolloré
Shanghai Cooperation Organization for [b] Matt Hancock
2020? [c] Ben Wallace
[a] China [d] Robert Buckland
[b] Russia [e] Michael Gove
[c] Tajikistan
[d] Uzbekistan Q.247) Who has been appointed as the MD
[e] Kazakhstan of Icra Ratings?
[a] Ajay Kumar
Q.243) Which country has recently [b] Snehlata Shrivastava
announced to withdraw from the Istanbul [c] Pramod Kumar Misra
Convention (2011)? [d] Rajesh Ranjan
[a] Ukraine [e] N Sivaraman
[b] USA
[c] China Q.248) When is the World Hepatitis Day
[d] North Korea observed?
[e] Poland [a] July 17
[b] July 20
Q.244) Covid-19 can raise the prevalence of [c] July 28
child wasting by ___ percent in 2020, [d] July 11
according to ‘Impacts of COVID-19 on [e] July 10
childhood malnutrition and nutrition-related
mortality’ report? Q.249) When is the World AIDS Day
[a] 27.5% observed?
[b] 10.5% [a] December 1
[c] 19.8% [b] July 16
[d] 14.3% [c] April 25
[e] 20.7% [d] March 16
[e] June 19
Q.245) Which bank has partnered with
Uniken (digital security platform) to counter Q.250) Recently, Olivia de Havilland passed
cyber fraud? away. With which field was she related to?
[a] Bank of Baroda [a] Acting
[b] Axis Bank [b] Music
[c] Canara Bank [c] Writing
[d] Bank of Maharashtra [d] Dancing
[e] Dhanlakshmi Bank [e] Sports
 Q.255) What is the theme of 5th Conference
Q.251) Under the Affordable Rental Housing on Aerospace and Defence Manufacturing
Complexes, vacant government housing Technologies?
complexes will be converted into ARHCs [a] Empowering India with Aatmanirbhar
under a concession agreement for 25 years? Bharat Mission
[a] 25 years [b] Strengthening Indigenous Industry
[b] 30 years [c] Promoting Sustainable use of Nuclear
[c] 15 years Technology
[d] 10 years [d] Sashakt Bharat, Sudrid Bharat
[e] 20 years [e] Make in India

Q.252) Which is the first State to launch an Q.256) Which company has partnered with
advanced system “BLUIS” which uses space UNICEF India to provide career counselling
technology and artificial intelligence to to young people to improve their
safeguard government land in the Capital city employability skills?
and ensure planned development? [a] SAP India
[a] Chhattisgarh [b] ITC Limited
[b] Odisha [c] Dabur
[c] Madhya Pradesh [d] Patanjali Ayurved
[d] Assam [e] Britannia Industries
[e] Bihar
Q.257) With which country has India
Q.253) When was the National Mission for launched the Joint Technology Assessment
Manuscripts launched? and Accelerated Commercialization
[a] 2011 Programme?
[b] 2015 [a] Russia
[c] 2006 [b] Japan
[d] 2003 [c] France
[e] 2017 [d] USA
[e] UK
Q.254) Which has proposed a dedicated
cycle corridor by reclaiming parking spaces? Q.258) Which is the first African country to
[a] Surat submit the results for Reducing Emissions
[b] Kolkata from Deforestation and forest Degradation
[c] Ahmedabad (REDD+) to the UN Framework Convention
[d] Madurai on Climate Change?
[e] Chennai [a] Ethiopia
[b] Tanzania
[c] Uganda
[d] Egypt
[e] Algeria [b] Sweden
[c] Netherlands
Q.259) Which country will host the Asia- [d] China
Pacific Economic Cooperation forum’s [e] Denmark
summit 2021?
[a] Japan Q.263) What is the name of ‘India’s first solar
[b] Australia ferry’ which has recently won the Gustave
[c] South Korea Trouvé Awards 2020?
[d] New Zealand [a] Bharat
[e] India [b] Surya
[c] Aditya
Q.260) Which has launched the 'Insta Loans [d] Prakash
against Mutual Funds' facility, in partnership [e] Prabhakar
with Computer Age Management Services?
[a] ICICI Bank Q.264) Which African country will host the
[b] HDFC Bank Youth Olympics (2022) for the first time?
[c] Axis Bank (This would be the first Olympics organised in
[d] Canara Bank Africa.)
[e] Bank of Baroda [a] Senegal
[b] Angola
Q.261) Which payment bank has launched [c] Gabon
'Bhavishya' – a subscription-based savings [d] Lesotho
account scheme for minors aged between 10- [e] Botswana
18 years?
[a] Fino Q.265) What is the name of the largest
[b] Airtel butterfly of India?
[c] India Post [a] Golden Birdwing
[d] Jio [b] Black-tailed Godwit
[e] Paytm [c] Common Teal
[d] Northern Pintail
Q.262) Which country leads the world in [e] Peregrine Falcon
terms of e-vehicles?
[a] Iceland

1 D 51 D 101 A 151 A 201 A 251 A

2 B 52 B 102 A 152 B 202 A 252 B
3 E 53 C 103 D 153 A 203 D 253 D
4 A 54 C 104 B 154 E 204 E 254 B
5 A 55 B 105 E 155 A 205 A 255 A
6 B 56 E 106 B 156 C 206 C 256 A
7 B 57 C 107 A 157 E 207 B 257 A
8 D 58 D 108 D 158 A 208 E 258 C
9 B 59 A 109 B 159 A 209 C 259 D
10 C 60 C 110 A 160 E 210 D 260 A
11 C 61 B 111 B 161 C 211 A 261 A
12 E 62 A 112 A 162 A 212 E 262 D
13 A 63 D 113 D 163 B 213 A 263 C
14 A 64 A 114 E 164 A 214 C 264 A
15 E 65 B 115 E 165 A 215 A 265 A
16 B 66 C 116 C 166 D 216 B
17 C 67 E 117 A 167 D 217 A
18 D 68 A 118 E 168 A 218 E
19 E 69 A 119 B 169 C 219 C
20 C 70 E 120 A 170 C 220 E
21 B 71 B 121 C 171 B 221 C
22 A 72 E 122 A 172 D 222 A
23 E 73 E 123 A 173 A 223 B
24 A 74 B 124 D 174 C 224 C
25 E 75 B 125 B 175 B 225 A
26 A 76 A 126 A 176 E 226 E
27 C 77 C 127 E 177 E 227 E
28 D 78 C 128 E 178 A 228 B
29 D 79 E 129 D 179 B 229 A
30 B 80 D 130 A 180 E 230 D
31 C 81 B 131 A 181 D 231 B
32 E 82 E 132 D 182 E 232 D
33 A 83 A 133 A 183 C 233 A
34 D 84 C 134 A 184 B 234 A
35 B 85 C 135 C 185 D 235 D
36 A 86 B 136 E 186 A 236 C
37 D 87 A 137 D 187 C 237 A
38 D 88 B 138 E 188 C 238 E
39 B 89 E 139 B 189 A 239 E
40 A 90 C 140 A 190 D 240 D
41 B 91 D 141 A 191 E 241 C
42 E 92 D 142 B 192 B 242 B
43 A 93 B 143 A 193 E 243 E
44 E 94 A 144 A 194 E 244 D
45 C 95 A 145 A 195 E 245 D
46 B 96 D 146 D 196 B 246 A
47 B 97 D 147 A 197 D 247 E
48 D 98 E 148 D 198 A 248 C
49 A 99 B 149 E 199 A 249 A
50 C 100 C 150 C 200 D 250 A
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