torna… · note: masala bonds are rupee-denominated overseas bonds. currently, the limit for...
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GK Tornado for IBPS Clerk Mains 2017-18 Exam Dear readers, This GK Tornado is a complete docket of important news and events that occurred in last 6 months (1st July–31st Dec 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 6th December 2017, RBI in its fifth 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. NPAs of Public Sector Banks reach Rs 7.34 lakh
crore - RBI data – According to the Reserve Bank of
India data - Bad loans of Public sector banks (PSBs)
stood at Rs 7.34 lakh crore by the end of second
quarter this fiscal, a bulk of which came from
corporate defaulters.
• "The gross non-performing assets of public sector and private sector banks as on
September 30, 2017 were Rs 7,33,974 crore, Rs 1,02,808 crore, respectively.
• Among the major public sector banks, State
Bank of India (SBI) had the highest amount of NPAs at over Rs 1.86 lakh crore followed by Punjab National Bank (Rs 57,630 crore), Bank of India (Rs 49,307 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs
46,307 crore), Canara Bank (Rs 39,164 crore) and Union Bank of India (Rs 38,286 crore).
• Among private sector lenders, ICICI Bank had the highest amount of NPAs on its books at Rs 44,237 crore by the end of September, followed by Axis Bank (Rs 22,136 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs 7,644 crore) and Jammu and Kashmir Bank (Rs
5,983 crore).
3. Uma Shankar appointed RBI Executive Director. 4. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will open an office in
the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.
5. RBI retains economic growth projection at 6.7% for 2017-18. Also, the projection of the Gross Value Added (GVA) growth for 2017-18 retained at 6.7%. RBI raised the inflation forecast for the remainder of the current financial year to 4.3-4.7 per cent.
6. 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.
7. 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
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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
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.
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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
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
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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.
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.
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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 retained at 6.7
per cent
• RBI Governor – Dr. Urjit Patel
● RBI headquarter – Mumbai, India
2. The credit rating agency Fitch lowers India’s GDP
growth rate to 6.7% for 2017-18.
● Fitch CEO – Paul Taylor
● Fitch Ratings headquarter – New York, US
3. India's GDP Growth to rise to 7.5 % in 2018: Morgan
Stanley
• Headquarter of Morgan Stanley- New York, US
• CEO - James P. Gorman
4. 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)
5. United Nation (UN) – 6.7% in 2017-18.
● UN projected India’s GDP growth rate at 7.2% in
2018.
● UN projected India’s GDP growth rate at 7.4% in
2019.
● UN Secretary‑General - António Guterres
● UN headquarter – New York, US
● Members countries - 193
6. 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
7. 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
● Members countries - 67
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.
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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).
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.
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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. ‘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.
Headquarter of DCB Bank – Mumbai, Maharashtra 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.
Headquarter of City Union Bank - Kumbakonam, Tamil
Nadu.
4. RBL Bank becomes the first Indian bank to launch
Aadhaar Payment Bridge System for small ticket micro-
finance loan disbursements.
Headquarter of RBL Bank – Mumbai, Maharashtra
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
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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 Service 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. LTV- Loan To Value 22. GNFV - Gross Negative Fair Value 23. SFTs: Securities financing transactions 24. HCE - Host Card Emulation 25. PFE - Potential Future Exposure 26. ICAAP - Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process 27. IFSC - Indian Financial System Code 28. IMPS - Immediate Payment Service 29. IMPS - Interbank Mobile Payment Service 30. MMID - Mobile Money Identifier 31. MPIN - Mobile Personal Identification Number 32. NPA – Non- Performing Assets 33. NPCI - National Payment Corporation of India 34. NFS – National Financial Switch 35. NACH – National Automated Clearing House 36. NEFT – National Electronic Fund Transfer 37. NFC - Near field communication 38. NDTL – Net Demand and Time Liabilities. 39. OTC – Over the Counter 40. PIN – Personal Identification Number 41. PAC - Personal Access Code 42. PCA - Prompt Corrective Action
43. PSPs - Payment Support Providers 44. RTGS – Real Time Gross Settlement 45. USSD - Unstructured Supplementary Services Data 46. UIDAI - Unique Identification Authority of India 47. VPA - Virtual Payment Address. 48. GDR – Global Depository Receipt 49. GAAR - General anti avoidance rule 50. PAN – Permanent Account Number 51. PLR – Prime Lending Rate 52. SLR – Statutory Liquidity Ratio 53. SDR – Special Drawing Rights
54. DTAA – Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement
55. TIEA – Tax Information Exchange Agreement
56. EFSF – European Financial Stability Facility
57. PPP – Purchasing Power Parity 58. PPP – Public Private Partnership 59. NPS – New Pension Scheme 60. EEFC - Exchange Earner's Foreign Currency
61. FII – Foreign Institutional Investor
62. DII – Domestic Institutional Investor
63. GST – Goods and Services Tax 64. DTC – Direct Tax Code
65. FCNRA – Foreign Currency Non- Resident account
66. MFI - Micro Finance Institutions
67. MFDC – Micro Finance Development Council 68. TRAI - Telecom Regulatory Authority of India 69. MSF – Marginal Standing Facility
70. IDF – Infrastructure Debt Fund
71. CRIS – Comparative Rating Index for Sovereign 72. LIBOR – London Inter Bank Operation Rate 73. MIBOR – Mumbai Inter Bank Operation Rate 74. MICR – Magnetic Ink Character Recognition 75. SARFAESI - Securitization and Reconstruction of
Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest 76. BCBS - Basel Committee on Banking Supervision 77. NPCI - National Payments Corporation of India
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Agreement
India’s agreement with other countries
1. India and UK signed agreement in transport- India
and UK has signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) in transport sector.
2. India and Switzerland signed agreement in tax
related information- India has signed an agreement
with Switzerland to allow automatic sharing of tax-
related information.
3. India & Cuba – India and Cuba signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Health and
Medicine. 4. India has announced the financial assistance of $25
million to Myanmar for development projects in
Rakhine state. 5. U.P. & South Korea - The Uttar Pradesh government
has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with South Korea on to enhance cooperation in the field of tourism, skill development, culture and farming.
• It was signed after a delegation from South Korea’s Gimhae city met Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath in Lucknow and discussed ways to
improve cooperation between the two countries.
6. India & Germany sign Govt. to Govt. Umbrella
Agreement – India and Germany signed an
agreement on the Government to Government
Umbrella Agreement concerning the Financial Cooperation in 2016 (II) under the Indo-German
Development Cooperation.
Note: • The agreement was signed to formalize an
amount up to Euro 200 million for the
Financial Cooperation in form of loan for the project ‘Climate Friendly Urban Mobility III’
and Euro 11 million Accompanying measures
in form of a grant for four projects.
Note:
Germany Capital – Berlin
Germany Currency – Euro
Germany Chancellor –Angela Merkel
7. India & Cuba – India and Cuba have signed
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for enhanced
cooperation in the health sector. The main areas of
cooperation under MoU include –training of medical
doctors, officials, other health professionals and
experts.
Note:
Cuba Capital – Havana
Cuba Currency – Peso
Cuba President – Raúl Castro
8. India & Poland – India & Poland signed MoU for the
promotion of Civil Aviation Cooperation.
Note:
• Poland Capital – Warsaw
• Poland Currency – Polish zloty
• Poland President - Andrzej Duda
• Poland Prime Minister - Mateusz Morawiecki
9. India and Philippines - The Union Cabinet approved
the signing and ratifying of an agreement between
India and Philippines on cooperation and mutual
assistance in customs matters.
Note:
• Philippines Capital – Manila
• Philippines Currency – Peso
• Philippines President – Rodrigo Duterte
10. India & Russia – India and Russia agreement on
cooperation in combating terrorism to combat all
forms of terrorism and organised crime.
Note:
Russia Capital – Moscow
Russia Currency – Rubble
Russia President – Vladimir Putin
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
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Note:
• Capital of Philippines – Manila.
• Currency of Philippines - Peso
• President - Rodrigo Duterte.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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. 13. 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 inks Financing Agreement with World Bank -
India has inked Financing Agreement with World Bank
of US $125 million (equivalent) for Skills Strengthening
for Industrial Value Enhancement Operation (STRIVE)
Project.
• The objective of project is to improve access to
quality and market-driven vocational training and
apprenticeships.
2. Tamil Nadu Government and World Bank have
signed $318 million-dollar loan agreement for the
Tamil Nadu Irrigated Agriculture Modernization
Project.
3. The Union Government has inked Loan agreement
with World Bank for $40 Million for “Uttar Pradesh
Pro-Poor Tourism Development Project”.
4. India & World Bank - India signed USD 100 million
loan agreement with the World Bank for Shared
Infrastructure for Solar Parks Project.
5. ADB & Karnataka - Asian Development Bank (ADB)
has approved $346 million loan for highways
upgradation project in Karnataka.
6. ADB & Reliance’s Bangladesh power plant project - The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) has approved
debt financing and partial risk guarantees totalling
$583 million to develop the Reliance Bangladesh
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Power Project.
Note: • The project will increase power generation and
improve energy infrastructure in Bangladesh.
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• The power plan is located in Meghnaghat, near
Dhaka, and an LNG Terminal, near Kutubdia
Island south of Chittagong.
7. 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 –
• 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. The Finance Ministry & World Bank ink pact of $24
million to improve India’s Forest Ecosystem Services.
13. 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).
14. 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.
15. 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.
Financial & Economy News
1. J&K bank launches ‘Sahafat Finance Scheme’ -
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) bank’s chairman & CEO Parvez Ahmad has launched a special financial scheme
"J&K Bank Sahafat Finance Scheme" for journalists of
the state.
• It will enable journalists to buy cameras,
laptops, tablets, and books.
• The minimum loan under the scheme is fixed
at Rs 50,000 while maximum limit is Rs 3 lakh.
2. India ranked at 5th position among the countries
with highest NPA – India has the highest level of non-performing assets (NPA) among BRICS countries and is
ranked fifth on a list of countries with the highest
levels of NPAs, a report by CARE Ratings revealed.
Note: Greece has the highest NPA which is followed by Italy, Portugal and Ireland.
3. Govt. inject Rs. 7,577 cr into Six public sector
banks- The government has injected Rs. 7,577 cr into
various six public sector banks to improve the financial
conditions of the weaker banks.
• Bank of India received capital of ₹2,257 crore.
• IDBI received ₹2,729 crore.
• Central Bank of India got ₹323 crore, Dena
Bank has got ₹243 crore and UCO Bank got ₹1,375 crore and Bank of Maharashtra has
received the capital support of ₹650 crore.
4. Sebi recommends 10% cross-shareholding cap in
rating agencies - Market regulator, Securities and
Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed cross-
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holding in credit rating agencies (CRAs) will be capped
at 10 percent
• The regulator also decided to raise the minimum
net-worth requirement to Rs 25 crore from the
current Rs 5 crore.
5. Small savings schemes’ interest rates cut by 20 bps
- The union government has slashed the interest rates
on small savings schemes, including NSC and PPF (by
0.2 % point) for the January-March period from the
rates applicable in the previous quarter.
• Interest rate in Public Provident Fund (PPF) is
now at 7.6%
• Interest rate in National Saving Certificates (NSC)
will fetch a lower annual rate of 7.6%
• Interest rate in Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) is 7.3%.
• Senior Citizens Savings Scheme has been retained
at 8.3%
• The girl child savings scheme Sukanya Samriddhi Account will offer 8.1% (existing 8.3%) annually.
6. SEBI hikes FPI investment limit - Capital market
regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has raised the investment limit for foreign
portfolio investors in central government securities to
over 1.91 lakh crore from next month.
• Currently, investment limit for foreign portfolio investors is 1.89 lakh crore rupees.
• The move is part of an effort by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to push inflow
from overseas investors in the country's capital
markets.
7. Niti Aayog to set up Methanol Economy Fund - The
‘Niti Aayog’ is planning to set up a Methanol Economy
Fund with a corpus of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore to promote
production and use of the clean fuel through this fund.
• The Objective of Methanol Economy Fund to
promote the use of methanol fuel, which is safer,
cheaper, and pollution free.
8. The 14th Inclusive Finance India Summit held at
Hotel Ashok, New Delhi.
• Objective of the summit - to discuss strategies to
achieve universal financial inclusion, Financial
Education and Financial Stability in India.
• A book- 'Talking financial inclusion in liberalized India: Conversations with Governors of the RBI',
edited by Prof. MS Sriram was released during the
summit.
• This book presents a set of conversations with five
former Governors of Reserve Bank of India (from 1992 onwards) on the topic of financial inclusion.
9. UPI transactions cross 10 crores in November - The
number of transactions on the Unified Payment
Interface (UPI), has crossed 10 crores mark in
November 2017.
Note: • UPI is a mobile-digital payment interface
which is introduced by the National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI).
• In August 2017, the transactions on UPI
platform is around 1.66 crore. In September it
crossed up to 3 crores and which increased to
7.67 crores in October.
10. Paytm launched Paytm FASTag Across India – Paytm Payments Bank has launched the Paytm FASTag
across the India.
Note: • As per the government directions, it is
mandatory to use of FASTag on every new
vehicle sold from December 1.
• FASTags are simple and reusable tags based on
radio-frequency identification technology
(RFID) that can be placed on a vehicle’s
windscreen and enables electronic toll fee
collection on highways across the country.
• The FASTtag project is run in partnership with
the National Highways Authority of India
(NHAI) and NPCI.
5. 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 the sale of Recapitalisation Bonds,
Rs 18,000 crore from Budgetary provisions
and remaining Rs 58,000 crore will be raised
through sale of share of banks.
6. 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
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Minister Piyush Goyal and Defence Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman.
7. 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%.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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).
18. 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.
19. 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
20. 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.
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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.
21. 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.
22. 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
23. 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.
24. CCEA approves implementation of Dairy Processing
& Infrastructure Development Fund scheme - The
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
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Development Corporation (NCDC) directly through
the End Borrowers.
25. New Development Bank (NDB) - has approved USD
470 million loan for Madhya Pradesh’s Multi-Village
Rural Drinking Water Supply Scheme Project.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. 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.
29. 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.
30. 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.
31. 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.
32. 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
help the city corporations to directly raise funds without the
help of grants from the state governments or agencies such
as World Bank.
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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. Yes Bank sets up $1 billion debt programme to
raise money - Yes Bank Ltd’s has approved the setting
up of a $1 billion medium-term note (MTN)
programme, enabling the bank to raise funds in one or
more tranches, an exchange filing by the lender showed.
• Under the MTN programme banks can sell debt securities, usually maturing between 5 and 10
years, in the overseas market and secure cheaper funding, according to analysts.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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
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Adjustment Facility (LAF) and Marginal Standing
Facility (MSF). It will also enable AU Small Finance
Bank to issue Certificate of Deposits (CDs) on
competitive interest rates in the market to get
liquidity.
8. 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).
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Kotak Bank launched ‘Kotak Remit’ an Aadhaar-
based integrated outward forex remittance solution for
both customers and non-customers.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. Fino Payments Bank has launched its mobile banking app called “BPay”.
17. 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.
18. Karur Vysya Bank opens its first Aadhaar Enrolment Centre in Chennai. KVB is the first private
sector bank to provide this service in India.
19. 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).
20. 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).
21. IDBI Bank has launched ‘Project Nishchay’ in
partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to
accelerate its turnaround program and improve
financial performance.
22. 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.
● India’s Previous year ranking - 133
● 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
positions among 190 countries. The report is published by World Bank Group.
● India’s Previous year ranking - 131
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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.
● India’s Previous year ranking – 9th
● 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).
● India’s Previous year ranking – 39th
● 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.
● India’s Previous year ranking – 105
● 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
positions among 130 countries. The report is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
● India’s Previous year ranking – 66
● 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.
● India’s Previous year ranking – 141
● 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.
● India’s Previous year ranking – 118
● 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
positions among 130 countries. The report is published
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’.
● India’s Previous year ranking – 123
● 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.
● India’s Previous year ranking – 110
● Top three countries are – Sweden, Denmark &
Finland.
23. Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2017– India
ranked at 79th positions among 176 countries. The
report is published by Transparency International (TI).
● India’s Previous year ranking – 76
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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
ranked at 92th positions among 118 countries. The
report is published by INSEAD in partnership with The
Adecco Group and the Human Capital Leadership
Institute of Singapore (HCLI).
● India’s Previous year ranking – 89
● 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. UP govt launches free household power connection
scheme 'Prakash hai to Vikas hai' - The Uttar Pradesh Govt. has launched a free household power
connection scheme 'Prakash hai to vikas hai' for the
poor in to mark former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birth anniversary.
• Under the scheme, the government will cover 16
million households by the end of 2018.
• Initially, the two villages Lohban and Gausana of
Mathura district have been covered for 100%
electrification.
• The state govt. has also introduced Kisan Uday
Yojana scheme for farmers in which existing 5
HP/7.5 horse-power submersible and coupling
sets of farmers will be replaced free of cost.
2. Govt launch 'Ganga Gram' project at Ganga
Gram Swachata Sammelan - The Drinking
Water and Sanitation Minister Uma Bharti has
launched the 'Ganga Gram' project at the Ganga
Gram Swachata Sammelan in New Delhi. • The Ganga Gram project is an integrated
approach for the holistic development of villages situated on the banks of the holy river with the active participation of villagers.
• Earlier, union govt. declared all 4,470 villages on the banks of the Ganges, located in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal, open defecation-free (ODF).
3. Govt launches Project Darpan to improve level of
postal services for rural customers - The Minister
of communications Manoj Sinha has launched
‘DARPAN’ (The Digital Advancement of Rural Post
Office for A New India) in New Delhi.
• DARPAN offers core banking services to the
account holders.
• The IT modernization project aims at realizing financial inclusion of un-banked rural
population.
• The project has an-outlay of 1400 crore rupees and intends to provide a low power technology solution to each branch postmaster.
4. Andhra Pradesh cabinet approves pension for
State's Transgenders - The Andhra Pradesh (AP)
Cabinet has approved a scheme to provide a pension of
Rs. 1500 to transgenders community above 18 years of
age in the state.
Under this scheme, the transgenders will be provided ration cards, plots, scholarships and skill development
for financial stability.
5. PENCIL portal launched for No Child labour - The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh launched the
Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour
(PENCIL) Portal to stop Child Labour in the country.
6. 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.
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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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. '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.
10. ‘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.
11. '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’.
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➢ 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.
12. '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.
13. 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 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.
14. 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
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(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. 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
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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 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. B.L. Joshi passes away – Former Governor of Uttar
Pradesh 2. Robbie Malinga passes away - Music legend (South
Africa) 3. Bobs Givens passes away - one of the animators
behind designing the iconic characters Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd passed away in Burbank, California.
4. Partha Mukhopadhyay passes away - Veteran Bengali film actor
5. Jatileswar Mukhopadhyay passes away - Bengali singer 6. Neeraj Vora passes away - Actor and filmmaker
7. Ashok Mattoo passes away - Veteran sports
administrator Ashok Kumar Mattoo was the former head of the the national boxing and hockey federations.
8. Kirti Nidhi Bista - Former Nepal Prime Minister.
9. Lalji Singh Passes Away – Lalji Singh, a pioneer of
DNA fingerprinting technology in India and former
Vice-Chancellor of Benares Hindu University, BHU
(2011 to 2014), passed away at the age of 70.
10. Sukharanjan Sengupta Passes Away – Veteran
Journalist from Bengal.
11. Johnny Hallyday Passes Away – France's biggest rock star Johnny Hallyday has died after a battle
with lung cancer.
12. Pandit Narayanrao Bodas Passes Away - Eminent
exponent of Gwalior gharana of Hindustani classical
music passed away in Maharashtra.
13. Saraswati Tripathy passes away - Eminent
freedom fighter
14. Sreerupa Mukherjee passes away - former woman
cricketer
15. 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.
16. Dr. M.V. Sridhar – Ex BCCI General Manager &
Former Hyderabad Cricket Team Captain. Originally
a doctor, MV Sridhar was considered one of the best
batsmen ever from Hyderabad.
17. Punathil Kunjabdulla Passes Away - Renowned
Malayalam writer. He is regarded as one of the
major figures of modernism in Malayalam literature.
18. 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
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Padma Bhushan in 1989 and the Padma Vibhushan
in 2016.
19. I V Sasi - Veteran Malayalam director I V Sasi, best
known for his films “Avalude Ravukal” and
“Devasuram” passed away.
20. 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.
Important Committees
1. Amitabh Kant Committee - to address the problem of
Non-performing assets (NPAs) or stressed assets in
India’s power sector.
2. YM Deosthalee Committee – task force on Public Credit Registry (PCR). The committee will review the current availability of information on credit in India.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Justice (Retd.) G. Rohini Committee - to examine the
sub-categorization of the Other Backward Classes
(OBCs).
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. K Kasturirangan Committee - to prepare National Education Policy
New Appointments
National
1. New Foreign Secretary of India - Vijay Keshav Gokhale.
He has succeeded S Jaishankar. 2. New Deputy National Security Adviser - Rajinder
Khanna 3. New Managing Director of India Infrastructure Finance
Company Ltd (IIFCL) – Pankaj Jain 4. New Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh - Jai Ram
Thakur. He replaced Virbhadra Singh.
• Jai Ram Thakur became the 6th Chief Minister of the HP.
5. New Chief Minister of Gujarat – Vijay Rupani 6. New BCCI General Manager - Saba Karim 7. New Director-General of National Cadet Corps (NCC) -
Lt Gen B S Sahrawat
8. New President of ICCR (Indian Council of Cultural Relations) - Vinay Sahasrabuddhe
Note: He is the BJP's national Vice President and a
Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra. 9. New acting Chairman of National Green Tribunal
(NGT) - Justice U.D. Salvi. He replaced Justice Swatanter Kumar.
10. New Director of National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) - R Hemalatha
11. New Chairman of BARC India - Nakul Chopra. He
succeeds Sudhanshu Vats (Viacom18 Group CEO). 12. New Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau –
Abhay
13. New Congress President – Rahul Gandhi.
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14. New Chairman & Managing Director of Air India -
Pradeep Singh Kharola. He succeeds Rajiv Bansal.
15. Uma Shankar Appointed RBI Executive Director
16. New President Para Sports Foundation – Sarvesh
Kumar Tiwari
17. New India’s Ambassador to Turkmenistan - Azar
A.H.Khan
18. Re-appointed Prasar Bharati Chairman - A Surya Prakash. He was re-appointed for the second
consecutive term till February 8, 2020.
19. Chairman of 15th Finance Commission – NK Singh.
20. New CEO & MD of Infosys - Salil S. Parekh
21. UN Environment's Goodwill Ambassador for India -
Dia Mirza
22. Chairman of National Anti-Profiteering Authority
under GST – BN Sharma.
23. New Director-General of Police (DGP) of Andhra
Pradesh - N Sambasiva Rao
24. First woman Pilot in Indian Navy - Shubhangi
Swaroop. She became the first woman to be
inducted as Pilot in Indian Navy.
25. India’s G20 Sherpa - Shaktikanta Das
26. New Madras High-Court judge - Justice Satrughana
Pujahari.
27. President of Institute for Defence Studies and
Analysis (IDSA) - Nirmala Sitharaman (Union
Defence Minister)
28. SEBI Executive Director - Anand Rajeshwar Baiwar
29. New Chairman of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) – S.
Ravi. He succeeds Dhirendra Swarup.
30. President of 36th Intl Geological Congress - Vijay
Prasad Dimri (Scientist)
Note:
• International Geological Congress (IGC), a
global platform for the advancement of earth
science, to be held in 2020.
• Pakistan won the bid to host the 36th IGC in the
National Capital Region from March 2 -8, 2020. 19. 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.
20. New Secretary (security) in Cabinet Secretariat – S.K.
Sinha.
21. New Finance Secretary – Hasmukh Adhia. He succeeds Ashok Lavasa.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. New Director General of National Investigation
Agency (NIA) - Yogesh Chander Modi. He succeeds
Sharad Kumar.
25. 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.
26. New Special Director of Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI)- Rakesh Asthana.
27. New CEO & MD of Tata Steel – T. V. Narendran.
28. New CEO of Bharti AXA Life Insurance - Vikas Seth.
29. 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.
30. 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.
31. New Vice Chief of Naval Staff – Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar. 32. New CEO of Association of Mutual Funds in India
(AMFI) – N.S. Venkatesh.
33. New as Additional Director General of CISF - Alok Kumar Pateria.
34. New Lokayukta of Madhya Pradesh - Naresh Kumar
Gupta. He is a retired judge of Madhya Pradesh High
Court.
35. New Chief of Film and Television Institute of India
(FTII) - Anupam Kher (Veteran actor). He succeeds
Gajendra Chauhan.
36. New HSBC India CEO - Jayant Rikhye. He succeeds
Stuart Milne. Mr. Rikhye
37. New SBI Chairman - Rajnish Kumar. He succeeds
Arundhati Bhattacharya.
38. 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.
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It is the largest bilateral trade association in the United
States and has presence in New York, Silicon Valley
and New Delhi.
39. New CMD of Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) Ltd - P. Alli Rani.
40. New CMD of National Hydroelectric Power
Corporation (NHPC) Ltd. - Balraj Joshi.
41. 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.
42. New Chairman & Managing Director of ONGC (Oil and
Natural Gas Corporation) - Shashi Shanker.
43. New CMD of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism
Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd. - Mahendra Pratap Mall.
44. New CMD of the United India Insurance Co. Ltd. - M.
Nagaraja Sarma.
45. New Director General (DG) of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) - Rajni Kant Misra.
46. NPCI’s (National Payments Corporation of India)
interim Chairman - B Sambamurthy 47. New interim GSTN Chairman - A.B Panday
48. 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
49. Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI) - Viveck Goenka.
50. New Union Minister of Railways - Piyush Goyal.
51. New Election Commissioner of India - Sunil Arora.
52. Chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education
(CBSE) - Anita Karwal. She succeeds ‘Rajesh Kumar
Chaturvedi’.
53. New Home Secretary - Rajiv Gauba.
54. New Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India -
Rajiv Mehrishi
55. New Defence Minister of India - Nirmala Sitharaman.
56. New Director General (DG) Railway Protection Force
(RPF) - Dharmendra Kumar.
57. New Chairman of Railway Board -- Ashwani Lohani.
58. New Executive Director of the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) -- Mamta Suri.
59. New Chairman of the Central Board of Film
Certification(CBFC) - Prasoon Joshi
60. New Vice President of India -- Muppavarapu
Venkaiah Naidu
61. New Chief Justice of India (CJI) -- Justice Dipak Misra.
62. New CMD of Small Industries Development Bank of
India (SIDBI) -- Mohammad Mustafa.
63. New Chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) -
Dhirendra Swarup.
64. New Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog - Dr. Rajiv Kumar. 65. New secretary general of the Federation of Indian
Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) - Sanjaya
Baru 66. Re-appointed as Managing Director (MD) & Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of Axis Bank - Shikha Sharma
67. New Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar - Sushil Kumar
Modi.
68. New Chief Minister of Nagaland - TR Zeliang.
69. New MD & CEO of Oriental Bank of Commerce -
Mukesh Kumar Jain.
70. New Director General (DG)of Goods and Services Tax
Intelligence (GSTI) - John Joseph
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 UNICEF Chief - Henrietta Holsman Fore. She
replaced Anthony Lake 2. Secretary General of Amnesty International - Kumi
Naidoo (South Africa). He replaced Salil Shetty. 3. New President of Chile - Sebastian Pinera. He has
replaced Michelle Bachelet. 4. New New Liberia's president - George Weah (Ex-
football superstar). He replaced Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
5. Global Goodwill Ambassador for UN Environment
- Ellie Goulding (British singer-songwriter)
6. New President of Zimbabwe - Emmerson
Mnangagwa.
7. Britain's Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) -
Karen Pierce. She became the first woman to be
appointed on this post.
8. UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and
HIV - South African Indian-origin Professor
Quarraisha Abdool Karim
9. Re-elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
- Dalveer Bhandari
10. RBI Governor Urjit Patel appointed to the Financial
Stability Institute Advisory Board of the Bank of
International Settlement (BIS) 11. Ambassador of World Packaging Organisation -
AVPS Chakravarthi.
12. Re-elected Slovenia President - Borut Pahor 13. 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).
14. New Prime Minister of New Zealand - Jacinda
Ardern.
Note: She (37-year-old) is the youngest female PM of
New Zealand in 150 years.
15. 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.
16. New President of ‘Angola’ - Joao Lourenco. He
succeeds Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
17. 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). 18. 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. 19. New President of Singapore - Mdm Halimah Yacob.
20. Re-elected as President of Kenya - Uhuru Kenyatta.
21. New Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea - Peter
O’Neill
22. India’s alternate Governor on the Board of
Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) --
Subhash Chandra.
23. New UNICEF’s Global Goodwill Ambassador -- Lilly
Singh.
24. New Prime Minister of Mongolia - Ukhnaa
Khurelsukh
25. Newly elected President of Mongolia -
Khaltmaagiin Battulga
26. First female Prime Minister of Serbia -- Ana
Brnabic.
27. 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). 28. President of the International Economic Association
(IEA) - Kaushik Basu. 29. New Prime Minister of Romania -- Mihai Tudose.
30. New India International Centre (IIC) - N N Vohra 31. New Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia by King Salman --
Mohammed bin Salman
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New Ambassador Appointed –
1. Next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Peru - M. Subbarayudu
2. New India’s Ambassador to Pakistan – Ajay Bisaria. He succeeds Gautam Bambawale.
Note: He is currently ambassador to Poland.
3. New India’s Ambassador to Republic of Zambia - N.J.Gangte. 4. New US Ambassador to India - Kenneth Juster. He succeeds Richard Verma.
5. New India's Ambassador to China - Gautam Bambawale. He succeeds Vijay Gokhale.
6. New Ambassador of India to Switzerland - Sibi George. He succeeds Smita Purushottam.
7. New Pakistan’s Ambassador to India - Sohail Mahmood. He succeeds ‘Abdul Basit’.
8. New Russia's Ambassador to India - Nikolay Kudashev.
9. New Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan - Prabhat Kumar.
Books & Author
1. Novel ‘Two’ authored by - Gulzar (Veteran lyricist)
2. Book 'Bollywood: The Films! The Songs! The
Stars!, launched by the Amitabh Bachchan
The book is co-authored by S.M.M. Ausaja, Karan
Bali, Rajesh Devraj and Tanul Thakur. 3. Book titled “The Coalition Years” authored by –
Pranab Mukherjee (Former President of India) 4. Book titled “The Golden House” authored by – Salman
Rushdie.
5. Book titled “India 2017 Yearbook” authored by – Rajiv
Mehrishi
6. Book titled “I Do What I Do” authored by – Raghuram
Rajan (former RBI Governor)
7. Book titled “Immortal India” authored by – Amish
Tripathi.
8. Book titled “A Horse Walks into a Bar” authored by -
David Grossman (Winner - Man Booker International
Prize 2017)
9. Book titled “How India Sees the World” – Shyam
Saran.
10. Book titled “Hit Refresh” – Satya Nadella. 11. Book titled “Unstoppable: My Life So far” authored by
– Maria Sharapova.
12. Book titled “The Shershah of Kargil” authored by -
Deepak Surana (Biography of Kargil war hero – Late
Captain Vikram Batra)
13. Book titled “Kadve Vachan” authored by – Tarun Sagar
Maharaj.
14. 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.)
15. Book titled “Cryptocurrency for Beginners” authored
by – Amit Bhardwaj.
16. Book titled “Making of a legend” authored by –
Bindeshawr Pathak.
17. Book titled “Dalhousie Through My Eyes” authored by
– Kiran Chadha. 18. Book titled “Playing With Fire” authored by – Katie
Price.
19. Book titled “Future of Indian Universities:
Comparative and International Perspectives” authored by – C. Raj Kumar.
20. Book titled “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness”
authored by – Arundhati Roy.
21. Book titled “The Crisis Within” authored by – Ganesh
Devy.
22. Book titled “Indira Gandhi – A life in Nature” authored
by – Jairam Ramesh.
23. Book titled “Beren And Luthien” authored by – J.R.R.
Tolkien.
24. Book titled “Yug Purush, Bharat Ratna, Atal Ji”
authored by – Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”.
25. Book titled “Matoshree” authored by - Lok Sabha
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan
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Honors & Awards
National Awards
1. Sahitya Akademi Award 2017 – In English Mamang Dai has been awarded for her novel ‘The
Black Hill’.
• In Hindi - Ramesh Kuntal Megh has been awarded for his literary criticism ‘Vishw
Mithak Sarit Sagar’.
• In Sanskrit –‘Niranjan Mishra’ won the award for his Sanskrit novel ‘Gangaputravadanam’
• In Punjabi - ‘Nachhattar’ won the award for his Punjabi novel ‘Slow Down’
Note:
• Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary award.
• This year award given in 24 different languages.
• The award is established in 1954 and comprises
a plaque and a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh. 2. Golden Peacock Innovation Award - Joda East
Iron Mine (JEIM) of Tata Steel has been honored
with the Golden Peacock Innovation Management Award for the year 2017 for driving innovation in mines.
• Joda East Iron Mine of Tata Steel is one of the fully mechanized captive iron mines of Tata Steel.
3. 31st Moortidevi Award 2017 - Joy Goswami.
• He will get the award for his poetry collection titled ‘Du Dondo Phowara Matro’.
• ‘Du Dondo Phowara Matro’ is an autobiographical account of the poet’s life featuring his close ones including a pet cat.
• It is the first time the award will be given to a Bengali poet.
4. PETA’s Person of the Year 2017 - Anushka Sharma 5. Mr. India 2017 - Jitesh Singh Deo bagged the title of
‘Peter England Mr. India 2017’ (ninth edition).
6. Mrs. India Pride of the Nation Award – Mayanka Patel
7. Mamta Kalia Selected for Vyas Samman 2017 - Eminent Hindi litterateur & playwright Mamta Kalia
has been selected for ‘Vyas Samman-2017’ for her
novel ‘Dukkham Sukkham’.
Note:
• The novel 'Dukkham Sukkham' depicts the
story of grandmother Vidhyawati and
granddaughter Manisha's relation.
• The book, 'Dukkham Sukkham' was published
in 2010.
• Currently, she is the editor of Mahatma Gandhi
International Hindi University's quarterly
magazine ‘Hindi’.
• Vyas Samman was instituted in 1991 by the KK
Birla Foundation and carries a cash award of
Rs 3.50 lakh, a citation, and a logo.
• She is also known for her works in Hindi and
English including "Beghar", "Janch Abhi Jaari
Hai", "Nirmohi", and "Bolne Wali Aurat".
• She was born in Vrindavan, Mathura. 8. 3rd Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR)
Distinguished Indologist Award for the year 2017 -
Professor Hiroshi Marui of Japan.
Note: He spent over 40 years working on Indian
philosophy and Buddhist Studies.
9. Ruskin Bond conferred with Lifetime Achievement
Award by the Chandigarh Literary Society. 10. 2017 Tata Literature Live Lifetime Achievement Award
- Girish Karnad (Actor-playwright)
11. Most Visited Place of the World’ - Golden Temple
(Amritsar). The award is presented by ‘World Book of
Records’ (WBR), a London-based organisation.
12. Big Little Book Award for year 2017 - Nabaneeta
Dev Sen (Sahitya Akademi awardee Bengali writer).
Note: The award, given out by Parag initiative of Tata
Trusts to recognise and honour authors and illustrators of
children's literature.
13. Indira Gandhi Peace Prize - Manmohan Singh
(Former PM of India) will receive the Indira Gandhi
Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development this
year for his leadership of the country between 2004
and 2014.
14. International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Awards –
The 48th International Film Festival of India held this
year in Goa.
Here is the list of winners at IFFI 2017 –
1. Best Film Award at IFFI 2017 - 120 Beats Per
Minute (A French film on fight against indifference
towards AIDS)
Note: The film is directed by - Robin Campillo
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2. Indian film personality of the year award - Amitabh
Bachchan
3. Best Female Actress Award – Parvathy Thiruvoth
Kottuvatta for the film ‘Take Off’
Note: The film is directed by - Mahesh Narayanan
4. Best Male Actor Award – Nahuel Pérez Biscayart,
Beats Per Minute
5. Best Director Award – Vivian Qu, Angels Wear
White
6. Lifetime Achievement Award – Atom Egoyan
7. Best Debut Film of a Director Award – Kiro Russo,
Dark Skull
8. ICFT-UNESCO Gandhi Medal - Marathi Film Kshitij-
A Horizon, directed by Manoj Kadam.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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. . 18. Vishnudas Bhave award - Mohan Joshi (Veteran
actor)
Note: The award is conferred in memory of Vishnudas
Bhave, the founder of Marathi theatre.
19. Tata Literature Lifetime Achievement Award 2017
- Girish Karnad (Veteran actor).
20. 2017 Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award - Javed Akhtar
(Veteran writer-lyricist).
21. ‘General Insurance Company of the Year’ - Apollo
Munich Health Insurance.
22. 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).
23. 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.
24. Cleartrip Named 'Best Mobile App for Travel' at
Mobexx Awards. 25. 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. 26. UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage
Conservation - Mumbai’s The Royal Opera House.
27. 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.
28. 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.
29. 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.
30. Asia Game Changers Award- 2017--Dev Patel.
31. First Kesari Media Award - T J S George. (Veteran
journalist)
32. Prem Nazir Award 2017 – Sharada (Veteran actress)
33. East Bengal football club’s highest honour 'Bharat Gaurav' - Dhanraj Pillay
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34. 2018 Times Higher Education (THE) World university
ranking, Indian university has been names the top
university in India -- IISc-Bangalore.
35. First lifetime achievement award for his contribution to
Badminton -- Prakash Padukone.
36. Bollywood star has received the ‘Global Diversity
Award’ at Britain’s House of Commons - Salman Khan
37. Best film award at 18th IIFA Awards 2017-- Neerja. 38. JD(U) leader has also received the Lifetime
Achievement Award as a Rajya Sabha MP -- Sharad Yadav.
39. Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions as a Lok Sabha member -- LK Advani.
40. Indian city has been declared as a World Heritage City (WHC) by UNESCO -- Ahmedabad.
41. 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
1. BBC's sports personality of the year award – Four-
time Olympic champion Sir Mo Farah has been voted
BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2017. 2. BBC overseas sports personality of the year 2017 -
Roger Federer has been voted BBC overseas sports personality of the year for a record fourth time. Earlier, Federer won the award in 2004, 2006 and 2007.
3. The Silence Breakers' named Time’s Person of the
Year for 2017 – Time magazine has named 'the silence breakers' its Person of the Year for 2017
mentioning to those women and men who have raise a
voice to sexual assault and harassment by powerful
public figures in America.
Note: • The women featured on the cover include
actress Ashley Judd, singer Taylor Swift,
former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, Visa
lobbyist Adama Iwu, Mexican agricultural
worker Isabel Pascual.
• The #MeToo movement which has seen many
people come forward with allegations of
harassment and abuse.
• The runner-up for this year’s Person of the
Year was US President Donald Trump, who
was Time’s Person of the Year in 2016.
4. Children's Peace Prize 2017 – Mohamad Al Jounde
Mohamad Al Jounde (16 years old) from Syria was awarded the International Children's Peace Prize for
his efforts to ensure the rights of Syrian refugee
children.
Note: • He set up a school with the help of his family in
a Lebanese refugee camp which provides
education to the 200 children.
• He received the prize from Malala Yousafzai,
who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her work for children's rights.
5. Miss Universe 2017 - Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (Miss
South Africa). The event was held at the AXIS theatre at
Planet Hollywood Las Vegas, US.
6. Miss World 2017 - Manushi Chhillar (Miss India). The
event was held in Sanya City Arena in China.
Note: She was born in Rohtak, Haryana.
7. European Golden Shoe Award - Lionel Messi
8. 2017 Cervantes Prize - Sergio Ramirez Mercado. It is
the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honor.
9. Miss International 2017 - Kevin Lilliana (Indonesia)
10. Abu Dhabi Award - The Andhra Pradesh Mineral
Development Corporation (APMDC) has bagged an
international award from Abu Dhabi. 11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
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14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
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.
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. ● 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.
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● 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.
concise
About Global Entrepreneurship Summit The 8th edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit held at the International Convention Centre (HICC) in Hyderabad,
India. The summit was co-hosted by the US and India. It is the first time when summit was held in South Asia.
Ivanka Trump, adviser to and daughter of US President Donald Trump, headed the US delegation at the event.
Theme of the Summit - 'Women First, Prosperity for All'.
The 2017 summit focuses on four innovative, high-growth industries –
(i.) healthcare and life sciences (ii.) digital economy and financial technology (iii) energy and infrastructure and (iv) media
and entertainment.
'Mitra' robot - greeted PM Modi and Ivanka Trump at the summit- Mitra, an indigenously-built robot greeted Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and Ivanka Trump with a ‘Namaste’.
About ‘Mitra robot’ –
• Mitra is an indigenous robot made of fibre-glass developed by a two-year old startup Invento Robotics in Bangalore in
2015.
• The robot was designed by Balaji Viswanathan (founder of Invento Robotics).
• The 5-foot-tall Mitra robot is also serving humans in a few Canara Bank branches as well as PVR Cinema outlets in
Bengaluru.
Summits & Conference 2017
1. India to host meeting of WTO member countries on food security in February 2018.
2. The 105th Indian Science Congress (ISC) will be held at Manipur University in Imphal.
3. The 25th edition of National Children Science Congress (NCSC-2017) was held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat
4. The theme was ‘Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development’ with the special focus on persons with disabilities.
5. First SAICON 2017 held in –New Delhi. Note: • The theme of the conference was ‘Scoring
Goals in Sports with Science and Technology’. • The first International Conference on Sports
Medicine & Sports Sciences “SAICON 2017” was held in New Delhi.
• It was inaugurated by the Minister of State (I/C) Youth Affairs and Sports Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore.
6. Russia-India-China Foreign Ministers Meet held in
Delhi –Foreign Ministers of Russia, India, and China
(RIC) trilateral meeting held in New Delhi. 7. Asean-India Connectivity Summit – New Delhi.
• Theme "Powering Digital and Physical Linkages for Asia in the 21st Century".
8. 11th Ministerial conference of the World Trade
Organization (WTO) – Buenos Aires, Argentina. 9. International Conference on Climate change
held in - Nepal Note:
• The main objective of the conference is to explore holistic solutions for adaptation to change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region.
• President of Nepal Bidya Devi Bhandari has inaugurated the event.
10. 6th International Tourism Mart 2017 held in - Guwahati, Assam. Note:
• The International Tourism Mart is inaugurated by the Jagdish Mukhi, Governor of Assam.
• The main objective of the mart is to highlight the tourism potential of the region in the domestic and international markets.
11. The 3rd edition of the Dialogue between the NITI Aayog and the Development Research Council of China was held in Beijing, China.
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Note: • The meeting was co-chaired by Vice
Chairman NITI Aayog, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, and Mr Li Wei, President (Minister), DRC.
• The MoU was signed during the visit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to China in May 2015.
• The 2nd Dialogue was held in New Delhi in November 2016.
• The next 4th NITI Aayog - DRC Dialogue will be held in India in 2018.
12. 16th Meeting of the SCO Heads of Government
Council held in Sochi, Russia. Note:
• In 2018, the next SCO Council of Heads of Government Meeting will be held in Tajikistan.
13. The first International Exhibition and Conference on AYUSH and Wellness sector- AROGYA 2017 held in New Delhi. Note:
• The conference was inaugurated by the MoS (Independent charge), Ministry of Ayush Shripad
Naik.
• The theme of the conference is ‘Enhancing the
global potential of Ayush’.
• AYUSH is the acronym of - Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.
14. 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.
15. '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.
16. 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.
17. World Youth Forum - Egypt.
Note: The Minister of State (Independent Charge)
Youth Affairs and Sports Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore
attend the meeting
18. 38th Asian Conference on Remote Sensing – New
Delhi.
• The main theme of the conference is Space
Applications: Touching Human Lives.
19. 21st World Congress of Mental Health - New Delhi.
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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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24. 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.
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
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● 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 2016 Summit – Shima,
Japan
● Venue of 44th G-7 2018 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.
● 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.
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● 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. Bengaluru becomes the first Indian city to have its
own logo - “Be U”. The logo, ‘Be U’ is a mix of typography
in English and Kannada. The objective of the logo to
make every person coming to the city to spend on
memorabilia. The logo was designed by Nammur, a design start-up.
2. Bengaluru to host 7th International Coffee festival - The seventh edition of the India International Coffee
Festival (IICF) will be held in Bengaluru from January 16-19.
3. India's first design University Opens in Haryana - India's first design university 'World University of Design' opened its campus at Sonipat, Haryana.
Note: ➢ The University is promoted by Om Parkash
Bansal Educational and Social Welfare Trust of Mandi Gobindgarh, Punjab.
➢ WUD is India's first university dedicated to education in the creative domain.
➢ WUD has International Collaborations with foreign Universities like UWS University of West Scotland, VFS the Vancouver Film School, and
IAAD the Italian University of Design. 4. India to get its first runway on sea-bridge at
Lakshadweep - India is all set to get its first runway on a ‘sea bridge’, as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been given a nod to extend Lakshadweep’s Agatti Airport. The project is estimated to cost Rs. 1,500cr.
5. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has
created National Highways Investment Promotion Cell (NHIPC) for attracting domestic and foreign
investment for highways projects. 6. India’s first home-grown high purity gold reference
BND-4201 standard launched - The Bharatiya Nirdeshak Dravya (BND-4201) is India’s first home-
grown high purity gold reference standard. The BND-4201 is reference material for gold of ‘9999’ fineness (gold that is 99.99% pure with impurities of only 100 parts-per-million). It will be beneficial to the consumers and public at large to ensure purity of gold.
7. Blue Flag pilot project launched for beach clean-up and development - The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has launched pilot project ‘Blue Flag’ to develop and enhance standards of cleanliness on beaches.
8. Paytm becomes India’s first payments app to cross 100 million downloads on Play Store - India’s largest
mobile-first financial services platform, Paytm announced that its app has crossed the 100 million milestones on Google Play Store. This makes Paytm the country’s first payments app to cross the 100 million downloads mark.
9. Maharashtra tops in GST collection in first five months - Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are top
contributors among states and Union Territories in the first five months since the rollout of the Goods and
Services Tax (GST) regime in July 1, 2017. The data was revealed by Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla in reply to a question in Lok Sabha.
10. The Union Government has made an action plans for backward district programme to improve socio-
economic profiles of 115 identified “most-backward” districts including 35 affected by left-wing extremism.
11. e-HRMS portal launched by Dr Jitendra Singh
(Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) – The Electronic-Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS) portal will bring all employees of Government of India on employee portal so that all processes of personnel management from hiring to retiring will be on digital platform and manual system
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of handling personnel management will be dispensed with.
12. SAMEEP initiative launched by Ministry of External Affairs – The aim of this initiative to bring Indian foreign policy to students across the country. Under this, MEA
officials will talk to students to help them better understand foreign policy. The main purpose of SAMEEP
is to take Indian foreign policy and its global engagements to students across the country.
SAMEEP stands for - Students and MEA Engagement
Programme
13. Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated Start-up Incubation Centre in Mangalore - Defence Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman has inaugurated a modern development centre - the Centre for Entrepreneurship
Opportunities and Learning - for budding entrepreneurs in Mangalore.
The aim of this centre is to promote Startup India
initiative in the country. 14. Mumbai gets country's first AC suburban train -
Mumbai Railway Service (Western Railway) started the first ever Air-Conditioned local train has been flagged off from Borivali station in Mumbai. The AC local will operate only on the Churchgate-Borivili
section.
15. PM Modi launched Tuirial Hydropower project in Mizoram - PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated the 60-
megawatt Tuirial hydroelectric power project in Aizawl, Mizoram.
➢ Now, the Mizoram had become the third power- surplus state in the north-east after Sikkim and Tripura.
➢ Prime Minister also inaugurated the Shillong - Nongstoin Rongjeng Tura road.
➢ The hydropower project would produce ‘251 million units’ of electrical energy every year.
➢ The Tuirial hydropower project has been built on Tuirial River, a tributary of Barak River.
16. Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates eastern India’s
First CNG Stations – The Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan has inaugurated
eastern India’s first compressed natural gas (CNG) stations for scooters in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
He has also inaugurated CNG-run scooters and CNG
stations for three-wheelers at Chandrasekharpur and
Patia area in Bhubaneswar.
The CNG stations were part of GAIL’s Pradhan Mantri
Urja Ganga and City Gas Distribution (CGD) projects in
Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.
17. Indian Railways plans to make all stations 100% LED lit by March 2018.
18. Patanjali ranked India's most trusted FMCG Brand - Indian FMCG company, Patanjali Ayurved Ltd. has been ranked as India's most trusted Fast-Moving Consumer
Goods (FMCG) Brand by the Brand Trust Report India Study 2017.
19. The Union Cabinet has approved proposal of Ministry of Railways to set up first ever National Rail and Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara, Gujarat.
20. Noted writer Ramendra Kumar felicitated in Sri Lanka - Noted writer Ramendra Kumar, whose stories feature in Sri Lankan text books, has been felicitated in the neighbouring country Sri Lanka for his contribution
to children's literature.
Note:
• He is an award-winning writer with 32 books to his
credit.
• His book Dilemma and other stories, translated into
Sinhala, was also released at the felicitation
ceremony. This is his fourth book in Sinhala. 21. HAL's Dornier228 planes made under 'Make in India'
set for commercial flights - The 19-seater Dornier 228 aircraft is manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under licence from Swiss technology company RUAG for the defence forces and European markets. Recently it was successfully tested at Kanpur Airport. Well, the HAL of Kanpur has been transport aircraft division since 1960.
22. A new LIGO gravitational wave detector to be built in
India by 2025 – The new Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detector to be
built in India by 2025. This will be the third detector the
two already operational in the US.
Note: The LIGO detectors discovered the first
gravitational waves produced by two giant merging
blackholes last year. The research won a Nobel Prize in
Physics this year.
23. Air Deccan gets DGCA nod for UDAN (Ude Desh ka
Aam Naagrik) scheme - The aviation regulator
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted
flying permit to Air Deccan, a move that will enable the
airline to operate flights under the regional connectivity
scheme called UDAN.
24. Odisha recognised as 'Champion State' for exports -
The Centre has recognised Odisha as a 'Champion State'
for recording the highest growth in exports during 2016-
17. • The exports from the state have increased from Rs
19,082 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 40,872 crore in 2016-
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17 with merchandise exports from Odisha
registering the highest growth rate of 114 per cent
among all the states,
25. UNESCO names Kumbh Mela in list of Intangible
Cultural Heritage – The Intergovernmental
Committee for Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural
Heritage under UNESCO has inscribed ´KumbhMela´
on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity.
Note:
• The inscription of Kumbh Mela in list was
undertaken following recommendation by
expert body which examines nominations
submitted by member countries of UNESCO
during its 12th session of Committee held at
Jeju, South Korea.
• KumbhMela is the 14th intangible cultural
heritage from India to be listed in UNESCO’s
list.
26. Uttar Pradesh first State to approve Centre’s triple
talaq draft bill – Uttar Pradesh became first state to
approve Union Government’s draft law — Muslim
Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act that
makes practice of instant “triple talaq” or talaq-e-
biddat. a cognisable and non-bailable criminal offence.
The draft law was endorsed by the state cabinet
meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
Background
27. India and Israel open centre for floriculture in
Tamil Nadu – India and Israel have jointly set up a
centre for excellence in floriculture at Thally in
Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu. It is first agro-
technology development centre to be set up with
Israel’s assistance in Tamil Nadu.
28. Bodhi Parva: BIMSTEC Festival of Buddhist
Heritage held in New Delhi – India hosted “Bodhi
Parva: BIMSTEC Festival of Buddhist Heritage” at New
Delhi as part of celebrations of 20th Anniversary of
BIMSTEC. The Festival was inaugurated by Minister of
State (IC) for Culture Dr. Mahesh Sharma.
29. India’s first mobile food testing lab unveiled in Goa
– India’s ‘first’ mobile food testing laboratory enabling
on-the-spot food safety tests was launched in Goa. It
was launched by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
Note:
• This is the first ever ‘Food Safety on Wheel’
mobile laboratory in the country.
• The vehicle is equipped to conduct on-the-
spot tests to check food quality and curb
adulteration.
• It will also check hygiene level of water
and the results can be received within 15
minutes.
30. Mt Hope new tallest mountain in British Antarctic
Territory – As per new discovery from cartographers
surveying Antarctica, Mt Hope is the tallest mountain
in the British Antarctic Territory (BAT). Its height is
measured at 3,239 meters above sea level.
Note: Earlier, maps showed Mt Jackson with the height 3,184 meters as the tallest mountain in the
territory according to researchers at British
Antarctic Survey (BAS).
31. Uttarakhand government makes LED bulbs
compulsory in all government offices – The state
government of Uttarakhand has taken a new initiative
for energy conservation by making it compulsory for
all government offices to install LED bulbs.
32. Kerala’s Alappuzha in top UN clean city list - The
waste management system was being implemented in Kerala’s coast town of Alappuzha has been recognised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as one of the five models across the world for fighting the pollution menace.
Note: • Alappuzha called “the Venice of East” has
been listed in the UNEP environment report.
• PM Narendra Modi Swachh Bharat Abhiyan ranked Alappuzha at 380 among the 500 cities in the country in the Swachh Survekshan Survey 2017.
33. Farmer engagement app ‘Jai Kisaan’ launched in
Goa – The Chief Minister of Goa Manohar Parrikar
launched a farmer engagement app named ‘Jai Kisaan’
which aims to fulfil the needs of the farmer's
community in India.
34. PM Narendra Modi launches UMANG App – Prime
Minister Narendra Modi launched the UMANG App
(Unified Mobile Application), a platform that brings
more than100 government services on a single mobile
app.
35. PM Modi inaugurated Dr. Ambedkar International
Centre in New Delhi - Prime Minister Narendra
Modi inaugurated the B.R Ambedkar International
Centre in the New Delhi.
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36. Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh has been included
in the National Capital Region (NCR). Now there are
total 23 districts which come under the National
Capital Region.
37. Kacheguda becomes first energy-efficient rail
station – Kacheguda railway station (South Central
Railway) has earned the unique distinction of being
the First Energy Efficient ‘A1 Category’ Railway Station on Indian Railways. The station has achieved
100% energy efficiency replacing 1,312 conventional
lights with light-emitting diode (LED) lighting.
38. India’s largest floating Solar Power Plant opened in
Kerala by the State power minister MM Mani in Kerala.
The total budget for the project is Rs. 9.25 crore. The
plant is built at Banasura Sagar dam Kerala.
About Banasura Sagar Dam
• The Banasura Sagar Dam is located in
Wayanad District of Kerala in the Western
Ghats. It is built over Kabini River.
• It is the largest earthen dam in India and the
second largest in Asia.
• The Dam is named after the Banasura, the son
of Mahabali who was a very respected king of
Kerala.
39. Core sector grows 4.7% in October 2017 - The
growth of Core sector has grown till 4.7% in the
month of October 2017. The data is shared by the of
eight core industries released by Ministry of
Commerce and Industry.
Note:
• This is the highest core sector growth since
March 2017.
• The eight core sectors include - coal,
natural gas, crude oil, refinery products,
cement, fertilizers, steel, and electricity.
40. National Nutrition Mission approved by Union
Cabinet - The Union Cabinet has approved the setting
of National Nutrition Mission (NNM) with an outlay of
9046.17 crore rupees for three years. It will be rolled
out in three phases from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
Note:
• The function of NNM is to monitor various
schemes contributing towards addressing
malnutrition.
• More than 10 crore people will be
benefitted by this programme.
• All the States and districts will be covered
in a phased manner i.e. 315 districts in
2017-18, 235 districts in 2018-19 and
remaining districts in 2019-20.
• It is an apex body under Ministry of
Women and Child Development.
41. Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium held in
New Delhi - The 22nd meeting of the Small Farmers’
Agri-Business Consortium held in New Delhi. The
meeting was chaired by Union Agriculture and
Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
About Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium
• The Small Farmers Agribusiness
Consortium (SFAC) is an autonomous society established in 1994 and is
registered under Societies Registration Act
1860.
• It is promoted by Union Ministry of
Agriculture, Cooperation, and Farmers’
Welfare.
• SFAC is also registered as Non-Banking
Financial Institution (NBFC) by Reserve
Bank of India (RBI).
42. 'Kathakar - International Storytellers Festival’
held in New Delhi - The 7th edition of the Kathakar -
International Storytellers Festival’ held at the Indira
Gandhi National Centre for the Arts ( IGNCA), New
Delhi.
Note:
• The festival was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs Shri Kiren Rijiju.
• The festival was started under the aegis of UNESCO in 2010.
• It is the only oral storytelling festival in India and is a part of Ghummakkad Narain- the Travelling Literature Festival.
• The festival this year will be hosted in the cities of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and Mumbai.
43. BSF celebrated 52nd formation - The Border
Security Force is celebrating its 52nd formation day on
1st December 2017.
Note:
• India's Border Security Force was formed on
December 1 in 1965 after the Indo-Pak and
India-China wars.
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• The KF Rustamji, from the Indian police
service, was the first Director General of BSF.
• Krishan Kumar Sharma is the
present Director General of BSF.
• BSF headquartered in New Delhi.
44. One Rupee note turns 100 - The one rupee note turns
100 years old on 30th November 2017.
Note:
• The first one-rupee note was introduced on November 30, 1917, with the photo of King George V.
• In 1926, the RBI discontinued issuance of one-rupee note but it got reintroduced in 1940. In 1994 again, the note get discontinued which got back reintroduced in 2015.
• The One Rupee note is issued by Ministry of Finance and it bears the signatures of Finance Secretary.
45. Cyclone Ockhi strikes in the Tamil Nadu & Kerala - The
cyclone Ockhi strikes in the southern districts of Tamil
Nadu and some parts of Kerala state.
46. PM Narendra Modi launches Hyderabad Metro Rail
Project – Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated
the first phase of the 72-km elevated Hyderabad Metro
Rail project.
Moreover, PM Modi also launched the mobile app
named 'T Savari' for Metro passengers. The first
phase of Hyderabad Metro Rail project has 24
stations in 30-km stretch between Miyapur and
Nagole.
47. ‘Project Saksham’ launched by Railways Ministry -
‘Project Saksham’ is a complete training programme,
which aims to train all employees of Indian Railways
with a view to upgrade their skill and knowledge. It
was launched by Union Minister of Railways & Coal
Piyush Goyal.
48. 5th Global Conference on Cyber Space held in New Delhi.
Note: The theme of the conference is Cyber for all,
a secure and inclusive cyberspace for sustainable
Development.
49. 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.
50. 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.
51. 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.
52. 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.
53. 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-
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➢ 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
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.
54. 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.
55. 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.
56. 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.
57. 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.
58. 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.
59. 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.
60. 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.
61. 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.
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➢ Bharatmala Project will include 9000 km of
economic corridors, 6000 km of inter-
corridor and feeder routes, 5000 km of national
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.
62. 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. 63. 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.
64. 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.
65. 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.
66. JP Nadda has launched 15 medical outlets of ‘AMRIT
Deendayal’ in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab
through Video Conference from Shimla.
67. 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
68. India’s first micro forest being built in Chhattisgarh.
69. The union minister Harsh Vardhan has launched SECURE Himalaya project in association with UNDP at the Global
Wildlife Programme (GWP) conference in New Delhi. 70. The National Highways Authority of India has launched a
mobile app for smooth functioning of electronic toll
collection --MyFASTag.
71. Country’s first ‘Videsh Bhavan’ launched in Bandra Kurla
Complex (BKC), Mumbai by External Affairs Minister
‘Sushma Swaraj’. 72. India’s first Hyperloop project will come up in Andhra
Pradesh. 73. 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. Meghalaya launches India’s first social audit law -
Meghalaya state has become the first Indian state to operationalize The Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act,
2017, a law that makes a social audit of government programmes and schemes a part of government
practice.
It was launched by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma at a
national convention in Shillong.
2. GAIL commissions India’s second largest rooftop solar plant in UP - GAIL India Ltd has commissioned India’s second largest rooftop solar power plant in
Uttar Pradesh. It is 5.76 MWp (Mega Watt peak) solar plant installed at GAIL’s petrochemical complex at Pata
in UP. Note: India’s largest rooftop solar plant was
commissioned in December 2015 by Tata Power Solar
in Amritsar, Punjab. It is 12 MWp solar rooftop project,
which produces more than 150 lakh units of power
annually.
3. Vaikunta Ekadasi festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu 4. The Losar festival celebrated in Ladakh region to
mark the new year.
5. Rajasthan becomes the first state to offer e-mail IDs in Hindi - Rajasthan has become the first Indian
state to launch free email addresses in Hindi (in Devanagari script) for its residents.
➢ The objective of this initiative aims to ensure maximum participation of people towards e-governance and ensure those maximum government facilities in vernacular language.
➢ Soon Rajasthan’s state personnel will have an
email id in Hindi too. 6. International Sweet Festival' to be held in Hyderabad,
Telangana
7. An International Festival of Poetry Mystic Kalinga held
in Bhubaneswar Odisha
8. Hot Air Balloon Festival held in Varanasi, UP.
9. Konark festival held in Odisha – The 31st edition
of the Konark festival held in Odisha. The festival
held every year from 1st to 5th December. The
objective of the festival is to promote the diverse
Indian dance heritage as well as the popularity of
Konark Temple and Odisha as a tourist destination.
10. Death for rape of girls aged 12 or less: MP - The
Assembly of Madhya Pradesh has passed a bill
awarding death to those found guilty of raping girls
aged 12 and below.
Note:
• The Bill will now be sent to the President
for his assent, after which it will become
a law.
• If President approved the bill, then
Madhya Pradesh will become the first
state where those convicted of such
rapes will face the death penalty.
• The bill introduced a section--376 (A)
(A)--to the Indian Penal Code (IPC)
under which a person convicted of
raping a girl aged 12 years or below may
be awarded death penalty, life
imprisonment or a minimum
imprisonment of 14 years with a fine.
11. Nagaland celebrated 54th formation Day –
Nagaland state celebrated its 54th formation day. On
1 December 1963, Nagaland became the 16th state
of India.
Note:
• The key economic activity of the state is
Agriculture and the main crops include –
rice, corn, millets, pulses, oilseeds, etc.
• The state shares its borders with the
state of Assam to the west, Arunachal
Pradesh to the North, Manipur to the
South and Burma to the east.
• The capital of Nagaland is Kohima.
Dimapur is the largest city in Nagaland.
• TR Zeliang is the present Chief Minister
of the state.
• Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya is the
Governor of the Nagaland.
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12. Hornbill festival held in Nagaland - The 18th
Hornbill festival held in Nagaland. The festival is
celebrated from 1-10 December every year in
Nagaland. It is also called the 'Festival of Festivals'.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. 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
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. 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.
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25. Assam to host Global Investors Summit in 2018 -
Assam would be hosting its first Global Investors
Summit in Guwahati from 3- 4 February 2018.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. Prime Minister ‘Narander Modi’ laid the foundation stone of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh.
29. Uttar Pradesh state govt. has launched a mass
marriage scheme ‘Mukhyamantri Samoohik Vivaah
Yojana’ for BPL families. 30. 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.
31. Odisha state Govt. has launched a Sampurna Yojna
scheme for pregnant women. 32. The Union Minister Dr. Harshvardhan has launched 'Pt
Deen Dayal Upadhayay Vigyan Gram Sankul
Pariyojana' in Uttarakhand.
33. Himachal Pradesh became the first Indian state to
launch electric bus service. 34. Jharkhand state government has launched Shaheed
Gram Vikas Yojana to provide houses to freedom fighters.
35. 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.
36. Jammu & Kashmir government has inaugurated the
second International Yoga Festival and International
Yoga Sports Championship 2017.
37. India’s first-ever railways disaster management centre will come up near Bengaluru, Karnataka by 2018.
38. India’s first-ever aviation university Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU) will come up in Fursatganj in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.
39. The 2017 Aadi Perukku festival is celebrated in Tamil Nadu.
40. India’s biggest Global Skill Park will be set up in the
Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
41. India’s first automatic coastal warning for disasters
will set up in Odisha.
42. India’s first freight village will be developed by the
Inland waterways authority of India (IWAI) in --
Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
International Affairs
1. Six countries enter UN Security Council – Equatorial
Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kuwait, Peru, Poland and the Netherlands formally joined the ranks of the non-
permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.
Note: ➢ The UN Security Council has 15 members,
including five with permanent seats who have the power to veto resolutions - Britain, China,
France, Russia and the United States. ➢ The six countries who left the UN Security
Council on December 31 are Egypt, Italy, Japan,
Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay. 2. India to set up IT center in Egypt's Al Azhar
University - India will be establishing a Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT) at Al
Azhar University in Egypt.
3. Saudi Arabia, UAE introduce VAT for first time - Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) became
first countries of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to introduce Value Added Tax (VAT) for the first time to
increase their revenue away from oil reserves. The other members of 6 member GCC– Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar — have also committed to introduce
VAT, though some have delayed plans until at least 2019.
4. Norway becomes 1st Nation to shut national broadcasts on FM - Norway has become the world's first country to shut down national broadcasts of its
FM network by completing its transition to digital radio.
5. China successfully tested its first Photovoltaic road - The first photovoltaic (solar) highway based on
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home-grown technology was successfully tested in Shandong province of China.
Note: ➢ The photovoltaic highway is constructed using
solar panels which have a thin sheet of transparent concrete on top of them, protecting the surface.
➢ With this, China became the second country in the world to construct a photovoltaic highway.
➢ Earlier, in 2016 France had introduced world’s first photovoltaic road fitted with solar panels.
6. Guatemala to move its embassy in Israel to
Jerusalem - Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales
has announced that it would be moving its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Guatemala was one of the 9 nations that had voted
against the United Nations resolution that rejected US
President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize
Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. 7. WHO Certifies Gabon as Polio-Free - The World
Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Gabon (central African country) "polio-free country", given the lack of new reported or suspected cases
The UN health agency nonetheless recommended
taking the necessary steps to continue monitoring for possible signs of the disease.
Since 1988, Cases of polio have decreased by 99%,
when polio was endemic in 125 countries and 350,000
cases were recorded worldwide. 8. Saudi Arabia to host World Chess - Saudi Arabia will
soon host a world chess tournament for the first time nearly two years after the country’s top cleric issued a religious edict against playing the board game
9. India selected as Chair of Ad Hoc Committee of Kimberley Certification Scheme - India was selected as Chair of Ad Hoc Committee on Review & Reforms to look into various issues pertaining to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPSC) at recently held KP Plenary Session in Brisbane, Australia.
Angola will be the Vice Chair of this Adhoc Committee
and will work with India and other members of
Committee on reform issues related to changes in core
document, expansion of scope of KP.
India was appointed as the Kimberly Process (KP) Vice
Chair for 2018 & Chair for 2019 in the last plenary of
KP held in Dubai in November, 2016. The EU will be KP
Chair for 2018.
10. Google launches artificial intelligence research center in China –
Alphabet Inc's Google is opening an artificial
intelligence (AI) research center in China to target the
country's local talent.
The research center is the first of its kind in Asia and will comprise a small team operating out of its existing
office in Beijing.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence displayed by
machines, in contrast with the natural intelligence (NI)
displayed by humans and other animals.
11. India to Become the Fifth Largest Economy in 2018: Cebr Report – According to the Centre for
Economics and Business Research (Cebr) report- India's economy is expected to overtake that of Britain
and France to become the fifth largest in the world in dollar terms in 2018, and third largest in 2032. Note:
➢ China is likely to overtake the United States as the world's No.1 economy in 2032, Cebr said.
➢ India is currently seventh in the top world economies with $ 2 trillion.
➢ According to the World Economic Forum, the world's top 3 economies are-
➢ USA ($ 18 trillion), ➢ China (11 trillion dollars), ➢ Japan (4.4 trillion dollars)
12. World's longest glass bridge opens in China at 755 feet high - The 488-metre-long bridge at Hongyagu
Scenic Area in Hebei, is the world’s longest glass-floor bridge.
13. Russia has signed an agreement to build a nuclear
power plant in Sudan
14. Belgium becomes the first country to appoint
female ambassador to Saudi Arabia - Dominique
Mineur, who is currently posted in the United Arab
Emirates, will join the Belgium embassy in Saudi
capital Riyhad in summer 2018. 15. Saudi Arabia lifts 35 years ban on cinemas, movie
theaters.
16. Taj Mahal named second-best UNESCO world
heritage site – According to a survey, the Taj Mahal
of Agra, India is the second-best UNESCO world
heritage site in the world.
Note:
• Angkor Wat of Cambodia named as the
Best UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Angkor is one of the most important
archaeological sites in South-East Asia.
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• The survey was conducted by the
world’s largest travel portal TripAdvisor
which lists the UNESCO Cultural and
Natural heritage sites which are rated by
travellers around the globe.
• Taj Mahal is followed by Great Wall,
China; Machu Picchu, Peru; Iguazu Falls,
Argentina/Brazil; Sassi of Materia, Italy;
Auschwitz, Poland; Old City of Jerusalem,
Israel; Historic areas of Istanbul, Turkey;
and Historic Krakow, Poland.
17. Venezuela Airlines banned from European Union skies - The Airline of Venezuela Avior has been
barred from European Union skies after a committee
determined it no longer meets international safety
standards.
18. Donald Trump recognise Jerusalem as Israel's
capital – Donald Trump has announced that the U.S.
will recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
19. Wassenaar Arrangement decides to admit India
as its new member – The elite export control
regime Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) has decided
to admit India as its new member at the two-day
plenary meeting of the grouping in Vienna.
It would enhance its credentials in the field of
non-proliferation despite not being a signatory
to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The Wassenaar Arrangement plays a significant
role in promoting transparency and greater
responsibility in transfers of conventional arms
and dual-use goods and technologies.
Note:
India will become the Arrangement's 42nd
participating state as soon as the necessary
procedural arrangements for joining the WA are
completed.
The Wassenaar Arrangement participating
states reviewed the progress of the number of
current membership applications and agreed at
the plenary meeting to admit India.
20. ISA become Treaty-based International
Intergovernmental organization –The
International Solar Alliance (ISA) has become the
treaty-based international intergovernmental
organization one month after Guinea became the
15th country to ratify it.
Note:
• Till now, 46 countries have signed and
19 ratified Framework Agreement of
International Solar Alliance (ISA).
• It is the first treaty-based international
government organisation to be based in
India.
• Its headquarter is located on the campus
of National Institute of Solar Energy
(NISE), Gwalpahari, Gurgaon, Haryana.
About ISA
• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is
jointly launched by the Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and French President
Francois Hollande on the sidelines of
COP-21 of UN Climate Conference in
Paris in November 2015.
• The ISA is an alliance of more than 121
countries. The institutional structure of
ISA consists of an Assembly, a Council and a Secretariat.
• The alliance is also called International
Agency for Solar Policy and Application
(IASPA).
21. PM Modi emerges as most tweeted about world
leader after Trump - According to the
microblogging site Twitter, Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has emerged as the most tweeted about world
leader after US President Donald Trump this year.
Note:
• With 44.1 million followers, Donald
Trump top the “most tweeted about
world leaders” for the year 2017.
• Narendra Modi ranked on the second
spot with 37.5 million followers about
the world leader, after Donald Trump.
22. Iran President opened the first phase of
Chabahar port which is known as the Shahid
Beheshti port. Iran President Hassan Rouhani
inaugurated the port. The Shahid Beheshti Port of
Chabahar is now the only and largest port in Iran on
the Indian Ocean and will significantly help in
regional development with the rest of world
countries.
23. US withdraws from UN Migrant & Refugee pact. –
The United States has withdrawn itself from a
United Nations Migrant & Refugee pact. to improve
the handling of migrant and refugee situations.
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24. Venezuela to launch new cryptocurrency ‘Petro’
- According to the Venezuelan President Nicolas
Maduro, the country is set to launch a digital
currency called the “petro” to combat US -led
financial "blockade,".
The ‘Petro’ a cryptocurrency will be backed by
Venezuela’s oil, mineral and gold reserves. It
would help Venezuela to make financial transactions and overcome the financial
blockade.
25. India re-elected to International Maritime
Organisation Council. YK Sinha, India’s
ambassador to the UK, represented India at the
assembly in London. India joined the International
Maritime Organisation Council as a member in 1959.
Note:
• The International Maritime Organization
(IMO) is the agency of United Nation which
plays an important role in relation to the
global shipping industry.
• It was established in 1959.
• The IMO has 172 Member States and three
Associate Members.
• Headquarter of IMO – London, United
Kingdom
• Head - Kitack Lim 26. Bank of China Begins Operations in Pakistan - Bank
of China has formally launched its operations in
Pakistan, with its first branch inaugurated in Karachi.
27. 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.
28. 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.
29. 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.
30. 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.
31. ICIJ releases Paradise papers - The International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has
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.
32. 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.
33. 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
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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.
34. 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.
35. 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.
36. 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.
37. 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.
38. 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’.
39. 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.
40. 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.
41. 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.
42. 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
43. 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.
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44. Saudi Arabia lift its ban on internet calling
applications, easing restrictions online as the
conservative kingdom faces new criticism over
censorship.
45. 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.
46. China launched its first cyber court specializing in
handling Internet-related cases in the e-commerce hub
of Hangzhou.
47. Montenegro Officially joined North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and become the 29th member
country.
48. The world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge has
opened in Switzerland.
49. 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. 61st National Shooting Championships in
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
• Jitu Rai has clinched the Men's 50-metre pistol national title 2017.
• He set a record of 233 at the 61st National Shooting Championships in Thiruvananthapuram.
• Note: • Jai Singh secured bronze with an effort of
198.4. • Arjun Singh Cheema of Punjab won the
junior men's 50m pistol event . 2. Anisa Sayyed of Haryana won the gold at 25m
pistol category in 61st National Shooting Championships. She set a record of 33.
• In the junior women's 25m pistol, another Haryana shooter Chinki Yadav won gold
with another final national record score of 31.
3. World Rapid Chess Championship 2017 - Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand has won the World Rapid Chess Championship in Riyadh.
4. Bangladesh won SAFF U-15 Women's
Championships title – Bangladesh defeated India in the final to won the SAFF Under-15 Women's Championships.
• This is the first South Asian title for
Bangladesh in women's football.
• India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan participated in this South Asian Football
Federation tournament.
5. Indian boxers win 5 medals (3 gold, 1 silver & 1 bronze) at Galym Tournament at the Galym
Zharylgapov Boxing Tournament in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
6. Birmingham to host Commonwealth Games in
2022 - Earlier, the 2022 Commonwealth Games were originally given to Durban (South African city) in 2015, but the city was stripped of the event because of financial difficulties.
Note: Shooting game is excluded from Commonwealth
Games 2022.
7. India has won 10 medals (5-Silver and 5 Bronze) in the first Wushu Sanda Asian Cup in Guangzhou, China.
8. Sushil Kumar & Sakshi Malik win gold at Commonwealth Wrestling Championships - India’s Sushil Kumar (freestyle wrestler) clinched the gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships, in South Africa.
He defeated Akash Khullar (New Zealand) with a
pinfall in the final of the 74kg freestyle category.
• Sakshi Malik won the gold medal in the 62kg women's freestyle category
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• India’s Parveen Rana won a bronze medal in the same category.
9. Dubai World Badminton Superseries– Akane
Yamaguchi of Japan defeated P V Sindhu in the final 10. Borussia Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic named USA
Player of Year - Midfielder Christian Pulisic (19-year) has been named as the U.S. male Player of the Year.
11. Sachin Siwach named ABC’s best youth boxer - The
World youth champion Sachin Siwach has been named the Asian Boxing Confederation’s best youth boxer of the year 2017.
12. Hockey World League winner – Australia beat
Argentina by 2-1 in the final to retain their Hockey
World League title. The final was played in
Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
Note: India defeated Germany by 2-1 to grab the
bronze medal at the event.
13. FIFA Lifts Kuwait Football Ban – The international
football federation, FIFA, has lifted a two-year
suspension against Kuwait’s football association that
has prevented the country from participating in
international tournaments.
14. Kanchanmala Pande wins India’s 1st World Para
Swimming Championship Gold – Kanchanmala
Pande of Nagpur has created history as she became the
first Indian to secure pole position at the World Para-
Swimming Championship in Mexico.
Note: She won the gold in the 200-meter medley
event in the S-11 category and was also the only Indian
to qualify for the women’s category. 15. Mujeeb Zadran From Afghanistan Becomes First
Cricketer Born in 21st Century - Mujeeb-ur-Rehman
Zadran, the 16-year-old off-spinner, became the
youngest ever from Afghanistan to play International
cricket and overall, he is the 9th youngest to make
debut in ODI cricket.
16. Gurdeep creates three national records in IWF C'ships – Lifter Gurdeep Singh has created three new
senior national records in +105 Kilogram weight
category in IWF World Weightlifting Championships at
Anaheim in USA.
17. Sushil Kumar quits as National Sports Observer for
wrestling –The Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar has
resigned from the post of a National Sports Observer
for wrestling. Earlier, Boxing Champion Mary Kom had
resigned as the national observer for boxing.
18. Cristiano Ronaldo wins fifth Ballon d'Or award –The Real Madrid forward ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’ (32-year)
has won the Ballon d'Or for a fifth time to move level
with rival Lionel Messi at a ceremony in Paris.
Ronaldo previously won the award in 2008, 2013,
2014 and 2016.
19. IOC banned Russia from 2018 Winter Olympics
Games - The International Olympic Committee (IOC)
has banned Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics
Games.
Note:
• The decision was announced by the IOC
president Thomas Bach and his board
members on the findings and
recommendations of a 17-month investigation
on the state-sponsored doping at the 2014
Games hosted by Russia in Sochi.
• The 2018 Winter Olympics Games will be held
in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
20. India win first-ever South Asian Regional Badminton
Team Championship - India defeated Nepal by 3-0 to
win the first-ever South Asian Regional Badminton
Team Championship.
The final match was played at Tarun Ram Phookan
Indoor Stadium in Guwahati.
21. Jason Holder, captain of West Indies suspended for
2nd test –
The Captain of the West Indies team Jason Holder has
been suspended for the 2nd test against New Zealand
because of his team's slow over-rate in the opening
fixture.
According to the International Cricket Council (ICC),
the sentence was forced after the West Indies were ruled to be three overs short of their target in the
Wellington Test, which they lost by an innings and 67
runs.
22. Virat Kohli became the first captain to hit six double centuries in Test cricket. He scored his
record sixth Test double hundred in 238 balls on the
second day of the ongoing third Test against Sri Lanka
at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Note: Also, Virat Kohli became the second Indian
cricketer to score back-to-back double hundreds after
Vinod Kambli.
23. Prithvi Shaw to lead in 2018 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup – The ICC U19 Cricket World Cup will be
held in New Zealand from 13th January to 3rd
February 2018.
24. Deepika Kumari of India has won the bronze medal at
the Indoor Archery World Cup which was concluded in
Bangkok.
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25. Mirabai Chanu becomes the second Indian to win the
Gold medal in World Weightlifting Championships at
Anaheim, USA.
Note:
• She won the Gold medal in the women’s 48kg
category.
• She became the second Indian after Karnam
Malleswari to achieve the feat.
• Karnam Malleswari won the Gold medal in
World Weightlifting Championships in 1995 in
China.
• Chanu belongs from Manipur state.
26. Gopi Thonakal became the first Indian man to win
Asian Marathon Championship held at Dongguan in
China. He belongs from Kerala state.
27. Ankushita wins 'Best Boxer' title in World Youth
Women's Boxing Championship
• Ankushita Boro, of Assam, has won the Best Boxer' title in World Youth Women's Boxing Championship held in Guwahati.
• She clinched the fifth gold for India after defeating Russia’s Ekaterina Dynnik in the 64kg final.
• She belongs from Megaai Gairrani village in Assam and began boxing in 2012.
28. Pankaj Advani wins World Snooker Championship - Pankaj Advani defeated Amir Sarkhosh of Iran 8-2 to
win the 15-frame IBSF World Snooker Championship
in Doha
It was the Indian star’s 18th world title.
Advani had won his 17th world title at the same venue
when he won the IBSF World Billiards Championship
defeating Mike Russell of England.
29. 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.
• 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.
30. 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.
31. 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. 32. Badminton Men’s National Champion – H.S.
Prannoy. He defeated Kidambi Srikanth at 82nd
Senior National Championship, in Nagpur, Maharashtra.
33. 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.
34. Jasprit Bumrah (bowler) ranked at top spot in ICC
T20 Rankings.
35. 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.
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36. 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.
37. Heena Sidhu wins Gold at 10m Air Pistol event in
Commonwealth Shooting Championships held in
Brisbane, Australia.
38. Roger Federer wins ATP World Tour 8th Basel Title by
defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the final.
39. 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.
40. Scott Fleming joined National Basketball Association
(NBA) India as Head of Basketball Operations. 41. 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.
42. 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.
43. Patna Pirates beats Gujarat Fortunegiants to clinched
Third Pro Kabaddi Successive Title.
44. 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.
45. 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.
46. Aditi Ashok (golfer) won third Ladies European Tour
title in Abu Dhabi.
47. Shiv Kapur (golfer) won the Panasonic Open Title.
48. 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.
49. 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.
50. 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. ➢ Kidambi Srikanth wins Men's Singles Title in
Denmark Open. He defeated Hong Kong's
Wong Wing Ki Vincent in the final.
➢ Kidambi Srikanth wins Men's Singles Title in
Indonesia Open. He defeated Japan's
Kazumasa Sakai in the final.
➢ Kidambi Srikanth wins Men's Singles Title in
Australia Open. He defeated China’s Chen
Long in the final.
51. 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.
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52. 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.
53. 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.
54. 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
➢ FIFA Fan Award - Celtic
55. 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.
56. 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.
57. 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.
58. 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.
59. Gaganjeet Bhullar Clinches Macao Open Golf Title
2017 – With this win Gaganjeet Bhullar has lifted
his eighth Asian Tour title at the Macau Open.
60. India to host Junior Asian Wrestling Championship
(JAWC) 2018.
61. Sivalingam Sathish Kumar and Ragala Venkat Rahul qualified for next year’s Commonwealth Games after winning a gold medal each in their respective weight divisions at the Commonwealth Senior (men & women) Weightlifting Championships in Gold Coast, Australia.
62. 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.
63. Maharashtra won the Chief Minister's cup with 45
gold medals at the National kickboxing championship
held in Raipur.
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64. India has lost the World Group Play-off tie of Davis
Cup Tennis Tournament to the host Canada 2-3.
65. 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.
66. India will host the 2019 edition of the Commonwealth (Youth, Junior and Senior) Weightlifting Championships.
67. Ankur Mittal has won silver in senior men’s double
trap at 2017 ISSF World Shotgun Championship in
Moscow. 68. Star India has won the coveted Indian Premier League
(IPL) media rights for 2018-23. 69. Para Athlete & Hockey player have been selected for
this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award_-- Sardar Singh & Devendra.
70. Lakshya Sen (shuttler) clinched the Bulgaria Open International Series title in Sofia, Bulgaria
71. PV Sindhu won the 2017 BWF Korean Open Super
Series Women’s Singles title.
72. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has nominated Mahendra Singh Dhoni for Padma Bhushan award for his contribution to the game.
73. 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.
74. ICC has chosen captain of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017 team -- Mithali Raj.
75. India will host the Men's World Boxing Championship for the first time in 2021.
76. Rahul Yadav Chittaboina (shuttler) has won the
men’s singles Lagos International 2017
77. Boxer Sachin Siwach wins gold at Commonwealth
Youth Games held in Bahamas.
78. Real Madrid won the 2017 UEFA Champions League
trophy by defeating Manchester United in the final.
79. Los Angeles (USA) will host the 2028 Olympics and Paris will host 2024 Olympic Games.
80. 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) 81. Lewis Hamilton won the 2017 Italian Formula One
Grand Prix tournament.
82. Lewis Hamilton won the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix of
Formula.
83. Australian fast bowler retired from Test Match and
ODIs --John Hastings.
84. Usain Bolt (legendary sprinter) retires from the Athletics world.
85. FIBA Asia Championship (Asia’s biggest basketball
tournament) 2017 held in Lebanon.
86. 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.
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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. ● 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.
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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.
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
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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. ‘Naseem Al Bahr’ or ‘Sea Breeze’ - Naval exercise
between India & Oman held in Oamn.
2. Ekuverin’ - Indo-Maldives joint military exercise held at at Belagavi, Bengaluru.
3. 'Hamesha Vijayee' - The Indian Army's Southern
Command had conducted exercise 'Hamesha Vijayee'
in the deserts of Rajasthan
4. 'Ajeya Warrior- Indo-UK military exercise 2017' held
in Bikaner, Rajasthan
5. ‘Vigilant Ace’ - Largest Air exercise between United
States & South Korea held in Seoul, South Korea.
6. “Flag4” - UAE Armed Forces along with the UK, US
and French armies conducted a joint exercise in Abu
Dhabi.
7. PRABAL DOSTYK 2017: India & Kazakhstan Joint
Exercise held at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh.
8. 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.
9. 'Sampriti' 2017 – India & Bangladesh Joint Military
Combat Exercise held in Meghalaya and Mizoram. 10. 'MITRA SHAKTI 2017' – India & Sri Lanka Joint
Training Exercise conducted at Aundh Military Station,
Pune.
11. ‘Blue Flag-17’ – India & Israel bi-annual multilateral
exercise held at Uvda Air Force Base in Israel.
12. CORPAT (Coordinated Patrol) – The bilateral exercise
between the Indian Navy and the Indonesian Navy conducted at Belawan Indonesia.
Defense News –
1. India's submarine ‘INS Kalvari’ inducted in Indian Navy - Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
commissioned India's modern conventional submarine ‘INS Kalvari’ into Navy's fleet in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
2. China launches remote sensing satellites - China has successfully launched remote sensing satellites
designed to conduct electromagnetic probes and other experiments.
3. India successfully test-fired its indigenously
developed Advanced Air Defence (AAD) supersonic interceptor missile, capable of destroying any
incoming ballistic missile at low altitude, from a test range in Odisha.
4. Akash missile successfully tested – The Akash
missile was successfully tested with indigenous radio
frequency seeker from a test range in Odisha.
The state-of-the-art indigenous missile targeting an
UAV 'Banshee', was fired from the launch complex-III
of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur.
Akash is Surface to Air Missile (SAM) with a range of
25 km and carries a 55- kg fragmentation warhead that
is triggered by proximity fuse.
This was the first supersonic surface-to-air missile (SAM) with indigenous seeker that has been test fired.
The Akash missile is developed by Defence Research
and Development Organisation (DRDO) under
Integrated Guided-Missile Development Programme
(IGMDP).
5. Godrej Aero gets new contract for BrahMos Missile
airframes –
• Godrej Aerospace has won the deal from BrahMos Aerospace Pvt. Ltd. (BAPL) for supply of additional 100 units airframe fuel management systems for BrahMos Air-Launched Cruise Missile.
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• Godrej Aerospace had recently completed the supply of its 100thairframe for the missile.
• Since 2000, it has been associated with BrahMos. It is a unit of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd.
BrahMos missile • Brahmos is supersonic cruise missile
developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint-venture between Russia’s Mashinostroyenia and India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• It is capable of carrying a warhead of 300 kilograms (both conventional as well as nuclear).
• It is hailed as world’s fastest anti-ship cruise missile in operation.
• It is a two-stage missile, the first one being solid and the second one ramjet liquid propellant.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. ‘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.
9. 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.