(1) a lender can’t lend more than rs 10 lakh to all tornado ibps po mains 20… · the high level...

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GK Tornado for IBPS PO Mains Exam -2017 Dear readers, This GK Tornado is a complete docket of important news and events that occurred in last 4.5 months (1st July–14th Nov 2017). Tornado is important and relevant for all competitive exams like Banking, Insurance, SSC and UPSC Exams.

Banking & Financial Awareness

1. RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 6% - On 4th October 2017, RBI in its fourth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement

decided to keep the policy Repo rate unchanged at 6%. Therefore, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 5.75 per

cent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.25 per cent. However, RBI cut the Statutory

Liquidity Ratio (SLR) by 0.5 percent to 19.5 percent.

New Policy & Reserve Rates

1. Repo Rate 6% (unchanged)

2. Reverse Repo Rate 5.75% (unchanged)

3. CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) 4.00% (unchanged)

4. SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio) 19.50% (changed)

5. MSF (Marginal Standing Facility) 6.25% (unchanged)

6. Bank Rate 6.25% (unchanged)

2. RBI sets up task force on Public Credit Registry (PCR) - The Reserve Bank of India constituted a 10-member ‘High Level Task Force on Public Credit Registry (PCR) for India’. The task force will be headed by YM Deosthalee, ex-CMD of L&T Finance Holdings.

3. Legal Entity Identifier mandatory for all large corporate borrowers: RBI - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made 20-digit Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) compulsory for companies having aggregate fund-based and non-fund based exposure over Rs 5 crore. The move is aimed at improving risk management in

wake of huge stressed assets in banking system. Before

this, RBI had made LEI mandatory for transactions in

interest rate, forex and credit derivative market

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) ➢ LEI is a 20-digit unique code to identify

parties to financial transactions worldwide.

➢ It is a global reference number that uniquely

identifies every legal entity or structure that is

party to a financial transaction, in any

jurisdiction.

➢ LEI code has been conceived as key measure to

improve quality and accuracy of financial data

systems for better risk management post the

global financial crisis. ➢ The LEI system was developed by G20 in

response to inability of financial institutions to

identify organisations uniquely, so that their

financial transactions in different national

jurisdictions can be fully tracked. The first LEIs were issued in December 2012.

➢ Legal Entity Identifier India Limited (LEIL), a

wholly-owned subsidiary of Clearing Corporation of India (CCI), acts as a local

operating unit (LOU) for issuing globally

compatible legal entity identifiers (LEIs) in

India.

4. Banks to Provide Funds at 7% to Women SHGs

under DAY-NRLM: RBI - The RBI has issued

guidelines to banks will provide funds to women self help groups, SHGs, in rural areas at 7 per cent under

the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural

Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) in the current fiscal

(2017-18).

Note:

➢ National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) is a

poverty alleviation project implemented by

Ministry of Rural Development, Government of

India.

➢ NRLM is focused on promoting self-employment and organization of rural poor.

➢ Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana or DAY is a

Government of India scheme for the helping the

poor by providing skill training.

5. RBI Slaps Rs2-cr Penalty on IDFC Bank - The

Reserve Bank of India has imposed a monetary


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penalty of Rs 2 crore on IDFC Bank for contravention

of regulatory restrictions pertaining to loans and

advances.

The penalty has been imposed in the exercise of

powers vested in RBI under the Banking Regulation

Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to

adhere to certain directions issued by RBI. 6. RBI opens branch in Dehradun – RBI had opened its

new branch in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The branch was inaugurated by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. Earlier, the state government had to do financial transactions through the Kanpur branch of the RBI.

7. Reserve Bank of India recently acknowledged HDFC Bank Ltd as a Domestic-Systemically Important Bank (D-SIB). With this, HDFC Bank joins State Bank of India and ICICI Bank in the elite D-SIB list. Note: The higher capital requirements applicable to D-SIBs will be applicable from April 1, 2016, in a phased manner and would become fully effective from April 1, 2019.

8. P2P platforms will now act as NBFCs: Govt. - According to the gazette notification issued by the government, all Peer-to-peer lending (P2P) platforms will now considered as Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and will be regulated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). About Peer-To-Peer Lending (P2P) - Peer-to-peer lending (P2P) is a method of bulk funding that enables individuals to borrow and lend money - without the use of any official financial institution or bank as an intermediary. Peer-to-peer lending removes the middleman from the process and matches lenders with borrowers online, but it also involves more time, effort and risk than the general lending process.

9. RBI issues guidelines for Peer to Peer lending platform – Following are the guidelines - ● Unless an NBFC has received the Certificate of

Registration, it cannot start the the business of a P2P lending platform.

● New companies who are looking for registration with the bank as an NBFC-P2P must have a net owned funds of not less than 20 million rupees or such higher amount as the RBI may specify.

● The existing NBFC-P2Ps have to apply for registration as NBFC-P2Ps within 3 months.

Functions of NBFC-P2P – Following are the functions of NBFC-P2P – (i) It is necessary to provide online platform to members involved in P2P lending. (ii) Cannot lend on its own. (iv) Cannot hold its own balance sheet of funds received from lenders or funds given to borrowers

(v) NBFC-P2P can’t cross-sell products. Guidelines for lenders and borrowers – (1) A lender can’t lend more than Rs 10 lakh to all borrowers at any point of time across all P2Ps (2) Borrowers can’t borrow more than Rs 10 lakh from all lenders at any point of time across all P2Ps (3) Not more than Rs 50,000 can be borrowed from single lender to the same borrower, across all P2Ps. (4) The maturity of the loans shall not exceed 36 months.

Fund transfer mechanism – Bank account is mandatory for transfer of funds. The transfer of funds between lenders & borrowers on the P2P platform will be done through escrow account mechanisms. Cash transactions are not allowed in P2P platform. 10. RBI to conduct financial literacy drive in 9 states –

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to launch

a financial literacy drive in 80 blocks in 9 states.

The nine states include - Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,

Bihar, Odisha, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Objective –

● The main objective of the financial literacy drive

is to educate people on e-transactions, formal sector borrowings and insurance purchases.

● Also, to create awareness among people on - e-

transactions through electronic means such as

NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, Internet Banking, Mobile

Banking and UPI (Unified Payment Interface).

Key points –

● Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF)

will implement the pilot project in collaboration

with banks and six non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

● Six NGOs include - CRISIL Foundation, Dhan

Foundation, Swadhaar Fin Access, Indian School of

Micro Finance for Women (ISMW), Samarpit and the

PACE Foundation.

● The total cost of the project over a period of three

years would be around Rs 18.40 Cr.

11. Masala Bonds to be treated as ECB: RBI - Masala

bonds were treated by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI)

till 3rd October 2017.Now, The Reserve Bank of India

(RBI) announced that it is free from FPI and being

treated by External Commercial Borrowings (ECB).

Note: Masala bonds are rupee-denominated overseas

bonds. Currently, the limit for investment by Foreign

Portfolio Investors (FPIs) in corporate bonds is Rs

2,44,323 crore and this includes masala bonds of

Rs.44,001 crore.

12. Two regional rural banks record Over Rs 150-cr

Profit in FY17: According to the Reserve Bank of


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India’s ‘Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in

India’ - Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank and

Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank recorded net profit

of more than ₹150 crore during 2016-17.

13. RBI to pay Rs 30,659 cr dividend to Govt. - The

Reserve Bank has to pay Rs 30,659 crore to the

government for the fiscal ended June 2017. It is a less

than half of what it paid in 2016. Previous year in 2016

RBI had paid Rs 65,876 crore dividend to the

government.

14. RBI issues new Rs 200, Rs 50 banknotes - After

demonetization, Rs 200 is the fourth note introduced by

the apex bank.

Features of Rs. 200 bank note – The note will carry the signature of RBI governor Urjit Patel, the year of printing on the left, and the Swachh Bharat logo with the slogan. ● Colour – The colour of the bank note is Bright

Yellow. ● Design: It has a motif of Sanchi Stupa on the

reverse, depicting the country’s cultural heritage. ● Dimension - The dimension of the bank note will

be 66mm X 146mm. ● Latent image with denominational numeral 200.

● Windowed security thread with inscriptions ‘भारत’ and RBI with colour shift. Colour of the thread changes from green to blue when the note is tilted.

● Denominational numeral with Rupee Symbol, ₹ 200 in colour changing ink (green to blue) on bottom right.

● Ashoka Pillar emblem on the right. ● Mahatma Gandhi portrait and electrotype (200)

watermarks Features of 50 Rs bank note – The note will carry the signature of RBI governor Urjit Patel, the year of printing on the left, and the Swachh Bharat logo with the slogan and language panel. ● Colour: The bank note is fluorescent blue in colour. ● Design: The note bears the motif of ‘Hampi with

Chariot’ on the reverse that depicts India’s cultural heritage.

● Ashoka pillar emblem on the right side. ● Mahatma Gandhi portrait and electrotype (50)

watermarks. ● Dimension - Dimension of the banknote will be 66

mm x 135 mm. ● Windowed demetalised security thread with

inscriptions ‘भारत’ and RBI,

● Note: Till now, India has currency denominations of Rs. 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 and 2,000.

15. RBI identified 12 accounts with 25% of bank bad loans - The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had identified

12 accounts which represents 25% of the gross bad loans in the banking system. RBI had ordered the banks to implement the insolvency and bankruptcy code on these 12 accounts to recover the dues. These accounts are overdue of above Rs 5,000 crore each. Name of some accounts include - Lanco Infratech Ltd, Essar Steel, Bhushan Steel, Electrosteel Steel, Alok Industries, Jyoti Structures, Monnet Ispat and Jaypee Associates. Note: IDBI Bank has initiated insolvency proceeding against Lanco Infratech ltd.

16. RBI initiates PCA against six banks as NPA mounts -

The Reserve Bank of India has initiated prompt

corrective action (PCA) against six banks in view of

the high level of bad loans.

Six banks include – Bank of Maharashtra, Central Bank

of India, IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Dena Bank and Indian

Overseas Bank. The move will restrict the bank from

announcing the dividend, opening branches, hiring and

giving loans to companies rated below investment

grade.

17. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up Supervisory

Colleges for six Scheduled Commercial Banks which

have sizeable international presence. The banks include

- - State Bank of India, ICICI Bank Ltd., Bank of India,

Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank Ltd. and Punjab National

Bank.

The objectives of the colleges are to enhance information exchange and cooperation among

supervisors, to improve understanding of the risk

profile of the banking group and thereby facilitate more

effective supervision of internationally active banks. 18. RBI fined Rs. 3 cr penalty on UBI - The RBI has

imposed a penalty of Rs. 3 crore on state-owned Union

Bank of India for “non-compliance” with the directions on Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. This action is

based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is

not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any

transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with

its customers.

19. RBI broadens scope of Banking Ombudsman

Scheme – With the amendment, from 1 July 2017, the banking ombudsman scheme will include –

i. sale of insurance, mutual funds and other third-party

investment products by banks

ii. mobile and online banking services.

Now, a bank customer also files a complaint to Banking

Ombudsman on following issues –

i. Mutual Fund & Insurance policy - wrongly sold

third party products such as mutual fund schemes &

insurance policies.


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ii. mobile and online banking services - delay or

failure of online payments or fund transfers and

unauthorized electronic payments or fund transfers.

Key points -

● So far, the banking ombudsman only accepted

complaints about banking products and services.

● Third-party products sold by banks, such as

insurance and mutual fund products, were kept

out of its ambit. ● RBI has included in its amended scheme that in

case of any grievance, you can lodge a complaint

against the bank for its non-adherence to RBI’s

instructions on mobile banking and electronic

banking services in India.

Increase in compensation amount: The RBI has

increased the compensation limit from Rs10 lakh to

Rs20 lakh. The compensation excludes the amount

involved in the dispute. For case, if you have a complaint

about a transaction amount of, say, Rs15 lakh. The

compensation will be over and above this amount.

20. RBI limits Customer liability in Online Banking – As

per the RB guidelines on customer liability – ● The full amount will be credited to the account

- If the customers report to the banks regarding the

loss they suffer through online banking

transactions within 3 days, then the amount involved will be credited to their accounts within a

time period of 10 days.

● Only Rs. 25,000 will be credited to the account

- In case the third-party fraud is reported with a

delay of 4 to 7 working days, a customer will face

liability of up to Rs. 25,000.

● Only Rs. 10,000 will be credited to the account

- If the fraud is report after 7 days, the customer

liability will be determined as per the bank’s Board

approved policy. The maximum liability of a

savings bank account customer will be Rs10,000 in

such cases.

21. RBI’s notification related to Interest Subvention

Scheme for Short Term Crop Loans during the year

2017-18 – A farmer can avail loans up to Rs. 3 lakh at

an interest rate of 7% p.a. during the year 2017-18.

● This interest subvention of 2 per cent will be

calculated on the crop loan amount from the date

of its disbursement up to the date of actual

repayment by the farmer or up to the due date of

the loan fixed by the banks, whichever is earlier,

subject to a maximum of one year.

● Aadhaar card mandatory - To ensure hassle-free

benefits to farmers under the Interest Subvention

Scheme, the banks are advised to make Aadhaar

linkage mandatory for availing of short-term crop

loans in 2017-18.

● Note: The Cabinet has approved the total

expenditure of Rs 20,339 crore for this financial

year (FY) as interest subsidy on short-term crop

loans.

India’s GDP Growth Rate Projected by Different Org. – 2017

1. The Reserve Bank of India - 6.7% in 2017-18.

Note: Also, the projection of real GVA (Gross Value

Added) growth for 2017-18 has been revised down to

6.7 per cent from the August 2017 projection of 7.3

per cent.

● RBI Governor – Dr. Urjit Patel

● RBI headquarter – Mumbai, India

2. International Monetary Fund (IMF) - 6.7% in 2017-

18.

● IMF projected India’s GDP growth rate at 7.4% in

2018-19.

● IMF projected World GDP growth rate at 3.5% in

2017 and 3.6% in 2018.

● IMF Chief – Christine Lagarde

● IMF headquarter – Washington, D.C. (US)

3. World Bank - 7% in 2017-18.

● World Bank projected India’s GDP growth rate at

7.5% in 2018-19.

● World Bank projected India’s GDP growth rate at

7.5% in 2019-20. ● World Bank projected World GDP growth rate at

2.7% in 2017-18.

● World Bank President – Jim Yong Kim

● World Bank headquarter – Washington, D.C. (US)

● Members countries - 189

4. Asian Development Bank (ADB)- 7% in 2017-18.

● Asian Development Bank (ADB) projected India’s

GDP growth rate at 7.5% in 2018-19.

● ADB President: Takehiko Nakao

● ADB headquarter –Mandaluyong, Philippines


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5. United Nation (UN) - 7.3% in 2017-18. ● UN projected India’s GDP growth rate at 7.9% in

2018-19.

● UN projected World GDP growth rate at 2.7% in

2017-18.

● UN projected World GDP growth rate at 2.7% in

2018-19.

● UN Secretary‑General - António Guterres

● UN headquarter – New York, US


6. The credit rating agency Fitch Ratings 6.9% for 2017-

18.

● Fitch CEO – Paul Taylor

● Fitch Ratings headquarter – New York, US

7. India Ratings and Research - 6.7% in 2017-18.

● India Ratings and Research MD & CEO - Rohit

Sawhney.

● India Ratings and Research headquarter – Mumbai,

Maharashtra

8. Domestic rating agency CRISIL - 6.7% in 2017-18.

● CRISIL MD & CEO - Ashu Suyash

● CRISIL headquarter – Mumbai, Maharashtra

9. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) - 7.1% in 2017-18.

● CSO Director General – Davendra Verma

● CSO headquarter – New Delhi, India

10. Japanese financial holding company Nomura - 7.1% in 2017-18.

● Nomura CEO: Koji Nagai

● Nomura headquarter - Minato, Tokyo, Japan

11. HSBC - 7.1% in 2017-18.

● HSBC CEO: Stuart Gulliver

● HSBC headquarter – London, UK

12. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD) - 6.7% in 2017-18.

● OECD projected India’s GDP growth rate at 7.2% in

2018-19.

● OECD Secretary-General: Angel Gurría

● OECD headquarter – Paris, France

Digital Banking

1. National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) – It is a payment system which facilitates one-to-one funds transfer. Under this facility, any customer can electronically transfer funds from any bank branch to any individual, firm or corporate having an account with any other bank branch in the country.

● Transaction Limit: There is no minimum & maximum limit of amount.

● Note: For cash-based remittance and remittance to Nepal - the maximum amount per transaction is limited to Rs 50,000.

● Timing: At present, NEFT operates in hourly batches - there are twelve settlements from 8 am to 7 pm on week days (Monday through Friday) and six settlements from 8 am to 1 pm on Saturdays.

2. Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) – Under this facility the transfer of funds is done individually on an order by order basis (without any delay). The RTGS system is primarily meant for large value transactions.

● Transaction Limit: The minimum amount is Rs. 2 lakh. There is no upper ceiling for RTGS transactions.

● Timing: The RTGS service window for customer's

transactions is available to banks from 9.00 hours

to 16.30 hours on week days and from 9.00 hours

to 14:00 hours on Saturdays for settlement at the

RBI end. However, the timings that the banks follow

may vary depending on the customer timings of the

bank branches.

3. Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) – It is a 11-digit

alpha-numeric code which identifies a bank-branch

participating in the NEFT & RTGS system. IFSC is used

by the NEFT system to identify the originating /

destination banks / branches and also to route the

messages appropriately to the concerned banks /

branches.

Note: IFSC code represent –

● First 4 alpha characters indicate – bank name

● Fifth characters is – 0

● Last 6 characters indicate – bank branch.

● For ex - SBIN0000125 – Here – SBIN indicates –

State Bank of India. 0124 represent the Lucknow

Main Branch name.

4. About NPCI - National Payments Corporation of India

(NPCI) is an umbrella organization for all retail

payments system in India. It was set up with the

guidance and support of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA).

● NPCI – Headquarter: Mumbai, Maharashtra 5. About Unified Payments Interface (UPI)- It is an

instant payment system to transfer money between two parties bank accounts. It is a similar to NEFT or RTGS transfers in that way. It is developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).


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6. Immediate payment service (IMPS) – It is an instant real-time payment service which help customer to transfer money anytime and anywhere in India. This service is similar to NEFT & RTGS and available 24/7 throughout the year including bank holidays. This service is offered by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). ● Transaction limit – There is a maximum limit of 2

lakhs. 7. Interbank Mobile Payment Service (IMPS) – It is an

instant interbank fund transfer service in which mobile phones are used as channel through which transaction happens with the use of Mobile Money Identifier(MMID). For each account, MMID is generated by bank and it is linked with registered mobile number. Now, account details are fetched from MMID and via registered mobile number transaction occurs. ● **Only MMID and Registered Mobile Number of

Payee are needed. Mobile Money Identifier is a 7

digit number, issued by banks.

● Transaction Limits - RBI has defined the

maximum limit per day transaction. If transaction

happens in encrypted format (from net banking)

then limit is 50,000 rupees per day whereas if

transaction happens in unencrypted messaging

formats (from mobile instrument via text message)

then limit is 1,000 rupees per day.

8. *99# Service – It is a mobile banking facility which is

based on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

(USSD). With the help of this service a bank customer

can perform financial activities by just dialing *99#

from his/her mobile registered with the bank. *99# is a

common number across all Telecom Service Providers

(TSPs). The service works across all GSM service

providers and handsets.

9. About Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

(USSD) – USSD allows transmission of information

through a GSM (Global System for Mobile

Communications) network. It is used to send text

message between a mobile phone and application

program in the network. At present, it is one of the best

accessible communications technology to deliver

mobile financial services to low-income customers.

10. Aadhar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) – It is an

Indian payment system which is based on unique

identification number, the AADHAAR. The system

allows a person holding an Aadhaar number to carry out

financial transaction on a Micro-ATM provided by the

Banking correspondent. It is developed by National

Payments Corporation of India.

11. Aadhaar Payments Bridge System (APBS): It is a

payment gateway platform used for Aadhaar schemes.

Under this facility - Aadhaar number used as a central

key for electronically channelizing the Government

subsidies and benefits in the Aadhaar Enabled Bank

Accounts (AEBA) of the intended beneficiaries. It is

developed by National Payments Corporation of India.

It was used for the first time on 1 January 2013 when

Direct Benefit Transfer was launched by Government of

India.

12. BHIM APP – Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) is an

instant payment application which allow users to

transfer fund with the help of mobile phone. It is based

on the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and developed

by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

● The Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched BHIM

app for Android and iOS devices on 30th Dec 2016

at the Digi Dhan Mela event in New Delhi.

Features of BHIM App - ● Maximum limit- User can transfer maximum

amount upto Rs 20,000 in a day. ● You can send upto Rs. 10,000 in a single transaction. ● Transaction Charges – There is no transaction

charges. ● UPI PIN – It is a four or six digit number which is set

by the users itself on BHIM after the registration process. UPI PIN is used for authenticating all transactions done on UPI platform (BHIM or *99# or UPI apps).

● VPA - Virtual Payment Address (VPA) is a unique identifier which you can use to send and receive money on UPI. Note: You can use two VPA’s. First one is the default VPA (mobile number@upi). The second one, you can create on “My Profile” page.

Important news related to digital banking -

1. State Bank of India has launched an Artificial Intelligence powered chat assistant to help customers in various banking activities. The chat assistant is known

as SBI Intelligent Assistant (SIA). This chatbot is made by an Artificial intelligence banking platform - Payjo.


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‘SIA’ is considered as a revolution in the digital banking field. It can resolve and handle about 10,000 queries per second.

2. Canara Bank has launched its first digital Banking branch in Bengaluru. This branch is named as ‘CANDI’.

3. Airtel Payments Bank has become the first payment bank in India to merge the UPI (Unified Payment Interface) on its digital platform. With this initiative, the bank customers can now link their bank accounts on Bhim app and make UPI payments. Note: Airtel Payments Bank (APB), a joint venture between Bharti Airtel Ltd and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.

4. Paytm Payments Bank join hands with NPCI for RuPay digital card - Paytm Payments Bank (PPB) joined with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for RuPay digital card. With this debit card customer will get free insurance cover of up to Rs 2 lakh in the case of death or permanent total disability.

5. Google Tez – The new payment app for India by Google. It is a mobile wallet app which is based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform. This works similar to the BHIM app.

Important points related to digital banking

1. DCB Bank launches first iris-based ATM in

Telangana - ATM dispense cash without a debit card as

the machine verifies the customer from the Aadhaar

details like the iris and fingerprint.

2. DCB Bank launched first Aadhaar-based ATM in

Bengaluru - The ATM accepts Aadhaar number and

Aadhaar fingerprint (biometric) instead of ATM / debit

card and PIN to dispense cash from the bank account.

3. Country’s first banking robot - Lakshmi launched by

City Union Bank in Chennai.

4. RBL Bank becomes the first Indian bank to launch

Aadhaar Payment Bridge System for small ticket micro-

finance loan disbursements.

5. RBL Bank launches India’s first credit card exclusively

for GOLF LOVERS.

6. India’s first cash giving app ‘CASHe’ launched by Tslc

Pte Ltd.

7. First Digital State - Kerala declared first digital state

in India.

8. First Digital District – Nagpur declared first digital

district in India.

9. First Digital Village - Akodara village in Sabarkantha

district of Gujarat became India’s first Digital village.

The village was adopted by ICICI Bank under its digital

village project 2015.

10. First cashless island - Karang, a small lake island in

Manipur, has become the country’s first cashless island.

11. First ‘digital’ tribal colony - The Nedumkayam tribal

colony at Nilambur in Malappuram lacks basic facilities

including toilets. However, the colony has now become

a role model to the country by becoming the first

'digital' tribal colony in India.

List of committees on Digital Banking - ● Committee for accelerating growth of Digital Payments in India is headed by Ratan P. Watal. ● Committee to study financial technology and digital banking issues in India is headed by - Sudarshan Sen

Mobile Apps launched by different banks

1. SBI

● ‘Mingle’ - the social media banking platform for Facebook and Twitter users.

● ‘Buddy’ - a mobile wallet app in collaboration with Accenture and MasterCard.

● ‘eforex’ - an internet-based platform that enables customers to book their foreign exchange transactions online.

● MobiCash – A digital wallet in partnership with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

● SBI Quick – With this app customer can get balance or mini statement of account through mobile phone.

● Samadhan – A self-service mobile app for everyday banking needs.

2. ICICI ● Mera iMobile - India’s first mobile banking

application for rural customers. ● iMobile – With the help of this app a customer can

perform banking activities just like – transfer of funds, bill payments, can check account balance, etc.


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● Tap n Pay – ICICI bank launched this service in collaboration with Tech Mahindra Limited which is based on Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. This service allows any customer to make over-the-counter payments without using cash.

● M- Pesa – ICICI bank launched this service in collaboration with Vodafone. With this facility, a customer can transfer money and make payments via mobile phone.

● Pocket - ICICI Bank launches India's first digital bank app ‘Pockets’.

● Money2India - It is an online money transfer tracking service offered to Non-Resident Indians.

● Eazypay - India’s first mobile app for merchants to accept payments on mobile phone through multiple digital modes.

● ICICIBankPay on Twitter - This service in India enables ICICI Bank customers to transfer money to anyone in the country who has a Twitter account.

● Smart Vault – Fully automated lockers which is based on robotic technology to access the lockers from the safe vault conveniently at any time of their preference in total privacy, without any intervention of the branch staff.

● Contactless Credit and Debit Cards - India’s first

‘Contactless’ debit and credit cards, enabling its

customers to make electronic payments by just

waving the cards near the merchant terminal in lieu of dipping or swiping them.

● Software robotics - ICICI bank launched India’s first 'software robotics' initiative. Over 200 software robots are now performing over 1 million transactions per day for the bank which comprises 10% of its total transactions.

● ICICI Bank launched “ATM on Wheels” India’s first Mobile ATM, in Mumbai.

3. HDFC

● EVA - HDFC Bank launches chatbot Eva for customer services. Electronic Virtual Assistant (Eva) is India's first Artificial Intelligence -based banking chatbot and can answer millions of customer queries across multiple channels.

● Chillar - It is India's first multi-bank mobile payment app that links directly to your bank account. It allows customer to send money instantly from their HDFC Bank account to anyone in their phone book or to a beneficiary using their ‘Account number & IFSC code' or ‘UPI ID’.

● PayZapp – With this you can do online payments and money transfer.

4. AXIS

● ‘Lime’ - India’s first Mobile App integrating Wallet, Shopping, Payments and Banking

● First Multi- Currency Contactless Card service launched by - Axis Bank has launched the first Contactless Debit, Credit and Multi-Currency Forex Card in association with VISA payWave in the country

5. Federal Bank

● ‘Scan N Pay’ - allows customers to instantly transfer money to any of the Federal Bank accounts through android phones

● Lotza’ is Unified Payment Interface app of Federal Bank.

● FedMobile – Customers can access specified banking services including information relating to their Account(s), transaction details and such other services as may be made available by the Bank from time to time.

● FedBook Selfie - India’s first mobile app for bank account opening.

6. PNB launches – ● mBanking - With the help of this app a customer

can perform banking activities just like – transfer of funds, bill payments, can check account balance, etc.

● Wave N Pay – Contactless credit cards, enabling its customers to make electronic payments by just waving the cards near the merchant terminal in lieu of dipping or swiping them.

7. Kotak Mahindra Bank –

● 811 mobile app - digital banking system on mobile.

Note: 811 offers a zero -balance savings account

with zero charges for all digital transactions,

Note: Kotak is the first bank in India to integrate the newly

introduced Aadhaar-based OTP authentication process for

account opening on mobile. Only Aadhaar and PAN numbers

are required to open and operate 811.

8. Yes Bank –

● PhonePe - It works over the Unified Payments

Interface(UPI) platform developed by the National

Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and is

powered by YES Bank. PhonePe is a one stop UPI-

based app which can serve all your payment needs,

in a safe and secure manner.

● YES mPower - Yes Bank partnered with Silicon Valley-based bot platform Gupshup to launch an

artificial intelligence-powered banking chatbot

‘YES mPower’ that instantly gives information

about loan products. The ‘YES mPower’ bot is

available through Facebook Messenger.


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9. Indian Bank –

● IndPay – A mobile application service that enables

its customers to operate bank account from

anywhere, anytime.

10. Bank of Baroda –

● M-Connect - It offers you the chance to manage all

of your banking operations using your Smartphone

in a convenient, safe and simple manner.

11. Union Bank of India –

● U-Mobile - The mobile banking facility that will

help you do banking transactions using your mobile phone.

12. ‘Project Ananya’ by Syndicate Bank – Syndicate Bank

had launched the ‘Project Ananya’ which provide latest

digital banking services to its customer.

13. MobiKwik launched ‘Bubble Pin’ as a one-step offline

payments mode, which allows users to make payments

without data connection.

Banking & Financial terms

1. AEPS – Aadhar Enabled Payment System 2. APBS – Aadhar Payment Bridge System 3. ATM – Automated Teller Machine 4. ALM - Asset Liability Management 5. BBPS – Bharat Bill Payment System 6. BHIM - Bharat Interface for Money 7. CBS – Core Banking System 8. CIDR - Central Identities Data Repository 9. CTS – Cheque Truncation System 10. CDR - Corporate Debt Restructuring 11. CASA – Current Account Saving Account 12. CAD – Capital Account Deficit 13. CRR – Cash Reserve Ratio 14. ECS – Electronic Clearing Scheme 15. DNS - Domain Name System 16. DEAF - Depositor Education and Awareness Fund 17. EFTPOS - Electronic funds transfer at point of sale 18. EFT – Electronic Fund Transfer. 19. FRBM - Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management 20. LGD - Loss Given Default 21. GNFV - Gross Negative Fair Value 22. SFTs: Securities financing transactions 23. HCE - Host Card Emulation 24. PFE - Potential Future Exposure 25. ICAAP - Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process 26. IFSC - Indian Financial System Code 27. IMPS - Immediate Payment Service 28. IMPS - Interbank Mobile Payment Service 29. MMID - Mobile Money Identifier 30. MPIN - Mobile Personal Identification Number 31. NPA – Non- Performing Assets 32. NPCI - National Payment Corporation of India 33. NFS – National Financial Switch 34. NACH – National Automated Clearing House 35. NEFT – National Electronic Fund Transfer 36. NFC - Near field communication 37. NDTL – Net Demand and Time Liabilities. 38. OTC – Over the Counter 39. PIN – Personal Identification Number 40. PAC - Personal Access Code 41. PCA - Prompt Corrective Action

42. PSPs - Payment Support Providers 43. RTGS – Real Time Gross Settlement 44. USSD - Unstructured Supplementary Services Data 45. UIDAI - Unique Identification Authority of India 46. VPA - Virtual Payment Address. 47. GDR – Global Depository Receipt 48. GAAR - General anti avoidance rule 49. PAN – Permanent Account Number 50. PLR – Prime Lending Rate 51. SLR – Statutory Liquidity Ratio 52. SDR – Special Drawing Rights

53. DTAA – Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement

54. TIEA – Tax Information Exchange Agreement

55. EFSF – European Financial Stability Facility

56. PPP – Purchasing Power Parity 57. PPP – Public Private Partnership 58. NPS – New Pension Scheme 59. EEFC - Exchange Earner's Foreign Currency

60. FII – Foreign Institutional Investor

61. DII – Domestic Institutional Investor

62. GST – Goods and Services Tax 63. DTC – Direct Tax Code

64. FCNRA – Foreign Currency Non- Resident account

65. MFI - Micro Finance Institutions

66. MFDC – Micro Finance Development Council 67. TRAI - Telecom Regulatory Authority of India 68. MSF – Marginal Standing Facility

69. IDF – Infrastructure Debt Fund

70. CRIS – Comparative Rating Index for Sovereign 71. LIBOR – London Inter Bank Operation Rate 72. MIBOR – Mumbai Inter Bank Operation Rate 73. MICR – Magnetic Ink Character Recognition 74. SARFAESI - Securitization and Reconstruction of

Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest 75. BCBS - Basel Committee on Banking Supervision 76. NPCI - National Payments Corporation of India


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Agreement

India’s agreement with other countries

1. India & Hong Kong - The Union Cabinet Approved

Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of

Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income

between India & Hong Kong.

2. India & Colombia - The Union Cabinet approved

signing of Joint Interpretative Declaration (JID)

between India and Colombia regarding existing

Agreement for Promotion and Protection of

Investments.

Note:

• Capital of Colombia – Bogotá

• Currency of Colombia - Peso

• President - Juan Manuel Santos.

3. India & Philippines agreement on Agriculture &

related fields - The agreement provides cooperation in

fields of rice production and processing, dryland

farming systems, multi cropping system, bio-organic farming, solid and water conservation and

management, soil fertility, Agro forestry, sericulture,

livestock improvement etc. Note:

• Capital of Philippines – Manila.

• Currency of Philippines - Peso

• President - Rodrigo Duterte.

4. India and Kyrgyz - The Union Cabinet approved

protocol amending Agreement between India and

Kyrgyz for avoidance of double taxation and

prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on

income.

Note:

• Capital of Kyrgyz – Bishkek.

• Currency of Kyrgyz - Som.

• President - Almazbek Atambayev.

• PM - Sapar Isakov.

5. India & Armenia – The Union Cabinet approved

signing and ratifying agreement between India and

Armenia on cooperation and mutual assistance in

customs matters.

Note:

• Capital of Armenia – Yerevan.

• Currency of Armenia - Dram.

• President - Serzh Sargsyan.

• PM - Karen Karapetyan.

6. India & Tunisia - India and Tunisia jointly agreed to

enhance cooperation in various sectors including in the

fields of renewable energy, infrastructure, transport

and automobiles, textiles, agriculture, drugs &

pharmaceuticals, healthcare, ICT, SMEs and energy.

Note: Besides this, the Foreign Ministries of the two

nations have decided to hold a year-long Festival of

India in Tunisia and Festival of Tunisia in India in 2018

to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the establishment

of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Note:

• Capital of Tunisia – Tunis.

• Currency of Tunisia - Dinar.

• President - Beji Caid Essebsi.

• Head of Govt. - Youssef Chahed.

7. India & Italy - India and Italy have signed six

agreements to boost cooperation in the fields of

railways safety, energy and to enhance counter-terror

cooperation.

Note:

• Capital of Italy – Rome

• Currency of Italy - Euro.

• President - Sergio Mattarella.

• PM - Paolo Gentiloni. 8. India & Sri Lanka - India and Sri Lanka signed a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build 1200

houses in Hambantota, a southern port city of Sri

Lanka. Note:

• Capital of Sri Lanka –Sri Jayawardenepura

Kotte.

• Currency of Sri Lanka - Rupee.

• President - Maithripala Sirisena

• PM - Ranil Wickremesinghe.

India’s agreement with Financial Institutions

1. India & World Bank - India and World Bank signed a

financing agreement for loan of USD 119 million for

the Odisha Higher Education Programme for

Excellence & Equity (OHEPEE) Project.

Note: The loan will be provided by the International

Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD),

subsidiary of World Bank.

Objective of the OHEPEE Project –


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• To improve the quality of student’s equitable

access to selected institutions in Odisha through

Institutional Development Plan (IDP) Grants.

• It will enhance governance of the higher

education system by improving governance in

colleges and through improvement of financial

and procurement management in all government

and government-aided colleges.

• The project is expected to be completed by 30

November 2022.

2. Andhra Pradesh & Asian Infrastructure Investment

Bank (AIIB) – The AIIB has approved USD 2 million

loan (Rs. 13,000 crores) for five projects in Andhra

Pradesh. The five projects include – Two roads and

buildings department, one each for rural safe drinking

water department, municipal and urban development

department and Panchayat Raj department.

3. India & World Bank sign agreement for Assam

Rural Transformation Project - India and the World

Bank signed USD 200 million loan agreement for the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project.

4. India & ADB sign agreement to promote fiscal

reforms in West Bengal - The Union Government and

Asian Development Bank has signed USD 300 million

loan to promote a series of fiscal reforms in West

Bengal to improve the quality of public service

delivery.

5. Nepal & ADB - The Asian Development Bank

(ADB) will provide a USD 152 million to Nepal for the

implementation and enhancement of its power

transmission and distribution. ADB and Nepal’s

Ministry of Finance signed the loan agreement in

Kathmandu.

6. The Finance Ministry & World Bank ink pact of $24

million to improve India’s Forest Ecosystem Services.

7. NABARD sanctioned loan of Rs 1,350-cr to

Rajasthan Government for the creation of rural

infrastructure in the state under the Rural

Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).

8. World Bank to provide $250-million loan to train India's

job seekers - The World Bank has cleared a USD 250-

million loan for making Indian youth more employable

through reskilling, in a move that is seen to aid the Skill

India Mission. Under the program, adults in 15-59 years

of age, underemployed or unemployed, will get the skill

training.

9. ADB & Himachal Pradesh – The Asian Development

Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of $80 million (about

Rs 524 crore) for the modernization of Himachal

Pradesh’s technical and vocational education and

training (TVET) institutions.

10. Rajasthan & ADB - The government of India and Asian

Development Bank (ADB) has signed a 220 million

dollar loan for improving connectivity as well as

transport efficiency and safety on State Highways of

Rajasthan.

11. Asian Development Bank has pledged USD 10 billion

for development projects in India.

12. India, World Bank sign USD 35 million agreement to

enhance efficiency in tax administration in Assam.

13. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has

approved $150 million equity investment loan to the

India Infrastructure Fund.

14. India & World Bank signed an agreement – for

Himachal Pradesh Financial Management Capacity

Building programme. USD 36 million.

15. India signed a USD 39.2 million loan agreement with the

World Bank for the Assam Citizen Centric Service

Delivery project

16. AIIB & Gujarat- China based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced its approval to

a $329 million loan to build access roads across 4,000

villages in Gujarat.

17. World Bank & Assam – World Bank has approved a

loan assistance of 44 million dollars for the Assam

State Public Finance Institutional Reforms (ASPIRe)

Project.

Financial & Economy News

1. Government announces Bank Recapitalisation Plan to infuse Rs. 2.11 lakh crore capital in PSBs - The Union Government has announced Bank Recapitalisation Plan to infuse Rs. 2.11 lakh crore ( $32.4 billion) capital over next two years into public sector banks (PSBs) and prioritised financing support

for MSMEs in 50 clusters. The capital infusion will be accompanied by a series of banking sector reforms that will be revealed in the coming months.

Note:

➢ Under this plan, PSBs will get Rs 1.35 lakh

crore from Recapitalisation Bonds, Rs 18,000


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crore from Budgetary and remaining Rs

58,000 crore will be raised through sale of

share of banks.

2. Govt. constitutes Alternative Mechanism Panel for

PSBs consolidation - The Union Government has

constituted Alternative Mechanism Panel headed by

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to oversee

merger proposals of public sector banks (PSBs). The

other members of the panel include Railway and Coal

Minister Piyush Goyal and Defence Minister Nirmala

Sitharaman.

3. Core sector growth hits 6-month high of 5.2% in

September 2017 - According to index of eight core

industries released by the Union Ministry of Commerce

and Industry, Core sector growth has hit six-month

high in September 2017.

Note: The core industries comprising of coal, crude oil,

natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement,

and electricity was up 5.2% in September 2017

compared with 4.4% in August 2017 and 5.3% in

September 2016. Besides, August 2017 core sector

growth was revised downwards from 4.9%.

4. No Tax on Cash Sales of Agricultural Produce for

Less than 2 Lakh Rupees - The Income Tax

Department has clarified that the cash sales of

agricultural produce by a cultivator to a trader for less

than 2 lakh rupees will not attract tax under the

Income Tax Act.

5. PFRDA increases maximum age of joining under

NPS-Private Sector to 65 years - The Pension Fund

Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) increased the maximum age of joining under National

Pension System (NPS)-Private Sector (All Citizen and

Corporate Model) from the existing 60 years to 65

years of age.

Note:

With this, any Indian Citizen, resident or non-resident,

between the age of 60- 65 years can now join NPS and

continue up to the age of 70 years in NPS.

6. GIC Re launched India’s 3rd largest IPO - General Insurance Corp of India (GIC Re) launched its mega Rs 11,370 crore initial public offer (IPO). This is India's third biggest IPO ever after Coal India's Rs 15,200 crore and Reliance Power's Rs 11,700 crore issues.

7. Wholesale inflation rose to a four-month high of 3.24 per cent in August as prices of food articles, led by onions and vegetables, soared. Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index was 1.88 per cent in July 2017 and 1.09 per cent in August 2016.

8. First regional centre of New Development Bank opened in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Note:

● The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) with an initial authorised capital of the bank is USD 100 billion.

● The headquarter of NDB is in Shanghai, China.

● K.V. Kamath is the first President of NDB.

9. BSNL Launches digital wallet bespoke - BSNL went digital by launching a bespoke mobile wallet (mobile payment App) that would enable its existing 100 million customers to make Bill payments. The wallet has been developed and issued by MobiKwik on behalf of BSNL.

10. Nestle set up a first food safety institute in Manesar, Gurugram to help develop standards in food safety and quality. It will provide guidance and training on food safety. While this is the first such institute in India, Nestle already runs a similar Institute each in China and Lausanne, Switzerland.

11. India becomes 1st country to give to UN Tax Fund with $100000 contribution - India has contributed $100,000 to a UN fund to help developing countries actively participate in the discussion of tax issues, becoming the first country to make the contribution. The UN Tax Trust Fund aims to support the work of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.

12. WTO estimated World Trade to grow at 3.6% in 2017. According to revised estimates circulated by the World Trade Organisation, the World trade in goods is estimated to grow at a higher 3.6 percent in 2017. Earlier growth was projected at 2.4 percent in 2017.

13. US shut down Pakistan’s Habib Bank - The US

banking regulators has shut down the Pakistan’s Habib

Bank office in New York for constantly failing to

attention concerns over possible terrorist financing and

money laundering.

Note: Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan is a Karachi

based multinational bank. It is the largest bank by assets

in Pakistan. Sultan Ali Allana is a Chairman and Nauman

Dar is a President & CEO of HBL.

14. India’s Forex reserves cross $400 billion for first

time - According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s

foreign exchange (Forex) reserves have crossed $400

billion mark for the first time. The increase was due

sharp rise in foreign currency assets.

Note: India is now at sixth position in forex reserves

ranking behind China (3,053 billion reserves), Japan

($1,188 billion), Switzerland ($743 billion), Saudi

Arabia ($489 billion) and Taiwan ($441 billion).


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15. Air India Ties up with PNB, IndusInd - Air India has

tied up Punjab National Bank and IndusInd Bank to

secure loans to the tune of over Rs 3,000 crore for

meeting working capital requirements.

16. Core sector growth rises to 4.9% in August 2017 -

According to Ministry of Commerce & Industry, eight

core sectors grew by 4.9% in August 2017, the highest

growth rate since April 2017. It was higher than 3.1% in

August 2016 and 2.6% in July 2017

17. IIP rises to 9-month high of 4.3% in August 2017-

According to data released by Central Statistics Office

(CSO), factory output measured in terms of Index of

Industrial Production (IIP) has grown nine-month high

to 4.3% in August 2017.

About Index of Industrial Production (IIP) - The IIP

is composite indicator that measures short-term

changes in volume of production of basket of industrial

products during given period with respect to chosen

base period. It is compiled and published monthly by

Central Statistical Organization (CSO), Ministry of

Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Note:

● The CSO had revised base year of IIP from 2004-05

to 2011-12 in May 2017 to capture structural

changes in economy and improve quality and

representativeness of indices.

● The revised IIP (2011-12) reflects changes in

industrial sector and also aligns it with base year of

other macroeconomic indicators like Wholesale

Price Index (WPI) and Gross Domestic Product

(GDP).

● The IIP covers 407 item groups. Sector wise these

items falls into 3 categories viz. Manufacturing

(405 items), Mining (1 items) & Electricity (1 item).

The weights of three sectors are 77.63%, 14.37%,

7.9% respectively.

18. ICEX launches world’s first diamond futures

contracts - The Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) as

launched world’s first diamond futures contracts to

provide exporters with a hedging tool. ICEX has received approval from market regulator Securities

Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to commence trading

with diamond futures contracts.

Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) –

● ICEX is deemed recognized Stock exchange

providing a nation-wide on-line trading platform in

commodity derivative.

● It is a public-private partnership with Reliance

Capital, MMTC Ltd, Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd,

Indian Potash Ltd, KRIBHCO and IDFC Bank as

major shareholders.

● It was established under the SCRA, 1956 in terms of

Section 131(B) of Finance Act, 2015 pursuant to

central Government notification issued in August

2015.

19. Union Government launches Bharat 22 ETF to sell

stakes in 22 firms - The Union Finance Ministry has

launched second exchange-traded fund (ETF),

named Bharat 22. It will help to speed up

Government’s disinvestment programme budgeted to

raise a record Rs 72,500 crore in the FY 2018.

Note:

● Bharat 22 comprise of 22 stocks including those of

central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), public

sector banks (PSBs) and its holdings under the

Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India

(SUUTI).

● Bharat 22 is a well-diversified ETF spanning six

sectors — basic materials, energy, finance,

industrials, FMCG and utilities. ● The sector wise weightage in the Bharat 22 Index

is basic materials (4.4%), energy (17.5%), finance

(20.3%), FMCG (15.2%), industrials (22.6%), and

utilities (20%).

About Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are essentially index

funds that are listed and traded on exchanges like

stocks. They are basically basket of stocks with

assigned weights that reflects the composition of an

index. They are similar to mutual funds in a certain

manner but are more liquid as they can be sold

quickly on stock exchanges like shares. The ETFs

trading value is based on the net asset value of the

underlying stocks that it represents

20. MCX gets SEBI approval to launch India’s first gold

options contract – Commodity derivatives bourse

Multi Commodity Exchange Ltd (MCX) has received

markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of

India’s (SEBI) approval to launch India’s first gold options contract.

Note: The MCX is the country’s largest metals and

energy commodity bourse. It is country’s first listed

commodity futures exchange that facilitates online

trading, and clearing and settlement of commodity

futures transactions, thereby providing a platform for

risk management.

21. CCEA approves implementation of Dairy Processing

& Infrastructure Development Fund scheme - The


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Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has

approved implementation of Dairy Processing &

Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) scheme with

an outlay of Rs 10881 crore.

Note:

● The Dairy Processing & Infrastructure

Development Fund will be set up as a corpus of Rs

8004 crore with National Bank for Agriculture and

Rural Development (NABARD).

● The scheme will be implemented during the period

from 2017-18 to 2028-29.

● The project will be implemented by National Dairy

Development Board (NDDB) and National Dairy

Development Corporation (NCDC) directly through

the End Borrowers.

22. New Development Bank (NDB) - has approved USD

470 million loan for Madhya Pradesh’s Multi-Village

Rural Drinking Water Supply Scheme Project.

23. Telecom giant Verizon has acquired Yahoo’s core

business for $4.48bn (£3.51m), thus ending Yahoo’s two-decade long run as an independent company.

Verizon is the No.1 wireless operator in the US.

24. Union Government restricts import of gold, silver items from South Korea. India is the world's biggest gold

consumer after China and it imposes a 10 percent

import duty on gold and silver. 25. India to import crude oil from US for first time –

India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, for the first

time will import crude oil from the United States. The

purchase comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s

visit to the US in June 2017 when President Donald

Trump had assured that US looks forward to export

more energy products to India.

26. DIPP to set up India’s first TISC in Punjab –

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)

will establish India’s first Technology and Innovation

Support Center (TISC) at Patent Information Centre of

Punjab. TISC will be established in Punjab under the

World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) TISC

program.

27. NMCE, ICEX to merge to create India’s third biggest

commodity exchange - National Multi Commodity

Exchange (NMCE), India’s first demutualised online

national multi-commodities exchange will merge with

Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX). The merged entity

will create India’s third biggest commodity exchange.

Note:

● The largest commodity exchange by volume is the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) followed by

National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange

(NCDEX).

● At present, India has six national commodity

exchanges namely, Multi Commodity Exchange

(MCX), National Commodity and Derivatives

Exchange (NCDEX), National Multi-Commodity

Exchange (NMCE) and Indian Commodity

Exchange (ICEX), ACE Derivatives exchange (ACE)

and Universal commodity exchange (UCX) apart

from numerous regional exchanges.

● Government had established regulatory body is

Forward Markets Commission (FMC) in 1953. It

was merged with the Securities and Exchange

Board of India (SEBI) in September 2015.

28. Union Government launches new tax payer service

module Aaykar Setu - Aaykar Setu, a new tax payer

service module - The module was launched in a mobile

responsive android version along with the desktop

version to enhance mobile access experience. 29. India’s Largest Municipal Bond Programme

launched - Union Urban Development Minister

Venkaiah Naidu has launched India’s largest municipal

bond programme. The Pune Municipal Corporation

(PMC) became the first municipal corporation in the

country to tap money through municipal bonds in 14

years. The AA+ rated PMC’s municipal bonds raised Rs 200 crore at 7.59 per cent rate at the Bombay Stock

Exchange (BSE).

Note:

● This is the first-ever mobilisation of debt capital by

a municipal corporation on the BSE BOND

platform. This will also be the first issuance since

the publication of ‘Issue and Listing of Debt

Securities by Municipalities Regulations, 2015’ by

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

● Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) was assisted by

the US Department of Treasury to create a debt

policy.

About Municipality Bonds - Municipality bonds can be

issued by the city corporations to fund developmental

projects. Institutional investors, as well as the public, can

buy these bonds. The corporations can use the revenues

earned from the developmental projects like Metro rail

network to repay the interest and principal on these bonds.

These municipal bonds have now been permitted for public

offering by SEBI.

Municipal bonds have been in existence in India from the

year 1997. Cities such as Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Nashik

and Madurai have already issued them. These bonds will


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help the city corporations to directly raise funds without the

help of grants from the state governments or agencies such

as World Bank.

SBI Bank in News

1. SBI Sanctions Rs2,317 crore for Financing Solar

Power Projects - State Bank of India announced

sanction of credit facilities amounting to Rs2,317 crore to corporates for financing Grid Connected

Rooftop Solar projects under an SBI-World Bank

program.

2. SBI launched India’s first bond index in London - SBI along with FTSE Russell, global index and data provider launched FTSE SBI Bond Index series at London Stock Exchange (LSE). It is India’s first bond index series for overseas investors.

3. SBI launched SME Assist for MSME Clients – SBI has launched a new initiative ‘SME Assist’ to provide a short-term working capital demand loan to its MSME clients. It offers loans to MSME customers on the basis of their input credit claims under Goods and Services Tax (GST). The loan processing fee under the scheme is Rs 2,000.

4. SBI to set up India’s largest Innovation Centre in Mumbai – SBI will set up a 15,000-sqft innovation centre at its Global IT Centre in Belapur in Navi Mumbai.

5. SBI launches first paperless Banking services sbiINTOUCH in Nepal – SBI has launched its fully automatic digital banking services in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.

6. SBI, World Bank finance ₹400-cr solar projects – SBI and the World Bank had financed 100 MW of rooftop solar projects worth Rs. 400 crore in India.

7. SBI tops share of Wilful Default to PSBs - SBI, accounts for over 27 per cent of the total amount owed to public sector banks by wilful defaulters. As many as 1,762 wilful defaulters owed SBI Rs 25,104 crore. Punjab National Bank (PNB) is next on the list with 1,120 wilful defaulters having outstanding non-performing assets (NPAs) of Rs 12,278 crore. Together these two banks account for Rs 37,382 crore or 40 per cent of the total outstanding loans.

8. SBI Tops Trust and Popularity Charts - According to

a survey conducted by Brand Finance, a business

valuation and strategic consultancy, SBI is India’s most

trusted and most popular bank.

Other Bank in News

1. IPPB Bank to become operational in 650 districts

by April 2018 - The Union Government has

announced that India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will

become operational in all 650 districts of the country

by April 2018 to facilitate financial inclusion. Note: IPPB has been set up as a Public Limited

Company under Department of Posts with 100%

Government of India (GOI) equity.

2. HDFC Bank Launched SmartUp Zone in Kochi -

HDFC Bank has announced the launch of its SmartUp

Zone in Kochi, an exclusive area inside the branch

dedicated for start-ups.

3. IDFC Bank Partners with MobiKwik - IDFC Bank has

entered into a “strategic alliance” with mobile wallet

major MobiKwik to launch a co-branded virtual Visa prepaid card for customers of MobiKwik.

4. Federal Bank Gets RBI Nod to Open Offices in

Kuwait, Singapore - Federal Bank has obtained RBI approval to open representative offices at Kuwait and

Singapore.

Note: The bank already has its representative offices

in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and it has tied up with 110+

overseas banks/remittance partners. It has already

received approval from RBI for opening a branch in

DIFC, Dubai and a representative office in Bahrain, the setting up of which is under process.

5. Yes Bank Unveils Bhim Yes Pay - Yes Bank, unveiled

a superior payment wallet service, BHIM Yes Pay by

fully integrating the application with all the IndiaStack

APIs and NPCI Products.

6. AU Small Finance Gets Scheduled Commercial Bank

Status - AU Small Finance Bank has received Reserved

Bank of India (RBI) approval to operate as Scheduled

Commercial Bank. This bank's name has now been

included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

Note: Now AU Small Finance Bank will be able to do

borrowing and lending with RBI under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) and Marginal Standing

Facility (MSF). It will also enable AU Small Finance


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Bank to issue Certificate of Deposits (CDs) on

competitive interest rates in the market to get

liquidity.

7. AU Small Bank, SIDBI Launch Rs 200 crore Fund for

MSMEs - AU Small Finance Bank tied up with Small

Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to

launch a Rs200 crore fund for providing loans to micro,

small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

8. EEPC India Signs Pact with Punjab National Bank -

The Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of

India has signed an MoU with Punjab National Bank to

provide easy access to finance for SMEs and merchant

exporters of the council.

9. ICICI Bank Teams with Apple to Launch Voice-

Based International Remittance Service - ICICI

Bank announced the launch of India's first voice-based

international remittance service to enable non-

resident Indians (NRIs) to send money to any bank in

India.

Note: With this new feature in the ICICI Bank's

Money2India app, an NRI customer can instantly

initiate a remittance to his/her existing payees in India

with just a simple voice command to Apple's virtual

voice assistant, Siri, on their iPhone/iPad.

10. IDBI Bank only PSB to get ‘high’ rating for code

compliance - According to the Code Compliance Rating

of banks done by the Banking Codes and Standards

Board of India (BCSBI) 2017, only one (IDBI Bank) out

of 26 public sector banks and eight out of 17 private

sector banks got ‘high’ rating for their adherence to

code compliance. The eight private sector banks that got ‘high’ rating

are- Axis Bank, DCB Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank,

IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, RBL Bank and

YES Bank. The three foreign banks are Citibank, HSBC

and Standard Chartered Bank, that were surveyed got

‘high’ ranking.

11. Kotak Bank launched ‘Kotak Remit’ an Aadhaar-

based integrated outward forex remittance solution for

both customers and non-customers.

12. Fincare Small Finance Bank starts banking

operations - Fincare Small Finance Bank

(previously known as Disha Microfin Limited) kick-

started its banking operations with about 25

operational branches across Gujarat, Tamil Nadu,

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The bank was given

final small finance bank (SFB) licence from the Reserve

Bank of India (RBI) in May 2017.

Note: Rajeev Yadav is the CEO of Fincare Small

Finance Bank. Its headquartered is in Bengaluru,

Karnataka.

13. PNB & BSNL ties up for mobile wallet “Speedpay” -

Punjab National Bank (PNB) & BSNL has joined hands

to roll out open mobile wallet Speedpay across 10 states

in the country. Under the agreement, BSNL will expand

Speedpay services in Punjab, Chandigarh(UT), Haryana,

Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,

Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Uttarakhand.

14. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank receives scheduled

bank status from RBI - Ujjivan Small Finance Bank

Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ujjivan Financial

Services Ltd, has been given scheduled bank status by

RBI. Ujjivan SFB commenced its operations as a Small

Finance Bank with effect from February 1, 2017.

Note: Samit Ghosh is the MD & CEO of Ujjivan SFB.

It headquartered is in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

15. Fino Payments Bank has launched its mobile banking app called “BPay”.

16. Canara Bank has launched its first ‘Digital Banking Branch’ named 'CANDI' in Bengaluru. The most attractive feature of the digital branch is a humanoid robot that addresses basic queries of customers on banking products and services. This is a first-of-its kind initiative by a public-sector bank in the country.

17. Karur Vysya Bank opens its first Aadhaar Enrolment Centre in Chennai. KVB is the first private

sector bank to provide this service in India.

18. Corporation Bank has bagged the best performance

awards for Self Help Groups bank linkage program for

Karnataka for 2015-16 and 2016-17 from National

Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

(Nabard).

19. KVGB Bags Best Performer Award - National Bank

for Agriculture and Rural Development

(NABARD) has conferred the ‘best performance award’ for 2015-16 and 2016-17 to Karnataka Vikas Grameen

Bank (KVGB) for its work in the field of credit-linking

joint liability groups (JLGs).

20. IDBI Bank has launched ‘Project Nishchay’ in

partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to

accelerate its turnaround program and improve

financial performance.

21. HDFC Life Insurance Company has launched 'Neo', a servicing bot for Twitter that uses artificial intelligence for customer service. This is the second bot put in operation by HDFC Life, after the launch of SPOK, which was an email bot to answer customer queries.


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Rank of India in Global Indexes: 2017

1. Global Business Optimism - India ranked at 7th

position among 36 countries. The repost is published

by Grant Thornton’s International Business Report

(IBR).

Note: Top three countries – Indonesia, Finland &

Netherlands.

2. Doing Business Report 2018 – India ranked at

100th position among 190 countries. The repost is

published by World Bank.

Note:

• India has jumped over 30 ranks to attain

100th spot from 130th position in 2017 Ease

of Doing Business Index.

• Top three countries –New Zealand, Singapore

& Denmark.

3. Global Gender Gap Report 2017 - India ranked at

108th position among 144 countries. The repost is

published by World Economic Forum.

Note:

• India’s previous rank – 87th in 2016.

• Top three countries – Iceland, Norway &

Finland.

4. Global Passport Power Rank 2017: India ranked at 75th position among 94 countries. The repost is

published by Canada based global financial advisory

firm Arton Capital.

Note:

• Top three countries – Singapore, Germany &

Sweden.

5. India tops list of new TB cases in 2016: WHO

Report - According to the Global TB Report 2017

released by World Health Organisation (WHO), India

has topped list of seven countries, accounting for

64% of the over 10 million new tuberculosis (TB)

cases worldwide in year 2016.

Note: India was followed by Indonesia, China,

Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria and South Africa. 6. Global Financial Centres Index 2017 – India’s

financial capital Mumbai was ranked at 60th position

among 92 financial centres. The repost is published by the Z/Yen and China Development Institute.

● London has topped the index followed by New York

& Hong Kong.

● The GFCI is released twice a year in March & September.

7. Global Hunger Index 2017: India ranked at 100th

positions among 119 countries. The report is published

by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

● India’s Previous year ranking – 97th

● Most hunger countries in the list– The Central

African Republic (CAR), Chad and Sierra Leone.

● IFPRI headquarter – Washington D.C., US

● Director General - Shenggen Fan

8. Global Retail Development Index 2017 – India

ranked at the top position among 30 countries. The

repost is published by - A.T. Kearney's. ● India’s Previous year ranking – 2nd

● The countries ranked on second & third spot –

China and Malaysia.

● A.T. Kearney Headquarter – Chicago, Illinois,

United States ● CEO - Johan Aurik

9. World Human Development Index 2017 – India

ranked at 131st positions among 188 countries. The

report is published by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

● India’s Previous year ranking – 130

● Top three countries are - Norway, Australia and

Switzerland. ● UNDP Headquarter – New York

● Director General - Achim Steiner

10. Global Connectivity Index 2017 – India ranked at

43rd positions among 50 countries. The report is

compiled and published by Huawei a leading global information and communications technology.

● India’s Previous year ranking - 44

● Top three countries are – US, Singapore and

Sweden.

● Huawei headquarters– Shenzhen, China

● CEO - Ren Zhengfei (CEO)

11. Word Press Freedom Index 2017 – India ranked at

136th positions among 180 countries. The report is

compiled and published by Reporters Without

Borders.


● Top three countries are – Norway, Sweden &

Finland.

● Reporters Without Borders Headquarters– Paris,

France

● Director General - Christophe Deloire

12. Ease of Doing Business 2017 – India ranked at 130th


by World Bank Group.


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● Top three countries are – New Zealand, Singapore & Denmark.

● World Bank Group Headquarters– Washington,

DC, USA

● President - Jim Yong Kim

13. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index 2017 – India ranked at 8th positions among 25

countries. The report is published by A.T. Kearney.


● Top three countries are -US, Germany & China.

● A.T. Kearney Headquarter – Chicago, Illinois, United

States

● CEO - Johan Aurik

14. Global Competitiveness Index 2017 – India ranked at

40th positions among 137 countries. The report is

published by World Economic Forum (WEF).


● Top three countries are – Switzerland, US &

Singapore. ● World Economic Forum Headquarter – Cologny,

Switzerland

● Founder & CEO - Klaus Schwab

15. Global Human Capital index 2017 – India ranked at

103rd positions among 130 countries. The report is

published by the World Economic Forum.


● Top three countries are – Norway, Finland &

Switzerland.

● World Economic Forum Headquarter – Cologny,

Switzerland

● Founder & CEO - Klaus Schwab

16. Global Innovation Index 2017 - India ranked at 60th


by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World

Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).


● Top three countries are – Switzerland, Switzerland & the Netherlands.

● World Intellectual Property Organization

Headquarter – Geneva, Switzerland

● CEO - Francis Gurry

17. Global Peace Index 2017 - India ranked at 137th positions among 163 countries. The report is published

by the Institute for Economics & Peace.


● Top three countries are – Iceland, New Zealand &

Portugal. ● Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) headquarter

– Sydney, Australia.

● Chairman - Steve Killelea

18. World Happiness Index 2017 - India ranked at 122nd positions among 155 countries. The report is published

by United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions

Network.


● Top three countries are – Norway, Denmark &

Iceland.

● UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

Headquarter – New York, USA

● Director - Jeffrey Sachs

19. Global Resilience Index 2017 - India ranked at 60th


by FM Global. ● India’s Previous year ranking – 107

● Top three countries are – Switzerland, Luxembourg

& United Kingdom.

● FM Global Headquarter – Johnston, (US)

● Chairman & CEO - Shivan S. Subramaniam

20. Economic Freedom Index 2017 – India ranked at 143rd positions among 186 countries. The report is

published by ‘The Heritage Foundation’.


● Top three countries are – Hong Kong, Singapore & New Zealand.

● The Heritage Foundation headquarter –

Washington, D.C

● President - Edwin Feulner

21. International Intellectual Property Index 2017 –

India ranked at 43rd positions among 45 countries. The

report is published by US Chamber of Commerce’s

Global Intellectual Property Centre (GIPC). ● India’s Previous year ranking – 37

● Top three countries are – United States, United

Kingdom & Germany.

● US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual

Property Centre (GIPC) headquarter – Washington,

D.C

● President & CEO- David Hirschmann

22. Sustainable Development Goal Index 2017 - India

ranked at 116th positions among 157 countries. The

report is published by Sustainable Development

Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann

Stiftung.


● Top three countries are – Sweden, Denmark &

Finland.

23. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017– India


report is published by Transparency International (TI).


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● Top 3 countries - New Zealand and Denmark in joint first place followed by Finland and Sweden.

● Counties bottom of the index: Somalia was ranked

the most corrupt country. Other countries with

lower rankings were Syria, South Sudan, North

Korea.

● Transparency International (TI) Headquarter –

Berlin, Germany

● Chairman - José Ugaz

24. Global Index of Talent Competitiveness 2017 – India


report is published by INSEAD in partnership with The

Adecco Group and the Human Capital Leadership Institute of Singapore (HCLI).


● Top three countries are – Switzerland, Singapore,

United Kingdom 21. Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI)

2017 - India ranked at 40th positions among 130

countries. The report is published by the World

Economic Forum.

• India’s Previous year ranking – 52

• Top three countries are – Spain, France & Germany.

• World Economic Forum Headquarter – Cologny,

Switzerland

• Founder & CEO - Klaus Schwab

Govt. Schemes & Policy

1. Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana extend till 2019-

20 – The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

has extended the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana

(RKVY) as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana-

Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied

Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) for three

years i.e. 2017-18 to 2019-20.

Objective of RKVY-RAFTAAR - To make farming

remunerative economic activity by strengthening

farmer’s effort, risk mitigation and promoting

agribusiness entrepreneurship. The financial

allocation of scheme is Rs. 15,722 crore.

Note: Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana is launched in 2007 as

a part of the 11th Five Year Plan by the Government

of India. It is a State Plan Scheme of Additional

Central Assistance launched under the aegis of the

National Development Council, it seeks to achieve

4% annual growth in agriculture through

development of Agriculture and its allied sectors.

2. Kerala govt. launched ‘She Pad’ Scheme for

School Girls – The Kerala

government launched “She Pad,’’ a scheme to

distribute free sanitary napkins to girl students from

classes VI to XII in government and aided private

schools affiliated to the state school board. Kerala

became the first state to launch such schemes.

3. Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana - Union Minister of

Communications Manoj Sinha has launched the

Deen Dayal SPARSH yojana which aims to increase

the reach of Philately.

Here SPARSH means - Scholarship for Promotion of

Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby.

Key points –

• Under the scheme, it is proposed to award

annual scholarships to children of Standard

VI to IX having good academic record and

also pursuing Philately as a hobby through a

competitive selection process in all postal

circles.

• Every Postal Circle will select a maximum of

40 scholarships representing 10 students

each from Standard VI, VII, VIII & IX.

• The amount of Scholarship will be Rs.

6000/- per annum @ Rs. 500/- per month.

About Philately

• Philately is the hobby of collection and study

of Postage stamps.

• It also entails the collection, appreciation

and research activities on stamps and other

related philatelic products.

• Philately is called the king of hobbies

because Stamp collection as a hobby has lot

of educational benefits - it teaches a lot

about the socio economic political reality of

the period in which the stamp is issued or the theme on which it is issued.


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4. 'Grahak Sadak Koyla Vitaran' App - Union

Minister of Railways & Coal Piyush Goyal has

launched the ‘Grahak Sadak Koyla Vitaran App’

which aims to benefit customers of Coal India

Limited (CIL) lifting coal through road mode. The

app is launched in Kolkata.

Key points –

• The main benefits of the App for the

customers include easy accessibility of the

information at the click of the button.

• The app will monitor whether the dispatches

are made on the fair principle of ‘First in First Out’ basis.

• It will keep a track on all the activities from

issuance of Sale Order to physical delivery of

coal by road.

5. ‘Sampoorna Bima Gram Yojana’ –

Communications Minister Manoj Sinha has launched

the Sampoorna Bima Gram (SBG) Yojana in New

Delhi.

Key points -

• It is an initiative for expansion of client base

of Postal Life Insurance.

• To provide affordable life insurance services

to people living in rural areas of the country.

• All villages under the Saansad Adarsh Gram

Yojana will be brought under its ambit.

• At least one village (having a minimum of

100 households) will be identified in each of

the revenue districts of the country, wherein

endeavour will be made to cover all

households of that identified village with a

minimum of one RPLI (Rural Postal Life

Insurance) policy each.

Note:

➢ Postal Life Insurance (PLI),

introduced in 1884, is one of the

oldest life insurance schemes for

benefit of Government and semi-

Government employees.

➢ Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI),

introduced on March 24, 1995 on

recommendations of Malhotra

Committee, provides insurance cover

to people residing in rural areas,

especially weaker sections and

women living in rural areas.

➢ Low Premium and High Bonus is the

unique feature of PLI and RPLI

schemes.

➢ As on March 31, 2017, there were

46.8 lakh PLI and 146.8 lakh RPLI

policies across the country.

6. 'Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana’ (BBY) launched in MP – The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj

Singh Chouhan launched the 'Bhavantar Bhugtan

Yojna' for the farmers of the state and to provide

financial support in case of losses in crops.

Key points

➢ The scheme is also called the ‘Price Deficit

Financing Scheme’.

➢ At first, the scheme will cover 8 crops which

includes oil seeds and some pulses etc.

Soybean, Groundnut, Til, Ramtil. Maize,

Moong, Urad, Tuar Daal.

➢ The farmers are supposed to register

themselves with mandis to leverage the

benefits of Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana.

➢ The aim of the scheme is to encourage the

farmers to cultivate more oil seeds and

pulses products in the state.

7. 'Prerna' project for Women Farmers launched in

Odisha - Mahindra & Mahindra has launched a

‘Prerna’ programme to empower women working

in the agriculture sector by promoting efficient and

ergonomic farm tools and equipment.

Key points

➢ The project is launched in the state of Odisha,

with the intention to positively impact the lives

of over 1,500 families across 30-plus villages.

8. Union Ministries of Power & Textiles Jointly

launched 'SAATHI' Initiative - The Union

Ministries of Power and Textiles have jointly

launched an initiative 'SAATHI'.

SAATHI stands for - Sustainable and Accelerated

Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help

small Industries.

Key points –

➢ Under this initiative, Energy Efficiency Services

Limited (EESL), a public sector entity under the

administrative control of Ministry of Power,

would procure energy efficient Powerlooms,

motors and Rapier kits in bulk and provide


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them to the small and medium Powerloom units

at no upfront cost.

➢ The SAATHI initiative of the Government will be

jointly implemented by EESL and the office of

the Textile Commissioner on a pan-India basis.

➢ To kick start the implementation, cluster wise

demonstration projects and workshops will be

organized in key clusters such as Erode, Surat, Ichalkaranji, etc.

9. Ministry WCD launches campaign on 'women for

women': #IamThatWoman - In an attempt to end

Gender bias in women against women, the Ministry

of Women and Child Development is undertaking an

online campaign #IamThatWoman.

Key points –

➢ The campaign aims to highlight the various

aspects of women standing 'by' and 'for'

women.

➢ Ministry of WCD has urged people to shun

stereotypes associated with women harming

other women.

➢ Twitter and Facebook users have been encouraged to tag and share stories of women

helping women with a photograph and post

online with the hashtag #IamThatWoman.

Schemes under Ministry of Finance

1. Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana (PMVVY)-

• For the senior citizens aged 60 years and above • The Scheme provides an assured return of 8% p.a.

payable monthly (equivalent to 8.30% p.a. effective) for 10 years.

• The scheme will be operated by LIC. 2. Jan Suraksha Yojana- (i) PRADHAN MANTRI JEEVAN JYOTI BIMA YOJANA-

• PMJJBY is a one-year life insurance scheme. • Renewable from year to year, offering coverage for

death due to any reason and is available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years

• Premium of Rs.330/- per annum per member • life cover of Rs. 2 lakhs

(ii) PRADHAN MANTRI SURAKSHA BIMA YOJANA- • Premium of Rs.12 per year • Age group 18 to 70 years • Under it, risk coverage available will be Rs.2 lakh

for accidental death and permanent total disability and Rs. 1 lakh for permanent partial disability

(iii) Atal Pension Yojana- • Launched in 2015 • Focussed on all citizens in the unorganised sector • Age- min 18 years, Max- 40 years • The Union Govt. would also co-contribute 50% of

the subscriber’s contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower.

• Subscribers would receive the fixed pension at the age of 60 years, depending on their contributions.

3. PRADHAN MANTRI MUDRA YOJANA (PMMY)- • Launched in 2015 • In this scheme, Mudra (Micro Units Development

and Refinance Agency) bank has been opened to fund all MFI (Micro Financial institutions) which provide loans to the MSMEs.

• The lending priority will be given to SC/ST enterprises.

• MUDRA Bank has launched three loan instruments: (i) Shishu- loans up to Rs 50,000 (ii) Kishor- loans above Rs 50,000 and up to Rs. 5 lakhs (iii) Tarun- loans above Rs 5 lakh and up to Rs 10 lakh

4. Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana- • To provide social security to the persons who are

above or equal to 60 years. • Implemented through LIC. • It will provide an assured pension based on a rate

of return of 8% per annum for ten years. Schemes under Ministry of Women and Child Development – 1. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)-

• Launched by the PM on January 22, 2015 at Panipat, Haryana.

• Objective- Improve Child Sex Ratio, Protection and education of girl child.

• Current brand ambassador-Olympic Bronze medallist Sakshi Malik.

2. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana- • Launched by the Prime Minister on January 21,

2015. • Under Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Women

and Child Development. • It is a part of BBBP (Beti Bachao Beti Padhao). • Only for girls whose age are equal or below 10

years. • Tenure- 21 years from the date of opening or girl’s

marriage • Current interest rate- 8.3 Percent. • Account can be opened via post offices or

commercial banks.


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3. POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses) e-Box-

• Online complaint management system • Action against the offenders under the POCSO Act,

2012. • Any human being up to the age of 18 years is

recognised as a child under the POCSO Act. 4. SHe-box’ (sexual harassment electronic box) portal-

• Launched in July 2017. • Online platform to enable women employees of the

central govt. to file complaints related to sexual harassment at the workplace.

5. ‘SABLA’ Scheme- • Launched in 2010, also known as Rajiv Gandhi

Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls. • Development of adolescent girls of 11-18 years by

making them ‘self-reliant’. • Focus areas- Nutrition, Skill development and

Health. 6. Tejaswini Project-

• Initially the project has been implemented in 17 districts in Jharkhand.

• Tejaswini Socio-Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) Project.

• Project is financed by World Bank. 7. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

• Launched in October 2, 1975. • Provides food, education, and primary healthcare

to children under 6 years of age and their mothers. • Anyone can visit to the Aanganwadi centre and

enroll these services. 8. Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahayog Yojana-

• Provide financial aid of Rs 6,000 to pregnant women who undergo institutional delivery for hospital admission.

• The scheme provided cash transfer to pregnant women above the age of 18 years for up to two live births.

Other programs and schemes-

1. ‘Saubhagya’ (Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana) Scheme-

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 'Power for all' scheme today to mark the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.

• The scheme will be named ‘Saubhagya’ and will provide subsidy on equipment like transformers, meters and wires.

2. Mission Indradhanush • It was launched by Union Health Minister J. P.

Nadda on 25 December 2014. • It aims to immunize all children under the age of 2

years, as well as all pregnant women, against seven vaccine preventable diseases.

• The diseases being targeted are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, measles and Hepatitis B.

• Later Japanese Encephalitis and Haemophilus influenzae type B, Rubella, Japanese Encephalitis, Injectable Polio Vaccine Bivalent and Rotavirus also added.

3. Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) • Prime Minister Modi launched the Intensified

Mission Indradhanush (IMI) at Vadnagar in Gujarat on October 8, 2017.

• Through this programme, Government of India aims to reach each and every child under two years of age and all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme.

4. Udaan

• Udaan provides exposure to the youth of J&K to the best of corporate India and corporate India to the rich talent pool available in the State.

• The scheme not only provides skill enhancement and job opportunity but also connects these bright youths from the J&K with the vibrant corporate sector of India.

5. UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) • is a regional airport development and "Regional

Connectivity Scheme (RCS)" 6. UJALA Scheme-

• Prime Minister of India Sh. Narendra Modi on January 5, 2015 had launched the world's largest and most extensive LED distribution programme, UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Lighting for All).

• Recently UJALA scheme launched in Melaka, Malaysia.

7. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) • Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched by

Prime Minister on May 1st, 2016 in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh.

• It is an ambitious social welfare scheme which aims to provide free LPG connections to BPL households in the country.

8. Sagarmala project • Sagar Mala project is a strategic and customer-

oriented initiative of the Government of India to modernize India's Ports so that port-led


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development can be augmented and coastlines can be developed to contribute in India's growth.

9. ‘Himayat’ Programme

• It is a training-cum-placement programme for unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir.

10. DIKSHA Portal • For teacher training by HRD Ministry

Obituaries

1. Kirti Nidhi Bista - Former Nepal Prime Minister.

2. Manu Sharma - Noted author and Padma Shri

awardee Manu Sharma died in Varanasi, Uttar

Pradesh following a prolonged illness.

Note: His famous book was Krishna Ki Atmakatha.

He was nominated as one of the navratna of the

Swachha Bharat Abhiyan by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi. He donated his lifetime savings of

Rs 20 lakh for the renovation of a ghat in Varanasi to

carry out a cleanliness campaign.

3. Punathil Kunjabdulla Passes Away - Renowned

Malayalam writer. He is regarded as one of the

major figures of modernism in Malayalam literature.

4. Girija Devi - Eminent classical singer and Padma

Vibhushan awardee Girija Devi passed away in

Kolkata.

Note: She was considered as the "Queen of Thumri"

and fondly called Appa Ji. She was from the "Benaras

Gharana". She received the Padma Shri in 1972, the

Padma Bhushan in 1989 and the Padma Vibhushan

in 2016.

5. I V Sasi - Veteran Malayalam director I V Sasi, best

known for his films “Avalude Ravukal” and

“Devasuram” passed away.

6. Shamsher Khan - India's First Olympic Swimmer

passed away. He had represented India in 1956

Melbourne Olympics. He was the first swimmer to

represent India in Olympics.

7. Satish Chandra - Veteran & eminent historian

Satish Chandra passed away the age of 95.

8. Kundan Shah - Veteran director Kundan Shah, best

known for the dark comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro,

passed away.

Note: He made his directorial debut on television in

1986 with the popular series Nukkad.

9. Baddam Narasimha Reddy - Former Lok Sabha

Member and architect passed away in Hyderabad.

10. Chikkamadu - Janata Dal (Secular) member of

Karnataka Legislative Assembly (MLA) Chikkamadu

passed away after a prolonged illness.

11. Mansour bin Moqren - A Saudi prince Mansour bin

Moqren was killed when a helicopter with several

officials on board crashed near the kingdom's

southern border with war-torn Yemen.

12. Arjan Singh – Indian Air Force Marshal passed

away recently, who led the Indian Air Force in the

1965 India-Pakistan War

13. Pushpa Bhargava - The veteran molecular biologist

and a vehement critic of genetically modified crops

passed away. 14. Sitaram Panchal - Bollywood actor who made his

Bollywood debut with Bandit Queen passed away.

15. Vijay Nambisan - Veteran poet and writer passed

away. 16. Shirish Pai - The renowned Marathi poet and activist

has passed away. 17. Roy Dotrice - Veteran British Actor.

Note: He was known for his role as Leopold Mozart

in the Oscar-winning film Amadeus and his many

theater and TV roles.

Important Committees

1. YM Deosthalee Committee – task force on Public Credit Registry (PCR). The committee will review the current availability of information on credit in India.

2. B C Khanduri Committee - parliamentary standing committee on defense. The committee will examine the operational preparedness of armed forces and review accidents involving strategic defence assets and also

assess the procurement policy relating to defence equipment.

3. Arun Jaitley Committee - The union govt. has

constituted a ministerial panel headed by Finance

Minister Arun Jaitley to oversee merger proposals of

state-owned banks.


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4. Rina Mitra Committee - The Union govt. has set up a

study group under Special secretary in the home

ministry to examine the problems of people along IB,

LOC in J&K.

5. Justice (Retd.) G. Rohini Committee - to examine the

sub-categorization of the Other Backward Classes

(OBCs).

6. Dr Hasmukh Adhia Committee - The Union

government has constituted a GST Committee on Exports

headed by Dr Hasmukh Adhia.

Note: The panel is mandated to recommend to the GST

Council a suitable strategy for helping the export sector

in the post-GST set-up.

7. Dr. Rajiv Kumar Committee - With an aim to create new jobs by enhancing India’s export, the NITI Aayog constituted an Expert Task Force. The task force will be chaired by the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman, Dr. Rajiv Kumar.

8. Dr V. Kamakoti Committee - The Union Government constituted a task force on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the country's Economic Transformation. The 18-member panel, headed by Dr V. Kamakoti of IIT Madras.

9. K Kasturirangan Committee - to prepare National Education Policy

New Appointments

National

1. First woman President of NASSCOM in 2018 - Debjani

Ghosh.

Note: She will succeed R Chandrashekhar after his

tenure ends in March 2018. With this appointment she

will become first female president of NASSCOM.

2. New Secretary (security) in Cabinet Secretariat – S.K.

Sinha.

3. New Finance Secretary – Hasmukh Adhia. He

succeeds Ashok Lavasa.

4. New Private Secretary to President - Vikram Singh.

Note: Vikram Singh currently posted as a senior

director in the Traffic Commercial directorate in the

Railway Board.

5. New First Woman Police Chief of Karnataka -

Neelmani N. Raju has been appointed as Karnataka’s

first woman Director General and Inspector General of

Police. She succeeds Rupak Kumar Dutta.

6. New Director General of National Investigation

Agency (NIA) - Yogesh Chander Modi. He succeeds

Sharad Kumar.

7. New MD & CEO of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) -

Suresh Sethi.

Note: Hew was the former MD of Vodafone M-Pesa Ltd.

He succeeds AP Singh.

8. New Special Director of Central Bureau of Investigation

(CBI)- Rakesh Asthana.

9. New CEO & MD of Tata Steel – T. V. Narendran.

10. New CEO of Bharti AXA Life Insurance - Vikas Seth.

11. Union Government appoints Dineshwar Sharma as its Representative in Jammu & Kashmir. The Union

Government appointed Dineshwar Sharma, former

Director of Intelligence Bureau, as a representative of

the government to initiate and carry forward a

dialogue with the elected representatives, various

organizations and concerned individuals in the state of

Jammu and Kashmir.

12. New AIBA Women's Youth World Championships

Ambassador - MC Mary Kom

Note: The event will be held in Guwahati, Assam from

November 19 to 26.

13. New Vice Chief of Naval Staff – Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar. 14. New CEO of Association of Mutual Funds in India

(AMFI) – N.S. Venkatesh.

15. New as Additional Director General of CISF - Alok

Kumar Pateria.

16. New Lokayukta of Madhya Pradesh - Naresh Kumar

Gupta. He is a retired judge of Madhya Pradesh High

Court.

17. New Chief of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) - Anupam Kher (Veteran actor). He succeeds

Gajendra Chauhan.

18. New HSBC India CEO - Jayant Rikhye. He succeeds

Stuart Milne. Mr. Rikhye

19. New SBI Chairman - Rajnish Kumar. He succeeds

Arundhati Bhattacharya.

20. New President of US-India Business Council - Nisha

Desai Biswal.

Note: The US-India Business Council is the premier

business advocacy organization that was formed in

1975 at the request of the US and Indian governments. It is the largest bilateral trade association in the United


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States and has presence in New York, Silicon Valley

and New Delhi.

21. New CMD of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) Ltd - P. Alli Rani.

22. New CMD of National Hydroelectric Power

Corporation (NHPC) Ltd. - Balraj Joshi.

23. The first Chairman of the five-member Economic

Advisory Council (EAC- PM) --Bibek Debroy.

Note: The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime

Minister (PMEAC) is a non-constitutional, non-

permanent and independent body constituted to give

economic advice to the Government of India,

specifically the Prime Minister.

24. New Chairman & Managing Director of ONGC (Oil and

Natural Gas Corporation) - Shashi Shanker.

25. New CMD of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism

Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd. - Mahendra Pratap Mall.

26. New CMD of the United India Insurance Co. Ltd. - M.

Nagaraja Sarma.

27. New Director General (DG) of the Sashastra Seema Bal

(SSB) - Rajni Kant Misra. 28. NPCI’s (National Payments Corporation of India)

interim Chairman - B Sambamurthy

29. New interim GSTN Chairman - A.B Panday 30. New Brand Ambassador of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan in

Uttarakhand -- Akshay Kumar.

Note: In August 2017, he was also appointed as the

brand ambassador for the cleanliness campaign in

Uttar Pradesh

31. Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI) - Viveck Goenka.

32. New Union Minister of Railways - Piyush Goyal.

33. New Election Commissioner of India - Sunil Arora.

34. Chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education

(CBSE) - Anita Karwal. She succeeds ‘Rajesh Kumar

Chaturvedi’.

35. New Home Secretary - Rajiv Gauba.

36. New Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India -

Rajiv Mehrishi

37. New Defence Minister of India - Nirmala Sitharaman.

38. New Director General (DG) Railway Protection Force

(RPF) - Dharmendra Kumar.

39. New Chairman of Railway Board -- Ashwani Lohani.

40. New Executive Director of the Insolvency and

Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) -- Mamta Suri.

41. New Chairman of the Central Board of Film

Certification(CBFC) - Prasoon Joshi

42. New Vice President of India -- Muppavarapu

Venkaiah Naidu

43. New Chief Justice of India (CJI) -- Justice Dipak Misra.

44. New CMD of Small Industries Development Bank of

India (SIDBI) -- Mohammad Mustafa.

45. New Chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) -

Dhirendra Swarup.

46. New Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog - Dr. Rajiv Kumar.

47. New secretary general of the Federation of Indian

Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) - Sanjaya Baru

48. Re-appointed as Managing Director (MD) & Chief

Executive Officer (CEO) of Axis Bank - Shikha Sharma

49. New Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar - Sushil Kumar Modi.

50. New Chief Minister of Nagaland - TR Zeliang.

51. New MD & CEO of Oriental Bank of Commerce - Mukesh Kumar Jain.

52. New Director General (DG)of Goods and Services Tax

Intelligence (GSTI) - John Joseph

53. New Attorney General of India - K K Venugopal. He

replaces Mukul Rohatgi.

54. New Chief Election Commissioner of India - Achal

Kumar Jyoti. He replaces Nasim Zaidi

55. 14th President of India - Ram Nath Kovind

56. New Managing Director(MD) and CEO of IDFC Ltd -

Sunil Kakar.

57. New MD & CEO of National Stock Exchange(NSE) --

Vikram Limaye.

New Governor Appointed

1. New Governor of Assam - Jagdish Mukhi.

2. New Governor of Arunachal Pradesh - B. D. Mishra

3. New Governor of Bihar - Satya Pal Malik.

4. New Governor of Tamil Nadu - Banwarilal Purohit.

5. New Governor of Meghalaya - Ganga Prasad. 6. New Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands - Devendra Kumar Joshi.


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International Appointment

1. New UNESCO Chief - Audrey Azoulay. She succeeds

Irina Bokova (Bulgaria)

Note: Audrey Azoulay is a France's former culture

minister. Ms Azoulay is the 11th Director-General of

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO).

2. New Prime Minister of New Zealand - Jacinda

Ardern.

Note: She (37-year-old) is the youngest female PM of

New Zealand in 150 years.

3. New Deputy Director-General of World Health

Organization (WHO) - Soumya Swaminathan.

Note: This position is the second-highest at the UN’s

health agency. Soumya Swaminathan is the present

director general of Indian Council of Medical Research

(ICMR). She is a paediatrician and an internationally-

recognized researcher on TB (Tuberculosis) and HIV.

4. New President of ‘Angola’ - Joao Lourenco. He

succeeds Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

5. New Chairman of Ethics Commission of the

International Olympic Committee (IOC) -- Ban Ki-

moon.

Note: Mr. Moon was the 8th Secretary-General of

the United Nations (Jan 2007 - Dec 2016). 6. First special envoy for the Oceans - Peter Thomson.

Note: Peter Thomson played a leading role at the

first-ever UN conference on oceans in June. The 193

UN member states issued an urgent call for action to

reverse the decline in the health and productivity of

the world's oceans. 7. New President of Singapore - Mdm Halimah Yacob.

8. Re-elected as President of Kenya - Uhuru Kenyatta.

9. New Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea - Peter

O’Neill

10. India’s alternate Governor on the Board of

Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) --

Subhash Chandra.

11. New UNICEF’s Global Goodwill Ambassador -- Lilly

Singh.

12. New Prime Minister of Mongolia - Ukhnaa

Khurelsukh

13. Newly elected President of Mongolia -

Khaltmaagiin Battulga

14. First female Prime Minister of Serbia -- Ana

Brnabic.

15. First woman Chief Executive of Hong Kong - Carrie

Lam.

Note: The Chief Executive of Hong Kong (CE) is the

highest office of the Hong Kong Special

Administrative Region (HKSAR).

16. President of the International Economic Association

(IEA) - Kaushik Basu. 17. New Prime Minister of Romania -- Mihai Tudose.

18. New India International Centre (IIC) - N N Vohra 19. New Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia by King Salman --

Mohammed bin Salman

New Ambassador Appointed –

1. New India’s Ambassador to Pakistan – Ajay Bisaria. He succeeds Gautam Bambawale.

Note: He is currently ambassador to Poland.

2. New India’s Ambassador to Republic of Zambia - N.J.Gangte.

3. New US Ambassador to India - Kenneth Juster. He succeeds Richard Verma.

4. New India's Ambassador to China - Gautam Bambawale. He succeeds Vijay Gokhale.

5. New Ambassador of India to Switzerland - Sibi George. He succeeds Smita Purushottam.

6. New Pakistan’s Ambassador to India - Sohail Mahmood. He succeeds ‘Abdul Basit’.

7. New Russia's Ambassador to India - Nikolay Kudashev.

8. New Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan - Prabhat Kumar.


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Books & Authors

1. Book titled “The Coalition Years” authored by –

Pranab Mukherjee (Former President of India)

2. Book titled “I Do What I Do” authored by – Raghuram

Rajan (former RBI Governor)

3. Book titled “Immortal India” authored by – Amish

Tripathi.

4. Book titled “A Horse Walks into a Bar” authored by - David Grossman (Winner - Man Booker International

Prize 2017)

5. Book titled “How India Sees the World” – Shyam

Saran.

6. Book titled “Hit Refresh” – Satya Nadella.

7. Book titled “Unstoppable: My Life So far” authored by

– Maria Sharapova.

8. Book titled “The Shershah of Kargil” authored by -

Deepak Surana (Biography of Kargil war hero – Late

Captain Vikram Batra)

9. Book titled “Kadve Vachan” authored by – Tarun Sagar

Maharaj.

10. Book titled “I am HIV positive, so what?” authored by

– Jayanta Kalita (The book is based on the life of an

international bodybuilding champion Khundrakpam

Pradipkumar Singh hailing from Manipur, who was

diagnosed HIV-positive.)

11. Book titled “Cryptocurrency for Beginners” authored

by – Amit Bhardwaj.

12. Book titled “Making of a legend” authored by –

Bindeshawr Pathak.

13. Book titled “Dalhousie Through My Eyes” authored by

– Kiran Chadha.

14. Book titled “Playing With Fire” authored by – Katie Price.

15. Book titled “Future of Indian Universities:

Comparative and International Perspectives” authored

by – C. Raj Kumar.

16. Book titled “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness”

authored by – Arundhati Roy.

17. Book titled “The Crisis Within” authored by – Ganesh

Devy.

18. Book titled “Indira Gandhi – A life in Nature” authored

by – Jairam Ramesh.

19. Book titled “Beren And Luthien” authored by – J.R.R.

Tolkien.

20. Book titled “Yug Purush, Bharat Ratna, Atal Ji”

authored by – Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”.

21. Book titled “Matoshree” authored by - Lok Sabha

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan

Honors & Awards

National Awards

1. 53rd Jnanpith award 2017- Krishna Sobti (eminent

Hindi writer).

Note: ➢ She was born in 1925 in Gujrat, in Pakistan’s

Punjab Province.

➢ Some of her popular works include Daar se

Bichhudi, Dil-o-Danish, Badalom ke Ghere,

Yaaron Ke Yaar, Mitron Marjani, and

Zindaginama.

➢ She is most known for her 1966 novel Mitro Marajani, an unapologetic portrayal of a

married woman's sexuality.

2. UNESCO Asia Pacific Award of Merit 2017 - The Sri

Ranganathaswamy Temple of Srirangam in Tamil Nadu

won UNESCO Asia Pacific Award of Merit 2017 for

cultural heritage conservation programme.

Note: It is the first temple from Tamil Nadu to win the prize from the UN body.

3. Best Urban Transport Practices’ of the Union

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs awards -

i. Best City Bus Services Award 2017 - Surat Municipal Corporation awarded with the ‘Best City Bus

Services Award’ by the Union Ministry of Housing and

Urban Affairs for attracting 87 per cent of the private

vehicle and auto rickshaw users to use city buses.

ii. ‘Best Non-Motorised Transport’ Award - Mysuru’s

Public Bicycle Sharing won the Best Non-Motorised

Transport’ Award. iii. ‘Best Urban Transport Initiative’ Award - Kochi

(Kerala) was chosen for the for completing its Metro

Rail Project in a quick time.

iv. Best Intelligent Transport Project’ - The H-TRIMS

of Hyderabad, the Traffic Integraged Management

initiative was awarded with the award. .

4. Vishnudas Bhave award - Mohan Joshi (Veteran actor)


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Note: The award is conferred in memory of Vishnudas

Bhave, the founder of Marathi theatre.

5. Tata Literature Lifetime Achievement Award 2017

- Girish Karnad (Veteran actor).

6. 2017 Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award - Javed Akhtar

(Veteran writer-lyricist).

7. ‘General Insurance Company of the Year’ - Apollo

Munich Health Insurance.

8. Green Platinum Award - The Govardhan Eco Village,

set up by the International Society for Krishna

Consciousness (ISKCON) in Palghar district won the

‘Green Platinum Award’ by Indian Green Building

Council (IGBC) of Confederation of Indian Industry

(CII).

9. Indira Gandhi National Integration award for

2015-16- T M Krishna (Carnatic music vocalist). He is

being awarded for his services in promoting and

preserving national integration in the country.

10. Cleartrip Named 'Best Mobile App for Travel' at

Mobexx Awards.

11. Ezhuthachan Puraskaram 2017 - K Satchidanandan (Noted Malayalam Poet and literary critic) has been

selected for Ezhuthachan Puraskaram 2017. This is

Kerala government's highest literary honour. 12. UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage

Conservation - Mumbai’s The Royal Opera House.

13. Lifetime Achievement Award - Sharmila Tagore (Veteran actress)

Note: She was bestowed with the recognition by the

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi

for her contribution in the field of cinema.

14. Golden Peacock Award - N Chandrababu Naidu

(Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister) has received the

Golden Peacock Award under the category 'Global

Leadership in Public Service and Economic

Transformation' at a convention in London at 17th

London Global Convention.

15. Mathrubhumi Literary Award - Eminent critic,

biographer and orator M K Sanu has been chosen for

the Mathrubhumi Literary Award for 2016 in

recognition of his rich contribution to the Malayalam

literature.

16. Asia Game Changers Award- 2017--Dev Patel.

17. First Kesari Media Award - T J S George. (Veteran

journalist)

18. Prem Nazir Award 2017 – Sharada (Veteran actress)

19. East Bengal football club’s highest honour 'Bharat Gaurav' - Dhanraj Pillay

20. 2018 Times Higher Education (THE) World university

ranking, Indian university has been names the top

university in India -- IISc-Bangalore.

21. First lifetime achievement award for his contribution to

Badminton -- Prakash Padukone.

22. Bollywood star has received the ‘Global Diversity

Award’ at Britain’s House of Commons - Salman Khan

23. Best film award at 18th IIFA Awards 2017-- Neerja. 24. JD(U) leader has also received the Lifetime

Achievement Award as a Rajya Sabha MP -- Sharad Yadav.

25. Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions as a Lok Sabha member -- LK Advani.

26. Indian city has been declared as a World Heritage City (WHC) by UNESCO -- Ahmedabad.

27. Indian film Best Foreign Film category at the Oscars

2018 -- Newton.

Note: Newton is a 2017 Indian Hindi-language black

comedy film directed by Amit V Masurkar and Produced

by Drishyam Films.

International Awards

List of Nobel Prize 2017 –

1. Nobel Prize in Peace ● Winner - International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear

Weapons (ICAN) ● Field - ICAN for its work to draw attention to the

catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons.

● ICAN headquarter at – Geneva, Switzerland.

● ICAN Executive Director - Beatrice Fihn 2. Nobel Prize in Literature

● Winner - Kazuo Ishiguro.

● He is a British author and best known for his novel “The Remains of the Day”.

● He was born in Nagasaki, Japan. 3. Nobel Prize in Economics

● Winner - Richard Thaler ● Field – for his work in behavioral economics.


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● Richard Thaler born in New Jersey, United States. He is a professor of behavioural sciences and economics at University of Chicago.

4. Nobel Prize in Medicine ● Winner - Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and

Michael W. Young ● Field - for their discoveries on how plants, animals

and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronized with the Earth's revolutions.

● Jeffrey C. Hall – He is from New York, US and currently Professor at Brandeis University.

● Michael Rosbash – He is from Missouri, US and currently Professor at Brandeis University.

● Michael W. Young – He is from Miami, Florida, US and Professor at Rockefeller University, University of Texas at Austin, Stanford University School of Medicine.

5. Nobel Prize in Physics ● Winner - Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S.

Thorne.

● Field - Their decisive contributions to the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory) detector and the observation of gravitational waves.

● Rainer Weiss born in Berlin, Germany. He is a Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

● Barry C. Barish born in Nebraska, U.S. He is a professor at California Institute of Technology.

● Kip S. Thorne born in Utah, U.S. He is a professor

at California Institute of Technology.

6. Nobel Prize in Chemistry

● Winner - Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and

Richard Henderson.

● Field - They developed cryo-electron microscopy

for the high-resolution structure determination of

biomolecules in solution. It’s a method of

simplifying and improving the imaging of

biomolecules.

● Jacques Dubochet born in Aigle, Switzerland. He

is a professor at University of Lausanne.

● Joachim Frank born in Siegen, Germany. He is a

professor at Columbia University.

● Richard Henderson born in Edinburgh, Scotland.

He is a professor at Laboratory of Molecular

Biology.

Other Awards –

1. Mother Teresa Award 2017 - United Nations High

Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been named

as the recipient of the Mother Teresa Memorial Award

for Social Justice, 2017.

Note: The Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social

Justice was instituted by Harmony Foundation.

About UNHCR -

2. Jewish Nobel Prize - Natalie Portman (actress) has

been awarded Israel’s 2018 Genesis Prize in

recognition of her commitment to social causes and

deep connection to her Jewish and Israeli roots.

Note: 2018 Genesis Prize is a $1 million award, known

as “the Jewish Nobel Prize.

3. Best Short Film Award - Indian short film ‘The

School Bag’ won the ‘Best Short Film Award' at the

South Asian Film Festival of Montreal (SAFFM). It tells

a story based in Pakistan.

Note: The movie is directed by Dheeraj Jindal.

4. 2017 Man Booker Prize - George Saunders (US

author). Note:

➢ He won the award for fiction for his first full-

length novel 'Lincoln in the Bardo. ➢ With this, Saunders became second American

writer to win the award. In 2016, Paul Beatty

became the first American to win the award for

his novel The Sellout.

➢ Lincoln in the Bardo is an extended national

ghost story. It chronicles the death of Abraham

Lincoln’s 11-year-old son Willie using the

accounts of hundreds of narrators. The book

describes the night President Lincoln visited

his son’s body in a Washington graveyard.

5. US Award For AIDS Research - Professors Salim

Abdool Karim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim received

the award from the Institute for Human Virology (IHV)

in Baltimore, US.

Note: Indian-origin South African researchers were

honored with a prestigious award for their exceptional

contributions in the field of HIV/AIDS.

6. 2017 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist

Challenge - Indian-American Gitanjali Rao won the

2017 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist

Challenge for inventing a quick, low-cost test to detect

lead-contaminated water. 7. 2017 Blue Planet Prize - Prof Hans Joachim

Schellnhuber from Germany won 2017 Blue Planet

Prize, world’s most prestigious award for pioneers in environmental science.


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Note: He was awarded for establishing new field of

science ‘Earth System Analysis’ and introducing most

influential concepts including the notion of tipping

elements in the climate system in Tokyo

8. The world's most liveable city named by Economist

Intelligence Unit (EIU) -- Melbourne (Australia).

9. The World’s best Airline at the SKYTRAX World Airline Awards 2017 at the Paris Air Show France -- Qatar Airline.

10. The WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Autism in South-

East Asia Region -- Saima Wazed Hossain.

11. The first Israeli author to win the Man Booker

International Prize 2017 for his novel ‘A Horse Walks

Into a Bar’-- David Grossman.

12. Indian mountaineer has honored by Govt. of Nepal for

scaling Mt. Everest for a record six times -- Love Raj

Singh Dharmashaktu.

Summits & Conference 2017

1. World Food India 2017 - New Delhi.

• The theme of WFI 2017 is ‘Transforming the Food

Economy’.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated

World Food India 2017 (WFI) at the India Gate

Lawns in New Delhi.

• Germany, Japan and Denmark are partner countries to World Food India.

• This is first time India is hosting such an event for the Food processing sector.

2. 'India Disaster Response Summit' – New Delhi.

Note:

• Kiren Rijiju has inaugurated the ‘India Disaster

Response Summit’ in New Delhi.

• The summit was organised jointly by the National Disaster Management Authority

(NDMA) and Facebook.

3. India to host UN wildlife summit CMS COP13 in

2020 - United Nations Environment Programme

(UNEP) announced that India will host the next CMS

Conference of the Parties 13 (CMS COP13) in the year

2020.

Note:

• CMS COP is a global wildlife conference.

• UN wildlife summit CMS COP13 in 217 held

in Manila, Philippines.

• The theme of the Conference was ‘Their

Future is Our Future - Sustainable

Development for Wildlife and People’.

• CMS COP is held once in three years.

4. World Youth Forum - Egypt.

Note: The Minister of State (Independent Charge)

Youth Affairs and Sports Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore attend the meeting

5. 38th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing – New

Delhi.

• The main theme of the conference is Space

Applications: Touching Human Lives.

6. 21st World Congress of Mental Health - New Delhi.

7. Global Clubfoot Conference – New Delhi. Note:

• President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated Global

Clubfoot Conference organised by CURE India in partnership with Union Ministry of Health and

Family Welfare in New Delhi.

• About Clubfoot - It is one of the most common orthopaedic birth defects where one or both feet

are rotated inwards and downwards. It

describes range of foot abnormalities usually present at birth in which your baby’s foot is

twisted out of shape or position. In clubfoot,

tissues connecting muscles to the bone

(tendons) are shorter than usual.

8. 11th India-US Trade Policy Forum Meeting -

Washington D.C

Note: The meeting was chaired by Union Minister for

Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu and US Trade

Representative Robert Lighthizer.

9. First International Conference on Consumer

Protection - New Delhi

• The theme of the conference was

“Empowering Consumers in New Markets”.

• It was inaugurated by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi.

10. First BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine

meeting - New Delhi.

Note:

• The first-ever meeting of BIMSTEC Task Force

on Traditional Medicine (BITFM) was held at

Parvasi Bhartiya Kendra in New Delhi.

• It was organized by Union Ministry of AYUSH.


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11. India-UAE Partnership Summit 2017 – Dubai.

• The theme of the summit was - Investment

Implementation.

• The objective of India-UAE Partnership

Summit is to accelerate bilateral trade and

investment between the two countries.

12. 3rd International Conference on Yoga 2017 – New

Delhi, India.

● Theme of the conference is – “Yoga for Wellness”.

● Conference was organised by – Ministry of Ayush.

● Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the

conference.

13. 5th Global Conference on Cyber Space 2017 – New

Delhi, India.

● Theme of the conference – ‘Cyber4All: An Inclusive,

Sustainable, Developmental, Safe and Secure

Cyberspace’

● The 4th GCCS conference held in The Hague,

Netherlands.

14. India – ASEAN Youth Summit 2017 – Bhopal, Madhya

Pradesh

Theme of the summit - “Shared Values, Common

Destiny”

15. First ASEAN – India Music Festival held in New Delhi,

India.

● Note: Theme – ‘Shared Values, Common Destiny’.

16. 14th India - European Union (EU) 2017 Summit –

New Delhi, India.

● President of European Union (EU) – Donald Tusk.

● Member countries – 28

● European Union (EU) headquarter - Brussels,

Belgium.

● The 15th India-EU Summit will be held in Brussels,

Belgium.

● The 13th India-EU Summit was held in Brussels,

Belgium.

17. 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 - Hyderabad, India.

● Theme of the Summit – ‘Women First, Prosperity

for All’.

● 7th Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2016 –

Silicon Valley, USA.

18. 3rd India International Science Festival (IISF) 2017 – Chennai, Tamil Nadu. ● The 2nd IISF held in New Delhi in 2016. ● The 1st IISF was held at Indian Institute of

Technology (IIT) New Delhi in 2015. 19. India Mobile Congress 2017 - New Delhi.

● Note: This is the first time India is all set to host its own mobile mega show. The Indian telecom market is the second-largest in the world after China. India has a total subscriber base of over 1.18 billion subscribers.

20. 19th UN Climate Change Summit 2017- Bonn, Germany. ● Note: The United Nations Climate Change

Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

● 18th UN Climate Change Summit 2016 - Marrakech, Morocco.

21. 9th BRICS Summit 2017 - Xiamen, China. ● Theme of the Summit - “BRICS: Stronger

Partnership for a Brighter Future”. ● The Summit was attended by –

● President of Brazil – Michel Temer ● President of Russia – Vladimir Putin ● Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi ● President of China – Xi, Jinping ● President of South Africa – Jacob Zuma

● Note: BRICS comprises 5-member countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

● Venue of 10th BRICS Summit 2018- Johannesburg, South Africa.

● Venue of 8th BRICS Summit 2016- Goa, India. 22. Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit

2017 – Astana, Kazakhstan. ● Note:

● SCO General Secretary – Rashid Alimov.

● SCO Headquarter - Beijing, China.

● Official Language – Chinese, Russian.

● SCO comprises 8-member countries: China,

Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,

Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.

● India and Pakistan became full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

on 9 June 2017.

● Venue of SCO Summit 2018- China.

● Venue of SCO Summit 2016- Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

About Kazakhstan – Kazakhstan is a Central Asian country, it has eastern border with China and Russia.

Capital – Astana

Currency - Tenge

President - Nursultan Nazarbayev

Prime Minister - Bakhytzhan Sagintayev

Legislature - Parliament

Upper house - Senate

Lower house - Mazhilis


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23. ASEAN (30th & 31st) 2017 Summit – Manila, Philippines.

● Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) organisation comprising 10 South east Asian countries - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

● Its motto is - “One Vision, One Identity, One Community.

● Note: ASEAN Summit held twice a year.

● Secretary General – Le Luong Minh.

● Chairman - Philippines Rodrigo Duterte

● ASEAN headquarter – Jakarta, Indonesia.

● Venue of ASEAN (32nd & 33rd) 2018 Summit - Singapore.

● Venue of 28-29th ASEAN Summit 2016 – Vientiane, Laos

24. 29th APEC 2017 Summit – Danang, Vietnam

● Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)organisation comprising 21 members countries – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, Vietnam.

● Chairman - Trần Đại Quang

● Executive Director - Alan Bollard

● APEC headquarter – Singapore

● Venue of 30th APEC 2018 Summit - Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

● Venue of 28th APEC Summit 2016 – Peru, Lima

25. 4th BIMSTEC 2017 Summit – Kathmandu, Nepal

● Note:

● Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral

Technical and Economic Cooperation

(BIMSTEC)organisation comprising 7 members

countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar,

Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand.

● Chairmanship – Nepal (since 2014)

● BIMSTEC headquarter – Dhaka, Bangladesh

● Venue of 3rd BIMSTEC Summit 2014 - Nay Pyi

Taw, Myanmar.

26. G-20 Summit 2017 – Hamburg, Germany.

● Theme of the summit – “Shaping an Inter-

connected World”

● The G20 comprises 19 countries plus the

European Union. These countries are Argentina,

Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany,

India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi

Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the

United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of

America (USA).

● Meeting of G20 Labour Ministers 2017 – Bad

Neuenahr, Germany.

● Meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and

Central Bank Governors 2017 – Baden,

Germany. ● Venue of G-20 2018 Summit - Buenos Aires,

Argentina

● Venue of G-20 2016 Summit – Hangzhou,

China

27. 43rd G-7 Summit 2017 - Sicily, Italy.

● Theme of the summit - “Building the foundations of

renewed trust.”

● The G-7 comprises 7 countries – Canada, France,

Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United

States.

● Venue of 42nd G-7 2018 Summit – Shima,

Japan

● Venue of 44th G-7 2016 Summit – Canada

28. NATO Summit 2017 – Brussels, Belgium.

● Note:

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

comprises 29 countries – Albania, Belgium,

Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark,

Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,

Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherland,

Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,

Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United

States.

● NATO headquarter - Brussels, Belgium.

● NATO Secretary General - Jens Stoltenberg

● NATO 2018 Summit – Brussels, Belgium.

● NATO 2016 Summit -Warsaw, Poland

● Note: Turkey’s offer to host the 2018 NATO summit

is rejected by Canada and 18 European NATO

members. Hence, 2018 NATO Summit will be held in

Brussels, Belgium.

29. 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBS) 2017 –

Bengaluru, Karnataka.

● Theme of 2017 PBS is “Redefined Engagement

With Indian Diaspora”.

● Note:

● Chief Guest at 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2017

is - H.E. Dr. Antonio Costa, Prime Minister of the

Republic of Portugal.


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● The PBS convention is held on January 9th each year

to commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa in 1915. It is celebrated to mark

the contribution of the overseas Indian community

to the development of the country.

● Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBS) 2016 was cancelled.

● 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBS) 2015 –

Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

● Singapore to Host Regional Pravasi Bharatiya

Divas in 2018.

30. 104th Indian Science Congress 2017 – SV University, Tirupati. ● Focal theme - Science & Technology for National

Development. ● 105th Indian Science Congress 2018 to be hosted

by Osmania University, Hyderabad. ● Focal Theme - Reaching the Unreached Through

Science & Technology

31. 25th CHOGM 2018 Summit– The next 25th meeting of

the heads of government of the Commonwealth of

Nations will be held in the London, United Kingdom.

● Note: In 2017, Vanuatu was selected to host 25th

CHOGM Summit but due to the damage done by

Cyclone Pam, it was decided to be held in United

Kingdom in 2018.

● Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting held

after a gap of every two years.

● Total member countries – 52.

● Headquarter – London, United Kingdom.

● CHOGM 2015 Summit – Malta.

32. 3rd World Conference on Environment 2017 – New

Delhi, India. ● It was organized by the National Green Tribunal

(NGT) and inaugurated by the President Pranab

Mukherjee.

National Affairs

1. India re-elected member of UNESCO’s executive

board - India was re-elected as member of executive

board of United Nations educational, scientific and

cultural organization (UNESCO).

Note: Executive board is UNESCO’s top decision-

making body. The election was held at 39th session of

General Conference of UNESCO in Paris, France.

2. Facebook launches Disaster Maps in India - The

social networking giant Facebook Inc. has rolled out

Disaster Maps for India in a bid to help communities

recover and rebuild faster in aftermath of natural

disasters. It was launched at Facebook’s first Disaster

Response Summit in India along with National Disaster

Management Authority (NDMA) to improve disaster

response and disaster management in India.

Note: Government has claimed that India will be the

first country to partner with Facebook on disaster

response.

3. India’s second Technology & Innovation Support

Centre established at Centre for Intellectual Property

Rights (CIPR), Anna University, Chennai.

Note:

• The objective of TISC is to stimulate dynamic,

vibrant and balanced Intellectual Property Rights

(IPRs) system in India to foster creativity and

innovation.

• It will thereby help to promote entrepreneurship

and enhancing social, economic and cultural

development by establishing network of TISCs in

India.

4. Supreme Court refuses to ban Kambala - The

Supreme Court has refused to pass an interim order to

stay Ordinance allowing kambala, the traditional

buffalo slush track race in Karnataka. People for

Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), a non-

governmental organisation, had challenged the

Ordinance.

Note: Kambala is traditional slush track buffalo race

that is held annually in coastal districts of Karnataka

to entertain rural people of the area. The sports season

generally starts in November and lasts till March.

5. Govt. to provide financial assistance of Rs 2302.05

crore for Sagarmala projects - The Union Ministry of

Shipping undertook projects worth Rs 2302 crore for

financial assistance under the Coastal Berth Scheme of

the Sagarmala Programme. The Ministry also extended

the period of the scheme for three years up to 31

March 2020 and expanded its scope to cover capital

dredging at Major Ports and preparation of DPR for

coastal berth project.

Key points-

➢ The 47 projects under Coastal Berth Scheme are

distributed over eight states with the highest

number of projects in Maharashtra (12 projects),

Andhra Pradesh & Goa (10 projects), Karnataka (6


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projects), Kerala and Tamil Nadu (3 projects),

Gujarat (2 projects) and West Bengal (1 project).

➢ The most recent beneficiaries of the scheme were

Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and

Karnataka Government respectively for

developing coastal infrastructure at Jawahar Lal

Nehru Port, Karwar Port and Old Manglore Port.

About Coastal Berth Scheme of Sagarmala Programme

➢ The Coastal Berth Scheme aims to provide

financial support to ports or state governments

for creation of infrastructure for movement of

cargo and passenger by sea or national

waterways.

➢ The total financial assistance from Central

Government is 50 per cent of the total cost of the

project subject.

6. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)

approved implementation of Special Banking

Arrangement (SBA) for Rs. 10,000 crore for

payment of outstanding claims on account of fertilizer

subsidy in year 2016-17.

7. Railways launch main arch on world's highest

bridge on Chenab - The Indian Railways has

commenced the main arch of the world's highest

bridge on the River Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir's

Reasi district.

8. BRO builds world's highest motorable road in

Ladakh - The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has

constructed the world's highest motorable road in

Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, passing

through Umlingla Top at a height of over 19,300 feet.

The feat was achieved under 'Project Himank' of the

organisation.

9. Govt. launched Food Regulatory & Nivesh Bandhu

portal - Union Minister of Food Processing Industries

Harsimrat Kaur Badal announced the launch of the

Food Regulatory Portal and Investor Facilitation

Portal “Nivesh Bandhu”.

About Nivesh Bandhu Portal –

➢ “Nivesh Bandhu” portal will assist investors to

make informed investment decisions.

➢ It will provide information on Central and State

Governments’ investor friendly policies, agro-

producing clusters, infrastructure, and potential

areas of investment in the food processing sector.

10. India sends first wheat shipment to Afghanistan

via Chabahar port - India has flagged off shipment of

wheat for Afghanistan through Iran’s Chabahar port.

Note: Chabahar port is strategically located in Sistan-

Balochistan province on energy-rich Iran’s southern

coast in Gulf of Oman near its border with Pakistan

and can be easily accessed from India’s western coast.

11. Govt. launched MSME Samadhaan Portal - The Union Government has launched MSME (Micro, Small

and Medium Enterprise) delayed payment portal

'MSME Samadhaan'.

Key points –

➢ The portal will give information about the

pending payments of MSEs with individual

CPSEs, Central Ministries, State Governments,

etc.

➢ The portal will help in monitoring the delayed

payments in a more effective manner.

➢ It will also empower the MSEs to access the

portal and monitor their cases.

12. Indian Railways to get its first set of solar plants -

Indian Railways’ first set of solar plants having a total

capacity of 5 megawatt peak (MWp). The plants built

on the roof tops of Hazrat Nizamuddin, New Delhi,

Anand Vihar and Delhi railway stations would be

generating 76.5 lakh units of solar power cumulatively

every year and are expected to meet about 30 per cent

of the energy requirement of these stations.

13. BharatMala Pariyojana: The Union Government has

approved mega highway projects to build 83677 km of

highways over the next five years at a cost of Rs 7 lakh

crore.

Note:

➢ These highway projects include the ambitious

Bharatmala project which is the second-largest

highway project after National Highways

Development Project (NHDP) that saw

development of about 50000 km of roads.

➢ The Bharatmala Pariyojana or Project will

subsume all the existing highway projects,

including the flagship National Highways

Development Project (NHDP).

➢ Bharatmala project is an umbrella programme for

roads under which 34800 km of highways will be

constructed at a cost of Rs 5.35 lakh crore.

➢ Bharatmala Project will include 9000 km of

economic corridors, 6000 km of inter-corridor and feeder routes, 5000 km of national


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corridors efficiency improvement, 2000 km of

border road connectivity, 800 km of

expressways and 10000 km of balance

NHDP projects.

➢ A study under the Bharatmala project by global

consultancy firm AT Kearney identified 44

economic corridors for development. The

corridors included Mumbai-Cochin-Kanyakumari, Bengaluru-Mangaluru, Hyderabad-Panaji and

Sambalpur-Ranchi among others.

➢ The government has assigned NHAI, National

Highway and Industrial Development Corporation

(NHIDCL) and state Public Work Departments

(PWDs) for the Bharatmala Project.

14. India’s first Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra for

Skilling in Smart Cities Inaugurated - Union Home

Minister Rajnath Singh along with Skill Development

Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated India's

first Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK) for

Skilling in Smart Cities in New Delhi. The main aim

behind the development is to bring momentum in

skilling through collaborative efforts.

Note: The PMKK Centre for Smart Cities will provide

skill training for unemployed youth through its short-

term training (STT) module and contribute to capacity

building of municipal employees through Recognition of

Prior Learning (RPL) program. 15. PM Modi launches 'Ro-Ro' ferry service in Gujarat -

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Phase 1

of the RO RO (Roll on, Roll off) ferry service between

Ghogha in Saurashtra and Dahej in south Gujarat. This

is the first of its kind project not only in India but also

in South-East Asia,”

About RO RO Ferry Service

➢ The term ro-ro is generally taken for large

ocean-going vessels. This is in opposite to the lo-

lo (lift-on and lift-off) vessels, which apply a

crane to load and unload cargo.

➢ This is a first of its kind of services in India. The

RO RO ferry service will be able to bear up to

hundred of vehicles (cars, bus, truck etc.) and

250 passengers linking the two ports.

➢ The ro-ro ferry services will take wheeled cargo

on and off the ferry on their own wheels or

using a platform vehicle. The wheeled cargo

includes, cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks,

trailers, and railroad cars.

16. Jaipur & Srinagar Airport ranked first and second in ACI-ASQ Survey - The Jaipur and Srinagar Airport

were ranked first and second respectively in ACI

(Airports Council International)-ASQ (Airport Service

Quality) Survey in the category of 2-5 million

passengers.

17. Times Higher Education Rankings: IISC & IIT

Bombay among world’s top 200 for engineering -

The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore and

Indian Instituted of Technology (IIT) Bombay were

ranked among world’s top 200 institutions for

engineering and computer science in Times Higher

Education subject-wise rankings.

Note: IISc was placed at the 89th spot, while IIT

Bombay was placed in the 126 spot.

18. JP Nadda has launched 15 medical outlets of ‘AMRIT

Deendayal’ in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab

through Video Conference from Shimla.

19. PM dedicated first All India Institute of Ayurveda

to nation - Prime Minister Narendra Modi on

dedicated first All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) in

New Delhi to the nation on the occasion of National

Ayurveda Day.

Note:

➢ The first ever All India Institute of Ayurveda

(AIIA)is an apex institute under Ministry of

AYUSH.

➢ It aims to bring synergy between the traditional

wisdom of Ayurveda and modern diagnostic tools

and technology. It has been set up on lines of

AIIMS

20. India’s first micro forest being built in Chhattisgarh.

21. The union minister Harsh Vardhan has launched SECURE

Himalaya project in association with UNDP at the Global

Wildlife Programme (GWP) conference in New Delhi. 22. The National Highways Authority of India has launched a

mobile app for smooth functioning of electronic toll

collection --MyFASTag.

23. Country’s first ‘Videsh Bhavan’ launched in Bandra Kurla

Complex (BKC), Mumbai by External Affairs Minister

‘Sushma Swaraj’. 24. India’s first Hyperloop project will come up in Andhra

Pradesh. 25. The ‘Kandla Port’ has been renamed as -- Deendayal Port.


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Note: Kandla Port is the largest sea port of India (by

volume of cargo handled) located in Kutch District of

Gujarat.

States News

1. Telangana Govt: Urdu as Second Official

Language - Telangana Chief Minister K

Chandrashekar Rao declared Urdu as the state's

second official language. Every office in the state will

now have an Urdu speaking officer. First official

language is Telugu.

2. PM lays Foundation Stone for Infrastructure

Projects in Bihar - The Prime Minister Narendra

Modi has laid the foundation stone for four

sewerage projects under the Namami Gange

programme; and four National Highway projects, at

Mokama in Bihar. The total outlay of these projects

is over Rs. 3700 crore.

The projects include - The four sewerage projects

include Sewage Treatment Plant at Beur, Sewerage

System with Sewer Network at Beur, Sewage

Treatment Plant at Karmalichak and STP and Sewer

Network at Saidpur.

3. Aerospace Park to be set up in Tamil Nadu – The

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Edapaddi K Palaniswami,

laid the foundation stone for an aerospace park at

Kanchipuram district to be set up by the State

Government in 245 acres and at an estimated cost of

Rs 198 crore.

4. Maharashtra to build 210m World’s Tallest

statue of Shivaji – Maharashtra government has

decided to build the 210-metre-high statue of

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the sea off the

Mumbai coast.

Currently, the Spring Temple Buddha statue, which stands at 208 metres in China, is the world’s tallest

statue.

5. Allahabad to get India’s First Black Buck

Conservation Reserve - Uttar Pradesh cabinet

decided to make India's first conservation reserve

for blackbuck in Allahabad's Meja. The decision

taken for the protection of black deer will also help

in wooing tourists.

6. Haryana became the first State in India to treat

Hepatitis-C Patients with Oral Medicine - Haryana

has emerged as the first state in the country to treat

Hepatitis-C patients through oral medicine. This

medicine would be provided free of cost to

permanent residents of all categories at district

level.

7. Goa to host Nobel Prize Event in February 2018 -

The state government of Goa signed a trilateral

memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the

Department of Biotechnology, Union Ministry of

Science and Technology and Nobel Media, Sweden to

host the Nobel Prize Series - India event during 1-28

February 2018.

The event will be jointly organized by Department of

Bio-Technology, Union Ministry of Science and

Technology in collaboration with Department of

Science and Technology and Nobel Media AB,

Sweden.

8. Goa tops Gender Vulnerability Index – Goa has

topped the Gender Vulnerability Index (GVI). The

index was prepared by Child development NGO Plan

India. Kerala and Mizoram secured second & third

rank respectively.

Bihar ranked at the bottom which is followed by

Uttar Pradesh. Delhi was placed near bottom at the

24th place

9. Lifetime pensions for 'Hindi Satyagrahis':

Haryana Govt. - The state government of Haryana

announced the lifetime monthly pension of Rs

10,000 for 'Hindi Satyagrahis' and those from the

state who were jailed during the Emergency.

10. Vrindavan, Barsana declared as Sacred Sites -

The Uttar Pradesh government issued an order notifying Vrindavan and Barsana towns in Mathura

district as 'sacred pilgrimage sites' ('pavitra teerth

sthals'). With this, Vrindavan and Barsana became

the first two places to be notified as teerth sthal in

government records. No meat and liquor shops will

be allowed in these towns anymore.

11. Madras HC bans photographs of living persons

on sign-boards and banners - The Madras High

Court banned the use of photographs or pictures of

living persons on banners, flex boards and sign-

boards across the state of Tamil Nadu.


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12. Meghalaya Election department to feature in Limca

Book of Records - The Election department of

Meghalaya state has won an entry in the Limca Book

of Records for forming a human logo with newly-

enrolled young voters of Meghalaya on 1 July 2017.

The information was shared by Limca official

Garima Manon with the office of Meghalaya Chief

Electoral Officer on 24 October 2017. 13. Assam to host Global Investors Summit in 2018 -

Assam would be hosting its first Global Investors

Summit in Guwahati from 3- 4 February 2018.

14. The state government of Chhattisgarh has reduced

the rate of interest on loan given to women and their

self-help groups under Saksham Yojna. The rate of

interest on loans has been cut from 6.5 per cent to 5

per cent to benefit more women and their SHGs

under the Yojna. 15. India’s first-ever Industrial Training Institute for the

Divyangans will come up in the state-- Assam. Note: The foundation stone for the institute was laid at Dibrugarh ITI Complex at Borboruah in Assam.

16. Prime Minister ‘Narander Modi’ laid the foundation stone of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh.

17. Uttar Pradesh state govt. has launched a mass

marriage scheme ‘Mukhyamantri Samoohik Vivaah

Yojana’ for BPL families. 18. Karnataka. state govt has launched 'Vision-2025'

project across the state.

Note: The project aimed at evolving a draft policy for

development of the state for the year 2025 by

seeking the opinion of the general public.

19. Odisha state Govt. has launched a Sampurna Yojna

scheme for pregnant women. 20. The Union Minister Dr. Harshvardhan has launched 'Pt

Deen Dayal Upadhayay Vigyan Gram Sankul

Pariyojana' in Uttarakhand.

21. Himachal Pradesh became the first Indian state to

launch electric bus service. 22. Jharkhand state government has launched Shaheed

Gram Vikas Yojana to provide houses to freedom fighters.

23. Tripura became the first Indian state to set up family welfare district committees to examine the complaints of women against their husbands and in-laws and find an amicable solution.

24. Jammu & Kashmir government has inaugurated the

second International Yoga Festival and International

Yoga Sports Championship 2017.

25. India’s first-ever railways disaster management centre will come up near Bengaluru, Karnataka by 2018.

26. India’s first-ever aviation university Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU) will come up in Fursatganj in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.

27. The 2017 Aadi Perukku festival is celebrated in Tamil Nadu.

28. India’s biggest Global Skill Park will be set up in the

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

29. India’s first automatic coastal warning for disasters

will set up in Odisha.

30. India’s first freight village will be developed by the

Inland waterways authority of India (IWAI) in --

Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

International Affairs

1. Bank of China Begins Operations in Pakistan - Bank of China has formally launched its operations in

Pakistan, with its first branch inaugurated in Karachi.

2. Priti Patel resigned from UK Cabinet - Priti

Patel, Britain’s first Indian-origin Cabinet Minister

resigned as International Development Secretary.

Note: This was the second Cabinet resignation within a

week. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has also

resigned recently over sexual harassment allegations.

3. EU Launches Election Observation Mission for

Nepal Polls - The European Union Election Observation Mission was officially launched to monitor

the general and provincial polls in Nepal which are

scheduled for November 26 and December 7.

4. Hong Kong, World's Top City for International visits - Hong Kong remains the world's most visited

city by international travellers in spite of strained

relations with neighbouring China. The report is

published by Euromonitor International.

Top 3 Countries in the list are - Hong Kong, Bangkok &

London.

5. India to contribute USD 100 million to UN

partnership fund - India has pledged an additional

amount of USD 100 million towards the UN

partnership fund, scaling up its support to sustainable development projects across the developing world.

6. ICIJ releases Paradise papers - The International

Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has


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released ‘The Paradise Papers’, a global investigation

that reveals the offshore activities of some of the

world’s most powerful people and companies.

Note: Among 180 countries represented in the data,

India ranks 19th in terms of number of names. In all

names of 714 Indians have figured in this largest ever

black money data leak.

International Consortium of Investigative

Journalists (ICIJ) - The ICIJ is global network of more

than 200 investigative journalists in 70 countries who

collaborate on in-depth investigative stories. It was

founded in 1997 by respected American journalist

Chuck Lewis. It is headquartered in Washington DC,

US. Earlier in 2016, it had released Panama Papers.

7. Guinea ratifies International Solar Alliance

Framework Agreement - The Republic of Guinea

ratified the International Solar Alliance (ISA)

Framework Agreement. The instrument of ratification

was handed over to External Affairs Minister Sushma

Swaraj by Guinea’s Foreign Minister Mamady Toure,

who was on his 4 day visit to India from 3-6 November

2017.

Note:

➢ With this, Guinea became the 15th country to

ratify the agreement.

➢ With the ratification of ISA pact by 15

countries, ISA will now be an international

legal body.

About International Solar Alliance Pact

➢ The International Solar Alliance was launched

jointly by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and French President Francois Hollande on the first day of the COP-21 summit at Paris in 2015.

➢ The ISA headquartered in India.

➢ The alliance was conceived as a coalition of solar

resource rich countries to collaborate on meeting

their energy needs through a common and agreed

approach.

➢ The alliance will become a legal entity once at least

15 countries ratify and deposit the framework

agreement.

8. Saudi Arabia to allow women into sports stadiums

from 2018 - Turki Al-Asheikh, Chairman of the

General Sports Authority of Saudi Arabia announced

that Saudi women will now be able to attend sports

events in stadiums starting from 2018. The move is

aimed at empowering and engaging women in the

society as an integral part of the development process.

9. WHO removes Robert Mugabe as Goodwill

Ambassador for NCDs in Africa- The World Health

Organisation (WHO) cancelled the appointment of

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's appointment as

its Goodwill Ambassador for Non-Communicable

Diseases (NCDs) in Africa.

10. Nicaragua signs Paris Climate Agreement - Central

American country Nicaragua signed the Paris

Agreement on climate change, leaving the United

States and Syria as the only two countries holing out to

sign this global climate pact.

Note: As per Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega,

the Paris Agreement is the only international

mechanism that offers the conditions to face global

warming and its effects.

➢ US withdrawal from Paris agreement -

President Donald Trump on 1 June 2017

withdrew the United States from the landmark

2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change.

Trump stated that the Paris accord will

undermine the US economy, cost US jobs, weaken

American national sovereignty and put the

country at a permanent disadvantage to the other

countries of the world.

11. 14th SAARCLAW Conference held in Colombo, Sri

Lanka - The 14th South Asian Association for Regional

Co-operation in Law (SAARCLAW) Conference was

held in Colombo, capital city of Sri Lanka along with

11th SAARC Chief Justices Conference.

12. China Unveils Asia's Largest Island-Building Vessel

- China unveiled Asia's largest artificial island-building

ship. The 140-metre-long vessel, which has been

dubbed as"magic island maker", is capable of digging 6,000 cubic metres an hour, which is equivalent to

three standard swimming pools. The boat named Tian

Kun Hao is equivalent of three standard swimming

pools.

13. World’s Third Largest Book Fair Opens in Sharjah -

With more than 1.5 million book titles and 1,650

publishing houses from 60 countries, Sharjah

International Book Fair (SIBF) opened its doors to

public and trade visitors. It is the third largest book fair

in the world.

Note:

➢ The book fair was held under the theme ‘A

World in My Book’. The event has been

organised by Sharjah Book Authority (SBA).

➢ United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently

announced Sharjahas as the ‘World Book Capital 2019’.


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14. World’s First Hydrogen Tram Begins Operation in

China - The world’s first hybrid electric tram powered

by hydrogen fuel cells has started running in China,

marking a big step in the application of green energy in

public transport.

15. Burundi, first Nation to leave International

Criminal Court - Burundi became the first nation ever

to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC), set up

15 years ago to prosecute those behind the world’s

worst atrocities.

Note:

➢ Bujumbura is the capital of Burundi and

Burundian franc is its currency.

➢ International Criminal Court established in

2002. Its head office is located in the Hague,

the Netherlands.

16. Peru approves medicinal use of marijuana - The

Peru government = has approved a bill to authorises

the medicinal and therapeutic use of cannabis

(marijuana) in the country.

Note: With this Peru became sixth country in Latin

America to legalise cannabis. Uruguay was first in

2013, allowing sales of cannabis any purpose. It was

followed by Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.

17. Chile named Best Country to Visit in 2018 - The

travel guide company Lonely Planet has ranked Chile

as the number one country to visit in 2018 in its Best

in Travel 2018 list.

Note:

➢ The guide has published the 13th edition of its

annual list of the top 10 countries every traveller should have on their bucket list for 2018.

➢ Chile was the only South American country to earn

the top spot on the list.

➢ Top 3 Countries in the list are – Chile, South Korea

& Portugal

18. Gina Miller Named UK’s Most Influential Black

Person of the Year - Indian origin campaigner Gina

Miller was named UK’s most influential black person of

the year. She won a legal challenge seeking

Parliamentary approval for triggering Brexit.

Note: Gina Miller (52-year-old) ranked on top in the

2018 'Powerlist' of 100 people of African and

African Caribbean inheritance published in London

by Powerful Media.

19. Saudi Arabia lift its ban on internet calling

applications, easing restrictions online as the

conservative kingdom faces new criticism over

censorship.

20. The world’s highest sandcastle has built in the Germany. Note: According to the Guinness World Records, the world's highest sandcastle is now standing 16.68 meters tall in the German city of Duisburg.

28. Two-day Indian Ocean Conference 2017 being organized by India Foundation in Temple Trees in -- Colombo. Note: The theme of this year’s conference is Peace, Progress and Prosperity and will involve participants from more than 35 countries. This will be second IOC conference (first edition-Sep16 in Singapore).

28. Kenya imposed the world's toughest law against plastic bags in the country to reduce plastic pollution.

29. Google has launched the latest version of its mobile operating system -- Android Oreo.

30. British scientists developed the world’s smallest surgical robot named -Versius, which could transform daily operations for tens of thousands of patients.

21. China launched its first cyber court specializing in

handling Internet-related cases in the e-commerce hub

of Hangzhou.

22. Montenegro Officially joined North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO) and become the 29th member

country.

23. The world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge has

opened in Switzerland.

24. Peggy Whitson (an Astronaut) returned to Earth, wrapping up a record-breaking flight that catapulted her to first place for U.S. space endurance. Note: Whitson’s 665 days off the planet 288 days on this mission alone exceeds that of any other American and any other woman worldwide.

Sports News

1. Pankaj Advani lifts IBSF World Billiards

Championship – He defeated Mike Russell (England)

in the IBSF World Billiards Championship at Doha.

2. AIBA Youth Women’s World Boxing Championship

2017 - India's first youth world boxing championship

will be held from 19 to 26 November 2017 in

Guwahati, Assam.

• The official mascot, named - Guppy, is a

female version of Assam's one-horned rhino.


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• The logo infuses two key elements-- the

strength of an Indian woman in the form of a

female boxer and the culture of Assam

through the 'gamosa', a hand-woven piece of

cloth in the state.

• The World Championship's official anthem

is 'Make Some Noise'. It is composed by Shaan

and rendered by renowned singer Sunidhi

Chauhan.

• Mary Kom named ambassador of the AIBA

Youth Women’s World Boxing Championship.

3. FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 – For the first time, India

hosted the 17th edition of FIFA U-17 World. Nicolai

Adam is the coach of Indian team. Amarjit Singh Kiyam

(Manipur) is the captain of U-17 FIFA Indian team.

Key Facts –

➢ Winner – England won the title by defeating

Spain by 5-2 in the final.

➢ Best Player Award - Phil Foden of England has

been adjudged tournament’s best player and has been awarded ‘Golden Ball’.

➢ Golden Glove’ Award - Gabriel Brazao the

goalkeeper of Brazil’s national football team has

won the ‘Golden Glove’.

➢ Brazil has won the Fair Play Award.

➢ Jeakson Singh (Manipur) creates history by

scoring India’s first ever goal in FIFA U-17

World Cup against Colombia.

➢ FIFA U-17 WC in India becomes most attended in event’s history for the first time.

➢ USA-Based Namit Deshpande becomes the First NRI to Play for India’s U17 World Cup Team.

➢ Esther Staubli (Switzerland) became the first female football referee to officiate a match.

➢ The official Mascot for the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017 was clouded leopard named ‘Kheleo’.

➢ The official ball for Under-17 football World Cup is called ‘Krasava’.

➢ The final match of the event was held in Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.

4. Asian Boxing Championship 2017: Indian boxer MC

Mary Kom won Gold in 48 kg category. She defeated

North Korea’s Hyang Mi Kim by 5-0. The tournament

held in Vietnam.

5. Badminton Men’s National Champion – H.S.

Prannoy. He defeated Kidambi Srikanth at 82nd

Senior National Championship, in Nagpur,

Maharashtra.

6. Badminton Women’s National Champion – Saina

Nehwal. She defeated P.V. Sindhu at 82nd Senior

National Championship, in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

Note: World Senior Badminton Championship held in

Kochi.

7. Jasprit Bumrah (bowler) ranked at top spot in ICC

T20 Rankings.

8. Puducherry becomes an Associate Member of BCCI

- The Cricket Association of Puducherry (CAP) was

chosen by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) as

an associate member of the Board of Control for

Cricket in India (BCCI). Now Puducherry will be

allowed to play the Ranji Trophy in 2018.

9. International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup 2017 (ISSF) – Host country – India. Heena Sidhu and Jeetu Rai won the Gold medal at 10m Air Pistol event. Note:

• The ISSF headquarters is located in Munich,

Germany. Olegario Vazquez Rana has been serving

as the President of the organisation since 1980.

10. Heena Sidhu wins Gold at 10m Air Pistol event in

Commonwealth Shooting Championships held in

Brisbane, Australia. 11. Roger Federer wins ATP World Tour 8th Basel Title by

defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the final.

12. Yonex French Open Badminton 2017: The tournament was held in Paris, France.

List of Winners –

• Men’s Singles - Kidambi Srikanth (India) beat

Kenta Nishimoto (Japan).

• Women’s Singles - Tai Tzu Ying (Chinese Taipei)

beat Akane Yamaguchi (Japan) Note:

➢ Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth became the

first Indian to win the men’s singles title at

French Open badminton tournament.

13. Scott Fleming joined National Basketball Association

(NBA) India as Head of Basketball Operations.

14. Amjyot Singh becomes third Indian in National Basketball Association (NBA) league. Amjyot

Singh became the third Indian after Satnam Singh and

Palpreet Singh Brar to walk into the National

Basketball Association (NBA) league.

15. Gokul Natesan, second Indian-Origin Player to be Signed by NBA G-League side. He was picked by Canton Charge, a minor league affiliate team of Cleveland Cavaliers.

16. Patna Pirates beats Gujarat Fortunegiants to clinched

Third Pro Kabaddi Successive Title.


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17. 2017 Sultan of Johor Cup Hockey: The tournament

was held in Malaysia.

Key points

➢ Australia won the title by defeating Great Britain

in the final.

➢ Indian won the Bronze medal by defeating

Malaysia.

18. Martina Hingis announces retirement from Pro

Tennis.

Key facts –

➢ Martina Hingis is from Switzerland.

➢ She is the youngest Grand Slam champion in

history, having won the Wimbledon doubles

title when she was just 15 yrs. old.

➢ Hingis was inducted into the International

Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.

➢ She also won the Women’s Doubles and Mixed

doubles of US Open 2017.

19. Aditi Ashok (golfer) won third Ladies European Tour

title in Abu Dhabi.

20. Shiv Kapur (golfer) won the Panasonic Open Title.

21. Women’s Asia Cup Hockey 2017 - Indian women's

hockey team defeated China by 5-4 to win the Asia Cup

2017 title. The final was held in Kakamigahara city in

southern Gifu Prefecture, Japan.

Note:

➢ With the victory, Team India has secured a

berth for itself at the 2018 Hockey World Cup.

This is the second time that India has claimed

the top spot in the history of the tournament.

➢ The first time was 13 years ago in the year 2004.

22. Men’s Asia Cup Hockey 2017 - India beat Malaysia in

the final to clinch Asia Cup 2017 title. The final was

played in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Note: It last clinched the trophy in 2003 and 2007 in

Kuala Lumpur and Chennai respectively.

23. Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth achieves career-

best World No 2 ranking. He won back-to-back titles

at Indonesia and Australia and then at Denmark and

France.

Note:

➢ Kidambi Srikanth wins Men's Singles Title in

French Open. He defeated Japan's Kenta

Nishimoto in the final.


Denmark Open. He defeated Hong Kong's

Wong Wing Ki Vincent in the final.


Indonesia Open. He defeated Japan's

Kazumasa Sakai in the final.


Australia Open. He defeated China’s Chen

Long in the final.

24. Virat Kohli & Mithali Raj top the ICC ODI Rankings -

Indian cricket team captains Virat Kohli and Mithali Raj

became number one at ICC ODI rankings for batsman

and batswomen.

Key points –

➢ Indian captain Virat Kohli reclaimed the top

spot of the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen with

889 rating points.

➢ Mithali Raj was ranked number with 753

rating points.

25. Virat Kohli becomes fastest batsman to score 9000-

run mark - Indian skipper Virat Kohli became the

sixth Indian and fastest to complete 9000 ODI runs

during India’s third and final one-day international

against New Zealand in Kanpur. Kohli has played his

202nd innings, has become the 19th batsman to break

the 9000-run mark, making him the fastest to get

there.

26. Delhi Olympic Games to be held in December - The

Delhi State Olympic Association has announced to

organise Delhi Olympic Games in the capital city. The

sporting events will be held from 9 December 2017- 18

December 2017. The announcement to conduct a

sporting event of Olympic level came in order to

promote Olympics and also the spirit of sports and sportsmen in Delhi.

Note: Olympic wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt was

confirmed as the brand ambassador of Delhi Olympic

Games 2017.

27. Cristiano Ronaldo wins the Best FIFA Men's Player

Award - Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo won the

Best FIFA Men's Player Award for the second year in

London.

Note:

➢ Argentina’s forward Lionel Messi and Brazil’s

forward Neymar were runners up for the

award.

➢ Ronaldo got 43.16 per cent of the total votes,

while Lionel Messi and Neymar fetched 19.25

and 6.97 per cent votes respectively.

➢ Best FIFA Men's Coach - Zinedine Zidane

➢ Best FIFA Goalkeeper - Gianluigi Buffon ➢ Best FIFA Women's Player - Lieke Martens

➢ Best Women's Coach - Sarina Wiegman


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➢ FIFA Fan Award - Celtic

28. Kavita Devi becomes first Indian Woman to sign

with World Wrestling Entertainment - Kavita Devi

became the first Indian woman to tie-up with the

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Note:

➢ Shadia Bseiso became the first Arab woman

from the Middle East to sign a WWE

developmental contract.

➢ Kavita Devi hails from Haryana and was an

accomplished kabaddi player in high school.

➢ In 2016, she won gold in the 75kg weightlifting

division at the South Asian Games.

➢ She is the first Indian woman to compete in a

WWE ring.

29. Ashish Nehra retired from all format of Cricket –

Ashish Nehra has announced his retirement from all

formats of Cricket during the third T-20 match against

India and New Zealand in Delhi.

Note:

➢ Ashish Nehra made his cricket debut in 1999

under Mohammed Azharuddin in India.

➢ He made his international debut in a Test

match against Sri Lanka in Colombo in

February 1999.

➢ He has taken 44 Test wickets, besides 157 ODI

and 34 T20.

30. FIFA suspends the Pakistan Football Federation -

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association

(FIFA) has decided to suspend the Pakistan Football

Federation (PFF) with immediate effect in accordance with the verdict of the Bureau of the FIFA Council on

10 October 2017 on account of undue third-party

interference. Following its decision to suspend the PFF,

the Pakistan Football Federation loses all its

membership rights as per FIFA Statutes.

31. Iceland makes history to Qualifies for FIFA 2018

World Cup - Iceland created history by qualifying for

the 2018 World Cup. This is the first time that Iceland

qualified for the World Cup.

Note:

➢ Iceland became the smallest country to clinch a

position at the 21st FIFA World Cup.

➢ The previous smallest country to have reached

the World Cup was Trinidad & Tobago which

had a population of 1.3 million.

➢ The 21st edition of FIFA World Cup 2018 will

be held in Russia. ➢ This is the first time when Iceland and Panama

will be participants.

32. Gaganjeet Bhullar Clinches Macao Open Golf Title

2017 – With this win Gaganjeet Bhullar has lifted

his eighth Asian Tour title at the Macau Open.

33. India to host Junior Asian Wrestling Championship

(JAWC) 2018.

34. India's Pooja Kadian has won the first ever gold medal at Wushu World Championships in Kazan, Russia. Note: Pooja defeated Evgeniya Stepanova in the final.

35. Maharashtra won the Chief Minister's cup with 45

gold medals at the National kickboxing championship

held in Raipur.

36. India has lost the World Group Play-off tie of Davis

Cup Tennis Tournament to the host Canada 2-3.

37. India finishes 5th in medals tally with one gold and two silver medals at Moscow Shotgun World Championships. Note: Italy topped the tally with nine gold medals for a total of 17 medals in all and USA (12 medals) -2nd.

38. India will host the 2019 edition of the Commonwealth (Youth, Junior and Senior) Weightlifting Championships.

39. Ankur Mittal has won silver in senior men’s double

trap at 2017 ISSF World Shotgun Championship in

Moscow.

40. Star India has won the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL) media rights for 2018-23.

41. Para Athlete & Hockey player have been selected for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award_-- Sardar Singh & Devendra.

42. Lakshya Sen (shuttler) clinched the Bulgaria Open International Series title in Sofia, Bulgaria

43. PV Sindhu won the 2017 BWF Korean Open Super

Series Women’s Singles title. 44. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has

nominated Mahendra Singh Dhoni for Padma Bhushan award for his contribution to the game.

45. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become the first wicketkeeper in world cricket to effect 100 stumpings in One Day Internationals(ODI). Note: Mr. Dhoni achieved the feat in his 301st ODI in Colombo (Sri Lanka), when he whipped off the bails to remove batsman Akila Dananjaya (Sri Lankan) off leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal's bowling.

46. ICC has chosen captain of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 team -- Mithali Raj.

47. India will host the Men's World Boxing Championship for the first time in 2021.

48. Rahul Yadav Chittaboina (shuttler) has won the

men’s singles Lagos International 2017 49. Boxer Sachin Siwach wins gold at Commonwealth

Youth Games held in Bahamas.


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50. Real Madrid won the 2017 UEFA Champions League

trophy by defeating Manchester United in the final.

51. Los Angeles (USA) will host the 2028 Olympics and Paris will host 2024 Olympic Games.

52. US Open Title 2017 – List of Winners – • Men’s single – Rafal Nadal (Spain) defeated Kevin

Anderson (South African) • Women’s single - Sloane Stephens (American)

defatted Madison Keys (American) 53. Lewis Hamilton won the 2017 Italian Formula One

Grand Prix tournament.

54. Lewis Hamilton won the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix of

Formula.

55. Australian fast bowler retired from Test Match and

ODIs --John Hastings.

56. Usain Bolt (legendary sprinter) retires from the Athletics world.

57. FIBA Asia Championship (Asia’s biggest basketball

tournament) 2017 held in Lebanon.

58. Rafael Nadal won 6th ATP title of 2017 – Rafael

Nadal beats Nick Kyrgios of Australia in straight sets of

6-2, 6-1 in the China Open final to win his sixth ATP

title of 2017.

Note: In the women’s event, France’s Caroline Garcia

defeated world no.1 Simona Halep (Romania) in

straight sets of 6-4, 7-6 (3) to clinch the China Open.

List of Upcoming Sports Venue

1. Asian Games - The Asian Games, also known as Asiad is a Pancontinental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF). Note: First Asian games were held in New Delhi, India in 1951. ● Venue of Asian Games 2014 – Incheon, South

Korea. ● Venue of Asian Games 2018 - Jakarta-Palembang,

Indonesia. ● Venue of Asian Games 2022 – Hangzhou, China. ● Venue of Asian Games 2026 – Nagoya, Japan.

2. Commonwealth Games (CWG) - The Commonwealth Games is an international multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations held every four years. Note: The first Commonwealth Games held in 1911 in London, England. ● Venue of CWG Games 2010 – New Delhi, India. ● Venue of CWG Games 2014 – Glasgow, Scotland. ● Venue of CWG Games 2018 – Gold Coast,

Australia. ● Venue of CWG Games 2022 – Birmingham,

England. Note: The 2022 Commonwealth Games will no longer take place in Durban, South Africa as the South African government failed to give financial guarantees for the event.

3. Olympics Games - The Olympic Games are held every four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years but two years apart. Note: ● The first modern Olympics games were held in

Athens, Greece, in 1896.

● International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarter - Lausanne, Switzerland.

● IOC President - Thomas Bach Summer Olympic - ● Venue of Summer Olympic Games 2016 – Rio de

Janeiro, Brazil ● Venue of Summer Olympic Games 2020 – Tokyo,

Japan ● Venue of Summer Olympic Games 2024 – Paris,

France Winter Olympic –

● Venue of Winter Olympic Games 2014 – Sochi, Russia.

● Venue of Winter Olympic Games 2018 – Pyeongchang, South Korea.

● Venue of Winter Olympic Games 2022 – Beijing, China.

4. ICC World Cup Cricket - The ICC Cricket World Cup is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), every four years. Note: The first World Cup was held in England in June 1975. West Indies won the title by defeating Australia in the final. Australia has been the most successful team in the World Cup, with 5 titles and 2 runners up. India won the first World Cup title in 1983 by defeating West Indies in the final. Australia won the World Cup title in 2015 after defeating New Zealand in the final. ● International Cricket Council (ICC) headquarter -

Dubai, United Arab Emirates. ● President of ICC – Zaheer Abbas. ● Chairman of ICC – Shashank Manohar. ● CEO – David Richardson.


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● Venue of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 – India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh.

● Venue of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 – Australia & New Zealand.

● Venue of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 – England, Wales.

● Venue of ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 – India. 5. ICC World Cup T20 – The ICC World Twenty20 is the

international championship of Twenty20 cricket. It is organised the International Cricket Council (ICC). Note: ● The first T20 World Cup was held in Johannesburg,

South Africa in 2007. ● India won the first T20 world cup title after

defeating Pakistan in the final. ● West Indies won the T20 World Cup title two

times. West Indies wont the title in 2016 after defeating England in the final.

● Venue of World Cup 2014 – Bangladesh. ● Venue of World Cup T20 2016– India. ● Venue of World Cup 2020 – Australia.

6. ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup – The ICC Women's

Cricket World Cup is the oldest and most prestigious international women's cricket tournament. Note: The first Women’s World Cup was held in England in 1973, two years before the inaugural men's tournament. England won the title by defeating Australia in the final. Australia has been the most successful team in the Women’s World Cup, with 6 titles and 3 runners up. England won the Women’s World Cup in 2017 by defeating India in the final. ● Venue of ICC Women Cricket World Cup 2013 –

India. ● Venue of ICC Women Cricket World Cup 2017 –

England. ● Venue of ICC Women Cricket World Cup 2021 –

New Zealand. 7. ICC Women’s World Cup T20 - The ICC Women’s

World Twenty20 is the international championship for Women’s Twenty20 cricket. It is organised the International Cricket Council (ICC). Note: ● The first Women’s T20 World Cup was held in

England in 2009. ● England won the first T20 world cup title after

defeating New Zealand in the final. ● Australia has been the most successful team in the

Women’s World Cup, with 3 titles and 1 runners up.

● West Indies won the title in 2016 after defeating Australia in the final.

● Venue of World Cup 2014 – Bangladesh. ● Venue of World Cup T20 2016– India. ● Venue of World Cup 2020 – Australia.

8. Hockey Men’s World Cup – The Hockey World Cup is an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). It is held every four years, bridging the four years between the Summer Olympics. Note: The first Men’s Hockey World Cup was held in 1971 Barcelona, Spain. Pakistan won the title after defeating Spain in the final. Pakistan has been the most successful team in the World Cup, with 4 titles from 6 appearances in the final. Australia won the title in 2014 after defeating Netherlands in the final. Note: ● International Hockey Federation (IHF)

headquarter - Lausanne, Switzerland. ● President of IHF - Narinder Batra. ● Venue of Hockey Men’s World Cup 2010 – New

Delhi, India. ● Venue of Hockey Men’s World Cup 2014 – The

Hague, Netherlands. ● Venue of Hockey Men’s World Cup 2018 –

Bhubaneswar, India. 9. Hockey Women’s World Cup - The Women’s Hockey

World Cup is an international field hockey competition organised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). It is held every four years, bridging the four years between the Summer Olympics. Note: The first Women’s Hockey World Cup was held in 1974 in Mandelieu, France. Netherlands won the title after defeating Argentina in the final. Netherlands has been the most successful team in the World Cup, with 7 titles from 11 appearances in the final. Netherlands won the title in 2014 after defeating

Australia in the final.

● Venue of Hockey Men’s World Cup 2010 – Rosario,

Argentina. ● Venue of Hockey Men’s World Cup 2014 – The

Hague, Netherlands.

● Venue of Hockey Men’s World Cup 2018 – London,

England.

10. FIFA (Football) World Cup – The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition

contested by the senior men's national teams of the

members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). It is held every four years.


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Note: The first FIFA World Cup was held in 1930 in

Uruguay. Uruguay won the title after defeating

Argentina in the final.

Brazil has been the most successful team in the World

Cup, with 5 titles from 7 appearances in the final.

Germany won the title in 2014 after defeating

Argentina in the final.

Note:

● Fédération Internationale de Football Association

(FIFA) headquarter - Zürich, Switzerland.

● President of FIFA - Gianni Infantino.

● Venue of FIFA World Cup 2014 – Brazil.

● Venue of FIFA World Cup 2018 – Russia.

● Venue of FIFA World Cup 2022 – Qatar.

11. FIFA Women's World Cup – The FIFA Women's

World Cup is an international football competition

contested by the senior women's national teams of the

members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). It is held every four years.

Note: The first FIFA Women’s World Cup was held in

1991 in China. United States won the title after

defeating Norway in the final.

USA is the most successful nation in the tournament's

history, with 3 titles and 1 runners up.

USA won the title in 2015 after defeating Japan in the

final.

● Venue of FIFA World Cup 2015 – Canada.

● Venue of FIFA World Cup 2019 – France.

12. FIFA (U-17) World Cup – The FIFA U-17 World Cup,

founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later

changed to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players

under the age of 17 organized by Fédération

Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). It is held

every two years.

Note: The first FIFA (U-17) World Cup was held in

1991 in Italy. Ghana won the title after defeating Spain

in the final.

Nigeria is the most successful nation in the

tournament's history, with five titles and three runners

up.

Nigeria won the title in 2015 after defeating Mali in the

final.

● Venue of FIFA (U-17) World Cup 2015 – Chile.

● Venue of FIFA (U-17) World Cup 2017 – India.

Science & Defense

Military Exercise -

1. PRABAL DOSTYK 2017: India & Kazakhstan Joint

Exercise held at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh.

2. Indra-2017 – India & Russia. First mega tri-services

war game involving their armies, navies and air forces

with an aim to boost their operational coordination

conducted at Vladivostok in Russia.

3. 'Sampriti' 2017 – India & Bangladesh Joint Military

Combat Exercise held in Meghalaya and Mizoram.

4. 'MITRA SHAKTI 2017' – India & Sri Lanka Joint

Training Exercise conducted at Aundh Military Station,

Pune.

5. ‘Blue Flag-17’ – India & Israel bi-annual multilateral

exercise held at Uvda Air Force Base in Israel.

6. CORPAT (Coordinated Patrol) – The bilateral exercise

between the Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy

conducted at Belawan Indonesia.

Defense News –

1. Defence Research and Development Organisation

(DRDO) successfully conducted flight test of NIRBHAY

Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile at Chandipur, Odisha.

About NIRBHAY Missile

➢ It is India’s first indigenously designed and

developed Long Range Sub-Sonic Cruise

Missile.

➢ It has operational range of 1000 km and can carry warheads of up to 300 kg including

nuclear warheads. It can be launched from

various kind of platforms.

2. India Navy to use US aircraft launch system

‘CATOBAR’ in ship - Indian Navy is likely to use

advanced catapult-based aircraft launch mechanism

(CATOBAR) from United States for its second

indigenous aircraft carrier (IAC-II), which is on

drawing board. 3. Sri Lankan Coast Guard commissions OPV

SURAKSHA – Sri Lankan Coast Guard has


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commissioned Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV)

SURAKSHA gifted by India at Colombo port. It is first

OPV of Sri Lankan Coast Guard.

Note: Sri Lankan Coast Guard Ship (SLCGS) Suraksha

earlier belonged to Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and was

known as Varuna. It was officially handed over to Sri

Lanka Navy at ceremony held at Kochi Port in India in

September 2017.

4. First offshore patrol vessel ‘Vikram’ handed to

Indian Coast Guard - Larsen and Toubro (L&T)

handed over offshore patrol vessel (OPV) named

“Vikram” to the Indian Coast Guard. It is country’s first-

ever such defence vessel to be built in a private

shipyard. It will be inducted into service by April 2018

after completion of extensive trials of equipment and

machineries.

5. ‘INS Kiltan’ commissioned into Indian Navy –

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has

commissioned an indigenously-built anti-submarine

warfare stealth corvette INS Kiltan into the Indian

Navy at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam.

Note: INS Kiltan is the latest indigenous warship after

Shivalik class, Kolkata class and sister ships.

6. India successfully tests its first fully indigenous

‘Glide bomb’ in Chandipur in Odisha.

Note:

➢ The bomb - SAAW (Smart Anti Airfield

Weapon) - was dropped from an Indian Air

Force aircraft at the Integrated Test Range

(ITR) in Chandipur.

➢ The bomb has been developed by the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO), along with

other laboratories of the DRDO and the Indian

Air Force.

7. World's fastest, shortest laser pulse created -

Scientists from Switzerland have succeeded in

generating the world's shortest laser pulse with a

duration of only 43 attoseconds.

8. Bharat Net project: Phase 1 to be completed by

December 2017 - The first phase of the national optic

fibre network, also known as Bharat Net project, is

expected to be completed by December 2017.

Note: The project mainly aims to deploy high-speed

optical fibre cables across rural areas. Hence, its

completion will provide internet access to around

100,000 gram panchayats.

About Bharat Net Project

• BharatNet or National Optical Fibre Network

(NOFN) is Union Government’s ambitious rural

internet connectivity programme which is

implemented by Bharat Broadband Network

Limited (BBNL).

• It was launched in October 2011 to provide

broadband connectivity to all 2.5 Lakh Gram

Panchayats.

• Till now the project has reached 83,000 Gram

Panchayats.

• It is world’s largest rural broadband

connectivity programme using Optical fibre.

9. Researchers discover Ichthyosaur fossil in India - A

team of researchers comprising researchers from India

and Germany have discovered a 152 million-year-old fossil

of an ichthyosaur - an extinct marine reptile in the Kutch

region of Gujarat. This is the first time an ichthyosaur fossil

has been discovered in India.

10. SAAB & Adani Group join hands to build Gripen E fighter

jets in India - Swedish defence major SAAB and Adani

Group has join hands to manufacture Gripen E fighter jets in

India under the Defence Ministry’s $10 billion single-engine

fighter jet procurement programme.

11. Reliance Defence inks Pact with Serbia’s Yugoimport to

Manufacture Ammunition in India.

12. India's Space mission to Moon 'Chandrayaan- II' in 2018

- Dr Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State (IC) for

Atomic Energy and Space announced that India’s second

space mission to moon, ‘Chandrayaan-II’, will take place in

2018, most likely in the first quarter of the year.

About Chandrayaan-I

• India's first mission to Moon, Chandrayaan-1, was launched

successfully on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space

Centre or Sriharikota High Altitude Range, a rocket launch

centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

• The spacecraft carried 11 scientific instruments built in

India, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria.

• • After the successful completion of all major mission

objectives, the spacecraft’s orbit was raised to 200 km in

May 2009.


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