Q1. Which state has been ranked as the best performer in the States’ Start-up Ranking Framework 2019 of DPIIT?
Assam
Gujarat
Karnataka
Goa
B. Gujarat
Gujarat has been named as the best performer among states followed by Karnataka and Kerala. Andaman & Nicobar Islands has been named as the best performer in the category of Union Territory.
Q2. Recently, India has initiated an anti-dumping investigation on imports of Vitamin C from which country?
Australia
Saudi Arabia
China
Germany
C. China
Q3. India was ranked at which position on the World Bank’s annual Human Capital Index?
116th
132nd
105th
121st
A. 116th
The 2020 Human Capital Index update includes health and education data for 174 countries covering 98 per cent of the world’s population up to March 2020.
Last year India was ranked 115 out of 157 countries. This year India finds itself at 116th from among 174 countries. However, India’s score increased to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018, as per the Human Capital Index report released by the World Bank.
Q4. Who has been appointed as the Executive Director at the World Bank by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet?
Rajesh Khullar
David R. Malpass
Vladimir Putin
Angela Merkel
A. Rajesh Khullar
Rajesh Khullar, a 1988 batch IAS officer has been appointed as Executive Director at World Bank. Sameer Kumar Khare, additional secretary in the economic affairs department of the finance ministry and a 1989 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, will be the new executive director at Asian Development Bank. Both the appointments are for a period of three years.
Q5. Recently, the 2+2 inter-sessional meet was held between India and which country?
Singapore
Australia
US
China
C. US
Q6. Who among the following has been conferred Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2020 by Euromoney Awards of Excellence?
Harivansh Narayan Singh
Deepak Parekh
Manoj Jha
Aditya Puri
D. Aditya Puri
Aditya Puri, MD of HDFC Bank has been conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by Euromoney Awards of Excellence 2020 for his skills in building a world-class bank in India at a time where there were no similar institutions in existence.
Q7. India and which country has agreed on a 5-point plan to resolve border issues?
Bhutan
Bangladesh
Pakistan
China
D. China
Q8. Recently, who represented India in the virtual Meeting of Labour and Employment Ministers of G-20 nations?
Dharmendra Pradhan
Santosh Gangwar
Prakash Keshav
Javadekar Nirmala Sitharaman
B. Santosh Gangwar
Q9. Which among the following country has recently elected as a member of the United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women, a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)?
India
Pakistan
Malaysia
Canada
A. India
India, China and Afghanistan had contested the elections to the Commission on Status of Women. While India and Afghanistan had won the ballot among the 54 members, China failed to even cross the half-way mark.
The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the main UN organs within the United Nations. CSW has been described as the UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.
Q10. A new publication “The Little Book of Green Nudges” has been launched by which of the following organisation?
World Bank (WB)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
B. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a new publication, “The Little Book of Green Nudges”. It aims to encourage around 200 million students around the world to adopt environmentally friendly habits and greener lifestyles.
Union Govt to launch nutrition drive for Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) children
The Centre will launch a drive to identify Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) children and ensure their adequate nutrition and care during ongoing POSHAN Maah 2020.
The drive will have a long-term impact on the health of such children and would improve the country’s nutrition indicators as well.
Union Govt is also developing Bharatiya Poshan Krishi Kosh – a repository of an indigenous crop of every region, every district of India.
Malnutrition in children is a mammoth health issue the country is facing. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) – 4, 2015-16, every second child in India suffers from at least one form of nutrition failure, which translates to about 77 million undernourished children in India.
In the last decade, severe acute malnutrition has increased from 6.4 per cent (NFHS-3, 2005-06) to 7.5 per cent (NFHS -4, 2015-16) in India.
India enters elite club of hypersonic missile nations of US, Russia and China
Recently, India has successfully flight-tested hypersonic technology that will pave the way towards the development of missiles travelling at six times the speed of sound.
With this technological feat, India enters an elite club to become a member of the hypersonic regime, which includes the United States, Russia and China.
This is a step towards the manufacture of advanced Hypersonic Vehicles. India became the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to get this technology.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully demonstrated the Hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology with the flight test of Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV) from Launch Complex at Wheeler Island.
FACTFILE – Hypersonic
In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that greatly exceeds the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above.
Hypersonic flight is flight through the atmosphere below about 90 km at speeds above Mach 5, a speed where dissociation of air begins to become significant and high heat loads exist.
Andhra Pradesh launches schemes to boost women, child health
Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched two new food schemes – YSR Sampoorna Poshana and YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus – aimed at fortifying the health of thousands of pregnant and nursing women and children.
More than 30 lakh women and children across the state will stand to benefit from monthly supply of rations.
As part of YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus scheme, eight Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) centres and 52 Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres will distribute nutritious meals in 77 tribal mandals through 8,320 Anganwadi centres, covering 3.8 lakh beneficiaries.
YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus scheme will be implemented in the Anganwadi centres to provide supplementary nutrition to newborn babies, including pregnant women suffering from anaemia.
YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus Scheme will cost the government Rs 307 crore, covering 3.8 lakh beneficiaries in 77 tribal mandals.
YSR Sampoorna Poshana Scheme is set to distribute nutritious meals through 47,287 anganwadi centres across the state.
Indira Gandhi Peace Prize 2019 presented to broadcaster David Attenborough
Noted broadcaster and natural historian David Attenborough has been presented the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize 2019 by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.
Attenborough has been given the prize for “revealing the wonders of the natural world, educating and entertaining generations of people through his films and books for tirelessly working to awaken humankind to the need to preserve and protect the biodiversity on our planet, and advocating the necessity to live a sustainable and harmonious way of life, working with rather than against nature.
FACTFILE – Indira Gandhi Peace Prize
The Indira Gandhi Peace Prize or the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development is the prestigious award accorded annually by Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust to individuals or organisations in recognition of creative efforts toward promoting international peace, development and a new international economic order; ensuring that scientific discoveries are used for the larger good of humanity, and enlarging the scope of freedom.
The prize carries a cash award of 2.5 million Indian rupees and a citation.
September 09, 2020
Union Agriculture Minister launches 22 bamboo clusters in 9 states, National Bamboo Mission logo
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched 22 bamboo clusters in nine states, India is now gearing up to increase exports of bamboo products.
The bamboo clusters will be set up in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Karnataka.
Among the measures taken to promote the sector, the government amended the Indian Forest Act 1927 in 2017 to remove bamboo from the category of trees. Consequently, now anyone can undertake cultivation and business in bamboo and its products.
Further, import policy has also been modified to ensure progress of bamboo industry in the country.
The government launched the restructured NBM in 2018-19 for holistic development of complete value chain of the sector.
The Mission is being implemented in a hub (industry) and spoke model, with the main goal of connecting farmers and to increase supply of appropriate raw material to domestic industry.
Karnataka launches India’s first integrated air ambulance service
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa unveiled the country’s first integrated air ambulance service jointly launched by the International Critical Air Transfer Team (ICATT) and the Kyathi.
ICATT, a team comprising emergency medical service experts, and Kyathi, an aviation technology firm, have come together to start the country’s first integrated air-ambulance service.
ICATT-Kyathi’s fixed wing aircraft is capable of long distance emergency medical transportation, combined with helicopter and land ambulance services providing last mile connectivity.
The fixed wing air ambulance will be stationed at the HAL airport in Bengaluru. The ambulance is equipped with state-of-the-art German Isolation Pod. ICATT-Kyathi will also enable safe transportation for critical Covd-19 patients.
India ranks 4th in renewable energy
India has scaled its non-fossil fuel-based power generation to 134 GW, which is about 35 per cent of the nation’s total power generation and it is expected to increase it to 220 GW by 2022.
India is providing capacity-building support to ISA members through its ITEC training programme. It has also set up a Project Preparation Facility to develop bankable solar energy projects in ISA member-countries with the help of EXIM Bank of India.
Five Public Sector Undertakings under his Ministry will join ISA’s Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action (ISA-CSCA) as corporate partners. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, and GAIL (India) Limited will contribute to ISA Corpus Fund.
In 2018, India announced about USD 1.4 billion worth of lines of credit (LOCs) for covering 27 solar projects across 15 countries.
FACTFILE – International Solar Alliance
It is a treaty-based international intergovernmental organisation which was jointly launched by India and France on 30th November 2015 during the 21st session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-21) in Paris, France.
It was conceived as a coalition of solar-resource-rich countries (which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn) to address their special energy needs.
It aim to lower the cost of technology and finance and thereby facilitate deployment of over 1,000 GW of solar energy and mobilize more than USD 1,000 billion into solar power by 2030 in member countries.
Headquarter: Gurugram in Haryana, India.
As of June 2020, the ISA Framework Agreement has been signed by 86 countries, with 68 having also deposited instruments of ratification.
ADB extends $500 million credit for Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an agreement with the Indian government to extend a $500 million loan for building the 82-km, high-speed Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor.
This will be the first tranche of total $1 billion facility that the multilateral funding agency had agreed for the infrastructure project that will improve regional connectivity and mobility in India’s national capital region (NCR).
The first tranche of the loan will support construction of the first of three priority rail corridors planned under the NCR Regional Plan 2021 to connect Delhi to other cities in adjoining states.
The first tranche financing will be used for constructing electrified tracks, signalling systems, multimodal hubs and stations with design features that are friendly to elderly, women, children and the disabled.
A $3 million grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction will support various activities, including provision of visual, hearing and mobility aids, such as wheelchairs for differently abled persons.
The ADB-administered multi-donor Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund will provide $2.89 million to support innovations in building information modeling, universal access design features, TOD and VCF.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off Kokilamukh- Kartik Sapori ferry service across the Brahmaputra at Kokilamukh in Jorhat.
Students and traders who need to visit the town on a regular basis will mostly be benefitted by the service, which will be run by IWT.
The Chief Minister said that the government had been working for all-round development of the State and improving transportation services was one of the key areas.
Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra announced a 15-point programme
Giving priority to the education of tribal girls and aiming to free Rajasthan from the curse of child marriages, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra announced a 15-point programme.
The Governor said that each girl in the state should be provided education till she turns 18, adding that at least 10 employment fairs will be organised in Rajasthan via Corporate Social Responsibility wherein employment vans will bring jobs under the ‘Rozgar Apke Dwar’ initiative.
The 15-point programme also envisions Constitution Parks/Constitution Pillars in universities and a museum in Raj Bhavan.
The aim was to bring maternal and infant mortality rates (children below 5) in the tribal areas on par with the national rate and effective implementation of the National Nutrition Mission.
To make people aware about non-communicable and lifestyle-related diseases, to build first-aid centres through CSR in scheduled areas.
There is a plan to create an alumni network of state-funded universities to ensure maximum donation to the Governor’s Relief Fund.
The other points include development of STEAM-C (Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Mathematics-Computer) education system in the state for employment and skill development, the establishment of incubation centres in scheduled areas in collaboration with state-funded universities.
South India’s first Kisan Rail flagged off from Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar have virtually flagged off South India’s first Kisan Rail from Ananthapur to New Delhi.
The second Kisan Rail is shipping 214 tonnes of tomatoes, 138 tonnes of bananas, 32 tonnes of sweet oranges, 11 tonnes of papaya, 8 tonnes of melons and 3 tonnes of mangoes to Delhi, from Rayalaseema town.
The state government had taken up several initiatives in the agriculture sector for the benefit of farmers, such as providing minimum support price (MSP) by introducing market intervention fund.
Nearly 312 lakh metric tonnes of horticulture produce is being harvested across the state in 17 lakh hectares, with 16 per cent share of fruit production in the country.
AP Chief Minister made a special request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, explaining the crisis state farmers are confronting, which eventually led to the creation of South India’s first Kisan Rail originating from AP.
Tamil Nadu releases policy for electronics & hardware manufacturing
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy released the state’s Electronic Hardware Manufacturing Policy-2020, with the target for the manufacturing of electronic goods worth US$ 100-billion by the year 2025.
This policy envisages making the state contribute 25 per cent of the country’s total electronic hardware export. It aims at attracting semiconductor fabrication units to the state.
Providing a 30-per cent capital subsidy, 50 per cent grant for taking land on lease, 5-per cent interest grant for term loans and a monthly financial aid for the first-time trainees in the sector for six months at the rate of Rs. 4,000 for men and Rs. 6,000 for women are some of the features of the new policy.
Mobile phones, LED’s, fabless chips, printed circuit boards, solar photovoltaic cells and medical and automobile electronics are some of the areas that are being given focus in the new policy.
September 11, 2020
Kerala tops India’s literacy rate chart with 96.2% rate
As per National Statistical Office (NSO) survey report, with 96.2 percent literacy, Kerala has once again emerged as the most literate state in the country.
The report on “Household Social Consumption: Education in India as part of the 75th round of National Sample Survey – from July 2017 to June 2018‟ provides for state-wise detail of literacy rate among the persons aged seven years and above.
After Kerala, Delhi has the best literacy rate at 88.7 percent, followed by Uttarakhand’s 87.6 percent, Himachal Pradesh‟s 86.6 percent, and Assam’s at 85.9 percent.
Andhra Pradesh featured at the bottom with a rate of 66.4 percent, while, Rajasthan is the second-worst performer with a literacy rate at 69.7 percent, followed by Bihar at 70.9 percent, Telangana at 72.8 percent, Uttar Pradesh at 73 percent, and Madhya Pradesh at 73.7 percent.
The study has pegged the overall literacy rate in the country at about 77.7 percent.
PM Modi inaugurates Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana to enhance income of dairy farmers, fisheries
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana and e-Gopala App, a comprehensive breed improvement marketplace and information portal for direct use of farmers, which will do away with the role of middlemen in procurement and purchase.
The project has been started in 21 states and Rs 20,000 crore will be spend in the next four-five years. An amount of Rs 1,700 cr has been initiated to start the project.
The Department of Fisheries has approved Rs 1,723 crore worth of proposals for 21 states and Union Territories in phase-I under the PMMSY.
The PMMSY is a flagship scheme for focused and sustainable development of the fisheries sector with an estimated investment of Rs 20,050 crore, as a part of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ package.
An investment of about Rs 12,340 crore is proposed for beneficiary-oriented activities in Marine, Inland fisheries and Aquaculture while about Rs 7,710 crore are proposed for Fisheries Infrastructure.
The PMMSY aims at enhancing fish production by an additional 70 lakh tonne by 2024-25, increasing fisheries export earnings to Rs 1,00,000 crore by 2024-25.
India, Japan ink mutual military logistics agreement
India and Japan have inked a landmark agreement that will allow their militaries to access each other’s bases for logistics support.
The agreement provides for creation of an enabling framework for closer cooperation and interoperability, besides allowing militaries of the two countries to use each other’s bases and facilities for repair and replenishment of supplies.
The defence ministry said the pact will enhance the interoperability between the armed forces, resulting in further expansion of bilateral defence engagement under the Indo-Japan special strategic and global partnership.
The agreement establishes the enabling framework for closer cooperation between the armed forces of India and Japan in the reciprocal provision of supplies and services.
India has already signed similar agreements with the US, France, Australia and Singapore.
India has been signing MLSAs with countries primarily eyeing deeper maritime cooperation which is important considering China’s rapid military expansionism in the Indo-Pacific, Indian Ocean and South China Sea.
Microsoft joins NASSCOM to skill 10 lakh students in AI
Microsoft joined hands with industry-driven learning ecosystem Nasscom FutureSkills to launch a nation-wide initiative “AI Classroom Series” that aims to skill 10 lakh students in Artificial Intelligence (AI) by 2021.
The online classes will include live demos, hands-on workshops and assignments through self-learning, virtual instructor-led training, and mentoring.
These introductory sessions on AI will be available for undergraduate students at no cost and will cover the basics of data science, machine learning models on Azure, and understanding of cognitive services to build intelligent solutions.
The partnership with NASSCOM FutureSkills is an extension of Microsoft’s global skilling initiative to help 25 million people worldwide acquire new digital skills, needed to thrive in a digital economy.
The partnership will also steer collaboration with various academic institutes and colleges to integrate new Cloud and AI technologies into the curriculum.
Reliance Industries becomes world’s 40th most valuable firm
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has become the
world’s 40th most valuable firm as it became the first Indian company to cross USD 210 billion in market capitalisation intra-day.
This is the first time that an Indian company has crossed the USD 200 billion market capitalisation milestone. It is ranked ahead of companies including Oracle, PepsiCo, SAP, Exxon Mobil, Novartis and Pfizer.
RIL is also ranked among Asia’s top 10 most valuable companies.
FACTFILE – Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, India.
RIL owns businesses across India engaged in energy, petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, retail, and telecommunications.
RIL is one of the most profitable companies in India, the largest publicly traded company in India by market capitalisation, and the largest company in India as measured by revenue after recently surpassing the government-controlled Indian Oil Corporation.
The company is ranked 96th on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s biggest corporations as of 2020. It is ranked 8th among the Top 250 Global Energy Companies by Platts as of 2016.
Reliance continues to be India’s largest exporter, accounting for 8% of India’s total merchandise exports with a value of ₹1,47,755 crore and access to markets in 108 countries.
Telangana Assembly passes bills for landmark land reforms
The Telangana Assembly passed various Bills to bring major reforms in the state’s Revenue Department by reducing human interface for land transactions. Accordingly, the state govt has scrapped the posts of Village Revenue Officers (VROs) and Village Revenue Assistants (VRAs).
With the new enactments, record of rights relating to lands will be maintained in electronic form in the Telangana Land Records Management System for ensuring hassle-free revenue administration.
The new Revenue Act will remove discretionary powers vested with the officials at different levels and ensure transparent and corruption-free land dealings.
Under the new Revenue Act, land mutation or change of land title ownership will be done online via the Dharani portal. This will also allow people to access records of agricultural and non-agricultural land online.
Major health scheme for J&K announced
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha announced a major health scheme under which all residents of the union territory will be given health insurance.
The scheme, under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), will provide an annual health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per household on a floating basis.
It will also cover diseases like cancer and kidney disease, as well as coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In addition, all treatments for oncology, cardiology, and nephrology will be covered.
Andhra CM launches ‘YSR Asara’ to free women from debt trap
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the ‘YSR Asara’ scheme, which will benefit 87 lakh women belonging to 8.71 lakh self-help groups (SHGs).
The scheme promises to deposit money in the bank accounts of eligible women, amounting to Rs 27,168 crore in total, in four instalments.
According to the state govt, the outstanding loans of eligible women on the cut-off date were determined to be amounting to Rs 25,383 crore.
Most of these women hailing from poor families were compelled to take these loans for education, healthcare, care of elderly people at home, daily needs and other emergencies. This resulted in getting them into a vicious cycle of debts due to their incapability to cope with the exorbitant rates of interest.
September 13, 2020
Assam Govt announced infrastructure development projects worth around Rs 12,000 crore
The Assam state Govt announced a slew of infrastructure development projects worth around Rs 12,000 crore, including the setting up of four new medical colleges, nine women colleges, six degree colleges, ten law colleges, two flyovers and statewide road corridors in the state.
An outlay of around Rs 12,000 crore would be the highest ever capital investment in the history of Assam.
From December 2020, actual works would start for establishing the four new medical colleges at Biswanath Chariali, Charaideo, Goalpara and Guwahati.
In collaboration with Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (MMCH) and Kalapahar TB Hospital, the second medical college in Guwahati would be constructed to make it a best and largest one in entire eastern India in terms of size, services and treatment facilities.
Scientists develop Anti-bacterial Graphene face masks
The scientists have successfully produced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of 80 per cent, which can be enhanced to almost 100 per cent with exposure to sunlight for around 10 minutes.
The graphene masks are easily produced at low cost and can help to resolve the problems of sourcing raw materials and disposing of non-biodegradable masks.
The researchers revealed that commonly used surgical masks are not anti-bacterial. And thus, this may lead to the risk of secondary transmission of bacterial infection when people touch the contaminated surfaces of the used masks or discard them improperly.
The research team tested their laser-induced graphene with E. coli, and it achieved high anti-bacterial efficiency of about 82 per cent. These laser-induced graphene showed a superior anti-bacterial capacity for aerosolised bacteria.
The team is currently working with laboratories in mainland China to test the graphene material with two species of human coronaviruses.
India’s first sea bass hatchery start-up comes up in Karnataka
Three young students of Bachelor of Fisheries Science (BFSc) at the Mangalore Fisheries College, A.H. Kaushik, V.S. Karthik Gowda, and S.V. Sachin, saw some shrimp farmers in Andhra Pradesh.
The ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA) announced the signing of an MoU with the start-up at Karnataka’s Kumta for transfer of sea bass seed production technology.
This is the first attempt in the country in setting up a sea bass hatchery in private sector on a start-up mode.
The ICAR-CIBA charged Rs 5 lakh for transfer of technology and 10 per cent royalty on the net profit of the company.
Canares Aquaculture will get the sea bass eggs or fries and brooder from the ICAR-CIBA, rear it in its tanks for about two-and-half months and then sell it to the farmers.
Assam state govt has approved to expand the Kaziranga National Park by 3053 hectares. This would make the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve to grow to 1085.53 sq km. Presently, the core area of the national park is 430 sq km.
This increase in area of KNP will benefit:
It would help to provide connectivity to Orang and Nameri National Parks across river Brahmaputra.
It also provides connectivity to the hills of Karbi Anglong to the south of the park.
These additional areas are encroachment-evicted areas and suitable wildlife habitat on river islands that are vulnerable to encroachment.
It would also lead to the reduction in human-wildlife negative interactions.
FACTFILE – Kaziranga National Park (KNP)
Kaziranga National Park is one of India’s oldest reserve areas, located in Golaghat and Nagaon, in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam in northeast India.
The park was declared ‘protected’ after Mary Curzon, Wife of Lord Curzon, failed to spot a single rhinoceros in the area.
The park has elephants, swamp deer, wild water buffalo, etc. It also has a wide range of flora. It also contains 15 threatened species of fauna.
It also has many species of birds and is designated as an ‘Important Bird Area’ by Birdlife International.
FACTFILE – National Parks in Asaam
Assam has five national parks—Kaziranga National Park, Manas National Park, Nameri National Park, Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Orang National Park.
India becomes member of UN body ECOSOC
India has been elected as a member of the United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women, a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
India will be a member of United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women for four years, 2021 to 2025.
India, Afghanistan and China had contested the elections to the Commission on Status of Women. Even as India and Afghanistan won the ballot among the 54 members, China could not cross the half-way mark.
The Economic and Social Council is at the heart of the United Nations system to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental.
FACTFILE – The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
It is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the main UN organs within the United Nations.
CSW has been described as the UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.
It is the central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.
It is also responsible for the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.
NSO’s Report on the Digital Divide
Recently, National Statistical Organisation (NSO) published the report on ‘household social consumption’ in its 75th round of the survey which was conducted between 2017-2018. The report shows that digital divide have increased across States, cities and villages, and income groups.
Key Findings of the report
One in 10 households have access to computer across the country.
Quarter of all homes have Internet connection which is accessed through fixed or mobile network using smartphones.
Cities have 42% Internet-enabled homes while in rural India 15% are connected to the internet.
Delhi has the highest Internet access covering 55% of the households.
Kerala emerges to have the least inequality where 39% of the poorest rural homes and 67% of the richest urban homes have Internet.
Odisha have the lowest internet penetration with one in 10 household have access to internet.
20% of Indians above the age of 5 years have basic digital literacy.
Digital divide – It means uneven distribution of access and use of internet and technologies among the group. This term was first used by Lloyd Morrisett.
Internet as Fundamental Right – Kerala High Court in 2019 had declared the right to Internet access is a fundamental right that forms the part of the right to privacy and the right to education under Article 21 of the Constitution.
Various Government Initiatives to reduce the digital divide
Bharat Net Programme that acts as the infrastructural backbone to provide Internet access all across the country.
National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) have been launched to empower at least one person per household with digital literacy skills by 2020.
Q1. Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with which small finance bank to work in cohesion in support of Bank Linkage?
Janalakshmi Small Finance Bank
Utkarsh Small Finance Bank
North East Small Finance Bank
Capital Small Finance Bank.
C. North East Small Finance Bank
Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with North East Small Finance Bank (NESFB) on Saturday to work in cohesion in support of Bank Linkage of the Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Producer Groups/ Enterprises under ASRLM. ASRLM is the first amongst all the State Livelihood Missions to initiate the signing of MoU with the new generation small finance banks.
Q2. Which country has been elected as a member of the United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women for the period 2021-2025?
US
India
Australia
UAE
B. India
Q3. India and which country signed an agreement for reciprocal provision of supplies and services between the armed forces?
China
Bangladesh
Japan
Sri Lanka
C. Japan
India and Japan signed an agreement for reciprocal provision of supplies and services between the armed forces. The agreement establishes the enabling framework for closer cooperation between the Armed Forces of India and Japan in reciprocal provision of supplies and services while engaged in bilateral training activities, United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, Humanitarian International Relief and other mutually agreed activities.
Q4. What is the rank of India in the Global Economic Freedom Index, 2020?
79th
105th
93rd
108th
B. 105th
The Economic Freedom of the World 2020 Annual Report by Canada’s Fraser Institute has been released in India in conjunction with the New Delhi-based think tank Centre For Civil Society. This is the 24th edition of Economic Freedom of the World.
The country was at the 79th spot in last year’s rankings. Hong Kong topped the rankings.
Q5. The government of which state has recently launched India’s Biggest “Piggery Mission”?
Nagaland
Assam
Meghalaya
Tripura
C. Meghalaya
The main objective of the Piggery Mission is to reduce the annual import of Pork worth Rs 150 Crore and make Meghalaya self-sufficient (“Aatma Nirbhar”) in pork production over the next 3 years.
Q6. According to the Living Planet Report 2020 released by the World Wide Fund for Nature what is the average decline in global vertebrate species populations, between 1970 and 2016?
68%
50%
34%
72%
A. 68%
World Wildlife Fund for Nature is the world’s leading conservation organization. It was established in 1961 and is headquartered at Gland, Switzerland. Its objective is to conserve nature and reduce the most pressing threats to the diversity of life on Earth.
Q7. Which state topped the list of states counted for the well-being of children as per the ‘State of Young Child in India’ report released by Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu recently?
Assam
Kerala
Tripura
Goa
B. Kerala
The Young Child Outcomes Index (YCOI) measures health, nutrition and cognitive growth with help of indicators such as infant mortality rate, stunting and net attendance at the primary school level. Kerala, Goa, Tripura, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram are among the top five States.
Q8. Which among the following religious place was recently granted Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) registration?
Tirupati
Vaishno Devi
Konark
Golden Temple
D. Golden Temple
The Union government has granted a Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence to Sri Harmandir Sahib at Amritsar in Punjab for five years. It will now enable the Golden Temple to receive foreign donations.
Q9. Who won the women’s singles title in US Open Tennis 2020?
Naomi Osaka
Victoria Azarenka
Jennifer Brady
Serena Williams
A. Naomi Osaka
Q10.India’s first integrated air ambulance service has been launched in which state?
Karnataka
Odisha
Gujarat
Uttarakhand
A. Karnataka
The Integrated Ambulance Service is India’s first air ambulance operating from South India to provide service for medical emergencies. It is combined with helicopter and land ambulance services which will offer last-mile connectivity.
Indian Railways completes solar power installations at 960 stations
With the objective of 100 per cent self-sustainability for all power needs, the Indian Railways has completed installation of solar power plants at 960 stations and in the ordering process for 198 MW solar rooftop capacity for 550 additional railway stations.
The Indian Railways’ plans were part of its objective to become a net zero carbon emitter by 2030 as it has a landpool of more than 51,000 hectares.
Indian Railways plans plans to install solar plants of 20 GW capacity by utilising its vacant land by 2030. And to generate 33 billion units by 2030, 10 billion more than its present requirement.
For the first time in the world, Indian Railways sets up solar plant in Bina to directly power railway overhead line, in July, 2020.
Assam Govt plans to overhaul of State’s education sector
Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed the Legislative Assembly that the government is planning an overhaul of the education sector with 15 new government colleges, including nine girls’ colleges, coming up in Assam.
150 new high schools will be built in the tea garden areas of Assam and these will be ready to start from the next academic session.
Under the New Education Policy, the entire education system would undergo a sea change, where the difference between English medium and vernacular mediums would be reduced and people will gain confidence in the government education sector.
Assam is witnessing fast pace expansion in the government education sector with more than 40 lakh students enrolled in government academic institutions and more than 1.5 lakh appointments in this sector in the past eight years.
5.5 lakh students have been given free admission under government scheme.
The Govt is ready do some modification in provincialisation rules to regularise the deserving venture institutions of the state.
Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee passes away
Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee died in Delhi at the age of 84.
The central government has announced seven days of state mourning for the former president.
BIOGRAPHY – Pranab Mukherjee
Pranab Mukherjee served as the 13th President of India, from 2012 to 2017.
Born in the village of Mirati in Birbhum district of West Bengal, Mukherjee pursued History, Political Science and Law courses from the Kolkata University before becoming a college teacher and then a journalist.
Before becoming finance minister for the first time as part of Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet in 1982, Mukherjee had served as a deputy minister for finance in 1973-74.
He was also appointed the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission in 1991 during the time of P V Narasimha Rao’s government at the Centre and held that position for five years.
UP Govt launches Major Dhyan Chand Vijaypath Yojana
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya launched the Major Dhyan Chand Vijaypath Yojana under which 19 international players from the state will get road connectivity to their houses.
Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, former pacer Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla and Mohammad Kaif are among the 19 athletes who will be benefited from the scheme.
The initial list includes 19 players but later on, more players will be added to the scheme.
September 02, 2020
Assam’s Darrang ranked second in performance among aspirational districts in India
The NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog in its fresh assessment based on the overall performance index has placed Assam’s Darrang district in the second rank among the 124 aspirational districts of the country.
The evaluation covered several subjects of development including health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resource, financial inclusion and skill development and basic infrastructure for the last two months of June and July 2020.
In the financial inclusion and skill development category, the Darrang district fared even better than the district that bagged the first rank.
Bhaben Baruah Award to Kulada Kumar Bhattacharya
The Nalbari district unit of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad conferred the coveted Bhaben Baruah Award for the year 2020 to renowned actor, playwright and the director of Jyoti Chitraban, Kulada Kumar Bhattacharya for his lifetime contributions towards the uplift of preforming arts in the State.
The award consists of a cash prize of Rs 10,000, a citation and a seleng sador, among others.
FACTFILE – Bhaben Baruah Award
The Nalbari district unit of AJYCP has been presenting the award since 2009. First edition of the award was given to play artist Dulal Roy.
Recipients of the award are
Guruji Adya Sarma (2010)
Biju Phukan (2011)
Nilu Chakravarty (2012)
Mahananda Sarma (2013)
Jibeswar Deka (2014)
Achyut Lahkar (2015)
Dharani Barman (2016)
Hemanta Dutta (2017)
Bidya Rao (2018)
Dara Ahmed (2019)
India launches pan-India Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) in electricity
Indian power market has gone green with the launch of pan-India Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) in electricity.
The introduction of GTAM platform would lessen the burden on Renewable Energy-rich States.
The GTAM platform will lead to an increase in the number of participants in the renewable energy sector.
It will benefit buyers of renewable energy through competitive prices and transparent and flexible procurement. And it will also benefit renewable energy sellers by providing access to the pan-India market.
Key features of Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM)
Transactions through GTAM will be bilateral in nature with clear identification of corresponding buyers and sellers, there will not be any difficulty in accounting for RPO.
GTAM contracts will be segregated into Solar RPO & Non-Solar RPO as RPO targets are also segregated.
Further, within the two segments GTAM contracts will have Green Intraday, Day Ahead Contingency, Daily and Weekly Contracts
Price discovery will take place on a continuous basis i.e. price time priority basis. Subsequently, looking at the market conditions open auction can be introduced for daily & weekly contracts.
Google expands AI-driven flood forecast to all of India, Bangladesh
Google expanding its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered flood forecasting to all of India and Bangladesh that will provide greater details on timing and water depths in alerts in nine new local languages.
This forecasting model that will allow it to double the lead time of many of its alerts providing more notice to governments in India and Bangladesh and giving tens of millions of people an extra day or so to prepare.
For several years, the Google Flood Forecasting Initiative has been working with governments to develop systems that predict when and where flooding will occur and keep people safe and informed.
Google has been expanding its forecasting models and services in partnership with the Indian Central Water Commission. This partnership aims to build local networks that can get disaster alert information to people who wouldn’t otherwise receive smartphone alerts directly.
IUCAA Pune scientists find one of the farthest galaxies
A team of scientists from Pune’s Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA) have discovered one of the farthest galaxies in the universe, called AUDFs01
The discovery made by a team of astronomers led by IUCAA’s Kanak Saha.
The galaxy was discovered by India’s first Multi-Wavelength Space Observatory ‘AstroSat’, which detected extreme-UV light from a galaxy located at an astronomical distance of 9.30 billion light-years from Earth.
FACTFILE – Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA)
The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) is an autonomous institution set up by the University Grants Commission to promote nucleation and growth of active groups in astronomy and astrophysics in Indian universities.
IUCAA is located in the University of Pune campus.It’s campus designed by Indian architect Charles Correa.
IUCAA, along with Persistent Systems, Pune, operates the Virtual Observatory project. The observatory provides users access to raw observational data along with advanced processing software designed by engineers at Persitent.
IUCAA, along with the Raman Research Institute and Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, declared a proposal to take a ten percent stake in the Large Telescope Project, which would allow Indian astronomers access to major upcoming observatories such as the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the European Extremely Large Telescope (EELT).
IIT Bombay students launch AI-based scanning app “AIR Scanner”
AIR Scanner, a free-of-cost mobile application, has been developed Rohit Kumar Chaudhary and Kavin Agrawal, two B.Tech students of IIT Bombay.
This app has been launched on Independence Day and the AI (Artificial Intelligence) based Reading Assistant & Document Scanner app can scan documents and also read to users who have difficulty in reading English.
The document you scan using your mobile camera will be saved in PDF format and will be stored in the device only.
An added advantage of this app is its Artificial Intelligence feature that reads out the scanned pages and also provides the meaning of the selected word to the user in 40 different languages.
Assam Municipal Billpassed bill to defer civic body polls by one year
In view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Assam assembly passed the Assam Municipal (Amendment) Bill, 2020 allowing deferring of polls to municipal bodies by one year after expiry of their scheduled terms.
The bill also provides for appointment of a senior official as the in-charge of the council concerned after the end of its scheduled term.
The state government shall direct the Deputy Commissioner or the Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil), as the case may be, of the respective jurisdiction, to take over the charge of the Municipal Boards for a period not exceeding 12 months from the date of expiry of the term of the office of the Commissioners.
As per the recent National Statistical Office (NSO) data, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth contracted by 23.9% in the quarter 1 of 2020. It is the sharpest contraction since India started reporting quarterly data in 1996.
Construction, manufacturing, trade, hotels and other services and mining were the worst-hit sectors, due the severe suspension of economic activity in the quarter period due to the Covid pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.
Only sector that showed a positive growth is agriculture, which grew at 3.4%.
Effects on the Economy
Job loss since the sectors which have contracted (e.g. construction, manufacturing etc.) are the sectors that create the maximum new jobs in the country.
Small-scale sector and informal sector are more affected than the organised sector
Defaults in the banking sector after the moratorium ends will add to the banking sector woes, impacting bank’s lending.
Household debt will increase with incomes stagnating, salary cuts and job losses.
Real-Time Market of Indian Energy Exchange launched
A pan-India real-time market of electricity to enable the buyers and sellers pan-India to meet their energy requirement closer to real time of operation has been launched.
With shorter bidding time, faster scheduling, and defined processes enables the participants to access resources throughout the all India grid, the market will promote competition.
It is an organized market platform which will bring required flexibility to provide real-time balance while ensuring optimal utilization of the available surplus capacity in the system. The buyers and sellers would have the option of placing buy or sell bids for each 15-minute time block.
Advantages of Real-Time Market of Indian Energy Exchange
It would help to mitigate the challenges of grid management and integrate higher amounts of renewable energy resources into the grid.
It would provide an alternate mechanism for DISCOMS to access larger markets at competitive prices.
It serves the consumers with reliable supply as any last-minute requirement of power can easily be bought from the Real-Time market.
Rajasthan Govt signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shri Vallabh Pittie (SVP) International Group for the development of facilities related to aviation, defence and textile sectors.
Investment of Rs 4,000 crore is estimated under the projects which would generate employment for more than 4,000 people.
The company proposed to develop a project for defence and aerospace, including aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, aviation academy and a project related to textile.
J&K Official Languages Bill 2020 gets Cabinet clearance
The Union Cabinet gave its nod to the introduction of the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020 in the Parliament.
The Bill will include Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi as official languages in the newly-created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Now, five languages Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English will be the official languages in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, as against only English and Urdu which were official languages in the former State.
Scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule
Dogri along with Bodo, Maithili and Santhali was added to the scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule by 92nd Amendment Act of 2003.
The Eighth Schedule consists of the following 22 languages:
Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution.
Sindhi language was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967.
Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali were included by the 71st Amendment Act of 1992.
Union Cabinet approves Mission Karmayogi
Union Cabinet has given its nod to Mission Karmayogi – National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building, a scheme to lay the foundation for capacity building for Civil Servants so that they remain entrenched in Indian culture while they learn global best practices.
The mission aims to make the Civil Servants more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled.
The institutional framework will consist of Prime Minister’s Public Human Resources (HR) Council, Capacity Building Commission, Special Purpose Vehicle for owning and operating the digital assets and the technological platform for online training, and Coordination Unit headed by the Cabinet Secretary.
The Public Human Resources Council comprising select Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, eminent public HR practitioners, thinkers, global thought leaders and Public Service functionaries will serve as the apex body for providing strategic direction to the task of Civil Services Reform and capacity building.
The Capacity Building Commission to ensure a uniform approach in managing and regulating the capacity building ecosystem on collaborative and co-sharing basis.
UP government plans to set up toy city in UP
Uttar Pradesh government is planning to set up a ‘Toy City’ along the Yamuna Expressway in the state. And for that, 70 entrepreneurs have shown interest in setting up toy units in the state.
The state government would provide subsidised land under the MSME provisions and also make arrangements for the raw material needed for the toy industry.
The toy industry in India is worth about Rs 10,000 crore and according to the International Market Analysis, Research and Consulting Group, Indian participation in the global toy industry is merely 0.5 per cent.
In the Indian market, the locally made toys account for merely 12 per cent. The majority of the toys are imported from China and other countries.
September 04, 2020
India ranks 48th in Global Innovation Index, 2020
India has moved up four places to the 48th rank in the global innovation index and keeps the top position among the nations in central and southern Asia.
For the first time, India entered in the top 50 countries in the global innovation index.
India has become the third most innovative lower middle-income economy in the world
India ranks in the top 15 in indicators such as ICT (Information and Communication Technology) services exports, government online services, graduates in science and engineering, and R&D-intensive global companies.
India is the lower middle-income economy with the highest innovation quality.
FACTFILE – Global Innovation Index, 2020
The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. It is released jointly by the Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
A total of 131 countries were analysed under the GII based on metrics include institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.
Top countries are Switzerland, Sweden, the US, the UK and the Netherlands. The top 10 positions are dominated by high-income countries.
CSIR-CMERI develops World’s Largest Solar Tree
CSIR-CMERI has developed the World’s Largest Solar Tree, installed capacity of the Solar Tree is above 11.5 kWp, which is installed at CSIR-CMERI Residential Colony, Durgapur.
It has the annual capacity to generate 12,000-14,000 units of Clean and Green Power. The Solar Tree has been designed to ensure maximum exposure of each Solar PV Panel to Sunlight and also creation of the least amount of shadow area beneath.
Each Solar Tree has the potential to save 10-12 tons of CO2 emissions being released into the atmosphere as Greenhouse The surplus generated power can be fed into an Energy Grid.
The solar tree has the capability to incorporate IOT based features like round-the-clock CCTV surveillance in agricultural fields, real-time humidity, wind speed, rainfall prediction and soil analytics sensors.
This Solar Tree is a Quantum Leap towards making an Energy Reliant and Carbon Negative India in compliance with sustainable development goals.
J&K govt to set up two CIIITs in Jammu, Baramulla
The J&K Government is establishing two Centers for Invention, Innovation, Incubation & Training (CIIIT) in Jammu & Kashmir in collaboration with Tata Technologies. This will strengthen industry-academia partnership and to bring quality improvement in technical education.
The two centers are being built at Government Polytechnic College, Jammu and Government Polytechnic College, Baramulla and shall be established at a cost of approximately Rs 360.00 crores.
The Project is aimed at bringing qualitative improvements in the field of technical education in J&K. They will facilitate to create a ready pool of skilled manpower like engineers; technicians which will augment the industrial growth and in turn employment avenues in the region.
NASA test-fires SLS rocket booster for future lunar missions
With overall objective of landing the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024, NASA has completed a full-scale booster test for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.
NASA, along with Northrop Grumman, will use data from the test, successfully conducted to evaluate the motor’s performance using potential new materials and processes that can be incorporated into future boosters.
The SLS flight support booster firing is a crucial part of sustaining missions to the Moon. The SLS boosters are the largest, most powerful boosters ever built for flight.
The two boosters on the rocket provide more than 75 per cent of the thrust needed to launch NASA’s future deep space missions through Artemis lunar programme.
The SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, Gateway, and human landing system are part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration.
Swami Vivekananda Assam Youth Empowerment (SVAYEM) Yojana is a flagship program announced in the Budget 2017-18, to provide financial support to the youths of Assam to take up income generating activities in the manufacturing, trading and service sector.
Objectives of SVAYEM Yojana
To generate employment opportunities in rural as well as urban areas through setting up of new ventures as well as growing existing ventures.
To provide financial assistance to micro and small business entities engaged in the manufacturing, trading and services sector.
To provide financial assistance for enhancement of income level of traditional artisans ensuring sustainable growth.
Coverage and targeted group under SVAYEM Yojana
About One lakh youth of Assam will be provided suitable credit support for taking up income generating enterprises.
Nature of activities eligible for SVAYEM Yojana
Manufacturing
Processing
Service Sector
Trading
Rural Transport Service (Auto Rickshaw, e-Rickshaw)
Tourism
Shops, repairing Centres, Handicraft, Cottage Industries etc.
Eligibility criteria for the beneficiary of SVAYEM Yojana
Residents of Assam above 18 years of age.
The beneficiary should possess educational qualification of at least Class VII.
The individual beneficiary should have skills, experiences, knowledge, etc., to undertake the income generating activities.
The beneficiary who has already completed Skill Development Training will be given preference.
The beneficiary must not be the defaulter of any loan.
PMEGP beneficiaries of the last 5 years will not be eligible under the scheme.
Indian Govt proposes mandatory FASTag for vehicles sold before Dec 1, 2017
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed to make FASTags mandatory for vehicles sold before December 1, 2017.
The amended provision in Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), 1989 is proposed to be put in force with effect from January 1, 2021.
It is proposed to make having a valid FASTag mandatory while getting a new 3rd Party Insurance through an amendment in FORM 51 (Certificate of Insurance), wherein the details of FASTag ID shall be captured.
As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, FASTag had been made mandatory since 2017 for registration of new four-wheeled vehicles, and is to be supplied by the vehicle manufacturer or their dealers.
Odisha proposes to set up a Bulk Drug Park at Gopalpur
The Odisha govt accorded in-principle approval to a proposal for setting up a Bulk Drug Park within the Tata Steel Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Gopalpur in Ganjam district.
The proposed project is part of the state government’s aim of creating employment opportunities through industrialization in the non-mineral sector.
The cost of the infrastructure development in the park was estimated around Rs 1,500 crore. And the proposed park would create employment opportunities for around 5,000 people.
September 06, 2020
Assam Skill University Bill 2020 passed
The Assam Legislative Assembly passed the Assam Skill University Bill 2020 for setting up a state-of-the-art skill university at Mangaldoi in Darrang district.
The university will be set up with financial support of about Rs 1000 Crore from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The Assam government has tied up with Singapore based ITE Education Service for setting up of the university.
Around 100 bigha land would be allotted for setting the university.
The university will open a new vista of opportunities and change the economic landscape of Assam.
FACTFILE – Assam Skill University
Assam to set up Skill University at Mangaldoi as a centre of excellence Skill University with an investment of Rs 900 crore.
It will be the first skill university in the country.
It will be set up with financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank.
Assam Government has tied up ITE Education Service, Singapore for setting up of the Skill University.
It is to hold a capacity of 10,000 seats, of which, 80% of the seats are to be reserved for students of Assam and 20% for other North-Eastern states.
Andhra Pradesh tops in implementing Business Reforms, Assam among worst reformer states
Andra Pradesh is the best-performing state in terms of implementing business reforms, as the ranking of states on the basis of implementing the ‘State business reforms action plan’, released by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The ‘State Business Reform Action Plan 2019’ is aimed at improving business environment by streamlining regulatory structures and simplifying procedures, digitisation of information and easing the compliance burden.
The Action plan aspires to create creating an investor-friendly business climate by cutting down red tape.
Uttar Pradesh stood second and Telangana was the third-best state in implementing business reforms in 2019.
States like Haryana, Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka, Bihar, Goa, Assam and surprisingly even Gujarat has been worst-performing states in terms of reform initiatives in 2019 as compared to their performance in previous year.
India-Bangladesh new waterway route with Tripura made operational
The first consignment of goods from Bangladesh arrived in Tripura by waterway as part of a trial run for shipping of goods from other parts of India to the northeast region via Bangladesh formally making operational of new waterways between India and Bangladesh.
A Bangladeshi vessel tracking 93 km waterways carrying 10 tonnes of arrived western Tripura’s Sonamura. With the arrival of the vessel, the Sonamura-Daukandi 93-km-long new inland waterways protocol route between northeast India’s Tripura state and Bangladesh was formally made operational.
A temporary floating jetty was built at Sonamura in western Tripura to start the new waterway through the Gomati river between Tripura and Bangladesh.
Agartala via Guwahati is 1,650 km from Kolkata by road while the distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Bangladesh is just 620 km.
India and Bangladesh had earlier signed a MoU to ferry various goods including foodgrains from different parts of India to the mountainous northeastern states using Bangladeshi ports and surface roads to save time and transportation costs.
There are six ‘ports of call’ each in India and Bangladesh. The five new “ports of call” on the Indian side are Dhulian, Maia, Kolaghat, Sonamura and Jogigopha and on the Bangladesh side Rajshahi, Sultanganj, Chilmari, Daudkandi and Bahadurabad.
Two more extended “ports of call” Tribeli (Bandel) and Badarpur in India and Ghorasal and Muktarpur in Bangladesh have been added.
September 07, 2020
Assam passed bill to protect State’s Heritage Sites
Assam Legislative Assembly passed bills for creation of three autonomous councils which included Moran, Motok and Kamtapur Autonomous Council.
The bills are being termed as a ‘historic’ step towards implementing the Clause 6 of Assam Accord. The bill has been drafted by the Directorate of Archaeology, under the guidance of State Cultural Affairs (Archeology) Minister Keshab Mahanta.
Tangible Heritage Covered under the new Bill
This bill covers various museum objects like coins, sculptures, manuscripts, epigraphs or other work of art and craftsmanship and all cultural artefacts of indigenous people.
Heritage sites such as xatras, monasteries, stupas, naamghars, masjids, dargahs, and churches besides socio-cultural institutions and habitation structures having traditional architectures as well as monuments and their precincts will also be covered under the new law.
All the artefacts covered under tangible heritage that have been in existence for a minimum of 75 years and are not covered under the Assam Ancient Monuments and Records Act, 1959, will be protected under the new law.
Clause 6 of Assam Accord
Under the clause, the state government is empowered to take necessary steps to ensure constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, that shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.
UN’s International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies observed on September 7
For the first time, UN`s International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies is observed on September 7, 2020. The theme for this year’s observance day is “Clean Air for All”.
Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar will be chairing a webinar, will be joined by Principal Secretaries of the Urban Development Department and Environment Department of 28 states and 8 Union Territories.
He will also be reviewing the progress of the activities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) during the course of the webinar.
On December 19, 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to observe the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on September 7 every year starting from 2020.
University of Hyderabad start-up bags Covid-19 challenge grant from USISTEF
A start-up company incubated at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has won a US-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF) ignition grant for its “Novel therapeutic strategy to fight against Covid-19”.
The proposal by Novel Oncoseek Bio Pvt Ltd., was one of the eleven that were selected from 520 proposals that were received and evaluated.
The company is one of the start-up companies of ASPIRE-BioNEST at UoH had earlier received a grant from BIRAC, Government of India to develop a platform to screen the potential drug candidates for Covid-19.
Its present proposal, Oncoseek Bio is proposing to create a therapeutic by developing neutralizing novel antibodies directed against the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and other epitopes of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.
The antibodies are conjugated to drug/Zn nanoparticle (ADCs), which would release the drug of choice at the site of action.
IITs to help make ‘agarbatti’ sector self-reliant
In an effort to help the India’s embattled MSME sector, the Central govt has decided to rope in IITs to extend their support to the ‘agarbatti’ (incense sticks) industry as part of its ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ campaign aimed at making India self-reliant.
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Ministry has expanded its reach and support to artisans, involved in making agarbattis, as well as to the industry, by its new guidelines.
The ministry has looked at all aspects of the industry, beyond just supply of machines for making agarbattis. This includes ensuring supply of inputs and raw materials, the demand for which has increased hugely in the last one year, as per the Centre.
It has decided to continuously support the artisans through training, raw material, marketing and financial support.
It has also worked on all aspects of this product, like innovation in the fragrance and packaging, use of new or alternate raw materials like re-usable flowers, coir pith, and supply of bamboo sticks.
For this purpose, a ‘Centre of Excellence’ is also being set up in the Flavour and Fragrance Development Centre in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj, which is known to be India’s fragrance capital.
The Centre will also set up 10 clusters with proper marketing linkages under SFURTI (Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) scheme of the MSME Ministry at a total cost of about Rs 50 crore.
Q1. The first Children’s newspaper ‘The Young Minds’ was recently launched in which state?
Assam
Kerala
Mizoram
Tripura
A. Assam
This newspaper will help to promote creative thinking among children and inculcate in them the habit to read and write. This weekly newspaper will include content that will help engage children in activities such as games, puzzles, riddles, fun facts and news, vocabulary, science and maths experiments. It will also provide kids with a platform to get their arts and write-ups published and win prizes by participating in monthly contests.
Q2. Assam is paired with which state under Ek Bharat Shresht Bharat?
Madhya Pradesh
Bihar
Rajasthan
West Bengal
C. Rajasthan
Assam paired with Rajasthan under Ek Bharat Shresht Bharat. Both the states are known for sports, tourism, foods, culture and heritage.
The objective of Ek Bharat Shresht Bharat is to promote the spirit of national integration through a deep and structured engagement between all Indian States and Union Territories through a year-long planned engagement between States.
.
Q3. Who has been recently awarded with Bhupen Hazarika Samanway Award for his valuable contributions in the cultural field of Assam?
Jatin Goswami
Santanta Tanty
Kula Saikkia
Chandana Goswami
A. Jatin Goswami
Bhupen Hazarika Samanway Award instituted by the Bhupen Hazarika Cultural Trust was today conferred on Nrityacharya Jatin Goswami for his valuable contributions in the cultural field of Assam. The award carrying a memento, a citation, a cheleng chador, gamosa, baan kanhi (bell-metal dish), a bouquet and a collection of books was given to the Sattriya exponent by trust members.
Q4. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated Sri Sri Uttar Kamalabari Sakha Satra and Cultural Research Centre at the district of Assam?
Dhemaji
Majuli
Jorhat
Dibrugarh
C. Jorhat
Q5. What is the rank of Assam in terms of literacy rate among other states in India as per the report on education released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) recently?
Third
Fifth
Ninth
Seventh
B. Fifth
The report on ”Household Social Consumption: Education in India as part of 75th round of National Sample Survey – from July 2017 to June 2018” has positioned Assam in the fifth rank with a literacy rate of 85.9 percent in India.
Kerala with 96.2 per cent literacy, has once again emerged as the most literate state in the country, followed by Delhi at 88.7%, Uttarakhand at 87.6%, Himachal Pradesh at 86.6% and Assam’s at 85.9 per cent.
Q6. Who has been awarded the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize for 2019?
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
David Attenborough
Ela Bhatt
Man Mohan Singh
B. David Attenborough
The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development is an annual prestigious award accorded annually to individuals or organisations in recognition of creative efforts toward promoting international peace, development and a new international economic order; ensuring that scientific discoveries are used for the larger good of humanity, and enlarging the scope of freedom.
It is conferred every year by Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust since 1986. It consists of a citation and a monetary award of Rs. 25 lakh.
Q7. Which state topped in ease of doing business 2019 ranking?
Uttar Pradesh
Haryana
Telangana
Andhra Pradesh
D. Andhra Pradesh
This ranking is based on implementation of business reform action plan. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman released the 2019 rankings, Andhra Pradesh retains top spot in ease of doing business 2019 ranking while Uttar Pradesh and Telangana bagged the second and third positions respectively.
Q8. Who among the following has won the Italian Grand Prix for 2020?
Pierre Gasly
Lewis Hamilton
N Roseberg
S Vettel
A. Pierre Gasly
The 2020 Italian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken d’Italia 2020) which was held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy.
Q9. Recently, India has initiated an anti-dumping investigation on imports of vitamin C from which country?
Russia
Brazil
China
Mexico
C. China
Q10. Who represented India at virtual G20 Education Ministers Meet, which is recently hosted by Saudi Arabia?
Smriti Irani
Amit Shah
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
Arjun Munda
C. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union. The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, and the US.
Q1. Which state government re-launched its scheme called SWAYEM to provide self-employment to youths of the state?
Gujarat
Assam
West Bengal
Bihar
B. Assam
Swami Vivekananda Assam Youth Empowerment (SVAYEM) yojana was launched to generate employment opportunities in rural as well as urban areas through setting up of new ventures.
It is a flagship program which was announced by the Hon’ble Finance Minister of Assam to provide financial support to the youths of the state to take up income generating activities in the manufacturing, trading and service sector.
Q2. Madhya Pradesh have been paired with which state for implementing the Centre’s ambitious scheme Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Abhiyan?
Kerala
Assam
Manipur
Andhra Pradesh
C. Manipur
Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” was announced on 31st October, 2015 on the occasion of the 140th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It was launched to celebrate the Unity in Diversity of our Nation and to maintain and strengthen the fabric of traditionally existing emotional bonds between the people of our Country. To promote the spirit of national integration through a deep and structured engagement between all Indian States and Union Territories through a year-long planned engagement between States.
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Q3. Which of the following state receives first-ever inland shipping cargo from Bangladesh?
Tripura
Assam
Manipur
West Bengal
A. Tripura
The operationalization of this new protocol route will provide an economical, faster, safer and environment-friendly mode of transport and will result in substantial economic benefits to local communities on both sides.
Q4. Which country has launched the ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’ with ‘key role” for India?
Russia
China
Brazil
Germany
D. Germany
The ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’ will work to maintain rules-based order together with partners in the Indo-Pacific region and will also cooperate with India and Japan for UN Security reforms.
Q5. Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated a bio diversity park named ‘’Sahityarathi Lakhminath Bezbaroa Sahitya Monishi Upobon’’ in which district?
Dhemaji
Tezpur
Morigoan
Tinsukia
C. Morigoan
Q6. Who is recently appointed as the new Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI)?
Vijay Joshi
Aveek Sarkar
Viveck Goenka
Riyadh Mathew
B. Aveek Sarkar
The Press Trust of India Ltd is the largest news agency in India. Headquartered is located in New Delhi. It was founded on 27th August, 1947.
It provides news coverage and information of the region in both English and Hindi. It is the only news agency in South Asia which operates its own communication satellite, an INSAT, to broadcast news and information.
Q7. India started Indra navy Maritime warfare Exercise with which country’s Navy?
Singapore
Thailand
Russia
UK
C. Russia
The primary aim of this exercise is to further consolidate inter-operability built up by the two Navies over the years and also to enhance understanding and procedures for multi-faceted maritime operations.
Q8. Who represented India in the virtual meeting of BRICS Ministers of foreign affairs
S. Jaishankar
Arjun Munda
Ram Nath Kovind
Prahlad Singh Patel
A. S. Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had represented India in the meeting. The meeting was attended by all five members including China, Brazil and South Africa.
Q9. Who has authored the book titled ‘Invertonomics’?
Goonmeet Singh Chauhan
Arundhati Roy
Amitav Ghosh
Chetan Bhagat
A. Goonmeet Singh Chauhan
Invertonomoics is a book of ideas presenting pragmatic models for solving chronic problems of the country arising from the spectrum of Social Inequality, Pollution, Gender disparity, and Decadent Rural Economy.
Q10. Who among ths following has recently won the 48th annual world open chess tournament conducted online?
Viswanathan Anand
Koneru Humpy
Pentala Harikrishna
P Iniyan
D. P Iniyan
P Iniyan won the prestigious Annual World Open online chess tournament held recently. A total number of 120 players from 16 countries participated in the event.
Q1. Recently, which IIT collaborates with the University of Pardubice, Czech Republic for data protection project?
IIT Madras
IIT Guwahati
IIT Indore
IIT Hyderabad
B. Guwahati University
Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati has collaborated with the University of Pardubice, Czech Republic to work towards developing indigenous algorithms to protect the Country’s digital data from cyber-attacks by advanced computers.
Q2. What is the rank of India in the Global Innovation Index compiled by World Intellectual Property Index (WIPO)?
52nd
35th
48th
64th
C. 48th
The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. It is published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, in partnership with other organisations and institutions.
It is the 13th edition of the Global Innovation Index 2020. The 2020 edition of the Global Innovation Index (GII) presents the latest global innovation trends and the annual innovation ranking of 131 economies.
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Q3. Which two countries were declared the joint winners of the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad?
Japan and Brazil
India and Russia
China and US
UK and France
B. India and Russia
Q4. Recently who becomes the first woman to be appointed as the Director General (DG) of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security?
Usha Padhee
Joyce Gladys Roach
Harsimrat Kaur Badal
Renuka Singh Saruta
A. Usha Padhee
Usha Padhee has been given additional charge as Director-General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). She is the first woman and third IAS officer to have been appointed to the post.
Q5. Recently, CSIR’s Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute have developed world’s largest ‘solar tree’ which is installed at
Barpeta
Gochar
Durgapur
Lumding
C. Durgapur
The installed capacity of the Solar Tree is above 11.5 kWp . It has the annual capacity to generate 12,000-14,000 units of Clean and Green Power. Each Solar Tree has the potential to save 10-12 tons of CO2 emissions being released into the atmosphere as Greenhouse Gases when compared with fossil fuel fired energy generation. Each Solar Tree can be customized for widespread usage in agricultural activities.
Q6. Which company has becomes the first Indian dairy company to be in Rabobank’s Global Top 20 list for the year 2020?
C. Amul, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF)
GCMMF (Amul) enters the Rabobank’s Global Top 20 Dairy Companies list for the first time at No.16. Amul has achieved an annual turnover of $5.5 billion.
According to the list, Switzerland’s Nestle topped the list with a turnover of US $22.1 billion, followed by France’s Lactalis with US $ 21 billion turnover.
Q7. Which country plans to unveil bronze statue of Indian Dr Dwarkanath Kotnis?
Japan
Pakistan
US
China
D. China
A bronze statue of Indian doctor Dwarkanath Kotnis, who is revered in China for his contributions during the Chinese revolution headed by its founder Mao Zedong and the World War II, would be unveiled outside a medical school in North China.
In 1938, Kotnis came to China as part of a five-member team of doctors sent by the Indian National Congress to help the Chinese during World War II. He joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 1942 and died the same year at the age of 32.
Q8. Which airport has won CII-GBC ‘National Energy Leader’ award?
Vijayawada International Airport
Indira Gandhi International Airport
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport
D.Rajiv Gandhi International Airport
The Hyderabad International Airport or GMR led Rajiv Gandhi International Airport won the ‘National Energy Leader’ and ‘Excellent Energy Efficient Unit’ awards at the 21st National Awards for ‘Excellence in Energy Management’.
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited-Vizag Steel Plant (RINL-VSP) has also been awarded ‘Excellent Energy Efficient Unit’ award by CII-GBC in national award competition for excellence in energy management.
Q9. India’s first international women’s trade centre (IWTC) be set up in which State?
Kerala
Tripura
Madhya Pradesh
Jharkhand
A. Kerala
The International women’s trade centre (IWTC) would be set by Kerala in consonance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The IWTC seeks to accelerate the women entrepreneurship and secure gender parity. It will offer a safe place away from home to women to start new businesses, set up or expand, and get their products marketed globally.
Q10. Which organisation has recently launched book titled “The Little Book of Green Nudges” to inspire around 200 million students around the globe to adopt environmentally friendly habits and greener lifestyles?
World Health Organisation (WHO)
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
B. United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has recently launched a new publication ‘The Little Book of Green Nudges’ which aims to inspire up to 200 million students around the globe to adopt environmentally friendly habits and greener lifestyles.
Q1. Recently, India’s longest river ropeway, connecting the north and south banks of the Brahmaputra river inaugurated in which city?
Agartala
Silchar
Guwahati
Imphal
C. Guwahati
The ropeway will cover a distance of 1.8 km, and bring down the travelling time. It will also help in promoting tourism and will make commuting easier.
Q2. Recently, which state assembly has passed a resolution for inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution?
Bihar
Jharkhand
Arunachal Pradesh
Sikkim
C. Arunachal Pradesh
The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution deals with the administration of the tribal areas in the four northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram as per Article 244. It empowers Parliament to establish an autonomous State comprising certain tribal areas of Assam and for local Legislature or Council of Ministers or both can create. It provides the power of the enactment of autonomous district councils (ADCs) to protect the rights of tribal populations.
Q3. Name the Para Athletic who won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in the recently announced National Sports Awards 2020?
Dutee Chand
Manika Batra
Shri Manish Narwal
Shri Mariyappan T.
D. Shri Mariyappan T.
The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in Sports and Games is the highest sporting honour of the Republic of India. The award is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. This award is being conferred for the spectacular and most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of four years. As of 2020, the award comprises a medallion, a certificate, and a cash prize of ₹25 lakh.
Q4. What is the projected growth rate of India for 2020-21, as per Reserve Bank of India’s annual report 2019-20?
-3.3
-4.5
-5.6
-2.8
B. -4.5
Reserve Bank of India (RBI)projected India’s growth at minus (-) 4.5% for 2020-21. It will be (-) 3.7% in the single hit scenario and (-) 7.3% in the double hit scenario in FY2020-21. On the global front, the growth is projected at (-) 6.0% in the single hit scenario and (-) 7.6% in the double hit scenario in FY20-21.
Q5. Who will be honoured with the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2019 in the land adventure category?
Anita Kundu
Aparna Kumar
Manikandan K
Wangchuk Sherpa
A. Anita Kundu
Indian Mountaineer Anita Kundu has been chosen for the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2019 in the ‘land adventure category’. She is the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest from both the Indian and the Chinese sides.
Q6. Recently, who has won the ‘World’s Fastest Human Calculator’ title?
Akrit Jaswal
Priyanshi Somani
Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash
Ajay Puri
C. Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash
India’s Neelakanta Bhanu Prakash has won the ‘World’s Fastest Human Calculator’ title. He has won the first-ever gold for India in Mental Calculation World Championship at Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) held in London recently.
Q7. Which state topped in the ‘Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020’ released by NITI Aayog?
Madhya Pradesh
Gujarat
Maharashtra
Kerala
B. Gujarat
Export Preparedness Index (EPI) aims to identify the challenges and opportunities; improve the effectiveness of government policies; and promote a facilitative regulatory framework. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu occupied the top three ranks in the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020.
Among the landlocked states, Rajasthan has performed the best, followed by Telangana and Haryana. Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand topped the chart, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh. Across Union Territories, Delhi has performed the best, followed by Goa and Chandigarh.
Q8. Which country plans to host BRICS Games in 2021?
Russia
India
China
Japan
B. India
Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju attended a meeting of Sports Ministers of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). During this meeting he announced that BRICS Games 2021 will be held during the same time and at the same venues as of Khelo India Games 2021.
Q9. Who became the first Indian-origin woman to be honoured with a memorial Blue Plaque?
Noor Innayat Khan
Haafiza Sayed
Soufeina Hamed
Zainab Khan
A. Noor Innayat Khan
Noor Inayat Khan is the first woman of Indian-origin to be honoured with a memorial Blue Plaque for her service in the Special Operations Executive during World War 2. She was the first female radio operator be sent into Nazi-occupied France and is also remembered as Britain’s first Muslim war heroine.
Q10. Which IIT has recently launched ‘world’s most affordable’ respirator mask?
IIT Madras
IIT Dhanbad
IIT Delhi
IIT Hyderabad
D. IIT Hyderabad
The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad has recently launched US9 respiratory mask which is highly durable and adheres to the highest safety standards for operating in hazardous environments.
Q1. Which company has recently launched the Krishi-Udan Scheme to facilitate the marketing of agricultural and farm products of the northeastern states outside the region?
Airports Authority of India or (AAI)
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)
Infosys
Wipro
A. Airports Authority of India or (AAI)
The Airports Authority of India or AAI is a statutory body founded in 1995. The organisation is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining and managing civil aviation infrastructure in India. It provides Communication Navigation Surveillance / Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) services over Indian airspace and adjoining oceanic areas.
Q2. Which city has been conferred the Swachh Survekshan 2020 award for the cleanest city in the Northeast region under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan?
Lakhimpur
Tezpur
Jorhat
Sivsagar
B. Jorhat
Apart from Jorhat, four more Assam cities—Tezpur, Diphu, Sivasagar, and Karimganj—have secured positions on the list of cleanest cities this year.
Under the 25, 000 to 50,000 population category, Mokukchung in Nagaland won cleanest city in the Northeast Zone award. On the other hand, Jiribam in Manipur bagged cleanest city ian the northeast zone in below 25,000 population category.
Q3. Who has been selected as the 2021 recipient of the Joel Henry Hildebrand Award in the Theoretical and Experimental Chemistry of Liquids, by the American Chemical Society (ACS)?
Professor Biman Bagchi
Abraham Verghese
Arvind Panagariya
Avinash Dixit
A. Professor Biman Bagchi
The American Chemic Society (ACS) national awards programme is designed to encourage the advancement of chemistry in all its branches and to support research in chemical science and industry.
Q4. Recently, Endangered Madagascan moon moth spotted in which state?
Assam
Manipur
Mizoram
Nagaland
D. Nagaland
Madagascan moon moth is native to the rain forests of Madagascar– was spotted in Noklak district.
The male moon moth has a wingspan of 20 cm and a tail span of 15 cm, making it one of the world’s largest silk moths. Madagascan moon moth is one of the beautiful lepidopterans. It is nocturnal and does not fly in day time.
Q5. Recently who among the following has written a new collection of short stories ‘Grandparents’ Bag of Stories’?
Chetan Bhagat
Khushwant Singh
Sudha Murthy
Amrita Pritam
C. Sudha Murthy
The book, scheduled to be released in November, is a sequel to Murty’s last release Grandma’s Bag of Stories and will feature 20 stories.
Q6. Recently, which among the following company has collaborated with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) to offer ‘Open P-TECH’, a free digital education platform?
Google
Microscope
IBM
Infosys
C. IBM
IBM will curate online courses from Open P-Tech platform and offer it to users via NSDC’s eSkill India portal to empower Indian youth on various skills to succeed in future careers. It will provide online courses in emerging technologies like cybersecurity, blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud and Internet of Things along with professional skills like design thinking to learners between 18 to 22 years for free.
Q7. Who has become the youngest author to win the 2020 International Booker Prize?
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
Paul Beatty
Hilary Mantal
Marlon James
A. Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
Dutch author Marieke Lucas Rijneveld has won the 2020 International Booker Prize together with their translator Michele Hutchison for their debut novel The Discomfort in the Evening, the story of childhood grief.
Q8. Which bank has recently launched an Aadhaar authentication based digital savings account called Jan Bachat Khata (JBK) to consumers?
Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank
Airtel Payments Bank
India Post Payments Bank
FINO Payments Bank
D. FINO Payments Bank
Fino Payments Bank has launched Jan Bachat Khata, an Aadhaar Authentication based digital savings account that brings neo-banking experience to consumers. The primary segment would be low income household families and beneficiaries of government’s direct benefit transfer (DBT).
Q9. Which company has announced a new initiative called The Anywhere School, to boost online education?
Microsoft
Facebook
Google
IBM
C. Google
The new initiative will be rolling out over 50 new features across Meet, Classroom, G Suite and other products to hundreds of thousands of viewers in more than 250 countries around the world.
Q10. ‘India Tomorrow: Conversations with the Next Generation of Political Leaders’ is authored by
Jhumpa Lahiri and Khushwant Singh
Pradeep Chhibber and Harsh Shah
Vikram Seth and Chetan Bhagat
Kiran Desai and Preeti Shenoy
B. Pradeep Chhibber and Harsh Shah
It is written by academicians Pradeep Chhibber and Harsh Shah. According to publisher Oxford University Press (OUP), the book attempts to unravel the personalities, aspirations, ideologies, interests, passions and motivations of the leaders featured. This book will give readers a snapshot of contemporary Indian politics through interviews of 20 of the country”s most prominent next-generation politicians.
