WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
PM launched Property Cards under SVAMITVA scheme PM Narendra Modi virtually launched physical distribution programme of Property Cards under SVAMITVA scheme. SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas) is a Central Sector Scheme launched in April 2020 Benefit: Allow the villagers to use the property as a financial asset for taking loans and benefits. Scheme is implemented in a phased manner for 4 years covering 6.62 lakh villages. Eight Indian beaches got International Blue flag Certification Union environment minister announced 8 beaches of India has been awarded with Blue Flag certification by an International Jury comprising of eminent members (UNEP, UNWTO, FEE, IUCN) Blue Flag Beaches of India: Shivrajpur (Dwarka-Gujarat), Ghoghla (Diu), Kasarkod and Padubidri (Karnataka), Kappad (Kerala), Rushikonda (AP), Golden (Puri-Odisha) and Radhanagar (A&N Islands) India became first country in Asia-Pacific region that achieved this feat in just 2 years time. World Arthritis Day being observed on 12 October World Arthritis Day is being celebrated annually on October 12 to raise awareness about arthritis disease. Arthritis is an inflammatory condition which causes pain and stiffness in joints which can worsen with age. This day was started by Arthritis and Rheumatism International (ARI) in 1996 to spread awareness about arthritis and encourage policymakers to help reduce burden of arthritis. World Arthritis Day theme 2020: Time2Work. Shuttler Chetan Anand named brand ambassador of ‘Transform’ Commonwealth Games (CWG) medallist in Badminton, Chetan Anand has been named as the brand ambassador for India’s first-ever homegrown professional badminton brand ‘Transform’. Chetan Anand: Former world no. 10 and men's singles bronze medal winner at the 2006 Melbourne CWG and was an Arjuna Awardee Transform racquets/ Badminton is India’s 1st professional badminton brand at par with the best racquets in the market that are currently imported in India. Nihal Sarin won Chess.com's 2020 Junior Speed Online Championship Indian player Nihal Sarin (16 year) wins in Chess.com's 2020 Junior Speed Online Championship in Chennai, beating Russia's world junior No. 6 Alexey Sarana by 18-7 He is awarded with $8,766 and enabled him to qualify for the 2020 Speed Chess Championship Final which will feature the world's best players Nihal Sarin is a former world Under-10 champion and will join Indian men's team that is taking part in Asian Online Nations (Regions) Cup Team Championship. RBI to conduct on-tap targeted LTRO to boost credit flow RBI will be conducting on-tap targeted long-term repo operations (TLTRO) worth Rs 1 trillion (1 lakh crore) for providing liquidity in the system at floating rate linked to the policy rate for 3 years The fund will be provided to the sectors having multiplier effects on growth Benefitting sectors: construction, real estate, and micro finance. Availability: Till 31 March, 2020 LTRO: A tool under which RBI provides 1 to 3 years money to banks at the prevailing repo rate. RBI to rationalize risk weights on home loans boosting real estate RBI has announced to rationalize the risk weights on home loans boosting real estate sector of the nation making home loans cheaper RBI has decided to link home loans to Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratios for new housing loans sanctioned up to March 31, 2022. This will boost borrowers as well as lenders and will act as a counter cyclical measure. LTV ratio: It is the percentage of a property value that a bank is willing to give as home loan. Plot-1441, Opp. IOCL Petrol Pump, CRP Square, Bhubaneswar-751015 Ph. :8093556677, 9040456677, Web :www.vanik.org, E-mail : [email protected] 1
WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
RBI Governor: Shaktikanta Das RBI’s 3rd Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement 2020-21 Released The Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India for its third meeting of 2020-21. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das has announced crucial policy decisions at the Bank’s 3rd bi-monthly monetary policy. On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its meeting decided to: The repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) has been kept unchanged at 4.00%. The reverse repo rate under the LAF has been kept unchanged at 3.35%. The marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate have been kept unchanged at 4.25%. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will introduce on-tap targeted long-term repo operations (TLTRO) for banks to borrow up to Rs 1 trillion from the window and invest in corporate bonds and other debt instruments of certain sectors. The on-tap TLTROs will have tenors of up to three years at a floating rate linked to the policy repo rate and the scheme will be available up to 31 March 2021. Real GDP growth is expected to be negative. The RBI’s MPC has pegged the real GDP growth for FY21 to contract by 9.5%. World Bank expected India’s GDP to contract by 9.6% in FY-21 The World Bank projected India’s GDP to contract by 9.6% this FY-21, which is reflective of the national lockdown and the income shock experienced by households and firms due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank earlier in June had estimated the Indian economy to shrink by 3.2% in the current fiscal. The World Bank recently released its report titled ‘South Asia Economic Focus’, noting that the country’s economic situation is much worse than ever seen before. The report also forecasted a sharper than expected economic slump across the South Asian region, with regional growth expected to contract by 7.7% in 2020, after topping 6% annually in the past five years. Regional growth is projected to rebound to 4.5% in 2021. GOI AppointedAshima Goyal, Jayanth R Varma &ShashankaBhide as RBI’s MPC members The Government of India has appointed three new economists as members of the six-member rate- setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Government had formed a committee for selection of these three new members of MPC. This search-cum-selection committee for MPC was headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj. As per the RBI Act, the three new external members would have four-year terms. The new members are: Prof. Ashima Goyal, a professor at the Mumbai-based Indira Gandhi Institute of Developmental Research Prof. Jayanth R Varma, a professor of finance at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad Dr. ShashankaBhide, an agricultural economist and a senior adviser with the National Council of Applied Economic Research in New Delhi They replaces the three previous external MPC candidates, Chetan Ghate, Ravindra Dholakia and PamiDua, whose terms expired with the last policy meeting in August 2020. It must be noted that the MPC committee of RBI comprises six members which includes three officials of the Reserve Bank of India and three external members nominated by the Government of India. The three members from RBI Side are Dr. Mridul K. Saggar, Dr. Michael Debabrata Patra and Shri Shaktikanta Das. Governor of RBI is the exofficio Chairman of MPC.
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WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
Sebi introduced ‘very high risk category’ in risk-o-meter tool for mutual fund schemes Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has introduced a new “very high risk” category on its Mutual Funds (MF) riskometer tool, to warn investors, investing in mutual fund schemes. Currently the mutual fund (MF) risk-o-meter has five categories – low, moderately low, moderate, moderately high and high. It indicates the scheme’s risk level. The revamped 6 categories Risk-o-meter will come into effect from 01 January 2021. It will be evaluated on a monthly basis and the mutual fund houses will have to disclose the risk-o- meter along with portfolio disclosure for all their schemes on their respective website and on the industry body Amfi website within 10 days from the close of each month. ICICI Bank in partnership with VISA launched debit card facility for customers availing LAS ICICI Bank has launched a debit card facility for the customers availing the Loan against Securities (LAS) from the Bank. The debit card is available on the Visa platform. The LAS debit can be used by customers across all domestic merchant establishments to make seamless POS and online transactions like payments on e-commerce portals among others, using their sanctioned LAS amount. With this launch, ICICI Bank has become the first bank in India to launch such a facility. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna won Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing.” Emmanuelle Charpentier is a Director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany. Jennifer A. Doudna is a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez won 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. One half of the award has been given to Roger Penrose for black hole discovery; and the other half jointly to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez. UK’s Roger Penrose has been awarded “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity” America’s Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez have jointly won “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy. Nobel Prize in Literature 2020: American poet Louise Glück The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2020 is awarded to the American poet Louise Glück “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal”. The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded by The Swedish Academy, Stockholm, Sweden. She made her debut in 1968 with Firstborn and was soon acclaimed as one of the most prominent poets in American contemporary literature. She has received several prestigious awards, among them the Pulitzer Prize (1993) and the National Book Award (2014). Noted Odia Poet NityanandaNayak to receive Sarala Puraskar Noted Odia poet, NityanandNayak will be conferred the prestigious Sarala Puraskar for his poetry work ‘SetebelakuNathiba’, published in 2017. The poet will be felicitated with a cash award of `5 lakh and a citation. Two other eminent personalities from the State – Ranjit Kumar Nag and ShyamsundarPattanaik – will be felicitated for their contribution to fields of music and art respectively.
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WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
While Nag will be awarded the Ila Panda SangeetSamman, Pattanaik would be felicitated with Ila Panda ChitrakalaSamman. The awards comprise a cash award of `1, 50,000 and a citation. 2 U.S. Economists Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson Wins Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences The 2020 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences has been awarded jointly to Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson “for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats” The award is officially known as the SverigesRiksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020. The laureates in economic sciences are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. It comes with a gold medal and a cash award of 10 million Swedish krona ($1.12 million). Nobel Prize in Peace 2020 announced The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 to the World Food Programme (WFP). The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security. In 2019, the WFP provided assistance to close to 100 million people in 88 countries who are victims of acute food insecurity and hunger. Indian Air Force Day: 08 October Indian Air Force Day is celebrated every year by the Indian Air Force on 8th of October. This year Indian Air Force celebrated its 88th anniversary. Indian Air Force was officially established on 8 October 1932 by the British Empire as the Royal Indian Air Force. The name was changed to Indian Air Force in 1950. Chiefs of Air Staff: Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria. World Cotton Day: 07 October World Cotton Day (WCD) is observed globally on 7th October since 2019. The international day aims to celebrate the advantages of cotton, ranging from its qualities as a natural fibre to the benefits people obtain from its production, transformation, trade and consumption. Lewis Hamilton won 2020 Eifel Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-Great Britain) has won the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, held at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany. This is Hamilton’s 7th win of the season and 91st career race victory, which was till now achieved only by Michael Schumacher. Max Verstappen (Red Bull – Netherlands) came second followed by Daniel Ricciardo (Renault, Australia) at third position. Rafael Nadal won French Open 2020 Rafael Nadal beats Novak Djokovic to win the men’s 2020 French Open Title. This is his 13th French Open men’s singles title and 20th Grand Slam title. In Women’s single, IgaSwiatek of Poland, claimed a historic win, by becoming the youngest women to win the title in the history of the championship. She defeated Sofia Kenin, of the United States and became the first Polish tennis player to win the singles’ Grand Slam. Winners of French Open Tennis 2020: Category Name of the Sportsperson Men’s Single Rafael Nadal (Spain) Women’s Single IgaSwiatek (Poland) Men’s Double Kevin Krawietz& Andreas Mies (Germany)
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WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
Women’s Double TímeaBabos (Hungary) & Kristina Mladenovic (France) Government launched API integration between PM SVANidhi Portal and SBI eMudra Portal The Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs will integrate the application programming interface (API) between SVANidhi portals and various banks to expedite loan sanctioning and disbursement process under Modi government’s PM SVANidhi scheme for nano entrepreneurs. To begin with, the ministry launched the API integration between the PM SVANidhi portal and SBI’s eMudra portal on 7 October 2020. This integration will facilitate seamless flow of data between the PM SVANidhi Portal and SBI’s eMudra Portal in a secure environment. It will expedite the loan sanctioning and disbursement process, to benefit the street vendors seeking a working capital loan under the Scheme. Ministry would perform similar integration with other banks as well for which a consultative meeting will be held shortly. GoI launched online startup platform ‘Startup India Showcase’ The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has launched an online discovery platform for startups called “Startup India Showcase”. The main aim of this website is to make a repository of India’s most promising startups that have proved their capabilities, from across sectors such as fintech, enterprise tech, social impact, health tech, and edutech, among others. The startups mentioned on the website will be handpicked by experts and will go through multiple screening and evaluation rounds. The listed firms will also be considered by the government and corporate buyers as potential suppliers of goods or services. Each startup will have its own profile page, with detailed information about its product and innovation, as well as video and PDF links. The platform will also act as an online networking portal, by mentioning LinkedIn and Twitter pages of the founders. Minister of Commerce and Industry: Piyush Goyal. Indian Cotton got Brand Name; To be known as ‘Kasturi Cotton’ globally On the occasion of the 2nd World Cotton Day, the Union Minister of Textiles and Women & Child Development, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, launched the first ever Brand & Logo for Indian Cotton through Video Conferencing. It means that from now on, the premium Cotton of India would be known as ‘Kasturi Cotton’ in the world cotton Trade. The Kasturi Cotton brand will represent Whiteness, Brightness, Softness, Purity, Luster, Uniqueness and Indianness. Chairman-Cum-Managing Director of Cotton Corporation of India: Pradeep Kumar Agarwal. Cotton Corporation of India Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra. Cotton Corporation of India Founded: 31 July 1970. Gujarat govt to launch ‘Digital SevaSetu’ programme The state government of Gujarat has announced a ‘Digital SevaSetu’ programme to ensure optimum utilisation of technology for public welfare in rural areas. The program has been initiated under the Centre’s BharatNet Project. Under the ‘Digital SevaSetu’ program, public welfare services will be made available in all the 14,000-gram panchayats in the state by connecting village panchayats through an optical fibre network. Each village panchayat will get e-gram office so that villagers will not have to go all the way to taluka or district-level offices. All the gram panchayats will be connected to the state data centre at Gandhinagar.
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WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
Initially, 20 services will be offered to villagers under the programme like ration cards, affidavits and certificates for widows, residence, caste, senior citizen, language-based minority, a religious minority, nomad-denotified, and income certificates at their doorstep. Gujarat Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani. Gujarat Governor: Acharya Devvrat. Indian Coast Guard launched L&T built Offshore Patrol Vessel ‘Vigraha’ The Indian Coast Guard launched the Offshore Patrol vessel ‘Vigraha’ at a private shipyard in Kattupalli, north of Chennai. ICGS ‘Vigraha’ is the seventh and last in the series of seven vessels that was designed and built exclusively for the Coast Guard by Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Shipbuilding as a part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Vigraha is likely to be inducted into the Indian Coast Guard in March 2021, after completion of extensive trials and testing of the on-board equipment and machinery and once inducted, the vessel would serve the East Region, from Visakhapatnam. The other ships of this vessel are ICGS ”Vikram”, ICGS ”Vijaya”, ICGS ”Veera”, ICGS ”Varaha”, ICGS ”Varad”, ICGS ”Vajra”. NCERT books to be converted into Indian Sign Language According to Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Indian Sign Language Research and Training Center (ISLRTC) and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to make educational materials accessible for hearing impaired children. It is a historic decision for people with difficulties in speaking or hearing and will empower differently-abled persons. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment: Thaawar Chand Gehlot. One of the world’s spiciest chillies, DalleKhursani of Sikkim, got GI tag The famous red-hot cherry pepper of Sikkim, which is known as DalleKhursani, has earned the geographical indication (GI) tag from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. A GI tag is a name given to certain products that have a specific geographical location or origin. With GI, the crop will have global recognition and the marketing of the product will be beyond the national borders. Goa become India’s first ‘HarGhar Jal’ State by providing tap water connection to every rural household As per the data provided by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Goa has become the first ‘HarGhar Jal’ State in the country by providing tap water connection to every rural household. The state provided tap water connection to 2 lakh 30 thousand rural households in all the 191 Gram Panchayats of the state. North Goa with 1, 65,000 rural households and South Goa with 98,000 rural households are fully saturated with assured piped water supply through tap connections. PM Modi launched physical distribution of Property Cards under SVAMITVA scheme Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the programme of physical distribution of Property Cards under the SVAMITVA scheme through video conferencing. The Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) is a Central Sector Scheme, which was launched in April 2020 to provide the ‘record of rights to document the residential properties’ to village household owners in rural areas and issue Property Cards. Benefit? The scheme will allow the villagers to use the property as a financial asset for taking loans and other economic and financial benefits. The scheme is being implemented in a phased manner over a period of four years (2020-2024) and would eventually cover around 6.62 lakh villages of the country.
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WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
In the Phase I, people from 763 villages of 6 states, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka will be the beneficiary of the ‘SVAMITVA’scheme. About one lakh property owners will be able to download property cards from the link received through SMS on their mobile phones. The respective state governments will distribute physical cards. Delhi Government become first to launch Tree Transplantation Policy Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has passed a first-of-its-kind in India ‘Tree Transplantation Policy’ to preserve trees for clean and green Delhi. As per this policy, the trees which needs be felled due to any circumstances, like for constructions and other development projects, would not be cut but instead uprooted and transplanted somewhere else. Features of the Policy Atleast 80 percent of the total number of trees to be felled for any construction/development project, must be transplanted to other location. Additionally, compensatory plantation of 10 saplings for each tree, as being followed currently, will continue. This policy however, will not apply if 10 or less trees are to be felled. Also, the transplantation agency will need to ensure that 80 percent of transplanted trees survive, following which only they will receive the payments. All eight beaches recommended by GoI gets coveted International Blueflag Certification The Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has informed that all eight beaches recommended by the Government of India has got the coveted International Blueflag Certification. India is the first nation to achieve such a feat, as no other Blueflag nation has ever been awarded for 8 beaches in a single attempt. The Blue Flag programme is a world-renowned award operated by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark to benchmark the beaches as clean and hygienic. PM Modi releasedRs 100 commemorative coin in honour of 100th birth anniversary of VijayaRajeScindia Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a commemorative coin of Rs 100 to mark the birth centenary of RajmataVijayaRajeScindia, one of the founder member of the ruling BJP, through a virtual ceremony. The special coin has been minted by the Ministry of Finance. VijayaRajeScindia, who dedicated her life to poor people, is also popularly known as the Rajmata of Gwalior. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced measures to boost consumer & capital demand by Rs 73000 cr by 31 March 2021 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the 43rd GST Council meeting through video conferencing in New Delhi. Sitharaman announced several measures to boost capital expenditure and stimulate consumer demand in the economy, which are are estimated to cost Rs 73,000 crore by 31 March 2021. The major highlights of the announcements made during the meeting are listed below: Rs 12,000 crore interest-free 50-year loan to states for spending only on capital projects in a bid to boost economy. Out of this, Rs 1,600 crore will be for north-eastern states and Rs 900 crore will be for Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Rs 7,500 crore for the remaining states. Rs 2,000 crore will be given to states that fulfill pre-stated reforms. Additional capital expenditure of Rs 25,000 crore. This will be provided over and above the existing Rs 4.13 lakh crore allotted in the annual budget.
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WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
The additional money will be for spending on roads, defence infrastructure, water supply and urban development, defence infrastructure and domestically produced capital equipment. LTC Cash Voucher Scheme and Special Festival Advance Scheme to primarily benefit central government employees. The schemes will generate additional consumer demand of Rs. 36,000 crore by March 31, 2021. This would include Rs 28,000 crore through LTC voucher scheme and Rs 8,000 crore through festival advance scheme. Leave Travel Concession (LTC) Cash Voucher Schemes Central government employees get leave travel concession in a block of four years, but due to the covid-19 pandemic, employees will not be able to avail the LTC in the 2018-21 year block. So the government will pay the entitled fare as cash vouchers, which employees could use to make purchases of their choice. This should be spent by March 31, 2021. An employee opting for this scheme will have to buy goods and services worth three times the fare and one time leave encashment, and only on goods attracting GST of 12% or more and only digital payments will be allowed. Special Festival Advance Scheme The festival advance and other similar advances were abolished under the 7th Pay Commission. But the government has proposed to restore the festival advances to Government employees for festivals upto 1st January 2021. Under this, all Central Government employees will get an interest-free advance of Rs 10,000, in the form of a prepaid RuPay Card. This needs to be spent by March 31, 2021. The amount should be paid back in 10 instalments. Russia successfully test-fired Tsirkon hypersonic missile Russia successfully test-fired a Tsirkon hypersonic cruise missile in the Arctic. The Missile was fired from the Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the White Sea, Russian Arctic. The missile covered a distance of 450 km with the maximum altitude of its trajectory at 28 km. The flight lasted 4.5 minutes and the missile reached a hypersonic speed of over Mach 8. The Missile is a scramjet-powered manoeuvring anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile. Indian-built Sittwe port in Myanmar to be operational in 2021 India and Myanmar are working towards the operationalization of the Sittwe port in the Rakhine state of Myanmar in the first quarter of 2021. The port is part of the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project which is being viewed as India’s gateway to Southeast Asia. Sittwe Port is a deepwater port constructed by India in 2016 at Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State in Myanmar, on the Bay of Bengal. The port will connect India’s landlocked northeastern region with the Bay of Bengal through Mizoram. India Ranked 129 in Oxfam’s Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index 2020 India has been ranked 129 among 158 countries in the 2020 Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index. The third edition of the index focuses on Fighting Inequality in the time of COVID-19. The index is released by the international charitable organisation ‘Oxfam International’ in partnership with Development Finance International and with inputs from independent experts. It monitors what governments are doing through their policy commitments to reduce inequality and tackle the gap between rich and poor. The index is based upon three basic pillars: Public Services Pillar, Progressive Tax Pillar and Workers Rights Pillar. The 2020 CRI index has been topped by Norway. South Sudan is the lowest ranking country in the index at 158th position.
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16-year-old AavaMurto Took charge as Finland’s PM for a day A 16-year-old girl AavaMurto assumed the post of the Prime Minister of Finland for one day, under the “Girls Takeover” program, organised as a part of the U.N. International Day of the Girl to raise more awareness of gender equality. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin handed over her power to Murto on 7th October 2020 for a day. AavaMurto is from the small village of Vaaksy in southern Finland.
WEEKLY OBJECTIVE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS ON CURRENT AFFAIRS: FOR WEEK 41/52 – 6 October – 12 October (2020)
1. The Jewar International Airport is a proposed Indian airport that will be constructed by the Switzerland’s Zurich Airport International. The airport will be built in which city of India? A) Noida B) Pune C) Amritsar D) Shmila 2. As per the World bank, what is the projected GDP growth rate of India for 2020-21? A) -12.4% B) -10.7% C) -11.5% D) -9.6% 3. Mukesh Ambani has topped the Forbes India Rich list for 2020. With this, he has won the annual recognition for the _____ consecutive year A) 12 B) 13 C) 14 D) 15 4. Who has been given as the additional charge of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution? A) Piyush Goyal B) Nitin Gadkari C) J. P. Nadda D) Dharmendra Pradhan 5. Who is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2020? A) Olga Tokarczuk B) Peter Handke C) Louise Gluck D) Kazuo Ishiguro 6. Name the India’s first indigenous anti-radiation missile, which was flight testes recently by DRDO A) RUDRAM B) DHRUVA C) AKASHA D) SURYA 7. When is the World Post Day celebrated globally? A) 7 October B) 10 October C) 8 October D) 9 October 8. World Mental Health Day is marked globally on______A) 9 October B) 10 October C) 8 October D) 7 October 9. What is the estimated GDP growth rate for India in FY21 as per the RBI? A) -11.5% B) -8.5% C) -9.5% D) -10.5%
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10. Which bank has recently partnered with the airline company Vistara to launch a co-branded forex card? A) ICICI Bank B) HDFC Bank C) Yes Bank D) Axis Bank 11. Which country conducted the successful testing of its new hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile Tsirkon recently? A) Russia B) France C) Iran D) Germany 12. Name the CMD of the Jammu & Kashmir Bank whose term has been extended for another 6-months by RBI A) Vishwavir Ahuja B) Padmaja Chunduru C) Sumant Kathpalia D) RK Chhibber 13. When is the National Postal Day celebrated in India? A) 8 October B) 10 October C) 9 October D) 11 October 14. The Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 has been conferred upon______A) International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) B) Nadia Murad C) World Food Programme (WFP) D) Joseph Rotbla 15. Which bank has launched the initiative ‘MSME Prerana’, an online Business Mentoring Programme for MSMEs? A) Indian Bank B) Canara Bank C) Bank of Maharashtra D) Punjab National Bank 16. J Venkatramu has recently been appointed as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of which bank? A) Bandhan Bank B) India Post Payments Bank C) IDFC FIRST Bank D) IndusInd Bank 17. Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has passed away. He held which portfolio in the Modi Government? A) Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment B) Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs C) Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises D) Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution 18. World Sight Day is observed on which day? A) second Friday of October B) second Saturday of October
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C) second Thursday of October D) second Wednesday of October 19. World Egg Day falls on which day of the year every year? A) second Friday of October B) 9 October C) second Saturday of October D) 10 October 20. Ashwani Kumar, who has passed away recently was the former Chief of which organisation? A) Narcotics Control Bureau B) Central Bureau of Investigation C) National Investigation Agency D) Central Vigilance Commission 21. Nilesh Shah has been re-elected as the Chairman of which industry body recently? A) Food Safety and Standards Authority of India B) Securities and Exchange Board of India C) Association of Mutual Funds in India D) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India 22. Nityananda Nayak has been selected for the Sarala Puraskar 2020. It is an annual literary prize by which state? A) Assam B) West Bengal C) Maharashtra D) Odisha 23. In India, the National Postal Week is celebrated from______A) October 9-15 B) October 1-7 C) October 3-9 D) October 5-11 24. Nobel laureate Mario Molina of Mexico has passed away. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in which field? A) Literature B) Mathematics C) Chemistry D) Peace 25. Bishr al-Khasawneh is the new Prime Minister of which country? A) Qatar B) Jordan C) Egypt D) Sudan 26. The World Bank expects the Indian economy to grow at_____ percent in 2021-22 (FY22). A) 7.5% B) 6.1% C) 3.5% D) 5.4% 27. RBI has proposed to make the RTGS mode of fund transfer 24X7 from ______A) December 2020 B) November 2020 C) January 2021 D) March 2021
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WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
28. The World Post Day is marked to commemorate the anniversary of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). Where is the headquarter of UPU located? A) Vienna, Austria B) Bern, Switzerland C) Rome, Italy D) Paris, France 29. Name the winner of the 2020 French Open Men’s Tennis Championship A) Diego Schwartzman B) Rafael Nadal C) Denis Shapovalov D) Novak Djokovic 30. World Arthritis Day is observed on which day? A) 12 October B) 11 October C) 10 October D) 9 October 31. Which player has claimed the Formula One Eifel Grand Prix 2020? A) Daniel Ricciardo B) Sebastian Vettel C) Max Verstappen D) Lewis Hamilton 32. How many Indian beaches have won the International Blueflag Certification in 2020? A) 5 B) 12 C) 8 D) 10 33. How many states have been selected as the beneficiaries of the ‘SVAMITVA’scheme in the first phase? A) 3 B) 6 C) 8 D) 10 34. Which state has launched the first ever Tree Plantation Policy? A) Delhi B) Assam C) Gujarat D) Andhra Pradesh 35. Who among the following beat Sofia Kenin to win the Women’s single title in 2020 French Tennis Open? A) Magda Linette B) Victoria Azarenka C) Sachia Vickery D) Iga Swiatek 36. What is the theme of the World Arthritis Day 2020? A) Time2Health B) Time2Work C) Time2Fight D) Time2Cure 37. Which state of India has become the first Har Ghar Jal state of the country by fully implementing the scheme of providing tap water connection to every rural household?
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WEEKLY UPDATED CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR WEEK 41/52(06-12 OCT 2020)
A) Goa B) Andhra Pradesh C) Rajasthan D) Uttarakhand 38. International Day of the Girl Child is marked on which day? A) 8 October B) 9 October C) 10 October D) 11 October 39. Andhra Pradesh government has launched the ‘Jagananna Vidya Kanuka’ scheme for which purpose? A) Distribute mobile phones to school students for Online classes B) Scholarship scheme for school students C) Distribute School kits to students D) Waive fees for students of classes 1 to 5 40. Name the brand name of India’s first-ever homegrown professional badminton? A) Honor B) Transform C) Balance D) Victory
ANSWER KEYS
1 A 21 C 2 D 22 D 3 B 23 A 4 A 24 C 5 C 25 B 6 A 26 D 7 D 27 A 8 B 28 B 9 C 29 B 10 D 30 A 11 A 31 D 12 D 32 C 13 B 33 B 14 C 34 A 15 A 35 D 16 B 36 B 17 D 37 A 18 C 38 D 19 A 39 C 20 B 40 B
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