GENERAL AWARENESS January 2021 Vol. 9, Issue 05 A PUBLICATION OF GYANM EDUCATION & TRAINING INSTITUTE PVT. LTD. SCO 13-14-15, 2ND FLOOR, SEC 34-A, CHANDIGARH Contents NATIONAL NEWS CURRENT AFFAIRS NOVEMBER 03-39 October to November 2020 BULLET NEWS VIRTUAL SUMMIT HELD WITH LUXEMBOURG PM 40-66 June 2020 to Sept 2020 LATEST 100 GK MCQs 67-74 SBI PO PRELIMS 75-86 MODEL TEST PAPER Current GK Bytes 87-110 FIGURES TO REMEMBER REPO RATE 4.00% REVERSE REPO RATE 3.35% MARGINAL STANDING 4.25% FACILITY RATE BANK RATE 4.25% Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Luxembourg counterpart Xavier Bettel STATUTORY LIQUIDITY RATIO 18.00% held a virtual summit on Nov 19. This was the first stand-alone Summit CASH RESERVE RATIO 3.00% meeting between India and Luxembourg in the past two decades. The two BASE RATE(s) 8.15 to leaders discussed the entire spectrum of bilateral relationship, including (of various banks) 9.40% strengthening of India-Luxembourg cooperation in the post-COVID world. Luxembourg is a small European country, surrounded by Belgium, Germany INDIA’s RANK IN and France. Global Hunger Index 2020 94th PM MODI ATTENDS 12TH BRICS SUMMIT th Teacher Status Index (GTSI) 6 Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the 12th BRICS Summit on November Asia Power Index 2020 4th 17 in virtual mode. The summit was hosted by Russia, under the theme Global Global Economic Freedom Index 105th Stability, Shared Security and Innovative Growth. India will be taking over the Chairship of the BRICS for the year 2021 and will host the 13th BRICS Summit Human Capital Index 116th next year. th Global Innovation Index 48 World Risk Index (WRI) 89th P M ADDRESSES 17TH ASEAN-INDIA SUMMIT Budget Transparency Index 53rd Prime Minister Narendra Modi co-chaired the 17th ASEAN-India Summit along Global Energy Transition Index 7th with Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyen Xuan Phuc on November 12. The Global Press Freedom Index 142nd Summit provides the opportunity for India to engage with ASEAN nations at the Inclusive Internet Index 46th highest level. ASEAN is a regional group of ten south east Asian countries. World Happiness Report 144th REPORT BY 15TH FINANCE COMMISSION Intellectual Property Index 40th The Fifteenth Finance Commission led by its Chairman th Sustainability Index 77 N.K. Singh submitted its report for the period of 2021-26 Flourishing Index 131st to President Ram Nath Kovind on Nov 9. The report will Climate Change Performance Index 9th now be tabled in the Parliament by the Finance Minister Global Talent Competitive Index 72nd along with an Action Taken Report of the government. Carbon Disclosure Project Report 5th A finance commission is set up every five years by the Democracy Index 2019 51st President under Article 280 of the Constitution. Its main function is to Corruption Perception Index 80th recommend how the Union government should share taxes levied by it with the Social Mobility Index 76th states. These recommendations cover a period of five years. GYANM GENERAL AWARENESS – JANUARY 2021 3 TRAINED HORSES & DOGS GIFTED TO B’DESH INDIA HAS FAIR BUSINESS BRIBERY RISKS India has been placed at 77th position in a global list of 194 countries that measured business bribery risks in 2020. The list has been compiled by TRACE, a US based anti-bribery standard setting organisation. According to this year’s data, North Korea, Turkmenistan, South Sudan, Venezuela and Eritrea present the highest commercial bribery risk, while Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand present the lowest. The ranking is based on four factors: business interactions Indian army gifted 20 horses and 10 dogs to the with government, anti-bribery deterrence and Bangladesh army. The fully trained military horses and enforcement, government and civil service transparency, mine detecting dogs were gifted to further strengthen and capacity for civil society oversight, including the role the bilateral relations between the two countries. The of the media. Indian Army also trained Bangladesh Army for training and handling these specialist dogs and horses. OCTOBER DIPAM SEEKS SUPPORT FROM WORLD BANK INDIA AND US SIGN ‘BECA’ DEAL Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, DIPAM signed an agreement with the World Bank to receive advisory services for asset monetization. DIPAM, a unit under Ministry of Finance, is mandated with facilitating monetization of non-core assets of government CPSEs under strategic disinvestment or closure and enemy property of value of Rs. 100 crore and above. BOOK ON GANDHI RELEASED IN NEPAL Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari released a special anthology on Mahatma Gandhi- ‘MaileBujheko Gandhi’ India and the US signed the Basic Exchange and (My understanding about Gandhi) - during a ceremony Cooperation Agreement (BECA) at the end of the third at Kathmandu. The book has been brought out by the Indo-US 2+2 summit. BECA is a military pact reserved Embassy of India along with the BP Koirala India-Nepal for close defence allies of the USA. It allows access to US Foundation to cherish the values of the Mahatma's generated satellite imagery that is used in precision universal teachings with Nepali friends. strikes by armed drones and long-range missiles. The two countries resolved to jointly undertake WEF SELECTS 4 INDIAN CITIES development and infrastructure projects abroad to Four Indian cities - Bengaluru, Faridabad, Indore and counter Chinese aggression in security and economic Hyderabad figure among the 36 cities across the world domains. that have agreed to pioneer a roadmap for safely QUAD MINISTERIAL MEETING HELD IN TOKYO adopting new technology as part of the G20 Global Dr. S. Jaishankar, Minister External affairs attended the Smart Cities Alliance. Other selected cities include cities 2nd QUAD Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo, Japan on such as London, Moscow, Toronto, Brasilia, Dubai and October 6. The meeting focused on the issue of ensuring Melbourne. a free and open Indo-Pacific in the face of China’s The cities were selected by the World Economic Forum increasingly aggressive behaviour across the region. (WEF) from 22 countries across the world to pioneer a The four QUAD members collectively affirmed the new global policy roadmap for smart cities developed by importance of maintaining a free, open and inclusive the G20 Global Smart Cities Alliance. Indo-Pacific region. QUAD - Quadrilateral Security Dialogue is a strategic grouping of four nations - India, Australia, Japan and USA. All four countries of the Quad have problems with China and view Beijing’s conduct with suspicion. Australian government has pledged to halt projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Japan is worried about Chinese intrusions near the Senkaku Islands, and the US is engaged in a trade war and has opposed China’s aggressive activities in the South China Sea. GYANM GENERAL AWARENESS – JANUARY 2021 4 VIRTUAL SUMMIT HELD WITH DANISH PM WORLD’s LONGEST HIGHWAY TUNNEL IN HP Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated on Oct 3 the world’s longest highway tunnel, Atal Tunnel at Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh. The horseshoe-shaped tunnel has been built by the Border Roads Organisation at a cost of about Rs 4,000 crore. The 9.02 km long tunnel is 10.5 metres wide and has a height of 5.52 metres and a car can zip through at 80 kmph. The tunnel is built with ultra-modern facilities in the PirPanjal range of Himalayas at an altitude of 10,000 feet from the Mean Sea Level. It will connect Manali to Leh throughout the year, reducing distance by 46 km and driving time by around 5 hours thus saving crore of rupees in transport. Earlier the Lahaul-Spiti valley was cut off for about six months each year in winters due to heavy snowfall. The tunnel will boost the socio-economic development of the valley. Indian Prime Minister held a Virtual Bilateral Summit on Sep 28 with the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette CBSE LAUNCHES FACIAL RECOGNITION TECH Frederiksen. A MoU in the field of intellectual property The CBSE has introduced a state of the art Facial cooperation between the two countries was also signed Recognition technology that will enable students to on the occasion. download their digital academic documents of class X Denmark also announced her joining of ISA - and XII. This computer application matches a human International Solar Alliance. Bilateral trade in goods and face from a digital image already stored in the database services between India and Denmark has grown by over and once successful, the certificate will be emailed to the 30 per cent from 2.82 billion dollars in 2016 to $3.68 student. This application is now available on “Parinam billion in 2019. Manjusha” and DigiLocker platform. POLL SPENDING LIMIT RAISED BY 10% 8 BEACHES GET BLUE FLAG CERTIFICATION Eight beaches from India have secured the coveted The Government hiked the poll campaign spending limit International Blue Flag Certification. The iconic Blue by 10 percent for candidates contesting Lok Sabha and Flag is one of the world’s most recognised voluntary Assembly elections. The hike has been made notified by awards for beaches, marinas. In order to qualify for the the Law Ministry on the recommendations of the Blue Flag, a series of stringent environmental, Election Commission that contestants be allowed to educational, safety and accessibility criteria have to be spend more on campaigning keeping in mind difficulties met and maintained. they may face due to COVID-19 curbs. The eight BlueFlag beaches are Shivrajpur beach in The maximum expenditure a candidate can incur for Dwarka, Gujarat; Ghoghla beach in Diu; Kasarkod and campaigning in Lok Sabha polls is now Rs. 77 lakh, up Padubidri in Karnataka; Kappad in Kerala; Rushikonda in from Rs.