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GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 1

Rio Olympics 2016

Olympic Games are the world’s biggest sports extravaganza held every four years to recognize and honour world’s best in various sports events. They are also known as Summer Games. Two years after these games, Winter Olympics are held at a different venue, a cold place, at four year intervals. Next Summer Olympics will be hosted by Tokyo, Japan in July, 2020. HISTORY According to historical records, the first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BC. They were dedicated to the Olympian Gods and were held in the city of Olympia in Greece. They continued for nearly 12 centuries, until Emperor Theodosius decreed in 393 A.D. that all such "pagan cults" (referring to religions other than Christianity) be banned. MODERN OLYMPICS Several attempts were made after 400 AD to restart the Olympic Games but none could succeed for a long time. The breakthrough came in June, 1894 when International Olympic Committee was formed in Paris as an independent not for profit organization committed to build a better world through sports. The 1st Olympic Games of the modern era opened in Athens, Greece on 6 April 1896. 241 athletes from 14 nations took part in 43 events of the first Olympics. Headquarters of IOC are located at Lausanne, Switzerland and it is headed by its President, Thomas Bach. OLYMPIC SYMBOLS Main symbol of Olympic Games is a set of five interlaced rings of equal dimensions, in five different colours, which are, from left to right, blue, yellow, black, green and red on a white background. It is said that they represent the five continents – Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania; but in no particular order or colour association. They also represent the colours of the flags of almost all the participating countries. Olympics Flag: It is in white colour with five Olympic rings in the middle. The Olympic motto is made up of three Latin words: Citius - Altius - Fortius. These words mean Faster - Higher - Stronger.

MEDALS: Winners of different events are awarded three medals - Gold, Silver and Bronze. The gold medals are made with silver at 92.5 per cent purity, coated with at least 5 gram of pure gold. Each medal weighs around 500 gram. The medals depict picture of Nike, Greek Goddess of victory, with the inscription of particular games. For example, this time the inscription is: “XXXI Olympiada Rio 2016”. Back of the medals features laurel leaves – a symbol of victory in the ancient Greece, in the form of the wreaths awarded to competition winners. They surround the logo of the respective games, this year – logo of the Rio 2016 Olympics. RIO OLYMPICS 05 to 21 August at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil First step to beginning of Summer Olympics started with the traditional flame-lighting ceremony in Olympia (Greece) at the Temple of Hera on April 21, 2016. The torch is lighted with the help of focusing of sun rays. The torch is carried in relay by prominent sports persons to the main Olympics venue. It will reach at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio on 5 August for lighting of the cauldron during the Opening Ceremony of the Games. It will have 42 games, 306 events, 37 venues. More than 10,000 participants from 206 countries will be competing for 812 gold, 812 silver and 864 bronze medals.

THE MASCOT: Vinicius, the mascot for the Olympic Games Rio 2016 is made up of a blend of animals native to Brazil, and symbolises the energy and enthusiasm exuded by the Brazilian people. It has been named after one of Brazil’s most prominent 20th century cultural icons, great musician Vinicius des Moraes. Official slogan: A New World INDIA AT OLYMPICS: India is sending its biggest ever contingent of 106 sportspersons for Rio Olympics. They will compete in 63 events. Ace shooter Olympian Abhinav Bindra will be the India’s flag bearer.


GENERAL AWARENESS

SEPTEMBER 2016 Vol. 5, Issue 03

A PUBLICATION OF GYANM EDUCATION & TRAINING INSTITUTE PVT. LTD.

SCO 13-14-15, 2ND FLOOR, SEC 34-A, CHANDIGARH

Contents

CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY TO JULY 2016 01-34

BULLET NEWS FEB 2016 TO APRIL 2016 35-57

LATEST 100 GK MCQs 58-64

GENERAL SECTION 65-70

SIX MONTHS GK BYTES 71-100

FIGURES TO REMEMBER

REPO RATE (05.04.2016) 6.50% REVERSE REPO RATE 6.00% MARGINAL STANDING FACILITY RATE

7.00%

STATUTORY LIQUIDITY RATIO 21.25% CASH RESERVE RATIO 4.00% BANK RATE 7.00% BASE RATE(s) (of various banks)

9.30 to 9.70%

INDIA’s RANK IN

Human Capital Index 105th

Sustainable Development Goals 110th

Networked Readiness Index 91st

Global Retail Development Index 02nd

Ranking in Total Wealth 07th

Ranking in Attracting FDI 10th

Global Peace Index 141st

Good Country Index 70th

Renewable Energy Index 3rd World Press Freedom Index 133rd Rank in Manufacturing Countries 6th World Happiness Index 118th Intellectual Property Index -2016 37th Overall Growth Prospectus 5th Global Talent Competitiveness Index 89th Nuclear Security Index 21st Ease of Doing Business (Forbes) 97th Human Development Index 130th ICT Development Index 131st

NATIONAL NEWS

JULY 2016

PM VISITS 4 AFRICAN COUNTRIES Prime Minister made a five days visit to four-nations - Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya. The visit aimed at shoring up economic ties, firm up maritime security and counter balance China’s growing influence in the resource-rich continent. A deal was signed with Mozambique to import 1lakh tonnes of pulses. A set of 30 SUVs was handed over to them for their local use. With South Africa four MoUs were signed for bilateral cooperation in information and communication technology, grass root innovation and tourism, arts and culture. A Line of Credit of US$ 92 million was agreed for Tanzania for strengthening of the water resources system in Zanzibar. Seven pacts were signed with Kenya in the field of defence and security and avoidance of double taxation. ANSARI VISITS MONGOLIA Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari visited Mongolia to attend the 11th Asia -Europe Meeting at Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia. He also unveiled a stone statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Pethub Monastery in the Capital. INDIA GETS 3 SITES IN HERITAGE LIST The ruins of ancient Nalanda Mahavihara known as old Nalanda University of Bihar, Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex and Sikkim’s national park, home to the world’s third highest peak Mount Khangchendzonga, are the three sites that have been included in the list of UNESCO's World Heritage Site. (Chandigarh High Court) INDIA’s FIRST DIGITAL COURT Giving a kick-start to digital judicature, the first paperless e-court of India was inaugurated in Hyderabad High Court. The court will use digitised case records thereby minimising the usage of man power. WORLD BANK’s PROJECT FOR YOUNG GIRLS The World Bank has approved a $ 63 million support for the project Tejaswini: Socioeconomic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women in Jharkhand. It is the first World Bank project in India that is solely focused on the welfare of adolescent girls and young women.


LARGEST ‘CHARKHA’ AT DELHI AIRPORT

A 17 ft tall and 30 ft long 4-tonnes Charkha made from high-quality Burma teak wood was installed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi. Largest of its kind in the world, it aims to promote the rich cultural heritage of India. OP. ‘SANKAT MOCHAN’ IN SOUTH SUDAN Govt launched ‘Operation Sankat Mochan’ by sending two C-17 Globemaster aircrafts to Juba, capital of South Sudan to evacuate Indians from the war-torn country. The operation was headed by the State Minister of External Affairs, Gen. (retd) V K Singh. NOT MUCH INDIAN MONEY IN SWISS BANKS As per the data released by the Swiss National Bank, India has slipped to 75th place in terms of money held by its citizens with banks in Switzerland, accounting for hardly 0.1 per cent of total foreign deposits of around $ 1.45 trillion with SNB. U K is the top depositor with 25 per cent share. MODI RESHUFFLES COUNCIL OF MINISTERS Prime Minister Modi expanded his Council of Ministers by inducting 19 new ministers in the government. The new Ministers were administered the oath of office and secrecy by the President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Now there are total 78 ministers in the government of which 27 are of Cabinet rank.

PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi Ministry of Personnel, Public

Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic energy; Department of Space; and all important policy issues, and all other portfolios not allocated to any Minister

CABINET MINISTERS Rajnath Singh Home affairs Sushma Swaraj External affairs Arun Jaitley Finance and Corporate Affairs Venkaiah Naidu Urban Development and Housing;

Urban Poverty Alleviation; Information and Broadcasting

Nitin Jairam Gadkari

Road Transport and Highways; Shipping

Manohar Parrikar

Defence

Suresh Prabhu Railways DV Sadananda Gowda

Statistics and Programme Implementation

Uma Bharati Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

Najma A Heptulla

Minority Affairs

Ramvilas Paswan

Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution

Kalraj Mishra Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Maneka Sanjay Gandhi

Women and Child Development

Ananth Kumar Chemicals and Fertilizers; Parliamentary Affairs

Ravi Shankar Prasad

Law and Justice; Electronics and IT

Jagat Prakash Nadda

Health and Family Welfare

Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati

Civil Aviation

Anant Geete Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Food Processing Industries

Narendra Singh Tomar

Rural Development; Panchayati Raj; Drinking Water and Sanitation

Chaudhary Birender Singh

Steel

Jual Oram Tribal Affairs Radha Mohan Singh

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Thaawar Chand Gehlot

Social Justice and Empowerment

Smriti Zubin Irani

Textiles

Harsh Vardhan Science and Technology; Earth sciences

Prakash Javadekar

Human Resource Development


MINISTERS OF STATE INDEPENDENT CHARGE

Rao Inderjit Singh

Planning ; Urban Development; Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation

Bandaru Dattatreya

Labour and Employment

Rajiv Pratap Rudy

Skill development and Entrepreneurship

Vijay Goel Youth Affairs and Sports ; Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

Shripad Yesso Naik

AAYUSH

Dharmendra Pradhan

Petroleum and Natural Gas

Piyush Goyal Power ; Coal ; New and Renewable Energy ; Mines

Jitendra Singh Development of northeastern region ; Prime Minister’s Office; Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space

Nirmala Sitharaman

Commerce and industry

Mahesh Sharma Culture ; Tourism Manoj Sinha Communications ; Railways Anil Madhav Dave

Environment, Forest and Climate Change

MINISTERS OF STATE VK Singh External affairs Santosh Kumar Gangwar

Finance

Faggan Singh Kulaste

Health and family welfare

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Minority Affairs; Parliamentary Affairs

SS Ahluwalia Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Parliamentary Affairs

Ramdas Athawale

Social Justice and Empowerment

Ram Kripal Yadav

Rural Development

Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Giriraj Singh Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Hansraj Gangaram Ahir

Home Affairs

GM Siddeshwara

Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi

Drinking Water and Sanitation

Rajen Gohain Railways Parshottam Rupala

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Panchayati Raj

MJ Akbar External Affairs Upendra Kushwaha

Human Resources Development

Radhakrishnan P

Road Transport and Highways; Shipping

Kiren Rijiju Home Affairs Krishan Pal Social Justice and Empowerment Jasvantsinh Sumanbhai Bhabhor

Tribal Affairs

Sanjeev Kumar Balyan

Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation

Vishnu Deo Sai Steel Sudarshan Bhagat

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

YS Chowdary Science and Technology; Earth Science

Jayant Sinha Civil Aviation Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

Information and Broadcasting

Babul Supriyo Urban Development Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation

Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti

Food Processing Industries

Vijay Sampla Social Justice and Empowerment Arjun Ram Meghwal

Finance; Corporate Affairs

Mahendra Nath Pandey

HRD

Ajay Tamta Textiles Krishna Raj Women and Child Development Mansukh L Mandaviya

Road transport and Highways, Shipping; Chemicals and Fertilizers

Anupriya Patel Health and Family Welfare CR Chaudhary Consumer Affairs, Food and Public

Distribution PP Chaudhary Law and Justice; Electronics and

Information Technology Subhash Ramrao Bhamre

Defence

CHILD CAN WORK IN ‘HOME BASED BUSINESS’ The Parliament has passed the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016, seeking to prohibit employment of children below 14 years in any “profession”, but allows them “home-based work”, such as helping their families in forests, agricultural fields and small family-run units. INDIA PRETTY LOW IN HUMAN CAPITAL The Human Capital Index released by the World Economic Forum for 130 countries has placed India at a low 105th place. The index measures countries’ ability to nurture, develop and deploy talent for economic growth. Finland topped the index while countries like China (71) and Bangladesh (104) were ranked above India.


INDIA WORST COUNTRY FOR RETIREES:

The Global Retirement Index compiled by the Natixis Global Asset Management places India at the bottom, making it world's worst country for retirees. The best country is Switzerland, followed by Norway and Iceland. INDIA FARES POORLY IN SDGs India has ranked a low 110 out of 149 nations surveyed for their achievements in the Sustainable Development Goals prescribed by the UNO. Sweden was ranked at number one, followed by Denmark and Norway. The goals have to be achieved by 2030. INDIA LAGS IN TECHNOLOGY READINESS The annual Networked Readiness Index released by the World Economic Forum to assess the countries in terms of their readiness for transition to a digitised economy, placed India pretty low at 91st rank in a study of 139 countries. The index is topped by Singapore, followed by Finland.

The second BRICS Youth Summit was held in Guwahati , Assam. The theme of the summit was “Youth as bridge for Intra-BRICS Exchanges”.

The first meeting of the BRICS Working Group on “Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency” was held in Visakhapatnam.

BRICS policy planning dialogue meeting was held in Patna on July 26.

The first-ever meeting of BRICS Employment Working Group was held on July 27 in Hyderabad.

India has set up an apparel training centre in Nigeria to support textiles industry of the West African country.

India to give $ 318 million loan to Sri Lanka for improving railway lines and for supplying required locomotives, bogies and tankers, etc.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared India free from Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus and Yaws, an infection of the skin and bones.

Union Cabinet has approved an Air Services Agreement with Mozambique to start the flights to Mozambique.

India and Japan have signed a Social Security Agreement for benefit of the Indian and Japanese professionals and skilled workers working in each other’s country.

For the first time in India, a local zoo, Mumbai’s Byculla Zoo, has received eight medium size Humboldt penguins from Seoul, South Korea.

JUNE 2016

MODI MAKES FIVE NATION VISIT Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a five-nation visit to Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, the US and Mexico, starting from June 4. The visit aimed at broadening bilateral trade, energy and security cooperation and push for India's bid to become a member of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

In Afghanistan, he was conferred with Amir Amanullah Khan Award, country’s highest civilian honour. He also inaugurated the Friendship Dam in Herat province in Western Afghanistan.

In Qatar, seven MoUs were signed to promote assistance on matters pertaining to customs administration through exchange of information and intelligence. In USA he addressed the special session of Congress.

US APPLAUDS ‘MODI DOCTRINE’ US administration has termed the Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Indo-US ties that has overcome the “hesitations of history” and working for the betterment of the global good as “Modi Doctrine”. It envisages a joint effort by India and USA in promoting peace, prosperity and stability from Asia to Africa, from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, including safety and freedom of navigation on the seas. PRESIDENT VISITS AFRICA President Pranab Mukherjee made a six-day trip to Ghana, Ivory Coast and Namibia to boost trade ties with these countries. The trip began with Ghana where he signed three agreements for mutual cooperation. In Cote D’Ivoirie (Ivory Coast), he was awarded the highest honour of that country - Grand Cross National Order of the Republic of Cote D’Ivoirie. MODI ATTENDS SCO SUMMIT Prime Minister Modi visited Tashkent, Uzbekistan to attend the two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The summit approved India and Pakistan’s case for the full membership of the SCO.


ANSARI VISITS MOROCCO, TUNISIA Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari visited Morocco and Tunisia. He arrived in Rabat, capital of Morocco on May 30. On June 2 he reached Tunis, capital of Tunisia, and met Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid. He met President Beji Caid El Sebsi on June 3. A number of MoUs were signed on mutual cooperation between the two countries.

INDIA JOINS MTCR GROUP

India has been admitted as the 35th member of the elite 34 nations group on the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). This would make it possible for India to buy and sell missile technology to other nations, including the supersonic Brahmos missile. It will also enable India to buy the state-of-the-art surveillance drones, such as the US predator. MTCR is an anti-proliferation group of 34 nations that aims to limit the spread of ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that could be used for chemical, biological, and nuclear attacks.

INDIA FAILS TO ENTER NSG, DESPITE SUPPORT The plenary meeting of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, NSG was held in Seoul, South Korea on June 23. A large number of countries supported India’s request for membership to NSG. However, the same could not be approved as a few countries led by China objected to India’s membership because she has not signed the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty, NPT.

INDIA SECOND IN RETAIL DEVELOPMENT According to 2016 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), which ranks top 30 developing countries for retail investment worldwide, India has jumped 13 positions from last year to rank second, next only to China.

INDIA RANKS 7TH IN TOTAL WEALTH According to the report by New World Wealth, India has been ranked seventh in the list of top 10 wealthiest countries in the world, with total individual wealth of $5,200 billion. Total wealth is more because of large population. USA with total individual wealth of USD 48,700 billion is at the top, followed by China and Japan.

INDIA 10TH IN ATTRACTING FDI As per the World Investment Report 2016 by the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), India is the 10th largest receiver of FDI in the world, with inflow of $44 billion in 2015. USA tops the ranks by attracting $380 billion. INDIA WORST IN HUMAN SLAVERY According to the Global Slavery Index 2016 of 167 countries, India has largest number of people in modern slavery, around 18.4 million people, accounting for about 40 per cent of world’s slave population. The modern slavery refers to practices like forced labour, bonded labour, human trafficking, child labour and exploitation of migrant workers in situations where a person cannot leave because of threats, violence, coercion and abuse of power or deception.

General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Prime Minister of Thailand arrived in New Delhi for a three day visit to India with a high level delegation. India signed two agreements with Thailand for

boosting cooperation in culture and educational sectors.

India and USA have signed an agreement for exchange of terrorist screening information, in wake of the recent terror attacks.

A special commemorative silver coin was released by the govt to mark the 300th martyrdom day of Sikh General Banda Singh Bahadur.

As a goodwill gesture, the US has returned over 200 stolen cultural artifacts to India, some dating back 2,000 years, valued at around $100 million.

All India Radio celebrated completion of 80 years of its existence on June 8. On this day in 1936, the Indian State Broadcasting Service became All India Radio.

Ex-Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanian submitted its report on the New Education Policy to the Ministry of HRD.


Champaran Satyagrah Express train has been started from Bapudham, Motihari (Bihar) to Anand Vihar, Delhi. Gandhiji started his first Satyagrah in April 1917

from Champaran to support the cause of Indigo growers of the region.

MoU signed with Switzerland for cooperation in the fields of skills development and professional education and training.

Mumbai is the most expensive city in India though ranked 82nd in world, according to the 2016 Cost of Living Survey by Mercer of USA. Globally, Hong Kong topped the list of most

expensive cities.

MAY 2016

SOLAR TRAIN TRIAL IN JODHPUR

The Indian Railways plans to conduct trial of its first solar panel-powered train in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Though the train would be pulled by conventional diesel-run engines, the solar energy will be used for internal electricity gadgets. WORLD’s LARGEST AIRCRAFT LANDS IN INDIA The world’s largest cargo aircraft, Ukraine’s Antonov AN -225 Mriya — or the Dream, made its first landing in India on May 13 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad. The wide body aircraft is powered by six turbofan engines and is the longest and heaviest airplane ever built, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes. INDIA HAS 248.8 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS

A latest release of the Census 2011 data shows that there are total 248.8 million households in the country of which 202.4 million are of Hindus, 31.2 million belong to Muslims, 6.3 million belong to Christians, 4.1 million of Sikhs and 1.9 million belong to Jains.

4 INDIAN CITIES IN TOP 5 POLLUTED CITIES

Of the five cities in the world with the worst air pollution, four are in India, says a report by the World Health Organisation. The 4 cities are Ludhiana, Khanna, Amritsar and Gobindgarh. The dirtiest air was recorded at Zabol in Iran while Delhi was ranked at 9th place. RAIL HUMSAFAR SAPTAAH The Ministry of Railways launched Rail Humsafar Saptaah from May 26 to June 1 to highlight significant achievements made by Indian Railways in all spheres. Every day of the week will be devoted to a particular aspect of passenger service. 100 CR PENALTY FOR WRONG INDIA MAP According to the draft 'The Geospatial Information Regulation Bill 2016', wrong depiction of the map of India could land the violators in jail with a maximum term of seven years and fine up to Rs 100 crore. LODHA COMMITTEE TO REVIEW MCI The Supreme Court has appointed a three-member panel headed by former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha to review the functions of the Medical Council of India - the regulator of medical profession and education in India. President Pranab Mukherjee visited China from May

24 to 27, starting his trip from the highly industrialised Chinese city Guangzhou.

President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena arrived in New Delhi on May 13 for a two day visit.

International Vichar Mahakumbh was held in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh from May 12 to 14.

The H.R. Nagendra Committee on Yoga Education in Universities has recommended seven programmes for implementation in Indian universities.

To mark the 155th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, India organized a cultural festival in Cairo, Egypt from May 8 to 12.

A study by Assocham-KPMG shows that India is the fifth largest producer of e-waste, discarding roughly 18.5 lakh metric tonnes of electronic waste each year.

Govt has granted status of ‘classical language’ to six languages - Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit and Odia.


NEWS FROM STATES

JULY 2016

TAMIL NADU TOPS IN ATTRACTING TOURISTS Data released by the Ministry of Tourism shows that the number of domestic tourists increased by 11.63 per cent during 2015 to 1432 million. Tamil Nadu attracted highest - 333 million tourists, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

Country received 23.3 million foreign tourists in 2015, registering a poor growth of only 4.4 per cent. Tamil Nadu again topped attracting 4.7 million foreign tourists, followed closely by Maharashtra. INDIA’s FIRST COMMERCIAL COURT Country's first commercial dispute resolution centre and a commercial court was inaugurated in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. It will focus on resolving disputes of investors to promote ‘ease of doing business’ in the state. AIIMS TO BE OPENED IN GORAKHPUR Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Gorakhpur for the benefit of the people in eastern Uttar Pradesh and adjoining parts of Bihar. NGT SAYS ‘NO’ TO OLD DIESEL VEHICLES With a view to curb air pollution in Delhi, the National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi Government to cancel the registration of all diesel-powered vehicles that are more than 10 years old with immediate effect and these shall not be allowed to operate in the city. There are 2.82 lakh diesel vehicles registered in Delhi. CONGRESS GOVT RESTORED IN ARUNACHAL In a historic first time decision, a five judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in a unanimous verdict, circumscribed the powers of the Governor to interfere in the matter of political parties. It said that the Constitution does not enjoin upon the Governor the authority to resolve disputes within a political party, or between rival political parties.

The case pertained to restoration of the Congress govt. lead by Nabam Tuki in Arunachal Pradesh which was dismissed on January 26, 2016 as it lost majority because 14 rebel MLAs were dismissed by the Speaker.

PURI HOLDS ANNUAL ‘RATH YATRA’ The world famous Rath Yatra was held in the coastal city of Puri, Odisha. It marks the nine day annual journey of Lord Jagannath, his brother Lord Balbhadra and sister Subhadra in three specially built huge wooden Rathas (chariots) from the 12th century Jagannath temple to the Gundicha temple and back. About ten lakh devotees took part in the celebrations. A three-day Woodpecker Environment and Wildlife

Film Festival was held in Shimla. India’s first ever Water Metro project, comprising of

two hi-tec catamarans has been launched in Kerala. Madhya Pradesh has passed a law as per which flush

toilet in a residential premise will be mandatory for contesting panchayat elections in the state.

Govt has approved Rs. 1,600 crore for Jammu and Kashmir under skill development initiative 'Himayat' to train 1, 24,000 locals in vocational courses.

As a measure to tackle the increasing rate of obesity, Kerala plans a 14.5% ‘fat tax’ on junk food like burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, etc.

Assam govt and the Armed Forces jointly launched exercise ‘Jalrahat’ to efficiently coordinate the rescue operations during the floods.

Odisha to provide education loan up to Rs 10 lakh at 1% interest rate to poor students aspiring to pursue professional and technical education.

Madhya Pradesh has become first state in India to set up Happiness Department in the state. It will work as resource centre on the subject of happiness.

Kerala Tourism won two Gold Awards at the prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) awards for its excellence in marketing initiatives.


JUNE 2016

ANDHRA GETS TELECOM LICENCE Andhra Pradesh has become the first State to have obtained a telecom license from the Telecom Ministry. Now the state can issue phone numbers starting with the ‘797’ series from August this year. NAGPUR SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH JINAN Nagpur and the Chinese city of Jinan (capital of Shandong Province) have signed the agreement of 'sister cities' for the exchange of ideas and technology in the field of education, urban planning, youth affairs, and sports.

Kerala Tourism won four awards at ‘FilmAT’, one of the biggest international film festivals dedicated to tourism, art and ecology, held in Poland.

Sikkim has become the first state in India to have an open government data portal to facilitate free usage of govt data by general public.

Maharashtra government has decided to celebrate the 21st of every month as Yoga Day across all schools, colleges and universities in the state.

Odisha has become first state in the country to give social welfare benefits - such as a pension, housing and food grains to transgender people.

Lakshadweep has become first Union Territory in India to assure 24x7 power to its residents.

MAY 2016

5 STATES ELECT THEIR CHIEF MINISTER Tamil Nadu: Jayalalitha reelected leading the

AIADMK - All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam.

West Bengal: Mamta Banerjee reelected leading the Trinamool Congress.

Assam: Sarbananda Sonowal becomes the first BJP Chief Minister.

Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan of the CPI (M) led the left democratic front – LDF to become the Chief Minister.

Puducherry: V. Narayanasamy of Congress elected as the new Chief Minister.

The World’s largest Single Rooftop Solar Power Plant with capacity of 11.5 MegaWatt (MW) has been installed at Dera Baba Jaimal Singh of Radha Swamis at Beas, in district Amritsar, Punjab.

Madhya Pradesh Tourism has won the award for the Best Indian Destination for Wildlife. The state has 25 wild life sanctuaries including nine National Parks.

Rajasthan State Transport Corporation has launched 20 Nirbhaya buses with multiple safety measures to better protect women passengers.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

JULY 2016

23.5% SALARY HIKE FOR GOVT EMPLOYEES Implementing the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations, Central govt has announced an overall increase of 23.5 per cent in salary of over one crore government employees and pensioners. Increased salary will be effective from January 01, 2016. First revised salary will be payable from the month of August, 2016.

The minimum basic pay for the peons, drivers, etc has been fixed at Rs 18,000 and the maximum goes up to Rs 2,50,000 for the Cabinet Secretary. The 7th Pay Commission was headed by Justice A K Mathur. The Pay Commission is constituted every ten years to review the salary structure and pension pay outs for Central Government employees. INSURANCE FOR RAIL PASSENGERS Railway passengers, booking tickets through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, IRCTC, website can now avail a travel accident cover of 10 lakh rupees at a premium of one rupee, from Sept. 2016. NOW A LAW FOR GANGA With a view to provide a legal framework to the mission for cleansing of river Ganga, Ministry of Water Resources has constituted a committee headed by Justice Girdhar Malviya to prepare a draft of Ganga Act. RIGHT TO PEOPLE AGAINST IAS OFFICERS Govt has issued guidelines for the people who want the government’s permission to prosecute IAS officers. The guidelines have been issued in terms of the Supreme Court’s directions in the matter.

Under the law, public servants cannot be prosecuted without the government’s approval to protect the innocent from unnecessary harassment.


PORTAL LAUNCHED FOR FARMERS

A new online portal - kvk.icar.gov.in has been launched to provide district specific agriculture related information to the farmers through the 645 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), known as farm-science centres, spread across the country. The portal will provide information related to all farm schemes, market development, weather updates, besides advisory to farmers. SAGARMALA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY The Union Cabinet has approved the incorporation of Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) under the administrative control of the Ministry of Shipping. The Sagarmala Project was launched for promoting port-led economic development in India. CLEANLINESS DRIVE FOR 10 ICONIC SPOTS Govt has decided to undertake a clean-up initiative at 100 iconic heritage, spiritual and cultural sites under the Swachh Bharat Mission. In the beginning, 10 sites have been selected that include Taj Mahal, Golden Temple, Tirupati Temple, Ajmer Sharif Dargah and Chhatrapati Shivaji Rail Terminus in Mumbai. P M SURAKSHIT MATRITVA ABHIYAN It is a new government initiative for boosting the health care facilities for the pregnant women, especially the poor. They will be given free health check-up and required treatment on 9th of every month in all the government hospitals and health centers. NATIONAL GREEN HIGHWAYS MISSION

Govt has launched the National Green Highways Mission for undertaking plantation drive on 1,500 kilometers of National Highways at a cost of about 300 crore rupees. It has been decided to make it mandatory to set aside one per cent of the total project cost of any National Highway contract to a Green Fund corpus that will be used for plantation purpose.

‘PRASHIKSHAK’ TO TRAIN SCHOOL TEACHERS HRD ministry has launched a teacher education portal ‘Prashikshak’, for District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) for collecting and reporting data from all DIETs for improved monitoring. At present there are 646 DIETs in the country for imparting quality training to government school teachers.

PERSONALIZED STAMPS FOR Rs12 LAKH Department of Posts has announced that any individual or a corporate entity can now get their photo or logo printed inside the postage stamp for Rs 12 lakh. Department will provide 5000 sheets, each with 12 stamps.

Govt has released the National Mineral Exploration Policy to adopt comprehensive exploration of non fuel and non coal mineral resources.

Railways has launched an online portal named ‘Nivaran’ to address the service related grievance of serving and former railway employees.

Govt has launched an online portal 'Transforming India', a repository for real-time sharing of the impact of various governance initiatives with citizens.

Cabinet approves Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana with an outlay of Rs.12000 crore to impart skilling to one crore people over the next 4 years.

Union Ministry of Health launched nationwide “Intensified Diarrhea Control Fortnight (IDCF)” from July 11-23.

Cabinet approves establishment of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences - AIIMS at Bathinda under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.

The holy Gangajal brought from Gangotri and Rishikesh would be delivered through post offices at the doorsteps of people at nominal prices.

JUNE 2016

SMART CITY PROJECT LAUNCHED IN PUNE Prime Minister Modi formally launched the ‘Smart City Project’ in Pune Maharashtra. Total 69 Smart City projects will be launched in 20 cities with a total investment of about Rs. 1,770 crore. These projects are related to solid waste management, water supply projects, sewage treatment plants, housing projects for urban poor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

NEW AVIATION POLICY NOTIFIED Government has approved the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016, capping fares at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights and Rs 1200 for flights up to 30 minutes. It also waived the 5/20 norm for new airlines to fly abroad. The 5/20 Rule says that an airline can fly to international destinations only if it has served within the country for five years and has a 20-aircraft fleet.


‘VIDYANJALI’ TO SUPPORT GOVT SCHOOLS

To boost community participation in government schools, HRD Ministry has launched Vidyanjali scheme inviting volunteers to hold public speaking, storytelling, acting sessions and participate in other co-scholastic activities. AADHAAR TO BE LINKED WITH STUDENTS Government has asked all state governments to link Aadhaar number with caste and domicile certificates of school students studying either in Class V or VIII. This is to ensure that the scholarships to the SC/ST students are granted in time without any harassment. DLAMC TO MONITOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT To promote people centric planning, execution and monitoring of new urban development schemes, govt has approved setting up of District Level Advisory and Monitoring Committees with the elected representatives of the people across the country. Senior most MP of the area will head the committee. NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT PLAN India’s first ever NDM plan, which aims to make the country disaster resilient and reduce loss of lives was released on June 1. The plan is based on the four priority themes of the “Sendai Framework.” PPF WITHDRAWAL ALLOWED AFTER 5 YEARS The Finance Ministry has allowed the subscribers of the Public Provident Fund (PPF) to prematurely close their account after completing five years for reasons such as higher education or expenditure towards medical treatment. THE UNION MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS has launched three passenger service initiatives namely- a Janani Sewa for mothers, optional catering in Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains, and a children’s menu on trains. IRCTC LAUNCHES ‘TIGER EXPRESS’ Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation – IRCTC launched a special tourist train - Tiger Express to spread awareness among people regarding tiger conservation. It will take tourists to various Tiger Parks on a six day trip.

‘SURYA MITRA’ APP FOR SOLAR ENERGY Government has launched a GPS based mobile app named ‘Surya Mitra’ developed by National Institute of Solar Energy to facilitate repair and maintenance of solar equipments, awareness about availability of solar power capacities and other related issues. The app will be supported by the trained ‘Surya Mitras’ to support the users of the app. DELEGATION POWERS OF MINISTERS HIKED Making changes in the delegation of financial power rules, 1978, the Finance Ministry has advised that now the Ministers can approve non-plan expenditure proposals of up to Rs. 500 crore as against the earlier limit of Rs. 150 crore. Proposals up to Rs. 75 crore can be approved by the secretary of the administrative ministry or department. Proposals beyond 500 crore and up to 1,000 crore rupees shall be sanctioned jointly with Finance minister. Proposals exceeding 1000 crore will be sanctioned by the Union Cabinet.

TRAI has launched a mobile app for telecom subscribers to register their complaints against pesky calls and SMSs to tighten the noose on telemarketers.

Govt has decided to enhance the age of retirement of all doctors of the Central Health Service to 65 years with immediate effect.

Railway has started India's first timetabled freight train, named ‘Cargo Express’, from Delhi to Bengaluru.

Government has launched a pilot programme to run two-wheelers on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in New Delhi to curb air pollution in cities.

The government has exempted PF withdrawals of up to Rs. 50,000 from tax deduction at source.

Government has launched a campaign ‘Swachh Yug’ to make villages located along Ganga free from open defecation by motivating people to achieve this goal.


Govt plans to raise a new Indian Reserve Police Battalion in Rajasthan named after Maharana Pratap, the great Rajput warrior of Mewar region.

Govt has sanctioned Rs. 10,000 crore 'Fund of Funds for Startups' to boost self-employment in the country by supporting the ‘Startup India Action Plan’.

MAY 2016

‘UJJWALA’ TO GIVE LPG TO BPL FAMILIES

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) was formally launched by the Prime Minister at Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. The scheme aims to provide cooking gas connections to five crore below-poverty-line beneficiaries over the next three years. The connections will be given in the name of women beneficiary. MULTILINGUAL PORTAL ‘BHARATAVANI’ Ministry of HRD has launched the portal ‘Bharatavani’ - the largest online repository of dictionaries in India. It is a single point source for multiple language learning, content and technology in 22 scheduled languages, which will be extended to 100 more languages. NATIONAL IPR POLICY ANNOUNCED The govt has approved the National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy with a view to promoting creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. The policy aims to push IPRs as a marketable financial asset, promote innovation and entrepreneurship. UJALA SCHEME LAUNCHED FOR LED BULBS

Union Minister of State for Energy and Coal Piyush Goyal formally launched the energy-efficient LED bulbs distribution scheme UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) at Bhopal for the state of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The scheme aims to replace all the conventional bulbs with the LED bulbs for reducing drastically power consumption and emission of carbon gasses.

NITI AAYOG TO LAUNCH 15 YEAR PLAN Govt has decided to replace the five year plans with 15 year vision documents. The NITI Aayog has been directed to prepare a vision document for this purpose. It will be implemented after the 12th five year plan which is ending in March, 2017. PORTAL LAUNCHED FOR SCHOOL STUDENTS The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has decided to launch ASMITA, an online student tracking system for 25 crore students of India from class I to XII. ASMITA is acronym for All School Monitoring Individual Tracing Analysis and shall be launched under Shala Asmita Yojana (SAY). COMMITTEE TO REVIEW FRBM Govt has constituted a five Member Committee headed by former Revenue and Expenditure Secretary N.K. Singh to comprehensively review and give recommendations on the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) road map for the future. UNIQUE BUSINESS IDENTIFICATION NUMBER The Government plans to issue a UBIN for budding entrepreneurs to start up their new businesses without any delay. The number will be issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. LOK SABHA PASSES BANKRUPTCY BILL The Lok Sabha has passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Bill 2016. The bill aims to improve conditions for ‘Ease of Doing Business’.

Broadly speaking, Insolvency is a financial situation where a person or business entity is not in a position to repay its debts. When this status is confirmed by courts, it is called Bankruptcy, a legal status. SINGLE EMERGENCY NUMBER - 112 Govt has approved the single emergency number ‘112’ to help people access directly emergency services like police, ambulance and fire fighting. The number will be operational throughout India from January 1, 2017. COMMITTEE FOR TAXI OPERATORS The Union Government has constituted a committee headed by Sanjay Mitra, Secretary of Union Ministry of Road Transport & Highways to prepare a policy framework for taxi and other transport operators. A Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by J C

Divakar Reddy, MP has been formed to tackle misleading advertising as well as to fix liability on endorsers/celebrities.

Parliament has passed two Bills- The Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill 2015 and The Repealing and Amending (Third) Bill, 2015 to repeal outdated 1053 old laws which had become redundant legislations.


The trial run of India's first ever Metro train equipped to run in the driverless mode was conducted in New Delhi on May 18 by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

Cabinet approved national policy on capital goods aimed at creating more than 2 crore new jobs and tripling the production of capital goods to Rs 7.5 lakh crore by 2025.

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities will now be known as 'Divyangjan' Sashaktikaran Vibhag in Hindi, dropping the word 'viklangjan' from its previous nomenclature.

Govt has constituted the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority to strengthen the framework for safeguarding the interest of investors.

The Income Tax department has launched an electronic grievance redressal system named ‘e-nivaran’ to fast track taxpayers’ complaints..

Government has selected 13 more cities for the smart cities mission. The list is topped by Lucknow. Already 20 cities have been selected for this mission.

Moving towards environment friendly solutions, Prime Minister Modi launched e-rickshaws and solar powered boats in Varanasi.

EPFO has decided to increase benefits under the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance scheme from Rs 3.60 lakh to Rs 6 lakh.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

JULY 2016

EXPORTS LOOK UP AFTER 18 MONTHS

Reversing the 18-month downward trend, India’s exports in June rose 1.27% to $22.57 billion. Imports in June were at $30.68 billion, down 7.33% from last year. The trade deficit in June sunk to $8.11 billion. INDIA JUMPS IN TRADE HANDLING India has improved its ranking in the World Bank Group's bi-annual Logistics Performance Index 2016 by jumping to 35th position from 54th in 2014. The index studies 160 countries on the basis of efficiency of trade performance.

As per RBI data, country’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $1.407 billion to $363.351 billion in the week ended July 15.

The country's industrial production grew 1.2 per cent in May this year, mainly due to an uptick in consumer durables output.

Eight core sectors of the economy posted a 2.8 per cent year-on-year growth in May due to a decline in output of refinery and steel products.

JUNE 2016

GDP GROWTH RATE JUMPS TO 7.9%

Data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that the economy grew at an accelerated pace of 7.9% in the fourth quarter of 2015-16, taking the overall GDP growth to a five-year high of 7.6% for the year ended March 31, 2016. India’s per capita income rose by 7.4% to Rs 93,293 in 2015-16 from Rs 86,879 in 2014-15.

MAY 2016

INDIA POISED TO GROW BY 8% In its latest Global Economic outlook, Fitch Ratings, USA has said that it expects India's real GDP growth to rise to 8 percent by 2018-19, from 7.9 percent in 2017-18 and 7.7 percent in 2016-17 driven by the gradual implementation of structural reforms, higher disposable income and improvement in economic activity. UN REPORT PUTS INDIA’S GROWTH AT 7.3% A UN report ‘The World Economic Situation and Prospect’ says that notwithstanding delays in domestic policy reforms, India’s economy is “slowly gaining momentum” and is projected to grow by 7.3 per cent this year and is expected to achieve a growth of 7.5 per cent in 2017. IMF KEEPS INDIA’s GROWTH RATE AT 7.5% The IMF has retained its growth forecast for India at 7.5% for the year 2016-17, largely driven by private consumption even as weak exports and sluggish credit growth weigh on the economy. It said structural reforms, including GST and in areas like land and labour, will be the key to boost India’s economic growth.


ECONOMY & INDUSTRY

JULY 2016

JNU PORT STARTS RFID TRACKING

Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai has become the first port in India to start RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag based tracking of containers. This will facilitate importers and exporters in easy and quick tracking of their goods in transit. ONLY 7 INDIAN COMPANIES IN TOP 500 In the latest Fortune 500 `list of the world's biggest corporations in terms of revenue, there are only seven Indian companies. Top most Indian company is Indian Oil Corporation at 161st rank with revenue of $54.7 billion. The list is topped by the retail giant Walmart with revenue of $482,130 million. RAILWAYS TO GET HI-TEC EYES Railways plan to install TRI-NETRA (three eyes) vision system on locomotives for enhancing the driver’s vision in inclement weather. It will be made up of high-resolution optical video camera, high sensitivity infra-red video camera and a radar-based terrain mapping system. The Bombay Stock Exchange has introduced

'Paperless SIP' that would allow mutual fund investors to make transactions through various modes of payments.

Govt allows oil companies to raise the price of kerosene by 25 paise a litre each month for 10 months to cut the subsidy burden, beginning from July 1, 2016.

Nirma, the Ahmadabad-based detergents and chemicals giant has agreed to acquire Lafarge India’s cement assets for about $1.4 billion (Rs.9,400 crore).

Bangladesh and India have signed a mega deal for the construction of a 1,320 megawatt Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal, Bangladesh.

ADB has granted $ 100 million loan to strengthen key irrigation and drainage system in the Cauvery delta in Tamil Nadu.

The World Bank has announced $ 1 billion support for India’s ambitious solar energy generation plans.

The retail prices of non-urea fertilisers including DAP have been slashed by up to Rs 5,00 per quintal following a drop in global prices of raw materials.

India’s first Green Rail Corridor has been started on the Rameswaram-Manamadurai stretch in Tamil Nadu. It ensures zero toilet discharge on rail tracks.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has joined hands with State Bank of India to promote booking of rail tickets through banking channels.

JUNE 2016

MSP HIKED FOR KHARIF CROPS On the recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), government has hiked the minimum support price (MSP) of pulses by up to Rs 425 per quintal for the coming season 2016-17, effective from Oct 1, 2016. Crop Rs/qtl hike Paddy–common 1470 60 Paddy–grade A 1510 60 Jowar 1625 55 Bajra 1330 55 Maize 1365 40 Tuar daal 5050 425 Moong daal 5225 375 Urad 5000 375 Groundnut 4220 190 Sunflower 3950 150 Sesamum 5000 300 Cotton 3860 60 The MSP is the assured rate at which the government buys the grain from farmers. Paddy is the main crop grown in the kharif (summer) season. WORLD BANK FUNDING FOR CITY TRANSPORT

The World Bank has agreed to provide a $ 9.2 million grant for financing the Efficient and Sustainable City Bus Service Project in selected Indian cities like Chandigarh, Jaipur and Mira Bhayandar in Thane, Maharashtra. NEW AVENUES FOR 100% FDI With an aim to give impetus to job creation and ease of doing business in the country, Government has approved 100 per cent FDI in Aviation, Defence and e-commerce sectors under the govt. approval route.


RAJASVA GYAN SANGAM HELD IN DELHI A high level summit of the top brass of the two revenue collection arms of the government—CBDT and CBEC was held in New Delhi by the name ‘Rajasva Gyan Sangam’. Addressing the summit, Prime Minster Modi appealed the officers to widen the tax payers base to 10 crore. TRIAL RUN OF HIGH SPEED TALGO TRAIN

Trial of the lighter and faster Spanish train Talgo, with speed up to 115 km per hour, was conducted between Bareilly and Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh as part of the Railways' strategy to increase the speed of trains. PURCHASES OF OVER 2 LAKH TO ATTRACT TCS Payment in cash for buying goods and services worth more than Rs 2 lakh with the exception of jewellery will attract 1 per cent tax collected at source (TCS) wef June 1. In case of jewellery, the cut off is at Rs. 5 lakh and over Rs 2 lakh for bullion. SERVICES TO COST MORE WEF JUNE 1 The Krishi Kalyan Cess of 0.5 per cent on the service tax, announced by Finance Minister in the current budget, became effective from June 1. The consumers will now have to pay an extra 50 paise per Rs 100 or Rs 5 per Rs 1,000 spent on any taxable item like various utility bills, parlours, restaurants, AC rail tickets, etc.

LOANS GRANTED BY ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Loan amt (in $ million)

Granted to Purpose

120 Odisha to improve irrigation and water management infrastructure

100 Tamil Nadu

to strengthen and improve water management in the Vennar sub-basin of Cauvery Delta

200 Jharkhand to upgrade 176-kms of rural roads 500 Bihar to build a 9.8 km long bridge

(longest in India) across the Ganges River

The Japan International Cooperation Agency has granted a loan of Rs. 1,548 crore to Tamil Nadu for improving the quality of urban healthcare services.

Work has started on the 'Jal Marg Vikas' (National Waterway-1) for developing a 1620 km waterway between Allahabad and Haldia in West Bengal.

Railways have started a new weekly train from Kamakhya (Seat of Black Magic), Assam to Vaishno Devi Katra (J&K), linking the prominent pilgrimage centers.

The Nuclear Power Corporation of India and the US firm Westinghouse have agreed to begin engineering work for six nuclear power plant reactors in India.

India has surpassed Japan to become the world’s third-largest oil consumer, consuming 4.1 million bpd in 2015, after USA and China. Bpd= barrels per day

To promote and facilitate South Korean Investments in India, the two countries have launched a joint forum named ‘Korea Plus’.

MAY 2016

WB LOAN FOR ROOFTOP SOLAR POWER The World Bank has approved $625 million loan to India to support the rooftop solar power generation across the country. The project will be implemented through the State Bank of India, which will on-lend the funds to solar photovoltaic developers and end-users.

FSSAI BANS USE OF POTASSIUM BROMATE After the alert raised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) that 84 per cent of the 38 popular brands of breads contained cancer-causing chemicals, the Food Safety and Standards Association of India (FSSAI) has recommended banning Potassium Bromate as a food additive. PRESIDENT HONOURS EXPORTERS President Pranab Mukherjee presented Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards in New Delhi to honour exporters for their excellent business achievements. Both Awards were instituted by the Federation of Indian Export Organization (FIEO) in the year 1995-96 with the aim to motivate exporters.


‘DHAN WAPSI’ SCHEME wef JUNE 1

The govt has announced The Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 – ‘Dhan Wapsi’, an amnesty scheme for declaring domestic black money, from June 1 till Sep 30. Individuals willing to declare their black money in the country will have to pay tax and a penalty, totalling 45 per cent. INDIA RANKS 9TH IN ‘CRONY CAPITALISM’ A study by the leading financial magazine, The Economist shows that in terms of ‘crony capitalism’, India is ranked at ninth position with crony sector wealth accounting for 3.4 per cent of the GDP. Russia tops the list where wealth from the country's crony sectors amounts to 18 per cent of its GDP. Crony capitalism is a kind of economy where success in business depends on close relationships between business people and government officials as the later shower favours on the selected few corporates. INCOME TAX DATA MADE PUBLIC In a landmark development towards greater trans-parency, the income tax department has released its key data, though after a lapse of 16 years. Taxpayers account for just about one per cent of India's population. Total income tax collections in 2015-16 were 2.86 lakh crore rupees. NEW DTAA SIGNED WITH MAURITIUS India and Mauritius have signed a protocol amending the double tax avoidance arrangement between the two countries. Now India gets the right to tax capital gains on investments routed through Mauritius, from April 1, 2017. MMTC has launched in collaboration with Swiss gold

company Pamp, a new gold coin ‘Tola’ of 11.6639 grams on the occasion of ‘Akshya Tritya’, May 9.

World Bank has agreed to provide $ 100 million loan to support ‘Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernization project’.

The Tata Group has made a foray into the e-commerce market through TataCLiQ.com to sell apparel, electronics and footwear, etc.

India and Slovenia have signed a protocol to amend the double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) to include exchange of information to curb tax evasion.

BANKING & FINANCE

JULY 2016

COMMITTEE TO EMPOWER MONETARY POLICY Govt has cleared the formation of a six-member Monetary Policy Committee to bring in “value and transparency to monetary policy decisions”. The committee will comprise three members from RBI, including the Governor, who will be the ex-officio chairperson, a Deputy Governor and another one officer of the central bank. The other three members will be appointed by the government. They will be the experts in the field of economics or banking or finance or monetary policy. 3% INTEREST SUB-VENTION ON FARM LOANS

Farmers repaying their bank loan in time will get short-term crop loans of up to Rs 3 lakh at a subsidised interest rate of 4 per cent in 2016-17, against the normal rate of 7 per cent. The 3 per cent difference will be provided as the interest sub-vention to the banks by the government. FRESH CAPITAL FOR 13 PSBs The Ministry of Finance has announced capital infusion of Rs 22,915 crore towards the recapitalisation of 13 public sector banks during 2016-17 to provide liquidity support for lending operations as also to enable banks to raise funds from the market. ONLY RBI TO ACCEPT PRE-2005 NOTES The Reserve Bank has announced that from July 1 onwards pre-2005 banknotes will be accepted only at its select branches as majority of the old series banknotes have been withdrawn. The pre-2005 banknotes are being withdrawn because of fewer security features in them compared to banknotes printed after 2005. FREE EXCHANGE OF SOILED NOTES The RBI has asked banks to exchange up to 20 pieces of soiled currency notes, up to a maximum value of Rs 5,000, free of charge. Banks may recover reasonable service charges for exchanging notes beyond these limits.


SBI TIES UP WITH IIT FOR START UPS State Bank of India has signed a MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), its technology business incubator, to promote innovation by startups in the financial sector. SBI LAUNCHES SOCIAL MEDIA BANKING State Bank of India has launched a social media banking platform called 'SBI Mingle' which will enable the Facebook and Twitter user customers to use a host of banking services on their social media accounts.

RBI has imposed a penalty of five crore rupees on Bank of Baroda for the lapses in the 6,100-crore rupees scam that was unearthed last year.

RBI has constituted a Working Group to study the entire gamut of regulatory issues relating to financial technology and digital banking in India.

Reliance Industries has signed an agreement with State Bank of India to start the proposed Payment Bank.

World Bank to provide Rs 4200 crore to the State Bank of India for financing of grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic projects in India.

Cabinet approves setting up of India Post Payments Bank with 650 branches to begin with, to be functional by September 2017.

JUNE 2016

CABINET NOD FOR INDIA POST BANK

The Union Cabinet has given its approval for setting up the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) as a Public Ltd Company under the Department of Posts. Bank’s 100% equity will be held by the Government of India. The Bank is likely to get license from RBI by March 2017 and plans to operationalise 650 branches by September 2017. RBI AIMS AT ‘LESS-CASH’ INDIA RBI has released the ‘Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision-2018’ that aims at building best of class payment and settlement systems for a ‘less-cash’ India and ensuring access of mobile banking services to even basic phone users. The document focuses on 5 Cs - coverage, convenience, confidence, convergence & cost.

SCHEME FOR HIGH VALUE BAD LOANS

RBI has announced the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets, S4A, to handle the high value bad loans. Under the scheme, a portion of the debt will be converted into equity under supervision of Indian Banks Association. The scheme will be applicable to those projects which have started commercial operations and have outstanding loan of over 500 crore. NRIs ALLOWED TO OPEN NPS ACCOUNTS Government has allowed non resident Indians (NRIs) to open National Pension Scheme (NPS) accounts online if they have Aadhaar Card or PAN card. Till now, NRIs could open NPS accounts only through paper applications by approaching Bank offices. SBI TO MERGE ASSOCIATE BANKS The Union Cabinet has approved the merger of State Bank of India (SBI) and its five subsidiaries — State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad. The merged entity will create a banking behemoth, which can compete with the largest in the world with an asset base of almost Rs 37 trillion, 22,500 branches and 58,000 ATMs as on December 2015. AXIS BANK LAUNCHED ‘GREEN BONDS’ Axis Bank raised $500 million at the London Stock Exchange after it launched India’s first internationally-listed certified green bond to finance climate change solutions around the world.

Green bonds are the one where funds raised are used exclusively for renewable energy projects or some other clean energy project.

Latest RBI data shows that banking transactions through mobile apps have increased seven-fold in three years, between 2013 and 2016.

RBI plans to put into circulation Rs.10 coins bearing the portrait of Swami Chinmayananda to commemorate his birth centenary.


MAY 2016

INDIA’s FIRST ‘MOBILE ONLY’ BANK

The DBS, Singapore's largest bank, has launched India’s first mobile only bank named ‘digibank’. It uses technologies such as bio metrics and artificial intelligence, to enable paperless, signature less and branch less banking.

WILFUL DEFAULTERS OWE Rs. 66,190 CRORE As per a written statement made in Rajya Sabha by Union Minister of state for Finance, there were 7,686 wilful defaulters owing Rs 66,190 crore to state-owned banks as of December 2015. The cumulative gross NPAs of 24 listed public sector banks, including SBI group, stood at Rs.3,93,035 crore as on 31 December 2015. As per RBI, an asset becomes non-performing when it ceases to generate income for the bank or the repayment due is delayed for more than 90 days.

BANKS ASKED TO SHIFT TO EVM CARDS The Reserve Bank of India has instructed banks to shift from magnetic stripe based ATM and debit cards to EMV chip and Pin based cards to ensure protection of cards from cloning, skimming and other forms of frauds which can happen on a magnetic strip.

NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK SELECTS ICICI The ICICI bank has become the first financial institution in the country to be selected by the BRICS’s New Development Bank to explore opportunities around bond issuance, co-financing, treasury management and human resources in India.

Union Bank of India has launched e-SBTR (Electronic Secured Bank Treasury Receipt), a single window facility for payment of both - stamp duty and registration fee for home purchase in Maharashtra

Saudi Arabia based Islamic Development Bank has announced to open its first branch in India at Ahmadabad, Gujarat to offer interest free banking services as per the Muslim law – Shariat.

UK based HSBC Holding Plc has decided to close its 24 branches in India, out of total 50.

A commemorative coin of 100 rupees and a circulation coin of ten rupees have been released on the 475th birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap.

DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

JULY 2016

NAVY GETS THE POWER OF ‘VARUNASTRA’ Indian Navy crossed another milestone in its fire power as it inducted indigenously-built heavyweight anti-submarine torpedo Varunastra. Only seven more countries have such capability. It is capable of targeting quiet and stealthy submarines in intense counter-measure environment. DEFENCE COMMUNICATION NETWORK Defence Minister launched India's first Integrated Defence Communication Network. The network provides online connectivity to all the 111 establishments of the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Special Forces Command to share situational awareness for a faster decision-making process. ARMY GETS ITS OWN BOFORS GUN

The Jabalpur-based Gun Carriage Factory has handed over three indigenously developed 155 mm ‘Dhanush’ artillery guns for trial to the Army. It has a strike range of 38 kms. The gun has been developed following transfer of technology from the Bofors of Sweden.

India successfully test-fired the medium range surface-to-air missile (MR-SAM) – Barak-8, developed jointly with Israel, from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) near Chandipur, off Odisha coast.

In a major milestone in the military aviation in the country, the first squadron of home-grown Light Combat Aircraft Tejas became operational in the India Air Force at Bengaluru.

INS Tarasa, an indigenously built Water Jet Fast Attack Craft was inducted in Indian Navy. It is named after an island in the Andaman and Nicobar.

Indian Navy launched country’s largest ever search operation named ‘Operation Talash’ over the sea to trace the missing AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force.


India has signed a one-billion dollar deal with Boeing

company of USA for procuring four long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft, Poseidon-8I.

Indian Navy has started INS Karma, a dedicated base for Marine Commandos (MARCOS) in Vishakhapatnam. It is a Special Operation Force of Indian Navy.

Armed forces of 26 nations from around the world, including India, took part in the Exercise RIMPAC 2016, held near Hawaiian Islands, USA.

China has built its largest ever transport aircraft Y-20 Kunpeng, nicknamed “chubby girl”,to transport cargo and troops over long distances in diverse weather conditions.

China has made the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, AG-600, to fight forest fires and perform marine missions. It can go up to 4500 kms without refueling and can carry up to 53.5 tons of load.

CHINA BUILDS WORLD’S LARGEST TELESCOPE

The world's largest radio telescope has been built by China in Pingtang County in the southwestern China. It has reflector of the size of 30 football fields, with a diameter of 500 meters, aptly named Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST). The project will help to better understand the origin of the universe and boost the global hunt for extraterrestrial life (aliens).

JUNE WAS THE HOTTEST MONTH National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), USA in its 137 years of record keeping has found that the June 2016 combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces was 0.90 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average, hottest recorded till date. JUNO SUCCEEDS IN ORBITING JUPITER NASA achieved a big breakthrough on July 5 when it succeeded in putting the solar powered 1,600 kg spacecraft Juno in the orbit of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. The maneuvering was conducted some 870 million kilometers away from the earth. Juno is a spinning, robotic probe as wide as a basketball court. It will circle Jupiter 37 times for 20 months, diving down to about 4,500 kilometers above the planet's dense clouds. It will help scientists better understand the planet's origin, structure and atmosphere.

Of the total 10,135 bird species in the world, about 12 per cent of them, 1263 are found in India. This has been confirmed in a scientific study conducted by a group of ornithologists (bird watchers) in India.

Social media giant Face Book has successfully tested its solar-powered craft Aquila that will be used to beam internet to remote parts of the world.

Google has announced that the next version of Android, 7.o, codenamed “N”, will be called Nougat.

China has successfully launched its second Shijian-16 series satellite for space research and experiments.

JUNE 2016

FIRST WOMEN FIGHTER JET PILOTS The Indian Air Force crossed another milestone on June 18 when for the first time three women fighter jet pilots - Bhawana Kanth, Avani Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh - were commissioned in the operations in Air Force. DEAL OKAYED FOR 145 ARTILLERY GUNS Ministry of Defence has approved the purchase of 145 artillery guns meant especially for deployment in the Himalayas by the upcoming Mountain Strike Corps of the Indian Army. The 155 MM, M777 ultra light howitzer (ULH) will be supplied by The BAE systems of USA and will be assembled in India in collaboration with Mahindra Defence Systems. BRAHMOS INTEGRATED WITH SUKHOI-30 BrahMos Aerospace successfully tested the integration of the supersonic cruise missile system BRAHMOS on the supersonic fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30. This is for the first time in the world that a supersonic cruise missile has been integrated with a supersonic fighter aircraft.


Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 (HTT-40), the two-seater basic trainer aircraft designed and developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited made its inaugural flight successfully.

It will be used for the first-stage training for all flying cadets of the three services.

Govt has taken a considered decision to allow export of 'Akaash' missile systems to 'certain' countries that have friendly relationship with India.

Exercise Desert Eagle II was held between Indian Air Force and United Arab Emirates Air Force in Abu Dhabi in last week of May.

India has joined The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, a voluntary legally non-binding multilateral body in Vienna, for preventing the spread of ballistic missiles.

A joint military exercise named ‘Malabar’ was held between the naval forces of India, Japan and the US off the Okinawa coast in Japan.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization members and partners launched their biggest ever joint military exercise in Poland, named Anaconda-16 Exercise.

Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s largest annual security meet held in Singapore to discuss the security issues in the Asia-Pacific region.

ISRO LAUNCHES RECORD 20 SATELLITES The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) created a record on June 22 by launching 20 satellites in one go, including 17 foreign ones, using its flagship rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C34 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikotta. NEW RICE VARIETIES DEVLOPED Researchers at Assam Agricultural University have developed two rice varieties, namely Ranjit Sub-1 and Bahadur Sub-1 that can be grown successfully even in submerged conditions that are frequent in Assam due to common flash floods. CHINA HAS WORLD’s FASTEST COMPUTER Chinese supercomputer Sunway TaihuLight has been declared as the world’s fastest supercomputer, achieving a speed of up to 93 petaflop/second. The selection was made by the International Supercomputing Conference held in Frankfurt, Germany. MICROSOFT TO ACQUIRE ‘LINKEDIN’ In one of the largest acquisitions in the social media space, Microsoft has announced to acquire professional networking website LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. LinkedIn with its over 430 million users will retain its distinct brand, culture and independence.

FIRST ANIMAL TO BE DECLARED ‘EXTINCT’

A small rodent (rat) named the Bramble Cay Melomys found only on a single island off Australia is the world's first mammal to be declared as extinct as none of them has been sighted by the locals after 2009. Main reason for this is the abnormal rise in sea level due to global warming, submerging parts of Bramble Cay Island China launched its 23rd satellite to support its global

navigation and positioning network- BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

Google has tied up with Tata Trusts to launch ‘Internet Saathi’ programme to empower rural women by enabling them to use Internet in their daily lives.

Russia launched the world’s biggest nuclear icebreaker ship 22220 Arktika. It has a two-reactor power unit of 175 MW with a displacement of 33,540 tonnes.

US scientists team has created the world's first microchip that has 1,000 processors and is thought to be the fastest chip designed in a university lab.

Asia’s largest technology trade show COMPUTEX started in Taipei, capital of Taiwan on May 31. More than 1,600 companies from 30 countries took part.

MAY 2016

NAVAL EXERCISE WITH ASEAN FORCES The ADMM-Plus (ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus) Exercise on Maritime Security and Counter Terrorism (Ex MS & CT) was held in Brunei. The nine day naval exercise aims to strengthen the strong bilateral ties and extensive maritime interactions between India and ASEAN countries.

INDIA TEST FIRES ANTI-BALLASTIC MISSILE India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile, capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile. The Advance Air Defence (AAD) missile dubbed as Ashwin was fired from the Adbul Kalam Island (formerly known as Wheeler Island), off the Odisha coast.


IAF LAUNCHES E-MAINTENANCE SYSTEM Indian Air Force launched an Electronic Maintenance Management System (e-MMS), one of the biggest automated military maintenance systems in the world, at the Air Force Station in Pune. The system would seamlessly connect all the squadrons, wings, commands with the Air Headquarters, after its implementation. PRITHVI II MISSILE TESTED BY DRDO India successfully test fired its indigenously developed nuclear weapon capable Prithvi-II missile from the Abdul Kalam Island, off Odisha coast. It has a strike range of 350 kilometer. NAVY SAYS GOOD BYE TO ‘SEA HARRIERS’

The Indian Naval Air Squadron 300- ‘White Tigers,’ bid farewell to the British Sea Harriers fighter aircrafts on May 11. They will be replaced by the new generation MiG 29K/Kub fighters. Sea Harriers joined the Indian Navy in 1983. Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha became the first Chief of

Air Staff to fly the indigenously designed and produced Light Combat Aircraft Tejas in Bengaluru.

Indian Army conducted its major military training exercise ‘Chakravyuh-II’ in Suratgarh, Rajasthan.

INS Kalvari (sea tiger shark), the first of the six indigenous Scorpene-class submarines set out for sea trials off the Mumbai coast.

India signed 4 MoUs for cooperation in defence sector with Oman in Muscat.

The indigenously built Offshore Petrol Vessel ICGS Shaurya joined the Indian Coast guard at Vasco, Goa. ICGS = Indian Coast Guard Ship

Indigenously built Fast Patrol Vessel ICGS Arush joined the Indian Coast Guard at Cochi, Kerala.

The 27th edition of the India-Indonesian CORPAT (Coordinated Patrol) between their navies was held off the coast of Belawan, Indonesia.

India’s first indigenously built fast attack waterjet craft INS Tarmugli was inducted in Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam.

The Indian Navy has decided to decommission two of its warships – INS Veer and INS Nipat.

ISRO TESTS RE-USABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE India successfully tested its first-ever indigenously built space shuttle - the Re-Usable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator or RLV-TD on May 23 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. Re-usable technology aims to help reduce the cost of launching satellites by 10 times. WHO TO PROMOTE ‘AYUSH’ India and the World Health Organization have signed an agreement in Geneva for cooperation in promoting quality, safety and effectiveness of service provision in traditional Indian systems of medicine, called AYUSH. GOOGLE CHROME IS TOP BROWSER As per a global market research, Google Chrome, claiming 41.7 per cent of desktop browser share has become the top Internet browser, ending the long reign of Microsoft Internet Explorer. Mozilla’s Firefox browser stands at third place.

In the first global assessment of the world's flora by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (London), it is estimated that there are about 390,900 plants.

In a rare astronomical phenomenon, planet Mercury was seen as a moving dot on the solar disc, from various places of India, on May 9.

University of Cambridge researchers have built the world's smallest working engine. The device, powered by light, is just millionths of a millimeter in size.

China successfully launched its remote sensing satellite ‘Yaogan-30’ into space atop a Long March 2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

INTERNATIONAL

JULY 2016

FAILED COUP ATTEMPT IN TURKEY

Turkey witnessed a failed coup attempt on July 15 by a faction of its Armed Forces to overthrow the government. Loyal forces and the public lead by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan thwarted the attempt, terming the attempt as an incident of treason. Around 300 persons were killed and several hundred wounded seriously in the aftermath.


WORLD COURT RULES AGAINST CHINA

The Permanent Court of Arbitration, the tribunal based in The Hague, has ruled that there was no evidence that China had historic rights to the waters of South China Sea or resources that fell within its "nine-dash line", and was violating the Philippine's sovereign rights with its operations there. The case was brought before the tribunal by Philippines. IMO JOINS UNO The UN General Assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution to treat the ‘International Organisation for Migration’ – IOM, as a related organisation of UNO. The 65 years old IOM assisted over 20 million migrants in 2015. 4 NEW MEMBERS IN UNSC Ethiopia, Bolivia, Sweden and Kazakhstan have been elected by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) as the non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for a period of two years beginning Jan 1, 2017. SHORTEST AND TALLEST IN WORLD A survey done in 200 countries to study the average height of persons has found that shortest women are found in Guatemala, with an average height 150 cms while shortest men are from East Timor – 160 cms. Tallest men are from Netherlands – 182.9 cms and tallest women are from Latvia at 167.6 cms average height. AMAZON IS THE SMARTEST COMPANY E-commerce giant Amazon has been ranked number one in the annual list of the world’s 50 smartest companies of 2016 compiled by the MIT, USA on the basis of use of innovative technology for an effective business model. According to a survey of millions of airline passengers

conducted by UK based research firm Skytrax to select the best airline, Emirates, the Dubai based airline has been selected as best.

The 2-day long NATO Summit was held in Warsaw, Poland. Heads of nations of 28 member countries took part in this biennial summit.

Finance Ministers from the Group of 20 major economies met in Chengdu, China for a two day summit.

JUNE 2016

ICELAND IS THE MOST PEACEFUL COUNTRY In a ranking of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index compiled by Institute for Economics and Peace, Syria has been named as the least peaceful country, followed by South Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. On the other hand, Iceland was ranked as the world’s most peaceful country, followed by Denmark and Austria. India ranks a low at 141. SWISS REJECT FREE INCOME In a referendum held in Switzerland, 77 per cent Swiss voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to introduce a guaranteed basic income for all. The proposal had called for adults to be paid an unconditional monthly income, whether they worked or not. BRITAIN VOTES TO LEAVE EUROPEAN UNION

In the referendum held on June 23 in Britain to decide whether Britain should remain with European Union or leave it, British people voted to leave the European Union to take greater control of its economy and its borders, shattering the stability of the continental unity forged after World War II. The ‘Leave’ side secured 51.9 per cent votes as against 48.1 per cent vote for ‘Remain’.

Prime Minister David Cameron, a passionate supporter of ‘remain’ announced that as a measure of respect for the “will of the people” he would be stepping down as prime minister in October. SWEDEN IS THE BEST COUNTRY According to the 'Good Country' Index 2015 which surveyed 163 countries to measure how countries contribute to the global good, Sweden is the world’s best country, followed by Denmark and Netherlands. India was placed at 70th spot.


WORLD’s LONGEST RAIL TUNNEL The world’s longest rail tunnel, Gotthard Base Tunnel, 57 kms long under the Alps Mountain in Switzerland, was opened on June 1 for running of trains. Set of two tunnels, it is also the deepest train tunnel of world, going up to 2300 mts below the surface. It will reduce the train journey from Zurich (Switzerland) to Milan in northern Italy down to two hours and 40 minutes, roughly an hour less than it currently takes. AIIB APPROVES FIRST GLOBAL LOANS Bangladesh has become one of the first countries to get a loan from the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. The country will get $165 million for a power distribution system upgrade and expansion project. The other three borrowers are Pakistan, Indonesia and Tajikistan. PAK TOPS IN MALWARE THREATS

Malware Infection Index 2016 released by the Microsoft Asia to identify the key malware threats in Asia Pacific region has revealed Pakistan as the location with the highest malware encounters followed by Indonesia, Bangladesh. India stands at no. 8 in region. World Health Organisation has recognised Thailand,

Armenia, Belarus and Moldova for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Syphilis.

The Forbes “100 Most Powerful Women” in the world list 2016, topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, includes SBI Chief Arundhati Bhattacharya at 25th rank.

The World Bank has slashed its 2016 growth forecast for the world by 0.5 per cent to 2.4 per cent, citing disappointing growth in major emerging market economies including China and Brazil.

Global aircraft company Airbus has unveiled the world's first 3D-printed aircraft THOR - Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality.

The World Health Organization on June 01 has declared the end of Ebola virus transmission in Guinea, one of the three West African countries hardest hit by the epidemic in 2014.

Norway has become the first country in world to prohibit deforestation of rain forest to preserve the balance of ecosystem.

Colombia signed a historical ceasefire agreement with the guerrilla organization FARC to put an end to more than 50 years of bloodshed. FARC: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

MAY 2016

KENYA DESTROYS HUGE STOCK OF IVORY In one of the largest stockpile of elephant tusks (ivory) destroyed in Africa, Kenya's president set fire to 105 tonnes of elephant ivory and more than one tonne of rhino horn, seized from smugglers and poachers. The ivory is reported to be worth over $150 million in the open market and the rhino horn could raise as much as $80 million. WB LAUNCHES EMERGENCY FUND FOR ZIKA World Bank Group has launched the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) to protect and support poorest countries against deadly pandemics like Ebola, Zika. The PEF will ensure fast disbursement of global financing. ROYAL CAMPAIGN FOR MENTAL HEALTH British Royals Prince William, Princess Kate and Prince Harry launched the ‘Heads Together’ campaign in London to spread and promote public awareness about mental health and wellbeing. Heads of state from G-7 nations, USA, Britain, France,

Germany, Italy, Canada and host Japan held their meet in the Japanese city of Ise Shima.

Finance ministers and central bank governors meet of G-7 nations held in Sendai, Japan.

A two day International Buddhist conference was held at the birth place of Lord Buddha, Lumbini, Nepal to celebrate his 2,560th birth anniversary.

The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit was held in Istanbul from 23 to 24th May.

The First World Conference on Tourism for Development was held in Beijing from May 18-21.


Harmony of the Seas, world’s biggest-ever cruise ship, capable of accommodating more than 8,000 passengers and crew in the most luxurious conditions, was unveiled in France.

USA decided to fully lift its embargo on sales of lethal weapons to its one-time arch enemy, Vietnam, after a gap of over 32 years.

Kenya to close World's biggest refugee camp in Dadaab, citing threat to internal security. About 3,28,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia are staying in this camp.

USA has approved selection of animal ‘Bison’ as the first national mammal of the country. This is in addition to the present national symbol - Bald Eagle’.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to stop printing of the 500 euro banknote by the end of 2018 with a view to curb illicit activities. It is one of the highest value (Rs 380,000

roughly) circulating banknotes in the world. The International Bank Note Society has declared

New Zealand’s five-dollar note as the Banknote of the Year for 2015 in a study of 40 notes from 20 countries.

PERSONS IN NEWS

JULY 2016

IROM SHARMILA CHANU: Famous as ‘Iron Lady of Manipur’, she was in news as she decided to end on August 9 her 15 year old hunger strike in protest of AF(SP)A in Manipur to

contest state elections, instead. In 2000, when she embarked on her hunger strike, she also had taken a vow to neither enter her house nor meet her mother till the government repealed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958. RADHIKA MENON: The first woman captain of Indian Merchant Navy was in news as she became the first woman in the world to receive the Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea from the International Maritime Organisation for saving the lives of seven fishermen. K P OLI: Nepalese Prime Minister stepped down from his post before facing a vote of trust in the Parliament. It is reported that he lost the support of the ally parties. DONALD TRUMP: The billionaire businessman from USA has been officially declared as the Republican party’s candidate for US President elections to be held in November this year.

DAVID CAMERON: Prime Minister of United Kingdom resigned from his post after he lost the campaign to ‘remain’ with European Union.

JIM YONG KIM: President of the World Bank Group was in India for a two day official visit.

FEDOR KONYUKHOV: 64 years old Russian adventurer has set a world record for circumnavigating the globe solo in a hot air balloon in a time of just over 11 days, covering over 34,000 kms.

JUNE 2016

NIKESH ARORA: One of the highest paid CEO of the world heading the SoftBank Group Corp. was in news as he resigned abruptly just after two years stay at the corporation. S. K. ROY: Chairman of public sector insurance giant was in news as he resigned nearly two years ahead of completion of his five-year term. Mr. Roy, who has been with LIC since 1981, took charge as chairman in June 2013. NITA AMBANI: The chairperson and founder of Reliance Foundation, has become first Indian woman to be nominated to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the governing body of the Olympic Movement. HILLARY CLINTON Democratic Party candidate for US Presidential elections created history by becoming the first woman to lead a major American political party for President’s post in the 240 years of democracy in USA.

MAY 2016

UDAY KOTAK: Kotak Mahindra Bank Chief, is the only Indian in Forbes' 'Money Masters: The Most Powerful People in the Financial World' list of 40 persons.

Lt. Col. RANVEER JAMWAL: An officer in the Jat regiment of Indian Army successfully completed his third Everest expedition, the earlier ones being in 2012 and 2013. YASH CHOPRA: A life size bronze statue of the late film-maker was installed by the govt of Switzerland in Kursaal area to honour the film maker who shot most of his romantic dramas in the lush mountains of Switzerland. RISHI NAIR: A 6th grade Indian American student won the prestigious National Geographic Bee competition 2016 at Washington DC, USA. FATMA SAMOURA: The Senegalese UN diplomat was named as the first ever female Secretary General of the international football body, FIFA.


DILMA ROUSSEFF: 68 years old Brazilian President was suspended on May 12 after several weeks of nationwide protests for her removal. Senate has decided to initiate impeachment proceedings against her on charges that she broke budget accounting laws.

CRAIG WRIGHT: The Australian entrepreneur has publicly identified himself as creator of virtual cash/currency – Bitcoin, under the fake name of Satoshi Nakamoto.

LHAKPA SHERPA: A 42-year-old Nepalese woman of USA climbed Mount Everest for the seventh time on May 20, creating a record for the most summits of the world’s highest mountain by a woman.

APPOINTMENTS

JULY 2016

N S VISHWANATHAN: Appointed Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India in place of H R Khan who retired on July 3.

AJAY BHUSHAN PANDEY: Appointed as the chief executive officer of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

PEMA KHANDU: Sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, after the Supreme Court verdict on restoration of earlier CM, Nabam Tuki.

RAKESH KUMAR CHATURVEDI: Appointed as the new Chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE

THERESA MAY: Elected as the new Prime Minister of United Kingdom

MALCOLM TURNBULL: Re-elected as the Prime Minister of Australia.

GUDNI JOHANNESSON: Elected as the new President of Iceland.

JUNE 2016

ASHOK LAVASA: Appointed as the new Union Finance Secretary

Ms SUPRIYA SAHU: Appointed as the Director General of Doordarshan

DIA MIRZA: Bollywood actress has been named the ambassador for Swachh Bharat Mission's youth-based 'Swachh Saathi' (student internship) programme.

SUNIL MITTAL: Chairman of Bharti Enterprises (Airtel), elected as the Chairman of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) based in Paris.

ANNE HATHAWAY: Famous US actress and singer has been appointed as global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. PETER THOMSON: Permanent Representative of Fiji, was elected as the President of the upcoming 71st session of UN General Assembly. PEDRO PABLO KUCZYNSKI: Elected new President of Peru HANI Al MULQI: Appointed as new Prime Minister of Jordan.

MAY 2016

3 NEW CHIEF MINISTERS Sarbananda Sonowal: Assam, from BJP

Pinarayi Vijayan: Kerala, from CPI (M)

V. Narayanasamy: Puducherry, from Congress

KIRAN BEDI: Appointed as the new Lieutenant Governor of Union Territory of Puducherry.

VICE ADMIRAL SUNIL LANBA: Appointed as the next Chief of Indian Navy, in the rank of Admiral.

S K BHAGAT: Appointed as Director General of the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

S K SHARMA: Renowned scientist has been appointed the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).

ANURAG THAKUR: The BJP M P from Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, was elected as the President of the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI).

SHASHANK MANOHAR: Former BCCI President, who resigned recently, was elected unopposed as the first independent Chairman of International Cricket Council, for two years.

ATMA RAM NADKARNI: Appointed as the Additional Solicitor General in Supreme Court for a period of three years.

BINALI YILDIRIM: Elected as the new Prime Minister of Turkey.

Ms. TSAI ING-WEN: elected as the first women President of Taiwan

BACIRO DJA: Appointed as the new Prime Minister of Guinea Bissau, a small country in Western Africa.

RODRIGO DUTERTE: Elected as the New President of the Philippines. He is the Mayor of Davao City in Philippines. He is very popular and is known as ‘Digong’.

ENDA KENNY: Re elected as the Prime Minister of Ireland


AWARDS & HONOURS

JULY 2016

RAMON MAGSAYSAY AWARD FOR 2016: Six Asians selected for the prestigious awards for social work. Two of them are Indians:

Bezwada Wilson, from Karnataka, a prolific campaigner for eradication of manual scavenging in India,

T.M. Krishna, Carnatic singer from Chennai, for promoting peace and harmony through music. 51st Jnanpith Award: conferred on renowned Gujarati writer, poet and critic, Dr. Raghuveer Chaudhari.

Gourmand World Cookbook Award for 2015-16: won by Nimi Sunilkumar, cookbook author and food blogger, for her book “4 o’clock Temptations of Kerala”.

ADITYA PURI: CEO and MD of the HDFC Bank has been ranked as the best banking CEO in Asia by the investor community.

JUNE 2016

INTERNATIONAL INDIAN FILM ACADEMY (IIFA) awards festival held in Madrid, Spain on June 23. Best Feature Film: Bajrangi Bhaijaan by Kabir Khan Best Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Bajirao Mastani Best Actor: Ranvir Singh for Bajirao Mastani Best Actress: Deepika Padukon for Piku GD BIRLA AWARD FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: won by IIT-Kanpur professor Sanjay Mittal

INDIA BIODIVERSITY AWARD: Won by the Pakke Tiger Reserve is in East Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.

ASIA NEW TALENT AWARDS: ‘Thithi’, a Kannada film won the best film award and best script writers award at the19th Shanghai International Film Festival.

INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD: won by Akhil Sharma for his novel 'family life'.

PEOPLE’s CHOICE PRIZE: Gold medal won by the renowned Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik at the world championship festival of sand sculpting in Bulgaria.

FUKUOKA PRIZE: Awarded to renowned Indian music composer A. R. Rahman for his outstanding contribution towards creating, preserving and showcasing South Asian traditional fusion music. This prize is given by city of Fukuoka in Japan.

SCHOLASTIC ASIAN BOOK AWARD: won by Aditi Krishnakumar for her manuscript “Love of Indian History".

MAY 2016

‘ORDER OF THE RISING SUN, GOLD AND SILVER’: Former bureaucrat and parliamentarian N. K. Singh was selected for Japan’s highest civilian honour, for promoting economic, educational and cultural ties between India and Japan.

MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL PRIZE: South Korean author, Han Kang, has won the prestigious prize for her novel 'The Vegetarian'. The writer and her British translator Deborah Smith will share the $72,000 prize money. This prize is given every year for the best book translated in English and published in U K.

MILLENNIUM TECHNOLOGY PRIZE: US engineer Frances Arnold has become first woman to win this prize for pioneering directed evolution. The award, given by the Technology Academy, Finland, carries a cash prize of Euro one million.

Palme d'Or: Award for the best film at Cannes Film Festival won by the film ‘I, Daniel Blake’ by British director Ken Loach.

PEN’s LITERARY SERVICE AWARD: Won by British author J.K. Rowling for her dedication to free speech and social justice. The award is given by PEN, a USA based NGO for excellence in promoting peace, harmony and human rights through literature.

COMMONWEALTH SHORT STORY PRIZE: (for Asia region) won by Prashar Kulkarni for his story ‘Cow and Company’. “NORTH STAR": Highest civilian award of Mongolia conferred upon two noted Indian scholars-Lokesh Chandra and Mansura Haider for their contribution to Mongolian studies.

Sudarsan Pattnaik: Renowned sand artist won the gold medal at the 9th Moscow Sand Sculpture Championship in Russia.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

JULY 2016

Who Moved My Interest Rates by Former Reserve Bank of India Governor, D Subbarao

The Phoenix Moment by Praful Bidwai. Myth Breaker by Seema Singh, a book about the life of Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, bio-tech queen of India, CMD of Biocon.


The Scout by Shirish Thorat, Sachin Waze

The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Carefree Days: Many Roles, Many Lives by Pran Nevile

Half-Lion: How PV Narasimha Rao Transformed India by Vinay Sitapati

The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable by Amitav Ghosh

Courage & Commitment: An Autobiography by Margaret Alva, senior Congress leader, former Governor of Uttarakhand, Rajasthan

The Wars of Reconstruction by Doughlas R.Egerton

JUNE 2016

Zindaginama by Krishna Sobti

Favourite Ghost Stories From Around The World by Ruskin Bond.

Old History New Geography: Bifurcating Andhra Pradesh by Jairam Ramesh

A Life in Diplomacy by M K Rasgotra

The Age of Genius: The Seventeenth Century and the Birth of the Modern Mind by AC Grayling.

The Spy by Paulo Coelho

The Unseen Indira Gandhi by Dr. K P Mathur

Muslims Against Partition by Shamsul Islam.

The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf.

MAY 2016

Vanishing Shangri La by K N Raghavan.

The Drowned Detective by Neil Jordan,

Blood on my Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters by Kishalay Bhattacharjee

The Outside Lands by Hannah Kohler

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

OBITUARY

JULY 2016

MAHASWETA DEVI: Eminent Bengali litterateur and a social activist, Masiha for the welfare of tribals, Mahasweta Devi passed away at the age of 90. She was decorated with Jnanpith Award, Padam Vibhushan and honoured with Raman Magsaysay Award. She is best known for her iconic work "Hajaar Chaurasi Ki Maa".

SYED HAIDER RAZA: One of India’s most eminent painters, the modernist, passed away aged 94 in Delhi. Honoured with highest civilian award of France, he spent most of his life in France. He excelled in rare geometrical patterns, usually with iconic ‘bindu’ (point) at the fulcrum of his artistic odyssey. He was decorated with Padma Bhushan in 2007 and with Padma Vibhushan in 2013.

MOHAMMED SHAHID: One of the greatest names in Indian hockey, died due to severe liver condition and kidney failure. He was 56.

MUBARAK BEGUM (SHAIKH): Legendary Bollywood playback singer and ghazal maestro passed away after prolonged illness in Mumbai, at the age of 80. She will always be remembered for her evergreen song "Kabhi tanhaiyon mein yoon hamari yaad ayegi" from the 1961 movie "Hamari Yaad Aayegi".

LACHHU MAHARAJ: World famous Tabla player of Banaras Gharana passed away due to heart attack in Varanasi. He was 72 years old.

WILLIAM H. MCNEILL: World renowned historian who wove the stories of civilizations in his book “The Rise of the West” and vivid account of epidemics in “Plagues and People,” died at age 98 in USA.

ABDUL SATTAR EDHI: Noted Pakistani philanthropist, social activist, ascetic passed away in Karachi. He was 88 years old.

ABBAS KIAROSTAMI: Iran’s renowned filmmaker, winner of several international awards, died at 76 fighting with cancer.

ELIE WIESEL: The Holocaust survivor, writer and Nobel peace laureate (1986) who worked to keep alive the memory of Jews slaughtered during World War II, died aged 87 in Israel.


JUNE 2016

NEIL O'BRIEN: An Anglo-Indian community icon and former Lok Sabha member, credited with pioneering the quiz in the country, died in Kolkata. He was 82. His son Derek O'Brien is also a famous quiz master.

MUDRARAKSHASA: Distinguished Hindi writer and veteran intellectual passed away at the age of 82 in Lucknow, following a prolonged illness.

INDER MALHOTRA: Veteran journalist passed away at a Delhi hospital at the age of 68. He was associated with ‘The Statesman’ and ‘The Times of India’.

SULABHA DESHPANDE: Eminent actor and theatre personality passed away in Mumbai. She was 79.

SURESH CHATWAL: Veteran TV and film actor passed away in Mumbai after a brief illness.

MANOHAR AICH: India's first Mr. Universe (1952) passed away in Kolkata at the age of 104. Famous as the ‘Pocket Hercules’ due to his short height – 4’ 11”, he was a very popular figure in the world of body building.

RAZAK KHAN: Veteran comedy actor who worked in films like “Hera Pheri”, “Raja Hindustani” and “Baadshah” among others, died in Mumbai. He was 65.

MUHAMMAD ALI: The three-time world heavyweight boxing champion who ruled the boxing world in late sixties, died at the age of 74 in Phoenix, USA. Famous as ‘the greatest’, he was suffering from Parkinson disease. Before accepting Islam, his name was Cassius Clay.

VIKTOR KORCHNOI: Four-time Soviet chess champion, Grandmaster, died aged 85 in Switzerland where he had lived since 1976 after defecting from the Soviet Union.

MAY 2016

BABA HARDEV SINGH: Spiritual leader and Head of Nirankari Mission was killed in a road accident in Montreal, Canada. He was 62.

BALRAJ MADHOK: Former President of Bharatiya Jan Sangh (BJS) and veteran RSS leader died in Delhi. He was 96.

TONY COZIER: Famous West Indian cricket writer, commentator and journalist passed away at the age of 75.

PLACES IN NEWS

JULY 2016

PETRAPOLE: Town in West Bengal on India and Bangladesh border was in news as a newly constructed modern integrated check-post was opened there. On the Bangladesh side the link town is Benapole. MAJULI: A big island in River Brahmaputra in Assam was in news as it has been up graded as a district, becoming the first island district in the country.

TOKYO: In one of the worst mass-casualty attacks, nineteen disabled persons were stabbed to death and several other were wounded seriously in a care home for disabled persons, by a knife-wielding man apparently aggrieved at having been fired from his job.

NICE: City in southern France was in news at least 84 people were crushed to death and over 200 seriously wounded when a heavy 25 tonne truck was driven rashly at a high speed mowing down the people attending Bastille Day celebrations on the beach.

DALLAS: City in Texas, USA was in news as in a local racial crowd protest, snipers shot down five police officers and wounded another seven. The protest was against the killing of two black men a week ago by the police.

DHAKA: Capital of Bangladesh was in news as a group of heavily armed terrorists barged into a posh city restaurant and took around 33 people hostage, mostly foreigners and brutally slained 20 of them. Army commandos stormed the restaurant and succeeded in killing six terrorists and rescuing 13 hostages. ISTANBUL: Suspected IS suicide attackers killed 41 persons and wounded scores of others at Europe’s third busiest airport - Istanbul Ataturk.

JUNE 2016

PULGAON: The Central Ammunition Depot of Indian Army in Pulgaon, Maharashtra was in news as a massive fire in one of its bunkers destroyed huge quantity of precious ammunition. It also claimed 16 lives including two Army officers and left 17 persons injured.


MAHASTHANGARH: The 3rd century BC archaeological site in Bogra, Bangladesh, has been declared as the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SARRC) cultural capital for the year 2016-17.

GUWAHATI: It became the first city in the country to have its own city animal. The city has adopted the Gangetic River Dolphin as its mascot.

MATHURA: The temple town of UP was in news as about 3,000 members of a little-known sect that has encroached upon 280 acres of government land Jawahar Bagh clashed with the police. The massive violence on June 3 claimed 29 lives, including an SP and SHO and the sect head, Ram Vriksh Yadav.

ORLANDO: City in Florida, USA was in news as it witnessed one of the worst mass shootings in the US history as a solo gunman killed 50 persons in a gay night club.

PARIS: Days of torrential rain forced river Seine in France to burst its banks causing heavy flooding in city of Paris. Floodwaters have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and claiming several lives.

MAY 2016

CYCLONE ROANU: A strong cyclone lashed the coastal areas of Andhra and Odisha causing heavy rains coupled with gusty surface winds affecting the normal life seriously.

SRI LANKA: Severe flooding has forced half a million people to flee their homes in Sri Lanka as the torrential rains and landslides claimed over 100 lives. The worst-hit areas were in Colombo's north-eastern suburbs along the Kelani River.

FORT MCMURRAY: City in state of Alberta in Canada was in news as it suffered one of the worst wildfires, torching over 1,600 homes and other buildings and forcing more than 80,000 residents to flee. The local govt has declared state of emergency to handle the situation effectively.

SPORTS WORLD

JULY 2016

NEERAJ CHOPRA scripted history by becoming the first Indian to hold a world record as he smashed the junior world record in javelin throw while securing the gold medal at the IAAF World Under-20 Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

DIPA KARMAKAR: Star Indian gymnast was named a ‘Gymnaste de Classe Mondaile’ (World class gymnast) by the International Gymnastics Federation. She also became the first-ever Indian gymnast to receive this honour.

Rohit Khandelwal has become the first Indian to win the title of Mr. World at a grand ceremony at Southport in England. He received a whopping cash prize of 50,000 US dollars.

Harika Dronavalli, India's Grand Master won the Fide Women’s Grand Prix Chess trophy in Chendu, China.

Niranjan Mukundan, Bengaluru para swimmer won eight medals, including three golds, at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports, U-23 World Games held in Prague, Czech Republic. He suffers from dysfunction of spinal cord.

B Sai Praneet won the Canada Open Grand Prix Badminton tournament held in Calgary, Canada

Sanjeev Rajput won the silver medal in men's 50-metre rifle 3 position event at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Russia. Viraat Kohli, star Indian batsman became the first Indian test captain to score a double century in an overseas match in past 84 years. He scored 200 off 283 balls with 24 boundaries playing against West Indies in Antigua.

Ravichandran Ashwin, Indian offspinner, has become the number one Test bowler after taking 7 wickets in the 1st Test against West Indies

Naman Ojha, wicketkeeper-batsman has been named captain of the India A team for the four-nation One-day tournament in Australia, starting August 14.

Vijender Singh won the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title of boxing in Delhi by beating Kerry Hope of Australia.

73rd Senior National Squash Championship, Mumbai: Dipika Pallikal won the women's title while men’s title was won by Saurav Ghosal.

India will be hosting the world’s first Mixed Martial Arts ‘Super Fight League’ from August 26 to October 1.


P R Sreejesh, goalkeeper of the Indian Hockey team will captain the team in Olympics. Women’s team will be captained by Sushila Chanu.

The 56th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships were hosted by Hyderabad. India made a big leap of 11 places to occupy 152nd spot in the latest world football rankings issued by FIFA.

OLYMPIANS FORM AN ASSOCIATION All sportspersons who have represented India in Olympics have got together to form The Olympians Association of India. Five-time Olympian, Luge champion Shiva Keshavan will serve as the association's first President.

SUPREME COURT REINS IN BCCI The Supreme Court delivered a historic judgment accepting most of the recommendations made by the Justice R M Lodha Committee on the functioning of BCCI. Major changes include an age cap of 70 years and a tenure cap of three terms of three years each. Also, ministers and serving bureaucrats have been barred from holding BCCI positions.

Keni Harrison, American hurdler, broke a 28-year-old world record in the 100m hurdles, clocking 12.20 seconds at the London Anniversary Games.

Chris Froome of Britain won the world’s most challenging cycle race, Tour de France after a three-week rocky ride. The 23 day long race covers roughly 3500 kms in various terrains and stages.

Lewis Hamilton of Britain won the Hungarian Grand Prix F 1 championship at Budapest, Hungary. He also won the British Grand Prix title of Formula One at the Silverstone Circuit in Silverstone, United Kingdom and the Austrian Grand Prix F1 Championship at Spielberg, Austria.

Pakistan’s captain Misbah-ul-Haq became the oldest captain to score test hundred at the age of 42 years and 47 days, playing against England at Lord's. WIMBLEDON TENNIS GRAND SLAM Men’s title – won by Britain's Andy Murray beating Milos Raonic of Canada Women’s title – won by Serena Williams of USA by beating Angelique Kerber of Germany

Euro Cup Football Championship: Portugal lifted the cup at Saint-Denis in Paris beating France 1-0. This Portugal’s first major international victory in past 95 years. International Hockey Federation Champions Trophy (women) won by Argentina by defeating Netherlands in the final played in London.

RUSSIA FACES OLYMPICS BAN World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has called for a ban on all Russian competitors and officials at the upcoming Rio Olympics and other international sports as they were found guilty of state-run doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games and other events.

IOC TO LAUNCH ‘OLYMPIC CHANNEL’ The International Olympic Committee plans to launch the Olympic Channel on August 21st, after the Rio Olympics are over. The channel will be available online, worldwide via an app for Android and iOS devices, as well as on YouTube and social media - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

JUNE 2016

Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal won the Australian Open Super Series Badminton tournament title by defeating Chinese Sun Yu in Sydney.

Grand Master Harika Dronavalli won the best women's player award in the Eurasian Blitz chess tournament in Kazakhstan.

Anil Kumble: Former spinner has been selected as the new coach of Indian Cricket Team for one year.

Tintu Luka won a silver medal in 800 metres in the Josef Odlozil Memorial Athletics Meet in Prague, Czech Republic.

Seema Punia won a gold medal in the women’s discus throw at the Pat Youngs Throwers Classic in California, USA, securing her quota in Rio Olympics. The Indian recurve team of Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das won the silver medal at the Archery World Cup in Antalya, Turkey.

Dinesh and Tarkeshwari Rathod have become the first Indian couple to climb the Mount Everest on May 23. Both are Constables in Maharashtra Police.

Ceat T20 Player of the Year - 2016: Star batsman Virat Kohli

Ceat Lifetime Achievement Award: Former Indian Captain, Dilip Vengsarkar.

Hero Hockey Champions Trophy Tournament: Australia defeated India 3-1 in the final played in London.

India won the three-match One-Day International (ODI) cricket series against Zimbabwe 3-0 and also the three day T-20 series by 2-1.

NATIONAL RECORD BY MEN’s RELAY TEAM The Indian men's 4x400m relay team created a new national record in relay race at the International Sprint and Relay Teams Cup at Erzurum, Turkey. The team surpassed the 18 year old record created at Asian Games, Bangkok in 1998 by clocking 3:02:17 minutes against 3:02:62 of old record.


The Indian women’s 4x400m relay quartet of Jauna Murmu, Ashwini Akkunji, Anilda Thomas and MR Poovamma won the gold medal at the PTS athletics Grand Prix in Samorin, Slovakia.

IXth Indian Premier League: Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore to clinch their maiden title in the finals played at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has chosen Olympic champion shooter Abhinav Bindra as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent at the Rio Games’ opening ceremony on August 5.

The junior men's hockey World Cup will be hosted by Lucknow from the 8th of December this year.

Rahul Johri: Appointed first ever chief executive officer (CEO) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Mumbai on the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee.

N Ramachandran, the President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was awarded the prestigious Olympic Order by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for his outstanding services to the Olympic movement.

All India Football Federation plans to launch ‘Mission 11 Million’ in 30 Indian cities with the support of FIFA to engage more than 11 million children in football-related activities. Novak Djokovic: World number one tennis player from Serbia became the first tennis player in the history to cross the $100 million prize-money mark in his career of 13 years. The record was created in a match in French open in Paris by beating Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut.

Cristiano Ronaldo: Star footballer from Real Madrid, captain of Portugal team, has become the first athlete from a team sport in almost 20 years to top Forbes annual list of the World's 100 Highest Paid Athletes, earning $88 million in 2015-16. There is no Indian in top 100.

Lewis Hamilton (Britain) of Mercedes team won the Formula 1 Canada Grand Prix title at Montreal, Canada and also the Monaco Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg won the European Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan.

England captain Alastair Cook became the first English cricketer and also the youngest one to reach the 10,000 runs milestone in Test cricket on May 30, playing against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street, England. Earlier, this record was in Sachin’s name.

Copa America Football Championship: won by Chile by defeating Argentina in the finals played at East Rutherford, New Jersey (USA). It is the popular most sports event of USA.

Shocked with the defeat, the Argentine star player Lionel Messy announced his retirement from the international football. FRENCH OPEN CONCLUDES Men’s singles: won by Novak Djokovic of Serbia by beating Britain's Andy Murray Women’s singles: Garbine Muguruza of Spain defeated Serena Williams of USA to clinch her maiden French Open title. Mixed doubles: won by Leander Paes with Swiss partner Martina Hingis

Latest FIFA rankings have placed Argentina at top, followed by Belgium and Colombia at 2nd and 3rd rank, respectively.

The Rio 2016 Olympic organizing committee released the official slogan for the forthcoming Olympic Games - “A new world”.

A cheerful white tiger cub, named ‘Soohorang’ has been selected as the official mascot for South Korea’s 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

Euro 2016: Europe's biggest football extravaganza began in Stade de France, Saint Denis (France) on June 10.

Wimbledon Tennis Championships begin in London on June 27. This is the 130th edition of the third Grand Slam of the season.

MAY 2016

Amit Kumar Saroha, Indian para athlete from Haryana won the gold medal in men's club throw (F-51) at the French Open Athletics Championship in Paris.

Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam has been selected to captain Indian women's hockey team for a four-nation tournament in Darwin, Australia.

India's ace cueist Pankaj Advani has created history in Abu Dhabi by clinching the Asian 6-Red Snooker title, becoming the first in the world to hold both world and continental titles in 6-red snooker at the same time.


Garima Chaudhary won gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth Judo Championship finals at Port Elizabeth in South Africa.

Indian boxer Sonia Lather won a silver medal at the AIBA Women's World Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Sprinter Dutee Chand bagged two gold medals by winning the women's 100m and 200m race at the Taiwan Open Athletics Championships.

The Indian women’s 4x100m relay team broke the 18-year-old national record, though they stood fourth at the IAAF World Challenge in Beijing.

Indian women's squash team won the Silver medal in the Asian Team squash Championships at Taipei,China, losing gold to Malaysia.

Indian shooters claimed three gold medals and a bronze in the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany.

Federation Cup: Football, Mohun Bagan clinched the title for the 14th time by defeating Aizawal FC in the Final played in Guwahati.

IOA APPOINTS 4 GOODWILL AMBASSODORS The Indian Olympic Association has appointed four Goodwill Ambassadors for Rio Olympics. They are - Renowned music composer A R Rahman, Bollywood actor Salman Khan, Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra and Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.

India and Japan have agreed for mutual exchange of sports persons, coaches, experts and administrators to improve the standard of the sports between the two nations.

Nico Rosberg, the Formula One champion from Germany, won his seventh race in a row at the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, Russia.

Eric Dusingizimana: Captain of cricket team of Rwanda has set a new Guinness world record by batting out a straight 51 hours, the longest individual net session, beating the record set last year by India's Virag Mane, who had batted a straight 50 hours. Max Verstappen: 18 year old F1 driver from Netherlands representing the Red Bull team has become the youngest formula 1 winner as he won the title in Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, Spain.

Thomas Cup: Denmark won the men’s badminton title, overcoming record champion Indonesia in the final played in Kunshan, China.

Uber Cup: (women badminton), China claimed the cup 14th time by routing South Korea in Kunshan, China.

French Open, Second Tennis Grand Slam –started in Roland Garros in Paris on May 22. This is the only grand slam played on clay court.

Italian Open Tennis Championship: Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic to win Men's Singles title.

7th Asian Youth Championships: Indian boxers bagged three silver and one bronze medal in the games held in Kazakhstan.

Madrid Open Tennis: Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Andy Murray of Briton to win the finals. Women’s title was won by Simona Halep defeating Dominika Cibulkova

World Snooker Championship title was won by Mark Selby of England by defeating China’s Ding Junhui in finals played at Sheffield, UK.

Asia Badminton Championships at Wuhan, China: Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei defeated the world No. 1 Chen Long of China in the finals.

Tobago batsman Iraq Thomas created a record by scoring 21-ball century in the Tobago Cricket Association’s T20 tournament at Louis D'or, Tobago (West Indies)

The International Cricket Council has suspended the Cricket Association of Nepal due to a ‘vacuum of cricket leadership’ in the country.

DAYS & DATES

JULY

JULY 01: NATIONAL DOCTORS’ DAY The day is observed to honour legendary physician, Bharat Ratna Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy whose birth and death anniversary falls on July 1. JULY 11 - WORLD POPULATION DAY An annual day observed around the world to bring awareness about Population growth and its related issues. Current world population is estimated at 744 cr. JULY 12- MALALA DAY Observed every year on the birthday of Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistan born young crusader for the promotion of girls' education. JULY 15 - WORLD YOUTH SKILLS DAY Observed globally with UN support to raise awareness about the importance of investing in youth skills development. This year’s theme is Skills Development to Improve Youth Employment. JULY 26: KARGIL VIJAY DIWAS The day is observed every year in honour of the Kargil War Heroes. It was on this day in 1999 that the Indian Armed Forces, as part of Operation Vijay, recaptured Indian posts in Kargil which had been occupied by Pakistan's army.


JULY 28: WORLD HEPATITIS DAY Supported by the WHO, this day is observed to raise awareness about viral hepatitis, and to call for access to treatment and better prevention programs. JULY 29: INTERNATIONAL TIGER DAY It is held annually on to give worldwide attention to the conservation of tigers. It is estimated that hardly 3,500 or so tigers are now left on earth.

JUNE

JUNE 1: WORLD MILK DAY Observed across the world to increase awareness on use of milk and to promote activities connected with milk and the milk industry. It is supported by Food and Agriculture Organisation of UNO.

JUNE 5: WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY Observed globally to promote awareness for preservation of environment. The theme for this environment day is "Go Wild For Life - Zero tolerance for the illegal wildlife trade."

JUNE 8: THE WORLD OCEANS DAY Observed globally to raise awareness of the current challenges faced by the international community in connection with the oceans. The theme this year is “Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet”. JUNE 12: THE WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR Observed globally with the patronage of International Labour Organisation to spread awareness about the abuse of child labour. This year’s theme is ‘End child labour in supply chains - It's everyone's business!’ JUNE 14: WORLD BLOOD DONOR DAY Observed across the world to raise the awareness about the need for safe blood donation. The theme for the year 2016 is - “Blood connects us all”. JUNE 20: WORLD REFUGEE DAY Observed around the world supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to raise the public awareness about refugees. According to UNHCR, number of refugees rose by 5.8 million last year to reach 65.3 million.

JUNE 21: INTERNATIONAL YOGA DAY Millions of people around the world celebrated Yoga Day by organising mass yoga sessions at various places. In India, main function was held in Chandigarh where Prime Minister Modi himself led a gathering of over 30,000 people for a mass yoga session.

JUNE 21: WORLD HYDROGRAPHY DAY Observed world over to highlight the role of oceans and seas in human life. This year’s theme was ‘Hydrography - the key to well-managed seas and waterways’. It is also the establishment day of International Hydrographic Organization 95 years ago.

JUNE 23: UNITED NATIONS PUBLIC SERVICE DAY; Celebrated at the United Nations Headquarters in New York with a high-level knowledge sharing panel on Leaving No One Behind: Innovative Institutional Approaches and Public Service Delivery. JUNE 23: THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC DAY Celebrated every year on 23 June to mark the occasion of the commencement of modern Olympic Games on this day in 1894 at Sorbonne in Paris. JUNE 23: INTERNATIONAL WIDOWS’ DAY Supported by the United Nations to raise public awareness on the hardships faced by the widowed women.

MAY

MAY 01: INTERNATIONAL LABOUR DAY Observed across the world to promote and protect interests of labour class., supported by the ILO. The theme for 2016 is Celebrating the international labour movement. MAY 03: WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY Observed across the world to celebrate freedom of press and defending the media from attacks on their independence. This year’s theme is ‘Access to Information and Fundamental Freedoms - This Is Your Right!’ Supported by UNESCO, this day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993, on the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, Namibia. MAY 11: NATIONAL TECHNOLOGY DAY Observed all over India to hail the technological achievements and developments in the country. This year’s theme is ‘Technology enablers of Startup India’. It was on this day in 1999 that the first, indigenous aircraft “Hansa-3” was test flown at Bangalore and the Trishul missile was test fired successfully. On the same day in 1998, three successful nuclear tests were carried out at Pokhran, Rajasthan. MAY 12: INTERNATIONAL NURSES DAY Celebrated all over the world to commemorate Florence Nightingale’s birthday. President of India honoured 35 nurses with the National Florence Nightingale Awards on this day. MAY 17: WORLD HYPERTENSION DAY This year’s theme is "Know Your Numbers", with the goal of increasing awareness about high blood pressure. Normal blood pressure is defined as an average reading no higher than 120/80 mm Hg. A readings of 140/90 or higher is considered high blood pressure. ALL THE NEWS ITEMS IN THIS MAGAZINE HAVE BEEN SOURCED FROM VARIOUS NEWS PAPERS AND GOVT. PRESS RELEASES.


NATIONAL NEWS

APRIL 2016 ]

The First Maritime India Summit was held in Goregaon, Mumbai, from April 14 to 16 to focus on port based economic growth of the country.

For the first time, United Nations observed the birth anniversary of Dr. B R Ambedkar on April 14 at its headquarters in New York.

India has been ranked sixth among the world's Top-Ten largest manufacturing countries.

The Unique Identification Authority of India has generated over 100 crore Aadhaar numbers in a span of five-and-a-half years.

India signed the Paris Climate Agreement at United Nations in New York along with 175 nations.

President nominated the six personalities from different fields to the Rajya Sabha (House of Elders) following the recommendations of the government.

As per a report from the security solutions firm Symantec, India ranks third among countries with high number of financial Trojan infections

India has joined hands with Germany for the mission ‘Namami Gange’ by adopting strategies used for cleansing German rivers like Rhine and Danube.

The Supreme Court has allowed the holding of the National Eligibility Entrance Test, NEET for medical courses across the country.

The HRD ministry released National Institutional Ranking Framework for ranking the higher education institutions in the country. Top Management Institute: IIM Bangalore,

followed by IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta Top Engineering Institute: IIT Chennai,

followed by IIT Mumbai and IIT Kharagpur.

Best University: The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Top Pharmacy Institute: Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal

World Bank has agreed to provide a $1.5 billion loan for the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM).

BRICS New Development Bank has started giving loans. India is among the first four countries to get a loan, receiving $ 250 million through Canara Bank

A study of 180 countries by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders to study the functioning of journalists has placed India at a lowly 133rdplace.

President Pranab Mukherjee went on a six-day trip to Papua New Guinea and New Zealand on April 27.

Britain’s Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, visited India on a week’s goodwill tour.

India and France have launched a programme with $1 trillion Potential Solar Programme under the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

India, Afghanistan and Iran have agreed for joint work on development of Chabahar port in Iran.

India and Mauritius have signed an MoU on cooperation in the field of traditional system of medicine and Homoeopathy.

The first ever two day North East-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business Summit was inaugurated in Centre in Imphal, Manipur.

3rd Asia Ministerial Conference on the Tiger Conservation was held in New Delhi on April 12.

First National Tribal Carnival held in Delhi from April 29 to May 02, 2016 to showcase and promote various facets of tribal culture on a large scale.

India and South Korea have signed a MoU for cooperation and mutual assistance in port related matters and their developments.

Bullet News (FEB 2016 – APRIL 2016) For details visit – www.gyanm.in


India has signed an agreement with the Islamic Development Bank for a $100 million line of credit to facilitate exports to IDB's member countries.

Govt has released a commemorative coin of Rs.200 and a circulation coin of Rs.10 to mark the 200th martyrdom day of Tatya Tope, a war hero of 1857 war of independence.

A statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh will be installed in France's Saint-Tropez town in September this year.

MARCH 2016

A new direct shipping service launched between

Krishnapatnam in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh and Chittagong in Bangladesh.

India will host the eighth annual summit of BRICS from October 15-16 in Goa

Prime Minister Narendra Modi left for a three - nation tour to Belgium, the US and Saudi Arabia from March 30 to April 2.

Air India on March 6 flew the “world’s longest” all-women operated and supported flight, nonstop, from New Delhi to San Francisco, USA.

The first World Culture Festival, a three-day event celebrating cultural diversity was held on Yamuna bank in New Delhi on March 11-13.

Supreme Court has now allowed use of pictures of Chief Ministers, Governors and Cabinet ministers in the government's media advertisements.

The Raisina Dialogue, a joint initiative of the Ministry of External Affairs and a leading think tank, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi on March 2.

India lags behind China, Pakistan and Bangladesh, ranking 118th in a study of 156 nations, according to The World Happiness Report 2016

As per the Grant Thornton’s Women in Business 2016 report of 36 countries, Russia topped with 45% of senior-business roles occupied by women.

Global Energy Architecture Performance Index compiled by the WEF placed India pretty low at 90th rank and Switzerland at top.

Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations was held Pokhara, Nepal.

Union Ministry of Shipping will host ‘Maritime India Summit’ at Mumbai from 14 to 16 April, with Republic of Korea as the partner country.

India hosted a three-day conference in New Delhi with IMF on the theme of 'Advancing Asia: Investing for the Future' from March 12 to 14.

6th National Community Radio Sammelan held in New Delhi. The theme was ‘Community Radio in India: Towards Diversity and Sustainability’.

National Conference of Women Legislators held in New Delhi, March 5-6, with theme Women Legislators-Building Resurgent India.

India signed a MoU with Bahrain on cooperation for prevention of human trafficking, especially in women and children, their repatriation and rehabilitation.

India has signed an agreement with Maldives for avoiding double taxation of income from international air transport.

First meet of World Sufi Forum was held in New Delhi from March 17-20. Sufi leaders from over 20 countries took part in it.

The India Aviation 2016, an international exhibition on civil aviation held in Hyderabad, Telangana with over 200 participants from across the globe.

Parsi Zoroastrians of India celebrated their Navroz festival on March 21to mark beginning of their new year.

Germany has assured its support for developing three Indian cities as smart cities. The selected cities are - Kochi, Bhubaneswar and Coimbatore.

Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi ranked first in 25-40 million passengers per annum category by the Airports Council International.

FEBRUARY 2016

Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan visited India.

Swachh Survekshan-2016 conducted by the Quality Council of India has ranked Mysuru at number one, followed by Chandigarh and Tiruchirapalli.


Vice President Hamid Ansari paid a five day (Feb 1-5) visit to South East Asia covering Brunei and Thailand.

The 4-day National Arogya Fair organised by the central and state government in collaboration with CII was held in Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Govt sanctioned Rs.580 crore for the vital Agartala (India)-Akhaura (Bangladesh) rail link, a project that was finalized in January 2010.

First National Deworming Day observed on Feb 10 in schools and anganwadis to combat parasitic worm infections among children. Free Albendezole deworming tablets were

provided to children across the country. The eighth Delhi Dialogue was held in New Delhi to

discuss politico-security, economic and socio-cultural engagement with ASEAN.

Govt released a commemorative coin of 150 rupees and a circulation coin of 10 rupees on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai.

The Road to Resilience, an initiative of the World Bank to survey the entire Indian coastline was completed on 15 February 2016.

A group of students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi raised anti national slogans, leading to arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, President of JNU students union.

Number of billionaires in India has risen to 111, placing India third, after China and the US, according to Hurun Global Rich List 2016.

Birdwatchers from all over India took part in four day annual Great Backyard Bird Count and shared the information online.

In a survey of top 38 countries to assess the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), India ranked 37th

Anti-Leprosy Day was observed on 30 January nationwide in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi, who attained martyrdom on 30 January 1948.

Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli arrived in New Delhi on Feb 19 on a six-day visit to India. The two countries signed 7 agreements for cooperation.

India and Afghanistan have agreed to allow visa-free travel for diplomatic passport holders of the two countries.

India has extended one million dollars assistance to cyclone-hit Fiji. The category five cyclones Winston had wind speed of upto 325 km per hour.

Global brand valuation firm Brand Finance has rated Tata Consultancy Services as the World’s Most Powerful Brand in IT Services.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) completed ten years in first week of February.

Banaras Hindu University (BHU) founded by Freedom fighter Pt Madan Mohan Malviya has turned 100 years old on 13th February 2016.

The 42nd Khajuraho Dance Festival, a world famous annual classical dance festival, was held in the temple town of Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.

The biennial automotive show Auto Expo was held in Greater Noida in the National Capital Region.

The 47th two-day Conference of Governors of all Indian states and Lt. Governors of UTs was hosted by the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

India and Pakistan have agreed to extend the rail communication agreement by mutual consent for three years from 19 January 2016.

The 6th National Science Film Festival & Competition was held at Nehru Science Center in Mumbai.

13th World Spice Congress was held in Ahmadabad from Feb 27-29 with the theme 'Target 2020: Clean, Safe and Sustainable Supply Chain'.

NEWS FROM STATES

APRIL 2016

Jharkhand govt launched the Bhimrao Ambedkar Awas Yojana for construction of houses for widows.

Any male person desiring to contest for Urban Local Bodies in Haryana will now have to be matriculate and have a functional toilet at home. Women and a SC candidate will be required to

be at least 8th pass while SC women candidates have to be 5th pass.

The Uttar Pradesh government has directed all the district magistrates for plantation of 5 crore trees at 6,500 sites in 24 hours on a date fixed in month of July under the ‘Green UP - Clean UP’ programme.

World’s maiden white tiger safari was opened up at Mukundpur in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh. It is a rare breed of tiger, found only in India.

Rajasthan has become the first state to pass land title bill to verify land documents with landowners with the state records.

To promote the Swachh Bharat Mission, 20 ‘Namma’ toilets were established in Delhi.

Bihar has become the fourth state in the country to ban sale and consumption of liquor. The other three states are Mizoram, Nagaland and Gujarat.

The European Investment Bank has agreed to give Euro 450 million (Rs. 3,300 crore) towards constructing a 23-km long Lucknow Metro rail line.

Germany’s Development Bank KfW will provide loan assistance of 3750 crore rupees for the development of metro system for Nagpur city.


Asian Development Bank has approved a project loan of $300 million for upgradation of over 400 km of major district roads in Uttar Pradesh.

MARCH 2016

UNESCO has included Agasthyamala biosphere

reserve located in the Western Ghats, in its World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

India’s largest heritage conservation project - Muziris Heritage Project opened in Trissur in Kerala. An ancient port city, it has up to 3000 years old monuments.

Kerala has been declared as the first digital state of India for achieving digital connectivity of all villages and panchayats.

Delhi has become the first state in the country to launch the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine as a public health programme for school children.

Surat, Rajkot railway stations in Gujarat stood first and second in terms of cleanliness, as per a survey conducted by the Ministry of Railways.

Allahabad High Court in Uttar Pradesh is celebrating 150 years of its existence.

Kerala has started India’s first Gender Park to promote the gender equality in development to promote participation of women.

Kerala has taken first of its kind initiative by launching the Air Ambulance in the state.

FEBRUARY 2016

Haryana suffered big loss due to widespread violent agitation by its Jat community demanding reservation for Jats in government jobs.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved construction of India’s longest 14 km railway bridge on Katni – Bina route in Madhya Pradesh.

As per the National Air Quality Indices (NAQI) for 24 cities, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Muzzafarpur in Bihar topped the list for the worst air quality.

Haryana to become the first state in the country to have aquifer mapping done for its groundwater resources by May 2016.

30th Surajkund International Crafts Mela began at Surajkund in Faridabad, Haryana on Feb 1. Telangana is the Theme State this time.

The World Bank to give $ 35 million credit for the Citizen Access to Responsive Services Project of Madhya Pradesh.

Haryana and the Province of Ontario in Canada have signed a MoU for enhancing commercial and cultural ties between the two states.

GOVT INITIATIVES

APRIL 2016

The ‘Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan’ was

launched on April 14, the 125th Birth anniversary of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar,

25 Ministries and Departments of the Union Government signed a MoU to join IMPacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) initiative.

Govt has launched the mobile application 'Vidyut Pravah' to empower common people to demand 24x7 power from the State.

The Nizamuddin-Agra Gatimaan Express that started on April 5 is the first semi-high speed train in India. It will run at a speed of 160 kilometer per

Govt has set up a committee headed by Ashok Dalwai, to suggest ways to double farm incomes by 2022.

Govt has launched the Stand-up India scheme to give a push to financial inclusion programme. Under the scheme, 1.25 lakh bank branches will

provide loans up to 1 crore rupees to SC/ST and women entrepreneurs.

The Union Health Ministry launched third phase of universal vaccination programme Mission Indradhanush to cover 216 districts.

Government has made it mandatory that mobile sold in India from Jan 1, 2017 must have an in-built panic button. Further, in-built GPS navigation system would

be mandatory for all phones wef January 1, 2018.

Govt has launched a tablet-based application ‘ANMOL’ that allows ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse Midwife) to enter and update data for the beneficiaries.

Another web-based mechanism launched is ‘E-Rakt Kosh’ that interconnects all the Blood Banks of the State into a single network.

To facilitate online trading of commodities in 21 markets from 8 states, an E-National Agriculture Market was launched on April 14.

A portal for registration and allotment of International Standard Book Number was launched to facilitate publishers/authors to register for ISBN online.

Union cabinet has approved India’s formal membership of the regional group Sawen.

SAWEN (South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network) The government has launched a portal ‘The Indian

IP Panorama’ which will act as a single window interface for information on intellectual property.


Union Government notified the Scheduled Castes (SC) and the Scheduled Tribes (ST) (Prevention of Atrocities (PoA)) Amendment Rules, 2016.

Govt has launched its first online interactive heritage portal Sahapedia to serve as one point resource for collaborative knowledge on the arts, culture and heritage of India.

The Department of Disinvestment has been renamed as Department of Investment and Public Asset Management or 'Dipam' under the Finance Ministry.

Railways to create a 1 lakh crore rupees ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanrakshan Kosh’ to strengthen safety measures on the rail network to prevent accidents.

Govt has launched a Twitter Seva Service, a special Twitter cell to respond to queries from start-ups, exporters and importer, within 48 to 72 hours.

The ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ programme has been extended to 61more districts with low Child Sex Ratio across 11 States/UTs. Already there in 100 districts.

Govt has decided to increase minimum wages of contract workers to Rs 10,000 taking into consideration the CPI and Dearness Allowance.

Govt plans to construct five lakh ponds under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana by next year.

Govt has formed a committee headed by former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta to suggest ways to improve protection along the Pakistan border.

Union government plans to lay more emphasis on promoting Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events (MICE) tourism in India.

Govt has launched a low cost micro solar device, Surya Jyoti, to light up homes without electricity and save millions of units of power.

Govt has issued a new set of income tax return forms that require people with an income of Rs 50 lakh and above per annum to disclose their assets.

MARCH 2016

The NITI Aayog has launched the Women

Transforming India initiative in partnership with the UN in India and MyGov.

Govt has launched the Setubharatam project to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019.


Govt has launched the new four colour scheme for re-classification of industries based on the Pollution Index (PI) scores.

Pollution Category P I Score No. of industries covered

Red 60 and Above 60 Orange 41 to 59 83 Green 21 to 40 63 White Up to 20 36

Government has allowed women to be inducted as

officers in combat roles in the Indo-Tibetan Border Force (ITBP), the last paramilitary force to do so.

The Union Cabinet has approved the construction of one crore houses in next three years in rural areas under ‘Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin’

Union Ministry of Tourism has launched the ‘Paryatak Mitra’ programme to inculcate appropriate tourism traits and knowledge amongst the college students.

The Rajya Sabha passed the landmark Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015 on March 10 to address corruption and inefficiency in the sector.

Union Health Ministry has started, on trial basis, five healthcare ATMs in four states — Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

The Aadhaar (Target Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 has been passed by the Parliament.

The UGC has asked varsities and colleges to launch a special page on their websites for checking discrimination against SC/ST students.

Lok Sabha passed a bill to amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968 to cover properties left behind by people who became Chinese or Pakistani after leaving India .

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched the 'Clean Street Food Project' in Delhi to sensitise the street food vendors about health and hygiene aspects of food.

Railways launched an online “clean my coach” service that allows travellers to get their compartments cleaned by sending an SMS to 58888 or by using an app or a designated website.

Government has decided to digitally connect all the Post Offices in rural areas by March 2017. There are about 1,55,000 Post Offices in the country.

The Telecom Commission has approved the idea of having a common number for emergencies such as police, fire, ambulance, etc. all over India. The proposed number is 112.

FEBRUARY 2016

Central government has announced the names of the first 20 urban areas that will be developed as smart cities.

The ambitious Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban (rural-urban) Mission was launched from Chhattisgarh's Dongargarh block.

The Union Cabinet has approved establishment of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Self Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) in NITI Aayog.

A mobile app ‘Swachh Paryatan’ has been launched to facilitate the public to communicate their complaints about any unclean area/garbage piles in and around 25 listed prime tourist destinations.

Govt has decided to extend E-Tourist visa facility to 37 more countries from Feb 26, making the total count of countries under the scheme 150.

Govt has decided to halve the threshold for coverage of firms under the EPFO from 20 at present to 10 workers.

Finance Ministry has launched its official YouTube channel with a view to disseminate information to the public on a real-time basis.

Government has launched Project Sunrise for prevention of AIDS in the 20 districts of eight North-Eastern states.

Union Ministry of Tourism has launched the 24x7 Toll Free Tourist Infoline in 12 International Languages including Hindi and English in New Delhi

Government plans to set up Special Unit for Transportation Research and Analytics (Sutra) headed by Ratan Tata for improvement in railways.

National Disaster Response Force has raised a squad of 162 dogs for rescuing people trapped under debris in natural calamities like earthquake.

India’s first-ever Aviation Park will come up near Bagodara village in Ahmadabad to strengthen the aviation sector.

National Framework for Malaria Elimination 2016-2030 released to define the strategy for elimination of the disease by 2030, in a phased manner.

The National Wildlife Action Plan 2017-2031 unveiled by the environment ministry to focus on rehabilitation of threatened species of wildlife.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

APRIL 2016

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has stated that India will achieve growth of 10% by 2032 to become a $10-trillion economy, leading to no BPL population.


3 MARCH 2016

Fitch Ratings has lowered India’s economic growth forecast for next fiscal to 7.7%, but maintained the GDP growth for current 2015-16 at 7.5%.

FEBRUARY 2016

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has marginally revised downward the GDP growth for 2014-15 to 7.2% from the earlier estimate of 7.3%

ECONOMY

APRIL 2016

Companies with a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more will have to follow new Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) from April 1.

Blackstone, the New York based MNC in investment and financial services has signed a deal to buy 60.5 % stake in Mphasis, a Bengaluru based IT company.

As per a World Bank report, India remained the world's largest remittance recipient in 2015 attracting $69 billion, followed by China at $64 billion.

India to invest $20 billion in new petrochemicals, fertiliser and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Iran.

The Shan-E-Punjab Express, country’s first train with CCTV cameras in all coaches, for safety of passengers, started from Delhi for Amritsar.

The Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. has become the number one coal producer in the country by producing a record 137.90 million tonne of coal in 2015-16.

The East Coast Railway has become the largest Freight Loading Railway Zone in 2015-16 with handling of 173.49 million tonnes of freight.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has launched a new index Nifty Mid Smallcap 400 representing 150 midcap and 250 small cap companies.

Govt. has extended safeguard duty of 20 per cent on steel imports till March 2018 to protect Indian industry from cheap China steel.

MARCH 2016

The government has allowed 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the marketplace format of e-commerce via the automatic route

To curb the menace of willful defaulters, the SEBI has barred them from making a public issue or acquiring another listed entity.

Railways have signed a contract to supply eighteen Meter Gauge 1350 HP Diesel Electric Locomotives to Myanmar Railways.

International Finance Corporation launched its first Uridashi Masala Bonds (Japanese bonds) to mobilise Rs 30 crore from Japanese retail investors.

The government has decided to invest Rs. 69,575 crore towards increasing India’s quota in the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

India’s quota increased from 2.44% to 2.75% to have increased voting rights of 2.6% from the previous 2.34%.

India signed its biggest ever overseas credit line, extending $2 billion loan facility to Bangladesh, repayable over 20 years.

Maruti’s hatchback Alto has achieved cumulative sales of three million units in the Indian market in 15 years and 6 months.

Mahindra& Mahindra launched Trringo – a digital app, to start online tractor rental business.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the A have signed a MoU to provide $ 848 million to develop solar parks across India.

As per the Brand Trust Report, e-retailer Amazon has been ranked as India's most trusted online shopping brand, followed by Snapdeal and Flipkart.

The World Bank to provide $250 million loan for improving the performance of electricity distribution in Rajasthan.

The government has formally withdrawn the recognition of Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) after it was de recognised by SEBI "serious irregularities".

The govt has allowed 49% FDI in insurance sector without prior approval, as against 26% earlier.

Railways have tied up with the ISRO to use space technology for providing the passenger information in all trains and to explore new route alignments.

India and France have signed a MoU for construction of six nuclear reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.

World Bank to provide $ 35 million loan for Madhya Pradesh citizen access to responsive services project.

World Bank to grant $ 300 million loan for the Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Quality Improvement Project

FEBRUARY 2016

In a bid to kick start manufacturing in the electronics sector, government has launched a Rs. 10,000-crore Electronic Development Fund.

P M Modi inaugurated the Make in India Week in Mumbai. India is blessed with 4D - Democracy, Demography, Demand and Deregulation.


As per the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the total number of companies registered in the country rose to more than 15.27 lakh in January 2016.

The Intellectual Property Appellate Board has directed Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai to issue ‘GI’ tag for basmati rice to 7 states. These states are Punjab, Haryana, Himachal

Pradesh, Uttarakhand, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Brahmaputra Cracker & Polymer Ltd started the Assam Gas Cracker project, the first ever Petrochemical project in the North East India.

Union Cabinet has approved Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), becoming 71st country to do so.

Indian Oil Corporation’s latest oil refinery in Paradip, Odisha started production of petrol from the Rs. 34,555-crore facility.

The TRAI has barred telecom companies from charging differential rates for data services, prohibiting Facebook’s Free Basics and Airtel Zero platform.

India has approved a $150 million credit line for the development of Iran’s Chabahar port.

Bajaj Auto has launched a 150-cc motor bike named ‘V’ that contains metal sourced from India’s first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant.

For the first time, 6 metro coaches, each 75 feet long, were shipped to Australia from Mumbai port as the first installment of 450 such coaches.

Govt has cut interest rates by 0.25% on short-term post office deposits, Kisan Vikas Patras and other small saving schemes below five years of maturity.

Govt to set up the National Organic Farming Research Institute in Sikkim as the state is country's first organic farming State.

Govt about Rs 5,030 crore from sale of its 5% stake in the Maharatna PSU National Thermal Power Corporation-NTPC, through OFS (offer for sale).

South Arabia emerged as the largest exporter of crude oil to India in Jan. 2016, exporting 9.4 lac barrels per day, followed by Iraq at 9.3 lac bpd.

Apprehensive of the name Zika, the virus, Tata Motors have decided to rename their latest hatchback model as Tiago instead of Zika.

Asian Development Bank will provide a $80 million loan for improving the infrastructure in the two North-Eastern cities of Agartala and Aizawl.

BANKING

APRIL 2016

The RBI announced a 25 basis cut in its policy interest rate on April 5, lowering it to more than five-year low. The new repo rate now stands at 6.50 per cent. The reverse repo rate has been hiked by 25

basis points to 6%. The new Marginal Standing Facility and Bank Rate stand at 7%.

Short-term working capital loans are set to get cheaper as banks start adopting the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) from 1 April. The new framework requires banks to set rates

based on their marginal cost of funds rather than their average cost of funds.

Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel has been granted the India’s first payments bank license by RBI.

MARCH 2016

RBI has asked banks to pay interest on savings

accounts on a quarterly basis or a shorter duration as against half yearly intervals at present.

The government has reduced interest rates payable on small savings including PPF, NSC to 8.1% and 7.8% on KVP wef 1st April.

The two day meet of public sector banks and insurance companies - Gyan Sangam, was held in Gurgaon, Haryana on March 5-6

RBI has come out with a draft regulatory framework for new kind of Account Aggregator Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) They would act as an account aggregator to

help people view their accounts across financial institutions in a common format.

ICICI Bank has launched ‘iWork@home’ that uses technology to enable women employees to work from home for an extended period

NPCI, issuer of Rupay card, plans to venture into the credit card space by September 2016. It plans to issue 100,000 such cards in the first year.

The RBI has signed a pact with Bank of Israel for exchange of information pertaining to banking supervision.

The Reserve Bank granted the first license for the Small Finance Bank on 4 March to the Capital Local Area Bank Ltd to start operations as India’s first SFB.

Indian Overseas Bank has become the first bank to commence the sale of Indian Gold Coin. The coins are available in the 5, 10 and 20 gram category.


FEBRUARY 2016

RBI has asked banks to follow accounting standard

‘Ind AS’ converged with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from April 1, 2018.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance headed by M. Veerappa Moily submitted the report on the Net NPAs of Public Sector Banks (PSBs). As per the report, PSBs had gross NPAs of Rs

369,990 crore and net NPAs of around 205,024 crore rupees, till September 2015.

SBI has launched "FlexiPay Home Loan", offering higher amount and up to five years of interest moratorium to professionals in the age group of 21 to 45 years.

Govt to infuse Rs 5,000 crore as capital in the public sector banks to strengthen their balance sheet for compliance of Basel III capital norms.

RBI has extended the $2 billion currency swap arrangement to SAARC nations till mid-November 2017 to enhance economic cooperation.

State Bank of India has started an exclusive ‘Japan Desk’ as a single nodal point for attracting FDI worth $30 billion from Japan.

DEFENCE, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

APRIL 2016

The Army has raised a new Gorkha battalion-First Gorkha Rifles (6/1GR), christened “Kanchi Paltan” comprising entirely of Indian Gorkhas.

India has finalised the deal to purchase 36 Rafale fighter jets from Dassault Aviation of France for 7.89 billion euros (Rs. 59,000 crore).

India has successfully tested a long range submarine-launched ballistic missile, codenamed K-4, capable of striking targets upto 3,500 kilometres away.

India’s first indigenous composite sonar dome, a ship’s underwater eyes and ears, was launched at Goa. Designed and produced by DRDO.

India has become the world’s fourth largest spender on defence, following a 13.1% increase in its 2016-17 defence budget of Rs. 2,58,000 crore.

12 IAF aircrafts will took part in the prestigious 'Red Flag' air exercise alongside NATO forces from April 28 to May 13 in skies over Alaska.

ICGS Shoor, an offshore patrol vessel was inducted in the Indian Coast Guard at it Mangalore base.

The 11th Indo-Mongolia joint army training exercise, titled ‘Nomadic Elephant - 2016’ commenced on 25 April in Mongolia to share skills for handling Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism events.

The 22nd Indo-Thai Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) was held from 19-27 April in the Andaman Sea. Missile Corvette INS Karmuk and Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft took part in this exercise.

The Indian Army conducted its major war exercise named ‘Shatrujeet’ (winning the enemy) in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan.

The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Sikkim has developed india’s most powerful supercomputer named ‘Param Kanchenjunga’.

Scientists of ISRO have developed the world's lightest ever synthetic material called ‘silica aerogel’ or ‘blue air’ or ‘frozen smoke’.

It has an excellent thermal resistance and if used as filler in uniforms, it can save many lives at the Siachen Glacier.

Asia's biggest telescope has been launched in India, by the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) with the assistance of Belgium. It is located at a height of 2,500 metres at

Devasthal in Nainital district. The Airports Authority of India has signed an MoU

with ISRO to provide scientific parameters for construction of airports across the country.

India and the USA have signed an agreement for a new Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project in India.

MARCH 2016

The multinational mega Military Exercise Force 18 was held in Pune, Maharashtra from March 2 to 8.

ICGS Arnvesh, the Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) built by the Cochin Shipyard was commissioned in the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) in Visakhapatnam.

Iron Fist 2016 - Indian Air Force conducted its biggest fire power combat exercise at Pokhran in Rajasthan on March 18.

Indian army test-fired indigenously built nuclear-capable Agni-I ballistic missile with a range of 700 kms from Abdul Kalam Island on the Odisha coast.

Garuda Shakti, the 4th edition of joint army training exercise between India and Indonesia was held at Magelang, Indonesia, from March 11 to 23.

Defence Ministry has issued the order for purchase of transport helicopters CH-47 Chinook and attack helicopter AH-64 Apache, from the Boeing, USA.


A new 30MHz radar system, Gadanki Ionospheric Radar Interfereometer (GIRI) has been established at National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) at Gadanki in Andhra Pradesh

ExoMars 2016, an unmanned spacecraft was launched jointly by Europe and Russia on a Russian Proton rocket from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan

Australian scientists have created the world’s thinnest lens which is 2,000 times thinner than human hair, a breakthrough set to revolutionise nanotechnology.

FEBRUARY 2016

Indian President and the Prime Minister inspected

the International Fleet Review 2016 held on 4 Feb to 8 Feb at Visakhapatnam coast.

The Indian Navy's first locally developed nuclear submarine INS Arihant is now ready for full fledged operations.

After nearly 60 years of sailing across the oceans, the Indian Navy's aircraft carrier, the INS Viraat is destined to be decommissioned in June, 2016. It was inducted in Indian Navy in May 1987 as

refitted British warship – HMS Hermes. Andhra govt has agreed to base the ship off

Visakhapatnam coast, converting it into a luxury hotel for promotion of tourism.

A study by the Stockholm-based think-tank SIPRI states that India is the world’s largest importer of arms, accounting for 14% of global arms imports.

Indigenously developed Prithvi-II missile, capable of carrying 500 kg to 1000 kg of warheads up to 350 kms, was tested successfully

'Exercise IBSAMAR' (India, Brazil, South Africa Maritime) between the navies of Brazil, India and South Africa was held off the Goa coast

India’s first indigenously developed lightest revolver Nidar, weighing just 250 grams, was launched by the state-run Ishapore Rifle Factory in West Bengal.

Indian Army participated in the ‘Cobra Gold 2016’ – the biggest military exercise hosted by Thailand, along with its counterparts from 35 countries

Indian and Chinese troops held their first joint tactical exercise “Sino-India Cooperation 2016’’ in Chushul-Moldo area of Ladakh border with China.

BAE Systems, UK has announced selection of Mahindras’ as its Indian partner for the supply of 145 M777 ultra light howitzers to the Indian Army

LAMITYE 2016, the 7th joint military training exercise between the Indian Army and the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces (SPDF) was held in Seychelles.

The 9th edition of India-Nepal Combined Military Exercise ‘Surya Kiran IX’ was held in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand.

The Ministry of Defence to locally produce 106 upgraded Light Combat Aircraft “Tejas Mark 1-A” jets to replace the ageing fleet of MiG aircraft.

The 4th India-Myanmar Coordinated Patrol(corpat) was conducted by both navies in the Andaman Sea.

Japan joined the US, Russia, and China as one of the only countries to produce its own fifth-generation stealth fighter jet- X-2-‘Shinshin’

Saudi Arabia launched a massive military exercise – ‘North Thunder’ that included troops from 20 nations in King Khalid Military City in Saudi Arabia.

Govt has launched a device developed by the CSIR –CEERI, named ‘Ksheer-Scanner’ that detects the adulterants like urea, salt, detergent, soda etc in milk.

YouTube has launched its YouTube Red service to offer original movies and shows without ad breaks to the public.

Scientists working with the LIGO [Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory], USA, have detected for the first time, signals of gravitational waves. These signals are emanating from two merging

black holes 1.3 billion light years away. These ripples in space-time were predicted by

Albert Einstein, some 100 years ago. Union Cabinet has given ‘in principle’ approval for a

proposal to have a gravitational wave detector in India under LIGO-India Project.

The Japanese space agency has successfully launched a new X ray astronomy satellite – Astro–H to study the origin of black holes.

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has launched the country's first anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug BGR -34 for Diabetes type 2 patients.


Hyderabad-based biotechnology research company Bharat Biotech has announced that it has developed the world’s first vaccine for Zika virus.

Mobile messaging app WhatsApp crossed the one billion user milestone globally on Feb 02.

INTERNATIONAL

APRIL 2016

A massive leak of 11.5 million documents from a law firm in Panama revealed how the world's super rich, politicians and celebrities hide their money in Panama.

In a study of 50 cities conducted by the IT firm Dell - ‘Future-Ready Economies Model’, city of San Jose in California, USA has been placed at top.

Australian scientists have reported that over 90 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef has been affected by mass bleaching that is likely to destroy half the coral.

The World Trade Organization has revised its 2016 global trade forecast downward by more than one percentage point to 2.8 per cent.

Conference on zero was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France to promote the knowledge of Maths for greater global good.

The World Bank released the 2016 edition of the World Development Indicators (WDI).

It includes 1400 indicators for over 200 economies to measure the 169 targets of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by UNO.

American business magazine Forbes has ranked some of the biggest names in business as the 'Global Game Changers'. The list is topped by Marcs Benioff, CEO of

Salesforce.com, followed by Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com.

The annual Spring Meeting of IMF & WB was held at Washington. Finance Ministers and Governors of Central Banks from G-20 nations attended the meet.

Heads of about 53 countries took part in the 4th Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington, USA.

Nauru, the tiny South Pacific island nation has become the 189th member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Summit of the foreign ministers of the G-7 countries was held at Hiroshima, Japan on April 11.

Japan has become fourth country in world to successfully test its first stealth fighter jet – X 2, the other three being USA, Russia and China.

The latest World Malaria Report from WHO says that Europe has become the world’s first region to wipe out malaria with zero cases reported last year.

The 13th Islamic Summit Conference was held in Istanbul, Turkey. This year’s theme was Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace.

The world’s first public dengue vaccination programme was launched in the Philippines.

In UK, Britain's Royal Mail has launched a set of special postage stamps to mark the 400th death anniversary of William Shakespeare.

Bangladesh’s top court has rejected a 28-year-old petition to remove Islam as official religion of the country, disappointing the activists who wanted the country to remain secular.

UNICEF launched a series of animated films, called Unfairy Tales, to help frame positive perceptions towards the millions of refugees.

A US grand jury has slapped a $ 940 million fine on Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tata America International Corp. in a trade secret case.

British Petroleum has agreed to pay over $20 billion to the American government as damages over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Venezuela has ordered a two-day working week for public sector workers as a temporary measure to help it overcome a serious energy crisis.

MARCH 2016

The United Nations to set up 20 child and family support hubs known as "Blue Dots" as special support centres for migrant children and families in Europe.

US President Barack Obama scripted history by becoming first US President to visit its island neighbour Cuba, after 88 years of strained relations.

The World Trade Center Transportation Hub was opened to public on March 3 at New York. Built at a cost of $ 4 billion, it took 12 years to complete.

World Congress of Biosphere Reserves was held at Lima in Peru from 14-17 March 2016

The US continued to dominate the world of innovation and inventions by filing 57,385 patent applications last year, followed by Japan and China.

Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates continues to be the world’s richest person with a net worth of $75 billion, according to Forbes’ annual ranking of billionaires.

According to a new law in Uganda, parents who fail to vaccinate their children will face six months in jail.

9th International Abilympics started at Bordeaux in France. It is a global work skills competition of disabled persons, held every four years.


Changi Airport in Singapore has been voted the World’s Best Airport for the fourth year in a row at the 2016 World Airport Awards

The 59th Session of Commission on Narcotic Drugs was held in Vienna, Austria

World's first fully electric double decker bus service was launched by London's transport authority. The buses have been made by China automaker BYD.

China's National People's Congress has set the country's growth target at 6.5 to 7 % for 2016.

FEBRUARY 2016

On Feb 1 MPs of National League for Democracy party lead by Aung San Suu Kyi joined the parliament, marking end to the military rule since 1962.

A landmark UN-backed ceasefire came into effect in Syria at midnight of 26 Feb, supported by both – USA and Russia. This is the first major truce in five years of civil

war that has claimed more than 2.7 lakh lives. WHO has declared Public Health Emergency of

International Concern over the explosive spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon has released a report called 'One Humanity: Shared Responsibility'. The report calls for a global campaign to

prevent the destruction of humanitarian laws and to protect civilians in conflict.

France has become the first country in the world to legally ban supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food.

The three day annual World Government Summit was held in Dubai.

The Noor Ouarzazate Solar Complex, world’s largest solar power plant started operations on February 4 in the Souss-Massa-Drâa area in Morocco.

The first cargo train under Beijing led-Belt and Road connectivity initiative along the New Silk Road from China to Iran completed its first journey. The 10,400 kms trip from Yiwu near Shanghai

to Bander Abbas port in Iran took just 14 days, a full 30 days shorter than the maritime voyage.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, lead by USA, one of the biggest trade deals in history, was signed in New Zealand on Feb 4.

Bank of Japan has imposed, for the first time, a negative interest rate of minus 0.1 per cent for certain bank deposits placed with it.

Alphabet, the company that owns Google, has overtaken rival Apple Inc in terms of value of market capitalisation on Feb 1

A survey of 230 cities for assessing quality of life by the global consulting firm Mercer has placed Vienna at the top, followed by Zurich.

Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 major rich and developing economies began a two-day meeting in Shanghai on Feb 26.

A two day summit between leaders from the ASEAN and the United States was held in California to dwell upon maritime security in the South China Sea.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU) have signed an agreement to improve cooperation in cyber defense.

Apple notched a record $18.4 billion in profit for the quarter ending 31st Dec 2015, the largest ever profit recorded by a single company in world's history.

A Twin Otter plane of Tara Air crashed on Feb 24 in Dana of Myagdi district of Nepal, killing all 23 people aboard.

On Feb 23, Pakistan’s parliament became the world’s first parliament to run fully on solar power.

World Radio Day was observed globally by UNESCO on 13 February 2016 with the theme ’Radio in Times of Emergency and Disaster’.

The UN World Day of Social Justice observed on February 20 to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication.

World Cancer Day was observed across the world on 4th February. This year’s theme was – We can, I can.

PERSONS IN NEWS

APRIL 2016

SACHIN TENDULKAR: The Ministry for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has named cricket icon as brand ambassador of the 'Skill India' campaign.

P SUSHEELA MOHAN: Renowned playback singer has been recognized by the Guinness World Records for singing the most number of songs in Indian languages - 17,695 solo, duet and chorus-backed songs in 12 Indian languages.

NITA AMBANI: Reliance Foundation Chairperson has been named the most powerful businesswoman in Asia by Forbes, leading a list of 50 women leaders from the region that includes only eight from India.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: A host of celebrations were held in England and several other parts of the world to observe 400th death anniversary of legendary playwright.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: The world’s oldest-serving royal and the longest-reigning and longest-lived British monarch turned 90 on April 21.


MARCH 2016

ARVIND KEJRIWAL has been ranked 42nd among the world’s 50 greatest leaders by Fortune magazine. He is the sole Indian on the list, topped by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. PM NARENDRA MODI is among “The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet” list compiled by the Time magazine, USA, describing him as an ‘Internet star’ who often uses social media to conduct diplomacy. MOTHER TERESA: The Nobel Laureate was in news as the Pope Francis, religious chief of Christians, announced to confer Sainthood on her on Sep 4, 2016. ATIUR RAHMAN: Governor of Bangladesh Bank, country’s beleaguered central bank, resigned after hackers stole over $100 million from its accounts maintained with the Federal Reserve Bank, New York. AMAR SINGH: An Indian-origin Sikh has become the Police Commissioner of Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, the first Sikh to achieve the top police post in the Muslim-majority country. SCOTT KELLY: The commander of the International Space Station, returned to earth on March 1, completing 340 days stay in space, becoming the American with longest stay in space.

FEBRUARY 2016

U K SINHA: The government has extended Sinha's term as the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) till March 01, 2017. SAMEER ANJAAN: Bollywood’s popular lyricist has made into the Guinness Book of World Records for writing the most number – 3524, songs for Bollywood films. NEYMAR: Iconic football player from Brazil was in news as Courts in Brazil issued warrants to freeze his assets worth almost $ 50 million. GEN. RAJENDRA CHETTRI: Nepalese Army Chief was conferred the honorary rank of General of the Indian Army by the President Pranab Mukherjee.

THE ONLY THING THAT IS MORE EXPENSIVE THAN EDUCATION IS

IGNORANCE…!!

APPOINTMENTS APRIL 2016

JUSTICE (retd.) PERMOD KOHLI: Appointed as the new Chairman of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). C P GURNANI: Elected as the new Chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) for 2016-17. MEHBOOBA MUFTI: Elected as the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir LOBSANG SANGAY: Re-elected as the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharmsala, Himachal Pradesh. CLEMENT MOUAMBA: Appointed as the new Prime Minister of Republic of Congo. IDRISS DEBY: Elected for the 5th time as the President of Chad, a country in Central Africa. BOUNNHANG VORACHIT: Elected as the new President of Laos THONGLOUN SISOULITH: Elected as the new Prime Minister of Laos VOLODYMYR GROYSMAN: Elected as the new Prime Minister of Ukraine SOORONBAI JEENBEKOV: New Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan. HASHIM THACI: Elected as the President of Kosovo, a small country in southeast Europe. SIGURDUR INGI JOHANNSSON: Elected as the new Prime Minister of Iceland NGUYEN XUAN PHUC: Elected as the new Prime Minister of Vietnam. TRAN DAI QUANG: Elected as the new President of Vietnam. FAUSTIN ARCHANGE TOUADERA: Elected as the new President of Central African Republic. Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr: Appointed as the new Prime Minister of Yemen

MARCH 2016

VINOD RAI: Former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has been appointed as the first Chairman of Banks Board Bureau (BBB).


JUSTICE BALBIR SINGH CHAUHAN: appointed as the chairperson of the 21st Law Commission. HTIN KYAW: elected as the first civilian President of Myanmar to lead the country after 53 years of military rule. H DEEP SAINI: Noted Indian scholar and plant physiologist has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the prestigious University of Canberra, Australia. ASHLEY JUDD: The American actor and activist has been appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund - UNFPA, (formerly the United Nations Fund for Population Activities). MICHELLE YEOH: Famous action heroine of Malaysia-China has been appointed as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador.

AHMED ABUL GHEIT: Veteran Egyptian diplomat and former Foreign Minister has been named as new Secretary General of the Arab League. ALI MOHAMED SHEIN: Re-elected as the President of Zanzibar. MAHAMADOU ISSOUFOU: Re elected as the President Niger for a second term

HASHIM THACI: Elected as the President of Kosovo, a tiny country in southeastern Europe.

FEBRUARY 2016

JUSTICE H L DATTU: Former Chief Justice of India has been appointed as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission. RAJENDRA SINGH: Appointed as the new Director General of the Indian Coast Guard. KALYAN SINGH: Governor of Rajasthan given the additional charge of Governor of Himachal Pradesh.

K N VYAS: Appointed new Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai AMIT MITRA: West Bengal Finance Minister has been appointed as the new chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST). KALIKHO PUL: New CM of Arunachal Pradesh. PARAMESHWARAN IYER: Appointed as the new Secretary of the Drinking Water and Sanitation Department to steer the Swachh Bharat Mission. He is the World Bank’s water and sanitation specialist.

ARUNA SETHI: Appointed as the first women head of the Indian Cost Accounts Services D J PANDIAN: Former chief secretary of Gujarat has been appointed vice-president and chief investment officer of the newly formed Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). JAI KUMAR GARG: appointed MD and CEO of Corporation Bank ARCHANA RAMASUNDRAM, IPS: Appointed as the Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal, SSB. She is the first woman to head a paramilitary force. SSB guards Indian borders with Nepal and Bhutan. K DURGA PRASAD, IPS: Appointed Director General of Central Reserve Police Force. K K SHARMA, IPS: Appointed Director General of the Border Security Force. GURDEEP SINGH: Appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of NTPC Ltd. For the first time a Maharatna company chief has been selected through a search committee route.

Amitava Bhattacharyya, IAS, Bimal Julka, IAS and D P Sinha, IPS have been appointed as the Information Commissioners in the Central Information Commission GIANNI INFANTINO: Elected as the new President of world Football body –FIFA. He is a Football administrator from Switzerland and is Chief of European Football body UEFA. FAUSTIN ARCHANGE TOUADERA: Elected as the new President of Central African Republic (CAR) YOWERI MUSEVENI: Elected new President of Uganda, for the fifth time.


ALBERT PAHIMI PADACKE: New Prime Minister of the Central African country Chad.

CHRISTINE LAGARDE: Re-appointed as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund for a second five-year term.

AWARDS & HONOURS

APRIL 2016

SARASWATI SAMMAAN: Prestigious prize for literature given to the Jammu-born poet and novelist Padma Sachdev for her autobiography ‘Chitt-Chete’ written in Dogri language. The award carries award money of 15 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.

FBB FEMINA MISS INDIA WORLD 2016 Winner: Priyadarshini Chaterjee First runners-up: Sushruthi Krishna Second runners-up: Pankhuri Gidwani DADASAHEB PHALKE AWARD: won by renowned actor Manoj Bajpayee for the movie Aligarh. Please note that this is NOT the national award rather it is the regional award in Maharashtra, given by Dada Saheb Phalke Foundation.

'Officier de l Ordre national de la Legion d Honneur’: (Officer of the Legion of Honour), highest French civilian honour conferred upon Former Army Chief General (retd) J J Singh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred Saudi Arabia’s highest civilian honour- the king Abdulaziz Sash. The award is named after Abdulaziz Al Saud, the founder of the modern Saudi state.

MARCH 2016

63rd NATIONAL FILM AWARDS

Best Feature Film: Baahubali - The Beginning by S S Rajamouli Best Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali for 'Bajirao Mastani'

Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchan for 'Piku'

Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut for 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns'

Best Hindi Film: Dum Laga Ke Haisha by Sharat Katariya

Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Bajrangi Bhaijaan by Kabir Khan

Most Film- Friendly State Award: Gujarat

DADA SAHEB PHALKE AWARD - 2015: Awarded to veteran actor and film maker Manoj Kumar who played the patriotic Indian in most of his films, becoming famous as ‘Bharat Kumar’. ‘KRISHI KARMAN AWARD’: Given to Himachal Pradesh for its landmark achievement in showing highest production of food grains in year 2014-15, despite adverse weather conditions and rain-fed farming in the state. CHAMELI DEVI JAIN AWARD: Priyanka Kakodkar and Raksha Kumar won the award for 2015-16 for their excellent work in journalism to highlight social issues. The award is given only to women journalists. SKOCH LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu for his contributions to inclusive growth and towards poverty alleviation in India. ‘KAYAKALP’ AWARD: The PGIMER, Chandigarh won the award for best hospital cleanliness and infection control, winning prize money of Rs 5 crore

ABEL PRIZE (for maths): Sir Andrew Wiles, an Oxford University professor has won the 5,00,000 pounds prize for cracking a 300-year-old mystery mathematical theorem. GOLDEN CITY GATE AWARD: Prestigious award from the world's leading travel trade show Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB-Berlin) 2016 won by Kerala Tourism's campaign on responsible tourism.

88TH OSCAR AWARDS Los Angeles, USA, Feb 29, 2016

Given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, USA to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements, they are regarded as the highest recognition in world of cinema.

Best Picture: Spotlight by Tom Mc Carthy Best Director: Alejandro Iñárritu (The Revenant) Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant) Best Actress: Brie Larson (Room)

GLOBAL TEACHER PRIZE: The one million dollar prize for innovative teaching has been won by Hanan Al Hroub of Palestine for her innovative approach in teaching. Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur: (Knight of the Legion of Honour), one of the highest civil honour by the French government was conferred upon Anand Mahindra, CMD, Mahindra & Mahindra.


FEBRUARY 2016

ARYABHATA AWARD 2013: The prestigious honour by Astronautical Society of India given to Dr Avinash Chander, former Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister and ex-DRDO chief. Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Classical Music Award for 2015-2016: (by Maharashtra government) won by Sarangi maestro Pandit Ram Narayan, a Padma Vibhushan awardee. Khuswant Singh memorial prize for poetry: awarded to Arundhathi Subramaniam for her poetry book 'When God is Traveller'. E&Y ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR 2015: Won by Vinita Gupta, CEO and Nilesh Gupta, MD of Lupin Ltd, a leading Pharma company of India. GOLDEN CONCH AWARD: (for the best documentary film) won by Manipuri documentary film Phum-Shang about the environmental problems of Loktak Lake, at the 14th Mumbai International Film Festival V SHANTARAM LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Conferred upon veteran wildlife filmmaker Naresh Bedi

BEST FIRST FOREIGN FILM AWARD: won by Titli, a feature film by Kanu Behl. Award is given by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. GREEN BOND PIONEER AWARD: won by Yes Bank for being the ‘Pioneers in Emerging Markets-India’. Yes Bank had issued India’s first ever ‘Green Infrastructure Bonds’ for Rs. 1000 crore in 2015 CROSS OF THE ORDER OF MERIT: Germany’s prestigious honour conferred upon Goverdhan Mehta, renowned researcher in Chemical Sciences.

HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD: (by Amnesty International) won by Indian lawyer and human rights defender Henri Tiphagne, founder of NGO People’s Watch. Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur: (Knight of the Legion of Honour), one of the France's highest civilian honour was given to Fashion designer Manish Arora from New Delhi. ORDER OF FRIENDSHIP: Russia's top civilian awards given to Ramayah Shanmuga Sundar, Director of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.

160/-


CRYSTAL BEAR AWARD: Best film award in children category at the Berlin film festival won by Malayalam film Ottaal (The Trap) directed by Jayaraj Rajasekharan.

GOLDEN BEAR AWARD: Berlin film festival’s top prize won by the Italian film Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea), a harrowing documentary about Europe’s refugee crisis.

DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA AWARD: (for best feature film) won by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for the film The Revenant

58th GRAMMY AWARDS, Los Angeles, USA, Feb 15 These are the highest awards given in the field of music. Category Album Artist

Record of the year

Uptown fund Mark Ronson

Album of the year 1989 Taylor Swift Song of the year Thinking Out

Loud Ed Sheeran & Amy Wadge

Best Rock Performance

Don't Wanna Fight

Alabama Shakes

Best World Music Album

Sings Angelique Kidjo

Best Music Video Bad Blood Taylor Swift

69th BAFTA AWARDS, London, Feb 14

British Academy of Film and Television Awards are the top film awards for Films screened in Europe. Best Film: The Revenant Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant Best Actress: Brie Larson for Room Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Mexico) - The Revenant Outstanding British film: Brooklyn

OBITUARY

APRIL 2016

POORNIMABEN PAKVASA: Great social worker from Gujarat, known for her exceptional work towards educating tribal girls, passed away at the age of 103. SATYANAND MUNJAL: The co-founder of Hero Cycles group, a great philanthropist, passed away in Ludhiana, Punjab. He was 99. PRATYUSHA BANERJEE: TV actress, known for her role of Anandi in the popular serial “Balika Vadhu”, allegedly committed suicide at her Kandivali residence in Mumbai.

GUY HAMILTON: Veteran British movie director, who directed four hugely popular James Bond films, passed away at the age of 93.

ROGERS NELSON: Pop music superstar, popularly known as Prince in USA, died aged 57. He won seven Grammy Awards and earned 30 nominations.

VICTORIA WOOD: Popular comedian, singer and writer from BBC in United Kingdom, died at 62 after “a short but brave” battle with cancer. DORIS ROBERTS: The popular TV actress from USA who delighted audiences as the meddling mother next door on the popular TV soap Everybody Loves Raymond, died at the age of 90.

BILL CAMPBELL: Silicon Valley’s veteran adviser who mentored technology heavyweights like former Apple CEO late Steve Jobs and co-founder of Google, Larry Page, died at age 75.

ZAHA HADID: Renowned Iraq-born British architect passed away due to heart attack. She was 65. She was world’s most famous female architect and was known for her neofuturistic designs which was her signature architectural style. IMRE KERTESZ: Hungarian author, 2002 Nobel Literature Prize winner, died aged 86 in Budapest, after a long illness.

MARCH 2016

PARAMESH KRISHNAN NAIR: Indian film archivist and film scholar died on 4 March 2016. He was 82. P A SANGMA: Former Lok Sabha Speaker passed away at the age of 68. He was co-founder of the Nationalist Congress Party and ex-Chief Minister of Meghalaya KUMARIMUTHU: Famous Tamil Comedy actor died in Chennai. He was 77. Ustad Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan: Eminent Shehnai exponent died in Kolkata. He was 77. LLOYD S. SHAPLEY: Veteran Mathematician from USA, winner of Nobel Prize in Economics for his study of strategic decision-making called “game theory,” died in Tucson, USA. He was 92. JOHAN CRUYFF: The Netherland's soccer legend died of lung cancer in Barcelona, Spain. He was 68. He is credited with some of the greatest triumphs of the famous Barcelona Football Club.

GEORGE HENRY MARTIN: The legendary music producer, popular as the "Fifth Beatle", passed away in England. He was 90. Winner of 6 Grammy Awards, he


held Guinness World Records for the most successful producer ever with more than 50 Numbers.

PAT CONROY: US novelist whose best-selling novels include 'Prince of Tides' and 'Water is Wide', died at the age of 70 in South Carolina, USA. RAY TOMLINSON: inventor of E-mail, passed away in Washington, USA at the age of 74. He invented direct electronic messages between users on different machines on a certain network in 1971.

MARTIN CROWE: Pioneering cricketer, widely acknowledged as New Zealand’s greatest batsman who laid the foundations for Twenty20 cricket, died of cancer at the age of 53.

FEBRUARY 2016

USTAD ABDUL RASHID KHAN: The oldest performing vocalist of Hindustani Music, Padma Bhushan awardee, a descendant of Tansen, passed away in Kolkata at the age of 107 years. GEN. K V KRISHNA RAO: Former Army Chief who played a key role in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, died of a cardiac arrest in New Delhi. He was 92. JASWANT SINGH RAJPUT: Two time Olympic gold winner in Hockey, passed away at the age of 90 years. O N V KURUP: Jnanpith award winning, very popular and most respected Malayalam poet from Kerala passed away at the age of 84. He was honoured with Padma Sri in 1998 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011. SUDHIR TAILANG: Well-known cartoonist, passed away in New Delhi at the age of 55. He was suffering from brain cancer. NIDA FAZLI: Renowned poet and lyricist, known for compositions like Kabhi kisi ko mukamil jahan nahi milta and Hosh waalon ko khabar kya, died in Mumbai due to heart failure. He was 78. S.S. TARAPORE: Former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India died at Mumbai at the age of 80. BALRAM JAKHAR: Veteran Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker, four times M P, passed away in New Delhi. He was 92. AKBAR KAKKATTIL: Noted Malayalam novelist and short story writer passed away at the age of 62. HARPER LEE: One of America's most celebrated novelists whose 1960 masterpiece "To Kill a Mockingbird" was read by millions worldwide, died at the age of 89. Equally popular was his second novel – Go Set a Watchman, published in 2015. In fact, it was the original manuscript of her first novel.

BOUTROS BOUTROS-GHALI: Former UN Secretary General, the Egyptian diplomat who became the first Secretary General from Africa in 1992, died in Cairo. He was 93. SUSHIL KOIRALA: Former Prime Minister of Nepal and President of Nepali Congress passed away in Kathmandu after prolonged illness. He was 78.

EDGAR MITCHELL: NASA astronaut, who was the sixth man to walk on the Moon from Apollo 14 mission in Feb 1971, died in West Palm Beach, Florida at age of 85.

PLACES IN NEWS

APRIL 2016

UJJAIN: The month-long Simhastha Kumbh mela, one of the largest congregations of Hindus, began in Ujjain on April 22 on the banks of Kshipra River. LATUR: City and district in Marathwada region of Maharashtra was in news as it faced severe water crisis, especially in the villages. KOLLAM: In the worst-ever pyrotechnics tragedy to strike Kerala, 110 persons were killed and close to 400 injured, when a huge dump of firecrackers stored for celebrations, exploded near the Puttingal Devi Temple near Kollam, causing extensive damage to nearby buildings.

KUMAMOTO: Town in south-western island of Kyushu in Japan was devastated by several rounds of earthquake tremors leading to death of over 41 persons and injuring hundreds of others. Around two lakh persons were affected in the severe earthquake. PEDERNALES: City in Manabí Province in Ecuador was destroyed in a severe 7.8 magnitude earth quake. Reportedly, around 654 persons were killed and several hundreds were injured. Coastal city of Manta was also very badly affected.

MARCH 2016

BAGHMARA: The first-ever auction of a gold mine in the country was held in Baghmara, Chhattisgarh. The auction was won by Vedanta ltd., a unit of global mining giant Vedanta Resources.

BRUSSELS: A series of bombings ripped through Brussels airport and the Maelbeek metro station in Belgium, killing around 38 people and injuring 130 others. Terror group - Islamic State claimed the responsibility for the attacks.


FEBRUARY 2016

KUMBAKONAM: Temple town of Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu was the venue for the famous Mahamaham festival on Feb 22. ELEPHANTA ISLAND: Located near Mumbai, a UNESCO world heritage site, famous for its Hindu cave sculptures depicting the cult of Shiva, was in news because the island, which was dependent upon diesel-powered generators for electricity until now, will be completely electrified by August, 2016.

MURUD-JANJIRA BEACH: A picnic along the Arabian Sea went horribly wrong for a group of collegians from Pune when 13 of them drowned off the Murud-Janjira beach in Maharashtra’s Raigad district.

CYCLONE WINSTON: One of the most powerful storms recorded in the southern hemisphere tore through the Pacific island nation Fiji, killing over 44 persons, flattening remote villages and cutting off communications.

SPORTS WORLD

APRIL 2016

CARIBBEANS WON THE T-20 IN STYLE The West Indies lifted the World T-20 title in both the men's and women's section. Men’s team defeated England and women’s team routed the Australian team. The finals were played at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.

Virat Kohli was named as the ‘Player of the Tournament’

M C Mary Kom: Indian woman boxer was named one of the eight ambassadors for the upcoming World Championships by the International Boxing Association (AIBA).

Dipa Karmakar, 22 year old girl from Agartala, Tripura created history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics and to win the gold in vaults event at the test event of the Rio Games in Brazil. She performed the Produnova vault — the extremely difficult and most dangerous form that involves a front handspring on the horse and two front somersaults.

Deepika Kumari equalled the world record in women's recurve event at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai, China.

India's star batsman Virat Kohli has maintained his number one position in the ICC T20 batsmen rankings and team India is also ranked at top.

Asian Kho-Kho championship: both, men’s and women’s title were won by India by defeating respective teams from Bangladesh at Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

National Badminton Championship: Men’s title won by Samir Verma and women’s title won by P C Thulasi in Chandigarh.

The Commonwealth Judo Congress has allotted the 2018 Commonwealth Judo Championships to India. The games will be held in Jaipur.

SPORTSPERSONS TO GET Rs ONE LAKH PM Union Sports Ministry has decided to provide one lakh rupees per month as out of pocket allowance to the sports persons under the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme in their preparation for the Olympics and Paralympics Games at Rio de Janeiro.

Government has decided to merge the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan with the ‘Khelo India’ programme.

Britain's Anthony Joshua won the IBF world heavyweight title by stopping American champion Charles Martin in London, becoming the first boxer in history to hold the Olympic super-heavyweight crown (2012) and a version of the world heavyweight title simultaneously.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes driver of Germany won the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir, Baharin and also the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Danny Willett of UK won the US Masters Golf Championship for the year 2016 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, USA.

LAUREUS WORLD SPORTS AWARDS

Best Sportsman of the year: Novak Djokovic, Serbia Best Sportswoman of the year: Serena Williams, USA Both of them won three grand slams in Tennis in 2015 Best Disabled Sportsperson: Paralympic swimmer Daniel Dias of Brazil Best Sports team: New Zealand's Rugby World Cup-winning team Laureus World Sports Awards, known as the Oscars of Sports, honour the notable sporting personalities and their achievements of the previous year.

Asian Nations Cup Chess tournament won by the Indian men’s team in Abu Dhabi

Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: Australia beats India to win the prestigious Hockey Tournament held in Ipoh, Malaysia.

Singapore Open Badminton Championship: Men’s - Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia Women’s - Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand, world no 1.

Malaysian Open Badminton title won by Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia against world number one Chen Long of China in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


MIAMI OPEN (tennis) IN FLORIDA, USA Men’s title: Novak Djokovic (Serbia) won by beating Japan's Kei Nishikori Women’s title: Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) won by routing Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.

BARCELONA OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP Rafael Nadal of Spain won the title defeating Kei Nishikori of Japan in the finals played in Barcelona, Spain. Monte Carlo Masters: Rafael Nadal Spain of won the title defeating Gael Monfils of France.

MARCH 2016

Gurmeet Singh created history by becoming the first Indian athlete to clinch a gold medal in the Asian 20 km Race Walk Championships in Nomi, Japan.

S S P Chawrasia, ace Indian golfer won the European Tour Hero Indian Open title in Delhi.

Dhruv Sitwala won the Asian Billiards Championship held at Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Indian shooter Jitu Rai clinched the 50m pistol gold at the ISSF World Cup in Bangkok,Thailand.

Deepika and PR Sreejesh won the Dhruv Batra Player of the Year Award for Women and Men respectively at the Hockey India Annual Awards.

Santosh Trophy National Football Championships: Services retained the title after beating hosts Maharashtra in the summit clash in Nagpur. Irani Cup Cricket championship: Rest of India team won the title by beating Mumbai team in the finals played in Mumbai. India clinched the Asia Cup T20 trophy for a record sixth time after beating Bangladesh by eight-wickets in the final at Mirpur, Bangladesh. Col C K Nayudu Trophy won by Mumbai by beating Madhya Pradesh in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Nayudu was the first Indian captain of Indian test match team 1st All India Open Invitational Snooker Championship won by Rahul Sachdev in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. National Race Walking Championships, Jaipur: Gurmeet Singh and Khushbir Kaur won the gold in 20kms event for men and women, respectively. Pro Kabaddi League Season 3: Patna Pirates beat the U Mumba to emerge as Champions in the finals played in Delhi.

Russia’s Sergey Karjakin won the World Chess candidates tournament in Moscow

Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament: won by India's H S Prannoy in Basel, Switzerland. World Table Tennis Team Championship: China defeated Japan in both, men’s and women’s category, to win both the championships at Kuala Lumpur. In the second division, both, men's and women's team titles were bagged by Indian teams. All England Open Badminton Championship: Lin Dan of China won the finals by beating his own teammate Tian Houwei in the finals played in Birmingham, UK. BNP Paribas Open Tennis Tournament: Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Victoria Azarenka of Belarusia won the men’s and women’s singles title, respectively, in the finals played at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Southern California. UCI Track Cycling Championship 2016 held in London. Dubai Tennis Championships: Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland won the title by defeating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus

MARIA SHARAPOVA: Former world number one tennis star failed a drugs test at the Australian Open. As a result, the 28 year old Russian star, a five time Grand Slam champion, was suspended from sports, pending further action.

FEBRUARY 2016

Dutee Chand, ace sprinter set a new national record in the 60m dash in 7.28 seconds at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha. Kidambi Srikanth won the Men's Singles title of the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships held in Lucknow, U P. Anirban Lahiri, India’s top golfer has been voted as the Hilton Asian Tour Golfer of Year by fans in an online poll. Rishabh Pant, Wicketkeeper-batsman in India U-19 team created world record for fastest 50 playing against Nepal in the ICC U-19 World Cup in Mirpur, Bangladesh. Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis won the St. Petersburg Ladies Doubles Trophy. 12th South Asian Games came to an end on Feb 16 at Guwahati. India finished at the top with a record 308 medals - 188 Gold, 90 Silver and 30 Bronze. Shooter Chain Singh won record 6 Gold medals. Hosted city was Shillong and Guwahati. 13th SAG will be hosted by Nepal in Kathmandu in 2019.


Ranji Trophy: Mumbai won the prestigious cricket championship defeating Saurashtra in Pune, Maharashtra.

The Indian women's cricket team lead by Mithali Raj won the three-match Twenty20 International series against Sri Lanka 3-0 in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

Hockey India League: Jaypee Punjab Warriors won the championship by beating Kalinga Lancers in Ranchi, Jharkhand. 36th National Chess team Championship was won by the Indian Railways in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Punjab defeated Mizoram to lift the Dr BC Roy Trophy for the National Junior Football Championship at Hoshiarpur, Punjab. 34th Senior National Rowing Championship held at Hussainsagar Lake, Hyderabad.

83rd Senior National Snooker Championship: Aditya Mehta won the title by defeating Manan Chandra in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Kerala won the 61st National School Athletics championship held in Kozhikode, Kerala India achieved a rare 3-0 clean sweep in the T20 International against Australia in Sydney to emerge on the top of the ICC T20 rankings. The Indian women’s cricket team made history on Jan 29 by clinching its maiden T20 series win over three-time world champions Australia in Melbourne. Fittipaldi of Brazil won the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 race in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. AUSTRALIAN OPEN concludes in Melbourne, Australia. First of the four grand slams of tennis

Men’s Singles: World Number One Novak Djokovic of Serbia beats Andy Murray of Britain Women’s Singles: Germany's Angelique Kerber got her maiden grand slam title by beating defending champion world no 1, Serena Williams of USA Men’s Doubles: Jamie Murray of UK and Brazil’s Bruno Soares won the title Women’s Doubles: Sania Mirza of India Martina Hingis of Switzerlandwon the title Quinton De Kock, batsman from South Africa became the quickest and the youngest batsmen to score 10 centuries in ODIs. He notched it up in just 55 innings, beating the record of Hashim Amla who had notched up 10 tons in 57 innings. He scored his 10th century in Centurion, SA, playing against England.

Brendon McCullum, New Zealand Skipper has smashed the fastest ever Test century in just 54 balls, playing against Australia at Christchurch. Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year: won by Sean Abbott, the bowler from Australia. ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup: The West Indies won the cup for the first time, beating three time champions India in Mirpur, Bangladesh. Badminton Asia Team Championships: China and Indonesia won the women’s and men’s categories, respectively, in Hyderabad. 2021 World Aquatics Championships will be hosted by Fukuoka city of Japan and by Doha, Qatar in 2023. The first ever Asia Cup in its T-20 format started from February 24th in Bangladesh. The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2017 will be hosted by England in June 2017. Helmet for Umpires: Concerned about the safety of its on-field officials, the ICC has decided to provide specially designed helmets to umpires in the upcoming World T20 in India to ensure their safety.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

An Economist in the Real World

Kaushik Basu, Chief Economist at World Bank

Swimmer Among the Stars Kanishk Tharoor Mercedes-Benz - Winning Adil Jal Darukhanawala Friends in Wild Places Ruskin Bond. Safeguarding India NN Vohra. The Making of India: The Untold Story of British Enterprise

Kartar Lalvani

Advantage India — From Challenge to Opportunity

APJ Abdul Kalam and Srijan Pal Singh.

A State in Denial B G Verghese The Kiss of Life Imraan Hashmi The Mountain of Shiva Dr Karan Singh. He is a

member of Rajya Sabha. East of Suez Alice Perrin Buddhist Biology David P. Barash Standing Guard—A Year in Opposition

P Chidambaram.

Our Impossible Love Durjoy Dutta The Girl on the Train Paula Hawkins Life Mantras Subrata Roy Sahara


Gandhi: An Illustrated Biography

Pramod Kapoor

Fixed: Cash and Corruption in Cricket

Shantanu Guha Ray

Indigo —Selected Stories Satyajit Ray A Handbook for My Lover Rosalyn D’Mello. Who Was Shivaji Govind Pansare An Economist In The Real World

Kaushik Basu

Bullets and Bylines Shyam Bhatia, noted journalist

Lal Bahadur Shastri: Netritva ke Sutra

Anil Shastri and Pawan Chowdhary

Dial D for Don — Inside Stories of CBI Case Missions

Neeraj Kumar, former Police Commissioner of

Delhi Ancestral Affairs Keki Daruwalla. Why We Love the Way We Do Preeti Shenoy The Bestseller She Wrote Ravi Subramanian In Other Words Jhumpa Lahiri Nathuram Godse - The Story of an Assassin

Anup Sardesai

Transendence – a book Former President APJ Abdul Kalam based on his spiritual experiences with Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

‘Azad Bachpan ki Aur’ Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace prize winner

The Turbulent Years – 1980-1996

Pranab Mukherjee, President of India

India’s Foreign Policy Muchkund Dubey, a former Indian Foreign

Secretary The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time

an autobiography of Subhash Chandra, media moughal, founder of Zee

TV. Maru Bharat Saru Bharat (My India Noble India) written

Jain Acharya Ratnasundersuriswarji

Maharaj. This is the 300th book written by

Maharaj ji. Go Set a Watchman, the second novel

Harper Lee, topped the US bestseller list in 2015,

selling 1.6 million copies. A God in Ruins Kate Atkinson - The book

won the novel-of-the-year prize at Britain's Costa

Book Awards 2015.

Anything But Khamosh' – biography of Shatrughan Sinha written

Bharathi S Pradhan.

The Bose Brothers and Indian Independence – An Insider’s Account

Madhuri Bose, the grand-niece of Netaji Subhas

Chandra Bose. On My Terms: From the Grassroots to the Corridors of Power

an autobiography of Sharad Pawar

This Unquiet Land Barkha Dutt Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney See Me Nicholas Sparks Rogue Lawyer John Grisham Combating Hunger and Achieving Food Security

M.S. Swaminathan

Chronicles of Time and Chance

Raymond Francis Isar

Because We Say So Noam Chomsky Why India Is Not A Great Power (Yet)

Bharat Karnad

My Gita Devidutt Pattnaik The Mare's Trap Wendy Doniger. What Happened to Netaji Anuj Dhar Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations

Nandan Nilekani and Viral Shah

India-Myanmar Relations Rajiv Bhatia The Clintons' War on Women Roger Stone and Robert

Morrow Mrs Funnybones Twinkle Khanna To the Brink and Back: India’s 1991 Story

Jairam Ramesh.

A Children’s History of India Subhadra Sen Gupta. The Country of First Boys Amartya Sen Baat Niklegi toh Phir Sathya Saran Dreaming Big: My Journey to Connect India

– an autobiography of Sam Pitroda, noted technocrat

who brought telecom revolution in India.

The Chinar Leaves veteran Congress leader and close aide of the

Gandhi family M L Fotedar Neither a Hawk nor a Dove: An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy

Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, ex Foreign Minister of

Pakistan. The Courage to Act - A Memoir of a Crisis and Its Aftermath by

Ben S. Bernanke. The author is the ex governor of the Federal Reserve of

USA and the book is about the lessons learnt from the

recessions like 2008 Financial Crisis.


CLASSES BY PROFESSIONAL

EXPERTS


Latest MCQs ON CURRENT AFFAIRS

JULY GK TEST – 01 1. The purpose/s behind the monetary policy

committee of the RBI is / are A. To decide the interest rates in a more broad-based manner B. To bring in value and transparency in monetary policy decisions C. Both A and B D. To keep a watch on the additional money supply being created E. None of these

2. The term "surrogate", which was in news recently, can be most nearly replaced by A. Additional B. Rental C. Artificial D. Natural E. Technological

3. Who among the following has announced his resignation from the sport following his team's defeat in a prestigious tournament? A. Lionel Messi B. Diego Maradonna C. Ronaldo Christiano D. Both A and C E. None of these

4. Pick the odd one out. A. MUDRA, SIDBI B. EXIM, ECGC C. IDBI, IFCI D. HDFC, NHB E. NCDEX, MCX

5. "Brexit dawns on Europe" The above headlines in major newspapers referred to an important event in global politics and economy. The event in question is the A. Exit of Scotland from Britain B. Exit of Britain from the European Union C. Exit and re-entry of Britain in the European Union D. Decision of all European Union members to hold a referendum on existing from the grouping E. Emergence of a threat to the stability of Euro, the prevailing European Union currency.

6. The BOLT model refers to A. Build - Operate - Lease - Transfer B. Build - Operate - License - Transfer C. Buy -Operate - Lease - Transfer D. Buy - Operator -Lease - Trash E. None of these

7. The Central Ammunition Depot of the Indian Army is located in A. Agra B. Pune C. Avantipura D. Pulgaon E. Meerut

8. The famous qawwal ________ was shot dead in Pakistan allegedly due to his "blasphemous" music. A. Aslam Sabri B. Altaf Salim C. Munir Begam D. Nuzhat Ali Khan E. Amjad Sabri

9. The Dhan Wapsi Yojana announced by the government has ___________ as its target. A. Corporates B. Farmers C. NRIs D. Tax defaulters

E. Resident Indians 10. In financial terms, "risk" refers to the

A. Possibility of loss on an investment B. Chances of uncertainty C. Return expected on the investment D. % loss expected on the investment E. Track record of the borrower

11. DIPP- In this acronym, the letter I refers to A. Investment B. International C. India D. Industrial E. Invitational

12. India has been trying to break into certain elite global clubs. Which one/ s among the following is / are those groupings? 1. NSG 2. MTCR 3. CTBT 4. G7 A. 1, 2 B. 2, 3 C. 1, 2, 3 D. 1, 4 E. All of them

13. An appropriation bill refers to a bill A. which is appropriate as per parliamentary procedures B. which is certified as per procedures by the President C. which has got the presidential assent after approval by Parliament D. which seeks to draw money out of the Consolidated Fund of India E. None of these

14. Which region in India is known for its thorium deposits? A. Tamil Nadu B. Bihar C. W. Bengal D. Odisha E. Kerala


15. Chhau, Pondvani, Jatra - all there refer to A. traditional folk arts B. traditional handicraft traditions C. mineral - rich areas in India D. tribal areas in India E. harvest festivals across India

16. The India Space Research Organization (ISRO) had used ________ to propel a record 20 satellites into space recently. A. GSLV-34 B. PSLV-C-34 C. PSLV-4-D D. EDUSAT E. METSAT

17. Which of the following will make a cheque "invalid'? A. Absence of two parallel, transverse lines on the top, left corner B. Absence of endorsement C. Absence of drawer's signature D. B and C E. None of these

18. Which of the following is NOT a nutritional deficiency disease? A. Goitre B. Anaemia C. PEM syndrome D. Jaundice E. Osteoporosis

19. The 300th martyrdom anniversary of which famous general is being observed this year? A. Shivaji B. Baji Rao C. Maharana Pratap D. Maharaja Ranjit Singh E. Baba Banda Singh Bahadur

20. Match the following pairs: 1. Lead Bank Scheme P.Narsiman Committee 2.Comprehensive Financial Inclusion

Q.Malegam Committee

3. Computerization in Banks R. Sivraman Panel 4. Formation of NABARD S. Gadgil group 5. Direct Tax reforms T. Raja Chelliah

Committee 1 2 3 4 5

A. S Q P R T B. S P Q R T C. T Q R P S D. P Q R S T E. None of these

21. Which of the following functions is not performed by the Reserve Bank? A. Providing overdraft facilities to state govts. B. Stabilising the value of rupee vis a vis dollar C. Making appointments to the bank's board of directors D. Licencing new banks E. Issuing new notes

22. The letter G in 2G, 3G and 4G refers to A. Gigabytes B. Generation C. Generalization D. Gravitational E. Geographic

23. If I receive Rs. 20000/- as annual interest on my fixed deposit in a bank in India and my salary income exceeds the basic exemption limit, A. I am not supposed to pay any income tax on this interest income B. I am supposed to pay income tax on the interest I receive C. the bank has a right to deduct tax on my interest income D. I am exempted from income tax on the interest provided I fill up a particular form E. None of these

24. The Right to Education provides for free, compulsory elementary education to all children between A. 6-14 yrs B. 5-14 yrs C. 4-13 yrs D. of any age E. 5-12 yrs

25. Which global sporting icon was jailed on murder charges recently? A. Tiger Woods B. Lionel Messi C. Sebastian Vettel D. Lance Armstrong E. Oscar Pistorius

26. Who among the following is NOT a badminton player/coach? A. PV Sindhu B. Gopi Chand Pulela C. Saina Nehwal D. Both B and D E. Dutee Chand

27. Which committee has been constituted to examine the feasibility of a new financial year? A. Shankar Acharya committee B. Rajiv Kumar committee C. KM Chandrasekhar committee D.PV Rajaraman committee E. Sheth Committee

28. The Renuka Wildlife Sanctuary is located in A. Sikkim B. Himachal Pradesh

C. Haryana D. Madhya Pradesh E. Uttar Pradesh

29. Which island has become the first river island district in India? A. Koswari B. Mulli

C. Majuli D. Vallarpadam E. Jorhat

30. Which Indian personality has won the Woman of the Year award at the 2016 International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA)? A. Priyanka Chopra B. Radhika Apte C. Alia Bhatt D. Deepika Padukone

E. Vidya Balan 31. Through which platform can the Non-Resident

Indians (NRIs) open their national pension system accounts online? A. e-NPS B. e-NRI C. e-NNS D. e-NSS E. e-PFRDA


32. Pick the odd one out: A. Fleet Street B. Mint Street C. Dalal Street D. Wall Street E. All the above have a certain commonality

33. A GI tag refers to A. Film certification B. Indigenous medicines C. Patents D. ISI mark E. agricultural items for exports

34. Abdul Sattar Eidhi of Pakistan, who was a well-known ________, passed away recently. A. painter B. nuclear scientist C. writer D. social worker E. comedian

35. “S4A”, a new scheme introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is meant for stressed assets management. What does S4A stand for? A. Scheme for Susceptible Structuring of Stressed Assets B. Scheme for Sensible Structuring of Stressed Assets C. Schedule for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets D. Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets E. None of these

36. Which of the following is NOT a debt instrument? A. Debenture B. ESoP C. G-Sec D. Commercial Paper E. Bond

37. Forensic audit refers to the process of A. assessing audit quality B. probing the minds of criminals C. None of these D. detecting accounting frauds E. post-mortem

38. A new “fat tax” on pizzas and burgers has been imposed in _______, which constitutes an example of a ________. A. Goa, service tax B. Delhi, direct tax C. Maharashtra, expenditure tax D. Panjab, sin tax E. Kerala, sin tax

39. Which state in India attracts the maximum no. of tourists? A. Goa B. Tamil Nadu C. Maharashtra D. Himachal Pradesh E. Kerala

40. Pick out the misfit: A. IRDAI: Hyderabad B. PFRDA: Mumbai C. SEBI: Mumbai D. TRAI: New Delhi E. All these pairs are correctly matched

41. The maximum no of withdrawals in a month allowed in a Basic Savings Account is A. 4 B. 3 C. No such limits D. 7 E.5

42. The Supreme Court has recently issue guidelines the government on using the provisions of the AFSPA. What does AFSPA pertain to? A. Investigative agencies B. Bureaucracy

C. Police force D. Political parties E. Armed Forces

43. The NPPA is a government body concerned with regulating A. elections B. prices of medicines C. pharmaceutical research D. government employees’ performance E. physical education

44. Many efforts have been made since 1986 to restore me to old glory by way of government-sponsored programmes. But despite them, I am nowhere as good as I once was. Recently, a new programme was started by a Central Ministry at 231 places to improve my condition. Who am I? A. The Yamuna B. The Ganga C. Mount Everest D. Child malnutrition

E. Sex ratio 45. Which of the following names is NOT given to

bank loans facing problems in recovery? A. Write-offs B. Bad loans C. Non-Performing Assets D. Stressed Assets E. Distressed Assets

46. The marginal productivity of labour in case of disguised unemployment is A. Slightly positive B. Always negative C. Positive D. Positive or negative E. Zero

47. As per the data for 2014-15, which of the following is the correct order of states w.r.t. their Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP)? A. Maharashtra > Uttar Pradesh > West Bengal > Gujarat B. Gujarat > Maharashtra > Uttar Pradesh > West Bengal C. Uttar Pradesh > Maharashtra > West Bengal > Gujarat D. Maharashtra > Gujarat > Uttar Pradesh > West Bengal E. None of these

48. The job of the Financial Stability and Development Council is to A. work as a super financial regulator in India B. approve the policies made by different financial regulators C. coordinate the working of different financial regulators to bring about synergy among them. D. advise the Reserve Bank of India in its working E. None of these

49. The acronym LGBTQ refers to


A. people having different sexual orientations B. a grouping of nations

C. a group of US states, which plan to leave the federation in the USA D. a set of policies in the post-Brexit UK E. exceptionally gifted children

50. Which international sporting icon was embroiled in a tax fraud case? A. Rafael Nadal B. Novak Djokovic C. Lionel Messi D. Maria Sharapova E. Roger Federer

JULY GK TEST – 02 1. Who has been conferred with the 2015

Jnanpith Award? A. Pannalal Patel B. Umashankar Joshi C. Raghuveer Chaudhari D. Rama Jain

E. None of these 2. The acronym F&O refers to the

A. accounting activities B. hotel industry C. banking sector D. stock market E. software industry

3. Administered pricing regime refers to a system of A. Prices which allow the seller a certain minimum profit margin B. Free market pricing C. Pricing which is not based on any economic logic D. Differential pricing for different categories of buyers E. Price controls by the government

4. The tropical cyclone ‘Nepartak’ created havoc in A. Maldives B. Indonesia C. Malaysia D. Taiwan

E. The Phillipines 5. Which of the following IS/ARE NOT the major

problem/s afflicting PSU banks in India? 1. Under-capitalization 2. Falling NPAs

3. Unnecessary competition among banks 4. Falling assets A. 1, 2, 3, 4 B. 2, 3 C. 2, 4 D. 3, 4 E. 1, 4

6. The acronym CSR, commonly found in newspapers, implies A. Companies Social Responsibility B. Corporate Securitization Rate C. Corporate Security Responsibility D. Cash Security Reserve E. Corporate Social Responsibility

7. Study the following headline published recently. “India 37th, fares poorly in IPR” In the above acronym IPR, the letter I stands for A. Intellectual B. Indian C. Internal D. International E. Interest

8. Which Indian para-swimmer won 8 medals in the 2016 International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports (IWAS) U-23 World Games? A. Bharat Kumar B. Niranjan Mukundan C. Sharath Gayakwad D. Prasana Karmakar E. None of these

9. As per the Union Budget 2016-17, the biggest tax collections come from A. Corporate tax B. Income tax

C. Service tax D. VAT E. Excise duty

10. The total budget outlay for the financial year 2016-17 has been pegged at A. 29, 78, 000 Crore B. 17, 77, 000 Crore C. 22, 77, 000 Crore D. 19, 78, 000 Crore E. 18, 97, 000 Crore

11. The acronym TAM is used in the context of A. Corporate profitability B. Print media readership C. Internet readership D. Television audiences E. Rate of return on capital employed by the banks

12. Pyramid-type, get-rich-quick schemes are banned by the Reserve Bank as per the A. Money Circulation Schemes Act B. Negotiable Instruments Act C. RBI Act D. Chit Fund Companies Act E. Banking Regulation Act

13. Which of these acronyms is NOT associated with banking in India? A. FATCA B. LoP C. CASA D. LAF

E. BCSBI 14. A fall of one basis point in the repo rate brings

it down by A. 0.1% B. 1% C. 0.01% D. 0.001% E. None of these

15. Examine the following statements labeled A and B. Assertion (A): The Western Ghats in India are home to great biological diversity of plants and animals. Reasoning (R): Abundant rainfall, humidity, sunlight and appropriate temperature facilitate the continued existence of a variety of animals and plants.


A. Both A and R are correct and R correctly explains A. B. Both A and R are correct but R does not correctly explain A. C. A is correct but R is wrong. D. R is correct but A is wrong. E. Both A and R are wrong

16. Which ancient site in India has recently been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site? A. Mountain Railways of India B. Churches and Convents of Goa C. Nalanda University D. Mahabodhi temple E. None of these

17. As part of the listing agreement signed by the companies wanting to list their shares on the stock exchange, they must have at least …….. % public shareholding. A. 50 B. 60 C. 25 D. 75 E. None of these

18. Which state has become the first Indian state to set up a ‘Happiness Department’? A. Himachal Pradesh B. Sikkim C. Madhya Pradesh D. Tripura E. Kerala

19. Which operation has been started by India to evacuate its citizens stranded from war-torn South Sudan? A. Operation Sukoon B. Operation Homecoming C. Operation Raahat D. Operation Sankat Mochan E. Operation Shantidoot

20. Who is the new Prime Minister of United Kingdom (UK)? A. Theresa Donovan B. Brig Johnson C. Theresa May D. Margaret Thatcher

E. None of these 21. Factory output data in India are computed in

terms of ………., which is released by the ………… A. Index of Industrial Production, NSSO B. Gross Domestic Product, Finance Ministry C. Industrial Index, Planning Commission D. Core Industrial Production, CSO E. Index of Industrial Production, CSO

22. Greenpeace is best defined as A. a non-government organization devoted to cleaning of polluted rivers in India B. a non-government organization working for the cause of environment C. a political party whose agenda is to work for a green earth D. a private, anti-pollution group E. a non-government organization working for afforestation

23. TEDx is best described as A. a global idea exchange forum B. series of motivational seminars C. a group of venture capitalists D. an online community E. an online anti-suicide helpline

24. A Ponzi scheme refers to A. a scheme for women only B. a get-rich-quick, money circulation scheme C. a scheme run for rich people in a country D. a direct marketing offer E. a scheme run for poor people in a country

25. India has recently signed an MoU with which African country for leasing land to grow pulses? A. South Africa B. Mozambique C. Ghana D. Zimbabwe

E. Burundi 26. An Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is one

A. whose portfolio comprises the shares in the index B. whose units can be sold and bought on a stock exchange C. whose units can change in value at any point in time D. which is close-ended E. None of these

27. A Business Correspondent (BC) of a bank in India represents A. the last–mile connectivity tool in remote areas B. almost a bank branch for a person in a remote area C. a way to ensure financial inclusion D. All of the above are correct E. None of the above is correct

28. The Liquid Adjustment Facility (LAF) of the Reserve Bank consists of A. Repo facility B. Reverse Repo facility C. Both A and B D. Bank Rate facility E. Interbank Call Money Market facility

29. Which of the following will be the mascot of the Rio Olympic Games? A. Kindata B. Pansy C. Venky D. Vincius E. Chumee

30. Which French city saw a gory incident of scores of vacationers being run over by a speeding truck? A. Nice B. Palmyra C. Riviera D. Boudeaux E. Paris

31. Which of the following is/ are NOT part/s of the Atal Pension Yojana announced by the government? 1. The scheme applies to people between 18 years and 50 years.


2. The government will contribute a maximum of Rs. 1000 per year for 5 years to help promote it. 3. It will replace the existing NPS - Lite and Swavlamban schemes. A. 1 only B. 1, 2 C. 2 only D. 2, 3 E. All these statements are correct

32. The “Great India Run”, India’s first multi-city marathon has started from which city of India? A. New Delhi B. Mumbai C. Ahmedabad D. Jaipur

E. Bhopal 33. The prices of essential drugs in India are

regulated by A. Demand and supply forces in the market B. Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers C. National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) D. Drugs Controller of India E. Ministry of Commerce

34. The task of linking the Aadhar cards to respective bank accounts is being performed by the A. Reserve Bank of India B. Unique Identification Authority of India C. UTI Software and Technologies Ltd D. National Payments Corporation of India E. NITI Aayog

35. Which of the following Day-Date pairs is/are INCORRECT? 1. International Women’s Day: March 15 2. National Science Day: February 28 3. National Martyrs Day: March 23 4. National Youth Day: Jan 11 A. 1 only B. 1, 3 C. 1, 3, 4 D. All pairs are incorrect E. All pairs are correct

36. All complaints of unfair trade practices like overcharging, manipulation of supply and cartelization in India are heard by the A. Competition Commission of India B. Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission C. National Consumer Forum D. Food and Civil Supplies Ministry E. Consumer Affairs Ministry

37. Which of the following terms denotes a situation of uncontrollable and unpredictable inflation? A. Core inflation B. Disinflation C. Skewflation D. Stagflation

E. Hyperflation 38. The term Fiscal Consolidation, commonly

found in newspapers, refers to A. Improvement in the fiscal deficit position

B. Better tax collections C. Lesser public debt burden D. Better economic growth E. None of these

39. The level of industrial output in India is measured by computing the A. Core industrial output B. Index of Industrial Production C. S & P 500 D. GDP growth rate E. Per capita income

40. The Supreme Court recently issued orders clearly demarcating the Governor’s role in dealing with political crises in the states. This judgment pertains to the political crisis in A. West Bengal B. Assam C. Delhi D. Uttrakhand E. Chhatisgarh

41. Assertion (A): The collegium system of appointing judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court was abolished by the government. Reasoning (R): The government has enacted a new Judicial Accountability Act to deal with the appointment of judges to the High Courts and the Supreme Court. Select your answer using the following codes: A. Both A and R are correct and R is the correct explanation of A. B. Both A and R are correct but R is not a correct explanation of A. C. A is correct while R is incorrect. D. A is incorrect while R is correct. E. Both A and R are incorrect

42. Find the incorrect pairing. A. Indira Nooyi: PepsiCo B. Chanda Kochhar: ICICI Bank C. Shikha Sharma: Axis Bank D. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw: Biocon E. Renu Karnad: State Bank of India

43. “Ace against Odds” is the autobiography of A. Leander Paes B. Somdev Devvarman C. Sania Mirza D. Mahesh Bhupathi

E. Vijay Amritraj 44. Which of the following is NOT related to

taxation in India? A. MODVAT B. SAT C. GST D. VAT E. DTC

45. The Kalinga Prize is related to A. Sports B. Scientific research C. Journalism D. Peace E. Popularization of science

46. Section 80 G of the Income Tax law deals with A. equity-linked savings schemes B. home loan repayments C. life insurance policies D. medical insurance E. donations to approved institutions


47. The speed of a supercomputer is measured in terms of A. Bits B. Bytes C. Kilobytes D. Megaflops E. Teraflops

48. The Public Debt in India is managed by A. Parliament B. Reserve Bank of India C. Union Cabinet D. Securities and Exchange Board of India E. Finance Ministry

ANSWER KEY TEST - 1

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 1 C 2 B 3 A 4 E 5 B 6 A 7 D 8 E 9 D 10 A

11 D 12 A 13 D 14 E 15 A 16 B 17 D 18 D 19 E 20 A 21 C 22 B 23 C 24 A 25 E 26 E 27 A 28 B 29 C 30 A 31 A 32 A 33 C 34 D 35 D 36 B 37 D 38 E 39 B 40 B 41 A 42 E 43 B 44 B 45 E 46 E 47 A 48 C 49 A 50 C

49. Donald Trump, a candidate for the US Presidency, belongs to the A. US Congress Party B. Democratic Party C. American Republican Party D. Republic Party E. Republican Party

50. Pick the odd man out. A. Rashmi Bansal B. Chetan Bhagat C. Ram Chandra Guha D. Amitav Ghosh E. Preeti Shenoy

ANSWER KEY TEST - 2

Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. 1 C 2 D 3 E 4 D 5 C 6 E 7 A 8 B 9 A 10 D

11 D 12 A 13 B 14 C 15 A 16 C 17 C 18 C 19 D 20 C 21 E 22 B 23 A 24 B 25 B 26 B 27 D 28 C 29 D 30 A 31 A 32 A 33 C 34 D 35 C 36 A 37 E 38 A 39 B 40 B 41 C 42 E 43 C 44 B 45 E 46 E 47 E 48 B 49 E 50 C


GENERAL SECTION GYANM QUIZ - 16 How much do you know about the world around you? Take the quiz below to find out for yourself and WIN some exciting prizes as rewards.

1. Theresa May is a political leader in A. Singapore B. UK C. Egypt D. Thailand

2. The ink on a blotting paper spread due to A. Fluid properties B. Elasticity C. Gravity D. Capillary action

3. The population census in India is conducted after A. 2 years B. 10 years C. 5 years D. 1 year

4. India’s central bank is called A. Finance Ministry B. Reserve Bank of India C. Central Bank of India D. State Bank of India

5. The largest religious minority in India consists of the A. Muslims B. Sikhs C. Christians D. Jains

6. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” Who wrote this famous quote? A. Robert Frost B. John Keats C. Goethe D. William Shakespeare

7. Vinegar commonly used at home is chemically called A. Glacial Acetic Acid B. Glutamic Acid C. Dilute Hydrochloric Acid D. Benzoic Acid

8. The La Nino effect is related to A. Global warming B. Ozone depletion C. Artificial rains D. Weather fluctuations

9. How many times can one become the President of the USA? A. There is no bar on the number of times a person can become the President B. Once only C. Twice only D. Thrice Only

10. The maximum number of foreign tourists go to A. Singapore B. Switzerland C. Maldives D. Spain

Heartiest congratulations to the winners of Gyanm Quiz-15!

1. Gulshan– Hamirpur 2. Lakhnvi – Bathinda

The winners are being informed by post. Name: ______________________________________ Address: ____________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ PIN: _____________________ Mobile: ___________________________________ _ My answers to Gyanm Quiz - 16 are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Signature _______________

TERMS AND CONDITIONS 1. Please send your responses to the quiz, along with

your COMPLETE ADDRESS and PIN CODE, by 25th August , 2016. The responses can be sent By e-mail to [email protected] OR On Whatsapp mobile number 09646888377 OR By post to Gyanm College of Competitions, SCO 13-15, 2nd Floor, Above Domino’s, Sector 34-A, Chandigarh-160034

2. ONLY the residents of India are eligible to participate.

3. In case of multiple correct entries, a draw will be held to decide the winner/s.

4. The Prize/s CANNOT be exchanged for cash. 5. The decision of the jury shall be FINAL and

BINDING on all the participants. 6. The winners’ names shall be announced in the

October, 2016 issue.


Profit And Pleasure ON GROUPINGS AND

ORGANIZATIONS

Profit and Pleasure not only tickles your nerve cells but also makes you learn interesting facts about the world. This time around, we are focusing on some organizations and what they do. Here we go! 1. This closed group of oil-producing nations can hold

the entire world to ransom as it has almost total power to dictate crude oil prices globally. Based in Vienna, it has the sole power to decide crude oil prices at the global level, depending on demand and supply variables. Can you identify this one?

2. This body has been plagued by rumours of

corruption and other wrongdoings in the past 4-5 years. It is the richest and the most powerful sporting body in the world and oversees a highly popular game played in most of Europe and America. Here’s a hint for you: The police have arrested many of its officials recently after the cash-for-games scandal broke out. Which sporting body has been referred to here?

3. This grouping represents the most highly advanced

economies in the world. These economies are among the most prosperous and the richest in the world. Here’s a hint for you: India is not a part of this grouping. Which grouping are we talking of?

4. This grouping of 28 countries shares a common

currency. The economically integrated union was created after the Masstricht Treaty. Most likely, the grouping in question is called …….

5. These countries (numbering five) are among the

fastest growing, emerging economies worldwide. The focus of the next wave of global economic growth, they also have large domestic populations, which drive their consumption significantly. Which grouping do the preceding lines talk of?

6. The Brettenwood Twins were formed in the 1940s in the backdrop of the Second World War to help war-damaged economies rebuild themselves. The two institutions have played an important role in shaping the present-day world economy. Which two sister organizations are we talking about?

7. India has been an observer member of this powerful regional grouping for long. But in all probability, India will never become a full-fledged member of this regional bloc. Can you identify this one?

8. This Paris-based international organization helps

track criminals wanted the world over upon a request by the police forces of different countries. Can you recognize this important law-enforcement agency?

9. Human rights violations anywhere in the world

always invite its attention. In particular, it works for the cause of illegal detainees across the world. In recognition of its good work, it received the Nobel Peace Prize too. Which organization has been referred to in the preceding lines?

10. This organization, based in Geneva, works to create a

level-playing field for all member countries in terms of international commerce. Its precursor GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) had been governing international business until it was formed in 1995 after hectic negotiations and many roadblocks. Which organization are we talking about?

KEY

1. OPEC (Oil and Petroleum Exporting Countries) 2. FIFA 3. G-8 4. European Union 5. BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) 6. International Monetary Fund, World Bank 7. ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) 8. Interpol 9. Amnesty International 10. World Trade Organization


How much well-equipped are you with vocabulary to express yourself in different situations? Take the quiz below to find out for yourself and also learn some new words as a BONUS!

Directions: Given below are certain words printed in BOLD letters, followed by four choices in each case. Find out the choice which best conveys the meaning of the word in question. You will find the detailed solution to this exercise in this issue only. 1. INDUSTRIOUS

A. Hardworking B. Lazy C. Sensible D. Urgent 2. VIVACIOUS

A. Swaying B. Confused C. Likely D. Lively

3. PONDERING

A. Shining B. Praiseworthy C. Thoughtful D. Reckless

4. PERSEVERING

A. Persistent B. Dirty C. Interesting D. Worthy of hatred

5. PERTINENT

A. Smooth B. Relevant C. Handsome D. From Germany

6. SHRILL

A. Through voice B. Critical C. In disagreement D. Loud and sharp

7. DUMB

A. Stay at a place B. Silent C. Closed D. Change dramatically

8. CHATTER BOX

A. Aged B. Abusive C. Excessive talker D. Fond of writing

9. TACITURN A. Speaking little B. Decent C. Connected D. Related to eyes

10. BELLICOSE

A. Trigger-happy B. Roundabout way C. Peace-loving D. Pungent

11. SPECTACUALR

A. Horrible B. Looking like a terrorist C. Worthy of being seen D. Highly commendable

12. TRICKLE

A. Going deep into a river B. A bunch of some objects C. Flexibility D. Drop

13. PACIFIST

A. Broker B. Full of love C. Peace-loving D. Related to oceans

14. LEGEND

A. Related to mythology B. Historical C. Of heights D. Unproven

15. DEBONAIR

A. Sophisticated B. Having holes C. Well-educated D. Practical MY SCORE RATING 0-3 Get going! 4-7 Work hard! 8-11 Great, you’re almost there! 12-15 Wow!

SOLUTION

1. Industrious: adjective: persevering, hardworking Popular synonyms: diligenct, sedulous Derivation: Industry


Examples: A. Her industrious attitude was finally recognized by her boss with a promotion. B. One may be extremely intelligent, but without industrious application of mind, one cannot get success.

2. Vivacious: adjective: lively

Popular synonyms: sprightly, animated Examples: Her vivacious manners turned every party into a super hit event.

3. Pondering: adjective: serious, in a thinking

mood Popular synonyms: thoughtful, pondering, cogitative Examples: Newton sat pondering under a tree as an apple fell into his lap.

4. Persevering: adjective: hardworking, persistent

Popular synonyms: sedulous Examples: A. Every successful person needs to have a persevering attitude in the face of difficulties. B. The mantra of success is getting up after every failure and persevere to overcome weaknesses.

5. Pertinent: adjective: related, relevant, to the

point Popular synonym: germane Examples: A. Your ideas were rejected as they were not pertinent to the discussions going on. B. All the issues pertinent to Indo-Pak relations will be taken up at the summit-level talks.

6. Shrill: adjective: loud, vocal, forceful

Popular synonyms: voluble, strident Examples: A. The MPs made a shrill demand for the minister’s resignation over the scandal. B. There is shrill opposition to the proposal to make the Aadhar card compulsory.

7. Dumb: adjective: silent, unable to speak

Popular synonym: mute Examples: A. We cannot become dumb spectators to this murder of democracy. B. I went to a special school for the deaf and dumb yesterday.

8. Chatterbox: excessive talker

Popular synonyms: vocal, voluble

Example: The chatterbox politician did not sotp even for a second and talked non-stop.

9. Taciturn: adjective: silent, speaking very little

Popular synonym: reticent Examples: A. Many people are taciturn at social gatherings but you will find them very vocal with their friends. B. To become a public speaker, you need to get rid of your taciturn nature.

10. Bellicose: adjective: fighting, contentious

Popular synonyms: belligerent, pugnacious Examples: A. Bellicose nations like North Korea always keep global tensions alive with their nuclear threats. B. The bellicose attitude she carried to the meeting did not let reach a compromise with others.

11. Spectacular: adjective: must-see, great

Example: Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s spectacular acting helped the movie become a super hit.

12. Trickle: noun: drop, small quantity

Example: The college got only a trickle of applications for admissions this year.

13. Pacifist: adjective: related to peace, peace-loving

Popular synonyms: peaceful, pacifist Examples: The pacifist leader used to make peace between the warring parties in her college.

14. Legend: noun: story of doubtful origin, unproven

Popular synonym: unsubstantiated, apocryphal Example: Several legends about the freedom struggle are quite popular but most historians do not accept them.

15. Debonair: adjective: sophisticated, well-bred

Popular synonym: suave Example: The girl’s debonair nature greatly helped her bag the job of an airhostess.


BANKING FRAMEWORK

1) Earliest examples of banking can be traced to 1800 BC in Babylon. It is in which country: Iraq

2) Fuggers, a family of prominent ancient bankers, was in which country: Germany

3) Which was the first major bank formed in England: Bank of England

4) First presidency bank was established in India in 1806 at which place: Calcutta

5) What was the name of the first presidency bank in India: Bank of Bengal

6) In 1921, three presidency banks were merged to form which bank: Imperial Bank of India

7) __________ was the first major formal commercial bank of India: Allahabad Bank, 1865

8) Banking Regulation Act was enacted in which year: 1949

9) In which year 14 top commercial banks of India were nationalized: 1969

10) RBI issued licences for which two new types of banks in 2015: Payment Banks and Small Finance Banks

11) Which section of Banking Regulation Act, 1949 gives the definition of banking: 5(b)

12) As per legal definition of banking, what are three major functions of banking: i) Accepting deposits, ii) lending/making investments, iii) payment of deposit on demand/cheque

13) Which section of Banking Regulation Act, 1949 defines the other functions that banks are allowed to undertake: Sec. 6

14) Only banks are permitted to repay their deposits any time, even before maturity. What is this feature called: Deposits payable on demand

15) No company other than banks is allowed to issue_______: Cheques

16) Most of the banks are in the form of _______ in terms of structure: Company

17) To undertake the banking activities in India, it is compulsory, by law, to obtain a _____________from the RBI: Licence

18) Minimum capital of Rs. __________ is required to start a banking company in India: 500 cr

19) Which law authorises the Reserve Bank of India to regulate and control the banks in India: The Banking Regulation Act, 1949

20) Section 35 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 gives what powers to RBI: To inspect any bank branch any time.

21) A bank whose name appears in the second schedule of the RBI Act, 1934 is called a ____________ bank: Scheduled

22) Are foreign banks scheduled banks: Yes 23) The banks which have been constituted

under a separate Act of Parliament are called ___________Banks: Statutory

24) All those banks where the government share holding is 51% or more are called ____________Banks: Public Sector

25) Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertaking) Act refers to which major event in banking: Nationalization of Banks

26) Till date, govt. has undertaken nationalization of banks in two major tranches, in which years: 1969 & 1980

27) _________ is the largest public sector bank in India: SBI

28) ________________ is the largest nationalised bank in India: Punjab National Bank

29) Which is the largest private sector bank in India: ICICI Bank

30) ____________ is the largest foreign bank in India: Standard Chartered Bank

31) Which new type of banks were started in 1976, exclusively for rural areas: Regional Rural Bank

32) Every RRB has to be sponsored by a ___bank: Public Sector

33) _____________per cent of total loans of RRBs have to be in the priority sector: 75

34) The capital structure of the RRB is jointly subscribed by the Central Government, State


Government and Sponsoring Bank in the ratio of: 50%, 15%, 35%

35) Recently govt. has decided to increase the authorized capital of RRBs from Rs. 5 crore to Rs. _________crores: 2000

36) Cooperative banks are registered under which act: State Cooperative Societies Act

37) These financial institutions work for the development of some specific sector but are not allowed to issue cheques. Who are they: Development Financial Institution - DFI

38) Both RRBs and cooperative banks are controlled and supervised by which organization: NABARD

39) What is the full form of the acronym NABARD: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

40) Which govt. bank works for the promotion and financing of exports: Exim Bank

41) ____________ works for the development of housing finance sector and also regulates the housing finance companies: National Housing Bank

42) Name the bank that works for the promotion, financing and development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector: SIDBI

43) The acronym SIDBI stand for what: Small Industries Development Bank of India

44) ____________ is the first DFI of India setup in 1948: Industrial Finance Corporation of India

45) It is an institution for development and refinancing of loans up to Rs. 10 lakh to MSMEs by all public sector banks, RRBs, MFIs, NBFCs: MUDRA

46) Write the full form of the acronym MUDRA: Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency

47) Name the three re-finance schemes launched under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana: Shishu, Kishore and Tarun

48) What is the maximum amount of loan that can be sanctioned under PMMY (Shishu loan scheme): Rs. 50,000

49) What is the limit of loan that can be sanctioned to an individual under PMMY (Kishore loan scheme): Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 5 lakh

50) What is the maximum amount of loan that can be taken under Pradhan Mantra Mudra Yojana: Rs. 10 lac

51) Creating specific banks to meet the needs of

different strata of society is called ____________________________ banking: Differentiated Banking

52) Which RBI committee recommended the need for differentiated banking in India: Nachiket Mor Committee

53) Name the two major banking functions which are not allowed to payment banks: Making loans and accepting time deposits

54) Payment banks can except only ___________ deposits: Demand

55) On August 19, 2015, RBI gave in principle approval to _________entities to setup Payment Banks: 11

56) On Sep. 18, 2015 RBI gave in principle approval for ___________Small Finance Banks: 10

57) Capital Local Area Bank Ltd is the first ____________ Bank of India, which started operations in March, 2016: Small Finance

58) Small Finance Banks have to make ___________ per cent of their total loans in the priority sector: 75

59) Are the statutory norms of CRR and SLR applicable to Payment Banks and Small Finance Banks: Yes

60) Minimum paid-up equity capital of Rs. ___________crore is required to open a Payment/Small Banks : 100

61) In August, 2015, for the first time, RBI gave the status of D-SIB to two banks. Name the banks: State Bank of India and ICICI Bank

62) What is the full form of D-SIB: Domestic Systemically Important Bank

63) At least 50% of its loan portfolio of Small Banks should comprise loans up to Rs. __________lakh: 25

64) Payment banks are not allowed to issue ___________ cards: Credit

65) Payment Bank and Small Finance Banks are regulated by___________: RBI

TAKEN FROM "FINANCIAL GLOSSARY" A PUBLICATION OF GYANM


Latest G.K. Bytes

JULY – 2016 1) ________ has been appointed Deputy Governor of

Reserve Bank of India in place of H R Khan: N S Vishwanathan

2) How many Deputy Governors are there in the RBI: 4

3) Of the four Deputy Governors in the RBI, how many are selected from the RBI cadres itself: 2

4) The first squadron of home-grown Light Combat Aircraft named ___________ became operational in the India Air Force: Tejas

5) As per RBI guidelines, pre-2005 bank notes will now be accepted only at _________ branches w.e.f. July 01, 2016: RBI

6) India recently tested Barak-8, MR-SAM missiles. Write the full form of MR-SAM: Medium Range Surface to Air Missile

7) Name the famous airport of Turkey which suffered a ghastly terrorist attack claiming over 40 lives: Istanbul Ataturk

8) What is the name of the recent book written by Pulitzer prize winner Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee: The Gene

9) The World Bank announced $ 1 billion support for India’s ambitious _________energy generation plans: Solar

10) Name the President of the World Bank Group who was in India for a two day official visit: Jim Yong Kim

11) Central govt has announced an overall increase of 23.5 per cent in salaries of over one crore government employees and pensioners in terms of which pay commission recommendation: 7th

12) The 7th Pay Commission was headed by _____________: Justice A K Mathur

13) The pay commission is setup at an interval of ______ years: 10

14) Govt has cleared the formation of a six-member Monetary Policy Committee for what purpose: To bring in “value and transparency to monetary policy decisions”

15) Who has been designated as the head of the proposed monetary policy committee: RBI Governor

16) State Bank of India has launched a social media banking platform called 'SBI Mingle' for what purpose: To enable the Facebook and Twitter

user customers do banking through their social media accounts

17) Govt has launched the National Green Highways Mission for what purpose: For undertaking plantation drive on 1,500 kilometers of National Highways

18) Govt. has made it mandatory to set aside ________ per cent of the total project cost of any National Highway contract for plantation purpose: One

19) In the capital of which neghbouring country of India, terrorists brutally slained 20 persons in a restaurant: Dhaka

20) In the World Bank Group's bi-annual Logistics Performance Index, India jumped to _____ position from 54th in 2014: 35th

21) The second BRICS Youth Summit was held in_______ , Assam: Guwahati

22) Which country won the International Hockey Federation Champions Trophy at London: Argentina

23) The Human Capital Index released by the World Economic Forum placed India at which rank: 105th

24) The 56th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships were hosted by which city: Hyderabad

25) Which Indian state has decided to provide education loan up to Rs. 10 lakh at 1% interest rate to poor students: Odisha

26) Gudni Johannesson has been elected as the new President of which European country: Island

27) Sanjeev Rajput is a champion player of which sports: Shooting

28) Which state launched a joint exercise-Jalrahat with armed forces: Assam

29) What is the purpose of the Jalrahat exercise: To efficiently coordinate the rescue operations during the floods

30) What is the name of the India’s first island district: Majuli

31) Island Majuli is located in which state and river: Assam, Brahmaputra

32) Indian Navy recently acquired technological advanced antisubmarine torpedo. What is its name: Varunastra

33) Which country launched Shijian-16 series satellite for space research and experiments: China


34) The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of a Payments Bank with 650 branches to begin with by which of its department: India Post

35) Railways has launched an online portal named ‘Nivaran’ for what purpose: To address the grievances of railway employees

36) Which bank has signed a MoU with the World Bank for financing of grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic projects in India: State Bank of India

37) Which company has been ranked number one in the annual list of the world’s 50 smartest companies of 2016 compiled by the MIT, USA: Amazon

38) National Doctors’ Day is observed on which date: July 01

39) India observes National Doctor’s Day in the honour of which legendary physician: Bharat Ratna Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy

40) Indian navy recently inducted INS Tarasa. What type of ship it is: Water Jet Fast Attack Craft

41) Which Indian state attracted highest number of domestic tourists in 2015: Tamil Nadu

42) Which Indian state attracted highest number of foreign tourists in 2015: Tamil Nadu

43) Which ministry has launched a teacher education portal ‘Prashikshak’, for District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs): HRD Ministry

44) Name the African country that has been elected as a new non permanent member of the UN Security Council: Ethiopia

45) How many non-permanent members are there in the UN Security Council: Ten

46) A non permanent member of the UN Security Council is elected for how much period: 24 months

47) The World Bank has approved a $ 63 million support for the project Tejaswini for what purpose: For socioeconomic empowerment of adolescent girls

48) The World Bank has approved the Tejaswini project for which state: Jharkhand

49) Government has launched which programme for providing free health check-up and treatment for the pregnant women: Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan

50) India's first Integrated Defence Communication Network (DCN) is aimed at coordinating which Indian Forces: Army, Air Force, Navy and Special Forces Command

51) Armed forces of 26 nations, including India, took part in the Exercise RIMPAC 2016, held at which place: Near Hawaiian Islands, USA

52) The first meeting of the BRICS Working Group on “Energy Saving and Energy Efficiency” was held at which place: Visakhapatnam

53) Name the Indian who won the Canada Open Grand Prix Badminton tournament: B Sai Praneet

54) _________ won the Austrian Grand Prix F1 Championship: Lewis Hamilton

55) Switzerland’s central bank has stated that India’s share in its foreign deposits is hardly 0.1%. Name this bank: Swiss National Bank

56) Reliance Industries Limited has signed an agreement with which bank to start its Payment Bank: State Bank of India

57) Which country recently completed construction of the world’s largest telescope: China

58) Name the para swimmer who won eight medals, including three golds, at the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports: Niranjan Mukundan

59) Country's first commercial dispute resolution centre and a commercial court was inaugurated in which city: Raipur, Chhattisgarh

60) World’s first Mixed Martial Arts ‘Super Fight League’ will be hosted by which country from August 26 to October 01, 2016: India

61) NASA achieved a big breakthrough on July 5 when it succeeded for the first time in putting a space craft in the orbit of Jupiter. Name this space craft: Juno

62) The world famous Rath Yatra is held in which city of India: Puri, Odisha

63) Which city hosted the Woodpecker Environment and Wildlife Film Festival: Shimla

64) Govt. has announced ______ per cent subvention on crop loans up to Rs. 3 lacs, if they are paid in time: Three

65) Myth Breaker by Seema Singh is a book written about the life of which Indian corporate: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

66) Who is Kiran Mazumdar Shaw: CMD of Biocon India, India’s largest bio pharma company

67) Abbas Kiarostami, renowned filmmaker and winner of several awards died recently. He was from which country: Iran

68) All sportspersons who have represented India in Olympics have got together to form an association. Can you name it: The Olympians Association of India

69) Five-time Olympian, Shiva Keshavan has been made the first President of the Olympians Association of India. He is associated with which sports: Luge

70) Which national port has started for the first time in India, RFID tag based tracking of containers: Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai

71) What is the full form of RFID: Radio Frequency Identification

72) In the recent re-shuffle of the Council of Ministers,


how many new ministers were inducted in the government: 19

73) Who administers oath of office and secrecy to the union ministers: President

74) What is the total number of ministers in the India’s council of ministers: 78

75) At which international airport of India a huge wooden charkha has been installed: Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi

76) What is the name of the Google’s latest android version 7.0: Nougat

77) Naman Ojha has been named captain of the India A team (cricket) for the four-nation One-day tournament in Australia. He plays in which role: Wicketkeeper cum Batsman

78) The Networked Readiness Index ranks countries in terms of their readiness for transition to a digitised economy. What is India’s rank in this index: 91st

79) Which country has built its largest ever transport aircraft Y-20 Kunpeng: China

80) Name the Super Typhoon that lashed Taiwan with powerful winds and torrential rains: Nepartak

81) Govt. recently slashed prices of which type of fertilizers: Non-urea fertilizers

82) Which star Indian gymnast was named a ‘Gymnaste de Classe Mondaile’ (World class gymnast) by the International Gymnastics Federation: Dipa Karmakar

83) Which Indian state has proposed a 14.5% ‘fat tax’ on junk food like burgers, pizzas, sandwiches, etc: Kerala

84) Dallas, a city in Texas, USA was in news for what reasons: Killing of five police officers by the rioters

85) A new online portal - kvk.icar.gov.in has been launched for what purpose: To provide district specific agriculture related information to the farmers through the 645 Krishi Vigyan Kendras

86) Govt has decided to undertake a clean-up initiative at _____ iconic heritage, spiritual and cultural sites under the Swachh Bharat Mission: 100

87) Which country won the Euro Cup Football Championship for the first time after having played the game for past 95 years: Portugal

88) Which country hosted the Euro Cup Football Championship: France

89) Name the tennis grand slam which is hosted by London: Wimbledon

90) Name the winner of the Wimbledon’s men’s title: Andy Murray

91) Women’s title at the Wimbledon was won by which player: Serena Williams

92) The Phoenix Moment is a book written by which author: Praful Bidwai

93) Radhika Menon who won the award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea is the first women captain of which force: Indian Merchant Navy

94) Name the noted Pakistani philanthropist, social activist, ascetic who passed away in Karachi: Abdul Sattar Edhi

95) The 2-day long NATO Summit was held in_____, Poland: Warsaw

96) With which country India signed a mega deal for the construction of a 1,320 MW Maitree Super Thermal Power Project: Bangladesh

97) Name the Indian corporate which acquired the Lafarge India’s cement assets for about $1.4 billion: Nirma Group

98) Who has been selected as the captain of Indian Hockey team (men) for the Olympics: P R Sreejesh

99) Sushila Chan has been made captain of which Indian team for the Olympics: Hockey (Women)

100) The Permanent Court of Arbitration which ruled against China in case of South China Sea, is located at which place: The Hague, Netherlands

101) Which country had challenged the China’s claim over the South China Sea: Philippines

102) India has set up an apparel training centre in which African county: Nigeria

103) Prime Minister Modi recently visited how many African countries: Four

104) With which African country India signed a deal to import 1 lakh tonne pulses: Mozambique

105) India sanctioned a Line of Credit of US$ 92 million to which country for strengthening of the water resources system: Tanzania

106) Indian Navy has started its new marine commando unit - INS Karma at which place: Vishakhapatnam

107) INS Karma is a dedicated base for Marcos. What is its full form: Marine Commandos

108) What was the name of rescue operation launched by Indian Govt. to evacuate Indian’s from the war tons South Sudan: Operation Sankat Mochan

109) Name the special cargo aircrafts that were used in operation Sankat Mochan: C-17 Globemaster

110) In which Indian state, congress govt. was reinstated after a direction from the Supreme Court: Arunachal Pradesh

111) Name the Indian statesman who visited Mongolia to attend the 11th Asia -Europe Meeting at Ulaanbaatar, capital of Mongolia: Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari

112) Government has decided to raise the price of kerosene by ___ paise a litre each month for 10 months to cut the subsidy burden: 25


113) Name the Prime Minister of United Kingdom who resigned from his post after he lost the campaign to ‘remain’ with European Union: David Cameron

114) _________ has been elected as the new Prime Minister of United Kingdom: Ms. Theresa May

115) William H. Mcneill, world renowned historian who wove the stories of civilizations in his book “The Rise of the West” was in news for what reasons: He passed away

116) Dr. Raghuveer Chaudhari who has been decorated with the Jnanpith Award is a renowned writer of which language: Gujarati

117) Aditya Puri has been ranked as the best banking CEO in Asia by the investor community. He is chief of which bank: HDFC Bank

118) In which French city over 84 persons were crushed to death by a heavy truck driven by a militant: Nice

119) Who Moved My Interest Rates is a book written by D. Subbarao. Who is he: Former Governor of RBI

120) Rakesh Kumar Chaturvedi has been appointed as the new Chairman of which national educational organization: The Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE

121) Banks have been asked to exchange up to 20 pieces of soiled notes up to what maximum amount: Rs. 5000

122) Name the India's Grand Master who won the Fide Women’s Grand Prix Chess trophy in Chendu, China: Harika Dronavalli

123) India made a big leap of 11 places to occupy _______ spot in the latest world football rankings issued by FIFA: 152nd

124) The Union Cabinet has approved the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) with an outlay of Rs.12000 crore for what purpose: To impart skilling to one crore people over the next 4 years

125) Which Indian Stock Exchange has introduced 'Paperless SIP' for facilitating online investments: Bombay Stock Exchange

126) In a global survey of airlines, The Emirates has been declared as the best. It belongs to which country: UAE, United Arab Emirates

127) ADB has granted $ 100 million loan to strengthen key irrigation and drainage system in the _________delta in Tamil Nadu: Cauvery

128) Which country recently witnessed a failed coup attempt to overthrow the elected govt.: Turkey

129) The Capital Complex of which Indian city has been selected in the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites: Chandigarh

130) Name the state whose national park has been selected in the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage

Sites: Sikkim 131) What is the name of the autobiography by

Margaret Alva, former Governor of Uttarakhand, Rajasthan: Courage & Commitment

132) The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared India free from Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus and Yaws. What is Yaws: An infection of the skin and bones

133) Name the batsman who became the oldest captain to score test hundred at the age of 42 years and 47 days: Misbah-ul-Haq

134) ________ has been sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh: Pema Khandu

135) What is the name of the Indian artillery gun developed as per technical support from the Bofors of Sweden: Dhanush

136) 73rd Senior National Squash Championship was hosted by which city: Mumbai

137) Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal are the current national champions of which sports: Squash

138) Name the Indian boxer who won the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title: Vijender Singh

139) ________ has become first state in India to set up Happiness Department in the state: Madhya Pradesh

140) What is the name of the proposed hi-tech vision system that railway plans to install on locomotives for enhancing the driver’s vision in inclement weather: Trinetra

141) Name the legendary Bollywood playback singer and ghazal maestro who passed away after prolonged illness in Mumbai: Mubarak Begum

142) Sports persons from which country have been prohibited by WADA to participate in Rio Olympics: Russia

143) What is the full form of WADA: World Anti-Doping Agency

144) Brazil is hosting the Rio Olympics. Name its capital: Brasilia

145) What is the currency of Brazil: Brazilian Real 146) What is the name of the mascot of the Rio

Olympics: Vinicius 147) The mascot Venicius represents which animal:

None, it is a blend of animals native to Brazil 148) What is the official slogan of the Rio Olympics: A

New World 149) What is the approximate weight of the Olympic

medals: 500 grams 150) Symbolic beginning of the Olympic Games is done

by lighting a torch with the help of sun rays. This ceremony is held in which place: Olympia, Greece

151) What is the logo of Olympic games: Set of five interlaced rings

152) What is the colour of the Olympics flag: White


153) The Olympic motto is made up of three Latin words – Citius, Altius, Fortius. What do they mean: Faster, Higher, Stronger

154) The Ministry of Finance has announced capital infusion of Rs 22,915 crore towards the recapitalization of which public sector units: 13 banks

155) The National Green Tribunal has directed which state to cancel the registration of all diesel-powered vehicles that are more than 10 years old: Delhi

156) The Supreme Court delivered a historic judgment accepting most of the recommendations made by the Justice __________Committee on the functioning of BCCI: R M Lodha

157) Rohit Khandelwal has become the first Indian to win the title of __________: Mr. World

158) The first paperless e-court of India was inaugurated in _________High Court: Hyderabad

159) Malcolm Turnbull has been re-elected as the Prime Minister of which country: Australia

160) Mohammed Shahid, one of the greatest names in Indian _____, died due to severe liver condition and kidney failure: Hockey

161) The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable is a book written by which author: Amitav Ghosh

162) Name the billionaire businessman from USA who has been officially declared as the Republican party’s candidate for US President elections: Donald Trump

163) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA has declared which month in 2016 as the hottest month till date: June

164) The Union Cabinet has approved the incorporation of Sagarmala Development Company for what purpose: For promoting port-led economic development in India

165) _________appointed as the chief executive officer of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI): Ajay Bhushan Pandey

166) In the latest Fortune 500 list of the world's biggest corporations in terms of revenue, how many Indian companies are there: Seven

167) In terms of revenue earned, which is the largest Indian company: Indian Oil Corporation

168) ______ is the world’s largest company in terms of revenue earned: Walmart

169) At which place in West Bengal a new modern integrated check-post was opened on Bangladesh border: Petrapole

170) With which African country India has signed an agreement to commence flights to that country: Mozambique

171) With which country India signed a Social Security Agreement for benefit of the persons working in

each other’s country: Japan 172) Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. has

joined hands with which Bank to promote booking of rail tickets: State Bank of India

173) Name the Indian batsman who became the first Indian test captain to score a double century in an overseas match in past 84 years: Viraat Kohli

174) Which Indian state won two Gold Awards at the prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) awards: Kerala

175) Foundation stone was laid recently for starting a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences at which place: Gorakhpur

176) Sustainable Development Goals is an agenda prescribed by which global organization: UNO

177) UNO has prescribed how many Sustainable Development Goals to be achieved by 2030: 17

178) India’s first Green Rail Corridor has been started in which state: Tamil Nadu

179) What is the salient feature of the green rail corridor: Zero toilet discharge on rail tracks

180) Finance ministers meet of G20 nations was held at which place: Chengdu, China

181) RBI has imposed a penalty of five crore rupees on which bank for the lapses in the 6,100-crore rupees scam: Bank of Baroda

182) Indian Navy launched country’s largest ever search operation code named ‘Operation Talash’ for what purpose: To trace the missing AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force

183) Syed Haider Raza, one of India’s most eminent painters died recently. He spent most part of his life in which foreign country: France

184) K P Oli, Nepalese Prime Minister was in news recently for what reasons: He resigned from his post

185) Chris Froome of Britain won the world’s most challenging cycle race. Can you name this event: Tour de France

186) Who won the Hungarian Grand Prix F 1 championship at Budapest, Hungary: Lewis Hamilton

187) Neeraj Chopra scripted history by becoming the first Indian to hold a world record as he smashed the junior world record in which sports: Javelin throw

188) As per the Global Retirement Index, ______ is the world's worst country for retirees: India

189) As per the Global Retirement Index ______ is the best country in the world for retired people: Switzerland

190) With a view to provide a legal framework to the mission for cleansing of river Ganga, which ministry proposes to formulate Ganga Act: Ministry of Water Resources


191) Social media giant Facebook has successfully tested its solar-powered craft Aquila for what purpose: To beam internet to remote parts of the world

192) In one of the worst mass-casualty attacks, nineteen 19 disabled persons were stabbed to death in which Japanese city: Tokyo

193) Kargil Vijay Diwas is celebrated on which date: July 26

194) World’s largest amphibious aircraft, AG-600 has been developed by which country: China

195) The first-ever meeting of BRICS Employment Working Group was held in which city: Hyderabad

196) IRCTC has offered a travel accident cover of _____ lakh rupees to passengers booking tickets through its portal: 10

197) BRICS policy planning dialogue meeting was held in which place: Patna

198) Irom Sharmila Chanu, famous as ‘Iron Lady of Manipur’, was in news for what reasons: She decided to end on August 9 her 15 year old hunger strike in protest of AF(SP)A in Manipur

199) What is the full form of AF(SP)A: Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

200) Ramon Magsaysay Award is given for what purpose: for extra ordinary good work for some social cause

201) Magsaysay Award is given by which country: Philippines

202) How many Magsaysay Awards are given every year: Six

203) Name the Carnatic singer from Chennai who has been given Magsaysay Award for promoting peace and harmony through music: T. M. Krishna

204) Mr. Bezwada Wilson has been honoured with Magsaysay Award for what purpose: For his dedicated efforts for eradication of manual scavenging in India

205) As per the new Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016, children below 14 have been permitted to work in which type of industry: Home based work in family owned businesses

206) As per a global survey, _________ is home to tallest men and ___________ to tallest women: Netherlands, Latvia

207) Government has approved 1,600 crore rupees for which state for skill development initiative 'Himayat': J & K

208) India has decided to provide a credit line of $ 318 million to Sri Lanka for what purpose: For improvement of railway infrastructure

209) As per a scientific study, roughly ____ per cent of total bird species in the world are found in India: 12

210) Keni Harrison, American athlete broke a 28-year old world record in which event: 100 m hurdles

211) India’s first ever Water Metro project has been launched in which state: Kerala

212) As per recent ICC rankings, _________ has been declared as the top test bowler: Ravichandran Ashwin

213) India has signed a one-billion dollar deal to buy Poseidon 81. What is this: Long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft

214) From which country and company India is buying four Poseidon 81 aircraft: USA, Boeing

215) Which organization has decided to launch an exclusive channel dedicated to sports, named Olympic channel: The International Olympic Committee

216) The Union Cabinet has approved establishment of an All India Institute of Medical Sciences - AIIMS at which place in Punjab: Bathinda

217) New AIIMS are being established in various states under which central programme: Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana

218) International Tiger Day is observed on which date: July 29

219) The UN General Assembly has unanimously adopted a resolution to treat the IMO as a related organization. What is IMO: International Organization for Migration

220) Where in India for the first time, a zoo has received Humboldt Penguins: Mumbai

221) Name the eminent Bengali writer and social worker, winner of Jnanpith Award and Magsaysay Award, who passed away recently: Mahasweta Devi

JUNE – 2016 222) Name the two African countries visited by the

Vice President Ansari in May end: Morocco and Tunisia

223) _______________________ is the capital of Morocco: Rabat

224) ________ is same in Morocco as Mumbai, financial capital of India: Marrakech

225) Recently Finance Ministry has hiked financial powers of Ministers to sanction expenditures up to Rs. _________ crore: 500

226) Muslims Against Partition is a book written by which author: Shamsul Islam

227) Name the England captain who became the first English cricketer and also the youngest one to reach the 10,000 runs milestone in Test cricket: Alastair Cook

228) Name the high speed train which was tested in


India for speed up to 115 kph between Bareilly and Moradabad in UP: Talgo

229) The proposed high speed Talgo train is being provided by which country: Spain

230) Name the team that won the 9th Indian Premier League: Sunrisers Hyderabad

231) Hani Al Mulqi has been appointed as the new _________ of Jordan: Prime Minister

232) For what reasons Gotthard Base Tunnel was in news recently: It is the world's longest rail tunnel open for operations

233) Gotthard Base Tunnel has been opened in which country: Switzerland

234) Seema Punia won a gold medal in the women’s __________ at the Pat Youngs Throwers Classic in California, USA: Discus Throw

235) Railways have started a new weekly train from____________, Assam to Vaishno Devi Katra (J&K), linking the two very prominent pilgrimage centers: Kamakhya

236) The T S R Subramanian committee has submitted its report on which issue to the Ministry of HRD: The New Education Policy

237) Aditi Krishnakumar won which award for her manuscript “Love of Indian History": Scholastic Asian Book Award

238) Govt. has levied which new cess of 0.5 per cent on the service tax: Krishi Kalyan Cess

239) On account of new Krishi Kalyan Cess, how much extra money will have to be paid on any taxable service for Rs. 1000: Rs. 5

240) Asia’s largest technology trade show COMPUTEX was hosted by which country: Taiwan

241) According to the report by New World Wealth, India has been ranked _______ in the list of top 10 wealthiest countries in the world: Seventh

242) According to the report by New World Wealth, ____________ is the richest country in the world: USA

243) Retirement age of doctors in the Govt. service has been hiked to ______ years: 65

244) Govt. has levied 1% TCS on cash purchases of more than Rs. 2 lacs. What is TCS: Tax Collected at Source

245) Data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that the economy grew at an accelerated pace of _______in the fourth quarter of 2015-16: 7.9%

246) _______ is the capital of Tunisia: Tunis 247) Which Indian Statesman visited Tunisia on June

03: Vice President 248) Which country has been declared free from Ebola

by the WHO on June 01: Guinea 249) Which Indian authority has launched a mobile

application for telecom subscribers to register their complaints against pesky calls and SMSs: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)

250) Recently the govt. hiked the Minimum Support Price - MSP of which season crops: Kharif (Summer crops)

251) ________ is the main crop of the Kharif season: Paddy

252) Which daal (Pulse) has been given the highest MSP of Rs. 5225 per qtl: Moong

253) Govt. has approved setting up of a bank by the Department of Posts. What is its name: India Post Payments Bank

254) Razak Khan, a veteran Bollywood actor who died recently was famous for which type of roles: Comedy

255) _________ became the first tennis player in the history to cross the $100 million prize-money mark in his career: Novak Djokovic

256) The government has exempted PF withdrawals of up to Rs. __________ from tax deduction at source: 50,000

257) The Japan International Cooperation Agency has granted a loan of Rs. 1,548 crore to ____________ for improving the quality of urban healthcare services: Tamil Nadu

258) Ashok Lavasa has been appointed as the new Union ________ Secretary: Finance

259) Fukuoka Prize is given in which country: Japan 260) Name the Indian Music composer who has been

honoured with Fukuoka Prize: A R Rahman 261) ___________ has been declared the Ceat T20 Player

of the Year - 2016: Virat Kohali 262) Name the cricketer honoured with the Ceat

Lifetime Achievement Award - 2016: Dilip Vengsarkar

263) India has joined The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation for what purpose: For preventing the spread of ballistic missiles

264) Name the author of the book "The Unseen Indira


Gandhi": Dr. K P Mathur 265) __________ has been appointed first ever chief

executive officer (CEO) of the BCCI: Rahul Johri 266) The “Sendai Framework" is related with which

activity: Disaster Management 267) June 1 is observed as the World ____ Day across

the globe: Milk 268) Which UN organisation promotes the World Milk

Day: Food and Agriculture Organisation 269) Name the world famous boxer, popular as 'the

greatest', who died in June: Muhammad Ali 270) In the recent five nations trip of Shri Modi, which

was the last country visited by him: Mexico 271) In the recent five nations trip of Shri Modi, in

which country he addressed the Parliament of that country: USA

272) Which country honoured our Prime Minister by the Amir Amanullah Khan Award: Afghanistan

273) What was the original name of the world famous boxer Muhammad Ali: Cassius Clay

274) Name the veteran Indian tennis star who won the mixed doubles in the French Open with Swiss partner Martina Hingis: Leander Paes

275) According to the 'Good Country' Index 2015 __________ is the world's best country: Sweden

276) According to the 'Good Country' Index 2015, India has been placed at which rank: 70th

277) Name the first Indian woman to be nominated to the International Olympic Committee: Nita Ambani

278) According to the Global Slavery Index 2016 of 167 countries, _______ has largest number of people in modern slavery: India

279) Which country will be hosting 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics: South Korea

280) ‘Soohorang’, the official mascot for 2018 winter Olympics represents which animal: White Tiger cub

281) Latest FIFA rankings have placed which country on top: Argentina

282) The Pakke Tiger Reserve that won the India Biodiversity Award is in which state: Arunachal Pradesh

283) Manohar Aich, A prominent sports person famous as the 'Pocket Hercules' was associated with which sports: Body Building

284) Why Mr. Manohar Aich was famous as the 'Pocket Hercules': Because of his short height

285) Men's title in French open was won by which player: Novak Djokovic

286) Garbine Muguruza who won the women's title in French Open, is from which country: Spain

287) Name the special tourist train launched to spread awareness among people regarding tiger conservation: Tiger Express

288) Name the first Indian state to grant social benefits to transgender: Odisha

289) Which global aircraft company has unveiled the world's first 3D-printed aircraft THOR: Airbus

290) World environment day is observed on which date: June 05

291) In terms of retail development, in a world study, India has been placed at which rank: 02nd

292) Which Indian city has adopted Gangetic River Dolphin as its mascot: Guwahati

293) Name the Indian sand artist who won gold medal at the world championship festival of sand sculpting in Bulgaria: Sudarsan Pattnaik

294) Shangri-La Dialogue is the Asia's largest annual summit on what issue: Security Scenario in Asia-Pacific region

295) In which country 77 per cent voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to introduce a guaranteed basic income for all: Switzerland

296) N Ramachandran, the President of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was in news for what reasons: He was awarded Olympic Order by the IOC

297) Tintu Luka won a silver medal in which event in the Athletics Meet in Prague: 800 mts race

298) Name the lady who became first woman to lead a major American political party for President’s post in the 240 years of democracy in USA: Hillary Clinton

299) India has been admitted as the 35th member of the elite 34 nations MTCR Group. What is MTCR: Missile Technology Control Regime

300) India will get what major benefit by joining MTCR group: India can now buy and sell missile technology to other nations

301) Government has launched a campaign ‘Swachh Yug’ to make villages located along which river free from open defecation: Ganga

302) Who has been named the ambassador for Swachh Bharat Mission's youth-based 'Swachh Saathi' (student internship) programme: Dia Mirza

303) Exercise Desert Eagle II was held between Indian


Air Force and which other country's Air Force: United Arab Emirates

304) Which Indian broadcasting organization celebrated completion of 80 years of its existence on June 8: All India Radio

305) The World Bank has projected a growth rate of _______ per cent for the world in 2016: 2.4

306) The junior men's hockey World Cup will be hosted by ________from the 8th of December this year: Lucknow

307) Govt plans to raise a new Indian Reserve Police Battalion named after Maharana Pratap in which state: Rajasthan

308) The Forbes “100 Most Powerful Women” in the world list 2016 has been topped by which lady: German Chancellor Angela Merkel

309) India has surpassed which country to become the world’s third-largest oil consumer: Japan

310) Government has launched a GPS based mobile app named ‘Surya Mitra’ for what purpose: To facilitate repair and maintenance of solar equipments

311) Which country returned over 200 stolen cultural artifacts to India, some dating back 2,000 years, valued at around $100 million: USA

312) World Oceans Day is observed on which date: June 08

313) What is the theme of this year's World Oceans Day: Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet

314) Which international organization has recognised Thailand, Armenia, Belarus and Moldova for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV and Syphilis: WHO

315) As per the Global Peace Index 2016 _____ is the most peaceful country: Iceland

316) As per the Global Peace Index 2016, what is India's rank: 141st

317) Champaran Satyagrah Express train has been started from _________ to Anand Vihar, Delhi: Bapudham, Motihari (Bihar)

318) Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has been elected new President of which South American country: Peru

319) Which French city is hosting Europe's biggest football extravaganza, Euro 2016: Saint Denis

320) Who has been named highest paid sports person in the Forbes annual list of the World's 100 Highest Paid Athletes: Cristiano Ronaldo

321) What was the name of the biggest ever joint

military exercise held recently by NATO members: Anaconda-16

322) Ranjit Sub-1 and Bahadur Sub-1 are the names of variety of which item: Two new rice varieties

323) A joint military exercise named ___________was held between the naval forces of India, Japan and the USA: Malabar

324) The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has chosen ___________ as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent at the Rio Games’ opening ceremony: Abhinav Bindra

325) US administration has given what name to the Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Indo-US ties for promoting peace, prosperity and stability from Asia to Africa, from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific: Modi Doctrine

326) Which index is used in India to measure the level of industrial production: Index of Industrial Production - IIP

327) Which award was won by Akhil Sharma for his novel 'family life': International Dublin Literary Award

328) Internet search giant Google has tied up with Tata Trusts to launch which programme to empower rural women: Internet Saathi

329) Which Indian bank raised $500 million at the London Stock Exchange after it launched India’s first internationally-listed certified green bonds: Axis Bank

330) As per the Malware Infection Index 2016, which country faces highest malware encounters: Pakistan

331) For the first time in the history of the Indian Air Force, 3 women pilots have been commissioned into which stream: Flying fighter jets

332) China launched its 23rd satellite BeiDou Navigation Satellite System for what purpose: Strengthening of GPS

333) Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal recently won which international title: Australian Open Super Series

334) Which USA city was in news for having witnessed one of the worst mass shootout in the history: Orlando

335) Name the veteran journalist who passed away at a Delhi hospital at the age of 68: Inder Malhotra

336) ___________has become the first state in India to have an open government data portal to facilitate


free usage of govt data by general public: Sikkim 337) Which is the first country in world to prohibit

deforestation of rain forest to preserve the balance of ecosystem: Norway

338) International Labour Organisation observes June 12, as which global day: The World Day Against Child Labour

339) The national summit by the name 'Rajasva Gyan Sangam' was held for top brass of which two govt. organization: CBDT and CBEC

340) RBI has announced the S4A scheme to handle the high value bad loans. What is the full form of S4A: Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets

341) Microsoft has announced to acquire which professional networking website for $26.2 billion: LinkedIn

342) Which athletics team from India created a new national record at the International Sprint and Relay Teams Cup at Erzurum, Turkey: Men's 4x400m relay team

343) Lewis Hamilton who won the Formula 1 Canada Grand Prix title at Montreal, Canada is from which country: Britain

344) World Blood Donor Day is observed on which date: June 14

345) What is the theme of this year's World Blood Donor Day: Blood connects us all

346) Which Indian organization recently launched three service initiatives, namely- a Janani Sewa for mothers, optional catering and a children’s menu: Indian Railways

347) Peter Thomson, Permanent Representative of Fiji, was elected as the President of which important UN forum: UN General Assembly

348) ________ was a distinguished Hindi writer and veteran intellectual who passed away at the age of 82 in Lucknow: Mudrarakshasa

349) Government has approved the National Civil Aviation Policy 2016, capping fares at Rs _______ for one-hour flights: 2,500

350) In the context of National Civil Aviation Policy, what is meant by 5/20 rule: Only airlines with 5 years of domestic flying and minimum 20 aircrafts, will be allowed to fly international

351) SBI has announced merger of its ___________ subsidiaries with itself: Five

352) 'Jal Marg Vikas' (National Waterway-1) project is

for developing a 1620 km thorough waterway between ________ in Uttar Pradesh and __________in West Bengal: Allahabad, Haldia

353) Bramble Cay Melomys found only on a single island off Australia is the world's first mammal to be declared as extinct. What type of animal it is: Small rodent (Rat)

354) General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, Prime Minister of __________ arrived in New Delhi on a three day visit to India: Thailand

355) __________ Chairman of Bharti Enterprises (Airtel), elected as the Chairman of International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) based in Paris: Sunil Mittal

356) What is the official slogan of the forthcoming Rio Olympic games: "A new World"

357) Which country has launched the world’s biggest nuclear icebreaker ship 22220 Arktika: Russia

358) Railway has started India's first timetabled freight train, named ___________ from Delhi to Bengaluru: Cargo Express’

359) HRD Ministry has launched Vidyanjali scheme for govt. schools for what purpose: For participation of volunteers from public for teaching

360) Who is Anne Hathaway who has been appointed as global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women: Famous US actress and singer

361) Government has allowed which category of persons to open National Pension Scheme (NPS) accounts online if they have Aadhaar Card or PAN card: Non Resident Indians (NRIs)

362) Hero Hockey Champions Trophy Tournament was held at which place: London

363) In the finals of Hero Hockey Champions Trophy Tournament, which country won the cup by defeating India: Australia

364) The book 'The Spy' is written by which famous author: Paulo Coelho

365) A Life in Diplomacy is a book written by M K Rasgotra. Who is he: Former Foreign Secretary of India

366) Old History New Geography is a book written about bifurcation of which Indian state: Andhra Pradesh

367) Name the two-seater basic trainer aircraft designed and developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited made its inaugural flight


successfully: Hindustan Turbo Trainer-40 368) Government has approved 100 per cent FDI in

which three sectors under the government approval route: Aviation, Defence and E-commerce

369) Which UN organization supports the observation of the World Refugee Day on June 20: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

370) Name the first State that has obtained a telecom license from the Telecom Ministry: Andhra Pradesh

371) Ms Supriya Sahu has been appointed as the Director General of which national organization: Doordarshan

372) Which state's tourism corporation won four awards at ‘FilmAT’, one of the biggest international film festivals dedicated to tourism, art and ecology, held in Poland: Kerala

373) To promote and facilitate South Korean Investments in India, a new forum named _________ has been launched: Korea Plus

374) The Government has taken a considered decision to allow export of _______ missile systems to 'certain' countries that have friendly relationship with India: Akaash

375) Main function of International Yoga Day on June 21 was held in which city in India: Chandigarh

376) Govt. has allowed premature closure of PPF accounts after how many years: Five

377) Who has written the book titled "Favourite Ghost Stories From Around The World": Ruskin Bond

378) In a recent study of super computers, which country has been declared to have fastest super computer: China

379) Scientists from which country created the world's first microchip that has 1,000 processors: USA

380) Name the Kannada film that won the best film award and best script writers award at the Asia New Talent Awards in the 19th Shanghai International Film Festival: Thithi

381) The Indian ___________team of Deepika Kumari and Atanu Das won the silver medal at the Archery World Cup in Antalya, Turkey: Recurve

382) ISRO created a record on June 22 by launching 20 satellites in one go. How many of them were foreign satellites: 17

383) Prime Minister Modi visited___________, Uzbekistan to attend the two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation: Tashkent

384) The central government has sanctioned Rs. ____________ crore 'Fund of Funds for Startups' to boost self-employment in the country: 10,000

385) Name the famous Sikh General of yore on whose 300th martyrdom day a special commemorative silver coin has been released: Banda Singh Bahadur

386) As per the World Investment Report 2016 by the UNCTAD, what is India's rank in attracting FDI: 10th

387) As per UNCTAD report, which country received highest amount of FDI in 2015: USA

388) Which Indian city has signed a sister city agreement with the Chinese city Jinan: Nagpur

389) All India Football Federation plans to launch ‘Mission 11 Million’ in 30 Indian cities with the support of FIFA for what purpose: To engage more than 11 million children in football-related activities

390) RBI plans to put into circulation Rs.10 coins bearing the portrait of Swami _____________ to commemorate his birth centenary: Chinmayananda

391) Chairman of which public sector insurance company was in news for resigning nearly two years ahead of completion of his five-year term: LIC of India

392) The United Public Service Day is observed on June 23 for highlighting role of which segment of society: Public Servants

393) World Hydrography Day is observed on June 21 to commemorate establishment of which international organization, some 95 years ago on this day: International Hydrographic Organization

394) Government has asked all state governments to link Aadhaar number with caste and domicile certificates of school students for what purpose: To facilitate timely grant of scholarship

395) Name the CEO of the SoftBank Group Corp. who was in news for resigning abruptly from the post, despite being one of the highest paid CEO: Nikesh Arora

396) The plenary meeting of the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, NSG was held in which place: Seoul


397) Which country objected to India's membership to NSG: China

398) What was China's objection to India's membership to NSG: India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT

399) RBI has released the ‘Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision-2018’ for what purpose: To promote mobile banking services

400) Name the former spinner who has been selected as the new coach of Indian Cricket Team for one year: Anil Kumble

401) Prime Minister Modi formally launched the ‘Smart City Project’ from which city: Pune

402) BrahMos Aerospace successfully tested the integration of BrahMos missile with which fighter aircraft: Sukhoi - 30

403) Name the neighbours of India who were among the first four countries to that a loan from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: Pakistan and Bangladesh

404) Name the Anglo-Indian community icon credited with pioneering the quiz in the country, who died in Kolkata: Neil O'Brien

405) ADB to grant $500 million loan to build a 9.8 km long bridge (longest in India) across the _______ River in, Bihar: Ganges

406) International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards festival was held in_______, Spain on June 23: Madrid

407) RBI data shows that banking transactions through mobile apps have increased _________fold in three years, between 2013 and 2016: Seven

408) Grand Master Harika Dronavalli won the best women's player award in the Eurasian Blitz _______ tournament in Kazakhstan: Chess

409) Sanjay Mittal, Professor in IIT - Kanpur won which award for scientific research: G D Birla Award

410) Government has launched a pilot programme to run two-wheelers on which gas in New Delhi to curb air pollution: Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)

411) IIFA award for the best feature film was claimed by which movie: Bajrangi Bhaijaan

412) Deepika Padukon got the IIFA award for best actress for which film: Piku

413) Ministry of Defence has approved the purchase of 145 artillery guns from which global arms

supplier: The BAE systems of USA 414) Which wing of Indian army plans to deploy the

proposed 145 artillery guns: Mountain Strike Corps

415) The BAE systems of USA shall be producing The 155 MM, M777 ultra light howitzer guns in India in collaboration with which Indian company: Mahindra Defence Systems

416) Name the 3rd century BC archaeological site in Bogra, Bangladesh that has been declared as the SARRC cultural capital for the year 2016-17: Mahasthangarh

417) Why the International Olympic Day is celebrated every year on June 23: First modern Olympic Games were held on this day in 1894 at Sorbonne in Paris

418) Copa America Football Championship is hosted by which country: USA

419) Argentina was defeated by which country in the finals of Copa America Football Championship: Chile

420) Wimbledon Tennis Championships are hosted by which city: London

MAY – 2016 421) Deepika Kumari equalled the world record in

women's recurve event in which sports: Archery 422) Archery world Cup was held at which place in

China: Shanghai 423) _________re-elected as the Prime Minister of the

Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharmsala, Himachal Pradesh: Lobsang Sangay

424) Railways has decided to create a 1 lakh crore rupees Rashtriya Rail Sanrakshan Kosh (RRSK) for what purpose: To strengthen safety measures on the rail network to prevent accidents

425) ________appointed as Director General of the Railway Protection Force (RPF): S K Bhagat

426) The prestigious civil award ‘Order of The Rising Sun, Gold and Silver’ is conferred by which country: Japan

427) Which Indian bureaucrat was recently honoured with ‘Order of The Rising Sun, Gold and Silver’ award: N. K. Singh

428) Renowned sand artist __________ won the gold medal at the 9th Moscow Sand Sculpture Championship in Russia: Sudarsan Pattnaik

429) The International Cricket Council has suspended


which country from its membership: Nepal 430) A Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by J

C Divakar Reddy, MP has been formed for what purpose: To tackle misleading advertising as well as to fix liability on endorsers/celebrities

431) Which foreign bank has launched India’s first mobile only bank named ‘digibank’: DBS Bank, Singapore

432) Garima Chaudhary won gold medal at the 2016 Commonwealth ______ Championship finals at Port Elizabeth in South Africa: Judo

433) North Star is the highest civilian award of which country: Mongolia

434) Name the author of the book ‘Blood on my Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters’: Kishalay Bhattacharjee

435) The International Bank Note Society has declared which country’s five-dollar note as the Banknote of the Year for 2015: New Zealand

436) Batsman Iraq Thomas created a record by scoring 21-ball century. He is from which country: Tobago

437) Indian shooters claimed three gold medals and a bronze in the ISSF Junior World Cup held at which place: Suhl, Germany

438) Name the first of the six indigenous Scorpene-class submarines that was set out for sea trials off the Mumbai coast: INS Kalvari

439) Lee Chong Wei, winner of Asia Badminton Championship, is from which country: Malaysia

440) What is the full form of the acronym UJALA: Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All

441) Which UN organization promotes the observance of International Labour Day: International Labour Organization (ILO)

442) Govt has launched Ujjwala scheme for what purpose: For distribution of LPG connection to BPL families

443) Govt has granted status of ‘classical language’ to how many languages: Five

444) Which are the five languages that recently have been given the status of Classical Language: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia

445) Malayalam is spoken in which state of India: Kerala

446) Telugu is spoken in which state of India: Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

447) Which UN organization supports the propagation

of World Press Freedom Day: UNESCO 448) We hear a lot about the term NPA these days.

What it is: Non Performing Asset 449) What is NPA: It is a loan account in default

where delay in payment of dues is more than 90 days

450) As per a global market research, _______, claiming 41.7 per cent of desktop browser share has become the top Internet browser: Google Chrome

451) World Snooker Championship title was won by Mark Selby. He is from which country: England

452) The Supreme Court has appointed a three-member panel headed by former Chief Justice of India RM Lodha to review the functions of which apex professional body: Medical council of India

453) The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to stop printing of the _____ euro banknote by the end of 2018 with a view to curb illicit activities: 500

454) Scientists of which university have built the world's smallest working engine: University of Cambridge

455) Who has been Appointed as the next Chief of Indian Navy: Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba

456) Chief of the Indian Navy is appointed in which rank: Admiral

457) What is the purpose of the proposed Geospatial Information Regulation Bill 2016:To punish the wrong depiction of the map of India

458) What is the main objective of recently passed Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Bill 2016: To promote conditions for ‘Ease of Doing Business’

459) Fort Mcmurray, city in state of Alberta in Canada was in news for what reasons: A massive wild fire around it almost destroy the city, forcing more than 80,000 residents to flee

460) Name the public sector trading giant that recently launched a new gold coin named ‘Tola’: MMTC

461) Which Indian bank has been selected by the New Development Bank as its partner for operations in India: ICICI Bank

462) ‘Cow and Company’, a story by Prashar Kulkarni won which international award: Commonwealth Short Story Prize

463) Enda Kenny has been re elected as the Prime Minister of which country: Ireland


464) The H.R. Nagendra Committee has been appointed by the govt. for which purpose: For Yoga Education in Universities

465) In a rare astronomical phenomenon on May 09, which planet was seen as a dot moving on the solar disc: Mercury

466) As per a recent global study, India was ranked _____ in terms of ‘crony capitalism’: 9th

467) Which country tops in promotion of ‘crony capitalism’: Russia

468) The Drowned Detective is a book written by which author: Neil Jordan

469) With which country India has signed an MoU for mutual corporation in the field of sports: Japan

470) According to Royal Botanic Gardens, world has over 390,900 plant species. Where is this garden: London

471) Govt has approved the single emergency number______ to help people access directly emergency services like police, ambulance and fire fighting: 112

472) What is the full form of the acronym UBIN: Unique Business Identification Number

473) What is the purpose of issuing UBIN: To expedite establishment of new startups

474) A commemorative coin of hundred rupees and a circulation coin of ten rupees have been released on the 475th birth anniversary of which great warrior: Maharana Pratap

475) Which national day is observed on April 11: National Technology Day

476) Which country elected a dashing flamboyant Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as its President: Philippines

477) Which Indian state has won the award for the Best Indian Destination for Wildlife: Madhya Pradesh

478) Govt of America has approved selection of animal ________ as the first national mammal of the country: Bison

479) The RBI has released ‘Draft Guidelines for on tap Licensing of which type of banks recently: Universal Banks in the Private Sector

480) In a global study by WHO of the cities with worst air pollution, four of the five worst polluted cities are in which country: India

481) Union cabinet has approved Rs.1,983 crore package for widening of the 19-km stretch of

which expressway: Delhi-Meerut expressway 482) What is the name of this President: Dilma

Rousseff 483) Govt. has formed Sanjay Mitra Committee for

what purpose: To prepare a policy framework for taxi and other transport operators

484) Why international nurses day is observed on May 12: It is the birthday of famous nurse Florence Nightingale

485) Nursing community of India is honoured by the President on this day by which awards: Florence Nightingale Award

486) Shashank Manohar has been elected as the first independent Chairman of which international cricket body: ICC-International Cricket Council

487) Name the four Goodwill Ambassadors appointed by the Indian Olympic Association for the Rio Olympics: AR Rahman, Salman Khan, Abhinav Bindra and Sachin Tendulkar

488) Who is the only Indian in Forbes' 'Money Masters: The Most Powerful People in the Financial World' list of 40 persons: Uday Kotak

489) Who is Uday Kotak: Chief of Kotak Mahindra Bank

490) Baba Hardev Singh, a spiritual leader who died in a car accident, was the head of which sect: Nirankari Mission

491) Name the world’s biggest – ever cruise ship, recently launched in France: Harmony of the Seas

492) Govt has decided to replace the five year plans with which new concept: 15 year vision document

493) Country is going through the 12th five year plan. When will it come to an end: 31st March, 2017

494) Govt. has recently approved the National IPR Policy. What is IPR: Intellectual Property Rights

495) Which wing of the defence forces has launched one of the biggest automated military maintenance systems in the world: Indian Air Force

496) The Electronic Maintenance Management System of the Indian Air Force will be based at which air force station: Pune

497) Max Verstappen, winner of the Spanish Grand Prix F1 Championship was in news for what reasons: He is the youngest (18 years) winner of F1 championship


498) Name the India’s indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile, capable of destroying any incoming hostile ballistic missile: Ashwin

499) The First World Conference on Tourism for Development was held in_______, China: Beijing

500) The Indian Railways plans to conduct trial of its first solar panel-powered train in which place: Jodhpur, Rajasthan

501) Eric Dusingizimana, captain of cricket team of Rwanda has set a new Guinness world record for what achievement: Batting continuously for 51 hours

502) With which global organization India has signed a MoU for promotion of traditional Indian system of medicine: WHO – World Health Organization

503) Man Booker International Prize is given for which achievement: For the best book translated in English and published in U K

504) Name the winner of the 2016 Man Booker International Prize: Han Kang, South Korea

505) Which novel has been selected for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize: The Vegetarian

506) The World Bank has approved $625 million loan to India to support the rooftop solar power generation. This loan will be disbursed through which Indian bank: State Bank of India

507) Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha was in news for flying which air craft: Tejas

508) Which country launched its remote sensing satellite ‘Yaogan-30’ May 2016: China

509) As per the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index' prepared by global firm E & Y, India has been placed at which rank: 03rd

510) The World’s largest Single Rooftop Solar Power Plant has been established is in which city in Punjab: Dera Beas (Amritsar )

511) Govt. has formed NK Singh committee for review of FRBM road map. What is full form of FRBM: Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management

512) Name the British author who won the PEN’s Literary Service Award: J. K. Rowling

513) The acronym PEN stands for what: Poets, Essayists and Novelists

514) Under the Dhan Wapsi scheme for declaration of domestic black money, how much tax and penalty is payable: 45%

515) The Asian team squash women championship was

won by which country: Malaysia 516) What was India’s rank in the Asian team squash

women championship: Second 517) Name the electronic grievance redressal system

recently launched by the Income Tax Department: e-nivaran

518) Ms. Tsai Ing-wen has been elected as the first women President of which country: Taiwan

519) Which three countries have joined hands to develop the Chabahar port: India, Iran and Afghanistan

520) Lhakpa Sherpa, the 42 year old mountaineer created which new record: Climbing Mount Everest by a Lady for maximum number of times – 7

521) Name the athlete who bagged two gold medals by winning the women's 100m and 200m race at the Taiwan Open Athletics Championships: Dutee Chand

522) Federation Cup is associated with which sports in India: Football

523) Federation Cup 2016 was won by which team: Mohun Bagan

524) What is the popular name of the French Open, second tennis grand slam: Roland Garros

525) Thomas Cup and Uber Cup are associated with which sports: Badminton, Men and Women, respectively

526) Name the country that won the Thomas Cup: Denmark

527) Name the country that won the Uber Cup: China 528) Binali Yildirim has been elected as the new Prime

Minister of which country: Turkey 529) In which Indian city the trial run of India's first

ever Metro train equipped to run in the driverless mode was conducted: New Delhi

530) Government has constituted the IEPF Authority to strengthen the framework for safeguarding the interest of investors. What is the full form of IEPF: Investor Education and Protection Fund

531) India successfully tested its first-ever indigenously built space shuttle – RLV – TD on May 23. Write full form of RLV-TD: Re-Usable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator

532) Who has been elected as the new President of Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI): Anurag Thakur

533) ______ has been Appointed as the new Lieutenant


Governor of Union Territory of Puducherry: Kiran Bedi

534) Palme d’Or is the price for the best film at which famous film festival: Cannes, France

535) Which film won the Palme d’Or for 2016: I, Daniel Blake

536) Who is the director of the film I, Daniel Blake: Ken Loach, UK

537) USA decided to fully lift its embargo on sales of lethal weapons to its one-time arch enemy, _______ after a gap of over 32 years: Vietnam

538) World Bank Group has launched the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) for what purpose: To protect and support poorest countries against deadly pandemics like Ebola, Zika

539) Govt. has decided to replace the word ‘Viklangjan’ for disabled persons with which new word: Divyangjan

540) Millennium Technology Prize is given in which country: Finland

541) Heads of state of G-7 nations held their annual summit at which place in Japan: Ise Shima

542) A joint study by Assocham-KPMG shows that India is the ____largest producer of e-waste, discarding roughly 18.5 lakh metric tonnes of electronic waste each year: Fifth

543) ____ has been elected as the new and the first BJP Chief Minister of Assam: Sarbananda Sonowal

544) Pinarayi Vijayan has been elected as the Chief Minister of which state: Kerala

545) Recently FSSAI has recommended banning the use of which chemical in the making of bread: Potassium Bromate

546) What is the name given to the India’s new GPS system: NAVIC

547) What is the full form of the acronym Navic: Navigation with Indian Constellation

548) Employee Provident Fund Organization has decided to increase benefits under the Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme from Rs 3.60 lakh to _____rupees: Six lakh

549) The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has decided to launch an online system ASMITA for what purpose: Student tracking system programme

550) What is the full form of ASMITA: All School Monitoring Individual Tracing Analysis

551) Name the new multilingual portal launched by the ministry of HRD: Bharatavani

552) Which State Transport Corporation has launched 20 Nirbhaya buses with multiple safety measures to better protect women passengers: Rajasthan

553) Which Saudi Arabia based bank has offered to open Islamic banking branch in India: Islamic Development Bank

554) First bank branch offering Islamic banking is proposed to be opened by a foreign bank in which city: Ahmadabad

555) Rishi Nair, a 6th grade Indian American student won which prestigious competition in USA: National Geographic Bee competition

556) The Ministry of Railways launched Rail Humsafar Saptaah from May 26 to June 1 for what purpose: To highlight significant achievements made by Indian Railways

557) Which type of bank borrowers have been prohibited by SEBI from making public issue of shares: Willful defaulter

558) The 148-year-old Tata Group has made a foray into which new field recently by the name TataCLiQ.com: E-commerce

559) The RBI has instructed banks to shift from magnetic stripe based ATM and debit cards to which type of cards: EMV chip and Pin based cards

560) Which bank has launched e-SBTR (Electronic Secured Bank Treasury Receipt) for payment of both - stamp duty and registration fee for home purchase in Maharashtra: Union Bank of India

APRIL – 2016 561) A massive leak of 11.5 million documents from a

law firm in which country revealed how the world's current rich people, politicians and celebrities hide their money: Panama

562) Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of which country: Yemen

563) Where in India World’s maiden white tiger safari was opened up: Mukundpur, Madhya Pradesh

564) ____________elected as the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir: Mehbooba Mufti

565) India has been ranked ______ among the world's Top-Ten largest manufacturing countries: Sixth

566) In terms of manufacturing level, which country is ranked no. one in world: China


567) Name the cricketer who was named as Player of the tournament in the world T-20: Virat Kohli

568) Who is Dr. Karan Singh, author of the book 'The Mountain of Shiva': He is a member of Rajya Sabha

569) Where in India the Army has raised a new Gorkha battalion comprising entirely of Gorkha troops of Indian domicile: Sabathu, Himachal Pradesh

570) The government has launched a portal ‘The Indian IP Panorama’ to act as a single window interface for providing information on which subject: Intellectual property maters

571) This portal is a customised version of IP Panorama Multimedia toolkit, developed by WIPO. What is WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization

572) Germany’s Development Bank KfW has agreed to provide loan assistance of 3750 crore rupees for the development of metro system for which Indian city: Nagpur

573) The government has issued a new set of income tax return (ITR) forms that require people with an income of Rs. ______lakh and above per annum to disclose their assets: 50 lakh

574) Which stock exchange has launched a new index Nifty MidSmallcap 400 representing 150 midcap and 250 small cap companies: National Stock Exchange

575) The Airports Authority of India has signed an MoU with ________ to provide scientific parameters for construction of airports across the country: ISRO

576) Name the new interest mechanism that requires banks to set rates based on their marginal cost of funds rather than their average cost of funds: marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR)

577) India has become the world’s _______ largest spender on defence, following a 13.1% increase in its 2016-17 defence budget: Fourth

578) Which country is the largest spender on defence in world: USA

579) Zaha Hadid, renowned Iraq-born British __________ passed away due to heart attack: Architect

580) Name the campaign that was launched on April 14 to strengthen Panchayati Raj in villages, empowerment of women and upliftment of farmers: Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan

581) As per a global study, India ranks third among countries with high number of financial Trojan infections. What is Trojan infection: Transactions where cybercriminals defraud customers of online banking services

582) UNICEF launched a series of animated films, called Unfairy Tales to create awareness about which group of people: Refugees

583) P Susheela Mohan, renowned playback singer has been recognized by the Guinness World Records for which achievement: For singing the most number of songs in Indian languages - 17,695

584) Where in India Asia's biggest telescope has been launched: Devasthal, Nanital

585) The European Investment Bank has agreed to give Euro 450 million towards constructing the metro rail line in which Indian city: Lucknow

586) Name the India's first semi high speed train launched on April 5: The Nizamuddin-Agra Gatimaan Express

587) Which country conferred its highest civilian honour- the king Abdulaziz Sash on the Prime Minister Modi: Saudi Arabia

588) Govt has launched the mobile application 'Vidyut Pravah' for what purpose: for information on 24x7 power from The States

589) The HRD ministry released first-of-its-kind NIRF for ranking the higher education institutions. What is NIRF: National Institutional Ranking Framework

590) As per NIRF _______ has been declared as the no. 1 management institute in the country: IIM Bangalore

591) The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore has been placed at No. 1 in which category by NIRF: Best University

592) As per NIRF rankings, which is the top engineering institute of India: IIT Chennai

593) With which country India signed an agreement for a new Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project in India: USA

594) India’s first indigenous composite sonar dome was launched at Goa. What is its function: It acts as ship’s underwater eyes and ears

595) Companies with a net worth of Rs. 500 crore or more will have to follow new Ind AS from April 1. What is Ind AS: Indian Accounting Standards

596) World Bank has agreed to provide a $1.5 billion loan for implementation of which national level


mission: Swachh Bharat Mission 597) Which bank has launched 'NO Queue' Mobile app

to save its customers time to avail banking services: State Bank of India

598) Under Stand-up India scheme banks have been asked to provide loans up to _____ crore rupees to SC/ST and women entrepreneurs: One

599) The loans under Stand-up India may be provided without collateral. What is collateral: No need to offer land or building or any other security

600) Britain's Royal Mail has launched a set of special postage stamps to mark the 400th death anniversary of which great playwright: William Shakespeare

601) Which railway zone has topped in terms of largest Freight Loading in 2015-16: The East Coast Railway

602) Bihar has become the _________ state in the country to ban sale and consumption of liquor: Fourth

603) In one of the largest environmental settlement in the US history, which oil and gas company has been asked to pay over $20 billion towards damages: British Petroleum

604) The world’s first public dengue vaccination programme was launched recently in which country: Philippines

605) World Health Day is observed on which date: April 07

606) World Health day this year shall be focusing on control of with disease: Diabetes

607) Nguyen Xuan Phuc has been elected as the new Prime Minister of which country: Vietnam

608) Name the team that won the Asian Nations Cup Chess tournament: India

609) Govt has constituted a high-level committee headed by former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta for what purpose: to suggest ways to strengthen the border protection along the border with Pakistan

610) Govt has launched a low cost micro solar device, Surya Jyoti for what purpose: To meet lighting needs in areas without electricity

611) International conference on zero was hosted by which European city: Paris

612) According to Arvind Panagariya India is close to achieving 8% GDP growth on the back of satisfactory progress in infrastructure development. Who is he: Vice Chairman at Niti

Aayog, India 613) Name the lady who has been named the most

powerful businesswoman in Asia by Forbes Magazine: Nita Ambani

614) Which global body has revised its 2016 global trade forecast downward by more than one percentage point to 2.8 per cent: WTO-World Trade Organization

615) Who has been elected as the new Chairman of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) for 2016-17: C P Gurnani

616) Mission Indradhanush covers how many vaccine preventable diseases: Seven

617) 25 Ministries and Departments of the Union Government have joined IMPacting Research INnovation and Technology (IMPRINT) for what purpose: To establish a single window mechanism to shortlist research projects

618) Name the country’s first train with CCTV cameras in all coaches: Shan-E-Punjab Express

619) Hindus in north India observed April 8 as the beginning of their traditional new year. Can you name the year: Vikram Samvat 2073

620) In Andhra and Karnataka, April 8 was observed as ________ festival: Ugadi

621) In which Indian state April 8 was observed as Gudi Padwa: Maharashtra

622) The first ever two day North East-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business Summit was hosted by which city: Imphal, Manipur

623) Name the author of the book 'A State in Denial': B G Verghese

624) Govt has launched a tablet-based application ‘ANMOL’ that allows ANMs to enter and update data for the beneficiaries. What is ANM: Auxiliary Nurse Midwife

625) Govt plans to construct five lakh irrigation ponds under which scheme: Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana

626) "Advantage India - From Challenge to Opportunity" is a book written by one of the ex-Presidents of India. Can you name him: APJ Abdul Kalam

627) Name the winner of the FBB Femina Miss India World 2016 contest: Priyadarshini Chaterjee

628) In the abbreviation FBB Miss India World, FBB stands for what: Fashion at Big Bazaar


629) A portal was launched in New Delhi for for registration and allotment of ISBN. What is the full form of ISBN: International Standard Book Number

630) __________ has become the first state to pass land title bill for verification of land records: Rajasthan

631) A statue of which Indian Maharaja will be installed in France's Saint-Tropez town in September this year: Maharaja Ranjit Singh

632) Who has been named as the brand ambassador of the Skill India Campaign: Sachin Tendulkar

633) Why World Homoeopathy Day is observed on 10th April: It is the birthday of Dr. Samuel Hahnemann, a German Physician who developed system of Homoeopathy

634) Saraswati Sammaan is given for excellence in literature in which language: Any language recognized by Indian constitution

635) Poet and novelist Padma Sachdev won Saraswati Sammaan for her autobiography ‘Chitt-Chete’ written in which language: Dogri

636) Union government plans to lay more emphasis on promoting MICE tourism in India. What is MICE: Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events

637) Which European country has offered to help in ‘Namami Gange’ project for cleaning of Ganges like their rivers Rhine and Danube: Germany

638) The fire services day is observed on which day of April: 14th

639) In which state people celebrate Vishu festival on April 14th to mark beginning of their new year: Kerala

640) As per a recent World Bank report, which country received largest amount of inward remittances in 2015: India

641) Which country conferred its highest civilian honour upon Former Army Chief General(retd) J J Singh: France

642) A study of 50 nations for investment and deployment of Information and Communications Technology has placed which country at top: USA

643) India has successfully tested its K-4 ballistic missile. What is the launch pad of this missile: Submarine

644) India has decided to become a formal member of the regional group SAWEN for what purpose: For combating wildlife crime and illegal trade

645) What is the full form of SAWEN: South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network

646) Airtel M Commerce Services Limited (AMSL) has been granted the India’s first _________ bank license by RBI: Payment

647) Which National Institute of Technology in India has developed the fastest super computer 'Param Kanchenjunga': Sikkim

648) The recently launched E-National Agriculture Market covers agriculture markets from how many states: Eight

649) Which tiny South Pacific island nation has become the 189th member of the IMF and the World Bank: Nauru

650) India has finalised the deal to purchase 36 ________ fighter jets from Dassault Aviation of France: Rafale

651) Jharkhand govt launched the Bhimrao Ambedkar Awas Yojana for construction of houses for which category of persons: Widows

652) Friends in Wild Places is a recent book written by which famous author: Ruskin Bond

653) Which Indian bank got the first loan of $ 250 million from the newly established BRICS New Development Bank: Canara Bank

654) The annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank was held at which city in USA: Washington DC

655) World Hemophilia Day is observed on April 17. Hemophilia is what type of ailment: Non-clotting of blood

656) Sultan Azlan Shah Cup is associated with which sports: Hockey

657) City of Ipoh hosted the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in which country: Malaysia

658) What was the rank of India in Sultan Azlan Shah Cup: Second

659) Which country won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup by beating India: Australia

660) Name the girl from Agartala, Tripura who created history by becoming the first Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics: Dipa Karmakar

661) Name the gymnastic feat preformed by Dipa Karmakar as it is one of the extremely difficult and most dangerous form: Produnova vault

662) Name the Indian who has been ranked third in the Forbes list of top 30 Global Game Changers: Rahul Bhatia of Inter Globe Enterprises


663) Govt has released a Commemorative Coin of 200 rupees and a Circulation Coin of 10 rupees to mark the 200th Martyrdom Day of Tatya Tope. Who was he: A war hero of 1857 war of Independence

664) The 13th Islamic Summit Conference was held in________, Turkey: Istanbul

665) IMF and world bank have joined hands with the United Nations and OECD for improvement of tax systems world over. What is OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

666) ________ has been declared the Laureus Best Sportsman of the year: Novak Djokovic, Serbia

667) ________ has been declared the Laureus Best Sportswoman of the year: Serena Williams, USA

668) Which sports team won the Laureus Best Sports Team of The Year Award: New Zealand's Rugby World Cup-winning team

669) Name the Silicon Valley’s veteran adviser, mentored of Steve Jobs, Larry Page, who died recently: Bill Campbell

670) India, Afghanistan and Iran have agreed for joint work on development of Chabahar port in which country: Iran

671) Which famous temple was in news for depositing 1,311 kg of gold in a public sector bank under Gold Monetisation Scheme?: Tirupati Balaji Temple, Andhra Pradesh

672) As per the 2016 ‘World Press Freedom Index’, which country enjoys the number one position for the functioning of journalist: Finland

673) As per the 2016 ‘World Press Freedom Index’, what was the rank of India: 133rd

674) Scientists have reported that over 90 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef has been damaged by mass bleaching. It is in which country: off the Australian coast

675) Rahul Johri has been appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of which major Indian sports body: BCCI- Board of Control for Cricket in India

676) As per the latest World Malaria Report from WHO, ________ has become the world’s first region to wipe out malaria with zero cases reported last year: Europe

677) Which day is observed as the Earth Day all over the world: April 22

678) What is the theme for the Earth Day this year:

Trees for the Earth 679) Name the leading Bollywood actress who has

been named by Time magazine in its list of the '100 Most Influential People in the World': Priyanka Chopra

680) Civil servants all over India observe April 21 as ________ day to re-dedicate and re-commit themselves to the cause of the people: Civil Service Day

681) Why April 21 has been selected as the Civil Service Day: On this day in 1947, Sardar Patel addressed the first batch of Indian civil servants

682) The Olympic Torch for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics was ceremoniously lighted at the Temple of Hera in which place: Ancient Olympia, Greece

683) The Rio Olympics beginning on August 5 will be the ____ edition of modern Olympic games: 31st

684) A statement by Amitabh Kant says that India will be free of BPL population by 2032, attaining a growth of 10%. Who is he: CEO of Niti Aayog

685) Which Indian city is the host for the popular religious event Simhastha Kumbh: Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh

686) Simhastha Kumbh is being held in Ujjain on the banks of which river: Kshipra

687) As per a report by The Financial Times Limited, which country in world received highest FDI in 2015: India

688) Where in world, representatives of 175 nations signed the historic Paris Climate Agreement: New York

689) The Paris Climate Agreement aims at limiting global temperature rise to well below ____ degrees Celsius, and to strive for ______ degrees Celsius: 2, 1.5

690) Name the famous Malayalam actor who has been nominated as a Rajya Sabha MP: Suresh Gopi

691) England and several other parts of the world are celebrating 400th death anniversary of a legendary playwright. Can you name him: William Shakespeare

692) What is the popular other name for the William Shakespeare: The Bard of Avon

693) Name any two famous master pieces written by William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet


694) Name the world’s oldest-serving royal and the longest lived monarch who turned 90 on April 21: Queen Elizabeth II

695) The Department of Disinvestment has been renamed as Department of Investment and Public Asset Management or 'Dipam'. It is in which ministry: Union Finance Ministry

696) With which country India launched a $1 trillion Potential Solar Programme under the International Solar Alliance: France

697) Name the India’s first online interactive heritage portal launched recently: Sahapedia

698) Which UN agency organizes activities for promotion of World Book Day on April 23: UNESCO

699) Japan has become fourth country in world to successfully test its first stealth fighter jet – X 2. What is stealth technology: Ability to avoid detection by Radar

700) An Economist in the Real World is a book written by Kaushik Basu. Who is he: Chief Economist at World Bank

701) What is the full form of the word CORPAT: Coordinated Patrol (Indo-Thai)

702) The joint army training exercise, titled ‘Nomadic Elephant - 2016’ was held between which two countries: India and Mongolia

703) Scientists at which Indian organization have developed the world's lightest ever synthetic material called ‘silica aerogel’: Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

704) Govt. has decided to increase minimum wages of contract workers to Rs. _________ at the national level: 10,000/-

705) Which country has ordered a two-day working week for public sector workers as a temporary measure to help it overcome a serious energy crisis: Venezuela

706) Union Sports Ministry has decided to provide one lakh rupees per month to sportspersons preparing for Olympics under TOP Scheme. TOP stands for what: Target Olympic Podium

707) Govt has set up a committee headed by Ashok Dalwai, for what purpose: To suggest ways to double farm incomes by 2022

708) The government has made it mandatory that no mobile can be sold in India without an in-built ________button, starting January 1, 2017: Panic

MARCH – 2016

709) Indigo —Selected Stories is a collection of stories by which famous film maker: Satyajit Ray

710) 88TH Oscar Awards, 2016 were held in which city of USA: Los Angeles

711) The Oscar for the best director was won by the film ‘The Revenant’. Name the director: Alejandro Iñárritu

712) Film ____________ won the 2016 Oscar for the best feature film: Spotlight

713) The Oscar for the best actor has been won by ___________ for the film ‘The Revenant’: Leonardo DiCaprio

714) According to Forbes’ annual ranking of billionaires, __________ has been ranked at No. 1 in the world with a net worth of $75 billion: Bill Gates

715) __________ has been declared as the world’s number one airport in its category by the Airports Council International: Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi

716) Defence Ministry has issued an order worth Rs 22,000 crores for purchase of Chinook and Apache helicopters from which country: USA

717) What type of helicopter is CH-47 Chinook: Heavy transport

718) Vinod Rai, Former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) was in news recently for what reasons: He has been appointed as the first Chairman of Banks Board Bureau

719) What is the basic objective of the newly formed organization Banks Board Bureau: To approve the appointment of banks’ top executives and improve their governance

720) On which date we celebrate National Science Day: Feb 28

721) The National Science Day is observed on Feb 28 as on this day discovery of __________ was made in 1928: Raman Effect

722) Name the Indian scientist who won the Nobel prize for discovery of Raman Effect: Sir C. V. Raman

723) ________ has been declared as the first digital state of India for achieving digital connectivity of all villages and panchayats: Kerala

724) Govt. has launched _________ project to make all national highways free of railway crossings by


2019: Setubharatam 725) Which Union Ministry organized The Raisina

Dialogue, a project to explore prospects and opportunities for Asian integration: Ministry of External Affairs

726) What is the amount of cash prize given to the winner of Dada Saheb Phalke Award: Rs. 10 lac

727) Col C K Nayudu Trophy is associated with which sports: Cricket

728) ___________ won the 2016 C K Nayudu trophy: Mumbai

729) Finals of C K Nayudu trophy were held in ___________, Madhya Pradesh: Indore

730) Indian shooter ___________clinched the 50m pistol gold at the ISSF World Cup in Bangkok,Thailand: Jitu Rai

731) World’s costliest railway station was opened to public on March 3 in which city: New York

732) ‘Who Was Shivaji’ is a book written by which author: Govind Pansare

733) The United Nations has decided to set up 20 ‘Blue Dots’ in Europe for what purpose: As child and family support hubs for refugees

734) Which two UN organizations have been given the task of lookin after of ‘Blue dots’: UNHCR and UNICEF

735) On March 03 we celebrate which day associated with the wild animals: World Wildlife Day

736) Which animal is the main focus of 2016 World Wildlife Day: Elephant

737) Which UN body organizes the Zero Discrimination Day on March 1 across the world: UNAIDS

738) India observes National Safety Day on March 04 to promote which aspect of life: Safety awareness among people

739) Which Indian state has taken first of its kind initiative by launching the Air Ambulance in the state: Kerala

740) Ray Tomlinson, a veteran IT expert of USA passed away recently. He is known for invention of which IT application: E-mail

741) Which country won the both, men’s and women’s category in the World Table Tennis Team championship: China

742) Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur is one of the top civil honour of which country: France

743) Name the Indian industrialist who has been honoured with Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur:

Anand Mahindra, CMD 744) International Women's Day was observed across

the world on which date: 8 March 745) _________ is the first bank to get the licence for the

small finance bank: Capital Local Area Bank Ltd. 746) Govt has launched the new ____ colour scheme for

re-classification of industries based on the Pollution Index (PI) scores: Four

747) In the context of score on pollution index, ______ colour shows the highest level of pollution: Red

748) In the context of score on pollution index, ______ colour shows the lowest level of pollution: White

749) In a recent survey of 133 cities for cost of living, which two Indian cities figure among the most in expensive cities: Bengaluru and Mumbai

750) Lok Sabha passed a bill to amend the Enemy Property Act, 1968. It relates to properties of which persons: People who became Chinese or Pakistani nationals, after leaving India in the wake of wars fought with these countries

751) Indian GPS system-IRNSS is a setup of _________ satellites: Seven

752) India signed its biggest ever overseas credit line, extending $2 billion loan facility to which country: Bangladesh

753) Which Indian bank will look after the $2 billion loan line to Bangladesh: Exim Bank

754) Scott Kelly who returned to earth on March 1, completing 340 days stay in space, created which record: American with longest stay in space

755) As per new rules, unreserved train ticket for travelling upto 199 kms will no longer be valid after _____ hours of purchase of the ticket: Three

756) The first-ever auction of a gold mine in the country was held in Baghmara. It is in which state: Chhattisgarh

757) __________ has become the first state in the country to launch the HPV vaccine as a public health programme for school children: Delhi

758) What is the full form of HPV: Human Papilloma Virus

759) Ahmed Abul Gheit, veteran Egyptian diplomat has been named as new Secretary General of which international body: The Arab League

760) Irani Cup is associated with which sports: Cricket 761) Irani Cup 2016 was lifted by __________ team by

beating Mumbai: Rest of India 762) Govt. has launched Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana


for what purpose: To provide free LPG connections to women in BPL households

763) Justice __________ Chauhan has been appointed as the chairperson of the 21st Law Commission: Balbir Singh

764) What is the purpose of setting up the law commission: To review the existing laws for improvement

765) The government has decided to invest Rs 69,575 crore towards increasing India’s quota in which international organization: IMF-International Monetary Fund

766) Garuda Shakti was the joint army training exercise between ________ and India: Indonesia

767) Garuda Shakti joint military exercise was hosted by which country: Indonesia

768) Name the bill recently passed by the Parliament that aims to protect house buyers from the widely prevalent opaque and fraudulent practices in the real estate sector: Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015

769) The one million dollar prize for innovative teaching- Global Teacher Prize has been won by Hanan Al Hroub. She is from which country: Palestine

770) Santosh trophy is associated with which sports: Football

771) Santosh Trophy 2016 was won by _________ team: Services

772) ___________ of China won the All England Open Badminton Championship: Lin Dan

773) SEBI has disallowed which type of borrowers from making a public issue or acquiring another listed entity: Willful defaulters

774) Which Indian body won the Golden City Gate Award-2016: Kerala Tourism

775) ________ elected as the first civilian President of Myanmar to lead the country after 53 years of military rule: Htin Kyaw

776) ExoMars 2016, an unmanned spacecraft has been launched jointly by Europe and Russia for what purpose: To study the Mars' atmosphere

777) FSSAI has launched the 'Clean Street Food Project' in Delhi to sensitise the street food vendors about health and hygiene aspects of food. What is FSSAI: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India

778) World's first fully electric double decker bus service has been launched in which international

metro: London 779) Governor of the Central Bank of which country

recently resigned as the bank's account in USA were hacked causing a loss of over $100 million: Bangladesh

780) Gandhi: An Illustrated Biography is a book written by which author: Pramod Kapoor

781) Chameli Devi Jain Award are given for excellence in which field: Journalism by women

782) What was the theme of this year's World Consumer Rights Day: Antibiotics off the Menu

783) The World Consumer Rights Day is observed across the globe in March on which date: 15

784) World Kidney Day is observed globally on which date: March 10

785) Which global prize is famous as Nobel for Mathematics: Abel Prize

786) Abel prize is given by which country: Norway 787) In a study of 156 nations in the World Happiness

Report 2016, India has been ranked as ________ place: 118th

788) As per the World Happiness Report 2016 which country is the happiest in the world: Denmark

789) Indian Air Force conducted its biggest fire power combat exercise at Pokhran in Rajasthan on March 18. What was its name: Iron Fist 2016

790) The Pope Francis, religious chief of Christians, has announced to confer Sainthood on the social worker who spent 45 years serving the poor and sick on the streets of Kolkata. Name her: Mother Teresa

791) Michelle Yeoh has been appointed as United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador. Who is she: Famous action heroine of Malaysia-China

792) Name the American actor and activist who has been appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador of the UNFPA: Ashley Judd

793) What is the full form of UNFPA: United Nations Population Fund

794) Which railway station has stood first in India in terms of cleanliness, as per a survey conducted by the Ministry of Railways: Surat, Gujarat

795) The government has reduced interest rates payable on small savings w.e.f. April 01, 2016. Name two small savings schemes: Public Provident Fund, National Savings Certificate

796) __________Airport in Singapore has been voted the


World’s Best Airport for the fourth year in a row at the 2016 World Airport Awards: Changi

797) Railways have tied up with which organization to leverage the space technology for providing the passenger information in all trains: ISRO

798) Parsi Zoroastrians of India celebrated their ___________festival on March 21to mark beginning of their new year: Navroz

799) Who created history by becoming the first Indian athlete to clinch a gold medal in the Asian 20 km Race Walk Championships: Gurmeet Singh

800) 801) Which Bank has become the first bank to

commence the sale of Indian Gold Coin (IGC) in the domestic market: Indian Overseas Bank

802) What are the three weight categories in which India Gold Coins are available: 5, 10 and 20 gram

803) US President Barack Obama scripted history by becoming first US President by visiting which country after 88 years of strained relations: Cuba

804) The United Nations appointed 'Red' as an envoy to inspire climate action toward a sustainable and happier future for all. Who is 'Red': Leader of the "Angry Birds" mobile game characters

805) March 21 was observed as the ___________ day across the world to promote the importance of forests and trees in our lives: World Forestry Day

806) March 22 was observed as the __________ day with the theme Water and Jobs: World Water Day

807) The World Sparrow Day is observed across the world on which date: March 20

808) The World Meteorological day is observed on March 23 for what purpose: To spread awareness about climate change

809) 9th International Abilympics started at Bordeaux in France. Who are the participants in this: Skilled persons with disabilities

810) Which Indian city will host the eighth annual summit of BRICS from October 15-16: Goa

811) Which flower has been selected in a symbolic form as the logo for the 8th Brics Summit: Lotus

812) Govt has launched the new drug Bedaquiline to combat drug resistant form of which disease: Tuberculosis (TB)

813) _______was observed as the World Tuberculosis day: March 24

814) The Girl on the Train is a famous novel written by

___________: Paula Hawkins 815) Which country signed a MoU for construction of

six nuclear reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra: France

816) Name the govt. scheme that aims to achieve the objective of ‘Housing for All’: Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana

817) A financial assistance of Rs.__________ lakh will be provided for construction of pucca houses to homeless families in plain areas: 1.20

818) A financial assistance of Rs.__________ lakh will be provided for construction of pucca houses to homeless families in hilly and difficult area: 1.30

819) RBI has asked banks to pay interest on savings accounts on a ______basis or a shorter duration: Quarterly

820) Rate of interest on savings bank accounts in banks in India is decided by which authority: Banks themselves

821) Who is the only Indian leader in the world’s 50 greatest leaders list compiled by Fortune magazine: Arvind Kejriwal

822) India has started a new direct shipping service to Chittagong in Bangladesh from which port in India: Krishnapatnam in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh

823) Which bank has announced an initiative called iWork@home that uses technology to enable women employees to work from home for an extended period: ICICI Bank

824) According to the latest figures released by the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), ___________ is the top most country in filling patents: USA

825) The Telecom Commission has approved which number as a common number for emergencies such as police, fire, ambulance, etc. all over India: 112

FEBRUARY – 2016 826) What is the full form of EPFO: Employees’

Provident Fund Organization 827) The threshold for coverage of firms under the

EPFO has been reduced to _________ workers from 20 at present: 10

828) ICC has decided upon what new measures for the safety of the umpires: They will be provided by specially designed helmets

829) The Indian women’s cricket team made history by


clinching its maiden T20 series against which country: Australia

830) Name the author of the book Why we love the way we do: Preeti Shenoy

831) Nathuram Godse - The Story of an Assassin is a book written by which author: Anup Sardesai

832) What is the name of the book by Former President APJ Abdul Kalam based on his spiritual experiences with Pramukh Swami Maharaj: Transendence

833) What is the name of the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft which is about to replace the MiG fighters: Tejas Mark 1-A

834) The GDP growth for 2014-15 has been scaled down to 7.2% from the earlier estimate of 7.3%, by which Government organization: Central Statistics Office (CSO)

835) As per latest CSO data, per capita income during 2015-16 is likely to be above ________ thousand rupees: 77

836) As per a list compiled by Wealth-X in collaboration with Business Insider, _______ is the 2nd richest person in India: Ajim Premji

837) Henri Tiphagne, founder of NGO People’s Watch was recently awarded which international honour: Human Rights Award

838) Human Rights Award is given by which global organization: Amnesty International, Germany

839) Anti-Leprosy Day is observed on 30 January in the honour of which national leader: Mahatma Gandhi

840) What is the full form of NTPC Ltd: National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd.

841) Which country has produced the fifth-generation stealth fighter jet- X-2-‘Shinshin’: Japan

842) Which paramilitary force of India has appointed, for the first time a woman as its Director General: Sahastra Seema Bal

843) Name the newly appointed Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB): Archana Ramasundaram

844) Sahastra Seema Bal looks after the security of which part of border of India: Nepal and Bhutan

845) K Durga Prasad, a senior IPS officer has been appointed Director General of which paramilitary force: CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force)

846) __________ has been appointed as the Director General of Border Security Force: K K Sharma

847) Which global social networking application recently crossed the one billion user milestone: WhatsApp

848) President of India recently conferred the honorary rank of General of the Indian Army to Chief of Army of which country: Nepal

849) Which state won the 61st National School Athletics championship: Kerala

850) Dial D for Don is a book written by former Police Commissioner of Delhi. Name him: Neeraj Kumar

851) Ancestral Affairs is a book written by which author: Keki Daruwalla

852) World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern over the explosive spread of which disease: Zika Virus

853) As per recent market reports, which is the largest company of the world in terms of market capitalization: Alphabet

854) 2021 World Aquatics Championships will be hosted by _______city of Japan: Fukuoka

855) Which company has launched a 150-cc bike named ‘V’ that contains metal sourced from India’s first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant: Bajaj Auto

856) Men’s Singles Title in the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships was won by which player: Kidambi Srikanth

857) Name the veteran wildlife filmmaker who won the V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award: Naresh Bedi

858) Name the Indian film that won the Best First Foreign Film Award given by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics: Titli

859) D J Pandian, former Chief Secretary of Gujarat has been appointed vice-president and chief investment officer of which newly formed global financial institution: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

860) Which govt organization has launched the country's first anti-diabetic ayurvedic drug BGR -34 for Diabetes type 2 patients: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

861) For what purpose the Government has decided to infuse about 5,000 crore rupees capital in the public sector banks: To strengthen their balance sheet for compliance of Basel III capital norms


862) Hyderabad-based biotechnology research company Bharat Biotech has announced that it has developed the world’s first vaccine against which major disease: Zika Virus

863) Name the major employment scheme run by govt. that completed 10 years in February: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

864) Name the state that won the Dr BC Roy Trophy for the National Junior Football Championship: Punjab

865) The Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, led by ______, one of the biggest trade deals in history, was signed in New Zealand on Feb 4: USA

866) The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has barred telecom service providers from charging differential rates for data services. This is in promotion of which concept: Net neutrality

867) The eighth Delhi Dialogue was held in New Delhi to discuss politico-security, economic and socio-cultural engagement between the ________ and India: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

868) Reserve Bank has decided to undertake which step to check handling of customer complaints and how banks have implemented Charter of Customer Rights: Incognito visits to bank branches

869) Which country won the highest number of medals in the 12th South Asian Games: India

870) India emerged number one in the 12th South Asian Games by winning total _______ medals: 308

871) Name the ace Indian Shooter who won record six medals in the 12th South Asian Games: Chain Singh

872) 13th SAG will be hosted by Nepal in Kathmandu in which year: 2019

873) As per Swachh Survekshan-2016 conducted by the Quality Council of India to rank the Indian cities on the basis of cleanliness, _________ has been ranked no. one: Mysuru

874) Central Bank of which major economy has imposed, for the first time, a negative interest rate of minus 0.1 per cent for certain bank deposits placed with it: Japan

875) BAFTA awards 2016 were given away in London on Feb 14. What is the full form of BAFTA: British Academy of Film and Television Awards

876) Which film won the BAFTA award for the best film: The Revenant

877) World’s longest train route, running for 10,400 kms, starts from and ends at which place: Yiwu (China) and Bander Abbas (Iran)

878) What is the formal name given to this 10,400 kms rail route: Belt and Road connectivity initiative

879) Mr. Modi has been highlighting the 4D blessings of Indian economy. What are these 4Ds: Democracy, Demography, Demand and Deregulation

880) World famous Grammy Awards are given for excellence in which field: Music

881) 58th Grammy Awards ceremony was held on 15th February at which place: Los Angeles, USA

882) Grammy for Record of the Year was won by Uptown Funk by which artist: Mark Ronson

883) Taylor Swift won the Grammy for the Album of the Year. What is the name of the Album: 1989 Taylor Swift

884) What is the title of the latest book written by Shyam Bhatia, noted journalist: Bullets and Bylines

885) Leading gun-maker BAE Systems, the UK based multinational company has selected which Indian corporate as their partner for manufacturing M777 howitzers in India: Mahindra’s

886) M777 howitzer guns will be used as major weapon by which proposed army formation: Mountain Strike Corps

887) Govt. proposes to assign the security of which border area to Mountain Strike Corps: Mountainous borders with China

888) National Arogya Fair was organized to showcase and promote the strengths, efficacy and affordability of the AYUSH. What is the full form of AYUSH: Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy

889) First phase of world’s largest solar power plant, with a capacity to produce 580 mw was started in which country on Feb 4: Morocco

890) Name the batsman from South Africa who became the quickest and the youngest batsmen to score 10 centuries in ODIs: Quinton De Kock

891) Which global organization has released a report called 'One Humanity: Shared Responsibility': UNO

892) Which deworming tablet is provided free to


school and pre-schools children who fight worm infections: Albendezole

893) The Reserve Bank of India has released the Report of the Working Group (Chairperson: Prof. P.G. Apte) on which topic: Introduction of Interest Rate Options in India

894) What is the name of the 9th edition of India-Nepal Combined Military Exercise: Surya Kiran IX

895) Surya Kiran IX military exercise was held in which area: Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand

896) Indian and Chinese troops held their first joint tactical exercise “Sino-India Cooperation 2016’’ for what purpose: For joint operation on humanitarian aid and disaster relief

897) Which ministry has launched the 24x7 Toll Free Tourist Infoline in 12 International Languages to facilitate tourists: Union Ministry of Tourism

898) Government has launched ____________for prevention of AIDS in the 20 districts of eight North-Eastern states: Project Sunrise

899) Indian Oil Corporation’s latest oil refinery started production in Paradip in which state: Odisha

900) Government has decided to set up the National Organic Farming Research Institute in which state: Sikkim

901) Indian Army participated in the ‘Cobra Gold 2016’– the biggest multilateral military exercise. It was hosted by which country: Thailand

902) Golden Conch Award is given for excellence in which field: Documentary Films

903) Golden Conch Award is given at which film festival: Mumbai International Film Festival

904) What was this year’s theme for the World Cancer Day: We can, I can

905) In a global survey by Brand Finance for brand power, which Indian firm has been rated as the World’s Most Powerful Brand in IT Services: TCS – Tata Consultancy Services

906) Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has launched the BGR-34, country's first ayurvedic drug for treatment of which major disease: Diabetes type - II

907) In the anti-diabetic drug, acronym BGR stands for what: Blood Glucose Regulator

908) Aruna Sethi has been appointed as the first women head of the which all India administrative service: Indian Cost Accounts Services

909) Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Classical Music Award for

2015-2016 was conferred on Pandit Ram Narayan. He is a master player of which instrument: Sarangi

910) Parameshwaran Iyer, a World Bank’s water and sanitation specialist has been selected by the Indian govt. to head which major national mission: Swachh Bharat Mission

911) The app myCAMS has been launched for what purpose in context of mutual fund business: To facilitate paperless eKYC

912) National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has raised a special squad of which animal to boost its rescue efforts in earthquake hit areas: Dogs

913) Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai has issued ‘Geographical Indication’ tag for which item to 7 states in the Indo-Gangetic Plains: Basmati Rice

914) The first ever Petrochemical project in entire North East India was started in February in Dibrugarh in which state: Assam

915) The ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2017 will be hosted by ________________ in June 2017: England

916) The Indian government has finally sanctioned Rs.580 crore for the vital Agartala-Akhaura rail link with which country: Bangladesh

917) India’s first-ever Aviation Park will come up near Bagodara village in which state: Gujarat

918) What is the objective of setting up aviation park: To promote special units to manufacture spare parts for aircrafts

919) Scientists have detected for the first time, signals of ________________waves emanating from two merging black holes 1.3 billion light years away: Gravitational

920) Prediction about gravitational waves was made about 100 years ago by which great scientist: Albert Einstein

921) The gravitational waves have been discovered after decades of research by scientists at LIGO, USA. Expand LIGO: Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory

922) U K Sinha, the Chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) was in news for what reasons: He has been given extension for one year

923) Name the India’s first indigenously developed lightest revolver weighing just 250 gms: Nidar

924) Name the Bollywood’s popular lyricist who made


into the Guinness Book of World Records for writing the most number–3524 of songs for Bollywood films: Sameer Anjaan

925) Government has launched a Rs. 10,000-crore Electronic Development Fund for what purpose: To promote manufacturing in the electronics sector

926) Which country launched a massive military exercise – ‘North Thunder’ that included troops from 20 nations: Saudi Arabia

927) _____________ has been appointed as the new Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh: Kalikho Pul

928) Name the America's celebrated novelist whose 1960 masterpiece "To Kill a Mockingbird" was read by millions worldwide: Harper Lee

929) Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund was in news recently for what reasons: She has been re-appointed for a second five-year term

930) Amit Mitra has been appointed as the new chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST. Who is he: West Bengal Finance Minister

931) Name the New Zealand cricketer who smashed the fastest ever Test century in just 54 balls: Brendon McCullum

932) _____________, ace sprinter set a new national record in the 60m dash in 7.28 seconds at the 7th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha: Dutee Chand

933) _____________, has been appointed as the new Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai: K N Vyas

934) What is the title of the recent book by Jhumpa Lahiri: In Other Words

935) An Economist in the Real World is a book written by the Chief Economist of the World Bank. Name him: Kaushik Basu

936) Name the Indian film that won the 2016 Crystal Bear Award: Ottaal (The trap)

937) Berlin Film Festivals top prize for the best feature film is named as ______________: Golden Bear Award

938) The Golden Bear Award for 2016 was won by an Italian film. What was its name: Fuocoammare (Fire at sea)

939) The Mahamaham festival, celebrated once in 12 years, also known as Kumbh Mela of South is held

at which place: Kumbakonam 940) The book ‘Playing It My Way’ has entered the

Limca Book of Records in the category of best-selling books, with 1,50,289 copies sold. This is the autobiography of which person: Sachin Tendulkar

941) Government has launched a device developed by the CSIR –CEERI, Pilani, Rajasthan, named ‘Ksheer-Scanner’ for what purpose: To detect adulteration in milk

942) The Road to Resilience, a survey of the entire Indian coastline for promoting six coastal disaster management projects is an initiative of which global organization: World Bank

943) The survey of 230 cities for assessing quality of life by the global consulting firm Mercer has placed _____________at the top: Austria’s capital Vienna

944) Name the former Chief Justice of India who has been appointed as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission: Justice H L Dattu

945) Mobile app ‘Swachh Paryatan’ has been launched by which ministry to promote cleanliness of prime tourist destinations: Ministry of Tourism

946) As per a global study, India is the top importer of arms. Which is at the 2nd rank: China

947) Parliament of ___________ has become the world’s first parliament to run fully on solar power: Pakistan

948) RBI has extended the $2 billion currency swap arrangement to __________nations till mid-November 2017 to enhance economic cooperation: SAARC

949) What is the full form of the term IBSAMAR: India, Brazil, South Africa Maritime

950) The Indian Navy's first locally developed nuclear submarine _____________is now ready for full fledged operations: INS Arihant

951) Aryabhata award 2013, the prestigious honour by Astronautical Society of India has been conferred upon which scientist: Dr. Avinash Chander, former chief of DRDO

952) Goverdhan Mehta, renowned researcher in Chemical Sciences, has been honoured with the prestigious Cross of the Order of Merit by which country: Germany

953) Which Indian bank has won the Green Bond Pioneer Award for promoting Green


Infrastructure Bonds: Yes Bank 954) _________ has been elected as the new President of

world Football body –FIFA: Gianni Infantino 955) __________won the prestigious Ranji trophy cricket

championship defeating Saurashtra: Mumbai 956) Government plans to set up a dedicated, cross

functional team called Special Unit for Transportation Research and Analytics (Sutra) for improvement in which area: Railway

957) The innovative team Sutra is proposed to be headed by which person: Ratan Tata

958) The Union Cabinet has approved establishment of AIM and SETU in which organization to encourage innovations and entrepreneurship in the country: NITI Aayog

959) The acronyms of AIM and SETU stands for: Atal Innovation Mission and Self Employment and Talent Utilisation

960) Jnanpith Award is given for excellence in which field: Literature

961) Jnanpith Award is given for excellence in literature in which language: All 22 Indian languages approved by the Constitution

962) Name the winner of the Jnanpith Award 2015: Raghuveer Chaudhary

963) Shri Raghuveer Chaudhary is a noted novelist of which language: Gujarati

964) Vijay Hazare Trophy is associated with which sports: Cricket

965) Government has announced that taxpayers with an annual income of more than Rs. ______ lakh will not get subsidised LPG cylinders from January, 2016: Ten

966) Dr. Harpal Singh Kumar was conferred with Knighthood Honour in UK for what achievement: For his influential work on prevention and treatment of cancer

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