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Gyanm General Awareness September 2016 Issue..!!

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Gyanm General Awareness September 2016 Issue..!!

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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 2 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 3 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
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 4 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 5 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 6 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 7  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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 8 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 9 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 10 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 11 ‘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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 12  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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 13  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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 14 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 15 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 16 ‘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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 17 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 18 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 19  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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 20  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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 21 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 22 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 23 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 24  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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 25 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
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 26 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.
GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 27 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.
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Gyanm General Awareness September 2016 Issue..!!

  • 1.
  • 2. 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.
  • 3. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 2 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.
  • 4. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 3 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
  • 5. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 4 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.
  • 6. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 5 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.
  • 7. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 6 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.
  • 8. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 7  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.
  • 9. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 8 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.
  • 10. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 9 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.
  • 11. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 10 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.
  • 12. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 11 ‘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.
  • 13. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 12  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.
  • 14. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 13  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.
  • 15. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 14 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.
  • 16. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 15 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.
  • 17. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 16 ‘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.
  • 18. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 17 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.
  • 19. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 18 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.
  • 20. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 19  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.
  • 21. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 20  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.
  • 22. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 21 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.
  • 23. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 22 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.
  • 24. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 23 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.
  • 25. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 24  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.
  • 26. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 25 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
  • 27. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 26 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.
  • 28. GENERAL AWARENESS – SEPTEMBER 2016 27 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.