SPOTLIGHT

Monthly Current Affairs

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SPOTLIGHT – NOVEMBER
2020
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Table of Contents
NATIONAL NEWS ..................................................................................................................................... 4

INTERNATIONAL NEWS .......................................................................................................................... 52

BANKING AND ECONOMY ...................................................................................................................... 75

APPOINTMENTS ..................................................................................................................................... 96

IMPORTANT DAYS ................................................................................................................................100

AWARDS ...............................................................................................................................................105

SPORTS .................................................................................................................................................112

MISCELLANEOUS ...................................................................................................................................113

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 NATIONAL NEWS
1. Ministry of Ayush and Invest India have collaborated to set up Strategic Policy and
Facilitation Bureau to facilitate systematic growth of AYUSH sector.

2. Govt is planning to establish 14 more water aerodromes across the country under the
Regional Connectivity scheme – UDAN.
• A water aerodrome or seaplane base is an area of open water used by seaplanes, float-
planes and amphibious aircraft for landing and taking off.
• India’s first seaplane service and water aerodrome has been built in Gujarat.

3. Jammu and Kashmir L-G Manoj Sinha inaugurated the Mansar Lake Development plan for
rejuvenation of the lake, situated 62 kms from Jammu.
• The project will generate Rs 800 crore of income every year and employment of about 1.15
crore man-days.
• Wular and Dal are the other two major lakes of J&K.

4. Department of Pharmaceuticals has revised guidelines of the Production Linked Incentive

(PLI) scheme for promoting domestic manufacturing of bulk drugs and medical devices.
• The 'minimum threshold' investment requirement has been replaced by 'committed
investment' (which will be in accordance with the suitability of the company).
• The provision which restricts the sales of eligible products to domestic sales only (to make
a company eligible under the scheme) for receiving incentives has been deleted.
• Minimum annual production capacity for 10 products has been changed.
• The scheme has been extended by one year, till 2023 instead of 2022.
• Empowered Committees of the schemes, chaired by the Amitabh Kant - CEO of NITI
Aayog, reviewed the recommendations given on the scheme and prepared the final
guidelines.

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5. Telangana has launched the state’s first Rythu Vedika - an exclusive place for farmers for
meeting and discussing about crops, pricing and other related issues - in Rajanna Sircilla
district.
• Telangana’s Mission Bhagirathi was implemented in 1998 to ensure safe and sustainable
PIPED drinking water supply from surface water sources.

6. CJI SA Bobde has inaugurated India’s first ever e-resource centre and virtual court for
traffic and transport at Katol in Nagpur called Nyay Kaushal.
• Traffic challan cases of Maharashtra, e-filling of cases in supreme court, any high court and
taluka courts across the country – will be facilitated by Nyay Kaushal.

7. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of Indo-Israeli Centre of

Excellence for Vegetables Protected Cultivation at Khetri on the outskirts of Guwahati.
• Investment - Rs 10.33 Crore.
• Benefit - to provide exposure to latest Israeli technologies to state’s farmers to increase
their production and income.

8. INS Airavat has reached Port Sudan as a part of Mission Sagar-II.

• Mission Sagar – to provide food and aid to friendly neighbouring countries to overcome
natural calamities and COVID-19 pandemic.
• Mission Sagar Phase 1 – food and medicines were provided to Maldives, Mauritius,
Seychelles, Madagascar and Comoros by INS Kesari in May-June 2020.
• Mission Sagar Phase 2 – to Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea.

9. India’s first solar powered miniature train (2.5 km; 45 passenger capacity) has been
established at Veli Tourist Village in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
• An "Urban Park" and a swimming pool will be established at Veli, which is located on the
outskirts of the state capital where the Veli Lake meets the Arabian Sea.

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10. National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has released the "Estimating the
economic benefits of Investment in Monsoon Mission and High Performance Computing
Facilities” Report to evaluate the economic benefits of National Monsoon Mission (NMM).
• NMM was launched by the Ministry of Earth Sciences in 2012 to provide accurate
forecasts about monsoon.
• Investments of nearly Rs 1,000 crore in the mission has generated economic benefits
worth Rs 50,000 crore over 5 years.
• 98% farmers and 76% livestock owners made modifications based on the weather
advisories and enjoyed income gains.
• 82% of fishermen used Ocean State Forecast (OSF) advisories before entering into sea
and 95% of them avoided empty trips, which helped them save Rs 18.25 crores of
operational cost by avoiding entering into the sea.

11. 8th edition of virtual meeting of India-UAE High Level Joint Task Force on Investments was
hosted by India.
• The Joint Task Force was created in 2012.

12. India and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Troika held an annual Political Dialogue.
• India urged GCC to allow easy return of Indian professionals in the Gulf countries.
• Established in 1981, GCC is a political and economic union of Arab states bordering the
Gulf. It has 6 members – UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.

13. Union Cabinet approved the investment of over Rs 1,810 crore for 210 MW Luhri Stage-I
Hydro Electric Project on river Satluj which is situated in Shimla & Kullu districts of
Himachal Pradesh.
• Implementing agency - Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) on Build-Own-Operate-
Maintain (BOOM) basis.

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14. Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru and the Instituto de Astrofisica de
Canarias (IAC) and the GRANTECAN, S.A. (GTC), Spain have signed an MoU for
cooperation in the field of astronomy.

15. Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) and the United Kingdom
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (UKMHRA) signed MoU for
cooperation in the field of medical Product Regulation.
• Union Cabinet has approved the signing of this MoU.

16. Union Cabinet has approved the signing of the MoU between India and Israel for cooperation
in the field of health and medicine.
• Areas of cooperation – Development of human resources and setting up of health care
facilities; exchange of information regarding regulation of pharmaceutical, medical devices
and cosmetics; sharing expertise for vulnerability assessment for health of citizens against
climate risk.

17. Prasar Bharati signed an MoU with the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology (MeitY) to launch 51 direct-to-home (DTH) education TV channels.
• Parties to the MoU - Prasar Bharati and Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space
Applications and Geo-Informatics under the MeitY.
• These are DD co-branded channels, available to all DD FreeDish viewers.

51 channels bifurcated as:

Swaymprabha (22 e-Vidya for classes 1 Vande Gujarat (Govt. DigiShala under
channels) (M/o to 12 (12 channels) of of Gujarat) (16 M/o Electronics
Education) NCERT channels) and IT (1 channel)

18. Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, has launched the Nurturing
Neighbourhoods Challenge (NNC) and Data Maturity Assessment Framework (DMAF)
cycle 2.

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 Nurturing Data Maturity
DataSmart Cities
Neighbourhoods Assessment Framework
Strategy
Challenge - Cycle 2

• 3 year initiative; select • It helps cities to adapt the • The Smart Cities Mission
cities will receive data culture and self- launched the DataSmart
technical assistance and evaluate their current Cities Strategy in
help in capacity-building data maturity levels. February 2019.
for urbanizing the cities, • It assesses the data • For harnessing the
with a special focus on readiness of 100 smart potential of data to
young children and cities on 5 components – address complex urban
families. Policy, People, Process, challenges across 100
• The challenge will be Technology, and Cities.
open to all smart cities, Outcomes
other cities with more • Purpose - to improve the
than 5 lakh population, implementation of the
and capitals of states and DataSmart Cities
UT. strategy.
• It will run for six months.
• Cycle 1 of DMAF –
launched in 2019

19. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has formed a 4-member committee, under the
chairmanship of Shashi Shekhar Vempati (CEO of Prasar Bharti), to review the guidelines
on television rating agencies in India.
• The panel will also suggest steps for enhancing competition in the sector, among other
things.
• Background - Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) suspended its weekly
individual TRP ratings for channels in the news genre for 3 months in the wake of the fake
TRP scam (of Republic TV).

20. Indian Railways has partnered with Indian School of Business in Hyderabad to leverage
the use of AI and data analytics in its operations.
• A centre of excellence on AI and Data Analytics will be set up.

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 • A Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Assistance CTO in every zonal railways will be
appointed whose mandate will be to keep track of emerging technologies in analytics and
AI and use it in the rail system.

21. TRIFED and JD Centre of Arts (Bhubaneswar) have signed an MoU for conducting research
work on tribal art and tradition in tribal dominated regions of India.
• Purpose: to preserve tribal culture and tradition.
• Founder and Chairman of JD Centre of Art - Jatin Das

22. Union Cabinet has approved the signing of an MoU between the Ministry of
Communications of India and UK’s Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports
(DCMS) for cooperation in the field of telecommunications and ICT.

23. i-TIC Foundation (a startup support system at IIT-Hyderabad) and National Mineral
Development Corporation (NMDC) have launched an incubation and fellowship
programme called ‘NICE’ (NMDC Innovation and Incubation Centre).
• Purpose: to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in the country and to support the
Startup India movement.
• Tenure – 5 years
• Support – to be provided to 15 fellows and 15 startups in the form of funding, guidance, co-
working space and other infrastructural benefits.
• Budget – Rs 10 crore given by NMDC
• Modus operandi – five startups every year will be given financial aid of up to Rs 25 lakhs.
o Every year, five fellows will be chosen at monthly stipend of Rs 80,000 for 12
months.

24. The International Centre for Clean Water (at IIT-Madras) signed an MoU with DG TAKANO,
a Japanese firm, to introduce new clean water technologies in India.
• ICCW is located in IIT Madras Research Park.

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 • According to UNICEF, India is facing an economic burden of approximately $600 million per
year due to waterborne diseases.

25. Ganga Utsav 2020 was organized by National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
• The three-day Utsav marks the 12th anniversary of Ganga being accorded the status of
National River.
Launches in the festivals:
Ø ‘Ganga Aerial Movie’ was launched by the Jal Shakti Minister.
o Film was produced by National Film Development Corporation Ltd. (NFDC).
o Ganga film festival was also organized.
Ø German development agency (GIZ) has collaborated with NMCG for ‘Support to
Ganga Rejuvenation’ project, to bring behavioural change in the school children towards
conservation and rejuvenation of the Ganga river.
o Ganga Box, an innovative learning tool, was launched as part of this project by the
Jal Shakti Minister.
Ø Chacha Chaudhary has become the Brand Ambassador for Namami Gange Project.
Ø Urban River Management Plan Launched – A joint project between National Mission
for Clean Ganga and National Institute of Urban Affairs.
o It is a unique first of its kind strategic framework for managing urban river stretches
in the Ganga River Basin.
Ø NamamiGange movie on India Science Channel was launched.
Ø Mini Ganga Quest – organised by NMCG and Tree Craze Foundation (an NPO
committed to Ganga, Rivers, and Environment).
Ø Ganga Task Force conducted afforestation drive with NCC cadets and educational tour
for youth.

26. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the Virtual Global Investor Roundtable (VGIR) 2020.
• Organizer - Ministry of Finance and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.
• Foreign investments in India this fiscal at USD 35.7 billion was the highest-ever for the first
five months of a financial year.

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27. In April 2020, MyGov and UN Women organized the Covid-19 Shri Shakti Challenge to
reward women-led startups which provide innovative solutions to the problem of covid-19.
• Top 3 winners got Rs 5 lakh and the succeeding three got Rs 2 lakh.
1) Dr P Gayatri Hela – founder of
Bengaluru-based Resada Lifesciences
Private Limited
2) Romita Ghosh – founder of Shimla-
Top 3
based iHeal HealthTech Private Limited
3) Dr Anjana Ramkumar and Dr Anushka
Ashokan – co-founders of Kerala based
Thanmatra Innovations Private Limited
1) Vasanthi Palanivel – CEO & Co-
Founder of Bengaluru-based Seragen
BioTherapeutics Private Limited.
Next 3 startups identified as ‘Promising 2) Shivi Kapil is the cofounder of
Solutions’ Bengaluru-based Empathy Design Labs
3) Jaya Parashar and Ankita Parashar –
founder and co-founder of STREAM
Minds (an ed-tech company)

28. Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has launched the ‘Go Electric’ campaign in Andhra
Pradesh, in coordination with Andhra Pradesh State Energy Conservation Mission
(APSECM).
• Under the campaign, 400 EV charging stations will be set up in the state.
• Non-conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited
(NREDCAP) is the state nodal agency to set up charging stations.
• NREDCAP has entered into an MoU with EESL for deployment of electric cars. NREDCAP
has also signed MoU with different companies for establishment of charging infrastructure
in the state.

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29. Election Commission of India is organizing a 3-day International Virtual Election Visitors
Programme for Foreign Election Management Bodies and Organizations in the context of
the ongoing Bihar Legislative Assembly Elections.
• During the program, ECI will also highlight its flagship programme for voter awareness -
SVEEP (Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation).

30. First India-Nordic-Baltic Conclave was hosted jointly by the Confederation of Indian
Industry and the Ministry of External Affairs.
• Nordic countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden
• Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
• Nordic – Baltic cooperation is called NB8 format, where these 8 countries cooperate in
an informal and close way.

31. Bangladesh government signed an MoU with Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) and
Bexmico Pharmaceuticals (Dhaka based) to procure 30 million doses of 'Covishield' vaccine.
• 'Covishield' vaccine is developed by the University of Oxford in collaboration with
AstraZeneca and the Serum Institute of India (SII).

32. India hosted 5th Joint Working Group (JWG) on Coal with Indonesia through video
conference.

33. 4th high-level meeting of the India-OPEC Energy Dialogue was held.
• The meeting was co-chaired by Secretary-General of OPEC Secretariat Mohammad
Sanusi Barkindo, along with Dharmendra Pradhan (Minister of Oil in India).

34. Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane was conferred the honorary rank of
General of the Nepali Army by Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari.
• In January 2019, Nepali Army chief General Purna Chandra Thapa was also made the
honorary General of the Indian Army by President Ram Nath Kovind.

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 • Gen. K. M. Cariappa was the first Indian Army chief to be decorated with the title in 1950.
• General Naravane handed over the remaining Rs 5 lakh to 70-year-old Dil Bahadur
Chhettri (a lance havildar) for his bravery during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war.
• He was to be given Rs 10 lakhs. Out of which, Rs 5 lakhs were given last year.

35. Catalyst Management Services (Delhi) has launched COVID Action Collaborative (CAC) in
partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to
support India’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• USAID will provide $3 million over two years to support the COVIDActionCollab (CAC)
partnership.
• CAC is a people-centric, partnership led, multidisciplinary platform to support the most
vulnerable communities who have been disproportionately affected by the virus to survive
and thrive.

36. Kerala launched Green Innovation Fund, a fund-linked accelerator programme for social
impact start-ups to promote the social development of the state.
• It is a joint initiative of Kerala Startup Mission, Haritha Keralam Mission and United
Nations Development Programme, India.
• GIF is launched as part of the India High Range Mountain Landscape project.
• India High Range Mountain Landscape project is a UNDP’s program in India to
conserve the biodiversity in the mountain landscape of high ranges i.e., Western Ghats.
• Haritha Keralam is an Umbrella Mission of Kerala to address the issues of Waste
Management, Organic Farming, Water Resources Management.

37. Karnataka has signed an MoU with Tata Technologies Ltd to upgrade its 150 state-run
Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) into Vocational Technological Centres at a cost of Rs
30 crore each.
• Apart from Tata company, about 20 others companies will also be contributing in this
initiative as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

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38. National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), in partnership with American India
Foundation, Dell Technologies and University of Mumbai has launched ''Project Future
Ready'' to equip students with career skills.
• The project will target over 1 lakh students in Mumbai and Delhi-NCR, out of which 60%
are females.
• Skills will be provided through career mentoring, leveraging online skilling platforms and
providing market aligned skills training for employability and inculcating entrepreneurial
mind-set.
• NSDC will train students through its eSkillIndia platform.

39. “Sagar Kavach” coastal security exercise was conducted by Indian Navy and Indian
Coast Guard along with Odisha and West Bengal governments along the Paradip Coast of
Odisha.
• More than 10 departments, including Odisha Police, the local fishermen, the forest
department, and the port marine department, have joined the joint exercise.
• Similar exercise was conducted last month on Kerala and Karnataka coasts.

40. Elephant Rehabilitation Centre at Kottoor in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, is set to become

the world’s largest care and cure centre for elephants.
• The existing centre is being upgraded with various facilities, as per international standards.
• 50 elephants inhabit on 176 hectares of forest land in the Kottur forest area.
• Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board will fund Rs 108 crores for this project.

41. Airports Authority of India (AAI) signed an MoU with NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam (a
subsidiary of NTPC) for setting up solar power plants at AAI-operated airports.
• In the initial phase, NVVN will be taking up the projects at airports in Tamil Nadu and
Rajasthan.

42. Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) conducted a joint services exercise, involving
Army, Air Force and Navy of ANC, code-named ‘Bull Strike’ at Teressa Island.

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 • Purpose: to test synergy among the three forces in the wake of India-China standoff.

43. India CEO Forum on Climate Change was chaired by Environment, Forest and Climate
Change Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar virtually.
• Total 24 private companies signed a Declaration on Climate Change to achieve carbon
neutrality.

44. An Indo-Dutch centre of excellence (CoE) for vegetables and flowers has been opened in
Kerala's Wayanad district.
• Three Main Activities of CoE – open-field precision farming of vegetables and flowers;
production and distribution of quality planting materials to farmers; conducting training
programmes for farmers, entrepreneurs, and extension officers.
• The centre will also explore possibilities in agri-horti tourism in the district to transform
Wayanad into a hub of floriculture.
Interesting Facts:
This is the second CoE being set up under the Indo-Dutch Joint Action Plan, with
the help of Central, State and Netherland govt.
The first CoE for vegetables in Baramati in Maharashtra was opened in 2017.

45. Italian gas group Snam and Indian renewable energy developer Greenko signed an
agreement to collaborate on the study of hydrogen production methods from renewables,
on the design of hydrogen-ready infrastructure and its applications in industry and transport.
• Snam is among the largest energy infrastructure operators globally and one of the largest
Italian listed companies in terms of market capitalization.

46. First "Indo Italian High Level Dialogue on Economic relations" was organized by AIICP
(India-Italy Association for Cooperation and Partnership), in collaboration with Confindustria
and CII and Embassy of Italy (in India) and the Embassy of India (in Italy).

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 • In the past, Italian company Fincantieri has delivered two fleet tankers “Deepak” and
“Shakti” to the Indian Navy, in addition to the research vessel “Sagar Nidhi” built for the
National Institute of Ocean Technology (India).
• India and Italy adopted an ‘Action Plan’ for 2020-2024, which is based on four pillars
(political dialogue; economic engagement; partnership in the field of science and
technology; cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges).

47. Union Cabinet approved the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme worth Rs 1.45
trillion for ten more sectors.
• Earlier in 2020 only, GoI had launched PLI scheme for three sectors – mobile
manufacturing and specified electronic components; bulk drugs and active
pharmaceutical ingredients (API); and medical devices.
• Ten sectors:
Advance Electric Vehicles Air Conditioners, Electronic And Automobiles And
Chemistry Cell And Renewable LEDs And Technology Automobile
(ACC) Battery Energy Speciality Steel Products Components
Pharmaceutical Telecom And Textile Products Food Products Solar PV
Drugs Networking Modules
Products

• Total incentives under the PLI schemes – Rs 2 trillion.

• Employment generation – 2 to 3 lakhs direct employment over five years
• Biggest incentives – to automobile and automobile components sector (at over Rs 57,000
crore), followed by ACC battery (at over Rs 18,000 crore).
• Central Govt also approved 16 proposals from different brands, under the PLI scheme.
Expected investments in local electronics manufacturing from these proposals – Rs 11,000
crore; Expected production – Rs 10.5 trillion over the next five years.

48. Gujarat High Court has become the first court in India to live-stream its proceedings on
YouTube.
• The court had a division benched head by Chief Justice Vikram Nath.

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 • Bhavnagar will become the first Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) terminal in the world.

49. Kerala launched Parivarthanam scheme to help the fishing community by improving their
livelihood skills and enable their socio-economic upliftment through entrepreneurship.
• The scheme will promote processing and marketing of clean fish and its fresh products.
• Implementing agency - Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation (KSCADC).
• KSCADC and GoI’s Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT) will monitor
procurement and processing of fish besides ensuring its quality.
• Activities under the scheme – payment of a fixed price to fish-catchers as a fair
compensation, encouraging distribution of unadulterated fish online and offline, jobs will be
provided, migrants and school / college dropouts will be helped.

50. First online Indo-Africa Virtual Summit 2020 was organized by IMC Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (India).
• Both countries affirmed to enhance their bilateral trade to $100 billions and investment to
$100 billion by 2025.
• 12th BRICS summit will be held on Nov 17, virtually, under the Presidency of Russia.
• Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman participated in the first
BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under the
BRICS Russian Chairmanship.

51. 4th meeting of the India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation was held.
• Co-chair – Dr. S. Jaishankar and Mr. Teodoro Locsin Jr. (Philippines)

52. India – Italy Virtual Bilateral Summit was held.

• Italy will assume the Presidency of G-20 in December 2021 followed by India in 2022.
• 15 MoU/Agreements in various sectors such as energy, fisheries, ship building, design etc.
were signed coinciding with the Summit.

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53. India's first solar-based Integrated Multi-Village Water Supply Project (IMVWSP) was
launched in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The solar-based lift water supply project for 39 villages in Lower Dibang Valley district in the
state.
• Arunachal Jal Sankalp program was also launched to supplement the Jal Jeevan Mission
and to sustain the drinking water systems.

54. 15th Finance Commission (Chair: NK Singh) submitted its report titled “Finance
Commission in Covid Times” to President Ram Nath Kovind.
• The report lays out the blueprint for devolution of Centre’s tax revenue to states for FY22-
26.
• The report is in four volumes. It deals with a whole range of issues, including transfer of
funds to local bodies, disaster management grant, and performance incentives to states in
several areas including power, direct benefit transfer, and solid waste management.
Recommendations:

• States should get 41% of central tax revenues.

Set up Rashtriya Suraksha Naivedyam Kosh:

• The commission has recommended to set up a Defence and Internal Security Fund
(MDISF), to be called Rashtriya Suraksha Naivedyam Kosh.
• Fund amount during 2021-26 – around Rs 2.4 lakh crore (Rs 1.5 lakh crore from
Consolidated Fund of India and the rest by selling defence land and defence public-
sector enterprises).
• Maximum amount to be transferred to the fund annually – Rs 50,000 crore
Panel:
• The fund would be operated by a panel headed by the cabinet secretary.
• Members - secretaries of defence, home, expenditure and the chief of defence staff as
members.
Healthcare:

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 • State governments should keep aside at least 8% of their 2021-22 budget for building
healthcare capacities.

55. India and Maldives signed four MoU.

• 1st – for giving a grant of $100 million to Maldives for the Greater Male Connectivity Project
(total worth of the project - $500-million)
• 2nd – for cooperation in youth and sports affairs
• 3rd – for setting up soil and plant testing laboratories in Maldives
• 4th – for setting up a drug detox facility in Maldives.

56. Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Sirius, Russia launched ‘AIM–Sirius Innovation
Programme 3.0’– a 14-day virtual programme for Indian and Russian schoolchildren.
• This is the first Indo-Russian bilateral youth innovation initiative.
• Under the program, 48 students and 16 educators and mentors will create 8 virtual products
and mobile applications addressing global challenges in the backdrop of covid-19
pandemic.

57. Tezpur Litchi of Assam has been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

58. India’s longest single-lane motorable suspension bridge – named as Dobra-Chanti

bridge – has been inaugurated on Tehri lake, Tehri district, Uttarakhand.
• The 725-metre long Dobra-Chanti suspension bridge over the Tehri lake connects Pratap
Nagar town with the district headquarters New Tehri.
• Uttarakhand is the first state in the India to provide free internet to all government
colleges and universities.
• Uttarakhand foundation day is Nov 9, 2000.

59. Saffron Production under the National Saffron Mission that was so far confined to Kashmir
is now to be implemented in the North East. The plants are to be transported from Kashmir to
Sikkim.

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 • National Saffron Mission is a sub-scheme under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana -
Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sectors Rejuvenation (RKVY-
RAFTAAR).
• Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana was launched in 2007-08. It was approved as RKVY-
RAFTAR in 2017.
• Saffron Mission was launched to increase the production, quality of saffron and income of
saffron farmers.
• Saffron is cultivated in Kashmir predominantly. Pampore region is commonly known as the
"saffron bowl" of Kashmir.
• Kashmir’s saffron got the GI tag in May 2020.

60. Mumbai based research non-profit India Migration Now has released “Interstate Migrant
Policy Index”.
• The index measures the states’ performance in integration of interstate migrants.
• Parameters –
o Child rights
o Education
o Health and sanitation
o Housing
o Identity and registration
o Labour markets
o Social benefits
o Political Inclusion
• Top state: Kerala with 57 score
• India’s average IMPEX 2019 score for 28 states and Delhi is 37 out of 100, which indicates
the limited attention paid to integration efforts in destination states.

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61. Australia-India Water Centre has been inaugurated to foster research, education, training,
and capacity building on all aspects of water in both countries.
• Managing agency of the centre - University of Western Sydney (from Australia) and IIT
Guwahati (from India) along with 21 other partners from India and Australia.

62. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the viability gap funding
(VGF) for public- private partnership projects in infrastructure and extended it till 2024-25.
• Total outlay – ₹8,100 crore
• Sub- schemes: –
o Sub-scheme-1 – development of infrastructure for social sectors like waste water
treatment, water supply, solid waste management, health and education.
§ 30% by central government; 30% of total project cost (TPC) will be given by
state government/ sponsoring central ministry.
§ Eligibility - 100% operational cost recovery should be there.
o Sub-scheme-2 – pilot projects from health and education sectors.
§ Eligibility - At least, 50% operational cost recovery should be there.

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 § Central and state governments will give 80% of capital expenditure and up to
50% of operation and maintenances costs for the first five years.
§ The central government will provide a maximum of 40% of the TPC of the
project. In addition, it may provide a maximum of 25% of operational costs of
the project in first five years of commercial operations.

63. Odisha launched ‘Secha Samadhan’, a bilingual mobile application, to address the irrigation
problems faced by farmers.
• The CM also launched portals to provide online services for community lift irrigation
projects under Biju Krushak Yojana.
• Go Swift portal has also been improvised for fulfilling the water needs of industries.

64. International bird festival will be organized in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh in February 2021.
• It will increase eco-tourism in the district and attract tourists at Ramgarhtal Lake for bird
watching.

65. Rajasthan will sign an MoU with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Solar
Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to establish Ultra Mega Renewal Energy Power Park.
• The park will illuminate India’s border areas with Pakistan and ensure uninterrupted power
supply to the border areas.
• Expected Total Capacity - 8,000 MW (comprising a mix of wind, solar, biomass energy).

66. Odisha govt introduced fish and fish-based products in the diet provided by 50 Anganwadi
Centres (AWCs) of Mayurbhanj district.
• Target – children, aged between three and six years, pregnant and nursing women and
adolescent girls.
• Purpose – to reduce malnutrition.
• The state also signed an agreement with WorldFish for a five-year technical collaboration
to scale it up.

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67. Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has formed a 22-member inter-
ministerial committee for strengthening India’s capital goods sector.
• Purpose: to achieve $5 trillion economy and a $1 trillion manufacturing sector target of GoI
and to make India - the manufacturing hub for the world.
• Chair: Secretary, Department of Heavy Industries (incumbent: Arun Goel)

68. 13th Urban Mobility India Conference 2020 was organized virtually on the theme of
'Emerging Trends in Urban Mobility’ by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
• 14th Urban Mobility India Conference 2021 will be held in Kochi, Kerala.
• Awards given during the conference:-
Category Winner
Award of Excellence for Innovation in Urban Ø Bhubaneswar (Odisha) and Agartala
Transport (Tripura)
Award for commendable initiatives in urban Ø Bihar,
transport during the pandemic Ø Gurugram Metropolitan Development
Authority,
Ø Surat Municipal Corporation,
Ø Rajkot Municipal Corporation
Ø Emakilam Jolla Autorickshaw Drivers
Cooperative Society (Kochi)

69. Ministry of Finance has approved the creation of the first ever National Database of
Migrant Labour, seeded with Aadhaar.
• The idea of the database was first mooted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• Benefit – migrant workers can register their skill set on the portal which will help employers
to find the right person easily. It will also have other benefits like providing welfare schemes
or implementing social security initiatives, tracking movement of labour in situations like
Covid-19.
• Expected cost – around ₹650 crore

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 • Code on Occupational Health, Safety and Working Conditions enables the provision for
maintaining a database of migrant workers.

70. Ministry of External Affairs launched the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) report on
'Deepening Cooperation in IBSA: Perspectives from Key Sectors'.
• The report was prepared by the 2nd batch of Fellows under the IBSA Visiting Fellowship
Program.
• Research on cooperation at the UN, Intellectual Property Rights, Traditional Medicine,
Financial Sector Cooperation & Trade in Banking Services & Energy was assessed in the
report.

71. Manipur has launched an awareness campaign to protect Amur falcons (migratory birds).
• Amur falcons are the world’s longest travelling raptors which start travelling with the
onset of winters.
• They get their name from the Amur River that forms the border between Russia and China.
• Doyang Lake in Nagaland is the breeding ground for falcons. Nagaland is also known as
the “Falcon Capital of the World”.

72. Ministry of Food Processing Industry has provided 50% subsidy for air transportation for
41 notified fruits and vegetables from North-Eastern and Himalayan States to any place in
India.
• Airlines will provide the transport subsidy directly to the supplier/consignor/consignee/ agent
by charging only 50% of the actual contracted freight charges and will claim the balance
50% from MoFPI as subsidy.
• MoFPI had provided 50% subsidy under operation green TOP to Total in KISAN rail also.
• All the airports in North-Eastern states, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Union
Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are covered.

73. Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren has passed a resolution for the provision of a separate ‘Sarna
Code’ for tribals.

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 • The resolution seeks a special column for followers of the ‘Sarna’ religion in the Census
2021.
• ‘Sarna’ followers are nature worshippers who do not consider themselves Hindus and have
been fighting for a separate religious identity for decades.
• At present, they are not classified as a separate religious entity.

74. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) will organise ‘Bharat Darshan–
Dakshin Bharat Yatra’ from Hyderabad to Secunderabad from December 12 to 18, 2020.
• Theme of the yatra – ‘Show India to Indians’

75. India’s first sandalwood museum will be established in Mysuru, Karnataka.

76. Embassy Group has signed an MoU with Karnataka for the all-round development of children
in Bangalore.
• Target under the MoU - to provide infrastructural support and educational programs to 16
Government Schools to improve academic skills and to provide holistic learning
experiences to students.
• The MoU will be signed for a period of two years till 2022. This MoU is renewing the
previous MoU, which was signed on November 2018.

77. Haryana has launched 'Project Air Care', under which 65 state-of-the-art WAYU air purifier
units will be installed in locations with high Air Quality Indices (AQI).
• WAYU stands for Wind Augmentation Purifying Units.
• CSIR - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute developed the air
purifiers.
• The pilot project is being funded by the central government.
• Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies (based in Faridabad) is
also carrying out a similar pilot project in which air filter units called ‘Pariyayantra’ have
been mounted on the roof of buses.

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78. In a first for India, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (MMRCL) will lay vibration-
absorbing tracks on the Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Line 3.

79. L&T Construction (subsidiary of L&T) has won the contract to build India's longest river
bridge across Brahmaputra river.
• It is a 19-km long bridge, to be built along NH 127-B, to connect Dhubri in Assam to
Phulbari in Meghalaya.

80. Office of Registrar General and Census Commissioner has released the report titled –
“Vital Statistics on India based on civil society system 2018”.
• It is a compilation of data on registered births, deaths, infant deaths and still births with
rural-urban & sex-wise break-up and sex ratio at birth based on Civil Registration Records.
Key Facts:
• Registration of births
o Share of institutional births to total registered births – 83.1%
o The level of registration of births has increased to 89.3% in 2018 from 81.3% in 2009
o 13 States/UTs have achieved the cent per cent level of registration of births.
o Out of the total registered births, the share of male and female are 52.0% and 47.9%
respectively.
• Registration of deaths
o The share of Institutional deaths in total registered deaths is 33.8%.
o The level of registration of deaths has increased from 66.9% in 2009 to 86.0% in 2018
o Out of the total registered deaths, the share of male and female are 59.6% and 40.4%
respectively.
• Sex ratio based on registered births
o Arunachal Pradesh (1084)
o Nagaland
o Mizoram
o Lowest – Manipur

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81. India Customs intercepted an 18-tonne shipment of red sandalwood destined for the United
Arab Emirates, during a month-long “Operation Thunder 2020”.
• “Operation Thunder 2020” is the fourth in a series of “Thunder” operations carried out
annually since 2017. It was launched to curb the smuggling of wildlife and forestry products.
• It is coordinated by Interpol and the World Customs Organisation.
• It involves law enforcement agencies in 103 countries.

82. Central Government has allocated Rs 900 crores for the Mission Covid Suraksha under the
AatmaNirbhar Bharat 3.0 package (covered in PIB 247 in detail).
• This grant will be provided to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) for research and
development of Indian COVID-19 vaccines.

83. Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, has launched SafaiMitra
Suraksha Challenge for preventing hazardous cleaning of septic tanks and sewers by
humans and promoting their mechanized cleaning.
• The challenge aims to develop infrastructure for mechanized cleaning and capacity building
of workforce.
• Number of cities – 243
• Target date – 30th April 2021
• Prize money – Rs 52 lakhs (across all categories)
• Cities will be awarded in three categories:
o Population more than 10 lakhs
o Population between 3 and 10 lakhs
o Population up to 3 lakhs

84. 23rd Bengaluru Tech Summit (Asia's Largest Technology Event) was held on the theme
of ‘Next is Now’.
• PM Modi addressed it and highlighted the need to deploy Indian technology in overseas
market.

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85. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has revised the targets under the PM- Kusum
scheme (launched in 2019).
• Solar capacity production target has been increased to 30.8 GW by 2022. Earlier, it was
25,750 MW.
• Financial support has been increased to Rs 34,035 crores.

86. Save the Children, UNICEF and CHAI (Clinton Health Access Initiative) have partnered with
the Ministry of Health to launch a three-month accelerated campaign on awareness
generation and early intervention to curb pneumonia.
• The campaign has been launched as part of the SAANS (Social Action and Awareness
to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully) campaign, which was launched in November
2019.
• SAANS focusses on a three-pronged approach to protect, prevent and treat the disease
among children.
Facts about Pneumonia:
ª As per data from the Health Management Information System (HMIS), a digital
initiative by National Health Mission, out of 1000 live births in India, 37 children under
five die.
o In India, pneumonia contributes to around 15% of deaths annually of children
under the age of five.
ª Out of these, 5.3 deaths are caused due to pneumonia.
o With SAANS, the government aims to reduce pneumonia deaths by 2025 to less
than 3 out of 1000 live births.
ª As per HMIS data, Madhya Pradesh has the highest number of pneumonia-caused child
deaths, followed by Gujarat.

87. Lonar lake (Maharashtra) and Sur Sarovar aka Keetham lake (Agra, UP) have been added to
the list of recognised Ramsar sites.
• Now, India has 41 Ramsar wetlands, the highest in South Asia.

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88. PM Narendra Modi unveiled the “Statue of Peace” at the Vijay Vallabh Sadhana Kendra,
Jetpura, in Rajasthan’s Pali district to mark the 151st birth anniversary celebrations of Jain
monk Acharya Shree Vijay Vallabh Surishwer Ji Maharaj.
• This is 151-inch-tall statue, made of “ashtadhatu” (eight metals with copper being the major
constituent).
• Vijay Vallabh Surishwer Ji Maharaj (1870-1954) was a saint, philosopher, social reformer,
activist, and a freedom fighter.

89. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot observed the child rights week from November 14 to 20.
• The state announced the creation of the Nehru Child Protection Fund in the 2020-21
State Budget.
• Two new schemes — Vaatsalya Yojana and Samarth Yojana — have been launched for
orphan and destitute children during the week.
• A skill development and counselling centre for children was launched in Jodhpur.

90. Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), BSNL and Andaman and Nicobar
Administration signed a tripartite agreement for operation and management of Chennai-
Andaman & Nicobar Islands (CANI) Submarine Cable Project.
• The project was approved in 2016.
• It will connect to Chennai Cable Landing Station (CLS) with Port Blair CLS and seven
Islands viz. Swaraj Dweep, Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Campbell Bay, Long
Island and Rangat.
• Implementing Agency – BSNL; Executing Agency – M/s NEC Infrastructures India (P) Ltd
• Total project cost – Rs 1212 Crore.

91. Andhra Pradesh’s State Skill Development Corporation signed four MoU with IBM India,
Singapore Polytechnic International (SPI), India Tourism Development Corporation
(ITDC) and LV Prasad Film & TV Academy (LVPA).
• Purpose: to provide skill training to people.

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 • This is a step forward towards implementation of 75% reservation in jobs for locals in
industries in the state.
• Skill development university in Visakhapatnam and skill development colleges in every Lok
Sabha constituency, centres of excellence in IT sector will be built in the state.

92. Coastal Security Police developed the Kadalu App for fishermen of Udupi, Karnataka to
provide information about the weather updates and about places where fish will be available.
• The app will also help them in submitting information about their arrival and departure from
the fishing harbour. So that, the police have an idea about the number of boats in sea.

93. Asia’s first solar power-enabled Textile Mill – named as Jai Bhawani women's
cooperative textile mill – has been established at Parbhani district, Maharashtra.
• Chairman of the textile mill - Dr. Sampriya Rahul Patil
• The mill processes cotton to cloth. Parbhani is the leading cotton producing district in
Maharashtra.

94. Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced to constitute a 'Cow Cabinet'
for the conservation and promotion of cow in the state.
• MP has become the first state to have a cow cabinet.
• Animal Husbandry, Forest, Panchayat and Rural Development, Revenue, Home and
Farmers Welfare Department will be included in the 'cow cabinet'.
• The state has approved the anti-cow slaughter Act in 2004.

95. 56th edition of the TOP 500 supercomputers in the world was topped by Supercomputer
Fugaku of Japan, succeeded by Summit of USA at 2nd rank.
• From India, Param Siddhi-AI supercomputer ranked 62nd. It is located at Centre for
Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), MeitY. It has a 5.267 Petaflops speed.
• Pratyush Supercomputer at Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology was the second
highest ranked at 77th.

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96. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and Goa govt have signed an MoU to roll out
India’s first Green Energy Convergence Project in the State.
• Purpose - to generate Green Energy for agriculture and domestic purposes in rural areas
of Goa.
• 6,500 five-starred agriculture pumps will be distributed to farmers in the state and that in the
next one year four LED bulbs will be distributed per house.
• The state has set a target to generate 150 MW green energy in the next two to three years
and will also set up 100 MW solar power plants across the state.
• Goa has no power plant of its own. It gets around 550MW from the central grid.

What is a
• Convergence project – it
collaborates different ministries, convergence project?
schemes, and/or projects to achieve
the goal of one project.
• For ex: Smart Cities Mission is a
convergence project that converges
activities like development of road
infrastructure, tap water connections,
housing for all, internet, etc. (and the
respective ministries)

97. Mumbai has become the first Indian city to frame an urban plan with gender-specific focus-
land reservations which proposes multipurpose rental housing for working women.
• BMC’s planning department had earlier formed gender advisory committee with former
IAS officer Chandra Iyengar as its incumbent chairperson.

98. Asia Health 2020 event was organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
• NK Singh (Chair of 15th Finance Commission) highlighted the need of increasing the public
expenditure on health from 0.95% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5% of GDP by
2024.

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99. Karnataka Cabinet has approved to carve out Vijayanagara district from the existing Ballari
district.
• Vijayanagara will be the 31st district of the State.

100. Delhi International Airport Ltd (run by GMR Group) has become Asia Pacific's first
Level 4+ (Transition) accredited airport under ACI's Airport Carbon Accreditation
program.
• Airports Council International’s (ACI) Airport Carbon Accreditation program was
launched in 2009.
• Airport Carbon Accreditation (ACA) is the global standard for carbon management in the
airport industry to encourage and enable airports and its stakeholders to implement best
practices in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) management and achieve emission reductions.
Levels of Accreditation given by ACI under Airport Carbon Accreditation program:
Level 1: Mapping
Level 2: Reduction
Level 3: Optimisation
Level 3+ Neutrality
(Delhi Airport reached "Level 3+, Neutrality" in 2016, as the first Carbon Neutral Airport in
Asia Pacific region. This was the highest level of accreditation at that time and DIAL has
maintained "Level 3+, Neutrality" accreditation since then.)
Level 4: Transformation
Level 4+ Transition
(Level 4 and 4+ were introduced in 2020. These two Levels have been introduced to make the
programme objectives in line with Paris Agreement and to limit the increase of global average
temperature to 2ºC above pre-industrial levels and aim to not exceed 1.5°C.)

101. Phase II of Indo-German Development Cooperation (IGDC) project was launched in

Tripura to cover multiple areas of biodiversity and livelihood.
• Budget - ₹280-crore (Rs 200 crores to be given by KfW, German Bank)

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 • The project has been labelled as ‘Climate Resilience of Forest Ecosystems, Biodiversity &
Adaptive Capacities of Forest Dependent Communities in Tripura’.
• Phase I of the IGDC project in Tripura was launched in 2009.

102. 3rd Global RE-INVEST – Renewable Energy Investors Meet & Expo – was organised by
the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy virtually.
• Theme - ‘Innovations for Sustainable Energy Transition’
• Organizing partners - Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA)
and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

103. RailTel and Ministry of Railways have signed an MOU for the implementation of Hospital
Management Information System (HMIS).
• HMIS is an integrated clinical information system, for its 125 health facilities and 650
polyclinics across the nation to improve hospital administration and patient healthcare.

104. Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd (IndusInd Bank’s subsidiary) and Maharashtra
government launched the 'Maha Pashudhan Sanjeevani' program under the Mukhyamantri
Pashu Swasthya Yojana to provide livestock care.
• Under the program, all veterinary services will be made available for farmers at just a phone
call at the toll-free number 1962, which will be operational from January 2021.

105. Minister of Food Processing, Narendra Singh Tomar, launched the GIS-based One
District One Product (ODOP) digital map of India to provide detail of ODOP.
• The capacity building component of the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food
Processing Enterprises Scheme (PM-FME Scheme) was also launched.
• Under the capacity building component of the PM-FME scheme, training of Master Trainers
would be delivered through the online mode by NIFTEM and IIFPT, in partnership with
State Level Technical Institutions.
• The Master Trainers will train the District Level Trainers, who will train the beneficiaries.
Key terms:

33
 NIFTEM-National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management.
IIFPT - Indian Institute of Food Processing Technology
PM-FME – launched in 2020 under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

106. Indian Navy has received the 9th Poseidon 8I (P-8I) maritime reconnaissance and anti-
submarine warfare aircraft from the US (from Boeing company) under a USD 1.1 billion deal.
• It is the first of the four additional planes ordered by India.
• The aircraft landed at INS Hansa, a key naval base in Goa.
• India was Boeing's first international customer for this aircraft. The first P-8I aircraft was
inducted into the Indian Navy in 2013.

107. Union government, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, National Capital Region
Transport Corporation Limited and the New Development Bank (NDB) have signed a $500-
million loan agreement for the ‘Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System
Project’.
• Purpose: The project will provide fast, reliable, safe and comfortable public transport
system in the NCR.
• The loan has a tenure of 25 years with an eight-year grace period.

Financers of the Project:

Ø Total cost – $3,749 million

Ø NDB (US$ 500 million),
Ø Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (US$ 500 million),
Ø Asian Development Bank (US$ 1,049 million),
Ø Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (US$ 3 million),
Ø Government and other sources (US$ 1,707 million).

108. Bhubaneswar (Odisha) has become the first city in the country to get ISO certification
for its faecal sludge and septage management (FSSM) services.

34
 • National Policy on Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (FSSM) was launched in
2017 by the Central Govt.

109. India (PM Narendra Modi) and Luxembourg (PM Xavier Bettel) conducted their first virtual
summit in 20 years.
• Both countries signed three agreements –
o Luxembourg Stock Exchange with State Bank of India (SBI)
o Luxembourg Stock Exchange with the India International Stock Exchange (INX)
o LuxInnovation and Invest India – to support and develop mutual cooperation
between businesses, especially promoting and facilitating inbound FDI.
• First two agreements are for cooperation in the financial services industry for
maintenance of security markets in both counties with a focus on ESG (environmental,
social and governance) and green finance in the local market.

110. Central govt, Meghalaya state govt and the World Bank signed a $120 million project to
improve and modernise the transport sector of Meghalaya.
• The project will improve about 300 km of strategic road segments and stand-alone bridges
by using innovative, climate resilient, and nature-based solutions.
• The project aims to position Meghalaya as a major connecting hub for international
trade through the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and the Nepal Corridor.
• This operation will also support state government's “Restart Meghalaya Mission” to revive
and boost development activities affected due to COVID-19 pandemic.

111. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched a portal for defence land management
system (LMS) to bring greater transparency, efficiency and speed in dealing with land
management matters.
• For the first time, an LMS has been developed by the Department of Defence (DOD) in
partnership with the Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE) and Armed forces.

35
 • This is a technical support for this GIS (Geographic Information System) -based system has
been provided by BISAG (Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and
Geoinformatics).

112. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has exuded confidence of increasing the renewable energy
capacity of India to 220 GW by 2022, instead of 175 GW.
• The non-fossil fuel-based power generations is 134 GW at present in India, which is about
35% of our total power generation.

113. 30th India-Thailand Coordinated Patrol (Indo-Thai CORPAT) was held between the
Indian Navy and the Royal Thai Navy from 18 – 20 November 2020.

114. Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Bhutan PM Lotay Tshering launched RuPay
card Phase-II to allow Bhutanese card holders to access the RuPay network in India.
• Phase-I of the project was launched in August last year.
• Both countries also signed an agreement for cooperation for peaceful use of space.
• India will launch Bhutan’s satellite next year and for this, India is also training four
Bhutanese space engineers.
Additional Facts:
Ø In 2017, India had launched South Asia satellite to help regional countries boost their
telecommunication and broadcasting services.
Ø Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives are part of the
project.
Ø In 2019, India inaugurated a Ground Earth Station in Bhutan to help the latter use South
Asia satellite for Broadcasting and Disaster Management.

115. Delhi government signed an MoU with YuWaah initiative of UNICEF to provide jobs to 10
million youth through Delhi government’s Rozgaar Bazaar portal.

36
116. Delhi government has signed an MoU with Centre for Effective Governance of Indian
States (CEGIS) for carrying out a detailed study of measures for increasing state revenue,
eminently from taxes.
• Besides, Delhi govt has presented an action plan to reduce 90% of pollution in Yamuna
river by March 2023.

117. Indian School of Business (ISB) signed an MoU with the Indian Council of World
Affairs (ICWA) to work in the areas of diplomacy, culture, economy and trade, education,
international relations, sciences, social sciences, communications and the media.
• Also, they will work together for betterment of India’s relations with its global partners.

118. NASSCOM launched FutureSkills PRIME Beta Platform to impart skill education in
emerging new-age technology.
• Many technology courses will be provided at subsidized rates to learners.
• NASSCOM President – Debjani Ghosh

119. OshoCorp Global has become the first private company to receive order for
development and supply of specialised ammunition for T-72 and T-90 main battle tanks of
Indian Army.
• OshoCorp Global’s project cost is over ₹2300 crore.
• Name of the ammunition - 125mm APFSDS (Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding-
Sabot); used for destruction of enemy tanks.
• CEO of OshoCorp Global – Ashutosh Khate

120. Ministry of Earth Sciences has announced to launch ‘Deep Ocean Mission’ in 3-4
months for exploration of marine minerals, energy and diversity.
• Expected cost – ₹4,000 crore
• Targeted area – to explore India’s vast Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf.

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121. Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, Chaired by Ram Gopal Yadav, submitted
its ‘Outbreak of Pandemic Covid-19 and its Management’ report to Rajya Sabha chairman
M Venkaiah Naidu.
• The report dwelt on many aspects of health infrastructure with respect to Covid-19
pandemic and how the govt handled the pandemic.
• It is the first government report on Covid-19.
Key highlights:
Ø Need for increasing the healthcare spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2025, as instructed by
National Health Policy, 2017.

Ø Private hospitals charged exorbitant fees due to the absence of government guidelines.
Ø Need to counter bio-terrorism à viruses, such as the coronavirus, can infect large
populations and can be used as biological weapons.
o Therefore, bio-security should be strengthened.

122. 2nd edition of the India, Thailand and Singapore’s trilateral naval exercise SITMEX-20 was
held in the Andaman Sea.
• The exercise was hosted by the Singapore Navy. (1st edition of SITMEX was hosted by
India.)
• 27th edition of India-Singapore’s bilateral naval exercise SIMBEX-20 is scheduled to be
held in the same area from November 23 to 25.

123. India has become the 4th country in the world to have its independent Indian Regional
Navigation Satellite System (NavIC) recognised by the International Maritime Organisation
(IMO) as a part of the World Wide Radio Navigation System (WWRNS).
• IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system developed by India. It is
designed to provide accurate position information service like GPS.
• It could assist in the navigation of ships in the Indian Ocean waters up to approximately
1500 km from the Indian boundary.
• US, Russia and China precede India.

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124. International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), UNICEF India, Federation
of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India, Pregnancy and Obesity Nutrition Initiative
(PONI), Alive and Thrive, Nutrition International and ARTIST For Her (Asian Research &
Training Institute for Skill Transfer- Bengaluru) organizations have partnered.
• Aim – to strengthen the implementation of the POSHAN Abhiyaan or National Nutrition
Mission to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.
• These organizations will meet every month. The first deliberation on Obesity in Pregnancy
and Maternal Health in India, was led by Dr Hema Divakar, Vice Chair of the NCD
committee at FIGO.

125. As per the Mercom Communications India’s report, the solar capacity additions fall by
80% in the 2nd quarter of 2020-21 in India, in comparison to the same period last year.
• Actual solar addition in Q2 – 438 megawatt (MW)
• The country's total solar installed capacity was at 37.4 GW as of September 30, 2020.
• Q3 is expected to usher growth in solar capacity additions.

126. Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched “Abhayam” mobile phone
application to help women and children travelling in taxis and autorickshaws to raise an alarm
in case of any emergency.
• Andhra Pradesh is the first state to bring out legislation (Disha Bill) for the security of
women.

127. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has launched "Maha Awas Yojana" - a
new rural housing project - to build 8.82 lakh rural houses in 100 days period.
• Cost - ₹4,000 crore approx.
• Developer - Maharashtra's Rural Development department

128. Minister of Electronics and IT, Communications, and Law and Justice, Ravi Shankar
Prasad, has launched the international version of the Umang app - ‘Umang International’.
• Umang app was launched in 2017 to provide government services online to the citizens.

39
 • It is available on Android and iOS platforms and it includes services such as Aadhaar,
DigiLocker, PAN, EPFO, PAN and bill payments among others.
• Common Services Centres, Seva Portal and Rishta Portal services will be soon provided
through Umang app.

129. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has proposed the wind-solar hybrid parks
schemes.
• As part of the same, states will prepare the necessary infrastructure for wind power project
developers under the plug- and-play model.
• The total installed power generation capacity of the country is 373 GW, of which 62% are
thermal power plants.
• Sites have been identified across seven states — Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

130. L&T Construction has secured the contract from the National High-Speed Rail
Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) to construct 87.569 km of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High
Speed Rail (MAHSR) project, popularly referred as the Bullet Train project.
• Value of the project - ₹7,000 crore.

131. Indian Oil Corporation Ltd has successfully conducted a ‘Proof of Concept’ feasibility
study on ‘zero-emission electric mobility’ at one of its fuel stations in Bengaluru.
• This innovative solution has been developed by Hygge Energy - a start-up incubated by
Tech Mahindra.
• Oil India launched seismic survey campaign in the Mahanadi Basin at Kakatpur in
Odisha.

132. An MoU has been signed between Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and leading oil
and gas marketing companies for establishing 900 compressed biogas plant under SATAT
initiative at a cost of Rs 30,000 crores.
• Till now, 1500 CBGs have been approved (including the aforementioned).

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 • SATAT initiatives envisages setting up of 5000 CBG plants by 2023-24 with production
target of 15 MMT, with a total investment of Rs 2 lakh crore.
• Launched in 2018, SATAT stands for Sustainable Alternative towards Affordable
Transportation.

133. Karnataka signed 8 MoU with five Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) partner countries –
Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, and the USA – for cooperation in skilling, R&D, life science
and biotechnology, healthcare, aerospace and defense, education, sports, and automotive.
• Karnataka is slated to set up:-
o Center of Excellence for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (with Finland),
o Cybersecurity and Agri-Innovation (with the Netherlands),
o Machine Learning & Robotics (with Germany),
o Electric Vehicles & Medical Devices/Healthcare (with the USA)
o Center of Excellence for the Internet of Things (with Sweden)
• Fairfax County (Virginia) will facilitate the use of drones in areas of agriculture, military
surveillance and medical assistance, in addition to providing mentorship, and market entry
to the USA, for the Karnataka startups.
• Karnataka has released 'Bioeconomy Report 2020' which mentions the state’s aim is to
become a $50-billion bio-economy by 2025, from the current worth of $22.6-billion.
• National bioeconomy revenue target is $100 billion by the year 2025.

134. United Nations Development Program and Invest India have launched SDG investor
map report for India.
• The report represents 18 investment opportunity areas in 6 sustainable development goals.

135. Union Education Minister inaugurated 46 online AICTE Training and Learning (ATAL)
academy faculty development program to train teachers associated with AICTE in field of
technology.
• Under this program, 1000 online faculty development programs (FDPs) in over 100
emerging areas will benefit over 1 lakh faculty members.

41
 • Total cost for this year – Rs.10 Crores

136. Five technologies have been recommended by a Multi-disciplinary Technical

Committee, set up under the Jal Jeevan Mission to provide field level solutions to the states.
Technologies:
• Grundfos AQpure – a solar energy based water treatment plant based on ultra-filtration
• Janajal Water on Wheel – an IoT based electric vehicle based on GPS location to enable
delivery of safe water to the doorstep of households
• Presto Online Chlorinator – a non-electricity dependent online chlorinator for disinfection
of water for removal of bacterial contamination
• Johkasou technology – an inbuilt packaged black (sewage) and grey water (Kitchen and
bath water) treatment system having advanced anaerobic-aerobic configuration that can be
installed underground
• FBTec® – a site assembled decentralised sewage treatment system using fixed filter
media.

137. Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar joined the 2020 Afghanistan Conference,
organized in Geneva, virtually.
• Focus of the conference was “Peace, Prosperity and Self-Reliance”.
• India signed an agreement with Afghanistan for the construction of the Shahtoot Dam on
Kabul river (worth $250 million approx.) to provide safe drinking water to residents of Kabul
city.
• India will undertake more than 100 projects worth $80 million in Afghanistan.
• The conference was co-hosted by the UN, the Afghanistan government, and the
government of Finland.
• Till now, India has completed a 218-km road between Delaram and Zaranj (on the Iranian
border) to provide an alternative connectivity for Afghanistan through Iran; India–
Afghanistan friendship dam (also known as the Salma dam); and the Afghan Parliament.
• EU pledged €1.2 billion for Afghanistan over the period 2021–2025.

42
138. NITI Aayog has released a review report on National Nutrition Mission (Poshan
Abhiyaan), the world’s largest nutrition programme for children and mothers.
Key highlights of the report:
• The review report was drafted in March, therefore, it does not include the impact of
COVID­19. This is the 3rd progress report on POSHAN Abhiyan.
• The mission must be stepped up to meet the targets set by the Centre to reduce stunting,
wasting and anaemia by 2022.
• Complementary feeding of children should be focussed upon, on the scale of
breastfeeding à it can reduce 60% of the total stunting cases in India.
• World Health Assembly (WHA) has set a prevalence rate of 5% of wasting.
o India’s prevalence rate of wasting is 13.3% by 2022.
• India’s target of reducing prevalence levels of anaemia among pregnant women are
34.4% by 2022 from 50.3% in 2016 and among adolescent girls from 52.9% in 2016 to
39.66%.

Parameters Present Scenario Targets under Poshan

Abhiyan
Stunting and Wasting (U-5) 1/3rd Reduce by 2% p.a. (total 6%
by 2022)
Anaemia (children, adolescent 40% children (1-4 years) 3% p.a. (total 9% by 2022)
girls and pregnant and Over 50% (pregnant and other
lactating mothers) women)

139. Tripura launched the 'Mukhyamantri Unnoto Godhan Prakalpa' scheme to become self-
sufficient in milk production.
• Tripura government has decided to adopt a three-year plan (till 2023) to introduce sex
sorted artificial insemination.
• Purpose: to boost the milk production in the state by ensuring that more cows are born
through target chromosome selection.

43
 • The new scheme will achieve 90% cow births with the new system while the current method
has a varying mix of cow and bull births.
• Estimated cost – Rs 13.10 crore, shared by both state and centre on 90:10 share.

140. First cow hospital of Northeast, named as Surbhi Aarogyashala, was inaugurated in
Assam’s Dibrugarh.
• It was set up by Shree Gopal Gaushala.

141. Himachal Pradesh and Asian Development Bank (ADB), have partnered to improve the
infrastructure in Mandi district of the state.
• The estimated cost of the construction is Rs. 15 crores out of which Rs. 9 crores is being
paid by ADB and rest by the government of Himachal Pradesh.

142. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched a national portal for
transgenders which will help transgenders to obtain their transgender certificate and identity
card online.
• The provision of this portal has been provided in Transgender Persons (Protection of
Rights) Act, 2019.
• Also, a shelter home for transgenders, named as Garima Graha has been inaugurated in
Vadodra, Gujarat. The shelter home will be run in collaboration with Lakshay trust (a
community based organization run by transgenders).
• Besides providing shelter to the transgenders, it will provide support for the capacity-
building/skill development of transgender persons in the Community.

143. India is in discussion with Australia and Indonesia for starting a trilateral exercise.
• Also, France has shown keen interest in joining the India-Australia’s naval exercise named
as AUSINDEX.

144. Indian Navy has inducted two drones – MQ-9B Sea Guardian. They are brought on lease
from the US for one year.

44
 • The Guardian is the naval version of the Predator MQ-9 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).

145. DRDO has flagged off the first Varunastra (the heavy weight torpedo). It was delivered to
the Indian Navy.
• Varunastra, the heavy weight torpedo, has been designed and developed by NSTL,
Visakhapatnam.

146. India has recently established its first moss garden at Kumaon’s Nainital district,
Uttarakhand.
• Water Man of India, Rajendra Singh, lauded the efforts of Uttarakhand Forest
Department.

147. Prime minister Narendra Modi launched ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ (tap water to every
household) for Sonbhadra and Mirzapur in Vindhya region of Uttar Pradesh.
• Budget – over Rs 5,000 crore
• Areas – over 41 lakh villagers in two districts.

148. India and Finland has signed an MoU for cooperation in the field of Environment
protection and biodiversity conservation.
• Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has announced that India will achieve its
target of reducing 35% emissions intensity of its GDP well before the year 2030.
• India has already achieved its voluntary target of reducing emissions intensity of its GDP by
21% over 2005 levels by 2020.
• Emission intensity means the volume of emissions per unit of GDP.
India’s goals set under Nationally Determined Contributions, under the Paris Agreement.
• First is reduction in the emissions intensity of GDP by 33 to 35% by 2030 from 2005
level.
• Second is achieving about 40% cumulative electricity from non-fossil fuel based energy
resources by 2030.

45
 • Third is creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide
equivalent through additional forest and tree cover by 2030.

149. Himachal Pradesh has launched ‘Him Suraksha Abhiyan’ to create awareness about the
Covid-19 pandemic.
• Information regarding symptoms of diseases like TB, Leprosy, sugar and blood pressure
will be collected by door to door campaign throughout the State.

150. NITI Aayog has formed a high-level panel, chaired by V.K. Saraswat, to explore the
technological and commercial viability of the Virgin Hyperloop technology for ultrahigh speed
travel in India.

151. Karnataka’s Haveri station has been renamed as ‘Mahadevappa Mailara Railway
Station’.
• Earlier, Karnataka’s Hubballi railway station has been renamed as Sri Siddharoodha
Swami Railway Station.

152. FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) has signed an MoU with Incubation & Enterprise
Support Centre (IESC), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Shillong.
• Purpose: to provide training to budding women entrepreneurs.
• FLO President – Jahnabi Phookan

153. Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) will soon become a
National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) centre.
• IMAC became operation in 2014 in Gurgaon, Haryana for linking the maritime data to
prevent repetition of acts like 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
• IMAC is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communication and
Intelligence System (NC3I), which was established to link the operational centres of the
Navy and the Coast Guard.

46
154. Rajasthan govt has signed an MoU with United Nations’ World Food Programme (UN-
WFP) to achieve the sustainable development goals.
• On the basis of this MoU, Rajasthan has also signed a letter of understanding with the
UN-WFP for achieving the food and nutrition security goals.

155. India observed its 71st Constitution Day / Samvidhan Divas on November 26, 2020. On
this day, constitution was adopted by the constituent assembly in 1949.

Highlights:

A) Dr Ambedkar International Centre (under M/o Social Justice) produced a documentary

on constitution titled as “Illustrations and Calligraphy in the Constitution of India”.
B) iOS version of Nyaya Bandhu Application and its onboarding on UMANG platform (of
MeiTY) was launched.
§ The app works on the mandate of Article 39A of the Constitution of India to provide
Free legal aid and Access to Justice to all.
§ Department of Justice (M/o of Law & Justice) and CSC e- Governance Services
launched the app in 2017.
C) J&K L-G Manoj Sinha launched the special postal covers featuring ''kangri'' and
''kehwa'' to promote the culture of J&K. Kangri is a pot used to keep body warm while
kehwa is a tea consumed in J&K.
D) 80th All India Presiding Officers Conference at Kevadia, Gujarat, was organized.
§ All India Presiding Officers Conference began in 1921, and this Gujarat event marks
its centenary year.
§ Theme of this year's conference - ‘Harmonious Coordination between Legislature,
Executive and Judiciary- Key to a Vibrant Democracy’.
§ An Exhibition on the Constitution Day was organized by the Bureau of Outreach
Communication (Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) and Parliamentary
Museum and Archives during this conference.
§ While addressing the event, PM Narendra Modi called for “One Nation, One
Election” and a single voter list for all polls in order to prevent the impact of the

47
 model code of conduct on development works every few months due to frequent
polls.

156. Union Cabinet has approved an MoU signed between BRICS countries on cooperation in
the field of physical culture and sports.
• BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – together represent about 42% of
the world’s population, 23% of world’s GDP, 30% of world’s territory and 18% of the global
trade. (percentages are approximate figures.)

157. Union Cabinet has approved an MoU between the Institute of Chartered Accountants
of India (ICAI) and the Netherlands-based Vereniging van Registercontrollers (VRC).
• Purpose – to strengthen and develop accounting, financial and audit knowledge base
between the Netherlands and India.

158. Ministry of Agriculture has approved setting up of five Farmer Producer Organisations
(FPOs) for producing honey.
• These FPOs will be set up with the help of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing
Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) in:
o East Champaran (Bihar),
o Morena (Madhya Pradesh),
o Bharatpur (Rajasthan),
o Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)
o Sunderbans (West Bengal)
• For the current financial year, the govt has approved to set up 2200 FPOs.

159. Union Environment Ministry has approved the construction of Song Dam Drinking
Water Project, worth Rs 1,100 crore, in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
• Built on Song river, it will supply electricity to Dehradun city.

48
160. India and Vietnamese defence ministers held bilateral discussions for collaboration in
defence sector.
• Vietnamese Defence Minister (General Ngo Xuan Lich) invited Rajnath Singh for ASEAN
Defence Ministers Meeting Plus being hosted by Vietnam on December 10 through
virtual mode.
• National Hydrographic Office (India) and Vietnam Hydrographic Office signed an
arrangement for cooperation in the field of Hydrography by sharing hydrographic data
and jointly producing navigational charts.
What is ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus?
• DMM-Plus is a platform for ASEAN and its eight Dialogue Partners Australia, China,
India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States (collectively
referred to as the “Plus Countries”).
• This network was set up to strengthen security and defence cooperation for peace,
stability, and development in the region. Its Inaugural ADMM-Plus was convened in
Hanoi, Viet Nam in 2010.

161. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar,
launched the “India Climate Change Knowledge Portal”.
• The knowledge portal will help in providing knowledge among citizens about all the major
steps Government is taking at both national and international levels to address climate
change issues.
• The eight major components included in the knowledge portal are:
o India’s Climate Profile
o National Policy Framework
o India’s NDC goals
o Adaptation Actions
o Mitigation Actions
o Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation
o International Climate Negotiations
o Reports & Publications

49
162. 4th National Security Adviser-level trilateral Maritime Security Cooperation meeting
was hosted by Sri Lanka in Columbo.
• Participants – India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives
• From India, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval attended it.

163. India and USA have extended the MoU for cooperation on nuclear energy for 10 more
years.
• The extension was signed at Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership (set up in
2010) in Haryana, India.

164. UP’s Ayodhya Airport will be renamed as Maryada Purushottam Sri Ram Airport.

165. Largest solar project at a high altitude in the entire Leh in Ladakh has been established at
IAF Station Leh.
• The project is named as 'Provision of Solar Photo Voltaic Powerplant 1.5 MW'.

166. India and Australia are establishing temporary ground station tracking facilities for
India’s Gaganyaan Mission.
• This effort is a part of the MoU signed between India and Australia for space cooperation in
2012.

167. UNDP Accelerator Lab India launched the Grassroot Innovation Database (GRID) to
foster inclusive development at the community-level.
• GRID contains 1,500 solutions, which can be implemented at the community-level. These
solutions have been developed by grassroot communities, individuals, start-ups, students
and other innovators from various states across India.
• GRID has been co-created for public use by GIAN (Grassroots Innovation Augmentation
Network), Honey Bee Network Institution and UNDP- Accelerator Lab-India.

50
168. Sri Aurobindo society has organized a virtual conference on “Empowering through
Zero – Shunya se Sashaktikaran” to honour teachers for their innovative practices during
COVID 19 pandemic.
• It was attended by Union education minister, where he honoured 40 education officers and
26 teachers.
• The minister also launched 'Innovation and Leadership Casebook - Covid Edition'.

169. IBM has collaborated with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
(MeitY) to create a robust education and skilling ecosystem through the Common Services
Centre Academy.
• CSC Academy and IBM, along with implementation partners CSR Box, Uva Jagriti
Sansthan and Jeevitam will boost the capability and development of learners.
• IBM will provide content from its key skilling programs - SkillsBuild and STEM for Girls.

170. 3rd edition of Global Renewable energy investment meeting and expo (Re-Invest)
2020 was held to enhance the efforts to scale up the development and deployment of
renewable energy.
• Organizer – Ministry of new and renewable energy
• Theme – “Innovations for sustainable energy transitions”

171. Sahakar Pragya program of National Cooperative Development Corporation has been
launched to impart training to primary cooperative societies in rural areas of the country.
• The training will be provided through 18 regional training centres across the country by
Lakshmanrao Inamdar National Cooperative Research and Development Academy
(Linac), set up and fully funded by NCDC.
• There will be 45 training modules under the program.

172. For the first time, Gujarat govt entered into a public private partnership (PPP) project
with Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for the rescue and rehabilitation of Leopards.

51
 • 12 leopards have been transferred from the Sakkar Baug Zoological Park, Junagadh to a
private rescue and rehabilitation centre in Jamnagar near RIL’s oil refinery complex.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
1. BRICS Business Forum was held virtually. The forum was set up in 2013 during the BRICS
Summit in Durban, South Africa.
• Theme - BRICS business partnership: common vision for sustainable inclusive
development.

2. World's Strongest Storm - Typhoon Goni has hit Philippines.

3. Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH – launched in 2005 by WHO)
has released its strategy for 2021-25.
• PMNCH is the world’s largest alliance for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health
and well-being. India is also a partner in this alliance.
• The report highlighted the inequities among the health services, which has been increased
manifold by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Facts:
ª Approximately 80 million babies risk missing routine immunizations.
ª Over 90% of students worldwide have been affected by school closures à INDICATES
the reversal of progress achieved towards health-related and other SDGs.
ª Global maternal mortality ratio is estimated to have fallen by 38% between 2000 and 2017.
o MMR in the least-developed countries is more than 40 times higher than in Europe.
ª According to the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission, contraception for 214 million women
in developing regions would avert 67 million unintended pregnancies annually.
ª Depressive disorders are the leading non-fatal health issue among females aged 15-19
years (2016) and suicide is a key public health concern for all adolescents.

52
4. According to a WWF (World Wide Fund For Nature) Water Risk Filter, 100 cities are
expected to suffer the biggest rise in water risk by 2050.
• These cities are home to 350 million people.
• Nearly 50 cities in China, and 30 are in India. Jaipur topped the list of Indian cities,
followed by Indore and Thane.
• Cities across India have been facing acute shortage of water due to rapid urbanization,
climate change and lack of appropriate infrastructure.
• Globally, populations in areas of high-water risk could rise from 17% in 2020 to 51% by
2050.
• Solution - Conserving sustainable water infrastructure and rejuvenating urban freshwater
systems. Urban planning and wetland conservation needs to be integrated to ensure zero
loss of freshwater systems in urban areas.

5. United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted two nuclear resolutions sponsored
by India.
• ''Convention on the Prohibition of the use of Nuclear Weapons'' – tabled in 1982 to
prohibit the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances.
• ''Reducing Nuclear Danger'' – tabled in 1998 to reduce the risks arising out of the
unintentional or accidental use of nuclear weapons and underscores the need for a review
of nuclear doctrines.

6. Nation Brand Index 2020 has been released by Ipsos (market research firm) and Simon
Anholt (an authority on national image).
• Total – 50 countries
• Parameters – exports, governance, culture, people, tourism, immigration & investment
• Top – Germany
• India’s rank – 34th
• US – 10th in 2020; down from 6th rank in 2019
• China – 35th in 2020; down from 23 in 2019

53
 • About India – Positive: strong cultural heritage, exports, contribution to science and
technology. Negative: governance and people; friendliness of Indians and the way Indians
feel about the environment.
o A powerful and positive brand image of a nations feeds directly into more tourism,
more trade, more talent and more investment.

7. 40th meeting of the SAARC FINANCE Governors’ Group was chaired by RBI Governor
Shaktikant Das.
• SAARCFINANCE is a network of central bank governors and finance secretaries of the
SAARC region.
• The Reserve Bank of India is the current chair of SAARCFINANCE.

8. Bangladesh and US Navies launched the ‘Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training’
(CARAT) Bangladesh 2020.

9. Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) has created two secure and flexible
services to facilitate cybercrime related communication among law enforcement agencies and
other stakeholders.

54
 • Two services - Cybercrime Collaborative Platform-Operation and Cybercrime Knowledge
Exchange.
Interpol:
HQ – Lyon, France
Members – 194
Secretary-General – Jürgen
Stock

10. 14th edition of World Oil Outlook 2020 (WOO) was released by OPEC. For the first time, the
outlook is extended to 2045.
• Global primary energy demand is forecast to increase by a significant 25% in the period to
2045.
• Oil will have the largest share of the energy mix, accounting for a 27% share in 2045.
• Natural gas will remain the second-largest contributor to the energy mix in 2045 at
25%.
• Globally, oil demand is projected to increase from nearly 100 mb/d in 2019 to around 109
mb/d in 2045.
• India is expected to be the largest contributor to incremental demand, adding around
6.3 mb/d between 2019 and 2045.

According to oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s share of global energy consumption was set
to rise from the current 7% to 12% by 2050.

11. US President-elect Joe Biden has announced a 12-member coronavirus task force to
assuage the impact of Covid-19 on US economy.
• Chairs – former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, David Kessler and Marcella Nunez-Smith.

12. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations launched a Food Coalition
to help countries get back on track to achieve the SDGs on ending hunger and poverty.
• Proposed by – Italy

55
 • Led by – FAO
• Purpose – It will ensure food access and increase the resilience of agricultural food
systems in response to COVID-19.
Mobilising
resources,
expertise and
innovation
Expanding Advocating for a
international joint and
cooperation and coordinated
partnership for a Food COVID-19 response
longer term impact Coalition
Objectives

Promoting
Working towards dialogue and
solution-oriented exchange of
plans and knowledge and
programmes expertise among
countries

13. Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project – world’s largest visible-light telescope – is being built
at Mauna kea island in Hawaii.
• Developers – US (California Institute of Technology (CalTech) and University of California),
Canada, Japan, China, and India (through the Department of Science and Technology
and Department of Atomic Energy).
• Indian researchers collaborated with Nobel laureate of Physics in 2020 – Prof. Andrea
Ghez – for the design of the back-end instruments.

14. 20th Summit of SCO Council of Heads of State (at Prime Ministers / President level) was
held on November 10, 2020 (in Video Conference Format).
• Chair – Russia (President Vladimir Putin).
Outcome of this summit:

56
 • India has also proposed to set up a Special Working Group on Innovation and
Startups and a Sub Group on Traditional Medicine within SCO.
• India, as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, will focus on the theme of ‘reformed
multilateralism’ to bring about desirable changes in global governance.
About SCO:
• 19th Summit of SCO Heads of Governments (Host: India) will be held on November
30, 2020 in virtual format.
• Current Chair of SCO for 2020 – Russia
• Chair of SCO for 2021 – Republic of Tajikistan (President: Emomali Rahmon)
• SCO summit is organized at two levels – Heads of Governments and Heads of State.
• SCO’s Heads of State Council is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO.
• SCO Council of Heads of Government is the second-highest council in the
organisation.
• SCO's official languages are Russian and Chinese.
SCO in 2021:
• 2021 is the “SCO Year of Culture” as SCO observes its 20th anniversary.
• In 2021, National Museum of India will organize the first SCO exhibition on Shared
Buddhist Heritage. India will also organize the SCO Food Festival next year and
undertake the translation of Ten regional language literary works into Russian and
Chinese.

15. 37th ASEAN Summit was held on November 11, 2020, under the chairmanship of Vietnam,
in Hanoi.
• Theme - “Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN”
• Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been signed by Australia,
China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand and 10 ASEAN countries to set up the world’s
largest trading bloc. It will be ratified soon.
• RPEC also includes intellectual property. Environmental protections and labour rights are
not part of the pact.

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 Other Summits in Hanoi (Nov 12-15):
ª 23rd ASEAN Plus Three Summit (including ASEAN members, China, Japan, and Korea)
o Chair – Nguyen Xuan Phuc, PM of Vietnam, in his capacity as the Chair of
ASEAN;
ª 15th East Asia Summit – chaired by Vietnam PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc in his capacity as
chair of the ASEAN.
o The summit observed the 15th Anniversary of the East Asia Summit.
ª 4th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit
ª Summits with Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the
United Nations, and the United States

16. China has successfully launched “the world's first 6G satellite" named as UESTC into
space to test the technology from its Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the Shanxi Province.
• It is named after its developer i.e., University of Electronic Science and Technology of
China.

17. A review of BMI (Body Mass Index) level of school aged children and adolescents (aged 5 –
19) of various countries has been published in The Lancet (International Journal).
• Total – 200 countries and territories
• Top – Netherland (tallest boys and girls)
• Highest mean BMI – Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain for both boys and girls and
South Africa for girls.
• Lowest mean BMI – India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste (for both boys and girls)
• India’s rank – 196
• Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from
1985 to 2019 were assessed in this review.
India specific data –

• India’s boys have an average height of 5.46 feet (rank – 180th)

• India’s girls have an average height of 5.06 feet (rank – 182th)

58
 • India’s 19 years old boys and girls have mean BMI of 20.1

18. A team led by Prof. John PA Loannidis of Stanford University, Elsevier Research
Intelligence and SciTech Strategies has released the list of Names of World's Top 2%
Scientists.
• The exhaustive list has 1,59,683 persons with nearly 1,500 scientists, doctors and
engineers in India.
• 14 scientists from the IIT-Banaras Hindu University and 22 faculty members or researchers
from the IIT-Guwahati feature in this list.
• Six scientists from India rank among the top 10 contributors to their fields globally, and 11
are among the 10 most cited in their fields over the past year.
• According to UNESCO, India spends just about 0.7% of its GDP on research. The US
spends 2.7%, Germany 2.9% and South Korea, the highest, 4.3%.
• The only two theoretical physicists from India on the list are Ashoke Sen and T
Padmanabhan.

19. 44th annual meeting of G-77 (South-South Cooperation) Foreign Ministers was held.
• India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, T S Tirumurti attended it.
• USD 150 million India-UN Development Partnership Fund continues to support
transformational sustainable development projects.
• South-South Cooperation – It is a collaboration among developing countries in the Global
South for sharing knowledge and expertise in different areas for development.
• The Cooperation was developed in 1978 in Argentina through Buenos Aires Plan of Action
for Promoting and Implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries
(BAPA) by 138 UN Member States.

20. International Energy Agency has released its Renewables 2020 - Analysis and forecast to
2025.
World India

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• Global energy demand is set to decline • India is expected to double its green
by 5%, but renewable electricity energy capacity addition next year
generation will grow 7%. from 2020 levels.
• Driven by China and the United States, • In 2021, the renewable capacity
net installed renewable capacity will additions will be nearly 10%.
grow by nearly 4% globally in 2020,
reaching almost 200 GW.
• Total installed wind and solar PV • In India, wind capacity additions are
capacity is on course to surpass natural expected to drop 60% in 2020 as
gas in 2023 and coal in 2024. compared to 2019 (to 1 gigawatt).
o Renewables will overtake coal to Nearly 0.3 GW wind capacity was
become the largest source of added in the first half of 2020.
electricity generation worldwide
in 2025.
o Renewables will account for 1/3rd
of world’s electricity supply by
2025.
• Solar PV alone accounts for 60% of all • In the first half of 2020, new solar PV
renewable capacity additions through capacity installations in India were 70%
2025, and wind provides another 30%. below than average first-half growth of
the previous three years due to COVID-
19.
• Hydropower will continue to be the • Despite COVID-19 disruptions, India
largest source of renewable electricity auctioned 8.2 GW of new PV capacity
worldwide, followed by wind and solar by the end of September 2020.
PV.
• Covid causes biofuels’ first -
contraction in two decades at 12% in
2020 from 2019’s record.

60
21. 17th India-ASEAN summit, co-chaired by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and
PM Narendra Modi, was held virtually.
• ASEAN-India Plan of Action (2021-2025) was adopted to strengthen India-ASEAN
cooperation.
• India granted $1 million to Covid-19 ASEAN Response Fund.
• India called for an early review of the ASEAN- India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITGA),
which was signed in 2009 and implemented in 2010.
• ASEAN-India Trade in Services Agreement was signed in November 2014.

22. Tristan da Cunha (an isolated UK Overseas Territory) has become the largest Marine
Protection Zone of Atlantic Ocean.
• Tristan da Cunha, which is inhabited by less than 300 humans, is a small chain of islands
over 6,000 miles from London in the South Atlantic and the water around the islands are
considered to be the richest in the world.

23. G20 countries agreed to extend G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) till June
2021. For this, G20 countries signed a historic pact.
• DSSI was launched in April 2020 in response to a call by the World Bank and the IMF to
allow poorest countries to use their resources in fighting Covid-19 instead of repaying
debts.
• Which countries are eligible for DSSI? – All the International Development Association
(IDA) countries and the least developed countries which are currently on debt service to the
World Bank and IMF. This includes 72 active IDA borrowing countries along with Angola.

24. International Vaccine Access Centre (IVAC) has released the 11th edition of its annual
Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report.
• IVAC was formed in 2009 to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines. It is located at Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA.
• Assessed – 15 countries with high burden of U-5 Pneumonia and diarrhoea deaths

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 • Indicators – 10 which were outlined in the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and
Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD).
• Launched in 2009 by WHO and UNICEF, GAPPD aims to achieve the SDG-3 (Good Health
and Well-Being) target of reducing U-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1,000 live
births by 2030.

Key highlights of the report:

Ø It examines the coverage of five vaccines –
o Diphtheria, Pertussis and Tetanus (DPT) vaccine,
o Measles-containing-vaccine first dose,
o Haemophilus influenzae type B,
o pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV),
o rotavirus vaccine.
Ø Overall the world’s health systems are lagging in providing access to prevention and
treatment services to children.

Ø India’s performance:

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 o Exclusive Breastfeeding targets were achieved overwhelmingly. WHO’s target is
50% breastfeeding by 2025.
o Progress was made in vaccination (see the picture below)
o 90% coverage for three of the five vaccines of the report was achieved.
o However, India failed to reach all targets for treatment
o Treatment for diarrhoea had the lowest coverage, with only 51% of children
receiving ORS and 20% getting zinc.

25. A Lancet Commission on Diabetes has recommended the setting up of a global task force
for diabetes and non-communicable diseases (NCDs), consisting of stakeholders from
different sectors.
• The task force can design a strategy to address the multi­ dimensional nature of diabetes
and other NCDs.
• The commission has released a report which highlights the possible damaging effects of
Covid-19 on the pancreatic islets, which are responsible for regulating blood sugar, and
thereby, on diabetes.
• As per the report, 463 million people had diabetes worldwide in 2019, with 80% from low­
income and middle -income countries.
• Over 70% of global deaths are due to NCDs, including diabetes, cancer, cardio­ vascular
and respiratory diseases.

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 • Chennai­ based diabetologist A. Ramachandran (representing South Asia) was also a part
of the authors’ group that prepared this paper.

26. 12th BRICS Summit was hosted by Russia (being the Chair of BRICS for 2020), under the
theme ‘Global Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth’ on November 17.
• The BRICS countries, that represents nearly half of the world’s population, have a
combined gross domestic product of $16.6 trillion.
• India will host the 13th BRICS summit in 2021.
• BRICS adopted a counter-terrorism strategy.

27. 8th edition of Science, Technology and Innovation Ministers’ meeting of the BRICS was
hosted by Russia virtually on November 13 to discuss S & T cooperation among the member
countries.
• BRICS STI Declaration 2020 and Calendar of BRICS STI Activities 2020-21 were
adopted.
• India offered to host the 9th BRICS STI Ministerial Meeting and the 11th BRICS STI
Senior Officials Meeting in 2021.
• 10th Meeting of BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Senior Officials meeting
was also held virtually.
• 10th BRICS Health Ministers Conference was also held virtually.

28. WHO’s Global Strategy to Accelerate the Elimination of Cervical Cancer has been
launched. It outlines three key steps: vaccination, screening and treatment.
• Successful implementation of all three could reduce more than 40% of new cases of the
disease and 5 million related deaths by 2050.
• It is the first time that WHO committed to eliminating cancer.
• Without taking additional action, the annual number of new cases of cervical cancer is
expected to increase from 5.7 to 7 lakhs between 2018 and 2030, while the annual number
of deaths is projected to rise from 3.11 to 4 lakhs.

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 • If the 194 countries (members of WHO) adopt the following actions by 2030, then they can
easily be on the path toward elimination of cervical cancer.
90% of girls fully vaccinated with the HPV vaccine by 15 years of age
70% of women screened using a high-performance test by age 35 and again by 45
90% of women identified with cervical disease receive treatment (90% of women with pre-
cancer treated and 90% of women with invasive cancer managed).

29. China test fired DF-21D and DF-26B missiles in the South China Sea somewhere between the
Paracel Islands and Hainan Island.
• DF-21D – Dong-Feng 21D is the world’s first anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) intended
to attack ships at sea. Operational from 2012.
• DF-26B – Dong Feng 26 (DF-26) is an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

30. COP 26 of UN climate conference will be held in Glasgow, UK from November 1-12, 2021.
• The conference is hosted by the UK in partnership with Italy.
• Arsenal becomes first Premier League club to sign UN Sports for Climate Action
Framework.
• The framework aims to align global sports community with the goals of the Paris
Agreement to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
• Sky Sports became the first broadcaster to join the framework. Other organizations like
FIFA have also joined it.
• It has appointed its Principal sponsors for the COP (refer to the picture below).

31. United Nations has launched Team Halo initiative to counter the misinformation around
Covid-19 vaccines.

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 • For it, UN has collaborated with The Vaccine Confidence Project at the University of
London’s School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
• Over 100 scientists have joined hands to tackle the issue of misinformation around Covid-
19 vaccines.

32. World Economic Forum (WEF) has selected 36 “pioneer” cities from 22 countries (including
India) to adopt a new roadmap as part of the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance.
• Indian cities - Bengaluru, Faridabad, Indore and Hyderabad.
• These 36 cities will adopt policies for better broadband coverage, privacy protection,
accountability for cyber security, better accessibility to digital city services for PwD & elderly
people and increased openness of city data.
• During the G20 Osaka Summit 2019, the Global Smart City Alliance was established to
accelerate transformation of cities into smart cities.
• WEF will host the Pioneers of Change Summit from Nov 16 to 20, 2020. The conclusions
of the summit will be used to frame the roadmap for smart cities.
• WEF gives New Champions awards to recognize excellence in sustainability, digital
disruption and agile business governance.
Categories Winners 2020
Excellence in Sustainability Gemini Corporation à A global recycling
company; founded in 1989 by chairman
Surendra Patawari in Belgium.
Excellence in Digital Disruption Optel Group
It has headquarters in different countries
including one in India (in Goa).
Honourable mentions in the Excellence in Digital Puravankara Limited (Bangalore)
Disruption category
Excellence in Agile Governance Risk Insights (an international company)

33. UN Ocean Conference, scheduled for 2 to 6 June in Lisbon, Portugal, has been postponed.

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 • The conference was to be co-hosted by Kenya.
• Theme of this Conference is “Scaling up ocean action based on science and innovation
for the implementation of Goal 14: stocktaking, partnerships and solutions.”
• 2021 – 2030 is UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

34. 9th Smart City Expo World Congress 2020 - world's premier smart cities event – was held
virtually.
• 10th Smart City Expo World Congress 2021 will be held in Barcelona, Spain.
• 2020 World Smart City Awards were given in different categories:-
Categories Winners
City Award Shanghai, China
Covid-19 innovation award Zambia’s Project – Innovation adaptation of ‘future of work’
within the global digital marketplace in Zambia
Enabling Technologies award Shenzhen, China
Urban Environment award Munich, Germany
Mobility award Toronto, Canada
Governance and Economy award Tel Aviv, Israel
Living & Inclusion award Maceio, Brazil

35. ‘Progress Towards Regional Measles Elimination Worldwide 2000-2019’ report was
launched by WHO and US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
• India (1.2 million), along with Nigeria, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Pakistan, and Philippines, accounts for nearly half of the total children worldwide who
did not receive the first dose of measles-containing-vaccine (MCV1) in 2019.
• Global Measles cases in 2019 – over 8.6 lakhs à highest in 23 years since 1996.
• Measles deaths in 2019 – approx. 2.07 lakh deaths à increased by 50% since 2016.
• Main reason for this drastic increase – low vaccination (MCV1 at 84-85% and MCV2 at
71%)
• Suggestion – vaccination coverage rates must reach 95% and be maintained at national
and subnational levels.

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36. World's Best Cities in 2021 was released by Resonance Consultancy.
• Total – 100 cities
• Parameters – 25
• Top – London, England
• India – only one city à Delhi at 62nd rank (last year, it was at 81st rank)

37. “STOP THE VIRUS OF DISINFORMATION” report has been released by UN Interregional
Crime and Justice Research Institute.
• This report highlights the spread of disinformation regarding Covid-19 by terrorist
organizations and anti-social elements.

38. Indian Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan, addressed the Ministerial
meeting of the Global HIV Prevention Coalition (GPC).
• Hosts – UN programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) and UN population fund (UNFPA).
• Global Target – to end AIDS by 2030.
• Member States of GPC had agreed to reduce new adult HIV infections by 75% at the end of
2020 from 2010 levels.
• GPC is a global coalition of UN member states, established in 2017 to reduce the HIV
infections across the world.

India's National Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI)
was launched in 2017 till 2024.
The “Mission Sampark” was also launched in 2017 to bring back People Living with HIV
who have left treatment after starting Anti Retro Viral Treatment (ART).

39. Geospatial Practices for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific 2020 was
released by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(UNESCAP).

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 • The report cited the role being played by ‘BHUVAN’, India’s national geo-portal developed
and hosted by the ISRO in combating COVID-19. It also appreciated the water resource
information system led by ISRO.
• Geo-spatial technologies of over 25 countries for achieving SDGs have been mentioned in
this report.

40. TRACE International released the Global Bribery Risk Matrix 2020.
• The index measures the likelihood of commercial bribes (given by businesses) in countries.
• Total – 194 countries and territories
• Parameters – Opportunity, Deterrence, Transparency, and Oversight
• Lowest Bribery Risk – Demark (score 1)
• Highest Bribery Risk – North Korea (score 93)
• India’s Rank – 77th (score 45)
o Last year, India’s rank was 78 (score 48).

41. Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, first of two ocean-focused satellites, was launched on a
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, USA.
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 • The satellite will take the research into global sea levels to next level. The research will be
done by NASA and the European Space Agency.
• It is named after Michael Freilich (former NASA Earth Science Division Director).
• The second satellite, the Sentinel-6B, will be launched in 2025.

Additional facts:
Ø These two satellites are built under the Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission.
Ø The mission was developed by European Space Agency (ESA) in the context of the
European Copernicus program.
Ø This mission is led by the NASA, European Commission, the European Organisation for
the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with funding support from the European
Commission and technical support from France's National Centre for Space Studies
(CNES).

42. 15th G20 Summit (aka G20 Riyadh Summit), convened by Saudi Arabia, was held on
November 21-22, 2020, on the theme of “Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for
All”.
• Hosts of upcoming G20 summit:-
o 16th summit, 2021 – Italy
o 17th summit, 2022 – Indonesia (earlier, it was India)
o 18th summit, 2023 – India
o 19th summit, 2024 – Brazil
• A side event on ‘Safeguarding the planet’ was also held. PM Narendra Modi highlighted
the need to fight Climate Change in an integrated, comprehensive and holistic manner.

43. 4th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies was organised virtually
by the Interpol, Europol and the Basel Institute on Governance from November 18 to 19,
2020.
• 132 countries attended it.

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 • Working Group on Cryptocurrencies and Money Laundering (established in 2016 by
the three organisations) launched the conference to strengthen investigations into financial
crimes, intelligence on virtual assets, and cryptocurrencies.

44. 12th India-European Union Counter Terrorism Dialogue was held virtually.
• UN High-Level Counter-terrorism Week 2020 was held from 6-10 July under the theme
of “Strategic and Practical Challenges of Countering Terrorism in a Global Pandemic
Environment”.

45. APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) Economic Leaders’ meeting 2020 was hosted by
Malaysia.
• The 21-nations bloc adopted the Putrajaya Vision 2040 which defines the roadmap for
APEC for the upcoming two decades.
• The major goal of the Putrajaya Vision is an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia
Pacific community by 2040 through Trade and Investment; Innovation and Digitalisation; as
well as Strong, Balanced, Secure, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth.
• Malaysia PM - Muhyiddin Yassin

46. ‘One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance’ was launched by the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
and the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Co-chairs – PM of Bangladesh (Sheikh Hasina) and Barbados (Mia Mottley)
• Members – 20
• India - Ms Sunita Narain (Director-General, Centre for Science and Environment) is also a
member.
• The heads of FAO (Qu Dongyu), OIE (Monique Eloit) and WHO (Tedros Adhanom) are ex-
officio members of the group.
• The group will submit its report on AMR to UN and monitor the global response to AMR. It
will meet twice a year. It has been formed on the recommendation of Interagency
Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG) of UN.

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 World Organisation for Animal Health
(OIE):
HQ – Paris, France
Members – 182 (including India)
Established – 1924

47. China launched Chang’e-5 mission on Long March 5 rocket to take Moon samples back to
Earth.
• If the mission is successful, China will become the third country to return samples from the
Moon, after US and Russia.
• Recently, Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission landed in the Australian desert, after retrieving
samples of the Ryugu asteroid.

48. Transparency International has released a ‘Global Corruption Barometer – Asia’ report
which mentions that most people in Asia believe that government corruption is one of the
biggest problems plaguing their countries.
• Assessed – nearly 20,000 respondents in 17 countries.
• Time period – past 12 months
• Six key public services are covered in the report, viz: police, courts, public hospitals,
procurement of identity documents and utilities.
• Chair of Transparency International – Delia Ferreira Rubio; HQ - Berlin, Germany
Asia India
• Nearly one in five people (19%) paid a • The majority of citizens in Thailand
bribe when accessing public services in (71%), Japan (56%), the Maldives
the last 12 months. This is equivalent to (55%), and India (51%) have little or
about 836 million people. no trust in government.
• More than 22% respondents who • 63% people in India and Bangladesh
accessed public services used their feared retaliation if they reported
personal connections to receive the corruption.
assistance they needed.

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 • Top 3 bribe-plagued countries – India
(1st ; 47% people believe that corruption
has increased), Cambodia, and
Indonesia.
• Countries with lowest bribery rate –
Maldives and Japan (at 2%)
• Top 3 countries using personal
connections to access a public
service – India (46%), Indonesia (36%),
and China (32%).
• Countries using lowest personal
connections for accessing a public
service – Japan (4%) and Cambodia
(6%).
• Bribes for buying votes: Thailand and
Philippines (28%), followed by
Indonesia (26%), and India (18%).
• Sextortion (the abuse of power to
obtain a sexual benefit in exchange for
public services) – highest in Indonesia
(at 18%), Sri Lanka (17%) and Thailand
(15%), India (11%).

49. Russia successfully test-fired a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile from the frigate Admiral
Gorshkov in the Barents Sea in Arctic.
• In October also, the Tsirkon missile was test-fired from the same frigate.

50. United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the first Arab Gulf country to generate electricity
from coal.

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 • UAE is starting up the $3.4 billion Hassyan coal plant, with capacity being increased from
an initial 600 megawatts to 2,400 by 2023.
• Acwa Power of Saudi Arabia (developer of this plant) has signed a long-term agreement
with Japan’s Jera Co. to supply coal.

51. According to International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Air Connectivity Index 2020,
Shanghai has become the world's most connected city.
• The index measures how well connected a country’s cities are to other cities around the
world.
• London, which used to be at first place, has seen a 67% decline in connectivity via air
travel. By September 2020, it had fallen to eighth spot.
• Reason of fall – decline in air travel due to coronavirus.
• Africa and Europe suffered the highest (93%) decline in air connectivity.
• Elsewhere in Asia Pacific, several key hubs have exited the top 10 most connected cities.
Connectivity in Tokyo fell 65%, Seoul by 69% and Bangkok and Hong Kong fell by 81%.

52. China's first nuclear facility using Hualong One technology has started operations and is
connected to the grid in southeast China's Fujian Province.
• It is a domestically developed third-generation reactor design.
• The second Hualong One at Fuqing is scheduled for completion in 2021.

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 BANKING AND ECONOMY
1. Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Tech Mahindra signed a contract worth ₹400 crore for
implementation of HAL's 'Project Parivartan'.
• 'Project Parivartan' would enable HAL to streamline and standardise its business processes
across the organization.

2. Goa government has borrowed Rs 85 crores from the NABARD under the rural
infrastructure development fund (RIDF) for various infrastructure projects.
• Now, NABARD achieved 100% of the target fixed for sanction to the Goa government
during 2020-21.
• RIDF is maintained by NABARD to give loans to states for infrastructural purposes.

3. In July 2020, SEBI had introduced a one-time settlement scheme for the entities which
executed trade reversals on the stock options segment of the BSE from April 1, 2014, to
September 30, 2015 period and against whom any proceedings are pending.
• The companies which do not avail the one-time settlement opportunity will be liable for
action after the expiry of the scheme.
• Now, this scheme has been extended till December 31, 2020. Earlier, it was to end on Oct
31, 2020.
• SEBI considered three objective parameters -- artificial volume, number of non-genuine
trades, and number of contracts to assess the volume of non-genuine trades.

4. Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved acquisition of Bharti AXA General
Insurance Company Limited by ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited.
• The entire general insurance business of Bharti AXA would be transferred to ICICI Lombard
in consideration of issuance of shares by ICICI Lombard to Bharti AXA.
• The consolidated entity will have a market share of approximately 8.7% in the non-life
insurance business.

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5. State Bank of India (SBI) has entered into a strategic partnership with edX (global non-profit
education platform) in order to offer the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
• SBI will initially offer three courses - Unleashing Creativity at the Workplace, Relationship
Marketing Strategy for Financial Services, and Conflict Resolution.
• SBI has become the first corporate partner of edX from India to offer MOOC.

6. HDFC ERGO General Insurance launched the AI tool IDEAS (Intelligent Damage detection
Estimation and Assessment Solution) to automate the motor claim settlements to execute
the settlement in real-time.

7. P&G India has set up a ₹400 crore India Growth Fund under its ‘vGROW’ programme.
• The fund aims to promote localized manufacturing and sourcing of FMCG goods.
• The program aims to identify and collaborate with startups, small businesses, individuals or
large organizations and offer solutions for the fast-moving consumer goods industry.

8. KKR (Private equity firm based in US) launched Virescent Infrastructure, a platform to
acquire green energy assets in India.
• KKR already has 317 megawatt (MW) solar projects in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

9. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has exempted sovereign wealth fund - MIC Redwood
1 RSC Limited, Abu Dhabi, UAE in India from paying dividend, interest and long term capital
gains.
• The exemption has been given under the section 10 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
• Exemption will be allowed on investments made by the fund till March 31, 2024.
• MIC Redwood has become the first foreign SWF that has been granted 100% income tax
exemption for long-term investments.

10. TransUnion CIBIL, in partnership with Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation,
(MoSPI) has launched MSME Credit Health Index to provide a measure of the growth and
strength of the MSME sector in India.

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 • Parameters:
o Growth – measured by increase in exposure value (outstanding balances) over
time.
o Strength – measured by decrease/ increase in credit risk in terms of non-performing
assets (NPA).
• The first version of the MSME Credit Health Index is based on data from March 2018 to
June 2020.
• MSME sector has seen an increased level of NPAs in the last two years consequent to a
slower rate of economic growth. Low cash flows of MSMEs triggers their inability to pay
debts à leads to decreasing strength index / parameter.
• Overall analysis of the Growth Index reflects muted growth in June 2020.

11. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $132.8 million loan to improve the power
quality and upgrade the power distribution network in Meghalaya.
• World Bank has also approved $120 million project to improve Meghalaya's transport
system.
• The loan will be supplemented by a $2 million grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty
Reduction that will finance mini-grids that will improve power quality and support income
generation.

12. Visa, in partnership with DigitSecure and HDFC Bank, launched the world’s first live PCI
certified Tap to Phone card acceptance solution.
• DeliveryPlus is the first merchant to be unveiled as an acquirer by HDFC Bank.
• Tap to Phone card acceptance solution – It allows the merchants to use their
smartphones as point of sale terminals with the help of an app.

13. ICICI Bank launched ‘ICICI Bank Mine’ - India’s first comprehensive banking programme
for offering services to millennials.
• New version of iMobile application will be provided under the program in additions to a host
of services.

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 • ICICI Bank is also offering India’s first flexi-plan credit card to enable ‘ICICI Bank Mine’
customers to choose a plan every month in order to suit their lifestyle and monthly
requirement.

14. SEBI has doubled the foreign investment limit per fund mutual fund to $600 million. Now,
mutual funds can invest up to $600 Mn in foreign markets.
• $200 million per fund house limit for investment in foreign exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
within an overall industry limit of $1 billion was also set.
• Total foreign investment allowed to mutual fund industry in total - $7 billion
• There are 44 AMCs in India and not all fund houses will be able to use the $600 million
foreign limit without breaching the industry cap of $7 billion. Hence Sebi has reserved an
amount of $50 million per fund house.

15. RBI has revamped its co-origination of loan scheme- 2018 and renamed it as Co-Lending
Model (CLM) scheme.
• Purpose: to improve the flow of credit to the unserved and underserved sector of the
economy.
Features:
Banks and NBFCs (including HFCs) can co-lend.
Co-lending banks will take their share of the individual loans on a back-to-back basis in their
books.
NBFCs shall be required to retain a minimum of 20% share of the individual loans on their
books.
NBFCs will be the single point of interface for the customers and shall enter into a loan
agreement with the borrowers.
All transactions (disbursements/ repayments) between the banks and NBFCs relating to CLM
have to be routed through an escrow account maintained with the banks, in order to avoid
inter-mingling of funds.

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16. WhatsApp Pay (UPI based service) has been launched, in partnership with ICICI Bank, HDFC
Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, and Jio Payments Bank.
• The customer base can be 2 crore maximum for WhatsApp Pay in India at present.
WhatsApp has over 40 crore users in India.
• National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has mandated the third-party UPI
payment applications (like Google Pay, PhonePe) to limit their UPI transaction volumes to
30% of the overall market UPI transactions.

17. Facebook launched a how-to guide for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB)
platform in India to help them move from offline to the Facebook-owned online platforms.
• SMB Guide is a step-by-step manual for firms to get on to digital platforms.
• In September, Facebook announced a grant of $4.3 million to support Indian SMB across
Delhi, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
• This grant is part of Facebook’s $100 million global grant for small businesses across 30
countries.

18. IFFCO Bazar, e-commerce wing of IFFCO, integrated with the SBI YONO Krishi.
• Purpose: the customers of SBI YONO Krishi app can buy agricultural inputs on IFFCO
Bazar easily through the app.

19. SEBI has introduced a ‘flexi-cap category’ for mutual funds (MFs) to allow them to invest
65% of their corpus in equity without any restrictions on investing in large-, mid- or small-cap
company stocks.
• In September 2020, SEBI has mandated multi-cap mutual funds to invest 75% (25% each
in large-, mid- or small-cap) of their equity.
• Reason for change – mid- and small-cap companies would not be able to absorb all the
funds given by MFs.

20. SEBI has mandated all open-ended debt Mutual Fund schemes to hold 10% of their net
assets in liquid assets.

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21. KfW (German bank) has extended loan of over 545 million Euros (Rs 4,767 crore) to the
Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for infrastructure
projects in Mumbai.
• It is the highest amount given to India ever that too at the lowest rate of interest offered by
any financial institution so far.
• Projects - Metro line 4 from Wadala in central Mumbai to Kasarvadavli in Thane, and Metro
line 4A from Kasarvadavli to Gaimukh in Thane.

22. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced the acquisition of Postbank Systems AG (the
technology services unit of Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank AG).

23. National Stock Exchange (NSE) announced to launch its first agricultural commodity
futures contract for crude degummed soybean oil on 1 December.
• The contract will facilitate the soybean oils processing and allied industries in India and
overseas.
• The contract is a monthly expiry cash settled futures contract with a trading lot size of
10 metric ton and price basis as Kandla.

24. Marg ERP (India) has partnered with Paytm for launching the MargPay payments solution to
facilitate seamless transactions for MSMEs.
• This partnership will also extend to Paytm Payments Bank Limited which is powering Marg
Pay's nodal bank account.

25. Bharti AXA General Insurance has launched #CancerSendsNoNotifications campaign on

social media to increase awareness and spread knowledge about Cancer on ‘National Cancer
Awareness Day’.

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26. IMF’s financial access survey for 2020 has mentioned that the number of Indians per
thousand using digital financial services offered by mobile networks rose 17-fold from 73 in
2015 to 1,265 in 2019.
• According to a report by FinTech Convergence Council, an arm of Internet and Mobile
Association of India, and Medici Global Inc., India surpassed China in fintech
investments in 2019 to become the third-most funded country behind the US and the UK.
• Cumulative investments in India’s fintech between January 2016 and June 2020 touched
$10 billion.

27. Govt has increased the threshold for Companies to file mandatory electronic invoices from
January 1st, 2021 and to everyone from 1 April.
• New limit - sales above ₹100 crore, up from the current threshold of ₹500 crore.

28. Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL- 3rd largest state-run oil marketing company) has
announced to invest ₹10,000 crore over five years to create an end- to-end natural gas value
chain.
• HPCL is setting up 11 LNG stations.
• Also, HPCL is building a 5 million metric tonnes per annum LNG regasification terminal in
Gujarat, through joint venture company HPCL Shapoorji Energy Pvt Ltd.
• India plans to increase the share of natural gas in its energy mix from 6% to 15% by
2030.

29. IRDAI has set up a 9-member working group, chaired by R Chandrasekaran, to revisit
product structures of engineering tariffs relevant for the retail category.
• Function – the panel will provide recommendations to IRDAI for revising the engineering
tariffs structures in the retail segment in consonance with technology upgradation.

30. MobiKwik has launched “MobiKwik Blue American Express Card”, a digital prepaid Card,
in partnership with American Express (Amex).
• It is the first card ever launched by MobiKwik.

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 • Also, MobiKwik becomes the first non-bank issuer of Amex Cards in India.

31. 'Covid Shield +', India’s first individual Covid-19 life insurance product, was launched by
Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance.

32. SEBI has set up an expert group, under the chairmanship of Sandip Bhagat, to review the
framework and suggest recommendations for share-based employee benefit and issue of
sweat equity.

33. HDFC Bank launched SmartHub Merchant Solutions 3.0 for merchants and self-employed
professionals to allow them to open a current account instantly and start accepting payments
in-store, online, and on-the-go.
• Partner – Visa
• SmartHub 3.0 will be available in app based, web based and a range of PoS devices based
solution that allows merchants and professionals to receive payments in multiple forms.
• It is claimed to be India’s first integrated banking and payment solution for merchants.

34. Grasim Industries Ltd. has sold its fertiliser business, Indo Gulf Fertilisers to Indorama
India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Indorama Corporation Pte. Ltd., Singapore, for ₹ 2,649
crores.

35. Ministry of Finance has infused an additional ₹10,000 crore into Pradhan Mantri Garib
Kalyan Rojgar Yojana (announced in June 2020) to boost employment and growth in the rural
economy.
• The money is expected to be used for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
• Rs.18000 Crore will be provided for PMAY – Urban, over and above Rs.8000 crore
already sanctioned this year.
Note: The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana is covered in June spotlight.

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36. New Development Bank (HQ - Shanghai) has approved $500 million (about ₹3,710 crore) for
funding the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut regional rapid transit system (RRTS) project.
• The urban affairs ministry, the finance ministry, the National Capital Region Transport Corp.
Ltd (NCRTC), and NDB signed the loan agreement.

37. According to Institute of International Finance (IIF), global debt is expected to soar to a
record $277 trillion by the end of the year as governments and companies continue to spend
in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The IIF (members include over 400 banks and financial institutions across the globe)
announced debt increased already by $15 trillion this year to $272 trillion through
September.
• Developed markets' overall debt jumped to 432% of GDP in the third quarter, from a ratio of
about 380% at the end of 2019.
• Emerging market debt-to-GDP hit nearly 250% in the third quarter, with China reaching
335%, and for the year the ratio is expected to reach about 365% of global GDP.
• Total U.S. debt is on track to hit $80 trillion in 2020.

38. Morgan Stanley has increased its estimation for the BSE Sensex to 50,000 points by
December 2021.
• It has also raised the FY21, FY22 and FY23 earnings per share estimates for the Sensex
by 15%, 10% and 9%, respectively.
• In a bull-case scenario, Morgan Stanley has set a target of 59,000 for the Sensex in 2021.
• In a bear-case scenario, it sees Sensex at 37,000 in 2021.
Other Forecasts:
Goldman Sachs raised expectation for Nifty to 14,100 by 2021-end.
Nomura raised its Nifty target to 13,640 by December 2021.

39. Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has signed an
agreement with the World Bank for getting advisory services for asset monetization in
India.

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 • Dipam, which mainly handles government’s divestment programme, is mandated with
facilitating monetization of non-core assets of government CPSEs.
• The government has set a target of raising Rs 2.10 lakh crore from disinvestment in the
FY21. Of this, Rs 1.20 lakh crore is to be raised through CPSE disinvestment.

40. Wipro has partnered with SNP Schneider-Neureither & Partner SE to speed up the digital
transformation of firms / enterprises.
• As part of the partnership, Wipro will leverage SNP’s CrystalBridge data transformation
platform.

41. State Bank of Mauritius (India) has signed an MoU with PayNearby (a FinTech startup) for
offering FinTech and digital services at a local level.
• The companies will build an “open banking” network that would enable access to basic
banking solutions as well as advanced financial services for the customers.
• SBM India (1st foreign bank to receive banking licence from RBI) has also launched Nivesh
– a neo banking service – in partnership with PayNearby.

42. RBI superseded the board of Lakshmi Vilas Bank (based in Karur, Tamil Nadu) and
appointed T. N. Manoharan as its administrator.
• Moratorium has also been imposed on the bank due to its risky financial position and
liquidity crunch until December 16, 2020. Withdrawals are capped at Rs 25,000.
• RBI also proposed the merger of DBS (Development Bank of Singapore) India and LVB.

43. Embassy Office Parks REIT has agreed to acquire a large business park ''Embassy
TechVillage'' in Bengaluru from Embassy group (realty firm), Blackstone and some other
investors.
• Embassy REIT is India’s first publicly-listed REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust)
sponsored by Blackstone and Embassy group.

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44. Bombay Stock Exchange has launched 'Corp Direct – A Direct Investment Portal for
Corporates' to simplify and provide end-to-end value-based services to the asset
management companies (AMCs), distributors, investors, and mutual fund industry participants.
• The StAR MF Corp Direct Portal provides new features and is currently live for
Corporates.
• It will soon be available for other non-individuals (HUF, Partnership Firms, Societies, etc.)

45. RBI published its first ever ‘nowcast’, which is an estimate based on high-frequency data.
The economy had contracted about 24% in April to June quarter.
• Gross domestic product contracted 8.6% in the quarter ended September.
• Retail inflation hit 6.5-Year High of 7.61% in October 2020.

46. HDFC Bank launched “Mooh Band Rakho” campaign to increase awareness on cyber
frauds and preventing them.

47. Equitas Small Finance Bank has launched 'Eva' - a unique savings account with 7% interest
for women.
• Equitas Small Finance Bank appointed Smriti Mandhana (cricketer) as its new brand
ambassador.

48. SEBI has relaxed its framework pertaining to allotment of units by Infrastructure
Investment Trust (InvITs) on a preferential basis.
• The preferential issue of units would not be made to any person who has sold or transferred
any unit of the issuer during the six months preceding the relevant date.
• Any person belonging to sponsor (s) has sold/ transferred their units of the issuer during the
six months preceding the relevant date, the sponsor(s) shall be ineligible for allotment of
units on preferential basis.

49. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has amended regulations to speed up the
liquidation process of ‘not readily realisable asset’ of stressed companies.

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 • New regulation (1) –
o A liquidator shall attempt to sell the assets at the first instance, failing which,
o He may assign or transfer an asset to any person, in consultation with the
stakeholders’ consultation committee, and failing which,
o He may distribute the undisposed of assets amongst stakeholders, with the approval
of the adjudicating authority (NCLT).
• New regulation (2) –
o If the creditors are unwilling to wait for the completion of liquidation process for
realisation of their debt, they can now assign or transfer the debt due to them to any
other person, subject to certain conditions.

50. HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank have been put in the ‘red flag’ list, a system used for
monitoring foreign portfolio investor (FPI) limits.
• A listed company enters the list when the available limit for overseas investment is less
than 3% of the permissible limit.
• FPIs can invest up to 74% in both HDFC Bank and IndusInd Bank. The current FPI
shareholding in HDFC Bank is 71.3% and in IndusInd Bank, it is 73.1%.
• Besides these two, Novartis India and P&G Hygiene and Health Care are the only other
companies in the red-flag list.

51. T Rowe Price (global investment management firm) has entered an agreement to acquire 51%
stake in UTI Trustee Company (of UTI Asset Management Company).

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52. Karnataka Bank has launched CASA (current and savings account) mobilization campaign
till 4th March 2021 to provide basic banking services in the unbanked regions digitally.
• Karnataka Bank’s tagline – Your Family Bank Across India
• MD & CEO – Mr. Mahabaleshwara M.S
• HQ – Mangalore

53. RBI is testing its Regulatory Sandbox (RS) for Retail Payments through Natural Support
Consultancy Services (Jaipur) and Nucleus Software Exports Ltd (New Delhi).
• Natural Support Consultancy Services’ product ‘eRupaya’ facilitates offline digital
payments in remote locations. It is a prepaid card and a Point of Sale (PoS) device.
• Nucleus Software Exports’ product ‘PaySe’ is an offline digital cash product to connect
with rural areas for e-payments.
• Purpose: These products aim to help in digitisation of payments in rural areas, starting with
Self Help Groups (SHG).
• RS usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled and test-
regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain regulatory
relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.

54. Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company Limited (KMAMC) has launched the Kotak
ESG Opportunities Fund which will focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
factors and the Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI).
• Kotak ESG Opportunities Fund, which will be managed by Harsha Upadhyaya (Chief
Investing Officer – Equity & President at KMAMC).
• KMAMC is the first Indian asset management company to sign the United Nation’s
Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI).
• The new fund will invest in companies based on financial parameters and non-financial
factors such as Environmental, Social and Governance.

55. ICICI Bank has launched ‘Cardless EMI’ facility in partnership with Pine Labs for retailers.

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 • ICICI Bank is the first in the industry to introduce a fully digital, cardless EMI facility at retail
stores.

56. RBI has become the first bank in the world to have over 1 million followers on its Twitter
handle.

57. An internal working group of RBI, headed by PK Mohanty, has recommended to convert
large NBFCs with an asset size of more than ₹50,000 crore into banks, provided they have
completed 10 years of operation.
• It also recommended the minimum initial capital requirement for licensing new banks should
be enhanced from ₹500 crore to ₹1,000 crore for universal banks and from ₹200 crore to
₹300 crore for small finance banks.
• Large corporate/industrial houses may be allowed as promoters of banks only after
necessary amendments to the Banking Regulations Act, 1949 and after strengthening
supervisory mechanism.
• Raise the cap on promoters’ stake in private banks from the current 15% to 26% in 15
years.
• In case of non-promoter shareholding, 15% is for all types of shareholders.
• For Payments Banks intending to convert into a Small Finance Bank, 3 years’ experience
as Payments Bank may be considered as sufficient.
About the group:

Ø Formed in June 2020

Ø To review extant ownership guidelines and corporate structure for Indian private sector
banks.
Ø The group also has to review the eligibility criteria for individuals/entities to apply for
banking license; examination of preferred corporate structure for banks and
harmonisation of norms in this regard; and review of norms for long-term shareholding in
banks by the promoters and other shareholders.

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 Ø These guidelines will be finalized after taking reviews of stakeholders by January 15,
2021.

58. Bharti Airtel has bought up a 5.2% stake in Avaada MH Buldhana Pvt. Ltd, a solar power
firm and a subsidiary of Avaada Energy Pvt. Ltd, for ₹4.55 crore.

59. Western Union, the world’s largest money transfer firm, has acquired a 15% stake in STC
pay – digital payment unit of Saudi Arabia’s STC Group for $200 million.
• STC (Saudi Telecom Company) Group is Saudi Arabia’s largest telecom operator.
• The deal created the first “Saudi unicorn and the first fintech unicorn in the Middle
East”.

60. Mastercard and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have
partnered to launch a two-year program, Project Kirana in Uttar Pradesh.

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 • It will be first rolled out in select cities of Uttar Pradesh - Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi.
• It will work to increase revenue channels, expand financial inclusion and digital payments
adoption of kirana shops (owned and operated by women), and improve business
management skills of women.
• The programme will be implemented by DAI Digital Frontiers and ACCESS Development
Services.
• The project was launched under the Women's Global Development and Prosperity
Initiative (W-GDP).
Women's Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP)
Ø Launched in February 2019 by the then US President Donald Trump.
Ø W-GDP seeks to reach 50 million women in the developing world by 2025.
Ø W-GDP focuses on three pillars: Women Prospering in the Workforce, Women
Succeeding as Entrepreneurs, and Women Enabled in the Economy.

61. Canara Bank, Axis Bank, Indian Bank and South Indian Bank have acquired 6.67% stake
each in financial technology firm, IBBIC Private Limited.

62. Life Insurance Corporation of India has launched “ANANDA” app – Atma Nirbhar Agents
NewBusiness Digital Application – for onboarding of insurance agents on online platform.

63. Asian Development Bank has approved $50 Mn loan to improve resource planning in West
Bengal.
• Purpose – integrate financial and information system and the expansion of automation
reforms to improve the operations of the state government.
• The loan will be supplemented by a $350,000 technical assistance grant for capacity
building, monitoring of IFMS (Integrated Financial Management System) reforms, and
strengthening the integration of social and gender aspects in reform areas.

64. Biocon Ltd has signed an agreement for the acquisition of 26% stake in Hinduja Renewables
Two Pvt. Ltd.
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65. SEBI has proposed to change the minimum threshold required for reclassification of
promoters as public shareholders. Promoters seeking re-classification should not hold 15%
or more of the total voting rights in a company.
• At present, the minimum threshold requirement is 10%.
• SEBI also proposed exemption from the procedure for reclassification following an open
offer, where a listed entity intends to reclassify former promoter entities but they are not
traceable or are not co-operative.

66. RBI has restricted Maharashtra-based Mantha Urban Cooperative Bank (Jalna,
Maharashtra) from conducting any banking business for six months w.e.f., November 17, 2020.
• Reason – poor financial condition.
• Additionally, RBI imposed a penalty of Rs 20 lakh on Shushruati Souharda Sahakara
Bank (Karnataka) for deficiencies in regulatory compliance and Rs 1 lakh on Deccan
Urban Co-operative Bank (Karnataka) for non-compliance.
• RBI has also imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on Punjab National Bank for contravention
of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act.
• PNB was operating a bilateral ATM sharing arrangement with Druk PNB Bank Ltd, Bhutan,
(international subsidiary of the Bank), since April, 2010 without the prior approval from RBI.

67. S&P Global Ratings forecasts that Indian banking sector’s bad loans will increase up to as
much as 11% of total advances as on 31 March 2022 from 8% on 30 June 2020.
• Supreme Court order that allowed banks to maintain certain loan accounts as standard
despite defaults by borrowers has at least for now concealed increased loans worth over
₹26,000 crore.
• The non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks would have generally been higher by 10-60
basis points (bps) in the absence of debt reclassification scheme.

68. Union Cabinet has approved the merger of troubled Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) with DBS
Bank India Ltd. (DBIL) under Section 45 of Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

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 • Singapore’s DBS will infuse Rs 2,500 crore into DBS Bank India for the proposed merger
with LVB.

69. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved ATC Asia Pacific to buy 12% stake
in ATC Telecom Infrastructure for ₹2,480 crore.
• With this, foreign direct investment (FDI) of ATC Asia Pacific into ATC Telecom
Infrastructure is now ₹5,417.2 crore. The firm has FDI approval up to 86.36%.

70. Research firm IDC (International Data Corporation) has forecasted that IT & Business
Services market in India will grow by 5.4% annually to reach $13 billion by December 2020.
• IT services market will begin picking up momentum gradually from 2021 onwards and is
projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.2% between 2019-2024, to be valued at $13.4 billion by
the end of 2024.

71. RBI has released its “Quarterly Statistics on Deposits and Credit of Scheduled
Commercial Banks (SCBs), September 2020”.
• Credit growth of banks declined to 5.8% in the September quarter of 2020 from 8.9% in the
Sept quarter of 2019.
• Bank deposits increased 11% year-on-year in the July-September period as compared to
10.1% growth a year ago.

72. ‘FDI in India: Now, Next and Beyond’ report has been released by CII and EY.
• India can expect to attract $120-160 billions of FDI annually by 2025 if it manages to
increase the FDI to GDP ratio between 3-4% from less than 2% now.
• This ratio can help India in bringing back its GDP growth rate to 7-8% range.
• India has observed a GDP growth of 6.8% in the current decade, with FDI to GDP at
around 1.8%.
• India received $35.37 billion FDI during April-August 2020, the highest so far for the first
five months of a financial year.

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 • Four Indian states— Maharashtra (28%), Karnataka (19%), Delhi (16%) and Gujarat
(10%)— attracted around 75% of the FDI inflows in the country from October 2019 to June
2020.

73. Muthoot Finance has launched Gold Shield - a gold jewellery insurance scheme - for its
customers in partnership with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.

74. NSDL Payments Bank has partnered with HDFC ERGO to offer a range of general insurance
products to the bank's customers and increase financial inclusion across the country.
• The deep distribution network of NSDL Payments Bank and the strong innovation of HDFC
ERGO will be brought together to contribute towards financial inclusion in the country.
• NSDL Payments Bank Limited is a subsidiary of National Securities Depository Ltd.

75. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has partnered with PNB MetLife India Insurance
Company to launch Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.
• Fixed sum of ₹2 lakh upon the death of the insured member will be payable to the
nominee.
• Customers need to pay a premium of ₹330 per annum.
• The scheme was launched by the central govt in 2015, along with Pradhan Mantri Suraksha
Bima Yojana (PMSBY).

76. HDFC Bank has signed an MoU with Inventivepreneur Chamber of Commerce &
Industries (ICCI) to support SMEs and Start-ups.
• As part of the MoU, ICCI will offer industry connections to respective HDFC startups
globally and support entrepreneurship nationwide through knowledge transmission through
govt schemes.
• In October 2020, BSE has also signed an MoU with ICCI to support small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups, and promote their listing on the exchange.
Correction: In October 2020 spotlight, BSE’s MoU is mentioned with ICICI Bank. However, the
correct news is BSE’s MoU with ICCI as mentioned above.

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77. Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has announced to extend the “Atal Beemit
Vyakti Kalyan Yojana” (ABVKY) by another one year up to June 30, 2021 and relaxed the
eligibility conditions for the period between March 24, 2020 and December 31, 2020.
• The Scheme was introduced in 2018.
• It has enhanced the unemployment relief up to 50% of the average per day earning during
the previous four contribution periods subject to a maximum 90 days of unemployment, the
claim is payable for the full month of unemployment.
• The claim can be made 30 days from the date of losing the job.

78. According to Nielsen’s latest report, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) goods in India
are expected to contract by -1% to -3% in 2020.
• In Q3 of 2020, the demand for FMCG goods grew 1.6%, led by rural India.
• Nielsen had first forecasted a 9-10% growth for 2020 before the coronavirus outbreak in
India.

79. YES Bank, in collaboration with Worldline, has launched the SMS Pay service for
shopkeepers and merchants.

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 • SMS Pay service works on PoS machines. Merchants can enter the contact details of their
customers on the PoS machines which will generate payment link (sent through SMS on
customer’s phone) to help customers make payment from their home as well.

80. As per the data of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT),
FDI into India grew by 15% to $30 billion during the first half of FY21.
• Computer software and hardware sector attracted the maximum foreign inflows during
April-September 2020-21.
• Singapore emerged as the largest source of FDI in India during the period with $8.3
billion investments, followed by the US.

81. Bombay Stock Exchange has signed four MoUs with Mission Youth (of J&K) to spread
financial awareness, support economic development, and encourage sustainable livelihood in
the Union Territory.

82. SIDBI has signed an MoU with Tamil Nadu to support MSMEs ecosystem in the state.
• SIDBI has also signed a similar MoU with Uttarakhand.
• Under both the MoUs, Project Management Units will be established to support capacity
building.

83. Receivables Exchange of India Ltd. (RXIL) initiated a Trade Credit Insurance (TCI) backed
transaction with Tata AIG as the insurer and ICICI Bank, YES Bank as the financiers in
Sandbox mode.
• This is the first time, a TReDS platform has tested the efficiency of TCI backed transaction
improving the ability of financiers in assigning credit limits to corporates.

84. SEBI has launched the Securities Market Trainers (SMARTs) program to enhance investor
education and awareness.
• SEBI is observing the World Investor Week from Nov 23-29.

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 • The program is free of cost for investors. The cost of the program will be borne by the
Sebi's Investor Protection and Education Fund.

85. Goldman Sachs has revised its GDP forecast for India for FY21 to -10.3% from -14.8%
projected earlier.
• FY22 GDP growth rate – 13% (earlier, 10.9% was projected)

86. Moody’s Investors Service has projected India’s GDP growth rate at -10.6% in FY21.
• FY22 GDP growth rate – 10.8%
• Barclays upgraded its forecast for FY22 to 8.5% for India.

APPOINTMENTS
1. Priyanca Radhakrishnan became New Zealand’s first-ever Indian-origin Minister after
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern inducted five new Ministers into her executive.
• Now, Radhakrishnan is the Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Ethnic Communities,
Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, and Associate Minister for Social
Development and Employment.
• Nanaia Mahuta has been appointed as New Zealand’s first indigenous female foreign
minister.
• Almost half of the country’s lawmakers are set to be women— much higher than the global
average of 25%.

2. Mr. Duarte Pacheco (Portuguese MP) has been elected as the 30th President of the Inter-
Parliamentary Union (IPU).
• IPU is a body consisting of representatives from the National Parliaments.
• HQ – Geneva, Switzerland
• Member - 179 countries (incl. India) and 13 Associate Members.
• Establishment - 1889

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3. Dilip Rath (chairman of National Dairy Development Board) has become the second Indian to
be elected to the Board of International Dairy Federation (IDF).
• First Indian was Amrita Patel in 2010.
• 8th IDF International Symposium on Sheep, Goat and Other Non-Cow Milk was held in
Brussels, Belgium from Nov 4-6, 2020.

World Dairy Summit (annual event):

2019- Istanbul, Turkey
2020- Cape Town, South Africa (cancelled)
2021- Puerto Rico
2022- New Delhi, India
2023- China

4. Gyanendro Ningombam (from Manipur) has become the first North-Eastern to be elected as
the President of Hockey India.

5. M M Kutty (Former Chief Secretary of Delhi) was appointed as the first chairperson of the
Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining
Areas.
• Tenure - three years or until attainment of the age of 70 years.
• The commission was set up under the Commission for Air Quality Management in National
Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2020.
• “Adjoining Areas” - Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, NCR and Delhi.

6. Vidisha Maitra (Indian diplomat) has been elected to U.N. Advisory Committee on
Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), a subsidiary organ of the General
Assembly, for a three-year term beginning January 1, 2021.
• Maitra is selected from the Group of Asia-Pacific States.
• ACABQ consists of 16 individual members appointed by the Assembly.

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7. Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha has been appointed as the new Chief Information
Commissioner of India.

8. Esala Ruwan Weerakoon (Sri Lanka) became the Secretary General of the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

9. Piercristiano Brazzale has been elected President of the International Dairy Federation
(IDF) for 2020-2024.
• IDF HQ – Brussels, Belgium
• IDF Members – 43 (last year, Russia and Kenya joined it)
• Estb. – 1903

10. Joe (Joseph) Biden, from Democratic Party, has become the oldest president (and 46th
President) in American history at the age of 77.
• Kamala Harris became America's first female, first Black and first South Asian (of Indian-
origin) vice president.

11. Aloke Singh has been appointed as the CEO of Air India Express (a subsidiary of Air India
Limited).

12. Vellayan Subbiah has been appointed as the chairman of Cholamandalam Investment and
Finance Co. Ltd. (Chola).

13. Nitish Kumar (of Janata Dal (United) political party) has taken oath as the CM of Bihar.
• Renu Devi appointed as Bihar's first woman Deputy Chief Minister.
• Governor of Bihar - Phagu Chauhan

14. Kris Gopalakrishnan (co-founder of Infosys Ltd) has been appointed as the chairperson of the
Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) new innovation hub.

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 • Gopalakrishnan is at present the chief mentor of Start-up Village (an NPO incubation hub
for startups in Kerala).

What is Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH)?

• It aims to promote advancement in the financial sector using
technology.
• It will be guided and managed by a governing council (GC), led by the
chairperson.
• It will also have a CEO (yet to be appointed).
• It will collaborate with other organizations for development of
prototypes related to financial innovations.

15. Navneet Munot has been appointed as the MD and CEO of HDFC Mutual Fund.

16. Nancy Pelosi has been re-appointed as the Speaker of House of Representatives of US
Congress for a second term.
• It is the 117th session of Congress (led by Democrat leader Joe Biden).

17. Sonu Sood has been appointed as the State Icon of Punjab by the Election Commission of
India.

18. CAG India, Girish Chandra Murmu has been elected as External Auditor of Inter-
Parliamentary Union (IPU), Geneva for a three-year term.

19. President-elect Joe Biden has appointed Antony Blinken as the next US secretary of state,
Jake Sullivan as national security adviser and Linda Thomas-Greenfield as the US
ambassador to the UN.

20. Greg Barclay (New Zealand) has been appointed as the Chairperson of the International
Cricket Council.

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21. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee made Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan
the state’s brand ambassador.

IMPORTANT DAYS
1. Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week was observed from 24 to 31 October
2020 by UNESCO.
• Theme - “Resisting Disinfodemic: Media and Information Literacy for everyone and, by
everyone”
• This year, the global observation of the week will be hosted by Republic of Korea.
• 10th MIL and Intercultural Dialogue Conference and the Youth Agenda Forum, will be
held online, from 26 to 30 October 2020.

2. World Tsunami Awareness Day is observed on November 5 by UN.

• Theme - Strengthening disaster risk governance
• UN adopted the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) in Sendai,
Japan in 2015.

3. World Vegan Day is celebrated on November 1 every year.

• Compassion India magazine is organizing India’s first Global Vegan Business Expo
2020, a 3-day virtual conference from 30 October – 1 November 2020.
• The vison of the Expo 2020 is “Sustaining Eco-Economic Growth.”

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 • Compassion India (India’s first vegan print publication) is celebrating the 1st anniversary of
its establishment on November 1.

4. International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists is observed on

November 2 by UN.
• Theme - Protect Journalists, Protect the Truth
• World Press Freedom Conference 2020 will be conducted digitally on the theme of
‘Journalism without Fear or Favour.’ It is hosted by UNESCO and The Netherlands.

5. International Stress Awareness Week is observed from 2nd- 6th November 2020 by
International Stress Management Association.

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 • Focus of this year’s week - Managing Stress and Mental Health Issues in the Age of
Covid-19.
• Summit - first-ever Online Global Stress and Wellbeing Summit was hosted by UK
branch of ISMA.
• National Stress Awareness Day is celebrated on the first Wednesday in November by
India. This year, it falls on November 4.

6. National Cancer Awareness Day is observed on November 7 in India.

• November 7th is also the birth anniversary of Marie Curie, Nobel laureate in Physics and
Chemistry for discovering cure to treat cancer through radioactivity.

7. National Education Day is celebrated every year on 11th November to mark the birth
anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (first education minister of India).
• Research excellence awards were presented in different categories – Research publication
award; Research dissemination award; and Early research achiever award.
• Prof. Kirti Ramamritham award for creative research 2019 was awarded to Prof.
Jayakrishnan Nair, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay.

8. World Pneumonia Day is observed on November 12.

9. World Diabetes Day is observed on November 14 by WHO and International Diabetes

Federation.
• Theme - The Nurse and Diabetes
• 14th Nov is the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with
Charles Best in 1922.

10. National Press Day is observed on November 16 to commemorate the establishment of the
Press Council of India (PCI) in 1966.
• Webinar was held on the theme of ‘Role of media during the COVID-19 pandemic and its
impact on the media’.

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 • Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad is the current chair of PCI.

11. International Day for Tolerance is observed on 16 November by UN.

• UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence
2020 has been given to Centre Résolution Conflits (Centre for Resolution of Conflicts -
CRC, Democratic Republic of Congo).
• Madanjeet Singh was an Indian Diplomat, who served as Ambassador of India in Asia,
South America, Africa and Europe.

12. WHO has decided to observe World Antimicrobial Awareness Week every year from 18-24
November, starting from 2020.
• Slogan for 2020 – "Antimicrobials: handle with care" applicable to all sectors.
• Theme for the human health sector for WAAW 2020 is “United to preserve
antimicrobials".

13. World Toilet Day is observed on November 19 by UN.

• Theme - "Sustainable sanitation and climate change".
• On World Toilet Day, India strengthens its resolve of #Toilet4All.

14. World Children's Day is observed on November 20 by UN.

• Ayushmann Khurrana partnered UNICEF to raise awareness on violence against children,
as UNICEF India’s celebrity advocate.

15. World Fisheries Day is celebrated on November 21 every year.

• Theme - “Social Responsibility in the fisheries value chain”
• National Fisheries Development Board has given four awards to Assam in different
categories for its performance in the fishery sector.
Assam - in Best Hilly And North Eastern
Best State Award
State

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 UP - in the inland state category
Odisha - in the marine state category
Assam Apex Cooperative Fish Marketing
Best Hilly And North Eastern Government
And Processing Federation Limited
Organization
(FISHFED)
Best Hilly And North Eastern District Nagaon District Of Assam
Hilly And North Eastern Fish Farmer Amal Medhi (Of Assam)

16. Women's Entrepreneurship Day is observed on November 19.

• According to UNDP’s website, the gender gap in labour force participation is around 14% in
the median OECD country, 26% in the median middle-income country, and 13% in the
median low-income country.

17. National New-born Week 2020 is being observed from November 15-21 for reducing the new
born mortality rate and stillbirth rate.
• Theme - "Quality, Equity, Dignity for every newborn at every health facility and
everywhere".
• India became the first country to launch the India New born Action Plan (INAP) in 2014,
in alignment with the Global Every New born Action Plan towards eliminating preventable
deaths of new borns and stillbirths.

18. 59th National Pharmacy Week is celebrated from November 16-22, 2020.
• Theme - “Pharmacists: Frontline Health Professionals”

19. Airports Authority of India (AAI) has celebrated Aviation Safety Awareness Week 2020
(23rd November to 27th November 2020).
• The week-long celebration is being observed at all airports and ANS locations managed by
AAI across India.

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20. World Heritage Week is celebrated by UNESCO every year from November 19 to November
25.

21. International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is observed on
November 25 by UN.
• Theme - “Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!”.

22. National Milk Day is observed on November 26 in India to honour the father of India's White
Revolution – Dr Verghese Kurien.
• The White Revolution, also known as Operation Flood, was launched in 1970. The
revolution transformed India from a milk deficient nation to one of the largest producers of
milk in the world.
• National Dairy Development Board's (NDDB) Chairman, Dilip Rath, launched Dairy
Surveyor – a GIS-enabled app for data collection.

AWARDS
1. 14th Annual Asian Film Awards were announced.
• Musician Karsh Kale and the Salvage Audio Collective won the best original music
award for "Gully Boy" movie (directed by Zoya Akhtar).
• "Parasite" (South Korean director Bong Joon-ho) won Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best
Editing, and Best Production Design awards.

2. HDFC Bank has been voted 'Most Outstanding Company - Financial Sector' in India, in a
poll conducted by the well-known publication Asiamoney.
• Overall winners by market - Bharti Airtel
• Over 824 fund managers, buy-side analysts, bankers and research analysts voted across
12 markets in Asia.

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3. Dinesh Katre (of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) has won the Emmett
Leahy Award 2020.
• Established in the US in 1967, Emmett Leahy Award honours a pioneer in the field of
records and information management.
• Katre is the first Indian to bag this award.

4. Kerala Tourism has won the 'Highly Commended' Award in the category of 'Meaningful
Connections' given by World Travel Mart London in recognition of its promotion of
Responsible Tourism amid pandemic.
• Responsible Tourism Mission was launched in 2017.
• Key themes of this year’s awards – recover, rebuild, innovate.
• GRNConnect – a hotel booking portal in India – has also won World Travel Leaders
Award 2020. There were awardees from other countries as well.

5. Malayalam book “Moustache” (writer: S Hareesh) won the JCB Prize for Literature 2020.
• Translator - Jayasree Kalathil (from Malayalam to English)
• JCB Literature Foundation is an Indian NPO.

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6. Consulate General of the Republic of Korea announced that the Korean government will
award the Prime Minister’s citation to Dr. Rathi Jafer, Director of the Indo- Korean Cultural
and Information Centre (InKo Centre).
• Purpose: for development of the Korean language and its dissemination in South India.
• This is the first time a person from South India would be honoured with the Prime
Minister’s Medal.

7. Hurun Report India and Edelgive Foundation released list of India’s top philanthropist in
FY20.
• Top – Azim Premji (Wipro)

8. 2nd edition of National Water Awards 2019 were given by Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• The jury committee for awards was headed by Shashi Shekhar.
• There are total 98 winners under 16 categories.
• Two new categories were included this year - Water Users Association and Best Industry
for CSR Activity.

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 • Best state awards: Tamil Nadu (1st), Maharashtra (2nd), and Rajasthan (3rd).

9. National Academy of Medical Sciences (India) has given the Dr Tulsi Das Chugh Award
2020 to Satish Mishra (Principal Scientist at CSIR- Central Drug Research Institute,
Lucknow).
• Reason - his research work on Malaria parasite's life cycle.
• This award is instituted by Dr. T.D. Chugh (holder of Fellowship of the Academy of
Medicine, Singapore (FAMS) degree) in 2018 for the best published work in the field of
infectious diseases.

10. In a first, Bhutan’s Queen Mother, Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuck, has been
awarded the United Nations Population Award in the individual category for 2020 for her
work on sexual health and ending gender violence.
• Winner in organisational category - HelpAge India, for its work on elder care.

11. Dr. Susanta Kar (or CSIR- Central Drug Research Institute- Lucknow) has been chosen for
Prof. A N Bhaduri Memorial Lecture Award 2020 by the Society of Biological Chemists
(India).
• The Society of Biological Chemists (India) is headquartered at Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore.

12. Sadat Rahman from Bangladesh has won the International Children’s Peace Prize 2020.
• Reason – for curbing cyberbullying through his social organization and mobile app ‘Cyber
Teens’.
• The award is given by KidsRights organization (based in Amsterdam, Netherlands).

13. Ministry of Education has launched Lilavati awards 2020: AICTE's Innovative education
program to empower women.
• Theme of the award – “Women Empowerment”
• Sub themes of the awards:-

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 o Women health
o Self defence
o Sanitation and hygiene
o Literacy
o Women entrepreneurship
o Legal awareness

14. Adam Yao Liu has won the Exim Bank’s BRICS Economic Research Award 2020 during
the 10th Annual BRICS Financial Forum (hosted online by Russia).
• Reason – Dr Liu’s doctoral thesis titled “Building Markets within Authoritarian Institutions:
The Political Economy of Banking Development in China”.

About the award:

• Launched in 2016, when India (Exim Bank) was the president of BRICS Interbank
Cooperation Mechanism.
• Purpose: to encourage advanced doctoral research on economics related topics of
contemporary relevance to the member nations of BRICS.
• Prize – Rs 1.5 million (approximately USD 21,000), a medal and a citation.

15. India-Japan Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) has won OECD Mutual Agreement
Procedure 2019 award.
• Reason – for its highest agreement ratio for transfer pricing cases.

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 • OECD has published the latest 2019 MAP statistics covering 105 jurisdictions and almost
all MAP cases worldwide.
• The report mentioned that cases were taking 25 months on average to resolve.
• There were almost 2,700 new cases in 2019 alone.

16. Bish Agrawal (chairman of Accord Group India) has become the first Asian to get AESC
Lifetime Achievement Award.
• Association for Executive Search and Leadership Consulting’s (AESC) award is one of the
highest honours in the executive search and leadership consulting profession globally.

17. Sweden-based Children's Climate Foundation has chosen Vinisha Umashankar (a 9th class
student) for the Children's Climate Prize 2020.
• Reason – for designing a mobile ironing cart using solar panels to power a steam iron box.
• This is the 5th edition of the Children's Climate Prize -- one of the world's largest
international climate awards for young innovators.
• Vinisha had also won the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Award 2019 for innovation.

18. Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has received the Vatayan Lifetime Achievement
Award for writing poetry and other literary works.
• Vatayan international awards are given by Vatayan which is a London based organisation
to honour poets, writers and artists.

19. Delhi Crime became the first Indian program to win an international Emmy. The program
won the ‘Best Drama’ at 48th International Emmy Awards.
• A seven-part Netflix Original Series created by Richie Mehta, it is a police procedural show,
based on the 2012 Delhi gangrape case.
• The award has been constituted by the International Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences (IATAS).
• Best Actress: Glenda Jackson, Elizabeth Is Missing (United Kingdom)
• Best Actor: Billy Barratt, Responsible Child (United Kingdom)

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20. Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (Uttar Pradesh) has bagged international award TX2 for doubling the
number of tigers in the past four years.
• The number of tigers in the reserve area has gone up to 65 from 25 in the period of just four
years.
• United Nations Development Program, Global Tiger Forum and International Union
for Conservation of Nature organised a virtual programme in Delhi recently bestowing the
top position to the PTR.

21. Ashraf Patel – co–founder of two organizations, Pravah and ComMutiny – has been
presented the Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) award, instituted by the Schwab
Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship (of Switzerland) and Jubilant Bhartia Foundation
(India).
• Both organizations instituted SEOY in 2010 to promote social innovation in India by
recognizing and encouraging individuals who are doing so.

22. Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), Pune has received the prestigious ''IEEE
Milestone'' status from Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
• The accolade is given to honour the significant technical achievements and excellence in
unique products, services, seminal papers and patents for the benefit of humanity.
• IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization that aims to advance
technology in all areas related to electrical and electronics engineering.
• National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) operates GMRT.
• GMRT is the third IEEE Milestone receiver in India. The previous two Indian IEEE
milestones receivers were Sir JC Bose and Sir CV Raman.

23. Shuggie Bain by Scottish-American writer Douglas Stuart has won Booker Prize 2020. The
award is given by Booker Prize Foundation (London).
• Shuggie Bain is the debut novel of Stuart.

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 SPORTS
1. 1st edition of Alexis Vastine International Boxing Tournament was organized in Nantes,
France by International Boxing Association (AIBA), European Boxing Confederation (EUBC),
and Ffboxe (French Boxing Federation).
• The tournament was organized in the memory of Late French Boxer -Alexis Vastine.
• Total 9 Indians (5 men and 4 women) have got an entry into the Tokyo Olympics 2021 after
winning in this tournament.
• Gold winners - Amit Panghal, Sanjeet, and Ashish Kumar

2. ICC Women’s T20 Challenge will be held in Sharjah, UAE from Nov. 4 to 9, 2020.
• Jio won the title sponsor of the Women’s T20 Challenge.

3. Australian Cricketer Shane Watson announced retirement from all forms of cricket.

4. Joan Mir (from Suzuki team) has won the European Grand Prix 2020.
• It is his maiden MotoGP victory.

5. Daniil Medvedev has won the Rolex Paris Masters (ATP tennis tour for males).

6. Chinese player Chen Meng (World number one) has won her maiden ITTF (table tennis)
Women's World Cup title in Weihai, China.

7. Italy’s Franco Morbidelli has won the Valencia Grand Prix, Spain.
• Suzuki rider Joan Mir (at 7th rank) became the Japanese team’s first World champion in
two decades.

8. Emily Kristine Pedersen (Denmark) has won the first-ever women’s golf tournament, named
as Aramco Saudi Ladies International, staged in Saudi Arabia.
• The tournament is sanctioned by Ladies European Tour (LET).

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 • LET was formed in 1978.

9. Dustin Johnson has won the 2020 Masters Golf tournament held in Augusta National Golf
Course, Georgia.
• Dustin Johnson is at the 1st ranking in the Official World Golf Ranking, released by
Professional Golfers' Association (PGA).

10. Lewis Hamilton has won his seventh title by winning the Turkish Grand Prix 2020.
• Now, he has become the F1 World Drivers' Champion.

11. Aryna Sabalenka (Belarusian) has won the Linz Open (women’s tennis tournament) in Linz,
Austria.
• She is placed at 10th rank in Women's Tennis Association’s (WTA) ranking, by replacing
Serena Williams.
• Rank 1st - Ashleigh Barty (Australian)

12. FIFA cancelled both the women's U-17 World Cup and U-20 World Cup which were
scheduled to be held in India and Costa Rica respectively.
• Both the countries were given the hosting rights of the 2022 editions.

13. Daniil Medvedev (Russian) has won the Nitto ATP Finals 2020 (men’s tennis tournament) in
London, UK.

MISCELLANEOUS
1. IIT-Madras has developed 'IITM Covid Game' game to create awareness about Covid-19
virus among the general public, particularly children.
• Richard Wiseman created the world's 1st coronavirus computer game called "Can You
Save the World?" to teach children about social distancing.

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2. "Till We Win" book has been written by Randeep Guleria (Director of AIIMS), Chandrakant
Lahariya (health systems expert), and Gagandeep Kang (vaccine researcher and virologist).
• A new book details about India's fight against COVID-19 and how to deal with the pandemic
in the days to come.

3. “Pandemonium: The Great Indian Banking Tragedy” book has been written by Tamal
Bandyopadhyay.

4. “Age Of Pandemics (1817-1920): How they shaped India and the World” book has been
authored by Chinmay Tumbe.

5. “Jugalbandi: The BJP Before Modi” book has been written by political scientist Vinay
Sitapati.
• Sitapati has earlier authored “Half Lion”, which was a best-selling biography of India’s
former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.

6. Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has released a survey of the Ganga river (the main river
without its tributaries), found that 49% of the river has high biodiversity and that biodiversity
sightings, including of the Gangetic Dolphin and otters.
• This is the first study ever done in the country on the entire river, and the first of all its
biodiversity.

7. Bahrain’s Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, one of the world’s longest-serving prime
ministers has passed away.
• Bahrain's crown prince, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, was appointed the new
prime minister.

8. Arundhati Roy has written the Walking with the Comrades book.

9. “How to Be a Writer” book has been written by Ruskin Bond.

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10. 'Lockdown' has been chosen as the Word of the Year in 2020 by Collins Dictionary.

11. Sonu Sood has launched his autobiography “I Am No Messiah”.

12. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched four astronauts to the International Space Station in the
first operational flight of a commercially developed Crew Dragon capsule named Resilience.
• Astronauts – Commander Michael Hopkins, pilot Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and
Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi.
• Victor Glover is the first black American to stay on a long duration mission to ISS.

13. Mahajan Commission was formed under former Chief Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan in
October 1966 to submit report on resolving the Belgaum Border Dispute between
Maharashtra and Karnataka.
• Mahajan Commission submitted its report in August 1967, recommending that 264
villages should be transferred to Maharashtra (which formed on 1 May 1960) and that
Belgaum and 247 villages remain with Karnataka (1 November 1956).
• Belgaum has a majority of Marathi speaking population. Hence, the dispute arose.

14. 'Reporting India: My Seventy-Year Journey as a Journalist' book has been authored by
veteran journalist Prem Prakash.

15. 'Balochistan: Bruised, Battered and Bloodied' book has been written by Francesca
Marino.

16. Tarun Gogoi, the longest-serving CM of Assam, passed away.

17. Ahmed Patel (a strategist of congress party, Rajya Sabha, and Lok Sabha member from
Bharuch (Gujarat) constituency) has passed away.

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18. Diego Maradona (Argentinian football legend) has passed away.

19. Phoolsunghi has become the first Bhojpuri novel to be translated into English.
• Author – Pandey Kapil
• Translator – Gautam Choubey.

20. The father of Indian IT industry, Faqir Chand Kohli has passed away.
• Kohli joined Tata in 1951 and led the inception of the global tech giant TCS.

21. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a book on the life and ideals of Guru Nanak Dev
(the founder of Sikhism).
• Writer - Kirpal Singh

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QUESTIONS

117
Q.1) Where is the Mansar lake located? secure fund settlement on debit and credit
[a] Jammu and Kashmir cards?
[b] Delhi [a] Axis Bank
[c] Odisha [b] HDFC Bank
[d] Uttarakhand [c] RBL Bank
[e] Himachal Pradesh [d] IndusInd Bank
[e] Karur Vyasa Bank
Q.2) World's Strongest Storm has hit
Philippines. What is the name of the storm? Q.7) When is the World Thrift Day observed?
[a] Sonamu [a] November 2
[b] Utor [b] October 31
[c] Fitow [c] August 12
[d] Haiyan [d] July 19
[e] Goni [e] June 16

Q.3) With which company has Hindustan Q.8) Which country will host the global
Aeronautics Ltd signed a contract worth ₹400 observation of the Global Media and
crore for implementation of HAL's 'Project Information Literacy (MIL) Week 2020?
Parivartan'? [a] Netherlands
[a] IBM [b] Republic of Korea
[b] Intel [c] Germany
[c] Tech Mahindra [d] Finland
[d] Qualcomm [e] Japan
[e] Alphabet Inc
Q.9) Who among the following has won gold
Q.4) What is the theme of World Press medal in the Alexis Vastine International
Freedom Conference 2020? Boxing Tournament?
[a] Protect Journalists, Protect the Truth [a] Ashish Kumar
[b] Journalists - A mirror to society [b] Vijender Singh
[c] Stop Impunity against convicts [c] Shiv Thapa
[d] Journalism without Fear or Favour [d] Manish Kaushik
[e] Journalism in the era of Covid-19 [e] Gaurav Bidhuri

Q.5) Recently, British-Scottish actor Sean Q.10) Who has created the world's 1st
Connery passed away. He was immensely coronavirus computer game called "Can You
popular for playing __ character onscreen? Save the World" to teach children about
[a] James Bond social distancing?
[b] Charlie Chaplin [a] Kyle Giersdorf
[c] Indiana Jones [b] Sumail Hassan
[d] Archie Andrews [c] Saahil Arora
[e] Luke Skywalker [d] Richard Wiseman
[e] John Marshall
Q.6) Which bank has launched Visa Direct
facility to provide instant, real-time and
Q.11) Where is the India’s first solar powered [e] Bharati Gosh
miniature train has been established?[a]
Diskit Village Q.16) Which bank has become the first
[b] Malana Village corporate partner of edX from India to offer
[c] Nako Village MOOC?
[d] Kasol Village [a] SBI
[e] Veli Village [b] Axis Bank
[c] HDFC Bank
Q.12) How many cities in India are at water [d] PNB
risk, according to the WWF (World-Wide [e] Canara Bank
Fund For Nature) Water Risk Filter?
[a] 30 Q.17) Who has been elected as the President
[b] 40 of the Inter-Parliamentary Union?
[c] 50 [a] Katalin Annamária Bogyay
[d] 10 [b] Collen Vixen Kelapile
[e] 20 [c] Duarte Pacheco
[d] Agustín Santos Maraver
Q.13) Which country is at the top in Nation [e] Milenko Esteban Skoknic
Brand Index 2020?
[a] UK Q.18) Where has India’s first ever e-resource
[b] Canada centre and virtual court for traffic and
[c] Japan transport been launched?
[d] Germany [a] Nagpur
[e] France [b] Aurangabad
[c] Pune
Q.14) Which company has acquired Bharti [d] Delhi
AXA General Insurance Company Limited? [e] Kolkata
[a] Acko General Insurance
[b] ICICI Lombard Q.19) Which of the following country is/are
[c] Bajaj Allianz not covered in the Phase 2 of Mission Sagar?
[d] Edelweiss General Insurance [a] Sudan
[e] Future Generali India [b] Eritrea
[c] South Sudan
Q.15) Who has become New Zealand’s first- [d] Djibouti
ever Indian-origin Minister? [e] Seychelles
[a] Arpita Ghosh
[b] Agatha Sangma Q.20) As per the NCAER’s "Estimating the
[c] Priyanca Radhakrishnan economic benefits of Investment in Monsoon
[d] Alka Lamba Mission and High Performance Computing

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Facilities” Report, India generated ___ worth Spain for cooperation in the field of
of economic benefits by investing in the astronomy?
National Monsoon Mission and High [a] Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and
Performance Computing Facilities? Astrophysics
[a] Rs 35,000 crores [b] Astronomical Society of India
[b] Rs 25,000 crores [c] Indian Institute of Space Science and
[c] Rs 50,000 crores Technology
[d] Rs 10,000 crores [d] Indian Institute of Astrophysics
[e] Rs 90,000 crores [e] National Centre for Radio Astrophysics

Q.21) Which ministry launched the National Q.25) With which country has India signed an
Monsoon Mission? MoU for cooperation in the field of medical
[a] Ministry of Science and Technology Product Regulation?
[b] Ministry of Jal Shakti [a] Finland
[c] Ministry of Environment, forest and [b] USA
Climate Change [c] Canada
[d] Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare [d] UK
[e] Ministry of Earth Sciences [e] Singapore

Q.22) How many countries are members of Q.26) Prasar Bharati and Bhaskaracharya
the Gulf Cooperation Council? National Institute for Space Applications and
[a] Six Geo-Informatics under the MeitY signed an
[b] Twelve MoU for launching ___ direct-to-home (DTH)
[c] Seven education TV channels?
[d] Ten [a] 51
[e] Fifteen [b] 60
[c] 14
Q.23) On which river is the Luhri Stage-I [d] 20
Hydro Electric Project being built? [e] 38
[a] Indus
[b] Godavari Q.27) When was the Partnership for
[c] Satluj Maternal, Newborn and Child Health –
[d] Narmada world’s largest alliance for women’s,
[e] Mahanadi children’s and adolescents’ health and well-
being – launched?
Q.24) Which Indian institute has signed an [a] 2005
MoU with Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias [b] 2019
(IAC) and the GRANTECAN, S.A. (GTC), [c] 2016
[d] 2003

120
[e] 2014 [b] Singapore
[c] UAE
Q.28) UNGA adopted two resolutions - [d] Philippines
Convention on the Prohibition of the use of [e] Canada
Nuclear Weapons and Reducing Nuclear
Danger. Which country had sponsored the Q.32) Which organization has launched the
resolutions? MSME Credit Health Index, in partnership
[a] Japan with Ministry of Statistics & Programme
[b] China Implementation?
[c] UK [a] Indian Statistical Institute
[d] USA [b] Central Statistics Office
[e] India [c] TransUnion CIBIL
[d] National Statistical Commission
Q.29) Which company has set up a ₹400 [e] NCAER
crore India Growth Fund under its ‘vGROW’
programme to promote localized Q.33) Which of the following organization has
manufacturing and sourcing of FMCG goods? organized India’s first Global Vegan Business
[a] Hindustan Uniliver Limited Expo 2020?
[b] ITC Limited [a] Outlook India Magazine
[c] Nestlé India [b] VOGUE India Magazine
[d] Britannia Industries [c] SheThePeople Magazine
[e] P&G India [d] Mint Business Forum
[e] Compassion India
Q.30) Which of the following private equity
funds has launched Virescent Infrastructure, Q.34) Who among the following has won the
a platform to acquire green energy assets in best original music award for "Gully Boy"
India? movie at the 14th Annual Asian Film Awards?
[a] KKR & Co [a] Pritam Chakraborty
[b] Blackstone Group [b] Anu Malik
[c] Neuberger Berman Group [c] Amaal Mallik
[d] Carlyle Group [d] Karsh Kale
[e] Bain Capital [e] Mithoon

Q.31) MIC Redwood has become the first Q.35) Which bank has been voted as the
foreign sovereign wealth fund that has been 'Most Outstanding Company - Financial
granted 100% income tax exemption for long- Sector' in India by the Asiamoney?
term investments in India. Which country [a] SBI
does this SWF belong to? [b] HDFC Bank
[a] Netherlands [c] Axis Bank

121
[d] PNB [b] Himachal Pradesh
[e] Canara Bank [c] Gujarat
[d] Punjab
Q.36) Who has won the Emmett Leahy [e] Haryana
Award 2020?
[a] B Madan Mohan Das Q.41) Who heads the committee formed by
[b] Agam Mittal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to
[c] Arun Kumar review the guidelines on television rating
[d] Dinesh Katre agencies in India?
[e] Kalpesh Sharma [a] Ravi Shankar Prasad
[b] Sanjay Dhotre
Q.37) Which company has been voted as [c] Saurabh Kumar
India’s best in the overall winner by market [d] Saurav Kumar
category of Asiamoney’s survey? [e] Shashi Shekhar Vempati
[a] Bharti Airtel
[b] Tata Motors Q.42) Which of the following PSU has
[c] ICICI Bank collaborated with i-TIC Foundation for
[d] Tata Consultancy Services launching ‘NICE’?
[e] Coal India [a] National Mineral Development Corporation
[b] National Aluminium Company Limited
Q.38) Who is the author of "Till We Win" [c] Hindustan Copper Limited
book? [d] Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited
[a] Randeep Guleria [e] National Mineral Exploration Trust
[b] Chandrakant Lahariya
[c] Gagandeep Kang Q.43) International Centre for Clean Water
[d] Only A and B (ICCW) signed an MoU with DG TAKANO, a
[e] Only A, B and C Japanese firm, to introduce new clean water
technologies in India. Where is ICCW
Q.39) Who is the author of “Pandemonium: located?
The Great Indian Banking Tragedy” book? [a] IIT-Roorkee
[a] Tamal Bandyopadhyay [b] IIT- Kharagpur
[b] Lamar Odom [c] IIT- Bombay
[c] Kamlesh Patel Alias Daaji [d] IIT-Madras
[d] Neeraj Jha [e] IIT-Delhi
[e] Ruchir Sharma
Q.44) Who has been chosen as the brand
Q.40) Where is the Nathpa Jhakri Dam ambassador of Namami Gange Project at the
located? Ganga Utsav 2020?
[a] Maharashtra [a] Chacha Chaudhary

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[b] Mowgli
[c] Shaktimaan Q.49) With which institute has Indian
[d] Captain Vyom Railways partnered to leverage the use of AI
[e] Vikram-Betaal and data analytics in its operations?
[a] IIM- Ahmedabad
Q.45) Who chaired the 40th SAARC [b] SVKM's NMIMS
FINANCE Governors’ Group? [c] Indian School of Business
[a] Yi Gang [d] Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha
[b] Shaktikant Das University
[c] Perry Warjiyo [e] FMS Delhi
[d] Ernest Addison
[e] Andrew Bailey Q.50) With which organization has TRIFED
partnered for conducting research work on
Q.46) Which bank has partnered with Visa tribal art and tradition in tribal dominated
and DigitSecure to launch the world’s first live regions of India?
PCI certified Tap to Phone card acceptance [a] National Institute of Fine Arts
solution? [b] JD Centre of Arts
[a] Bank of Baroda [c] Sangeet Natak Akademi
[b] DBS [d] Sahitya Akademi
[c] European Central Bank [e] Lalit Kala Akademi
[d] HDFC Bank
[e] Bank of China Q.51) Which state has received $132.8
million loan from Asian Development Bank to
Q.47) Who is the author of “Jugalbandi: The improve the power quality and upgrade its
BJP Before Modi”? power distribution network?
[a] Vinay Sitapati [a] Maharashtra
[b] Anand Neelakantan [b] Meghalaya
[c] Upamanyu Chatterjee [c] Andhra Pradesh
[d] Indu Sundaresan [d] Himachal Pradesh
[e] Ramachandra Guha [e] Gujarat

Q.48) Cities with more than ___ lakh Q.52) Who has become the second Indian to
population can participate in the Nurturing be elected to the Board of International Dairy
Neighbourhoods Challenge? Federation?
[a] 5 lakhs [a] Bhole Amit Gunvant
[b] 10 lakhs [b] Dilip Rath
[c] 11 lakhs [c] Kedar Burande
[d] 20 lakhs [d] Ajay Prakash Sawhney
[e] 50 lakhs [e] Jyoti Arora

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 [a] India and Bangladesh
Q.53) Who is the author of “Age of [b] US and Australia
Pandemics (1817-1920): How they shaped [c] Sri Lanka and Philippines
India and the World” book? [d] Bangladesh and US
[a] Rajendra Kumar [e] Russia and Kazakhstan
[b] Simmi Chaudhary
[c] Saurabh Gaur Q.58) Who is the secretary general of
[d] Chinmay Tumbe Interpol?
[e] Rajiv Kumar [a] Shaolin Yang
[b] Mari Pangestu
Q.54) With which country has India signed an [c] Carmen Reinhart
MoU for cooperation in the field of [d] Jürgen Stock
telecommunications and ICT? [e] Sandie Okoro
[a] Germany
[b] UK Q.59) Which bank has launched India’s first
[c] Netherlands comprehensive banking programme for
[d] Finland offering services to millennials?
[e] USA [a] ICICI Bank
[b] Indian Bank
Q.55) What is the new limit for investment [c] HDFC Bank
per fund mutual fund, set up by SEBI? [d] Axis Bank
[a] $400 million [e] Bank of Baroda
[b] $600 million
[c] $700 million Q.60) Recently, RBI has revamped its co-
[d] $150 million origination of loan scheme and renamed it as
[e] $100 million Co-Lending Model (CLM) scheme. Which of
the following statement is incorrect with
Q.56) Who has been conferred the honorary regards to the scheme?
rank of General of the Nepali Army by [a] It allows banks and NBFCs (including
Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari? HFCs) to co-lend.
[a] Dalbir Singh Suhag [b] Co-lending banks will take their share of
[b] Bipin Rawat the individual loans on a back-to-back basis
[c] Manoj Mukund Naravane in their books.
[d] Bikram Singh [c] NBFCs shall be required to retain a
[e] Vijay Kumar Singh minimum of 30% share of the individual loans
on their books.
Q.57) Which countries conducted the [d] NBFCs will be the single point of interface
‘Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training’ for the customers and shall enter into a loan
(CARAT) naval exercise? agreement with the borrowers.

124
[e] All transactions between the banks and [b] American India Foundation
NBFCs relating to CLM have to be routed [c] University of Mumbai
through an escrow account [d] Dell Technologies
[e] All of the Above
Q.61) Which state has signed an MoU with
Tata Technologies Ltd to upgrade its 150 Q.65) Where is the Elephant Rehabilitation
state-run Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) Centre (a proposed world’s largest care and
into Vocational Technological Centres/ cure centre for elephants) located?
[a] Madhya Pradesh [a] Kerala
[b] Maharashtra [b] Karnataka
[c] Karnataka [c] Assam
[d] Gujarat [d] Meghalaya
[e] Odisha [e] Nagaland

Q.62) Which state has launched Green Q.66) What is the name of the exercise
Innovation Fund in partnership with UNDP for conducted by Air Force, Army, and Navy of
social impact start-ups to promote the social Andaman and Nicobar Command?
development of the state? [a] Al Nagah
[a] Tamil Nadu [b] Sagar Kavach
[b] Kerala [c] Samrudhi
[c] Andhra Pradesh [d] Bull Strike
[d] Delhi [e] Vajra Prahar
[e] Punjab
Q.67) In which district of Kerala is Indo-Dutch
Q.63) With which company has Airports centre of excellence (CoE) for vegetables and
Authority of India signed an MoU for setting flowers opened recently?
up solar power plants at AAI-operated [a] Kozhikode
airports? [b] Kasaragod
[a] Utility Powertech Ltd [c] Palakkad
[b] NSPCL [d] Wayanad
[c] North Eastern Electric Power Corporation [e] Thrissur
Limited
[d] NTPC Electric Supply Company Limited Q.68) With which Italian company has Indian
[e] NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam renewable energy developer Greenko signed
an agreement to collaborate on the study of
Q.64) Which of the following organization has hydrogen production methods?
launched the ''Project Future Ready'' to equip [a] Eni
students with career skills? [b] Intesa Sanpaolo
[a] National Skill Development Corporation [c] Fincantieri

125
[d] Enel [d] World Bank
[e] Snam [e] Bank of Ghana

Q.69) Which company has launched a how-to Q.73) Who has been appointed as the new
guide for small- and medium-sized Chief Information Commissioner of India?
businesses (SMB) platform in India to help [a] Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha
them move from offline to online? [b] Vanaja N Sarna
[a] Google [c] Neeraj Kumar Gupta
[b] Facebook [d] Suresh Chandra
[c] Amazon [e] Amita Pandove
[d] Flipkart
[e] Swiggy Q.74) Recently, Ro-Pax ferry service
between Hazira and Ghogha has been
Q.70) Who has become the first North- inaugurated. In which state are these two
Eastern to be elected as the President of places located?
Hockey India? [a] Gujarat
[a] Gyanendro Ningombam [b] Tamil Nadu
[b] Tarun Gogoi [c] Madhya Pradesh
[c] Bhumidhar Barman [d] Karnataka
[d] Prafulla Kumar Mahanta [e] Rajasthan
[e] Hiteswar Saikia
Q.75) On which lake is India’s longest single-
Q.71) Which of the following has become the lane motorable suspension bridge named as
first court in India to live-stream its Dobra-Chanti bridge located?
proceedings on YouTube? [a] Loktak Lake
[a] Calcutta High Court [b] Dal Lake
[b] Patna High Court [c] Chilika Lake
[c] Allahabad High Court [d] Wular Lake
[d] Madras High Court [e] Tehri lake
[e] Gujarat High Court
Q.76) US President-elect Joe Biden has
Q.72) Which bank has extended loan of over announced a 12-member coronavirus task
545 million Euros (Rs 4,767 crore) to the force to assuage the impact of Covid-19 on
Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development US economy. Who among the following is the
Authority (MMRDA) for infrastructure projects chair of the task force?
in Mumbai? [a] Vivek Murthy
[a] European Central Bank [b] Paul Shrivastava
[b] IMF [c] S. Shankar Sastry
[c] KfW [d] Geeta Menon

126
[e] Raghu Raj Bahadur [d] Navi General Insurance Ltd.
[e] Edelweiss General Insurance Co. Ltd.
Q.77) Which state has launched the
Parivarthanam scheme to help the fishing Q.81) Who has been appointed as the CEO
community by improving their livelihood skills of Air India Express?
and enable their socio-economic upliftment [a] Aloke Singh
through entrepreneurship? [b] Prateek Mishra
[a] Kerala [c] Harshita Mehta
[b] Gujarat [d] Preeti Kamra
[c] Rajasthan [e] Kamala Bhattacharya
[d] Madhya Pradesh
[e] Maharashtra Q.82) Which of the following book has won
the JCB Prize for Literature 2020?
Q.78) In which state has India's first solar- [a] Small Days and Nights
based Integrated Multi-Village Water Supply [b] Narcopolis
Project launched? [c] Moustache
[a] Madhya Pradesh [d] Boats on Land
[b] Himachal Pradesh [e] The Far Field
[c] Arunachal Pradesh
[d] Gujarat Q.83) Who has won the Rolex Paris Masters
[e] Rajasthan 2020?
[a] Andre Agassi
Q.79) With which country has India signed an [b] Roger Federer
MoU for setting up soil and plant testing [c] Rafael Nadal
laboratories (in that country)? [d] Daniil Medvedev
[a] Myanmar [e] Novak Djokovic
[b] Maldives
[c] Nepal Q.84) Which Indian Institute of Technology
[d] Philippines has partnered with University of Western
[e] Sri Lanka Sydney for Australia-India Water Centre?
[a] IIT-Madras
Q.80) Which organization has launched [b] IIT-Delhi
#CancerSendsNoNotifications campaign on [c] IIT-Bombay
social media to increase awareness and [d] IIT-Kharagpur
spread knowledge about Cancer on ‘National [e] IIT-Guwahati
Cancer Awareness Day’?
[a] Acko General Insurance Ltd. Q.85) Which country is the chair of SCO in
[b] Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co. Ltd. 2021?
[c] Bharti AXA General Insurance Ltd. [a] Tajikistan

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[b] Uzbekistan [c] Germany
[c] Kyrgyzstan [d] Italy
[d] Russia [e] India
[e] India
Q.90) When is the World Science Day for
Q.86) How much percentage of the total Peace and Development observed?
corpus do the mutual funds required to invest [a] November 11
in equity stocks of large-, mid- or small-cap [b] November 12
company stocks, according to SEBI’s ‘flexi- [c] November 9
cap category’ for mutual funds? [d] November 6
[a] 80% [e] November 10
[b] 45%
[c] 40% Q.91) Who has topped the India’s top
[d] 65% philanthropist in FY20 list of Hurun India and
[e] 20% Edelgive Foundation?
[a] Anil Aggarwal
Q.87) What is the average score of India in [b] Shiv Nadar
Interstate Migrant Policy Index of India [c] Mukesh Ambani
Migration Now? [d] Azim Premji
[a] 37 [e] Ratan Tata
[b] 43
[c] 54 Q.92) Where is Ramgarhtal Lake located?
[d] 67 [a] Madhya Pradesh
[e] 89 [b] Uttarakhand
[c] Himachal Pradesh
Q.88) Where is the Thirty Meter Telescope [d] Bihar
(TMT) project being built? [e] Uttar Pradesh
[a] Croatia
[b] Belgium Q.93) Who is the chair of the Central Govt’s
[c] Netherlands committee for strengthening India’s capital
[d] Hawaii goods sector?
[e] Sweden [a] Rajiv Gauba
[b] Krishnendra Pratap Singh
Q.89) Which country has proposed Food [c] Arun Goel
Coalition to help countries get back on track [d] Kundan Kumar
to achieve the SDGs on ending hunger and [e] Amarendra Tiwari
poverty?
[a] Netherlands Q.94) Which city has been awarded the
[b] France Award of Excellence for Innovation in Urban

128
Transport at the 13th Urban Mobility India [c] Code on Social Security
Conference 2020? [d] Code on Occupational Safety, Health and
[a] Bhubaneswar Working Conditions
[b] Agartala [e] None of the Above
[c] Pune
[d] Both A and B Q.99) Which place is known as the Falcon
[e] Both B and C Capital of the World?
[a] Nagaland
Q.95) What is the total outlay of viability gap [b] Manipur
funding scheme of central govt? [c] Mizoram
[a] ₹5,900 crore [d] Tripura
[b] ₹8,100 crore [e] Assam
[c] ₹2,300 crore
[d] ₹4,200 crore Q.100) What is the percentage of subsidy
[e] ₹1,200 crore given for air transportation under the
Operation Green: TOP to TOTAL for 41
Q.96) Which state has launched the ‘Secha notified fruits and vegetables from North-
Samadhan’, a bilingual mobile application, to Eastern and Himalayan States?
address the irrigation problems faced by [a] 50%
farmers? [b] 60%
[a] Karnataka [c] 40%
[b] Andhra Pradesh [d] 30%
[c] Odisha [e] 70%
[d] Tamil Nadu
[e] Telangana Q.101) Who is the Prime Minister of
Vietnam?
Q.97) Where will 14th Urban Mobility India [a] Prayut Chan-o-cha
Conference 2021 be held? [b] Nguyen Xuan Phuc
[a] Kerala [c] Muhyiddin Yassin
[b] Tamil Nadu [d] Lee Hsien Loong
[c] Maharashtra [e] Hassanal Bolkiah
[d] Delhi
[e] West Bengal Q.102) Which country has chaired the 15th
East Asia Summit 2020?
Q.98) Which of the following labour code [a] Philippines
enables the provision for maintaining National [b] Vietnam
Database of Migrant Labour? [c] Thailand
[a] Code on Wages [d] Brunei
[b] Code on Industrial Relations [e] Indonesia

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 Q.107) Which country has successfully
Q.103) Which of the following country is not a launched “the world's first 6G satellite" named
part of 23rdASEAN Plus Three Summit as UESTC?
2020? [a] Japan
[a] Japan [b] Russia
[b] Korea [c] USA
[c] China [d] China
[d] Vietnam [e] UK
[e] India
Q.108) What is the new sales threshold for
Q.104) What is average BMI of India’s 19 companies to file mandatory electronic
years old boys and girls, according to the BMI invoices?
rankings of The Lancet? [a] Rs 100 crores
[a] 19.2 [b] Rs 500 crores
[b] 18.7 [c] Rs 300 crores
[c] 20.1 [d] Rs 200 crores
[d] 14.5 [e] Rs 150 crores
[e] 12.2
Q.109) Who heads the IRDAI’s panel on
Q.105) Which company has announced to revising product structures of engineering
invest ₹10,000 crore over five years to create tariffs relevant for the retail category?
an end- to-end natural gas value chain? [a] Sanjeev Srivastav
[a] IOCL [b] R Chandrasekaran
[b] BPCL [c] S.K Pathak
[c] HPCL [d] Yogesh Kumar Butta
[d] OIL [e] Anjali Rawat
[e] GAIL
Q.110) Which company has become the first
Q.106) Which company has launched 'Covid non-bank issuer of Amex Cards in India?
Shield +', India’s first individual Covid-19 life [a] Google Pay
insurance product? [b] Paytm
[a] Aviva Life Insurance Co. [c] Amazon Pay
[b] Aegon Life Insurance Co. Ltd. [d] PayPal
[c] DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance Co. [e] MobiKwik
[d] Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance
[e] Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Q.111) With which country is India
establishing a temporary ground station
tracking facilities for India’s Gaganyaan
Mission?

130
[a] France [c] Farmtrade Agro Multi state Marketing
[b] Australia Cooperative Ltd
[c] Japan [d] Bihar State handloom Weavers
[d] Finland Cooperative Union Lid
[e] USA [e] Shree Ekdant Agricultural Multi State Co-
operative Society Ltd
Q.112) UNDP Accelerator Lab India has
launched the GRID initiative to foster Q.115) With which company has Gujarat govt
inclusive development at the community- partnered for the rescue and rehabilitation of
level. What does ‘I’ stand for in the full form of Leopards?
GRID? [a] Tata Sons
[a] Innovation [b] Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
[b] Invention [c] Reliance Industries Limited
[c] Inclusiveness [d] ONGC
[d] Invent [e] People For Animals
[e] Intent
Q.116) With which bank has Tamil Nadu
Q.113) Which company has collaborated signed an MoU to support MSMEs ecosystem
with the Ministry of Electronics and in the state?
Information Technology to create a robust [a] Bank of Baroda
education and skilling ecosystem through the [b] Karur Vyasa Bank
Common Services Centre Academy? [c] Karnataka Bank
[a] Mastercard [d] SIDBI
[b] Infosys [e] NABARD
[c] Dell Technology
[d] IBM Q.117) When is the International Day for the
[e] Mastercard Elimination of Violence against Women
observed?
Q.114) Which of the following agency will [a] November 25
provide training to the 18 regional training [b] November 19
centres under the Sahakar Pragya program [c] November 10
of National Cooperative Development [d] November 18
Corporation? [e] November 23
[a] Lakshmanrao Inamdar National
Cooperative Research and Development Q.118) Recently, Mission Youth and Bombay
Academy Stock Exchange signed four MoUs to spread
[b] UP Kisan Development cooperative financial awareness, support economic
Society Ltd development, and encourage sustainable

131
livelihood in one of the following Union [c] Canara Bank
Territory. Identify the correct option. [d] Karnataka Bank
[a] J&K [e] HDFC Bank
[b] Ladakh
[c] Chandigarh Q.123) Who has been appointed as the
[d] Puducherry chairman of Cholamandalam Investment and
[e] Lakshadweep Finance Co. Ltd?
[a] Divya Arora
Q.119) In which month is World Investor [b] Bhawna Singh
Week observed by SEBI? [c] Vellayan Subbiah
[a] August [d] Pranjol Chandra
[b] September [e] Vinay Kumar
[c] December
[d] October Q.124) When is World Pneumonia Day
[e] November observed?
[a] October 17
Q.120) Where is the Giant Metrewave Radio [b] December 23
Telescope located? [c] June 15
[a] Bhopal [d] November 12
[b] Ujjain [e] August 19
[c] Mandsaur
[d] Pune Q.125) Which state has been given the Best
[e] Betul State Award at 2nd edition of National Water
Awards 2019?
Q.121) Who heads the panel formed by SEBI [a] Tamil Nadu
for reviewing the framework of share-based [b] Gujarat
employee benefit and issue of sweat equity? [c] Madhya Pradesh
[a] A.K. Jayarajan [d] Delhi
[b] Sandip Bhagat [e] Odisha
[c] Rubina Ali
[d] K Rama Rao Q.126) Who won the Dr Tulsi Das Chugh
[e] Gulshan Kumar Award 2020 given by National Academy of
Medical Sciences?
Q.122) Which bank has launched SmartHub [a] Debashish Halder
Merchant Solutions 3.0 – India’s first [b] Sanjay Singh
integrated banking and payment solution for [c] Kameshwar Mishra
merchants? [d] Satish Mishra
[a] ICICI Bank [e] Brajesh Kumar Srivastava
[b] SBI

132
Q.127) Recently, Chen Meng (World number [d] Karnataka
one) has won her maiden ITTF (table tennis) [e] Kerala
Women's World Cup title. Which country does
she belong to? Q.132) What is the share of institutional
[a] Taiwan births to total registered births, according to
[b] Singapore Vital Statistics on India based on civil society
[c] Thailand system 2018 report?
[d] South Korea [a] 33.8%
[e] China [b] 47.9%
[c] 83.1%
Q.128) Who is the author of “Jacinda Ardern: [d] 52.0%
Leading with Empathy” book? [e] 69.3%
[a] Supriya Vani
[b] Carl A. Harte Q.133) When was the Operation Thunder
[c] Devdutt Pattanaik launched?
[d] Both A and B [a] 2013
[e] Both B and C [b] 2017
[c] 2018
Q.129) Who is the author of Walking with the [d] 2019
Comrades book? [e] 2020
[a] Anita Desai
[b] Jhumpa Lahiri Q.134) What is the outlay of Mission Covid
[c] Arundhati Roy Suraksha?
[d] Aravind Adiga [a] Rs 500 crores
[e] Vikram Chandra [b] Rs 10,000 crores
[c] Rs 11,000 crores
Q.130) Who is the author of “How to Be a [d] Rs 900 crores
Writer” book? [e] Rs 1,000 crores
[a] Sudha Murty
[b] Ruskin Bond Q.135) When was the South-South
[c] Amish Tripathi Cooperation formed?
[d] Ravinder Singh [a] 1988
[e] Durjoy Datta [b] 1990
[c] 1978
Q.131) Where will India’s first sandalwood [d] 1995
museum be built? [e] 1954
[a] Assam
[b] Punjab Q.136) Which state has launched 'Project Air
[c] Maharashtra Care'?

133
[a] Delhi [e] 11%
[b] Haryana
[c] Uttar Pradesh Q.141) How much grant has India announced
[d] Madhya Pradesh for the Covid-19 ASEAN Response Fund
[e] Rajasthan during the 17th India-ASEAN summit?
[a] $1 million
Q.137) Under which section of Information [b] $6 million
Technology Act, 2000 has the central govt [c] $5 million
banned Chinese apps? [d] $3 million
[a] Section 69A [e] $2 million
[b] Section 65D
[c] Section 98F Q.142) How many countries are eligible for
[d] Section 45B Debt Service Suspension Initiative?
[e] Section 78C [a] 88
[b] 73
Q.138) How many cities have been covered [c] 90
under the SafaiMitra Suraksha Challenge? [d] 100
[a] 483 [e] 75
[b] 540
[c] 243 Q.143) Who is the head of UN’s World Food
[d] 290 Program?
[e] 780 [a] Amina J. Mohammed
[b] David Beasley
Q.139) What is the theme of 23rd Bengaluru [c] Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti
Tech Summit? [d] Ana Maria Menéndez
[a] Next is Now [e] Rola A. A. H. Dashti
[b] AI in the era of Covid
[c] Technology for Vaccines Q.144) Which of the following island has
[d] Revolution in IT Jobs become the largest Marine Protection Zone of
[e] AI: Future of the Masses Atlantic Ocean?
[a] Honshu
Q.140) What is the percentage of reduction in [b] Majorca
biofuel additions in 2020, according to the [c] New Guinea
Renewables 2020 - Analysis and forecast to [d] Borneo
2025 report of International Energy Agency? [e] Tristan da Cunha
[a] 10%
[b] 12% Q.145) Which of the following multilateral
[c] 5% agency has sanctioned $500 million funding
[d] 8%

134
for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut regional [a] Brazil
rapid transit system (RRTS) project? [b] India
[a] IMF [c] Russia
[b] World Bank [d] China
[c] AIIB [e] South Africa
[d] New Development Bank
[e] Asian Development Bank Q.150) Which of the following bank has
launched Nivesh – a neo banking service – in
Q.146) How many Ramsar sites are present partnership with PayNearby?
in India? [a] HSBC India
[a] 41 [b] Deutsche Bank India
[b] 39 [c] Citibank India
[c] 27 [d] SBM India
[d] 33 [e] DBS India
[e] 24
Q.151) What is the theme of World Diabetes
Q.147) What is the revised Solar capacity Day 2020?
production target under the PM- Kusum [a] The Family and Diabetes
scheme? [b] The Nurse and Diabetes
[a] 2.1 GW [c] Women and diabetes
[b] 26.2 GW [d] Eyes on Diabetes
[c] 300.812 MW [e] Healthy Living and Diabetes
[d] 30.8 GW
[e] 12 GW Q.152) Who is the Chairperson of Press
Council of India?
Q.148) Which of the following organization [a] Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad
has partnered with UNICEF to launch the [b] Justice Dinesh Maheshwari
three-month accelerated campaign on [c] Justice Ramayyagari Subhash Reddy
pneumonia under the SAANS (Social Action [d] Justice Mukesh Shah
and Awareness to Neutralise Pneumonia [e] Justice Sanjiv Khanna
Successfully) campaign?
[a] CHAI Q.153) When is the National Epilepsy Day
[b] Save the Children observed?
[c] KidsRight [a] November 17
[d] Both A and B [b] November 10
[e] Both B and C [c] November 8
[d] November 23
Q.149) Which country will host the 13th [e] November 11
BRICS summit in 2021?

135
Q.154) Which of the following Indian agency [b] Madhya Pradesh
has partnered with World Bank for getting [c] Rajasthan
advisory services for asset monetization in [d] Tamil Nadu
India? [e] Punjab
[a] Department of Economic Affairs
[b] CPIIB Q.159) Which state has launched the
[c] DPIIT Vaatsalya Yojana and Samarth Yojana for
[d] Department of Disinvestment orphan and destitute children during the child
[e] DIPAM rights week 2020?
[a] Rajasthan
Q.155) Who has won the International [b] Madhya Pradesh
Children’s Peace Prize 2020? [c] Gujarat
[a] Sadat Rahman [d] Telangana
[b] Shah Abdul [e] Madhya Pradesh
[c] Mariam S
[d] Sainath Q.160) Recently, Coastal Security Police
[e] Guilèda Shafeekath developed the Kadalu App for fishermen of
___ city?
Q.156) Which of the following organization [a] Hubli
has won the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh [b] Vijayapura
Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and [c] Dharwad
Non-Violence 2020? [d] Ballari
[a] National Orientation Agency [e] Udupi
[b] University of Jos
[c] National Youth Council of Nigeria Q.161) Who has been appointed as the new
[d] Centre for Resolution of Conflicts administrator of Lakshmi Vilas Bank?
[e] Organisation of Islamic Cooperation [a] HR Khan
[b] B.P. Kanungo
Q.157) In which month will the World [c] T. N. Manoharan
Antimicrobial Awareness Week be observed? [d] Mahesh Kumar Jain
[a] October [e] M. D. Patra
[b] November
[c] September Q.162) What is the new GDP growth rate for
[d] December FY21, forecasted by Goldman Sachs?
[e] August [a] -14.8%
[b] -10.3%
Q.158) Where is the Statue of Peace [c] -5.5%
located? [d] -9.3%
[a] Gujarat [e] -10.2%

136
 Q.167) Who among the following is the
Q.163) Which bank has launched “Mooh chairperson of the Asia’s first solar power-
Band Rakho” campaign to increase enabled Textile Mill?
awareness on cyber frauds and preventing [a] Harshita Pujari
them? [b] Priya Dang
[a] ICICI Bank [c] Anand Maitrayee
[b] Axis Bank [d] Sampriya Rahul Patil
[c] Canara Bank [e] Preksha Mittal
[d] HDFC Bank
[e] SBI Q.168) Who has been appointed as the brand
ambassador of Equitas Small Finance Bank?
Q.164) Which bank has launched 'Eva' - a [a] MS Dhoni
unique savings account - for women of all [b] Smriti Mandhana
kinds of occupations and non-resident [c] Virat Kohli
women? [d] Priyanka Chopra
[a] Ujjivan Small Finance Bank [e] Farhan Akhtar
[b] Janalakshmi Small Finance Bank
[c] A U Small Finance Bank Q.169) Who has won the Linz Open
[d] Capital Small Finance Bank (women’s tennis tournament) in Linz, Austria?
[e] Equitas Small Finance Bank [a] Aryna Sabalenka
[b] Serena Williams
Q.165) Who has been appointed as the [c] Simona Halep
chairperson of the Reserve Bank Innovation [d] Caroline Wozniacki
Hub? [e] Steffi Graf
[a] Aditya Puri
[b] Shyam Srinivasan Q.170) Which state has announced to
[c] Kris Gopalakrishnan constitute a 'Cow Cabinet' for the
[d] Usha Ananthasubramanian conservation and promotion of cow in the
[e] V. Vaidyanathan state?
[a] Uttar Pradesh
Q.166) Who has been appointed as the MD [b] Madhya Pradesh
and CEO of HDFC Mutual Fund? [c] Haryana
[a] Rajiv Lall [d] Uttarakhand
[b] Rakesh Sharma [e] Gujarat
[c] Venugopal Dhoot
[d] Navneet Munot Q.171) Which state has signed an agreement
[e] Shikha Sharma with Energy Efficiency Services Limited
(EESL) for India’s first Green Energy
Convergence Project in the State?

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[a] Goa [b] Karan Thapar
[b] Maharashtra [c] Prem Prakash
[c] Tamil Nadu [d] Anshuman Tiwari
[d] Kerala [e] Madhu Trehan
[e] Karnataka
Q.176) How many Indian cities have been
Q.172) Who among the following has selected by the World Economic Forum as
partnered with UNICEF India as its celebrity part of its 36 “pioneer” cities program to adopt
advocate to raise awareness on violence a new roadmap as part of the G20 Global
against children? Smart Cities Alliance?
[a] Virat Kohli [a] Six
[b] Akshay Kumar [b] Five
[c] Ayushmann Khurrana [c] Four
[d] Deepika Padukone [d] Seven
[e] MS Dhoni [e] Three

Q.173) Which has become the first Indian city Q.177) Who is the speaker of US House of
to frame an urban plan with gender-specific Representatives?
land reservations? [a] Ron Klain
[a] Hyderabad [b] Jen O'Malley Dillon
[b] Chennai [c] Steve Ricchetti
[c] Mumbai [d] Nancy Pelosi
[d] Bangalore [e] Cedric Richmond
[e] Delhi
Q.178) Which state has been awarded the
Q.174) How many children were there in best state honor in ‘Marine’ category by the
India who didn’t receive measles vaccination National Fisheries Development Board?
in 2019, as per the WHO’s Progress Towards [a] Tamil Nadu
Regional Measles Elimination Worldwide [b] Odisha
2000-2019’ report? [c] Gujarat
[a] 2.3 million [d] West Bengal
[b] 1.2 million [e] Maharashtra
[c] 2.7 million
[d] 3.9 million Q.179) Which has become Asia Pacific's first
[e] 4.1 million Level 4+ (Transition) accredited airport under
ACI's Airport Carbon Accreditation program?
Q.175) Who is the author of 'Reporting India: [a] Hong Kong International Airport
My Seventy-Year Journey as a Journalist'? [b] Singapore Changi Airport
[a] Paranjoy Guha Thakurta [c] Incheon International Airport

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[d] Beijing Capital International Airport [e] Mahanadi Coalfields
[e] Delhi International Airport Ltd
Q.184) Which city has become the first city in
Q.180) Which city has won the “Urban the country to get ISO certification for its
Environment award” at the 9th Smart City faecal sludge and septage management
Expo World Congress 2020? (FSSM) services?
[a] Shanghai [a] Tripura
[b] Zurich [b] Mangalore
[c] Shenzhen [c] Bhubaneswar
[d] Munich [d] Guwahati
[e] Toronto [e] Delhi

Q.181) Who has been appointed as the State Q.185) Which bank has signed an agreement
Icon of Punjab by the Election Commission of with Luxembourg Stock Exchange for
India? cooperation in the financial services industry?
[a] Amitabh Bachchan [a] State Bank of India
[b] Shabana Azmi [b] Punjab National Bank
[c] Sonu Sood [c] Bank of Baroda
[d] Aamir Khan [d] Central Bank of India
[e] Akshay Kumar [e] Bank of India

Q.182) Which edition of the Global RE- Q.186) Central govt signed a $120 million
INVEST – Renewable Energy Investors Meet project with World Bank to improve and
& Expo – was organised by the Ministry of modernise the transport sector of __ state?
New and Renewable Energy in 2020? [a] Tripura
[a] Third [b] Gujarat
[b] Seventh [c] Uttarakhand
[c] Fifth [d] Himachal Pradesh
[d] Fourth [e] Meghalaya
[e] Second
Q.187) Which is the only city in India to enter
Q.183) With which company has Maharashtra the World's Best Cities 2021 list of
govt partnered to launch the 'Maha Resonance Consultancy?
Pashudhan Sanjeevani' program? [a] Mumbai
[a] Aavantika Gas [b] Delhi
[b] South Asia LPG Company Pvt. Ltd. [c] Bangalore
[c] Bhavishya Alliance Animal Nutrition [d] Chennai
Initiatives [e] Mangalore
[d] Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd

139
Q.188) Recently concluded Ministerial Q.192) With which organization has Delhi
meeting for global prevention coalition (GPC) govt signed MoU for carrying out a detailed
for HIV infection has affirmed to reduce new study of measures for increasing state
adult HIV infection by ____ percent by the revenue?
end of 2020 from 2010 levels? [a] Indian School of Business
[a] 60% [b] Centre for Effective Governance of Indian
[b] 75% States
[c] 55% [c] Indian Institute of Public Administration
[d] 50% [d] Indian Council of World Affairs
[e] 80% [e] All of the Above

Q.189) What is India’s rank in the Global Q.193) Which organization has launched
Bribery Risk Matrix 2020 of TRACE FutureSkills PRIME Beta Platform to impart
International? skill education in emerging new-age
[a] 86th technology?
[b] 101st [a] National Skill Development Corporation
[c] 153rd [b] IBM
[d] 27th [c] Tata Consultancy Services
[e] 77th [d] Infosys
[e] Nasscom
Q.190) “Your Family Bank Across India” is
the tagline of which bank? Q.194) Which of the following has become
[a] Canara Bank the first private company to receive order for
[b] Karnataka Bank development and supply of specialised
[c] Punjab National Bank ammunition for T-72 and T-90 main battle
[d] Axis Bank tanks of Indian Army?
[e] CSB [a] L&T
[b] OshoCorp Global
Q.191) With which country has India signed [c] Lockheed Martin
an agreement for cooperation for peaceful [d] Raytheon Technologies
use of space? (India has announced to [e] BAE Systems
launch its satellite next year and train the
space engineers of this nation for the same.) Q.195) With which space agency has NASA
[a] Bhutan collaborated to launch the Sentinel-6 Michael
[b] Israel Freilich satellite?
[c] Maldives [a] Indian Space Research Organization
[d] UAE [b] Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
[e] Saudi Arabia [c] Australian Space Agency
[d] European Space Agency

140
[e] Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy [d] India-Indonesia
[e] India-Sri Lanka
Q.196) Standard Missile 3 Block IIA of USA
has been developed in a joint venture by __ Q.200) Who has become the first Asian to get
and __ companies? AESC Lifetime Achievement Award?
[a] Raytheon Co and Mitsubishi Heavy [a] Vikas Jaiswal
Industries [b] Chunthuingam Dangmei
[b] Almaz-Antey and Northrop Grumman [c] Manu Prem
[c] General Dynamics and Tactical Missiles [d] Bish Agrawal
Corporation [e] Anjali Barde
[d] Lockheed Martin and Elbit Systems
[e] Huntington Ingalls and Boeing Q.201) Where was the SITMEX 2020 naval
exercise concluded?
Q.197) Recently, Kotak Mahindra Asset [a] Arabian Sea
Management Company Limited launched [b] Laccadive Sea
Kotak ESG Opportunities Fund for [c] Timor Sea
responsible investing. Who will manage the [d] Andaman Sea
fund? [e] Java Sea
[a] Souvik Bhattacharya
[b] Vikramjit Sangwan Q.202) Which company has acquired a 15%
[c] Kunwar Avinash Chauhan stake in STC pay – digital payment unit of
[d] Harsha Upadhyaya Saudi Arabia’s STC Group?
[e] Nandini Mohandas [a] Apple Pay
[b] Alibaba
Q.198) Which is the first bank to offer [c] Western Union
‘Cardless EMI’ facility to retailers? [d] Google Pay
[a] Kotak Mahindra Bank [e] Amazon Pay
[b] RBL Bank
[c] South Indian Bank Q.203) Which of the following financial
[d] HDFC Bank services company has partnered with United
[e] ICICI Bank States Agency for International Development
for launching Project Kirana in Uttar
Q.199) Which of the following Mutual Pradesh?
Agreement Procedure of India has won [a] Visa
OECD Mutual Agreement Procedure 2019 [b] Google Pay
award? [c] American Express
[a] India-Singapore [d] Mastercard
[b] India-Thailand [e] BHIM UPI
[c] India-Japan

141
Q.204) Who heads the Parliamentary [d] Dominic Thiem
Standing Committee on Health? [e] Daniil Medvedev
[a] Ram Gopal Yadav
[b] Jairam Ramesh Q.209) Which state has launched “Abhayam”
[c] Atanu Chankrobarty mobile application to help women and
[d] Shashi Tharoor children travelling in taxis and autorickshaws
[e] Pradeep Singh Kharola to raise an alarm in case of any emergency?
[a] Telangana
Q.205) Choose the correct answer. [b] Andhra Pradesh
[a] 15th G20 Summit – Brazil [c] Odisha
[b] 16th G20 Summit – Saudi Arabia [d] West Bengal
[c] 17th G20 Summit – Italy [e] Tamil Nadu
[d] 18th G20 Summit – India
[e] 19th G20 Summit – Indonesia Q.210) Which state has launched the "Maha
Awas Yojana" - a new rural housing project -
Q.206) Which edition of Global Conference to build 8.82 lakh rural houses in 100 days
on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies period?
was organized by Interpol, Europol and the [a] Madhya Pradesh
Basel Institute on Governance from [b] Uttar Pradesh
November 18 to 19, 2020? [c] Maharashtra
[a] 5th [d] Gujarat
[b] 4th [e] Karnataka
[c] 3rd
[d] 2nd Q.211) What is the name of the vision
[e] 1st adopted by APEC Economic Leaders’
meeting 2020 for guiding its operations for
Q.207) Who has won the Children's Climate the next two decades?
Prize 2020? [a] Kuala Lumpur Vision 2040
[a] Haven Coleman [b] Malacca Vision 2040
[b] Karida Niode [c] Putrajaya Vision 2040
[c] Nicole Sophia Phocas [d] Ipoh Vision 2040
[d] Keziah Gerosano [e] Kuching Vision 2040
[e] Vinisha Umashankar
Q.212) In which company have Canara Bank,
Q.208) Who has won the Nitto ATP Finals Axis Bank, Indian Bank and South Indian
2020? Bank acquired 6.67% stake in total?
[a] Roger Federer [a] MobiKwik
[b] Rafael Nadal [b] e-zetap
[c] Alexander Zverev [c] Billdesk

142
[d] IBBIC Q.217) Who has been appointed as the US
[e] Billdesk secretary of state under Joe Biden’s
administration?
Q.213) Which company has signed an [a] Jake Sullivan
agreement for the acquisition of 26% stake in [b] Antony Blinken
Hinduja Renewables Two Pvt. Ltd? [c] Janet Yellen
[a] HCL [d] John Kerry
[b] Infosys [e] Linda Thomas-Greenfield
[c] Wipro
[d] Biocon Ltd Q.218) Which state has received $50 Mn loan
[e] Mahindra Tech from Asian Development Bank to improve its
resource planning?
Q.214) Who has been elected as External [a] West Bengal
Auditor of Inter-Parliamentary Union for a [b] Maharashtra
three-year term? [c] Tamil Nadu
[a] Chandra Mohan Sharma [d] Kerala
[b] Ajay Yadav [e] Karnataka
[c] Yogesh Pandey
[d] P M Muralidharen Q.219) Who has won the Booker Prize 2020?
[e] Girish Chandra Murmu [a] Paul Mendez
[b] Abi Daré
Q.215) In which month is the National New- [c] Deepa Anappara
born Week 2020 observed? [d] Douglas Stuart
[a] August [e] Elaine Feeney
[b] September
[c] October Q.220) Who is the author of 'Balochistan:
[d] November Bruised, Battered and Bloodied' book?
[e] December [a] Milind Soman
[b] Roopa Pai
Q.216) What is the theme of National [c] Francesca Marino
Pharmacy Week 2020? [d] Keki N. Daruwalla
[a] Pharmacists: Frontline Health [e] Satyadev Barman
Professionals
[b] Safe and effective medicines for all Q.221) Which state has launched
[c] Pharmacists are your medicines experts 'Mukhyamantri Unnoto Godhan Prakalpa'
[d] From research to health care: Your scheme to become self-sufficient in milk
pharmacist is at your service production?
[e] Pharmacists: Caring for you [a] Assam
[b] Maharashtra

143
[c] Madhya Pradesh [e] Abhay
[d] Tripura
[e] Himachal Pradesh Q.226) Where is India’s first moss garden
located?
Q.222) Which state has partnered with Asian [a] Uttarakhand
Development Bank to improve the [b] Tripura
infrastructure in Mandi district of the state? [c] Meghalaya
[a] Meghalaya [d] Assam
[b] Himachal Pradesh [e] Nagaland
[c] Madhya Pradesh
[d] Arunachal Pradesh Q.227) In which state has Prime minister
[e] Uttarakhand Narendra Modi recently launched ‘Har Ghar
Nal Yojana’ (tap water to every household)?
Q.223) Which country has shown interest in [a] Telangana
joining India-Australia’s joint naval exercise [b] Tamil Nadu
named as AUSINDEX? [c] Madhya Pradesh
[a] Japan [d] Uttar Pradesh
[b] France [e] Telangana
[c] USA
[d] Sri Lanka Q.228) In which month is the Aviation Safety
[e] UK Awareness Week observed?
[a] August
Q.224) In which state is First cow hospital of [b] November
Northeast, named as Surbhi Aarogyashala, [c] December
established? [d] September
[a] Assam [e] October
[b] Nagaland
[c] Tripura Q.229) Which of the following became the
[d] Arunachal Pradesh first Indian program to win an international
[e] Meghalaya Emmy. The program won the ‘Best Drama’ at
48th International Emmy Awards?
Q.225) What is the name of the heavy weight [a] Mirzapur
torpedo which was recently flagged off by [b] The Paramedic
DRDO and designed and developed by [c] In the Tall Grass
NSTL, Visakhapatnam? [d] Delhi Crime
[a] Prithvi [e] The Laundromat
[b] Arjun MBT
[c] Varunastra Q.230) With which company has India
[d] Howitzer recently signed an MoU for cooperation in the

144
field of Environment protection and [b] Kane Williamson
biodiversity conservation? [c] Martin Guptill
[a] Finland [d] Greg Barclay
[b] Germany [e] Ross Taylor
[c] Netherlands
[d] Japan Q.235) Which country does Diego Maradona
[e] Denmark belong to?
[a] Brazil
Q.231) Who has been appointed as the brand [b] Spain
ambassador of the state of West Bengal? [c] France
[a] Shah Rukh Khan [d] Argentine
[b] Sonu Sood [e] UK
[c] Ajay Devgn
[d] Priyanka Chopra Q.236) Who among the following has won
[e] Akshay Kumar the Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY)
award 2020?
Q.232) Under which section of the Banking [a] Sandeep Kumar
Regulation Act, 1949 has Union Cabinet [b] Ashraf Patel
approved the merger of DBS India Bank and [c] Indu Butani
Lakshmi Vilas Bank? [d] Shankra Nand Bharti
[a] Section 10 [e] Brajesh Kumar Srivastava
[b] Section 95
[c] Section 35 Q.237) Which state has signed a letter of
[d] Section 45 understanding with the UN-WFP for achieving
[e] Section 11 the food and nutrition security goals?
[a] Andhra Pradesh
Q.233) Which Tiger Reserve has bagged [b] Telangana
international award TX2 for doubling the [c] Rajasthan
number of tigers in the past four years? [d] Odisha
[a] Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve [e] Punjab
[b] Ranthambore Tiger Reserve
[c] Sunderban Tiger Reserve Q.238) Where is Indian Navy’s Information
[d] Bandhavgarh National Park Management and Analysis Centre located?
[e] Pilibhit Tiger Reserve [a] Noida
[b] Faridabad
Q.234) Who has been appointed as the [c] Gurgaon
Chairperson of the International Cricket [d] Ghaziabad
Council? [e] Moradabad
[a] Henry Nicholls

145
Q.239) Which company has acquired 100% [b] Yes Bank
equity stake of Mahindra First Choice [c] ICICI Bank
Services Ltd. and its subsidiary Auto Digitech [d] HDFC Bank
Pvt. Ltd? [e] CSB Bank
[a] Maruti Suzuki
[b] Hyundai India Q.244) Which section of the constitution
[c] Tata Motors provides Free legal aid and Access to Justice
[d] TVS Automobile Solutions to all?
[e] Mahindra & Mahindra [a] Article 15
[b] Article 13B
Q.240) Who among the following is known as [c] Article 19D
the father of Indian IT industry? [d] Article 23
[a] M Visvesvaraya [e] Article 39A
[b] Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi
[c] Faqir Chand Kohli Q.245) With which nation has India signed an
[d] Alexander Cunningham arrangement for cooperation in the field of
[e] Raja Ravi Varma Hydrography by sharing hydrographic data
and jointly producing navigational charts?
Q.241) Where is Song Dam Drinking Water [a] Vietnam
Project being developed? [b] Sri Lanka
[a] Uttarakhand [c] Germany
[b] Tamil Nadu [d] Japan
[c] Assam [e] UK
[d] Uttar Pradesh
[e] Haryana Q.246) Which country hosted the 4th National
Security Adviser-level trilateral Maritime
Q.242) Which is the world's most connected Security Cooperation?
city according to the International Air [a] Maldives
Transport Association’s (IATA) Air [b] India
Connectivity Index 2020? [c] Sri Lanka
[a] Beijing [d] UK
[b] Shanghai [e] Japan
[c] New York
[d] Tokyo Q.247) With which country has India recently
[e] Delhi extended the MoU for cooperation on nuclear
energy for 10 more years?
Q.243) Which bank has launched the SMS [a] USA
Pay service for shopkeepers and merchants? [b] Germany
[a] Axis Bank [c] France

146
[d] Russia [b] November 30
[e] Israel [c] November 27
[d] November 12
Q.248) Where is the Hassyan coal plant [e] November 13
located?
[a] Bhutan Q.250) Who is known as the father of India's
[b] Uzbekistan White Revolution?
[c] United Arab Emirates [a] C. Rajagopalachari
[d] Nepal [b] Baba Amte
[e] Bahrain [c] Vinoba Bhave
[d] Verghese Kurien
Q.249) When is the National Organ Donation [e] M. S. Subbulakshmi
Day observed?
[a] November 29

147
1 A 51 B 101 B 151 B 201 D
2 E 52 B 102 B 152 A 202 C
3 C 53 D 103 E 153 A 203 D
4 D 54 B 104 C 154 E 204 A
5 A 55 B 105 C 155 A 205 D
6 C 56 C 106 D 156 D 206 B
7 B 57 D 107 D 157 B 207 E
8 B 58 D 108 A 158 C 208 E
9 A 59 A 109 B 159 A 209 B
10 D 60 C 110 E 160 E 210 C
11 E 61 C 111 B 161 C 211 C
12 A 62 B 112 A 162 B 212 D
13 D 63 E 113 D 163 D 213 D
14 B 64 E 114 A 164 E 214 E
15 C 65 A 115 C 165 C 215 D
16 A 66 D 116 D 166 D 216 A
17 C 67 D 117 A 167 D 217 B
18 A 68 E 118 A 168 B 218 A
19 E 69 B 119 E 169 A 219 D
20 C 70 A 120 D 170 B 220 C
21 E 71 E 121 B 171 A 221 D
22 A 72 C 122 E 172 C 222 B
23 C 73 A 123 C 173 C 223 B
24 D 74 A 124 D 174 B 224 A
25 D 75 E 125 A 175 C 225 C
26 A 76 A 126 D 176 C 226 A
27 A 77 A 127 E 177 D 227 D
28 E 78 C 128 D 178 B 228 B
29 E 79 B 129 C 179 E 229 D
30 A 80 C 130 B 180 D 230 A
31 C 81 A 131 D 181 C 231 A
32 C 82 C 132 C 182 A 232 D
33 E 83 D 133 B 183 D 233 E
34 D 84 E 134 D 184 C 234 D
35 B 85 A 135 C 185 A 235 D
36 D 86 D 136 B 186 E 236 B

148
37 A 87 A 137 A 187 B 237 C
38 E 88 D 138 C 188 B 238 C
39 A 89 D 139 A 189 E 239 D
40 B 90 E 140 B 190 B 240 C
41 E 91 D 141 A 191 A 241 A
42 A 92 E 142 B 192 B 242 B
43 D 93 C 143 B 193 E 243 B
44 A 94 D 144 E 194 B 244 E
45 B 95 B 145 D 195 D 245 A
46 D 96 C 146 A 196 A 246 C
47 A 97 A 147 D 197 D 247 A
48 A 98 D 148 D 198 E 248 C
49 C 99 A 149 B 199 C 249 C
50 B 100 A 150 D 200 D 250 D

149
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