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.12.2018 NATIONAL Govt set up 3 High-level Committees.2018 to Monitor Disposal of Enemy Properties  The Group of Ministers (GoM) will be headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to monitor the disposal of over 9,400.11.2018 enemy properties, which are likely to fetch about Rs 1 lakh crore to the exchequer.  Two other high-level committees will also be set up for disposal of immovable enemy properties vested in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India under the Enemy Property Act.  Inter-Ministerial Group: It will be co-chaired by the Union Home Secretary (Ajay Bhalla) and the secretary of the department of investment and public asset management.  Core Group of Secretaries on Asset Monetisation (CGAM): It will be constituted under chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba. ISRO Unveiled half humanoid „Vyommitra‟ to go as trial to space before Gaganyaan mission  The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has unveiled a lady robot named „Vyommitra‟, which is a prototype of humanoid, to go as a trial to space under „Gaganyaan‟ mission, before sending astronauts.  Vyommitra is a combination of two Sanskrit words Vyoma (Space) and Mitra (Friend), thus meaning „friend in the space‟.  ISRO will send two unmanned missions, before the Ganganyaan mission goes with astronauts, to monitor how the human system will behave in the environment control life support system. 32nd PRAGATI meeting 2020 in New Delhi  Prime Minister (PM) Shri Narendra Modi chaired 32nd PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) meeting 2020 and discussed progress of several projects in New Delhi.  Under PRAGATI, Prime Minister reviewed projects by talking to the officials and the accountable authority, as well as their progress and status. Greenpeace India report 2018  The Greenpeace India report for 2018 was released based on the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme (NAMP).  Jharia in Jharkhand which is known for Coal-belching is the most polluted Indian city with 322 µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter) of PM10 (Particulate matter) pollutants in 2018, according to the report analysis of 287 cities across the country. Out of 287 cities 231 cities were severely polluted.  Lunglei in Mizoram is the least polluted followed by Meghalaya‟s Dowki.It is also the only Indian city with PM levels under the World Health Organisation‟s (WHO) prescribed level of 20/ug/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter). „VigyanSamagam‟, India‟s 1st global Mega Science Exhibition inaugurated at National Science Centre in New Delhi  The Union Minister of State Independent Charge (I/C) Ministry of Development Of North Eastern Region, Minister of State (Mos) Prime Minister‟s Office (PMO), Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pension, Minister of State for Department of Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated India‟s first global Mega Science Exhibition “VigyanSamagam” at National Science Centre, New Delhi.  The exhibition is organized by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). IR sets up govt‟s 1st Waste to energy plant at Mancheswar Carriage Repair Workshop in Bhubaneswar, Odisha  Railway Board Member (Rolling Stock) Rajesh Agarwal inaugurated the East Coast Railway‟s (ECoR) waste to energy plant at Carriage Repair Workshop, Mancheswar (CRW/MCS) in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.  It is the fourth waste to energy plant in the country and first plant commissioned by Government sector and Indian Railways (IR).

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 In 2011 India‟s first.12.2018 waste to energy plant was set up by Infosys in Bangalore, Karnataka, the second plant is located.2018 at Moti Bagh in Delhi and it has been in operation since 2014, and in 2019 the third one was set up by Hindalco Limited. India‟s 1st War Memorial.11.2018 for Animals to be set up in Meerut, UP  The govt has announced to set up country‟s 1st war memorial for service animals such as dogs,horses, mules in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh (UP). This war memorial will come at army‟s specialized breeding, rearing training centre for animals in the Remount and Veterinary Corps (RVC) Centre and College in Meerut.  Mansi, a labrador breed dog who was awarded the highest honour of animals will top the list of animals to be remembered. Dept of Biotechnology holds international summit on women in STEM in New Delhi  The Department of Biotechnology under the aegis of Ministry of Science & Technology has organized a 2-day long International Summit on Women in STEM–“Visualizing the Future: New Skylines” at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi with the aim to increase the participation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) field for development of scientific career. India‟s first e-waste clinic opened in Bhopal  India‟s first e-waste clinic was opened in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The e-waste clinic was inaugurated by C K Mishra (Secretary to the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate change, MoEFCC).  The e-waste clinic was jointly set up by the Central Pollution Board Control -CPCB and Bhopal Municipal Corporation -BMC. West Bengal leads in vegetable production, Andhra Pradesh tops in Fruits in 2018-19: Horticultural production data  According to the State-wise horticulture production data released at a conference organised by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers‟ Welfare, the state of West Bengal (WB) has been at the forefront of vegetable production in 2018-19 (3rd advance estimates), where the production of vegetables was 29.55 million tonnes (MT).  It was followed by Uttar Pradesh –UP (27.70 MT) and Madhya Pradesh (17.77 MT). AV Organics Launched India‟s First Alkaline Water “EVOCUS”  The Vadodara-based start-up AV Organicis launched its product „Evocus‟, a natural black alkaline water, in Hyderabad on 23 January 2020.  Evocus is India‟s first natural black alkaline water and is enriched with 70+ natural minerals.  “EVOCUS” is black because it is alkaline water enriched with 100% organic minerals, sourced from the depths of the earth. INTERNATIONAL Corruption Perception Index 2019: Transparency International  India has been ranked at the 80th position among 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2019 prepared by Transparency International.  The CPI Index, released at the WEF 2020 in Davos, ranks countries and territories on how corrupt their public sectors are perceived by the experts and business people.  Denmark and New Zealand jointly scored the top spot with a score of 87. 2019 Democracy Index by The Economist Intelligence Unit India‟s Rank: India has slipped 10 places to be placed at 51st position among 167 nations in the 2019 Democracy Index global ranking released by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) The overall score of India fell from 7.23 in 2018 to 6.90 in 2019, and has been included in the “flawed democracy” category.. The Index provides a snapshot of the current state of democracy worldwide for 167 independent states and two territories. Top Nation: The list has been topped by Norway, with a score of 9.87.Bottom Nation: North Korea is at the bottom of the global ranking at 167th place with a score of 1.08.

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Top 10 nations: Norway (1st),.12.2018 Iceland (2nd), Sweden (3rd), New Zealand (4th), Finland (5th), Ireland (6th), Denmark (7th), Canada.2018 (8th), (9th) and Switzerland (10th). British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Signed Brexit Withdrawal Deal  The Prime Minister.11.2018 of United Kingdom, Boris Johnson has signed the Brexit withdrawal agreement.  The signing of the agreement now paves the way for the UK‟s exit from the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020, ending its decades-long membership of EU.  With the exit of UK, the European Union (EU) will remain a political and economic union of 27 member states, from the current 28 members. 50th WEF annual meeting 2020 held in Davos, Switzerland  The 50th edition of the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting was held in Davos- Klosters,inSwitzerland.  The theme for the year 2020 was “Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World”.  The WEF summit aims to engage world leaders to collaborate for global, regional and industrial development etc. World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative 2020  As per a survey conducted by World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi) 2020, ranked 1st out of 97 surveyed countries in supporting breastfeeding women and achieved the status of being the first-ever green nation in supporting them.  On the other hand, India ranked 78th with a score of 45.0 and got yellow colour code and Libya ranked last (97th) with red colour code. BANKING AND ECONOMY Switzerland minted world‟s smallest gold coin values ¼ Swiss francs  Switzerland state-owned Swissmint has minted World‟s smallest gold coin of 2.96 millimeter (0.12 inches). The coin features a face of scientist Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue.  It weighs 0.063 grams (1/500 th of an ounce) and has a nominal value of 1/4 Swiss francs (USD United States Dollar- 0.26).  Its weight is comparable to that of 2 grains of rice.Swissmint has minted 999 coins which will be sold for 199 francs with a special magnifying glass to see Einstein‟s face. India & WB signed $210 million loan pact for Maharashtra‟s Agri& Rural Transformation Project  The govt of India, Govt of Maharashtra and the World Bank (WB) signed a loan agreement of $210 million for Maharashtra‟s Agribusiness & rural transformation project.  This project will help the farmers in Maharashtra to take part in competitive agriculture value chains, enhance agribusiness investments thereby increasing productivity of commodities. IndusInd Bank launched asset management platform “PIONEER”  IndusInd Bank Limited, one of the leading Private Sector Banks of the country , has launched the asset management platform under the name “PIONEER‟ Banking.  Through this, services will be provided to high net-worth customers of IndusInd bank. Along with this, specially tailored banking services will also be offered, which will suit the needs of valued consumers. New India Co-operative Bank (NICB) to be converted as Small Finance Bank  The New India Co-operative Bank (NICB) has been decided to convert into a Small Finance Bank (SFB) after being agreed by its shareholders under Voluntary Transition of Primary (Urban) Co- operative Banks (UCBs) into SFB. Reliance Jio become 1st telecom operator to launch UPI payments feature  Telecom operator Reliance Jio of the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has become the 1st Indian telecom operator to launch UPI (Unified Payments Interface) payments space.  Reliance Jio will now compete with other private UPI payment providers such as Paytm, Google Pay and PhonePe.

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.12.2018 PERSON IN NEWS  SoftBank group has.2018 appointed ManojKohli as its India‟s head. He has served as the Chairman of SB(SoftBank) energy, the Japanese telecom, and investment renewable energy business.  Katerina Sakellaropoulou(63.11.2018 years), became the1st Woman President of Greece elected by Greece‟s Parliament for a period of 5 years.  Lebanon President MichealNaimAoun announced formation of new Government due to anti- government protests for the last several months. The new Government (govt) will be headed by Prime Minister (PM) Hassan Diab.  Former IOB Executive Director A.D.M. Chavali appointed as CVC panel member.  India‟s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora took over as the new Chair of the Forum of the Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA) for the year 2020. AWARDS AND HONOURS  According to the „SKOCH State of Governance 2019‟ report, Gujarat gained the top spot on the back of better performance in Health, Education, Power and e-Governance segments.  The President of India Shri Ram NathKovind conferred the 2020 annual Pradhan MantriRashtriyaBalPuraskar to 49 children in the age group of 5-18 in New Delhi. The award is given to children having exceptional achievements in various fields such as innovation, scholastic achievements, social service, arts and culture, sports and bravery.  Kerala Tourism‟s Barrier-Free Project has won global recognition with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as an “Emerging Global Destination” in the Accessible Destination Awards 2019 for South-Indian state category.  DMMC was selected under „institution category‟ while Shri Kumar Munnan Singh was selected under „individual category‟ for their contributions in disaster management. SPORTS&GAMES  11th Edition of the Indoor Cricket is to be hosted by Australia.  According to the ICC Women‟s CEO Andrea Nelson, 6 cities namely Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Tauranga, Dunedin and Christchurch of New Zealand will host matches of the 2021 edition of the Women‟s cricket World Cup.  World Archery (WA) removed suspension imposed on the Archery Association of India (AAI).  The 3rd edition of Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) 2020 was held at KarmabirNabin Chandra Bordoloi Indoor Stadium in Guwahati, Assam with the participation of over 10,000 students. Vijay the Tiger and Jaya the Blackbuck were the mascots of the tournament.  Maharashtra clinched Khelo India Youth Games 2020 champions trophy with a collection of 256 medals (78 gold, 77 silver and 101 bronze). ONELINERS  Minority Affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi‟s new novel „Balwa‟ to be released.  10th National Voters‟ Day is observed on January 25  National Girl Child Day 2020 observed on January 24  2nd edition of International Day of Education observed on 24 January  Srinagar declared Open Defecation Free  ZSI documents another new snake eel species “Ophichthuskailashchandrai” in Odisha  Pakistan successfully launched ballistic missile “Ghaznavi”.  Book titled “The Story of Yoga: From India to the Contemporary World” by Alistair released.  Indian Army to induct Artillery gun „Sharang‟ by March 31, 2020  World‟s oldest ever mushroom fossil discovered in Congo, Africa.

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