CONTENTS VOL-16 ISSUE -12

Editor N.K. Jain Advisors

Neeraj Chabra PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar 2020 K.C.Gupta Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Registered Office Mahendra Publication Pvt. Ltd. 103, Pragatideep Building, Plot No. 08, Laxminagar, District Centre, New - 110092 TIN-09350038898 w.e.f. 12-06-2014 Branch Office Mahendra Publication Pvt. Ltd. E-42,43,44, Sector-7, Noida (U.P.)

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News Bites 17-39 Owned, printed & published by N.K. Jain Designation : Who's Who 40 103, Pragatideep Building, Word of English - Etymology 41 Plot No. 08, Laxminagar, District Centre, New Delhi - 110092 Nobel Prize 2020 42-43 Please send your suggestions and PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi grievances to:- Mahendra Publication Pvt. Ltd. (PM SVANidhi) 44-45 CP-9, Vijayant Khand, Quiz Time - General Awareness 46-58 Gomti Nagar - 226010 E-mail:[email protected] CRP PO Mains - Model Paper 2020 59-86

© Copyright Reserved SSC CPO SI - Model Paper 2020 87-114 ## No part of this issue can be printed in whole or in part without the written permission of the publishers. ## All the disputes are subject to Delhi jurisdiction only. Mahendra Publication Pvt. Ltd. Editorial"All the time, circumstances are not going to favor us. We shall have to face obstacles and adversities. Fearlessness is the first virtue of a hero, the starting point of all other noble virtues." - Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar Dear Aspirants, We feel delighted to present to you the "December 2020" edition of "Master in Current Affairs". MICA is a comprehensive magazine focused on both the intellectual and competitive of learning. Apart from the competitive edge, MICA is intended to provide you with a vision of self-enhancement. MICA includes highly acclaimed sections such as, Newsletters, News Diary, One Liner, World of English, which are directly related to your preparation for competitive examinations. Chalte - Chalte is one of the most steering elements of MICA on the go, which is mentioned below every page. This edition creates a forum where all candidates and guidance personnel can meet the important issues of this month which may play a vital role in the forthcoming examination. The important topics covered in this edition are: Nobel Prize 2020: The Nobel Prize has been awarded to American medical researchers and virologists Harvey J Alter and Charles M Rice, and British scientist Michael Houghton for the invention of hepatitis C which was discovered in 1982 by screening many DNA samples. All Nobel laureate of 2020 are discussed in detail. PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi): Street vendors represent a very important constituent of the urban informal economy and play a significant role in ensuring availability of the goods and services at affordable rates at the door-step of the city dwellers. They are known as vendors, hawkers, thelewala, rehriwala, theliphadwala etc. in different areas/ contexts. In this edition as a wish for your bright and prosperous future we are providing “CRP PO MAINS MODEL PAPER” and “CPO SI MODEL PAPER” for your self-assessment. You can also test your Current Affairs by visiting the Quiz Time section for self-assessment, which includes all possible multiple-choice questions from the current affairs of this month. To serve you better we will diligently serve you our level best with various new topics and news that is important from the examination point of view.

Best of luck for your exams. Your suggestions will be highly valuable and welcomed.

With Best Wishes Editor : N.K. Jain “Your Success is Our Success” HIRANK INTERVIEW Hirank : Time Management is PERSONAL DETAILS everything, took every Hirank Joshi single chances, don't make to regret about the Father’s Name : Ramesh Joshi chances we never took. Mother’s Name : Veena Joshi MICA : How did you prepare for Hobbies : Reading Newspaper and Teaching the Interview? Prior Selection : BOB and RRB PO upto interview Hirank : Mahendra interview Name of the Exam : NIACL Assistant classes and guidance by faculty members. Roll No. of Qualified Exam : 2181008091 MICA : Tell us about the Interview Roll No. of Mahendra Institute : MUM0661250216 Board and the questions Hirank : asked? English Language Hirank : Banking knowledge and Family background and Reading newspaper - The Hindu, Education, Ecconomic word power made easy book and issues etc. Mahendra's English book. The questions asked were: Reasoning Ability I. My GD topic was China's product Online material - Mahendra youtube should ban in or not. videos, books and also other online II. My family background as a platform. business background then why Numerical Ability you want to join into this org. MICA : Mahendra's family expresses III. Monetary Policy Rates. its heartfelt congratulations One of the best book by Mahendra on your success. material for banking and online platform. IV. Export and Import of India. Hirank : Thank You! General Awareness IV. Why you do not want to join private bank as we know these is MICA : To whom do you want Mahendra's faculty notes, MICA and ample opportunity in private also? to give the credit of your study material provided by institute. selection? MICA : From whom did you get Computer & Marketing information about your Hirank : My parents and all family selection and what was members, all the faculties Through Online platform. your reaction? of Mahendra mumbai MICA : What would you say about Branch. “Master in Current Affairs” Hirank : I checked myself through MICA : After how many attempts Magazine (MICA) and online and I was very happy did you succeed in this Mahendra Guru Website? after getting platform. examination? Hirank : Compiled nicely, MICA : What message do you Hirank : Since 2015 I gave almost accurately and way of want to convey to other 30 exams this year I got presentation is also nice. aspirants? selection. MICA : What is the best thing about Hirank : Do practice more and MICA : What is the role of our coaching institute, more, never loose hope Mahendra's institute in according to you? and wait and watch one your selection? Hirank : ST portal, study room and day you will be selected. (Blessing always work, Hirank : Mahendra classes, management is very good give respect to elders) providing ST-portal and and all the non- teaching study room and also staff also helping in nature. MICA : Congratulations! once guiding faculties. MICA : What is the role of “Time again on your success. Your MICA : How did you prepare for Management” in one’s success is our success. the examination? success? Hirank : Thank You!

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will hold DECEMBER 2020 MICA virtual meeting in December. 5 CURRENT AFFAIRS One Liner ONE Liner PERSONS IN NEWS AWARDS

## Recently Myntra has announced______as the new ## Para-swimmer ______is the first Divyanga Indian Brand Ambassador. - Kiara Advani sportsperson of the country, who has been awarded ## Recently who has assumed charge as the Chairman and with the Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award. Managing Director of state-owned defence shipbuilder, - Satyendra Singh Lohia Hindustan Shipyard? - Hemant Khatri ## Recently Rajiv Gandhi International Airport won ## Recently who has become the brand ambassador of the ‘National Energy Leader’ and ‘Excellent Energy Paytm First Games? - Efficient Unit’ awards at the 21st National Awards for ‘Excellence in Energy Management’, this airport ## Who has become the new head of India women’s situated in which city? - Hyderabad selection committee? - Neetu David ## Who has received the Jeff Skoll Award for Impact ## Recently who has assumed the charge of Additional Media at a remotely conducted TIFF Tribute Awards Director General Military Nursing Service? ceremony? - Mira Nair - Sonali Ghosal ## Usha Mangeshkar was honoured with Lata ## Pramod Chandra Mody has got 6 months extension as the Mangeshkar award 2020-21, what is the cash prize of Chairman of ______. - CBDT award? - Five lakh rupees ## Recently who has been given additional charge as ## All India Football Federation awards 2019-20 has Director-General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation announced, who has won the 2019-’20 AIFF Player of Security? - Usha Padhee the year awards in men’s category? ## Recently the co-creator of the cartoon series Scooby- - Gurpreet Singh Sandhu Doo, Joe Ruby has passed away, he was related to ## Who has been conferred the prestigious SDG Special which country? - US Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations ## Recently who has been elected as the chairman of the Development Programme in September 2020 during a Press Trust of India? - Aveek Sarkar virtual ceremony? - Sonu Sood ## S Padmavati passed away recently, she was the first female ______of India. - Cardiologist SCHEMES AND LAUNCHES ## Recently Mustapha Adib was appointed Prime Minister ## Recently which Union Minister has e-launched the of which country? - Lebanon “Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission ## Which state government has appointed India’s first- (ASIIM)”? - Thaawarchand Gehlot ever woman ambulance driver, M Veeralakshmi under ## Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated six mega a new initiative recently? - projects in which city under the Namami Gange Mission ## Former all-rounder and legendary cricketer, David through video conference? - Bihar Capel has passed away, he was related to which ## Recently which railway zone has launched ‘Operation country? - England My Saheli’? - South Eastern Railways ## Recently who was appointed as the Managing Director ## Recently which state government has launched a and Chief Executive Officer of Punjab & Sind Bank? portal “Kritagyata”, an online pension submission and - S Krishnan tracking system? - Assam ## Recently who has been appointed as the Chief ## Recently which State/UT has launched ‘Iraada’ Executive Officer of the Railway Board? campaign to include eligible left-out beneficiaries under - VK Yadav social welfare schemes? - Jammu & Kashmir Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Santosh Kumar Gangwar released booklet on ‘COVID-1 Safe MICA DECEMBER 2020 6 Workplace Guidelines for Industry’. One Liner ## Recently “Major Dhyan Chand Vijaypath Yojana” has ## India and which country have launched the first-ever been launched by which state government? direct Cargo Ferry Service on 21 September 2020 to - Uttar Pradesh boost trade between the two countries? ## Recently “Gandagi Bharat Chhodo” campaign was - Maldives launched by which State Government? ## A webinar was held between with India and which - Madhya Pradesh country under the aegis of Department of Defence ## Recently which state government has launched ‘YSR Production, Ministry of Defence through SIDM? Sampoorna Poshana ' & ' YSR Sampoorna’ scheme? - Israel - Andhra Pradesh ## Cabinet has approved MoU between India and which ## Recently which state government re-launches self- country for cooperation in the field of Geology and Mineral employment scheme worth Rs 1,000 crore? Resources recently? - Finland - Assam ## Recently Union Minister for Food Processing ## Recently who has digitally launched Pradhan Mantri Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal has inaugurated the Matsya Sampada Yojana & e-Gopala App? Organic Food Processing Unit in which state? - Narendra Modi - Uttar Pradesh ## Recently the United Nations Children's Fund for ## Recently the 4th edition of Global Ayurveda Summit Children has appointed its celebrity advocate for the was virtually inaugurated by whom on the theme children's rights campaign, "For Every Child"? “Emerging Opportunities for Ayurveda during - Ayushmann Khurrana Pandemic”? - M Venkaiah Naidu ## Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated ## Recently Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral 1.75 lakh houses built under Pradhan Mantri Awaas talks with which country? - Iran Yojana - Gramin in 12 thousand villages in which ## Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi has state? - Madhya Pradesh inaugurated the Patrika Gate in which city through ## Recently which state government has announced video conference? - Jaipur ‘My Family-My Responsibility’ campaign to fight ## Recently who has been named as the President of Film Covid-19? - Maharashtra and Television Institute of India, FTII Society and Chairman of Governing Council of FTII? ## Recently which state government has launched a new - Shekhar Kapur scheme named ‘GARIMA’ which aims to ensure the economic safety and social dignity of core sanitation ## Which state has become the first state in the country to workers in the state? - Odisha implement the new National Education Policy? - Himachal Pradesh ## Recently SBI Card started new brand campaign ‘Contactless Connections’, where is the Headquarters ## The country’s second and South India’s first “Kisan of SBI Card? - Gurugram Train” was flagged off from which state to Adarsh Nagar Railway Station in Delhi? - Andhra Pradesh NATIONAL & STATE ## Defence Minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone for the construction of Underpasses at the Indian ## Recently Narendra Singh Tomar has launched 22 bamboo Military Academy in which city via video conferencing clusters in how many states? - 7 recently? - Dehradun # # Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated ## Recently which State/ UT has launched the online strategically important, Atal Tunnel in which State/ portal, Smart Performance Appraisal Report Recording UT recently? - Himachal Pradesh Online? - Jammu & Kashmir ## Recently India has provided financial assistance of 250 ## Recently who has been launched the website of Aero million dollars as budgetary support to which country India in New Delhi? - Rajnath Singh to mitigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 ## Hindi Diwas is observed every year on 14 September pandemic? - Maldives to mark the popularity of Hindi as an official language ## Who has become the brand ambassador of Online poker of India, the language was adopted under which Article platform 9stacks recently? - Suresh Raina of the Indian Constitution? - 343 ## India’s first International Women’s Trade Centre to be ## Recently who has released “The State of Young Child set up in which state? - Kerala in India” report? - Venkaiah Naidu

Uttar Pradesh government will establish L2 level covid hospitals in each and every district DECEMBER 2020 MICA of state for better treatment of Covid patients. 7 CURRENT AFFAIRS One Liner INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL AWARENESS ## Recently India and which country have signed ## ICRA has projected India’s GDP for FY21 to contact Implementing Arrangement on Humanitarian Assistance by ___. - 11% & Disaster Relief? - Singapore ## Coal India Ltd recently decided to invest over how ## The 10th Meeting of the BRICS High Representatives much amount on the development of nearly 500 on National Security was held virtually, the meet was projects? - 1.22 lakh crore hosted by which country? - Russia ## Recently who has launched the world’s 1st exclusive ## Which two Arab countries have signed the historic product market for the renewable energy sector named Abraham Accords along with Israel to normalise ties Green Term Ahead Market? - Raj Kumar Singh recently? - Bahrain, UAE ## Recently which state government received the nod from ## Recently which state government has signed a 5-year Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority to form Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Denmark its own insurance firm? - Andhra Pradesh in the water sector? - ## Recently Google has partnered with which country’s ## Fitch Solutions has projected India’s GDP growth Water Development Board to bring the flood warning for2020-21 ______. - 8.60% services to the country? - Bangladesh ## President of the USA, Donald Trump has announced ## Which bank has received Brandon Human Capital Wilmington as the first World War II Heritage City, Management Excellence Award 2020, a global Wilmington is situated in which state? recognition for its HR initiative, “Nayi Disha”? - North Carolina - State Bank of India ## United Nations Conference on Trade and Development ## Recently Acquisition Wing of Ministry of Defence has has predicted that the GDP of India will contract by signed a contract worth of ______Cr. with M/s. Bharat ______in the year 2020. - 5.90% Earth Movers Ltd.,M/s. Tata Power Company Ltd. and M/s. Larsen & Toubro. - Rs 2580 Cr ## Which country constructs the missile site at Kailash- Mansarovar? - China ## Recently which bank has partnered with Innoviti to provide affordable options of bank’s debit cards by # # Recently the 5th BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting Innoviti POS terminals? - Federal Bank was held under the chairpersonship of Russian # Federation, the meet was represented by whom? # Which bank has launched a virtual property exhibition - Prahlad Singh Patel under the name ‘Home Utsav’ recently? - ICICI Bank ## Recently India has granted 4th tranche of ___ to # Myanmar for the development of the India-Myanmar # Recently which company has announced that it Border Area. - $5 million would acquire product design and development firm, Kaleidoscope Innovation for up to $42 million? ## Recently which country chaired the G20 Foreign - Infosys Ministers’ Extraordinary Meeting which was held in ## As per the EASE Banking Reforms Index 2.0, which the virtual mode? - Saudi Arabia bank has been placed at the first spot recently? ## Recently the 35th Session of the Food and Agriculture - Bank of Baroda Organization Regional Conference for Asia and the ## Recently which bank has decided to launch a loan Pacific 2020 was chaired under which country? product named “SAFAL” for organic cotton growers? - Bhutan - State Bank of India # # What is the rank of India has been ranked in World ## Recently which bank launches a full power Digital Risk Index 2020 among 181 Countries? Savings Account that can be opened instantly with Video - 89th KYC in 4 simple steps? - Axis Bank # # India has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding ## The Asian Development Bank has estimated that the with which country in the field of Intellectual Property GDP of India is expected to contract by ______in Cooperation? - Denmark fiscal 2020-21. - 9% ## Recently the ASEAN-India Economic Ministers ## Recently Titan Company has partnered with which Consultations was held virtually, the meet was bank to launch India’s first contactless payment watches represented by whom? - Piyush Goyal named “Titan Pay”? - State Bank of India Noted Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has been named as the President of Film and Television 8 MICA DECEMBER 2020 Institute of India, FTII Society and Chairman of Governing Council of FTII. One Liner SPORTS ## Recently students of which IIT have launched a free- of-cost mobile scanner application “AIR Scanner”? ## Recently who has won the Formula One Italian Grand - IIT Bombay Prix 2020 held at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, ## Recently a 24x7 toll-free mental health rehabilitation Italy? - Pierre Gasly helpline “KIRAN” was launched by which Union ## Recently who has won the Formula One Tuscan Grand Minister? - Thaawarchand Gehlot Prix 2020 held at Mugello Circuit, Italy? ## Which union minister virtually attended handing over - Lewis Hamilton ceremony of 3 sculptures at High Commission of India ## Recently which country has hired former Bermuda in London? - Prahlad Singh Patel batsman David Hemp as the head coach of the national women's side? - Pakistan MISCELLANEOUS ## Who has won the Men’s Single Italian Open title? ## India has ranked 48th in Global Innovation Index 2020, - Novak Djokovic which country has topped? - Switzerland ## Recently Former ______Ash Barty has won the ## Who is the author of the book “Azadi: Freedom. Golf Club Championship. - Cricketer Fascism. Fiction”, which is published by Penguin ## In Women’s single, Simona Halep has won her first Books Limited? - Arundhati Roy Italian Open title, she is related to which country? ## Who is the author of the book “Let Us Dream”, which - Italy will be released in December 2020? ## Name the Mercedes driver who has won the Formula - Pope Francis One Belgian Grand Prix 2020 at Spa-Francorchamps, ## The book titled “The Big Thoughts of Little Luv” is Belgium. - Lewis Hamilton authored by whom? - Karan Johar ## Recently who has become the first Indian to win a ## Who has chaired a webinar on the first-ever grand slam singles main draw match in 7 years? International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies? - Sumit Nagal - Prakash Javadekar ## Valtteri Bottas has won the Formula One Russian ## Every year International Literacy Day is observed Grand Prix 2020, he is related to which country? globally by UNESCO on ______. - Finland - 8th September ## Who defeated Victoria Azarenka of Belarus to clinch ## Recently Bank of India has launched “Signature Visa the Women’s Singles title in the 2020 US Open Tennis Debit Card” on its ______Foundation Day. tournament? - Naomi Osaka - 115th ## Which cricket team reached the first position in ICC ## Every year World Suicide Prevention Day is celebrated T20 rankings? - Australia on ______. - 10th September AND TECHNOLOGY ## The theme of International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer for 2020: “Ozone for life: 35 years of ## Recently China has launched successfully how many ozone layer protection”, it is celebrated on ______. satellites into orbit from ship stationed in the Yellow - 16th September Sea? - 9 ## The World Water Monitoring Day is observed globally ## Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched nine on ______. - 18th September highway projects and Optical Fibre Internet Services ## Recently who has virtually inaugurated 'Destination in which state? - Bihar North East-2020', a four-day event to highlight ## Recently which IIT incubated startup Chakr Innovation the Northeast region's various potentials like eco- has launched ‘Chakr DeCoV’ to decontaminate N95 tourism? - Amit Shah masks? - IIT Delhi ## Every year World Heart Day is celebrated on ___ to ## ISRO is scheduled to launch its Venus mission in draw people’s attention to heart illness and the range of which year? - 2025 associated health issues. - 29th September ## Recently the successful flight test of ABHYAS - High- ## International Day of Older Persons is observed speed Expendable Aerial Target was conducted by globally on ______every year. which organization? - DRDO - 1st October The Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju launched the Sports DECEMBER 2020 MICA Authority of India’s (SAI) new logo at Delhi’s Major Dhyan Chand Stadium. 9 SPOTLIGHT ALL THAT MATTERS ABBREVIATIONS IMPORTANT DAYS AND DATES TRIFED : Tribal Co-operative Marketing Federation of December 01 World AIDS Day India December 02 World Computer Literacy Day RAISE : Responsible AI for Social Empowerment December 04 Indian Navy Day FSSAI : Food Safety and Standards Authority of India December 05 World Soil Day December 07 Indian Armed Forces Flag Day GST : Goods and Services Tax December 10 Human Rights Day ISLRTC : Indian Sign Language Research and Training December 16 Vijay Diwas Centre December 18 International Migrants Day NCERT : National Council of Educational Research and December 22 National Mathematics Day Training December 23 Farmer’s Day NDB : New Development Bank December 25 Good Governance Day/Christmas Day ECONOMIC GLOSSARY BOOKS & AUTHORS Pareto principle

The Pareto principle states that for PORTRAITS OF POWER many outcomes roughly 80% of 01 consequences come from 20% of the causes. Other names for this :- N.K. Singh principle are the 80/20 rule, the law of the vital few, or the principle of factor sparsity. FUTURE SHOCK 02 Management consultant Joseph M. Juran developed the concept :- DR. Sandeep Goyal in the context of quality control, and improvement, naming it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who noted the 80/20 connection 03 BYE BYE... CORONA while at the University of Lausanne in 1896. In his first work, Cours d'économie politique, Pareto :- Pradeep Kumar Srivastava showed that approximately 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. NIGHT OF THE RESTLESS SPIRITS 04 Mathematically, the 80/20 rule is roughly described by a power law :- Sarbpreet Singh distribution (also known as a Pareto distribution) for a particular set of parameters, and many natural THE BATTLE OF phenomena have been shown to 05 BELONGING exhibit such a distribution. :- Shashi Tharoor The combined Index of Eight Core Industries stood at 117.6 in August, 2020, which MICA DECEMBER 2020 10 declined by 8.5 (provisional) per cent as compared to the Index of August, 2019. APPOINTMENTS THE PEOPLE Charanjit Attra year term. He got a two-year extension in 2019 after review of his performance. An alumnus of the Faculty of he State Bank of India (SBI) Management Studies, Delhi University, Mr Khara heads has appointed Charanjit T the Global Banking division of SBI. He holds a board- Singh Attra as its new Chief level position and supervises the businesses of SBI's non- Financial Officer (CFO) with banking subsidiaries. effect from 01 October 2020. Prior to being appointed managing director, he was the MD As a part of his new appointment, and CEO of SBI Funds Management Pvt Attra will report to J Swaminathan, Limited (SBIMF). Mr Khara, who joined Deputy Managing Director of the SBI in 1984 as a Probationary Officer, finance department. was instrumental in merging five associate Attra will supervise statutory banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with SBI audit functions in the bank apart effective April 2017. from coordinating with the Reserve Bank of India and audit related to the National Financial Reporting Authority. J Venkatramu Before joining SBI, Attra was appointed as a partner at Venkatramu has been EY. Earlier, he served as the CFO of 3i Infotech and ICICI J appointed the managing Securities. director and chief executive The appointment of Chief Financial Officer in SBI is officer of India Post Payments done after the lender received a clarification from RBI Bank for three years. on its mandate on the hiring of specialized professionals Venkatramu has over 22 years of who are qualified CAs. In sync with the work experience across banking massive transformation in the banking services such as payments, sector, the central bank had directed banks mobile banking, retail banking to name qualified personnel to head critical products and has also managed functions such as finance to ensure better digital financial services projects. risk governance. “The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Dinesh Kumar Khara the proposal of the department of posts for appointment of J Venkatramuto the post of Managing Director and Chief he government appointed Executive Office, India Post Payments Bank for a period of Tsenior banker Dinesh Kumar three years from the date of assumption of the charge of the Khara as chairman of the State post, or till the date of his superannuation, or until further Bank of India. orders, whichever is the earlier," a government statement He replaced Rajnish Kumar, who said. completed his three-year term. Venkatramu will take over the post of Suresh Sethi who "The central government had served as founder MD and CEO of the payments banks appoints Dinesh Kumar Khara as till March, much before his tenure ended. chairman of State Bank of India India Post Payments Bank is a state-owned entity, under the (SBI) for a period of three years department of posts, with 100% government equity and is with effect from the date of his governed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). taking over charge of the post on or after October 7, 2020 or until further orders, whichever is earlier," a notification It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in issued by the Finance Ministry said. September, 2018 to offer doorstep banking to customers, In September the Banks Board Bureau (BBB) had mainly in rural areas. The payments bank offers services recommended Khara as the next chairman of SBI. such as savings and current accounts, money transfer, direct benefit transfer, bill and utility As per convention, the SBI chairman is appointed from a payments, merchant payments, but cannot pool of serving managing directors at the bank. issue loans. It deploys postmen, gramin Interestingly, Mr Khara was among the contenders for the dak sewaks, equipped with cell phones chairman's post in 2017 as well.Mr Khara was appointed and biometric devices, to offer banking as managing director of SBI in August 2016 for a three- services in rural areas.

NTPC signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Power, Govt. of DECEMBER 2020 MICA India, setting key targets for the year 2020-21. 11 THE PEOPLE APPOINTMENTS Sushil Kumar Singhal the Cabinet has approved the extension in service of Bhalla as Home Secretary ushil Kumar Singhal, a beyond the date of his superannuation i.e. 2000-batch Indian Foreign S November 30, 2020 up to August 22, 2021, Service officer, has been it said. concurrently accredited as the next High Commissioner of India Rohan Jaitley to the Solomon Islands. dvocate Rohan Jaitley, According to an official statement Ason of late Union Minister issued by the Ministry of External , was unanimously Affairs, Mr elected president of the Delhi Singhal will and District Cricket Association be residing in (DDCA) after the only other Port Moresby. He is presently serving as candidate for the post withdrew, the High Commissioner of India to the as expected. However, an Independent State of Papua New Guinea. official announcement to Michael Irani this effect will be made on November 9. he International Weightlifting TFederation announced the The final list of candidates was declared by the Returning appointment of Michael Irani as Officer Navin B. Chawla, after the deadline for withdrawal its interim president. Irani is chair of candidature expired. of the IWF Medical Committee Elections will be held for the posts of treasurer and four and a former chair of the IWF directors, between November 5 and 8. The counting of Anti-Doping Commission. He votes will take place on November 9 and the results will be has extensive experience of declared the same day. the fight against doping and in Advocate Sunil Kumar Goel, who had filed his nomination safeguarding athlete welfare, for the president's post, withdrew his candidature a few IWF said on its website. "I am days ago. grateful to the IWF Executive Board for entrusting me with the presidency on an interim basis. I do not intend to stand For the treasurer's post, it is a straight contest between as a candidate for the IWF President position in the future, advocate Pawan Gulati, a maternal uncle of former India so I will be able to focus fully on the reforms leading up captain Gautam Gambhir, and Shashi Khanna, wife of to a clear and transparent IWF Congress," CK Khanna, a former acting BCCI president and ex-vice- said Irani. Michael Irani was appointed president of DDCA. following the resignation of IWF President A contest became imminent when talks for compromise Tamás Aján. Prior to this, Michael Irani was between various factions within the DDCA failed. Nine serving as the chairman of the IWF Medical candidates are in the fray for the posts of four directors. Committee. Out of these, four belong to a combine of various factions, Ajay Kumar Bhalla and they are Ashok Sharma 'Mama', Dinesh Kumar Sharma, Karnail Singh, and Pradeep Aggarwal. Those he tenure of Home Secretary owing allegiance to the CK Khanna group are Harish TAjay Kumar Bhalla has been Singla, Harsh Gupta, Manjit Singh, and Sudhir Kumar extended till August 22, 2021, Aggarwal. according to a Personnel Ministry order issued. He would have And the most interesting name is the ninth one, of Pardeep superannuated in November. Kumar Arora, about whom little is known, said several old DDCA members. Bhalla, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Gulati, an advocate, said that if he won was in August 2019 appointed he would try and ensure that DDCA as the Home Secretary. The again becomes known for sporting Appointments Committee of activities.

Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan has launched CSIR technologies for rural MICA DECEMBER 2020 12 development. AWARDS THE PEOPLE AWARDS Central bank of the year award Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 Award ank of Ghana has ishwarya Sridhar's Bwon the Central Aphoto titled 'Lights bank of the year award of Passion' has won the 2020. Apart from this, 'Highly Commended' Mark Carney (Governor award at the Wildlife of the Bank of England) Photographer of the has won the Governor Year 2020. The 23-year- of the year at the Central old has become the first bank of the year award Indian to win the coveted 2020. Central Banking Awards is held award. annually to recognize excellence in the The winners of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 central banking community. This was the were announced on October 13.Sridhar's photo is a picture 7th edition of the award and the ceremony of a tree illuminated with fireflies. The fireflies and stars was held virtually on. in the sky form a surreal galaxy around the tree. It won Outstanding Young Person 2020 under the Behaviour-Invertebrates category."After two hours of hiking, she found a tree dusted in gold from the r. Jajini Varghese, bioluminescence of thousands of fireflies. Shooting 27 Dan Indian-origin images over a 24-second exposure and combining them plastic surgeon and using focusstacking software, she highlighted the vibrancy consultant based in of this scene," the photo's description on the website of the , National History Musem, who organises the competition, has been named as reads. ”Outstanding Young The invertebrate category includes stills revealing the most Person of the World interesting or memorable behaviour of any of the multitude 2020” in the medical of smaller animals without a backbone, whether on land, in innovation category. She has been recognised by the Junior the air or in water. Chamber International (JCI) for her research on breast cancer.The global non-profit organisation selected her Sridhar, a wildlife photographer from Panvel, captured the for the “incredible” scientific contributions to diagnosing photo during a trek in Bhandardara in June last year. The and treating breast cancer. Varghese is a consultant in photo will be put on display from October 16. Oncoplastic Breast Surgery at Royal Free Hospital and "It was a dream come true when my name was announced University College London. She is among the 10 UK at the virtual awards ceremony," Aishwarya told Mumbai nominees for the international award under the ‘Medical Mirror. Innovation’ category. She was praised by the organisation "During a trek last year, I had decided to click fireflies but for the adoption of strategies that prevent breast cancer, hadn't planned any particular frame," she said. "It's a very which can be achieved by offering early screening for short two-week window when one can find fireflies in this women in developing countries. area." JCI gives this award to honour outstanding young Sridhar won the Sanctuary Asia young people under the age of 40. It’s held every year, with naturalist award at the age of 14. She also nominations coming from 110 countries around the globe won the Princess Diana award given to for extraordinary accomplishments in various fields. The young talents who bring positive change shortlisting is on the basis of “incredible with their contribution to society. leaders and innovators of the future”. The categories span from business to politics, UK engineers’ body award academics, culture, child welfare, world he Mangdechhu Hydroelectric project in Bhutan, peace, medical innovation, and scientific Tconstructed by India has been awarded the Brunel advancement. Medal-2020, an award conferred by UK’s top engineering Non-food bank credit growth decelerated to 6 per cent in August as against 9.8 per cent in DECEMBER 2020 MICA the same month last year, RBI data showed. 13 THE PEOPLE AWARDS body — Institute of ISA Solar Awards conferred for Civil Engineers. The the first time award, named after Isambard Kingdom he Third Assembly Brunel–known as 19th Tof the International century’s engineering Solar Alliance has been giants was announced on attended by 34 ISA 5th October. Indian and Members ministers. the Bhutanese PM had 53 Member countries jointly inaugurated the 720MW Project on 17 August last and 5 Signatory and year. Indian Prime Minister had called the project a “crucial Prospective Member milestone celebrating India-Bhutan ties” and “this project countries participated to shows how the two nations working together can bring the Assembly. immense positivity in the lives of people,” India and France were re-elected as the President and Expressing her appreciation at the development, India’s Co- President of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Ambassador to Bhutan Ruchira Kamboj said, “I am for a term of two years at the virtual meeting of the Third delighted that the Mangdechhu Award jointly inaugurated Assembly held on 14 October. by Prime Minister Modi and Dr. Lotay Tshering in Bhutan Four new Vice-Presidents were also chosen to represent last year, has been conferred the prestigious Brunel Medal. the four regions of ISA. The representatives of Fiji A rightful recognition of its excellence, as well as an & Nauru for Asia Pacific Region; Mauritius & Niger outstanding example of our two countries working together for Africa Region; UK & Netherlands for Europe and towards a shared goal” others Region, and Cuba and Guyana for Latin America The construction began in 2012 and was completed in a and Caribbean Region assumed the vice presidency. record time of seven years with the approximate cost of Rs/ The Assembly also approved the initiatives of the ISA Nu 5000 crores. India funded the project through a 70 per Secretariat in institutionalizing ISA’s engagement with the cent loan and a 30 per cent grant to Bhutan. private and public corporate sector through the Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action (CSCA). Ten public sector The Mangdechhu Project has earned a revenue of Rs/Nu organisations in India presented a cheque for 1 million 1300 crores within one year of commissioning, which USD each at the assembly. has exceeded the projected target of Rs/Nu 1200 crores. All four units of the Project are running at full capacity Speaking in the plenary, the President of the ISA assembly, and generating 18.7 Million Units/day at 779 MW since India’s Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister, 2 August 2020. The Project is a run of the river project Mr R.K. Singh, appreciated the Alliance Members coming located in the Trongsa district of Bhutan. together to work for combating climate change. He welcomed the seventh initiative on heating and cooling So far, Government of India has constructed four to be introduced for discussion in the Third Assembly. Hydroelectric Projects in Bhutan inclusive of the 1020 Shri Singh said that Solar Energy has come a long way MW Tala Hydroelectric project (HEP), the 336 MW in last 5 years and is now the fastest growing energy Chukha HEP, the 60 MW Kurichhu source globally. He said, “Solar energy is HEP and the 720 MW Mangdechhu already contributing around 2.8% of global HEP. Three Hydroelectric projects the electricity ,and if trends were to continue, 1200 MW Punatsangchhu-I, the 1020 by 2030, solar will become most important MW Punatsangchhu-II and the 600 MW source of energy for electricity production Kholongchhu are under construction. in large part of the world.” OBITUARY Najeeb Tarakai October 2 and had undergone a surgery. Najeeb Tarakai fghanistan's top-order batsman Najeeb Tarakai has made his international debut for Afghanistan in 2014 Adied of the injuries he sustained in a road accident, the against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. In 12 Twenty20 country's Cricket Board (ACB) said. He was 29. Internationals, his highest score has been 90 which he The Afghanistan Cricket Board had tweeted that Tarakai made against Ireland at Greater Noida in 2017. However, was "severely injured in a car accident" suffered on that is his only prominent knock and after playing one ODI Keshubhai Patel has been re-appointed as Chairman of Shri Somnath Trust for one more MICA DECEMBER 2020 14 year. OBITUARY against Ireland in 2017, he has Her daughter Radhika Gupta told not featured in any tournament. TOI on phone that Athayiya died Recently, during the Shpageeza in her sleep. “In 2012, she was T20 tournament in September, diagnosed with a brain tumour. he was part of the Mis Ainak She had been bedridden since Knights. He has a good record in 2016 when her right side got First Class cricket, scoring over paralysed,” she said. She was 2000 runs at an average of 47 cremated at Chandanwadi in with six centuries and 10 fifites. south Mumbai. His highest score is 200. In List A In the foreword to her cricket, he averages 32 with 553 autobiography, The Art of runs in 17 matches with a high score of 121. Costume Design (2010), Attenborough described her as Ram Vilas Paswan “the revered doyenne of costume designers.” It took me “17 long years to set up Gandhi, my dream film” and just nion minister Ram Vilas 15 minutes to make up my mind that Bhanu Athaiya was UPaswan passed away in the right person (for the job),” he wrote. New Delhi, he was 74. The Lok The Kolhapur-born costume designer’s career, spanning Janshakti Party founder and 56 years and over 100 films, reads like a catalogue of Minister for Consumer Affairs, Bollywood’s best and biggest: Shri 420, Sahib Biwi aur Food and Public Distribution Ghulam, Sangam, Guide, Waqt, Ek Duuje Ke Liye, Nikaah, had recently undergone a heart Lagaan. operation at a private hospital. Ram Vilas Paswan began his Lee Kun-Hee political career as a member of amsung Electronics Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP). Schairman Lee Kun-hee, who Paswan became a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly transformed the South Korean in 1969. Next year, he was made the joint secretary of firm into a global tech titan, died the SSP’s Bihar branch. In 1974, he became the general at the age of 78. secretary of the Bihar branch of the new Lok Dal (People’s Under Lee's leadership, Party) after it had been formed through the merger of the Samsung rose to become the SSP and other partiesPaswan went to jail during Indira world's largest producer of Gandhi's tenure when emergency was imposed in the smartphones and memory chips, country in 1975. He was released in 1977. During the same and the firm's overall turnover year, he was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time as Janata is equivalent to a fifth of South Party member. He held the world record for winning the Korea's GDP. election by highest margin. Veteran leader was re-elected Lee was also the richest person in South Korea, according five consecutive times from Hajipur constituency in Bihar. to Forbes, with a net worth of nearly $21bn. Veteran politician formed Lok Janshakti Party in 2000. Known for a reclusive lifestyle, Lee was left bedridden Within one year of the formation of his party, he became by a heart attack in 2014. Little was revealed about his a minister in the first National Democratic Alliance (NDA) condition, leaving him shrouded in mystery even in his government under former prime minister Atal Bihari final days. Vajpayee. After NDA lost power in 2004, Paswan joined Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in 2004 "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of and again became a union minister till 2014. Kun-hee Lee, Chairman of Samsung Electronics," the company said in a statement. Bhanu Athaiya "Chairman Lee passed away on October 25 with his family, hanu Rajopadhye Athaiya, a colossus of costume including Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee, by his side." Bdesign who became India’s first Oscar winner for "Chairman Lee was a true visionary who transformed her work in Richard Attenborough’s, Gandhi (1982), and Samsung into the world-leading innovator and industrial whose chic couture in blockbusters like Waqt (1965) blazed powerhouse from a local business," the firm said, adding: fashion trends, passed away in Mumbai. She was 91. "His legacy will be everlasting."

US private equity firm Silver Lake Partners will invest an additional Rs 1,875 crore in the retail DECEMBER 2020 MICA arm of Reliance Industries. 15 THE PEOPLE OBITUARY Samsung is by far the biggest of the family-controlled Arjunan Master, P S Divakaran, K J Joy, Jithin Shyam, M conglomerates, or chaebols, that dominate business in A Majeed and Ponkunnam Varkey. Babu attained fame as South Korea. Zero Babu after he belted out the song ‘Open Zero’ in a They drove the nation's transformation from a war-ravaged play by the late P J Antony. Babu was a recipient of the ruin to the world's 12th-largest economy, but nowadays are Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award and had held numerous accused of murky political ties and stifling competition -- stage shows in Dubai, Singapore and Malaysia. Babu has with Lee himself twice convicted of criminal offences, in also sung in nearly 90 films and various plays. His first one case bribing a president. movie was the 1964 film ‘Kudumbini’. Shoba Naidu Vijayalakshmi Ramanan enowned Kuchipudi dancer ing Commander (Retd) Dr RSobha Naidu, a recipient of WVijayalakshmi Ramanan, Padma Shri and numerous other the first woman commissioned awards, died in Hyderabad. officer of the , has died at the age of 96. Wing Sobha Naidu's major Commander Vijayalakshmi achievements include Ramanan, a recipient of choreography and presentation of Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM), Ballets Vipranarayana, Kalyana died due to old age ailments. Srinivasam and many others, she did her MBBS and later in which she was the main was commissioned in the Army protagonist and portrayed various Medical Corps on August 22, 1955 and was seconded to roles like Satyabhama, Devadevaki, Padmavathi, Mohini, the Air Force with effect from the same day. Besides having Sai Baba, and Goddess Parvati which won her great served as a gynecologist at various Air Force Hospitals, appreciation. As a Guru (teacher), she trained a number of including here, she had also attended to the troops wounded students from India and abroad. Her performances have during wars and performed administrative duties. also won accolades overseas. Dr Ramanan was promoted to the rank of Wing She has presented a series of performances at different Commander in August 1972, and honoured with the Vishist venues in the US and also performed in countries, including Seva Medal five years later. She had retired in February, the UK. 1979. Her husband late KV Ramanan was also an Indian Besides the Padma Shri, she received a number of awards, Airforce officer. She is survived by a daughter and a son. including from the Andhra Pradesh government and several Dr Ramanan was also trained in Carnatic music and had reputed organisations. been an artist with the at a very young age. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao mourned the death of Sobha Naidu and recalled that she was an C M Chang outstanding Kuchipudi artist, known for portrayal of agaland Minister for Satyabhama and Padmavathi. He conveyed his condolences NEnvironment, Forest and to the bereaved family, an official release said. Climate Change and Justice and Law C.M. Chang passed away K J Mohammed at Naga Hospital Authority, layback singer, music director Kohima. He was 77. State Pand actor K J Mohammed Health officials confirmed that Babu, popularly known as Chang died of COVID-19. He ‘Zero’ Babu passed away here. was the sitting MLA of NDPP He was 80. He is survived by from 51-Noksen Assembly wife Athikka Babu and children Constituency. Suraj Babu, Sulfi Babu, Sabitha He was a retired IAS officer and former Member of Salam and Deepath Nazeer. Parliament, Lok Sabha (2009-13). He was elected to During his career, he had also the Nagaland Legislative Assembly from 51 Noksen collaborated with prominent constituencies under Tuensang district in 2013 and later artists /musicians, including retained the same seat in 2018 on Nationalist Democratic maestro Devarajan, P J Antony, Dakshina Moorthy, Progressive Party (NDPP) ticket. Hindu Munnani founder Rama Gopalan, who had tested positive for COVID-19, died in MICA DECEMBER 2020 16 . He was 94. NATIONAL NEWS BITES Burning Topics of the Month

Tribes India E-Marketplace Smriti Irani launches first PM Modi launches scheme launched for handicrafts, ever Brand & Logo for to distribute property cards organic products. Indian Cotton. under Svamitva scheme.

& Many More...

DRDO successfully test fires Laser this initiative of TRIFED will showcase the produce and handicrafts of tribal enterprises from across the country. Guided Anti-Tank Guided Missile It will help them market their products directly. On this 01 Oct' 20 occasion, Mr Munda also flagged off several other TRIFED initiatives that are aimed to support the tribal brethren. he indigenously developed Laser Guided Anti-Tank These include the inauguration of Tribes India’s 123rd Guided Missile, ATGM was successfully test fired and 124th outlets in Rishikesh and Kolkata, inclusion of defeating a target located at longer range. The test T new tribal product ranges from the states of Jharkhand was conducted from MBT Arjun at KK ranges, Armoured and Chhattisgarh and partnership of TRIFED and Tribes Corps Centre and School Ahmednagar in continuation of India with Amazon in their Seller Flex programme. The successful trial done on 22nd of last month. Minister also launched Pakur Honey which is 100 per cent The ATGM employs a tandem HEAT warhead to defeat natural honey, gathered by Santhal Tribals from Pakur in Explosive Reactive Armour protected armoured vehicles Jharkhand. Addressing the occasion, Mr Arjun Munda in ranges from 1.5 to 5 kilometres. It has been developed said TRIFED aims to on board 5 lakh tribal producers for with multiple-platform launch capability and is currently sourcing of various handicraft, handloom, and natural food undergoing technical evaluation trials from 120 mm rifled products across the country. gun of MBT Arjun. According to him the new TRIFED initiatives to showcase This Laser Guided Missile has been developed by tribal produce and handicrafts will connect tribal forest Armament Research and Development Establishment, dwellers and artisans with national and Pune in association with High Energy Materials international markets and will further Research Laboratory, Pune and Instruments Research and enable their economic welfare and also Development Establishment, Dehradun. bring them closer towards mainstream Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has congratulated DRDO development. Minister of State for Tribal for this successful feat. Chairman DRDO Affairs Renuka Singh was also present. Dr G. Satheesh Reddy congratulated DRDO personnel for this achievement which paves PM to inaugurate Summit RAISE 2020- the way for Atmanirbhar Bharat pledge of ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 2020’ on Oct 5 03 Oct' 20 Tribes India E-Marketplace launched rime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the for handicrafts, organic products Summit RAISE 2020- ‘Responsible AI for Social 02 Oct' 20 PEmpowerment 2020. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and NITI Aayog are organizing inister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda virtually the Mega Virtual Summit on Artificial Intelligence-AI from launched India’s largest handicraft and 5th to 9th of October. RAISE-2020 will be a global meeting Morganic products marketplace- Tribes India of minds to exchange ideas and chart a course for using E-Marketplace. Keeping in line with the vision of the Prime AI for social transformation, inclusion and empowerment Minister of making India Aatmanirbhar and self-reliant, in areas like Healthcare, Agriculture, Education and Smart ISRO is scheduled to launch its Venus mission in 2025 and France will participate in it, DECEMBER 2020 MICA French space agency CNES said. 17 NEWS BITES NATIONAL Mobility, among other sectors. In the spirit of 'Sabka Saath, ISLRTC & NCERT to ink MoU to make Sabka Vikas', Prime Minister Modi plans to leverage AI for inclusive development, representing the country's 'AI for education materials accessible for All' strategy. Directed by the Prime Minister’s vision, India Deaf children 06 Oct' 20 will soon stand out in the international community not just as a leader in the Artificial Intelligence field, but also as a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) model to show the world how to responsibly direct AI for will be signed between Indian Sign Language social empowerment. AResearch and Training Centre (ISLRTC) and NCERT to make education materials accessible for Deaf At the RAISE-2020, delegates and experts in research, children in their preferred format of communication. policy and innovation on Artificial Intelligence will join from across the globe. The summit This MoU will be signed in the virtual presence of Union will discuss cross-sector subjects like Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar ‘Leveraging AI for Pandemic Preparedness’, Chand Gehlot and Union Education Minister Ramesh ‘The Impetus that Innovation Places on Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’. Digitisation’, Inclusive AI and Partnerships As part of this MoU, educational print materials including for Successful Innovation’. NCERT Textbooks, Teachers Handbook and other Supplementary materials and resources of Class I-XII of MoHUA enters into MoU with Swiggy to all subjects of both Hindi and English Medium will be take street food vendors online under converted into Indian Sign Language in Digital format. PM SVANIDHI scheme 05 Oct' 20 The signing of this MoU is seen as a historic step as availability of NCERT textbooks in Indian Sign Language he Ministry will ensure that Deaf children can also now of Housing access educational resources in Indian Sign Tand Urban Language. This will also ensure educational Affairs has entered standardization of Indian Sign Language into a MoU with as mandated in the New Education Policy, Swiggy, one of the 2020. leading food delivery platforms, to on Smriti Irani launches first ever Brand board street food & Logo for Indian Cotton on 2nd vendors on its e-commerce platform. The MoU aims at World Cotton Day 08 Oct' 20 giving the street food vendors online access to thousands of consumers and help them grow their businesses. The inister of arrangement has been facilitated under the Prime Minister Te x t i l e s Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) S m r i t i Scheme. M Irani launched the The Ministry and Swiggy will run a pilot programme first ever Brand and by on-boarding 250 vendors across five cities namely Logo for Indian - Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Indore, and Varanasi. Cotton on Second The street vendors will be helped with PAN and FSSAI World Cotton Day registration, training on technology, menu digitization and through video pricing along with hygiene and packaging best practices. conferencing. Upon the successful completion of the pilot programme, Now India’s premium cotton would be known as ‘Kasturi Urban Affairs Ministry and Swiggy plan to expand this Cotton’ in the world cotton trade. The Kasturi Cotton brand initiative across the country in phases. will represent Whiteness, Brightness, Softness, Purity, In a first of its kind initiative, the Urban Luster, Uniqueness and Indianness. Affairs Ministry has coordinated with Speaking on this occasion, Ms Irani said, this is a much the key stakeholders including Municipal awaited moment as the Indian Cotton has been endowed Corporations, FSSAI, and Swiggy and with a Brand and Logo. The Minister recounted the GST officials to ensure that necessary pre- importance of cotton in Indian economy. According to requisites are completed for this initiative. him, cotton is one of the principal commercial crops of Shareholders of Dhanlaxmi Bank ousted Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer MICA DECEMBER 2020 18 Sunil Gurbaxani, little over seven months after he assumed charge of the lender. NATIONAL the country and it provides livelihood to about six million Maharashtra for implementing a metro rail Line 6 with cotton farmers. According to him, India is the second length of about 14.47 km in the city of Mumbai. Line 6 will largest cotton producer and the largest consumer of cotton provide much needed rail-based connectivity between the in the world. western and eastern suburbs and will contribute towards an It produces about six million tonnes of cotton every year integrated seamless public transport network in Mumbai. which is about 23 per cent of the world cotton. According The Project will be implemented by the Mumbai to him, India produces about 51 per cent of the total organic Metropolitan Region Development Authority. The NDB cotton production of the world, which demonstrates India’s is also supporting the implementation of metro lines in effort towards sustainability. Mumbai with length totalling to about 58 km (Line 2 and Ms Irani also told that Cotton Corporation of India Line 7) by financing of the Mumbai Metro Rail Project (CCI) made ever highest Minimum Support Price (MSP) approved by the NDB in November, 2018. operation of cotton. She hoped that during the new cotton “NDB is strongly committed to supporting its member season, the procurement under MSP will countries in the time of COVID-19, including by providing be increased. According to him, CCI has much needed crisis-related emergency assistance, said opened 430 procurement centres in all Mr. Marcos Troyjo, President of the NDB who recently cotton growing states and payments are replaced Mr. K. V. Kamath. being made digitally to farmers’ account The NDB was established by Brazil, Russia, India, China within 72 hours. and South Africa to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS countries BRICS Bank approves funds for Delhi- and other emerging economies and developing countries, Meerut rapid rail, Mumbai metro complementing the existing efforts of multilateral and 09 Oct' 20 regional financial institutions for global growth and development. According to ew Development Bank, also known as BRICS the NDB’s General Strategy, sustainable Bank has approved infrastructure projects worth infrastructure development is at the core of N741 million dollars in India. In a press statement, the Bank’s operational strategy for 2017- the Shanghai based bank told that its Board of Directors 2021. approved a loan of USD 500 million for the Delhi- Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) PM Modi launches scheme to distribute Project and a loan of USD 241 million for Mumbai Metro property cards under Svamitva scheme Rail II (Line 6) Project. 11 Oct' 20 The loan for Delhi NCR region would be used by Government of India for on-lending to the National Capital rime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scheme to Region Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTC) for distribute property cards under the Svamitva scheme construction of a rapid rail corridor connecting the National Pthrough video conference. AIR correspondent reports Capital Territory of Delhi with the cities of Ghaziabad and that property card holders include beneficiaries from 44 Meerut located in the State of Uttar Pradesh. villages of Madhya Pradesh. On the inauguration of the The RRTS will have a total length of 82.15 km (68.03 km scheme, the Prime Minister discussed with Dasharatha Singh elevated and 14.12 km underground) with 25 stations. It Maravi of Guraiya village in Dindori district of the state. will have a design speed of 180 km per hour, maximum In his response, Dashrath Singh told All India Radio, News operating speed of 160 km per hour and high-frequency that the villagers would benefit from getting ownership operations, which will reduce the journey time from Delhi cards. Ownership Scheme beneficiary Shivprasad Dhurve to Meerut to 60 minutes. of village Padrai Thakur of Bankhedi, Gram Panchayat of The Project will develop an efficient and sustainable Hoshangabad district has got the lease. Happy to receive the regional transport system and reduce congestion in Delhi, lease, Mr. Dhurve told that this scheme will help in the upkeep by offering people the alternative of settling in surrounding of the family. The Central Sector Ownership cities and being able to commute to Delhi through a fast, Scheme launched from the month of April reliable, safe and comfortable public transport system. this year will not only give villagers a record and property card of their building rights, but The loan for Mumbai Metro will be used by the Government the scheme will bring a big change in rural of India for on-lending to the Government of the State of India and empower millions. The indigenously developed Laser Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) was successfully DECEMBER 2020 MICA test fired defeating a target located at longer range. 19 NEWS BITES NATIONAL NIT Tiruchirappalli signs MoU with Subsidy under Operation Greens is C-DAC Pune for installing state of art step towards Aatma Nirbhar Bharat: super computer 12 Oct' 20 Narendra Singh Tomar 16 Oct' 20 ational Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli ood Processing has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with I n d u s t r i e s NCentre for Development of Advanced Computing FM i n i s t e r (C-DAC), Pune for installing a state of the art super Narendra Singh computer in the process of becoming part of the National Tomar has told Super Computing Mission of the Government of India. that Subsidy under The MoU was signed in the presence of Minister of State Operation Greens is for Electronics and Information Technology Sanjay Dhotre, a step towards Aatma Secretary of Department of Science and Technology Dr Nirbhar Bharat. Ashutosh Sharma and Secretary of Ministry of Electronics Under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, Operation Greens and Information Technology Ajay Prakash Sawhney. Dr. Scheme TOP to TOTAL provides 50 per cent subsidy on Mini Shaji Thomas, Director, NIT, Trichy and Dr. Hemant transport and storage of notified fruits and vegetables if Darbari, Director General, C - DAC signed the MoU. prices are below the trigger price. A total of 10 Centrally Funded Institutions have been The eligible fruits are Mango, Banana, Guava, Kiwi, inducted into NSM including IISc, and seven Litchi, Mousambi, Orange, Kinnow, Lime, Lemon, Papaya, IITs in addition to NIT, Trichy. The objective of the NSM is Pineapple, Pomegranate, Jackfruit, Apple, Aonla, Passion to empower technology institutions with high-performance fruit and Pear. The eligible vegetables are French beans, computing capabilities that can be used for solving socially Bitter Gourd, Brinjal, Capsicum, Carrot, Cauliflower, Green relevant, computationally intensive problems. Chillies, Okra, Cucumber, Peas, Onion, Potato and Tomato. NIT Director Dr Mini Shaji Thomas told Mr Tomar said, any person, including farmers can transport that the super Computing facility worth any notified fruit and vegetable crops through Kisan Rails. 17 crore rupees will be made available to Railways will charge only 50 per cent of freight charges on neighbouring educational institutions, as these items. Remaining 50 per cent of the freight charges mandated and in line with NEP-2020. will be provided as subsidy under Operation Greens Union Cabinet approves World Bank Scheme by the Ministry to the Indian Railways. AIR Correspondent reports that at present supported STARS project 14 Oct' 20 Railways is operating three Kisan Rails he Union Cabinet has approved World Bank between Devlali (Maharashtra) and supported Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Anantapur in Andhra TResults for States -STARS project. Pradesh and Delhi, Bangalore and Delhi. The Project seeks to support States in developing, Agriculture Minister Narendra implementing, evaluating and improving interventions Singh Tomar launches AYUSHMAN with direct linkages to improved education outcomes. Briefing media after the Cabinet meeting, Information and SAHAKAR scheme 19 Oct' 20 Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told that the total nion Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar project cost is Rs. 5,718 crore with the financial support of launched AYUSHMAN SAHAKAR scheme. The World Bank amounting to 500 million US dollar. scheme is a unique way to assist cooperatives play According to him, STARS project would be implemented U an important role in creation of healthcare infrastructure in as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Department of the country. AYUSHMAN SAHAKAR scheme has been School Education and Literacy. Mr Javadekar said, it will formulated by the National Cooperative Development cover six States namely Himachal Pradesh, Corporation (NCDC). Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Tomar announced that NCDC would extend term loans Kerala and Odisha. According to him, this to prospective cooperatives to the tune of 10 thousand is an important milestone and the beginning crore in the coming years. According to him that the of the New Education Policy. ongoing pandemic has brought into focus the requirement Major General Sonali Ghosal assumed the charge of Additional Director General Military MICA DECEMBER 2020 20 Nursing Service. NATIONAL of creation of more facilities. NCDC’s scheme will be a They are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, step towards strengthening farmer’s welfare activities by Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, , Madhya Pradesh, the Central Government. Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Speaking on the occasion Managing Director of NCDC Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. Sundeep Nayak told that the NCDC fund would give a boost Ministry of Finance in a statement told that the borrowing to the healthcare services operated by the cooperatives in is at an interest rate of 5.19 percent. It is intended to make the country. NCDC’s Ayushman Sahakar scheme aims at weekly releases of six thousand crore rupees to the States. bringing transformation in the health services primarily in It said, tenor of borrowing is expected to be broadly in the the rural areas. The scheme also provides range of 3 to 5 years. working capital and margin money to meet The Government has evolved a special borrowing window operational requirements of the health to address the shortfall in the GST collection facilities. It provides interest subvention of during the year 2020 - 2021. 21 States and one percent to women majority cooperatives. two Union Territories opted for this special window involving back-to-back borrowing Kempegowda International Airport in coordinated by the Ministry of Finance. Bengaluru records growth in freight movement 21 Oct' 20 Railways launches ‘Meri Saheli’ initiative for security of women passengers fter a 30 Oct' 20 p r o l o n g e d Aslump in ailways has the international l a u n c h e d cargo momentum, Meri Saheli the Kempegowda R initiative for focused International Airport action on security of in Bengaluru has women passengers recorded a growth across all zones. in freight movement. Between April and September the Railways Ministry Bengaluru International airport processed 131,603 metric said, the objective tonnes of freight. In September alone 32,449 metric tonnes of this mission is to provide safety and security to lady cargo was processed showing a growth of point three percent passengers travelling by trains for their entire journey from against the same period last year. During September this year starting station to destination station. growth of 4.5 percent was recorded in international cargo, of Meri Saheli initiative was started as a pilot project in which export cargo grew by 7.6 percent. South Eastern Railway in September this year and after The Bangalore airport has emerged as the leading getting encouraging response from lady passengers, it was cargo centre for the pomegranate exports from India by extended to all zones and Konkan Railway with effect from processing 180,745 kgs of pomegranate from April to 17th of this month. August this year. The Government of India’s Vande Bharat Railway Protection Force, RPF has launched this initiative Mission and Air Bubble programmes have for the security of lady passengers. This initiative is aimed enabled Bengaluru airport to connect with to instil a sense of security among the lady passengers 22 international destinations. However, the and respond effectively to any security-related issue faced domestic cargo showed a slower recovery by lady passengers. The RPF team collects only the seat at minus 5.2 percent which is lower than the numbers of the ladies and conveys them to stoppages en- same period in the previous year. route. Finance Ministry releases Rs. 6,000 The platform duty RPF personnel at the stopping stations crore to states to address shortfall in en-route keep unobtrusive watch over the GST revenue 23 Oct' 20 concerned coaches and berths. The Ministry said, if some distress call comes from a he Central Government borrowed and transferred train covered under Meri Saheli initiative, six thousand crore rupees as first tranche to 16 the disposal of the call is monitored at the TStates and two Union Territories. level of senior officers. Air Marshal Vikram Singh took over as Senior Air Staff Officer, Headquarters Western Air DECEMBER 2020 MICA Command. 21 NEWS BITES STATE Burning Topics of the Month

Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Maharashtra becomes Delhi CM launches campaign Central Jail launches first state to cap prices of ‘Red light on, Gaadi off’ to ‘Radio Prison’. masks. tackle air pollution.

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Maharashtra govt extends UP becomes first state in country to coronavirus-induced lockdown till undertake over one crore tests to Oct 31 01 Oct' 20 screen Corona virus 01 Oct' 20

aharashtra government has extended ith 1.61 lakh tests in past 24 hours, UP became coronavirus-induced lockdown till October 31, the first state in the country to be undertaking Mbut also said that hotels, restaurants and bars Wover 1 crore tests to screen coronavirus. The will be allowed to operate from October 5 with restricted total number of tests conducted in UP stood at 1,00,98,896 capacity. as per official data released by the state medical education All the trains originating and ending the journey within department. the state will be restarted with immediate effect subject to Of these, nearly 42% of tests were done through the RT- health protocols for COVID-19. PCR method. According to the new guidelines, Hotels, food courts, UP’s share in the total tests conducted in the country now restaurants and bars can operate from October 5 with stands at 13.6%. Data from Indian Council of Medical capacity not exceeding 50 percent or as prescribed by local Research stated that 7,41,96,729 Covid tests have been authorities. A separate Standard Operating Procedure will conducted in the country. Also, nearest contenders be issued by the tourism department for precautions to be Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are several lakh tests away. taken while operating these establishments. “UP’s daily average over the past few days has been 1.5 All industrial and manufacturing units producing non- lakh tests. The credit for the benchmark goes to public essential items will be allowed to operate in the Mumbai and private labs engaged in different levels of testing,” Metropolitan Region (MMR). The Railways will increase said Rajneesh Dube, additional chief secretary, medical the frequency of local trains in the MMR. education. Local trains in Pune region will restart with protocols Secretary to CM overseeing testing work, Alok Kumar and procedures adopted in the MMR. Dabbawallahs of said that the landmark of one crore tests was more than just tiffin carriers in MMR will be allowed to travel by local numbers. “It includes the launch of pioneering activities trains after procuring QR code passes from the Mumbai like pool testing, accepting use of TB testing machines for police commissioner's office. Schools, colleges and other Covid-19 tests and use of antigen kits for bulk testing as educational and coaching institutions will remain closed. in case of students from Kota and migrant workers,” he Cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks, said. Also, the Union ministry of health and family welfare theaters in malls and market places, auditoriums, assembly has asked states to try and keep positivity rate around 5%. halls will continue to remain closed. Officials pointed out that UP’s positivity has never crossed the 6% mark, hovering Social, political, sports, entertainment, around 5% in July, August and September academic, cultural and religious events when the state progressed fast towards and other large congregations will remain peak. prohibited. Air Marshal RJ Duckworth took over as Air Officer in charge Personnel at Air MICA DECEMBER 2020 22 Headquarters Vayu Bhawan, Indian Air Force. STATE Ahmedabad's Sabarmati Central Jail Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said. The Apex Council, which was set up by the Andhra Pradesh launches ‘Radio Prison’ on 151st Birth Reorganisation Act, 2014 is headed by the Union Jal Shakti Anniversary of Father of the Nation Minister and the Chief Ministers of both states are members. 02 Oct' 20 It is mandated to approve any new projects planned by both the states on the two rivers—Godavari and Krishna. a b a r m a t i Besides, the Council has power to supervise the functioning Central Jail in of Godavari and Krishna river management boards as well SA h m e d a b a d as to resolve any dispute arising out of sharing of river has launched ‘Radio waters between both the states. Prison’ on the occasion of the 151st The Council meeting was attended by Telangana Chief Birth Anniversary Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and Andhra Pradesh of the Father of the Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy through a video Nation. The Radio conference. Prison- will offer educational, legal and health related Based on the discussion in the council meeting, it was details to prisoners within the jail premises. decided that Centre will go ahead with notifying the Radio Prision is a unique initiative of Sabarmati Central jurisdiction of both Krishna and Godavari river management Jail, which was inaugurated by Addition DGP (Prison) boards, Shekhawat told reporters after the meeting. K.L.N. Rao. According to Sabarmati Jail sources, this radio Under the AP Reorganisation Act, both the boards are station is like any other radio station with all facilities. It assigned the powers to regulate the supply is operating from old Jail premises based on fibre cable of water from the projects to both the network. states. However, their jurisdiction was not This service will be extended to the women’s prison and notified even after six years because of the then to the new jail premises in future. A studio like any differences between the two states. other radio station has been made, which will be run by the prisoners. The convicted prisoners will get a month long Maharashtra becomes first state to training before going on air. Though the entire operations cap prices of masks 08 Oct' 20 including the role of Radio jockeys will be performed by the prisoners, the jail authorities will also invite guest aharashtra artists to perform. The prisoners will also h a s perform Bhajans which they learn in Mb e c o m e Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram. Sabarmati Jail the first state to Administration has spent 20 lakh rupees regulate the rates on this project. However, the aim of Radio of face masks Prision is completely social service. during COVID-19 pandemic as a Telangana agrees to withdraw case committee formed to implement caps on the price of masks has submitted its filed in SC related to Krishna-Godavari recommendations to the state government and formal order river water sharing 07 Oct' 20 will soon be issued. he Gujarat government on October 8, 2020, launched The state govt had constituted a committee to give phase 1 of the ‘Digital Seva Setu’ programme for suggestions about regulating prices of Masks and Sanitisers. Tthe rural areas. Under this, 3500 village panchayats Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope confirmed that in the state have been connected by 100 Mbps optical fibre the committee has submitted its recommendations and network, it will further facilitate the online availability of formal order will soon be issued. He also confirmed that public services. now prices of N-95 maks will be capped at `50 maximum The center will go ahead with notifying the jurisdiction for every mask. The rates have been finalised after a of the Godavari and Krishna river management boards detailed study of the process and cost of manufacturing, as Telangana has agreed to withdraw the case it filed in availability and affordability of raw material and demand the Supreme Court about sharing of waters, Union Jal in the market, he said. The Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad launched ‘Radio Prison’ on the occasion of the DECEMBER 2020 MICA 151st Birth Anniversary of the Father of the Nation. 23 NEWS BITES STATE Mr Tope confirmed that the government has accepted the exhausting at least 200ml of fuel. Experts have suggested recommendations of the committee and soon orders will that one can save `7,000 a year by avoiding idling,” the be issued. chief minister said. According to the recommendation of the committee, While appealing to all motorists to join the the N-95 mask will be available for around `19 to `50 drive, Kejriwal said, “Covid-19 has led to depending on the type, while the double and triple layer distress among people, let’s ensure that masks will be available for just `3 to 4. The process of pollution doesn’t make things worse for deciding on the price fixed by the committee is in the final us.” stage and after the approval of the government, it will be mandatory to sell the masks at the revised rate, said an Inter-State rift ends as Mizoram official release. agrees to remove its Police posts and He also says that the rates have been finalised after a personnel from Assam 22 Oct' 20 detailed study of the process and cost of manufacturing, availability and affordability of raw material and demand izoram has in market etc. d e c i d e d to remove Currently, the state government has made it M its police posts and mandatory for citizens to wear masks and personnel inside if they do not wear them, punitive action is Assam, ending the being taken. border standoff. Delhi CM launches campaign ‘Red Mizoram relented after home secretary light on, Gaadi off’ to tackle air Lalbiaksangi met Union home ministry joint secretary pollution 15 Oct' 20 Satyendra Kumar Garg in Silchar. The meeting expressed concern over rumours and fake news related to the incident elhi chief which have surfaced on social and electronic media. m i n i s t e r A r v i n d Garg said that the Centre, Assam and Mizoram had fruitful D discussions and resolved to settle the matter amicably. Kejriwal launched a new anti-pollution Assam home secretary Gyanendra Dev Tripathi said campaign under “Mizoram had acceded to our request and decided to which people will be withdraw forces from Assam's territory”. Tripathi said both encouraged to switch sides held meetings to restore peace and normalcy in the engines of their border villages which saw violence. vehicles off while waiting at traffic signals. Trucks carrying essential commodities to Mizoram are The pollution levels in the city remained in the “very poor” expected to ply soon. As part of confidence building category. “It has been seen that we often do not switch off measures, deputy commissioners, SPs and DFOs of both our vehicle engines while waiting at traffic signals. That states would interact regularly and hammer out issues, an is called idling. The ‘Red Light On, Gaadi Off’ campaign Assam government statement said. will aim to bring a behavioural change in that regard. It will Later, home minister Amit Shah talked with Assam chief help reduce air pollution,” said Kejriwal in a video press minister Sarbananda Sonowal and enquired about the steps briefing. taken to defuse tension. Sonowal apprised him that senior He added, “Around 10 million vehicles are registered officials have already begun talks to settle pending issues in Delhi. Even if one million of them actively follow and that Mizoram CM Zoramthanga had assured him to take the campaign, experts suggest that it can reduce PM10 steps for bolstering peace and strengthening brotherhood emissions by 1.5 tonnes a year and PM2.5 emissions by 0.4 among people of both the states. Sonowal has directed tonnes a year. officials to ensure seamless movement of vehicles through the border. Tripathi said “Idling (waiting at a traffic signal with engine on) consumes the presence of Mizoram policemen had more fuel than a normal drive. On average, a car is left created fear in the minds of truck drivers idling for around 15 to 20 minutes a day, and that ends up and helpers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the world's longest high altitude tunnel, MICA DECEMBER 2020 24 the Atal Tunnel, at Rohtang. INTERNATIONAL

Burning Topics of the Month

ADB approves 300 million IMF revises its forecast India and Mexico to further US dollar loan to finance for global growth to 4.4 work on strengthening water supply, sanitation pct. in wake of COVID-19 ‘Privileged Partnership. infrastructure in Rajasthan. pandemic.

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Embassy of India in Nepal marks almost 100% of polling stations counted, the ANO (YES) movement led by Prime Minister Andrej Babis won 10 of 56th Anniversary of ITEC Day-2020 the 13 regions contested during voting. The result was a 03 Oct' 20 sign of a stable support for ANO, which won nine regions in 2016. ANO also has the most candidates advancing to he Embassy of India in Nepal marked the 56th the runoffs for 27 seats in the 81-seat Senate. Anniversary of the Indian Technical and Economic The elections were the first held in the Czech Republic Cooperation (ITEC) Day-2020 through a Webinar T during the coronavirus pandemic. Face masks were required on “Sharing Knowledge and Experiences on COVID-19 at voting places. Quarantined voters had the option of Management”. ITEC is India's flagship capacity building casting ballots from vehicles at temporary assistance initiative with near global coverage to 160 polling stations across the country. Those developing countries, including Nepal. who were unable to use a car or venture out The webinar brought together distinguished ITEC alumni could ask a special electoral committee to from Nepal as well as expert voices from Government and send a ballot box to their homes. industry in India and Nepal to exchange views and share perspectives on addressing the challenge of the COVID-19 India and Bangladesh hold second pandemic. In the Plenary Session, panellists included Mr. edition of naval exercise in Northern Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Ambassador of India, Mr. Dinesh Kumar Ghimire, Secretary, Ministry of Energy, Water Bay of Bengal 05 Oct' 20 Resources and Irrigation of the Government of Nepal, Dr. he second Bhagwan Koirala, Chairman-Nepal Medical Council and edition of the Mr.Padmaprasad Pandey, Deputy Attorney General, Govt bilateral naval of Nepal. They were joined from India by T exercise Bongosagar Dr. Alka Sharma, Adviser, Department of between India and Biotechnology in the Government of India Bangladesh was and Ms. Suchitra Ella-Joint MD and Co- held in Northern founder, Bharat Biotech International Ltd. Bay of Bengal. in Hyderabad. Ships from both Czech Republic PM''s party wins big in navies participated in surface warfare drills, seamanship evolutions and helicopter operations. Indian Navy ships regional ballot amid pandemic Kiltan, Khukri & Bangladesh Navy ships Abu Bakr, 04 Oct' 20 Prottoy, helo and MPA undertook manoeuvres, surface drills, helo operations and seamanship evolutions. he senior party in the Czech Republic's coalition Bongosagar will be followed by the third edition of India government dominated the country's regional Bangladesh Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) on 4-5 October. elections and is ahead in the first round of voting T According to a press release issued by the Ministry of for Parliament's upper house, according to results released. Defence, the exercise Bongosagar is aimed at developing The Czech Statistics Office told that with ballots from interoperability and joint operational skills through conduct

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Vaishvik Bhartiya Vaigyanik, VAIBHAV Summit DECEMBER 2020 MICA through video conferencing. 25 NEWS BITES INTERNATIONAL of maritime exercises and operations. During the CORPAT Union Cabinet approves signing of exercise, both navies will undertake joint patrolling along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). Memorandum of cooperation in field In addition to ships, Maritime Patrol Aircraft from both of cyber-security between India & navies and integral helicopters would also be participating Japan 09 Oct' 20 in the exercise. The first edition of the Exercise Bongosagar, was held in 2019. The Exercise Bongosagar he Government has given its nod to major reforms and IN - BN CORPAT reflects the priority in the marketing of Natural Gas in the country. The Indian Navy accords to Bangladesh Navy TCabinet, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approved the reforms to push the usage of Natural Gas. vision of SAGAR (Security And Growth Briefing the media in New Delhi, Petroleum and Natural Gas for All in the Region), the release said. Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told that the government will initiate standardised e-bidding for bringing transparency in US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to the price of Natural Gas in the country. Railway Minister limit his East Asia visit to Japan only Piyush Goyal informed that the Cabinet has also given 06 Oct' 20 its approval for the revised estimate cost for East West Corridor of the Kolkata Metro Rail Project. Mr Goyal told S Secretary that the project, with an estimated cost of nearly 8 thousand of State Mike 575 crore rupees, will be open for the public by December Pompeo will 2021. According to him the total Route length of the East- U West Metro Corridor in Kolkata will be 16.6 kilometre and limit his East Asia visit to Japan only will have 12 stations. which was earlier The cabinet also gave its approval for signing a planned from 4th Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in the field of cyber- to 8th October and security between India and Japan. The MoC will enhance also included South cooperation in areas of mutual interest, which in­cludes Korea and Mongolia. capacity building in the area of cyberspace, protection As per the State department, Pompeo would leave for of critical infrastructure, cooperation in emerging Japan but would not go to Mongolia and South Korea technologies, sharing information on cyber security threats as originally planned. Following the hospitalisation and malicious cyber activities. Another MoU was signed of US President Donald Trump with Covid-19, Mr between Zoological Survey of India and its Canadian Pompeo will be returning to Washington on 6th October Counterpart on bar coding of faunal Genomes. after consultations with his Japanese counterpart and The Cabinet also approved the ratification of seven a wider meeting with foreign ministers of India and chemicals listed under Stockholm Convention on Persistent Australia. Organic Pollutants (POPs). The Stockholm Convention is The visit assumes importance as Japan’s new Prime a global treaty to protect human health and environment Minister Yoshihide Suga has very recently taken office and from POPs, which are identified chemical U.S. ties with Beijing are at their worst in decades in the substances that persist in the environment, face of the coronavirus which has now infected President bio-accumulate in living organisms, Donald Trump and the First Lady Melania. adversely affect human health and have The visit is important to strengthen ties with regional allies the property of long-range environmental on issues in the Indo-Pacific region, from China’s dealings transport. with the coronavirus to trade issues, new national security ADB approves 300 million US legislation in Hong Kong, tensions in the South China Sea, and the alleged repression of religious and ethnic dollar loan to finance water supply, minorities. sanitation infrastructure in Rajasthan In a statement, the state department said, 12 Oct' 20 Pompeo’s visits to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and Seoul, South Korea have been cancelled ndia and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed and rescheduled for later in October. a 300 million US dollar loan to finance inclusive and Isustainable water supply and sanitation infrastructure Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare launched Decade of Healthy MICA DECEMBER 2020 26 Ageing (2020-2030). INTERNATIONAL and services in 14 to be introduced for discussion in the Third Assembly. Mr secondary towns of Singh said solar energy is already contributing around 2.8 the state of Rajasthan. percent of global electricity and if trends were to continue, The signatories to the by 2030 solar will become most important Rajasthan Secondary source of energy for electricity production Towns Development in large part of the world. Sector Project were The President also mentioned about various Sameer Kumar activities and programmes initiated by ISA Khare, Additional since the 2nd Assembly. Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Takeo Konishi, Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission. Germany slams Turkey for taking On this occasion, Mr Khare said, said the project aims unilateral steps, escalating tensions at providing better quality and more sustainable Water with Greece & Cyprus 14 Oct' 20 Supply and Sanitation (WSS) services in the project towns. According to him, it will improve quality of life in these ermany's foreign Minister criticized Turkey for towns, including for the poor and vulnerable after signing unilateral steps in the eastern Mediterranean that the loan agreement. Mr Khare said, the investments in are undercutting efforts to de-escalate tensions WSS with 10-year operation and maintenance contracts G with Greece and Cyprus over sea boundaries and drilling will ensure improved and sustainable service delivery in rights. Heiko Maas said said any attempt by a Turkish line with the State Government’s urban sector development survey ship to begin prospecting for hydrocarbons in plan. disputed waters around the Greek island of Kastellorizo Mr. Konishi said, the project will empower urban local would strike a serious blow to efforts at easing tensions and bodies, and strengthen their institutional capacity, deepen improving ties between the European Union and Turkey. sector reforms, and build resilience of communities to Ankara's redeployment of the Oruc Reis survey vessel for manage health pandemics. new energy exploration around Kastellorizo has reignited Through the project, water supply systems in at least eight tensions over sea boundaries between Greek islands, project towns are expected to improve Cyprus and Turkey's southern coast. by 2027, benefiting more than five lakh Turkey rebuffed international criticism of its research ship's 70 thousand people. Citywide sanitation redeployment, insisting that the Oruc Reis is operating in systems will benefit about seven lakh 20 Turkish waters. Omer Celik, spokesman for thousand people in at least 14 secondary Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's towns. ruling party, accused Greece of stirring up tensions and of trying to avoid negotiations India gets re-elected as President of by engaging in actions like military drills International Solar Alliance 13 Oct' 20 during Turkey's national day celebrations. ndia has been re-elected as the President of the IMF revises its forecast for global International Solar Alliance (ISA) and France as growth to 4.4 pct. in wake of the Co- President for a term of two years. This was I COVID-19 pandemic 15 Oct' 20 decided during the virtual meeting of third assembly of the International Solar Alliance attended by 34 ISA members. he International Monetary Fund is forecasting a Four new Vice-Presidents were also chosen to represent somewhat less severe recession than it predicted in the four regions of ISA. The assembly also approved the June. In its latest report, the IMF revised its forecast initiatives of the ISA Secretariat in institutionalizing ISA’s T for global growth to negative 4.4 percent this year. A less engagement with the private and public corporate sector severe contraction than the negative 5.2 percent it had through the Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action. forecast in June, but still on track for the worst performance Speaking in the plenary, President of the ISA assembly since the Great Depression. and India’s Power and New and Renewable Energy Next year's world downgrade is less than this year's Minister, R.K. Singh appreciated the Alliance Members upgrade. In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the coming together to work for combating climate change. IMF has said, the global economy is still in deep recession He welcomed the seventh initiative on heating and cooling and the risk of a worse outcome than in its new forecast is

REC Ltd signed MOU with Power Ministry detailing targets for FY20-21. DECEMBER 2020 MICA 27 NEWS BITES INTERNATIONAL sizable. IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath in a foreword which attracted 8000 to the report, said, unprecedented fiscal, monetary, and artwork entries from regulatory responses to the crisis had kept economies from around the world. plunging deeper into recession. After the first round However, she warned that the ascent out of this calamity of competition is likely to be long, uneven, and highly 210 artworks were uncertain. Employment remains well below shortlisted. The pre-pandemic levels and the labour market final jury evaluated has become more polarised with low- and decided the income workers, youth, and women being winners from each category such as Indian and Foreign, harder hit, the IMF chief economist added. Professional/Amateur/Children in four different sections: Contemporary Art; Folk and Tribal Art; Cartoons and India hosts virtual Summit of Ministers Illustrations and Digital and New Age Art. The maximum of Justice of Shanghai Cooperation number of entries for the global competition were received from Bangladesh, said a press release issued by the High Organisation 22 Oct' 20 Commission of India in Dhaka. ndia hosted the virtual Summit of Ministers of Justice of High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Vikram Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, SCO. Addressing Doraiswami handed over the prize money of USD 1000 the Ministers of Justice from SCO Member States, Law to Master Anzar Mustaeen Ali in a function held at the I Chancery in Dhaka. He congratulated and Justice Minister Prasad highlighted the initiatives taken by the Indian Government for providing Master Anzar in the presence of his family affordable and easy access to justice for all. and officials of the High Commission. Six He mentioned about Pro Bono Legal Services to provide other art works from Bangladesh were free legal aid to marginalized sections of the society. Mr selected for showcasing at the digital art Prasad highlighted that through Tele-Law services initiated exhibition of ICCR. in 2017, so far over three lakh 44 thousand free legal India and Mexico to further work on consultations have been given to poor people through video conference. According to him, during COVID19 pandemic strengthening ‘Privileged Partnership’ over 25 Lakh hearings have taken place through video 30 Oct' 20 conference at various courts of India, out of which nine thousand virtual hearings took place at the Supreme Court he 8th India-Mexico Joint Commission Meeting alone. was held through Video-Conference. The Meeting was co-chaired by External Affairs As part of activities of Justice Ministers’ Forum, the T Minister S. Jaishankar and his Mexican counterpart Minister urged SCO Member States to Marcelo Ebrard. promote exchange of ideas, best practices and experiences in identified areas through Taking stock of the bilateral relations, both sides the platform. He also stressed on widening appreciated the progress made in the bilateral trade and the spectrum of activities being undertaken commercial relations between India and Mexico in recent in the Forum. years. The two sides agreed that given their respective economic strengths, growing regional and global profile, Young Bangladeshi boy wins special India and Mexico will further work on strengthening their prize in Global Art Competition ‘Privileged Partnership’. conducted by ICCR 27 Oct' 20 The two sides discussed a number of issues and agreed to add new momentum to the relations in the fields of six year old Bangladeshi boy Anzar Mustaeen Ali Trade and Commerce, Agriculture, Health, Space, Science won a special prize of USD 1000 for his artwork in and Technology. They also underscored the global art competition organised by the Indian the importance of the Joint Commission A mechanism in deepening political dialogue, Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR). The ICCR had launched a global painting competition reviewing bilateral and multilateral co- named ‘United against CORONA- Express through Art’ operation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Summit RAISE 2020 - ‘Responsible AI for MICA DECEMBER 2020 28 Social Empowerment 2020. ECONOMY NEWS BITES Burning Topics of the Month

India hosts 19th Meeting Bangladesh GDP grew SBI raises USD 1 billion of SCO Ministers of at 2 percent in 2019-20 : untied loan with JBIC, Foreign Economy & World Bank. other lenders. Foreign Trade.

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SAIL supplies over 9000 tonnes of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan” for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. PFC has sanctioned the loan 02 Oct' 20 steel for 'Atal tunnel' to JKPCL for clearance of outstanding dues of CPSU, teel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), the largest GENCOs & TRANSCOs, IPPs and RE Generators as on steel producing Company in India, has supplied the 31st March 2020. Smajority portion of steel in the construction of the “PFC has signed/exchanged agreement for Liquidity Atal Rohtang Tunnel, which will be inaugurated by Prime Infusion Scheme under “Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan” Minister Narendra Modi. SAIL has supplied more than for UT of J&K. PFC has sanctioned Rs2790 cr to JKPCL 9000 Tonnes of its quality steel, out of the 15000 Tonnes of for clearance of outstanding dues of CPSU, GENCOs & steel used in the entire project. The tunnel is set to become TRANSCOs, IPPs and RE Generators as on 31.3.20,” the the world’s longest road tunnel at an altitude of above Power Finance Corp. said in a tweet. 3,000 metres. The Company has once again partnered in The exchange agreement was signed in the presence of Rohit building a vital infrastructure for the Nation and making Kansal, Principal Secretary, PDD (Power Development India stronger. Department) along with senior officers from JKPDD, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Steel KPDCL (Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited), Dharmendra Pradhan complimented SAIL and said, “This JPDCL (Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited), tunnel will be of great significance to the locals as well as PFC & REC (Rural Electrification Corporation Limited). for strategic movements. It will boost connectivity of the The Jammu and Kashmir administration had recently said Spiti Valley. This is an achievement considering the very that it would liquidate the liabilities, including interests in challenging conditions of the construction the power sector, by raising over Rs 11,000 crore under the site and weather. SAIL has supplied a large Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. quantity of steel for this project. It has The decision was taken at the meeting of always come forward and supplied steel for Jammu and Kashmir Power Corporation national requirement and in future also will Ltd’s board of directors (JKPCL) on continue to do so”. September 30. PFC and JKPCL signs agreement for Cabinet approves major reforms in Liquidity Infusion for Jammu and Natural Gas Marketing to push its Kashmir UT 06 Oct' 20 usage in country 07 Oct' 20 entral Government-run Power Finance Corporation he Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Prime (PFC) has disbursed Rs 2,790 crore to Jammu & Minister, approved the reforms to push the usage CKashmir State Power Development Corporation of Natural Gas. Briefing the media in New Delhi, Limited (JKPCL) as part of the liquidity infusion scheme T Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced by the Centre in May. told that the government will initiate standardised e-bidding The PFC has signed an agreement for Liquidity for bringing transparency in the price of Natural Gas in the Infusion Scheme under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s country. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Government of India DECEMBER 2020 MICA inaugurated Phoolbagan Metro station of East-West Metro. 29 NEWS BITES ECONOMY Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed that the Bangladesh GDP grew at 2 percent in Cabinet has also given its approval for the revised estimate cost for East West Corridor of the Kolkata 2019-20: World Bank 08 Oct' 20 Metro Rail Project. n a sharp downward revision of its own estimates, Mr Goyal told that the project, with an estimated cost the World Bank says that the Bangladesh economy is of nearly 8 thousand 575 crore rupees, will be open estimated to have grown at 2 percent in the financial for the public by December 2021. According to him I year 2019-20. The forecast reflects a sharp downward the total Route length of the East-West Metro Corridor revision of 5.2 percent from the forecast made in October in Kolkata will be 16.6 kilometre and will have 12 2019. According to the latest South Asia Economic Focus stations. of the World Bank released, the real GDP of Bangladesh According to him that the project will ease traffic congestion, at constant prices is forecast to grow at 1.6 percent in the enhance urban connectivity and provide cleaner mobility year 2020-21 before rebounding to 3.4 percent for the year solution to lakhs of daily commuters in 2021-22. Kolkata. The cabinet also gave its approval Mercy Tembon, World Bank Country Director for for signing a Memorandum of Cooperation Bangladesh and Bhutan however, appreciated the policies (MoC) in the field of cyber-security between that the government has undertaken to mitigate the impacts India and Japan. of COVID 19 on the economy, said the WB Press release. Trade & economy one of the most The World Bank report forecasts a sharper than expected important pillars of India- EU economic slump across the South Asia region with regional growth rate expected to contract by 7.7 percent in 2020. partnership: Piyush Goyal 08 Oct' 20 Contrasting with the previous downturns, the report noted n i o n that this time private consumption which is the backbone Minister of of demand in South Asia and a core of economic welfare, R a i l w a y s will decline by more that 10 percent further adding to the U poverty rates. and Commerce & Industry Piyush According to the report the COVID 19 crisis has been worst Goyal has told that for small business and informal workers who suffered trade and economy sudden job losses. It says that three quarters of all workers are one of the most in South Asia depend on informal employment which important pillars of has been most affected by the COVID 19 containment India- European Union (EU) partnership. measures. Addressing the Diplomatic & Industry Leadership The World Bank told that it will be deploying up to dollar Session on EU-India Collaborative Economic Growth, 160 billion in financial support over 15 According to him India is also hopeful of working months to help more than 100 countries with EU towards a Free Trade Agreement for which he protect the poor and vulnerable, develop suggested a Preferential Trade Agreement may be inked human capital, support businesses, and in a near future. bolster economic recovery. It includes Mr. Goyal told that under the able guidance of Prime dollar 50 billion of new IDA resources. Minister Narendra Modi, India and EU have furthered their relationship across the European Union. According to him BMRCL inks MoUs with corporate both India and European Union are natural partners who companies to develop upcoming metro are willing to engage as responsible global citizens in order stations under CSR funds 09 Oct' 20 to address pressing global challenges. The Minister emphasised on strengthening a 3-R approach angalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited has of Re-energise, Re-invent and Re-orient in signed MoUs with the corporate companies to order to embolden the mutual relationship. Bdevelop upcoming metro stations under their CSR According to him removing barriers to funds. trade between Europe and India is essential The proposed metro line between Electronic city and to move forward Bangalore International airport will now get CSR funds

Scientists at S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences find new “BreathPrint” for MICA DECEMBER 2020 30 detecting ulcer-causing gastric pathogen. ECONOMY for the development and maintenance of metro stations. GOI and ADB inks 177 million dollar Infosys foundation has come forward to pay Rs. 200 crore for the construction of Konappana Agrahara metro loan pact to upgrade 450 kms of station near the Electronic city. Biocon Foundation will state highways & major district roads be funding Rs. 65 crore for the construction of Hebbagodi in Maharashtra 19 Oct' 20 Metro station. A realtor Embassy Group has signed a MoU for the sian Development Bank, ADB and Government of construction of Bettahalasuru Metro station with a funding India signed a 177-million dollar loan to upgrade of Rs. 140 crore. A450 kilometres of state highways and major district The Managing Director of Bangalore roads in Maharashtra. Metro Rail Service, Ajay Seth has The signatories to the Maharashtra State Road welcomed private participation in the Improvement Project were Additional Secretary (Fund development of metro stations and has Bank and ADB) in Department of Economic Affairs in told that they are committed to add 128 the Ministry of Finance Sameer Kumar Khare on behalf km of new metro network in the coming of Government of India and Country Director of ADB’s five years in the city. India Resident Mission Kenichi Yokoyama, on behalf of ADB. 14 investors sign MoUs with Tamil Nadu Govt to invest over Rs 10,055 Cr in After signing the loan agreement, Mr Khare said, the project will improve connectivity between rural areas various industrial projects 12 Oct' 20 and urban centres in the state enabling rural communities to better access markets, employment opportunities and n Tamil Nadu, services. 14 investors Ihave signed According to him, improved mobility will expand MoUs with the state development and livelihood opportunities outside of the government to invest state’s major urban centres to second-tier cities and towns over 10,055 crore thus reducing income disparities. rupees in various Mr. Yokoyama told that the project will also strengthen industrial projects. road safety measures by developing a road safety audit The MoUs were framework that will protect vulnerable groups such as the inked in the presence of the state Chief Minister Edappadi elderly, women and children, following the international Palaniswamy in Chennai. best practice. A release from the state government says the investments would generate over seven thousand direct According to him, another feature of the project is to road jobs and many more indirect jobs. It says 42 MoUs maintenance system by encouraging 5-year performance- have been signed since last January worth over 31464 based maintenance obligations to contractors to sustain crore rupees. asset quality and service levels. Notable among the investment proposals include Overall the project will upgrade two major district the JSW Renewable Energy Ltd.’s plans to generate roads and 11 state highways, with combined length renewable energy in Thoothukudi, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, of 450 km, to two-lane standard across seven districts Ramanadhapuram and Tirupur districts. of Maharashtra and improve connectivity to national The Apollo Tyres has signed the agreement for expanding highways, interstate roads, seaports, airports, rail hubs, its operations at Oragadam in Kanchipuram district. The district headquarters, industrial areas, enterprise clusters Hiranandani group establishes an industrial logistics park and agricultural areas. at Oragadam. The project will also focus on training the Maharashtra The Spanish IT firm Mantra Data Centre Public Works Department project staff established its Data Centre near Chennai. to build their capacity in climate change Aosheng Hitech Ltd has signed the adaptation and disaster resilient features agreement for launching a carbon fibre in road design, road maintenance planning plates manufacturing unit. and road safety.

Minister for Development of North Eastern Region, DoNER, Dr Jitendra Singh released a DECEMBER 2020 MICA Coffee Table Book on Discovering the Heritage of Assam. 31 NEWS BITES ECONOMY MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari launches aftermath of the pandemic. In the meeting four documents were adopted. They include statement on the response to India’s first-ever high quality Khadi Covid-19 which reinforces the need for greater cooperation Fabric Footwear 21 Oct' 20 for access to medicines and facilitation of trade and statement on the Multilateral Trading System of Ministers inister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises- of SCO Countries who are WTO Members. This statement MSME, Nitin Gadkari launched India’s first-ever highlights the importance of the rule-based multilateral Mhigh quality Khadi Fabric Footwear, designed by negotiations. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) through Besides, statement on SCO Cooperation on Intellectual Video Conference. Property Rights (IPR) was also adopted which relates to These footwear are made of Khadi fabric like Silk, Cotton cooperation of intellectual property and include sharing and Wool. On the occasion, Mr Gadkari also launched the information and experience on legislation and enforcement, online sale of Khadi footwear through KVIC’s e-portal cooperation in international organisations and other areas. www.khadiindia.gov.in. Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Hardeep Singh Mr Gadkari said, such unique products has high potential Puri also spoke on the occasion. The virtual of capturing the international market and at the same time, meeting was attended by the Secretary Khadi fabric footwear will create additional employment General of SCO and Ministers from, and higher income for artisans. Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, According to him, Khadi footwear is a unique product and Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. they are cost effective. Mr Gadkari also urged the KVIC to develop alternatives to leather accessories like ladies’ SBI raises USD 1 billion untied loan handbags, purses, wallet in handcrafted Khadi fabric that with JBIC, other lenders 29 Oct' 20 has a huge potential in foreign markets. According to him, by developing and marketing such he State products overseas, Khadi India can capture a market worth Bank of India Rs. 5000 crore. Tsigned a loan agreement amounting Minister of State for MSME, Pratap Chandra Sarong said to up to one billion the Khadi fabric footwear is not only environment-friendly US Dollars with and skin-friendly but it reflects the hard work of Khadi the Japan Bank artisans put in to make fabric for these for International footwear. The footwear have been launched Cooperation, a in 15 designs for ladies and 10 designs for company statement said in Mumbai. The loan is intended men and their prices are in the range of Rs. to promote the smooth flow of funds for the whole range of 1100 to Rs. 3300 per pair. business operations of Japanese automobile manufacturers India hosts 19th Meeting of SCO in India. Ministers of Foreign Economy & As part of the agreement, 600 million US Dollars will be financed by JBIC while the remaining amount will be Foreign Trade 28 Oct' 20 financed by other participating banks. The facility will be co-financed by SMBC, MUFG Bank, Mizuho Bank, ndia hosted the 19th Meeting of the Shanghai Shizuoka Bank and Bank of Yokahama. Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Ministers of Foreign Economy and Foreign Trade. On the occasion of signing the agreement, Deputy I Managing Director (IBG) of SBI C. Venkat Nageswar In his opening remarks, Minister of Commerce and Industry told that the friendship between India and Japan has a Piyush Goyal told that the current crisis due to Covid-19 is long history, rooted in spiritual affinity and strong cultural a clarion call to the SCO countries to leverage the economic and civilizational ties. It is a historic strength and explore partnerships that enhance trade and occasion for both SBI and JBIC, as they investment in the region. are entering into an untied loan for the According to him cooperation should be continued to first time. This will assist in achieving our enhance intra-SCO trade and investment which would Prime Minister's vision of making India be critical in ensuring the speedy recovery from the Atmanirbhar.

Indian Olympic quota winner Yashaswini Singh Deswal won the 10m air pistol event in the MICA DECEMBER 2020 32 5th edition of the International Online Shooting Championship (IOSC). SPORTS NEWS BITES Burning Topics of the Month

Lewis Hamilton takes 91st Rajasthan Royals to launch BCCI announces team for win to equal Schumacher's cricket academy in UAE. Australia tour. F1 record.

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Indian Premier League: Rajasthan Swiatek wins French Open, becomes Royals to launch cricket academy in first Pole to win Grand Slam singles UAE 06 Oct' 20 title 10 Oct' 20 he Indian ecuring a Premier League first Grand Tf r a n c h i s e SSlam title is Rajasthan Royals supposed to be an announced that they arduous task but would be launching a 19-year-old Iga cricket academy in the Swiatek crowned UAE on October 12. an extraordinary This will be their first fortnight to win the academy in the Middle East and their second academy, French Open in a blaze of winners, crushing Sofia Kenin worldwide. With this, the franchise has also become the 6-4, 6-1. first team in the IPL to establish operations in the UAE. Swiatek, who had dropped only 23 games en route to the According to a press release, the team’s UAE academy final, produced another audacious display as she became is being operated in partnership with UAE-based sports the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam singles title. consulting firm RedBear Sports. It is aimed at establishing Only briefly in the first set did Swiatek show any weakness, a global presence of the franchise as a cricketing brand and letting slip a 3-0 lead, but having edged a tightly-contested promoting the sport around the world opening set she romped to victory, although fourth seed Girls and boys aged 6-19 will be able to access world-class Kenin's challenge appeared to be hampered by a thigh coaching, with participants having the option of choosing injury. between one to one sessions, team sessions, or group sessions, Australian Open champion Kenin, herself only 21, needed the release added. All the sessions will take place under the treatment at 1-2 in the second set and on the resumption guidance of Academy Director and former Zimbabwe captain, Swiatek was utterly ruthless, conceding only three more Graeme Cremer and his highly qualified coaching team. The points, sealing the title with an unstoppable forehand, her Sevens Stadium facility is known for hosting the Emirates 25th winner. Airline Rugby 7s alongside its world-class cricket facilities. The venue boasts of three world-class ovals, two of which Unseeded Swiatek, who was ranked 54th at the start of the are floodlit, 6 floodlit turf nets and fully equipped changing tournament, is the youngest woman to win the French Open rooms of the highest standards, suitable for participants since Monica Seles in 1992 and the first to do so without of all ages. The facilities have been frequently used by dropping a set during the fortnight since Justine Henin in travelling county and international teams. 2007. Most recently, the facilities were used by After claiming victory she made her way the IPL teams, including Rajasthan Royals into the stands to celebrate with her family during their preparation for the ongoing including former Olympic rower father tournament. Tomasz and her coach Piotr Sierzputowski.

Software industry major Dassault Systemes has established a research centre in collaboration DECEMBER 2020 MICA with Shiv Nadar University in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida. 33 NEWS BITES SPORTS Lewis Hamilton takes 91st win to equal front of a drastically reduced audience because of the pandemic at a rescheduled grand slam under a new roof at Court Philippe Schumacher's F1 record 11 Oct' 20 Chatrier – yet it was a final of rolling contradictions, too. ewis Hamilton How to explain a first set in which the two best players in the e q u a l l e d men’s game traded shots of mind-numbing quality for 45 M i c h a e l minutes, yet Nadal inflicted a rare bagel on the world No 1? L At many stages in this compelling struggle the scoreboard S c h u m a c h e r ' s all-time record seemed at odds with what was happening on court. There 91 Formula One was almost equal carnage in the second set before Djokovic wins with an Eifel launched the inevitable fight back in the third to lend the Grand Prix victory occasion a garland of respectability it deserved. But there that catapulted the was no denying the incomparable Spaniard, who struck his Mercedes driver closer to a seventh world championship. fourth ace for a merciful release from the agony. While the Briton triumphed at the Nuerburgring, the He declined to celebrate drawing alongside Federer, intent German circuit where Ferrari great Schumacher won five instead on embracing the moment as his times, teammate Valtteri Bottas suffered a huge hit to his national anthem filled the near-empty title hopes with a first retirement of the season. Red Bull's stadium. Djokovic was not so reluctant: Max Versteppen finished second, and took a bonus point “Today you showed why you are king of the for fastest lap, with Daniel Ricciardo third for Renault in clay,” he said to his humble friend. his first podium since 2018 when he was at Red Bull. BCCI announces team for Australia The Australian celebrated with a private champagne 'shoey' while pondering what kind of tattoo to inflict on team boss tour 26 Oct' 20 Cyril Abiteboul. To make up for it, he posted a video on he Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) Instagram of the forgotten deed. Ricciardo, who is joining announced the 32-member Indian squad for the tour McLaren at the end of the season, said the podium felt like of Australia evening. As expected, the BCCI backed his first with Red Bull in 2014 all over again. T Virat Kohli to lead the team in the two-month-long tour. Mick Schumacher, the Formula Two leader who could be Varun Chakraborty is the fresh face in the side, he has been racing against Hamilton next season, presented Hamilton with picked for the T20Is, thanks to his great show in the Indian one of Michael Schumacher's red helmets from his second stint Premier League. Rohit Sharma has not been picked for the in F1 with Mercedes. Hamilton, celebrating his seventh win of Tests. T20Is and ODIs. Thanks to his good run of form, the season, is now 69 points clear of Bottas in Dhawan has been picked for ODIs. Sanju Samson finds a the standings with six rounds remaining. He place in the T20I squad, while Rishabh Pant misses out in the said he only realised the significance of what limited overs format. KL Rahul has been backed for the ODI he had done when he came into the pitlane side. Wriddhiman Saha will be wicketkeeping in the Tests after taking the chequered flag. and Rishabh Pant would be the extra keeper. Rafael Nadal win his 13th French T20I squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Shikhar, Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul (vc & wk), Shreyas , Manish, Hardik Pandya, Open 12 Oct' 20 Sanju Samson (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, o v a k Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep D j o k o v i c Saini, Deepak Chahar, Varun Chakravarthy ODI squad: Virat drove Rafael Kohli (Capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vc N & wk), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Nadal to almost unprecedented heights Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, of excellence but was Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur powerless to stop his Test squad: Virat Kohli (Capt), Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi old rival winning his Shaw, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar, Ajinkya(vc), 13th French Open and Hanuma Vihari, Shubman Gill, Saha (wk), the 20th major he needed to match the record of their absent Rishabh Pant (wk), Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, friend, Roger Federer. Nadal’s 100th win at Roland Garros was Umesh Yadav, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Yadav, almost flawless – 6-0, 6-1, 7-5 in two hours and 41 minutes in Ravindra Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Mohd. Siraj.

34 MICA DECEMBER 2020 Bollywood Actress Mishti Mukherjee, who worked in films and music videos, died. SCIENCE NEWS BITES Burning Topics of the Month

Nokia picked by NASA to Orionids Meteor shower Mars will be closest to the build first cellular network formed by Halley’s comet Earth in October. on the Moon. will be at its peak.

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NASA launches SS Kalpana Chawla Scientists once again discover signs Cygnus spacecraft to International of water in the lakes of planet Mars Space station 03 Oct' 20 06 Oct' 20 o r t h r o p cientists discover liquid water in the lakes of Grumman’s Mars; allusions to the existence of life and habitat. NC y g n u s SAccording to a research article published in the vehicle, the S.S. journal Nature astronomy, recently, scientists discovered Kalpana Chawla, has three other groundwater lakes in the south pole of the Red arrived at the ISS Planet. Besides the main lake, smaller surrounding lakes following launch or have also been discovered. This after the discovery of the its Antares rocket for same lake of this type came into being in 2018, which the NG-14 mission. extended over a wide area of ​​20 km2 and was 1.5 km below The flight delivered thousands of kilograms/pounds of the Martian surface. equipment, crew supplies, and science to the orbital outpost. At present, the water that has been found in the lakes is Liftoff occurred 2 October at 21:16 EDT (3 October at expected to be extremely salty, resulting in dangerous 01:16 UTC) from Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional uncertainty for any potential life form. Spaceport in Virginia, ahead of arrival at the ISS. According to the information cited on BBC, Italian First and foremost, NG-14 was tasked with delivering a researchers have claimed that these newly discovered host of pressurized cargo including science experiments, lakes resemble the extent of habitat presence in the crew supplies, general maintenance equipment, and past. They further deduced that; Previously, Mars may personal items to the Station. have had a warmer climate, but then it went through A portion of the vehicle hardware includes fans, batteries, a climate catastrophe before turning to frozen waste. and consumables for Russia’s Zarya module as well as With great skepticism, they concluded that in the a new upgraded pane to provide improved viewing and midst of climate transformation, there could have optics for the crew when using the cupola observatory. been some life form that could have existed on the Martian surface. Outside of the vehicle, a single unpressurized cargo element known as SharkSat is also flying on this mission. The team of scientists used the European Space Agency’s “ According to Northrop Grumman, the SharkSat will test Mars Express spacecraft ”, equipped with a radar instrument emerging technologies with potential uses in 5G cellular called MARSIS – Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface networks. and Ionosphere Sounding, to conduct their probe over the South Polar region of the planet. Eventually, MARSIS The Cygnus spacecraft is made up of a Pressurized Cargo sends a signal to the surface of the planet Module built by Thales Alenia Space and is reflected which is then intercepted in Turin, Italy, and a Service Module indicating the composition of the surface consisting of the two solar arrays, navigation originally such as ice, rock and water, as in equipment, and propulsion elements built the journal “Nature”. by Northrop Grumman in Dulles, Virginia. Senior Congress leader and former Legislative Council member (MLC) Naseeb Pathan DECEMBER 2020 MICA died. He was 68. 35 NEWS BITES SCIENCE Mars will be closest to the Earth in The idea is to provide the kind October 10 Oct' 20 of technology that ars will now be closer to Earth this October than makes it possible it will be in the next 15 years. So, depending on to remotely control the weather conditions, simply go out and watch lunar rovers, or allow M real-time navigation the sky at midnight and you'll be able to see the red planet. and streaming of Mars will be closest to Earth, starting from October 6. The high definition video, two planets will not be this close again for the next 15 Nokia said. The solution has been specially designed to years, or until September 2035, Earthsky reported. withstand the harsh conditions of the launch and lunar According to the National Aeronautics and Space landing, and to operate in the extreme conditions of space, Administration (Nasa), this is the time when Mars' orbit it said. The company said the technology its using — the lies "at about 38.6 million miles (62.07 million kilometers) precursor to 5G — is ideally suited for providing the kind from our planet". of wireless connection that astronauts need. Mars will still be visible through October, but will become Nokia is working with Intuitive Machines fainter as Mars and Earth travel farther away from each to integrate the network into a lunar lander other in their orbits around the Sun. and deliver it to the surface of the moon, One can watch Mars from Earth using a pair of binoculars where it will self-configure, it said. and even a cell phone with quality camera on it. Here are some skywatching tips from Nasa. IIT Kharagpur's low-cost coronavirus Mars Close Approach is when the red planet and Earth testing method COVIRAP gets ICMR come nearest to each other in their orbits around the sun. assent 21 Oct' 20 "The minimum distance from Earth to Mars is about 33.9 million miles (54.6 million kilometers). However, that new coronavirus diagnostic method, using a low- doesn't happen very often," Nasa said. cost portable unit developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, "When Mars and Earth are close to each other, Mars appears A has been approved by the Indian Council of Medical very bright in our sky. It also makes it easier to see with Research (ICMR) after testing with patient samples showed telescopes or the naked eye. The Red Planet comes close an accuracy level slightly lower than the gold standard RT- enough for exceptional viewing only once or twice every PCR method at a fraction of the cost. 15 or 17 years," the space agency said. The machine cost less than `5,000 to make and the test kits The next Mars Close Approach is staled in would each cost about `500, IIT-Kharagpur researchers December 2022, when the red planet will told journalists on Wednesday. Once the viral RNA was be only 38.6 million miles (62.07 million extracted, the testing process took about one hour. The kilometers) from Earth, Nasa said. IIT was in discussion with commercial manufacturers Nokia picked by NASA to build first and start-ups, and hoped that the government would also cellular network on the Moon subsidise the cost of test kits, they said. In parallel testing with 200 samples containing a wide range 20 Oct' 20 of viral loads, IIT-Kharagpur’s COVIRAP method correctly okia Oyj has been chosen by NASA to build the detected 108 out of the 115 positive samples identified by an first ever cellular network on the moon. RT-PCR machine, and 83 out of 85 negative samples, meaning that it has a 94% sensitivity and 98% specificity in comparison NThe Finnish telecommunications firm said that the to RT-PCR. Unlike the RT-PCR machine, which could cost partnership will create a path toward sustainable human up to `25 lakh, and needed to be operated by a molecular presence on the lunar surface, and will result in the first biologist, the COVIRAP machine cost the IIT researchers only LTE/4G communications system in space. `5,000 to make and could be manufactured at Nokia’s Bell Labs unit is planning to build what it describes even lower cost if economies of scale were as an ultra-compact, low-power, space-hardened, end-to- applied by commercial manufacturers, said end LTE solution that will be available on the moon by lead researcher and IIT professor Suman late 2022. Chakraborty.

Supersonic Missile Assisted Release of Torpedo (SMART) has been successfully flight MICA DECEMBER 2020 36 tested from Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. SCIENCE Scientists discover new organ in its peak while providing scintillating manifestation of a continuous flurry of meteors. the human throat while studying Further, these glaring streaks will be available to people prostrate cancer 22 Oct' 20 from the Earth from now onwards till early November. In the hindsight, the causal reason behind such occurrence cientists in the is that the Earth will be passing through that phase of its Netherlands orbit which is surrounded with thickest parts of clouds h a v e S and debris that were left by Halley’s comet when it hurtled discovered a new past the Earth decades ago. Every year Earth’s orbits take organ, a set of the planet to that debris field where generally, during mid- salivary glands set October such occurrences take place. In addition, Earth deep in the upper also whizz past another debris field during the month part of the throat, of May which leads to the phenomenon of ‘Eta Aquarid Livescience reported. Meteor Shower’. The "accidental" discovery was made when researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute were using a combination In fact, as per NASA, the Orionid meteor shower of CT scans and positron emission tomography (PET) comprises of meteors that rush past into scans called PSMA PET-CT to study prostate cancer. Earth’s atmosphere at an extremely high- speed of 148,000 mph or 66 km/s while The study, published in the journal Radiotherapy and some of them move so fast that they burst Oncology, confirmed the presence of the glands after into fireballs creating streaks of light in the examining at least 100 patients. sky. Study co-author and Netherlands Cancer Institute radiation oncologist Wouter Vogel said that the discovery may be Martian atmosphere depleting at important for cancer treatment. Until now, this nasopharynx much faster pace than Earth, suggests region - behind the nose - was not thought to host anything but microscopic, diffuse, salivary glands, but, the newly ISRO study 24 Oct' 20 discovered set are about 1.5 inches (3.9 centimetres) in length on average. ndian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has claimed some startling revelations relating to the planet Because of their location over a piece of cartilage called subsequent door. In its newly concluded inferences, the torus tubarius, the discoverers of these new glands I ISRO has mentioned that Mars is seemingly shedding its have dubbed them the tubarial salivary glands. The glands ambiance at a lot fast tempo as in comparison with the probably lubricate and moisten the upper throat behind the Earth. Additional, it additionally cited the explanation nose and mouth, Livescience reported the researchers in behind the speed-up of mud storms in latest instances on the journal Radiotherapy and Oncology as saying. the Pink planet. The discovery was accidental. Researchers In line with the research printed within the Journal of at the Netherlands Cancer Institute were Geophysical Analysis-Planets, ISRO has noticed the using a combination of CT scans and extreme heating-up of the higher layer of Mars’ ambiance positron emission tomography (PET) scans as a consequence of much-prevalent mud storms, by means called PSMA PET-CT to study prostate of its Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) which is protecting cancer. surveillance on Mars’ ambiance. Along with it, such Orionids Meteor shower formed by findings have additionally been, earlier, corroborated by NASA’s Mars Environment and Unstable Evolution Halley’s comet will be at its peak this Mission (MAVEN). week 23 Oct' 20 Each these missions pertaining to probe on the Martian pace is indeed an exhilarating and amusing sight to ambiance have penetrated 155 Kms. deep into Mars’s witness which is filled with unusual yet astounding ambiance the place MOM is in the phenomenon and happenings every then and now. direction of the night facet, MAVEN is on S the morning facet of the planet. MOM has One such astronomical phenomenon which is happening over the course of this week is Orionid Meteor Shower. began observing the whipping up of such As per various astronomers, this meteor shower will be at mud storms since June 2018.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal through a video link inaugurated the renaming of Naugarh DECEMBER 2020 MICA 37 railway station to Siddharthnagar railway station. NEWS BITES MISCELLANEOUS Burning Topics of the Month

Union Education Minister Newly identified tectonically Prime Minister participated launched KAPILA Kalam active zone in the in the Ekta Diwas Program. Himalayas. Celebrations at Kevadia.

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PM released the autobiography of Union Education Minister launched Dr Balasaheb Vikhe Patil titled Deh KAPILA Kalam Program 15 Oct' 20 Vechwa Karani 13 Oct' 20 nion Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal rime Minister 'Nishank' virtually launched the 'KAPILA' Shri Narendra UKalam Program for Intellectual Property Modi released Literacy and Awareness campaign on the 89th birth P anniversary of former President and Scientist Late Dr. the autobiography of Dr. Balasaheb Vikhe APJ Abdul Kalam. Minister of State for Education Shri Patil titled ‘Deh Sanjay Dhotre also graced the occasion. Secretary, Vechwa Karani’ Higher Education, Shri Amit Khare; Chairman of All through video India Council for Technical Education, Professor Anil conferencing. He Sahasrabuddhe, Vice-Chairman Dr. M.P. Poonia, and renamed Pravara Rural Education Society as ‘Loknete Member Secretary, Dr. Rajive Kumar were also present Dr. Balasaheb Vikhe Patil Pravara Rural Education at the event. Society’. Speaking on the occasion the Minister said that it is necessary Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said one not only to invent for the self-sufficiency of the country, will find stories of Vikhe Patil’s life in every region of but also to patent the inventions. Patent of inventions will Maharashtra. lead India towards Self-Reliance, he said. India has a proud He said Balasaheb Vikhe Patil followed the footsteps history of Nalanda and Takshila Universities so we already of Dr. Vitthalrao Vikhe Patil and dedicated himself had the intellectual property inherited within our culture. to the development of Maharashtra. He added easing India has to again lead the world as Vishwaguru in the the lives of the villagers, the poor, the farmers and field of patents, he added. On 'National Innovation Day', reducing their sufferings have been the core of Vikhe this important initiative has been taken towards making Patil's life. India self-reliant, he said. Under this campaign, students pursuing education in higher educational institutions will The Prime Minister said Vikhe Patil ji always worked for get information about the correct system of application the betterment of society and always stressed on making process for patenting their invention and they will be aware politics a medium for bringing meaningful changes in the of their rights. He further said that we need to take a giant society, and for solving the problems of the poor and the leap in the field of patents. villages. He said this approach of Balasaheb Vikhe Patil set him apart from the others. The Institution Innovation Council (IIC 2.0) annual report was also presented on the occasion and the launch of He said the autobiography of Balasaheb Vikhe Patil is IIC 3.0 was announced. It has also been very important for all of us, as his efforts decided to celebrate the week of October & contribution for the development of the 15th to 23rd as 'Intellectual Property village, for the poor, for their education, for Literacy Week'. The IIC 3.0 website was the success of cooperatives in Maharashtra also launched. will inspire generations to come.

38 MICA DECEMBER 2020 The 12th BRICS Summit will be held on 17th November 2020 via video conference. MISCELLANEOUS India ranks 94 out of 107 nations on the has been neo-tectonically active since the last 78000 -- 58000 years and a recent Global Hunger Index 2020 17 Oct' 20 earthquake in 2010 of low magnitude 4.0 ndia ranked 94 among 107 countries in the Global Hunger near the village of Upshi that occurred due Index 2020 and is in the ‘serious’ hunger category with a to a thrust rupture. Iscore of 27.2, according to report released on Friday. India’s Prime Minister to participate in the rank was 102 out of 117 countries last year. In the index, India features behind Nepal (73), Pakistan (88), Bangladesh (75), Ekta Diwas Celebrations at Kevadia Indonesia (70) among others. Out of the total 107 countries, 28 Oct' 20 only 13 countries fare worse than India including countries like Rwanda (97), Nigeria (98), Afghanistan (99), Liberia o commemorate 145th birth anniversary of Sardar (102), Mozambique (103), Chad (107) among others. Patel on 31 October 2020 as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will visit Seventeen nations, including China, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, T Kevadia in Gujarat to pay homage to the great leader at Cuba and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI scores of less the Statue of Unity. The Prime Minister will participate at than five, the website of the Global Hunger Index, that tracks the Ekta Diwas Parade and administer the Rashtriya Ekta hunger and malnutrition, said. The under-five mortality rate Pledge. stood at 3.7 per cent. According to the report, 14 per cent of India’s population is undernourished. It also Police forces of Gujarat State and Central Reserve Armed says that the country recorded a child stunting Force, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, rate of 37.4 per cent. Stunted children are Central Industrial Security Forces and National Security those who have a “low height for their age, Guards will participate in the Parade. The Prime Minister reflecting chronic undernutrition”. will also witness a Rifle drill by female officers of CRPF. As part of Ekta Diwas celebrations a cultural show of tribal Newly identified tectonically active heritage is also being organized at Kevadia. To mark the zone in the Himalayas 26 Oct' 20 solemn occasion, Indian Air Force will perform a Fly-past. Thereafter, the Prime Minister will interact with and address he suture zone of the Himalayas or the Indus Suture 428 Officer Trainees belonging to various Civil Services Zone (ISZ) in the Ladakh region where Indian currently undergoing the 95th Foundation Course at Lal Tand Asian Plates are joined has been found to be Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, tectonically active, as against current understanding that it Mussoorie through videoconference as a culmination of is a locked zone. Aarambh 2020. A group of Scientists from Wadia Institute of Himalayan The theme of Aarambh 2020 is “Governance in India @ Geology (WIHG), Dehradun, an autonomous institute 100” with three subthemes- under the Department of Science and Technology, 1. Ek Bharat - Shresth Bharat: Cultural diversity and Government of India, have found through observations and synergy in India as an Influencer; Economic diversity detailed mapping of geological features that the suture zone and oneness as strength of Himalaya that was conventionally thought to be locked is tectonically active. They carried out the mapping of the 2. Atma Nirbhar Bharat: in Energy, Health and building remote regions of Ladakh that forms the most hinterland large systems for handling black swan events part of the Himalaya. The study was published recently in 3. Naveen Bharat: Research & Innovation in Education, the journal ‘Technophysics’. Industry and Administration. The geologists observed that sedimentary beds are tilted A special Volume of ‘Administrator’- a publication of and thrust broken, the rivers are associated with uplifted LBSNAA will be released during the program. terraces, and the bedrock shows brittle deformation that These include the flag-off of the Ekta Cruise Service to occurred at much shallower depths. These deformed the Statue of Unity, the inauguration of the Ekta Mall geological features were then dated in the laboratory at and Children Nutrition Park there. Shri Dehradun using a technique called Optically Stimulated Narendra Modi will also unveil the website Luminescence (OSL) (method for carrying Luminescence of Statue of Unity in all the UN official dating of geological sediments) and data of seismicity and languages and will launch the Kevadia denudation rate reviewed. The combination of field and lab App, at the Unity Glow Garden. data suggested the region of the Indus Suture Zone (ISZ) Veteran actor Vishal Anand, best known for featuring in the 1976 hit film "Chalte Chalte", DECEMBER 2020 MICA passed away. He was 82. 39 WHO'S WHO DESIGNATION WHO’S WHO S.No. DESIGNATION NAME 1. Chairman, Rajya Sabha Venkaiah Naidu 2. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla 3. Chairman of Niti Ayog Narendra D. Modi 4. Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad 5. Leader of House in Lok Sabha Narendra D. Modi 6. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha - 7. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora 8. Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, Sushil Chandra 9. Director General, ITBP S S Deshwal 10. Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari 11. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla 12. Comptroller & Auditor General of India G. C. Murmu 13. Director, Space Centre S. Somanath 14. Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India R. S Sharma 15. CBI Director Rishi Kumar Shukla 16. Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes Nand Kumar Sai 17. Chairperson, National Commission for Minorities Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi 18. Chairman, UPSC Pradeep Kumar Joshi 19. Director General, National Investigation Agency Y.C. Modi 20. Chairman, Space Commission and ISRO K. Sivan 21. Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Sec. Deptt. of Atomic Energy K. N. Vyas 22. Chairman, SSC Braj Raj Sharma 23. Chairman,National Human Rights Commission Justice H.L. Dattu 24. Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India Vivek Joshi 25. Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes Pramod Chandra Mody 26. Chairman, Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India Subash Chandra Khuntia 27. Chairman, Securities & Exchange Board of India Ajay Tyagi 28. Chairperson, State Bank of India Rajnish Kumar 29. India’s permanent representative in UNO T S Tirumurti 30. Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla 31. Chairperson of National Commission for Women Rekha Sharma 32. Chairman, 15th Finance Commission N. K. Singh 33. Chairman, Competition Commission of India Ashok Kumar Gupta 34. Chairperson,Central Board of Film Certification Prasoon Joshi 35. President, ASSOCHAM Niranjan Hiranandani 36. Chairman, NASSCOM UB Pravin Rao 37. Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat 38. Chief of Air Staff Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria 39. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh 40. Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane 41. Chief, RAW Samant Goel 42. Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre A.K. Mohanty 43. National Commission for Scheduled Castes Ram Shankar Katheria 44. President, FICCI Sangita Reddy 45. Chairman of 21st Law Commission Dr. Justice BS Chauhan 46. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval 47. Chairperson, Prasar Bharati Dr. A. Surya Prakash 48. DG of National Testing Agency Vineet Joshi 49. Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey 50. Chairman, Indian Banks Association Rajnish Kumar Data as on 9th November, 2020 Justice Anantkumar Surendraray Dave, a former judge and Acting Chief Justice of the Gujarat 40 MICA DECEMBER 2020 High Court has passed away. ETYMOLOGY WORD OF ENGLISH EDITORIAL WORD � raise � revamp

Sabotage � tweak

Pronunciation: Etymology

1: Verb The English word derives from the French word saboter, meaning to “bungle, botch, wreck or sabotage”, and Deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct (something), was originally used to refer to labour disputes, in which especially for political or military advantage. workers wearing wooden shoes called sabots interrupted Example: production through different means. A popular but incorrect account of the origin of the term's present "power lines from South Africa were sabotaged by rebel meaning is the story that poor workers in France would forces" throw a wooden sabot into the machines to disrupt 2: Noun production.

The action of damaging something. EXAMPLES:

Example: ## Drinking alcohol after a workout will sabotage your efforts. "Angry workers were responsible for the sabotage of the machines." ## He felt his girlfriend would sabotage his efforts to succeed, leading him to break off the relationship. SYNONYMS: ## His failure to refrigerate the food would sabotage the � � wreck deliberately damage party plans. � vandalize � destroy ## Though he had no intention to sabotage the event, his � obstruct � disrupt unexpected arrival made things fall apart. � cripple � impair ## The enemy agent used a bomb to sabotage the factory and halt production. � incapacitate � spoil # � ruin � undermine # The enemy spy came to sabotage their defense efforts. � filibuster � damage ## Slashing the tires is one of the easiest ways to sabotage a car. � threaten � subvert ## A poor foundation will effectively sabotage even the � muller best-built house.

ANTONYMS: ## He was paid to sabotage the server, planting a computer � better � ameliorate virus that would destroy the system.

� upgrade � refine ## Failing to listen is a surefire way to sabotage your intimate relationships. � enhance � boost

IT company IBM will set up a centre of excellence for artificial intelligence (AI) in India in DECEMBER 2020 MICA 41 partnership with Government e-Marketplace. Nobel Prize 2020

Physiology/Medicine hole refers to some extent in space where matter is so compressed on create a gravity field from which even The Nobel Prize has been awarded to American medical light cannot escape. Black-holes were theorized by Albert researchers and virologists Harvey J Alter and Charles Einstein in 1915. M Rice, and British scientist Michael Houghton for the invention of hepatitis C which was discovered in 1982 by Chemistry screening many DNA samples. of France and Jennifer A Doudna The discovery of hepatitis C virus revealed the explanation of the USA are awarded the 2020 for the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and made for developing CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors, one among possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved gene technology’s sharpest tools. It is for the primary time many lives. a Nobel science prize has gone to a women-only team. Hepatitis: The CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors are often wont to Hepatitis refers to an inflammatory condition of the liver. change the desoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of animals, It’s commonly caused by a virus infection, but there plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision. are other possible causes of hepatitis like autoimmune The CRISPR/Cas9 tool has already contributed to responses, medications, drugs, toxins, and alcohol. significant gains in crop resilience, altering their ordering There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, mentioned as types A, to raise withstand drought and pests. The technology has B, C, D, and E. World Hepatitis Day is observed annually contributed to new cancer therapies. on 28th July to reinforce awareness of hepatitis. Hepatitis CRISPR Technology C is caused by the hepatitis C Virus (HCV). The CRISPR (short for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Physics Short Palindromic Repeats) technology for gene-editing was first developed in 2012. It makes gene sequencing very The for the year 2020 was awarded to easy, simple and very efficient providing nearly endless 3 astrophysicists Roger Penrose from the united kingdom, possibilities. Reinhard Genzel from Germany, and Andrea Ghez from the USA. Roger Penrose received half this year’s prize Editing, or modifying, gene sequences isn't new and has for the invention that a region formation may be a robust been happening for several decades now, particularly within prediction of the overall theory of relativity. the field of agriculture, where several crops are genetically modified to provide particular traits. The technology The theory explains gravity, as objects try to follow a replicates a natural defense mechanism in Streptococcus straight line through a universe whose geometry is warped pyogenes that use an identical method to guard itself from by matter and energy. As a result, planets, also as light virus attacks. beams, follow curving paths. Genzel and Ghez received the last half of the prize for the invention of a supermassive A DNA strand, when broken, features a natural tendency to region at the centre of the Milkyway galaxy, now known to repair itself but the auto-repair mechanism can cause the re- be the Sagittarius A*. growth of a problematic sequence. Scientists intervene during this auto-repair process by supplying the required sequence of It has a mass four million times that of the Sun and is genetic codes, which replaces the primary sequence. confined to an area roughly the size of our Solar System. Black Hole Peace The term ‘black hole’ was coined within the mid-1960s The 2020 has been awarded to the earth by American Physicist John Archibald Wheeler. Black Food Programme (WFP), a United Nations (UN) agency,

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli became the first Indian player to MICA DECEMBER 2020 42 score 9,000 runs in T20 cricket. for its efforts to combat hunger, bettering conditions for Auction Theory peace in conflict-affected areas and preventing the use of Auction theory studies how auctions are designed, what hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. The WPF is that rules govern them, how bidders behave and what outcomes the UN’s primary agency that works upon Eradicating are achieved. Auctions are important to economists because Hunger which is one the UN’s Sustainable Development they're the foremost widely used and also the foremost Goals. efficient mechanism to allocate scarce resources. The WFP provided assistance to shut to 100 million The allocation of scarce resources, in turn, matters to people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food economists because there's a limited supply of resources on insecurity and hunger. It has been working in India since earth in comparison to unlimited human needs, and hence 1963 where it has focused upon reforms in the Targeted they have to be allocated only to the foremost urgent needs Public Distribution System (TPDS) and provided policy of society. inputs, advocacy and technical assistance for improving access to food. Literature The WFP has proposed unique initiatives like Automatic The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020 has been awarded to Grain Dispensing Machine (Annapurti) and Mobile Storage the USA poet Louise Glück "for her unmistakable poetic Units for the effective implementation of TPDS. voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence World Food Programme universal." Her poetry focuses on the painful reality of being human, handling themes like death, childhood, It was established in 1961 by the Food and Agriculture and family life. She is that the fourth woman to win the Organisation (FAO) and the United Nations General prize for literature since 2010, and only the 16th since Assembly (UNGA) and became a full-fledged UN the Nobel prizes were first awarded in 1901. The Nobel programme in 1965. It is headquartered in Rome, Italy. Prize comes with a medal and a prize sum of 10 million Economic Sciences Swedish kronor. American economists, Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson Year Indian citizens Field are awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, 2020 for his or her work on commercial auctions. 1913 Rabindranath Tagore Literature The award is popularly but incorrectly referred to as Nobel 1930 C. V. Raman Physics Prize in Economic Sciences, (as it's not one among the five 1979 Mother Teresa Peace Nobel prizes that Nobel established in his will in 1895, it's 1998 Amartya Sen Economics not a Nobel Prize). 2014 Kailash Satyarthi Peace It was created in 1968 by a donation from Sweden's financial institution Sveriges Riksbank to the Nobel Foundation to Rajendra K. Pachauri, commemorate the bank's 300th anniversary and includes (on behalf of the IPCC as a ten million Swedish kronor award money (`8.33 crores 2007 Chairman) Peace roughly). Milgrom and Wilson improved the auction theory and Overseas citizens of Indian invented new auction formats for auctioning off many Year origin Field interrelated objects simultaneously, on behalf of a seller Physiology motivated by broad societal benefit rather than maximal 1968 or Medicine revenue. 1983 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Physics Robert Wilson developed the idea for auctions of objects with 2009 Chemistry a standard value – a worth which is uncertain beforehand but, within the end, is that the same for everybody. Paul 2019 Abhijit Banerjee Economics Milgrom formulated a more general theory of auctions that not only allows common values, but also private values that Year Others Field change from bidder to bidder. Physiology Their work will benefit sellers, buyers and taxpayers round 1902 Ronald Ross or Medicine the world. It will help in auctioning goods and services, like 1907 Rudyard Kipling Literature radio frequencies, which are difficult to sell in traditional ways. 1989 14th Dalai Lama Peace

Senior IPS officer M A Ganapathy has been appointed as the Director General of Bureau of DECEMBER 2020 MICA 43 Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi)

Background: and repaid in monthly instalments. For this loan, no collateral will be taken by the lending institutions. On Street vendors represent a very important constituent of timely or early repayment, the vendors will be eligible for the urban informal economy and play a significant role the next cycle of working capital loan with an enhanced in ensuring availability of the goods and services at limit. No prepayment penalty will be charged from affordable rates at the door-step of the city dwellers. They the vendors for repayment before the scheduled date. are known as vendors, hawkers, thelewala, rehriwala, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Small Finance Banks theliphadwala etc. in different areas/ contexts. The (SFBs), Cooperative Banks & SHG Banks, the rates goods supplied by them include vegetables, fruits, ready- will be as per their prevailing rates of interest. In case of to-eat street food, tea, pakodas, breads, eggs, textile, NBFC, NBFC-MFIs etc., interest rates will be as per RBI apparel, footwear, artisan products, books/ stationary guidelines for respective lender category. In respect of etc. The services include barber shops, cobblers, pan MFIs (non NBFC) & other lender categories not covered shops, laundry services etc. The COVID-19 pandemic under the RBI guidelines, interest rates under the scheme and consequent lockdowns have adversely impacted the would be applicable as per the extant RBI guidelines for livelihoods of street vendors. They usually work with a NBFC-MFIs. small capital base and might have consumed the same during the lockdown. Therefore, there is an urgent need PM SVANidhi Portal: to provide credit for working capital to street vendors to In line with the Centre’s Digital India programme, the resume their business. Housing and Urban Affairs, secretary, Durga Shanker Objectives: Mishra on 28 August launched the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) online dashboard, The scheme is a Central Sector S cheme i.e. fully funded through video conferencing. by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with the following objectives: (i) To facilitate working capital loan The new online dashboard is an interactive online up to `10,000; (ii) To incentivize regular repayment; and platform that would also provide a one stop solution to (iii) To reward digital transactions all stakeholders looking for information and tracking monitoring of progress of PM SVANidhi up to city The scheme will help formalize the street vendors with level. above objectives and will open up new opportunities to this sector to move up the economic ladder. “The scheme will help vendors achieve their ambition of going up the economic ladder by availing the facility of Eligibility of States/UTs enhancement of the credit limit on timely repayment of The Scheme is available for beneficiaries belonging to loan,” ministry of housing and urban affairs said. only those States/UTs which have notified Rules and An Integrated IT Platform along with Mobile App Scheme under Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood will be developed by the Ministry for administration and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014. Beneficiaries of the scheme. This Portal will provide one stop from Meghalaya, which has its own State Street Vendors solution for administration of the scheme. The IT Act may, however, participate. Platform will integrate with the vendors data bases Amount of initial working capital across the States/ UTs, BCs/ constituents/ agents of lending institutions, digital payment aggregators and loan: PAiSA portal of MoHUA and Udyami Mitra portal Urban street vendors will be eligible to avail a Working managed by Small Industries Development Bank of Capital (WC) loan of up to `10,000 with tenure of 1 year India (SIDBI). The government appointed SBI’s senior-most Managing Director Dinesh Kumar Khara as MICA DECEMBER 2020 44 the chairman of the the country’s largest lender. Beneficiary for the Scheme: and Urban Affairs for scheme administration. SIDBI will leverage the network of lending Institutions including the Street vendors/ hawkers vending in urban areas, as SCBs, RRBs, SFBs, Cooperative Banks, NBFCs & MFIs on or before March 24, 2020, including the vendors of for scheme implementation. surrounding peri-urban and rural areas. Eligibility Criteria of Beneficiaries: PM Modi interacts with street vendors from UP on 27 Oct 2020 The Scheme is available to all street vendors engaged in vending in urban areas as on or before March 24, 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted via video- The eligible vendors will be identified as per following conferencing with street vendors from Uttar Pradesh criteria: who had availed of loans under the PM Street Vendors Atmanirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) and said most of the (i) Street vendors in possession of Certificate of Vending beneficiaries were repaying their loans on time. / Identity Card issued by Urban Local Bodies (ULBs); The scheme, which provides vendors collateral-free working (ii) The vendors, who have been identified in the survey capital loans of `10,000, was announced on June 1 as a part but have not been issued Certificate of Vending / of the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat package in the Identity Card; Provisional Certificate of Vending wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. would be generated for such vendors through an IT based Platform. ULBs are encouraged to issue such So far, 24.76 lakh applications have been received, of which vendors the permanent Certificate of Vending and 12.37 lakh have been sanctioned and over 5 lakh loans have Identification Card immediately and positively within been disbursed, according to the PM SVANidhi portal. a period of one month. While addressing the street vendors, Mr. Modi said Uttar Pradesh accounted for 6.5 lakh applications and 4.25 (iii) Street Vendors, left out of the ULBled identification lakh approved loans. He said those who played politics survey or who have started vending after completion in the name of the poor had given the impression that the of the survey and have been issued Letter of poor would not repay loans. But, he added, the poor had Recommendation (LoR) to that effect by the ULB / presented an example of their honesty by repaying their Town Vending Committee (TVC); and PM SVANidhi loans. (iv) The vendors of surrounding development/ peri-urban Earlier, Mr. Modi interacted with vendors from Agra, / rural areas vending in the geographical limits of the Varanasi and Lucknow, and asked them about their ULBs and have been issued Letter of Recommendation experiences with the lockdown and the scheme. (LoR) to that effect by the ULB / TVC. Preeti Devi, a fruit seller from Agra, said she used to sell Interest Subsidy: vegetables prior to the lockdown. The vendors, availing loan under the scheme, are eligible “During the lockdown, we felt like we were drowning,” to get an interest subsidy @ 7%. The interest subsidy she said. She added that with the PM SVANidhi loan she amount will be credited into the borrower’s account was able to restart her work and set up a fruit cart. Ms quarterly. Lenders will submit quarterly claims for interest Preeti said she had repaid the first instalment. subsidy for quarters ending as on June 30, September 30, Arvind Maurya, who runs a stall selling momos and coffee December 31 and March 31 during each financial year. in Varanasi, which is Mr. Modi's Lok Sabha constituency, Subsidy will only be considered in respect of accounts told the Prime Minister that he was able to get the loan of borrowers, which are Standard (non-NPA as per extant within a week of applying. RBI guidelines) on respective claim dates and only for Mr. Modi asked him if momos were a popular snack in those months during which the account has remained Varanasi, adding that security personnel don’t let him Standard in the concerned quarter. The interest subsidy eat street food during his visits. The Prime Minister is available up to March 31, 2022. The subsidy will be appreciated Mr. Maurya’s initiative of giving one free available on first and subsequent enhanced loans up to momo to customers who wear masks, maintain social that date. In case of early payment, the admissible amount distancing and pay digitally. of subsidy will be credited in one go. Mr. Modi also interacted with a food stall owner from Implementation Partner (s): Lucknow, Vijay Bahadur. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) will In his address later, Mr. Modi congratulated bank be the implementation partner of the Ministry of Housing employees for their efforts in disbursing loans.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched ‘MSME Prerana’, an online business DECEMBER 2020 MICA mentoring programme for MSMEs by state-run Indian Bank. 45 QUIZ TIME CURRENT AFFAIRS CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ Q.1. Recently who has been appointed as the brand (3) 4th October (4) 30th September ambassador of Bengal Peerless? (5) 27th September (1) Rahul Dravid (2) Akshay Kumar Q.7. Recently which state Government has signed a (3) Rajkumar Rao (4) Amir Khan 5-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Denmark in the water sector? (5) Sourav Ganguly (1) Assam (2) Kerala (3) Odisha Q.2. Recently which railway zone has launched ‘Operation My Saheli’? (4) Gujarat (5) Rajasthan (1) Eastern Railway Q.8. Alexander De Croo was appointed as new Prime Minister of which country recently? (2) Northern Railway (1) Germany (2) Mali (3) Belgium (3) Central Railway (4) Brazil (5) Myanmar (4) South East Central Railway Q.9. Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah has been (5) South Eastern Railway appointed Emir of Kuwait, what is the currency of Q.3. Recently which bank has launched a green initiative Kuwait? named “IB-eNote” to enable a total paperless (1) Dinar (2) Riyal (3) Rufiyaa working environment? (4) Peso (5) Dollar (1) Indian Bank Q.10. E-commerce marketplace, Flipkart and which (2) State Bank of India Insurance company have launched a cyber insurance cover for online financial frauds recently? (3) Indian Overseas Bank (1) Bajaj Allianz General Insurance (4) Punjab National Bank (2) Max Life Insurance Company (5) Bank of Baroda (3) ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Q.4. Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda has launched POS 3.1 software, SMS Gateway and (4) Tata AIA Life Insurance Company Home Delivery facility of Fertilizers (RBK) for (5) HDFC Life Insurance Company farmers in which state recently? Q.11. Recently which state government has launched a (1) Madhya Pradesh (2) Andhra Pradesh portal “Kritagyata”, an online pension submission (3) Uttarakhand (4) Uttar Pradesh and tracking system? (5) Bihar (1) Assam (2) Kerala (3) Odisha (4) Punjab (5) Maharashtra Q.5. Recently which Union Minister has e-launched the “Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Q.12. Recently the Indian Coast Guard Vessel Karnaklata Mission (ASIIM)”? Barua was commissioned in which city? (1) Dharmendra Pradhan (1) Vishakhapatnam (2) Kolkata (2) Jitendra Singh (3) Kochi (4) Mumbai (3) Thaawarchand Gehlot (5) Chennai (4) Nitin Gadkari Q.13. Recently the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has announced a (5) Narendra Singh Tomar special refinance facility of ______Rs Q.6. International Day of Older Persons is observed for Fiscal Year 2021. globally on ______every year. (1) 500 crore (2) 600 crore (3) 700 crore (1) 2nd October (2) 1st October (4) 800 crore (5) 100 crore India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio has partnered USP Studios, a content creator MICA DECEMBER 2020 46 for kids, to strengthen the platform's offering for children. CURRENT AFFAIRS Q.14. Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi (1) Alapan Bandyopadhyay inaugurated strategically important, Atal Tunnel in (2) Prashant Kumar which State/ UT recently? (3) C Venkat Nageshwar (1) Andhra Pradesh (2) Jammu & Kashmir (4) Aditya Puri (3) Sikkim (4) Himachal Pradesh (5) Charanjit Singh Attra (5) Ladakh Q.23. Which Bank has launched a financial inclusion Q.15. Recently PD Vaghela was appointed as Chairman and literacy initiative 'Gram Sampark Abhiyan' of which organization? to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of (1) TRAI (2) SEBI (3) NABARD Mahatma Gandhi? (4) NHAI (5) SIDBI (1) State Bank of India Q.16. Recently which country has hired former Bermuda (2) Punjab National Bank batsman David Hemp as the head coach of the (3) Central Bank of India national women's side? (4) HDFC Bank (1) Afghanistan (2) Pakistan (3) India (5) Axis Bank (4) Australia (5) South Africa Q.24. Recently which state government has launched the Q.17. Shri Tanmaya Lal has been appointed as the next “Pathashree Abhijan” scheme? Ambassador of India to which country? (1) Croatia (2) Costa Rica (3) Sweden (1) West Bengal (2) Odisha (3) Assam (4) Switzerland (5) Australia (4) Kerala (5) Punjab Q.18. Recently who has been re-appointed as Chairman Q.25. India and which country have signed Statement of of Shri Somnath Trust? Intent to support decarbonisation? (1) Shashank Shankar (2) Siddharth Arora (1) Netherlands (2) Sweden (3) Canada (3) Ravi Shankar (4) Basant Tripathi (4) Russia (5) Japan (5) Keshubhai Patel Q.26. Recently which Union Minister has released a Coffee Table Book on Discovering the Heritage of Q.19. ISRO is scheduled to launch its Venus mission in Assam, with foreword by and which year? published by Penguin? (1) 2022 (2) 2021 (3) 2023 (1) Rajnath Singh (2) Piyush Goyal (4) 2024 (5) 2025 (3) Dr Jitendra Singh (4) Amit Shah Q.20. Recently who has assumed the charge of Additional (5) Narendra Singh Tomar Director General Military Nursing Service? Q.27. Recently who won gold in 10 meter air rifle event (1) Sonali Ghosal (2) Sangeeta Reddy of International Online Shooting Championship? (3) Vinita Ayer (4) Kiran Gupta (1) Vijay Kumar (2) Aditya Mehta (5) Pramila Mehta (3) Manu Kumar (4) Visnu Shivaraj Pandian Q.21. Hardeep Singh Puri addressed webinar on World (5) Heena Sidhu Habitat Day 2020, World Habitat Day is celebrated on ______. Q.28. Defence Research and Development Organisation successfully test-fired a new version of the (1) 1st October (2) 2nd October surface-to-surface nuclear-capable ballistic missile (3) 3rd October (4) 4th October ______at Balasore, off the coast of (5) 5th October Odisha. Q.22. Recently who was appointed as Chief Financial (1) Shaurya (2) Pranav (3) Prakash Officer of the State Bank of India? (4) Chakra (5) Surya

Vistara and Axis Bank launched a co-branded forex card that can load up to 16 currencies. DECEMBER 2020 MICA 47 QUIZ TIME CURRENT AFFAIRS Q.29. Every year World Space Week is observed from (1) Bahujan Samajwadi Party ______. (2) Samajwadi Party (1) 1st to 5th October (3) Indian National Congress (2) 3rd to 9th October (4) Bharatiya Janata Party (3) 5th to 11th October (5) Aam Aadmi Party (4) 4th to 10th October Q.37. Which State/UT has announced the launch of (5) 4th to 11th October the anti-pollution campaign ‘Yudh Pradushan Ke Virudh’ to reduce the pollution level? Q.30. Recently which edition of Indian Navy Bangladesh Navy Bilateral Exercise Bongosagar commenced (1) Goa (2) Chandigarh in Northern Bay of Bengal? (3) Uttarakhand (4) Maharashtra (1) First (2) Third (3) Second (5) Delhi (4) Sixth (5) Fifth Q.38. Recently which airport has become the first airport of the Airports Authority of India which is entirely Q.31. Under the Swachh Sundar Samudayik Shouchalaya solar-powered? category which state bagged the first position at state level? (1) Lucknow (2) Varanasi (3) New Delhi (1) Madhya Pradesh (2) Gujarat (4) Puducherry (5) Indore (3) Kerala (4) Tamil Nadu Q.39. Recently the red cherry pepper chilli of which state has earned the geographical indication tag, which (5) Andhra Pradesh is locally known as the “Dalle Khursani”? Q.32. Harvey J. Alter Charles M. Rice and Michael (1) Sikkim (2) Goa (3) Jharkhand Houghton were awarded jointly the Nobel Prize 2020 in which field? (4) Kerala (5) Bihar (1) Physics (2) Economics (3) Peace Q.40. Recently which state government has announced Digital Seva Setu Programme for the rural areas? (4) Medicine (5) Chemistry (1) Rajasthan (2) Uttar Pradesh (3) Gujarat Q.33. NASA launched a commercial astronaut named (4) Punjab (5) Haryana after Indian-origin ______divine astronaut. Q.41. Who has been appointed as the new Chairman of State Bank of India for a period of three years? (1) Rakesh Sharma (2) Sunita Williams (1) Dinesh Kumar Khara (3) Ravish Malhotra (4) Mihir Sen (2) Sunil Arora (5) Kalpana Chawla (3) Charanjit Singh Attra Q.34. Every year World Teachers’ Day is celebrated globally on ______. (4) C Venkat Nageshwar (1) 8th October (2) 5th September (5) Prashant Kumar Q.42. On the occasion of the 151st Birth Anniversary of (3) 5th October (4) 7th October Mahatma Gandhi, who has launched the coffee- (5) 3rd October table book titled “Babu – The Unforgettable” over Q.35. Recently which country has decided to send first- the virtual event? ever ‘asteroid mining robot’ into space? (1) Ramnath Kovind (2) Narendra Modi (1) China (2) India (3) China (3) Amit Shah (4) Piyush Goyal (4) Japan (5) USA (5) Manish Sisodia Q.36. Three-time member of Legislative Council Q.43. Wildlife Week is annually celebrated across India Mulayam Singh Yadav has passed away, he was between ______with an aim to associated with which political party protect and preserve the flora and fauna of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a Campaign by way of a Tweet on Jan Andolan MICA DECEMBER 2020 48 for COVID-19 Appropriate Behaviour. CURRENT AFFAIRS (1) 1st to 7th October (2) 3rd to 9th October (1) Prashoon Joshi (2) Rajeev Kumar (3) 4th to 10th October (4) 2nd to 8th October (3) A. Surya Prakash (4) Ajay Tyagi (5) 7nd to 13th October (5) Amitabh Kant Q.44. India and which country are working towards the Q.51. Who was awarded by the Nobel Prize in Literature operationalization of the Sittwe port in the Rakhine in 2020? state of Myanmar in the first quarter of 2021? (1) Louise Glück (2) Roger Penrose (1) Maldives (2) Bangladesh (3) Myanmar (3) Reinhard Genzel (4) Andrea Ghez (4) Srilanka (5) Indonesia (5) Charles M. Rice Q.45. Recently where was Quad Countries’ Foreign Q.52. Who was appointed as the new deputy governor of Minister meet held? the Reserve Bank of India on 7th October 2020? (1) New Delhi (2) Dhaka (1) Dinesh Kumar Khara (3) Kathmandu (4) Beijing (2) M Rajeshwar Rao (5) Tokyo (3) Charanjit Singh Attra Q.46. Who has been appointed as the Director-General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security? (4) C Venkat Nageshwar (1) Amit Trivedi (2) M A Ganapathy (5) Prashant Kumar (3) Sunil Sethi (4) PD Vaghela Q.53. Recently which country has successfully test-fired a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile in the Arctic? (5) Rajat Sud (1) Germany (2) South Korea (3) Japan Q.47. Recently right-handed batsman, Najeeb Tarakai has passed, he was related to which country? (4) Russia (5) China (1) Australia (2) Pakistan Q.54. India’s GDP expected to contract by World Bank is ______for fiscal year 2020-21. (3) Bangladesh (4) South Africa (1) 9.6 percent (2) 9.0 percent (3) 8.0 percent (5) Afghanistan (4) 7.6 percent (5) 10 percent Q.48. Ashima Goyal, Jayanth R Varma, Shashanka Bhide were appointed as new members of Monetary Q.55. Recently in which state the National Bank for Policy Committee, how many members are in the Agriculture and Rural Development -NABARD Monetary Policy Committee? has inked three Memoranda of Understanding with Public Sector Bank- State Bank of India to extend (1) 5 (2) 7 (3) 8 credit support for various projects? (4) 6 (5) 4 (1) Himachal Pradesh (2) Uttar Pradesh Q.49. Gajanan Mallya, General Manager, South Central (3) Bihar (4) Gujarat Railway presented “Man of the Month” safety awards to 45 employees for showing ness in the (5) Madhya Pradesh duty and taking timely action to prevent unsafe Q.56. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a conditions, where is the headquarter of South campaign by way of a Tweet on Jan Andolan for Central Railway? COVID-19 Appropriate Behaviour in view of the (1) Secunderabad (2) Hyderabad upcoming festivals and winter season as well as the opening up of the economy? (3) New Delhi (4) Chennai (1) Nirmala Sitharaman (5) Kochi Q.50. Recently Prasar Bharati and Indian Farmers (2) Narendra Modi Fertilizer Cooperative Limited, IFFCO have signed (3) Amit Shah a MoU to broadcast and promote new agriculture (4) Piyush Goyal technology and innovations, who is the chairman of Prasar Bharati? (5) Narendra Singh Tomar

Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani launched the first ever Brand and Logo for Indian Cotton DECEMBER 2020 MICA 49 on Second World Cotton Day through video conferencing. QUIZ TIME CURRENT AFFAIRS Q.57. Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani launched the (4) C Venkat Nageshwar first ever Brand and Logo for Indian Cotton on (5) Prashant Kumar which edition of World Cotton Day through video conferencing? Q.64. Which Union Minister has been given additional charge of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food (1) Third (2) Second (3) First and Public Distribution following the demise of (4) Fourth (5) Fifth Ram Vilas Paswan? Q.58. Recently Union Cabinet approved signing of (1) Nitin Gadkari Memorandum of cooperation in field of cyber- (2) Narendra Singh Tomar security between India & which country? (3) Gajendra Singh Sekhawat (1) Sudan (2) Saudi Arabia (4) Amit Shah (3) Japan (4) Canada (5) Piyush Goyal (5) Brazil Q.65. New Development Bank has approved Q.59. What is the Name the Former Governor of Manipur infrastructure projects worth ______and Nagaland, and ex-CBI Director, who has for India. passed away recently? (1) 341 million dollars (1) Rajiv Tyagi (2) Mulayam Singh Yadav (2) 541 million dollars (3) Ashwani Kumar (4) KC Dutta (3) 741 million dollars (5) PN Banerjee (4) 241 million dollars Q.60. Recently which state government has announced a (5) 841 million dollars ‘Digital Seva Setu’ programme to ensure optimum utilisation of technology for public welfare in rural Q.66. Noted poet, Nityanand Nayak will be conferred areas? the prestigious Sarala Puraskar for his poetry work ‘Setebelaku Nathiba’, published in 2017, he is (1) Kerala (2) Assam (3) Punjab associated with which language? (4) Rajasthan (5) Gujarat (1) Tamil (2) Telugu (3) Malayalam Q.61. Recently which private sector bank has tied-up (4) Marathi (5) Oriya with Vistara to launch co-branded forex card? Q.67. Reserve Bank of India has announced Monetary (1) Yes Bank (2) Axis Bank Policy statement, what is the current reverse repo (3) ICICI Bank (4) HDFC Bank rate? (5) Bandhan Bank (1) 3.35 percent (2) 4.25 percent Q.62. Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan has passed (3) 3.00 percent (4) 4.35 percent away, he was the ______Minister. (5) 3.75 percent (1) Consumer affairs, food and public distribution Q.68. Every year World Post Day is observed on ______. (2) Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (1) 7th October (2) 11th October (3) Minister of Rural Development (3) 4th October (4) 9th October (4) Minister of Panchayati Raj (5) 8th October (5) Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Q.69. J Venkatramu has been appointed the managing Q.63. Recently who has been re-elected as the Chairman director and chief executive officer of India Post of Association of Mutual Funds in India? Payments Bank, where is the headquarter of India (1) Dinesh Kumar Khara Post Payments Bank? (2) Nilesh Shah (1) Mumbai (2) Pune (3) Lucknow (3) Charanjit Singh Attra (4) New Delhi (5) Chennai

50 MICA DECEMBER 2020 The Government gave nod to major reforms in the marketing of Natural Gas in the country. CURRENT AFFAIRS Q.70. Union Minister for Education Ramesh Pokhriyal (1) Dinesh Kumar Khara 'Nishank' virtually inaugurated the Gyan Circle (2) Nilesh Shah Ventures, a MeitY funded Technology Business Incubator of Indian Institute of Information (3) Charanjit Singh Attra Technology in which state through Video (4) C Venkat Nageshwar Conference recently? (5) Pradeep Kumar Rawat (1) Andhra Pradesh (2) Uttar Pradesh Q.78. The Department of Posts is celebrated National (3) Bihar (4) Jharkhand Postal Week from ______2020, to (5) Kerala mark the occasion of the World Postal Day. Q.71. Recently which state government has entered into (1) 7-13 October 2020 a partnership with Israel to establish a one of a kind (2) 8-14 October 2020 Centre of Excellence? (3) 9-15 October 2020 (1) Assam (2) Meghalaya (3) Tripura (4) 6-12 October 2020 (4) Punjab (5) Kerala (5) 10-16 October 2020 Q.72. Recently NABARD has inked three Memorandum Q.79. Every year World Mental Health Day is observed of Understanding with which bank to extend credit globally on ______. support for various NABARD projects? (1) 8th October (2) 9th October (1) Union Bank of India (3) 11th October (4) 10th October (2) Punjab National Bank (5) 16th October (3) Indian Overseas Bank Q.80. Which state government has launched the “Mukhya (4) ICICI Bank Mantri Saur Swarojgar Yojana”? (5) State Bank of India (1) Uttarakhand (2) Uttar Pradesh Q.73. Recently Uttar Pradesh government has signed (3) Bihar (4) Madhya Pradesh agreement with Zurich Airport for Jewar Airport, Jewar Airport is situated in which city? (5) Assam (1) Agra (2) Allahabad (3) Varanasi Q.81. Chetan Anand was named brand ambassador for Indian brand ‘Transform’, he is related to which (4) Noida (5) Lucknow sport? Q.74. Recently KK Usha, has passed away, she was the (1) Cricket (2) Table Tennis (3) Chess former Chief Justice of which High Court? (4) Badminton (5) Football (1) Allahabad (2) Bombay (3) Kerala Q.82. International Day of the Girl Child is observed (4) Delhi (5) Calcutta globally on ______every year since 2012. Q.75. Who has topped the Forbes India Rich list for (1) 4th October (2) 8th October 2020? (3) 9th October (4) 11th October (1) Gautam Adani (2) Mukesh Ambani (5) 16th October (3) Shiv Nadar (4) Radhakishan Damani Q.83. Who has won the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, held at the (5) Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany? Q.76. Which country has become first country to approve (1) Lewis Hamilton genetically modified wheat? (2) Michael Schumacher (1) Argentina (2) Bhutan (3) China (3) Sebastian Vettel (4) Denmark (5) Ethiopia (4) Alain Prost Q.77. Recently who was appointed as next Ambassador of Netherlands? (5) None of the above

The Cabinet has given its approval for the revised estimate cost for East West Corridor of DECEMBER 2020 MICA the Kolkata Metro Rail Project. 51 QUIZ TIME CURRENT AFFAIRS Q.84. Who has won the men’s 2020 French Open Title? infrastructure and services in 14 secondary towns (1) Novak Djokovic (2) Stan Wawrinka of the state of Rajasthan. (3) Rafael Nadal (4) Andre Agassi (1) 400 million dollar (2) 300 million dollar (5) None of the above (3) 200 million dollar (4) 600 million dollar Q.85. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a (5) 500 million dollar commemorative 100 rupee coin in the honour of Q.92. Recently which state government has launched a ______. mobile water testing laboratory van, fully equipped (1) Arun Jaitley with a multi-parameter system containing analysers, sensor, probes and instruments meant (2) Deen Dayal Upadhyay for assessing water quality? (3) (1) Haryana (2) Odisha (4) Pranav Mukherjee (3) Tamil Nadu (4) Madhya Pradesh (5) Vijaya Raje Scindia (5) Jharkhand Q.86. World Migratory Bird Day is observed globally on Q.93. Which state/UT has become the first state to have ______or 10th October. completely digital, hi-tech classrooms? (1) 31st May (2) 9th May (1) Assam (2) Kerala (3) 12th November (4) 3rd June (3) Maharashtra (4) Delhi (5) 22nd April (5) Chandigarh Q.87. 14 investors signed MoUs with which state Q.94. According to the data provided by the Ministry of government to invest over Rs 10,055 Cr in various Jal Shakti, which state has become the first “Har industrial projects recently? Ghar Jal” State in the country by providing tap (1) Maharashtra (2) Gujarat water connection to every rural household? (3) Karnataka (4) Madhya Pradesh (1) Maharashtra (2) Kerala (5) Tamil Nadu (3) Goa (4) Andhra Pradesh Q.88. Recently who has virtually inaugurated and (5) Himachal Pradesh dedicated as many as 44 different bridges of Border Q.95. As part of the United Nations International Day of Roads Organisation across the country? Girl Child Aava Murto became Prime Minister of (1) Narendra Modi (2) Nitin Gadkari which country for a day? (3) Amit Shah (4) Piyush Goyal (1) Vatican City (2) Canada (3) Finland (5) Rajnath Singh (4) Mexico (5) Singapore Q.89. Recently where was Coastal security exercise Q.96. Recently which IIT signed MoU with C-DAC to “Sagar Kavach” concluded? establish 650 TF supercomputing system? (1) Kerala (2) Andhra Pradesh (1) IIT Guwahati (2) IIT Delhi (3) Tamil Nadu (4) Odisha (3) IIT Bombay (4) IIT Kanpur (5) Karnataka (5) IIT Gandhinagar Q.90. Sadyr Zhaparov was appointed as the new Prime Q.97. C M Chang has passed away due to COVID-19, he Minister of which country recently? was the environment minister of which state? (1) Afghanistan (2) Uzbekistan (3) Tajikistan (1) Nagaland (2) Tripura (3) Odisha (4) Kyrgyzstan (5) Turkmenistan (4) West Bengal (5) Kerala Q.91. India and the Asian Development Bank has signed Q.98. What is the rank of India among 158 countries a ______loan to finance inclusive in the 2020 Commitment to Reducing Inequality and sustainable water supply and sanitation Index?

52 MICA DECEMBER 2020 The legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen has died aged 65. CURRENT AFFAIRS (1) 145th (2) 123rd (3) 116th (1) Piyush Goyal (4) 129th (5) 87th (2) Amit Shah Q.99. The United Nations International Day for (3) Rajnath Singh Disaster Reduction is observed globally (4) Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank on______. (5) Narendra Modi (1) 12th October (2) 16th October Q.106. Every year World Standards Day is observed (3) 19th October (4) 13th October globally on ______. (5) 10th October (1) 12th October (2) 16th October Q.100. Recently in which/UT has passed a first-of-its-kind (3) 14th October (4) 20th October in India ‘Tree Transplantation Policy’ to preserve trees for clean and green? (5) 4th October (1) Goa (2) Chandigarh Q.107. Recently Rahul Shrivastava was appointed as the Next Ambassador of India to which country? (3) Jammu & Kashmir (4) Ladakh (1) Somalia (2) Austria (3) Albania (5) Delhi (4) Singapore (5) Thailand Q.101. Which organization has projected the Indian economy to contract by 10.3 per cent in 2020-21? Q.108. Who was appointed as Next Ambassador of India to Indonesia? (1) International Monetary Fund (1) Manoj Kumar Bharti (2) World Bank (2) Shashank Shankar (3) Fitch Rating Agency (3) Siddharth Arora (4) Asian Development Bank (4) Ravi Shankar (5) S & P Global Rating Agency (5) Keshubhai Patel Q.102. Recently which State Government has tied up with India Post to get 11,000 farmers enrolled in the Q.109. Which country has topped in Commitment to Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sanman Nidhi scheme? Reducing Inequality Index 2020? (1) Bihar (2) Uttar Pradesh (1) Iceland (2) Brazil (3) Canada (3) Uttarakhand (4) Goa (4) Ireland (5) Norway (5) Madhya Pradesh Q.110. Which country has been re-elected as the President of the International Solar Alliance? Q.103. Recently Carlton Chapman has passed away, he was related to which sport? (1) Germany (2) Egypt (3) India (1) Cricket (2) Football (3) Hockey (4) Russia (5) Japan (4) Chess (5) Badminton Q.111. Which country has rejected the co-financing request for the Chinese Corona vaccine recently? Q.104. Recently which state has launched a new scheme named the ‘Jagananna Vidya Kanuka’ scheme to (1) Nepal (2) India (3) Russia distribute school kits among the poor children of (4) Bangladesh (5) Pakistan the state? Q.112. When was the International Day of Rural Women (1) Maharashtra (2) Kerala observed? (3) Goa (4) Andhra Pradesh (1) October 15th (2) October 17th (5) Himachal Pradesh (3) October 14th (4) October 13th Q.105. Recently who has released the autobiography of (5) October 12th former Union Minister Dr Balasaheb Vikhe Patil Q.113. Which Union Ministry launched Jan Andolan through video conferencing? Campaign on COVID-19?

All India Institute of Ayurveda signed MoU with Amity University for Ayurveda Research. DECEMBER 2020 MICA 53 QUIZ TIME CURRENT AFFAIRS (1) Home Ministry (2) Jal Shakti Ministry (3) Three million dollars (3) Defence Ministry (4) Ministry of AYUSH (4) Four million dollars (5) Urban Affairs Ministry (5) Five million dollars Q.114. Which among the following country failed to get Q.122. The first Indian to win the Oscar award, Bhanu elected UN Human Rights Council recently? Athaiya has passed away, She won the Oscar for which film? (1) China (2) Russia (3) Pakistan (1) Mother Teresa (2) Salaam Bombay (4) Iran (5) Saudi Arabia (3) Gandhi (4) Madhumati Q.115. Which country received the lowest votes among all nations that got elected to UNHRC this month? (5) Saaransh (1) Pakistan (2) Cuba (3) Ukraine Q.123. Recently the Export-Import Bank of India on behalf of the Government of India has extended a Line of (4) Japan (5) China Credit of USD 400 million to which country? Q.116. India’s per capita GDP is expected to slump by how (1) Bangladesh (2) Maldives (3) Nepal much in 2020, as per latest IMF World Economic Outlook projections? (4) Indonesia (5) Srilanka (1) 9.8 percent (2) 10.5 percent (3) 11 percent Q.124. Recently which state government has signed a pact with Vedanta Group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd to set (4) 7 percent (5) 8.2 percent up a greenfield zinc smelter in the state? Q.117. India contributed how much amount to the (1) Goa (2) Haryana United Nations Relief and Works Agency for the Palestinian cause? (3) Maharashtra (4) Rajasthan (1) USD 1.5 million (2) USD 2.5 million (5) Gujarat (3) USD 2 million (4) USD 3 million Q.125. Recently which private sector bank and Apollo Hospitals have collaborated to launch the (5) USD 1 million “HealthyLife Programme”, a holistic healthcare Q.118. What is the name of the World War II bomb that solution? was detonated underwater in Poland? (1) Yes Bank (2) Axis Bank (1) Fat Man (2) Little Boy (3) Small Boy (3) ICICI Bank (4) IndusInd Bank (4) Tall Boy (5) Small Man (5) HDFC Bank Q.119. Centre has extended how much subsidy on Q.126. Recently which state government has inaugurated transportation of fruits and vegetables through “Sujal”, ‘Drink from Tap Mission’ scheme, to Kisan Rail Trains? provide round the clock supply of quality tap (1) 10 percent (2) 20 percent (3) 30 percent drinking water in all urban areas of the state? (4) 50 percent (5) 60 percent (1) Odisha (2) Haryana Q.120. India and France were re-elected as the president (3) Tamil Nadu (4) Madhya Pradesh and co-president of the International Solar Alliance (5) Jharkhand for a term of how many years at the virtual meeting Q.127. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a of the third assembly? commemorative coin of 75-rupee denomination (1) Three (2) Two (3) One to mark the which Anniversary of Food and (4) Five (5) Four Agriculture Organization? Q.121. India has contributed how much funds to the United (1) 85th (2) 65th (3) 70th Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (4) 75th (5) 100th Refugees in Near East? Q.128. Renowned Kuchipudi dancer, Shobha Naidu has (1) One million dollars passed away, Kuchipudi is the famous dance form (2) Two million dollars of which state? Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani e-dedicated online e-Sanjeevani OPDs scheme across MICA DECEMBER 2020 54 Gujarat through video conferencing. CURRENT AFFAIRS (1) Kerala (2) Tamil Nadu (1) Amit Shah (3) Karnataka (4) Andhra Pradesh (2) Narendra Modi (5) Maharashtra (3) Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank Q.129. Sooronbai Jeenbekov has resigned from his post, (4) Ram Nath Kovind he was President of which country? (5) M Venkaiah Naidu (1) Afghanistan (2) Iran (3) Kyrgyzstan Q.136. What is the name of the chairman and managing (4) Ukraine (5) Sudan director of National Thermal Power Corporation Q.130. Which state government launched 6-month long Limited whose tenure has been extended till 31 women empowerment programme ‘Mission July 2025? Shakti’ to raise awareness and tackle crime against (1) Vinay Tonse (2) Ashwani Bhatia women in the state? (3) Gurdeep Singh (4) Sumit Deb (1) Bihar (2) Uttar Pradesh (5) Rajiv Kumar (3) Uttarakhand (4) Goa Q.137. Olympic champion, Constantina Dita has been (5) Madhya Pradesh named an ambassador for the World Athletics Half Q.131. Recently Road Transport and Highways Minister Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020, she is Nitin Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation related to which country? stones for 16 National Highways projects in which (1) Romania (2) Italy (3) France city? (4) Japan (5) Croatia (1) Maharashtra (2) Kerala Q.138. Legendary poet and Jnanpith laureate, Mahakavi (3) Goa (4) Andhra Pradesh Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri has passed away, (5) Himachal Pradesh he was associated with which language? Q.132. Recently India and which country held their first (1) Kannada (2) Tamil (3) Telugu joint commission meeting and agreed to add new (4) Malayalam (5) Urdu momentum to their relations in a wide range of Q.139. Who is the author of the book “The Battle of fields including trade and commerce, agriculture, Belonging”? health and social security, defence and space? (1) Vikram Seth (2) Chetan Bhagat (1) Cuba (2) Peru (3) Egypt (3) Amish Tripathi (4) Shashi Tharoor (4) Uganda (5) Chile (5) Neena Rai Q.133. Which country hosted the virtual Summit of Ministers of Justice of Shanghai Cooperation Q.140. Who has clinched Women's Singles title at Denmark Organisation, SCO? Open? (1) India (2) China (1) Carolina Marin (2) Nozomi Okuhara (3) Bangladesh (4) Japan (3) Naomi Osaka (4) Saina Nehwal (5) Myanmar (5) PV Sindhu Q.134. The 36th Raising Day of National Security Guard Q.141. Which Union Minister launched AYUSHMAN was observed on ______. SAHAKAR scheme, it is a unique way to assist cooperatives play an important role in creation of (1) 14th October (2) 16th October healthcare infrastructure in the country? (3) 17th October (4) 11th October (1) Amit Shah (5) 12th October (2) Dr. Harsh Wardhan Q.135. Recently who has virtually launched the campaign (3) Narendra Singh Tomar ‘KAPILA’, which stands for Kalam Program for Intellectual Property Literacy and Awareness (4) Shripad Yesso Naik campaign? (5) Smriti Irani

In Himachal Pradesh, Captain Sanjay Chauhan Dwar was inaugurated at Solan City. DECEMBER 2020 MICA 55 QUIZ TIME CURRENT AFFAIRS Q.142. BRAHMOS, the supersonic cruise missile (4) Paris, France was successfully test fired from Indian Navy’s (5) Washington D.C., USA indigenously-built stealth destroyer INS ______. Q.149. Recently who won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award? (1) Chennai (2) Mumbai (1) Ayushi Mehra (2) Aishwarya Sridhar (3) Vishakhapatnam (4) Kochi (3) Neerav Agrawal (4) Mohit Awasthi (5) Ahmedabad (5) Jaya Tripathi Q.143. Umar Gul has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, he is related to which country? Q.150. Which state/UT has emerged as the top destination for attracting the highest number of domestic (1) Bangladesh (2) South Africa tourists visiting the state in 2019 as per the Indian (3) Australia (4) Zimbabwe Tourism Statistics 2020, released by the Ministry (5) Pakistan of Tourism? Q.144. Recently who has been elected unopposed as (1) Maharashtra (2) Jammu & Kashmir the President of the Delhi and District Cricket (3) Goa (4) Kerala Association? (5) Uttar Pradesh (1) Rohan Jaitley (2) Anil Dhasmana Q.151. Which country became the World’s First Country (3) KG Jagadeesha (4) Rajesh Khullar to attach Facial verification in the National (5) Subhash Kamath Identification Database, the function is called “SingPass Face Verification”? Q.145. Recently Jacinda Ardern, was elected second consecutive term as a Prime Minister of which (1) Serbia (2) Italy (3) Japan country? (4) China (5) Singapore (1) Australia (2) Iceland (3) Croatia Q.152. Recently researchers of which IIT have developed (4) New Zealand (5) Singapore ‘COVIRAP,’ the Covid-19 diagnostic test technology, which is fairly easy to conduct and Q.146. What is the rank of India among 107 nations in the affordable as well and can produce results within Global Hunger Index 2020 one hour? (1) 74th (2) 63rd (3) 94th (1) IIT Kanpur (2) IIT BHU (4) 106th (5) 112th (3) IIT Kharagpur (4) IIT Delhi Q.147. Who has been appointed as the next Permanent (5) IIT Madras Representative of India to the Permanent Delegation of India to United Nations Educational, Q.153. Who has been concurrently accredited as the Scientific and Cultural Organization with the rank next High Commissioner of India to the Solomon of Ambassador recently? Islands? (1) Kenichi Yokoyama (2) Takeo Konishi (1) Sushil Kumar Singhal (3) Hemant Khatri (4) Ashwani Bhatia (2) Nilesh Shah (5) Vishal V. Sharma (3) Charanjit Singh Attra Q.148. Dr Michael Irani has been appointed as the (4) C Venkat Nageshwar Interim President of the International Weightlifting (5) Pradeep Kumar Rawat Federation, where is headquarter of International Q.154. N Narasimha Reddy has passed away, he was the Weightlifting Federation? first Home Minister of which state? (1) Budapest, Hungary (1) Telangana (2) Uttarakhand (2) Rome, Italy (3) Jharkhand (4) Chhattisgarh (3) Geneva, Switzerland (5) Goa

56 MICA DECEMBER 2020 The world famous Jog falls in Karnataka will get a face lift at a cost of Rs. 120 crore. CURRENT AFFAIRS Q.155. Eleventh Battalion Indo-Tibetan Border Police has Q.162. US State Department has approved the sale of launched a cycling operation in its state from its weapons systems worth around 1.8 billion dollar to pangong to the border villages of the state? which country? (1) Assam (2) Sikkim (3) Kerala (1) Israel (2) Taiwan (3) Oman (4) Tripura (5) West Bengal (4) Serbia (5) Iran Q.156. Who was appointed as the national brand Q.163. INS Kavaratti, an Anti-Submarine Warfare stealth ambassador of Parle Agro to maximise reach and corvette was commissioned into the Indian Navy awareness of its fruits plus fizz portfolio ‘B-Fizz’? by Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane (1) Akshay Kumar (2) Ayushman Khurrana at a ceremony held at which Naval Dockyard? (3) Sachin Tendulkar (4) Amitabh Bachchan (1) Visakhapatnam (2) Mumbai (5) Priyanka Chopra (3) Kochi (4) Chennai Q.157. Reliance Jio recently conducted a successful trial (5) Daman of 5G technology in the with which counry’s Q.164. What is the name UK-based Indian-origin plastic Qualcomm company? surgeon, who has been named an ‘Outstanding (1) South Korea (2) Japan (3) Germany Young Person of the World 2020’? (4) US (5) UK (1) Aishwarya Sridhar (2) Louise Glück Q.158. Recently which bank has launched its festive (3) Jajini Varghese (4) Ms. Sudha Painuli campaign titled ‘Khushiyon ki karein Zimmedari (5) None of the above se Tayyari’ aimed at empowering customers with access to digital finance and e-solutions? Q.165. Recently which state government has launched ‘YSR Bima’, a scheme to provide financial (1) Axis Bank (2) ICICI Bank assistance through insurance cover to the (3) HDFC Bank (4) Yes Bank beneficiary in case of death or accident of their families members? (5) State Bank of India (1) Telangana (2) Andhra Pradesh Q.159. Recently who was appointed as the Chief Financial Officer of Tata Communications? (3) Tamil Nadu (4) Odisha (1) Pratibha Advani (5) Karnataka (2) Rohan Jaitley Q.166. Dr Jayanta Madhab has passed away, he was (3) Kabir Ahmed Shakir renowned ______. (4) Ravi Kumar (1) Physician (2) Scientist (3) Actor (5) Vinkesh Gulati (4) Politician (5) Economist Q.160. Recently who was appointed as next Ambassador Q.167. Recently which Union Minister has virtually to the Republic of San Marino? launched Life in Miniature project? (1) Pratibha Advani (1) Prakash Javadekar (2) Rohan Jaitley (2) Amit Shah (3) Kabir Ahmed Shakir (3) Narendra Singh Tomar (4) Dr Neena Malhotra (4) Prahlad Singh Patel (5) Sushil Kumar Singhal (5) Piyush Goyal Q.161. Recently which state government has launched the Q.168. An Air Bubble agreement has been signed between Smart Black Board scheme in 80,000 government India and which country to promote internal civil schools of the state? aviation services recently? (1) Tamil Nadu (2) Maharashtra (3) Goa (1) Bangladesh (2) US (3) Sri Lanka (4) Kerala (5) Uttar Pradesh (4) Indonesia (5) Maldives Union Minister and founder of Lok Jansakti Party (LJP), Ram Vilas Paswan, died in Delhi. DECEMBER 2020 MICA He was 74. 57 QUIZ TIME CURRENT AFFAIRS Q.169. Who was appointed as the Chief Selector of Q.173. 24th October has been celebrated as United Nations Bangladesh Women’s Cricket Team? Day, where is the headquarter of United Nations (1) Mithu Mukherjee (2) Renu Margrate Organization? (3) Sana Seikh (4) Neetu David (1) Washington DC, (5) Manjural Islam (2) New York, United States Q.170. Recently Saad al Hariri was reappointed as (3) Paris, France Lebanon Prime Minister, what is the currency of (4) Geneva, Switzerland Lebanon? (5) Rome, Italy (1) Peso (2) Rufiyaa (3) Dollar Q.174. Recently which state government has inaugurated (4) Dinar (5) Pound Integrated Model Agricultural Village scheme in Q.171. Who was appointed as the brand ambassador of the state in partnership with NABARD? Vega recently? (1) Rajasthan (2) Gujarat (1) Priyanka Chopra (2) Virat Kohli (3) Uttarakhand (4) Uttar Pradesh (3) Suresh Raina (4) Rohit Sharma (5) Bihar (5) Akshay Kumar Q.175. Recently which country has assumed the Q.172. Which country has joined the International Chairmanship of the Governing Body of International Monetary Fund to become its 190th member? Labour Organization after a gap of 35 years? (1) Andorra (2) Belarus (3) Albania (1) Russia (2) Canada (3) India (4) Austria (5) San Marino (4) Italy (5) USA ANSWER KEY Q.1.(5) Q.2.(5) Q.3.(1) Q.4.(2) Q.5.(3) Q.6.(2) Q.7.(4) Q.8.(3) Q.9.(1) Q.10.(1) Q.11.(1) Q.12.(2) Q.13.(4) Q.14.(4) Q.15.(1) Q.16.(2) Q.17.(3) Q.18.(5) Q.19.(5) Q.20.(1) Q.21.(5) Q.22.(5) Q.23.(2) Q.24.(1) Q.25.(1) Q.26.(3) Q.27.(4) Q.28.(1) Q.29.(4) Q.30.(3) Q.31.(2) Q.32.(4) Q.33.(5) Q.34.(3) Q.35.(1) Q.36.(3) Q.37.(5) Q.38.(4) Q.39.(1) Q.40.(3) Q.41.(1) Q.42.(5) Q.43.(4) Q.44.(3) Q.45.(5) Q.46.(2) Q.47.(5) Q.48.(4) Q.49.(1) Q.50.(3) Q.51.(1) Q.52.(2) Q.53.(4) Q.54.(1) Q.55.(4) Q.56.(2) Q.57.(2) Q.58.(3) Q.59.(3) Q.60.(5) Q.61.(2) Q.62.(1) Q.63.(2) Q.64.(5) Q.65.(3) Q.66.(5) Q.67.(1) Q.68.(4) Q.69.(4) Q.70.(1) Q.71.(2) Q.72.(5) Q.73.(4) Q.74.(3) Q.75.(2) Q.76.(1) Q.77.(5) Q.78.(3) Q.79.(4) Q.80.(1) Q.81.(4) Q.82.(4) Q.83.(1) Q.84.(3) Q.85.(5) Q.86.(2) Q.87.(5) Q.88.(5) Q.89.(1) Q.90.(4) Q.91.(2) Q.92.(1) Q.93.(2) Q.94.(3) Q.95.(3) Q.96.(5) Q.97.(1) Q.98.(4) Q.99.(4) Q.100.(5) Q.101.(1) Q.102.(4) Q.103.(2) Q.104.(4) Q.105.(5) Q.106.(3) Q.107.(3) Q.108.(1) Q.109.(5) Q.110.(3) Q.111.(4) Q.112.(1) Q.113.(4) Q.114.(5) Q.115.(5) Q.116.(2) Q.117.(5) Q.118.(4) Q.119.(4) Q.120.(2) Q.121.(1) Q.122.(3) Q.123.(2) Q.124.(5) Q.125.(5) Q.126.(1) Q.127.(4) Q.128.(4) Q.129.(3) Q.130.(2) Q.131.(4) Q.132.(5) Q.133.(1) Q.134.(2) Q.135.(3) Q.136.(3) Q.137.(1) Q.138.(4) Q.139.(4) Q.140.(2) Q.141.(3) Q.142.(1) Q.143.(5) Q.144.(1) Q.145.(4) Q.146.(3) Q.147.(5) Q.148.(1) Q.149.(2) Q.150.(5) Q.151.(5) Q.152.(3) Q.153.(1) Q.154.(1) Q.155.(2) Q.156.(5) Q.157.(4) Q.158.(4) Q.159.(3) Q.160.(4) Q.161.(1) Q.162.(2) Q.163.(1) Q.164.(3) Q.165.(2) Q.166.(5) Q.167.(4) Q.168.(1) Q.169.(5) Q.170.(5) Q.171.(4) Q.172.(1) Q.173.(2) Q.174.(3) Q.175.(3)

Paramount Cables Group Chairman and CEO Sanjay Aggarwal has taken over as the presi- MICA DECEMBER 2020 58 dent of PHDCCI for 2020-21. CRP PO MAINS MODEL PAPER 2020 CRP PO MAINS/REASONING ABILITY Q.1-5. Each of the questions below consists of a (1) If the data in statement I alone is sufficient to question and two or more statements are given answer the question, while the data in statement II below it. You decide whether the data provided alone is not sufficient to answer the question. in the statements are sufficient to answer the (2) If the data in statement II alone is sufficient to question. answer the question, while the data in statement I Q.1. Five students A, B, C, D and E were standing alone is not sufficient to answer the question. according to their heights with the shortest one (3) If the data either in statement I alone or in being at the left most corner and highest one being statement II alone is sufficient to answer the at the right end. Who was the second highest question. among all five students? (4) If the data in both statement I and II together I. Height of E is more than only A, B, C. are not sufficient to answer the question. II. Height of A is more than only C and B. E did (5) If the data in both statement I and II together not have the highest height. are necessary to answer the question. III. D is standing at extreme ends of the line. B is Q.4. What is the direction of point W with respect to between A and D. point L? (1) Statement I and Statement II together are I. Point N is 5m to the west of point Q. Point S is sufficient. 6m to the north of point N. Point M is 5m to the (2) Statement II and Statement III together are north of point H. sufficient. II. The distance between the points W and M is the (3) Either statement I or statement II is sufficient. same as the distance between points Q and J. Point H is 3m to the west of point J. Point Q is 4m to the (4) All the statement I, statement II and statement south of point H. III together are sufficient. III. Point W is 5m to the west of point M. Point Q (5) None is sufficient is 9m to the south of point M. Point N is 5m to the Q.2. Among five persons – X, Y, Z, M and N each one west of point Q. Q is 2m away from L. of different height, who is the tallest? (1) Statement I and Statement II together are I. Z is taller than only three persons. M is shorter sufficient. than X. (2) Statement II and Statement III together are II. Y is taller than Z and M but shorter than N who sufficient. is not the tallest. (3) Statement I and either statement II or statement III. N is taller than Y and Z but shorter than X. III together are sufficient. (1) Only Statement I is sufficient. (4) All the statement I, statement II and statement III together are sufficient. (2) Both Statement I and II are sufficient. (5) Only III is sufficient. (3) Only Statement II is sufficient. Q.5. A certain number of persons were sitting in row (4) Only Statement III is sufficient. facing south then how many persons are sitting in (5) All Statement I, II and III are sufficient. the row? Q.3. How is ‘later’ written in a code language? Statement I: Raman is 16th from the left end of the row and 8th to the left of Suresh. Statement I: ‘pressure more life’ is written as ‘gm, sh, pm’ and ‘pressure more later life’ is written as Statement II: Sunil is 11th from the right end of ‘kt, gm, sh, pm’. the row and 4th to the right of Suresh. Statement II: ‘pressure later cause’ is written as (1) If the data in statement I alone is sufficient to ‘kt, hu, gm’ and ‘cause later plot’ is written as ‘kt, answer the question, while the data in statement II jo, hu’. alone is not sufficient to answer the question.

Veteran Marathi actor Avinash Kharshikar, died in Maharashtra's Thane city. He was 68. DECEMBER 2020 MICA 59 CRP PO MAINS (2) If the data in statement II alone is sufficient to IV) Some hardware are not operating system. answer the question, while the data in statement I (1) Only I, II and III follow alone is not sufficient to answer the question. (2) Only I and III follow (3) If the data either in statement I alone or in statement II alone is sufficient to answer the (3) Only III and IV follow question. (4) Only I and Either IV and III follow (4) If the data in both statement I and II together (5) None of these are not sufficient to answer the question. Q.8. Statement: (5) If the data in both statement I and II together Some car are not keys. are necessary to answer the question. Q.6-10. In the question, some statements are given Only a few doors are keys. which are followed by some conclusions. You All door are gates. have to consider the statements to be true even All notes are gates. if it seems to be at variance from commonly known facts. Read the conclusions and then Conclusion: decide which of the given conclusions logically I) All notes can never be keys. follows from the given statements, disregarding II) All car can be keys. commonly known facts. Give answer: III) No car is gates. Q.6. Statement: IV) Some doors not being keys is a possibility. Only a few games are videos. (1) Only I, II and III follow Some videos are virtual. (2) Only I and III follow Only a few local are virtual. (3) Only III and IV follow All virtual are devices. Conclusion: (4) All I, II, III and IV follow I) All local being games is possibility. (5) None of these II) No local is games. Q.9. Statement: III) All videos can be device. Only a few leaves are plant. IV) All local being virtual is a possibility. Some plants are not animal. (1) Only I follow Only a few animals are leaves. (2) Only I and III follow All leaves are trees. (3) Only III and IV follow Conclusion: (4) Only III follows I) All animals being plant is a possibility. (5) None of these II) Some trees are animal. Q.7. Statement: III) Each leave being plant is a possibility. Only a few hardware are software. IV) Some animal are not trees. No software is operating system. (1) Only II and III follow All operating system are scanner. (2) Only I and II follow Only a few scanner are hardware. (3) Only III and IV follow Conclusion: (4) All I, II, III and IV follow I) Some scanner are not hardware. (5) None of these II) All scanner being software is a possibility. Q.10. Statement: III) Some hardware are operating system. Only a few hardware are software. New generation Anti Radiation Missile (RUDRAM) was successfully Flight tested onto a MICA DECEMBER 2020 60 radiation target located on Wheeler Island off the coast of Odisha. MODEL PAPER 2020 No software is operating system. Q.13. Who is to the immediate left of the father of G? All operating system are scanner. (1) A (2) E (3) H Only a few scanner are hardware. (4) F (5) None of these Conclusion: Q.14. Four of the following five are alike in a certain I) No scanner is software. way and so form a group then which one of the following does not belong to the group? II) All hardware being operating system is a possibility. (1) B (2) H (3) E III) Some operating system are scanner. (4) C (5) D IV) Some scanner are not hardware. Q.15. What is the position of H with respect to F? (1) Only I and III follow (1) Second to the left (2) Third to the left (2) Only II and IV follow (3) Fourth to the right (4) Fourth to the left (3) Only II follow (5) Cannot be determined (4) Only IV follow Q.16-20. Study the following information carefully and answer the questions below. (5) None of these There are eight sports persons i.e. Hitesh, Q.11-15. Study the following information carefully and Rahul, Kamal, Tarun, Krish, Faran, Girish, Akul answer the questions below: representing their teams i.e. CSK, KKR, MI, RCB, In the family of eight members A, B, C, D, E, F, G SH, KXIP, DC and RR. They are sitting around a and H are sitting around circular table and facing square table and facing outside the centre. Four of towards the centre, but not necessarily in the same them are sitting at the corners and rest in the middle order. There are four males and four females. of the sides but not necessarily in the same order. Akul represents RR. Kamal sits at corner. Three B is third to the left of H, and is the son of A. people sit between Akul and who represents DC. E is son-in-law of H and is not immediate neighbor Kamal sits third to the right of Akul. Krish is not of D. an immediate neighbor of either Kamal or Akul. C is the mother of D. H belongs to 1st generation. The one who represents KKR is an immediate neighbor of Krish. Kamal and Akul and their E is an immediate neighbor of H and second to the immediate neighbors do not represent MI. Only left of his son. one person sits between Girish and the person who F, who is married to B and is third to the right of represents MI. The persons who represent CSK E’s son. and RCB are immediate neighbors of each other. G is female but she is not daughter of C and H. Only one person sits between Hitesh and who represents KXIP. Kamal represents neither SH nor G is in third generation. RCB. Rahul is not representing either MI or KKR. F is not immediate neighbor of her husband’s Faran sits third to the left of Krish. Hitesh does not sister. represent MI, SH and CSK. C and her mother A are immediate neighbor of Q.16. Which of the following combination is true? each-other. (1) Faran - KKR (2) Akul – RCB Q.11. What is the position of G with respect to A? (3) Hitesh – DC (4) Krish – MI (1) Second to the left (2) Third to the left (5) Girish – DC (3) Second to the right (4) Immediate left Q.17. What is the position of Rahul with respect to the (5) None of these one who likes SH? Q.12. How is D related to A? (1) Third to the left (2) Second to the right (1) Son (2) Grandson (3) Nephew (3) Immediate Left (4) Immediate Right (4) Uncle (5) None of these (5) Second to the left

Indian Air Force achieved a new record of the highest Skydive Landing at Khardungla DECEMBER 2020 MICA Pass,Leh at an altitude of 17982 ft breakingits own earlier record. 61 CRP PO MAINS Q.18. How many persons sit between Hitesh and the Q.22. How many persons sit between J and U when who likes CSK? counted from the right of U? (1) One (2) Two (3) Three (1) Three (2) One (3) Two (4) Four (5) None of these (4) Five (5) Four Q.19. Who among the following likes KXIP? Q.23. If Z is related to Chemistry, U is related to (1) Krish (2) Kamal (3) Hitesh Reasoning, then how is X related to which subject? (4) Akul (5) Girish (1) Literature (2) Hindi (3) Chemistry Q.20. What is the position of Krish with respect to Faran? (4) Mathematics (5) Computer (1) Second to the left (2) Third to the right Q.24. Four of the following five are alike in a certain way and so form a group then which one of the (3) Second to the right (4) Fourth to the left following does not belong to the group? (5) Fourth to the right (1) K (2) U (3) P Q.21-25. Study the following information carefully and (4) J (5) Y answer the questions below. Q.25. What is the position of Y with respect to Z? There are eight persons K, J, P, U, X, Y, Z and N sitting around a triangular table and all are (1) Third to the left (2) Fourth to the right facing towards the centre but not necessarily (3) Second to the left (4) Third to the right in the same order. One person sits on each (5) Second to the right corner, two persons sit at each inclined side and only one person sit on horizontal side of Q.26-29. In the following questions, the symbols #, &, triangle. Each one of them studying in different @, *, $, % and © are used with the following subjects i.e. Literature, English, Mathematics, meanings as illustrated below. Study the Hindi, Reasoning, Computer, Physics and following information and answer the given Chemistry but not necessarily in the same order. questions: Only two people sit between the person who A@B – A is the mother of B studying in Chemistry and N. J does not study A#B – A is the son of B in Reasoning. K does not like Mathematics. Z is not an immediate neighbor of the person who A=B – B is the father of A studying in Literature. K sits third to the right of A&B – A is the husband of B who studying in Chemistry. Y is not an immediate A%B – B is the daughter of A neighbor of K. The person who studying Literature is an immediate neighbor of both the persons who A$B – A is the child of B studying in Computer and Physics. Neither K nor Q.26. Which of the following statements means C is the N studying in Reasoning and English. The one son-in-law of Q? who studying in Reasoning is not an immediate (1) P#Q&B=H%C@F neighbor of the person who studying in Chemistry. The person who studying in Reasoning and the (2) P#Q%B@H$C#F English are immediate neighbors of each other. (3) H@C=P%Q$F&B P sits to the immediate right of the person who (4) B@F$H$C&Q@P studying in Mathematics. The person who studying in Literature sits second to the left of X. X is not an (5) None of these immediate neighbor N. The person who studying Q.27. If M=N&C@D%X$Y, then how is M related X? in Physics sits third to the right of J. The one who (1) Father (2) Brother studying in Chemistry and Reasoning sit at corner. (3) Uncle (4) Aunt Q.21. What is the position of K with respect to X? (5) Cannot be determined (1) Second to the right (2) Third to the right Q.28. If G$H%I@J#K=L, G is younger than I, whose (3) Fourth to the right (4) Fifth to the left age is 25 years, then how is G related to I and what (5) Third to the left could be the age of G?

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 to MICA DECEMBER 2020 62 the World Food Programme (WFP) for its efforts to combatting world hunger. MODEL PAPER 2020 (1) 18 years, Sister transformation of India into a digitally empowered (2) 20 years, Brother economy. To further this cause, a proposal to incentivise cashless transactions by offering a (3) 29 years, Brother-in-law concession in tax rate was tabled before the goods (4) 22 years, Sister-in-law and services tax (GST) council. The proposed scheme seeks to offer a 2% rate cut on business to (5) Either (1) or (2) consumer (B2C) transactions where payments are Q.29. If L#M&N%O@P#Q, then how is P related L? made digitally or by cheque. (1) Nephew (2) Son (3) Father Which of the following statements, if true, (4) Niece (5) None of these weaken the efficacy of the mechanism stated above to incentivize cashless transactions? Q.30-34. Study the following information carefully and answer the questions below: I. The maximum amount of concession available will be capped at only Rs 50 per transaction. In a certain code language, II. Introducing the incentive will subject businesses “Hope creating new method" is coded as "3%V, to additional reporting requirements as they will 8*I, 6$V, 4@L". have to offer customers two prices—one with a "Dependent makes you success" is coded as "3%L, reduced rate and one with the regular rate. 5#Z, 7&F, 9=V". III. The diverse nature of our economy and the "Always maintained the balanced diet" is coded as demands of India’s federal structure justified the "10=Z, 3%S, 6$O, 8*Z, 4@R". initial need for multiple rates. "Helping is good" is coded as "2^H, 4@L, 7&V". (1) Only II (2) Only III Q.30. What is the code for "Educational Limited"? (3) Only I and II (4) Only II and III (1) 7^W, 8*V (2) 7#W, 9&R (5) All of the above (3) 7&R, 11=W (4) 9#R, 6@T Q.36. Study the paragraph given below and answer (5) None of these the question. Q.31. What would be the code for "Institute Banking"? India will soon become a nation producing world- leading products developed by a large number of (1) 9=M, 7&Z (2) 9&M, 7&Z small local entrepreneurs. (3) 7=M, 9=Z (4) 8&Z, 7=W Which of the following are valid arguments? (5) None of these I. No. The true potential of entrepreneurship can Q.32. What is the following code of the given word be attained not by having too many startups but “Personnel”? by ensuring that these startups grow into sizeable (1) 9=O (2) 9&V (3) 8$T businesses. (4) 9=V (5) 9^O II. Yes. Starting up a business is a hard task and growing it is much easier. Q.33. “7&V” is the code for the word ______. III. No. We support seeding of businesses but (1) Lateral (2) Making (3) Dieting once these businesses are successful, our policies (4) Banking (5) None of these simply do not seem to help them. Q.34. What is the code for "Logic"? (1) Only I (2) Only II (1) 7^L (2) 7#L (3) 7&R (3) Only I and III (4) Only II and III (4) 9#L (5) None of these (5) All of the above Q.35. Study the paragraph given below and answer Q.37. Study the paragraph given below and answer the question. the question. Since the government came to power, one of There are reportedly about 70,000 public libraries in the primary items on its agenda has been the India, many already or nearly defunct. The Centre

In major announcements, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das proposed that the RTGS system, DECEMBER 2020 MICA for real time fund transfer will become 24×7 from December 2020. 63 CRP PO MAINS and State governments must share the blame for this the truck traffic would be forced to run outside plight. It has been some time since a Union or State highways. Such a reduction in the amount of budget set aside a meaningful amount for improving truck traffic would reduce the risk of collisions on library infrastructure. The onus falls squarely on the highways. Government to make sure its people, especially The conclusion drawn in the 1st sentence students and the poor, have enough avenues to sit depends on which of the following assumptions? together, read and learn. (1) The roads outside highway would be as Which of the following statements strengthen convenient as highway for most drivers of trucks. the argument for the government being responsible for investing in public libraries? (2) Most of the roads outside highways are not ready to handle truck traffic. I. Libraries help build an enlightened citizenry. (3) Most trucks that are currently running in II. Private parties may not be interested in investing highway have a capacity of more than 8 tons. given the non-profit nature of libraries. (4) Cars are at greater risk of being involved in III. The government has limited budget capacity collisions than are trucks. and most of this is utilized in important education related schemes which have a wider reach amongst (5) None of these the vulnerable sections. Q.40-45. Study the following information carefully and (1) Only II (2) Only III answer the questions below. (3) Only I and II (4) Only I and III Seven boxes D, E, F, G, H, I and J are placed one above other, but not necessarily in the same (5) All of the above order. Each of them contains different items are Q.38. Study the paragraph given below and answer Toothpaste, Marker, Scale, Watches, Switches, the question. Balls and Registers but not necessarily in the same The withdrawal of the U.S. from the Human Rights order. Council (HRC) of the United Nations in June this The box which contains Scale is placed below year was the right decision. Other nations too have the box G. Box E is not placed above the box started to advocate on the same lines. G. The box which contains Registers is placed Which of the following is a strong argument? immediately below box F. Only two boxes placed between the box G and the one which contains I. No. The overt manner in which a human rights Toothpaste. Only three boxes are placed between agenda and the evolution of human rights norms the Box F and the box which contains Scale. Only have been facilitated is commendable and has one box is placed between box E and box H. Box resulted in states being more engaged. D does not contain Marker, which is not paced at II. No. By ceding a role at the HRC, a state reduces the top. Box G is not placed above the box which its ability to influence the agenda, and if it is so contains toothpaste. The box which box watches inclined, a genuine engagement in the monitoring are placed immediately below box J. The box of human rights. which contains Toothpaste is placed immediately below box D. Neither box E nor box D contains III. Yes. It is made up of states not known for Switches. Box J contains neither Switches nor their human rights records; that many are in fact Balls. Box H does not contain watches. egregious violators of human rights. Q.40. Which of the following box contains Switches? (1) Only II (2) Only III (1) I (2) J (3) G (3) Only I and II (4) Only II and III (4) H (5) E (5) All of the above Q.41. Which of the following pairs of boxes are placed at Q.39. Study the paragraph given below and answer top and bottom respectively? the question. (1) F, H (2) E, I (3) D, G If highways were restricted to cars and only those trucks with capacity of less than 8 tons, most of (4) J, I (5) D, I

In Leh, Central Reserve Police Force Srinagar Sector Inspector General Ms. Charu Sinha MICA DECEMBER 2020 64 has inaugurated prefabricated hutments for CRPF personnel. MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.42. Which of the following combination is true? Q.44. How many boxes are placed between H and E? (1) G- Balls (2) I- Marker (1) One (2) Two (3) H- Toothpaste (4) F- Watches (3) Four (4) None (5) None of these (5) None of these Q.43. Four of the following five are alike in a certain Q.45. Which among the following boxes is placed just way and so form a group then which one of the above the box which contains Balls? following does not belong to the group? (1) Register (2) Scale (1) J- Watches (2) E- Scales (3) F- Register (3) Switches (4) Watches (4) D- Marker (5) G- Marker (5) None CRP PO MAINS / ENGLISH LANGUAGE Q.46-50. In each of the following questions, three B. Asian shares fell on Wednesday as stocks on the sentences have been given, choose the sentence/s Wall Street witnessed another bout of sell-off in which are grammatically correct. If all the tech stocks. sentences are correct, your answer is (5). C. Investors were also wary as oil prices hit Q.46. A. The number of demat accounts have risen lows not seen since June and a major drug maker sharply, signifying that more retail investors are delayed testing of a coronavirus vaccine. trying their hand at direct investing. (1) Only A (2) Only B B. The high levels of interest in the Happiest (3) Both A & C (4) Both B & C Minds further confirms this trend, and in fact (5) All are Correct raises questions if the retail frenzy is near its peak. Q.49. A. Land pollution is big threat to the environment. C. Investors also need to weigh in significant It is growing day by day owing to the increasing leadership and management churn in the company population as well as the rise in the industries through recent years. around. (1) Only A (2) Only B B. Due to the increase in population and the growth (3) Both A & C (4) Both B & C of urbanization forests are being cut at a rapid pace (5) All are Correct to accommodate people. Q.47. A. Wipro said it will also collaborate with C. Deforestation causes land pollution as it institutions and universities in North Rhine- degrades the soil quality. Similarly, increase in Westphalia state to develop tailored programs. population has also given rise to the household waste which again leads to land pollution. B. The digital innovation hub will aim to galvanise adoption of new skills and technologies (1) Only A (2) Only B by companies to innovate and re-imagine their (3) Both A & C (4) Both B & C products. (5) All are Correct C. Wipro’s proposed digital innovation hub Q.50. A. With the pandemic's peak not yet in sight and comes at a time when according to the European the government not providing adequate direct Commission, only one out of five company across fiscal support, the downside risks to our earlier the European Union are highly digitalized. forecast have materialized. (1) Only A (2) Only B B. A stretched fiscal position has constrained the (3) Both A & C (4) Both B & C government from spending more to support the (5) All are Correct economy and the policy push to growth remained muted, except in pockets. Q.48. A. Moving away entirely from corporate loans to retail loans may not be good for lenders and they C. India has overtaken Brazil as second worst hit should instead maintain a good balance in their country with over 42 lakh coronavirus cases. loan portfolio. (1) Only A (2) Only B

Eminent Indian-origin academician Srikant Datar has been named as Dean of Harvard DECEMBER 2020 MICA Business School. 65 CRP PO MAINS (3) Both A & C (4) Both B & C C. Persistent D. Urging (5) All are Correct E. Tenacious Q.51-56. In the following passage, some blanks are given (1) Both A & C (2) Both B & E and against each five words are suggested to fill (3) Both B & D (4) Both C & E in the blank. You have to choose a pair of words (5) Both A & B which can appropriately be filled in the blank. Q.52. Choose the correct option for B. The Supreme Court on Thursday gave in to a ____A____ plea of the Union government for A. Deliberations B. Considerations two more weeks to brainstorm with the Reserve C. Heedlessness D. Disregards Bank of India (RBI) and banks on crucial issues E. Inclusion such as sector specific loan restructuring, charging borrowers’ interest on interest for loans deferred (1) Both A & C (2) Both B & E during the moratorium period. (3) Both B & D (4) Both C & E The next hearing is scheduled for September (5) Both A & B 28. Solicitor -General Tushar Mehta told a Q.53. Choose the correct option for C. Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan that A. Innovation B. Restructuring ___B____ were being held at the “highest level” of the government. Individual C. Waiver D. Remodeling borrowers and various sectors of commerce E. Omission and industry, including traders, power and (1) Both A & C (2) Both B & E real estate, urged the court to pass an interim order extending the loan moratorium that expired (3) Both B & D (4) Both C & E on August 31. They said loan ___C____ would (5) Both A & B not help as banks have already started debiting Q.54. Choose the correct option for D. interest on interest. Their credit ratings and asset value have dipped. A. Expedited B. Adjourned C. Promoted D. Engrossed This has seriously affected the confidence of account¬ holders. The worst hit are the E. Deferred individual borrowers who have come out of (1) Both A & C (2) Both B & E the moratorium period only to find that they (3) Both B & D (4) Both C & E are supposed to pay interest on loan interest ___D____ during the moratorium. But the (5) Both A & B court, which was on the ___E___ of passing Q.55. Choose the correct option for E. an interim order, merely went on to record the A. Core B. Threshold versions of the government and the borrowers before deciding to wait for the results of the C. Brink D. Oversight “deliberations being held at the highest level”. E. Domicile Its order recorded the government had formed (1) Both A & E (2) Both B & C “expert committees” that would file reports. Mr. (3) Both B & D (4) Both C & E Mehta assured the court, “We are going into (5) Both A & B the problem in a ___F____ way”. Justice M.R. Shah told him, “You must have a complete and Q.56. Choose the correct option for F. clear policy. Whatever is there it should be very A. Integrated B. Atomistic clear”. On the other hand, senior advocate Rajiv C. Holistic D. Abridged Dutta, for an individual borrower, said status quo as on August 31 should be maintained till the E. Mangled government took a decision. (1) Both A & C (2) Both B & E Q.51. Choose the correct option for A. (3) Both B & D (4) Both C & E A. Relenting B. Intermittent (5) Both A & B

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) banned the popular Chinese video-shar- MICA DECEMBER 2020 66 ing app TikTok after getting numerous complaints against its immoral content. MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.57-61. In each of the following questions, a short passage Q.61. The Prime Minister ______the Swachh Bharat with three blanks has been given. You have to Mission (SBM) on the 145th birth anniversary of choose the appropriate option to fill in the blanks. Mahatma Gandhi. The ______programme aims Q.57. The NEP was approved by the Union Cabinet to make the streets, roads and infrastructure across on 29 July. There was ______if the new policy the country clean by October 02nd, 2019, the 150th would come into effect from 2020, amid a birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation. It is ______academic year due to pandemic-induced India’s biggest ever cleanliness ______. disruptions or if its ______would be pushed to (1) Phased out, inspiration, action 2021. (2) Declared, apathetic, revolution (1) Ambiguity, truncated, implementation (3) Launched, ambitious, drive (2) Palpability, curtailed, nonperformance (4) Commenced, ruthless, initiative (3) Incision, aggrandized, completion (5) Constituted, vague, constrain (4) Obliquity, escalated, execution Q.62-66. In each of the following questions, a long (5) Lucidity, abridged, commission sentence with two short highlighted parts is Q.58. The _____ little bug needs to be fought, of course, given. You have to choose the option which but we can’t afford to let the current ______of consists of the correct phrases to replace the larger forces ______our national destiny. highlighted parts. If the highlighted parts are Common sense must do that. already correct, choose option 5. (1) Tartish, situation, decree. Q.62. A bonafide passenger travelling in an aircraft (2) Mild, gaudy, ensure. engaged into scheduled air transport (A) (3) Spikey, trajectory, dictate. services may do still and video photography from inside such an aircraft while in flight, take off (4) Sardonic, scenario, countermand. with landing (B). (5) Cordial, path, rescind. (1) (A) engage by scheduled air transport/ (B) Q.59. The huge demand for both the companies ______while in flight, take away and landing well for India’s IPO market, which has seen only two main board ______in 2020 despite a (2) (A) engaged with scheduled air transport/ (B) buoyant stock market. The S&P BSE Sensex is while on flight, take off and landing up about 50% from a low in March even as the (3) (A) engaged for scheduled air transport/ (B) country saw its worst ______contraction on while in flight, take off or landing record in the June quarter and is the new global (4) (A) engaged in scheduled air transport/ (B) virus hotspot. while in flight, take off and landing (1) Calculates, shortcomings, political (5) No correction Required (2) Insures, betokens, economical Q.63. While the economy has picked in the past few (3) Proves, defects, ethical months (A), and some indicators such as tractor (4) Settles, foreshows, geographic and fertilizer sales was above pre-covid levels (5) Bodes , offerings, economic (B), most other sections of the economy are well- below peak levels. Q.60. Industrial output had _____ at 16.6% in June, mainly due to lower output of manufacturing, (1) (A)has picked of in the past few months/ (B) is mining and power ______, data released by the above pre-covid levels statistics ministry ______on Friday. In July last (2) (A)has picked up in the past few months/ (B) year, factory output had expanded by 4.9%. have been above pre-covid levels (1) Inflate, creation, camouflaged (3) (A)has picked into the past few months/ (B) (2) Puff, collapse, curtained have above pre-covid levels (3) Constrict, eradicate, displayed (4) (A)has picked out in the past few months/ (B) (4) Expand, wreck, veiled has been above pre-covid levels (5) Contracted, generation, showed (5) No correction Required Former England international and Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has been appointed the DECEMBER 2020 MICA head coach of East Bengal for the next two years. 67 CRP PO MAINS Q.64. The projects inaugurates today in Bihar will (4) (A) meant to be used as preventive/ (B) likely cater (A) to the growing LPG demand in the state to be longer and ensured availability of clean fuel (B) for the (5) No correction Required people of Bihar Q.67-71. In each of the following questions, a sentence (1) (A) inaugurates today in Bihar will cater/ (B) with two highlighted words is given. You ensure availability of clean fuel have to choose the option which consists of (2) (A) inaugurated today in Bihar will cater/ (B) the SYNONYM of the first word and the ensure availability in cleaning fuel ANTONYM of the second word. (3) (A) inaugurated today in Bihar will cater/ (B) Q.67. The most important problem faced by farmers ensure availability of clean fuel during the lockdown was the loss of markets, stemming from the disruption in supply chains, (4) (A) inaugurated today on Bihar will cater/ (B) closure of mandis and a fall in consumer food ensure availability of clean fuel demand. (5) No correction Required (1) Driving, interruption Q.65. The Union health ministry on Sunday issued (2) Impelling, break management protocols for patients that have recovered from covid-19 (A) and suggested (3) Advancing, separation following alternative medicinal system that (4) Impeding, appease included intake of Chyawanprash (B), and (5) Actuating, severance Ayush medicines and practising yoga asanas to boost immunity. Q.68. The company made audacious moves to benefit from the inevitable changes in the world economic (1) (A) who have recovered from covid-19/ (B) structure. includes intake of Chyawanprash (1) Impudent, dubious (2) (A) that has recovered from covid-19/ (B) includes intake of Chyawanprash (2) Demure, ineluctable (3) (A) who have recovered from covid-19/ (B) (3) Honest, certain include intake of Chyawanprash (4) Inconspicuous, necessary (4) (A) who have recovered of covid-19/ (B) (5) Courteous, inescapable included intake of Chyawanprash Q.69. They protect and even reinvent the core of their (5) No correction Required business by tapping into evolving consumer preferences with agility. Q.66. In each of the following questions, a long sentence with two short highlighted parts is (1) Inhaling, dexterity given. You have to choose the option which (2) Progressing, disability consists of the correct phrases to replace the (3) Absorbing, nimbleness highlighted parts. If the highlighted parts are already correct, choose option 5. (4) Decreasing, deftness It is not mean to be used as preventive (A) or (5) Blocking, litheness curative therapy. The recovery period is like to be Q.70. Along with diligent liquidity and balance sheet longer (B) for patients who suffered from more management, they pursue a proactive M&A severe form of the disease and those with pre- pipeline. existing illness. (1) Assiduous, heedless (2) Dormant, farseeing (1) (A) meant to use as preventive/ (B) likely to be (3) Latent, prescient (4) Quiescent, visionary longer (5) Dull, insightful (2) (A) mean to use a preventive/ (B) likely to be Q.71. Of course, significant reforms around logistics, longer training, labour and ease of doing business will be (3) (A) meant to be used as preventive/ (B) like to required, but the dividends will be significant over long the medium term.

TV-film actor Sana Khan said she was leaving acting to spend her life in the service of human- MICA DECEMBER 2020 68 ity and following the orders of her “creator.” MODEL PAPER 2020 (1) Frailty, abet to one large category of wage-earners — those (2) Feebleness, proficiency earning their daily bread from agriculture. (3) Chaos, facility Now, Census data tell us that roughly half of the main workers were either cultivators or agricultural (4) Hopelessness, mastery labourers. That immediately puts about 16.5 crore (5) Management, complicate of those 33 crore main workers out of the tax net, Q.72-76. Read the following passage and answer the leaving the taxable population at 16.5 crore. Of questions based on it. that, 4.3 crore individuals already filed their I-T returns for salary income in assessment year 2016. Do Indians have the potential to pay more tax? In effect, at least a fourth of the wage-earners are Most individual taxpayers will respond with a already in the tax net. vehement ‘No’. But the Finance Minister is quite convinced that there’s room to collect more. Q.72. Which of the following can be inferred as the Recently pointing out that India is still “far from theme of the passage? being a tax compliant society” he noted that the (1) People are quite convinced that there’s room to tax-to-GDP ratio is low, and there’s room to collect more individual taxes. bump it up by another 1.5 percentage points. So, (2) India needs more collection of taxes to meet why is there such a sharp dichotomy between the financial needs of the country. the perception of citizens — who feel they are taxed at every turn, and the government — which (3) Most people in India are reluctant to pay direct thinks that there’s room to extract more? The taxes. answer could lie in the flawed measurement of (4) India needs more stringent laws to stop tax tax compliance. evasion. The metric that is often used to drive home the (5) The government and the citizens do not think poor culture of compliance in India, is the small alike. proportion of population paying direct taxes. In Q.73. Which of the following can replace the word FY18, 6.84 crore entities (individuals, HUFs ‘room’ given in bold in the passage? and businesses) filed their Income Tax Returns. Of these, there were about 6 crore individual (1) Home (2) Requirements (3) Range assessees. A straightforward comparison of (4) Scope (5) Leeway this number with the population estimate (132 Q.74. What is the tone of the given passage? crore) suggests that only 4.5 per cent of Indians (1) Nostalgic (2) Didactic (3) Critical pay income tax. But that’s a flawed comparison because an individual can be said to ‘evading’ (4) Sarcastic (5) Satirical income tax only if he is (____) to pay it in the Q.75. Which of the following word can fill the first place. Therefore, the most important step blank space in the 2nd paragraph to make it to assessing actual tax compliance in India, is to meaningful? estimate the proportion of the population that is (1) Unable (2) Compatible (3) Willing liable to pay income tax. (4) Capable (5) Liable To begin with, tax liability is dependent on the age and employment status of the individual. As Q.76. Why In India only a small proportion of earning per the last Census (2011), only about half of population is liable to pay income tax? India’s population fell in the working age group (1) Tax liability is depends on various factors like of 20- to 59-year olds. Only half of this working- age group and status of employment age population in turn, was employed throughout (2) Part of the population earning their daily bread the year (what the Census calls Main Workers). from agriculture are exempted from paying tax. Now, applying this to the current population count of 132 crore, there would be 33 crore individuals (3) India is an agriculture-based country. who earn a regular salary or wage, and can be (4) Data provided by Census often ends up being realistically expected to pay income tax on it. But faulty. then, Indian tax laws offer a complete exemption (5) None of the above.

Former FIFA Council member Kwesi Nyantakyi had his life ban for financial corruption cut DECEMBER 2020 MICA to 15 years on appeal. 69 CRP PO MAINS Q.77-79. Read the following passage and answer the (4) The hope of the youngsters is dying down in questions based on it. Certain words/phrases AAP ruled Delhi. have been given in bold to help you locate them (5) None of the above while answering some of the questions. Q.78. Which of the following has been assumed in the Our politicians are busy fighting over irrelevant second paragraph? Select the most suitable answer. matters when the affairs of the country are in (1) Most political parties have lost people's trust bad shape. The hope which Arvind Kejriwal's and this is dangerous to the democratic values of AAP has given to the people of India, especially India. the youngsters, is also slowly dying down. A fractured mandate in 2019 may enable the (2) Now it is not easy to win youngsters' trust since Third Front to form a government which is likely they believe in development rather than divisive to impact economic growth and development politics. adversely as the all these parties have leaders who (3) In the upcoming general elections the cunning are nurturing Prime be Ministerial ambitions and political leaders will be taught lessons for cheating hence will be busy fighting amongst themselves youngsters. instead of delivering good and stable governance. (4) Youngsters will play a decisive role in 2020 Unfortunately, none of the political parties are polls. able to win people's trust, and this is dangerous (5) None of the above to the democratic values of India. However, the Q.79. Which of the following words has a meaning which 2020 polls will go down as a crucial one in which is SIMILAR in meaning to the word 'fractured’? the maximum voters will be below the age of 35 years who do not believe in divisive politics but in (1) perfect (2) fixed (3) divided development and so only those leaders who talk (4) shabby (5) collapsed of unity, development and economic growth will Q.80. Select the statements which can be meaningfully be able to win the people’s trust, especially that of combined by using the given word in the question. youngsters. Whereas Q.77. Which of the following conclusion can be drawn most appropriately from the words "hence will A. BJP has been routed in these elections having be busy fighting amongst themselves instead of managed to win mere 18.7% of all seats. delivering good and stable governance" in the first B. The opposition, especially independent paragraph? candidates, have walked away with flying colours. (1) Every political leader has an ultimate aim of C. If Independents were a party they would have becoming the prime minister of India. got a thumping majority in these elections. (2) No political party in India is honest. D. Out of 16 Mayoral positions they have captured 14 and that is the end of their success story. (3) The self-centred leaders of the Third Front (1) Only C-D (2) Only A-B (3) Only D-A would not deliver good and stable governance in 2019. (4) Only B-C (5) None CRP PO MAINS / NUMERICAL ABILITY Q.81. Which information are necessary to answer the III. At the end of the year Karina earned Rs questions asked- 12000. Karina and Katrina invested some money in a (1) Any two are sufficient business in the ratio of 4 : 5. At the end of year find (2) II and III together are sufficient the difference between the profits of Karina and (3) III and (I or II) are sufficient Katrina. (4) All three together are sufficient I. Karina invested money for the whole year and Katrina invested money for 8 months. (5) All three together are not sufficient II. The total profit earned by both at the end of the Q.82. Which information are necessary to answer the year is Rs 22000. questions asked- The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi released a commemorative coin of Rs 100 in honour of MICA DECEMBER 2020 70 Vijaya Raje Scindia on 12th October, 2020 through a virtual ceremony. MODEL PAPER 2020 In an examination some students appeared for the At what time will the train reach point X from point Y? examination. How many students cleared the exam? I. The train crosses another train of equal length of I. 35% of the students failed in the exams. 250 m in 25 sec. running opposite direction. II. The difference between the students who II. The train of 250 m crosses a signal pole in 10 sec. cleared the exam and failed in exam is 240. III. The distance between point X and point Y is III. The ratio of the boys and girls who appeared 360 km. for the examination is 4:5. (1) None of these (1) Any two are sufficient (2) II and III together are sufficient (2) I and II together are sufficient (3) III and (I or II are sufficient) (3) II and (I or III) are sufficient (4) All three together are sufficient (4) All three together are sufficient (5) All three together are not sufficient (5) All three together are not sufficient Q.86-90. Study the following pie chart and bar chart Q.83. Which information are necessary to answer the carefully and answer the questions given beside. questions asked- A person covers a total distance of 3000 km in 6 Find the two digit number. days, by bus, by Ola, and by Uber. Study the pie I. The product of the two digits of the two digit chart and bar graph to answer these questions. number is 20. The percentage of total distance travelled in 6 II. The difference between the two digits of the different days. two digit numbers is 1. III. The sum of the two digits of the two digit numbers is 9. (1) None of these (2) II and III together are sufficient (3) III and (I or II are sufficient) (4) All three together are sufficient (5) All three together are not sufficient Q.84. Which information are necessary to answer the questions asked- The percentage of distance covered by each How much is monthly profit of a company? mode on each day. I. Company decided to give bonus with the salary to its employees. Bonus is 12% of the monthly profit of the company. II. On the day of salary distribution, company changed its mind and gave a total of Rs.24000 as bonus which was 125% of what the company had decided earlier. III. Company gives an amount of Rs.15000 as bonus which is 3/4th of total monthly profit. (1) None of these (2) II and III together are sufficient Q.86. What is the total distance covered by Bus? (3) III and (I or II are sufficient) (1) 814.9 km (2) 812.3 km (3) 813.3 km (4) All three together are sufficient (4) 821.23 km (5) None of these (5) All three together are not sufficient Q.87. If everywhere Ola maintains an average speed of Q.85. Which information are necessary to answer the 40 km per hour then what is the total time (In hour) questions asked- in six days spent on Ola? (Approximately) Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that all eight beaches recommended by the DECEMBER 2020 MICA 71 Government has got the coveted International Blueflag Certification. CRP PO MAINS (1) 25 hours (2) 26 hours (3) 27 hours Q.91. Total number of Linux Laptops sold by stores C (4) 28 hours (5) 28.5 hours and H together is by what percent less than total number of Laptops (Windows of Laptops and Q.88. The distance travelled by Ola is approximately Linux Laptops) sold by stores F and H together? how much percentage of the distance travelled by Uber? (round off two decimal) (1) (2) (3) (1) 97.21% (2) 102.32% (3) 98.34% (4) 99.91% (5) 106.29% (4) (5) Q.89. Find the respective ratio of the distance travelled by Bus, Ola, and Uber. Q.92. Number of Laptops (Windows Laptops and Linux (1) 2711 : 3614 : 3675 (2) 8133 : 10837 : 11020 Laptops) sold by store D is by what per cent more (3) 2713 : 3612 : 3675 (4) 2717 : 3614 : 3681 than total number of Windows Laptops sold by (5) None of these stores C, F and G together? (1) 22.5 (2) 25 (3) 27.5 Q.90. Suppose, Instead of Bus, the person uses Ola and the speed of Ola is 25% more than the speed of bus then (4) 35 (5) 30 approximately how many hours the person would Q.93. What is the respective ratio between total number save? (The average speed of bus is 30 km per hour) of Windows Laptops sold by stores A and B together and total number of Laptops (Windows (1) 6.8 hours (2) 7.2 hours (3) 4.6 hours and Linux) sold by stores C and F together? (4) 5.4 hours (5) 4.8 hours (1) 64:77 (2) 48:61 (3) 56:77 Q.91-95. Study the given pie chart and answer the given (4) 64:81 (5) 48:73 questions Q.94. What is the average number of Linux Laptops sold Distribution of number of laptops (Windows and Linux) by stores A, D, E, F and H together? sold by 8 stores in 2004 (1) 3152 (2) 3296 (3) 3548 Total number = 56000 (4) 3186 (5) 428 Q.95. If the number of Laptops sold by stores A, D, and E is increased by 10%, 35%, and 15% respectively from 2004 to 2005, then what was the total number of Linux Laptops sold by these three stores in 2005? Percentage growth in Linux Laptop segment and Windows Laptop segment were equal. (1) 16172 (2) 14966 (3) 15848 (4) 15964 (5) 16392 Q.96-100. Read the following information carefully to answer the questions asked- Following table chart gives information regarding Distribution of number of laptops (Windows) sold by 8 total population, overall literacy rate, literacy stores in 2004 among males and females and per capita income Total number = 32000 of males and females. Per Per Literacy Literacy capita capita Total Literacy among among income income State population (%) males females (in INR) (in INR) (in crores) (%) (%) among among males females UP 27.2 80 85 68 48420 30200 MP 15.4 74 91 63 54600 19500 Bihar 20.8 64 79 53 32400 21400 Rajasthan 19 76 84 59 45900 33800 UK 12.25 62 74 39 62800 38540 Q.96. Find the total earnings of women from Bihar and Rajasthan. (in billion Rs.)

In Tennis, Rafael Nadal beat Novak Djokovic 0, 2, 5 to win his 13th French Open and equal MICA DECEMBER 2020 72 Roger Federer's all-time record of 20 Grand Slam titles. MODEL PAPER 2020 (1) 4623.04 (2) 4263.34 (3) 4343.14 Quantity II: Sandeep went from Patna to Giridih (4) 3453.24 (5) 4824.74 with the speed of 60km/hr. and return back with the speed of 90km/hr. Find the average speed. Q.97. Number of males in Bihar is approximately what percent more than the number of females from (1) Quantity I > Quantity II UK? (2) Quantity I ≥ Quantity II (1) 115 (2) 110 (3) 125 (3) Quantity II > Quantity I (4) 120 (5) 105 (4) Quantity II ≥ Quantity I Q.98. Find the difference of average number of males (5) Quantity I = Quantity II or Relation cannot be and females from all five states. (in crores up to established two decimal point) Q.103. Find the correct relationship between given (1) 3.24 (2) 3.27 (3) 2.84 quantities. (4) 4.08 (5) 3.07 Quantity I: Number of perfect cubes each of side Q.99. Find ratio of difference of male and females from 3 mm that can be cut out of a solid cuboid of MP and Rajasthan. dimensions 3 cm × 30 cm × 30 cm. (1) 232:1837 (2) 59:444 (3) 115:892 Quantity II: Number of perfect cuboids of dimensions 3 mm × 30 mm × 30 mm that can be (4) 172:1131 (5) None of these cut out of a cube of side 30 cm. Q.100. Total earning of population of Rajasthan is (1) Quantity I < Quantity II approximately what percent of total earning of population of UP? (2) Quantity I > Quantity II (1) 72 (2) 65 (3) 68 (3) Quantity I = Quantity II (4) 75 (5) 58 (4) No relation Q.101. Read the following information carefully to (5) Data inadequate answer the questions asked- Q.104. Find the correct relationship between given Following table chart gives data related to ratio quantities. of MP and CP, SP in terms of percentage of MP, Quantity I: Ram invested a sum of Rs. 52, 000 in Difference of profit/loss and discount given of four scheme offering compound interest at the rate of articles. 10% per annum. Find the interest earned by him after 3 years. Article MP:CP SP as Difference of profit/ percentage loss and discount Quantity II: Rahim invested Rs. 28, 750 in a scheme of MP offering simple interest at the rate of 20% per annum. Find the interest earned by him after 3 years. A 15:8 70% 2000 (1) Quantity I > Quantity II B 11:8 90% 800 (2) Quantity I < Quantity II C 15:8 8 4400 88 % (3) Quantity I ≥ Quantity II 9 (4) Quantity I ≤ Quantity II D 3:5 1 1250 (5) Quantity I = Quantity II or No relation 88 % 2 Q.105. Find the correct relationship between given Find the marked price of article B. quantities. (1) 10500 (2) 11000 (3) 10250 Quantity I: The present age of three business colleague, Sumit, Anil and Deepak is in proportion (4) 11225 (5) None of these 5: 7: 8 respectively. Seven years ago, the sum of their Q.102. Find the correct relationship between given ages was 79. Find the present age of Deepak in years. quantities. Quantity II: A daughter’s present age is three- Quantity I: one day Sandeep on tour travels first fifth of the age of her mother. After seven years, 160 km at 64 km/hr and the next 160 km at 80 km/ she will be 2/3rd of the age of her mother. Find hr. The average speed of the tour is: mother’s present age in years.

Ananthakrishna, Former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Bank Ltd. DECEMBER 2020 MICA passed away in Mangaluru. He was 74. 73 CRP PO MAINS (1) Quantity I > Quantity II Q.110. Find the total number of incorrect questions (2) Quantity I ≥ Quantity II attempted by Akhilesh in the exam. (3) Quantity I < Quantity II (1) 27 (2) 15 (3) 28 (4) Quantity I ≤ Quantity II (4) 18 (5) None of these (5) Quantity I = Quantity II or no relation. Q.111-115. Charts given below represents information Q.106-110. The following information is about related to number of offices, post graduate performance of Akhilesh in SBI PO mains percent among employees and ratio of male exam. Read the information carefully and and females. Read the information carefully to answer the following question. answer the questions asked- The exam consists of 200 marks, with 5 sections No. of offices 30 i.e. Reasoning, quant, English, G.A., Computers. Akhilesh attempted 22 questions in Reasoning with 25 20 an accuracy of . Each question of reasoning consists of 2 marks with a negative marking 15 of 25%. (if right question is of 2 mark, then 0.5 10 mark will be deducted for each wrong answer). 5 Each section of the exam have the 25% of negative 0 marking for each wrong question. The total number ABCDEFGH of questions in reasoning is 30. Each question No. of offices of computer consists of ½ marks and maximum Percentage distribution of post-graduate marks in computer are 10. Total 16 questions employees across-8- countries. are attempted by Akhilesh in computer with the ratio of right questions to wrong questions 3 : 1. The number of questions in English is equal to maximum marks of English. Akhilesh attempted 26 questions with 50% accuracy. The number of questions attempted in English is 65% of the total number of questions in English. GA section consists of 40 questions with each question 0.75 marks. Akhilesh attempted 23 questions out of which 8 are wrong. Quant section contains 40 questions out of which Akhilesh attempted 35 questions and got 52.5 marks. Number of employees and respective Ratio Q.106. Another student Neeraj attempted 70% questions male to female across-8- countries in the same exam, then find the number of Countries Total no. of Respective ratio of Male and questions left by Neeraj. Employees Female employees. (1) 119 (2) 68 (3) 51 A 2568 5 : 7 (4) 65 (5) None of these B 2880 11 : 5 Q.107. Find the marks obtained by Akhilesh in GA. C 2310 10 : 11 (1) 8.75 (2) 9.25 (3) 9.75 D 3575 3 : 2 (4) 10.75 (5) None of these E 2054 7 : 6 Q.108. The number of correct questions in reasoning F 2788 20 : 21 is how much more than the number of incorrect G 3720 8 : 7 questions in the same subject? H 3360 9 : 5 (1) 12 (2) 7 (3) 18 Q.111. If the number of male post-graduate, employees in (4) 9 (5) None of these country H is 1800 .What percent of female employees Q.109. Find the total marks obtained by Akhilesh in the exam. in that particular country is post graduate? (1) 101 (2) 105 (3) 109 (1) 76 (2) 74 (3) 72 (4) 102 (5) None of these (4) 64 (5) 68 Rohit Sharma became the second player to have played 150 matches in the IPL for MICA DECEMBER 2020 74 Mumbai Indians (MI). MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.112. In which of the given countries is percentage Q.114. What is the difference between average number of woman employees to number of employees of post graduate employees in countries A, B and (both male and female) in that country the second D together and average number of Post-graduate Lowest? employees in countries F, G and H together? (1) G (2) B (3) E (1) 282 (2) 276 (4) H (5) D (3) 294 (4) 342 Q.113. What is the respective ratio between total number (5) 299 of male employees in countries B and H together Q.115. Which of the given countries has the highest and total number of female employees in countries number of average employees per offices? C and D together? (1) F (2) H (1) 63 : 52 (2) 51 : 38 (3) 77 : 64 (3) B (4) C (4) 69 : 44 (5) 57 : 40 (5) D CRP PO MAINS / GENERAL AWARENESS Q.116. Tennis player Julia Georges announced her retirement (3) Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh at the age of 31, she belongs to which country? (4) Bhiwani, Haryana (1) Germany (2) Canada (3) Russia (5) Chennai, Tamil Nadu (4) Poland (5) France Q.122. Which of the following countries had proposed Q.117. Which of the following states has become the first 'One World, One Sun, One Grid' (OSOWOG) state to reject agricultural law? initiative to ensure supply of solar energy globally (1) Haryana (2) Punjab to facilitate global cooperation? (3) Maharashtra (4) Telangana (1) India (2) Britain (3) Canada (5) Kerala (4) Russia (5) Japan Q.118. Which state is related to the festive sweet Q.123. Where is India's first 'Snow Leopard Conservation dish 'Khaje', 'Mindoli Kela' which received Center' being established? geographical indicators in August 2020? (1) Uttarkashi (2) Jammu (3) Ladakh (1) Kerala (2) Madhya Pradesh (4) Chamoli (5) None of these (3) Uttar Pradesh (4) Goa Q.124. Which of the following Indian youth was included (5) Karnataka in the UN's 2020 'Class of 17 Young Leaders' list Q.119. Who hosted the 'Virtual India Idea Summit' held in September 2020? on 21 and 22 July 2020? (1) Udit Singhal (2) Narendra Singh (1) U.S. India Business Council (3) Vivek Katiyar (4) Ayushman Khurana (2) India Inc (5) Mudit Solanki (3) State Bank of India Q.125. Which country's finance minister recommended (4) Indian Ministry of External Affairs the following in August 2020 to mark the pictures (5) None of these of Mahatma Gandhi on coins? Q.120. 'India's first public electric vehicle charging plaza' was (1) UK (2) South Africa inaugurated by the Union Minister for Power, New (3) Australia (4) Israel and Renewable Energy, RK Singh on 20 July 2020? (5) India (1) Chelmsford Club Q.126. The book 'Let Us Dream', which will be released (2) Royal Club in December 2020, has been written by whom? (3) Manchester Club (1) Pope Francis (2) Mark Dwayne (4) Delhi Gymkhana Club (3) Jayophra Archer (4) (5) None of these (5) None of these Q.121. The world's largest solar tree developed by CSIR- Q.127. Which city has recently been declared by CMERI, which has been recently established? UNESCO as the 'World Book Capital' for the year (1) Durgapur, West Bengal 2021 ------. (2) Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (1) Tbilisi (2) London Bangladesh Cabinet approved a draft law to include death penalty as the highest DECEMBER 2020 MICA punishment for rape. 75 CRP PO MAINS (3) Washington D.C. (4) Rome (2) Raiganj (West Bengal) (5) Jakarta (3) Rajkot (Gujarat) Q.128. 'Rose Christian Osuka Rapoda' has been elected as (4) Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) the first woman Prime Minister of which country (5) Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) in July 2020? Q.136. On August 15, 2020, the agreement between the (1) Gavona (2) Uganda (3) Rwanda US and Poland on the deployment of US Army (4) South Africa (5) Lebanon in the capital of Poland was signed, what is the Q.129. According to the 'Trade and Development Report capital of Poland? 2020' released by the United Nations on 23 (1) Warsaw (2) Dublin (3) Dushanbe September 2020, India's growth rate is estimated (4) Lima (5) Ashgabat to be around 2020? Q.137. 'Digital Quality Life Index, 2020' was released by (1) -5.9% (2) 5.9% (3) 8.9% which of the following organization? (4) 7.9% (5) -7.9% (1) SurfSark Q.130. 'Video-sharing platform Tik-Tok' made which (2) Institute of Economics Bank and Peace company its technology partner for US operations (3) Economist Intelligence Unit in September 2020? (4) World Economic Forum (1) Oracle (2) Apple (3) Zoom (5) Transparency International (4) Microsoft (5) None of these Q.138. By amending the definitions of MSME, the Q.131. Which Indian Administrative Officer has been Central Government has increased the maximum appointed as Executive Director of World Bank in investment limit in micro enterprises from 25 lakh September 2020? to how many rupees? (1) Mohan Tyagi (2) Rajesh Khullar (1) 1 Crore (2) 5 crores (3) 10 crores (3) Gajendra Singh (4) Siddharth Varadarajan (4) 15 crores (5) None of these (5) Dr. Girija Mungali Q.139. Which of the following organizations did not Q.132. Titan Company in collaboration with which bank cooperate in preparing the report released by the launched 'India's first contactless payment watch United Nations on 13 July 2020, titled 'Food safety Titan Pay' on 16 September 2020? and nutritional status in the world'? (1) State Bank of India (1) United Nations Food and Agriculture (2) HDFC Bank Organization (3) Punjab National Bank (2) International Agricultural Development Fund (4) Ratnakar Bank Limited (3) United Nations Children's Fund (5) IDBI Bank (4) World Health Organization Q.133. Which state government started 'Mukhyamantri (5) World Economic Forum Mahila Utkarsh Yojana' in September 2020? Q.140. In July 2020, the currency swap agreement with (1) Meghalaya (2) Mizoram (3) Karnataka Sri Lanka was signed by the Reserve Bank of (4) Kerala (5) Gujarat India. What is a currency swap? Q.134. Which of the following General Insurance (1) The grant of dollars by the central bank Company launched a crop insurance campaign of a country to the central bank of another called "Very Important"? country to be returned in the same amount as (1) Bharti Axa General Insurance Company the currency of that country according to the (2) Future General Insurance Company market exchange within the time fixed by the foreign central bank. (3) Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company (2) Providing dollars by the central bank of a (4) Edelweiss General Insurance Company country to the central bank of another country, (5) None of these which is to be returned in dollars as per the market Q.135. Which site is not included in the 7 circles of exchange within the stipulated time. Archaeological Survey of India by the Ministry of (3) Providing dollars by the central bank of a Culture, Government of India on August 26, 2020? country to the central bank of another country to (1) Trichy (Tamil Nadu) be returned in gold within the stipulated time.

76 MICA DECEMBER 2020 Nagaland Minister CM Chang passed away in Kohima. He was 7years-old. MODEL PAPER 2020 (4) Assurance of defense deal by the government (1) Raman (2) Vikram (3) Ravana of a country in return (4) Ram (5) Shivajit (5) None of these. Q.148. Dominic Thiem is the player of which country to Q.141. Who among the following has been selected as the win the men's singles title of US Open 2020? first female airborne technician of the country? (1) Germany (2) Australia (3) Canada (1) Shivangi Singh (2) Kumudni Tyagi (4) Italy (5) Serbia (3) Reeti Singh (4) 1, 2, 3 all Q.149. Which portal was recently launched by Union (5) 2, 3 only Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Q.142. Who among the following has been appointed as Singh Puri? the new Chairman of National School of Drama on (1) E - Dharti Geo Portal (2) Geo mitra Portal September 10, 2020? (3) krashi Portal 2021 (4) E - aksah udo Portal (1) Paresh Rawal (2) Jeetendra (5) None of these (3) Mahesh Bhatt (4) Kapoor Kapoor Q.150. Nitin Gadkari recently laid the foundation stone (5) Ashutosh Rana for 16 national highway projects over 1,411 km in Q.143. Who was sworn in as the new Deputy Governor of which state? Jammu and Kashmir on August 7, 2020? (1) Telangana (2) Maharashtra (1) Girish Chandra Murmu (3) Bihar (4) Andhra Pradesh (2) Ashok Gehlot (5) Tamil Nadu (3) Manoj Sinha Q.151. The Israeli Parliament has recently approved the (4) Sumit Dev normalization deal signed between Israel and (5) Ashok Lavasa the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which of the Q.144. Who was elected the chairman of 'Press Trust of following is the name of the Parliament of Israel? India' on 29 August 2020? (1) NESAT (2) Bundestag (3) Congress (1) Devendra Darda (2) Rajiv Kumar (4) Cortes (5) Duma (3) Avik Sarkar (4) Arun Singhal Q.152. The theme of which international day celebrated (5) Rakesh Asthana on 16 October,2020 was "Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together. Our actions are our future"? Q.145. What will be the theme of the proposed G20 summit in Saudi Arabia at the end of 2020? (1) World Food Day (1) "Realizing Opportunities of the 21ST Century (2) World Water Day for All" (3) World Hindi Day (2) "Realizing Opportunities for All" (4) World Environment Day (3) "Realizing Opportunities and Vacancy of the (5) Earth Day 21ST Century for All" Q.153. Who among the following is the winner of Nobel (4) "Realizing Opportunities and Kovid-19 of the Prize in Economics of 2020? 21ST Century for All" (1) Paul Milgrom (2) Robert Wilson (5) "Realizing Opportunities and Economy of the (3) Richard Ganzel (4) A, B both 21ST Century for All" (5) World Food Program Q.146. Chairman of 'Expert Committee on Stressed Q.154. How long is the 'SWAMITVA YOJANA' is to be Assets' K.V. Kamath is also the Chairman of which implemented in entire India? of the following banks? (1) 2024 AD (2) 2026 AD (3) 2027 AD (1) New Development Bank (4) 2029 AD (5) 2030 AD (2) State Bank of India Q.155. RTGS fund transfer system will be available 24 × 7 (3) World Bank from December 2020, what is the full form of RTGS? (4) Punjab National Bank (1) Real Time Fund Transfer (5) Canara Bank (2) Real Time Gross Settlement Q.147. What is the name of India's first private rocket (3) Real Track Grow Settlement engine recently tested by startup company Skyroot (4) Real Track Gross Settlement Aerospace? (5) Right Time Gross Settlement The Haryana government has launched a mobile water testing laboratory van for assessing DECEMBER 2020 MICA water quality. 77 CRP PO MAINS EXPLANATION/CRP PO MAINS/REASONING ABILITY Q.1.(3) I. D > E > A/B/C Q.7.(5) II. D > E > A > C/B III. _ > _ > A > B > D OR A > _ > B > _ > D D > B > A > _ > _ OR D > _ > B > _ > A Q.2.(3) Case I _ > Z > _ > _ > _ X < M Case II X > N > Y > Z/M > Z/M Case III X > N > Y/Z Q.3.(1) Case I: Later – kt Pressure/more/life – sh/gm/pm

Case II: later/cause-hu/kt Q.8.(5) Pressure-gm Plot- jo Q.4.(5) III.

Q.9.(2)

Q.5.(5)

Q.10.(5)

Q.6.(2)

Q.11-15.

Packaging service provider Essel Propack Ltd has received regulatory approval for 78 MICA DECEMBER 2020 changing its name to EPL. MODEL PAPER 2020

Q.28.(5)

Q.11.(5) Q.12.(2) Q.13.(4) Q.14.(4) Q.15.(5) Q.16-20.

Q.29.(1)

Q.30-34. Symbols: Q.16.(4) Q.17.(1) Q.18.(5) Q.19.(2) Q.20.(2) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Q.21-25. letter letter letter letter letter letter letter letter or more ^ % @ # $ & * = Number: Total number of letters in the word. Letter: Opposite of Second letter in the word. Q.30.(3) Q.31.(1) Q.32.(4) Q.33.(5) Q.34.(5) Q.35.(3) Statement I is correct as the proposed maximum amount is too less to serve as an incentive. Statement II is correct as this also reduces the benefits of the proposed incentives. Q.36.(3) Statement I is a strong argument. It states that simply having a huge number of startups is not enough but what is done with them in terms of Q.21.(3) Q.22.(5) Q.23.(1) Q.24.(3) Q.25.(2) growth is important. Q.26.(2) Statement III is correct. If this is true, this is a strong argument and would stop our startups from making their mark as the policies are not supportive. Q.37.(3) Statement I and II are both correct and strengthen the reason for the government to invest more. If it results in a better citizenry and if the private sector is reluctant to put in funds, these make a strong Q.27.(5) case for the government to intervene.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the autobiography of Dr. Balasaheb Vikhe Patil DECEMBER 2020 MICA 79 titled ‘Deh Vechwa Karani’ through video conferencing. CRP PO MAINS Q.38.(5) Statement I is correct as this states what the Q.40-45. HRC has achieved so far and how it has made a 1 D Balls difference. 2 J Toothpaste Statement II is correct as this depicts the 3 F Watches negative impact of withdrawing by the states. 4 H Register Statement III is correct as this decreases the 5 G Switches legitimacy of the Institution. 6 E Marker Q.39.(3) The first sentence concludes that prohibiting 7 I Scale trucks with capacity of more than 8 tons from highway would force most trucks away from Q.40.(3) Q.41.(5) Q.42.(4) Q.43.(4) Q.44.(1) highways. Q.45.(5) EXPLANATION/CRP PO MAINS/ENGLISH LANGUAGE Q.46.(4) Explanation: Sentence B & sentence C are Q.50.(1) Explanation: Only sentence A is correct grammatically correct. However, sentence A is whereas sentence B & C are incorrect and they wrong as we must use “has” instead of “have”, must be rectified as follows- due to the following- B-“A stretched fiscal position has constrained The Number + Plural subject + Singular the government from spending more to support verb. the economy and the policy push to growth remains muted, except in pockets.” – as the The correct sentence would be “The number of entire sentence is given in present tense demat accounts has risen sharply, signifying that more retail investors are trying their C-“India has overtaken Brazil as the second hand at direct investing” worst hit country with over 42 lakh coronavirus cases.”- we must put “the” before an ordinal. Q.47.(2) Explanation: Sentence B is the only sentence that is grammatically correct. Sentence A lacks Q.51.(4) Explanation: The terms “persistent” and “the” before the term “North Rhine-Westphalia” “tenacious” both are adjectives and means and in Sentence C, we must use “companies” “continuing firmly or obstinately in an opinion instead of “company” and “is” instead of “are” or course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition”. The correct sentences would be: The other words “relenting” and “intermittent” A- Wipro said it will also collaborate with are just the antonyms meaning “back- down” institutions and universities in the North and the word “urging” means “the act of Rhine-Westphalia state to develop tailored strongly advising or encouraging someone to programs. do a particular thing.” C- Wipro’s proposed digital innovation Q.52.(5) Explanation: The terms “deliberations” and hub comes at a time when according to the “considerations” are nouns and means “long European Commission, only one out of five and careful consideration or discussion.” companies across the European Union is The terms “heedlessness” and “disregards” are highly digitalized. antonyms, meaning “careless” and “inclusion” Q.48.(5) Explanation: All the given statements are means “addition” correct. Q.53.(3) Explanation: The terms “restructuring” and Q.49.(4) Explanation: Sentence B &C are grammatically “remodeling” means “organize differently” and correct. However, Sentence A is grammatically are acting as verb (gerund). incorrect as it lacks an article before “big threat”. The term- The correct statement must be as followed- Waiver (noun) -an agreement that you “Land pollution is a big threat to the do not have to pay or obey something environment. It is growing day by day owing Innovation (noun) -invention of anything new to the increasing population as well as the Omission (noun) - the act of not including rise in the industries around” something or someone Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Shri Nitin Gadkari inaugurated MICA DECEMBER 2020 80 and laid the foundation stone for 8 National Highway projects in Kerala. MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.54.(2) Explanation: The terms “adjourned” and • Decree (noun)- meaning an official statement “deferred” are adjectives and means “delayed indicating what must be done. Dictate (verb) - until a later time”. means “to tell someone what must be done”. The other terms- • Countermand(verb)- to change an order that Expedited (verb) - to make something happen has already been given, especially by giving a more quickly. new order. • Rescind (verb) meaning “to revoke a law” Promoted (verb) - to encourage people to like, buy, use, do, or support something. Q.59.(5) Explanation: Engrossed (adjective) - giving all your attention • Bodes (verb)-meaning “to predict”. However, to something. calculates/ insures/ proves/settles (all verbs) are its antonyms indicating a sense of certainty of Q.55.(2) Explanation: The terms “ threshold” and something that will happen. “brink” are nouns , meaning “the point where a new or different situation is about to begin”. • Shortcomings/ defects (noun) –means The other terms are- drawback. Betokens/ foreshows (verb) means to serve as a sign. Offerings (noun) which means Core (noun) – innermost part. “something that we give to someone/ results” Oversight (noun) - a mistake made because of a • Economic (adjective) meaning “something failure to notice something. related to economy. Economical (adjective) Domicile (noun) - place where a person lives. means “to spend judiciously”. Q.56.(1) Explanation: The terms “integrated” and Q.60.(5) Explanation: “holistic” are adjectives, meaning “dealing with • Cotracted/ constrict (verb) - means diminish. or treating the whole of something or someone However the options Inflate/ puff/expand etc. and not just a part”. The other terms are- means swollen. Atomistic (adj) - existing or operating separately • Creation/generation (verb) – means to produce from other similar things or people. something. Whereas, collapse/ eradicate/ wreck Abridged(adj) -made shorter by having some (verb) - means destroyed. details or less important information removed. • Showed/ displayed (verb) - meaning Mangled (adj) - destroyed by being twisted “revealed”. Whereas, camouflaged/ curtained/ with force or torn into pieces so that the original veiled (verb) means covered form is completely changed. Q.61.(3) Explanation: Q.57.(1) Explanation: • Phased out -means to cancel, declared means • Ambiguity/obliquity- means “vagueness”. “formally asserted or announced”, launched/ However, palpability/incision/lucidity- “means commenced/ constituted means to initiate or clarity”. All the words are noun. start something. (all the words in the options are verbs). • Truncated/curtailed/abridged- means “to make less in extent or duration”. However, • Ambitious(adjective) meaning “ aspiring/ aggrandized/ escalated- means “raised”. All the focused to a goal”, inspiration (noun) means words are adjective. “motivation”, apathetic(adjective) which means “indifferent”, ruthless (adj) meaning cruel and • Implementation/execution/commission- vague(adj) means “something which is not clear”. means “the doing of an action”. All the words • Drive (noun)-referring to a campaign, are noun constrain (verb) means to force or compel. Q.58.(3) Explanation: Q.62.(4) Explanation: The term “engage” is followed • Tartish/acidulous/spikey/sardonic- means by “in” as a preposition when we indicate a “sharp and blunt”. However, cordial- means sense of being occupied with something. In part “friendly”. All the words are adjectives. B three alternative actions are being referred to • Trajectory- means path, acting as a noun. i.e. “flight, takeoff and landing” hence “and as a Gaudy (adj.)- loud conjunction is the best answer.

“Tech For Tribals” initiative was e-launched by TRIFED, Ministry of Tribal Affairs in DECEMBER 2020 MICA association with Chhattisgarh MFP Federation and IIT Kanpur. 81 CRP PO MAINS Q.63.(2) Explanation: In part A the term “picked up “to reduce” and “blocking” (verb) means to in” should be used as “picked up” means “to stop. improve”, hence it is the required term to • dexterity , nimbleness, deftness and litheness indicate that the economy is growing. In part B are all adjectives meaning “skillful”. Whereas, we must use “have been” instead of “was” as “disability” refers to “incapability" the entire statement is in present tense. Q.70.(1) Explanation: Q.64.(3) Explanation: In Part A “inaugurated” must replace “inaugurates” as it indicates an action • “Dormant, latent, quiescent and dull” are that has already been executed. In part B, we all adjectives and indicates a sense of having must use “ensure” instead of “ensured” as per normal physical functions suspended or slowed the parallel construction of sentence. “will+ down. Whereas, “assiduous” (adjective) means cater(V1) ……. and+ ensure(V1)” careful. Q.65.(1) Explanation: In part A we must use “who” • “Farseeing, prescient, visionary and insightful” as a relative pronoun. We could use “that” as are all adjectives and they refer to an ability relative pronoun if the antecedent “patients” to predict and plan for future eventualities. was qualified by any/such/the same/the only Whereas, “heedless” means “showing a reckless etc. In Part B “includes” must be used as it lack of care or attention.” refers to the procedures that will be followed in Q.71.(5) • “Frailty and feebleness” are adjectives which future. mean weakness. Chaos is a noun meaning Q.66.(4) Explanation: The given statement is given confusion. Hopelessness is a adjective meaning in passive voice hence in Part A we must use “in a state of despair”. Management is a noun “meant” and Part B needs “likely to be longer” indicating “the process of dealing with or as it is indicating time and not length. controlling things or people.” Q.67.(4) Explanation: • Abet is a verb meaning “assist”. Proficiency • Stemming/ impeding is a verb which means to and mastery are adjectives meaning “expertise”. stop the progress. Whereas, driving/ impelling/ Facility is a noun meaning “provision”. advancing/ advancing are all verbs indicating a Complicate is a verb meaning to make sense of continuity. something confusing. • Disruption, interruption, break, separation and Q.72.(3) The answer can be inferred from the second severance are all noun, meaning “disturbance or paragraph. problems which interrupt an event”. Whereas Q.73.(4) Here the term “room” does not indicate any “appease” is a verb which means to fulfil/ place, it rather indicate “possible chances” satisfy. For other options- Q.68.(1) Explanation: Leeway (n)- the amount of freedom to move or • Audacious/ impudent is an adjective which act that is available. means “displaying or marked by rude boldness”. Q.74.(3) The entire passage is revolves around the Whereas, demure, honest, inconspicuous and examination and justification of why only a courteous are adjectives meaning “respectful/ small proportion of earning population is liable gentle”. to pay income tax. • Dubious is an adjective meaning doubtful Q.75.(5) One can only evade such things to which one is or one that can be avoided. Whereas, all the bound/liable. other terms like ineluctable, certain, necessary and inescapable are synonyms of “inevitable” For other options- acting as an adjective. Compatible (adj.)- (of two things) able to exist Q.69.(2) Explanation: or occur together without problems or conflict. • Progressing (verb) meaning “to gradually Q.76.(2) The answer can be inferred from the third and become clearer or more detailed”. Whereas, fourth paragraph. “inhaling” and absorbing are verbs which mean Q.77.(3) The answer can be inferred from the first to “draw in”; decreasing is also a verb meaning paragraph.

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog, has signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) with MICA DECEMBER 2020 82 CGI India in order to further rev up the innovation across the schools. MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.78.(4) The answer can be inferred from the second • The term shabby means “neglected”; collapsed paragraph. means “collapsed” Q.79.(3) • The term “fractured” in the passage means to Q.80.(2) “whereas” is used when we take something into be broken or divided. consideration. EXPLANATION/CRP PO MAINS/NUMERICAL ABILITY Q.81.(1) Any two are sufficient Q.82.(2) Statement I and II together is sufficient to = hour answer the question. Q.83.(5) All together are not sufficient Q.91-95. Q.84.(1) Statements I and II together are sufficient. Q.91.(4) Total number of Linux Laptops sold by stores C and H together = Total number of (Linux Q.85.(2) II and III together are sufficient + Windows) Laptops sold by stores C and H Q.86.(3) together - Total number of Windows Laptops sold by stores C and H together = (14 + 9) % × 56000 - (7 + 12) % × 32000 = 12880 - 6080= 6800 Total number of sport and Linux Laptops sold by stores F and H together = (8 + 9) % × 56000 = 17% × 56000= 9520 required percentage

= × 100

= × 100 Q.87.(3) The total distance travelled by Ola = 1084.2 km Speed = 40 km per hr = % Time = 1084.2/40 = 27.105 hours = approximately 27 hours Q.92.(2) Number of Laptops (Windows and Linux Q.88.(3) The total distance travelled by Ola = 1084.2 km Laptops) sold by store D The total distance travelled by Uber = 3000 – = 15% × 56000= 8400 813.3 – 1084.2 = 1102.5 km Number of Windows Laptops sold by stores C, F and G together Required answer= = (7 + 8+ 6) % × 32000 = 21% × 32000 Q.89.(1) The distance travelled by bus = 813.3 km = 6720 The distance travelled by Ola = 1084.2 km Therefore, required percentage The distance travelled by Uber = 1102.5 km The required Ratio = 8133 : 10842 : 11025 = 2711 : 3614 : 3675

Q.90.(4) Average speed of Ola=

The total distance travelled by bus = 813.3 km Q.93.(1) Total number of Windows Laptops sold by Required time= stores A and B together = (16+ 16) % × 32000 Kaumudi Munshi, popular singer of Kokila and Sugam Sangeet of Gujarat, died in DECEMBER 2020 MICA Mumbai. He was 91. 83 CRP PO MAINS = 32% × 32000 = 10240 Q.97.(2) Required answer= Total number of Laptops (Windows and Linux) Q.98.(5) Required answer=11.004-7.926=3.078 sold by stores C and F together Q.99.(3) Required ratio = (9.35-6.05) : (23.92 - 6.08) = = (14+ 8) % × 56000 3.3:17.84=115:892 = 22% × 56000 Q.100.(3) Total earning of population of Rajasthan = = 12320 12.92 × 45900 + 6.08 × 33800 = 798532 Therefore, required ratio Total earning of population of UP = 19.2 × = 10240: 12320 48420 + 8 × 30200 = 1171264 = 64: 77 Required answer= Q.94.(2) Total number of Linux Laptops sold by stores A, D, E, F and H Together Q.101.(2) For article A CP : SP : MP= 16 : 21 : 30 = (18+15+20+8 + 9) % × 56000 - (16+13 + Profit=5 discount=9 22+8+ 12) % × 32000 Difference 4=2000 = 70% × 56000 - 71% × 32000 So CP 16=8000 = 39200 - 22720 = 16480 SP 21=10500 Required average MP 30=15000 similarly for others

= = 3296 Q.95.(4) In 2005, number of Laptops (Windows and Linux) sold by Store A = 110% × 18% × 56000 = 11088 Store D = 135% × 15% × 56000 =11340 So required answer=11000 Store E = 115% × 20% × 56000 =12880 Q.102.(3) Quantity I=71.11 In 2005, number of Windows Laptops sold by Quantity II=72 Store A = 110%× 16% × 32000 = 5632 Quantity II > Quantity I Store D = 135% × 13% × 32000 = 5616 Q.103.(2) Quantity I=105 Store E = 115% × 22% × 32000 = 8096 Quantity II=104 Thus, total number of Linux Laptops sold by Quantity I > Quantity II stores A, D and E In 2005 Q.104.(2) Quantity I=33.1% of 52000=17212 = (11088 + 11340 + 12880) - (5632 + 5616 + Quantity II=60% of 28750=17250 8096) Quantity I < Quantity II = 35308 - 19344 = 15964 Q.105.(1) Quantity I=36 Q.96-100. Quantity II=35 Quantity I > Quantity II Q.106.(3) Total number of question = 170, no of questions left= 170 – 119=51 Q.107.(3) Marks in GA = 9.75 Q.108.(1) 17 – 5 = 12 Q.109.(3) Total marks obtained = 109 Q.96.(1) Required Answer = 12 × 21400 + 6.08 × 33800 Q.110.(5) Total number of incorrect questions = 122 = 462304 crore = 4623.04 bilion – 85=37

India has established a separate bilateral air bubble arrangement with Ukraine for operation MICA DECEMBER 2020 84 of special international passenger flights between the two countries. MODEL PAPER 2020

Q.111.(2) Total PG emp =

==>> Male PG = 1800 1926+1872+2145=5943 ==>> Average Pg in ==>> Female PG. emp. = 2688–1800=888 AB and D is = Total female in country H = Total PG in F, G and H = 2091+2046+2688=6825

==>> Required %F% = Average PG in F.G.H = ==>> Required diff = 2275– 1981= 294 Q.112.(4) Required ratio of country Q.115.(3) Average employees/office is ; ;

; ;

D=40% Hence, 2nd lowest country H.

Q.113.(4) Required ratio

==>> (1980+2160) : (1210+1430)=69 : 44 Q.114.(3) Total PG. emp in A, B and D is: Hence C is required answer. EXPLANATION/CRP PO MAINS/GENERAL AWARENESS Q.116.(1) Tennis player Julia Georges is from Germany. Q.123.(1) India's first 'Snow Leopard Conservation Her maximum rank was 9 in the year 2018. Center' is being established in Uttarkashi Forest Q.117.(2) Punjab Legislative Assembly has formally rejected Division area. these laws by passing the Bills in order to reject the Q.124.(1) Udit Singhal was included in the list of Indian three Agriculture Acts of the Central Government. youth in September 2020 in the UN's 2020 With this, Punjab has become the first state to do so. 'Class of 17 Young Leaders'. Q.118.(4) Traditional festive sweet dish of Goa 'Khaje' Q.125.(1) In August 2020, UK Finance Minister Rishi and 'Mindoli Kela' were provided geographical Sunak has recommended to mark the pictures indicators in August 2020. of Mahatma Gandhi on the coins. Q.119.(1) The 'Virtual India Idea Summit' organized on Q.126.(1) The book 'Let Us Dream' written by Pope July 21 and 22, 2020 was hosted by the US Francis of the Vatican will be released in India Business Council. December 2020. Q.120.(1) 'India's first public electric vehicle charging Q.127.(1) UNESCO has recently declared Tbilisi (Georgia) plaza' was inaugurated by the Union Minister of as the 'World Book Capital' for the year 2021. Power, New and Renewable Energy RK Singh Q.128.(1) 'Rose Christian Osuka Rapoda' has been elected on 20 July 2020 at Chelmsford Club, Delhi. as the first woman Prime Minister of Gavona in Q.121.(1) The world's largest solar tree developed July 2020. by CSIR-CMERI which has recently been Q.129.(1) According to the 'Trade and Development established in Durgapur, West Bengal CSIR- Report 2020' released by the United Nations CMERI Residential Colony. on 23 September 2020, India's growth rate is Q.122.(1) To facilitate global cooperation by India, estimated to be -5.9% in 2020. 'One World, One Sun, One Grid' (OSOWOG) Q.130.(1) Video-sharing platform Tik-Tok made Oracle initiative was proposed to ensure supply of its technology partner for US operations in solar energy globally. Team Trifed Wins Virtual Edition of National Awards for Excellence in PSU for DECEMBER 2020 MICA Investment in Start-UPS. 85 CRP PO MAINS September 2020. The new company "will be Q.141.(5) Kumudni Tyagi and Reeti Singh have been fully controlled by Oracle and Walmart. selected as the first female airborne technicians Q.131.(2) Rajesh Khullar has been appointed as the of the country. Executive Director of the World Bank in Q.142.(1) On September 10, 2020, the new Chairman of September 2020. He will continue in his post the National School of Drama, Paresh Rawal till August 31, 2023. has been appointed. Q.132.(1) Titan Company has launched 'India's first Q.143.(3) Manoj Sinha was sworn in as the new Deputy contactless payment watch Titan Pay' on 16 Governor of Jammu Kashmir on August 7, September 2020, in collaboration with State 2020, he will succeed Girish Chandra Murmu. Bank of India. Q.144.(3) On 29 August 2020, Avik Sarkar was elected Q.133.(4) Gujarat government started 'Mukhyamantri the Chairman of the Press Trust of India. Mahila Utkarsh Yojana' in September 2020 to Q.145.(1) The theme of the proposed G-20 summit in provide interest-free loans to women. Saudi Arabia at the end of the year 2020 will be Q.134.(1) A crop insurance campaign called "VERY "Realizing Opportunities of the 21ST Century IMPOTANT" was launched by Bharti Axa for All". General Insurance Company. Q.146.(1) Chairman of 'Expert Committee on Stressed Q.135.(5) Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) site is not included in Assets' K.V. Kamath is also the chairman of 7 Circle of Archaeological Survey of India by New Development Bank. Ministry of Culture, Government of India on 26 Q.147.(1) Raman is India's first private rocket engine August 2020. 7 Circle of Archaeological Survey recently tested by startup company Skyroot of India is Trichy (Tamil Nadu), Raiganj (West Aerospace. Bengal), Rajkot (Gujarat) ), Jabalpur (Madhya Q.148.(2) Dominic Thiem is the Australian player who Pradesh), Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh), Meerut (Uttar won the men's singles title of USA Open Pradesh), Hampi (Karnataka). 2020. Q.136.(1) The capital of Poland is Warsaw, where an Q.149.(1) 'E-Dharti Geo Portal' was launched on 21 agreement was signed between the US and October 2020 by Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Poland on the deployment of the US Army on Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs. August 15, 2020. Q.150.(4) On October 16, 2020, Union Minister Nitin Q.137.(1) SurfSark, a virtual network provider, released Gadkari laid the foundation stone for 16 national the 'Digital Quality Life Index, 2020' in August highway projects over 1,411 kilometers in 2020, ranking India 57th. Andhra Pradesh. Q.138.(1) The central government increased the maximum Q.151.(1) The name of the Parliament of Israel is NESAT. investment limit in micro enterprises from 25 lakh to 1 crore and annual turnover should be Q.152.(1) The theme of World Food Day celebrated on up to 5 crore. 16 October,2020 was "Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together. Our actions are our future". Q.139.(5) The report released by the United Nations on 13 July 2020 entitled 'Food Safety and Nutrition Q.153.(4) The winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Status in the World', United Nations Food Economics is Paul Milgrom, Robert Wilson. and Agriculture Organization, International Q.154.(1) 'Swamitva yojana' is to be implemented in Agricultural Development Fund, United Nations four phases (2020-24) across the country in a Children's Fund, World Health Organization, phased manner. The objective of this scheme World Food Program The joint form has been is to provide property card related property prepared by. records to the owners of households in rural Q.140.(1) Under the currency swap arrangement, the areas. central bank of a country, to provide the dollar Q.155.(2) The full form of RTGS is real time gross to the central bank of another country, to be settlement. Currently RTGS is available from returned in the currency of that country as per 7 am to 6 pm on all working days of the week the market exchange within the time fixed by except the second and fourth Saturday of the the foreign central bank. month.

The Union Cabinet has approved World Bank supported Strengthening Teaching-Learning MICA DECEMBER 2020 86 and Results for States -STARS project. CPO SI MODEL PAPER 2020 CPO SI/GENERAL INTELLIGENCE & REASONING Q.1. Arrange the following words according to the Then he turns his right and walks 50 km. At last he English dictionary again turns his right and walks 15 km. 1. Foil 2. Failure 3. Focus 4. Fold 5. Foist How far is he from his original position? (A) 3, 2, 5, 1, 4 (B) 3, 1, 2, 5, 4 (A) 50 km. (B) 15 km. (C) 25 km. (D) 35 km. (C) 3, 2, 1, 4, 5 (D) 2, 3, 1, 5, 4 Q.9. Study the given information carefully and Q.2. Find the missing number from the given answer the given questions. alternatives. Raju starts walking towards the west and walks 35 km. Then he turns to his right and walks 15 km. Then he turns his right and walks 50 km. At last he again turns his right and walks 15 km.

In which direction is he facing now? (A) 81 (B) 74 (C) 14 (D) 27 (A) East (B) West (C) North (D) South Q.3. Find the missing letter from the given alternatives. Q.10. Rahul says to Meena, 'Your mother is the only M P N, P S Q , S V T , ? daughter of my father'. How is Rahul related to (A) W Z X (B) V Z W Meena's mother? (C) V Y W (D) V X W (A) Sister (B) Brother Q.4. Select the correct combination of mathematical (C) Mother (D) Son signs to replace * signs and to balance the given Q.11. 'Author' is related to 'book' in the same way equation. 'carpenter' is related to - 8 * 4 * 6 * 3 * 6 * 9 (A) Tools (B) Wood (C) Table (D) Iron (A) ÷ × + – = (B) × ÷ + – = Q.12. A word is represented by only one set of number (C) ÷ × – + = (D) × + ÷ – = as given in any one of the alternatives. The set of Q.5. Find the number of triangles in the given figure the number given in the alternatives is represented by two classes of alphabets as in two matrices given below. The columns and rows Matrix - I are numbered from 0 to 4 and that of Matrix - II are numbered from 5 to 9. Any letter from these (A) 15 (B) 14 (C) 16 (D) 16 matrices can be represented first by its row and Q.6. In a family, there is one father, one mother, 3 then by its column. married sons and one unmarried daughter. Each Matrix- I Matrix- II son has two daughters then how many male members are there in the family? (A) 3 (B) 5 (C) 6 (D) 4 Q.7. Find out how many straight lines are in the following figure.

What is the code for COBRA? (A) 31, 02, 13, 67, 03 (B) 31, 02, 13, 44, 03 (C) 31, 55, 13, 67, 03 (D) 31, 02, 23, 67, 03 Q.13. In a row, G is 9th from the left end and K is 7th from the right end then find the total number of (A) 12 (B) 10 (C) 8 (D) 9 people in the row. Q.8. Study the given information carefully and (A) 41 (B) 16 answer the given questions. (C) 17 (D) Can not be determined Raju starts walking towards the west and walks 35 Q.14. Select the related letter/ word/ number from the km. Then he turns to his right and walks 15 km. given alternatives. The International Monetary Fund revised its forecast for global growth to 4.4 percent in DECEMBER 2020 MICA wake of COVID-19 pandemic. 87 CPO SI Wages : Salary : : Teacher : ? (A) 3, 4, 1, 2, 5 (B) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (A) Friend (B) Instructor (C) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (D) 3, 4, 5, 1, 2 (C) Mother (D) Father Q.19. What will come in a place of question mark? Q.15. A piece of paper is folded and cut as shown below in the question figures from the given answer figures, indicate how it will appear when opened? Question figures-

(A) 171 (B) 241 (C) 411 (D) 161 Q.20. Select the related letters/word/number from the given alternatives. Answer figures- Taj Mahal : 35 :: Great Pyramid : ? (A) 46 (B) 57 (C) 68 (D) 66 Q.21. In a certain code language, GLOBAL is coded as 36 then what will be code for TEMPLE? (A) 48 (B) 57 (C) 49 (D) 36 (A) (A) (B) (B) (C) (C) (D) (D) Q.22. Which of the following combination is not correct? Q.16. What will be the mirror image of the given figure? (A) Poland = Warsaw Question Figure- (B) Portugal = Amsterdam (C) Uganda = Kampala (D) Jamaica = Kingston Q.23. Find out the odd one out from the given alternatives. (A) 157 (B) 161 (C) 179 (D) 181 Q.24. Find out the odd one out from the given alternatives. Answer Figures- (A) GTHSIR (B) KPLOMN (C) EVFUGT (D) MNOPLO Q.25. One statement is given followed by two conclusions I and II. You have to consider the statement to be true, even if they seem to be at variance from commonly known facts. You have to decide which of the given conclusion can definitely be drawn (A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D from the given statement. Indicate your answer. Q.17. What will come in a place of question mark? Statement: Go by aeroplane to reach Delhi from Chennai quickly. Conclusions: I. Chennai and Delhi are connected by aeroplane service (A) 24 (B) 49 (C) 25 (D) 64 II. There are no other means of going from Chennai Q.18. Arrange the following words in the correct to Delhi. chronological order. (A) Only conclusion II follows. 1. Plaster 2. Painting (B) Only conclusion I follows. 3. Foundation 4. Walls (C) Neither conclusion I nor II follows. 5. Terrace (D) Both conclusions I and II are follow. Vedanta Group firm Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL) has signed a pact with Gujarat government MICA DECEMBER 2020 88 to set up a greenfield zinc smelter in the state. MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.26. In each question below is given a statement 3 , 3 , 9 , 33 , 93 , ? followed by two assumptions numbers I and II. An (A) 145 (B) 218 (C) 213 (D) 216 Assumption is something supposed or taken for Q.32. What will come in a place of question mark? granted. You have to consider the statement and the following assumption and decide which of the 1 , 9 , 18 , 82 , 107 ,? assumptions is implicit in the statement. (A) 123 (B) 216 (C) 223 (D) 323 Statement- Q.33. Which set of letters when sequentially placed at Desirable and qualified candidates should submit the gaps in the given letters series will complete it? their application form along with the requisite K _ N Y_ K_N_ _ KE_Y _ qualifications and their biodata - An advertisement (A) EAYANAA (B) AEAYANA for job. (C) AENYAAA (D) EAEYANA Assumptions- Q.34. Which of the following diagram correctly I. Merely having qualification and aptitude for the represents the relationship between Males , Fathers job does not make a person suitable for job. and Doctors ? II. Many candidate will apply because they are interested in the job. (A) If only I is implicit. (A) (B) If only II is implicit. (C) If neither I nor II is implicit. (D) If both I and II are implicit. Q.27. If 17 October was Tuesday then how many Tuesday and Saturday in the same month? (A) 5, 4 (B) 4, 5 (C) 5, 5 (D) 4, 4 (B) Q.28. Three positions of dice are given. Find out what will be the opposite of 5.

(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 1 (D) 6 (C) Q.29. If 18+9 = 2916 and 14+10 = 1960 then 13 + 14 = ? (A) 2197 (B) 2366 (C) 2368 (D) 2584 Q.30. What will be the water image of the given figure? Question Figure-

(D)

Answer Figures- Q.35. Three statements are given followed by two conclusions I and II. You have to consider the given statements to be true, even if they seem to be at variance from commonly known facts. You have to decide which of the given conclusion can definitely be drawn from the given statement. (A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D Indicate your answer. Q.31. What will come in a place of question mark? Statements:

Mahmoud Yassin, an Egyptian actor and pillar of the country's film industry during the DECEMBER 2020 MICA second half of the 20th century, has died. He was 79. 89 CPO SI Some boys are cricketers. (A) – + × = (B) + – ÷ = No cricketers is a girl. (C) ÷ + × = (D) + ÷ × = All girls are doctors. Q.42. Select the related letters/word/ number from the Conclusions: given alternatives. ARGENTINA : GRATNEANI : : AUSTRALIA : ? I. Some doctors are not boy. (A) SUATRAALI (B) SUAARTLIA II. Some girls are not boy. (C) SUAARTAIL (D) SAUARTAIL (A) Both conclusions I and II follow. Q.43. Study the following information carefully and (B) Neither conclusion I nor II follows. answer the question given below. (C) Only conclusion I follows. Reema and Rahul started walking from a point (D) Only conclusion II follows. A. Reema walks 200 meter towards the east and Q.36. Select the related letters /word/ number from the Rahul walks 150 meters towards south. Both took given alternatives. a left turn and walk 200 meter. Then Rahul took a right turn and walk 120 meter LG : 125 : : RJ : ? If Rahul walks 200 meter to north. What will be (A) 214 (B) 512 (C) 52 (D) 216 the distance Rahul and Reema? Q.37. If OM= 10, and NAMO = 7 then, SHIVAY = ? (A) 120 meter (B) 270 meter (A) 43 (B) 12 (C) 25 (D) 14 (C) 150 meter (D) 470 meter Q.38. One statement is given followed by two conclusions Q.44. From among the given alternatives select the one I and II. You have to consider the one statements in which the set of numbers is most likely the set to be true, even if they seem to be at variance from of numbers given in the question. commonly known facts. You are to decide which Given set - (45,5,25) of the given conclusion can definitely be drawn from the given statement. Indicate your answer. (A) 50,5,30 (B) 60,6,36 Statement: (C) 54,12,36 (D) 72,8,64 Q.45. From among the given alternatives select the one 'Timely rain is essential for farming.' in which the set of numbers is most likely the set Conclusions: of numbers given in the question. I. Most of the farmers are depended on rain. Given set - (32,16,40) II. It may improve their production. (A) 36,27,45 (B) 35,14,42 (A) Only I follows. (C) 66,11,55 (D) 40,20,50 (B) Only II follows. Q.46. One/two statements are given followed by two (C) Neither I nor II follows. conclusions I and II. You have to consider the one/two statements to be true, even if they seem (D) Both I and II follow. to be at variance from commonly known facts. Q.39. From among the given alternatives select the one You are to decide which of the given conclusion in which the set of numbers is most likely the set can definitely be drawn from the given statement. of numbers given in the question. Indicate your answer. Given set - (14, 522, 652) Statement- (A) (8, 104, 128) (B) (12, 961, 691) Good person never cheats. (C) (11, 121, 176) (D) (13, 156, 208) Conclusion- Q.40. Find the number from the given alternatives. (I) Those who cheat are bad people. 1456, 1490, 1524, ?, 1592 (II) Good persons have good qualities. (A) 1556 (B) 1534 (C) 1558 (D) 1560 (A) Only I follows. Q.41. Which one set of symbols will be fit at the place of (B) Only II follows. '* ' in the series? (C) Neither I nor II follows. 28 * 14 * 7 * 8 * 44 (D) Both I and II follow.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a commemorative coin of 75 rupees denomination MICA DECEMBER 2020 90 to mark the 75th Anniversary of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.47. Find the missing number from the given Q.49. Study the given information carefully and alternatives. answer the given questions. Ravi starts from a point A and walks 50 meters towards the south then he turns right and walks 20 meters. Again he turns 45 degrees in clockwise. Now in which direction is he facing? (A) East (B) West (C) North-west (D) South-east (A) 36 (B) 42 (C) 54 (D) 52 Q.50. Find the odd number /word/letter/figure from the Q.48. Find the missing number/letter/figures from the given alternatives. given alternatives.

(A) (B) (C) (D) (A) (A) (B) (B) (C) (C) (D) (D)

CPO SI/GENERAL KNOWLEDGE Q.51. Who has the distinction of being the first biological (A) Karnataka (B) Odisha state in the world? (C) Maharashtra (D) Kerala (A) Sikkim (B) Meghalaya Q.58. Where is the first toy cluster in India located? (C) Mizoram (D) None of these (A) Karnataka (B) Kerala Q.52. India ranked in 'Global Hunger Index, 2020'? (C) Maharashtra (D) Madhya Pradesh (A) 107 (B) 94 (C) 49 (D) 87 Q.59. Who is the author of the book ‘If in Bleeds’? Q.53. Which of the following has recently been conferred the status of Ramsar site by the United Nations (A) Stepan King (B) Arundhati Roy agency Ramsar Convention of Wetland? (C) Romila Thapar (D) JK Rowling (A) Asan Wetland (B) Astamudi Wetland Q.60. The 20th Asian Games will be held in which place (C) Banquet Wetland (D) Harika Wetland in 2026? Q.54. Which state / Union Territory has recently started (A) Nagoya (Japan) (B) Birmingham (UK) the initiative 'Red Light On, Car Off'? (C) Tokyo (Japan) (D) Beijing (China) (A) Delhi (B) Karnataka Q.61. 'In which Article has been made the qualification (C) Kerala (D) Chandigarh of judges of High Courts'? Q.55. Which is the first state in the country to launch a (A) 215 (B) 216 (C) 217 (2) (D) 226 Unified Registration Card for vehicle registration. Q.62. What right does the President get through Article 78? (A) Uttar Pradesh (B) Madhya Pradesh (A) To get information from Prime Minister (C) Maharashtra (D) Kerala (B) To get information from Home Minister Q.56. What was the theme of 'World Bamboo Day' celebrated globally on 18 September 2020? (C) To conduct the proceedings of Parliament (A) Bamboo Now (D) None of these (B) Greenland Dreamland Q.63. Which is not included in the provisions for giving (C) Sign Language R for Evergreen approval on the Bills of the President of India (D) None of these mentioned in Article 111? Q.57. Which of the following state government has (A) The President will approve the bill passed by launched a scheme called 'Economic Flutter' both the Parliament. for disbursement of loans through cooperative (B) The President can stop the acceptance of the institutions in September 2020? Bill passed by both of the Parliament.

The first edition of Lectures designed to introduce India to foreign diplomats posted in DECEMBER 2020 MICA New Delhi was inaugurated by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla. 91 CPO SI (C) All the Bills can be returned to the House for (A) Rajasthan (B) Maharashtra reconsideration. (C) Uttarakhand (D) Himachal Pradesh (D) Obligation to approve a Bill passed by Houses. Q.74. Dudhsagar waterfall is situated on the border of Q.64. According to the Right to Information which two states? (Amendment) Act, 2019, the tenure of Chief (A) Kerala and Karnataka Information Commissioner and other Information (B) Goa and Karnataka Commissioners will be determined by: (C) Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (A) By the Governor of the States (D) Tamil Nadu and Kerala (B) by the President Q.75. Meja Dam is located in which of the following (C) by Central Government states? (D) by the Human Rights Commission (A) Rajasthan (B) Himachal Pradesh Q.65. Which of the following political party was formed (C) West Bengal (D) Haryana / established in the year 1964? Q.76. Which of the following countries ranks third in tea (A) Bharatiya Janata Party production? (B) CPI (A) India (B) China (C) CPM (C) Sri Lanka (D) Kenya (D) Aam Aadmi Party Q.77. Which state occupies the first place in storage of Q.66. Which of the following dust causes lung cancer? 'mica'? (A) Lead (B) Asbestos (A) Odisha (B) Maharashtra (C) Carbon monoxide (D) Cadmium (C) Andhra Pradesh (D) Bihar Q.67. Where is the headquarters of International Q.78. Where is the Central Temperate Horticulture Maritime Organization located? Institute located? (A) London (B) Paris (A) Srinagar (B) Shimla (C) New York (D) Kandla (C) Raipur (D) Jhansi Q.68. Which of the following energy is most used in Q.79. Which of the following has written the poem 'Light organic quantities? of Asia' on the life of Gautam Buddha? (A) Solar Energy (B) Petroleum Energy (A) Edwin Arnold (B) Charles Dickins (C) Atomic Energy (D) Coal Energy (C) Virginia Wolf (D) Martin Luther King Q.69. According to the 2017 census the total number of Q.80. Which dynasty first ruled among the rulers of elephants in India is: Vijayanagara Empire? (A) 27312 (B) 27321 (C) 27343 (D) 27432 (A) Aravidu dynasty (B) Sangam Dynasty Q.70. Periyar National Park is mainly known for which (C) Tuluv Dynasty (D) Saluva Dynasty of the following wild animals? Q.81. Which of the following ports was called 'Babul (A) Elephant and Tiger (B) Elephant Only Mecca or Mecca Gate' in the Mughal period? (C) Tiger and Chital (D) Leopard and elephant (A) Surat Port (B) Kandla Port Q.71. Which of the following is the outermost range of (C) Tuticorin Port (D) None of these Himalayas? Q.82. Where was the 'Ryotwari system' first implemented (A) Shivalik (B) Pirpanjal by the British? (C) Valley of Kashmir (D) Trans Himalaya (A) Baramahal District, Tamil Nadu Q.72. Which of the following pass is not located in Ladakh? (B) Madras (A) Khardungala (B) Zojila (C) East Bengal (C) Chang La (D) Kingry-vingri (D) Munger, Bengal Q.73. 'Sehriya tribe' is found in which of the following Q.83. Which of the following is not correctly matched? state? (A) Santhal Rebellion ------1855-56 AD Central Government has notified the Directorate General of Shipping as NationalAuthority MICA DECEMBER 2020 92 for Recycling of Ships under the section 3 of the Recycling of Ships Act, 2019. MODEL PAPER 2020 (B) Sanyasi Rebellion ------1763-1800 AD (A) Amphibian (B) Reptile (C) Indigo Rebellion ------1859-60 AD (C) Mammal (D) Insect (D) Pabna Rebellion ------1886-97 AD Q.94. Which one of the following is the largest source of Q.84. Who among the following was the founder of electricity in India? Gandhi Seva Sangh? (A) Hydropower plants (A) Pyaare Lal (B) Nuclear power plants (B) Jamnalal Bajaj (C) Thermal power plants (C) Pattabhi Sitaramaiya (D) Wind energy (D) Mahatma Gandhi Q.95. The HIV virus weakens the immunity of a person Q.85. Who among the following is the inventor of because it destroys: Dynamo? (A) mast cells (B) platelets (A) Michael Faraday (B) Samuel Mars (C) erythrocytes (D) lymphocytes (C) Elisa Otis (D) Graham Bell Q.96. Which one of the following air pollutants combines with the haemoglobin of human blood Q.86. 'Electromagnetic forces are measured' based on and reduces its oxygen-carrying capacity, leading which of the following laws? to suffocation and may cause even death? (A) Coulam's law (B) Faraday's law (A) Chlorofluorocarbon (C) Kepler's law (D) Law of Flotation (B) Fly ash Q.87. How many 'joules' is equal to 1 calorie? (C) Carbon monoxide (A) 252 Joules (B) 4.186 Joules (D) Sulphur dioxide (C) 4186 Joules (D) None of these Q.97. An irregular mode of reproduction resulting in the Q.88. Any machine is the most permanent when its development of an embryo without fertilization is energy is: called (A) Minimum 1. Parthenogenesis (B) Maximum 2. Apogamy (C) Equal to the speed of the machine 3. Sporophytic budding (D) None of these Select the correct answer using the code given Q.89. According to the World Health Organization, the below. pH of drinking water should be: (A) 1 only (B) 2 only (A) Between 6.5 to 8.5 (B) Between 7.0 to 8.5 (C) 2 and 3 only (D) 1, 2 and 3 (C) Between 7.5 to 9.5 (D) Between 5.5 to 7.5 Q.98. Which one of the following is not an allotrope of Q.90. Which of the following enzymes converts glucose carbon? into ethanol? (A) Coal (B) Diamond (A) Zymase (B) Insulin (C) Graphite (D) Graphene (C) Trypsin (D) Pepsin Q.99. In paper manufacturing, degumming of the raw Q.91. What is the chemical name of Vitamin B6? material is done using: (A) Pyridoxine (B) Pantothenic Acid (A) sulphuric acid (B) bleaching powder (C) Biotin (D) Folic acid (C) caustic soda (D) nitric acid Q.92. Which one of the following gases is released Q.100. Dolomite power is applied in some agricultural mostly from landfills in urban areas? lands. The purpose of applying it is to: (A) Nitrogen (B) Hydrogen (A) increase the pH of the soil (C) Methane (D) Oxygen (B) lower the pH of the soil Q.93. Which one of the following is most sensitive to (C) increase the phosphorus content of the soil environmental change? (D) increase the nitrogen content of the soil

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched a campaign Red light on, Gaadi off to DECEMBER 2020 MICA tackle air pollution in the national capital. 93 CPO SI CPO SI/QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE Q.101. Out of the two bar graphs provided below, one Q.104. The given bar chart presents average marks obtained shows the amounts (Rs in lakhs) invested by a in English(E) and vernacular (V) by the students of company in purchasing raw materials over the five districts (D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5) in a state at years and the other shows the values (Rs in lakhs) of the secondary level examination of a particular year finished goods sold by the company over the years. (marks secured out of a total of 100).

E V

What is the difference between the average percentage of marks in vernacular of the districts (D1, D2, and D4) and (D3 and D5)? (A) 3.5% (B) 22.5% (C) 1.7% (D) 11.3% Q.105. If 0≤θ≤90°, and sin (2θ+50°)= cos (4θ+16°), then what is the value of θ (in degrees)? (A) 10° (B) 12° (C) 8° (D) 4° Q.106. A person’s monthly income is Rs. 50,000. He divides it between his three sons A, B and C such that A got 50% of the total money, B got 20% of A and C got 15% of B and rest amount deposited in Bank. Next month his income increases by 40%, he maintained the percentage level of A, but B became 30% of A and C became 20% of B and rest amount deposited Q.101. What was the difference between the average in Bank. Then find final deposited amount is how amount invested in raw materials during 1997 to much percentage less or more than initial deposited 2000 and the average value of sales of finished amount? (Correct up to one decimal place) goods during the same period? (A) 8.2% less (B) 16.4% less (A) 77.5 lakhs (B) 87.5 lakhs (C) 8.2% more (D) 16.4% more (C) 70.5 lakhs (D) 76.5 lakhs Q.107. If each side of an equilateral triangle is 18 cm, then Q.102. If 15 men can complete a piece of work in 24 days its altitude is equal to: by working 8 hours a day, then in how many days (A) 6√3 cm (B) 3√2 cm can 18 men do the same work by working 5 hours (C) 9√3 cm (D) 3√6 cm a day? Q.108. PQRS is a rectangle. T is a point on PQ such that RTQ (A) 24 (B) 32 (C) 22 (D) 28 is an isosceles triangles and PT = 5QT. If the area of is Q.103. Pipes P and Q can fill an empty tank in 12 and 12√3 cm2, then the area of the rectangle PQRS is? 16 hours respectively, while pipe R can empty the (A) 142 sq.cm (B) 142√3 sq.cm full tank in 20 hours. If all three pipes are opened (C) 134 √3 sq.cm (D) 144 √3 sq.cm together, then the tank will get filled in: Q.109. 4 boys from Ashok nagar and 6 boys from Balod together can do a piece of work in 5 days, the same (A) hr (B) hr work is completed by 5 boys from Ashok nagar and 10 boys from Chandan nagar in 4 days or 3 boys (C) hr (D) hr from Balod and 4 boys from Chandan nagar together

China's military has recently conducted live-fire test training exercises with truck-based MICA DECEMBER 2020 94 multiple rocket-propelled mine launchers at a high altitude. MODEL PAPER 2020 can do in 10 days. Then how many boys from Ashok (A) 31.3 (B) 14.3 (C) 23.8 (D) 30.4 nagar can complete the same work in one day? Q.119. If the word PHOTOGRAPH is spelled with 'F' in (A) 20 (B) 60 (C) 40 (D) 80 place of 'PH', then what would be the percentage Q.110. Find the length of median AD of a right angle reduction in the number of letters? triangle ∆ABC , If BC = 25 cm and BAC = 90°? (A) 20% (B) 10% (C) 25% (D) 18% (A) 12.5 cm (B) 24 cm Q.120. A wheel has diameter 84 cm, then how far does the ∠ (C) 14.5 cm (D) 10 cm wheel go (in metres) in 16 revolutions? (Take π = 22/7) Q.111. (320 + 342 + 530 + 915) (20 +22 - X+18) = 43, (A) 27.48 (B) 21.12 (C) 42.24 (D) 36.28 then the value of x is: Q.121. What is the simplified value of: (A) 23 (B) 26 (C) 15 (D) 11 Q.112. Which is the largest six-digit number, which

when divided by 12, 15, 20, 24 and 30, leaves the (A) 4x/y (B) x/y (C) 2x/y (D) x/2y remainders 8, 11, 16, 20 and 26 respectively? Q.122. The following pie-chart and table show the (A) 999956 (B) 999982 percentage distribution of farmers in 5 states A, (C) 999964 (D) 999960 B, C, D & E of a country who claimed insurance Q.113. An article was sold for Rs. 12,920 after providing due to drought in the year 2017 and ratio of males three successive discounts of 15%, 20% and 24% to females of the number of farmers in states, respectively on the market price. What was the respectively. Study the pie-chart and the table marked price? carefully and answer the following questions. (A) Rs 20000 (B) Rs 25000 Note: Some data are missing in the pie-chart and (C) Rs 18000 (D) Rs 28000 table, if required in any question find the missing Q.114. The two parallel sides of a trapezium are 14 cm and data first and then answer the question. 6 cm respectively. If the height of the trapezium is Total number of farmers who claimed insurance in 16 cm, then what is its area in m2? the year 2017 = 2,64,000. (A) 0.032 (B) 0.056 (C) 0.32 (D) 0.016 Q.115. can be expressed as: (A) x4–(x-y)4 (B) (x+y)4–y4 (C) (x+y)4–x4 (D) (x–y)4–x4 Q.116. What is the HCF of 4/5, 6/8, 8/25? (A) 1/100 (B) 1/50 (C) 1/5 (D) 1/200 Q.117. The average run rate of Indian Cricket against Australia during the first 20 over is 4.5. If India has to chase a target of 282 runs in total ,then find the required run rate per over for the next 30 over ? (A) 6.0 (B) 6.4 (C) 6.3 (D) 6.8 Q.118. The bar graph shows the exports of cars of Type A and B (in Rs millions).

The number of farmers who claimed insurance in state C exceeds the total number of farmers (who claimed insurance) in state E and state A together by 5280. What is the percentage of farmers who The total exports of cars of type A in 2014 to 2017 is claimed insurance in state E? approximately what percentage less than the total exports (A) 40% (B) 10% (C) 15% (D) 25% of cars of type B in 2015 to 2018? Indian-origin author-poet, Bhanu Kapil, is among 10 shortlisted artists for this year's T.S. DECEMBER 2020 MICA Eliot Prize, named after the renowned 20th-century American-British poet. 95 CPO SI Q.123. A shopkeeper makes a profit of 5%, after giving a What is the ratio of the total exports of cars of type discount of 10% on the marked price of an article. A in 2014 and 2018 to the total exports of cars of Then find the marked price of article, if the cost type B in 2015 and 2016? price of the article is Rs. 300 ? (A) 11:10 (B) 10:9 (C) 5:4 (D) 3:2 (A) Rs 375 (B) Rs 320 Q.129. What is (0.08% of 0.008% of 8)(1/9)? (C) Rs 400 (D) Rs 350 (A) 0.8 (B) 0.08 (C) 0.2 (D) 0.64 Q.124. The bar graph shows the exports of cars of Type A Q.130. A chord of the larger among two concentric circles and B (in Rs millions). is of length 10 cm and it is tangent to the smaller circle. What is the area (in cm2) of the annular portion between the two circles? (A) 5π (B) 10π (C) 25π (D) 5π/2 Q.131. 60 discs each of diameter 21 cm and thickness 1/3 cm are stacked one above the other to form a right circular cylinder. What is its volume in m3 if π = 22/7 ? (A) 4.25×10(-2) (B) 8.05×10(-3) (C) 6.93×10(-3) (D) 7.62×10(-2) Q.132. A, B and C enter into a partnership with capitals in the ratio 2/3: 3/5: 5/6. After 8 months, A increases his share of capital to 5/4 of initial. Then find the In which year, the average exports (per year) of share of C in the profit, if at the end of the year, the car A over the five years was 10% more than the total profit earned is Rs. 5,820? exports of cars of type A? (A) Rs 2050 (B) Rs 2250 (A) 2015 (B) 2014 (C) 2017 (D) 2016 (C) Rs 2350 (D) Rs 2450 Q.125. What is the simplified value of Q.133. The given pie-chart represents the distribution of the percentage of sales of a particular brand of car from five showrooms A, B, C, D and E during 2018. The total number of cars sold during that

year from the five showrooms is 5000. (A) 8/13 (B) 4/13 (C) 6/13 (D) 5/13 Q.126. Chetak has to travel a distance of 30 km. He finds that he has covered 5/6 of the distance in 3 hours and 20 minutes. What is his speed of Chetak in km/h? (A) 6.3 (B) 7.5 (C) 5.4 (D) 6 Q.127. Which one among the following is the smallest? (A) √201-√199 (B) √401-√399 (C) √101-√99 (D) √301-√299 Q.128. The bar graph shows the exports of cars of Type A and B (in Rs millions).

What is the central angle (nearest to 0.1 degrees) of the sector corresponding to the sales from the showroom C? (A) 56.7 (B) 60.5 (C) 48.6 (D) 50.4 Q.134. The curved surface area of a right circular cone of height 35 cm is, four times of the area of its base, then find the volume of the cone (in 10(-3) m3 and correct upto three-decimal places)? (A) 2.626 (B) 3.384 (C) 2.994 (D) 3.316 India's first Oscar winner Costume designer Bhanu Athaiya died at her home in Mumbai. MICA DECEMBER 2020 96 She was 91. MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.135. A road which goes in north-south direction, a pole car from five showrooms A, B, C, D and E during stands vertically on it. P, Q are two points towards 2018.The total number of cars sold during that the north of the pole, such that PQ = b, and the year from the five showrooms is 5000. angles of elevation of the top of the pole at P. Q is α, β respectively. Then the height of the pole is: (A) (B)

(C) (D)

Q.136. A six-digit number 479xyz is exactly divisible by 7, 11 and 13, then find the value of {(y + z) ÷ x}? (A) 11/9 (B) 4 (C) 13/7 (D) 7/13 Q.137. A clock tower stands at the crossing of two roads which point in the north-south and the east-west directions. P, Q, R and S are points on the road due north, east, south What is the total number of cars sold from and west respectively, where the angles of elevation showrooms B and D? of the top of the towers are α, β, γ and δ respectively. Then find the value of (PQ/RS)2. (A) 1550 (B) 1650 (C) 1750 (D) 1450 Q.143. The given bar chart presents the average marks (A) (B) obtained in English (E) and vernacular (V) by the students of five district (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5) (C) (D) in a state at the secondary level examination of a particular year (marks secured out of a total of 100). Q.138. A tank can be filled by three pipes, A, B, C in 2,3 and 6 hours respectively. If all three opened together, then find after what time should B be closed, so that the cistern gets filled in exactly 1 hr 15 min. (A) 20 min (B) 30 min (C) 15 min (D) 45 min E V Q.139. If (2x + 3y + 4)(2x + 3y - 5) is equivalent to (ax2 + by2 + 2hxy + 2gx + 2fy + c), then what is the value of {(g+f-c/abh}? (A) 37/216 (B) 35/432 (C) 19/108 (D) 19/216 What is the average percentage of marks in English of the Q.140. Sudeep invested 1/8 of a certain sum at 5% per five districts? annum for two years and 3/5 of the sum at 6% per (A) 67% (B) 68% (C) 75% (D) 73% annum for two years and the remaining at 10% p.a. 107 107 for two years. If the total interest received is Rs. Q.144. If 0≤90°, and sec θ+cos θ=2,then,(secθ+cosθ) 1,674, then find the total sum invested ? is equal to? (-107 (A) Rs 12500 (B) Rs 10500 (A) 2 (B) 1 (C) 2 ) (D) ½ (C) Rs 12000 (D) Rs 13000 Q.145. What is the simplified value of: Q.141. The external and internal diameters of a cylinder of steel are 10 cm and 8 cm respectively. If the length of cylinder is 84 cm then find its volume (in (A) 1/12 (B) 1/24 (C) 1 (D) 2 10(-3) m3 and correct up to three decimal places)? Q.146. Rohit bought 100 kg of rice and sell it for a profit (A) 9.504 (B) 4.752 (C) 2.376 (D) 2.112 to the extent of what he would have paid for 40 kg. Q.142. The given pie-chart represents the distribution of What is his profit percentage? the percentage of sales of a particular brand of (A) 20% (B) 25% (C) 30% (D) 40% Indian Super League side Hyderabad FC roped in the services of youngsters Akash Mishra, DECEMBER 2020 MICA Rohit Danu and Lalbiakhlua ''Biaka'' Jongte ahead of the upcoming season. 97 CPO SI Q.147. While tabulation of marks scored in an examination Q.149. The speed of two railway engines A and B are in by the students of a class, by mistake the mark the ratio 5:4. If they move on parallel tracks in the scored by one student got recorded as 93 in place same direction and if the slower engine B is ahead of 63, and there by the average marks increased by of the faster engine A by 8 km when the latter 0.5. Then find the number of students in the class starts, then how far will the faster engine A have to initially? travel before it overtakes the slower one B? (A) 20 (B) 15 (C) 60 (D) 30 (A) 36 (B) 32 (C) 48 (D) 40 Q.148. A sum of Rs. 40,000 becomes Rs. 44,100 at certain Q.150. The ratio of two numbers is 3:5. If 8 is added to the rate of compound interest in two years, then find first, and 7 to the second, then the ratio becomes 2:3. the rate of interest? What will be the ratio becomes if 6 is added to each? (A) 2 (B) 4 (C) 7.5 (D) 5 (A) 7:9 (B) 5:9 (C) 5:7 (D) 9:14 CPO SI/ENGLISH LANGUAGE Q.151. Select the synonym of the given word. (A) came across (B) which meaning AMPLIFY (C) In this novel (D) do not know (A) magnify (B) electrify Q.157. Select the most appropriate word to fill in the (C) satisfy (D) supply blank. Q.152. Select the most appropriate option to substitute Our new office is equipped__ all the latest the underlined segment in the given sentence. technology. If there is no need to substitute it, select, No (A) from (B) about (C) with (D) by substitution required. Q.158. Select the wrongly spelt word. This is the first time anybody have explored into (A) couragious (B) precious this part of the country. (C) curious (D) victorious (A) anybody has explored this part Q.159. Select the word, which means the same as the (B) anybody has explored into this part group of words given. (C) No substitution required A large enclosure for keeping the birds in (D) anybody have explored this part (A) menagerie (B) aviary Q.153. Select the most appropriate meaning of the (C) aquarium (D) apiary underlined idiom in the given sentence. Q.160. Select the word, which means the same as the He has set up his business now as he knows the ins group of words given. and outs of it. A person who eats human flesh. (A) usefulness (B) importance (A) carnivore (B) tribal (C) details (D) difficulties (C) cannibal (D) scavenger Q.154. Select the word, which means the same as the Q.161. Select the wrongly spelt word. group of words given. (A) gloomy (B) gloss The keeper of a museum (C) gobbel (D) glutton (A) compere (B) curator Q.162. Identify the segment in the sentence, which (C) commissioner (D) conservator contains the grammatical error. Q.155. Select the synonym of the given word. To my point of view he should not have behaved in REPLETE such a manner. (A) restful (B) occupied (A) should not have (B) behaved (C) full (D) calm (C) To my point of view (D) in such a manner Q.156. Identify the segment in the sentence, which Q.163. Identify the segment in the sentence, which contains the grammatical error. contains the grammatical error. In this novel I came across some words which The old man climbed seven floors with hardly no meaning I do not know. effort at all. Qatar will host the postponed Asian Champions League final after staging the knockout MICA DECEMBER 2020 98 rounds as a competition hub during the coronavirus pandemic. MODEL PAPER 2020 (A) climbed (B) at all (A) pride (B) dignity (C) humility (D) timidity (C) The old man (D) hardly no effort Q.172. Select the most appropriate option to substitute Q.164. Select the most appropriate option to substitute the underlined segment in the given sentence. the underlined segment in the given sentence. If there is no need to substitute it, select No If there is no need to substitute it, select No substitution required. substitution required. Every year our association is having a meeting to The cause of the disaster has not yet known but an elect the officers. enquiry has been set up to find out what happened. (A) No substitution required (A) have not yet been known (B) are having a meeting (B) No substitution required (C) has a meeting (C) was not yet known (D) having a meeting (D) is not yet known Q.173. Select the wrongly spelt word. Q.165. Choose the correct meaning of the Idiom. (A) dissappoint (B) disappear (C) disallow (D) discomfort Leave in a lurch Q.174-178. In the following passage, some words (A) Leave for one’s own work have been deleted. Fill in the blanks with the (B) Take advantage of someone help of the alternatives given. Select the most (C) Make a fool of someone appropriate option for each number. (D) Leave someone in a helpless condition What does the word scout mean? During a war a Q.166. Select the antonym of the given word. soldier is chosen to go (A) of an army in order to (B) out where the enemy is. He then (C) back to ADVERSITY the commander all the (D) he has gathered about (A) casualty (B) calamity the (E). Such a soldier is known as a scout. (C) misfortune (D) prosperity Q.174. Select the most appropriate option to fill in Q.167. Select the word, which means the same as the blank No. A. group of words given. (A) behind (B) before (C) ahead (D) after A fortress typically one on high ground above a city Q.175. Select the most appropriate option to fill in (A) tower (B) citadel (C) palace (D) colossus blank No. B. Q.168. Select the most appropriate meaning of the (A) call (B) bring (C) carry (D) find underlined idiom in the given sentence. Q.176. Select the most appropriate option to fill in Many people in our country like to feather their own blank No. C. nest from the money they raise for social work. (A) sends (B) tells (C) carries (D) reports (A) enrich oneself by dishonest means Q.177. Select the most appropriate option to fill in blank No. D. (B) achieve something and be proud of it (A) information (B) news (C) make one's family comfortable (C) messages (D) communications (D) provide comforts in one's house Q.178. Select the most appropriate option to fill in Q.169. Select the synonym of the given word. blank No. E. FOREGO (A) commanders (B) army (A) forget (B) give up (C) ban (D) go ahead (C) soldiers (D) enemy Q.170. Select the antonym of the given word. Q.179. Select the wrongly spelt word. ENTHUSIASM (A) blister (B) blossum (A) fervor (B) nervousness (C) blind (D) blemish (C) apathy (D) zeal Q.180. Select the wrongly spelt word. Q.171. Select the antonym of the given word. (A) estimate (B) essencial VANITY (C) esteem (D) establish Indian Super League side Mumbai City FC announced the signing of national team DECEMBER 2020 MICA forward Farukh Choudhary on a three-year contract ahead of the upcoming season. 99 CPO SI Q.181. Identify the segment in the sentence, which the Delta marshes ... were fallen into decay and contains the grammatical error. their shrines were fallen into ruin, having become I thanked him for his advices. mere mounds overgrown with grass ... The gods were ignoring this land..." (A) him (B) I thanked Archaeological evidence indicates that (C) advices (D) for his Tutankhamun suffered from ill health. A study Q.182. Select the most appropriate option to substitute of his remains published in 2010 found that he the underlined segment in the given sentence. suffered from a variety of maladies, including If there is no need to substitute it, select No malaria and Kohler disease (a rare bone disorder substitution required. of the foot). A number of canes have been found Thirteen miners were trapped inside a coal mine in Tutankhamun's tomb, finds that support the idea due to flooding from a nearby river yesterday. that the pharaoh had difficulty walking at times. (A) were trapped into a coal mine It's not known what killed Tutankhamun. There have been numerous hypotheses put forward over (B) No substitution required the years. It's been suggested that he died from an (C) have been trapped inside a coal mine infection caused by a broken leg or from injuries (D) trapped inside a coal mine suffered in a chariot accident. Q.183-187. Read the following passage and answer the The boy king died in 1323 B.C. around the age of questions given after it. 18. His death was unexpected, and his tomb appears Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh who was to have been finished quickly. Microbes found on buried in a lavish tomb filled with gold artifacts in the wall of the tomb indicate that the paint on the the Valley of the Kings. His tomb was discovered wall wasn't even dry when the tomb was sealed. in 1922 by an archaeological team led by British Howard Carter's team discovered the tomb's Egyptologist Howard Carter. entranceway on November 4, 1922, and on The tomb was mostly intact, an extraordinary find November 26 they got inside. given that most of the tombs in the Valley of the While the treasures were incredible, the tomb was Kings had been looted in ancient times. But while unusually small for a pharaoh's burial, containing Tutankhamun's tomb was lavish, historical and only 110 square meters (1,184 square feet) of archaeological evidence indicates that the young floor space. The tomb's small size may have been pharaoh was sickly and spent his short rule trying to because the pharaoh died young and unexpectedly undo a religious revolution that his father had started. and there wasn't time to carve out a larger tomb. Tutankhaten (as he was called at birth) was born Q.183. What is the main theme of the passage? around the year 1341 B.C. His father was the (A) The tomb of Tutankhamun pharaoh Akhenaten, a revolutionary pharaoh who (B) The discovery of an incredible treasure tried to focus Egypt's polytheistic religion around the worship of the sun disc, the Aten. In his fervor, (C) The life and death of the boy Pharaoh Akhenaten ordered the names and images of other (D) The death of Tutankhamun and his burial Egyptian deities to be destroyed or defaced. Q.184. The discovery of a number of canes in the tomb Tutankhamun ascended to the throne around 1332 indicate that Tutankhamun: B.C., when he was about 9 years old. Given his young (A) suffered from an infection. age he would have relied heavily on his advisers. At (B) had difficulty in walking. some point his name was changed to Tutankhamun, removing the word "aten" — a reminder of his (C) suffered from Malaria. father's religious revolution from his name. (D) had fallen from a chariot. Tutankhamun also condemned his father's actions Q.185. Tutankhamun's father was a revolutionary. in a stela (a stone with inscription) found at Karnak, What was his revolution? saying that Akhenaten's religious revolution (A) He wanted the Egyptians to worship one God caused the gods to ignore Egypt. Part of the stela – Aten. reads "the temples and the cities of the gods and (B) Egyptians were asked to have no religion and the goddesses, starting from Elephantine as far as no god. Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik has handed over the Kolkata Knight Riders MICA DECEMBER 2020 100 captaincy position to England's World Cup winning skipper Eoin Morgan. MODEL PAPER 2020 (C) Images and names of all the Egyptian deities Q.193. Select the most appropriate meaning of the had to be destroyed. underlined idiom in the given sentence. (D) He wanted his people to be polytheistic. Don't take it seriously. He was simply pulling your Q.186. Tutankhamun had a short rule. Most of his time leg. was used in: (A) playing a joke with someone . (A) looking after the well-being of his people (B) scolding someone for nothing (B) erecting stelas at different places (C) trying to comfort someone . (C) fighting with his own diseases (D) speaking in a harsh tone (D) trying to undo the religious revolution of his father Q.194. Select the most appropriate word to fill in the blank. Q.187. Which statement is NOT TRUE, according to the passage? You will not be allowed in the Film Festival____ you do not have a photo ID card. (A) Tutankhamun’s tomb was lavishly filled with gold artifacts. (A) in case (B) unless (C) but (D) whether (B) The tomb was unusually small for a pharaoh's Q.195. Select the most appropriate option to substitute burial. the underlined segment in the given sentence. If there is no need to substitute it, select No (C) The tomb appears to have been finished substitution required. quickly as the paint wasn't dry when it was sealed Everybody wants to be winning a prize in the arts (D) Howard Carter's team discovered the tomb's competition. entranceway on November 26, 1922. (A) want winning Q.188. Select the word, which means the same as the group of words given. (B) wants to have won A medical specialist who administers drugs for (C) wants to won relieving pain during surgery. (D) No substitution required (A) anesthetist (B) analgesic Q.196. Identify the segment in the sentence, which contains the grammatical error. (C) nephrologist (D) dermatologist Why she was angry with her son? Q.189. Select the most appropriate word to fill in the blank. (A) she was (B) angry with The assistant in the library picked up the books (C) her son (D) Why from the tables and put ______back on the shelves. Q.197. Select the antonym of the given word. (A) they (B) its (C) them (D) it HOLLOW Q.190. Select the synonym of the given word. (A) vacant (B) narrow MASSIVE (C) shallow (D) solid (A) thick (B) strong (C) solid (D) huge Q.198. Select the synonym of the given word. Q.191. Select the most appropriate word to fill in the HARASS blank. (A) refuse (B) bother (C) help (D) care I looked at my damaged car and ______. Q.199. Select the most appropriate word to fill in the How much it would cost to repair it. blank. (A) wondering (B) wondered You have travelled a long way. You ___ be tired (C) wonder (D) wonders (A) should (B) could Q.192. Select the most appropriate meaning of the (C) must (D) can underlined idiom in the given sentence. Q.200. Select the antonym of the given word. After getting the news of his promotion, he was in LIVELY high spirits. (A) sharp (B) bubbly (A) joyful (B) drunk (C) mad (D) hopeful (C) active (D) sluggish

Hockey India announced that it will conduct the Coaching Education Pathway Level DECEMBER 2020 MICA 'Basic' Course, online. 101 CPO SI EXPLANATION/CPO SI/GENERAL INTELLIGENCE & REASONING Q.1.(D) 2. Failure Q.10.(B) 3. Focus 1. Foil 5. Foist 4. Fold Q.2.(A) 14 - 11 = 32 = 9 34 - 25 = 92 = 81

Q.3.(C) +3,+3,+3 Q.11.(C) Book is written by Author and Table made by Q.4.(A) 8 ÷ 4 × 6 + 3 – 6 = 9 carpenter. Q.5.(B) Q.12.(A) 31, 02, 13, 67, 03 Q.13.(D)

Q.6.(D)

Q.14.(B) Synonyms word Q.15.(C) Q.16.(A) Q.17.(C) 12 = 1 + 2 = 32 = 9 33 = 3 + 3 = 62 = 36 Q.7.(D) 14 = 1 + 4 = 52 = 25 Q.18.(D) Foundation → Walls → Terrace (3) (4) (5) Plaster → Painting (1) (2) Q.19.(B) 121 + 20 = 141 141 + 40 = 181 = 9 181 + 60 = 241 Q.8.(B) Q.20.(B) Taj = 3 letters , Mahal = 5 letters Great = 5 letters, Pyramid = 7 letters Q.21.(D) GLOBAL = 6 = 62 = 36 TEMPLE = 6 = 62 = 36 Q.22.(B) Except Portgal = Amsterdam all others are Q.9.(D) country and their capital. Q.23.(B) Except 161 all others are prime number. Q.24.(D) Except MNOPLO, the sum of all others letter's position (according to English alphabet) is 81. Q.25.(B) Only conclusion I is implicit The Asan Conservation Reserve in Dehradun is the first wetland from Uttarakhand to be MICA DECEMBER 2020 102 recognised by Ramsar. MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.26.(B) If only II is implicit. Q.37.(B) OM = 15+13 = 28 Q.27.(A) 5 Tuesday and 4 Saturday in the same month. = 2+8 = 10 Q.28.(C) 3=4 NAMO =14+1+13+15 =43 1=5 = 7 2=6 SHIVAY = 19+8+9+22+1+25 = 84 Q.29.(B) 182 × 9 = 2916 = 8+4 =12 142 × 10 = 1960 Q.38.(B) Timely rain can improve production. 132 × 14 = 2366 Q.39.(B) 14, 522(152=225), 652(162=256) Q.30.(B) 12, 961(132=169), 691(142=196) Q.40.(C) +34, +34, +34, +34...... Q.41.(D) 28 + 14 ÷ 7×8 = 44 Q.42.(C) SUAARTAIL Q.43.(B)

Q.31.(C) 3 , 3 , 9 , 33 , 93 , 213 0 6 24 60 120 3 3 3 3 3 1 -1 2 -2 3 -3 4 -4 5 -5 Q.32.(D) 1 , 9 , 18 , 82 , 107 , 323 Q.44.(D) 45/9 = 5, 52 = 25, 72/9 = 8, 82 = 64 3 2 3 2 3 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 Q.45.(D) 32÷2=16 , 16×2.5=40 Q.33.(D) K _ N Y_ K_N_ _ KE_Y _ Q.46.(A) KENYA/KENYA/KENYA Q.47.(A) 34-25=9 EAEYANA 45-36=9 Q.34.(D) Q.48.(C)

Q.35.(B) 14+5=19 +5=24 +5=29 Q.49.(C)

Q.36.(B) LG = 12-7 = 5 3 125 RJ = 18-10 = 8 3 Q.50.(D) Except figure (D), all other figures have a total of 8 lines in the blanks. 512 Prominent Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Kapil Dev Kamat passed awa in the Bihar DECEMBER 2020 MICA capital. He was 69. 103 CPO SI EXPLANATION/CPO SI/GENERAL KNOWLEDGE Q.51.(A) Sikkim has the distinction of being the first Q.69.(A) According to the census of 2017, the total organic state in the world. Sikkim has started number of elephants in India is 27312. making bamboo water bottles for tourists. Q.70.(A) Periyar National Park is mainly known for the Q.52.(B) India ranked 94th in the list of 107 countries in wild animals like 'elephant and tiger'. the 'Global Hunger Index, 2020'. Q.71.(A) The outermost chain of Himalayas is known as Q.53.(A) The Ramsar Convention of Wetland of the Shivalik. United Nations Agency has granted Ramsar Site Q.72.(D) Kingri-Vingri Pass is not located in Ladakh. It is status to 'Asan Wetland (Uttarakhand)'. located in Uttarakhand. Q.54.(A) The Union Territory of Delhi has recently Q.73.(A) 'Sehriya tribe' is a major tribe found in Rajasthan. launched the 'Red Light On, Car Off' initiative Q.74.(B) Dudhsagar waterfall is situated on the Mandvi as part of the campaign 'war against pollution'. River on the border of the states of Goa and Q.55.(B) Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country Karnataka. to launch a Unified Registration Card for vehicle Q.75.(A) Meja Dam is situated on the Kothari river in registration. Rajasthan. Q.56.(A) The theme of 'World Bamboo Day' celebrated Q.76.(D) In the production of tea, China stands first, India globally on September 18, 2020 was 'Bamboo second, and Kenya third. Now'. Q.77.(C) Andhra Pradesh occupies the first place in Q.57.(A) The Karnataka State Government has launched storage of 'mica'. a scheme called 'Economic Flutter' in September 2020 for the disbursement of loans through Q.78.(A) The Central Temperate Horticultural Institute is cooperative institutions. located in Srinagar. Q.58.(A) The first toy cluster in India is located in Q.79.(A) On the life of Gautama Buddha, 'Light of Asia' Karnataka. poetry has been composed by Edwin Arnold. Q.59.(A) Stephan King is the author of the book ‘If in Q.80.(B) The Sangam dynasty (1336–1485 AD) first ruled Bleeds’. among the four kingdoms of the Vijayanagara Empire. Q.60.(A) The 20th Asian Games will be held in Nagoya (Japan) in 2026. Q.81.(A) During the Mughal period, Haj pilgrims used to do Haj through Surat port. Hence Surat port Q.61.(C) 'The provision of qualification of judges of High was called 'Babul Mecca or Mecca Gate' in the Courts has been made in Article 217(2)'. Mughal period. Q.62.(A) The President has the right to receive information Q.82.(A) The Ryotwari system, a land revenue from the Prime Minister through Article 78. system implemented by the British, was first Q.63.(C) The provisions regarding acceptance of bills of implemented in Baramahal district, Tamil Nadu. the President of India mentioned in paragraph Q.83.(D) Pabna Rebellion, 1873-76 occurred in AD. 111 do not include refund of money bills for reconsideration. Hence option C will be correct. Q.84.(B) The founder of Gandhi Seva Sangh was a Gujarati cloth merchant Jamnalal Bajaj. He is Q.64.(C) According to the Right to Information also called the fifth son of Gandhiji. (Amendment) Act, 2019, the tenure of the Chief Information Commissioner and other Q.85.(A) The inventor of dynamo is British scientist Information Commissioners will be determined Michael Faraday. by the Central Government. Q.86.(A) The measurement of 'electromagnetic forces' is Q.65.(C) Political party CPM was formed in the year 1964. done on the basis of Coulam's law. Q.66.(B) Asbestos dust causes lung cancer. Q.87.(B) 1 calorie = 4.186 joules. Q.67.(A) The headquarters of the International Maritime Q.88.(A) Any machine is the most permanent when its Organization is located in London. energy is minimum. Q.68.(A) Solar energy is most used in organic quantities. Q.89.(B) According to the World Health Organization, the It is the biggest source of alternative energy. pH of drinking water Must be between 7.0 to 8.5.

104 MICA DECEMBER 2020 Former Arunachal Pradesh Minister Tsering Tashi has died. He was 69. MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.90.(A) The ' zymase enzyme' converts glucose into cells to make copies of itself. As HIV destroys ethanol. more CD4 cells and makes more copies of Q.91.(A) The chemical name of vitamin B6 is pyridoxine. itself, it gradually weakens a person's immune Its sources are milk, yeast, grains, meat. system. Q.92.(C) Landfill areas is a complex mix of different Q.96.(C) Carbon monoxide is the air pollutants combines gases created by the action of microorganisms with the hemoglobin of human blood and within a landfill. Landfill gas is approximately reduces its oxygen carrying capacity, leading to 40% to 60 % methane, with the remainder being suffocation and may cause even death mostly carbon dioxide. Q.97.(D) In parthenogenesis formation of fruit occurs Landfill gases have an influence on climate without fertilization in apogamy haploid (n) vegetative cell forms embryo without change. The major components are CO2 and methane, both of which are greenhouse gas. gametogenesis and fertilization , In sporophytic budding diploid (2n) vegetative cell forms Q.93.(A) Amphibians are one of the most sensitive groups embryo from bud by vegetative reproduction to change, whether that is caused by habitat thus, all of these processes are irregular modes loss, invasive species, disease, trade or climate of reproduction. So, all three are correct change. Q.98.(A) Carbon is capable of forming many allotropes Amphibians are, however, declining faster due to its valency. Well-known forms of carbon than other groups of vertebrates, such as include diamond, graphite, graphene, fullerene, mammals, birds and reptiles. There are two Graphenylene, Diamane etc but not Coal main reasons why amphibians are more because it is not 100% carbon. It contains lot of sensitive to environmental changes than other silica, sulphur and other compounds of carbon animals, making them important indicators of apart from carbon. environmental threats that may affect all kinds of wildlife. Q.99.(C) In the production of white paper, the wood pulp is bleached to remove any colour from the trace Q.94.(C) Thermal power is the "largest" source of power amounts of lignin that was not extracted in the in India. There are different types of thermal chemical pulping process. power plants based on the fuel used to generate the steam such as coal, gas, and Diesel, natural There are three predominant methods of gas. About 71% of electricity consumed in India bleaching: Elemental chlorine bleaching, is generated by thermal power plants. Elemental chlorine-free bleaching, and totally chlorine-free bleaching. Q.95.(D) HIV is spread primarily by unprotected sex contaminated blood transfusions, hypodermic Q.100.(A) Dolomite is an anhydrous carbonate mineral needles, and from mother to child during composed of calcium magnesium carbonate, pregnancy, delivery, or breastfeeding. Some ideally CaMg (CO3)2. The term is also used for bodily fluids, such as saliva, sweat and tears, do a sedimentary carbonate rock composed mostly not transmit the virus. HIV is a member of the of the mineral dolomite. group of viruses known as retroviruses. Dolomite is being used as Fillers by detergents, The virus destroys a type of white blood cell steel, paints, and ceramics.It provides valuable in the immune system called a T-helper cell – nutrients to plants and helps change the pH of also referred to as a CD4 cell – and uses these the soil by raising it to match the plant’s needs. EXPLANATION/CPO SI/QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE Q.101.(A) Average amount invested in raw material during Q.102.(B) We know that, 1997 to 2000 Total Work = M× H × D = (375 + 330 +525 +420)/4 = 1650/4 = 412.5 M = Number of Men , H = Number of hours , D Average amount of sales of finished good during = Number of days, 1997 to 2000 Let, the number of days is d, then = (500 + 400 + 600 + 460)/4 = 1960/4 = 490 According to question, Required difference = 490 - 412.5 = 77.5 15 × 24 × 8 = 18 × d × 5

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Centenary Convocation 2020 of the DECEMBER 2020 MICA University of Mysore on 19th October at 11:15 AM, via video conferencing. 105 CPO SI d = 32 days Q.108.(D) Q.103.(D)

Total work = 240 unit Time taken by all three = 240/(20 + 15 - 12) = 240/23 = hours Given, PT = 5QT Q.104.(B) Total marks of D1, D2 and D4=80+70+75=225 PT : QT = 5 : 1 Average marks of D1, D2 and D4 = 225/3=75 Let the ratio of PT : QT be 5x :x 75 means 75% because the maximum marks of each subject are 100. PQ = PT + QT Total marks of D3 and D5 = 50+55=105 PQ = 5x + x Average marks of D1 and D5 = 105/2 = 52.5 PQ = 6x Average percentage of D1 and D5 = 52.5% PQ = RS [PQRS is a rectangle] Required difference = 75% - 52.5% = 22.5% RS = 6x Q.105.(D) sin (2q + 500) = cos (4q + 160) In rectangle PQRS, there are three triangle ∆PST, ∆RTQ and ∆STR sin (2q + 500) = sin [900 - (4q+160)] Area of ∆RTQ = 1/2 × Base × height 2q + 500 = 900 - 4q - 160 2q + 4q = 740 - 500 1/2 × x × RQ = 12 3 6q = 240 RQ = (12 3 × 2) /x q = 240/6 RQ = 24 3 / x q = 40 Area of rectangle PQRS = ar ∆RTQ + ar ∆PST + Q.106.(D) Let person’s total income is 100 ∆STR Money obtained by A = 50 Area of rectangle PQRS = (1/2) × QT × RQ + (1/2) × PT × RQ + (1/2) × SR × RQ Money obtained by B = 50× 20/100=10 Area of rectangle PQRS = (1/2) × RQ [QT + PT Money obtained by C = 10 × 15/100=1.5 + SR] = (1/2) × ( 24 3 / x ) [x + 5x + 6x] Sum deposited in bank = 100 – 50 – 10 – 1.5 = 38.5 Area of rectangle PQRS = [12 3 /x] ×[12x] = His new income = 100 + 40 = 140 144 3 sq.cm. From new income , Q.109.(C) As we know, Money obtained by A = 140 of 50% = 70 Total work of first group = total work of second Money obtained by B = 70 of 30% = 21 group = total work of third group Money obtained by C = 21 of 20% = 4.2 (4A + 6B) × 5 = (5A + 10C) × 4 = (3B + 4C) × 10 new sum deposited in bank = 140 – 70 – 21- 4.2 = 44.8 (4A + 6B) × 5 = (3B + 4C) × 4 = (3B + 4C) × 10 increase in deposited money = 44.8 – 38.5 = 6.3 4A + 6B = 6B + 8C % increase = 6.3/38.5 ×100 = 16.4% 4A = 8C Q.107.(C) Side of equilateral triangle = 18 cm A : C = 8 : 4 Height of equilateral triangle = √3/2×18 = 9 √3 cm A : C = 2 : 1 ...(1)

106 MICA DECEMBER 2020 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won in New Zealand’s general elections. MODEL PAPER 2020 Again, So, number divisible by 120 = 999999 - 39 = (5A = 10C) × 4 = (3B = 4C) × 10 9999960 20A + 40C = 30B + 40C Required number is = 999960 - 4 = 999956 20A = 30B Q.113.(B) A : B = 30 : 20 A : B = 3 : 2 ...(2) From equation (1) and equation (2) MP = Rs. 25000 A : B : C = 6 : 4 : 3 Q.114.(D) As we know , Total work = (4A = 6B) × 5 = (4 × 6 + 6 × 4) × 5 Area of trapezium = 1/2×(sum of parallel = 48 × 5 = 240 sides)×Height Let number of students from school A complete Area of trapezium = 1/2×(14 +6)×16 the work be x. = 160 sq. cm x × 6 = 240 = 160/10000 sq. meter x = 240/6 = 0.016 sq. meter x = 40 Q.115.(A) (4x3y-6x2y2=4xy3-y4) Q.110.(A) Þ 2xy3-2x2y2-y4=4x3y=2xy3-4x2y2 Þ -y2(-2xy+2x2+y2)+2xy(2x2+y2-2xy) Þ (2xy-y2) (2x2+y2-2xy) Þ (x2-x2-y2+2xy) (x2+x2+y2-2xy) Þ [x2-(x-y)2] [x2+(x-y)2] Þ x4-(x-y)4 Q.116.(A) HCF of 4/5, 6/8, 8/25 = HCF of numerator/LCM of denominator HCF of 4, 6 and 8 = 2 LCM of 5, 8 and 25 = 200 HCF of 4/5, 6/8 and 8/25=2/200=1/100 Given, ∆ABC is a right triangle and BC is the Q.117.(B) Total runs in 50 overs = 282 hypotenuse. Average of runs in 20 overs = 4.5 and BC = 25 cm Sum of run in 20 overs = 4.5 × 20 = 90 As we know, Runs need in remaining 30 overs = 282 - 90 = Median of right triangle is = Hypotenuse/2 192 Þ 25/2 Average runs in 30 overs = 192/30 = 6.4 \ the length of AD is 12.5 cm Q.118.(C) Total exports of cars of type A in 2014 to 2017 = Q.111.(D) (320+342+530+915) ÷ (20+22-x+18)=43 200+150+275+175=800 2107/(60-x)=43 Total exports of cars of type B in 2015 to 2018 = 60-x=2107/43=49 250+200+275+325=1050 x=60-49 Required percentage = [(1050 - 800)/1050] × x=11 100 = 23.8% Q.112.(A) LCM of 12, 15, 20 , 24, 30 is 120 Q.119.(A) Total word in PHOTOGRAPH is = 10 If PH is replaced by F then the total word in As we know, 1 FOTOGRAF is = 8 (12-8) = (15-11) = (20-16) = (24-20) = (30-26) = 4 Required percentage = [(10-8)/10]×100=20% As we know, Q.120.(C) Radius of the wheel = 84/2 = 42cm 6 digit largest number = 999999

Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla’s tenure has been extended up to August 22, 2021. DECEMBER 2020 MICA 107 CPO SI Circumference of the wheel = 2pr = 2 × (22/7) × In the year 2014, exports of the car were 200 42 = 264cm 200 × 110/100=220 Distance covered by the wheel in 1 revolution = Circumference of the wheel \ in the year 2014 the export was 10% more Distance covered by the wheel in 16 revolution than the average export over the years. = 16 × 264 = 4224 cm = 4224/1000m Q.125.(B) =42.24 m Q.121.(D) 2 2 1 1   1    x+ − x −  8 y   y       1 1 2x 1 2x  x2 x2 ⇒ +2 + − +2 −   8  y y  y y  

1 2 1 2x2 1 2x  ⇒x +2 + −x −2 +  8  y y y y  1 4x  ⇒ 8 y  x / 2y ⇒ Q.122.(B) Total number of farmer = 264000 As we know, x% of 264000 = 5280

x = [5280/264000]×100=2% Q.126.(B) Percentage of farmer who claimed insurance in state C = 36% Percentage of farmer who claimed insurance in state A = 24% Let percentage of farmer who claimed insurance in state E be a%, then Q.127.(B) According to the question, a% + 24% + 2% = 36% a% + 26% = 36% a% = 36% - 26% a% = 10% Q.123.(D) CP of the article = 300 SP of the article = 300 × (105/100) =315 MP of the article = 315 × (100/90) = 350 Q.124.(B) Total exports of cars of type A = 200 + 150 + 275 + 175 + 300 = 1100

Average exports of cars of type A = 1100/5=220

Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan, theprimate of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, MICA DECEMBER 2020 108 died. He was 90. MODEL PAPER 2020 Q.131.(C) Radius of disc r = 21/2 cm Height of 60 discs if they stacked one above the other = 60 × 1/3 = 20 cm Volume of the cylinder = pr2h = (22/7) × (21/2) × (21/2) × 20 = 6930cm3 As we know, 1cm3 = 10-6m 6930 cm3 = 6.93×10-3m

Q.132.(B) Capitals ratio of A, B and C = 2/3 : 3/5 : 5/6 = As we know, (2×30)/3 : (3×30)/5 : (5×30)/6 = 20 : 18 : 25 If numerator are same, then the fraction which Capital ratio of A, B and C after end of the year, has largest denominator, has minimum value. (20×8+20×5/4×4) : 18×12 : 25×12 = (160+100) Q.128.(B) Total exports of cars of type A in 2014 and 2018 : 216 : 300 = 260 : 216 : 300 = 200 + 300 = 500 Capitals ration of A, B and C after end of the Total exports of cars of type B in 2015 and 2016 year = 260x : 216x : 300x : = 65x : 54x : 75x = 250 + 200 = 450 According to the question, Required ratio = 500 : 450 = 10 : 9 65x + 54x + 75 x = 5820 Q.129.(C) 194x = 5820 x = 5820/194 = 30 Share of C = 75 × 30 = Rs. 2250 Q.133.(D)

Q.130.(C)

Q.134.(C)

r2 = 1225/15

To push agriculture finance, state-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) has entered into a pact DECEMBER 2020 MICA with Mahindra and Mahindra for tractor finance Business. 109 CPO SI Volume of the cone = (1/3) × pr2h = (1/3) × (22/7) × (1225/15) × 35 = 2994 cm3 = 2994 cm3 = 2994/106m3 = 2994 ×10-6 m3 = 2.994 × 10-3m3 Q.135.(C)

Q.137.(C)

Q.136.(B) As we know, 6 digit number in which 3 digit repeat xyzxyz is divisible by 1001. And 1001 is divisible by 7, 11 and 13.

CSIR-IHBT makes history by introducing asafoetida (Heeng) cultivation in Indian MICA DECEMBER 2020 110 Himalayan region. MODEL PAPER 2020 Let K is the point on the top of the tower and the 4x2 + 6xy - 10x + 6xy + 9y2 - 15y + 8x + 12y - 20 height of the clock tower OK be h cm. = (ax2 + by2 + 2hxy + 2gx + 2fy + c) 4x2 + 12xy - 2x + 9y2 - 3y - 20 = (ax2 + by2 + 2hxy + 2gx + 2fy + c) On comparing a = 4, h = 6, g = -1, b = 9, f = -3/2 and c = -20 Now, {(g + f - c)/abh} {(-1 - 3/2 + 20)/4 × 9 × 6} {(-2 - 3 + 40)/2}/(4 × 6 × 9} (35/2)/216 35/432 Q.140.(C) As we know; Simple Interest = PRT/100 Let total sum be Rs. x, then Remaining part = x - x/8 - 3x/5 = (40x - 5x - 24x)/40 = 11x/40 According to the question (x × 1/8 × 5 × 2)/100 + (x × 3/5 × 6 × 2)/100 + (x × 11/40 × 10 × 2)/100 = 1674 5x/400 + 36x/500 + 11x/200 = 1674 (25x + 144x + 110x)2000 = 1674 279x/2000 = 1674 x = 1674 × 2000/279 x = 12000 Q.141.(C) Q.138.(B)

Work done by A and C in 5/4hr = (3+1) × 5/4 = 5 unit

Q.139.(B) According to the question Q.142.(A) Total number of cars sold from the showrooms (2x + 3y + 4)(2x + 3y - 5) = (ax2 + by2 + 2hxy = B and D = 5000 × [(22+9)/100] 2gx = 2fy + c) 5000 × (31/100) = 1550

The Annual Naval Exercise Malabar-2020 is expected to be held in the Bay of Bengal and DECEMBER 2020 MICA the Arabian Sea later this year. 111 CPO SI Q.143.(D) Total marks obtained in English by all five districts = 70+60+60+85+90=365 Average marks = 365/5=73 As we know, Maximum marks of English is 100, then Required percentage = 73/100×100=73% Q.144.(A)

Q.148.(D)

Q.145.(C) Q.149.(D) Speed ratio of two engines is = 5 : 4 Let the speed of the faster engine is 5km/hr and speed of the slower engines is 4km/hr The distance of the two engines = 8 km Required time to overtake by faster engine = 8/ (5-4) = 8hr Distance covered by the faster engine in 8 hrs = 5 × 8 = 40 km Q.150.(D)

Q.146.(D)

Q.147.(C) Let the total number of students be x and average If 6 is added in each then new ratio = (30+6) : marks of the students be y, then (50+6) = 36 : 56 = 9 : 14

Bahrain and Israel signed a series of key agreements covering bilateral relations, MICA DECEMBER 2020 112 agriculture, trade, civil aviation, telecommunications and financial services. MODEL PAPER 2020 EXPLANATION/CPO SI/ENGLISH LANGUAGE Q.151.(A) AMPLIFY (v): make (something) more marked Gloss (Adj.)- shine or lustre on a smooth surface. or intense. Glutton (Adj.)- an excessively greedy eater. For other options: Q.162.(C) ‘In my point of view’ will be correct. Electrify (v): charge with electricity; pass an Q.163.(D) ‘Hardly’ does not take negative words, so it electric current through should be ‘hardly any’. Q.152.(A) ‘anybody’ is a singular pronoun and ‘explore’ is Q.164.(D) The sentence is to be expressed in Present not followed by ‘into’. Passive form so it can be ‘has not been known’ Q.153.(C) Ins and outs- everything. or ‘is not known’. Q.154.(B) For other options: Q.165.(D) E.g. - Jane was angry enough to quit without Compere (n): a person who introduces the giving notice, leaving her boss in the lurch. performers or contestants in a variety show. Q.166.(D) Adversity (n): a difficult or unpleasant situation. Conservator (n): a person responsible for the For other options: repair and preservation of things of cultural or Calamity (n): an event causing great and often environmental interest, such as buildings or sudden damage or distress; a disaster. works of art. Q.167.(B) For other options: Q.155.(C) For other options: Colossus (n): a statue that is much bigger than Restful (Adj.)- having a quiet and soothing life size. quality. Q.168.(A) E.g. - He may have decided to feather his nest by Occupy (v)- fill or take up (a space or time). blackmail. Q.156.(B) Whose should be used to express of whom or of Q.169.(B) For other options: which (used to indicate that the following noun Ban (v): officially or legally prohibit (something). belongs to or is associated with the person or thing mentioned in the previous clause). Q.170.(C) Enthusiasm (n): intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval. Q.157.(C) Equip is followed by ‘with’. Apathy (n): lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. Q.158.(A) Courageous is the correct word which means not deterred by danger or pain; brave. For other options: Q.159.(B) For other options: Fervor (n): intense and passionate feeling. Menagerie (n): a collection of wild animals kept Q.171.(C) Vanity (n): excessive pride in or admiration of in captivity for exhibition. one's own appearance or achievements. Aquarium (n): a transparent tank of water in Humility (n): the quality of having a modest or which live fish and other water creatures and low view of one's importance. plants are kept. For other option: Apiary (n): a place where bees are kept; a Dignity (n): the state or quality of being worthy collection of beehives. of honour or respect. Q.160.(C) For other options: Timidity (n): lack of courage or confidence. Carnivore (n): an animal that feeds on other Q.172.(C) ‘Have’ in the sense of ‘possession’ is not used in animals. V (ing) form. Tribal (n): of or characteristic of a tribe or tribes. Q.173.(A) Disappoint is the correct word. Scavenger (n): an animal that feeds on carrion, Q.174.(C) Out of the given alternatives, only ‘ahead’ takes dead plant material, or refuses. ‘of’. Q.161.(C) Gobble (v): eat (something) hurriedly and noisily. Q.175.(D) Find out means to discover. For other options: Q.176.(D) Report (v): give a spoken or written account of Gloomy (Adj.): dark or poorly lit, especially so something that one has observed, heard, done, as to appear depressing or frightening. or investigated.

India and Oman have agreed to expedite their internal procedures for signing and DECEMBER 2020 MICA ratification of a protocol to amend the bilateral double taxation agreement. 113 CPO SI Q.177.(A) Information (n) - facts provided or learned about Nephrologist is a physician who studies and something or someone. deals the adult and pediatric study of the Q.178.(D) Enemy (n) - a person who is actively opposed or kidneys and its diseases. hostile to someone or something. Dermatologist (n): a medical practitioner Q.179.(B) Blossom is the correct word which means a qualified to diagnose and treat skin disorders. flower or a mass of flowers, especially on a tree Q.189.(C) ‘Objective case’ of pronoun is required. or bush. Q.190.(D) Massive (adj.) - huge. For other options: Q.191.(B) As the sentence is given in the past indefinite Blister (n): a small bubble on the skin filled with tense, wondered is the correct option. serum and caused by friction. Q.192.(A) E.g. - The team returned in high spirits after Blemish (n): a small mark or flaw which spoils they won at the match. the appearance of something. Q.193.(A) Pull one’s leg means to play a joke with Q.180.(B) Essential is the correct word which means someone. absolutely necessary; extremely important. Q.194.(A) ‘In case’ means ‘as a provision against For other options: something happening or being true’. Esteem (n): respect and admiration. Q.195.(B) All the other options can be eliminated on the basis of grammatical rules. Q.181.(C) ‘Advice’ is something which can’t be counted, hence it should not be written in plural. Q.196.(A) Wh. word + helping verb + subject + verb + object? Is the correct structure of interrogative Q.182.(B) ‘were’ is correct according to the adverb of time sentence. ‘yesterday’. Q.197.(D) Hollow and vacant are synonyms. Q.183.(C) This answer can only be understood by reading the whole passage. For other options: Q.184.(B) The answer lies in the sixth paragraph. Narrow (Adj.)- of small width in relation to length. Q.185.(A) The answer is inferred from the third paragraph. Shallow (Adj.) - of little depth. Q.186.(D) The answer is clearly given in the second Q.198.(B) Harass (v) - subject to aggressive pressure or paragraph. intimidation; bother. Q.187.(D) The answer is given in the second last passage. Q.199.(C) Must (helping verb) - expressing an opinion Q.188.(A) For other options: about something that is logically very likely. Analgesic (Adj.)- (of a drug) acting to relieve Q.200.(D) Sluggish (Adj.)- slow-moving or inactive. pain. Bubbly (Adj.)- full of cheerful high spirits.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy has announced a relief aid of Rs. 10 MICA DECEMBER 2020 114 crore to flood-hit Telangana for the ongoing relief efforts.