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Anshuman NayakB.E. (NIST,Berhampur)

MBA (HR) (UBS,Chandigarh)

Dear Aspirants,This is the informationage and knowledge hasno limit. Gone are thedays when people usedto depend solely onlibraries and books togain knowledge. Themeans of procuringknowledge andaccessing informationhas undergone a seachange with the adventof computers, internetand smart phones. Theinternet is the biggestlibrary ever created in human history andseemingly presents itself as an unlimited and evergrowing store of knowledge and information.So when my team approached me with the ideaof a current affairs magazine of ARIFIN thefirst question I asked myself was why? Whatdifference can we make?There are the news papers, a plethora of similarnational level magazines and of course theinternet which serve the purpose already.The reason I gave my nod was simple.

(1) With so much of information around,there is the problem of overload; I believethere is still a gap to be bridged when itcomes to providing precise, succinct andrelevant information.

(2) It need not be a mere current affairsmagazine but rather it can be a holisticsupport system for competitive Exampreparation with question banks, tips andtricks , concepts and practice exercises,general awareness, traditional GK andmore such similar features.

Hence, the result is this magazine whoseeditorial team is a blend of youth, energy,knowledge and experience. As explained earlier,I promise my readers two things:

(1) This is not going to be just anothermagazine. This will be a magazine witha difference.

(2) With each new issue, the magazine willget better and better with new andinnovative features,.

So, watch out, enjoy and benefit!!

1.BANKING & FINANCE

Page- 02

2.STATE AFFAIRS

Page-04

3.NATIONAL NEWS

Page-05

4.GLOBAL NEWS

Page-07

5.PEOPLE IN NEWS

Page-08

6.SPORTSPage-11

7.AWARDSPage-13

8.Let’s know Chhatishgarh

Page-17

9.GK/CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ

Page-18

10.FUN TIME LESSON

Page-32

February 2019Current Affairs Magazine

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BANKING & FINANCE

Govt. notifies new GST return formsThe government has notified new annual GSTreturn forms, which are required to be filed bybusinesses registered under the Goods andServices Tax (GST) regime by June 30, 2019.The Central Board of Indirect Taxes andCustoms (CBIC) on December 31, 2018,notified form GSTR9, GSTR9A and GSTR9C.

Reserve Bank relaxes debt recast norms forMSMEs:

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has relaxedthe provisioning norms for lenders forrestructuring loans of up to 25 crore. Loans ofup to 25 crore eligible for relaxation of provision.The restructuring has to be implemented byMarch 31, 2020, the RBI said.

Allahabad Bank, SBI Life Join Hand ForBancassurance Partnership

Allahabad Bank and SBI Life Insurance cametogether and signed a bancassurance pact, tooffer a holistic financial planning solution toconsumers.The tie-up, one of the largest Bancassurancepartnerships in the country, will see 3,238branches of Allahabad Bank across the countryoffer SBI Life’s range of protection, wealthcreation, and savings products to its customers.

Cabinet Approves Merger of Vijaya Bank &Dena Bank With Bank of Baroda

The cabinet has approved the merger of VijayaBank & Dena Bank with Bank of Baroda. Afterthis merger, Bank of Baroda will become thethird biggest public sector bank. The merger willbe effective from April 1. This is also the firstever three-way merger in Indian banking.

Axis Bank hikes base rate for loans by 30 bpsAxis Bank has announced a 30 basis points (bps)hike in its base rate for loans. With effect fromJanuary 3, 2019, the bank’s base rate has beenincreased to 5 percent, up from 9.2 percent.

HDFC MF Surpasses ICICI Prudential MF toBecome Largest AMC in India

HDFC Mutual Fund has pipped ICICIPrudential MF to become the country’s largestasset management company after a gap of overtwo years.As of December-end, HDFC MF managesassets to the tune of Rs 3.35 lakh crore, whilethose of ICICI Prudential MF stood at Rs 3.08lakh crore, as per the latest data available withAssociation of Mutual funds in India (Amfi).

Syndicate Bank And SBI Life Insurance SignedBancassurance Pact

Syndicate Bank and SBI Life Insurance signeda bancassurance pact aiming to offer acomprehensive financial planning solution to itscustomers.Through the pact, Syndicate Bank will providepenetration in the market with its 3,000 branchesand SBI Life’s diverse range of protection,wealth creation and savings insurance productswill be brought to the table to the customers.

SEBI Allows Custodial Services In CommodityMarket

SEBI has allowed custodial services in thecommodity derivatives market. The move isaimed at enabling the participation of institutionalinvestors such as mutual funds and portfoliomanagers in the commodity derivatives market.Under the new framework, existing custodianswill be permitted to add commodities as an assetclass and provide physical delivery of both thesecurities and commodities.

Government Amalgamates 3 RRBs Into ASingle Bank

The government has amalgamated threeRegional Rural Banks - Punjab Gramin Bank,Malwa Gramin Bank and Sutlej Gramin Bank -into a single RRB.

Gita Gopinath joins IMF as its first female chiefeconomist

Mysore-born Gita Gopinath has joinedInternational Monetary Fund as its chiefeconomist, becoming the first woman to occupythe top IMF post.

World Bank Pegs India’s GDP Growth At 7.3% in 2018-19

India’s GDP is expected to grow at 7.3% in thefiscal year 2018-19, and 7.5% in the followingtwo years, the World Bank has forecast,attributing it to an upswing in consumption andinvestment. India will continue to be the fastestgrowing major economy in the world, accordingto the World Bank.China’s economic growth is projected to slowdown to 6.2% each in 2019 and 2020 and 6% in2021, according to the January 2019 GlobalEconomic Prospects report released by theWorld Bank.

ADB forecasts Indian economy to grow at 7.3%in FY19

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) forecast


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that the Indian economy would grow at 3 percent in FY19. On the back of strong investmentand GST stabilisation, the growth would improveto 7.6 per cent in FY20. Besides, India’s fundingwould be scaled up to $4.5 billion in 2019.ADB forecast current account deficit (CAD) tobe around 2.5 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal,which will be financed by stable capital flows.

India Allows Iran’s Bank Pasargad To OpenBranch in Mumbai

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has announcedthat India has allowed an Iranian bank, PasargadBank, to open a branch in Mumbai. The moveis aimed at circumventing US trade andinvestment sanctions as India builds a strategicport in the West Asian country.Iran’s Pasargad Bank has received thenecessary clearances to open its branch inMumbai. Alongside, India’s UCO Bank willopen a branch in Iran.

IRCTC Partners With Bharti AXA GeneralInsurance

Indian Railway Catering and TourismCorporation (IRCTC), the Railways’ subsidiary,will offer insurance of up to INR50 lakh forfree for air passengers who book their ticketsthrough its portal. IRCTC has tied up withBharti-Axa for the offer.IRCTC’s service charge of INR59 is thecheapest compared with travel websites. IRCTChas tied up with Galileo, a computer reservationsystem, for powering the flight search engine.

RBI slaps Rs 3 crore penalty on Citibank IndiaThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed apenalty of Rs 3 crore on Citibank India for notcomplying with directions regarding the ‘fit-and-proper criteria’ for directors of the bank. TheUS-based Citibank has been operating in Indiafor over 115 years. The bank has 35 branchesin India and a network of 541 ATM.

IDFC Bank re-named IDFC First BankThe IDFC Bank has changed its name to IDFCFirst Bank following the merger of Capital Firstwith the private sector lender.IDFC Bank and non-banking financial companyCapital First had announced completion of theirmerger on December 18, creating a combinedloan asset book of Rs. 1.03 lakh crore for themerged entity.

GST Registration Threshold Limit IncreasedTo Rs 40 Lakh

The Limit of annual turnover for compositionscheme increased to 1.5 crore rupees effectivefrom April 1, 2019.The Council has decided to increase the GST

registration threshold limit to 40 lakh rupees from20 lakh. The Taxpayers who are giving Servicesof up to Rs 50 lacs per annum will be taxedunder 6% under Composition Scheme.

Cabinet approves recapitalisation of Export-Import Bank of India

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the PrimeMinister Shri Narendra Modi has approved therecapitalization of EXIM Bank.Issuance of Recapitalization Bonds byGovernment of India to the tune of 6, 000 crorefor capital infusion in Export Import Bank ofIndia (Exim Bank). The equity will be infusedin two tranches of Rs. 4,500 crore in FY 2018-19 and Rs.1,500 crore in FY 2019-20respectively.The Cabinet also approved an increase in theauthorized capital of Exim Bank from Rs. 10,000crore to Rs. 20,000 crore.

India To Surpass UK in World’s LargestEconomy Rankings in 2019: PwC

India is likely to surpass the United Kingdom inthe world’s largest economy rankings in 2019, tobecome the world’s fifth largest economy,according to a report by global consultancy firmPwC.PwC’s Global Economy Watch report projectsreal GDP growth of 1.6% for the UK, 1.7% forFrance and 7.6% for India in 2019.The US was the world’s largest economy with asize of 19.39 trillion dollars, followed by China at12.23 trillion dollars at the second place in 2017.

Nepal’s central bank bans Indian currencynotes

Nepal’s central bank has banned the use of Indiancurrency notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 200denominations. Nepali citizens cannot carry thesedenominations to countries other than India.Nepalis are also not allowed to bring such notesfrom other countries. Indian notes of 100 orbelow, however, are allowed for trading andconversion.

SBI Card And Etihad Guest Tie-up To LaunchPremium Card For International Travel

SBI Card and Etihad Guest, the loyaltyprogramme of Etihad Airways, have joinedhands to launch a travel-specific Visa credit cardfor members and Indian travellers. This is thefirst international co-brand partnership of SBICard, the country’s second-largest credit cardissuer.The card will be available in two variants, EtihadGuest SBI Card and Etihad Guest SBI PremierCard, will bring an unmatched value propositionto Etihad Guest members and international


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travellers from India.RBI To Inject Rs 37,500 Crore Through OMOIn February

The Reserve Bank of India has stated that itwill inject Rs 37,500 crore into the systemthrough the purchase of government securities

STATE AFFAIRSOdisha CM Naveen Patnaik AnnouncesInterest Free Loans For Women SHGs

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaikannounced interest-free loans of up to Rs. 3lakh for women self-help groups (WSHGs) inthe state. There are around six lakh WSHGsin Odisha. The initiative will benefit about 70lakh women.During the convention, Mr. Patnaik launched ascheme to distribute Rs. 15,000 seed moneyper group to three lakh new self-help groups.The chief minister announced incentives of Rs.500 per month for Anganwadi workers and Rs.200 for helpers.

Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu doublespension for 54 lakh people

In Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu doubled the amount forpensioners in the state from Rs 1,000 per monthto Rs 2,000. More than 54 lakh people willreceive the bonanza from next month.

Kerala now has India’s tallest Shiva lingamKerala now has the tallest Shiva lingam in thecountry after the India Book of Recordscertified the 2-feet structure of MaheshwaramSri Shiva Parvathy Temple at Chenkal inThiruvananthapuram district.It is the only temple in the world, where devoteescan worship 12 Jyothirlingam of Lord Shiva and32 forms of Lord Ganesha at one place.

Kallakurichi now Tamil Nadu’s 33rd districtTamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi KPalaniswami announced a new districtKallakurichi that will be created by bifurcatingVillupuram district. With this, the state will nowhave 33 districts. Palaniswami made thisannouncement in the assembly while replyingto the motion of thanks to the Governor.

N Chandrababu Naidu inaugurates AP’sseventh airport at Orvakallu

Andhra Pradesh seventh airport at Orvakallunear Kurnool city was inaugurated by chiefminister N Chandrababu Naidu, setting the

stage for transforming the region into a moredeveloped area.Visakhapatnam, Rajamahendravaram,Vijayawada and Tirupati are major airports inAndhra Pradesh, Kadapa, Puttaparthi andOrvakallu in Kurnool district are the smaller ones.

Gujarat first state to implement 10% quota foreconomically weak in general category

Gujarat became the first state to implement thenew quota. The new poor quota will beimplemented in admissions and jobs that wereadvertised before January 14 but for which theactual process is yet to start.

Kochi gets one of India’s biggest startupecosystem

One of country’s largest startup ecosystemswith 8 lakh sq. ft. facility housing incubationinfrastructure across a series of sectors intechnology was launched by Kerala chiefminister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Puducherry government to ban single-useplastic products from March 1

Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamysaid that the cabinet has decided to banproduction, sale and use of single-use plasticproducts in the Union Territory from March 1.He said a massive drive would also be launchedto create awareness among the merchants andthe public on the necessity of the ban.

MP CM Kamal Nath launches Rs 50,000 crfarm loan waiver scheme

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nathlaunched his government’s Rs 50,000 crorefarm debt-waiver scheme named ‘Jai KisanRin Mukti Yojana’.It would benefit 55 lakh small and marginalfarmers.

Odisha Govt. launches ‘Ama Ghare LED’Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the‘Ama Ghare LED’ (LED bulbs in our houses)scheme which will benefit about 95 lakhfamilies in the State. Each beneficiary familywill get four LED bulbs free of cost under the

in February to increase liquidity.RBI stated that it has decided to conduct thepurchase of government securities under OpenMarket Operations (OMOs) for an aggregateamount of Rs 375 billion in the month ofFebruary 2019.


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scheme.The LED project will help curb high-watt

NATIONAL NEWS‘Chandrayaan-2 among 32 missions planned for2019’

India has planned 32 missions, including the“most complex” Chandrayaan2 during 2019, theIndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) hassaid.India’s maiden human spaceflight programme‘Gaganyaan’ would go full steam ahead toaccomplish the various development andqualification milestones during the year, the spaceagency said.

6 Monuments Declared Of National ImportanceIn 2018 By ASI

The Ministry of Culture announced thatArchaeological Survey of India (ASI) declared6 monuments as ‘protected and of nationalimportance’ under the Ancient Monuments andArchaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958, in2018.

These sites are:125-year-old Old High Court Building in Nagpur,Maharashtra,The Group of Temples in Ranipur Jharail inBolangir district of Odisha,2 Mughal era monuments in Agra- Haveli ofAgha Khan and Hathi Khana,The Neemrana Baori in Alwar district ofRajasthan,The Vishnu Temple in Kotali, Pithoragarh districtin Uttarakhand.

Andhra Tops ACI’s Ease Of Doing BusinessIndex

Andhra Pradesh emerged on top of AsiaCompetitiveness Institute (ACI), Singapore’s2018 Ease of Doing Business (EDB) Index ABCrankings for economies of 21 states of India,while Maharashtra and Delhi came in secondand third place, respectively.EDB index is based upon three parameters calledABC - Attractiveness to Investors, BusinessFriendliness and Competitiveness Policies.Andhra Pradesh rose from the 5th rank in 2016to the top spot in 2018.

Lok Sabha passes quota Bill that providesreservation to economically backward

The Lok Sabha passed a Bill allowing 10% quotain employment and education for the general

category candidates who belong to theeconomically weaker sections.The Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill, 2019,introduced by Minister of Social Justice andEmpowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot, wascleared by majority of the members (319) votingfor it, and four against.

Interim Budget To Be Presented on 1 FebruaryThe interim budget for 2019 will be presentedon 1 February during the budget session of theparliament. The budget session of the Parliamentto be held from 31 January to 13 February.The decision was taken in the meeting of theCabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.

Andaman To Be First Island To OperateSeaplanes Under UDAN-3

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation,islands in Andaman will soon be connected byseaplanes that can land on or take-off from thewater. To facilitate the same, the governmenthas approved flight operations on 13 wateraerodrome routes under the Ude Desh ka AamNagrik (UDAN) scheme.

India To Become World’s 3rd Largest ConsumerMarket By 2030: WEF

A report by World Economic Forum stated thatIndia is set to become the world’s third largestconsumer market behind only USA and Chinaby 2030. The report was titled as ‘Future ofConsumption in Fast-Growth Consumer Market– India’.As per the report, consumer spending in India isexpected to grow from 1.5 trillion US dollar atpresent to six trillion US dollar by 2030. Withthe annual GDP growth rate of 7.5%, India iscurrently the world’s sixth largest economy.

India’s Longest Single Lane Steel Cable BridgeOpened in Arunachal Pradesh

India’s longest 300-meter single lane steel cablesuspension bridge was inaugurated by ArunachalPradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu.The bridge across the Siang river at Yingkiongin Upper Siang district has been named ByorungBridge. It is built at a cost of Rs48.43-croreprovided by the DONER (Department forDevelopment of North Eastern Region) Ministry.The Bridge will reduce the distance from

consumption. Odisha requires about 3.8 croreLED bulbs for the purpose.


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Yinkiong to Tuting by almost 40 km.India ranks third in research on artificialintelligence

India ranks third in the world in terms of highquality research publications in artificialintelligence (AI) but is at a significant distancefrom world leader China, according to ananalysis by research agency Itihaasa, which wasfounded by Kris Gopalakrishnan, former CEOand co-founder of Infosys.India, while third in the world with 12,135documents, trailed behind China with 37, 918documents and the United States with 32,421documents.

India’s 2nd Defence Innovation Hub to comeUp In Nashik

Nashik in Maharashtra will be the site of thecountry’s second defence innovation hub afterCoimbatore in Tamil Nadu. It will help localindustries and entrepreneurs in the country’sdefence sector.

National Museum of Indian Cinema Launchesby PM Narendra Modi in Mumbai

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the NationalMuseum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) in Mumbai.An innovation Committee headed by PrasoonJoshi provided an upgrade to the NMIC. Builtat a cost of Rs 140.61 crore, the museum depictsthe journey of over a century of Indian cinemain a story telling mode.

Indian Navy Coordinates Largest Ever CoastalDefence Exercise: SEA VIGIL

Ten years after “26/11”, the Indian Navycommenced the largest coastal defence exerciseoff the Indian coast.Exercise SEA VIGIL, a first of its kind, is beingundertaken along the entire 7516.6 km coastlineand Exclusive Economic Zone of India and isinvolving all the 13 coastal States and UnionTerritories along with all maritime stakeholders,including the fishing and coastal communities.

India ranks at 54th position among mostinnovative countries

India figures at 54th position among the world’smost innovative countries, according toBloomberg 2019 Innovative Index. It is for thefirst time that India has made it to the rankings.

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba to commission‘INS Kohassa’ at Diglipur

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will commissionthe new Naval Air Base ‘INS Kohassa’ atDiglipur in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Thenew airbase in the northernmost part of theAndaman Nicobar Islands will be used for bothDefence and civil aircraft. Earlier, Naval Air

Station at Shibpur was manned by utilizing themanpower from INS Utkrosh.The airbase will function as an independent unit.With the inauguration of INS Kohassa, Andamanand Nicobar Command will further strengthenits defence capabilities in the region.

ISRO Successfully Launched PSLV C44Carrying Kalamsat & Microsat R

The Indian Space Research Organisationsuccessfully launched the PSLV C 44 carryingKalam sat and imaging satellite Microsat R. Thesatellite was launched from the Sathish DhawanSpace Centre Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.Kalamsat is a ten cm cube weighing one-kilogram communication satellite with a life spanof two months.

DRDO Launches Long Range Surface to AirMissile Off Odisha Coast

The Defence Research and DevelopmentOrganisation (DRDO) has successfully test firedLong Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM)from naval warship INS Chennai.The test was conducted off the coast of Odisha.The LR-SAM hit a low flying aerial target duringthe test.

India’s Fastest Indigenous Train Renamed AsVande Bharat Express

India’s fastest indigenous train which will runfrom Delhi to Varanasi has been named asVande Bharat Express. Its previous name wasTrain 18. The new name has been given aftertaking suggestions from the general public.It is a train built completely in India by Indianengineers in a span of 18 months and it is anexample that it is possible to make world-classtrains under Make in India.

Nari Shakti Is Oxford Dictionary’s Hindi WordOf The Year 2018

The Oxford Dictionaries announced ‘Nari Shakti’as the Hindi Word of the Year. The Hindi Wordof the Year chosen every year, reflects theconversations, ethos of a particular year.The word this year, Nari Shakti, has been derivedfrom Sanskrit and when broken down, the word‘nari’ means women and ‘shakti’ means power.

National Salt Satyagraha Memorial InauguratedAt Dandi

In commemoration of the 150th BirthAnniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, PrimeMinister of India Narendra Modi dedicated grandand iconic ‘National Salt Satyagraha Memorial’constructed by the Central Public WorksDepartment at Dandi, Gujarat to the Nation.


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GLOBAL NEWSU.S., Israel officially quit UNESCO

The US. and Israel officially quit the UN’seducational, scientific and cultural agency(UNESCO) at the stroke of midnight, theculmination of a process triggered more than ayear ago amid concerns that the organizationfosters anti-Israel bias.

Bolsonaro sworn in as Brazil’s PresidentRightwing nationalist Jair Bolsonaro, who hasvowed to crack down on political corruption andviolent crime and ignite a moribund economywith deregulation and fiscal discipline, wassworn in as Brazil’s President recenly.

Qatar Withdraws From OPECQatar has withdrawn its membership fromOrganization of the Petroleum ExportingCountries (OPEC).Qatar has been in OPEC for 57 years. Thedecision came amid the ongoing diplomatic andeconomic blockade imposed on the country byits Persian Gulf neighbours and several Arabstates.

France Introduced GAFA Tax On GlobalInternet, Technology Firm

The finance minister of France Bruno Le Maireannounced that France will introduce its owntax on large internet and technology companiesfrom January 1.France has been pushing hard for a new so-called “GAFA tax” — named after Google,Apple, Facebook and Amazon — to ensure theglobal giants pay a fair share of taxes on theirmassive business operations in Europe.

Arunima Sinha Becomes World’s 1st FemaleAmputee To Scale Antarctica’s Highest Peak

Arunima Sinha, the first female amputee to haveconquered Mt Everest, created yet anotherrecord as she became world’s first womanamputee to climb Mount Vinson, the highestpeak in Antarctica.Apart from Mount Everest, the 30-year-old hasclimbed the highest peaks of five continents andplans to do so in all seven.

Japan Tops List of Most Powerful Passportsaccording to Henley Index

According to the Henley Passport Index, whichperiodically measures the access eachcountry’s travel document affords, India jumpedtwo positions from 81st in 2018 to 79th this year.Japan retained its top spot as the world’s mosttravel-friendly passport .Afghanistan, Pakistan

and Nepal ranked further low at 104, 102 and94 respectively.

Macedonia Renamed As ‘The Republic OfNorthern Macedonia’

The Parliament of Macedonia has passed theresolution to amend the constitution of thecountry to rename it as the Republic of NorthernMacedonia.The name change will help resolve a decades-long dispute with neighboring Greece openingthe way for Skopje to join NATO and theEuropean Union.

China becomes first country to grow plants onthe Moon

China has become one of the first nations in theworld which has successfully germinated seedson a place other than Earth. China’s Chang’e-4probe successfully germinated seeds on the darkside of the Moon in a miniature, artificialbiosphere, providing hope for the future ofsustainable, long-distance manned space travel.

India’s Satyarup becomes world’s youngestmountaineer to climb 7 Peaks, 7 VolcanoSummits

Mountaineer Satyarup Siddhanta became theyoungest man to climb the seven highest peaksand volcanic summits across all continents afterconquering Antartica’s highest point MountSidley.Satyarup achieved the feat at the age of 35 years262 days while Australia’s Daniel Bull did it aged36 years 157 days.With this feat Satyarup alsobecame the first Indian to conquer the sevenmountain peaks and seven volcanic summits.

Justice Asif Khosa takes oath as new ChiefJustice of Pakistan

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa took oath as the 26thChief Justice of Pakistan in a simple ceremonyheld at the President’s House in Islamabad,which was also attended by foreign dignitaries,including from India. President Arif Alviadministered oath to the new Chief Justice whotook office after the retirement of Chief JusticeSaqib Nisar.

Japan Launches Satellite For World’s 1stArtificial Meteor Shower

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency haslaunched Tokyo-based startup Star-ALE’s mini-satellite aimed to deliver the world’s first artificialmeteor shower.The satellite carries 400 tiny balls, will be enoughfor 20-30 events, that will glow as they rush


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down the atmosphere on being released. ALEplans to deliver its first show in Hiroshima inearly 2020.

Sultan Abdullah Elected New Malaysian KingSultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was electedas Malaysia’s new king by the members of thecountry’s royal families. The 59-year-old wasearlier appointed the Sultan of the Malaysianstate of Pahang.He replaced Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan,who stepped down recently, making it the firstabdication in Malaysia’s history.

India Replaces Japan To Become Second-Largest Crude Steel Producer

India has replaced Japan as the world’s 2nd

PEOPLE IN NEWSSudhir Bhargava is new CIC chief

The government has appointed Sudhir Bhargavathe new Chief Information Commissioner. Fournew members have also been appointed to theCentral Information Commission (CIC).The CIC is the highest appeal body under theRight to Information Act.Bhargava, a former Secretary to the SocialJustice Ministry, will be sworn in by President.He has been a Commissioner since June 2015.

V.K. Yadav is new Railway Board ChairmanV.K. Yadav, General Manager, South CentralRailway, has been appointed the new RailwayBoard Chairman. Mr. Yadav takes over fromAshwani Lohani.He belongs to the 1980 batch of the IndianRailway Service of Electrical Engineers.

LIC MD to officiate as chairmanLife Insurance Corporation of India MDHemant Bhargava has been given the additionalcharge of the chairman after V.K. Sharmaretired. Mr. Bhargava took charge as MD inFebruary 2017.

RBL Bank appoints Pankaj Sharma as its chiefoperations officer

Private sector lender RBL Bank has appointedPankaj Sharma as its chief operations officerto mainly overlook the corporate servicesfunction and the bank’s overall operations.

Veteran actor Kader Khan diedKader Khan- the actor who wrote the best linesdies at the age of 81.He was also a screenwriter and wrotedialogues for over 250 movies.

Amitabh Chaudhry Takes Charge As AxisBank MD & CEO

Axis Bank announced its Managing Directorand CEO Shikha Sharma has retired from thepost and Amitabh Chaudhry will be the newmanaging director and CEO of the bank witheffect from January 1, 2019.Chaudhry, the former MD and CEO of HDFCStandard Life Insurance Company, was inSeptember named the MD and CEO of AxisBank for a period of three years.

Justice TBN Radhakrishnan Sworn In As 1stChief Justice of Telangana High Court

Justice Thottathil Bhaskaran NairRadhakrishnan was sworn in as the first ChiefJustice of the Telangana High Court.The oath to the office was administered toJustice Radhakrishnan by Telangana andAndhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhanat Raj Bhavan. With this, the state of Telanganawill have its first independent high court.

U.K. Sinha to head RBI panel on MSME revivalThe RBI has appointed an eight member expertcommittee headed by former SEBI chairmanU.K. Sinha to systematically review andpropose long term solutions for revival of theMSME sector. The committee will submit itsreport by the end of June 2019.

Sachin tendulkar’s coach Ramakant Achrekarpasses away in MumbaiDronacharya awardee cricket coachRamakant Achrekar, who is cedited withshaping the early career of Sachin Tendulkar,

largest steel producing country, while China isthe largest producer of crude steel, accountingfor more than 51% of production, according tothe World Steel Association.China’s share increased from 50.3% in 2017 to51.3% in 2018. India’s crude steel productionin 2018 was at 106.5 MT, up 4.9% from 101.5MT in 2017.

Suman Kumari became Pakistan’s first Hinduwoman judge

Suman Kumari has become the first Hinduwoman to be appointed as a civil judge inPakistan. She passed her LLB examination fromHyderabad and did her Masters in Law fromKarachi’s Szabist University.


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died on January 2.Saurabh Kumar Appointed As Chairman OfOrdnance Factory Board

Saurabh Kumar has been appointed as theDirector General of Ordnance Factories(DGOF) and chairman of the OrdnanceFactory Board (OFB).An expert in the manufacture of ordnance,Kumar was on deputation to the Ministry ofDefence as the director of planning andcoordination from 2002 to 2009.

Hemant Bhargava Appointed LIC’s ActingChairman

The government has appointed HemantBhargava, Managing Director, Life InsuranceCorporation of India, as the Acting Chairman.The move comes after VK Sharma retired fromthe top job at LIC on December 31. Whiletraditionally the senior-most MD is appointedthe chairman, Bhargava is due to retire in July2019.

Veteran Kannada Actor CH Loknath PassesAway

Veteran Kannada actor CH Lokanath passedaway after suffering cardiac arrest. He was91. Lokanath was in the Kannada film industryfor nearly six decades and was affectionatelyaddressed as ‘Uncle Lokanath’ by his fans.

Shri Chhabilendra Roul takes charge asSecretary, Department of Fertilizers

Shri Chhabilendra Roul has assumed the chargeof Secretary, Department of Fertilizers,Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, andGovernment of India.Shri Roul is an Indian Administrative ServicesOfficer of 1985 batch, from Punjab Cadre.

Veteran Bengali Writer Dibyendu Palit PassesAway

Renowned Bengali writer and Sahitya Akademiawardee Dibyendu Palit passes away due toage-related ailments. He was 79-year-old.Palit was conferred the Sahitya Akademi forhis novel ‘Anubhab’ in 1998. He was awardedthe ‘Bankim Purashkar’ for ‘Dheu’ in 1990 and‘Ananda Purashkar’ in 1984 for ‘Sahojoddha’.

Harold Brown, Former U.S. Defense Secretarypasses away

Harold Brown, who as defense secretary inthe Carter administration championed cutting-edge fighting technology during a tenure thatincluded the failed rescue of hostages in Iran,has died at age 91.

Pentagon chief of staff Kevin Sweeney resignsKevin Sweeney, the chief of staff of the USDepartment of Defence has announced his

resignation from the post.World Bank President announces resignation

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announcedthat he would step down next month, more thanthree years before his current term was due toexpire.World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva willserve as interim President.

Sheikh Hasina Sworn-In As Bangladesh PMFor 4th Term

Sheikh Hasina sworn-in as the BangladeshPrime Minister for the fourth term. It is herthird consecutive term after her victory in the11th Parliamentary elections.

Vikram Misri takes charge as India’s newenvoy to China

Vikram Misri took charge of India’s envoy toChina. Before his appointment Mr. Misri servedas Indian envoy in Myanmar.

Nandan Nilekani to head five-member RBIpanel on digital payments

The Reserve Bank of India has appointed afive-member panel headed by Nandan Nilekanito suggest ways to improve digital payments.The committee will submit its report in 90 daysfrom its first meeting.

Pranav R Mehta Becomes 1st Indian to HeadGlobal Solar Council

A visionary in the field of Solar Energy and thechairman of National Solar Energy Federation,Pranav R Mehta, has taken over as thepresident of Global Solar Council (GSC). Hehas become the first Indian to head the GSC.

Malala Pens New Book On Refugee GirlsTitled We Are Displaced

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Pakistani activistMalala Yousafzai pens a new book, titled ‘WeAre Displaced: My Journey and Stories fromRefugee Girls Around the World,’ charting herexperiences traveling the world and visitingrefugee camps.

Maduro Sworn In As Venezuela President for2nd Term

Nicolás Maduro was sworn in for a secondterm as Venezuela’s President amid theeconomic and humanitarian crisis faced by theLatin American country. Maduro was re-elected last year.

M.D. Zulfiqaruddin passed awayOlympian and one of the finest footballers fromIndia, D. Zulfiqaruddin passed away after aprolonged illness. He was 83. He alsorepresented India in the 1958 Asian Games.

Su Tseng-chang Appointed PM of TaiwanTaiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has appointed


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Su Tseng-chang as Prime Minister, during aCabinet reshuffle following the rulingDemocratic Progressive Party’s heavy lossesin local elections.Su is a former premier appointed in 2006 bythen-President Chen Shui-bian and was achairman of Tsai’s Democratic ProgressiveParty for two terms.

Ashok Chawla Resigned As NSE ChairmanAshok Chawla resigned as chairman of theNational Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)with immediate effect “in light of recent legaldevelopments”.

TCS Appoints Daniel Callahan As IndependentDirector

India’s largest software exporter TataConsultancy Services has appointed DonCallahan as an additional and independentdirector for a period of 5 years, based on therecommendations of the Nomination andRemuneration Committee.

Ananth Narayanan Steps Down As Myntra-Jabong CEO

Ananth Narayanan has stepped down as CEOof Myntra and Jabong to pursue externalopportunities. Amar Nagaram has been namedas Head, Myntra and Jabong, reporting toKalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of Flipkart Group.

ICICI Bank Appoints B Sriram, RamaBijapurkar Independent Directors

Private sector ICICI Bank inducted former SBIManaging Director B Sriram and managementconsultant Rama Bijapurkar on its board asindependent director.

Malayalam Director Lenin Rajendran PassesAway

Malayalam director and screenwriter LeninRajendran has passed away at 67.He was a five-time recipient of the Kerala StateFilm Awards and also received the InternationalFederation of Film Critics Award for the bestMalayalam film for his film ‘Makaramanju’.

Vishnu Hari Dalmia, former VHP president,passes away

Former president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP) Vishnu Hari Dalmia passed away athis Delhi residence .He was 91 years old.

Vivek Joshi appointed as the new registrargeneral and census commissioner of India

The Centre has appointed Vivek Joshi, 1989batch IAS officer from Haryana cadre, as thenew Registrar General and CensusCommissioner of India. He replaces incumbentSailesh, who was named as RGI and CensusCommissioner in January 2018.

Vishakha Mulye reappointment as ED of ICICIBank

RBI has given nod for the reappointment ofVishakha Mulye as bank’s executive director(ED) for two years. The reappointment iseffective from January 19, 2019, ICICI Banksaid in a regulatory filing. She has been ED ofthe bank since 2015 and heading the wholesalebanking group.

Noted British mathematician Michael Atiyahpassed away

Michael Atiyah, one of the foremostmathematicians whose work encompassedtopology and geometry, and who worked withseveral Indian mathematicians during hiscareer, has passed away aged 89.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Mary OliverPasses Away

Mary Oliver, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poetpassed away. She was 83. The cause of deathwas lymphoma.

Prabhat Singh appointed DG in NHRCSenior IPS officer Prabhat Singh has beenappointed as Director General (Investigation)in the National Human Rights Commission,Singh is at present Special Director, CentralReserve Police Force (CRPF).

Hockey veteran Raghbir Singh Bhola passesaway

Hockey Olympian and former India selectorGroup Captain Raghbir Singh Bhola passed awayin his sleep at his residence at the age of 92.Bhola was a member of the Indian team attwo Olympics - 1956 and 1960 - winning goldand silver respectively. Bhola was awarded theArjuna for Lifetime Contribution in 2000.

Jnanpith Winning Hindi Writer Krishna SobtiPasses Away

Eminent Hindi author and essayist Krishna Sobtipassed away in Delhi. She was 93. She was arecipient of many coveted awards like SahityaAkademi, Jnanpith awards and was alsooffered Padma Bhushan, which she haddeclined.

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Columnist RussellBaker Passes Away

Russell Baker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writerwho penned thousands of columns for The NewYork Times, and hosted the PBS televisionprogram “Masterpiece Theatre,” passed awayin Leesburg, Va. He was 93.Baker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentaryin 1979. It was the first Pulitzer for commentaryawarded to a humorist.

Ravneet Gill To Replace Rana Kapoor as Yes


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Bank MD and CEOYes Bank has appointed veteran bankerRavneet Singh Gill as its new MD & CEO andthe lender has also received the RBI’s approvalfor the same.He will join the bank on or beforeMarch 1, 2019.

Oscar-winning French composer MichelLegrand passes at 86

Oscar-winning French composer MichelLegrand has passed away aged 86. During acareer spanning more than half a century,Legrand won three Oscars. His first was in1969 for the song ‘The Windmills of Your Mind’

from the film ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’.George Fernandes passes away

Former Defence Minister in the Vajpayeegovernment George Fernandes passed awayin New Delhi. He was 88.

Dilip Sadarangani Appointed As Chairman OfFederal Bank

Kerala based private sector lender Federal Bankhas appointed Dilip Sadarangani as the part-timechairman. The appointment of Sadarangani, whohas been on the bank’s board since 2013, hasbeen cleared by the Reserve Bank.

SPORTSSmriti wins two ICC awards

Smriti Mandhana was adjudged the Women’sCricketer of the Year as well as the Women’sODI Player of the Year by the ICC.She won the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award forthe Women’s Cricketer of the Year.Smriti became only the second India womanplayer to win an ICC award after fast bowlerJhulan Goswami, who was named the ICC Playerof the Year in 2007.

Legion of Honour for French WC championsThe players in France’s football team which lastyear won the World Cup, were awarded the TheLegion of Honor in the New Year’s honor’s list.The 23 players each received France’s top medal.The French team that won the 1998 World Cupalso received the Legion of Honour.

Jasprit Bumrah Becomes HighestInternational Wicket-Taker in 2018

The 25-year-old fast bowler Jasprit Bumrahbecame the highest international wicket-takeracross formats in 2018. He took a total of 78wickets in the calendar year.Bumrah surpassed South Africa’s KagisoRabada’s tally of 77 wickets to reach themilestone. While on the third position is Bumrah’scountryman Kuldeep Yadav who took 76 scalps.

Pro Kabaddi League final: Bengaluru Bullshave the last laugh

Bengaluru Bulls won the Pro Kabaddi Leaguefinal defeating Gujarat Fortune giants by 38-33at the NSCI indoor stadium.The winner took home Rs 3 crore and the runner-up Rs 1.80 crore.

India beat Australia to win maiden Test seriesIndia won the four-Test match series by 2-1against Australia. Also, this is India’s first everTest series win on Australian soil.

Roberto Bautista Agut wins Qatar Open titleSpaniard Roberto Bautista Agut earned his first2019 title and the ninth of his career, defeatingTomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in theQatar Open final.

Anahat Singh wins British under 11 titleDelhi’s Anahat Singh won the Under 11 girls’title in the prestigious British Junior Open squashchampionship.

India wins first Asian Cup since 1964Indian football’s goal machine Sunil Chhetristruck a brace to help the country stunninglyoutplay Thailand 4-1 and record its first victoryin the Asian Cup since 1964.Playing in his second Asian Cup and 105th match,Chhetri scored in the 27th (penalty) and 46thminutes for his 66th and 67th goals to becomethe second highest international goal scoreramong active players.

Egypt chosen to replace Cameroon as AfricanCup host

The Confederation of African Football haschosen Egypt over South Africa to replaceCameroon as host of this year’s African Cup ofNations soccer tournament.

Mohamed Salah Named African Footballer OfThe Year

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been named asthe 2018 Confederation of African Football Playerof the Year. For the second consecutive year he


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has won the award. Egypt forward Salah, 26,beat Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane of Senegaland Arsenal and Gabon striker Pierre-EmerickAubameyang to the title.Houston Dash and South Africa forward ThembiKgatlana was named Women’s Player of theYear.

Harendra Singh Discontinued as Indian Men’sHockey Team Coach

Indian men’s hockey coach Harendra Singh wasremoved from the position and offered the taskof helming the junior squad by the nationalfederation. Harendra Singh was brought in asmen’s coach in May 2018 after Sjoerd Marijnewas moved back to the women’s camp.

Mary Kom Attains No. 1 Position in AIBARankings

M C Mary Kom has attained number one positionin the International Boxing Association’s (AIBA)latest world rankings. She became the mostsuccessful boxer in world championships’ historywhen she claimed the 48kg category top honorsin Delhi in November 2018.In the 51kg category list, Pinki Jangra is placedeighth. Asian silver-medallist Manisha Maun isplaced eighth in the 54kg category. In the 57kgdivision, former world silver-medallist SoniaLather was placed at the second spot.

Kartik Singh becomes youngest Indian to winjunior world title

Golfer Kartik Singh has acquired the top positionin the under-8 category at the Kids’ Golf WorldChampionship organised by US kids Golf inMalaysia. Kartik, a member of the juniorprogramme at the DLF Golf Academy has thusbecome the youngest Indian to win a junior worldtitle.

Albie Morkel Retires From All Forms OfCricket

Albie Morkel, the South African all-rounder,announced his retirement from all forms ofcricket. Morkel, who played for close to 20 yearsof professional cricket, made his first-class debutfor Easterns against Northerns in the 1999-00domestic season.

India’s 1st CWG Boxing Gold-MedallistMohammed Ali Qamar Appointed Women’sTeam Coach

Mohammed Ali Qamar, the man who won India’sfirst Commonwealth Games gold medal in boxing,

has taken over as the chief coach for thecountry’s female boxers.

Stephen Constantine Resigns As Coach OfIndian Football Team

Indian football team head coach StephenConstantine has stepped down after the team’sshock 0-1 defeat to Bahrain which led to its exitfrom the Asian Cup.

Manu Sawhney appointed ICC’s ChiefExecutive Officer

The International Cricket Council appointedmedia professional Manu Sawhney as its newchief executive officer, replacing incumbentDavid Richardson, who will step down after theWorld Cup.Sawhney was the former CEO of SingaporeSports Hub and Managing Director of ESPN StarSports.

Virat Kohli-led India become first team to winbilateral series

Virat Kohli and his men created history as theybecame the first Indian team to record a bilateralseries win against Australia in Australia followingtheir seven wickets win in the third ODI inSydney.

Ankita Raina Wins ITF’s Tournament InSingapore

India’s Ankita Raina has won the InternationalTennis Federation’s 25,000-dollar Women’stournament in Singapore. In the Final, Ankitadefeated top seed Arantxa Rus of theNetherlands.

Virat Kohli, becomes first player to win SirGarfield Sobers Trophy

Team India skipper Virat Kohli became the firstplayer in history to win the Sir Garfield SobersTrophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year.Kohli was also named captain of ICC’s Test andODI teams of 2018 for a fabulous run ininternational cricket. Kohli also won awards asthe ICC Men’s Test Player of the Year and theICC ODI Player of the Year.

Johan Botha retires from all forms of cricketFormer South Africa all-rounder Johan Botha hasannounced his immediate retirement from allforms of cricket.Botha played for South Africa in five testmatches, 78 one-day internationals, and 40 T20Internationals from 2005 to 2012. Bothacaptained the Proteas in 10 ODIs and took the


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team to the No. 1 ranking after they defeatedAustralia 4-1 in Australia in 2009.

Kartik Sharma wins men’s Amateur GolfChampionship

India’s Kartik Sharma won the New South Walesmen’s Amateur Golf Championship in Australia.Kartik notched up a magnificent win overAustralia’s Nathan Barberie in the scheduled 36-hole final to emerge as champion.

AWARDSRenowned writer Manoj Das honoured

Renowned English and Odia writer Manoj Dasreceived the Kabi Samrat Upendra BhanjaNational Award for Lifetime Achievement inLiterature, instituted by the BerhampurUniversity.During the 53rd foundation day ceremony, theuniversity also honoured noted folk dance guruNabaghana Parida with Dakshin OdishaLoksanakruti Samman.

Ramnath Goenka Excellence in JournalismAwards: Complete List Of Winners P. Suseela Chosen for Harivarasanam award

Playback singer P. Suseela has been selectedfor the Harivarasanam award founded by theKerala government. The award, consist of Rs1, 00,000 and citation, will be presented at theSabarimala Sannidhanam.

Noted writer Neelum Saran Gour bags TheHindu fiction prize

Renowned English writer Neelum Saran Gour,author of Requiem in Raga Janki and Bengaliwriter and socio-political activist ManoranjanByapari, author of Interrogating my Chandal Life:An Autobiography of a Dalit, bagged The HinduPrize 2018 for fiction and non-fiction respectivelyat The Hindu Lit for Life 2019.The awardincludes a citation and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.

First-ever Philip Kotler Presidential awardpresented to PM

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi,received the first-ever Philip Kotler Presidentialaward, at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, in New Delhi.The Award focuses on the triple bottom-line ofPeople, Profit and Planet. It will be offeredannually to the leader of a Nation.

Namita Gokhale Wins Sushila Devi LiteratureAward

Writer Namita Gokhale has won the Sushila DeviLiterature Award for her novel “Things to LeaveBehind”.


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Yu Wensheng Wins Franco-German HumanRights Award

A detained Chinese rights lawyer Yu Wenshenghas won a Franco-German human rights awardfor his ‘exceptional contribution’ to the protectionand promotion of human rights.

Chennai’s Gukesh Crowned India’s YoungestGrandmaster

Tamil Nadu lad D Gukesh became the 2ndyoungest Grand Master in the world and theyoungest Indian to achieve the feat at 12 years,7 months and 17 days, erasing the mark set byhis state-mate R Praggnanandhaa in June 2018.Gukesh becomes India’s 59th Grand Master.Ukraine’s Sergey Karjakin remains theyoungest-ever GM, having achieved the feat atthe age of 12 years and 7 months in 2002.

Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015, 2016, 2017 and2018 announced

The Gandhi Peace Prize for the years 2015,2016, 2017 and 2018 has been conferred on thefollowing:

1. For 2015: Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumarifor their contribution in Rural Development,Education , Development of natural resources.

2. For 2016: Jointly to Akshaya Patra Foundationfor its contribution in providing mid-day mealsto millions of children across India and SulabhInternational for its contribution in improving thecondition of sanitation in India and emancipationof manual scavengers.

3. For 2017: Ekal Abhiyan Trust for theircontribution in providing Education for Rural andTribal Children in remote areas pan India, RuralEmpowerment, Gender and Social Equality.

4. For 2018: Shri Yohei Sasakawa for hiscontribution in Leprosy Eradication in India andacross the world.

Vinesh Phogat first Indian to be nominated forLaureus award

Asian Games gold medallist Vinesh Phogat wasnominated for the Laureus World SportingComeback category in the Laures world Sportsawards.The Haryana wrestler, who had won the goldmedal in last year’s Commonwealth Games tooapart from winning a silver in AsianChampionships, became the first Indiansportsperson to be nominated for the prestigiousaward.

Dr. Rattan Lal Honoured With 2019 Japan PrizeThe Japan Prize Foundation announced Indiaborn professor Dr. Rattan Lal, UniversityProfessor of Soil Science at The Ohio StateUniversity in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A, as therecipient of the 2019 Japan Prize for hiscontributions in the field of “BiologicalProduction, Ecology”.

BJP MP Anurag Thakur honoured with SansadRatna Award

Anurag Thakur, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)leader and party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha,was conferred with Sansad Ratna Award fordistinguished performance as a parliamentarian.He is the first MP from the BJP, besides beingthe only Member of Parliament from north India,to have been awarded the Jury CommitteeSpecial Award.

Noted Gujarati Poet Sitanshu YashashchandraAwarded Saraswati Samman 2017

Noted Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashashchandrahas been awarded Saraswati Samman, 2017, forhis poetry collection in Gujarati named “Vakhar”.

Rishabh Pant Named ICC Emerging Player OfThe Year

Rishabh Pant was named the InternationalCricket Council’s (ICC) Emerging Player OfThe Year following an impressive show in India’sfirst-ever Test series win in Australia.With an unbeaten 159-run knock in the 4th Testin Sydney, Rishabh Pant became the first Indianwicket-keeper to score a Test century inAustralia.

Government Institutes Subhash Chandra BoseAapda Prabandhan Puraskar

The government has instituted an annual awardtitled Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda PrabandhanPuraskar. It will be announced every year on23rd January, the birth anniversary of NetajiSubhash Chandra Bose. The Award carries acertificate and a cash prize of 51 lakh rupees.This year, 8th Battalion of National DisasterResponse Force located at Ghaziabad has beenselected for the Award for its commendablework in disaster management.

Bharat Ratna Awarded to Nanaji Deshmukh,Dr Bhupen Hazarika and Pranab Mukherjeein 2019

The Bharat Ratna is the highest civilianaward of the Republic of India. Instituted in


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1954, the award is conferred “in recognition ofexceptional service/performance of the highestorder”, without distinction of race, occupation,position, or sex.The Bharat Ratna Awardees in 2019 are:

1. Pranab Mukherjee 2. Bhupen Hazarika (Posthumously)3. Nanaji Deshmukh (Posthumously)Padma Awards 2019 Announced: CompleteList of WinnersPADMA VIBHUSHAN (4)1. Teejan Bai - Art-Vocals-Folk - Chhattisgarh 2. Ismail Omar Guelleh (Foreigner) - Public

Affairs – Djibouti3. Anilkumar Manibhai Naik - Trade &

Industry-Infrastructure - Maharashtra 4. Balwant Moreshwar Purandare - Art-

Acting-Theatre - Maharashtra PADMA BHUSHAN (14)1. John Chambers (Foreigner) - Trade &

Industry-Technology - USA2. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa - Public Affairs -

Punjab 3. Pravin Gordhan (Foreigner) - Public

Affairs - South Africa 4. Mahashay Dharam Pal Gulati - Trade &

Industry-Food Processing - Delhi 5. Darshan Lal Jain - Social Work - Haryana 6. Ashok Laxmanrao Kukade - Medicine-

Affordable Healthcare - Maharashtra 7. Kariya Munda - Public Affairs - Jharkhand 8. Budhaditya Mukherjee - Art-Music-Sitar -

West Bengal 9. Mohanlal Viswanathan Nair - Art-Acting-

Film - Kerala 10. S Nambi Narayan - Science & Engineering-

Space - Kerala 11. Kuldip Nayar (Posthumous) - Literature &

Education (Journalism) - Delhi 12. Bachendri Pal - Sports (Mountaineering) -

Uttarakhand 13. V K Shunglu - Civil Service - Delhi 14. Hukumdev Narayan Yadav - Public

Affairs - Bihar PADMA SHRI (94)1. Rajeshwar Acharya - Art-Vocal-Hindustani -

Uttar Pradesh2. Bangaru Adigalar - Spiritualism - Tamil

Nadu 3. Illias Ali - Medicine-Surgery – Assam

4. Manoj Bajpayee - Art-Acting-Films -Maharashtra

5. Uddhab Kumar Bharali - Science &Engineering-Grassroots Innovation - Assam

6. Omesh Kumar Bharti – Medicine (Rabies)- Himachal Pradesh

7. Pritam Bhartwan - Art-Vocals-Folk -Uttarakhand

8. Jyoti Bhatt - Art-Painting - Gujarat 9. Dilip Chakravarty – Archaeology - Delhi 10. Mammen Chandy – Medicine (Hematology)

- West Bengal 11. Swapan Chaudhuri - Art-Music-Tabla - West

Bengal 12. Kanwal Singh Chauhan - Agriculture -

Haryana 13. Sunil Chhetri – Sports (Football) -

Telangana 14. Dinyar Contractor - Art-Acting-Theatre -

Maharashtra 15. Muktaben Pankajkumar Dagli - Social

Work (Divyang Welfare) - Gujarat 16. Babulal Dahiya - Agriculture - Madhya

Pradesh 17. Thanga Darlong - Art-Music-Flute - Tripura 18. Prabhu Deva - Art-Dance - Karnataka 19. Rajkumari Devi – Agriculture - Bihar20. Bhagirathi Devi - Public Affairs - Bihar 21. Baldev Singh Dhillon - Science and

Engineering (Agriculture) - Punjab22. Harika Dronavalli - Sports (Chess) - Andhra

Pradesh 23. Godawari Dutta - Art-Painting - Bihar 24. Gautam Gambhir – Sports (Cricket) - Delhi 25. Draupadi Ghimiray - Social Work (Divyang

Welfare) - Sikkim26. Rohini Godbole - Science and Engineering

(Nuclear) - Karnataka 27. Sandeep Guleria – Medicine (Surgery) -

Delhi28. Pratap Singh Hardia – Medicine

(Ophthmology) - Madhya Pradesh29. Bulu Imam - Social Work (Culture) -

Jharkhand30. Friederike Irina (Foreigner) - Social Work

(Animal Welfare) - Germany31. Joravarsinh Jadav – Art (Dance Folk) -

Gujarat32. S Jaishankar - Civil Service - Delhi33. Narsingh Dev Jamwal - Literature and


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Education - Jammu & Kashmir34. Fayaz Ahmad Jan – Art-Craft (Papier

Mache) - Jammu and Kashmir35. K G Jayan - Art-Music-Bhakti - Kerala36. Subhash Kak (Foreigner) - Science and

Engineering-Technology - USA37. Sharath Kamal – Sports (Table Tennis) -

Tamil Nadu38. Rajani Kant - Social Work - Uttar Pradesh39. Sudam Kate – Medicine (Sickle Cell) -

Maharashtra40. Waman Kendre - Art-Acting-Theatre -

Maharashtra41. Kader Khan (Posthumous-Foreigner) -

Art-Acting-Films - Canada42. Abdul Gafur Khatri - Art-Painting - Gujarat43. Ravindra Kolhe (Duo)* – Medicine

(Affordable Healthcare) - MaharashtraSmita Kolhe (Duo)* - Medicine (Affordable

Healthcare) - Maharashtra44. Bombayla Devi Laishram – Sports

(Archery) - Manipur45. Kailash Madbaiya - Literature and

Education - Madhya Pradesh46. Ramesh Babaji Maharaj - Social Work

(Animal Welfare) - Uttar Pradesh47. Vallabhbhai Vasrambhai Marvaniya -

Agriculture - Gujarat48. Gita Mehta (Foreigner) - Literature and

Education - USA49. Shadab Mohammad – Medicine (Dentistry)

- Uttar Pradesh50. K K Muhammed – Archaeology - Kerala51. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee – Medicine

(Affordable Healthcare) - Jharkhand52. Daitari Naik - Social Work - Odisha53. Shankar Mahadevan Narayan - Art-Vocals-

Films - Maharashtra54. Shantanu Narayen (Foreigner) - Trade and

Industry (Technology) - USA55. Nartaki Natraj - Art-Dance (Bharatnatyam)

- Tamil Nadu56. Tsering Norboo - Medicine-Surgery -

Jammu & Kashmir57. Anup Ranjan Pandey - Art-Music -

Chhattisgarh58. Jagdish Prasad Parikh – Agriculture -

Rajasthan59. Ganpatbhai Patel (Foreigner) - Literature

and Education - USA

60. Bimal Patel - Architecture - Gujarat61. Hukumchand Patidar – Agriculture -

Rajasthan62. Harvinder Singh Phoolka - Public Affairs -

Punjab63. Madurai Chinna Pillai - Social Work

(Microfinance) - Tamil Nadu64. Tao Porchon-Lynch (Foreigner) - Yoga -

USA65. Kamala Pujhari – Agriculture - Odisha66. Bajrang Punia – Sports (Wrestling) -

Haryana67. Jagat Ram – Medicine (Ophthalmology) -

Chandigarh68. R V Ramani – Medicine (Ophthalmology) -

Tamil Nadu69. Devarapalli Prakash Rao - Social Work

(Affordable Education)70. Anup Sah – Art-Photography - Uttarakhand71. Milena Salvini (Foreigner) - Art-Dance

(Kathakali) - France72. Nagindas Sanghavi - Literature &

Education-Journalism - Maharashtra73. Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry - Art-Lyrics

- Telangana74. Shabbir Sayyad - Social Work (Animal

Welfare) - Maharashtra75. Mahesh Sharma - Social Work (Tribal

Welfare) - Madhya Pradesh76. Mohammad Hanif Khan Shastri -

Literature and Education - Delhi77. Brijesh Kumar Shukla - Literature &

Education - Uttar Pradesh78. Narendra Singh - Animal Husbandry -

Haryana79. Prashanti Singh – Sports (Basketball) - Uttar

Pradesh80. Sultan Singh - Animal Husbandry - Haryana81. Jyoti Kumar Sinha - Social Work

(Affordable Education) - Bihar82. Anandan Sivamani - Art-Music - Tamil Nadu83. Sharada Srinivasan - Archaeology -

Karnataka84. Devendra Swarup (Posthumous) -

Literature and Education-Journalism - UttarPradesh

85. Ajay Thakur - Sports-Kabaddi - HimachalPradesh

86. Rajeev Tharanath - Art-Music-Sarod -Karnataka


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87. Saalumarada Thimmakka - Social Work(Environment) - Karnataka

88. Jamuna Tudu - Social Work (Environment) -Jharkhand

89. Bharat Bhushan Tyagi - Agriculture - UttarPradesh

90. Ramaswami Venkataswami – Medicine(Surgery) - Tamil Nadu

91. Ram Saran Verma - Agriculture - UttarPradesh

92. Swami Vishudhananda – Spiritualism -Kerala

93. Hiralal Yadav - Art-Vocals-Folk - UttarPradesh

94. Venkateswara Rao Yadlapalli - Agriculture -Andhra Pradesh

Tamil translation wins Romain Rolland PrizeMunpin theriyathavanin vaazhkai is the Tamiltranslation of the French novel La vie d’unhomme inconnu (The Life of an Unknown Man)by Andreï Makine and it has bagged theprestigious Romain Rolland Prize by the FrenchEmbassy at Jaipur Literary Festival.

Piyush Goyal receives Carnot Prize for powerreformsRailway Minister Piyush Goyal has beenawarded the Carnot Prize for his contributiontowards sustainable energy solutions by theUniversity of Pennsylvania.The Carnot Prize is given to the personalitieswho have revolutionized the understanding ofenergy policy.

Let’s know Chhatishgarh

Formation – 1st Nov, 2000Etymology –

(i) Some say that this state had 36 ancient forts /Garhs.

(ii) Others say it is a corrupted form of“Chedishgarh”

which means “Empire of the Chedis” or ChediKingdom.State -

(a) Tree – Sal/Sarai(b) Animal – Wild Asian Buffalo / Van Bhainsa(c) Bird – Hill Myna / Pahari Myna

Highest Point - GaurlataThe outline of CG appears like a “Sea Horse”.Important Rivers -

• Mahanadi• Rihand• Indravati

Amrit Dhara water fall is on Hasdeo riverAncient Name – Dakshina KosalaRice Bowl of central IndiaBhilai Steel Plant – 1955 (In collaboration withUSSR)BALCO – Bharat Aluminium Co. (1965) (APSU)It was taken over by Vedanta Pvt. Ltd. In2001.

Dear Friends,Knowing and believing in your own potential can bepart of your journey to being successful. If you startto believe in yourself and your potential more, youcan become more motivated to prove yourself. Whenyou think you can’t reach your potential, you maynot even try.“Successful and unsuccessful peopledo not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary intheir desires to reach their potential.” Yours,Kamalesh Sir.(Mentor, Trainer & Motivator)

ChhattisgarhCapital – Atal Nagar /New RaipurCM – Bhupesh BaghelGovernor – Anandiben Patel


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Minerals – Limestone, Dolomite, BauxiteTribes – Gond, Halbi, Kamar, Oraon etc.Official Languages – Hindi and Chhattisgarhi/ Kahaltahi/LariaCrafts –

• Kosa Silk• Lost Wax ArtDances –• Panthi•Chaitra• Kaksar• Rawat Nacha• Saila• Khamb – Swang• Pandwani• Bhatra Naat• Rahas• Raai• Maao – Pata• Soowa

Festivals –• Madai Festivals• Pakhanjore Mela• Rajim Kumbh Mela

Neighbouring States – 7Niagra of India – Chitrakot Falls (Jagdalpur)on River – IndravatiBhoramdeo Temple – Khajuraho of CG.Built in 11th century by Nagavanshi Kings.Teejan Bai – A popular Pandavani Dance folkartistImportant – Mines –

• Baila Dila•Dalhi Rajhara• Korba

National Parks –• Indravati N.P (Home to rare wild Buffalo,Bijapur)• Kanger Ghati N.P (Jagdalpur)

Bastar Dussehra – Celebrated for 75 daysSirpur’s Laxman Temple – Oldest BrickTemple of India (7th century)Jal Jali – (Mainpat)

• Anyone who jumps her can create anEarthquake.Indra Kala Sangeet Vishwavidylaya –Khairagarh

• India’s 1st university dedicated to Music

GK/CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ1. Which city is the venue of the 42nd Indian Social

Science Congress (ISSC)?(a) Bhubaneswar (b) Hyderabad(c) Kolkata (d) New Delhi

2. Which Indian player has been named as the ICCWomen’s Cricketer of the Year 2018?(a) Jhulan Goswami (b) Harmanpreet Kaur(c) Mithali Raj (d) Smriti Mandhana

3. ESAF Small Finance Bank (SFB) has recentlygot RBI nod to operate as a scheduled bank.The headquarters of ESAF is located at ___?(a) Thiruvananthapuram (b) Chennai(c) Thrissur (d) Kolkata

4. Who is the newly appointed Chief InformationCommissioner (CIC)?(a) Sudhir Bhargava (b) Vanaja N. Sarna(c) Suresh Chandra (d) Yashwardhan Sinha

5. Norman Gimbel, the Oscar & Grammy-winninglyricist has passed away. He was from whichcountry?(a) United States (b) France(c) Germany (d) Italy

6. Who has become the first Indian wicket-keeperto claim 20 catches in Test series?(a) Dinesh Karthik (b) MS Dhoni(c) Rishabh Pant (d) Ajay Ratra

7. Transgenders can file sexual harassment caseunder which section of IPC?(a) Section 357A (b) Section 356A(c) Section 354A (d) Section 358A

8. Which toll-free helpline has been launched byNHRC to file complaint through CSC?(a) 14433 (b) 14432(c) 14434 (d) 14435

9. Which country has announced 2019 as the‘Year of Active Investment and SocialDevelopment’ in backdrop of wider businesswith India?(a) Kyrgyzstan (b) Tajikistan(c) Turkmenistan (d) Uzbekistan

10. Who is the head of the government committeethat suggested AICTE to stop setting up newengineering colleges from 2020?(a) Bhaskar Ramamurthy(b) B V R Mohan Reddy(c) Devang Vipin Khakhar(d) Partha Pratim Chakraborty


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11. ISRO has launched which initiative with studentsto engage them on space science activities?(a) Space (b) Sansad(c) Samwad (d) Sangrah

12. Who has taken charge as the first Chief Justiceof Telangana High Court?(a) T B Radhakrishnan(b) Chagari Praveen Kumar(c) Sarasa Venkatanarayana Bhatti(d) Akula Venkata Sesha Sai

13. Which state’s women has recently formed 620-km-long ‘wall’ to uphold gender equality?(a) Tamil Nadu (b) Karnataka(c) Kerala (d) Odisha

14. Who has been sworn-in as new president ofBrazil?(a) Michel Temer (b) Fernando Haddad(c) Jair Bolsonaro (d) Hamilton Mourao

15. Which of the following countries have officiallyquit UNESCO?(a) Russia and Qatar(b) Japan and UK(c) United States and Israel(d) Iran and Qatar

16. India has cut import tax on crude palm oilsourced from ASEAN nations from 44% to __?(a) 38% (b) 40% (c) 42% (d) 36%

17. Who is the recipient of the 2019 National NrityaShiromani Award?(a) Gudiseva Shyam Prasad(b) Upmaka Durga Prasad Rao(c) Talluri Sunil Chowdaryu(d) Anindita Neogy Anaam

18. The Union Government has launched Ujjwalasanitary napkin initiative in which of the followingstates?(a) Uttar Pradesh (b) Odisha(c) Jharkhand (d) Haryana

19. Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link, which is in newsrecently, is the proposed tunnel to connectislands of which of the following countries?(a) Denmark and Germany(b) France and Italy(c) UK and Spain(d) Brazil and Chile

20. Who has been appointed as new Chairman ofthe Railway Board?(a) Satish Jain (b) Ashish Kumar(c) Vinod Kumar Yadav (d) Pooja Badola

21. Which European country has recentlyintroduced GAFA Tax on Global Internet,Technology Firm?(a) Sweden (b) France(c) Italy (d) Germany

22. Which Indian bowler has become the highestInternational Wicket-Taker in 2018?(a) Mohammed Shami(b) Kuldeep Yadav(c) Jasprit Bumrah(d) Ravichandran Ashwin

23. What is the theme of the 106th edition of IndianScience Congress (ISC-2019)?(a) Reaching the Unreached through Science

and Technology(b) Science and Technology for Human

Development(c) Future India: Science & Technology(d) Innovations in Science & Technology

24. Recently, the Union cabinet has approvedmerger of the Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank withBank of Baroda (BoB). In terms of marketvalue, what would be rank of the combinedmerger bank?(a) 1st (b) 3rd (c) 4th (d) 2nd

25. The Union Cabinet has approved amendment towhich of the following acts to recognize trade unions?(a) Trade Unions Act of 1935(b) Trade Unions Act of 1947(c) Trade Unions Act of 1966(d) Trade Unions Act of 1926

26. The Veer Savarkar International Airport hasrecently declared as an authorized ImmigrationCheck post. It is located in which of thefollowing UTs / states?(a) Daman & Diu(b) Andaman and Nicobar Islands(c) Maharashtra(d) West Bengal

27. Justice AK Sikri has become the new ExecutiveChairman of National Legal Services Authority(NALSA) , which of the following is not afunction of NALSA?(a) Speedy disposal of cases(b) Free legal services to the weaker sections(c) Organise Lok Adalats(d) Deals with grievances related to RTI requests

28. Who is the head of the RBI panel on MSMErevival?(a) U K Sinha (b) Ram Mohan Mishra(c) Bindu Ananth (d) Abhiman Das

29. Who has been honoured with the Kabi SamratUpendra Bhanja National Award for LifetimeAchievement in Literature?(a) Nabaghana Parida (b) Suresh Chandra(c) Yashwardhan Sinha (d) Manoj Das

30. Which state government has launched KrishakBandhu scheme to address farmers distress?(a) Odisha (b) Karnataka

(c) Jharkhand (d) West Bengal


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31. Who has been appointed as Chairman ofOrdnance Factory Board (OFB)?(a) Ajay Jain (b) Kuldeep Saxena(c) Hemant Bhargava (d) Saurabh Kumar

32. The 3rd edition of the National EntrepreneurshipAwards (NEA) hosted by which Unionministry?(a) Ministry of Corporate Affairs(b) Ministry of Information and Broadcasting(c) Ministry of Skill Development and

Entrepreneurship(d) Ministry of Human Resource Development

33. On which date, the 2018 World Braille Day(WBD) was observed recently?(a) January 3 (b) January 4(c) January 2 (d) January 5

34. The Union Cabinet has approved theintroduction of a Bill to modify the list ofScheduled Tribes (STs) of Arunachal Pradesh.Which of the following tribes will be included inthe list?(a) Mishmi-Kaman (b) Idu(c) Taraon (d) All of the above

35. Who has been conferred with ISRS NationalGeospatial Award for Excellence-2017 (LTAAward)?(a) Jayanta Kumar Ghosh(b) Manorhar Reddy(c) Hardeep Singh Puri(d) Pon Radhakrishnan

36. Which city is the venue of the 2019 IndianPanorama Film Festival (IPFF)?(a) Lucknow (b) Panaji(c) Pune (d) New Delhi

37. Who has been appointed acting Chairman ofLIC?(a) Sunita Sharma (b) B Venugopal(c) Hemant Bhargava (d) Usha Sangwan

38. CH Lokanath, who passed away recently, wasthe veteran stage and cine artist of whichlanguage?(a) Tamil (b) Kannada(c) Telugu (d) Odia

39. Which of the following structures has/have beendeclared as Monuments of national importancein 2018 by Archaeological Survey of India(ASI)?(a) Neemrana Baori in Rajasthan(b) Haveli of Agha Khan in Agra(c) Old High Court Building in Nagpur(d) All of the above

40. Who has been appointed as the new ChiefJustice of Pakistan?(a) Asif Saeed Khosa (b) Nasir-ul-Mulk(c) Jawwad S. Khawaja (d) Anwar Zaheer Jamali

41. The tropical cyclone ‘Pabuk’ has recentlyoccurred in which of the following countries?(a) Thailand (b) Indonesia(c) Japan (d) Mauritius

42. The Central Government has given nod forCentre for Classical Language in which city ofKerala?(a) Aluva (b) Tirur(c) Munnar (d) Guruvayur

43. Under the Right to Education (RTE) amendmentBill 2018, which of the following measures is/are taken by the Parliament?(a) To abolish no-detention policy till class 8(b) Enable state governments to allow schools

to fail students(c) Provides regular examination in classes V

and VIII(d) All of the above

44. Which country has recently signed AsiaReassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) Into Law?(a) Russia (b) United States(c) China (d) France

45. Which Indian mountaineer has become theworld’s first female Amputee to scaleAntarctica’s Highest Peak?(a) Malavath Purna(b) Gurmayum Anita Devi(c) Arunima Sinha (d) Santosh Yadav

46. Which of the following has become the India’slargest Asset Management Company (AMC)?(a) Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund(b) SBI Mutual Fund(c) ICICI Prudential MF(d) HDFC Mutual Fund

47. Which Indian organisation has allowed custodialservices in commodity market?(a) RBI (b) SEBI(c) IRDA (d) SIDBI

48. Dibyendu Palit, who passed away recently, wasthe renowned writer of which language?(a) Bengali (b) Urdu(c) Tamil (d) Malayalam

49. The Global Healthcare Summit (GHS) 2019 willbe held in which of the following cities?(a) New Delhi (b) Hyderabad(c) Cuttack (d) Indore

50. Which city is the venue of the 80th NationalTable Tennis Championship 2019?(a) New Delhi (b) Cuttack(c) Hyderabad (d) Kochi

51. The Union Cabinet has recently approved areservation at what percentage for‘economically backward’ upper castes ingovernment jobs?(a) 5% (b) 10% (c) 6% (d) 15%


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52. Which Indian organization has recently signed MoUwith SAMEER for research in CommunicationNavigation and Surveillance (CNS)?(a) DRDO (b) ISRO(c) AAI (d) BARC

53. Who is the head of task force to look intosuicides of JNV students?(a) Jitendra Nagpal (b) Piyush Bindra

(c) K S Jain (d) Preeti Juneza54. Who is the recipient of the Ramnath Goenka

Excellence in Journalism Award for InvestigativeReporting (Print category)?(a) Sandhya Ravishankar(b) Anand Kumar Patel(c) S Vijay Kumar(d) Sushant Kumar Singh

55. Which country’s team has clinched the 2019Hopman Cup title?(a) Germany (b) Switzerland(c) France (d) England

56. Which city is the venue of the 2nd edition ofKhelo India Youth Games 2019?(a) New Delhi (b) Kolkata(c) Pune (d) Lucknow

57. The Union Government has amalgamated whichof the following Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)into a single RRB?(a) Punjab Gramin Bank and Sarva UP Gramin

Bank(b) Malwa Gramin Bank and Allahabad UP

Gramin Bank(c) Sarva UP Gramin Bank and Gramin Bank

of Aryavart(d) Punjab Gramin Bank, Malwa Gramin Bank

and Sutlej Gramin Bank58. Which Indian origin personality has joined IMF

as its first female Chief Economist?(a) K S Chithra (b) Shobhana Bhartia(c) Gita Gopinath (d) Padmasree Warrior

59. Which city is the venue o f the All India RadioNational Poets Conference 2019?(a) Chennai (b) Kolkata(c) New Delhi (d) Kochi

60. The Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 hasstriked out which disease as a ground forseeking a divorce?(a) HIV (b) Leprosy(c) Asthma (d) Cancer

61. Which city is the venue of the 4th Edition OfRaisina Dialogue?(a) Chandigarh (b) New Delhi(c) Hyderabad (d) Dehradun

62. What is the theme of the first-ever GlobalAviation Summit (GAS-2019)?(a) Flying for all(b) Flying for Peace(c) Flying for Harmony(d) Flying for Brotherhood

63. Who has been appointed the new Director-General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)?(a) Kumar Rajesh Chandra(b) Alok Verma(c) Vivek Tyagi(d) P S Mukherjee

64. Who has become the first monarch of Malaysiato resign before completing tenure?(a) Abdul Halim (b) Ismail Petra(c) Nasiruddin Shah (d) Muhammad V

65. Which grading index has been introduced byHRD Ministry to assess quality of schooleducation in states?(a) 60-point(b) 75-point(c) 70-point(d) 80-point

66. On which date, the 2019 Non-Resident IndianDay is observed recently?(a) January 8 (b) January 9(c) January 6 (d) January 7

67. Who is the head of the RBI panel on digitalpayments?(a) Aruna Sharma (b) H R Khan(c) Nandan Nilekani (d) Kishore Sansi

68. Which Indian pavilion has won the ‘Exhibitorof the Year Award’ at 106th Indian ScienceCongress (ISC-2019)?(a) DRDO (b) ISRO(c) BARC (d) VSSC

69. The Indian economy is expected to grow at howmuch percentage in FY19, as per latest estimateof Central Statistics Office (CSO)?(a) 7.5% (b) 7.4%(c) 7.6% (d) 7.2%

70. Which city is the venue of the 6th Women OfIndia Organic Festival 2019?(a) New Delhi (b) Bhopal(c) Hyderabad (d) Chandigarh

71. What is the India’s GDP forecast for FY19, asper World Bank’s 2019 Global EconomicProspects report?(a) 7.5% (b) 7.4% (c) 7.3% (d) 7.2%

72. The controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill2019 seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims from which of the following countries?

(a) Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan(b) Myanmar, Bangladesh and Afghanistan(c) Afghanistan, Pakistan and Myanmar(d) Myanmar, Pakistan and Bangladesh


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73. Who has become first Indian to head GlobalSolar Council (GSC)?(a) Kirti Ranjan (b) Pranav R Mehta(c) Mayur A Seth (d) Naveen Kumar

74. Which country has been named as the host of2019 Africa Cup of Nations?(a) Cameroon (b) Egypt(c) Morocco (d) Ivory Coast

75. The Union Government has launched the Web-Wonder Women campaign in collaboration withwhich human rights organization?(a) Breakthrough India (b) OYSS Women(c) Nirbhaya Vahini (d) CARE India

76. Gangajal Project, which is in news recently, islaunched in which of the following cities?(a) Patna (b) Kanpur(c) Agra (d) Haridwar

77. India’s longest single-lane steel cable suspensionbridge has opened in which of the followingstates?(a) Himachal Pradesh (b) Arunachal Pradesh(c) Odisha (d) Gujarat

78. Which of the following states is set to becomethe first Indian state to roll out Universal BasicIncome (UBI)?(a) Maharashtra (b) Kerala(c) Sikkim (d) Tamil Nadu

79. The first-ever India-Central AsiaDialogue at the level of Foreign Ministers isscheduled to be held in which of the followingcountries?(a) Turkmenistan (b) Tajikistan(c) Afghanistan (d) Uzbekistan

80. What is the India’s rank at the EIU DemocracyIndex 2018?(a) 41st (b) 54th (c) 33rd (d) 62nd

81. Which of the following states have signedagreement for Renukaji multipurpose damproject?(a) Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal

Pradesh(b) Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand(c) Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh(d) All of the above

82. Who has been appointed new Prime Ministerof Taiwan?(a) Chen Shui-bian (b) Tsai Ing-wen(c) Su Tseng-chang(d) William Lai

83. Who has been named as India’s Chef deMission for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics?(a) Birendra Prasad Baishya(b) Brij Bhushan Saran Singh(c) Abhinav Bindra(d) Sukhdev Sharma

84. What is the India’s position at the 2019 Henleyand Partners Passport Index?(a) 81st (b) 62nd (c) 43rd (d) 79th

85. Who has been ranked No.1 in the light fly (45-48kg) category by the International BoxingAssociation (AIBA)?(a) Laishram Sarita Devi (b) Sarjubala Devi(c) Nikhat Zareen (d) Mary Kom

86. Which IIT has decided to launch 6-monthArtificial Intelligence course?(a) IIT Bombay (b) IIT Kharagpur(c) IIT Bombay (d) IIT Kanpur

87. Which of the following is the base year for theNational Clean Air Programme (NCAP) ?(a) 2014 (b) 2017(c) 2015 (d) 2016

88. Who is the author of the book ‘We areDisplaced: My Journey and Stories fromRefugee Girls Around the World’?(a) Nadia Murad (b) Kailash Satyarthi(c) Malala Yousafzai (d) Tawakkol Karman

89. Who is the head of the SEBI committee to linkresearch to policy making?(a) Sankar De (b) U K Sinha(c) Pratap Mukherjee (d) K S Chauhan

90. Which of the following internationalorganizations has recently released the report‘Future of Consumption in Fast-GrowthConsumer Market - India’?(a) WEF (b) IMF(c) World Bank (d) UNESCO

91. Who has become the first Indian to win in theFIA Formula 3 European Championship?(a) Narain Karthikeyan (b) Ashwin Sundar(c) Jehan Daruvala (d) Karun Chandhok

92. Which of the following railway zones haslaunched mobile app to help people navigatethrough Prayagraj city during Kumbh Mela?(a) North Eastern Railway(b) Northeast Frontier Railway(c) North Western Railway(d) North Central Railway

93. Which state has topped ACI’s Ease Of DoingBusiness (EDB) Index 2018?(a) Gujarat (b) Andhra Pradesh(c) Maharashtra (d) Delhi

94. Who has become the first Indian business tycoonto be named “Fugitive Economic Offender(FEO)”?(a) Mehul Choksi (b) Nirav Modi(c) Subrata Roy (d) Vijay Mallya


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95. Which African country has recently openedWest Asia’s largest cathedral in its NewAdministrative Capital?(a) Egypt (b) Nigeria(c) Ethiopia (d) Kenya

96. Rani, who won gold in 78 kg category at SeniorNational Women’s Judo Championship 2019, isthe Lady Head constable of which state?(a) Jharkhand (b) Manipur(c) Himachal Pradesh (d) Rajasthan

97. What is the theme of the 27th New Delhi WorldBook Fair 2019?(a) Books opening the mind. Doors opening the

future(b) Vivid Bharat – Diverse India(c) Readers with Special Needs(d) Kathasagara: Celebrating Children\’s

Literature98. Which state government has announced

interest-free loans of up to Rs 3 lakh for WomenSelf-Help Groups (WSHGs)?(a) Odisha (b) Chattisgarh(c) Madhya Pradesh (d) Rajasthan

99. Which of the following journalists has beenconferred with lifetime achievement award bythe Mantralaya and Vidhimandal VartaharSangh?(a) Prajakta Pol (b) Vishwas Waghmode(c) Dinu Randive (d) Mahesh Tiwari

100. Which state government has recentlyapproved projects to revive mythical Saraswatiriver?(a) Punjab (b) Haryana(c) Jharkhand (d) Uttar Pradesh

101. Who is the head of the EC panel whichsubmitted its report on digital media andcampaigning during last 48 hours before polls?(a) Abhay Kapoor (b) U K Malhotra(c) Umesh Sinha (d) Sunil Arora

102. Which city is the venue of the 25th edition ofPartnership Summit 2019?(a) New Delhi (b) Dehradun(c) Hyderabad (d) Mumbai

103. Which of the following Indian players hasrecently received the honorary membership ofthe Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG)?(a) Cheteshwar Pujara (b) Shikhar Dhawan(c) Rohit Sharma (d) Virat Kohli

104. Which Indian journalist has been appointedpresident of the Alliance for Media Freedom(AFMF)?(a) Vineet Jain (b) N Ram(c) Shaili Chopra (d) Shoma Chaudhury

105. Ashutosh Aman, which is in news recently, isassociated with which sports?(a) Hockey (b) Football(c) Cricket (d) Kabaddi

106. Who has been conferred the ICSI LifetimeAchievement Award?(a) Azim Premji (b) Adi Godrej(c) Rahul Bajaj (d) Indu Jain

107. In which year, the great Indian scholar SwamiVivekananda was born?(a) 1859 (b) 1863(c) 1865 (d) 1856

108. Which city is the venue of the 29th Indian PaintConference 2019?(a) Agra (b) Delhi(c) Raipur (d) Udaipur

109. Who has been sworn-in as the new Presidentof Venezuela?(a) Henri Falcon (b) Juan Guaido(c) Nicolas Maduro (d) Hugo Chavez

110. Which of the following is/are the features ofthe National Youth Parliament Festival 2019?

(a) To hear the voice of youth between 18-25years

(b) To encourage the youth to engage withpublic issues

(c) To obtain opinions on Vision of New Indiain 2022

(d) All of the above111. Which state has become the India’s 1st state

to implement 10% quota to EconomicallyWeaker Sections (EWS) of general category?(a) Punjab (b) Karnataka(c) Kerala (d) Gujarat

112. The Government of India (GoI) has draftedfive-year action plan to address drug abuse inthe country for which of the following periods?(a) 2019 to 2024 (b) 2017 to 2022(c) 2018 to 2023 (d) 2016 to 2021

113. Which country hold the first-ever AnnualDisarmament and International SecurityAffairs Fellowship Programme?(a) Japan (b) India(c) Bhutan (d) South Korea

114. In which year, the 10th Sikh guru Govind Singhwas born?(a) 1660 (b) 1666 (c) 1659 (d) 1668

115. Which of the following commands is the onlyTri-service theater command of the IndianArmed Forces (IAF)?(a) Andaman and Nicobar Command(b) Southern Command(c) Northern Command(d) Eastern Command


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116. Who has been honoured with LifetimeAchievement Award by the West Bengal FilmJournalists Association (WBFJA)?(a) Mithun Chakrabarty(b) Buddhadeb Dasgupta(c) Moushumi Chatterjee(d) Subhashish Mukherjee

117. Who has won the newly-instituted Sushila DeviLiterature Award?(a) Namita Gokhale(b) Keki N. Daruwalla(c) Pratibha Satpathy(d) Srinibash Udgata

118. Which state government has launched ‘OneFamily, One Job’ scheme?(a) Sikkim (b) Odisha(c) Jharkhand (d) Punjab

119. Who is the head of Group of Ministers (GoM)on GST revenue shortfall faced by states?(a) Sushil Kumar Modi(b) Shivraj Chouhan(c) Raman Singh(d) Vasundhara Raje Scindia

120. Which Indian personality is the recipient of thefirst-ever Philip Kotler Presidential award?(a) Mukesh Ambani (b) Narendra Modi(c) Ratan Tata (d) Vijay Nahar

121. Who was the first Commander-in-Chief ofIndian Army post Independence?(a) K M Carriappa(b) Sam Manekshaw(c) K S Thimayya(d) P P Kumaramangalam

122. Which country has launched ‘Fair Value forInnovation’ at Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi?(a) United States (b) Germany(c) France (d) Japan

123. Which of the following franchise teams haswon the 5th season of Premier BadmintonLeague (PBL) title?(a) Hyderabad Hunters(b) Chennai Smashers(c) Bengaluru Raptors(d) Mumbai Rockets

124. Shakil Ahmed, who is in news recently, isassociated with which sports?(a) Swimming (b) Indoor rowing(c) Judo (d) Chess

125. Which city is the venue of the 9th InternationalConference on Micro Irrigation?(a) Raipur (b) Ahmedabad(c) Jaisalmer (d) Aurangabad

126. Kollam Bypass, which is in news recently,touches which of the following NationalHighways?(a) NH 44, NH 19 and NH 701(b) NH 27, NH 109 and NH 907(c) NH 48, NH 311 and NH 208(d) NH 66, NH 183 and NH 744

127. India’s largest start up ecosystem has launchedin which of the following states?(a) Tamil Nadu (b) Rajasthan(c) Kerala (d) Punjab

128. Which UT/state government has decided toimpose a ban on single-use plastic productsfrom 1st March 2019?(a) Tamil Nadu (b) Puducherry(c) Delhi (d) Karnataka

129. Which city is the venue of the first-ever GlobalAviation Summit (GAS-2019)?(a) Mumbai (b) Varanasi(c) Chennai (d) Hyderabad

130. Lenin Rajendran, who passed away recently,was the renowned personality of which field?(a) Politics (b) Journalism(c) Sports (d) Film Making

131. Who has become the youngest gold medallistin shooting at the Khelo India Youth Games2019?(a) Mehuli Ghosh (b) Devanshi Rana(c) Abhinav Shaw (d) Pratap Singh Tomar

132. Who is the head of the Group of Ministers(GoM) for GST issues in real estate?(a) Kamleshwar Sharma(b) Prabhuram Chowdhary(c) Govind Singh(d) Nitin Patel

133. Which state government has launched thefarm debt-waiver scheme ‘Jai Kisan Rin MuktiYojana’?(a) Madhya Pradesh (b) Odisha(c) Jharkhand (d) Punjab

134. Trishna gas project, which is in news recently,is located in which of the following states?(a) Nagaland (b) Tripura(c) Manipur (d) Assam

135. Who of the following has become the wicket-keeper captain with the most number ofcatches in a match?(a) Kamran Akmal (b) Rashid Latif(c) MS Dhoni (d) Sarfaraz Ahmed


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136. ‘IMBEX 2018-19’ has started between Indiaand which of the following countries?(a) Bangladesh (b) Myanmar(c) Mauritius (d) Indonesia

137. Michael Atiyah was the noted mathematicianof which country, who passed away recently?(a) Germany (b) United Kingdom(c) France (d) United States

138. Who is the head of the committee which isformed by Madras High Court to weed outinvasive plant species from Western Ghats?(a) M M Sundaresh(b) N Sathish(c) Cherukuri Raghavendra Babu(d) Priyavrat Sisodiya

139. Which country has taken over the Chair ofthe Group of 77 (G-77) for 2019?(a) Burundi (b) China(c) Egypt (d) Palestine

140. Which state government has launched ‘AmaGhare LED’ scheme?(a) Tripura (b) Odisha(c) Arunachal Pradesh (d) Mizoram

141. Which city is the venue of the 1st NationalEMRS National Sports Meet 2019?(a) Hyderabad (b) New Delhi(c) Dehradun (d) Chennai

142. Who has been named as the chief coach forthe Indian women boxers?(a) Gurbax Singh Sandhu (b) Anoop Kumar(c) Mohammed Ali Qamar (d) Chhote Lal Yadav

143. Who has won the Franco-German HumanRights Award?(a) Maria da Penha (b) Yu Wensheng(c) Thun Saray (d) Wang Qiaoling

144. D Gukesh, who has been crowned India’syoungest Grandmaster (GM), is from whichstate?(a) Karnataka (b) Tamil Nadu(c) Andhra Pradesh (d) Kerala

145. Who has been appointed the new CEO of theInternational Cricket Council (ICC)?(a) K P Sharma (b) Manu Sawhney(c) Mohan Das Pai (d) Vinod Rai

146. Which state government has recently decidedto start bird hospitals?(a) Kerala (b) Delhi(c) Rajasthan (d) Madhya Pradesh

147. The 10th edition of the India Rubber Expo(IRE-2019) has started in which of thefollowing cities?(a) Mumbai (b) Kochi(c) Shimla (d) Hyderabad

148. Which organisation / personality has beenchosen for the Gandhi Peace Prize 2018?(a) Ekal Abhiyan Trust(b) Akshaya Patra Foundation(c) Yohei Sasakawa(d) Sulabh International

149. Who is the convenor of the newly constitutedGroup of Ministers (GoM) to look at issuesrelated to lottery under GST?(a) Sudhir Mungantiwar(b) Himanta Biswa Sarma(c) Mauvin Godinho(d) Krishna Byre Gowda

150. Saksham 2019 is an annual high intensitypeople-centric mega campaign under the aegisof which ministry?(a) Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation(b) Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas(c) Ministry of Finance(d) Ministry of Information and Broadcasting

151. Who has become the first Indian athlete to benominated in Laureus World Comeback ofYear Award?(a) Vinesh Phogat (b) Hima Das(c) Mary Kom (d) Muhammed Anas Yahiya

152. Which state government has announcedShaurya Award for Students?(a) Sikkim (b) Haryana(c) Himachal Pradesh (d) Rajasthan

153. Who has been appointed as Director General(Investigation) in the National Human RightsCommission (NHRC)?(a) Amit Kulshrestha (b) S N Pradhan(c) Prabhat Singh (d) Pradeep Das

154. What is the theme of the 9th Vibrant GujaratGlobal Investors Summit 2019?(a) Gujarat Going Global(b) Shaping a new India(c) Gujarat Connecting India to the World(d) Explore India

155. Which union ministry has decided to organizeShehri Samridhi Utsav?

(a) Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food andPublic Distribution

(b) Ministry of Women and Child Development(c) Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium

Enterprises(d) Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

156. The Ministry of Finance has started whichseries on Twitter to educate general publicabout the budgetary process?(a) Know Budgetary Process(b) Know Your Budget(c) Know Your Economy(d) Know Making of Budget


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157. Who has become the first Indian and youngestman to climb the seven highest peaks andvolcanic summits across all continents?(a) Mamta Sodha (b) Jaahnavi Sriperambuduru(c) Malavath Purna (d) Satyarup Siddhanta

158. Which Indian-born personality is the recipientof the 2019 Japan Prize for his outstandingcontribution to sustainable soil management?(a) Rattan Lal (b) Jayant Narlikar(c) Rohini Godbole (d) Raghunath Mashelkar

159. Which city is the venue of the 2nd WorldOrange Festival (WOF-2019)?(a) Kanpur (b) Udaipur(c) Nagpur (d) Jhansi

160. The world’s first human rights TV channel hasbeen launched in which of the following cities?(a) New York (b) London(c) Berlin (d) Paris

161. The state-of-the-art National Museum ofIndian Cinema (NMIC) has recentlyinaugurated in which of the following cities?(a) Mumbai (b) Shillong(c) Hyderbad (d) Varanasi

162. The Government of India (GoI) has approvedsetting up of three new Naval Air Squadronsin which of the following states?(a) Assam and Sikkim(b) Gujarat and Tamil Nadu(c) West Bengal and Odisha(d) Kerala and Karnataka

163. The German parliament has classified whichof the following North African states as safecountries of origin?(a) Algeria (b) Tunisia(c) Morocco (d) All of the above

164. Who has been elected as the new PrimeMinister of Sweden?(a) Gustav Fridolin (b) Stefan Lofven(c) Ulf Kristersson (d) Jimmie Åkesson

165. Which of the following state governments haveapproved 10% reservation reservation for pooramong general category?(a) Odisha and Uttar Pradesh(b) Gujarat and Assam(c) Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan(d) Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh

166. Diffo Bridge, which is in news recently, islocated in which of the following states?(a) Andhra Pradesh(b) Arunachal Pradesh(c) Himachal Pradesh(d) Uttar Pradesh

167. Which city is the venue of the 7th ASEAN-India Tourism Ministers 2019?(a) Ha Long (b) Paris(c) Tokyo (d) Berlin

168. Which company has launched India’s firstPolicyHack for Teachers?(a) Infosys (b) Dell(c) Reliance (d) Wipro

169. Which IIT will launch India’s first B.Techcourse in Artificial Intelligence (AI)?(a) IIT Hyderabad (b) IIT Bombay(c) IIT Indore (d) IIT Kanpur

170. India’s First Lithium Ion Giga Factory will bebuild by which of the following companies?(a) Antrix Corporation (b) GAIL(c) HAL (d) BHEL

171. Which of the following cities has been namedas the World Capital of Architecture for 2020?(a) Pune (b) Rio de Janeiro(c) Paris (d) Melbourne

172. Shivakumara Swami was the spiritual leaderof which sect, who passed away recently?(a) Vaishnavism (b) Shaivism(c) Shaktism (d) Tantrism

173. Which country is hosting the 2nd WorldIntegrated Medicine Forum (WIMF-2019)?(a) China (b) Japan(c) India (d) Russia

174. Which city is the venue of the Youth PravasiBharatiya Divas (YPBD-2019)?(a) Varanasi (b) Hyderabad(c) Jabalpur (d) Jaipur

175. The Government of India (GoI) has decidedto recruit women in military police after gradedinduction at what percentage?(a) 10% (b) 15%(c) 20% (d) 25%

176. Which country to host 14th Session of theConference Of Parties (CoP) to UNCCD in2019?(a) Brazil (b) Canada(c) South Africa (d) India

177. The central bank of which country has recentlybanned the use of Indian currency notes?(a) Pakistan (b) Bangladesh(c) Nepal (d) Sri Lanka

178. Who has been chosen for the first-ever SheikhSaud International Prize for MaterialsResearch?(a) K. Radhakrishnan (b) K Sivan(c) C N R Rao (d) G. Madhavan Nair


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179. Which state government has recently roll outStartup and Innovation policy ‘2018-20232 ?(a) Karnataka (b) Tamil Nadu(c) Kerala (d) Telangana

180. Which country has launched satellite to createworld’s first artificial meteor shower?(a) India (b) Japan(c) Russia (d) China

181. Who is the head of the IBBI working group tosuggest a suitable framework for GroupInsolvency?(a) Anshula Kant (b) Shardul Shroff(c) UK Sinha (d) Pradeep Kumar

182. Which city is the venue of the Arab EconomicAnd Social Development Summit 2019?(a) Muscat (b) Beirut(c) Riyadh (d) Baghdad

183. Which Indian-American philanthropist hasbeen conferred with the 2019 Rosa ParksTrailblazer award?(a) Dalip Singh Saund(b) Balvir Singh(c) Gurinder Singh Khalsa(d) Manka Dhingra

184. Masazo Nonaka, who passed away recently,was the world’s oldest man of which country?(a) Japan (b) South Korea(c) Germany (d) Spain

185. Which of the following Indian players arefeatured in both ICC Test & ODI team of theyear 2018?(a) Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah(b) Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma(c) Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli(d) Jasprit Bumrah and Rohit Sharma

186. The annual meet of World Economic Forum(WEF) has started in which of the followingcities?(a) London (b) Berlin(c) Paris (d) Davos

187. India’s first private-sector Howitzer gun-manufacturing plant has come up in which ofthe following cities?(a) Hyderabad (b) Kochi(c) Dehradun (d) Surat

188. Raghbir Singh Bhola, who passed awayrecently, was the veteran personality of whichsports?(a) Cricket (b) Hockey(c) Football (d) Basketball

189. Which the following states celebrated their47th statehood day on 21st January 2019?(a) Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram(b) Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland(c) Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura(d) Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya andNagaland

190. Aadhaar cards are now valid travel documentsfor Indians travelling to which of the followingneighboring countries?(a) Nepal and Bhutan(b) Nepal and Bangladesh(c) Bhutan and Myanmar(d) Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

191. Which city is the venue of the India Steel 2019Exhibition and Conference?(a) Mumbai (b) New Delhi(c) Dehradun (d) Hyderabad

192. The Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose museumhas recently inaugurated in which of thefollowing cities?(a) Port Blair (b) New Delhi(c) Tiruchirappalli (d) Kollam

193. Who has been sworn-in as the new Presidentof Madagascar?(a) Freddy Tinasoa (b) Marc Ravalomanana(c) Andry Rajoelina (d) Jean Pierre Rakoto

194. Who has won the ‘Prabha Khaitan Woman’sVoice Award’ at the Apeejay Kolkata LiteraryFestival (AKLF-2019)?(a) Arundhathi Subramaniam(b) Vikram Seth(c) Keki N. Daruwalla(d) Ranjani Murali

195. Who has become the first player-ever to winICC Test, ODI Player And Cricketer Of TheYear?(a) Virat Kohli(b) Kane Williamson(c) Kumar Dharmasena(d) M S Dhoni

196. Which technical giant has launched a new e-commerce platform re-weave.in for handloomweavers?(a) Microsoft (b) Wipro(c) Facebook (d) Infosys

197. Which Indian armed force has conducted themassive coastal defence exercise ‘Sea Vigil-2019’ to check 26/11-style attacks?(a) Indian Army (b) Indian Air Force(c) Indian Navy (d) All of the above


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198. Which of the following ports has become theonly Indian port to be listed amongst theworld’s top 30 container ports , as per the latestLloyds Report?(a) Visakhapatnam (b) Kandla(c) Paradip (d) JNPT

199. Which international organization has recentlyreleased the World Economic Outlook(WEO)?(a) UNESCO (b) IMF(c) World Bank (d) AIIB

200. The Union Cabinet has approved MoUbetween India and which country forcooperation on the recruitment of domesticworkers?(a) Japan (b) Iran(c) Kuwait (d) Saudi Arabia

201. Which state government has declared PakkePaga Hornbill Festival (PPHF) as the “StateFestival”?(a) Manipur (b) Arunachal Pradesh(c) Nagaland (d) Meghalaya

202. Which state government has decided to give5% quota for Kapu community in 10%reservation for EWS?(a) Andhra Pradesh (b) Jharkhand(c) Tamil Nadu (d) Telangana

203. Who has been bestowed with the 2017Saraswati Samman?(a) Ramakanta Rath(b) Padma Sachdev(c) Mahabaleshwar Sail(d) Sitanshu Yashashchandra

204. What is the India’s rank at the Global TalentCompetitive Index (GTCI) 2019?(a) 80th (b) 64th (c) 76th (d) 98th

205. What is the theme of the National Girl ChildDay (NGCD-2019)?(a) Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao(b) Empowering Girls for a Brighter Tomorrow(c) Protect, Educate and Value Girls(d) Protect Future, Protect Girl

206. What is the India’s rank at the 2019 BloombergInnovation Index?(a) 19th (b) 36th (c) 54th (d) 67th

207. Which city is the venue of the Indian AfricaField Training Exercise (IAFTX-2019)?(a) Kochi (b) Kolkata(c) Pune (d) Chennai

208. Bhanu Prakash Singh, who passed awayrecently, was associated with which field?(a) Arts (b) Politics (c) Sports (d) Journalism

209. Which NDRF’s Battalion has won the first-ever Subhash Chandra Bose AapdaPrabandhan Puraskar?(a) 9th (b) 11th (c) 8th (d) 4th

210. Which international organisation has publishedits latest World Economic Situation andProspects (WESP) report?(a) IMF (b) WHO(c) World Bank (d) United Nations

211. The first-ever UN’s International Day ofEducation is celebrated on which date?(a) January 26 (b) January 25(c) January 24 (d) January 23

212. Who is the author of the novel ‘Zindaginama’?(a) Rahul Sankrityayan (b) Krishna Sobti(c) Mridula Garg (d) Chitra Mudgal

213. The new Naval Air Base ‘INS Kohassa’ hascommissioned at which of the states /UTs?(a) Gujarat(b) West Bengal(c) Lakshadweep(d) Andaman and Nicobar Islands

214. Which IIT has launched an app ‘Roshni’ tohelp blind identify notes?(a) IIT Kanupur (b) IIT Ropar(c) IIT Indore (d) IIT Bombay

215. The Union Cabinet has approved theamendment to which article to strengthennortheast autonomous councils?(a) Article 282 (b) Article 284(c) Article 281 (d) Article 280

216. ISRO has successfully launched militarysatellite ‘Microsat-R’ from which launchvehicle?(a) PSLV-C43 (b) PSLV-C44(c) PSLV-C45 (d) PSLV-C46

217. The world’s longest 3D-printed concrete bridgehas opened in which country?(a) North Korea (b) Japan(c) China (d) South Korea

218. Which state government has decided to setup anti-poaching tiger protection force?(a) Madhya Pradesh (b) Gujarat(c) Rajasthan (d) Telangana


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219. Which of the following novels has beenadjudged as the best novel of 2017 at theKerala Sahitya Akademi Awards?(a) Nireeswaran(b) Aarachaar(c) Thakshankunnu Swaroopam(d) Naalukettu

220. Who has become the India’s first woman IPSofficer to complete South Pole expedition?(a) Aparna Kumar(b) Vimla Mehra(c) Archana Ramasundaram(d) Meera Borwankar

221. What is the theme of the National Voters Day(NVD-2019)?

(a) Proud to be a voter – Ready to vote(b) Accessible elections(c) No Voter to be Left Behind(d) Proud to be a voter222. Who among the following has/have been

awarded Bharat Ratna posthumously in 2019?(a) Bhupen Hazarika(b) Nanaji Deshmukh(c) Madan Mohan Malaviya(d) Both a & b

223. Who led the all-women Assam Riflescontingent, which has created history byparticipating for the first time in a RepublicDay parade?(a) Shikha Surabhi(b) Khushboo Kanwar(c) Aparna KUmar(d) Bhavna Syal

224. Who has been named as the new King ofMalaysia?(a) Ahmad Shah (b) Abdul Rahim(c) Sultan Abdullah (d) Sirajuddin

225. Who is the author of the book ‘PanchashatiGalpo’?(a) Krishna Sobti(b) Nirmal Verma(c) Mannu Bhandari(d) Atin Bandyopadhyay

226. Russell Baker, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author has passed away. He was fromwhich country?(a) Italy (b) United States(c) France (d) Germany

227. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) andSaab have signed a pact to explore air trafficmanagement. Where is the headquarters ofSaab located?(a) Sweden (b) Singapore(c) Seychelles (d) South Africa

228. The researchers of which country havedeveloped a system that can produce electricityand hydrogen fuel from carbon dioxide?(a) Japan (b) South Korea(c) China (d) Russia

229. What is the theme of the 2019 InternationalCustoms Day (ICD)?

(a) Digital Customs - Progressive Engagement(b) Smart borders, Smart Customs(c) SMART borders for seamless Trade, Travel

and Transport(d) Secure & Smart business for economic

development230. Who has won the women’s singles 2019

Australian Open Tennis Tournament?(a) Petra Kvitova (b) Maria Sharapova(c) Naomi Osaka (d) Simona Halep

231. Which railway zone has bagged No.1 positionfor cleanliness in India?

(a) Western Railway (b) Central Railway(c) Southern Railway (d) North WesternRailway

232. Which Indian golfer has won the New SouthWales men’s Amateur Golf Championship inAustralia?(a) Anirban Lahiri (b) Kartik Sharma(c) Shiv Chawrasia (d) Aman Raj

233. SANH, which is in news recently, is aresearch programme to tackle which pollution?(a) To study nitrogen pollution(b) To study noise pollution(c) To study radioactive pollution(d) To study light pollution

234. Which of the following trains has been namedas Vande Bharat Express?(a) Deccan Odyssey (b) Golden Chariot(c) Lifeline Express (d) Train 18

235. Oxford dictionaries has declared which wordas the Hindi word for the year 2018?(a) Jugaad (b) Nari Shakti(c) Aadhaar (d) Surya namaskar

236. Which neighboring country of India hasrecently declared sugarcane juice as ‘nationaldrink’?(a) Bangladesh (b) Bhutan(c) Pakistan (d) Nepal


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237. Who has won the 2018 DSC Prize for SouthAsian Literature?(a) Mohsin Hamid (b) Jayant Kaikini(c) Kamila Shamsie (d) Jeet Thayil

238. Who has won the men’s singles 2019Australian Open Tennis Tournament?(a) Marin Cilic (b) Novak Djokovic(c) Rafael Nadal (d) Andy Murray

239. Which country has recently stripped of the rightto host the 2019 World Para SwimmingChampionships?(a) Malaysia (b) Israel(c) Indonesia (d) Germany

240. Saina Nehwal has won the 2019 IndonesiaMasters title against which player?(a) Huang Sui (b) Ratchanok Intanon(c) Wang Shixian (d) Carolina Marin

241. In which year, India would participate in theInternational Student Assessment (PISA)?(a) 2023 (b) 2020(c) 2021 (d) 2022

242. Which Indian personality has been appointedthe WHO regional director for South-EastAsia?(a) Indira Hinduja(b) Shashi Wadhwa(c) M. Subhadra Nair(d) Poonam Khetrapal Singh

243. Which union ministry has launched ‘RDPINDIA 2019 app’ for Republic Day parade?(a) Ministry of Home Affairs(b) Ministry of Defence(c) Ministry of Information and Broadcasting(d) Ministry of Women and Child Development

244. Atal Setu, which is in news recently, is builtacross which river in Goa?(a) Harmal (b) Mandovi(c) Terekhol (d) Galjibag

245. Who has been conferred the Assam RepublicDay Journalism Award 2019?(a) Dhirendra Nath Chakraborty(b) Kishalay Bhattacharjee(c) Homen Borgohain

(d) Siddhartha Sarma246. Which state government has decided to launch

Yuva Swabhiman Yojana for urban poor youth?(a) Jharkhand (b) Madhya Pradesh(c) Rajasthan (d) Chhattisgarh

247. Who has become the first Indian transgenderto be honoured with Padma Shri?(a) Madurai Chinna Pillai(b) Narthaki Nataraj(c) Bangaru Adigalar(d) R V Ramani

248. Who is the head of IRDAI committee to identifySystemically Important Insurers (SII)?(a) Anup Sah(b) Devarapalli Prakash Rao(c) Nagindas Sanghavi(d) Pravin Kutumbe

249. Who has become the Pakistan’s first Hinduwoman judge?(a) Gita Mehta (b) Smita Kolhe(c) Suman Kumari (d) Draupadi Ghimiray

250. Which of the following states has been declaredbest state for active participation in SwasthBharat Yatra?(a) Punjab (b) Tamil Nadu(c) Uttrakhand (d) Gujarat

251. Which state government has launched JibanSampark project to reach vulnerable tribes?(a) Odisha (b) Assam(c) Punjab (d) West Bengal

252. Which country is the largest producer of crudesteel in the world, according to latest report ofWorld Steel Association (WSA)?(a) China (b) South Korea(c) Japan (d) India

253. The 2019 International HolocaustRemembrance Day is observed on which of thefollowing dates?(a) January 30 (b) January 27(c) January 31 (d) January 29

254. Who is the head of Lokpal search panel toselect members of anti-corruption ombudsmanLokpal?(a) Shabbirhusein S Khandwawala(b) Ranjit Kumar(c) Ranjana Prakash Desai(d) Lalit K Panwar

255. Which city is the venue of the 2019 InternationalStock Taking Conference on TigerConservation?(a) New Delhi (b) Bhopal(c) Hyderabad (d) Dehradun


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256. Which state government has decided tointroduce MSP for farmers based on MSSwaminathan report?(a) Tamil Nadu (b) Maharashtra(c) Punjab (d) Delhi

257. Who has become the youngest batsman tosmack a half-century in international cricket?(a) Matt Renshaw (b) Prithvi Shaw(c) Rohit Paudel (d) Kagiso Rabada

258. Which country bagged the Award of Excellencefor ‘Best in Show’ at the New York Times TravelShow 2019?(a) China (b) Japan(c) India (d) Nepal

259. Which state government has recently launcheda special scheme to curb infant deaths?(a) Jharkhand (b) Delhi(c) Uttar Pradesh (d) Maharashtra

260. The world’s longest expressway will come upin which of the following states?(a) Uttar Pradesh(b) Madhya Pradesh(c) Arunachal Pradesh(d) Himachal Pradesh


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FUN TIME LESSONNever to Give UpOne day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer triedto figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered upanyway it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him.They all grabbed a shovel and begin to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what washappening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone’s amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later,the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt thatfell on his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As thefarmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and totted off!Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick is too not to get bogged down by it. Wecan get out of the deepest wells by not stopping. And by never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!

To contribute your Fun Time Lesson:Mail to: [email protected]

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