SPOTLIGHT

Monthly Current Affairs

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SPOTLIGHT – OCTOBER
2020
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Table of Contents
NATIONAL NEWS ..................................................................................................................................... 4
INTERNATIONAL NEWS .......................................................................................................................... 60
BANKING AND ECONOMY ...................................................................................................................... 82
APPOINTMENTS ....................................................................................................................................104
IMPORTANT DAYS ................................................................................................................................106
AWARDS ...............................................................................................................................................112
SPORTS .................................................................................................................................................118
MISCELLANEOUS ...................................................................................................................................120
QUESTIONS ...........................................................................................................................................124

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 NATIONAL NEWS
1. ISRO is scheduled to launch its Venus mission in 2025 and France’s CNES (National Centre
for Space Studies) will participate in it.
• The VIRAL (Venus Infrared Atmospheric Gases Linker) instrument – which is attached
to the French national scientific research centre (CNRS) – has been selected by ISRO for
this mission. VIRAL will be equipped on the Shukrayaan.
• This is the first time, a French payload will be flown on an Indian exploration mission.

2. Rajasthan govt has decided to give 30% of the new Public Distribution System (PDS) shops
to women for their empowerment.
• Government has approved an additional budget of Rs 11 crore for the Sahyog Evam
Uphar Yojana of the state.
• In this scheme, financial assistance is provided to the needy and eligible families for
daughter's marriage.

3. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched Ambedkar Social Innovation
Incubation Mission (ASIIM) to promote innovation and entrepreneurship amongst SC
students in higher education campuses.
• 1,000 initiatives of SC youth would be identified by 2024 and will be provided up to ₹30
lakh in a three year period as equity.
• Successful ventures would further get a funding of up to ₹5 Crore from the Venture Capital
Fund for SCs.
• ASIIM has been launched under the Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes
(VCFSC).
• VCFSC was launched in 2014-15 to develop entrepreneurship amongst the SC/ Divyang
youth and to enable them to become 'job-givers'.

4. Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) has collaborated with Massachusetts

Institute of Technology (MIT) to find ways to use industrial and agricultural by-products.

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5. Andhra Pradesh govt has launched the Jagananna Vidya Kanuka scheme to arouse the
interest of students in education.
• The scheme aims to distribute educational kits (comprising of school uniform, shoes,
socks, textbooks etc.) worth Rs 650 crore to the students in grades 1 to 10.

6. India and Bangladesh conducted the 2nd edition of the bilateral naval exercise
“Bongosagar” in Northern Bay of Bengal.
• After Bongosagar, the 3rd edition of India Bangladesh Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) will
be held.

7. Dassault Systemes (Software company), in collaboration with the Shiv Nadar University,
has established Shiv Nadar University-Dassault Systemes Centre of Excellence (SDC) at
the university’s campus.
• Purpose: for promoting research, innovation, design and entrepreneurship among students
of Shiv Nadar university.

8. Ayush Grid project and National Digital Health Mission have announced to integrate for
providing better health services to the people.

9. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed $1.9 million to India to
support informal sector workers and micro enterprises who are hit by Covid-19.
• Revive alliance will use this funding to address challenges caused by unemployment and
income gaps faced by workers in the informal sector.
• The Revive alliance was founded by the Samhita-Collective Good Foundation and co-
funded by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Omidyar Network India, and the Ford
Foundation.

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10. Ministry of Defence has roped in Alpha Design Technologies Ltd to upgrade its soviet era
Pechora surface to air systems.
• For the first time, the Ministry has placed orders with a private company – Economic
Explosive Limited (EEL) – for supply of ten lakh hand grenades for Indian Army.

11. India will build a cancer hospital (100 bed capacity) and a cricket stadium in Hulhumale in
Maldives, under the $800 million Line of Credit that was extended to the country last year for
infrastructure development.

12. Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has approved Army Static Switched
Communication Network (ASCON) Phase IV project to establish a secure communication
network for the Indian Army.
• ASCON will include modern optical fibre cable links to forward areas.
• M/s ITI (a PSU) has been given the project.

13. Minister of Tribal Affairs has launched India’s largest handicraft and organic products
marketplace named as the “Tribes India e –marketplace”.
• Purpose: to showcase the produce and handicrafts of Tribal people and help them market
their produce directly.
• It is an initiative of TRIFED.

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14. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has framed Food Safety and Standards
(Amendment) Bill 2020 to amend the FSSAI Act, 2006.
• The bill introduces 70 amendments in the 2006 Act to revamp FSSAI functioning and its
jurisdiction.
Key features:

® FSSAI’s jurisdiction extended over animal feed.

® Penalties enhanced for violations.
o Penalty for manufacturing and sale of unsafe food – Rs 1 to 3 lakh.
o In case the unsafe food causes “harm to body which amounts to causing grievous
hurt even if it does not cause actual injury”, the punishment could extend up to life
imprisonment.
o A new section has been added to define penalty for causing death or grievous hurt.
® The bill empowers Central government to appoint members of FSSAI.
o Earlier, the selection committee used to recommend names for new appointments.
o Now, there would be no role of a selection committee in appointment of members.

15. India has successfully test fired 'Shaurya' – an indigenously developed nuclear capable
hypersonic missile with a strike range of around 1,000 km from a test range in Odisha.
• 'Shaurya', built by DRDO, is the land variant of India's K-15 missile.

16. Gujarat govt has signed an MoU with Denmark for cooperation in the field of water supply
and wastewater treatment, including reuse and water management.
• Parties to the MoU – Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board and Danish Water
Forum.
• Indo-Danish Water Technology Alliance will be set up in Gujarat as part of this MoU,
which has been signed for a five-year period.

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17. Agnikul Cosmos (Chennai-based small rocket maker) has signed an agreement with Alaska
Aerospace Corporation to test launch Agnibaan (a launch vehicle) from the Pacific
Spaceport Complex on Alaska's Kodiak island in the US.
• Agnikul Cosmos (which is an IIT-Madras incubated startup) has announced that the launch
will be conducted by the end of 2021.

18. Govt has set up a screening panel, headed by Ajay Kumar Bhalla (home secretary), to
investigate all Chinese foreign investment proposals and approve only those which are
considered “non-controversial”.

19. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal has launched 'Kritagyata' scheme for giving pension to
the state govt employees on the day of retirement.
• A 'CyberSafety' campaign for youngsters will be jointly conducted by the Assam Police
and cyber-security think tank Cyber Peace Foundation (CPF).

20. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has launched the Pathashree Abhijan to repair the roads
of the state.

21. Indian embassy in Madagascar has become the first Indian mission globally to run on solar
power.

22. An indigenously developed laser-guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) was successfully
test fired from an MBT Arjun Tank in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra.
• Arjun is a third generation main battle tank developed by the DRDO.
• Pune-based Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) developed
the ATGM in association with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory and Instruments
Research and Development Establishment (IRDE).

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23. CII organized the virtual Life Sciences Conclave 2020 under the theme of “Energizing Make
in India through Life Sciences Sector”.
• CII Life Sciences conclave 2020 is the 17th edition of pharmaceutical conclave and 4th
edition of biotechnology conclave.

24. United States Department of Defense (aka ‘Pentagon’) has approved India’s request to
purchase $90 million (Rs 660 crore) worth of equipment, logistical support and spare parts for
its C-130J Super Hercules cargo aircraft fleet.

25. Haryana has launched the ‘Gram Darshan’ portal to digitize all the records of developmental
activities of villages and various Government Departments on a single digital platform.

26. Superior New Generation Information and Data Handling Initiative (SUNIDHI) was
launched by Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation (CMFPO).
• Purpose: To digitise all provident fund and pension related activities of CMFPO.
• This application will run from its data centre at Hyderabad in sync with the Disaster
recovery centre at Bhubaneshwar.

27. World's longest motorable (highway) tunnel, the Atal Tunnel is located at Rohtang Pass in
Himachal Pradesh.

28. Dalle Khursani, the famous red hot cherry pepper of Sikkim, has got a geographical
indication (GI) tag.

29. PM Narendra Modi addressed an international webinar on textile traditions organized by

Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Uttar Pradesh Institute of Design.
• Theme - "Weaving Relations: Textile Traditions.”

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30. DRDO successfully test-fired the Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART), which is a
missile assisted lightweight anti-submarine torpedo system.
• SMART will add an edge to India Navy during anti- submarine warfare (ASW).

31. Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has chosen Translational Health
Science And Technology Institute (THSTI), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), as one of
the global network of laboratories for centralised assessment of COVID- 19 vaccines.
• The CEPI network will involve six labs from different countries.

32. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has partnered with Swiggy to take street food
vendors online under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi)
scheme.
• It will be launched as a pilot in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Indore and Varanasi.

33. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has released the winners
of the first edition of the National Startup Awards (2020).
• The award recognizes innovative startups, incubators and accelerators which play an
important role in building the start – up ecosystem.
• Awards were given in 12 sectors, sub – classified in 35 categories and 3 special
categories.
• Prize value – Rs.5 lakh to the top start-up in each category and Rs.15 lakh each to the top
incubator and accelerator.
• Evaluation was done against six parameters:

Inclusivenes
Economic Social Environmen
Innovation Scalability s and
Impact Impact tal Impact
Diversity

• Winners –
o Lucknow-based Aloe Ecell Pvt. Ltd, which has developed the world’s first eco-
friendly and non-hazardous batteries from Aloe Vera.

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 o Hyderabad-headquartered Skyroot Aerospace Pvt. Ltd for building the most cost-
effective small satellite launch vehicle.
o There were numerous winners in different categories.

34. Ministry of Commerce has also launched the “Start – Up India Showcase” platform as a
part of the Start- up India portal.
• The portal will help the industry, authorities and investors to find and connect with the
startups for partnerships, investment and procurement.

35. Puducherry Airport has become Airport Authority of India’s first 100% solar powered
airport.

36. Supreme Court bench headed by Justice SK Kaul has given its historic judgement that public
spaces cannot be occupied indefinitely for protesting or expressing dissent.
• The decision has been taken on the back of the Shaheen Bagh protests in Delhi against
CAA, 2019.
• Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution guarantees the right to assemble peacefully without
arms, these rights are subject to reasonable restrictions. Now, the people can gather only at
designated places and not at public places for demonstrations.

37. Gujarat government has launched the phase-I of the 'Digital Seva Setu' programme, under
the BharatNet project of the central govt.
• 2,700 village panchayats will be connected with 100 MBPS optical fibre network.
• Purpose: to provide public welfare services online at the e-gram office in each panchayat.
So that, the villagers will not have to go all the way to taluka or district-level offices.

38. Goa govt has launched the Digital Integrated System for Holistic Teaching and Virtual
Orientations (DISHTAVO), an online e-learning platform.

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 • Under the DISHTAVO program, online E-content will be created in the form of video
lectures of syllabus pertaining to colleges (affiliated to Goa University).
• Goa is the first state in the country to take the entire academic syllabus of higher
education to an online platform. (Kerala became first state in digital school education).

39. For the first time in India, two Organic Spices Seed Parks will be set up in Gujarat at a
cost of ₹23 lakh. Both of them will be set up with NABARD’s assistance.
• First park – Organic Spices Seed Park for fennel (saunf) in the Banaskantha district
• Second park – Organic Spices Seed Park for cumin (jeera) in Patan district
• Purpose – to encourage capacity building and adoption of best practices in the production
of cumin and fennel seeds, the main crops of the region.

40. Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) will house India’s largest HPC-
AI supercomputer named as ‘PARAM Siddhi – AI’ (equipped with NVIDIA company’s
technologies).
• It has been developed by the C-DAC team, headed by Abhishek Das, under the National
Supercomputer Mission.
• PARAM Siddhi – AI will be established with support from Niti Aayog, Ministry of Electronics
and IT, Department of Science and Technology, and the central government.

41. India’s ISRO and France’s CNES have jointly launched the constellation of maritime
surveillance satellites for the Indian Ocean Region.
• Purpose: to jointly monitor the illegal spillage of oil by ships in the Indian Ocean Region.
• Monitoring Center: To be located in India
• Satellite: Trishna – a highly precise thermal infrared observer – will be a part of the
constellation of satellites that will be built by India and France together.
• It will be the first space-based system in the world capable of tracking ships continuously.
• India and France collaboration – Gaganyaan and Shukrayaan missions.

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42. National Mission for Clean Ganga has launched “My Ganga, My Dolphin” ecotourism
campaign, on the occasion of Ganga River Dolphin Day (October 5).
• Dolphin safari will be conducted at six sites in Gangetic states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and
West Bengal.
• During the campaign, Gangetic dolphin census will also be conducted. Gangetic dolphins
are the 'National Aquatic Animal'.
• Launch partners – Wildlife Institute of India and State Forest Departments.

43. Naugarh railway station has been renamed as Siddharthnagar railway station situated at
Siddharthnagar district in Uttar Pradesh.

44. For the first time India, five ‘animal bridges’ will be built on Delhi-Mumbai highway.
• The bridges (overpasses) will aim to facilitate safe passage of wildlife. Also, it will ensure
that Ranthambore Wildlife Corridor, connecting Ranthambore and Mukundra (Darrah)
wildlife sanctuaries in Rajasthan, is not disturbed.

45. NITI Aayog’s Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) conducted the Data
Governance Quality Index (DGQI) to rank ministries and departments on the implementation
of Central Sector Schemes (CS) and Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS).
• Department of Fertilizers (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) has been ranked 3rd out
of the 65 Ministries/Departments with a score 4.11 on a scale of 5.
• The dept. has been ranked 2nd in the category of Economic Ministries/Departments.
About the Index:

F The measures dept/ministries on six major themes – Data Generation; Data Quality;
Use of Technology; Data Analysis, Use and Dissemination; Data Security and HR
Capacity and Case Studies.
F Ministries/Departments were classified in six categories: Administrative, Strategic,
Infrastructure, Social, Economic and Scientific.

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46. Ladakh UT and National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) have signed an MoU for
conducting a benchmark survey to assess the dairy potential in the UT.
• Objective - to promote dairying and rural livelihoods in Ladakh.

47. A tripartite MoU has been signed between Telangana govt, German company - GIZ, and
Siemens India to impart skill training to the ITI students of Telangana under IGnITE program.
• IGnITE – Indo-German Initiative for Technological Education – program aims to enhance
the employability and improve practical skills of ITI students across 10 States in four years
(2020-2024).

48. FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) has signed an MoU with National Skill Development
Corporation (NSDC) for empowering women through skill training to enhance their
employability and promote entrepreneurship.
• The MoU has been signed under the 3C initiative of FLO- Competency, Capacity and
Confidence building- for women empowerment.

49. NITI Aayog, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and Invest India jointly organized the
global symposium titled as ‘India PV EDGE 2020’ virtually.
• The symposium aims to create awareness about solar potential of India and the
opportunities available in India in PV solar space.

50. Assam has launched “Kisan Rath” (Fruits & Vegetables) app to connect farmers and
agriculture traders to promote buyer-seller network in the state.
• Kisan Rath is the Union Ministry of Agriculture’s app and National Informatics Centre of
Assam has modified it to suit the needs of the state.
• The app will be implemented by the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation
(APART) project which will train farmers and other stakeholders on using the app.

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51. An MoU has been signed between Indian Farmers Fertilisers co – operative limited
(IFFCO) and Prasar Bharati to broadcast and promote agro-technology and innovations for
growth of agriculture.
• DD Kisan will be broadcasting the technology training programs. For young farmers, the
programs will be launched on digital media as well.

52. Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre -ISLRTC (a National Institute under
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment) and NCERT have signed an MoU.
• Purpose: to convert educational materials into Indian sign language for the convenience of
deaf students.
• This MoU is based on the UNICEF’s initiative “Accessible Digital Textbooks for All”.

53. Meghalaya government has announced to partner with Israel for establishing a 'Centre of
Excellence' (CoE) on high-value vegetables to improve and promote the livelihood of
farmers.
• The CoE will explore various aspects to increase the livelihood of farmers and promote the
high value vegetables of the state.

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54. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Ayush have jointly released the
National Clinical Management Protocol based on Ayurveda and Yoga for the management
of Covid-19.

55. Minister of Textiles, Smriti Irani, has launched the 1st ever brand of Indian cotton named
as Kasturi Cotton. From now onwards, Indian cotton will be recognized as Kasturi Cotton in
the international market.
• The brand and its logo were launched on the World Cotton Day (October 7).
• “Cott-Ally" mobile app has been developed by Cotton Corporation of India for providing
latest news regarding weather condition, crop situation and best farm practices for cotton.

56. Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment, Thaawarchand Gehlot, has inaugurated the
virtual “International conference on Mental Health: Looking Beyond COVID 19”.
• Organizers – India’s Department of empowerment of persons with disabilities and
University of Melbourne, Australia
• Prof. Craig Jeffrey, Director of Australia-India Institute co-chaired the conference.
• This conference is a part of an MoU that was signed between DEPwD and Government of
Australia for cooperation in the disability sector.

57. Union Minister for Education, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', has inaugurated the Gyan
Circle Ventures, a MeitY funded Technology Business Incubator (TBI) of Indian Institute
of Information Technology, Sri City (Chittoor), Andhra Pradesh.
• ‘Gyan Circle ventures’ (GCV) aims to instil entrepreneurship in young minds and
encourage them to become successful innovators.

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 • GCV is opened under the Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs
(TIDE 2.0) scheme of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• IIIT Sri City has established an Entrepreneurship Cell (E-cell) to support and enable
students to create innovative ideas and convert them into business opportunities.

• Technological Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE) was initially

launched in 2008.
• It aims to assist Higher Educational Institutions to strengthen their Technology Incubation
Centres and thus enable young entrepreneurs to initiate technology start up companies.
• Currently, TIDE 2.0 version of the scheme is implemented.

58. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal has launched “Swa-nirbhar Naari: Atmanirbhar Asom”
scheme to empower the economically disadvantaged women of the State.
• The scheme will help women in creation of assets under MGNREGA.

59. Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat launched the Mukhya Mantri Saur Swarojgar
Yojana for promoting the production of green energy and providing the self-employment
opportunities to the youth of the State and returning migrants.
• Each beneficiary of this scheme will be allocated solar plants of 25 kilowatts and 10,000
people will get self-employment under this scheme.
• Loans will be given to people under the scheme for setting up solar plants.

60. DRDO test-fired Rudram 1 – India’s first indigenous New Generation Anti-Radiation
Missile (NGARM) – on Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets at Balasore, Odisha.
• It can be launched from a height ranging from 500 metres to 15 km and can hit radiation
emitting targets within a range of 250 km.

61. Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard have conducted their coastal security exercise named
as Sagar Kavach, along the Kerala and Karnataka coasts.
• The exercise is conducted for two-days at 6 months interval.

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62. Guidance, the Tamil Nadu government’s nodal agency for investment promotion and single
window facilitation, has partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to establish India’s
first advanced manufacturing hub (AMHUB) in Tamil Nadu.
• Purpose: to boost manufacturing by using advanced technologies as part of the 4th
industrial revolution and identifying regional opportunities.
• AMHUB is one of the 19 platforms designed by the WEF.

63. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced to commission the ‘impact-based
cyclone warning’ system from this cyclone season (October-December) to reduce the impact
of cyclones on infrastructure and property.
• This system will include factors like local population, infrastructure, settlements, land use
and other relevant elements for issuing cyclone warnings.
• National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has also launched the National
Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) to develop a web-based Dynamic Composite
Risk Atlas (Web-DCRA) in collaboration with IMD and governments of coastal states.

64. Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals (GSFC) has announced to manufacture Calcium
Nitrate (CN) which is a water soluble fertilizer.
• GSFC will become the first Company in India to manufacture indigenous Calcium Nitrate
under the 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan'.
• Till date, CN was only imported in the country. It is used mainly in Horticultural and field
crops across the country.

65. PM Narendra Modi will distribute physical property cards under the ‘SVAMITVA’ (ownership)
scheme to land holders in rural areas on October 11.
• Purpose: to allow the landholders to use their lands as financial assets for availing loans
from banks and other financial institutions.

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 • SVAMITVA is a central sector scheme that has been launched on a pilot basis in six states
- Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka -
covering 763 villages.
• The scheme will be launched across the country by 2024.
• On National Panchayati Raj Day (24 April 2020), the govt had launched the SVAMITVA
scheme and e-gram sabha portal.

66. Ministry of Jal Shakti has announced that Goa has become the first state in India to provide
100% tap water connections in rural areas under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
• JJM aims to provide piped water to all rural households by 2024.
• Goa has become the Har Ghar Jal state with 100% households having piped water.

67. Labour Bureau would conduct three surveys on migration, domestic workers and
professional bodies (like charted accountants, lawyers, and doctors) for evaluating the
employment situation in the country especially during the coronavirus pandemic.

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 • It was announced during the 1st meeting of the SP Mukherjee expert group, set up by the
Ministry of Labour for providing technical guidance to Labour Bureau with respect to
surveys on migration, professional bodies, domestic workers and other surveys.
• The expert group has a tenure of 3 years.

68. DRDO has successfully tested the indigenously developed Rustom II drone prototype at
Challakere aeronautical test range in Karnataka.
• The drone can fly at an altitude of 16000 feet for 8 hours. This capacity will be increased to
26000 feet and 18 hours endurance by 2020 end.
• Rustom 1 UAV (developed by DRDO) was commissioned in 2012.

69. Delhi has become first State in India to approve the Tree Transplantation Policy.
• Under the policies, the agencies concerned will have to transplant 80% of the trees affected
by their projects to a new location.
• A dedicated panel of government agencies with experience of tree transplantation is being
formed under the policy to monitor its implementation.

70. All the eight beaches recommended by India have received the Blue Flag Certification from
Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• India has become the first nation in the world to get ‘Blue Flag’ certification for eight
beaches in a single attempt.
• 8 beaches are – Shivrajpur (Dwarka, Gujarat), Ghoghla (Diu), Kasarkod and Padubidri
(Karnataka), Kappad (Kerala), Rushikonda (Andhra Pradesh), Golden Beach (Puri, Odisha)
and Radhanagar (Andaman & Nicobar Islands).
Interesting facts:

F At present, Spain has the highest number of Blue Flag tagged sites.

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 F Beaches are evaluated on 33 parameters for this certification, which is given to the
world’s cleanest beaches.
F India has plans to expand the network of Blue Flag certification to 100 such beaches in
the next five years.
o In order to achieve this goal, India had launched its own eco-label ‘BEAMS’ (Beach
Environment & Aesthetics Management Services).

71. India has launched the National Action Plan For The Conservation of Migratory Birds
along the Central Asian Flyway.
• Central Asian Flyway (CAF) covers a large continental area of Eurasia between the Arctic
and Indian Oceans and the associated island chains.

72. DRDO test-fired the indigenously developed Nirbhay sub-sonic cruise missile but the test
was not successful.
• A consortium of DRDO’s labs, led by Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE),
designed and developed Nirbhay.

73. According to a new study published in The Lancet, India will surpass Japan to become the 3rd
largest economy by 2050, and retain the same position in 2100 as well.
• India would become the 4th largest economy by 2030. Currently, India is the 5th largest
economy in the world.
• These estimations have been arrived at by translating working age population of countries
into scenarios for total GDP.
• 2017 has been taken as the base year, when India was the 7th largest economy.
• By 2100, India is estimated to have the largest working-age population in the world,
followed by Nigeria, China, and the USA.

74. Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has launched the second
phase of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).

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 • The NSM was launched in 2015 for a 7 year period for establishing supercomputer facilities
across 70 national research and academic institutions.
• C-DAC and IISc- Bangalore are leading the NSM.
• Currently, a total number of 13 national institutions including IITs have signed MoU with the
C-DAC for establishing the infrastructure for supercomputers.
• IITs in Kharagpur, Madras, Goa and Palakkad will have the National Centre for Human
Resource Development to familiarise people with next-generation technology, high-
performance computing and artificial intelligence.

75. Rashtriya (National) Kamdhenu Commission has launched the cow dung chip named as
Gausatva Kavach – manufactured by Rajkot-based Shrijee Gaushala – which reduces the
radiation of the mobiles.
• The commission has also launched the 'Kamadhenu Deepavali Campaign' to promote
items (like lamps, idols etc) made from cow dung and Panchagavya (a mixture of cow
dung, urine, milk, curd, and ghee) in order to boycott Chinese products in this Diwali.
• The commission had also launched the 'Gomay Ganesh Abhiyan’ to popularize the use of
environment-friendly Ganesh idols for Ganesh Chaturthi.
• Chairman of the Commission – Vallabhbhai Kathiria
• In 2019, Union Cabinet approved to set up the Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog for
conservation, protection and development of cows and their progeny.

76. Kerala has become the first state in the country to make the public education sector fully
digital under its Public Education Protection Campaign.
• All government schools in the state have become hi-tech with smart classrooms.
• The high-tech classroom project was implemented under the Kerala Infrastructure and
Technology for Education (KITE) program.

77. Goa government has partnered with India Posts to get 11,000 farmers enrolled in the
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme.

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 • This is the first and unique drive in the country, wherein postman will go to the doorstep of
farmers to get them enrolled in this central scheme.

78. Zoological Survey of India has launched the 13th edition of ‘Animal Discoveries 2019’ report
which mentions that, in 2019, 364 new animal species (unknown to the world before) and 116
new record (species discovered for the first time from India) have been discovered.
• With this, Indian animal species diversity is equivalent to 6.52% of all the species across
the globe.
• Botanical Survey of India has launched the 13th edition of ‘Plant Discoveries 2019’
which lists 180 new plant species (not known to the world before) and 73 new records
(discovered for the first time from India).
• Now, the plant species found in India are equivalent to 12% of all flora species in the world.
• Maximum (flora) discoveries were made from the Kerala, followed by Maharashtra, Tamil
Nadu and Arunachal Pradesh.

79. PM Narendra Modi addressed RAISE 2020 – Responsible AI for Social Empowerment –
which was organized virtually by the Ministry of Electronics and IT and NITI Aayog.
• IBM company has announced to set up an AI centre of excellence in collaboration with
the Government e-marketplace.
• National Education Technology Forum (NETF) will be established by Ministry of
Education to create e-education units.
• An AI innovation contest titled Atma Nirbhar Bharat: AI Challenge and Pitch Fest was
organized in the run up to RAISE 2020.
• The contest invited solutions to issues in the areas like healthcare, education, agriculture,
smart mobility and natural language processing. Top 15 AI solutions have been awarded
Rs 20 lakh each.
• RAISE 2020 is a first-of-its-kind global meeting on AI to drive India's vision and roadmap
for social transformation, inclusion and empowerment through responsible AI.

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80. Department of Science and Technology and IBM India have collaborated to encourage girl
students to build career in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
• This will be done by promoting two initiatives – Vigyan Jyoti and Engage with Science
platform (of Vigyan Prasar – an autonomous body under DST).
• Vigyan Jyoti was launched in 2019 by DST to promote STEM learning among girl students
and to arouse their interest in these streams. It is currently implemented by Jawahar
Navodaya Vidyalaya in 58 districts.
• Engage with Science platform aims to engage with students, teachers, and scientist from
high school to the higher education institutions to provide ease of learning to them.

81. India has extended a $400 million line of credit to Maldives through the Exim Bank to
finance the Greater Male’s connectivity project to link Male with Villingili, Gulhifalhu, and
Thilafushi islands.
• This financial aid was announced in August 2020.
• Total assistance for this project is $500 million which is divided into $400 Mn as LoC and
$100 Mn as grant.

82. Intel India has partnered IIIT Hyderabad, Public Health Foundation of India and the
Telangana government to launch a research centre on AI – INAI (INtel AI) – to address
challenges in sectors such as healthcare and smart mobility.

83. Odisha launched Advika (Every girl is unique) programme for adolescent girls (aged 10-19)
to mark the International Day of Girl Child.
• Implemented through Anganwadi centres, the program aims at the development and
empowerment of adolescent girls.
• Under the scheme, ‘Kishori Card’ will be distributed among girls. These cards will provide
information about the health, nutrition and safety status of the adolescent girls.

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84. On the International Day of the Girl Child, Rajasthan launched ‘IMPACT’ mobile application
to monitor the action taken under the PCPNDT Act, 1994.
• Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994 was
enacted to stop female foeticide and arrest the declining sex ratio in India. The act has
banned prenatal sex determination.
• IMPACT app has been developed by the National Informatics Centre.

85. Hughes India, a subsidiary of Hughes Network Systems, has been given the contract for
providing internet services to 5,000 remote villages in 15 states and UTs, by using ISRO’s
communications satellites, GSAT-19 and GSAT-11.
• Bharat Broadband Nigam Ltd (BBNL), a special purpose vehicle created to implement the
BharatNet project, and Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd.(TCIL) have
accorded the project to Hughes.

86. Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (TAEF), a leading think tank from Taiwan has signed an
agreement with India’s National Maritime Foundation (NMF) in order to foster cooperation in
the Indo-Pacific region as part of Taiwan’s South bound policy.
• The two groups will set up a joint task force to deepen bilateral cooperation.
• India is a key target country of the Taiwan’s South bound policy.

87. Haryana has launched a state of the art mobile water testing laboratory (Jal Jeevan
Mission: Lab on wheels!) under the Jal Jeevan Mission.

88. Microsoft has partnered with All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) to provide
training to learners and educators in new-age technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI),
Internet of Things (IoT), data science and cloud computing.
• Over 1,500-course modules from Microsoft will be made available to students and
educators free of cost through AICTE’s e-learning portal ELIS (‘Enhancement in Learning
with Improvement in Skills’).

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89. Two MoUs were signed between India and Mexico during the 5th meeting of the India-
Mexico Bilateral High Level Group on Trade, Investment and Cooperation (BHLG), which
was held virtually.
• 1st MoU – Electronics & Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC) of India
and the Mexican Chamber of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information
Technologies (CANIETI) for cooperation in electronics segment.
• 2nd MoU – Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the
Mexican Business Council of Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (COMCE)
for promoting the development of business relations between India and Mexico.

90. TRIFED, Chhattisgarh MFP Federation and IIT- Kanpur have launched the Tech for Tribals
initiative (it was announced in March 2020) in Chhattisgarh.
• Purpose: to provide advance level training to the tribal beneficiaries of PM Van-dhan
yojana to build their entrepreneurial capabilities through SHGs operating through Van Dhan
Kendras (VDVKs).
• For this initiative, TRIFED has tied up reputed national institutions such as IIT-Kanpur; Art
of Living, Bangalore; TISS, Mumbai; KISS, Bhubaneswar; Vivekananda Kendra, Tamil
Nadu and SRIJAN, Rajasthan.

91. Kerala has formed a Welfare Fund Board named as “Kerala Karshaka Kshemanidhi
Board” for the upliftment of farmers in the state.
• This is the first time in the country that such a board has been set up for farmers.
• Dr P Rajendran would be appointed as the chairman of the Kerala Farmers Welfare
Fund Board.

92. 6th Session of the India-Norway Joint Commission was held virtually.
• Next session will be held in Oslo (capital of Norway) at a mutually decided date.

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93. Govt has designated State Bank of India’s New Delhi branch as the official bank for holding
the accounts of NGOs and associations receiving the foreign funding under the Foreign
Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020.

94. India will release a commemorative coin of Rs 75 denomination to celebrate the 75th
Anniversary of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on 16th October 2020, and to mark
the long-standing relation of India with FAO.
• 17 developed biofortified varieties of 8 crops will be launched on this day for
transforming Indian thali into nutri-thali in order to become malnutrition free India.
• The production of bio-fortified crop varieties will be linked with government programmes of
mid-day meal, Anganwadi etc.
• ICAR’s Nutri-Sensitive Agricultural Resources and Innovations (NARI) programme
aims at promoting family farming linking agriculture to nutrition, nutri-smart villages for
enhancing nutritional security.

95. Union cabinet has cleared Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States
(STARS) program worth ₹5,718 crore.
• Funding – Rs 5718 crores (central government with World Bank will give ₹3,700 crore
($500 million) and states will give ₹2,000 crore approx.)
• It will be launched in six states – Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya
Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha – to improve the quality of education.
• A similar programme will be implemented in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Assam and
Tamil Nadu with the help of Asian Development Bank.

96. Union cabinet also approved the demerger of Nagarnar Steel Plant (NSP) from National
Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC) Ltd.
• NSP is a three-million-ton-a-year steel plant that is being set up by NMDC at Nagarnar in
Chhattisgarh.
• After demerger, the govt will divest its complete stake in Nagarnar Steel Plant.

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97. India and France were re-elected as the president and co-president of the International
Solar Alliance (ISA), respectively.
• ISA is the first ever treaty based international organization, headquartered in India.
• ISA was launched by France and India at the Paris Climate Conference in December 2015.
F Various solar awards were conferred on countries and institutions
o ISA Karnataka Visvesvaraya Award for countries with maximum solar floating
capacities in all four regions:
Ø Japan for Asia – Pacific region.
Ø Netherlands for Europe and other region.
Ø For other regions – yet to be announced

o ISA Kalpana Chawla Haryana Solar award to recognize contribution of scientists and
engineers working in the field of solar energy.
Ø Dr. Bhim Singh from IIT Delhi
Ø Dr.Aaesha Alnuaimi from Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (United Arab
Emirates).

o ISA Diwakar solar award to recognize organisations & institutions that have been
working for the benefit of differently-abled people and have maximised the use of solar
energy in the host country.
Ø Arpan Institute
Ø Aarushi Society

F In the wake of pandemic, ISA has set up ISA – Cares to solarize one primary health sector
in each district of the target Member countries.

98. Central has notified the Director General of Shipping as the National Authority for
Recycling of Ships. The authority will be set up at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

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 • From now onwards, DG Shipping will look after the sustainable development of the Ship
Recycling industry, monitor the compliance to environment-friendly norms and safety and
health measures for the stakeholders working in the ship recycling industry.
• Minister of Shipping – Mansukh Mandaviya
• Director-General of Shipping – Amitabh Kumar

99. Union Minister for Women and Child Development and Textiles Smriti Irani launched “My
Pad My Right” project to empower 2 million women and create livelihood opportunities for
thousands of them.
• NABARD, Nabfoundation and Coimbatore-based Jayaashree Industries (CEO -
“Padman” / Arunachalam Muruganantham) have partnered to spread awareness on
menstrual hygiene and generate employment for women under the project.
• Jayaashree Industries will set up the Centres (equipped with machines) and train women
in every district in all States and UTs for making low-cost sanitary napkins.

100. Union Minister of Road and Transport, Nitin Gadkari, has launched the construction work
on strategic Zojila tunnel (under Zoji La pass in the Himalayas) to provide all-year
connectivity between Srinagar valley and Leh.
• Once completed, the tunnel, would reduce the travel time from 3 hours to 15 minutes with
avalanche-free travel connectivity between Srinagar and Leh (including the interim regions
of Dras and Kargil).
• The tunnel is projected to be the Asia's longest tunnel road.

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101. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has operationalised SILAM and ENFUSER –
improved air quality forecast models. Both SILAM and ENFUSER were developed in
collaboration with Finnish Meteorological Institute (Finland).
• SILAM is System for Integrated Modelling of Atmospheric Composition model for India.
• ENFUSER is ENvironmental information FUsion SERvice model for Delhi.
• WRF-Chem is another air quality model that has been updated by the IMD.

102. Union Govt has constituted a panel of secretaries under cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba to
streamline the spectrum allocation process.
• The panel will also look into the possibility of having an annual calendar for auction of
airwaves that will give telcos a clear road map of the quantum as well as the frequency of
spectrum on offer for commercial use.

103. Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Food Processing Industries have partnered to
extend 50% subsidy on rail freight under ‘Operation Greens —TOP to Total’ scheme for
transportation of notified fruits and vegetables through ‘Kisan Rail’.
• Purpose: to support and incentivise farmers to use the services of Kisan Rail.
• Also 50% subsidy will be provided for the cold chain storage of Agricultural commodities.
• In order to receive the subsidies, the farmers have to submit self-certified documents on
“Sampada” portal of the Ministry of food processing.
Status of Kisan Rail:

Ø 1st - Devlali (Nashik, Maharashtra) to Danapur (Patna, Bihar) to Muzaffarpur (Bihar)

Ø 2nd - Anantapur (Andhra Pradesh) to Adarsh Nagar Delhi
Ø 3rd - Bengaluru (Karnataka) to Hazrat Nizamuddin (Delhi)
Ø 4th - Nagpur & Warud Orange City (Maharashtra) to Adarsh Nagar Delhi

104. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the phase II of “Thalassemia Bal Sewa
Yojana” for the underprivileged Thalassemic patients.

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 • Phase 1 of this scheme was launched in 2017 as Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
(HSCT) program. It is a Coal India funded program.
• Financial aid of up to Rs 10 lakh will be provided to 200 patients.
• The scheme has been extended to cover 200 Aplastic Anaemia patients in this year.
• Thalassemia is a hereditary haemoglobin diseases.

105. India will be delivering a kilo class submarine INS Sindhuvir to Myanmar Navy and this
will be the first submarine of Myanmar.
• The step is in accordance with India's vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the
Region) region.

106. Supreme Court has appointed its retired judge Madan B Lokur as the one-man
committee to curb crop stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and west UP, which chokes
Delhi-NCR.

107. A study published in The Lancet mentions that India’s life expectancy has increased to
70.8 years in 2019 from 59.6 years in 1990.
• Kerala has the highest life expectancy at 77.3 years while Uttar Pradesh has lowest life
expectancy at 66.9 years.
• The study analysed 286 causes of death and 369 diseases and injuries in more than 200
countries and territories across the world.
• 58% of the total disease burden in India is now due to non-communicable diseases, up
from 29% in 1990, while premature deaths due to NCDs have more than doubled from
22% to 50%.
• Child and maternal malnutrition is still the number-one risk factor for illness and death
in India, followed by air pollution and high blood pressure.

108. Odisha launched ‘Sujal - Drink from Tap Mission’ to provide the quality drinking water
directly from tap to all households in urban areas.

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 • Budget – Rs 1300 crore

109. NASA has announced to launch the world’s smallest and lightest technology
demonstrator satellite, which has been developed by three students from Tamil Nadu.
• M. Adnaan, M. Kesavan, and V. Arun are the students who developed the satellite.
• The satellite has been selected for launch in sub-orbital space by NASA, during the Cubes
in Space programme conducted by Idoodledu Inc in association with NASA.

110. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has constituted a committee, under
the chairmanship of M.S. Ananth, for preparing the Professional Engineers Bill.
• The bill aims to facilitate mechanism for registration of engineers for practising engineering,
on the lines of those that exist for lawyers, doctors and pharmacists.

111. Indian Army’s Agnibaaz Division organized Exercise Suraksha Kavach, a Joint Anti-
Terrorist Exercise for both Indian Army and Maharashtra Police at Lullanagar Pune.
• Agnibaaz Division (aka 41 Artillery Division) is a formation of Pune headquartered-Southern
Command of the Indian Army.

112. Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, has signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) with
CGI India (an IT company) in order to increase innovation across the schools.

113. Punjab govt has announced to launch the Dr BR Ambedkar SC Post Matric Scholarship
Scheme for 2021-22 academic year on October 17. (Therefore, some provisions might be
changed at the time of final and official launch.)
• Eligible – SC students with family income up to Rs 4 lakhs.
• Budget – Rs 600 crores
• Benefit – Free education at post-matric level to SC students studying in all central, state
government and private institutions in Punjab and Chandigarh.

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114. Gujarat govt has announced to set up the World’s Biggest Zinc Smelter Project in
Dosawada in Tapi district in South Gujarat.
• Capacity of the plant – 300 kilo-tonnes per annum (ktpa)
• Investment – Rs 10,000 crores
• MoU – with Hindustan Zinc Ltd. (a subsidiary of Vedanta Ltd).
• New feature – the plant will have zero discharge technology, which is first of its kind for any
company in Gujarat.
• Smelting means the extraction of metal from its ore by a process involving heating and
melting.
Interesting Facts:

Ø Hindustan Zinc has launched Evolve, India’s first online buying platform for non-
ferrous metals (non-iron metals).

115. According to the annual rankings for 2018-19 released by the office of controller general
of patents, designs and trademarks (under Ministry of Commerce and Industry),
Chandigarh University has filed the maximum number of patents in 2018-19 at 336.
• Chandigarh University is followed by Tata Consultancy Services, Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research, and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.
• The highest number of patents have been filed in the field of product manufacturing
(203), followed by information technology (148), domestic category which comprises health
and hygiene, human safety, and appliances (113), and automation (85).

116. Union Cabinet has approved an MoU between India and Australia to provide training,
education and research in the field of surface and groundwater usage to ensure water
security for agricultural, urban, industrial and environmental purposes.
• Parties to the MoU – Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) and Managing Aquifer
Recharge and Sustaining Groundwater use through village-level intervention (MARVI)
PARTNERS, Australia.
• Signing date - October 2019.

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117. On the 89th birth anniversary of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Union Education
Minister launched the ‘KAPILA’ Kalam Program for imparting Intellectual Property Literacy
and Awareness.
• Under the program, students of higher education institutions will be provided information on
how to file patents for their innovations. Thus, the patenting or IP ecosystem in India will be
strengthened.
• Intellectual Property Literacy Week will be observed from October 15th to October 23 in
India.
• Education Minister also launched Institution Innovation Council (IIC) 3.0.
Institution Innovation Council (IIC) 3.0

Ø It is the innovation council or cell created by Ministry of Education in 2018.

Ø IICs have been established at 1700 higher education institutions, so far, to facilitate
innovation.
Ø Under the third phase of IIC or IIC 3.0, 5000 higher education institutions will get IICs.
Ø IIC 2.0 annual report was also launched. The report states the performance of IIC 2.0.

118. Uttar Pradesh has launched the Mission Shakti – a women’s safety campaign for 6
months.
• Under the campaign, separate complain rooms will be built in 1,535 police stations across
the state and culprits will be given punishment swiftly.

119. Cauvery-Gundar river interlinking project is likely to be implemented by the end of this
year.
• Cauvery is an Indian river flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• Gundar is a river in Tamil Nadu.

120. First ever virtual CII Agro & Food Tech : India - International Food & Agri Week is
observed from 16 - 22 October 2020.

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 • CII, in association with the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmer Welfare, Ministry of
Fisheries & Animal Husbandry and Ministry of Food Processing Industries has
organized this first week.

121. 8th edition of the annual Indian Navy (IN) - Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) bilateral maritime
exercise SLINEX-20 will be held off Trincomalee, Sri Lanka from October 19 to 21.

122. First India-Chile Joint Commission Meeting was held virtually at the level of foreign
ministers (Dr. S. Jaishankar from India and Mr. Andrés Allamand Zavala from Chile).
• Chile has decided to designate India as a priority country in its foreign policy. Chile will
also be opening its Consulate General in Mumbai.

123. India and the Netherlands partnered for co-operating in the e-health sector as part of the
National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) of India.
• Both countries will work together to create technological capacities to implement NDHM.
Facts about National Digital Health Mission (NDHM)

Ø NDHM is envisioned to be a complete digital health ecosystem with four key features -
National Health ID, personal health records, Digi Doctor and health facility registry.
Ø J. Satyanarayana is Chairman of National Digital Health Blueprint Committee.

124. Jewar International Airport aka Noida International Airport in Gautam Budh Nagar, UP
will become the first aerotropolis of India.
• It is being built by Yamuna International Airport Private Ltd. - a special purpose vehicle
incorporated by the Zurich Airport for the project.
• An aerotropolis is a metropolitan subregion whose infrastructure, land use, and economy
are centered on an airport.

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125. CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur, Himachal
Pradesh has started cultivating heeng (asafoetida) for the first time in the state as well as in
the country.
• Until this day, India was importing heeng from other countries like Afghanistan, Iran,
Uzbekistan, because it can be grown in cold and dry regions.
• India consumes about 40% of the world's production of heeng.

126. Uttar Pradesh has launched the ‘Safe City Project’, a 180-day-long campaign under
which the police and other departments will work towards safety of women.
• In 2019, Empowered Committee of Officers for Nirbhaya funds scheme has approved
pilot Safe City projects in eight selected metropolitan cities, namely, Delhi, Kolkata,
Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Lucknow.
• Purpose: to provide safety to women in public places at a total cost of Rs. 2919.55 crore.
• The cost of the project is shared between the Central Government and the concerned
States in 60:40 ratio. The Safe City Project in Delhi is fully funded by the Central
Government.

127. National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has launched a call centre — Pashu Mitra
— for dairy farmers to address their queries on animal health, nutrition and productivity.
• Dairy farmers can get information from NDDB’s experts on 7574835051.
• NDDB’s Chairman - Dilip Rath

128. National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) has formulated the NCDC
Ayushman Sahakar Fund worth Rs 10,000 Crore.
• Under the scheme, NCDC would extend term loans to the cooperatives to the tune of
Rs.10,000 Crore for building healthcare and education infrastructures.
• On this, interest subvention of 1% will be provided to women majority cooperatives.
• Cooperatives can bring revolution in health care services in rural areas due to their strong
presence there.

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129. India has invited Australian Navy to participate in the annual naval exercise between
India, Japan, and USA, named as Malabar (scheduled for November 2020).
• Malabar was started as bilateral naval exercise between India and US in 1992. Japan
joined it in 2015 and Australia joined it in 2020.
• Phase 1 – Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam coast; Phase 2 – Arabian sea.

130. Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has estimated sugar production during the
current sugar season (October 2020 to September 2021) at 330.23 lakh tonnes.
• A significant quantity of sugarcane juice and B- molasses would be diverted for ethanol
production, which will reduce the sugar production by almost 20 lakh tonnes (to 310 lakh
tonnes).
• Since, the bids for ethanol production are not made yet, therefore, the 20 lakh tonnes
diversion is an estimate only.

131. DRDO successfully test-fired the Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile off the coast of
Odisha.
• The Missile is developed by the DRDO for the Indian Air Force (IAF). It will have both
Lock-on After Launch and Lock-on Before Launch capability.
• SANT missile, Helina (or Dhruvastra) and Man Portable Anti-tank Guided Missile (MP-
ATGM) are the variants of Nag missile. SANT is an upgraded version of HELINA.
• Nag missile is developed by DRDO under the integrated guided missile development
programme (1983), which also includes four other missiles — Agni, Akash, Trishul and
Prithvi.

132. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Central Government have signed a $177 million
loan to upgrade 450 Km of state highways and major district roads of Maharashtra.
• It will focus on training of Maharashtra Public Works Department project staff to build their
capacity in climate change adaptation.

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 • ADB and the GOI have also signed a $346 million loan pact for Maharashtra Rural High
Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) Expansion Program to help provide an efficient
and reliable power supply to rural agriculture customers in Maharashtra.

133. Ministry of Tourism has launched India Tourism Statistics 2020 which mentions that
Uttar Pradesh attracted the highest number of domestic tourists in the country in 2019 with
a share of 23.1% travellers visiting the state.
• Total number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India in 2019 is 10.93 Million. Annual
Growth Rate is 3.5%.
• Tamil Nadu has been ranked first in the Number of Foreign Tourist Visits in 2019.

134. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone for India's first multi-modal
logistics park at Jogighopa in Assam. Budget - Rs 694 crore.
• The multi-modal logistic park will be developed under the Bharatmala Pariyojna (2017).

135. Niti Aayog and Amazon Web Services have announced to establish the first of its kind
Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Centre (CIC) in India to address societal
challenges through digital innovation.
• This CIC is part of the Amazon’s CIC global program, which provides an opportunity for
government agencies, non-profits, and educational institutions, to come together for solving
societal problems using technology.

136. Israel Embassy has announced to have a separate 'Water Attache' (a person on the staff
of an ambassador having a specialized area of responsibility) from January 2021.
• Purpose: to share their Israeli’s best practices and technologies for advancements in
India's water management and agriculture sectors.
• Also, Israel will nominate an honorary Consul in the North-East with the aim to increase
its presence and collaboration in that region.

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137. Punjab has become the first state in India to pass bills against the three farms laws
passed by Central govt.
• Purpose – to safeguard the sale of farm produce at MSP, give punishment, including
imprisonment up to 3 years for any violation, prevention of hoarding and black-marketing of
food grain to protect consumers, besides a civil procedure amendment aimed at providing
relief to farmers against attachment of land of up to 2.5 acres.

138. Ministry of Law has increased the ceiling on poll expenditure, that an election candidate
can spend on campaigning, for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections by 10%.
• Conduct of Elections Rules have been amended for this purpose.
• Bigger states like Bihar, UP, and Tamil Nadu are now allowed to spend up to ₹30.8 lakhs as
against ₹28 lakhs earlier for Assembly elections.
• For a candidate contesting a Lok Sabha poll in bigger States, the revised ceiling on poll
expenditure is now ₹77 lakhs instead of the earlier amount of ₹70 lakhs.
• Lok Sabha Candidates – from smaller states like Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and few
UTs – can now spend ₹59.4 lakhs. In Assembly elections, the limit is ₹22 lakhs.

139. Odisha launched “Mo Bidyut” - an electricity consumer service portal - and MoBidyut
app to provide efficient, time-bound and transparent online electricity service to the citizens.
• The portal – www.mobidyut.com – has been launched under the 5T initiative of Odisha.
• 5T are transparency, teamwork, technology and timeliness — leading to transformation.

140. Leather Sector Skill Council (NGO) has launched the SCALE India app to enhance
quality assurance in the leather sector under the Skill India Mission.
• SCALE stands for Skill Certification Assessment for Leather Employees.
• The app aims to enhance the quality assurance in the leather market and provide a
marketplace for human capital for leather industry.

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141. Minister of Science & Technology and Health & Family Harsh Welfare, Harsh Vardhan,
has launched an online portal – CuRED (CSIR Ushered Repurposed Drugs) – to provide
information about CSIR ushered repurposed drugs and their current stage of trials.
• The portal will also detail about the clinical trials of diagnostics and devices in which the
CSIR is involved.

142. Election commission of India has formed a two member panel, comprising Harish
Kumar (former D-G investigations) and Umesh Sinha (EC secretary general), to examine
whether the expenditure limit for candidates contesting the Lok Sabha and assembly elections
need to be raised.
• The panel will also assess the impact of an increase in the electorate across states and
Union territories and a change in Cost Inflation Index.

143. Union Cabinet has approved to implement the J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989.
• Since independence, Panchayati Raj system was not implemented in J&K. It will empower
people to elect their representatives at the local level.
• District Development Councils (DDCs) will be created in all districts in the union territory.
Head of DDC will be elected through elections.
• Besides this, Union Cabinet has also approved the extension of the market intervention
scheme for apple procurement in the UT for the current season.
• It will be done by National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India
(NAFED).
• As much as 1.2 million metric tonnes of apples can be procured by NAFED under this
scheme at a cost of ₹2,500 crores. If any loss is incurred in this operation, it will be shared
between the central government and the J&K administration on a 50:50 basis.

144. Union Cabinet has approved the MoU signed between India and Nigeria for exploration
and uses of outer space for peaceful purposes in August 2020.
• Parties to the MoU – ISRO and National Space Research and Development Agency
(NASRDA) of Nigeria.
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 • Nigeria capital – Abuja; currency – Naira; President – Muhammadu Buhari

145. Union Cabinet has approved the MoU signed between Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India and the Malaysian Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
• Benefit – the MoU enables the qualified Chartered Accountants (CA) of either institutes to
join the other by receiving appropriate credit for their existing accountancy qualifications.

146. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and UNICEF have launched the Anaemia Mukt
Bharat (AMB) Index.
• Total – 29 states were assessed
• Top – Haryana (with 46.7 score)
• Achievements of Haryana – It achieved 93% immunisation, for the first time, in 2019-20.
o Haryana is one of the 11 states in the country that have achieved National Health
Policy targets well before 2020.
o The institutional deliveries have increased to 93.7% due to 24-hours delivery
facilities in the state.

147. Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ship – INS Kavaratti – commissioned into the Indian
Navy in Visakhapatnam.
• Designed by – Directorate of Naval Design (Indian Navy’s in-house organization) and
constructed by Garden Research Shipbuilders and Engineers (Kolkata).
• It is the last of four indigenously-built ASW under ‘Project 28’ or Kamorta-class corvettes
of the Navy. ‘Project 28’ was approved in 2003.
• The other three warships under this project are INS Kamorta (commissioned in 2014), INS
Kadmatt (2016) and INS Kiltan (2017).

148. Tamil Nadu is implementing the Smart Black Board scheme in 80,000 government
schools to increase the usage of audio visual teaching material in schools.

41
149. Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, launched the 'e-Dharti
Geo Portal' that will integrate legacy drawings such maps and lease plans in the management
information system (MIS), namely e- Dharti, and make it GIS enabled.
• GIS is geographic information system.
• Purpose: to enhance the use of technology in management of land and property records.

150. 3rd phase of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) will be implemented from
January 2021. NSM was launched in 2015.
• Under
In thethe
Phase III, 45 petaflops computing speed will be achieved.
mission

• The budget of NSM is Rs 4,500 crores.

• Implementing agencies of NSM - Department of Science and Technology, Centre for
Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune and Indian Institute of Science (IISc),
Bengaluru.

151. FICCI has been selected as the national industry partner for the 3rd edition of ‘Make in
Odisha’ conclave, the flagship industrial summit of Odisha Government.
• Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha (IPICOL) and FICCI have
also signed an MoU for carrying out investment, promotion and investor outreach activities,
ahead of the conclave.

152. The newly expanded Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) route from Kumbhariya to
Kadodara has been inaugurated by Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani.
• This BRTS in Surat city is claimed to be India’s longest BRTS system (as per some
websites – not confirmed through official website).

153. Delhi International Airport Limited (operator of Indira Gandhi International Airport) has
been certified as the second safest aerodrome globally for effective implementation of
Covid-related health and safety protocols.
• Singapore Changi Airport is at the 1st rank.

42
 • Frankfurt Airport (Germany) and Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport (China)
share the 2nd position with IGI airport-Delhi.
• Ranking is given by Safe Travel Barometer to 200 airports.

154. Meghalaya CM Conrad K. Sangma distributed the “micro ATM” (hand-held ATM
machines - used for withdrawals and basic banking services) to the Business Correspondent
Agents (BCA).
• Aim – To provide banking services at the doorstep of people (especially in rural areas).
• Initiative of Meghalaya State Rural Livelihood Society (MSRLS), Meghalaya Rural Bank
(MRB), and NABARD.
• MoU - between MSRLS and MRB to roll out this BCA project. BCA are 84 Self Help Groups
(SHGs) à functioning as ‘bank sakhi’ to expand outreach of banks.

155. Assam Agar (Agarwood) International Trade Centre at Dabidubi in Golaghat district –
first of its kind in the country – will be set up to double farmer’s income by 2022.

156. Uttarakhand has launched the Integrated Model Agricultural Village Scheme to promote
mechanisation and scientific farming in villages, with a special focus on organic farming.
• Partner in scheme - NABARD
• Limit for interest free loan given to farmers increased to Rs 3 lakh from Rs 2 lakh.

157. Andhra Pradesh launched ‘YSR Bima’ scheme to provide insurance to 1.41 crore Below
Poverty Line (BPL) families, having white ration-cards, for death and permanent disability.
• State govt budget - ₹510 crore p.a.
• Maximum insurance amount – Rs 5 lakh
• Immediate relief assistance – Rs 10,000
• Eligibility – 18 to 70 years

43
158. Union Cabinet approved MoU between the Institute of Chartered Accounts of India
(ICAI) and Certified Practising Accountants, Papua New Guinea (CPA PNG).
• Purpose: to work together in capacity building and strengthening the Accounting, Financial
and Audit Knowledge base in Papua New Guinea.

159. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released a new report on Soil-Transmitted
Helminthiases (STH). Helminthiasis = worm infection in intestines, prevalent in children.
• At least 14 States have reported a reduction in parasitic intestinal worm infection
prevalent in children.
• National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) was the nodal agency for conducting the
nationwide baseline STH mapping. It completed STH mapping by the end of 2016.
• Difference in Prevalence – 12.5% in Madhya Pradesh to 85% in Tamil Nadu.
• Significant improvements – Chhattisgarh’s drop in prevalence has been significant from
74.6 in 2016 to 13.9 in 2018.
• As per WHO’s Report on STH published in 2012, an estimated 64% children, aged between
1-14 are at risk of STH, in India.
• National Deworming Day (NDD), a flagship program of the health ministry, was launched
in 2015 to administer Albendazole tablet to children (aged 1-19 years) for deworming.
• Every year, February 10 and August 10 are observed as the NDD.

160. Asan Conservation Reserve has become Uttarakhand’s first Ramsar site, located on
the banks of Yamuna river in Garhwal region of Uttarakhand.
• Kabartal Wetland (Bihar) has also got Ramsar Site accreditation.
• Now, India has a total of 39 Ramsar Sites, which is highest in South Asia.
• Asan is home to about 40 migratory species.
About Ramsar Convention:

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, aka “Convention on Wetlands’’ – signed in 1971 in Ramsar,

Iran.

44
 India joined it in 1982.

Those wetlands which are of international importance are declared as Ramsar sites.

161. NITI Aayog has formed a 14-member advisory committee, headed by its vice-chairman
Rajiv Kumar, for reviewing the education system of urban planning.
• The panel will also examine the availability, demand and supply of qualified urban planners
in the country.

162. Mandi district (Himachal Pradesh) has bagged top position among 30 districts for
successful implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
• The list was released by Ministry of Rural Development.
• Himachal Pradesh secured 2nd position at national level in PMGSY implementation.
• Seven more districts of Himachal Pradesh are among top 30 best performing districts which
include Chamba, Shimla, Kangra, Una, Sirmour, Hamirpur and Solan.

163. Ministry of Culture has launched “Life in Miniature” project.

• Partners in the project - National Museum (New Delhi), Ministry of Culture, and Google
Arts & Culture.
• Purpose: to show the miniature paintings of India on Google Art & Culture app to
promote India’s culture.

164. India Meteorological Department (IMD) has commissioned the first of its kind, Flash
Flood Guidance Services in South Asia.
• This system will act as an early warning system for flash floods to caution countries –
Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal – about possible incurrence of flash floods.
• India’s National Disaster Management Authority and the Central Water Commission
have also partnered in this system.

45
165. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched three projects worth Rs 4,100 crore in Gujarat.
• 1st - Girnar ropeway project at Girnar in Junagadh district
• 2nd - expanded UN Mehta Cardiology and Research Centre in Ahmedabad
• 3rd - Kisan Suryodaya Yojana
Girnar ropeway project:

• It is the world’s longest temple ropeway project.

UN Mehta Cardiology and Research Centre in Ahmedabad:

• New paediatric heart unit is established.

• It is India’s biggest cardiac hospital.
Kisan Suryodaya Yojana

• Budget – Rs 3500 crores

• Aim – provide solar power to farmers for irrigation and promote water conservation.
• Other state schemes for irrigation – Sujalam Sufalam and SAUNI yojana

166. Government eMarketplace (CEO - Talleen Kumar) has completed the work towards
creation of a Unified Procurement System by integrating GeM with the Central Public
Procurement Portal (CPPP).
• Integration with Indian Railway Electronic Procurement System and the Defence Public
Procurement Portal is underway.
• New function of 'custom bid' has also been created on the platform to allow a buyer to float
a bid (above Rs 50 lakh) on GeM even if the category of product or service that the person
might be looking for is not available on the GeM portal.

167. Central Bureau of Investigation organized the National Conference on Vigilance and
Anti-Corruption on the theme of 'Satark Bharat, Samruddha Bharat' (means ‘Vigilant India,
Prosperous India’).

46
168. Jammu and Kashmir has become the first union territory in the country to operationalise
public financial management system (PFMS) at the district level.
• Purpose: to bring transparency in the management of the public fund.
• PFMS state directorate J-K was established in 2016. It has emerged as the first UT in the
country in terms of expanding the PFMS to districts.

169. PM Narendra Modi has announced to increase the refining capacity of India from around
250 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 400 mtpa by 2025, during the 4th India Energy
Forum organized by CERA Week.
• In 2015, Modi set a target of reducing India’s oil dependence by 10% to 67% (based on
import dependence of 77% in FY15) by 2022.
Largest Oil Importing countries (as per US LNG Importers countries (as per International
Energy Information Administration) Energy Agency’s data 2020)

1. China 1. Japan
2. USA 2. China
3. India 3. South Korea
4. India

47
170. World Bank has sanctioned nearly Rs 3 crores to Goa for creating India’s first sand
dune parks to protect the sand dune ecosystem of the state.
• Interpretation centres will be developed to educate locals and tourists on the importance of
the sand dune ecosystem.
• This idea is the brainchild of Antonio Mascarenhas, who will now act as principal
investigator for the project.

171. Central govt has set up a high-level committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, to commemorate the 400th birth anniversary of Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur.
• Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla will be the member secretary of the high-level
committee.

172. National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has approved the National Action Plan for Vulture
Conservation 2020-2025.
• The conservation plan was last revised in 2006.
Key highlights of the plan:

Ø Vulture conservation and breeding centre - Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Maharashtra,

Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (1 each)
Ø Conservation of vulture populations, especially of:
o Oriental white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis)
o Slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris)
o Long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus)
Ø To reduce vulture mortality through new veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
Ø Establishment at least one vulture-safe zone in each state for the conservation of the
remaining vulture populations in that state.
Ø Establishment of four rescue centres, in Pinjore (Haryana), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh),
Guwahati (Assam) and Hyderabad (Telangana). There are currently no dedicated rescue
centres for treating vultures.

48
 Ø Population count of vultures to be done by forest departments, the Bombay Natural
History Society, research institutes, non-profits and members of the public.

173. Ministry of Tribal Affairs, in collaboration between Art of Living foundation, will launch
two Centres of Excellence for the Tribal Welfare.
• 1st CoE – Aurangabad district of Maharashtra for training tribal farmers on sustainable
natural farming based on Go-Adharith farming techniques.
• 2nd CoE – Covering 5 districts of Jharkhand for strengthening tribal Panchayati Raj
Institutions (PRIs).

174. India Posts and United States Postal Service have signed an agreement for electronic
exchange of customs data to promote ease of exports for small and large exporters through
postal channels.
• Both countries will share data about the international postal items prior to their physical
arrival at the destination, so that, customs clearance of those postal items can be made
easily.

175. DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub has been inaugurated at IIEST-Shibpur, West Bengal. IIEST is
Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology.
• In 2018, DST has provided funds to create “DST-IIEST Solar PV Hub” which will have the
world class research facilities.
• The hub will act as the central node for research and developments, and dissemination of
knowledge in the field of solar energy, solar photovoltaics, solar PV Modules and PV
systems, for the entire Eastern and North-Eastern region of India.

176. Uttar Pradesh has been ranked first in implementing the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor's
Atmanirbhar Nidhi (Svanidhi) scheme.
• UP is first in all the categories – applications, sanctions and disbursements.
• Madhya Pradesh is at 2nd rank, followed by Telangana at 3rd.

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 • Varanasi, Lucknow and Aligarh are the top 3 cities in the list of cities with highest
implementation of Svanidhi scheme. Total 7 U.P. cities are in Top 10 cities’ list.

177. Two institutions from India and two from Italy signed an MoU for restoration and
protection of historical monuments.
• 1st party- IIT-Kanpur and Archaeological Survey of India
• 2nd party - Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti E
Paesaggio, Venice, Italy
• Prof Mukesh Sharma (IIT-Kanpur) will coordinate the activities under this MoU.

178. Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), in association with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific
and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), will organizing ‘India–Australia Circular
Economy Hackathon (I-ACE)’ on 7 and 8 December.
• Purpose: to explore innovative ways to boost circular economy in India and Australia.
• Four themes have been emphasized in this hackathon.

Country Category of Winners Prize Money

India Student Rs 2 lakh

Startups / MSMEs Rs 5 lakh

Australia (in Australian Dollar) Student AUD $3500

Startups / MSMEs AUD $9500

179. 3rd edition of India-US 2+2 dialogue was held between External Affairs Minister S.
Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and
Defence Secretary Mark T. Esper.
• India and US signed Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) to allow
sharing of high-end military technology, classified satellite data and critical information with
each other.
• Now, India has signed four major defence pacts with US.

50
 Previous three defence pacts:

• General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA):

1. • Signed in 2002
• to ensure security standards for safeguarding critical information shared by
the U.S. with India.

• Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA):

2. • Signed in 2016
• to allow Indo-US militaries to use each other’s military bases for logistics and
repair works.

• COMCASA (Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement):

3. • Signed in 2018
• to provide interoperability between the two militaries and provides for sale of
high end technology from the U.S. to India.

• India and US agreed to jointly promote access to high quality, safe, effective and affordable
Covid-19 vaccines and treatments on a global scale.
• Both countries will launch the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite by
2022 from Sriharikota, A.P. The agreement for NISAR was signed in 2014.
• An MoU has been signed between the Ministry of Earth Sciences and the US National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for technical cooperation in earth observation
and earth sciences.
o The MoU will facilitate improved understanding of the regional and global weather
origins in the Indian Ocean and the marine resources.

180. Microsoft has collaborated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to
impart digital skills to more than one lakh underserved women in India, over the next 10
months.

51
181. India and the UK conducted the 10th Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD).
• Attended by - UK chancellor Rishi Sunak and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
• Standard Chartered Bank (HQ- UK) became the first foreign bank to be licensed to
operate as an international banking unit in an IFSCA, along with HSBC Bank (HQ-UK).
• UK-India Strategic Dialogue for the development of financial markets will be created.
• India and UK signed pacts on infrastructure development and for promotion of
sustainable finance.
• UK and India have partnered to develop India’s international financial services centre
at GIFT City.
o Both countries will set up a new Fund of Funds to be managed by the State Bank
of India (SBI) group, to route the U.K.’s future capital investments into India.
• Bilateral trade between India and the U.K. stood at £24 billion in 2019. India is now the
second- largest project investment source for the U.K.
• U.K. and India announced a joint investment of £8 million for research to understand and
address the factors leading to the severity of the novel coronavirus in South Asian
populations in the U.K. and in India.

182. Annual State of Education Report (ASER) survey 2020 Wave 1, conducted in
September, has been released.
• ASER 2020 – 1st via phone calls based survey;
• States covered - 26 States and 4 Union Territories;
o 52,227 families, having 59,251 children in the age group of 5-16 years, were
assessed.
• Conducted by - NGO Pratham (for the last 15 years)
• ASER is a nationwide survey of RURAL education and learning outcomes in terms of
reading and arithmetic skills.
• 2020 edition was focussed on online education.

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Online education:

• Only one in ten had access to live online classes.

• 11% of all the students enrolled in both private and govt schools were pursuing online
classes, 21.5% were using videos or recorded classes.
• In 2018, 36.5% of rural households with school-going children had smartphones. By
2020, that figure had increased to 61.8%.

Status of learning at home:

• Parental levels of education and resources played a key role in whether children studied
at home. Almost 40% of low education families did some learning activities even without
receiving any learning materials at all.
• 2/3rd of rural children nationwide had not received any learning materials or activities at
all.
• 20% of rural children have no textbooks at home. Out of the remaining 80% children
with books, 84.1% belong to government schools and 72.2% are in private schools.
• Across states, the proportion of children with textbooks at home falls below 70% in only
three states: Rajasthan (60.4%), Telangana (68.1%), and Andhra Pradesh (34.6%).

State of school enrolment:

• It found that 5.3% of rural children aged 6-10 years had not yet enrolled in school this
year, in comparison to just 1.8% in 2018.
• About 10% of six-year-olds are not in school.
• Among 15-16 year-old students, enrolment levels are slightly higher than 2018’s level.
• Enrolment in govt schools has increased between 2018-2020.
o Boys in govt school- 62.8% in 2018 to 66.4% in 2020
o Girls in govt school- 70% to 73% in 2020
o Reason - partly because of economic hardships and closure of private schools in rural
India post the pandemic.

53
 Teacher’s online knowledge:

• Around 50% of the teachers surveyed, did not receive any form of training.
• 50.6% teachers who taught between Grades III to V were the best trained.

183. “On Women’s Backs” – India Inequality Report 2020 — has been released by Oxfam
India. (Co-author - Diya Dutta)
• Total population of Indian women and girls put in 3.26 billion hours of unpaid care work
each and every day, which is equivalent of ₹19 lakh crore (trillion) a year.
• In India, women’s contribution to the GDP is one of the lowest in the world at 17%. World’s
average is at 37%.
• In China, women’s work contributes to 41% of the GDP. The figure was the same for
Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Even, Sub-Saharan Africa fared better than India at
39%.

54
184. 2nd meeting of the India- Central Asia Dialogue was held.
• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar described the Central Asian region as India’s “ex­
tended neighbourhood”.
• India announced a $1 billion Line of Credit for the Central Asian countries, to be spent
on infrastructural and connectivity projects.
• India also offered to provide grant assistance for implementation of High Impact
Community Development Projects (HICDP) for furthering socio-economic development in
the countries of the region.

185. ISRO will launch its latest earth observation satellite, EOS­01 and nine international
customer spacecraft onboard its PSLV­C49 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at
Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on Nov 7.
• EOS­01 is intended for applications in agriculture, forestry and disaster management
support.
• The customer satellites are being launched under commercial agreement with New Space
India Limited (NSIL).

186. NBCC Ltd (State-owned construction firm) has signed an MoU with Delhi Transport
Corporation (DTC) for development of 'first of its kind’ multi-level bus depots at Hari Nagar
and Vasant Vihar localities.

187. Odisha has launched ‘Sumangal’ portal to promote inter-caste marriages.

188. India and US have signed an agreement to extend the duration of the MoU on the Global
Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership.
• India and US have also signed a Letter of intent for cooperation in traditional Indian
medicines.

55
189. Cochin Shipyard Limited has signed an MoU with Italy’s Fincantieri S.p.A (one of the
world’s largest shipbuilding groups).
• Purpose: to collaborate on design, shipbuilding, ship repair, marine equipment
manufacturing, training and skill development.

190. Kerala has become the first state in the country to fix a floor (minimum rate at which
farmers can sell) price for 16 varieties of vegetables w.e.f., November 1.
• CM - Pinarayi Vijayan.
• The floor price will be 20% above production cost. Generally, a base price is provided for
pulses and food grains, and not for perishables such as fruits and vegetables.

191. President has signed an ordinance - ‘Commission for Air Quality Management in
National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2020’ for creating a Commission
to manage air quality in the National Capital Region.
• The body will be chaired by a government official of the rank of Secretary or Chief
Secretary, and will include the Secretary Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate
Change and five other Secretary/Chief Secretary level officials as ex-officio members.
• The Commission is to have exclusive jurisdiction over the NCR, including areas in
Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, in matters of air pollution.
• It will be working along with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and ISRO, apart
from the respective state governments.

192. NITI Aayog, Rockfeller foundation and Smart power India have launched Electricity
Access in India and Benchmarking Distribution Utilities report.
• Covered - 10 states; 65% of the total rural population of India; 25 distribution utilities
• The report evaluated the status of electricity access in India and distribution utilities.
• A total of 66% of surveyed customers were satisfied––74% of customers in urban areas
and 60% in rural areas.

56
193. India hosted the 19th SCO ministers meeting responsible for economy and foreign trade
to enhance trade and investment critical for ensuring speedy recovery of the economies of
SCO countries which are facing slowdown due to pandemic.
• First-ever India- SCO Startup Forum was also set up by CII and Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
• Innovation and Startups will be the key focus area of SCO Heads of Government meeting
on 30th November 2020 to be hosted by India.
• 8th Meeting of Ministers of SCO Member States was also held.

194. India and UAE conducted a webinar to boost defence exports.

• Theme - “Indian Defence Industry Global Outreach for Collaborative Partnership: Webinar
and Expo India – UAE Defence Cooperation”.
• Organizer - Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (under the Department of Defence
Production, Ministry of Defence)
• Both sides agreed to cooperate in defence further through joint production and mutual
trade.

195. Union Cabinet approved the signing of a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) between
India and Japan for cooperation in the field of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs).

196. Indian Railways has launched “Meri Saheli” initiative to provide safety and security to
lady passengers travelling by trains for their entire journey from starting station to destination
station across all zones.

197. Union Cabinet has approved the signing of the MoU between India and Cambodia on
cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine.

198. Indian Army launched a messaging app called SAI – Secure Application for Internet – that
will provide secure voice, text and video calling services to its soldiers.
57
199. Telangana government launched the Dharani portal, a first of its kind in the country, for
storing digitised land records and registration of properties.

200. European Commission and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)
have signed a new agreement to enhance scientific cooperation.
• This initiative will provide opportunities to Indian researchers who are supported by the
ICSSR and want to pursue research collaborations with European researchers, supported
by the ERC (European Research Council).
• Indians are ranked third after nationals of the US and Canada in terms of non-European
ERC grant holders. ERC was started in 2007.

201. Delhi launched the ‘Green Delhi’ app to resolve the pollution related complaints of citizens
in a time-bound manner.
• The app is one of the measures under the state government’s pollution control initiative
‘Yuddh, Pradushan Ke Viruddh”.

202. Dept of Science and Technology launched SERB – POWER (Promoting opportunities for
women in exploratory research) initiative.
• Purpose: To mitigate gender disparity in science and engineering research.
• Components: SERB – POWER fellowship and SERB – POWER research grants. Under
these components, grants and scholarships will be provided to female candidates to
promote them.

203. Indian Navy has test fired its anti-ship missile (AshM) from its Guided Missile Corvette
INS Kora in the Bay of Bengal.

204. Public Affairs Index 2020 has been released by the Public Affairs Centre (an NPO
headed by K Kasturirangan- former ISRO Chairman) annually.

58
 • The index ranks states on the basis of their governance performance in the context of
sustainable development.
• Parameters - equity, growth and sustainability.
Category Top ranked Lowest ranked

Larger states Kerala (1.388 score) Uttar Pradesh (-1.461)

Tamil Nadu (0.912) Odisha (-1.201)

Andhra Pradesh (0.531) Bihar (-1.158 )

Karnataka (0.468)

Smaller states Goa (1.745 points) Manipur (-0.363)

(including Delhi) Meghalaya (0.797) Delhi (-0.289)

Himachal Pradesh (0.725) Uttarakhand (-0.277)

UTs Chandigarh (1.349) Lakshadweep (-1.718)

(including Chandigarh, Daman

& Diu, J&K, Puducherry,
Dadra & Nagar Haveli, A&N
islands, Lakshadweep)

205. Punjab Government has signed an MoU with the Global Alliance for Mass
Entrepreneurship (GAME) for ensuring ease of doing business for MSME in the state by
simplifying, digitizing and decriminalizing compliance burden.
• The agreement is supported by ReSolve Initiative of the Omidyar Network India (ONI),
an investment firm focused on social impact. The initiative focuses on funding projects that
create solutions to empower MSMEs as well as migrant workers.
• GAME MSME Task Force, chaired by Dr KP Krishnan, has prepared the blueprint of the
project. Krishnan will lead the activities under the MoU.

59
206. UNESCO has included Panna Tiger Reserve in its ‘World Network of Biosphere
Reserves’.
• It is the third reserve from Madhya Pradesh after Pachmarhi and Amarkantak. Total 12
Indian reserves feature in this network.
• Besides, Fuvahmulah and Addu Atoll Biosphere Reserves from Maldives have been
added into the network.
• Total 25 new sites were added to this network.
About the UNESCO’s ‘World Network of Biosphere Reserves’:

§ MAB programme is an intergovernmental scientific programme that aims to enhance the

relationship between people and their environments.

§ It was launched in 1971.

§ The ‘World Network of Biosphere Reserves’ is maintained under the program.

§ Total 714 biosphere reserves in 129 countries, including 21 transboundary sites, around
the globe are in this network.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. Origin Space (a Chinese space start-up) has announced to send out the world’s first mining
robot named as ‘asteroid mining robot’ into space by November 2020.

2. ‘GCTC Energy Security Conference 2020’ was organized by the Global Counter Terrorism
Council (GCTC).
• Theme - Energy Security Architecture
Note: According to some websites, the theme is Energy Security Architecture in Post Covid-19 world.

60
3. 75th session of the UN General Assembly was held virtually under the theme – “The future we
want, the United Nations we need: reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism –
confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action”.
• Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani attended the 64th edition of
UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (UN- CSW).
• It celebrated the 25th anniversary of adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action (1995).
• UNGA’s High-Level meeting on Beijing Declaration held under the theme of “Accelerating
the realization of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.

4. Russia successfully tested its new TSIRKON (Zircon) hypersonic cruise missile.

5. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia's

national science agency, has provided the first ever global estimate for microplastics on the
seafloor.
• There are 14 million tonnes of microplastics in the deep ocean.

6. 2nd edition of the Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) Ministerial Meeting was held in
Tokyo, Japan.
• The 1st edition of Quad Ministerial Meeting was held in New York in 2019.
• During the meeting, India conducted 13th edition of India-Japan Foreign Minister’s
Strategic Dialogue.
• India and Japan finalized the cybersecurity agreement to increase cooperation in areas of
research & development, security, 5G, artificial intelligence, internet of things etc.

7. According to World Bank’s biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report 2020, a total of
150 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty by 2021.
• Extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.90 a day, is likely to affect between 9.1%
and 9.4% of the world’s population in 2020.

61
 • About 82% of the total population in middle-income countries will be pushed into extreme
poverty by Covid-19.
• By 2030, the global poverty rate could be about 7%.

8. World Economic Forum (WEF) will hold its 51st Annual Meeting at Burgenstock mountain
resort in Lucerne city, Switzerland in May 2021.
• Earlier, it was scheduled to be held at Davos in January-end.
• Theme of the meet would be “The Great Reset” in the post-COVID-19 era and rebuild a
more cohesive and sustainable society.
• 'Davos Dialogues' in January 2021 will precede the annual meet.

9. World Trade Organization has forecasted a 9.2% decline in the world merchandise trade
volume in 2020, uplifted from the 12.9% decline projected in April forecast.
• In 2021, trade volume will grow to 7.2% but will remain well below the pre-crisis trend.
• Global GDP will fall by -4.8% in 2020 before rising by 4.9% in 2021.
• The trade decline in Asia of 4.5% for exports and 4.4% for imports in 2020 will be smaller
than in other regions.

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10. According to World Bank’s South Asia report titled “Beaten or broken: Informality and
COVID­19” report, school closures could deplete India’s earnings by $420 billion to $600
billion.
• The depleting learning levels of students will translate into poorer productivity of India in
future. India will face the major loss caused by the school closures in South Asian region.
• In South Asia, as many as 5.5 million students could drop out of schools. It would reduce
the future earnings by $622 billion.
• In a more pessimistic scenario, this figure can increase to $880 billion due to the lifetime
impact of school closures on the productivity of this generation of students.
• The average child in South Asia may lose $4,400 in lifetime earnings once having entered
the labour market, equivalent to 5% of total earnings.

11. ‘Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index (CRI) 2020’ has been released by Oxfam
(international charity organization) and Development Finance International.
• It is the 3rd edition of the CRI Index, which ranks countries on their commitment to reducing
inequality.
• Total – 158
• Parameters – Public services (health, education and social protection), Progressive
Taxation, and Labour’s Rights and Wages.

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 • Top – Norway at 1st, Denmark at 2nd, and Germany at 3rd.
• Bottom – South Sudan at 158
• India’s rank – overall rank is 129
• Parameter-wise India’s ranking:
o Public services (health, education and social protection) – 141
o Progressive Taxation – 19
o Labour’s Rights and Wages – 151

12. First ever “A Neglected Tragedy: The Global Burden of Stillbirths” report has been
released by the UN Inter – agency group for child mortality estimation (UN – IGME).
• It is co-created by UNICEF, WHO, World Bank and UN ECOSOC (population division).
World India

Globally, 1.9 million stillbirths were there in Around 0.34 million of the 1.9 million
2019. stillbirths were in India, making it the country
with the largest such burden.

84% still births occur in low and lower-middle India, along with five other countries —
income countries. Pakistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, China and Ethiopia — accounted

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 for nearly half of all stillbirths in the world,
according to the report.

Rate of reduction in annual stillbirth is 2.3% India’s stillbirth rate has been reduced
between 2000 to 2019, as compared to a 2.9% significantly over the past two decades.
reduction in neonatal mortality, and 4.3%
The rate had declined to 13.9 stillbirths per
reduction in mortality among children aged 1 to
1,000 births in 2019, from 29.6 in 2000 — a
59 months.
53% reduction.
Globally, a 35% reduction in stillbirth rate was
recorded between 2000-19.

A 50% reduction in health services due to the -

pandemic, can cause nearly 200,000
additional stillbirths over a 12-month period in
117 low and middle income countries.

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13. UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has launched “The Human Cost of Disasters
2000­2019” report.

14. Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad hosted the 7th meeting of Ministers of Justice of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
• Department of Legal Affairs (Law Secretary) Anoop Kumar Mendiratta will host the second
meeting of the Experts Working Group on Forensic Activities and Legal Services.

15. 'Exporting Corruption 2020: Assessing Enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery

Convention' report has been released by Transparency International (based in Berlin).
• This report analysed the use of bribery by companies to win business (exports) in foreign
markets and the legal framework followed by countries to curb this practice.
• The biggest global exporters with the worst track records in bribery are China, Japan,
the Netherlands, South Korea, Hong Kong, Canada, India, and Mexico.
• Out of the 47 countries, only, the US, UK, Switzerland, and Israel – making up 16.5% of
global exports — were actively enforcing legislation against foreign bribery in 2019.
About India:

Ø India lacks a mechanism to crack down on bribery of foreign officials by its exporters.
Foreign bribery is not yet criminalised in India.
Ø India is a member of UN Convention Against Corruption since 2011, yet it has to meet
Article 16 obligations to define and criminalise foreign bribery.
Ø India accounts for 2.1% of global exports and it has not conducted a single investigation
into cases of foreign bribery in the past three years.
Ø As per the 10th Annual Global Enforcement Report of TRACE International, in 2019, India
ranked second after Brazil in terms of the number of investigations concerning alleged
bribery of Indian officials by foreign firms.
• Recommendations for India: -
Ø Enforce laws to criminalize foreign bribery.

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 Ø Join OECD’s Anti-Bribery Convention (1997). The treaty prohibits the corruption in
international markets. 44 countries are parties to the convention, 36 of them members of
the OECD.
Ø Extend the coverage of whistle blower protections to the private sector.

16. World Bank has released the “International Debt Statistics 2021” report which mentions
that debt burden has increased in the developing countries (especially due to Covid-19).
• Top 10 borrower countries – Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, the
Russian Federation, Thailand, Turkey, and South Africa.
• China is the largest creditor in the world in 2019. Its share of the combined debt owed to
G-20 countries rose from 45% in 2013 to 63% at end-2019.
• India’s total external debt in 2019 is $ 560,035 Mn.

17. State of Climate Services 2020 Report: Move from Early Warnings to Early Action was
released by the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
• Globally, some 11,000 disasters, caused by climate and water-related hazards, have
claimed over 2 million lives and cost the world economy $3.6 trillion over the past 50 years.
• In 2018 alone, storms, floods, droughts and wildfires affected some 108 million people and
by 2030, this number could increase by almost 50% at a cost of around $20 billion a year.
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18. Globally, the number of undernourished people could increase by 132 million by December-
end from the estimated 690 million currently because of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic.
• World Health Organization, in its joint statement with UN, International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the International Labour Organization (ILO), has
mentioned the above statement.
• Nearly half of the global workforce of 3.3 billion is at risk of losing their livelihoods.

19. Arton Capital has released the world’s most powerful passport’s index 2020.
• Top - New Zealand (Citizens of the country get visa-free travel to 129 destinations).
• India’s rank – 58th along with Jordan, Algeria, Gabon and Benin. Indian passport holders
can travel visa-free to 52 nations.

20. 2nd ASEAN-India Track 1.5 Dialogue on Cyber Issues was held virtually to increase
cooperation and security in the digital and cyber domain.
• India has launched India's Centres of Excellence in Software Development and
Training (CESDTs) in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam to enhance digital
cooperation.
• India is also funding "Child Online Risks Awareness Campaign" and "Building Capacity
on Digital Public Services Implementation and Cyber Security for Government
Agencies" as Quick Impact Projects in Cambodia in 2020.

21. World Health Organization (WHO) released the Global Tuberculosis Report 2020, which
mentions that globally, TB incidence reduced by 9% and TB deaths reduced by 14% in 2019.
• 14 million people were treated for TB in the period 2018-2019, just over 1/3rd of the way
towards the five-year target of 40 million for 2018-2022.
• TB case notifications reduced by 25 to 30% in three high burden countries, namely India,
Indonesia, the Philippines between January and June 2020, as compared to 6 months
data in 2019.
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 • The three countries with the largest share of drug-resistant TB were India (27%), China
(14%) and the Russia (8%).
• Eight countries accounted for two thirds of the global total of TB cases: India (26%),
Indonesia (8.5%), China (8.4%), the Philippines (6.0%), Pakistan (5.7%), Nigeria (4.4%),
Bangladesh (3.6%) and South Africa (3.6%).
• India’s TB incidence rate in 2019 is 193 per 1 lakh population.
• The global number of TB deaths could increase by around 0.2–0.4 million in 2020
alone, if health services remain disrupted.
F Global TB reduction targets:
• WHO's End TB Strategy aims for a 90% reduction in TB deaths and an 80% reduction
in the TB incidence rate by 2030, compared to the 2015 baseline.
• Targets for 2020 include a 20% reduction in the TB incidence rate and a 35% reduction
in TB deaths.

22. 4th G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting was held virtually under
Saudi Arabia’s Presidency.
• Key decision – the leaders decided to extend Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) till
June 2021.
• World Bank and the G20 Finance Ministers endorsed the Debt Service Suspension
Initiative (DSSI) to forgive some debt of the poorest countries to help them manage the
severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

23. Japan has tested “SeaGuardian” maritime surveillance drone.

• The drone has been developed by US Defense firm General Atomics Aeronautical
Systems.

24. Lowy Institute (based in Sydney) released the Asia Power Index for 2020.
• Total - 26 nations and territories.

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 • Asia-Pacific’s most powerful country – US followed by China, Japan and India
(respectively)
• US can get back to its pre-pandemic levels by 2024. While, China’s economy has
rebounded from the virus and is the only large economy forecast to recover in 2020.
• India has lost its economic growth potential due to the covid-19 pandemic. India will reach
40% of China’s economic output by 2030, compared with the 50% estimate last year.
• The index measures power using 128 indicators including economic relations, defense
spending, internal stability, information flows and projected future resources.

25. 15th edition of the Global Hunger Index 2020 has been released by Concern Worldwide
(Ireland) and Welthungerhilfe (Germany).
• Indicators – Undernourishment, Child Wasting, Child Stunting, and Child Mortality
• Score – Range is 0-100. 0 is best and 100 is the worst score in this index.
• Total – 107 countries
• Top – 17 countries scored less than 5
• India’s rank – 94 (score 27.2, indicating serious level of hunger).
World India

Global score – 18.2 (moderate level) Indicator wise performance (%):

Undernourishment – 14%

Child Wasting – 17.3%

Child Stunting – 34.7%

Child Mortality – 3.7%

At the current pace, 37 countries would fail to -

achieve low hunger by 2030.

690 million people are undernourished. -

144 million children are suffering stunting -

47 million children are suffering wasting -

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26. For the first time in the world, Singapore has implemented the facial recognition for
availing the government’s online services.
• This is done under the SingPass digital identity scheme.

27. UN World Food Programme has launched the cost of a plate of food report 2020 to
determine the cost of a plate of food that citizens pay for their meal.
• Total countries – 36
• Rankings
o Top – South Sudan (Costliest plate)
o Bottom – New York
o India – 28th
• Data
o People in South Sudan spend 186% of their income on food.
o New York – 0.6%
o India – 3.5%
o Maximum countries in the list are from Sub – Saharan Africa.

28. Y20 (youth wing of G20) Summit 2020 was held virtually in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2020 is the
10th anniversary of Y20.
• Theme - 'Government - Youth dialogue on post COVID-19 opportunities'.
• India Sports Minister, Kiren Rijiju (who also attended Y20), announced to establish Target
Olympic Podium Scheme National Centre of Excellence (TOPS NCOE) to groom
athletes for Olympics 2024 and 2028.
• The centers will be operated in collaboration with National Sporting Federations.
Upcoming Olympic Games’ Venues

Summer Olympics (or Winter Olympics Youth Olympics

Olympics)

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 2024 – Paris 2022 – Beijing 2020 – Lausanne
(Switzerland)

2028 – Los Angeles (USA) 2026 – Milano Cortina (Italy) 2026 (postponed from 2022) –
Dakar (Senegal)

29. NASA has awarded Nokia of the $14.1 million project to deploy a 4G cellular network on
the moon.
• NASA wants to have astronauts working at a lunar base by 2028.
• Nokia HQ – Finland
• President and CEO of Nokia – Pekka Lundmark

30. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members announced to set up a new space
center in Ramstein in Germany.
About NATO:

Ø Founding treaty of NATO was signed in 1949 in Washington.

Ø To ensure peace and security of European and North American nations, most importantly
collective defence. An attack against one ally will be considered as an attack against all
countries of NATO.
Ø Members - 30
Ø Headquarters - Brussels, Belgium
Ø Secretary General - Jens Stoltenberg

31. OECD has unveiled the 44th edition of International migration outlook 2020 to measure the
inflow of migrants to the OECD countries in 2018.
• OECD countries are 37 in number.
• The total inflow of migrants to OECD countries stood at 66 lakh (increase of 3.8% over the
previous year).

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 • China bagged the top spot in the report (4.3 lakh Chinese migrated to OECD countries
accounting for 6.5% of the total migration).
• India emerged as the 2nd largest source country both in terms of inflow of migrants to
OECD countries and also the number of Indians acquiring citizenship of these countries.
• The top 4 countries where Indians choose to become citizens are US, Canada, Australia
and UK.

32. Researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute have discovered a new organ in the
human throat – named as Tubarial salivary glands (located behind nose and mouth) –
during their research on prostate cancer.
• Their function is to moisten the upper throat like salivary glands.
• The newly discovered glands are about 1.5 inches (3.9 cm) in length.

33. State of Global Air 2020 has been released by Health Effects Institute (HEI) in cooperation
with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). It is published in The Lancet
journal.
World India

116 countries were surveyed. Deaths due to Air Pollution (outdoor and
indoor) in 2019:
Deaths due to air pollution
• Total – More than 16.67 lakh
• Total – 6.67 million
• Including 1.16 lakh infants (in their first
• 4.76 lakh infants died in the world
month of life)
• India recorded highest infant deaths
due to air pollution in 2019.

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 India is at 1st rank with the highest population-
weighted annual average PM2.5 exposures in
2019.

India’s pollution levels have increased.

India is the 3rd highest in terms of ozone

exposures in 2019.

34. World Economic Forum has released the 3rd edition of the Future of Jobs Report 2020,
which mentions that, globally, 85 million jobs will be impacted due to Covid-19 disruptions by
2025.
• Automation or digitalization will have a worst impact on jobs by 2025.

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 • Redundancy (the state of no longer needed in employment) in workforce will decrease from
15.4% to 9% by 2025.
• 43% businesses have reduced their workforce due to integration of technology.
• 41% of businesses plan to expand their use of contractors for task-specialized work.
• 34% plan to expand their workforce to work in the technology-specific domains.
• 50% workers in the world require reskilling in order to secure their jobs in the next five
years.

35. World Bank and UNICEF have released the “Global Estimate of Children in Monetary
Poverty: An Update” report, which mentions that 1 in 6 children lives in extreme poverty.
• 356 million children struggle to survive on less than $1.90 a day, and 2/3rd of them live in
sub-Saharan Africa.
• South Asia accounts for nearly 1/5th of these children.
• Children are more than twice as likely to be extremely poor as adults (17.5% of children
vs. 7.9% of adults).
• 50% of the global extreme poor were children even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 70% of children in extreme poverty live in a household where the head of the house works
in agriculture.

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 • The number of children living in extreme poverty decreased moderately, by 29 million,
between 2013 and 2017. Sub-Saharan Africa added 64 million children in extreme poverty
between 2013-17.

36. UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has conducted a drill

exercise named as IOWave 20 (Indian Ocean Wave) to remain ready and resilient to
Tsunami.
• Conducted by – UNESCO’s International Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean
Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System.
• From India - Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) participated in it.
• ITEWC is located at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS),
Hyderabad.

37. UN has released “World’s Women: Trends and Statistics” 2020 report.
• The report examined gender equality on six parameters: Population and families; health;
education; economic empowerment and asset ownership; power and decision-making; and
violence against women and the girl child as well as the impact of COVID-19.

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 Situation of Labour market:

• Gender gap in the labour market has not changed a bit since 1995. It has been a 27
percentage point gap (47% women and 74% men available in labour market in 2020).
• Highest gender gap in labour market is in South Asia, followed by Northern Africa, and
Western Asia. Women’s labour participation rates remained below 30% in these regions.
• In India, the ratio of female-to-male labour force participation rate was 29.80% in
2019 as against the desired ratio of 50%.
Condition of unpaid work:

• Time on unpaid domestic work: - women’s (4.2 hours) and men (1.7 hours).

38. World Bank and IMF conducted their annual meeting 2020 on the themes of “Unleashing the
South Asian Century through Human Capital for All” and “Investing in Covid-19 Vaccines and
Primary Healthcare Delivery System”
• Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare virtually addressed it.
• India recently conducted the World’s largest Measles-Rubella Campaign covering 330
million children and universal immunization program.
• Andorra (located in Europe) has joined IMF as its 190th member.

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39. First-ever ministerial meeting of G-20 anti-corruption working group was hosted by Saudi
Arabia.
• Minister of State (IC) for Development of North Eastern Region, Jitendra Singh, addressed
it.
• In June 2010 at the G20 Toronto Summit, the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG)
was set up.

40. UN Development Programme (UNDP) has released “Human Mobility, Shared

Opportunities: A Review of the 2009 Human Development Report and the Way Ahead”
report.
• Forced migration doubled over the last 10 years to around 79 million.
• Migrants generated 9% of global GDP in 2015. However, they constituted only 3.5% of the
global population.
• According to a research by IMF and World Bank, a percentage increase in the migrant
share of the population in high income countries boosts per capita income by 2%.
o If immigrants increased the workforces of wealthy countries by 3%, that would boost
world GDP by US $356 billion by 2025.

41. UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will come into force on 22
January 2021.
• Ratified by – 50 countries (Honduras is the 50th country to ratify it)
• Adopted in – 2017
• Aim – to prohibit nuclear weapons and eliminate them gradually.

42. Work on world’s longest immersed tunnel and also the world’s longest combined road
and train tunnel, named as Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, has been started.
• Length – 18 km
• Areas – to link Denmark and Germany; 40m deep inside the Baltic Sea

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 • Commissioned by – 2029
• Budget – over $8 billion (one of Europe's largest infrastructure projects)

43. NASA’s SOFIA flying observatory has found the presence of water on the moon’s sunlit
surface for the first time.
• The study is published in Nature Astronomy journal.
• SOFIA has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters
visible from Earth, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere.
• Sofia – Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy – is a joint project of Germany
and United States.

44. 6th BRICS Parliamentary Forum was held on the theme “BRICS partnership in the interest of
the global stability, general safety and innovative growth: parliamentary dimension”.
• BRICS Chair 2020 – Russia
• The Parliamentary Forum was chaired by Vyachaslav Volodin (of Russia).

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45. UNCTAD has released the Global Investment Trends Monitor 2020 which mentions that
global FDI flows fell 49% in the first half of 2020 compared to 2019, due to the economic
fallout from COVID-19.
• The outlook remains highly uncertain.
• Developed economies saw the biggest fall, with FDI inflow reaching an estimated $98
billion in the six-month period – a decline of 75% compared to 2019.
• 16% decrease was seen in FDI flows to developing economies.
• Flows decreased by just 12% in Asia but were 28% lower than in 2019.
• In the six months to June 2020, developing countries in Asia accounted for more than
half of global FDI.

46. International Data Corporation (IDC) has released its ‘worldwide information technology (IT)
industry predictions for 2021 and beyond’.
• 65% of global GDP will be derived from digital sector by 2022, leading to USD 6.8 trillion of
IT spending between 2020-23.
• By the end of 2021, 80% of enterprises would shift to cloud-centric infrastructure and
applications à this rate is twice as fast as before the pandemic.
• Apart from these, other figures of the report indicate that the world is going to shift to digital
economy swiftly.

47. Typhoon Molave (also known as Typhoon Quinta in Philippines) has now hit Vietnam.

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48. UK India Business Council has released the 6th Annual “Doing Business In India Report:
The UK Perspective”.
• This year’s report is based on an in-depth survey of 106 UK organisations operating in
India spanning manufacturing, services, and higher education sectors.
• 66% of the surveyed businesses said that it is getting easier to do business in India.
• India’s score of doing business has improved from 2.57 in 2015 to 2.92 in 2020, out of 5. In
2019, the score was 2.74.
• Top 4 problems in ease of doing business in India – GST issues, foreign exchange
regulations, high import tariffs and lack of alignment with international standards.
• Maharashtra emerged as the top state with maximum incremental improvement for the 3rd
year consecutively; followed by Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.
About the report:

§ The report digs the ease of doing business environment in India.

§ India’s goal is to be in the top 50 of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report in
the future and to emerge amongst the top 25 EoDB nations thereafter.

49. World Bank has released its Migration and Development Brief 2020 report which mentions
that remittances in India would fall by 9% to $76 billion this year.
• India followed by China, Mexico, the Philippines, and Egypt continue to be the top five
countries in 2020 to receive foreign remittances.
• Globally, the remittances are projected to decline 14% by 2021, compared to the pre-Covid-
19 levels in 2019.
• Remittance flows to low and middle-income countries (LMICs) will fall by 7% to $508
billion in 2020, and by 7.5% to $470 billion in 2021.
• Steepest fall will be in Europe and Central Asia (by 16% and 8%, in 2020 and 2021
respectively).
• Fall in remittances in South Asia: 4% to $135 Bn in 2020 and 11% in 2021.

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50. India participated in 18th meeting of Prosecutors General of Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO), chaired by Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor General Nigmatulla Yuldashev.
• India will host the next meeting of SCO Prosecutors General in 2021.
• India’s Solicitor General – Tushar Mehta – attended the meet.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

1. RBI has excluded six public sector banks from the Second Schedule of the RBI Act, 1934
because these six PSBs have been merged into other PSBs.
• The six banks are Syndicate Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), United Bank of
India, Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank, and Allahabad Bank.
• Second Schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act details about the 'Scheduled
Commercial Bank’.
• At present, there are 12 public sector banks in India.

2. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has announced a special
refinance facility of ₹800 crore for FY21 to support the central government’s Water,
Sanitisation and Hygiene (WASH) programme.
• Under the support facility, NABARD will extend loans (which will be repayable within 36
months) to banks, NBFC, MFIs, RRBs, and Co-op banks to fund WASH activities.

3. State Bank of India (SBI) and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. have launched a joint pilot project in
Mumbai and Bengaluru to provide digital payment and financing solutions to small
retailers.
• Under this collaboration, SBI will provide an instant overdraft facility of up to ₹50,000 to
retailers and HUL’s distributors.

4. Union govt has announced to organize a first-of- its-kind outreach program, in November, to
woo global investors, including pension, insurance and sovereign wealth funds.

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 • Finance Minister, in her budget speech, had announced that investments in infrastructure
projects by sovereign wealth funds before 31 March 2024, having a minimum lock-in
period of 3 years, will be granted 100% tax exemption on interest, dividend and capital
gains income.
• It was to incentivize investment in priority sectors by sovereign wealth funds of foreign
governments.

5. Reserve Bank of India releases the House Price Index (HPI), which tracks home prices in 10
Indian cities which are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi,
Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai.
• The average return from owning real estate over the last decade has been 11.6% per year.
• All-India HPI increased 2.8% in the first quarter (Apr-Jun’ 20) on an annual basis.
• In sequential basis (q-o-q), all-India HPI increased by 1.2% during the first quarter of the
current financial year.

6. Tata Steel and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) have signed an MoU to
collaborate in the area of Carbon Capture, Utilisation & Storage (CCUS) to fight against climate
change and global warming in India.

7. Indian Bank has launched IB-eNote facility to operate digitally without using paper, print outs
etc. to save time and cost.
• The bank has also launched 'Ind Guru', an e-learning platform, to help its employees learn
technological solutions.

8. RBI has deferred the implementation of provisions made under Basel III capital due to
uncertainty related to Covid crisis.
• Provisions under Basel III – RBI has announced to push back the implementation of net
stable funding ratio and the final tranche of the capital conservation buffer (CCB) by six
months till April 1, 2021.

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 Capital Conservation Buffer (CCB) Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR)

Ø It is the capital buffer that the banks are
mandated to build during normal times.
So that, it can be used in the times of
crises.
Ø In India, banks are required to build a
2.5% of CCB.
Ø The final stage of 0.625% was to be
kept from 30 September 2020, which
will now be kept from 1st April 2021.
Ø NSFR ensures that banks have a stable
sources of funding for their activities in
order to avoid any future funding stress.
Ø Banks in India are required to maintain
NSFR at 100% from 1 April 2020.
Ø The RBI has now deferred it for a
second time to 1 April 2021.

9. Flipkart and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company have jointly launched the ‘Digital
Suraksha Group Insurance’ to insure customers against financial losses caused by
cyberattacks.
• The cover is extendable up to Rs 10 lakhs.

10. RBI, in consultation with the Central Government, has set the Ways and Means Advances
(WMA) limit for the Government for the second half of the financial year 2020-21 (October
2020 to March 2021) lower at ₹1.25 lakh crore.
• The WMA limit in the first half (April 2020 to September 2020) was ₹2 lakh crore.

11. RBI has approved a 3-member interim committee of directors, chaired by G Subramonia
Iyer, to run the operations of Dhanlaxmi Bank till the appointment of a CEO.
• G Rajagopalan Nair and P K Vijayakumar are the members of this committee of directors.
• Recently, the shareholders voted out its MD and CEO Sunil Gurbaxani.

12. Punjab National Bank (PNB) has launched “Gram Sampark Abhiyan”, a nation-wide
Financial Inclusion and Literacy Campaign.

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 • The campaign is centred around four key themes — Digital, Credit, Social Security and
Financial Literacy — as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan of the Central government.

13. SEBI has introduced a new category of ‘very high risk’ in the riskometer of mutual funds.
It will be effective from January 1, 2021.
• Riskometer is a graphic representation of a mutual fund scheme’s risk, published for
the benefit of investors. Now, the six categories are low, low to moderate, moderate,
moderately high, high, and very high.
• MFs are mandated to place their schemes in specific categories according to their risk on
their website and Association of Mutual Funds in India’s (AMFI) website, within 10 days
from the end of a month.
• A new liquidity parameter has also been introduced for both equity and debt schemes,
assigning higher weights to schemes investing in relatively illiquid securities.

14. SEBI has also introduced labelling norms for dividend options of mutual funds which will
take effect on 1 April 2021.
• Now, the dividend option on mutual funds will be labelled as the income distribution-cum-
capital withdrawal in order to clearly communicate to the investor that under dividend
option of a mutual fund scheme certain portion of his capital can be distributed as dividend.
• Under current rules, dividends can be distributed from the realised gains of MFs.

15. Piramal Pharma Ltd has sold its 20% stake to The Carlyle Group (US-based private equity
giant) for ₹3,523 crore.

16. According to a report by FIS (a provider of technology solutions), India is the leading country
in the world in terms of real -time transactions.
• In 2019, India processed 41 million real time transactions per day, at a growth rate of 213%
in comparison to previous year.
• In terms of growth rate, Bahrain topped the list with 657% growth rate.

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17. 42nd GST Council Meet, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, key decisions:
• 18% GST – payable by ISRO, Antrix Corporation Ltd and New Space India Ltd for offering
satellite launch services to private companies – is exempted.
• Small taxpayers (with annual turnover of less than Rs 5 crores) can file quarterly returns
instead of monthly returns from January 1, 2021.
• The large and small taxpayers will have to provide HSN Code of 6 digits and 4 digits
respectively from April 1, 2021. For some goods, HSN Code of 8 digits needs to be
provided.

18. Reliance General Insurance has partnered with SatSure to improve the efficiency of its crop
insurance business operations.
• Under the partnership, SatSure will provide satellite-based crop monitoring and
predictive analytics support to RGI for better risk management of its crop insurance.

19. Google India has launched the ‘Make Small Strong’ nationwide campaign to support small
businesses.
• Under the campaign, Google will promote small businesses and create demand for them
among customers, through social media.
• Apart from this, Google has also partnered with Zoho, Instamojo, Dunzo and Swiggy. All
these four companies will provide their services to small and mid-size businesses (SMB) for
free of cost during a set period of time.
• Google India, in partnership with Doordarshan, will also launch ‘Namaste Digital’
television show to help SMBs learn about the Internet and help them grow their business.
• Also, Google will provide digital training to the SMBs, in collaboration with FICCI.

20. ICICI Bank has become the first bank in India to issue the debit card for accounts under
loan against securities. The electronic debit card is available on Visa platform.
• The card can be accessed on the Bank’s mobile app iMobile.
• The maximum daily transaction limit of the card is ₹3 lakh each for POS and online
transactions.
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 • In April 2020, RBI has allowed the banks to issue electronic cards to holders of overdraft
accounts.

21. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced to invest $15 million in Avaada Energy
Private Limited (AEPL) to help the company to increase solar energy generation capacity in
India.
• Sources of funding – $7.5 million each from ADB’s Ordinary Capital Resources and from
Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP).
• LEAP was established in 2016 by the Japan International Cooperation Agency to finance
high quality and sustainable private sector infrastructure projects in Asia.

22. Vistara and Axis Bank have launched a co-branded forex card that can load up to 16
currencies.
• Now, Vistara has become the first Indian airline to offer a co-branded forex card.

23. Chqbook has launched India’s first 'Financial Control Center' mobile app for 60 million
small business owners to help them manage their day-to-day financial requirements and
access financial products in a time and cost effective manner.
• Chqbook is India's first Neobank for small business owners like kiranas, merchants,
chemists, and other running proprietorships.

24. Indian Bank has launched the 'MSME Prerana', an online business mentoring programme
for MSMEs, in association with Poornatha & Co (a firm which designs entrepreneurial
development programs in vernacular languages).

25. RBI has mandated that financial firms cannot be set up with foreign direct investment (FDI)
from Mauritius or other jurisdictions that do not meet benchmarks laid down by the Financial
Action Task Force (FATF).
• Mauritius and Pakistan are in the grey list of FATF, along with other countries.

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 • These FDI restrictions are not applicable on manufacturing or any other non-financial
service companies in India.

26. RBI’s monetary policy committee’s (MPC) decisions taken during its latest meeting in 2020-
21.
• Repo rate – 4% (unchanged)
• Reverse repo rate - 3.35% (unchanged)
• Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) and Bank rate – 4.25% (unchanged)
• Maintained accommodative stance.
• Consumer price inflation rate – 6.8% Q2: 2020-21, 5.4-4.5% for H2: 2020-21 and 4.3% for
Q1: 2021-22.
• GDP growth rate for FY21 – (-) 9.5%
• RBI has allowed banks to lend up to Rs 7.5 crores (up from Rs 5 crores) to individual
retail and small borrowers and still remain eligible for 75% risk weight norm.

27. India’s market capitalization, i.e., market capitalization of all listed companies in India, has
reached a record level of ₹161 trillion ($2.11 trillion) on October 8, 2020.
• Globally, India is at the 10th position in terms of market capitalization.

28. World Bank has forecasted a GDP growth rate of -9.6% for India in FY21 and +5.4% in
FY22, in its South Asia Economic Focus report.

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29. New Development Bank (based in Shanghai) has approved a total loan of $741 Mn ($500
million for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Project and $241
million for Mumbai Metro Rail II (Line 6) Project) to India.

30. RBI has decided to move to the Next Generation Treasury Application (NGTA) for managing
the country’s foreign exchange and gold reserves.
• NGTA would be a web-based application providing flexibility to introduce new products
and securities, besides supporting multi-currency transactions and settlements.
• NGTA will deal in assets like Fixed Income (FI), Forex (FX), Money Market (MM) and Gold.
• The NGTA would automatically perform action pertaining to day count, interest
computation, holiday logic, shut period-dividend, ex-dividend, cash flows, and odd coupon.

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 Portfolio
Management

Dealing In Workflow
Various Asset Management
Classes

Functions
of NGTA

Integration
With Various
Third-party Reserve
And In-house Management
Systems

31. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the economic stimulus
package 2.0 to infuse Rs 73,000 crore into economy.
• Under this package, two schemes – LTC (leave travel concession) cash voucher scheme
and special festival advance scheme – for govt employees have been announced.
LTC (leave travel concession) cash Special festival advance scheme
voucher scheme

F Under the LTC cash voucher scheme,
central govt employees will receive
cash payment on leave encashment
and travel fare depending upon the pay
scale of the employees. Further, there
will be no tax on fare payment.
F The govt will provide festival advance to
central govt employees for festivals up
to 31st January, 2021. It will be
provided for one-time only.
o On the recommendation of the 7th
Pay Commission, the festive grants
were prohibited. But these are being
given as a one-time measure to
boost consumption.

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 F An employee opting for this scheme will F It aims to spur consumption expenditure
have to buy goods and services (having in the economy.
GST of 12%) worth three times the fare
and one time leave encashment, and do
so before March 31, 2021.

• State govt will get 50-year interest-free loans worth ₹12,000 crore for FY21 for capital
expenditure to build their infrastructure and spur consumption expenditure.
• ₹25,000 crore has been set aside for capital expenditure (building infrastructure) for
Central Govt in FY21 to spur consumption expenditure and the economy.

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32. According to the date compiled by National Stock Exchange of India, Tiger Global
Management-backed RKSV Securities India Pvt Ltd. became the second largest broker in
India after nearly doubling its customers to 1.2 million in the six months through September.
• Top online broker is Zerodha Broking Limited with 2.5 million clients.

33. Exim Bank has extended a Line of Credit (LoC) of $310 million to Zimbabwe for financing
repowering of Hwange Thermal Power Station in the Republic of Zimbabwe.
• The agreement for this LoC was signed in February 2020.

34. International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecasted a -10.3% GDP growth rate for India in
FY21 and +8.8% GDP growth rate in FY22, in its biannual World Economic Outlook report.
• In terms of economic contraction, India is the worst performing nation among the G20
countries.
• Global GDP growth rate for FY21: (-) 4.4% and for FY22: 5.2%.

35. According to RBI, digital payments have increased 55.1% in terms of volume and 15.2% in
terms of value in five years, i.e., 2015-16 to 2019-20.

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 • In absolute terms, the digital payment transactions increased from 593.61 crore in 2015-16
to 3,434.56 crore in 2019-20.
• Cards are being used increasingly for payments – from 20% in FY16 to 45% in FY20 – with
debit card turnover outpacing credit card values.

36. According to the International Energy Agency, global oil consumption demand has dropped
by 8% in FY21.
• Global oil consumption will return to pre-crisis levels in 2023.
• Global oil demand is expected to flatten by 2030 due to an upsurge in e-vehicles.
• Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has also estimated the
global oil demand to grow more slowly in 2021.
• Oil demand will rise by 6.54 million barrels per day (bpd) next year to 96.84 million bpd,
which is 80,000 bpd less than expected a month ago, according to OPEC.

37. Embassy Group (Bengaluru-based real estate developer) has partnered with Columbia
Pacific Communities (Seattle-headquartered assisted living community operator) to invest
₹1,000 crore over 5 years for building senior living housing projects across cities.
• Both companies will constitute a 50:50 joint venture.
• Embassy and Columbia Group will develop 1 million square feet facilities for the elderly and
the first project will be developed in Bengaluru.

38. Axis Bank, in collaboration with Google Pay and Visa, has launched the ACE Credit Card to
provide cashback to customers making payments through Google Pay.
• The ACE Credit Card can be availed by eligible users through the Google Pay app.

39. International Monetary Fund projects that Bangladesh will surpass India in nominal per
capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 with $1,890 per capita Nominal GDP in
comparison to $1,880 per capita Nominal GDP of India.

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 • However, India will surpass Bangladesh in 2021 at $2030 and $1990 per capita Nominal
GDP respectively.
• In purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, India’s per capita GDP in 2020 is estimated by
IMF at $6284 as compared to $5139 for Bangladesh.
• In 2025, Bangladesh is forecast to surpass India again with nominal per capita GDP at
$2760 against $2730 for India.
• Also, the IMF has mentioned that India’s public debt ratio, which remarkably remained
stable at about 70% of the GDP since 1991, will increase to almost 90%.

40. According to a new report “Covid-19 and the anti-fragility of Indian Startup Ecosystem”,
India will have 100 unicorns by 2025 despite Covid-19’s impact.
• India is expected to be home to 60,000-62,000 startups.
• In 2020, Nykaa, Unacademy, Postman and Razorpay —emerged as unicorns. With this,
India is expected to have at least eight new unicorns in 2020, taking the total number of
Indian unicorns to 33.
• The report is released by TiE- Delhi (an NPO) and Zinnov (a global management and
strategy consultancy).

41. PhonePe (owned by Flipkart), in association with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, has
launched a vehicle insurance for car and bike for its customers.
• The insurance also includes cashless repair services.
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42. Edelweiss Asset Management Co. has launched a domestic and world healthcare index
fund, in partnership with MSCI (American finance company).
• With this, MSCI marks its entry into India’s passive fund space.
• The fund will invest in 45 stocks and have a 70:30 domestic-global split, giving investors
the benefit of equity taxation.
• In India, 70% will be invested in the top 25 healthcare stocks based on market cap, while
30% will be invested in top 20 US healthcare stocks.

43. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), India’s largest private port operator,
has completed the acquisition of Krishnapatnam Port Co. Ltd (Andhra Pradesh) for ₹12,000
crore.
• APSEZ bought the 75% stake in the port from CVR Group and other investors.

44. State-owned RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Service) has bought a 24% stake in
the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC).
• IRSDC is a JV between Rail Land Development Authority and IRCON.

45. IRDAI has launched Saral Jeevan Bima – a standard individual term life insurance product
having simple features as well as standard terms and conditions – to help customers make an
informed choice and reduce mis-selling.
• The product will be a non-linked, non-participating individual pure risk premium life
insurance plan.
• Eligibility – 18 to 65 years
• Policy Term – 5 to 40 years
• Amount – Rs 5 to 25 lakhs (upper limit is extendable on the discretion of insurers).
• Also, IRDAI has mandated all life insurers to offer the standard insurance product by Jan 1.

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46. EarlySalary (India’s largest consumer lending platform), in collaboration with National
Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has launched the digital ‘Salary Card’, powered by
RuPay.
• The salary card is a zero-touch digital card which can be used without touching the physical
card. Customers can also set their credit limit in these cards.

47. Jana Small Finance Bank and Ashoknagar Co-operative Bank have partnered to provide
ATM, POS and e-commerce services to its customers.
• RBI permitted co-operative banks that are Core Banking Solution (CBS)-enabled, to issue
ATM cards/ATM-cum-debit cards in a tie-up with a sponsor bank.
• Jana Small Finance Bank has become the sponsor of Ashokanagar Co-op bank. Jana
is the first SF bank to become active under the Bank sponsorship program.

48. Indian Bank has signed an MoU with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and with
SIDBI for payment of subsidy to street vendors under the PM SVANidhi Scheme.
• Indian Bank has developed an integrated online system to make payments of interest
subvention and cash incentives to all street vendor-beneficiaries across the country through
the Direct Benefit Transfer.

49. Religare Health Insurance has renamed itself as Care Health Insurance.

50. Tata Motors has partnered with HDFC Bank for financing of its passenger vehicles.
• Two new schemes – 'Gradual Step Up Scheme' and 'TML Flexi Drive Scheme' – have
been introduced to drive up sales of Tata’s vehicles in the festive season.

51. Bank of Baroda (BoB) has signed an MoU with Mahindra and Mahindra to provide tractor
loan facility to customers of Mahindra and Mahindra.

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52. Stellapps (digital technology solutions provider) has launched a first-of-its-kind, fully-
automated direct payment platform — ‘mooPay’ — for dairy farmers in Rajasthan.
• mooPay acts as a payment gateway for dairies to make payments to every registered
farmer, digitally from the dairies’ existing bank account to farmers’ savings bank account.
• In 2019, mooPay had won the India FinTech Forum’s Financial Inclusion Initiative of the
year award.

53. Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance has launched “INVEST4G” life
insurance cum saving plan.

54. National Company Law Tribunal has approved JSW Steel’s acquisition of bankrupt Asian
Colour Coated Ispat steel company’s 1 million tonne plant.

55. SEBI has formed a market data advisory committee (MDAC), headed by Madhabi Puri
Buch (whole-time member of Sebi), to ensure that market data is made more freely accessible
to all.
• The committee will suggests measures to make securities market data more accessible to
the public in conjunction with the data privacy and security issues.

56. MCX exchange has launched futures trading in real-time Base Metals Index 'METLDEX'.
• Base Metals Index will track real-time performance of a basket of MCX Base Metal futures
that includes zinc, copper, nickel, lead, and aluminium.

57. According to RBI, mutual funds in India saw their net foreign liabilities drop by 18% in FY20
to $9.6 billion from 12.4 billion in March 2019.
• Foreign assets of mutual funds increased from $0.67 billion to $0.77 billion in FY20.
• The UAE, the UK and the US continued to remain the three largest sources of NRI
investment in mutual funds in India.

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 • Foreign liabilities of AMCs (asset management companies which manage mutual fund
schemes) increased to $4.4 billion in FY20, probably due to the increased value of foreign
stakes in Indian AMCs.
• UK and Japan were the largest sources of investment in AMCs, with both countries
accounting for about 89% of FDIs in AMCs in 2019-20.
Note: The figures are provisional and subject to revision by the RBI.

58. Indian Bank, in collaboration with IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IIT-MIC), has unveiled ‘Ind
Spring Board,’ an initiative for funding start­ ups.
• Under the MoU, IIT-MIC will refer start- ups with proven technology and established cash
flows to the bank. The bank, in turn, will extend loans of up to ₹50 crore to these units.

59. Bombay Stock Exchange has partnered with the Telangana government, along with
GlobalLinker (an MSME-enablement business), to help MSMEs of Telangana raise equity
funds.
• In 2019, the Telangana government launched a digital networking platform called
'Telangana State GlobalLinker' in partnership with GlobalLinker.

60. Singapore-based bond exchange, BondEvalue is targeting to launch a blockchain-platform in

the New Year to facilitate investment in bonds by individuals and common man.
• BondEvalue is founded by India-origin entrepreneurs.
• BondbloX Bond Exchange (BBX) is the world’s first blockchain-based bond exchange,
located in Singapore.

61. IMF, in its latest Regional Economic Outlook report for Asia and Pacific, has forecasted that
Asia’s economic contraction in FY21 would be 2.2%.
• Asia’s GDP would grow by 6.9% in 2021.
• China’s growth forecast is 1.9% in FY21 and 8.2% in FY22.
• India’s GDP growth forecast is -10.3% in FY21 and 8.8% in FY22.

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 • Title of the report - Navigating the Pandemic: A Multispeed Recovery in Asia

62. IRDAI has set up a nine-member panel, headed by P Umesh, to explore possibility of a basic
standard product structure to provide insurance cover for individuals and establishments to
manage their cyber risks.
• Purpose: to increase access of individuals and establishments to easy cyber insurance.

63. RBI has announced that banks can deploy money drawn from Rs 1 trillion on-tap targeted
long term repo operations (on-tap TLTRO) in six sectors - agriculture, agri-infrastructure,
secured retail, MSMEs, and drugs, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.

64. RBI has revised the norms for housing finance firms (HFF). These firms will now be
regulated as a category of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).
• HFF that are unable to fulfil these criteria must convert their certificates of registration from
HFC to NBFC-investment and credit company (NBFC-ICC).
• As per the new norms, HFF must have sufficient high-quality liquid assets to survive an
acute liquidity stress scenario for 30 days.
New Rules:

Ø By March 2022, HFF must have 50% of all their assets in housing finance and 40% in
individual loans.
Ø By March 2023, HFF must have at least 55% in housing finance and 45% in individual
loans, respectively.
Ø By March 2024, HFF must have at least 60% in housing finance and 50% in individual
loans.
Ø HFF must also have at least ₹20 crore minimum net-owned funds to commence or
continue the business of housing finance as its principal business.
o But, if the HFF does not have Rs 20 crore, then it can start housing finance business
but has to achieve Rs 15 crore by 2022 and Rs 20 crore by 2023.

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 RBI also set a three-month deadline for mortgage lenders (aka HFF) to submit a plan to meet
these criteria, along with a timeline for transition.

65. RBI has released guidelines to make QR codes interoperable to strengthen the electronic
payments ecosystem in India.
• Payments companies must shift to one or more interoperable QR codes by 31 March
2022. Currently, UPI and Bharat QR are only two interoperable QR codes.
• No proprietary QR codes will be launched by any payments system operator henceforth.
• It is based on the recommendations of Deepak Pathak committee - set up by RBI in
December 2019. (Read June 2020’s QR report by RBI in June spotlight).
There are three types of QR codes in India: -

Ø Bharat QR – to increase digital payments

Ø UPI QR – it is an interoperable system of QR code – can be used to make payments to
different merchants.
Ø Proprietary QR – It is developed by specific payment companies like Paytm, Google
Pay, Phone Pe etc. Only the users (including payer and payee) having app of the
company can make payment or transfer money through the proprietary QR code.

66. Consumer Price Index for Industrial Worker (CPI-IW) with base year 2016, compiled and
maintained by Labour Bureau under Ministry of Labour & Employment, has been launched.
• Earlier, the base year was 2001.
Changes in 2016 2001 scenario

88 centres covered 78 centres covered

Working Class Family Income and Expenditure Survey – 41040 families

48384 families

Number of selected markets for collection of retail price data 289 markets
– 317

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 Number of items directly retained in the index basket – 463 392 items

Number of States/UTs – 28 25

67. Mastercard has partnered with Atlantis (a FinTech company headquartered in Singapore) to
expand its “Digital First Program” in India.
• Mastercard launched this program in 2019.

68. Flipkart has announced to acquire a 7.8% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL)
for Rs 1,500 crore.

69. SBI Card has launched 'Delhi Metro SBI Card', a contactless multi-purpose card, in
partnership with Delhi Metro, that can function as a credit card as well as a metro smart card.

70. Credit Suisse has released the Global Wealth Report 2020 which mentions that India and
China witnessed 4.4% and 1.6%, rise in their household wealth, respectively, in the first half of
2020, despite Covid-19.

71. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has signed an MoU with ICICI Bank to support small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups, and promote their listing on the exchange.

72. CSB Bank has partnered with IIFL Finance (NBFC) to expand its banking activities in the
underserved and un-served regions of the country.
• CSB’s forte is gold loans. So, through this partnership, both organizations will serve the
lower strata of the society and provide gold loans in the untapped regions.

73. RBI has released its report titled State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2020-21.
• States have budgeted their consolidated gross fiscal deficit (GFD) at 2.8% of GDP in
2020-21.

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 • The average GFD for states is expected to be 4.6% of their Gross State Domestic Product
(GSDP) due to the pandemic.
• Moreover, states’ outstanding debt, largely dominated by market borrowings, is expected to
reach 75% of GDP at end-March 2021.
• This highlights that COVID will erode 3 years of fiscal consolidation gains of Indian States.

74. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched the 'RuPay Festive Carnival'
under which discounts up to 65% on purchase of various branded items using RuPay card will
be provided.

75. Wipro has launched the Tenant Acquisition Management solution for real estate sector to
smoothen the process of land leasing through technology.
• Wipro Ltd has also announced that it will co-innovate with SAP SE on cloud-based
solutions for the real estate industry.

76. State Bank of India and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) have signed a
loan agreement of $1 billion to provide funds for the manufacturers, suppliers and dealers of
Japanese automobiles in India.
• As part of the agreement, $600 million will be financed by JBIC and $400 million, by other
Japanese banks such as SMBC, MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank, Shizuoka Bank and Bank of
Yokahama.

77. NTPC has signed a loan agreement of ₹3,500 crore with Japan Bank for International
Cooperation (JBIC) for funding its capital expenditure.
• JBIC will provide 60% of the loan and the balance will be given by Sumitomo Mitsui
Banking Corp., Bank of Yokohama, San-In Godo Bank, Joyo Bank and Nanto Bank, under
the JBIC guarantee.
• This is the first loan for NTPC under JBIC’s GREEN operations to promote green energy
in India.

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 • JBIC’s GREEN stands for “Global action for Reconciling Economic growth and
Environmental preservation".

78. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the mechanism for
procurement of ethanol by Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies under Ethanol
Blended Petrol Programme.
• New Price fixed for Ethanol produced from sugar will be Rs. 62.65 per litre, ethanol
manufactured from B heavy molasses will be Rs. 57.61 per litre and ethanol manufactured
from C heavy molasses will be Rs. 45.69 per litre. This is a hike of 5-8%.
• The mechanism envisages incentives for promotion of ethanol.
• Transportation cost on ethanol procurement will be borne by oil companies like Indian
Oil, Bharat Petroleum etc. for mixing in petrol à to incentivize farmers.
• Under the Ethanol Blended program (launched in 2003), the government has set targets of
10% bioethanol blending of petrol by 2022 and to raise it to 20% by 2030.
• GST on Ethanol was also reduced from 18% to 5%.

79. Union Cabinet has also approved Phase II and III of the Externally Aided Dam
Rehabilitation and Improvement Project.
• Funding - Rs. 7,000 crore by World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
and Rs. 3,211 crore will be borne by the concerned implementing agencies.
o The contribution of Central Government is Rs. 1,024 crore as loan liability and Rs.
285 crore as counter-part funding for Central Component.
• Purpose - to improve the safety and operational performance of selected dams across the
country.
• Tenure - April 2021 to March 2031 in two phases.
• Phase 1 – April 2012 to June 2020

80. Maple Group has received RBI’s approval for buying up to 9.99% stake in Mumbai-based RBL
Bank.

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81. IBM (tech giant) has collaborated with Indian Oil Corporation Ltd to transform the latter's
customer experience using digital tools.
• IndianOil One mobile app and portal are part of Indian Oil's Project ePIC.

82. IndusInd Bank has become the first bank to go live as the ‘Financial Information Provider’
(FIP) under the RBI’s ‘Account Aggregator Framework’.
• Services offered to the customers - viewing statements of their accounts, track deposits,
plan investments (shares, MFs, Insurance, EPF, PPF), avail credit cards, etc. on a single
window - to empower them to take informed decisions pertaining to their finances.

APPOINTMENTS
1. Kuwait has appointed the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah as new emir.

2. Dinesh Khara has been appointed as the chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI).

3. J. Venkatramu has been appointed as the MD and CEO of India Post Payments Bank
(IPPB).

4. RBI’s monetary policy committee (MPC) has included three new members.
• Total members in RBI’s MPC are six.
• New members – Ashima Goyal, Shashanka Bhide, Jayanth Varma – are from govt sector.
• Existing members – Shaktikanta Das, Michael Patra, and Mridul Saggar.

5. Piyush Goyal has been assigned additional charge of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food
and Public Distribution, following the death of Ram Vilas Paswan.
• Piyush Goyal is currently serving as Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce and
Industry in the Central government.

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6. Senior IPS officer M A Ganapathy has been appointed as director-general of the Bureau of
Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

7. Nilesh Shah has been re-elected as the Chairman of Association of Mutual Funds in India
(AMFI).

8. Constantina Dita has been appointed as the ambassador for the World Athletics Half
Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020, to be held in Gydnia, Poland.

9. Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has extended the tenure of Gurdeep Singh as the
CMD of NTPC Ltd, till 31 July 2025.
• This extension makes him one of the longest serving chief of NTPC Ltd. (India’s largest
power generation company).
• NTPC plans to become a 130 GW power producer by 2032. For this, NTPC will have a total
capital expenditure of ₹1 trillion between 2019 and 2024.

10. Hindustan Zinc has promoted Arun Misra as its Chief Executive Officer.
• Sunil Duggal is appointed as CEO of Vedanta Limited (parent of Hindustan Zinc).

11. OECD has designated Dr. Ekta Kapoor (Scientist at DST) as the Vice-Chair of the OECD
Working Group on Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) for 2021 and 2022.

12. Rajkiran Rai G (Union Bank of India's MD and CEO) has been elected as the chairman of
Indian Banks' Association (IBA) for the term 2020-21.

13. Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the LAC with China, has posted its first
officer to head the newly-created Guwahati-based eastern command.

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 • Additional Director General Amrit Mohan Prasad will head this command.

14. Apurva Chandra (Secretary of Ministry of Labour and Employment) has been elected as the
Chairperson of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for
October 2020- June 2021.
• It is the first time in 35 years, that India assumed the Chairmanship of the Governing Body
of ILO.

15. Wavel Ramkalawan (Indian origin) has been appointed as the President of Seychelles
(located in East Africa).
• Seychelles capital – Victoria; currency – Seychellois rupee
• Ramkalawan is the 1st opposition leader that has been appointed as the President.

16. Cognizant Technology (US based) has appointed Rajesh Nambiar as its chairman and
managing director for India.

17. PVG Menon has been appointed as the CEO of Electronics Sector Skill Council of India
(ESSCI).

IMPORTANT DAYS
1. International Day of Older Persons is observed on 1 October by UN.
• Theme - “Pandemics: Do They Change How We Address Age and Ageing?”.
• 2020 observance will also promote the Decade of Healthy Ageing (2020-2030) to improve
the lives of older people.

2. International Day of Non-Violence is observed on October 2 by UN to commemorate the

birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

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 • To celebrate this day, a total of 150 mega events were organized by the Khadi and
Village Industries Commission (KVIC) across the country.
• On October 2nd, Ministry of Jal Shakti launched a 100-day campaign to ensure potable
water supply in all schools and anganwadi centers across the country.
Note: According to some websites, the theme of the day is ‘Shaping Peace Together’. But it is not validated by the
official website of UN.

3. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is observed in October by WHO.

4. World Habitat Day is observed on October 5 by UN.

• Theme - Housing For All — A Better Urban Future
• Indonesian city of Surabaya will celebrate the first ever virtual Global Observance of
World Habitat Day.
• Habitat Scroll of Honour award was launched by the United Nations Human
Settlements Programme in 1989 to acknowledge initiatives taken in various fields such as
shelter provision, developing and improving the human settlements and the quality of urban
life.
• Winners of the 2020 UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour:
Upcycle Africa, Uganda Subang Jaya Municipal Community Impact Nepal,
Council, Malaysia Kathmandu, Nepal

Ministry of Housing and Cities, ECOCASA SHF, Mexico -

Colombia

5. World Teachers' Day is observed on October 5 by UNESCO.

• Theme - “Teachers: Leading in crisis, reimagining the future”.

6. World Space Week is observed from October 4-10 by UN.

• Theme - “Satellites Improve Life”
• In 2021, World Space Week’s theme will be “Women in Space.”

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 • Oct 4 – launch of first man-made satellite, Sputnik into space in 1957.
• Oct 10 – Signing of Treaty on Principles governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and use of outer space, also known as Magna Carta of Space or Outer
Space Treaty in 1967.

7. World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year.

• World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) was set up in 1948.
• Theme – Mental Health For All: Greater Investment-Greater Access

8. International Day of Girl Child is observed on October 11 by UN.

• Theme - "My voice, our equal future".

9. International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (or World Calamity Control Day) is observed
on 13 October by UN.
• Theme - Disaster risk governance

10. World Obesity Federation has changed the date of World Obesity Day from October 11 to
March 4.
• Theme for 2020 – ‘the roots of obesity run deep’
• In 2020, the day was observed on March 4.

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11. World Students' Day is observed on October 15 by UN to mark the birth anniversary of the
11th President of India APJ Abdul Kalam.
• Theme - 'learning for people, planet, prosperity and peace'.

12. International Day of Rural Women is observed on October 15 by UN.

• Theme - Building rural women’s resilience in the wake of COVID-19

13. World Food Day is observed on October 16 by Food and Agriculture Organization.
• Theme - Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together.”
Activities in India:

Ø Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan, announced that India will
become trans-fat free by 2022.
Books & Challenges launched:

Ø Eat Right Creativity Challenge for schools is a poster and photography competition
that aims to promote healthy dietary habits.
Ø ‘Eat Smart City’ (challenge) was launched by FSSAI in partnership with Smart City
Mission and The Food Foundation, UK to create an environment of right food practices
and habits in India’s smart cities.

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 Ø Daily Recommendations and Food Fortification- A handbook for States was launched
by FSSAI.
Ø ‘Orange Book’ for Eat Right Campus, a resource guide, to implement the mandatory
food safety and hygiene requirements in campus of workplaces, colleges, universities,
institutions, hospitals etc. across the country.
Ø ‘Do you Eat Right?’ book for translating the technical concepts on food and nutrition
and Eat Right initiatives into simple conventional style for the general public.

14. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare observes October 15th every year as
“Rashtriya Mahila Kisan Diwas”.

15. Ayurveda Day is observed every year on the day of Dhanwantri Jayanti. The 5th edition of the
day falls on 13th November 2020.
• Theme of 2020 Ayurveda Day is ‘Ayurveda for Covid-19'.

16. International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed on October 17 by UN.
• Theme - Acting together to achieve social and environmental justice for all

17. World Statistics Day is observed by UN, once in every 5 years, on October 20. This is the 3rd
edition of the day.
• Theme - "Connecting the world with data we can trust".

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 • Purpose - to create awareness about importance of trust, authoritative data, innovation and
the public good in national statistical systems.

18. 75th United Nations Day was observed on October 24.

• Theme - ‘The Future We Want, the UN We Need: Reaffirming our Collective Commitment
to Multilateralism’.

19. Vigilance Awareness Week is observed from October 27-November 2 by India.

• Theme - ‘Vigilant India, Prosperous India’
• Punjab National Bank organised a Vigilance Walkathon to mark commencement of the
week.

20. October 31st is observed as ‘Rashtriya Ekta Diwas’ on the 145th birth anniversary of Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel (India’s first home minister) at Kevadia, Gujarat.
Launched at Statue of Unity in Kevadiya, Gujarat:-

§ PM Modi launched 17 projects, including India’s first seaplane service from Kevadia to
Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad.
o This service will be operated by SpiceJet's subsidiary, SpiceShuttle.
o The SpiceShuttle will be utilising Twin Otter 300 seaplanes, built by Canadian plane
manufacturer de Havilland Canada.

§ Arogya Van (health forest), having five lakh plants of 380 species of medicinal plants,
spread across 17 acres.

§ Ekta Mall – displaying handloom and handicraft diversity of India – also has stores of Khadi
India and Coir Board.

§ Children’s Nutrition Park – world’s first such technology-driven theme park is

developed over 35,000 square meters.
o The park has 47 attractions providing “infotainment” to children with the underlying theme
of “Sahi Poshan Desh Roshan”.

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 o Also, it has a nutri train in it.

§ Sardar Patel Zoological Park/ Jungle Safari – over 1,100 indigenous and exotic birds and
animals of more than 100 species.
o The Safari also has two of world’s largest geodesic dome aviaries.

§ Ekta Cruise – a boat ferry ride from Shrestha Bharat Bhavan to Statue of Unity in Kevadia in
Gujarat.

§ Unity Glow Garden – first of its kind garden in India.

§ Cactus Garden – spread in 25 acres on the opposite bank of the Narmada river; having
more than 450 species of plants.

§ Website & App – Statue of Unity website in all the UN official languages and the Kevadia
App were launched.

21. World Cities Day is observed on October 31 by UN.

• Theme - Valuing Our Communities and Cities
• Kenya is the first African country which will host the World Cities Day Global
Observance.
• The Observance will be guided by the general theme Better City, Better Life, while the sub-
theme is Valuing our Communities and Cities.
• World Cities Report 2020, released by UN-Habitat, highlights the importance of building
sustainable urban cities in the wake of Covid-19.
• UNESCO has organized the “Urban Dialogue”.

AWARDS
1. US Citizen Diplomacy Award 2020 has been won by Mohamed Amin Ahmed (founder,
chairman and executive director of Average Mohamed).
• India’s Sehgal Foundation and Tempe Sister Cities are the co-runner up of this award.

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 • US has launched the Citizen Diplomacy Award in 2017 to celebrate the significant
contributions of US citizens and organisations to furthering the US foreign policy objectives
and strengthening relationships around the world.

2. Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has announced its awards for 2019-20.
• UEFA Men’s Player of the Year 2019-20 – Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
• UEFA Women’s Player of the Year 2019-20 – Pernille Harder (Denmark)
• UEFA Men's Coach of the Year – Hansi Flick (from Bayern football club)
• UEFA Women's Coach of the Year – Jean-Luc Vasseur (Lyon F.C.)

3. Swachh Bharat Awards 2020 have been presented in three different categories of Swachh
Sundar Samudayik Shouchalaya, Gandagi Mukth Bharat and Samudayik Shouchalaya
Abhiyan.
• Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh were the best performing states under Swachh Sundar
Samudayik Shauchalaya (SSSS) campaign, which was organized from 1st Nov 2019 to
30th April 2020.
• Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu was the best district in this category.
• Uttar Pradesh topped in the Samudayik Shauchalaya Abhiyan (SSA) campaign ran
from 15 June 2020 to 15 September 2020.

4. Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) has bestowed a lifetime achievement

award and the Global Excellence Awards to Ratan Tata.
• Iqbal Singh Chahal (Commissioner of Mumbai Municipal Corporation) and Sylvester
Turner (Mayor of Houston, Texas) have won the ‘Covid Crusader Award-2020' award.

5. IIT-Madras, University of Hawaii in Honolulu and Uppsala University in Sweden have won
the ‘Waves to Water Prize’, given by the U.S. Department of Energy for their joint project on
energy -based desalination system.

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 • The competition is of four-stages and IIT-Madras and the two universities have won this
second stage award for design.

6. HDFC Bank's chief marketing officer (CMO) Ravi Santhanam is the only CMO of an Indian
company in the Forbes list of ‘The World’s Most Influential CMOs’ (at 39th rank).
• Topper of the list is Phil Schiller (CMO of Apple).
• This is the 8th edition of this list, released with research partners Sprinklr and LinkedIn.

7. Nobel Prize 2020 have been announced by the Nobel Foundation (based in Sweden).
Category Winner Reason

Physiology or Medicine Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton for work in identifying Hepatitis C
and Charles Rice virus.

Physics Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel For their discoveries that have
and Andrea Ghez improved understanding of the
universe, including work on black
holes.

Chemistry Emmanuelle Charpentier and For their work on the

Jennifer A. Doudna development of Crispr-Cas9, a
method for genome editing

Literature Louise Glück (American Poet) -

Peace Prize UN World Food Program For combating hunger and

promoting peace.

Economics Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. For improvements to auction

Wilson (both Americans) theory and inventions of new
auction formats.

Note: Afghanistan’s first women Deputy Speaker in Parliament- Fawzia Koofi has been named one of the
“favourites” among nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

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8. 2020 SASTRA Ramanujan Prize will be awarded to Mr. Shai Evra for his research of
arithmetic groups and their combinatoric, geometric and topological structures.
• SASTRA Ramanujan Prize is given to individuals excelling in the sphere of mathematics
by SASTRA University in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu.
• It is conferred annually at an international conference in Number Theory in December.
• SASTRA stands for Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy.

9. Best ship award was conferred upon INS Sahyadri among capital ships and INS Kora among
corvettes at the Fleet Award Function (FAF), 2020.
• INS Airavat and Kiltan jointly bagged the ‘best spirited ship’ award.
• The festival was organised to mark the successful culmination of the Operational Cycle of
the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy in Visakhapatnam.

10. Britain’s Prince Williams and Environmentalist David Attenborough have jointly launched
the ‘Earthshot Prize’ to invite 50 innovative solutions for addressing the urgent environment
issues by 2030.
• This prize is the most prestigious prize in the field of environment. The winning prize is £50
million to be given over 10 years.
• It is estimated to be considered as the "Nobel Prize for Environmentalism" in future.
• The inaugural prize will be given in 2021 in London.

11. Harish Kotecha (an Indian-origin philanthropist) has been honoured with the Sandra Neese
Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in the US for meeting the needs of children and
youth experiencing homelessness.
• Kotecha (founder and president of Hindu Charities for America- HC4A) was given this
award by National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
(NAEHCY).

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 • The award is given annually by NAEHCY to individuals who work for homeless children and
young adults.

12. Stevie Award for Women in Business 2020 has been given to more than 20 women from
different fields and countries.
• Lifetime Achievement Award in Business (Gold) has been given to Seema Gupta
(director of operation at Power Grid Corporation of India Limited)

13. Aashi Hanspal (13 yr. old from Mumbai) was named the ‘Most Deserving and Impressive
New Driver’ in the FIA ‘Girls On Track-The Rising Stars programme’, held at Paul Ricard
karting circuit in France.

14. Aishwarya Sridhar (wildlife photographer, writer, filmmaker, and conservationist) has become
the first Indian wildlife photographer to win the ‘Highly Commended’ award at the Wildlife
Photography of the Year 2020.
• Her photo was titled as Lights of Passion.
• The award show was organised by the National Museum of History, London.

15. 7th edition of the Central Banking Awards 2020 have been given by Central Banking
(organization).
• Governor of the year – Mark Carney (economist and banker; served as governor at Bank
of England from 2013 to 2020)
• Central bank of the year – Bank of Ghana
• Lifetime achievement award – Otmar Issing (German Economist; architect of the euro’s
monetary operating framework)

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16. Mangdechhu hydroelectric project (720 MW), India-supported hydropower project in Bhutan,
has been awarded the Brunel Medal for excellence in civil engineering by the Institute of
Civil Engineers (UK).
• Mangdechhu is one of seven hydroelectric projects being developed by Bhutan (with India’s
aid) as part of the its plans to generate 10 GW of hydropower.

17. Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2020, given by European Parliament to recognize
individuals who fought for human rights and freedom of speech, has been conferred upon
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and the Belarusian opposition.
• Belarusian opposition was against the unjust elections that took place in August 2020.

18. Shri Pravir Krishna, MD of TRIFED has won the CEO of the Year and Visionary Leadership
Award 2020 at the National Awards for Excellence – PSU (hosted by World HRD
Congress).
• Apart from these two awards, TRIFED has won a collective award in the Investment in
Start-Ups Category.
• 2021 World HRD Congress – 29th edition of this congress – will be held at Taj Lands End,
Mumbai.

19. Forbes’ list of World’s Best Employers 2020 has been released.
• Top – Samsung Electronics
• India’s best company - HCL Technologies at 30th
• India’s best PSU – NTPC at 261st rank

20. Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) is among the winners of the 2020 UN Global Climate
Action Award.
• GHE is one of the world’s first organisations using tourism and technology to bring solar
energy to remote communities.
• There are other winners of the award as well from different countries.

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21. Victor Banerjee has won the “best actor in a secondary role” for his performance of an
aging Christian priest in ‘Josef: Born in Grace’ at the Ontario International Film Festival
2020.
• It is an annual award that takes place every October in Toronto, Canada to give
recognition to independent filmmakers from different cultures and backgrounds.

22. 3rd India International Film Festival of Boston was held in Boston, USA.
Category Winners

Lifetime Achievement Om Puri

Award

Best Feature Film Award Kaanthi (Malayalam film)

Best Actor Male Victor Bannerjee (for playing a priest in Josef: Born In Grace)

Best Actor Female Shylaja Ambu (for Kaanthi)

Pride of India Vikas Khanna

23. Global Finance has released the 29th annual World’s Safest Banks rankings 2020.
• Total - 112 countries assessed
• Top – Kfw (Germany)
• India’s safest bank – SBI
• Asia’s safest bank – DBS, Singapore

SPORTS
1. Alyssa Healy (Australian wicket-keeper) has broken MS Dhoni’s record of having most
dismissals as a wicket-keeper in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).
• She achieved the feat against New Zealand in the three-match series of T20I.

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2. Australian women’s cricket team has created a world record by winning 21 ODIs
consecutively, which is equivalent to the world record set by Ricky Ponting’s all conquering
Australian men’s team in 2003 (in ODIs).
• Australian women’s cricket team’s captain in Meg Lanning.

3. Joshua Cheptegei (from Uganda) has created a new world record in the men’s 10,000m
race, by crossing the line at 26 min 11 sec, at the Valencia World Record Day held in
Valencia, Spain.
• Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey broke the women’s 5,000m world record in 14 minutes 6.62s.

4. India has launched its first-ever indigenous badminton racket brand – Transform.
• Shuttler Chetan Anand has been appointed as the brand ambassador of the brand.

5. Men’s singles at French Open 2020 (aka Roland Garros) has been won by Rafael Nadal
(Spain). It was held at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris, France.
• Women’s singles winner - Iga Swiatek (Poland)

6. All India Football Federation has launched its new motto - 'Indian Football. Forward
Together' that aims to promote football across the country.

7. Elavenil Valarivan from India has won the women’s gold in the Sheikh Russel international
air rifle championship, organised online by the Bangladesh Shooting Federation.
• Shahu Mane from India has won silver and Naoya Okada (Japan) won the gold in the
men’s event.

8. Mohun Bagan (football club based in Kolkata) has won the I-League 2019-20 trophy.

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9. Danisa Denmark Open 2020 has been organized by Badminton World Federation.
• Men’s singles – Anders Antonsen (Danish)
• Women’s singles – Nozomi Okuhara (Japan)

10. Lewis Hamilton has won the Portuguese Grand Prix 2020 at Algarve, Portugal. It is
Hamilton’s 92nd win.
• With this, Hamilton has become the world’s most successful F1 driver in history in
terms of win.

11. Egypt Open 2020 (squash tournament) was held in Cairo.

• Men’s winner – Ali Farag (Egyptian)
• Women’s winner – Nour El Sherbini (Egyptian)

12. Asian Nations (Regions) Online chess championship 2020 has concluded.
• Men’s winner – Australia (gold); India (silver)
• Women’s winner – Indian team (gold)

13. Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Arunachal Pradesh government have signed an MoU
for developing the sports infrastructure at the National Centre of Excellence in Itanagar, A.P.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. “The Very, Extremely, Most Naughty Asura Tales for Kids” is the debut children’s book of
Anand Neelakantan.
• Neelakantan is the also the author of “Baahubali” book series.

2. For the first time in Indian history, a United States' long-range maritime patrol aircraft
named P-8 Poseidon aircraft landed in Port Blair for logistics and refuelling support.

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 • Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA, signed in 2016) allow India
and US to use each other’s bases for logistics support.
• India gets similar access to US bases – from Djibouti in Africa to Guam in the Pacific.

3. Actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas' memoir 'Unfinished' will be released in January.

4. Discovering the Heritage of Assam book has been authored by Padmapani Bora.

5. Kenzo Takada, the iconic Franco-Japanese fashion designer, has passed away.

6. “The Khalistan Conspiracy: A Former R&AW Officer Unravels The Path To 1984” book
has been written by GBS Sidhu.

7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the autobiography of late multiple term Lok Sabha
MP Dr Balasaheb Vikhe Patil.
• The autobiography is titled ‘Deh Vechava Karani’ or dedicating one’s life for a noble
cause.
• PM has also renamed the Pravara Rural Education Society to ‘Loknete Dr Balasaheb
Vikhe Patil Pravara Rural Education Society.’
• The society was established in Ahmednagar’s Loni district in Maharashtra to provide world-
class education to rural masses and empower the girl child.

8. Costume designer Bhanu Athaiya, India’s first Oscar winner, passed away.
• She received Oscar for Best Costume Design, along with John Mollo, for her work in
Richard Attenborough’s 1983 film Gandhi.

9. Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri (Malayalam Poet and essayist and Jnanpith award winner)
has passed away.
• He is the sixth writer to win Jnanpith honour for Malayalam literature.

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10. Pradeep Goorha has written "Mr Prime Minister, We Shrank the Dragon" book.

11. “Battle of Belonging” book has been authored by Shashi Tharoor.

12. “On The Trail of Buddha: A Journey To The East” book has been written by Deepankar
Aron.

13. Portraits of Power is the autobiography of NK Singh (chair of 15th finance commission).

14. Indian Navy’s missile corvette – INS Prabal – launched an anti-ship missile from the Arabian
Sea. The target was hit with magnificent accuracy.

15. “The Fixer: Winning Has A Price. How Much Will You Pay?” has been authored by Suman
Dubey.
• This book is based on cricketer Neil Upadhyay who got involved in match-fixing.

16. Mario Molina (Mexican scientist) has passed away. He was the winner of Mexico’s first
Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the threat to the ozone layer from
chlorofluorocarbons.

17. Night of the Restless Spirits: Stories from 1984 book has been authored by Sarbpreet
Singh.

18. IIT Kharagpur and TCS have jointly developed a new Industry 4.0 technology to boost
capital goods sector.
• Purpose: to remotely control factory operations and real-time quality correction during
industrial production in a bid to deliver quality output at low costs.

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 • The technology was developed at the IIT-Kharagpur’s centre of excellence in Advanced
Manufacturing Technology.

19. Bye Bye Corona – world’s first scientoon book – has been authored by Dr Pradeep Kr.
Srivastava (scientist at CSIR- Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow).
• It is published by Vigyan Prasar (an autonomous agency under DST).
• It will be launched in Brazil under the Brazil-India Network program.
• The book was launched by Ms. Anandi Ben, Governor, Uttar Pradesh.
• Scientoonic Tell-Tale of Genome and DNA is another book of Pradeep Kr. Srivastava, co-
authored with Madhusudan W. Pandit and Lalji Singh.

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QUESTIONS

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Q.1) Which organization has released the Q.6) Which bank has signed a loan
“On Women’s Backs” – India Inequality agreement of $1 billion with Japan Bank for
Report 2020? International Cooperation for financing the
[a] UN Women Japanese automobiles in India?
[b] Association for Women's Rights in [a] HDFC Bank
Development [b] Axis Bank
[c] International Council of Women [c] Canara Bank
[d] Amnesty International [d] State Bank of India
[e] Oxfam India [e] Punjab National Bank

Q.2) What is the enrolment rate of boys in Q.7) With which country has India signed a
govt schools in 2020, as per the latest Annual memorandum of cooperation (MoC) in the
State of Education Report (ASER) survey? field of Information and Communication
[a] 66.4% Technologies?
[b] 70% [a] Japan
[c] 50% [b] France
[d] 34% [c] Thailand
[e] 79% [d] Singapore
[e] USA
Q.3) What is the worth of Line of Credit
announced by India for Central Asian Q.8) Which of the following is the name of the
countries during the 2nd meeting of the India- initiative launched by Indian Railways to
Central Asia Dialogue? provide safety and security to lady
[a] $1.5 billion passengers travelling by trains for their entire
[b] $4 billion journey from starting station to destination
[c] $1 billion station across all zones?
[d] $3 billion [a] Swadhar Greh
[e] $2 billion [b] Meri Saheli
[c] Nari Shakti
Q.4) On which rocket will ISRO launch its [d] Mahile Sanrakshan
EOS­01 satellite? [e] Suraksha
[a] GSLV Mk III
[b] ASLV T-45 Q.9) With which country has India signed an
[c] SLV G-80 MoU for cooperation in the field of Health and
[d] PSLV­C49 Medicine?
[e] RLV-TD [a] Cambodia
[b] Nigeria
Q.5) Which state has launched ‘Sumangal’ [c] Algeria
portal to promote inter-caste marriages? [d] Papua New Guinea
[a] Odisha [e] Thailand
[b] Andhra Pradesh
[c] Maharashtra Q.10) What is the name of messaging app
[d] Tamil Nadu launched by Indian Army for providing secure
[e] Uttar Pradesh voice, text and video calling services to its
soldiers?
[a] Samvaad [b] Kerala
[b] GIMS [c] Madhya Pradesh
[c] Sampark [d] Assam
[d] SAI [e] Delhi
[e] Sanchaar
Q.15) Which of the following statement is
Q.11) What is the percentage of GDP that will incorrect in relation to the Chhattisgarh Krishi
be derived from digital sector by 2022, Upaj Mandi (Amendment) Bill 2020?
according to the worldwide information [a] It designated the entire state as a market
technology (IT) industry predictions for 2021 for farm produce
and beyond report? [b] Deemed Mandi and electronic trading
[a] 80% platform will be created
[b] 20% [c] Farmers can also sell their produce to
[c] 40% other states but through a transparent auction
[d] 70% process
[e] 65% [d] Deemed Mandis will run on e-NAM
platform
Q.12) Global FDI flows has fallen by ___ [e] State government departments/officials
percent in the first half of 2020, according to have been given right to inspection and, if
the Global Investment Trends Monitor 2020? required, seizure as well
[a] 49%
[b] 60% Q.16) Which of the following organization will
[c] 15% not work in consonance with the Commission
[d] 77% for Air Quality Management in National
[e] 29% Capital Region and Adjoining Areas?
[a] New Space India Limited
Q.13) In which state will the 'first of its kind’ [b] Indian Space Research Organization
multi-level bus depots be built, in association [c] Central Pollution Control Board
with NBCC Ltd? [d] Both A and B
[a] Maharashtra [e] Both B and C
[b] Delhi
[c] Rajasthan Q.17) Which state has ranked first in the
[d] Assam small state category under the Public Affairs
[e] Arunachal Pradesh Index 2020?
[a] Goa
Q.14) Which has become the first state in the [b] Meghalaya
country to fix a floor price for 16 varieties of [c] Himachal Pradesh
vegetables? [d] Manipur
[a] Karnataka [e] Delhi

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 Q.22) Who has been appointed as the CMD
Q.18) What is the ethanol mixing limit in of Cognizant Technology?
petrol by 2030, according to the Ethanol [a] J Packirisamy
Blended Petrol Programme? [b] Amitabh Choudhary
[a] 10% [c] Sanjiv Chadha
[b] 5% [d] Rajesh Nambiar
[c] 20% [e] L V Prabhakar
[d] 18%
[e] 30% Q.23) Who has been appointed as the CEO
of Electronics Sector Skill Council of India?
Q.19) Which of the following agency is [a] C.VR. Rajendran
funding the Phase II and III of the Externally [b] Prashant Kumar
Aided Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement [c] PVG Menon
Project of India? [d] R.A. Sankara Narayanan
[a] AIIB [e] Ashok Kumar Pradhan
[b] ADB
[c] World bank Q.24) India’s first seaplane service will be
[d] Both A and B between which two riverfronts?
[e] Both A and C [a] Manjira and Ghataprabha
[b] Son and Ghaggar
Q.20) Which company has received RBI’s [c] Subansiri and Kabini
approval for buying up to 9.99% stake in [d] Banas and Ravi
Mumbai-based RBL Bank? [e] Kevadia and Sabarmati
[a] Citigroup
[b] Maple Group Q.25) Which field is Victor Banerjee related
[c] KKR to?
[d] CPPIB [a] Acting
[e] HSBC [b] Sports
[c] Writing
Q.21) Which has become the first bank to go [d] Journalism
live as the ‘Financial Information Provider’ [e] Music
(FIP) under the RBI’s ‘Account Aggregator
Framework’? Q.26) Which is India’s safest bank, according
[a] State Bank of India to the World’s Safest Banks rankings 2020?
[b] PNB [a] HDFC Bank
[c] Bank of Maharashtra [b] Canara Bank
[d] Canara Bank [c] PNB
[e] IndusInd Bank [d] SBI
[e] Central Bank of India

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 Q.31) What is the venue of the World
Q.27) Who has received the Lifetime Economic Forum’s 51st annual meeting?
Achievement Award at the 3rd India [a] Basel
International Film Festival of Boston? [b] Geneva
[a] Om Puri [c] Davos
[b] Tom Hanks [d] Zurich
[c] Leonardo DiCaprio [e] Lucerne
[d] Tom Cruise
[e] Amitabh Bachchan Q.32) What is the GDP growth rate forecast
for India by World Bank in FY21?
Q.28) Which organization has won the 2020 [a] -9.6%
UN Global Climate Action Award for [b] -11.3%
becoming one of the world’s first [c] -5.6%
organisations to use tourism and technology [d] -14.2%
to bring solar energy to remote communities? [e] -10.7%
[a] Global Himalayan Expedition
[b] India Tourism Development Corporation Q.33) What is the GDP growth rate projected
[c] World Travel and Tourism Council by RBI in its monetary policy committee for
[d] International Air Transport Association FY21?
[e] European Travel Commission [a] -9.5%
[b] -8.7%
Q.29) With which state has Sports Authority [c] -7.5%
of India signed an MoU for developing the [d] -8%
sports infrastructure at the National Centre of [e] -6.5%
Excellence in the state?
[a] Tamil Nadu Q.34) Who among the following has won the
[b] Arunachal Pradesh Nobel Prize in Literature for 2020?
[c] Madhya Pradesh [a] Joshua Clover
[d] Kerala [b] Louise Glück
[e] Karnataka [c] Stacy Doris
[d] Peter Gizzi
Q.30) Who has authored Bye Bye Corona – [e] Kenneth Goldsmith
world’s first scientoon book?
[a] Pradeep Kr. Srivastava Q.35) Which state has partnered with Israel
[b] Vikram Chandra for establishing a 'Centre of Excellence'
[c] Jeet Thayil (CoE) on high-value vegetables to improve
[d] Amish Tripathi and promote the livelihood of farmers?
[e] Meena Kandasamy [a] Nagaland
[b] Gujarat

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[c] Andhra Pradesh [d] Andhra Pradesh State Fertilizers &
[d] Meghalaya Chemicals
[e] Assam [e] Odisha State Fertilizers & Chemicals

Q.36) Recently, Ministry of Electronics and IT Q.39) What is the name of the exercise that
has established the Gyan Circle Ventures – a was recently conducted by Indian Navy and
Technology Business Incubator – under TIDE Indian Coast Guard along the Kerala and
2.0 for promoting entrepreneurship and Karnataka coasts?
innovation in young minds. In which Indian [a] Matla Abhiyan
Institute of Information Technology is the [b] Apharan
Gyan Circle Ventures established? [c] Sagar Kavach
[a] Indian Institute of Information Technology, [d] Varun
Bhagalpur [e] Samudra Shakti
[b] Indian Institute of Information Technology,
Bhopal Q.40) Who has been appointed as director-
[c] Indian Institute of Information Technology, general of the Bureau of Civil Aviation
Surat Security?
[d] Indian Institute of Information Technology, [a] R. K. Chopra
Sri City [b] Jitendra Kumar
[e] Indian Institute of Information Technology, [c] Maniknandan Nair
Delhi [d] Kumar Abhimanyu
[e] M A Ganapathy
Q.37) Recently, DRDO has successfully
tested the indigenously developed Rustom II Q.41) Who has won the Nobel Prize in
weapon in Karnataka. What kind of weapon is Economics 2020?
Rustom II? [a] Paul R. Milgrom
[a] Drone [b] Robert B. Wilson
[b] Nuclear Missile [c] Jennifer A. Doudna
[c] Assault rifle [d] Both A and B
[d] Hypersonic Missile [e] Both A and C
[e] Cruise Missile
Q.42) Who heads the expert panel formed by
Q.38) Which company has announced to Ministry of Labour for providing technical
produce indigenous Calcium Nitrate (CN) and guidance to Labour Bureau with respect to
become the first company in India to surveys on migration, professional bodies,
manufacture CN? domestic workers and other surveys?
[a] Tamil Nadu State Fertilizers & Chemicals [a] Anita Tripathi
[b] Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals [b] P. K. Gupta
[c] West Bengal State Fertilizers & Chemicals [c] Alok Kumar Mathur

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[d] SP Mukherjee
[e] Poonam Sinha Q.47) Which country has announced to
collaborate with India for its Venus mission?
Q.43) An Indian agency, Guidance, has [a] France
partnered with the World Economic Forum [b] Netherlands
(WEF) to establish India’s first advanced [c] Denmark
manufacturing hub (AMHUB). In which state [d] USA
will it be established? [e] Russia
[a] Tamil Nadu
[b] Gujarat Q.48) Who has won the US Citizen
[c] Andhra Pradesh Diplomacy Award 2020?
[d] Madhya Pradesh [a] Subra Suresh
[e] Odisha [b] Mohamed Amin Ahmed
[c] Vistasp Karbhari
Q.44) On which fighter jet is the Rudram 1 – [d] S. Shankar Sastry
India’s first indigenous New Generation Anti- [e] Fawad Qureshi
Radiation Missile (NGARM) – test fired?
[a] Mirage 2000 Q.49) How many banks have been excluded
[b] Rafale from Second Schedule of the RBI Act, 1934?
[c] Beriev A-50 [a] six
[d] Sukhoi-30MKI [b] ten
[e] HAL Tejas [c] seven
[d] four
Q.45) Who has been appointed as the brand [e] twelve
ambassador of Transform – India’s first-ever
indigenous badminton racket brand? Q.50) Which state has launched the U-Rise
[a] Mahesh Bhupathi portal to provide career counselling
[b] Sumit Nagal assistance to students?
[c] Rohan Bopanna [a] Tamil Nadu
[d] Rajkumar Ramanathan [b] Andhra Pradesh
[e] Chetan Anand [c] Uttar Pradesh
[d] Madhya Pradesh
Q.46) Which decade is celebrated as the [e] Gujarat
Decade of Healthy Ageing by UN?
[a] 2020-2030 Q.51) Where is the Hanimaadhoo
[b] 2011-2020 International Airport located?
[c] 2030-2040 [a] Thailand
[d] 2010-2020 [b] Philippines
[e] 2001-2010 [c] Singapore

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[d] Japan [c] Malkara
[e] Maldives [d] K-15 missile
[e] Velvet Glove
Q.52) Which state has announced to give
30% of the new Public Distribution System Q.56) With which bank has Hindustan
(PDS) shops to women for their Unilever Ltd. partnered to launch a joint
empowerment? project in Mumbai and Bengaluru to provide
[a] Tamil Nadu digital payment and financing solutions to
[b] Madhya Pradesh small retailers?
[c] Rajasthan [a] HDFC Bank
[d] Odisha [b] Bank of Baroda
[e] Kerala [c] Indian Bank
[d] HSBC Bank
Q.53) Which IIT has partnered with [e] State Bank of India
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
to find ways to use industrial and agricultural Q.57) Recently, Robert Lewandowski has
by-­products? been awarded the UEFA Men’s Player of the
[a] Indian Institute of Technology­ Guwahati Year 2019-20. Which country does he belong
[b] Indian Institute of Technology­ Hyderabad to?
[c] Indian Institute of Technology­ Bombay [a] Poland
[d] Indian Institute of Technology­ Ma­dras [b] Denmark
[e] Indian Institute of Technology­ Delhi [c] Russia
[d] Ukraine
Q.54) Recently, NABARD has announced a [e] Austria
special refinance facility to support the
Government of India’s Water, Sanitisation Q.58) Which of the following is the latest
and Hygiene (WASH) programme in FY21. bilateral naval exercise conducted by India
How much is the total corpus of the facility? and Bangladesh in Northern Bay of Bengal?
[a] ₹100 crore [a] Indra
[b] ₹700 crore [b] Sampriti
[c] ₹900 crore [c] Surya Kiran
[d] ₹800 crore [d] Ekuverin
[e] ₹500 crore [e] Bongosagar

Q.55) India’s indigenously developed nuclear Q.59) Who heads the govt’s screening panel
capable hypersonic missile 'Shaurya' is the for investigating all Chinese foreign
land variant of which missile? investment proposals?
[a] AS-25K [a] Ajay Kumar Bhalla
[b] Cóndor III [b] Gurjeet Singh Dhillon

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[c] Ravi Singh [c] Uttarakhand
[d] Bhoovan Soran [d] Tamil Nadu
[e] Manoj Shinde [e] Odisha

Q.60) Which of the following company has Q.64) Who is the head of the 3-member
announced to launch the world’s first mining interim committee of directors, which was
robot named as ‘asteroid mining robot’ into appointed by RBI to run the operations of
space by November 2020? Dhanlaxmi Bank?
[a] Boeing [a] P K Vijayakumar
[b] SpaceX [b] G Rajagopalan Nair
[c] Roscosmos [c] M Venkateshwar
[d] Origin Space [d] Meenalakshmi Nair
[e] Virgin Galactic [e] G Subramonia Iyer

Q.61) Which bank has launched the “Gram Q.65) When is the World Day for Farmed
Sampark Abhiyan”- a nation-wide Financial Animals observed?
Inclusion and Literacy Campaign? [a] October 11
[a] ICICI Bank [b] October 18
[b] Punjab National Bank [c] October 21
[c] Indian Bank [d] October 3
[d] Canara Bank [e] October 2
[e] Axis Bank
Q.66) Who among the following has been
Q.62) Which state has launched the awarded with the Right Livelihood Award
'Kritagyata' scheme for giving pension to the 2020?
state govt employees on the day of [a] Bryan Stevenson
retirement? [b] Nasrin Sotoudeh
[a] Assam [c] Ales Bialiatski
[b] West Bengal [d] Lottie Cunningham Wren
[c] Odisha [e] All of the above
[d] Tamil Nadu
[e] Telangana Q.67) Who is the author of “The Very,
Extremely, Most Naughty Asura Tales for
Q.63) Which state has launched the ‘Gram Kids” book?
Darshan’ portal to digitize all the records of [a] Krishna Saksena
villages as well as of various Government [b] Anand Neelakantan
Departments on a single digital platform? [c] Sheela Birnstiel
[a] Haryana [d] Jatin Paranjpe
[b] Punjab [e] Anand Vasu

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 [d] Light weighted Tank
Q.68) Whose memoir is titled as 'Unfinished'? [e] Drone
[a] Sushmita Sen
[b] Priyanka Chopra Q.73) With which company has Ministry of
[c] Deepika Padukone Housing and Urban Affairs partnered to take
[d] Madhuri Dixit street food vendors online under the Prime
[e] Hema Malini Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNibhar Nidhi
scheme?
Q.69) Where is the Bura Chapori Wildlife [a] Swiggy
Sanctuary located? [b] Zomato
[a] Meghalaya [c] Domino
[b] Bihar [d] Uber Eats
[c] Assam [e] Delhivery
[d] Punjab
[e] Rajasthan Q.74) Which airport has become Airport
Authority of India’s first 100% solar powered
Q.70) Who is the head of International Labour airport?
Organization? [a] Dabolim Airport
[a] Guy Ryder [b] Pune Airport
[b] Gianni Infantino [c] Madurai Airport
[c] Thomas Bach [d] Pasighat Airport
[d] Abdulqawi Yusuf [e] Puducherry Airport
[e] Muhyiddin Yassin
Q.75) How many categories does the
Q.71) Recently, Dalle Khursani, the red hot Riskometer of Mutual Funds have?
cherry pepper, has got a geographical [a] Six
indication (GI) tag. Which state does it belong [b] Three
to? [c] Four
[a] Kerala [d] Ten
[b] Tamil Nadu [e] Five
[c] Arunachal Pradesh
[d] Nagaland Q.76) Who has been appointed as the
[e] Sikkim chairman of the State Bank of India?
[a] Rajnish Kumar
Q.72) What kind of weapon SMART is? [b] Sanjiv Chadha
(Recently, it was test fired by DRDO.) [c] Pallav Mohapatra
[a] Torpedo [d] Dinesh Khara
[b] Ballistic Missile [e] S. Harishankar
[c] Cruise Missile

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Q.77) What is the theme of World Habitat [c] Rajasthan
Day 2020? [d] Maharashtra
[a] Housing For All — A Better Urban Future [e] Gujarat
[b] Frontier technologies as an innovative tool
to transform waste to wealth Q.82) In which state will India’s first ever
[c] Municipal Solid Waste Management Organic Spices Seed Parks be set up?
[d] Housing Policies: Affordable Homes [a] Gujarat
[e] Housing at the Centre [b] Tamil Nadu
[c] Andhra Pradesh
Q.78) Which company has developed the [d] Maharashtra
world’s first eco-friendly and non-hazardous [e] Odisha
batteries from Aloe Vera?
[a] Aloe Ecell Pvt. Ltd Q.83) In which organization is the ‘PARAM
[b] Pharmeasy Siddhi – AI’ set up?
[c] CureFit [a] National Informatics Centre
[d] Strand Life Sciences [b] Indian Computer Emergency Response
[e] PierianDx Team
[c] Centre for Development of Advanced
Q.79) Who has been appointed as the MD Computing
and CEO of India Post Payments Bank? [d] National Internet Exchange of India
[a] J. Venkatramu [e] Software Technology Parks of India
[b] Prashant Kumar
[c] Baskar Babu Q.84) With which country has India jointly
[d] Govind Singh launched the constellation of maritime
[e] Uday Kotak surveillance satellites for the Indian Ocean
Region?
Q.80) What is the theme for the World Space [a] France
Week 2021? [b] Russia
[a] Women in Space [c] Japan
[b] Satellites Improve Life [d] USA
[c] Remote Sensing': Enabling Our Future [e] UK
[d] Exploring New Worlds in Space
[e] Space Unites the World Q.85) With which broadcaster has Indian
Farmers Fertilisers co – operative limited
Q.81) Which state has launched the Digital (IFFCO) signed an MoU to broadcast and
Integrated System for Holistic Teaching and promote agro-technology and innovations for
Virtual Orientations (DISHTAVO) platform? growth of agriculture?
[a] Goa [a] STAR India
[b] Madhya Pradesh [b] Sony Pictures

134
[c] Prasar Bharati [e] SBI
[d] SUN TV
[e] VIACOM 18 Q.90) Which of the following is the India's first
Neobank for small business owners?
Q.86) Which state has launched “Kisan Rath” [a] Lendingkart
(Fruits & Vegetables) app to connect farmers [b] Policy Bazaar
and agriculture traders to promote buyer- [c] Zest Money
seller network in the state? [d] Capital Float
[a] Arunachal Pradesh [e] Chqbook
[b] Assam
[c] Punjab Q.91) By how much percentage has the
[d] Tamil Nadu volume of digital payments increased in India
[e] Kerala between 2015-16 and 2019-20?
[a] 55.1%
Q.87) Which company has launched the [b] 64.3%
‘Make Small Strong’ nationwide campaign to [c] 27.5%
support small businesses? [d] 45.7%
[a] Google [e] 38.9%
[b] Flipkart
[c] Apple Q.92) With how many institutes has Centre
[d] Amazon for Development of Advanced Computing
[e] Facebook signed an MoU for establishing
manufacturing units for Supercomputer,
Q.88) Which has become the first bank in under the Phase II of National
India to issue the debit card for accounts Supercomputer Mission?
under loan against securities? [a] 13
[a] HDFC Bank [b] 27
[b] ICICI Bank [c] 19
[c] Axis Bank [d] 70
[d] Canara Bank [e] 33
[e] SBI
Q.93) According to a new report, by 2050,
Q.89) Which bank has launched the 'MSME India will become the 3rd largest economy by
Prerana', an online business mentoring surpassing Japan. Which journal was this
programme for MSMEs? report published in?
[a] Indian Bank [a] Nature
[b] PNB [b] PLOS One
[c] Karur Vyasa Bank [c] The Lancet
[d] Dhanlaksmi Bank [d] Science Advances

135
[e] Nature Immunology
Q.98) Which state has partnered with India
Q.94) Which state has become the first state Post for getting farmers enrolled in the
to make the public education sector fully Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi
digital? scheme?
[a] Telangana [a] Rajasthan
[b] Kerala [b] Odisha
[c] Andhra Pradesh [c] Uttar Pradesh
[d] Delhi [d] Maharashtra
[e] Meghalaya [e] Goa

Q.95) How many new animal species were Q.99) Who has won the French Open 2020 in
discovered in India (that were unknown to the the women’s singles category?
world before), according to the Zoological [a] Simona Halep
Survey of India’s ‘Animal Discoveries 2019’ [b] Naomi Osaka
report? [c] Serena Williams
[a] 364 [d] Karolína Plíšková
[b] 117 [e] Iga Swiatek
[c] 545
[d] 121 Q.100) How much stillbirth have been
[e] 488 recorded in India in 2019, according to the
first ever report “A Neglected Tragedy: The
Q.96) What is India’s overall rank in Oxfam’s Global Burden of Stillbirths” report?
Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index [a] 0.34 million
(CRI) 2020? [b] 1.2 million
[a] 129 [c] 1 million
[b] 131 [d] 0.98 million
[c] 144 [e] 0.87 million
[d] 151
[e] 168
Q.101) With which state govt has Intel India
Q.97) Which state has become the first state partnered to launch a research centre on AI –
to make the public education sector fully INAI?
digital? [a] Telangana
[a] Telangana [b] Odisha
[b] Kerala [c] Rajasthan
[c] Andhra Pradesh [d] Tamil Nadu
[d] Delhi [e] Assam
[e] Meghalaya

136
Q.102) Which company has been given the [d] Malaysia
contract for providing internet services to [e] Taiwan
5,000 remote villages in 15 states and UTs,
by using ISRO’s communications satellites, Q.106) Which company has partnered with
GSAT-19 and GSAT-11? AICTE to provide training to learners and
[a] Reliance Jio educators in new-age technologies, including
[b] Bharti Airtel AI, Internet of Things (IoT), data science and
[c] Vodafone Idea cloud computing?
[d] Hughes India [a] Adobe
[e] BSNL [b] Flipkart
[c] Google
Q.103) Which state has launched Advika [d] Microsoft
(Every girl is unique) programme for [e] Intel
development of adolescent girls (aged 10-
19)? Q.107) Which organization has launched The
[a] Madhya Pradesh Human Cost of Disasters 2000­2019” report?
[b] Odisha [a] World Economic Forum
[c] Andhra Pradesh [b] UNESCO
[d] Rajasthan [c] UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
[e] Gujarat [d] Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development
Q.104) Which state has launched the [e] United Nations Economic and Social
‘IMPACT’ mobile application to monitor the Commission for Asia and the Pacific
action taken under the Pre-Conception and
Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Q.108) Which of the following is not a part of
Act, 1994 ? the Five Eyes Alliance?
[a] Gujarat [a] Canada
[b] Tamil Nadu [b] United States
[c] Rajasthan [c] Australia
[d] Odisha [d] New Zealand
[e] Uttarakhand [e] India

Q.105) Which country’s think tank – TAEF – Q.109) Which country has received a Line of
has partnered with India’s National Maritime Credit (LoC) of $310 million for the purpose of
Foundation (NMF) to foster cooperation in the financing repowering of Hwange Thermal
Indo-Pacific region? Power Station?
[a] Philippines [a] South Africa
[b] Cambodia [b] Haiti
[c] Japan [c] Kenya

137
[d] Zimbabwe Q.114) Who has won the 2020 SASTRA
[e] Morocco Ramanujan Prize?
[a] Eric Maskin
Q.110) When is the World Obesity Day [b] Carolyn Abbate
observed? [c] Stephen Greenblatt
[a] October 11 [d] Shai Evra
[b] March 4 [e] Danielle Allen
[c] April 16
[d] June 18 Q.115) Who has been elected as president of
[e] July 19 Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India?
[a] Aryan Gurav
Q.111) Which of the following personalities [b] Aditi Krishnan
have partnered to launch the ‘Earthshot [c] Akbar Ebrahim
Prize’? [d] Ikshan Shanbag
[a] Prince Williams [e] Prashanth R
[b] David Attenborough
[c] Willem-Alexander Q.116) Who is the author of “The Khalistan
[d] Both A and B Conspiracy: A Former R&AW Officer
[e] Both B and C Unravels The Path To 1984” book?
[a] Aravind Adiga
Q.112) With which organization has [b] GBS Sidhu
Swimming Federation of India partnered to [c] Jeet Thayil
develop world class swim coaching facilities? [d] Kiran Desai
[a] FIBA [e] Amit Chaudhuri
[b] USA Swimming
[c] Moregold Sports Q.117) Who is the Chairman of Association
[d] Asia Swimming Federation of Mutual Funds in India?
[e] FINA [a] Nilesh Shah
[b] Ajay Yadav
Q.113) What is India’s GDP growth rate for [c] Chandra Mohan Sharma
FY21, according to International Monetary [d] Y.S. Rawat
Fund’s World Economic Outlook report? [e] Manju Sharma
[a] -9.8%
[b] -7.9% Q.118) Whose autobiography is titled as ‘Deh
[c] -6.8% Vechava Karani’?
[d] -8.6% [a] Balasaheb Vikhe Patil
[e] -10.3% [b] Jaswant Singh
[c] Atal Bihari Vajpayee
[d] Arun Jaitley

138
[e] Sushma Swaraj Q.123) How many unicorn startups does
India expect to have by 2025, according to
Q.119) Which IIT has won the ‘SITARE- “Covid-19 and the anti-fragility of Indian
Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Startup Ecosystem”?
Appreciation 2020’ for developing a [a] 500
biodegradable wrapping material for food? [b] 250
[a] IIT-Delhi [c] 700
[b] IIT-Roorkee [d] 100
[c] IIT-Kanpur [e] 800
[d] IIT-Madras
[e] IIT-Kharagpur Q.124) Who is the director general of
shipping in India?
Q.120) When is the World Arthritis Day [a] Piyush Singhla
observed? [b] Amitabh Kumar
[a] October 12 [c] Abhishek Narang
[b] October 17 [d] Ameet Kumar
[c] October 23 [e] P. Sampath
[d] October 8
[e] October 10 Q.125) Which of the following organization
has partnered with Minister for Women and
Q.121) Which country has been elected as Child Development and Textiles for “My Pad
the co-president of International Solar My Right” project?
Alliance, along with India? [a] Unacademy
[a] France [b] Nabfoundation
[b] Germany [c] Jayaashree Industries
[c] Japan [d] Both A and B
[d] Netherlands [e] Both B and C
[e] Russia
Q.126) Proposed Zojila tunnel - Asia's longest
Q.122) Which South-Asian country is tunnel road – will provide all-year connectivity
expected to surpass India in 2020, in terms of between __ and __?
nominal GDP, according to IMF projections? [a] Shimla and Roorkee
[a] Maldives [b] Baddi and Kashipur
[b] Bhutan [c] Drass and Dehradun
[c] Bangladesh [d] Srinagar and Leh
[d] Nepal [e] Rudrapur and Nainital
[e] Sri Lanka
Q.127) What is the minimum sum assured in
the Saral Jeevan Bima of IRDAI?

139
[a] Rs 10 lakh [c] Rajiv Gauba
[b] Rs 5 lakh [d] Abhinav Gupta
[c] Rs 2 lakh [e] B Madan Mohan Das
[d] Rs 15 lakh
[e] Rs 20 lakh Q.132) To which country has India
announced to deliver a kilo class submarine
Q.128) Who among the following is the INS Sindhuvir?
India’s first Oscar award winner? (Recently, [a] Myanmar
this person has passed away.) [b] Philippines
[a] Ritu Kumar [c] Sri Lanka
[b] Masaba Gupta [d] Vietnam
[c] Neeta Lulla [e] Thailand
[d] Bhanu Athaiya
[e] Sandeep Khosla Q.133) Who has been appointed as the one-
man committee by the Supreme Court to curb
Q.129) With which sect of literature was crop stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and
Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri related to? west UP, which chokes Delhi-NCR?
[a] Kannada Dramatist [a] Jagdish Singh Khehar
[b] Malayalam poet [b] Dipak Mishra
[c] Telugu novelist [c] Madan B Lokur
[d] Marathi critic [d] Ranjan Gogoi
[e] Odia poet and novelist [e] T. S. Thakur

Q.130) With which country has India signed Q.134) Which state has the lowest life
an MoU for cooperation in surface and expectancy rate in 2019, as per The Lancet’s
groundwater usage? The MoU is signed report?
between Central Ground Water Board and [a] Madhya Pradesh
MARVI PARTNERS. [b] Uttar Pradesh
[a] Australia [c] Bihar
[b] Finland [d] Rajasthan
[c] Netherlands [e] Assam
[d] Germany
[e] Denmark Q.135) Which state has launched the Sujal -
Drink from Tap Mission?
Q.131) Who heads the panel of secretaries [a] Andhra Pradesh
formed by central govt for streamlining the [b] Telangana
telecom spectrum allocation process? [c] Kerala
[a] Agam Mittal [d] Odisha
[b] Ajay Tyagi [e] Karnataka

140
 [a] 58
Q.136) Which committee is preparing the [b] 114
Professional Engineers Bill? [c] 52
[a] Niranjan Bhat Committee [d] 79
[b] Shri YS Malik Committee [e] 27
[c] Ajay Bhushan Pandey Committee
[d] Pravin Kutumbe Committee Q.141) Which UT has launched the "My Town
[e] M.S. Ananth committee My Pride" programme to assist local residents
in availing the benefit of the govt’s scheme?
Q.137) Exercise Suraksha Kavach, a Joint [a] Ladakh
Anti-Terrorist Exercise, was conducted [b] Andaman and Nicobar
between ___ and ___? [c] Delhi
[a] Indian Army [d] Chandigarh
[b] Indian Navy [e] Jammu and Kashmir
[c] Indian Police
[d] Both A and B Q.142) In which month does India observe
[e] Both A and C the Intellectual Property Literacy Week?
[a] September
Q.138) Which state has signed an MoU with [b] November
Hindustan Zinc Ltd. for setting up the World’s [c] August
Biggest Zinc Smelter Project? [d] October
[a] Gujarat [e] December
[b] Tamil Nadu
[c] Telangana Q.143) Which state has launched the
[d] Madhya Pradesh Mission Shakti – a women’s safety campaign
[e] Maharashtra for 6 months?
[a] Chhattisgarh
Q.139) Which company has launched Evolve, [b] Uttar Pradesh
India’s first online buying platform for non- [c] Maharashtra
ferrous metals (non-iron metals)? [d] Andhra Pradesh
[a] Mewat Zinc Ltd [e] Gujarat
[b] Sunrise Zinc Limited
[c] Ambuja Zinc Ltd. Q.144) Which country has tested
[d] Hindustan Zinc Ltd. “SeaGuardian” maritime surveillance drone?
[e] Rose Zinc Ltd. [a] India
[b] Japan
Q.140) What is India’s rank in the Arton [c] China
Capital’s most powerful passport’s index [d] USA
2020? [e] Israel

141
Q.145) Which of the following space agencies Q.149) Who is the author of Battle of
have collaborated for the BepiColumbo – Belonging book?
Mercury mission? [a] Bina Agarwal
[a] European Space Agency [b] Arun Shourie
[b] Indian Space Research Organization [c] Karan Singh
[c] Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency [d] Kiran Bedi
[d] Both A and B [e] Shashi Tharoor
[e] Both A and C
Q.150) When does India observed Rashtriya
Q.146) Which bank has sponsored Mahila Kisan Diwas?
Ashoknagar Co-operative Bank for issuing [a] October 15
ATM, POS and e-commerce services to its [b] October 8
customers? [c] October 10
[a] Ujjivan Small Finance Bank [d] October 21
[b] Janalakshmi Small Finance Bank [e] October 11
[c] Jana Small Finance Bank
[d] A U Small Finance Bank Q.151) Recently, first India-Chile Joint
[e] Utkarsh Small Finance Bank Commission Meeting was held virtually where
Chile decided to designate India as a priority
Q.147) Which bank has recently signed an country in its foreign policy and announced to
MoU with the Ministry of Housing and Urban open its Consulate General in India. In which
Affairs and with SIDBI for payment of subsidy city will it be established?
to street vendors under the PM SVANidhi [a] Chandigarh
Scheme? [b] Bangalore
[a] PNB [c] Chennai
[b] Axis Bank [d] Delhi
[c] SBI [e] Mumbai
[d] Allahabad Bank
[e] Indian Bank Q.152) With which country has India
partnered for co-operation in the e-health
Q.148) Who has been designated as the sector as part of the National Digital Health
Vice-Chair of OECD Working Group on Good Mission of India?
Laboratory Practice? [a] Denmark
[a] Ashutosh Sharma [b] Finland
[b] Mithali Kapoor [c] Netherland
[c] Ekta Kapoor [d] Italy
[d] Piyush Banerjee [e] Israel
[e] Meeta Kapoor

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Q.153) Which of the following airports will [b] Rs 40,000 Crore
become first aerotropolis of India? [c] Rs 10,000 Crore
[a] Jewar International Airport [d] Rs 30,000 Crore
[b] Veer Savarkar International Airport [e] Rs 20,000 Crore
[c] Visakhapatnam International Airport
[d] Indira Gandhi International Airport Q.158) Recently, India has invited Australia to
[e] Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International participate in a naval exercise along with
Airport Japan and USA. What is the name of the
exercise?
Q.154) Which state will cultivate heeng [a] Yudh Abhyas
(asafoetida) for the first time in India? [b] Maitree
[a] Himachal Pradesh [c] Mitra Shakti
[b] Madhya Pradesh [d] Sampriti
[c] Ladakh [e] Malabar
[d] Gujarat
[e] Maharashtra Q.159) DRDO successfully test-fired the
Stand-off Anti-tank (SANT) Missile off the
Q.155) Which city has recently launched the coast of Odisha. SANT is a variant of which
Safe City Project? of the following missile?
[a] Lucknow [a] Nag
[b] Ahmedabad [b] Agni
[c] Surat [c] Prithvi
[d] Faridabad [d] Trishul
[e] Meerut [e] Akash

Q.156) National Dairy Development Board Q.160) Which country is the most powerful in
(NDDB) has launched a call centre for dairy Asia-Pacific region, according to the Asia
farmers to address their queries on animal Power Index for 2020?
health, nutrition and productivity. What is the [a] China
name of the call centre? [b] USA
[a] Pashu Mitra [c] India
[b] Gau Mitra [d] Australia
[c] Pashu Sahakar [e] Japan
[d] Pashu Dhan
[e] Gau Dhan Q.161) Which of the following is not a
parameter of Global Hunger Index 2020?
Q.157) What is the corpus of NCDC [a] Undernourishment
Ayushman Sahakar Fund? [b] Child Wasting
[a] Rs 15,000 Crore [c] Child Stunting

143
[d] Child Mortality Q.166) Who heads the SEBI’s market data
[e] Child Stillbirth advisory committee (MDAC), formed to
ensure that market data is made more freely
Q.162) Which has become the first country in accessible to all?
the world to implement the facial recognition [a] N. K. Sodhi
for availing the government’s online services? [b] Darius Khambata
[a] New Zealand [c] M. S. Raghavan
[b] Switzerland [d] Thomas Mathew T.
[c] Singapore [e] Madhabi Puri Buch
[d] Japan
[e] USA Q.167) Who has been elected as the
chairman of Indian Banks' Association (IBA)
Q.163) Which country has the cheapest plate for the term 2020-21?
of food in the world, according to the UN’s [a] Sanjiv Chadha
cost of a plate of food report 2020? [b] Atanu Kumar Das
[a] Uruguay [c] Padmaja Chunduru
[b] New York [d] Rajkiran Rai G
[c] Singapore [e] Lingam Venkat Prabhakar
[d] Philippines
[e] Germany Q.168) Who has won the Danisa Denmark
Open 2020 in men’s singles category?
Q.164) Which company has been conferred [a] Chou Tien-chen
the project of installing 4G cellular network on [b] Kento Momota
the moon by NASA? [c] Anders Antonsen
[a] Nokia [d] Chen Long
[b] Samsung [e] Viktor Axelsen
[c] Sprint
[d] Verizon Wireless Q.169) Which football club has won the I-
[e] AT&T League 2019-20 trophy?
[a] Mohun Bagan
Q.165) Which company has launched [b] Chennaiyin
mooPay - a payment gateway for dairy [c] Hyderabad F.C.
farmers in Rajasthan? [d] NorthEast United
[a] Razorpay [e] Kerala Blasters
[b] BankBazaar
[c] Stellapps Q.170) When is the International Day for the
[d] InCred Finance Eradication of Poverty observed?
[e] Zest Money [a] October 10
[b] October 14

144
[c] October 17 [a] HEAled
[d] October 21 [b] CuRED
[e] October 11 [c] REstoRE
[d] RemeDY
Q.171) Which state has become the first state [e] CORmend
in India to pass bills against the three farms
laws passed by Central govt? Q.175) Where does NATO plan to establish
[a] Odisha its new space center?
[b] Delhi [a] Germany
[c] Andhra Pradesh [b] UK
[d] Punjab [c] France
[e] Chhattisgarh [d] US
[e] Spain
Q.172) By how much percentage has Ministry
of Law increased the ceiling on poll Q.176) Whose autobiography is titled as
expenditure, that an election candidate can Portraits of Power?
spend on campaigning, for Assembly and Lok [a] Narendra Modi
Sabha elections? [b] NK Singh
[a] 10% [c] Bipin Rawat
[b] 15% [d] Arun Jaitley
[c] 20% [e] Shashi Tharoor
[d] 5%
[e] 12% Q.177) Which state govt has partnered with
Bombay Stock Exchange and GlobalLinker to
Q.173) Which state has launched “Mo help its MSMEs raise equity funds?
Bidyut” - an electricity consumer service [a] Telangana
portal? [b] Andhra Pradesh
[a] Odisha [c] Goa
[b] Tamil Nadu [d] Odisha
[c] Maharashtra [e] Punjab
[d] Madhya Pradesh
[e] Kerala Q.178) Recently, Union Cabinet has
approved to implement the Panchayati Raj
Q.174) What is the name of online portal system in J&K. Under which act will the
launched by Minister of Science & system be implemented in the UT?
Technology and Health & Family Harsh [a] J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989
Welfare to provide information about CSIR [b] J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1949
ushered repurposed drugs and their current [c] J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1959
stage of trials? [d] J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1969

145
[e] J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1889 Q.183) Who heads the IRDAI’s panel on
standard cyber liability insurance product?
Q.179) Which state has topped in the [a] Ayush Tripathi
Anaemia Mukt Bharat (AMB) Index? [b] P Umesh
[a] Punjab [c] Pankaj Sharma
[b] Himachal Pradesh [d] Brijiesh Chaudhari
[c] Maharashtra [e] Payal Kandpal
[d] Haryana
[e] Madhya Pradesh Q.184) Recently, Leather Sector Skill
Council launched the SCALE India app to
Q.180) Recently, anti-submarine warfare enhance quality assurance in the leather
(ASW) ship – INS Kavaratti has been sector under the Skill India Mission. What
commissioned into the Indian Navy. Under does ‘A’ stand for in the full form of SCALE?
which project was it developed? [a] Accreditation
[a] Kamorta-class corvettes [b] Acknowledgement
[b] Mountain Fire Control Radar [c] Appraisal
[c] Signal flares and anti-sonar Decoys for P- [d] Assessment
75 submarines [e] Analytical
[d] High Endurance Autonomous Underwater
Vehicles Q.185) How much speed (of computer) does
[e] Deep Sea-Side Scan Sonar Towing Winch the govt aim to achieve under the National
Supercomputing Mission ?Phase-III?
Q.181) Which of the following institute has [a] 55 petaflops
discovered the Tubarial salivary glands? [b] 20 petaflops
[a] Johns Hopkins Hospital [c] 45 petaflops
[b] Netherlands Cancer Institute [d] 10 petaflops
[c] Massachusetts General Hospital [e] 30 petaflops
[d] Asian Institute of Oncology
[e] Cancer Treatment & Research Centre Q.186) Which organization released the
International migration outlook 2020?
Q.182) Which organization has released the [a] United Nations
Global Estimate of Children in Monetary [b] World Tourism Organization
Poverty: An Update 2020 report? [c] G20
[a] UNICEF [d] OECD
[b] IMF [e] International Labour Organization
[c] World Bank
[d] Both A and B Q.187) What is the GDP contraction rate of
[e] Both A and C Asia in FY21, as per the Regional Economic
Outlook report for Asia and Pacific of IMF?

146
[a] 2.2% [e] Papua New Guinea
[b] 3.4%
[c] 1.7% Q.192) Recently, an India-Bhutan joint
[d] 3.3% hydropower project has received the Brunel
[e] 5.2% Medal for excellence in civil engineering.
What is the name of the project?
Q.188) Where is the BondbloX Bond [a] Chukha hydroelectric project
Exchange – world’s first blockchain-based [b] Kurichhu hydroelectric project
bond exchange – located? [c] Punatsangchhu-I hydroelectric project
[a] Philippines [d] Mangdechhu hydroelectric project
[b] Singapore [e] Kholongchhu hydroelectric project
[c] Malaysia
[d] Finland Q.193) As per the RBI’s new norms for
[e] Germany housing finance firms (HFF), HFFs must have
___ percent of all their assets in housing
Q.189) Who has become the first Indian finance and ___ in individual loans by 2024
wildlife photographer to win the ‘Highly respectively?
Commended’ award at the Wildlife [a] 60% and 50%
Photography of the Year 2020? [b] 40% and 50%
[a] Rathika Ramaswamy [c] 30% and 40%
[b] Kalyan Verma [d] 25% and 40%
[c] Varun Aditya [e] 30% and 50%
[d] Sanjoy Monga
[e] Aishwarya Sridhar Q.194) Where will India’s first Agar
(Agarwood) International Trade Centre be set
Q.190) Which of the following bank has won up?
the Central bank of the year award 2020? [a] Assam
[a] Reserve Bank of India [b] Arunachal Pradesh
[b] Bank of Ghana [c] Meghalaya
[c] European Central Bank [d] Mizoram
[d] Federal Reserve [e] Nagaland
[e] Swiss National Bank
Q.195) Which state has launched the
Q.191) Which country has recently joined the Integrated Model Agricultural Village Scheme
IMF? to promote mechanisation and scientific
[a] Andorra farming in villages, with a special focus on
[b] Lithuania organic farming?
[c] Estonia [a] Uttar Pradesh
[d] Latvia [b] Uttarakhand

147
[c] Madhya Pradesh [e] Pradip Shah
[d] Tamil Nadu
[e] West Bengal Q.200) How many states/UTs will be covered
to calculate the Consumer Price Index for
Q.196) What is the name of the drill exercise Industrial Worker (CPI-IW) with a new base
conducted by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental year -2016?
Oceanographic Commission in the Indian [a] 28
Ocean Region? [b] 25
[a] RIMPAC [c] 20
[b] MILAN [d] 18
[c] BALTOPS [e] 27
[d] IOWave 20
[e] JIMEX Q.201) Who has won the Sakharov Prize for
Freedom of Thought 2020?
Q.197) Which country hosted the First-ever [a] Tran Minh Nhat
ministerial meeting of G-20 anti-corruption [b] Michelle Bachelet
working group? [c] Greta Thunberg
[a] Japan [d] Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
[b] India [e] Befaqadu Hailu
[c] Saudi Arabia
[d] USA Q.202) With which country has India signed
[e] Canada an MoU to work together in capacity building
and strengthening the Accounting, Financial
Q.198) Which of the following company is the and Audit Knowledge base of the other
partner of Ministry of Culture in the “Life in country?
Miniature” project? [a] Namibia
[a] Google [b] Zimbabwe
[b] Apple [c] Sierra Leone
[c] Flipkart [d] Cook Islands
[d] Facebook [e] Papua New Guinea
[e] Amazon
Q.203) Recently, RBI has issued some
Q.199) Who has been elected as the guidelines to strengthen the QR Code
Chairperson of the Governing Body of the infrastructure in India on the basis of __
International Labour Organisation? committee’s recommendations?
[a] Mithlesh Kumar [a] Nandan Nilekani Committee
[b] Amitabh Kant [b] Uday Kotak Committee
[c] Santosh Gangwar [c] HR Khan Committee
[d] Apurva Chandra [d] Deepak Pathak committee

148
[e] Bimal Jalan Committee [c] Sunil Gavaskar
[d] Boria Majumdar
Q.204) Where is the Asan Conservation [e] Rahul Bhattacharya
Reserve located?
[a] Assam Q.2O9) IFSCA-appointed expert panel,
[b] Uttarakhand headed by Pradip Shah, has submitted its
[c] Tamil Nadu 2nd interim report to IFSCA (International
[d] Kerala Financial Services Centres Authority)
[e] Karnataka Chairman, Injeti Srinivas. Which sector was
catered in this 2nd interim report?
Q.205) Who heads the NITI Aayog’s advisory [a] Stock Exchange
committee on urban planning education [b] Insurance Companies
system? [c] Digital Payment Companies
[a] Amitabh Kant [d] Clearing Corporations
[b] Ayush Dwivedi [e] Alternative Investment Funds
[c] Rajiv Kumar
[d] Manohar Pathak Q.210) Which company has announced to
[e] Keshav Ramasagar acquire a 7.8% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion
and Retail (ABFRL) for Rs 1,500 crore?
Q.206) Where will the 2021 World HRD [a] Amazon
Congress be organized? [b] Flipkart
[a] Mumbai, India [c] Google
[b] Texas, US [d] Craft Villa
[c] Geneva, Switzerland [e] Snapdeal
[d] Vienna, Austria
[e] Davos, Switzerland Q.211) Recently, Tribes India E-Mart Channel
has been launched. Select the correct
Q.207) Who is the MD of TRIFED? statement which is exemplifying the purpose
[a] Pravir Krishna of this channel.
[b] Sandeep Kumar [a] It is for the empowerment of Tribal women
[c] Rakesh Kumar Malik entrepreneurs
[d] Shankra Nand Bharti [b] It will improve levels of digital penetration
[e] Brajesh Kumar Srivastava in trade of tribal goods
[c] It will increase the participation of tribal
Q.208) Who is the author of “The Fixer: youth in digital trade
Winning Has A Price. How Much Will You [d] It will allow tribal entrepreneurs to sell their
Pay?”? produce to a larger market
[a] Ramachandra Guha
[b] Suman Dubey

149
[e] It aims to provide digital literacy to tribal [a] Arunachal Pradesh
entrepreneurs so that they can open their [b] Assam
own e-shops on the channel [c] Meghalaya
[d] Sikkim
Q.212) Which has become the first union [e] Mizoram
territory in the country to operationalise public
financial management system (PFMS) at the Q.216) Where will the India’s first sand dune
district level? parks be developed?
[a] Delhi [a] Maharashtra
[b] Ladakh [b] Goa
[c] J&K [c] Kerala
[d] Andaman and Nicobar [d] Rajasthan
[e] Puducherry [e] Gujarat

Q.213) With which agency has Ministry of Jal Q.217) How many countries have ratified the
Shakti partnered to develop the mobile UN’s Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
application for Geo tagging of the Weapons?
components of projects under Pradhan Mantri [a] 50
Krishi Sinchayee Yojana- Accelerated [b] 100
Irrigation Benefits Programme? [c] 150
[a] Agharkar Research Institute [d] 193
[b] Aryabhatta Research Institute of [e] 30
Observational-Sciences
[c] National Centre for Earth Science Studies Q.218) Which country has launched its 'No
[d] Institute of Nano Science and Technology Mask, No Service' policy under which no
[e] Bhaskaracharya National Institute of service will be provided to people who don’t
Space Applications & Geo-informatics wear mask?
[a] India
Q.214) When is the World Polio Day [b] Sri Lanka
observed? [c] Pakistan
[a] October 22 [d] Bangladesh
[b] October 24 [e] Nepal
[c] October 19
[d] October 30 Q.219) Who has been elected as the new
[e] October 11 President of Bolivia?
[a] Cyril Ramaphosa
Q.215) Which state has recently got enrolled [b] Jacob Zuma
in the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) [c] Julius Malema
Scheme? [d] Ace Magashule

150
[e] Luis Arce [a] 600 mtpa
[b] 800 mtpa
Q.220) When is the International Day of [c] 500 mtpa
Diplomats observed? [d] 300 mtpa
[a] October 24 [e] 400 mtpa
[b] October 2
[c] October 3 Q.225) Which sport is Lewis Hamilton related
[d] October 5 to?
[e] October 10 [a] Softball
[b] Basketball
Q.221) Which two countries will be joined by [c] Motor sport
the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel? [d] Boxing
[a] England and France [e] Golf
[b] Denmark and Germany
[c] Greece and Turkey Q.226) Who has won the Egypt Open 2020 in
[d] Spain and Italy men’s category?
[e] Ukraine and Turkey [a] Mohamed El Shorbagy
[b] Karim Abdel Gawad
Q.222) Which organization has released the [c] Ali Farag
Global Wealth Report 2020? [d] Tarek Momen
[a] Nomura [e] Saurav Ghosal
[b] Morgan Stanley
[c] Goldman Sachs Q.227) Which state has ranked first in
[d] Credit Suisse implementing the Pradhan Mantri Street
[e] Moody’s Vendor's Atmanirbhar Nidhi (Svanidhi)
scheme?
Q.223) Which country has won gold in the [a] Karnataka
women’s category in the Asian Nations [b] Odisha
(Regions) Online chess championship 2020? [c] Andhra Pradesh
[a] Australia [d] Uttar Pradesh
[b] India [e] Gujarat
[c] Indonesia
[d] China Q.228) On how many themes will the ‘India–
[e] Japan Australia Circular Economy Hackathon (I-
ACE)’ 2020 be based on?
Q.224) PM Narendra Modi has announced to [a] Four
increase the refining capacity of India from [b] Seven
around 250 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) [c] Ten
to ____ mtpa by 2025? [d] Nine

151
[e] Eleven [c] Eradicate Corruption-Build a New India
[d] My Vision-Corruption Free India
Q.229) Recently, India has signed the Basic [e] Preventive VIgIlanceas a tool of Good
Exchange and Cooperation Agreement Governance
(BECA) with US. Thus, completing the
signing of the four defence foundational Q.233) Where is the DST-IIEST Solar PV
agreements with US. Which of the following Hub located?
does not constitute the four foundational [a] West Bengal
agreements? [b] Tripura
[a] GSOMIA [c] Maharashtra
[b] LEMOA [d] Odisha
[c] MICA [e] Karnataka
[d] Both A and B
[e] Both B and C Q.234) With which country has IIT-Kanpur
and Archaeological Survey of India signed an
Q.230) Which bank has partnered with IIFL MoU for restoration and protection of
Finance (NBFC) to expand its banking historical monuments?
activities in the underserved and un-served [a] Germany
regions of the country? [b] Italy
[a] Dhanlaxmi Bank [c] Belarus
[b] CSB Bank [d] US
[c] Federal Bank [e] France
[d] HDFC Bank
[e] ICICI Bank Q.235) Where is the Kuno-Palpur Wildlife
Sanctuary located?
Q.231) What is the average projected gross [a] Madhya Pradesh
fiscal deficit (GFD) of states for FY21, as per [b] Tamil Nadu
the State Finances: A Study of Budgets of [c] Gujarat
2020-21 report of RBI? [d] Maharashtra
[a] 4.6% [e] Odisha
[b] 5.1%
[c] 1.9% Q.236) 6th BRICS Parliamentary Forum was
[d] 3.7% held under the chairmanship of which
[e] 2.8% country?
[a] Russia
Q.232) What is the theme of Vigilance [b] Brazil
Awareness Week 2020? [c] India
[a] Vigilant India, Prosperous India [d] China
[b] Integrity- A way of life [e] South Africa

152
 [b] HDFC Bank
Q.237) When is the World Day for Audio- [c] Axis Bank
visual Heritage observed? [d] PNB
[a] October 16 [e] Canara Bank
[b] October 9
[c] October 11 Q.242) Who is the author of "Till We Win"
[d] October 27 book?
[e] October 19 [a] Randeep Guleria
[b] Chandrakant Lahariya
Q.238) Which company is India’s top ranked [c] Gagandeep Kang
PSU in the Forbes’ World’s Best Employers [d] Only A and B
2020 list? [e] Only A, B and C
[a] ONGC
[b] SAIL Q.243) Who is the author of “Pandemonium:
[c] NTPC The Great Indian Banking Tragedy” book?
[d] BHEL [a] Tamal Bandyopadhyay
[e] HPCL [b] Lamar Odom
[c] Kamlesh Patel Alias Daaji
Q.239) Who is the author of Night of the [d] Neeraj Jha
Restless Spirits: Stories from 1984 book? [e] Ruchir Sharma
[a] Milind Soman
[b] Roopa Pai Q.244) Which of the following company has
[c] Keki N. Daruwalla manufactured the cow dung chip named as
[d] Ravi Subramanian Gausatva Kavach?
[e] Sarbpreet Singh [a] Livestock Solutions Private Limited
[b] Shrijee Gaushala
Q.240) Who is the most trusted celebrity of [c] Maa Laxmi Devi Agro Pvt Ltd
India, as per the TIARA report of the Indian [d] Satluj Fodder Solutions
Institute of Human Brands? [e] Balraja Gaushala Ballah
[a] Virat Kohli
[b] MS Dhoni Q.245) What is the theme of International
[c] Deepika Padukone Day of Girl Child 2020?
[d] Kangana Ranaut [a] With Her: A Skilled Girl Force
[e] Amitabh Bachchan [b] My voice, our equal future
[c] EmPOWER Girls: Emergency response
Q.241) Which bank has been voted as the and resilience planning
'Most Outstanding Company - Financial [d] Goals' Progress: What Counts for Girls
Sector' in India by the Asiamoney? [e] The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision
[a] SBI for 2030

153
 [d] South Africa
Q.246) Which of the following branch has [e] Ghana
been designated as the official bank for
holding the accounts of NGOs and Q.250) Who has been conferred the lifetime
associations receiving the foreign funding achievement award and the Global
under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Excellence Awards by the Indo-American
Amendment Bill, 2020? Chamber of Commerce?
[a] State Bank of India, New Delhi [a] Arvind Krishna
[b] Punjab National Bank, Meerut [b] Ratan Tata
[c] HDFC Bank, Bangalore [c] Satya Nadella
[d] Oriental Bank of Commerce, Chennai [d] Shantanu Narayen
[e] Karur Vyasa Bank, Karur [e] Ajaypal Singh Banga

Q.247) According to the World Bank’s Q.251) Which state has launched the first of
Migration and Development Brief 2020, its kind Dharani portal?
remittances in India would fall by ___ percent [a] Madhya Pradesh
this year due to pandemic and recession? [b] Telangana
[a] 9% [c] Andhra Pradesh
[b] 11% [d] Meghalaya
[c] 15% [e] Rajasthan
[d] 5%
[e] 3% Q.252) Which country will host the
Prosecutors General of Shanghai
Q.248) Which state has performed the best in Cooperation Organization in 2021?
terms of improving the ease of doing [a] India
business, as per Doing Business In India [b] Kazakhstan
Report of UK India Business Council? [c] Uzbekistan
[a] Maharashtra [d] Tajikistan
[b] Tamil Nadu [e] Russia
[c] Kerala
[d] Karnataka Q.253) Who has been appointed as the CEO
[e] Andhra Pradesh of Hindustan Zinc?
[a] Niketan Sharma
Q.249) Which is the first African country to [b] Saubhagya Suri
host the World Cities Day Global [c] Srishti Jha
Observance? [d] Dhruv Handa
[a] Nigeria [e] Arun Misra
[b] Ethiopia
[c] Kenya

154
Q.254) Which bank’s CMO is the only CMO
of an Indian company in the Forbes list of Q.255) Where is the India's first multi-modal
‘The World’s Most Influential CMOs’? logistics park being built?
[a] Bank of Baroda [a] Delhi
[b] Karur Vyasa Bank [b] Punjab
[c] HDFC Bank [c] Rajasthan
[d] Bank of Maharashtra [d] Assam
[e] ICICI Bank [e] Gujarat

1 E 52 C 103 B 154 A 205 C

2 A 53 D 104 C 155 A 206 A
3 C 54 D 105 E 156 A 207 A
4 D 55 D 106 D 157 C 208 B
5 A 56 E 107 C 158 E 209 B
6 D 57 A 108 E 159 A 210 B
7 A 58 E 109 D 160 B 211 D
8 B 59 A 110 B 161 E 212 C
9 A 60 D 111 D 162 C 213 E
10 D 61 B 112 C 163 B 214 B
11 E 62 A 113 E 164 A 215 A
12 A 63 A 114 D 165 C 216 B
13 B 64 E 115 C 166 E 217 A
14 B 65 E 116 B 167 D 218 D
15 D 66 E 117 A 168 C 219 E
16 A 67 B 118 A 169 A 220 A
17 A 68 B 119 D 170 C 221 B
18 C 69 C 120 A 171 D 222 D
19 E 70 A 121 A 172 A 223 B
20 B 71 E 122 C 173 A 224 E
21 E 72 A 123 D 174 B 225 C
22 D 73 A 124 B 175 A 226 C
23 C 74 E 125 E 176 B 227 D
24 E 75 A 126 D 177 A 228 A
25 A 76 D 127 B 178 A 229 C
26 D 77 A 128 D 179 D 230 B
27 A 78 A 129 B 180 A 231 A

155
28 A 79 A 130 A 181 B 232 A
29 B 80 A 131 C 182 E 233 A
30 A 81 A 132 A 183 B 234 B
31 E 82 A 133 C 184 D 235 A
32 A 83 C 134 B 185 C 236 A
33 A 84 A 135 D 186 D 237 D
34 B 85 C 136 E 187 A 238 C
35 D 86 B 137 E 188 B 239 E
36 D 87 A 138 A 189 E 240 E
37 A 88 B 139 D 190 B 241 B
38 B 89 A 140 A 191 A 242 E
39 C 90 E 141 E 192 D 243 A
40 E 91 A 142 D 193 A 244 B
41 D 92 A 143 B 194 A 245 B
42 D 93 C 144 B 195 B 246 A
43 A 94 B 145 E 196 D 247 A
44 D 95 A 146 C 197 C 248 A
45 E 96 A 147 E 198 A 249 C
46 A 97 B 148 C 199 D 250 B
47 A 98 E 149 E 200 A 251 B
48 B 99 E 150 A 201 D 252 A
49 A 100 A 151 E 202 E 253 E
50 C 101 A 152 C 203 D 254 C
51 E 102 D 153 A 204 B 255 D

156
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