Current Affairs Year Book 2018 - Avijit Sir's Classes€¦ · Northeast, after Sikkim and overall 5th state after Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Haryana to be announced ODF state. 2

www.avijitsirsclasses.com

Current Affairs Year Book

2018

2 Classroom: Garia: Near Kavi Nazrul Metro Station, Kolkata: 700084, Mobile: 6290 123 176 Website: www. avijitsirsclasses.com, Email id:[email protected]

CURRENT AFFAIRS

~: JANUARY 2018: ~

Appointments:

Former RAW chief Rajinder Khanna appointed Deputy NSA .

Dilip Asbe was authorized as the Managing Director and CEO of the National

Payments Corporation of India.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has chosen rocket scientist K. Sivan as

forthcoming Secretary of the Department of Space and Chairman of Space Commission and

ISRO.

Harjinder Singh on 10th January 2018 was designated as the Chef De Mission of Indian

Contingent participating in the 23rd Winter Olympic Games to be organised in Pyeongchang,

South Korea in February 2018.

The Supreme Court collegiums headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra has unanimously

suggested name of senior advocate Indu Malhotra for designation as a judge of the Supreme

Court. With this, she becomes 1st woman lawyer from the nation to be instantly elected for

position of judge of the Supreme Court.

New Chief Election Commissioner of India - Om Prakash Rawat.

Former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel was on January 23rd, 2018 took oath as the Governor of

Madhya Pradesh.

The United States Senate confirmed the appointment of Jerome H Powell as the Chairman of

the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States.

Renowned scientist, S Somanath took charge as the Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre

(VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Vijay Keshav Gokhale, a senior official of the External Affairs Ministry, appointed as the new

Foreign Secretary.

Sports:

Indian skipper Virat Kohli was nominated the ICC Men‟s Cricketer of the Year at the ICC

yearly awards, which were declared in Dubai.

Apart from this, Kohli also won the ICC Men‟s One-Day- International Cricketer of the Year

honour.

Kohli was also nominated the captain of the ICC Test and ODI teams of the year.

The ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award was given to Australian captain Steve Smith.

Swiss tennis player Roger Federer has kept his Men‟s Singles title by winning Australian Open

2018. In the top clash played at Melbourne, he beat Croatia‟s Marin Cilic.

It was Federer‟s 6th Australian Open title and overall 20th Grand Slam singles titles.

Women‟s Singles: Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark won women‟s Singles crown in 2018

Australian Open by defeating Simona Halep of Romania.

Men‟s Doubles: Oliver Marach from Austria and Mate Pavi? from Croatia pair secured the

crown by defeating Juan Colombian pair of Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah.

Women‟s Doubles: Tímea Babos from Hungary and Kristina Mladenovic from France pair

secured the crown by defeating Russian pair of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina.

Mixed Doubles: Gabriela Dabrowski from Canada and Mate Pavi? from Croatia pair secured

the crown by defeating Tímea Babos of Hungary and Rohan Bopanna of India.


Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has initiated Promise for Khelo India at Khelo India

School Games Carnival in Delhi. The promise resonates with vision of Khelo India program

and is focused at inspiring youth to made mass participation and excellence in sports. It also is

assuring to participant and boosts sportsmanship spirit.

Summits: The 18 All India Whips‟ Conference was initiated by Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs

and Chemicals & Fertilizers Ananth Kumar on 8th January 2018 in Udaipur, Rajasthan.

The tenth edition of Global Forum for Food and Agriculture was organized in Berlin, Germany

from 18 th to 20th January 2018. The subject of this year‟s event is “Shaping the future of

livestock – sustainably, responsibly, efficiently”.

Operations and Exercises: The Indo-US combined military exercise „Vajra Prahar‟ will be organized at Joint Base Lewis-

McChord in Seattle in 3rd week of January in line with the increasing military cooperation

between both nations.

The biennial search and rescue exercise between Indian Coast Guard and Japan Coast Guard

was organized near Chennai, Tamil Nadu in Bay of Bengal.

The India-Vietnam Bilateral Army Exercise- VINBAX-2018 was organized at Jabalpur in

Madhya Pradesh.

Miscellaneous: 1. Arunachal Pradesh has officially been announced Open Defecation Free state. It is 2nd State from

Northeast, after Sikkim and overall 5th state after Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Haryana to be

announced ODF state.

2. Famous Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma was awarded with the People for the Ethical Treatment

of Animals-PETA 2017 Person of the Year Award.

The actress was decorated with the award for her wide-reaching efforts for animals, from helping to

safeguard dogs from fireworks to supporting the horses who are laboured to pull carriages in Mumbai.

3. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates launched value-added tax. These are the first 2 nations

in the Gulf which have launched the VAT system. The 5% levy is being laid to the majority of goods

and services. The UAE evaluates that in the 1st year, VAT income will be approximately 12 billion

dirhams. Petrol and diesel, food, clothes, utility bills and hotel rooms all now have VAT applicable.

4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that the coming Republic Day celebration in 2018 would

be recollected through the ages due to the reason that the government for the 1st time in India's history

would be presenting leaders of Ten ASEAN nations as chief guests on the coming 26th January 2018.

5. Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi launched an online web portal “NARI” in

New Delhi for the empowerment of the females. The web portal will facilitate women with simple

entrance to information on government projects and strategies for women.

6. Nepal restricted solo climbers from scaling its mountains, including Mount Everest, in a tender to

decrease injuries. The new safety guidelines also restrict double amputee and blind climbers from

trying to reach the summit of the world's highest mountain peak without a reasonable medical

documentation.

7. The Union Ministry passed establishment of new All India Institute of Medical Sciences- AIIMS at

Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.

8. Union Minister of State (I/C) Youth Affairs and Sports Col Rajyavardhan Rathore released the

vibrant Khelo India logo, presenting the freshness, agility and vitality of New India at the Jawaharlal

Nehru Stadium. The logo also passed the sense of fitness and competitiveness.

More about “Khelo India logo”:


The 3-stroke Khelo India logo was drawn by Ogilvy India. It has in-built modularity, permitting

plenty of adaptability and flexibility into unlimited pictorial types.

The colour of the Indian flag evokes a sense of National pride and team-work.

The logo drawing is a crowd-sourced view.

Khelo India Khelo India, being the national initiative for the development of sports, will cover a long way

in attaining the twin aims of mass participation and encouragement of excellence in sports.

According to the government, the future of India is associated with the youth of the country,

which is adopting sport as part of its tradition.

9. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is going to initiate National Programme for

Control of Viral Hepatitis, a new plan free treatment of Hepatitis C from the 2018-19.

In the new plan, the aim will be on anti-viral treatment of Hepatitis C which will be made available

free at all government health centers. For this government has set about a budget of Rs.600 crores for

the coming 3 years.

10. India‟s fastest and 1st multi-petaflop supercomputer called Pratyush was unveiled at Indian

Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune.

11. The Election Commission of India on 11th January 2018 formed a 14 members committee to

propose changes to Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 in view of social media

development. The Committee will be headed by Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha.

Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 Section 126 of the Representation of the People, 1951, bans exhibiting any election matter

by means, inter alia, of TV or same equipment, during the period of 48 hours earlier the

hour fixed for conclusion of poll in a constituency.

12. The fourth International Dharma-Dhamma Conference on State and Social Order in Dharma-

Dhamma Traditions was organized at Rajgir in Nalanda district, Bihar.

13. Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara International has declared completion of its purchase of Tata

Chemicals‟ 1.2 million tonnes yearly production capable urea plant at Babrala in UP.

14. Nepal has collaborated with China to offer internet services to its residents, ending India‟s

decade‟s long monopoly of Nepal‟s cyber connectivity services.

15. The Unique Identification Authority of India on 15th January 2018 initiated face authentication as

an additional method of Aadhaar authentication along with finger-print and eyes scan. The initiation

will enable simple authentication for those persons who feel difficulties in another

biometric authentication including fingerprints and eyes scan.

16. The Ministry of Home Affairs has finalized to structure Cyber Warrior Police Force and Indian

Cyber Crime Coordination Centre to handle internet based crimes including child pornography, cyber

threats and online stalking.

17. China has manufactured an experimental air purifying tall building called the Xian smog

tower, which is endorsed to be the world‟s mega air purifier with a height of over 100 m, to

fight against smog and air pollution.

18. Made in India long-range surface-to- surface Agni-5 ballistic missile was successfully

tested from Abdul Kalam Wheeler Island, Odisha.

19. The state of Maharashtra has become the 1st state to come forward with a public cloud

policy, virtually instructing its departments to transfer their data storage onto the cloud.

20. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology released Cyber Surakshit Bharat plan in

cooperation with National e-Governance Division and industry partners at an introductory event

in Delhi on 19 January 2018. The move is focused at strengthening the cyber security environment in

India, in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi‟s vision for a Digital India.


21. The 2nd made in India Offshore Patrol Vessel named “Vijaya” manufactured by Larsen and

Toubro- L&T Shipyard for Indian Coast Guard was inaugurated at Kattupalli Shipyard, Tamil Nadu.

22. The World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the Global Centre for Cybersecurity in Geneva,

Switzerland to safeguard the world from hackers and growing data breaches on 24th January 2018.

23. Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palanichamy got UNESCO Award of Merit awarded to the

iconic Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple in Tiruchirapalli.The award of merit was granted

by UNESCO Asia Pacific area for the re-construction schemes undertaken in temple without

affecting its traditional magnificence and Vedic rituals.

24. India has been placed 177 among 180 nations in the Environmental Performance Index– 2018.

This index has been formed by Yale University and Columbia University in coordination with the

World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission.

Top five nations are Switzerland, France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden.

Top bottom nations are Nepal, India, Congo, Bangladesh, Burundi.

25. India has been ranked 81st on the annual global index of talent competitiveness released on the

first day of the 48th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting held in Davos, Switzerland.

While Switzerland continues to be on top in the list whereas India has improved its position from 92nd

last year. India was at the 89th rank in 2016.

26. The Union Government has permitted Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks to provide Atal

Pension Yojana. The Small Finance Banks and Payment Banks are a new model of banks

conceptualized by the RBI. In a sum, 10 Small Finance Banks and 11 Payment Banks have received

the permit from RBI to initiate banking operations in India.

27. Rotavac became 1st made-in- India vaccine from India to be pre-qualified by World Health

Organization. It shows that vaccine can be sold internationally to various nations in South America

and Africa.

28. The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Jai Ram Thakur launched the „Shakti‟ app for women‟s

safety in the state on January 26th, 2018.The app comes with a panic button and was developed by the

National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the Himachal Pradesh government. It would be available in both

Hindi and English languages and won't be requiring internet connectivity.

29. Renowned playback singer Asha Bhosle was selected for 5th version Yash Chopra Memorial

Award.

30. As per the fresh report issued by World Steel Association, India has surpassed United States to

become the world‟s 3rd largest steel producer in 2017. India‟s crude steel production has increased by

6.2 percent to 101.4 million tonnes in 2017 in comparison to 95.5 million tonnes in the past year.

China has grabbed the position of world leader by manufacturing 831.7 million tonnes in

2017, up 5.7% from 786.9 million tonnes in the past period.

Japan is 2nd largest global steel manufacturer and had witnessed negative growth in steel

output decreased by 0.1 percent to 104.7 million tonnes in 2017 from 104.8 million tonnes

in 2016.

31. The Maharashtra state government on January 30th, 2017 passed a proposal to issue sanitary

napkins at a cheap rate of Rs.5 to women residing in rural areas.

~: FEBRUARY 2018: ~

UNION BUDGET -2018


The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 1st February 2018 presented the Union Budget 2018 in

the parliament. After the independence, this is the 88th Indian budget and the 5th of the Modi

Government. Arun Jailtley declared following-

He started with the promise to reduce poverty and emphasized the 7.5% average growth achieved

during the last three years of NDA government.

Fiscal Expenditure The sum expenditure of the Union government is Rs.21.57 lakh crores.

The supposed fiscal deficit of the Financial Year 2018-19 is 3.3% of the GDP.

Taxation Reforms In the last years, the growth rate of direct taxes has been significant. Till January 2018, growth

rate of 18.7% was noticed. More than 85 lakh new taxpayers completed their tax returns. The

number of taxpayers raised from 6.47 lakh crores to 8.27 lakh crores in the earlier financial

year.

The surplus revenue from personal income tax is Rs.90000 crores.

Nil changes in personal income tax slabs.

Maximum, the personal income tax gathering was from the salaried sector. Approximately 1.89

crores returns were completed in 2017 and Rs.1.44 lakh crores were paid I the form of taxes.

100% tax subtraction to farmer-producer organizations having Rs.100 crores turnover.

Corporate tax will be decreased to 25% for organizations having turnover of up to Rs.250

crores.

Long term capital profits tax of 10% will be levied for amount exceeding Rs one lakh.

Present year, budget suggests a standard deduction of Rs.40000 for transport and medical

reimbursements.

The revenue amount of this reimbursement will be Rs.8000 crore.

Exemption of interest income for deposits in banks and post offices will be increased from

Rs.10000 to Rs.50000 for senior peoples. It applies to all FD plans.

Manufacturing sector shown growth.

Overall 6.3% GDP Growth attained in economy overall.

Food processing industry growth at an average rate of 8% per annum.

Below are the few important updates discussed during Budget:

a) The yojana for allocating free cooking gas has been expanded to 8 crore families who are below

poverty line, The number was 5 crore initially. This yojana is named as "Ujjwala Yojana" was started

2 years ago. with an intention of cleaner and safer fuel provision to people who are not

economically sound.

With this scheme, approximately 3.35 crore poor familes have already received their free cooking gas

connection. The government provides security deposit for cylinder and regulator to oil companies on

behalf of these families.

b) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced the funds allocation of Rs 7,148 crore for textline sector

during the Union Budget 2018-19.

Key Highlights Kitex Garments (0.24 percent at Rs 288), Arvind and IndoCount Industries (0.24 percent at Rs

103.55) have gown down in BSE after the announcement.

All the major textile companies traded flat with a negative bias after the Budget announcement.

President's salary has been increassed to 5 lakh per month from 1.5 lakh per month

Vice president's salary has been increased to 4 lakh per month from 1.25 lakh per month.


In addition to that, A law has been proposed to automatically increase MLA's salary on regular

basis after every five years.

Salaries to member of parliaments will be re-fixed starting from April 1st, 2018.

Duties Customs duty on mobile-phones and parts of TV will be raised to 20% from 15%.

Customs duty on raw cashew will be decreased from 5% to 2.5%.

The name of the Central Board of Excise and Customs will be altered to the Central Board of

Direct Taxes and Customs.

Electronic IT evaluation will be rolled out throughout the nation for significant efficiency and

transparency.

No more education cess on imported items. Education cess will be exchanged by social welfare

surcharge of 10%.

Agriculture: The government would be increasing twofold the income of farmers by 2022, on the event

of India‟s 75th anniversary.

Government aims to initiate Operation Green with a collection of Rs.500 crores and Rs.10000

crores for Fisheries and Aquaculture and Animal Husbandry Development Fund.

Health: National Health Protection Plan will be initiated to cover 10 crore poor and unprotected

families.

In this, up to Rs.5 lakh will be given to every family annually in secondary and tertiary care

centres.

This plan will have 50 crore receivers.

Namami Gange: 187 schemes have been approved under Namami Gange.

Namami Ganga program outlay has been raised with an all-round development scheme for

rural and urban areas along the river Ganga.

Infrastructure:

The government is aiming to expand connectivity infrastructure in the border areas.

While the manufacturing on the Rohtang tunnel has been finished, the manufacturing of Zojila

pass tunnel is progressing very well.

Under Smart Cities mission, 99 cities have been identified with expenditure of Rs 2.09 lakh

crores. Government to protect heritage cities through National Heritage Augmentation Yojana.

Rs 1.48 lakh crore have been assigned for the Indian Railways for the year 2018-19.

18000 kilometers of railway line will be doubled to remove capacity limitations.

The regional connectivity scheme- UDAN would be joining 56 under-served airports and 36

under-served helipads in the nation.

Financial Sector:

NITI Aayog will form a National Program to direct government's attempts in the field of

Artificial Intelligence towards national progress.

The government will examine usage of block chain technology proactively to increase digital

economy. However, the government will not take into the account the crypto currency as legal

tender.

The Union government will recapitalize public sector banks to facilitate them lend an extra

Rs.5 lakh crore.

Oriental Insurance, Unit Trust of India and National Insurance will be combined and then

listed.


Education Sector: The Budget 2018 suggests treating education holistically without fragmentation from pre-

nursery to Class 10+2.

The Revitalising of Infrastructure and Systems of Education- RISE will be released by 2019.

By 2022, every area with more than 50% ST people will have Ekalvya schools at par with

Navodaya Vidyalayas.

Taxation Reforms: Zero changes in personal income tax slabs. Maximum, personal income tax

collection takes place from the salaried section.

Approximately 1.89 crore tax returns were competed in 2017 and Rs 1.44 lakh crores were

paid as income-taxes.

All senior residents will now be able to claim benefit of a deduction of Rs 50000 for any

medical disbursements and can claim subtraction of Rs.100000 for serious illnesses.

The government would be assigning Rs one lakh crore to fortify and upgrade the education

sector, enhancing learning-based outcomes and research.

The government also focuses to slowly move from black-boards to digital-boards by 2022. The

Revitalising of Infrastructure and Systems of Education-RISE will be initiated by 2019.

Tourism:

Government projects to form 10 tourists into iconic tourist destinations through infrastructure

evolution.

In AMRUT program, the key focus to be on providing water supply facilities to cities.

Road infrastructure- Government to finish addition of national highways to approximate 9000

kilometres.

The government had also passed the Bharatmala project, which focuses to provide seamless

interconnection in backward and border sectors.

Railways: Rs 1. 48 lakh crores have been assigned for the Indian Railways for the year 2018-19.

18000 kilometres of railway lines will be doubled to eliminate capacity constraints.

There would also be an expansion in the use of technology including fog, train protection and

warning management.

The Railways is designing to re-develop 600 bigger railway stations.

All stations over 25000 footfalls will have escalators. All railway stations will also be loaded

with high-speed WIFI.

The Mumbai transport structure will be increased and elevated at a cost of Rs 11000 crores.

A sub-urban network of 160 kilometres is being designed for Bengaluru metropolitans.

The government had earlier laid the foundation of the fast-moving bullet train between

Mumbai-Ahmadabad.

An institute would be formed in Vadodara in Gujarat to train the staff for the fast-moving

railway project.

Airways: The regional connectivity scheme- UDAAN would be joining 56 underworked airports and 36

underworked helipads in the nation.

AAI has 124 airports currently and it would be enlarging its airport area more than five times

to almost one billion trips a year.

Appointments: Jerome H Powell on February 5th, 2018 took sworn in as the 16th Chairman of the Federal

Reserve.


Sudeep Lakhtakia on February 1st, 2018 was appointed as the Director General of National

Security Guard.

PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi was appointed as the Independent Director of

the International Cricket Council on February 9th, 2018.

KP Sharma Oli took oath as Nepal‟s PM for the 2nd time. He is the 41st PM of Nepal.

Leader of ruling African National Congress, Cyril Ramaphosa, has taken oath as new President

of South Africa.

Sports: The 5-time World Champion and Olympic bronze winner, Mary Kom on February 2nd, 2018

won the gold medal in the India Open International Boxing tournament at Thyagraj Indoor

Stadium, New Delhi.

India defeated Australia by 8 wickets to conclude their 4th Under-19 Cricket World Cup

Victory at the Bay Oval ground, Mount Maunganui, New Zealand on Saturday 3 rd February

2018.

20 Grand Slam winners, Roger Federer became the oldest world top player after he beat his

opponent Robin Haase in Rotterdam at the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament on February

16th, 2018.

Summits:

The fourth Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister meeting was organised in New

Delhi under the chairmanship of Dr BibekDebroy, Chairman, EAC-PM and Member, NITI

Aayog.

PM Narendra Modi initiated World Information Technology Congress-2018 in Hyderabad,

Telangana. This is for 1st time India is organising World Information Technology Congress.

India will swarm the first International Solar Alliance Summit on March 11th, 2018 in New

Delhi.

Miscellaneous:

1. A report by New World Wealth has placed India in the 6th position in the list of wealthiest nations.

It noticed that India was the super-performing wealth market globally in 2017, as its total wealth raised

from USD 6,584 billion in 2016 to USD 8,230 billion in 2017, indicated a 25% growth.

Key Highlights

The US is the wealthiest nation in the world with a total wealth of USD 64,584 billion.

The report graded China in the 2nd place, as its total wealth in 2017 counted to USD 24,803

billion.

Japan placed at the 3rd place with a total wealth of USD 19,522 billion.

The top five also contains the UK at the fourth place with wealth amounting to USD 9,919

billion and Germany at the fifth place with USD 9,660 billion.

India is ranked at the sixth place with USD 8,230 billion, followed by France at seventh with

USD 6,649 billion, Canada at eighth with USD 6,393 billion, Australia at ninth with USD

6,142 billion and Italy at tenth with USD 4,276 billion.

2. Ministry of Earth Science has initiated high performance supercomputer computer system, “Mihir”

which means the sun, at National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, Noida.

3. Magahi writer Shesh Anand Madhukar was respected on January 31st, 2018 with the Sahitya

Akademi Bhasha Samman Award 2018.

4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the initiation of 1st edition of Khelo India School Games

at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.

Key Points


The 1st KISG were organized under the Khelo India Program to highlight India‟s youth

sporting talent and showcase India‟s sports future. It was organized across 16 disciplines in

Under-17 age group.

5,000 school children from 29 states and 7 Union Territories took part in biggest sporting

program held from January 31st to February 8th, 2018. Total of 199 gold medals, 199 silver

medals and 275 bronze medals were honoured at 1st KISG.

Khelo India Program The Khelo India program was launched by Ministry of Sports and Youth affairs to refresh

sports culture in India at root level.

Its aim is to establish strong framework for all sports played in our nation and build India as

great sporting nation.

It is supposed to help scout youth talent from schools in different disciplines and groom them

as future sports champions.

Talented players will be recognized under it in priority sports disciplines at different ranks by

High-Powered Committed and everyone will be given an annual financial assistance of Rupees

five lakhs for eight years.

5. For promoting solar farming, the Union Government has declared Rupees 1.4 lakh crores for Kisan

Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahaabhiyan (KUSUM) plan, which means, de-centralised solar energy

production of up to 28,250 Megawatt to help farmers. The Union Budget 2018-19 has assigned Rupees

48,000 crores for the plan for the 10 years period.

Key Points

KUSUM plan will initiate with constructing 10,000 Megawatts solar power plants on

uncultivated lands and supplying 1.75 million off-grid agricultural solar pumps. It will provide

additional earnings to farmers, by providing them an option to sell extra power to grid via solar

power plans set up on their uncultivated lands.

It will aid in de-dieselizing the agriculture sector as India had about thirty-million farm pumps

that contain 10-million pumps working on diesel. The excess electricity produced by farmers

will be bought by state electricity distribution companies. Thus, it will aid boost the nation‟s

emerging green economy.

6. The United States Air Force Chief, General David L Goldfein operated Tejas, a Made-in-

India Light Combat Aircraft at the Indian Air Force station Jodhpur, Rajasthan. By doing this,

he became 1st foreign military chief to operate and fly Tejas aeroplane.

7. India on February 6th, 2018 successfully tested nuclear capable Agni-I ballistic missile as

part of a trial from a test range off the Odisha coast.

Agni-I missile was formed by Defence Research Development Laboratory and Research

Centre Imarat, Hyderabad with Advanced Systems Laboratory of DRDO in coordination.

The surface to surface missile ranges about 700 km long and was initiated into service in the

year 2004. The missile is 15 metres long and 12 tonnes in weight.

8. Giant Search engine Google has released #SecurityCheck Kiya campaign in India to spread

awareness around Internet safety. It was released on the occasion of Safer Internet Day on

6th February. The campaign focuses to safeguard 1st-time web subscribers from account-

hijacking, protecting Android gadgets from malicious applications and assure all their

personal information if they lose their device.

9. The Union Finance Ministry is planning to restrict cryptocurrencies from payments system

and at the same time appoint regulator to supervise unregulated exchanges that do business

in crypto assets. The Dinesh Sharma committee formed by the Government to look into


problems relating to crypto currencies will conclude its guidance by submitting its report in

present fiscal year, ending on March 2018.

10. 9-member committee formed by Karnataka government has suggested distinct state flag.

It presented report on designing distinct flag for the state and providing a legal standing for

it. It has discounted any constitutional or legal difficulties for it.

Key Points The committee has advised new tricolour having yellow- at top, white- in middle and red- at

bottom colours, with state‟s emblem Gandaberunda- a 2-headed mythological bird in centre.

11. Foundation stone of Rhodendron Park was placed in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh

by CM Pema Khandu.

12. The Union Ministry of Defence has formed 13 members Raksha Mantri Advisory

Committee on Ministry of Defence Capital Projects. It will be led by former secretary Vinay

Sheel Oberoi. The committee will record and expedite capital acquisition schemes for

modernization of armed forces and bolster armed readiness.

13. India was placed 44th out of 50 nations in the Intellectual Property Index issued by

United States Chamber of Commerce. During the last year as per the report, India was

placed 43rd out of 45 nations in index.

The United States topped this edition of list with total 37.98 scores, followed by UK 37.97 and

Sweden 37.03.

14. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the building of 1st traditional

Hindu temple in Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

15. India‟s financial capital Mumbai was ranked 12th richest city globally, with a total wealth

of US $950 billion, in the report issued by New World Wealth.

The list of fifteen wealthiest cities was crowned by New York.

16. Bihar Government has restricted sale of loose cigarettes in the state. This provision

focuses to be deterrent to kids and youth, who initiate smoking by purchasing loose

cigarettes.

17. An Indian engineer, Vikas Sathaye, was currently respected at the Oscars Scientific and

Technical Awards 2018 at Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, with the Scientific and Engineering

Academy Award. Sathaye got the award along with his team for their efforts towards the

concept, layout, engineering and the operation of the Shotover K1 Camera System.

18. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on February 15th, 2018 declared a major policy alteration by

permitting females to start their own employments without the right of showing consent from

a husband or any male relative.

19. The Kerala government will soon be using the robot services to clean the sewer-holes in

the state. The robots have been built by a startup firm known as Genrobotics.

20. The eighth version of Theatre Olympics was initiated by Vice-President Venkaih Naidu in

New Delhi. The programme was held by National School of Drama under Ministry of Culture.

The idea of the festival is “Flag of Friendship.”

21. The Virgin Group headed by Richard Branson has inked an intent accordance with

Government of Maharashtra to figure world‟s 1st hyperloop transportation system among

Mumbai and Pune.

22. The Union Government has expressed ambitious water conservation plan Atal Bhujal

Yojana to handle increasing crisis of decreasing groundwater levels. The Rupees 6,000 crores


will be directed under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development, Ganga

Rejuvenation. It is waiting for cabinet‟s approval.

More about Atal Bhujal Yojana

The aim of plan is to renew ground water and create enough water storage for agricultural

activities.

It also objects on renewal of surface water bodies so that ground water level can be improved,

mainly in the rural areas.

It will emphasis to renew ground water sources and confirm efficient utilisation of water by

connecting people at local level.

The plan after Cabinet‟s approvals will soon be initiated in water-depressed states including

Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana, UP and MP.

It will include 78 districts, 193 blocks and over 8,300 gram-panchayats around these states.

Centre will be funding half of the total project amount and balance of the budgetary price will

be communal by the World Bank.

23. The Ministry of Home Affairs had freshly planned Youth Exchange “Watan Ko Jano”

programme. In this, PM Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met

youngsters of J&K in New Delhi. About 200 youngsters from state go to see different

places of nation as part of the initiative.

24. Indian Army successfully tested nuclear enabled Agni-II ballistic missile from the Abdul

Kalam Island Odisha coast on February 20th, 2018.

Agni-II is a medium range ballistic missile with 2 solid-fuel stages.

It is 20-metre long, weighs 17 tonnes and can transport payload of 1000 kilograms.

It has an attack range of over 2000 kilometres.

It is loaded with modern high accuracy navigation system directed by a novel scheme of state

of the earth command.

The missile can be loaded with extra 150 kilotons of nuclear warheads in combination with

chemical and high explosive forms.

It can be targeted from both rail and road-mobile launchers and it takes just fifteen minutes for

the missile to be prepared for firing.

25. Government has formed Empowered Expert Committee to choose 20 Institutions of

Eminence from 104 institutions (public or private) that have applied for the position.

The committee will be led by previous Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami.

26. Northeast India‟s 1st regional Centre for Agriculture with coordination of Israel will be

initiated in Mizoram in March 2018.

27. Venezuela becomes 1st sovereign nation to formally release its own cryptocurrency named

as Petro.

28. Nuclear enabled surface-to- surface powered Dhanush ballistic missile was fruitfully

tested from naval ship off Odisha near Paradip in the Bay of Bengal. The missile trial was

completed by Strategic Forces Command that handles all of India‟s nuclear arms and their

related delivery systems. Dhanush missile Dhanush missile is also called as Prithvi-III.

It is naval variant of Indian developed Prithvi-II missile. Its design features modifications to

Prithvi platform to upgrade it for initiate from ship-craft. It is short ranged ballistic missile

talented of carrying nuclear and conventional weapons. It has a length of 8.53 meters and 0.9

metres width and is capable of transporting a load of 500 kilograms and is talented of hitting

both land and sea-based marks. It can be utilized for both ship-to- ship and ship- to-surface

attacks. It has acknowledged strike range of 350 kilometres.


29. Telecom company Bharti Airtel and Chinese telecom electronic equipment manufacturer

Huawei have positively completed India‟s 1st 5G- fifth Generation network test. It was

completed at Airtel‟s network experience centre Manesar, Gurugram.

30. Bollywood actress Sridevi, who charmed viewers with her life-long performances

consisting Hawa-Hawai and Chandni, passed away on February 24th, 2018 in Dubai .

31. Researchers from Botanical Survey of India have discovered new plant species called

Drypetes kalamii from Buxa and Jaldapara National Parks in West Bengal. It has been called

after earlier President of India, Dr APJ Kalam.

32. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated subsidized Amma 2-wheeler Scheme destined

for working women on the eve of past CM Jayalalithaa‟s 70th birthday. He also initiated 70

lakh trees sapling lanting initiative.

Under the scheme, each and every recipient will be given 50 percent of cost of a 2-wheeler or

contribution of Rupees 25,000. It will cover 1 lakh working women yearly.

33. Unique Identification Authority of India, has rollout „Bal Aadhaar‟, designed for kids

under five years of age. Bal Aadhaar exactly means Aadhaar of Kids. It will have blue

colour to distinguishing it with routine Aadhaar. It will be connected with one of parent‟s

Aadhaar card. No biometric details will be seized.

34. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has for the 1st time unlocked applications for females to

recruit in the military.

~: MARCH 2018: ~ Appointments:

1. After being stroked by approximately Rupees 12700 crores scam, Punjab National Bank on

February 27th, 2018 designated its GM A.K.Pradhan as the Group Chief Risk Officer.

2. Pakistan elects first Hindu woman, Krishna Kumari Kohli, to Senate of Upper House of Pakistan.

3. K Vijay Raghavan was appointed as Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India.

4. Indu Bhushan was selected as the Chief Executive Officer of the Union Government‟s determined

Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission on March 27 th , 2018.

5. The Supreme Court designated Justice Jawad Rahim as the interim Chairperson of the National

Green Tribunal on March 27th

, 2018.

Sports


1. Ace wrestler Navjot Kaur won gold medal in the 65kg freestyle wrestling category of Senior Asian

Championships held in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. With this she created history by becoming first Indian

woman wrestler to win gold medal in Senior Asian Championships.

2. India on March 18th, 2018 pulled off a remarkable chase defeating Bangladesh by 4 wickets in the

Nidahas T20 tri-series final match at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The outstanding win was achieved as a result of an unbelievable performance by wicketkeeper and

batsman Dinesh Karthik who came for batting when the team required 34 runs off the last 12 balls.

Summits

1. The 21st National Conference on e-Governance was organised in Hyderabad. This year, subject of

the conference was “Technology for accelerating Development”.

2. First ever International Print Biennale was held in New Delhi on 26th March 2018. Lalit Kala

Akademi was hosting this event.

At this event total 200 original prints are created by both Indian and International artists. In total 17

countries has taken part into this event.

Operations and Exercises

1. First ever multi-nation naval three days exercise was held at Andaman sea. It was named as MILES-

18. It was organised by Andaman Nicobar naval command and theme was "Friendship Across the

Seas". There were total nine countries taking part in this excerise including India. There were

Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

2. On 25th March 2018, India and U.S. hold a naval training excercise. INS Tarkash carried out this

training with U.S. Navy‟s Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG).

Along with INS Tarkash, USS Theodore Roosevelt and the guided-missile destroyers USS Preble,

USS Halsey and USS Sampson took part in this excercise.

3. Indo-French joint naval workout Varuna 2018 started on March 19th , 2018 at the Mormugao

Port Trust in Vasco da Gama, Goa. The workout is being organised in the Arabian Sea, off the Goa

coast.

Death

1. The Kanchi Shankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, expired on February 28th, 2018 in

Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu.

2. On 14th March 2018, Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking passed away. He was 76 years old.

Stephen Hawking was born on 8th January 1942. He was diagnosed with life-threatening ALS disease

in 1963 but still he went to Cambridge University to study Cosmology. There he got Phd also became

a lecturer. His theories on Big Bang and Black Holes were most notable among other. He wrote "A

Brief History of Time" which was bestseller.

3. Renowned Hindi poet and Jnanpith award winner Kedarnath Singh expired on March 19th, 2018.

Miscellaneous:

1. India was graded 47th out of 86 countries in the Inclusive Internet Index-2018, which was published

by the Economist Intelligence Unit on February 26th, 2018. The Economist Intelligence Unit was

specially made by social media massive Facebook. This year's index enclosed 91% of the world's

population and a prolonged data set of 86 nations, increased from 75 nations in 2017.

Key Highlights


The report graded India at the 47th place when it comes to inclusive Internet and connectivity for

all because of less use and bad quality.

Among the Asian countries, India presented in the middle at the 12th place from a sum of 23.

2. India, Bangladesh and Russia have inked a tripartite MoU for assistance in construction of Rooppur

nuclear power plant near Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is 1st enterprise under India-Russia nuclear contract to

undertake atomic energy schemes in 3rd nations. It will also be India‟s first atomic energy project

abroad.

3. Indian Navy‟s sailboat INSV Tarini, headed by only women team, entered Cape Town, South

Africa as part of Navika Sagar Parikrama journey. This point is ending phase of its maiden journey to

circumnavigate globe before it departs Cape Town and come back to Goa in April 2018, on

completion of the journey.

So far, the sailboat has completed 1,75,00 nautical miles from its initiation in Goa in September 2017.

The Navika Sagar Parikrama journey was initiated by Nirmala Sitharaman Goa in September 2017.

This is the 1st-ever Indian go-round of the sphere by an only-women team.

4. The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has sanctioned projects worth Rupees 2,919

crores under “Nirbhaya Fund” for forming 8-safe cities. These are Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai,

Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmadabad and Luck now.

5. Marshall Islands in Pacific Ocean is going to become 1st country in world to identify

cryptocurrency as its legal tender and adopt clear crypto monetary system. The parliament of island

has approved law to create the digital currency known as „Sovereign‟ with symbolic representation

SOV to elevation some hard-cash to bill payments and uplifting economy.

6. 90th Academy Awards, 2018

The 90th Academy Awards usually known as Oscars was organised at the Dolby Theatre in

Hollywood, Los Angeles. The award offered in 24 groups by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and

Sciences, admiring best films of year 2017.

The Shape of Water secured the greater number of awards to four in totality at the ceremony after it

was chosen into uppermost 13 categories. It was followed by Dunkirk, chosen for 8 groups and Three

Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri, grouped for 7 categories.

Important Winners of Oscars 2018: Best Picture: The Shape of Water.

Best Actress: Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as Mildred

Hayes.

Best Actor: Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour as Winston Churchill.

Best Director: To Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water.

Best Supporting Actress: To actress Allison Janney– I for Tonya.

Best Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Best Original Screenplay: Get Out – Decorated by Jordan Peele.

Best Adapted Screenplay: Call Me by Your Name – James Ivory.

Best Cinematography: Blade Runner 2049 for Roger A. Deakins

Best Original Score: The Shape of Water to Alexandre Desplat.

Best Original Song: “Remember Me” from Coco.

Best Sound Editing: Dunkirk by Richard King and Alex Gibson.

Best Foreign Language Film: A Fantastic Woman from Chile in Spanish.

Best Visual Effects: for Blade Runner 2049.

Best Production Design: to The Shape of Water.

Best Documentary-Feature: to Icarus.

Best Animated Short Film: Dear Basketball.


Best Make-Up and Hairstyling: Darkest Hour

7. Odisha Government has initiated „Ama Gaon, Ama Vikas‟ programme to stretch out to people in

rural areas and include themselves in developmental actions.

During this, CM Naveen Patnaik launched mobile video cars that will move around the state to

highpoint various welfare plans at villages in the state. It will permit people to attach with the

government.

Key Points

In this plan, people can straight send their complaints to CM‟s Office at Secretariat in Bhubaneswar

via Wi-Fi empowered latest technology video wall cars. This enterprise administration will assist

people in resolving their complaints rapidly. In the 1st phase of plan, these vehicles will reach

Koraput, Jajpur, Ganjam and Sambalpur districts of Odisha state.

8. The UNICEF specified on March 6th, 2018 that India has seen a high-pitched decline in child

marriages over the past 10 years with only 27% of girls being married earlier to 18 years in contrast to

47% a decade earlier.

9. Iraq has become India‟s major crude oil supplier by overhauling Saudi Arabia with a great margin

in this present financial year. Iraq provided 38.9 MT of oil, which was above 20 percent of nation‟s oil

requirements.

10. Government has lifted headquarters of Animal Welfare Board of India from Chennai, Tamil Nadu

to Ballabhgarh, Faridabad District of Haryana.

11. India‟s 1st helicopter shuttle service- HeliTaxi was initiated in Bengaluru, Karnataka and an offer

to give last-mile connectivity. The earliest trip of helitaxi was between Electronic City and

Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. It was given by Thumby Aviation.

12. The stockholders of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have issued their

permission to India‟s application to international financial institution. Therefore, India now will be the

69th member of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

13. Among Important Days, On 8th March 2018, International Women's Day 2018 was observed

across the globe. This day is observed to give respect to women and to stess on the need of gender

equality, rights and Justice.

The theme of International Women‟s Day 2018 was 'Time is Now: Rural and urban activists

transforming women‟s lives'.

14. Among Important Prizes, On 7th March 2018, Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi was awarded with

Pritzker Prize for being able to interpret architecture and transform it into buildings that respect

Eastern culture.Important to mention here that Balkrishna Doshi became first Indian to win the

Pritzker Prize.Pritzker Prize is so prestigious that it is regarded as equivalent to the Nobel Prize in the

field of architecture. Prize money is of USD 100000. This prize is sopnsored by Hyatt Foundation.

15. On 9th March 2018, Rajasthan Assembly passed The Criminal Laws (Rajasthan Amendment) Bill,

2018. As per this law death penalty will be awarded to the convicts involved in the rape of girls below

12 years of age.

16. Among Important Judgements, On 9th March 2017, Supreme Court ruled that the passive

euthanasia and advance 'living will' are permissible.


17. First national coastal policing academy has been set up in Gujarat. It will start functioning from

April 2018.

18. On 12th March 2018, Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal was consituted by Union Ministry of

Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. It was formed with an aim to solve

water dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

Chairman of this tribunal will be Justice AM Khanwilkar .

19. On 13th March 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a campaign of tuberculosis (TB)

free India. Aim is set of 2025.

There will be funding of 12000 crore rupees over next three years for same. Global target to make

world TB free is 2030, but in India it is 2025.

20. The state government of Assam has suggested an insurance plan for journalists and their families

in its budget for 2018-19. The news was given by Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

during the presentation of state‟s budget in the assembly on March 13th, 2018. Sarma informed that

the state has reserved a budget distribution of Rupees 63 crores in 2018-19 for the Information and

Public Relations Department that would device plans for media persons.

21. President Ram Nath Kovind initiated World Hindi Secretariat building in Port Louis, Mauritius.

22. On 14th March 2018, World Happiness Index was released. It was published by United Nations

(UN) Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

As per this report, Finland is the happiest country in the world. This year main focus of the happiness

index was on migration within and between countries too. Top 10 countries are:

1. Finland,

2. Norway,

3. Denmark,

4. Iceland,

5. Switzerland,

6. Netherlands,

7. Canada,

8. New Zealand,

9. Sweden and

10. Australia.

India is placed at 133rd place. Last year India position was 122nd.

23. On 15th March 2018, World Consumer Rights Day was observed across the globe. This is an

annual event which is observed with an aim to promote basic rights of consumers and to ensure that

these rights are respected and protected.

Theme of World Consumer Day 2018 was "Making Digital Marketplaces Fairer".

24. The state assembly of Haryana on March 15 th , 2018 sanctioned the Criminal Law (Haryana

Amendment) Bill, 2018 proposing death punishment or hard imprisonment of not less than fourteen

years for rape/gang rape of teenagers below the 12 years of age.

25. PM Narendra Modi initiated 105th meeting of Indian Science Congress at Manipur Central

University in Imphal. The principal subject of 5 days Indian Science Congress is “Reaching the

Unreached Through Science & Technology”.

The 1st conference of the ISC was organised in January 1914 in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata.

26. The usage of plastics has been banned by the Maharashtra Government in specific time way,

mentioning environmental and public-health apprehensions. The decision was granted at cabinet


meeting headed by CM Devendra Fadnavis. The restriction will comprise disposable cups and plates,

plastic bags, thermocol, cutlery, non-woven polypropylene bags and plastic packaging.

27. The Union Government inked a $120 million loan contract with the Asian Development Bank for

achievement of works for double-tracking and electrification of railway tracks along more populated

areas to improve operational effectiveness of Indian railways on March 16th , 2018.

28. The Economist Intelligence Unit‟s latest Worldwide Cost of Living report 2018 has graded

Singapore as the world‟s maximum luxurious city for the 5 th conventional year, while Syrian capital

Damascus was graded as the world‟s economic city.The other metropolises that were graded as the

most luxurious include Paris and Zurich, which were tied at the 2nd place, after Hong Kong and Oslo,

Norway‟s capital. The top 10 in the list is largely split among Asia and Europe. South Korea‟s capital

Seoul is the only metropolis other than Singapore in the top 10 that has managed to hold its ranking

from the earlier year.

Israel‟s Tel Aviv, which was graded 34th just 5 years ago, is now the 9 th most luxurious metropolis in

the survey. The Indian metropolises of New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai and Pakistan‟s Karachi

presented among the 10 cheapest locations surveyed.

29. Pune was graded 1st among 23 metropolises across India in terms of urban governance quality in

the 5th edition of Annual Survey of India‟s City-Systems 2017 statement published by Bengaluru non-

profit firm, Janaagraha. It was followed by Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Bhubaneswar and Surat.

30. Indian actress Katrina Kaif has been termed as the new ambassador of the Educate Girls, which is

an international award winner non-profit group.

31. The Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has sanctioned proposal of forming of Plastic

Park in Deoghar District, Jharkhand.

32. The World Water Day was celebrated internationally on March 22nd , 2018 with the subject

“Nature for Water”.

33. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched the Naipunya Ratham, a multi-

utility vehicle on March 22nd 2018.

As part of the „Smart Village Smart Ward Program‟ of the state, the Naipunya Rathams will be

facilitating and looking to improve digital literacy and digital skills. The State Government has also

allotted Rs 300 crore for the project and will also be setting up 1000 skill development centres soon.

34. The Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Thaawarchand Gehlot launched the first

Indian Sign Language (ISL) dictionary containing 3000 words on March 23rd 2018 during a function

in Delhi.

35. On 20th March 2018, Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands was awarded with Abel Prize

2018. He was awarded with this prestigious award for this 'Grand Unified Theory of Maths'.

The prize modeled on the Nobel, is one of the highest honors in mathematics.

Abel Prize has been named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Hendrik Abel.

First Abel Prize was given in 2003.

36. The World Tuberculosis Day was celebrated around the world on March 24 th , 2018 .

The theme of the World Tuberculosis Day 2018 is 'Wanted: Leaders for a TB-free world'.

37. Surat district of Gujarat has become the first district of Country to tave 100 percent solar powered

Primary health centers. All 52 Primary health centers of Surat are now powered by solar system.

38. On 26th March 2018, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswamy inaugurated insect Museum in

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore. This is first insect museum of India. This museum

has been set up in approx 6700 sqft area. Total cost for building this museum is 5 crore.

Interestingly lobby of Museum has a theme "BUGS ARE KINGS".


39. The EPFO started a new portal for pensioners, through which Employees Provident Fund

Organisation pensioners would be able to get the information of pension-related queries, on March

27th, 2018.

40. The United States of America‟s State Assembly of New Jersey has acknowledged April as „Sikh

Awareness and Appreciation Month‟, in awaken of rising and intolerable levels of anti-Sikh racism.

41. Madhya Pradesh has got Geographical Indications label for a chicken breed Kadaknath, whose

black meat is in much demand in various areas of the state.

Kadaknath chicken : The meat content of Kadaknath chicken is protein-rich black meat and which is traded at a much

higher price than other varieties of chicken. It is a native to Jhabua, Alirajpur and parts of Dhar district

of MP.

~: APRIL 2018:~

Appointments

1. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet led by the PM Narendra Modi has designated senior

Indian Police Service officer Rajesh Ranjan as DG of Central Industrial Security Force.

2. In a 1st, senior advocate Indu Malhotra is going to make a start for the 1st woman lawyer to be

selected as Supreme Court Judge.

Sports

1. Indian women's cricket team skipper Mithali Raj was termed Sportsperson of the Year at the

Telangana Sports Journalists Association yearly prizes for 2017 in Hyderabad on March 31 st , 2018.

The prize was delivered by B.V.Papa Rao, Advisor to the Telangana government. It was received by

Mithali Raj‟s parents, as she was not in India on the prize function.

Other Awards

Best Senior Male athlete prize was given to top Indian shuttle player Kidambi Srikanth by

previous BCCI president N.Shivlal Yadav.

Best Senior Female athlete prize was given to top Indian shuttle player P.V.Sindhu by tennis

Star Sania Mirza.

Best Coach of the Year prize was presented by previous Indian cricketer V.V.S Laxman to

Gopichand, who received the honour for the 2nd time in continuation.

Lifetime Achievement prize honour was given to triple Olympian and former national hockey

player N Mukesh Kumar.

Team of the year prize was secured by Hyderabad Cricket team. It was given by national

selection committee chairman M.S.K Prasad who advised the youth to play it fair.

Outstanding achievement prize was given to top Indian gymnast B.Aruna Reddy.

2. World champion weightlifter Mirabai Chanu smashed the records by winning India's first Gold

Medal on the opening day of the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia on April 5th,

2018. Mirabai won the coveted medal in the 48 kg category with a total lift of 196 kg (86 kg + 110 kg)

with her marvelous performance.

21st Commonwealth Games, 2018

Host – Gold Coast, Australia.

Motto - “Share the Dream”


Mascot – „ Borobi‟(A blue koala0

Number of countries – 71.

Flag Bearer of India in opening ceremony – P.V Sindhu

Flag Bearer of India in closing ceremony – M.C Mary Kom

Next Commonwealth Games(2022) – Birmingham (England)

Medal Tally

Countries Gold Silver Bronze Total

Australia (1st) 80 59 59 198

England (2nd

) 45 45 46 136

India (3rd

) 26 20 20 66

Gold winners of India 1. S Mirabai Chanu (Women‟s weightlifting, 44 kg.)

2. K Sanjita Chanu (Women‟s weightlifting, 53 kg.)

3. Satish Shivalingam (Men‟s Weightlifting,77 kg.)

4. ragala Venkat rahul ( Men‟s Weightlifting,85 kg.)

5. Punam Yadav (Women‟s weightlifting,69 kg.)

6. Manu Bhaker ( Women‟s 10 metre Air Pistol Shooting)

7. Women‟s Table tennis team.

8. Jitu Rai ( Men‟s 10 metre Air Pistol Shooting)

9. Men‟s Table Tennis team.

10. Mixed Badminton team.

11. Heena Sindhu ( Women‟s 25 metre Pistol Shooting)

12. Shreyasi Singh ( Women‟s Double Trap Shooting)

13. Rahul Aware ( Men‟s 57 kg. Freestyle Wresting)

14. Sushil Kumar (Men‟s 75 kg. Freestyle Wresting)

15. Tejaswini sawant (Women‟s 50 metre Rifle Shooting)

16. Anish Bhanwala (Men‟s 25 metre Rapid Fire Pistol Shooting)

17. Bajrang Punia ( Men‟s 65 kg. Freestyle Wresting)

18. M.C Mary Kom ( Women‟s 48 kg. Light Flyweight Boxing)

19. Sanjeev Rajput (Men‟s 50 metre Rifle Shooting)

20. Gaurav Solanki (Men‟s 52 kg. Flyweight Boxing)

21. Neeraj Chopra ( Men‟s Javelin throw)

22. Sumit Malik ( Men‟s 125 kg. Freestyle Wrestling)

23. Vinesh Phogat (Women‟s 50 kg. Freestyle Wresting)

24. Manika Batra (Women‟s Singles Table Tennis)

25. Vikash Krishan Yadav ( Men‟s Middleweight Boxing 75 kg.)

26. Saina Nehwal (Women‟s Single Badminton)

Summits

1. The 114th conference of the Permanent Indus Commission between India and Pakistan was

organised in New Delhi.

2. The 9th India-Japan- USA tri-lateral conference was organised in New Delhi .

3. The 11th edition of World Hindi Conference will be organised by Mauritius in its capital Port Louis

in August 18 th -20 th , 2018.

4. The 2nd edition of India Mobile Congress is planned to be organised from October 25th -27th ,

2018 in New Delhi.


5. The 1st meeting of National Council on India‟s Nutrition Challenges under POSHAN Abhiyaan was

organised in New Delhi.


1. The Indian Air Force completed one of its mega war exercises Gaganshakti from April 8th -April

22nd , 2018 to detect its operational readiness for dealing with any likely security challenges from

China and Pakistan. Gaganshakti, is a force level exercise which is directed once in every 2 years. This

2 weeks long exercise will consist of complete resources of the Indian Air Force including its fighter

squadrons.

2. Indian and Malaysian armed forces will be directing the combined training exercise „HARIMAU

SHAKTI 2018‟ in the thick forests of Sengai Perdik, Hulu Langat, Malaysia from April 30th, 2018 to

May 13th, 2018.

Miscelleneous

1. Delhi became the first city in India to supply ultra-clean BS-VI rating fuel for both petrol and diesel

with a focus to fight against the increasing levels of air pollution in Delhi and NCR area. State-owned

oil companies have started providing the Bharat Stage-VI fuel which is equal to fuel meeting Euro-VI

emission guidelines at all their 391 petrol stations in NCT.

2. The state government of West Bengal initiated a fresh plan known as „Rupashree‟ in order to

provide marriage help to girls coming from economically weaker families with a budgetary

distribution of Rupees 1500 crores on March 28th, 2018. The plan‟s declaration was made earlier by

the state‟s Finance Minister Amit Mitra during the state budget presentation for 2018-19.

Key Features

The plan suggests to extend 1-time financial help worth Rupees 25,000 to the girl‟s family with

annual income about Rupees 1.5 lakh.

A woman is required to complete the application form before her marriage and deposit it to the

office of Block Development Officer or Municipality Office to gain advantages under

Rupashree plan.

The plan is supposed to beneficial around 6 lakh families yearly.

The state‟s Finance Minister has planned to provide Rupees 1500 crores for the

implementation of the plan.

Many poor families find it very difficult to bear their daughter‟s marriage expenditure and have

to borrow money at a greater rate of interest to bear the marriage expenses.

3. India has substituted Vietnam to become the 2 nd mega mobile phone producer in the world, only

after China.

4. Indian Army has inked MoU with HDFC Bank on the Defence Salary Package. It is renewed

version 1st Memorandum of Undertaking inked between Indian Army HDFC Bank and in 2011 and

renewed in March 2015. The present Memorandum of Undertaking is tailor made to fit needs of

serving soldiers, pensioners and families.

5. The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan along with Russian President Vladimir Putin

initiated the building of Turkey's 1st-ever nuclear power plant in Mersin area, which is a great port city

on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey, on April 3rd , 2018.

6. As per to Steel Users Federation of India, India has surpassed Japan to become world‟s 2nd largest

crude steel manufacturer in February 2018. China is the largest manufacturer of crude steel in the

world, responsible for over 50 per cent of the manufacturing. Previously in 2015, India had surpassed

United States to become 3rd largest crude steel manufacturer.


7. Weightlifter athlete Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu won 2 nd Gold Medal for India by victory in the

53-kilogram Women weightlifting category at the 21st Commonwealth Games at the Carrara Sports

and Leisure Centre in Gold Coast, Australia on April 6th, 2018.

8. World Health Day was celebrated across the world on April 7th , 2018. The day also celebrates the

70th anniversary of WHO.

The theme of World Health Day is „Universal health coverage: everyone, everywhere‟ and the theme

is „Health for All‟.

9. The Maharashtra state government has declared that cancer patients would be issued with free

chemotherapy medication at district hospitals. The 1st phase of the planning would initiate in June

2018.

10. The Goa state government has finalized to initiate its own app related taxi service to some key

tourist spots of the state.

The state operated Goa Tourism Development Corporation on April 9th , 2018 invited taxi-operators

to register with the fresh mobile app transport service.

11. The Unique Identification Authority of India has come up with a secured digitally-signed QR-

Code on e- Aadhaar. It will have photograph of Aadhaar card bearer in addition to demographic

details. The small QR-code will be on front side of cutaway portion of e- Aadhaar, with demographic

information. It will also have Unique Identification Authority of India digital signature to make this

data much secured and tamper-secure.

12. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India released „Project Dhoop‟ to tackle increasing

incidence of Vitamin D deficiencies, specifically amongst the young people. The project focuses to

inspire schools to alter their morning assembly to around noon-time between 11am-1pm to make sure

that students get maximum Vitamin D absorption via natural sunlight.

13. India‟s 1st high speeded electric train with 12000 HP engine has been initiated by PM Narendra

Modi from Madhepura Electric Locomotive Factory in Bihar. It is first big Made in India‟s project

established and accomplished by Indian Railways in association with French firm Alstome.

14. The Cabinet of UAE has passed the issuance of law on Equal Wages and Salaries for males and

females. The fresh law will make sure equal salary for males and females working in the nation. It will

provide females with equal chances as partners in the UAE's progress.

15. Late famous actor and politician Vinod Khanna was posthumously awarded with prestigious

Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2017.

16. The Union Government initiated „Gram Swaraj Abhiyan-Special Interventions‟, a most powerful

outreach programme to provide welfare schemes to select villages which require particular attention. It

was released on the occasion of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti.

More about Gram Swaraj Abhiyan

The programme was released on the guidelines of rural development schemes like Antyodaya

grounded on principle of conjunction and saturation.

The launch focuses for 100 per cent coverage of 7 schemes released by Central Government

for qualified beneficiaries in 3-week time period from April 14 th to May 5th , 2018.

The aim of programme is to encourage social harmony, reach out to poor village households,

get

feedback on current programmes, aim on doubling farmers‟ income and re-emphasise national

urgencies including cleanliness and fortifying Panchayati Raj institutions.


The 7 schemes covering it are Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Ujala scheme, Pradhan Mantri

Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima

Yojana, Saubhagya and Mission Indradhanush.

Government has nominated number of directors and deputy secretaries to expand these

programmes to 100 per cent saturation in rustic areas.

It will help 17,000 poor villages by delivering them free LPG connections, electricity source,

JanDhan accounts, two Prime Minister Insurance plans and immunisation of children will be

available in twenty-one days.

17. Veteran Bollywood actor Dharmendra will be deliberated with the prestigious Raj Kapoor

Lifetime Achievement award and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will be deliberated with the Raj Kapoor

Special Contribution award.

18. The Ministry of Human Resources Development in partnership with Ministry of External Affairs

has sanctioned „Study in India‟ programme to fascinate foreign students to pursue higher education in

India.

The programme is same to initiative released by Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Canada. It goals

at boosting nation‟s share of international students and next, progress global reputation and rankings of

Indian educational institutions.

19. On 18th April 2018, Saudi Arabia opened its first public movie theatre after a gap of 35 years.

Before that it was prohibited due to religious reasons.

20. The Ministry of Human Resource Development has released integration of e-SANAD portal and

National Academic Depository in a proposal to make education system more crystal clear in India.

e-SANAD:

e-Sanad is project focused at online submission and verification of documents with eventual aim to

extend contact-less, cashless, faceless and paper-less document attestation service. Using it, any type

of document including personal, educational and commercial can be validated and apostilled. The

project was intended and being implemented by National Information Centre in management with

CBSE, States and Union Territories and Ministry of External Affairs in a phased way.

National Academic Depository National Academic Depository is 24X7 online store-house of all academic awards including

diplomas certificates, degrees, marks detail cards and many more, suitably digitised and lodged

by academic boards, educational-institutions, suitability assessment bodies.

It makes an easy access to recovery of academic award and authenticates and guarantees its

genuineness and safe storage.

National Academic Depository encompasses of 2 interoperable digital depositories including

NSDL

Database Management Limited and CDSL Ventures Limited.

21. Swaziland‟s King Mswati III, Africa‟s last absolute monarch, on April 19, 2018 officially changed

the name of his country to the „Kingdom of eSwatini‟.

22. The TIME Magazine published the 100 Most Influential People List of 2018 entitling individuals

whose time is now, on April 19th, 2018.

The 2018 list structures the names of 4 self-made Indians- Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone,

Indian cricket skipper Virat Kohli, Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal and CEO Microsoft Satya

Nadella.

23. The Union Cabinet has permitted promulgation of Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance to give

death penalty for rapists of under 12 years girls. The law amends IPC, Criminal Procedure Code,


Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Indian Evidence Act.

Key Provisions of Ordinance

It delivers strict punishment of jail for at least twenty years or life imprisonment and death for

rape of under 12 years girls. It delivers penalty with imprisonment for rest of life or death

penalty in case of gang rape of girl under 12 years.

It intensifies at least punishment from ten years to twenty years for crime of rape of girl below

sixteen years, which can be stretched to imprisonment for rest of life. It rises minimum

punishment for rape of women from rigorous imprisonment of seven years to ten years, which

can be stretched to life imprisonment.

It offers for fast investigation and trial, which must be finished in 2 months. It proposes six

months‟ time limit for discarding of appeals in rape cases. It delivers devoted manpower for

investigation of rape cases in a time-bound means.

It offers nil provision for anticipatory bail for individual accused of rape/gang rape of girl

below 16 years.

It has also been provided that court has to provide notice of fifteen days to Public Prosecutor

and demonstrative of victim earlier deciding bail applications in case of rape of a girl below

sixteen years of age.

It has provision for preserving national database and profile of sexual offenders by National

Crime Records Bureau.

This information will be shared on regular intervals with States and Union Territories for

monitoring, tracking and examination including verification of antecedents by police.

24. TCS, the country‟s largest IT outsourcing organization created history by becoming the 1st Indian

organization to attain $100 billion market capitalization milestone.

25. The Madras High Court became 1st court in South-India and completely 8th in the nation to

introduce e- court fee payment provision.

26. The PM, Narendra Modi initiated the Van Dhan Scheme of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED

on April 14th,2018, during the festivities of Ambedkar Jayanti at Bijapur, Chattisgarh.

While speaking at the release, the PM said that the Van Dhan scheme along with others like Jan Dhan

and Gobar Dhan schemes had the power to alteration the tribal-rural economic system. Henceforth, he

instructed that all the 3 schemes require to be encouraged by the state governments.

Key Highlights

Under Van Dhan, ten Self Help Groups of thirty Tribal gatherers would be formed.

The groups will then be skilled and provided with working money to add value to the products

that they collect from the forest.

These groups would then be capable to market their products, by employed under the

management of collector, within and outside the states.

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India would be delivering all

the needed training and technical support.

The SHGs will be suitably trained on maintainable harvesting, primary processing and value

addition and be shaped into clusters so as to collect their stock in tradable quantity and connect

them with the provision of primary processing in a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra.

Big businesses shall be complicated under PPP model for the formation of secondary level

value-addition facility at district level and tertiary level value addition facility at the state level.


The central and state government would deliver backing by creating infrastructure and

delivering environment for enterprise value addition of systematic scientific lines.

27. BIS has decided First License to Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd for Liquid Chlorine on all

India basis. It is the First all India based approved License. The license has been operative starting

from April 2018 for a period of 1 year.

28. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean Leader Moon Jae-in inked a landmark peace

contract namely, „Panmunjeom Declaration‟ for the complete denuclearization of the Korean

Peninsula on April 27th, 2018.

The Panmunjeom Declaration was inked during the Inter-Korean Summit that organized on April

27th, 2018 at the Peace House at Panmunjom among leaders of North Korea and South Korea.

~: MAY 2018: ~

Appointments:

1. Hockey India designated Harendra Singh as the chief coach of the Indian men‟s hockey team, on

May 1st, 2018, replacing Sjoerd Marijne who will come back to his accountability as coach of the

Indian Women‟s Hockey Team.

2. Mahathir Mohamad was sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia on May 10th, 2018.

3. Uttam Pacharne was designated as the regular Chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi, on May 17th ,

2018.

4. The United States Senate assured Gina Haspel as the 1st female director of Central Intelligence

Agency- CIA on May 17th, 2018.

5. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro secured another 6 years of term.

6. JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy was sworn in as the 18th Chief Minister of Karnataka on May

23rd, 2018.

7. Government has selected former Supreme Court Judge C.K.Prasad as Chairman of Press Council of

India for second term.

8. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has sanctioned former Supreme Court Judge Justice

R.K.Agrawal as President of National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.

9. RBI has chosen Sudha Balakrishnan as the 1st Chief Financial Officer. She will be the twelfth

executive director of the Reserve Bank of India and will have term period of 3 years.

10. Pakistan‟s former Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk was termed as nation‟s caretaker PM for 2 months

period ahead of general elections to be organised in July 2018.

11. The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has designated Senior Diplomat Pankaj Saran as

Deputy National Security Advisor.


Sports:

1. Star South Africa batsman AB de Villiers announced his decision to retire from all forms of cricket

with immediate effect on May 23rd, 2018.

He has played a total of 228 ODIs, 114 Test matches and 78 T20 Internationals.

He signed off his career with a staggering 20,014 international runs that too include 8765 in Tests,

9577 in ODIs and 1672 in T20Is and a batting average of more than 50 in both Tests and ODIs.

Summits:

1. The ninth India Japan Energy Dialogue was organized in New Delhi.

2. India is going to organize 15th Asia Media Summit- AMS 2018 in New Delhi from May 10th-12th,

2018.

The summit is being hosted by Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development.

The subject of the yearly summit is „Telling our Stories- Asia and More‟.

3. The 3rd edition of UN Peacekeeping Course for African Partners was organized in New Delhi from

May 7th -25th, 2018.

4. Nepal is planning to organize 2018 BIMSTEC- Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral

Technical and Economic Cooperation summit.

5. The 4th meeting of South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network, which is an inter-governmental

wildlife law enforcement body was organized in Kolkata, West Bengal from May 8th -10th, 2018.

6. The 26th BASIC Ministerial Meeting of Environment Ministers was organized in Durban, South

Africa. The grouping is a bloc of 4 nations including Brazil, South Africa, India and China.

7. Pakistan organised its 1st ever Shanghai Cooperation Organization-Regional Anti-Terrorist

Structure legal specialists meeting in Islamabad.

8. The 1st edition of the Global Wind Summit will be accommodated by Germany from September

25th -28th, 2018 at Hamburg.

Operations and Exercises:

1. South Western Command of Indian Army is directing „Vijay Prahar‟ workout in Mahajan area close

to Suratgarh, Rajasthan.

2. India and USA organised the 3rd round of the India-United States Maritime Security Dialogue in

Goa from April 30th -May 1st , 2018 focussing on collaboration and progress in the Indo-Pacific

region.

3. Indian and Malaysian Armies concluded the Exercise Harimau Shakti 2018 on May 11th, 2018 at

the tropical rainforests of Hulu Langat, Malaysia.

4. Joint military exercise SURYA KIRAN-XIII was held in between India and Nepal at Pithoragarh,

Uttarakhand from May 30th to June 12th , 2018.

Miscellaneous:

1. 68 years Sikkim‟s Pawan Chamling formed history by becoming lengthiest-serving CM in India. He

has

accomplished 23 years, 4 months and seventeen days of continuous service in office. He exceeded

earlier record captured by Jyoti Basu, five-term West Bengal Chief Minister who grabbed office

position for 23 years. Basu was in office from June 21st, 1977-November 6th, 2000.

2. The 15th

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be organised in holly city of Varanasi in UP from January 21

st to January 23rd, 2019. Its theme will be „Role of Indian Diaspora in building a New India‟.


3. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has released Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro

Resources –GOBAR DHAN plan at National Dairy Research Institute Karnal. It was released under

Swachh Bharat

Mission by Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Uma Bharti.

Key Points: ~

The Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources-DHAN Plan focuses to positively impact

village cleanliness and produce wealth and energy from cattle and organic waste.

It also focuses at forming new rural livelihood options and attractive income for farmers and

various rural people.

Under it, villagers will be prepared to create self-help groups and imaginative societies that

will assist in clean energy and green jobs initiative.

The plan focuses on managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste in farms to valuable

compost, biogas and bio-CNG, therefore, keeping villages clean, raising income of rural

households and production of energy from cattle dung. The plan imagines application of 700

bio-gas units in various states of the nation in 2018-19.

It will be enormously helpful for nation as India is home to highest cattle population in world

which

generates about three million tones of dung.

It will provide various benefits to countryside people by maintaining villages clean and

sanitized,

cultivating livestock health and growing farm yields.

Under it, biogas production will help to upsurge self-reliance in energy usage for cooking and

lighting.

It will enlarge income of farmers and cattle herders. It will form new options for jobs related to

waste collection, transportation, biogas sales and many more.

It will also deliver stable fuel supply in market for oil organizations and available credit in

market through government plans and banks for businesspersons.

4. According to the information released by the WHO, fourteen Indian cities figure in a list of

worlds‟ 20 most polluted cities. The World Health Organization Global Urban Ambient Air

Pollution Database ranked Kanpur as the maximum polluted city among 4300 world cities which

were observed for their air pollution levels in the year 2016.

The additional Indian cities that listed very peak levels of PM2.5 pollutants were Faridabad,

Varanasi, Patna, Delhi, Lucknow, Agra, Srinagar, Gurgaon, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Patiala.

5. The Union Cabinet led by PM Narendra Modi has sanctioned plan to form 20 AIIMS around the

nation and advancement of 73 medical colleges. The decisions are part of the Pradhan Mantri

Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, which has been prolonged by 2 years till 2020 with monetary outlay of

Rupees 14,832 crores.

Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.

Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana was declared in 2003. Its aims are correcting

regional imbalances in availability of cheap and trusted tertiary healthcare services and expand

facilities for quality medical education in the nation.

It is sponsored from various centrally supported schemes concerned to creating healthcare

infrastructure.


6. May 3rd was observed as World Press Freedom Day. The theme for 2018 World Press Freedom

Day was „keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law‟.

7. Punjab government along World Wildlife Fund- India are directing 1st organised census of Indus

Dolphins, one of the world‟s fewest mammals found only in India and Pakistan.

Indus Dolphin:

Indus Dolphin is subspecies of freshwater river dolphin present in Indus River and its Beas and

Sutlej tributaries, flowing through India and Pakistan.

It is national mammal of Pakistan.

8. Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Ltd. has introduced India‟s 1st cloud-based Common

Integrated Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Centre and Integrated Control and Command Centre.

Integrated Control and Command Centre will facilitate MP State administration to monitor and

administer multiple city civic conveniences and citizen-services across 7 smart cities in state

through central cloud.

These 7 cities are Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Indore, Ujjain, Satna, and Sagar.

9. Nepal Government has approved power production licence to Indian government-maintained

subsidiary Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd from a 900 MW Arun-3 Hydropower Project situated in

eastern Nepal.

10. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was ranked among the 10 most powerful people in the 2018

World's Most Powerful People list in the world where Chinese President Xi Jinping stood first. As per

the World's Most Powerful People list released on 8th May, 2018, Reliance Industries (RIL) Chairman

Mukesh Ambani is the only Indian businessman to feature in the list of 75 most powerful people

across the globe.

Important Highlights:

Mukesh Ambani ranked 32nd on the Forbes's World's Most Powerful People list.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is on the top of the list for the first time, replacing Russian

President Vladimir Putin, who slipped to 2nd place after being named as the most powerful

person in the world for four consecutive years.

US President Donald Trump is ranked third.

British Prime Minister Theresa May took 14th place.

11. The UNDP would shortly be forming a skill development centre at Bharosa which would be a

joined support centre for upset women and children in Hyderabad, Telangana. The centre would be

focused at authorizing vulnerable and marginalised females by imparting skills training.

12. Indian PM Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart K.P.Sharma Oli mutually flagged-off a

direct bus service between the 2 sacred cities Janakpur and Ayodhya, as part of the „Ramayan

Circuit‟ on May 11th, 2018.

13. The Post Office Passport Seva Kendra operated by a whole-woman team started its working at

Phagwara, Punjab.

14. The Department of Telecommunications permitted Bharti Airtel‟s procurement of Telenor India,

on May 14 th , 2018. The department has relocated all licences related to the Indian unit of Norway-

grounded Telenor to Bharti Airtel. With this sanction, Bharti Airtel will buy Telenor India in a no-

cash contract and will take over its outstanding spectrum payments of Rupees 1650 crores.

15. Indian Army has given green signal to Women Officers‟ Mountaineering Expedition to Mt.

Bhagirathi-II to discover maximum potential of women officers in the area of adventure sports. Mt.

Bhagirathi-II is located in the Garhwal Himalayas in Gangotri National Park with a height of 6512 m.


16. The founder of Sulabh International, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak was honoured with the Nikkei Asia

Prize in Japan for his involvement to Asia‟s development.

He had created Sulabh International in 1970. It is a Non-Governmental Organisation that works

towards promoting human rights, environmental sanitation among various social services. It has built

Sulabh flush toilets throughout India.

17. Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Puri published the results of the Swacch

Surveskshan 2018, on May 16th, 2018. Indore has appeared as the cleanest city again in India for 2nd

year in a continuation. Indore and Bhopal have accomplished to retain their positions as the top two

cleanest cities, as that of previous year. Chandigarh was ranked as the 3rd cleanest city.

The Swachh Survekshan 2018 was planned by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

under the guidance of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) with an objective to approximate levels of

cleanliness around cities in the nation.

18. The state government of Gujarat would be releasing free treatment plan for the road accident

victims on May 18th, 2018.

Under the plan, the state government will tolerate medical expenses of about 50,000 Rupees for each

victim of a road accident in the state for the 1st 48 hours.

19. Russia revealed world‟s 1st floating nuclear power plant Akademik Lomonosov at port city of

Murmansk.

20. IIT-Kanpur has formed India‟s 1st Centre for Energy Regulation with the assistance of

Government of UK. The 1st of its kind centre in India goals at delivering independent advisory on

policy and regulatory issues in the power and energy sector.

21. PM Narendra Modi revealed a plaque to spot the commencement of work on the Zojila Tunnel in

Jammu and Kashmir‟s Leh district on May 19th

, 2018. This project, value Rupees 6,809 crores, will be

India‟s longest and Asia‟s longest and strategic two-directional tunnel, which will deliver all-weather

connections among J&K‟s Srinagar, Kargil and Leh districts.

22. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will commission into service the Bastariya battalion of the

CRPF, in Raipur, on May 21st , 2018. The anti-Naxal battalion, formed for the 1st-time with above

534 tribal youth from Chhattisgarh, has 33% depiction of women combatants with 189 women

constables.

23. The 1st 42-seater ATR aircraft of the Alliance Airlines commercial flight of Arunachal Pradesh

under UDAN scheme landed at Pasighat airport in East Siang district. This historic moment sets

border state on the aviation map of the nation.

UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme was initiated in October 2016 to advance the regional aviation

marketplace.

It is dynamic component of the National Civil Aviation Policy, 2016.

It objectives are to make aviation inexpensive by providing connectivity to non-served and less-served

airports of nation via revival of present airports so that inhabitants in regional towns can enjoy

econimic flights.

24. Election Commission of India is releasing multi-lingual mobile app known as Model Code of

Conduct Violation Reporting Application ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The application focuses

at strengthening people around the nation to share evidence of mismanagement by political parties,

their contenders and activists directly with Election Commission of India.

25. The Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar released Samagra Shiksha

scheme for school education from pre-school to senior secondary levels, on May 24th

, 2018.

Key Objective:


The scheme will primarily aim on cultivating quality of education, attractive the learning

outcomes and using technology to strengthen children and teachers.

The scheme will be aimed on digital education and it will improve usage of digital technology

in education via smart classroom and digital boards.

Significance

The scheme will deliver holistic education for holistic development.

It would assist advance the quality of education by emphasizing on teachers and technology.

Yearly grant of Rupees 5000-20,000 will be issued for solidification of libraries in the schools.

26. The Union Cabinet has sanctioned an ordinance to form the nation‟s 1st National Sports University

in in Imphal, Manipur.

27. WHO has authenticated Nepal for having eradicated trachoma, which is a transmittable bacterial

infection of the eyes. It declares Nepal 1st nation in World Health Organization‟s South-East Asia

Region to conquest trachoma.

28. Arunachal Pradesh-based Non-Government Organisation “Singchung Bugun Community Reserve”

secured the India Biodiversity Award 2018 in the “Conservation of wildlife species” class. It was

bestowed for its hard work to conserve erratic critically endangered bird Bugun Liocichla.

29. According to a contract Made in India Rustom-II Unmanned Aerial Vehicle by DRDO will be

provided to armed forces by 2020.

30. Polish author Olga Tokarczuk bestowed Man Booker International Prize 2018. It makes her 1st

writer from Poland to secure this prestigious literary Prize. She earned prize with English translation

of her novel “Flights”. It was 1st printed in Polish language in 2007 and was translated into English in

2017 by Jennifer Croft.

31. Colombia has officially linked NATO- North Atlantic Treaty Organization as global partner. It

makes it 1st Latin American to join North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

32. The BCCI has inked Letter of Intent with United Nations Environment to promote green‟ cricket in

India. The corporation goals to spread greater awareness about crucial environmental challenges that

India is facing and limelight alternate and additional sustainable solutions.

Key Points: Movies with messages from skippers of numerous franchises will be telecasted in stadiums lime-

lighting threats of plastic pollution during the game of IPL.

At the 4 matches played at Holkar Stadium in MP, a Green Protocol grounded on idea of 3 Rupees

to decrease, reuse and reprocess was applied.

M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru, Karnataka substituted plastic cups and bottles with

environment-welcoming replacements for more than 32,000 followers.

33. The India Meteorological Department has tied-up with state-operated BSNL to transmit extreme

weather alerts to individuals. The warnings will be about looming extreme weather conditions

including rainstorms and heat wave.

34. Baba Ramdev‟s Patanjali has tied-up with state possessed BSNL, to release Swadeshi Samriddhi

SIM cards. With this, India‟s furthermost trusted FMCG brand has arrived in to telecom sector after

getting popularity in the consumer goods market.

33. President Ram Nath Kovind offered the 'Santokbaa Humanitarian Award' to Child rights activist

and Noble Laureate Kailash Satyarthi and to space scientist A.S.Kiran Kumar, former Chairman of

ISRO, on May 30th , 2018.


~: JUNE 2018 : ~

Appointments:

1. Mahesh Kumar Jain, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of IDBI Bank was selected as

the 4th deputy governor of the RBI on June 4th , 2018.

2. Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces was designated as the President of

the 73rd session of the UNs General Assembly on June 5 th , 2018.

3. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has selected S Ramesh, member of Central Board of

Indirect Taxes and Customs as its succeeding Chairman.

4. Arvind Saxena has been selected to work as the acting Chairman of the UPSC from June 20th

, 2018.

Sports:

1. Mithali Raj cme out as the 1st Indian cricketer to score 2,000 runs in T-20 International cricket. She

attained the feat during India‟s 7 wickets victory over Sri Lanka in the Women's Asia Cup T-20 at

Kaula Lumpur.

2. Bangladesh won the T20 Asia Cup cricket for the first by defeating India in the final in Malaysia.

Summits

1. A meeting of external affairs ministers of India with Brazil and South Africa was held in Pretoria,

South Africa. This ministerial summit led by India‟s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

2. International Conference on Information and Communication Technology will be held on June 19th,

2018, in Kathmandu, Nepal.

3. The third Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank held (AIIB) on June 25th-

26th, 2018 in Mumbai, India. AIIB Annual Meeting 2018 theme was 'Mobilising Finance for

Infrastructure: Innovation and Collaboration'.

Miscelleneous

1. DRDO has effectively test-fired advanced guided version of Pinaka Rocket from Proof &

Experiment. Establishment at Chandipur, Odisha. During the test-fire, 2 rounds were directed and few

more rounds have been prearranged.

2. PM Narendra Modi released 3 Indian digital payment systems- RuPay, BHIM and UPI apps by

State Bank of India at the Business, Innovation and Community Event in Singapore, on May 31st ,

2018.With the release, India's RuPay digital payments system was connected with Singapore's 33

years old Network for Electronic Transfers. The initiative will enable RuPay subscribers to complete

payments at all of Network for Electronic Transfers System acceptance points across Singapore.

3. Social networking mega Facebook has collaborated with National Commission for Women to

release Digital Literacy Programme to train women on secure use of internet and social media.

4. The Union Government inked a $500 million loan MoU with the World Bank on May 31 st , 2018

to deliver extra financing for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana Rural Roads Project.

5. Parliament of Denmark barred the wearing of face veils- burqa and niqab, in public places, on May

31 st , 2018. This is a initiative that will criminalise Muslim women who selected to wear the burqa.

6. Foundation of “Sakhi Suraksha Advanced DNA Forensic Laboratory” was placed in the Central

Forensic Science Lab campus, Chandigarh. It is India‟s 1st advanced forensic lab devoted for crimes

connected to women for in-time deliver justice.

7. Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana is a fresh Health Insurance Scheme for the

reporters released by the state government in Odisha. This scheme delivers Rupees two Lakh annually

health insurance cover to all working media-persons of the state.

Key Points:


Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana has is effective from June 1st , 2018 and will

primarly covering approximately 3200 media-persons and their families.

The insurance coverage will be valid for cash-free treatment in government as well as in

private hospitals.

The scheme will also cover the injuries and illness suffered by journalists while on duties.

8. India received 1st shipment of its much cheapest „Liquefied Natural Gas‟ from Russian supplier

Gazprom, on June 4th, 2018.

9. The RBI organized “Financial Literacy Week” around the country from June 4th to June 8th, 2018.

10. With an aim to make 500m area around Taj Mahal “litter free” and phase out one-time usage of

plastic, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma directed a pledge to Agra Residents.The pledge called “Taj

Declaration to Beat Plastic Pollution” was made in the attendance of United Nations Environment

Programme Executive Director Erik Solheim and United Nations Environment Programme Goodwill

Ambassador Diya Mirza.

11. World Environment Day is celebrated across the globe on 5th

June with the theme: “Beat

Plastic Pollution”.

12. The State Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Mansukh L Mandaviya, released the

„Janaushadhi Suvidha‟, oxo-biodegradable sanitary napkin, under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya

Janaushadhi Pariyojana in Delhi on June 4th , 2018. The affordable sanitary napkin will now be

accessible at more than 3600 Janaushadhi Kendras operating in 33 states and UTs across the nation.

13. The Government of Uttarakhand has finalized to totally ban the use of polythene plastic from July

31 st , 2018.

14. The 6 members Monetary Policy Committee of Reserve Bank of India has finalized to hike Repo

to 6.25 per cent from 6 per cent, on June 6 th , 2018. According to the 2 nd Bi-monthly Monetary

Policy Statement, the present policy rates of Reserve Bank of India would be as follows:

1. Repo Rate: 6.25%

2. Reverse Repo Rate: 6%

3. Marginal Standing Facility Rate: 6.50%

15. The World Bank has sanctioned Water Resources and River Development Ministry‟s Rupees 6000

crores central „Atal Bhujal Yojana‟. The scheme will be executed over a period of 5 years from 2018-

19 to 2022-23 with support from the World Bank.

16. The sanitation coverage in rural India has increased to 85% under Swachh Bharat Mission, which

is the major cleanliness drive throughout the worldwide.

A fresh survey conducted by an Independent Verification Agency across 90,000 families in more than

6000 villages noticed that the use of toilets in villages had increased to 93.4 percent.

17. China bestowed its 1st highest state honour Friendship Medal to President of Russia Vladimir

Putin.

18. United Nations General Assembly designated South Africa, Indonesia, Dominican Republic,

Germany and Belgium as non-permanent associates of United Nations Security Council. They will

have 2 years term starting from January 1st, 2019.

19. The Union Government has finalized to start India‟s 1st national police museum in Lutyens' Delhi.

20. The Union Ministry of Railways has released Rail MADAD- Mobile Application for Desired

Assistance during Travel Application to accelerate and modernize passenger complaint redressal. The

app was released in-line with Union Government‟s Digital India Initiative.

21. PM Narendra Modi devoted nation‟s 10th Smart City Integrated Command and Control Centre at

Naya Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

22. The 106th

Indian Science Congress will be organized at Lovely Professional University-

Jalandhar, Punjab from January 3rd -7th, 2019.


23. WhatsApp payment service has been in beta testing on June 17th, 2018 and almost 1 million

people are testing the feature. This is being executed with the support of NPCI multiple banks.

24. The Indian Army is celebrating the year 2018 as the „Year of Disabled Soldiers in Line of Duty‟ to

bestow

soldiers who have been incapacitated during their duty hours while working for the country and to

observe the undying spirit of „Soldiering‟.

25. The Union Minister of Human Resource Development; Prakash Javadekar initiated the National

Digital Library of India on June 19th

, 2018. The library focuses to operate as a single-window platform

for all educational requirements.

More about National Digital library of India:

The National Digital library of India is a plan under Ministry of Human Resource

Development, India.

The platform is a combined one for schools, colleges, universities, teachers and students

similar.

The library will deliver free access to various books in English and other Indian languages. It

was released in pilot form in May 2016.

Presently, more than 35 lakh e-books in above 200 languages are accessible in the digital

library.

Access The library can be retrieved at ndp.iitkgp.ac.in. The subscriber registration is open to

subscribers from worldwide.

However, insides from few popular sources are only freely available to registered subscribers.

Subscribers would be able to register for free National Digital Library from Google Play-store.

26. The Haryana government has sanctioned a scheme on June 19th, 2018 to issue monthly financial

support of Rupees 8,000 to women who are the victims of acid attacks.

27. The World's 1st state-of-the-art International Centre for “Humanitarian Forensics” was initiated on

June 20th, 2018, at the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

28. Amazon founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos became the richest man worldwide with a

net prosperity of$141.9 billion, according to the Forbes World‟s Billionaires list. The Principal

founder of Microsoft Corporation, Bill Gates, is the 2nd richest man in the world with a net capital of

$92.9 billion. Warren Buffet, has held at 3rd place with a net capital of $82.2 billion, who is one of the

most effective investors in the world.

29. The 4th

International Yoga Day was observed worldwide on June 21st, 2018. The observances of

the day in India were headed by PM Narendra Modi in Dehradun. The theme of International Yoga

Day was “Yoga for Peace”.

30. The Canadian Parliament has approved Cannabis Act, which is a landmark law that legalizes

frivolous usage of marijuana around the nation. It makes Canada the first G7 nation to legalize the

drug‟s recreational usage and the 2nd to have a nationwide, legal marijuana market, after Uruguay

which got permission in December 2013.

31. The Union Ministry of Power is planning to make 24 degrees Celsius as compulsory default

temperature and labeling of ACs within few months. This has been outlined after 6 months drive was

initiated to promote energy efficiency in the area of air-conditioning.

32. In a first historic drive, females across Saudi Arabia were lawfully permitted to drive for the 1st

time since 1957 on June 24th, 2018.

33. The World Food Prize-2018 was bestowed to Lawrence Haddad and Dr.David Nabarro for their

distinct but harmonizing Global leadership in elevating maternal and child malnutrition within food

safety.


The award identifies achievements of persons who have innovative human development by

civilizing the quality, and quantity of food in the world. It was perceived in 1986 by Nobel

laureate Norman Borlaug.

Since its creation, seven Indians have won this award. These Indian winners are Prof.

M.S.Swaminathan in 1987, Dr.Verghese Kurien in 1989, Dr.Gurdev Khush in 1996,

Dr.B.R.Barwale in 1998, Dr.Surinder K.Vasal in 2000, Dr.Modadugu Vijay Gupta in 2005 and

Dr.Sanjaya Rajaram in 2014.

34. The Financial Action Task Force on June 27th

, 2018 entered Pakistan to its “Grey List” of nations

that are indulged in delivering financial aid to terrorism and concerned activities. The conclusion was

accepted during Financial Action Task Force meeting on Money Laundering in Paris.

~: JULY 2018:~

Appointments:

1. Major General José Eladio Alcain of Uruguayan Army has been appointed as Head of Mission and

Chief Military Observer for UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP).

2. Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel was appointed as new Chairperson of the NGT (National Green

Tribunal). Under National Green Tribunal Act 2010, National Green Tribunal was established on

October 18, 2010.

Sports:

1. On 1st July 2018, ICC inducted Rahul Dravid (India) and Ricky Ponting (Australia) into ICC

Cricket Hall of Fame. If we talk about women player then Claire Taylor (England) was also inducted

into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame

Rahul Dravid has become fifth player to be named in the Hall of Fame from India. Other four Indian

cricketers are Anil Kumble, Bishan Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar.

2. Dipa Karmakar, one of India's leading gymnasts, scripted history on 8th July 2018 by becoming the

first Indian gymnast to win a gold medal in the vault event of the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World

Challenge Cup at Mersin, Turkey.

3. On 12th July 2018, Sprinter from India, Hima Das made history by becoming first Indian woman

athlete to win Gold medal in women's 400m race. This event took place at Tampere (Finland) during

the IAAF World Under-20 Athletics Championships.


4. 21st FIFA WORLD CUP, 2018:

Host- Russia (For the first time, the tournament took place on two continents – Europe and Asia)

Mascot- Zabivaka (means goal scorer, a wolf)

Name of the ball - Telstar-18

Total Team Participated- 32 (from 5 Confederations)

Total Venue- 12 (in 11 cities)

Total Matches- 64

Total Goal scored- 169

Host of final- Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow

Champion - France (2nd World Cup title after 1998)

Runner-Up- Croatia

3rd Place- Belgium

4th Place- England

FIFA Young Player Award- Kylian Mbappe (France)

FIFA Golden Ball Award (best player)- Luka Modric (Croatia)

FIFA Golden Boot Award (highest scorer)- Harry Kane (England) (6 Goals)

FIFA Golden Glove Award (best goalkeeper) - Thibaut Courtois (Belgium)

FIFA Fair Play Trophy- Spain

2022 FIFA World Cup host- Qatar

2026 FIFA World Cup host- Mexico, Canada, USA (for the first time world cup will be held in 3

countries)

In 2018 World Cup Iceland and Panama participated for the first time in world cup history.

Summits:

1. The 17th World Sanskrit Conference will going to be held from July 9th-13th, 2018 at Vancouver,

Canada.


2. The10th BRICS summit, attended by the heads of state or heads of government of the five member

states Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The summit was held in Johannesburg, South

Africa.

Operations and Exercises:

1. On 24th July 2018, Indian Force aircrafts landed at Australia with a purpose to participate in

Exercise Pitch Black-2018. Total 145 Indian Airforce personnel will take part in this exercise. This

exercise was three weeks long starting from 27th July to 17th August 2018. Apart from India,

Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Indonesia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand,

Malaysia and the United States joined it.

Miscellaneous:

1. Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu launched 'ReUnite'

mobile application to trace Missing children in India.

2. Victorian and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai was declared as World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

After Ahmadabad now Mumbai has become the second city to be inscribed on the World Heritage

List.

India has total 37 World Heritage Inscriptions including this. Out of 37, 29 are cultural, 07 are natural

and 1 is mixed site.

3. Sathyasri Sharmila became first transgender lawyer of India. She has been enrolled with Bar

Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

4. Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) constituted 13 member

committee to upgrade the norms for computation of economic data at states and districts level.

This committee will be headed by retired professor of IIM Ahmadabad Mr Ravindra H Dholakia.

5. Madhya Pradesh will implement Ayushman Bharat Yojana ( from 15th August 2018 ) under the

Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Mission. For this a MoU has been linked with National

Health Agency.

Under this scheme each family will get Rs 5 Lakh annual health security cover. Which can be availed

from Government as well as private hospitals.

On the basis of socio-economic caste census approx 84 lakh families will get benefit of it. If we talk

about cost for state then it is expected to be Rs 1600 Crore.

6. On 2nd July 2018, Sunil Mehta Committee‟s suggestions to tackle NPA's

( Non Performing Assets) were approved by the Ministry of Finance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannesburg


7. On 3rd July 2018, cVigil app was laucnhed by Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat along with

Election Commissioners Sunil Arora and Ashok Lavasa. Using this android mobile app citizen can

report any violation of model code of conduct to Election Commission. Using this any citizen can

share proofs of any malpractice with authorities.

8. On 3rd July 2018, Madhya Pradesh state government launched subsidised power scheme called

'Sambal'. This scheme is focused on labourers and poor families. All families below poverty line

would be given electricity at a cost of Rs 200 per month, So all people can avail power facility in the

state.

9. On 4th July 2018, Uttarakhand High Court accorded the status of legal entity / legal person to the

animals of Uttarakhand state.

10. On 6th July 2018, CM of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath issued order to ban use of plastic in the

state from 15th July 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to end the use of single use plastic

products by 2022.

11. On 5th July 2018, Sambalpur railway division of Railways became first to eliminate all unmanned

level crossings.

12. On 9th July 2018, Samsung opened largest mobile factory in Noida, India.

13. The Himachal Pradesh government issued a fresh notification to ban the use of thermocol cutlery

across the state on July 7th, 2018.

14. Gujarat Government granted Religious Minority Status to Jews living in the state on July 6th,

2018. There are now seven religious minorities in the state. The other six are - Christians, Sikhs,

Buddhists, Muslims, Parsis and Jains. Gujarat is the third state in India to grant Minority Status to

Jews after West Bengal and Maharashtra.

15. As per latest per World Bank data on the gross domestic product (GDP) of countries for 2017,

India became 6th largest economy of world. India recorded a GDP of USD 2,597,491 million in 2017.

The top 3 largest economies of world are :

USA - GDP of USD 19,390,604 million,

China - GDP of USD 12,237,700 million

Japan - GDP of USD 4,872,136.95 million.

16. India became 69th shareholder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

(EBRD).

17. BSNL has launched first internet telephony service through its mobile app "Wings". Now using

this app BSNL customers will able to make call to any phone number (domestic or international).

Important to mention here, that before this phone calls were possible within users of particular app not

on telephone numbers. But using wings BSNL users can call to any number. Though it requires mobile

data or wifi.


18. On 14th July 2018, President Ram Nath Kovind announced four nominations for Rajya Sabha. As

there were four seats vacant after retirement of Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Actress Rekha, Social

activist Anu Agha and Veteran lawyer K Parasaran. New four people who has been nominated by

President are :

o Ram Shakal - Mr. Ram Shakal is three time MP from Robertsganj constituency of Uttar

Pradesh. He is a farmer leader and has worked for farmers, farmers, labourers and migrants.

o Rakesh Sinha - Rakesh Sinha is Ideologue of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and also

founder and Honorary Director of the Delhi-based think-tank "India Policy Foundation." He is

also a author and columnist.

o Raghunath Mohapatra - Raghunath Mohapatra is an international sculptor. He is very famous

for this art of stone carving.

o Sonal Mansingh - Sonal Mansingh is exceptional Indian classical dancer. She has been

performing Bharatnatyam and Odissi .

19. From July 2018 to June 2020 ( Two Years ), India has became the Vice Chair of the Asia Pacific

Region of World Customs Organisation (WCO).

20. LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India ) Board has approved acquiring up to 51 per cent stake in

state-run IDBI Bank.

21. Haryana Government launched "Paudhagiri campaign" with an aim to increase green cover in the

state. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched this campaign by planting in Tau Devi Lal Sports

Complex premises of Gurugram.

Under this campaign total 22 lakh students studying in Class 6th to 12th of all schools will plant

sapling each during July - September.

Government will give incentive of Rs 50 in every six months after any student upload a selfie with his

or her plant. A student will be getting Rs 300 in total, as prize for looking after tree planted by

him/her.

22. The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) organized the „Ganga Vriksharopan Abhiyan‟ in

five main Ganga basin states – Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

This week-long afforestation drive was organized during July 9th to July 15th, 2018 as „Shubharambh

Saptah‟.

23. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced to shortly issue Rs 100 denomination banknotes in

the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series, bearing signature of Dr Urjit R. Patel, Governor of Reserve Bank

of India on July 19th, 2018. In addition to that , previous series of Rs 100 banknotes will still be valid.

Important Features:

The new banknote is bearing a motif of „Rani Ki Vav‟ of Patan, Gujarat, on the reverse, which is a

UNESCO World heritage site.

The base colour of this new note is Lavender.


These new Rs 100 banknote has other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour

scheme, at the front and reverse both.

The dimensions of the banknote are 66 mm × 142 mm.

24. Myanmar joined the India-initiated International Solar Alliance (ISA) on July 19th, 2018, thus, has

become the 68th signatory to the Framework Agreement of the ISA that aims for optimum utilization

of solar energy.

25. Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan unveiled a state-of-the-art Air Quality and Weather

Forecast System– „SAFAR‟ (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting) at Chandni Chowk on

July 21st, 2018 in New Delhi.

Important Highlights:

The giant true colour LED display will be giving out real-time air quality index on 24x7 basis with

colour coding along with 72-hour advance weather forecasting.

On the basis of the air quality index on a particular day, health advisory and related precaution will

be notified to prepare citizens in advance only.

The new system would also be able to measure sun‟s UV-Index and track ultrafine particles such as

mercury, PM1 and black carbon in real time, which have a direct relevance to human health.

Based on the UVI, skin advisories will be issued on display too.

26. On 24th July 2018, Green Mahanadi Mission was launched by Chief Minister of Odisha Mr.

Naveen Patnaik. This mission is a plantation drive under which 2 crore saplings will be planted along

the Mahanadi river and its tributaries. This will help in reducing soil erosion on river banks.

27. On 26th July 2018, State assembly of West Bengal unanimously passed a resolution to change the

name of state to Bangla. Now if Union home ministry give its approval then this name will become

official.

28. On 26th July 2018, The Department of Telecom (DoT) gave final approval to merger of Vodafone

India and Idea Cellular. Idea Cellular and Vodafone India jointly paid Rs. 7,268.78 crore . Now

together it will known as "Vodafone Idea". It will be largest mobile-phone company. Vodafone will be

have 45.1 percent while Idea promoters will hold 26.1 percent of this new entity.

29. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) party emerged as single largest party after the Pakistan Elections

2018. Former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan is head of this party. PTI secured 119 seats however

majorty mark is 137 seats.

30. On 26th July 2018, Bharat Vatwani and Sonam Wangchuk from India won 2018 Ramon

Magsaysay Award. This award is also known as Asian Nobel Prize. In total six individuals won this

prestigious prize, those are :

Bharat Vatwani (India),


Sonam Wangchuk (India),

Youk Chhang (Cambodia),

Maria de Lourdes Martins Cruz (East Timor),

Howard Dee (Philippines) and

Vo Thi Hoang Yen (Vietnam).

Bharat Vatwani was awarded for his work towards healing of mentally-ill street persons and Sonam

Wangchuk was awarded for his community-driven reform of learning systems in remote northern

India, thus improving the life opportunities of Ladakhi youth.

Ramon Magsaysay Award was established in 1957. It was created in the memory of 3rd President of

Philippines Ramon Magsaysay.

The award is popularly called „Nobel of Asia‟

31. On 28th July 2018, The World Hepatitis Day was observed across the globe. Theme of World

Hepatitis Day 2018 was "Test. Treat. Hepatitis".

32. Longest Lunar Eclipse of century was witnessed on July 27-28, 2018. Total eclipse lasted up to 2

hours and 43 minutes.

33. On 27th July 2018, Justice BN Srikrishna Committee submitted its report on the data protection

law. Committee submitted its report to Union Minister for Electronics and IT, law and justice, Ravi

Shankar Prasad.

34. On 27th July 2018, Rajasthan inked MoU with private trust Sohanlalji Buladeviji Ojha Gaushala

Samiti to build first Cow Sanctuary which will provide shelter to 10000 cows. Total area of this

Sanctuary will be more than 220 hectares which will be build in Bikaner district.

35. On 30th July 2018, Indian Parliament passed the State Banks (Repeal and Amendment) Bill, 2017

that merges the subsidiary banks with the State Bank of India (SBI). Important to mention here that

this merger is already into effect from 1st April, 2017 as Union government approved it earlier in

February 2017.

These five banks are:

1. State Bank of Bikaner,

2. State Bank of Mysore,

3. State Bank of Patiala,

4. State Bank of Travancore and

5. State Bank of Hyderabad.

~: AUGUST: ~ Appointments:

1. On 3rd October 2018, Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi will step down from CEO position, as Ramon

Laguarta will be succeeding her.


2. Harivansh Narayan Singh from JDU was elected as new deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

3. Former India spinner Ramesh Powar was named head coach of the Indian women's national cricket

team.

4. Mario Abdo Benitez was sworn in as the new President of Paraguay.

5. Imran Khan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former cricketer, was sworn in as the

22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan on 18th August, 2018.

Sports

1. National Sports University Bill, 2018 was passed in Lok Sabha by voice note. This bill will enable

country to set up first National Sports University in Imphal (west), Manipur.

Summits

1. The 11th World Hindi Conference was inaugurated in Port Louis, Mauritius with the theme „Hindi

World and Indian Culture‟ on 18th August, 2018.

2. The 4th BIMSTEC Summit started on 30th August 2018 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The two-day

Summit will be held with the main focus on countering terrorism, to boost trade and enhance regional

connectivity.

The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is

an international regional organisation of seven nations of South Asia and South East Asia was founded

in 1997.

Death

1. On 7th August 2018, DMK patriarch Muthuvel Karunanidhi passed away. Muthuvel Karunanidhi

was a strong name in Tamil Nadu politics. He also served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for five

terms.

2. Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee passed away on 13th August, 2018.

3. Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon passed away.

4. Former Indian cricket captain Ajit Wadekar passed away after a prolonged illness on August 15th,

2018. The feat that made him an icon was when he captained team India to their first overseas Test

wins in England and the West Indies in 1971. In 1967, he was honoured with the Arjuna Award and in

1972, with Padmashri, India's fourth highest civilian honour.

5. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away on 16th August, 2018. Atal Bihari

Vajpayee was the first non-Congress Prime Minister to serve a full five-year tenure.Vajpayee served

three terms as the Prime Minister of India. He served the first term in 1996 for 13 days only. During

his second term in 1998-1999, he served for complete 13 months. In his final and third term, he served

the nations for complete five years between 1999 to 2004.

6. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General from Ghana passed away on 18th August, 2018. He was

awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.

Miscelleneous


1. On 1st August 2018, Union Government approved acquisition of IDBI Bank‟s controlling stake by

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) as a promoter in the bank. Also Government shareholding

below 50 percent in IDBI was also approved.

2. On 2nd August 2018, Advanced Air Defence (AAD) Interceptor Missile which has been developed

indigenously, was test fired from Abdul Kalam Island. This missile successfully hit target at a height

of 20 kms.

3. "Shaur Nahin" campaign was launched by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur with a

mobile application named as "Shaur Nahin". This was launched with an aim to spread awareness of

unnecessary blowing horn and controlling noise pollution. This app will help general public to report

cases of Noice pollution.

4. The iconic Mughalsarai Railway Junction of Uttar Pradesh has been renamed as Deen Dayal

Upadhyaya Junction Railway station on August 5th, 2018.

5. The world's first-ever thermal battery plant will be unveiled in Andhra Pradesh by the state‟s Chief

Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on August 6th, 2018.

6. Uttarakhand High Court (HC) banned the commercial use of elephants in the state and directed the

state forest department on August 3rd, 2018 to rescue the elephants deployed for commercial

purposes within a time span of 24 hours.

7. The state government of Telangana launched the first-of-its-kind life insurance program worth Rs 5

lakh for the farmers in the state on August 6th, 2018. The scheme, which is called Rythu Bandhu Life

Insurance Bonds, is expected to benefit 2.8 million farmers and their families.

Important Highlights

Under the program, the families of the farmers will be getting the insurance amount

irrespective of the fact whether the farmer‟s death is natural or accidental.

The insurance amount will be given to the farmer‟s family within 10 days itself.

The distribution of insurance papers to the farmers would be beginning from August 15th.

Rough investment of Rs 650 crore made in order to launch the scheme.

8. One of the highest ecosystems in the world, Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve (Sikkim, India)

has been added to UNESCO's list of World Network of Biosphere Reserve (WNBR). Thus

Khangchendzonga Biosphere Reserve became 11th

biosphere reserve from India designated WNBR.9.

The state government of Haryana has announced the launch of the Ayushman Bharat-Haryana Health

Protection Mission on August 15th, 2018. The scheme is aiming to provide cashless healthcare

facilities to beneficiaries at empanelled hospitals.


Under this scheme, families identified by the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) would be

granted with coverage of Rs 5 lakh each.

Every family figuring in the defined SECC 2011 database would be entitled to claim the benefits

under the scheme.

Each beneficiary would be issued a card with a unique QR code, which they would have to

produce at the hospital only.


10. Uttarakhand High Court declared itself as a legal guardian of cow across the state on August 14th,

2018.

11. The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri announced the Top 10

cities rankings on Ease of Living Index 2018 on August 13th, 2018. Kolkata was the only city which

refused to participate in the survey among the top 116 cities of India. Pune has also emerged as the

top-ranked city in the Ease of Living Index.


Pune from Maharashtra, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai rounded the top three of Ease of Living

Index 2018, while Thane was ranked at the 6th spot.

New Delhi was placed at a 65th spot.

Tamil Nadu‟s Chennai was ranked at the 14th place.

The bottom 3 cities in the list are Kohima, Rampur and Patna.

12. Indigenously developed Helicopter launched Anti-Tank Guided Missile „HELINA‟ was flight

tested from Army Helicopter in the ranges of Pokhran on 19th August, 2018.

It is the helicopter launched version of the NAG Missile.

It has been designed and developed indigenously for Indian Army under IGMDP (Integrated

Guided Missile Development Programme).

13. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) constituted a group of experts from

health and nutrition sector to look into the issue of food labelling on 17th August, 2018.

14. A Cyclone Warning Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala has been proposed by The Union

Ministry of Earth Sciences until October.

15. The state government of Chhattisgarh has decided to rename the state‟s new capital city Naya

Raipur as Atal Nagar in the memory of former prime minister Late Shree Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

16. The Jawaharlal Nehru University has made the announcement of renaming the School of

Management and Entrepreneurship to „Atal Bihari Vajpayee School of Management

and Entrepreneurship‟, as a tribute to the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 23rd August,

2018.

17. India‟s first flight powered by Biofuel landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New

Delhi on 27th August, 2018 after taking off from Dehradun.

18. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) unveiled the details of the Gaganyaan mission for

manned space flight before 2022 on 28th August 2018.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this mission during 72nd Independence Day speech.

He announced that this manned space mission will be taking Indian astronauts to space on board

'Gaganyaan' by 2022.


ISRO Chairman, Dr K. Sivan said that the program will be making India the fourth nation in the world

to launch a Human Spaceflight Mission. Only the USA, Russia and China have launched human

spaceflight missions so far.

19. The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi launched the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)

Stadium in New Delhion 1st September 2018 at Talkatora. This initiative is seeking to leverage the

expansive network of the postal department to ensure financial inclusion for the masses.

In addition to that, simultaneous launch events were held for the IPPBs at 650 branches and 3,250

access points.


The payments bank, where the Indian government is holding 100 percent equity, will be giving

leverage to the vast network of the Department of Posts (DoP) that has over three lakh postmen

and Grameen Dak Sewaks.

All the 1.55 lakh post offices in the country will going to be linked to the IPPB system by 3st

December 2018.

The IPPBs will also be offering a range of products such as savings and current accounts,

direct benefit transfers, money transfer, bill and utility payments, and enterprise and merchant

payments.

20. Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, along with Uttar

Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the widows‟ home „Krishna Kutir‟ at Vrindavan,

Uttar Pradesh on 31st August 2018. Krishna Kutir is a special home for 1000 widows and is the largest

ever facility of its kind created by a government organization.

~: September 2018: ~ Appointments 1. Justice Ranjan Gogoi became the 46th Chief Justice of India on 4th September 2018.

2. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, on September 24th, 2018 secured the Maldives Presidential Election 2018.

Sports 1. Alastair Cook, former captain of England‟s national cricket team has decided to retire from

international cricket. The 33-year-old is known as one of England‟s greatest test players. He is also the

highest run-scorer for England in tests and stands 6th on the all-time list of Test run-scorers.

2. 2018 US Open Winners

Novak Djokovic from Serbia secured 2018 US Open title of tennis in men‟s

singles group by defeating Argentina‟s Juan Martín del Potro. It was Djokovic‟s 3rd

US Open title and overall fourteenth Grand Slam title. With this victory, he equalled

Pete Sampras‟s haul of fourteen Grand Slams. Further, he became 7th man to secure

US Open singles title at least thrice in the Open Era.

Women‟s singles title was secured by Japan‟s Naomi Osaka by defeating Serena

Williams of US with a score of 6-2, 6-4 in the finals.


Men‟s Double title was secured by US duo of Mike Bryan and Jack Sock. They

defeated ?ukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil with a 6–3, 6–1 score.

Women‟s Doubles title was secured by Ashleigh Barty from Australia and CoCo

Vandeweghe from United States. They defeated Tímea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic

of France duo by 3–6, 7–6(7–2), 7–6(8–6).

Mixed Doubles title was secured by Jamie Murray from United Kingdom and Bethanie

Mattek-Sands of United States. They defeated Alicja Rosolska of Poland and Nikola

Mekti of Croatia duo by 2–6, 6–3, [11–9] score.

3. India cricket skipper Virat Kohli and World Champion Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu were

together endorsed for this year's Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, which is the nation‟s uppermost

even-handed honour for any sports personality.

Summits

1. The International Women Entrepreneurs Summit 2018 was held Kathmandu which is the capital of

Nepal on 3rd September 2018.

2. The International Aviation Summit started in New Delhi, India on 4th September 2018. The seminar

has been jointly organized by the Airports Authority of India, Ministry of Civil Aviation and

International Air Transport Association.

Operations and Exercises 1. The joint military training Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2018 was conducted between India and the

United States in Himalayas at Chaubattia, Uttarakhand between 16th September to 29th September

2018.

2. Nepal has declined to take part in initial joint military exercise of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi

Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation nations planned to be organized in Pune, Maharashtra.

3. India, Mongolia‟s joint exercise Nomadic Elephant 2018 inaugurated at Mongolian Armed Forces

Five

Hills Training Area in Ulaanbaatar which is the capital of Mongolia. Nomadic Elephant is a yearly

bilateral military exercise initiated in 2006. It is fabricated to fortify partnership between Indian Army

and Mongolian Armed Forces.

4. India and Russia joint air exercise Aviaindra-18 was organized in Lipetsk, Russia from September

17th to 28th, 2018.

Death

1. Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang deceased on September 21st, 2018.

Miscellaneous

1. The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi launched the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Stadium

in New Delhi on 1st September 2018 at Talkatora. This initiative is seeking to leverage the expansive

network of the postal department to ensure financial inclusion for the masses.

In addition to that, simultaneous launch events were held for the IPPBs at 650 branches and 3,250

access points.

Important Highlights The payments bank, where the Indian government is holding 100 percent equity, will be

giving leverage to the vast network of the Department of Posts (DoP) that has over three

lakh postmen and Grameen Dak Sewaks.

All the 1.55 lakh post offices in the country will go to be linked to the IPPB system by 3st

December 2018.


The IPPBs will also be offering a range of products such as savings and current accounts,

direct benefit transfers, money transfer, bill and utility payments, and enterprise and

merchant payments.

These products and related services will be offered across multiple channels which are

counter services, micro-ATM, mobile banking app, SMS and IVR by using the state-of-

the-art technology platform of the banks.

2. Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, along with Uttar

Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the widows‟ home „Krishna Kutir‟ at Vrindavan,

Uttar Pradesh. Krishna Kutir is a special home for 1000 widows and is the largest ever facility of its

kind created by a government organisation.

3. India and Nepal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on conducting a preliminary

survey of a railway line connecting Indian border town Raxaul to Nepal's capital Kathmandu.

4. The merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular completed, leading towards the creation of India's

biggest telecom service provider with more than 408 million subscribers. After this, Aditya Birla

Group led Idea Cellular has been renamed as the Vodafone Idea Limited. Both Vodafone and Idea

brands will be continuing to operate.

5. The National Nutrition Month is being celebrated across the nation in September, 2018 to mark the

fight against malnutrition.

6. The Swachhata hi Seva Campaign 2018, a Jan Andolan for Swachhata, was launched by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi on 15th September, 2018. The campaign will be observed in the run-up to the

4th anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission on 2nd October.

The 2018 campaign follows the success of the 2017 campaign and will be culminating with the

Mahatma Gandhi International Sanitation Convention from 29th September to 2nd October 2018,

which also marks the start of the 150th birth year celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi.

7. In a first, Tejas, the advanced version of made in India Light Combat Aircraft was positively

refueled mid air by a Russian-origin Ilyushin-78 tanker on September 10th, 2018.

8. On September 11, 2018, the Haryana Assembly approved 2 Bills in their present assembly session.

They are- a.YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabad (Amendment) Bills, 2018

b.The Haryana Vishwakarma Skill University (Amendment) Bills, 2018.

The 1st bill was named again as YMCA University to the JC Bose University of Science and

Technology, YMCA, Faridabad.

The 2nd bill was named again as Haryana Vishwakarma Skill University to Shri Vishwakarma Skill

University, Haryana.

9. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, led by PM Narendra Modi, on September 12th, 2018

sanctioned the proposal for electrification of balance un-electrified Broad Gauge Routes of Indian

Railways.

10. Chinese Consul-General in Kolkata, Ma Zhanwu on 12th September 2018 proclaimed that China

is seeking to plan bullet trains from Kolkata to Kunming City of China.

11. The Health and Family Welfare Department of Tamil Nadu on September 12th, 2018 published a

government order restricting with immediate effect for manufacturing, sale, distribution, trade,

marketing, import and possession of the Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, which popularly is

known as e- cigarettes.

12. Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi has sanctioned proposal for starter of Bill in

Parliament for amendment of National Institutes of Design (NID) Act, 2014 for launching 4 new

National Institutes of Designs across the nation.

Four new NIDs are


1. National Institute of Design, Amaravati/Vijayawada, AP.

2. National Institute of Design, Bhopal, MP.

3. National Institute of Design, Jorhat, Assam.

4. National Institute of Design, Kurukshetra, Haryana.

13. The state government of Jharkhand on September 12th, 2018 initiated electric vehicles for official

usage.

14. Indian Coast Guard has installed developed in India patrol vessel ICGS Vijaya in Chennai, Tamil

Nadu. It is 2nd in the series of 98 meters offshore patrol vessels commissioned by Indian Coast Guard.

15. Hyderabad International Airport- Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, was bestowed Airports

Council

International Airport Service Quality World Number One airport awarding the 5-15 Million

Passengers

Per Annum group. This is for the 2nd consecutive year Hyderabad airport has secured this award.

16. Rajasthan‟s 1st lion safari was initiated at Nahargarh Biological Park. The park is situated on

Delhi-Jaipur National Highway in the Aravalli bases, approximately 12 kms from the pink city Jaipur.

17. The ISRO on September 16th, 2018 effectively released its PSLV- C42 carrying 2 earth

observation satellites for the UK. The launch vehicle- Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle- C42 took-off at

10.08 PM IST from the 1st launch pad of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, AP.

18. Union Health Minister J.P.Nadda on 15th

September 2018 informed that 1.5 lakh Primary Health

Centres and sub-centres will be transformed into wellness centres by 2022.

19. India‟s DRDO on September 15th, 2018 directed the 1st successful flight test of its new designed

and developed in India low weight man-portable anti-tank guided missile at Ahmednagar test range in

Maharashtra.

20. Germany has turned out world‟s 1st hydrogen power-driven passenger train. These trains named

iLint trains produce zero emissions, making them eco-friendly. This locomotive technology proposes

greener and quieter substitute to diesel on non-electrified railway lines. These hydrogen locomotives

are produced by French TGV-maker Alstom .

21. UP state police launched its 1st ever “Dial-FIR” scheme in the state to curb the crime incidents in

the state. In this scheme, a common public can record regular crimes without approaching to a Police

Station, just by dialling the emergency number Uttar Pradesh 100 and file an First Information Report,

and that would be a call-based FIR.

22. Bangladesh Cabinet led by PM Sheikh Hasina has sanctioned draft contract permitting India to

custom its Chittagong and Mongla ports for transporting cargo to and from its north-eastern states.

23. United States private space firm SpaceX on September 17th, 2018 inked the world‟s first private

passenger to fly to the Moon aboard its Big Falcon Rocket launch vehicle.

Japanese billionaire and founder of online fashion giant Zozo, Yusaku Maezawa will be the 1st Moon

tourist on SpaceX‟s Lunar Big Falcon Rocket Mission

24. The All India Pension Adalat was initiated on September 18th, 2018 by the Union Minister of

State (Independent Charge) for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh in New

Delhi.

25. The International Day of Peace was celebrated worldwide on September 21st, 2018.

Theme: “The Right to Peace - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70”

26. India on September 20th, 2018 fruitfully test-fired the Indian developed surface-to-surface, short-

range tactical ballistic missile Prahaar from the Odisha coast.

The missile has been produced by the DRDO. It was test-fired from launch pad-3 of the Integrated

Test Range at Chandipur, near Balasore.


27. Government of Tamil Nadu has broadcasted Scheme for protection of exotic Neela kurinji

(Strobilanthus kunthianus) plants that bear flower only once in 12 years.

28. An Assamese language feature movie by National Award-winning moviemaker Rima Das,

“Village Rockstars” was nominated as India‟s formal entry for the Best Foreign Language Film

category of the 2019 Academy (Oscar) Awards, on September 22nd, 2018.

29. Sikkim‟s 1st-ever airport will be initiated by Indian PM Narendra Modi on September 24th,

2018 at Pakyong. The airport is not only India‟s 100th operational airport but also one of the

nation‟s 5 highest airports.

30. Nepal is ready to become the 1st nation in the world to double fold its tiger population as part

of the World Wildlife Foundation's Tx2 programme which focuses to double fold the number of

tigers worldwide. The government of Nepal declared on September 23rd, 2018, on the eve of

National Conservation Day, that there are now an approximated 235 wild tigers in their country,

approximately double the number from around 121 in 2009.

31. PM Narendra Modi initiated determined Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, under Ayushman

Bharat parasol at Ranchi, Jharkhand. The scheme goals to deliver yearly health insurance cover of

Rupees five lakh to 10.74 crore beneficiary families across India. It is advertised as world‟s largest

healthcare scheme that will assist beneficiary population that equals 27-28 European nations and

almost equal to population of Canada, Mexico and United States put together. The scheme will be

effective from September 25th, 2018.

More about Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana is government supported health insurance scheme, that

will deliver free coverage of equal to Rupees Five lakh per family every year in any

government and empanelled private hospitals all over India.

It will protect beneficiaries‟ families identified on the basis of Socio-Economic Caste

Survey 2011 in 444 districts of 30 states and UTs.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana will be sponsored with 60 percent contribution from

Centre and

residual from the states.

NITI Aayog will be working as partner for this scheme for operationalizing robust,

modular and interoperable IT platform which will include a paperless and cashless

transaction.

32. The Supreme Court on September 25th, 2018 formed a 3 members committee to investigate the

problems of jails in India and propose reform measures. The committee led by former Supreme

Court judge Justice Amitava Roy will investigate the characteristic of jail reforms around the

nation and recommend measures to handle them.

33. Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu initiated Indian Culinary Institute in Tirupati, AP.

34. Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences and Environment Dr. Harsh

Vardhan initiated air pollution control device Wind Augmentation PurifYing Unit- WAYU for

traffic joints at ITO intersection and Mukarba Chowk, New Delhi.

35. Narendra Modi was on September 26th, 2018 bestowed with the prestigious United Nations

Champions of the Earth Award 2018, which is the highest environmental honour of the UNs. The

United Nations Environment mutually bestowed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French

President Emmanuel Macron in the Policy Leadership category for their hard work regarding the

creation of the International Solar Alliance. Prime Minister Modi was also accredited for his

extraordinary pledge to eradicate all single use plastic in India by 2022.

36. The Uttarakhand High Court on September 28th, 2018 instructed the state government to issue

reservation to transgenders in educational institutions and public appointments.


~: October 2018: ~ Appointments

1. Indian originate economist Gita Gopinath was selected Chief Economist of International Monetary

Fund-IMF. It makes her 2nd Indian after earlier Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan to

embrace the position.

2. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has re-designated R.N.Ravi, Chairman of Joint

Intelligence Committee as Deputy National Security Advisor (Internal Affairs).

3. Pankaj Sharma has been selected as ambassador and India‟s Permanent Representative to UNs

Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

4. Senior Advocate Tushar Mehta was appointed as the Solicitor General of India on 10th October

2018.

5. Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has selected Dr. Shekhar Mande as the Director General of

CSIR and Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Research (DSIR).

6. Private sector ICICI Bank on October 16th, 2018 publicized that the RBI has permitted the

appointment of Sandeep Bakshi as the MD and CEO of ICICI Bank for 3 years.

7. Ethiopia on October 25th, 2018 designated diplomat Sahle-Work Zewde as its 1st-ever female

President.

8. The Paytm Payments Bank proclaimed on October 24th, 2018 that they have designated Satish

Kumar Gupta as its new MD and CEO.

9. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has dismissed Ranil Wickremesinghe, obligatory PM of

Sri Lanka and designated earlier President Mahinda Rajapaksha as new PM.

10. Jair Bolsonaro was announced as the Brazil‟s 2018 Presidential Elections winner on October 28th,

2018.

Sports 1. Weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga age 15 years earnt India‟s maiden Gold Medal at 2018 Youth

Olympic Games being organised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He secured the medal in the men‟s 62

kilograms group.

2. India on October 13th, 2018 finished its campaign at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta,

Indonesia with a record medal haul, securing a sum of 72 medals that consisted 15 Gold, 24 Silver and

33 Bronze medals. India was positioned 9th in the overall tally.

In the past edition in 2014, India secured 33 medals including Three Gold, 14 Silver, 16 Bronze

medals.

Key Highlights India recorded its best-ever performance in the Asian Para Games by taking 72 medals,

including 15 Gold medals. On the final day of the competition, Indian shuttlers added 2

Gold and Three Bronze medals.

With a sum of 15 Gold, 24 Silver and 33 Bronze medals, India was positioned 9th in the

overall tally.

This was India‟s best-ever performance at the Asian Para Games, as compared to the last

edition at Incheon with 33 medals overall.

China finished at the highest with 319 medals including 172 Gold, 88 Silver and 59 Bronze

medals, trailed by South Korea at the 2nd place with 53 Gold, 25 Silver and 47 Bronze and

then Iran with 51 Gold, 42 Silver and 43 Bronze.

India won approximately half of its medals in Para-athletics with the tally reading 36

medals including Seven Gold, 13 Silver and 16 Bronze.


While the sporting groups of Badminton and chess counted 9 medals each to India‟s medal

tally, para-swimming added 8 medals.

3. Virat Kohli on October 24th, 2018 became the fastest batsman to score 10,000 runs in one-day

internationals, accomplishing the milestone in just 205 innings. With the accomplishment, he

surpassed the record made by Sachin Tendulkar, who had attained the feat in 259 innings.

Summits 1. PM Narendra Modi initiated 1st Assembly of International Solar Alliance- ISA, in New Delhi.

2. The 2nd Global Renewable Energy Investment Meeting and Expo- REINVEST 2018 was held by

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in Noida from October 3rd –5th, 2018.

3. India and Russia on October 5th, 2018 inked a USD 5.43 billion contract for India to acquire the S-

400 Triumf missile system from Russia. The pact was inked after the 19th India-Russia Annual

Bilateral Summit between PM Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

4. The 12th Asia-Europe Meeting- ASEM Summit was organised in Brussels, Belgium. The theme of

summit was “Global Partners for Global Challenges”.

5. The 2nd edition of India Mobile Congress- IMC 2018 was organised New Delhi from October 25th-

27th, 2018. It was held by Department of Telecommunications and Cellular Operators Association of

India. The theme of IMC 2018 was “New Digital Horizons. Connect. Create. Innovate”.

6. The yearly bilateral India–Japan summit was organised on 28th and 29th October 2018 in Japan.

Operations and Exercises 1. The maiden joint activity of Coast Guards of India and Vietnam “Sahyog HOP TAC -2018” was

organised in the Bay of Bengal off the Chennai coast, Tamil Nadu.

2. The Third Edition of Japan-India Maritime Exercise(JIMEX) inaugurated at Visakhapatnam, AP.

Japan-India Maritime Exercise-18 is intended to improve interoperability, advance understanding and

down best practices between navies of both nations.

Death 1. The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Gardner Allen, a stockholder, entrepreneur and

philanthropist, died on October 15th, 2018.

2. UP and Uttarakhand CM Narayan Dutt Tiwari passed away in New Delhi.

3. Former Delhi CM, Madan Lal Khurana, deceased on October 27th, 2018 after a continued illness.

Miscelleneous

1. Union Finance Ministry has formed 9 members Competition Law Review Committee to make

sure that legislation is in harmony with altering business environment.

2. All India Council for Technical Education will begin nation‟s 1st AICTE Training And

Learning- ATAL Academy in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Moreover, 3 additional AICTE Training And

Learning academies will come at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Guwahati in Assam and Baroda

in Gujarat by coming year.

3. Government of Assam has become the 1st Indian state to offer a „Wage Compensation Scheme

for pregnant females‟ working in the tea garden areas of the state.

4. The World Habitat Day was celebrated worldwide on October 1st, 2018, the 1st Monday of

October 2018, to imitate the present state of the world‟s towns and cities, and emphasise the basic

right of everyone to receive proper shelter. The main programme was organised in Nairobi, Kenya.

Theme for the day is “Municipal Solid Waste Management”.

5. The world‟s largest dome was initiated at aharashtra Institute of Technology‟s World Peace

University-MIT-WPU campus at Loni Kalbhor, Pune. It was initiated by Vice President Venkaiah

Naidu along with Peace Centre on the eve of 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.


6. Indian Air Force has effectively undertaken series of flight tests of Astra Beyond Visual Range

Air-to-Air Missile- BVR-AAM, from September 26th to October 3rd, 2018. The trails were carried

out at Integrated Test Range, Balasore, Odisha as part of final development tests of the missile.

7. Government has signed US $150 million loan contract with multilateral lender Asian

Development Bank for establishing India‟s 1st Global Skills Park in Bhopal, MP. It will have

training amenities focusing on skills for production, service and advanced agricultural jobs,

profiting approximately 20,000 trainees and trainers.

8. Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on October 3rd, 2018 became the 1st person to be exposed

of the honorary Canadian citizenship for her role in gross human rights violations against the

Rohingya people.

9. Geographical Indication Registry and Intellectual Property India has approved Alphonso mango

from Five regions of Maharashtra gets Geographical Indication label. These 5 districts Ratnagiri,

Sindhudurg, Palghar, Thane and Raigad are from western Konkan coastal area of State.

10. Union Ministry of Home Affairs has certified 5 new battalions of anti-riot and crowd control

Rapid Action Force. These new battalions will be positioned at Varanasi UP, Hajipur- Bihar,

Jaipur- Rajasthan, Mangalore- Karnataka) and Nuh- Haryana. With these, the sum number of

Rapid Action Force battalions in the nation has expanded to fifteen.

11. India‟s growth rate is predicted to increase to 7.3 percent in 2018 and 7.4 percent in 2019, as

per the latest World Economic Outlook report released by the IMF (International Monetary Fund)

on 9th October 2018. India had recorded a growth rate of 6.7 percent in 2017.

12. Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, Chief of the Air Staff, launched an innovative mobile health

application called „MedWatch‟ on 8th October 2018, on the occasion of its 86th anniversary. This

MedWatch app has been conceived by the doctors of IAF and developed in-house by the

Directorate of Information Technology (DIT) with zero financial outlay.

Important Functions of the App The app „MedWatch‟ will be providing correct, scientific and authentic health information

to air warriors and citizens of India.

It comprises a host of features including information on basic first aid, health topics and

nutritional facts at the same time.

It also contains reminders for timely medical review, vaccination and utility tools like BMI

calculator,health record card, helpline numbers and web links.

13. As per the 2018 Global Hunger Index (GHI), published on 10th October 2018, the level of

hunger and undernutrition worldwide has fallen to 20.9, down from 29.2 in the year 2000. As per

the Global Hunger index prepared jointly by global NGOs namely, Concern Worldwide (Ireland)

and Welthungerhilfe (Germany), India was ranked 103rd out of 119 qualifying countries.

14. The Malaysian Cabinet on 11th October 2018 decided to abolish the death penalty for all

crimes and halt all pending executions.

15. India was elected on 12th October 2018 to the United Nations' Human Rights Council ' for a

period of 3 years starting from 1st January 2019. India secured 188 votes in the Asia-Pacific

category which is the highest number of votes among all other candidates.

16. The Union Environment Minister Harshvardhan on October 15th, 2018 revealed an air quality

early warning system for the Delhi region.

17. Veteran composer, lyricist, writer and national award-winning music director Mohammed

Zahur Khayyam Hashmi, superbly known as Khayyam was awarded with 2018 Hridaynath Award

for Lifetime Achievement.

18. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has initiated Artificial Intelligence powered

chatbot– Ask Disha to assist its customers answer different inquiries.


19. The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on October 16th, 2018 sanctioned the suggestion of the state

government to rename the city of „Allahabad‟ as „Prayagraj‟.

20. Canada legalised the possession and usage of recreational cannabis on October 17th, 2018.

After Uruguay in 2012, Canada has become the 2nd nation to do so.

21. Irish Author Anna Burns on October 16th, 2018 secured the Britain's famous Man Booker

Prize 2018 for her 3rd novel Milkman.

22. The World Economic Forum on October 16th, 2018 published the Global Competitiveness

Report 2018. The report issues the Global Competitiveness Index, ranking 140 nations on the basis

of 98 indicators arranged into 12 pillars.

Key Highlights

The report explains that the global economy is predictable to grow nearly 4% in 2018 and

2019.

On the list of 140 economies, the „USA‟ topped the list with a points of 85.6, followed by

Singapore and Germany at the 2nd and the 3rd place respectively.

India continued the South Asia's main driving force with 58th position.

23. Shahi Litchi from Bihar has received Geographical Indication- GI tag from Chennai based

Geographical Indication Registry and Intellectual Property India.

24. Indian-American Minal Patel Davis was bestowed with Presidential Medal for Fighting against

Human Trafficking‟.

25. India‟s longest river bridge with total length of 19.3 kms will be constructed on river

Brahmaputra in Assam. This bridge will join Dhubri of Assam to Fulbarani of Meghalaya.

26. United States based Dalit writer Sujatha Gidla secured 2018 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for

her debut book “Ants Among Elephants: An Untouchable Family and the Making of Modern

India”.

27. PM Narendra Modi initiated and dedicated National Police Memorial- NPM to nation in New

Delhi on the occasion of National Police Commemoration Day celebrated on October 21st.

28. Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has initiated Harit Diwali-Swasth

Diwali campaign focused to decrease adverse environmental conditions especially pollution in the

nation post Diwali celebrations due to extreme bursting of fire crackers which results expressively

to air and noise pollutions.

29. Eminent jurist Fali S. Nariman aged 89 was bestowed 19th Lal Bahadur Shastri National

Award for Excellence in Public Administration.

30. Seoul Peace Prize Committee has finalised to confer 2018 Seoul Peace Prize on PM Narendra

Modi.

31. IDFC Bank on October 25th, 2018 projected to change its name to “IDFC First Bank Ltd” in

the wake of its merger with the non-banking financial firm Capital First.

32. India‟s 1st Made in India engineless train „Train 18‟ hit the tracks for trials on October 29th,

2018.

33. Ministry of Culture has proclaimed winners of Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony for year

2014, 2015 and 2016. The awardees were nominated by award jury led by PM Narendra Modi and

involved Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogoi, former chief election commissioner

N.Gopalaswami and National Vice President BJP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe.

Awardees


a) Awardee for 2014 is Rajkumar Singhajit Singh. He is leader of Manipuri dance. He is also

teacher,

performer and choreographer.

b) Awardee for 2015 is Chhayanaut. It is the cultural group of Bangladesh recognized in

1961. It has played leading role in encouraging Tagore‟s works in Bengali culture, music

and literature not only within Bangladesh, but worldwide.

c) Awardee for 2016 is Ram Vanji Sutar. He is famous sculptor and his 1st notable work was

the 45-feet Chambal monument at the Gandhi Sagar Dam in MP. He is also recipient of

Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.

34. The Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Thaawarchand Gehlot, proclaimed on

October 25th, 2018 that a stadium of international standard for differently-abled people will be

construct in Meghalaya.

35. Asma Jahangir, late Pakistani human rights activist and lawyer was posthumously announced as

one of the winners of the UN Human Rights Prize, 2018.

36. The decision is made by Pakistan to launch its first manned mission in 2022, the same year that

India has planned to launch its own manned space mission.

37. India on October 23rd, 2018 secured the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration

and Management Award- CAPAM 2018 for a creativity that envisages quality education for all.

38. India railways proclaimed its plan to link New Delhi and Ladakh by railway line that will operate

along the India-China Border. The planned „Bilaspur-Manali-Leh Line‟ would be the world‟s highest

railway line once initiated.

39. PM Narendra Modi will reveal the bronze statue of India‟s 1st deputy PM, Sardar Vallabhbhai

Patel on October 31st, 2018 at Kevadia in Gujarat's Narmada district. The “Statue of Unity” devoted to

the „Iron Man of India‟ has been built on a river island on the Narmada river in Kevadiya town.

Important Highlights I. The PM will initiate the structure on the eve of Sardar Patel‟s 143rd birthday, devoting the

Statue of Unity to the nation.

II. At 182m, the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel will be the tallest statue in the world,

exceptional the height of Spring Temple Buddha in China, which had formerly captured the

record at 153m.

~: November: ~

Appointments:


1. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has designated senior IPS officer S.S.Deswal as

Director-General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police- ITBP.

2. Appointments Committee of the Cabinet led by PM Narendra Modi has selected previous IAS

officer Ashok Kumar Gupta as Chairperson of Competition Commission of India.

3. Kim Jong Yang of South Korea was designated the new Interpol President.

4. President Ram Nath Kovind on November 26th, 2018 selected Sunil Arora as the new Chief

Election Commissioner.

5. President Ram Nath Kovind has selected Arvind Saxena as Chairman of Union Public Service

Commission- UPSC.

6. Union Government has designated Anil Manibhai Naik as Chairman of National Skill Development

Corporation.

7. Salom Zurichishvili was nominated as the 1st female President of Georgia.

Sports:

1. India‟s topmost junior shuttler Lakshya Sen aged 17-years secured bronze medal at Li Ning BWF

World Junior Badminton Championships 2018 organised at Markham, Canada.

2. Mary Kom fashioned history on November 24th, 2018 by securing her 6th world championship gold

at the 10th World Women‟s Boxing Championships, organised in New Delhi, India.

She had earlier secured 5 straight Gold Medals at the World Boxing Championship, a feat that

hasn‟t been completed by any women boxer before.

Mary Kom secured the sole Gold medal for India by beating Ukraine's Hanna Okhota in a

unanimous 5-0 verdict in the 48 kilograms category summit bout.

Another Indian boxer, Sonia Chahal clinched the silver medal in 57 kilograms bout, after she

lost to Wahner Ornella Gabriele of Germany in the finals.

Besides, 2 bronze medals were secured by Lovlina Borgohain and Simranjit Kaur, after they

lost their semi-finals fights in 69kilogram and 64 kilogram weight categories individually.

Overall, India finished the championships with One Gold, One Silver and 2 Bronze medals.

3. India‟s Sameer Verma has secured Syed Modi India Grand Prix Gold badminton championship

2018 in men‟s singles group. In the final match organised in Lucknow, he conquered China‟s Lu

Guangzu by 16-21, 21-19 and 21-14 points.

Women‟s singles championship was secured by China‟s Han Yue after

conquering India‟s Saina Nehwal by 21-18, 21-8 points.

Summits:


1. The 33rd edition of the ASEAN Summit started on November 11th, 2018 at Suntec Singapore

Convention Centre, Singapore.

2. The World Tolerance Summit- WTS 2018 was initiated on November 16th, 2018 in Dubai, United

Arab Emirates.

The theme of the summit was “Prospering from Pluralism: Embracing Diversity through

Innovation and Collaboration”.

3. The 2018 G-20 Summit was held on November 28th, 2018 in the Buenos Aires city, Argentina.


1. The 1st joint military exercise titled „Dharma Guardian‟ between India and Japan started at Indian

Army‟s Counter-Insurgency Warfare School at Vairengte, Mizoram.

2. The 25th edition of SIMBEX, “Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise” is started from 10th

November and will continue till 21st, 2018 in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

3. The introductory edition of Indian and Indonesian Navy Bilateral Exercise “Samudra Shakti” started

on November 12th, 2018 at Surabaya, Indonesia.

4. The joint military exercise between India and Russia- „INDRA 2018‟ is intended to occur at fighting

insurgency under the guidance of United Nations started on coming November 18th, 2018 in India.

The joint exercise is being held at Babina Field Firing Ranges, Babina Military Station in UP.

5. India, United States Joint Special Forces Exercise 2018 called Vajra Prahar was held at Mahajan

Field Firing Range, Bikaner, and Rajasthan.

Death

1. The 41st President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush who helped steer America

through the end of the Cold War, passed away on 30th November 30, 2018.

Miscellaneous

1. 54th Bharatiya Jnanpith Award, 2018

Amitav Ghosh (English).

Amitav Ghosh is the first author in English literature to win the Bharatiya Jnanpith Award.

Some notable works of Amitav Ghosh are “The Circle of Reason”, “The Shadow Lines”, “The

Calcutta Chromosome”, “The Glass Palace”, “The Hungry Tide”, “Sea of Poppies”, “River of

Smoke”, “Flood of Fire”, “In an Antique Land”, “Dancing in Cambodia and at Large in


Burma”, “Countdown”, “The Imam and the Indian”, “Incendiary Circumstances”, "The Great

Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable".

Amitav Ghosh received Sahitya Akademi Award for the novel “The Shadow Lines” in 1989;

and Ananda Puraskar for the same novel, “The Shadow Lines” in the same year, 1989. He also

received Dan David Prize from Israel, in 2010, in the category of Present- Literature: Rendition

of the 20th Century, jointly with Canadian author Margaret Atwood. In 2007, Amitav Ghosh

was honoured with the fourth highest civilian honour of India Padma Shri.

2017 – Krishna Sobti (Hindi).

The Bharatiya Jnanpith Award is the highest literary award in India, presented by a trust

„Bharatiya Jnanpith‟.

The Bharatiya Jnanpith Award was first time awarded in 1965 to Malayalam writer G. Sankara

Kurup for his book “Odakkuzhal”.

2. The World Bank released the Doing Business Report 2019 with title as „Doing Business 2019:

Training for Reform‟, assessing and ranking countries on the basis of ease of doing business in the

year 2018 on 31st October 2018. As per the 2019 Report, India has jumped 23 places on the Ease of

Doing Business Index to 77th rank, up from 100th rank in 2017.

The topmost 10 economies in the ease of doing business positions are New Zealand,

Singapore, Denmark, Hong Kong SAR, Korea, Georgia, Norway, USA, UK and FYR

Macedonia.

3. Harvard University has nominated 20 years old Nobel Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai for its 2018

Gleitsman Award in gratitude of her work encouraging girls education.

4. Maharashtra state cabinet permitted plant for alteration of Indian Navy‟s longest-serving aircraft

carrier INS Viraat, into India‟s 1st-ever moored maritime museum-cum-marine adventure centre.

Presently, INS Viraat is at Mumbai‟s Naval dockyard after it was retired in 2017.

5. The scientists at the IIT Madras have developed India‟s 1st indigenous microprocessor, which will

decrease dependency on imported microchips and the risk of cyber-attacks. The microprocessor

known as „Shakti‟ was outlined, developed and stricken by Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

6. The newly-built Ekana International Stadium of Lucknow was renamed after former Prime Minister

Atal Bihari Vajpayee on 5th November 2018. The stadium will be known as 'Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari

Vajpayee International Cricket Stadium'.

7. UNs World Food Programme and Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba Group have

planned strategic partnership for backing efforts eradicate hunger worldwide by 2030.

8. Well-known French scholar Jawahar Lal Sarin was bestowed with France‟s highest civilian award

Chevalier de la Lgion d‟Honneur. He was bestowed with this honour in recognition of his outstanding

contribution to enhance Indo-French cultural cooperation and encouraging French language.


9. The restoration of an aristocratic house project from partial ruin state in Ladakh undertaken by

LAMO Ladakh Arts and Media Organisation, Centre has secured 2018 UNESCO Asia-Pacific award

for Cultural Heritage conservation in Award of Distinction category.

10. PM Narendra Modi on November 12th, 2018 initiated an Inland Multi-Modal Terminal Port on

river Ganga at Ramnagar in Varanasi.

11. World Diabetes Day was celebrated every year worldwide on 14th November to spread

awarenessabout diabetes.

The theme for World Diabetes Day 2018-2019 is “The Family and Diabetes”.

12. Odisha Government has initiated Saura Jalnidhi scheme to inspire usage of solar energy in

irrigation by farmers. Under this scheme, farmers will be issued 90 percent subsidy and 5,000 solar

pumps.

13. India‟s ace sprinter and Asian Games Gold Medal winner sprinter Hima Das was selected as 1st

ever youth ambassador of UN Children‟s Fund India.

14. The World Toilet Day was celebrated worldwide on November 19th, 2018.

The 2018 theme of the International Day is “Toilets and Nature”.

15. Sulabh International has presented India‟s 1st sewer cleaning machine to decrease sewer deaths

and finish unsafe practice of manual scavenging. The machine was revealed on event of World Toilet

Day 2018, which was celebrated on 19th November.

16. Mexican government has bestowed Indian academician Shyama Prasad Ganguly with „Orden

Mexicana del Águila Azteca‟- Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, the uppermost civilian award given

to a foreigner by Mexico.

He was bestowed for disseminating Spanish language and Mexican culture to fortify Mexico-

India cultural ties.

He is 1st Indian Academician to get this honour.

17. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar unveiled 70 feet tall statue of Lord Buddha at Rajgir, Nalanda district of

Bihar.

18. Dudhwa Tiger Reserve- DTR and Sashastra Seema Bal have linked to deliver security to Dudhwa

forests and its rich wildlife.

19. World-class township for autistic children, adults to be built in Kolkata.

20. The International Gita Festival 2018 was held in Kurukshetra, Haryana from December 7th-23rd,

2018.


21. Indian business magnate and philanthropist Azim Premji was conferred with the highest French

civilian distinction Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur -Knight of the Legion of Honour in Bengaluru

on November 28th, 2018.

22. Japanese electronics company „Casio‟ has released world‟s 1st Goods and Services Tax- GST

calculator in India to simplify the Goods and Services Tax calculations for tax payers.

23. The EU on November 28th, 2018 counselled government, businesses, inhabitants and regions to

join it in a determined plan to expurgated emissions and make the bloc carbon neutral by 2050.

24. The 49th International Film Festival of India- IFFI was organised in Panaji, Goa. The closing

ceremony was organised at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Bambolim, Panaji.

Israeli Director Dan Wolman was bestowed with lifetime achievement award.

Story-screenplay-dialogue writer Salim Khan bestowed with International Film Festival of

India 2018 Special Award for his lifetime contribution to cinema.

Best film- Golden Peacock award was presented to Ukrainian film “Donbass” directed by

Sergei Loznitsa.

Best director- Silver Peacock award was presented to Lijo Jose Pellissery for Malayalam film-

India.

Best Actor (Male) Award was presented to Chemban Vinod for his role in “Ee.Ma.Yau”

Malayalam-India.

Best Actor (Female) Award was presented to Ukrainian actress Anastasiia Pustovit for her role

in “When the Trees Fall”.

25. Himachal Pradesh has become the 1st state in the nation to implement Emergency Response

Support System as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh initiated Emergency Response Support

System number112 for the state.

26. R.K.Singh, Union Minister of State for Power and Renewable Energy, on November 29th, 2018

declared that Eight States have attained 100% saturation in household electrification under Saubhagya

Scheme. With this, there are now whole 15 States in the nation that have 100% household

electrification. These 8 states are MP, Tripura, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Mizoram, Sikkim,

Telangana and West Bengal.

27. Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das on November 29th, 2018 declared that the government will issue

free mobile phones to 28 lakh farmers and a distinct electric feeder for them for agriculture resolutions

by 2019/2021.

28. Indian Railways released “eDrishti” software that will assist Union Railway Minister to keep track

of punctuality of trains and merchandise and passenger earnings and additionally, from anywhere in

the nation.


~: December: ~

Appointments

1. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took oath as the 58th President of Mexico.

2. Preeti Saran was on December 6th, 2018 designated unopposed to an Asia Pacific seat on the UN‟s

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights- CESCR.

3. India‟s previous economic affairs secretary and present member of the Finance Commission

Shaktikanta Das is to be designated as next Reserve Bank of India Governor. He will be the

25th Governor of the top bank of the nation.

4. The Union Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on December 13th, 2018 designated Brijendra

Pal Singh as the new President of Film and Television Institute of India.

5. Ashok Gehlot is expected to be taking oath as Rajasthan CM for the 3rd time. While, Sachin Pilot

will sworn-in as the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

6. Kamal Nath took oath as the 18th CM of Madhya Pradesh on December 17, 2018.

7. Ranil Wickremesinghe has once again developed as the PM of Sri Lanka.

8. Bhupesh Baghel sworn in as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.

9. The Union government has designated advocate Madhavi Goradia Divan as the Additional Solicitor

General in the government of India.

9. WV Raman appointed new head coach of Indian national women‟s cricket team.

10. Dronacharya awardee, CA Kuttappa has taken over as India‟s new chief boxing coach.

Sports

1. Indian shooter and still India‟s only solo Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra was bestowed

coveted International Shooting Sport Federation “Blue Cross”.

With this, Bindra became the 1st Indian to be presented the Blue Cross award.

2. Indian Opener Gautam Gambhir on December 4th, 2018 declared his retirement from all forms of

cricket.


Gautam Gambhir completed 58 Test appearances for India, making 4154 scores at an average

of 41.95. His 147 One Day Internationals raised his 5238 runs, while in 37 T20 International

matches, he scored 932 scores.

2. Olympic silver medalist PV Sindhu wrote history on December 16th, 2018 by becoming the 1st

Indian to secure the BWF World Tour Finals. PV Sindhu claimed the desired Gold medal with a

victory over 2017 world champion Nozomi Okuhara of Japan.

3. Men’s Hockey World Cup, 2018

Host

country

India

City Bhubaneswar

Teams 16 (from 5

confederations)

Venue(s) Kalinga

Stadium.

Champions Belgium (1st

title).

Runner-up Netherlands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhubaneswar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_Stadium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_Stadium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium_men%27s_national_field_hockey_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_men%27s_national_field_hockey_team


Third

place

Australia.

Player of the

tournament

Goalkeeper of the

tournament

Young player of the

tournament Top goalscorer

Fair play

award

Arthur Van Doren

(Belgium)

Pirmin Blaak

(Netherlands)

Thijs van Dam

(Netherlands)

Blake Govers

(England)

Alexander

Hendrickx

(Belgium)

Spain

4. Joshna Chinappa secured the National Squash Women‟s Singles title after she beaten Urwashi Joshi

in the final match by 9-11, 11-1, 11-6, 11-5 points.

5. India‟s left-handed opener Smriti Mandhana has secured the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for the

International Cricket Council Women‟s Cricketer of the Year. Mandhana was also pronounced as the

International Cricket Council Women‟s One-Day International Player of the Year.

Summits

1. The Asia Pacific Summit 2018 started on December 1st, 2018 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The Theme of 2-day Summit is „Addressing the Critical Challenges of Our Time:

Interdependence, Mutual Prosperity, and Universal Values‟.

2. The 24th UN Climate Change Conference, 2018 (COP-24) that occurred between 2nd to 15th

December 2018 in Katowice, Poland,


1. Air Forces of India and United States started their 12 days combined exercise „Ex Cope India-2018‟

in West Bengal. It is 4th edition in series of bilateral joint exercise organised by Air Forces of both

countries conducted in India. This year for 1st time exercise will be organised at 2 Air Force bases in

West Bengal‟s Kalaikunda and Panagarh.

2. The 1st bilateral air exercise SHINYUU Maitri-18 among Japanese Air Self Defence Force and

Indian Air Force started at Air Force Station Agra.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_men%27s_national_field_hockey_team

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Van_Doren

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pirmin_Blaak&action=edit&redlink=1

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thijs_van_Dam&action=edit&redlink=1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blake_Govers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hendrickx



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain_men%27s_national_field_hockey_team


3. The 10th edition of INDRA NAVY maritime exercise between India and Russia was held off

Visakhapatnam coast, Andhra Pradesh from December 9th-16th, 2018.

4. The 2nd edition of service specific exercise AVIAINDRA between Indian Air Force and Russian

Federation Aerospace Force was organised at Air Force Station Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

The opening IAF-RFSAF Ex AVIAINDRA was planned in 2014 and since then it is conducted

twice a year in both nations.

5. A bilateral naval exercise, Indra Navy-18, between India & Russia settled on December 16th, 2018.

It was a four-day naval exercise that occurred in the Bay of Bengal.

6. India & China settled the „Hand-in-Hand‟ military exercise on 22nd December 2018 in China‟s

Chengdu city. This military exercise was the seventh edition of the “Hand-in-Hand” military exercise.

Death

1. Veteran CPI (M) leader and former Commerce & Industry Minister of West Bengal Nirupam Sen,

passed away on December 24th, 2018.

2. Legendary moviemaker Mrinal Sen decreased on December 30th, 2018 in Kolkata.

The Padma Bhushan & Dada Saheb Phalke awardee was well known mainly for paving the

way for parallel cinema in the nation with movies including „Ek Din Achanak‟,

„Padatik,Mrigaya‟, „Akaler Sandhane‟, „Chorus‟, „Kharij‟, „Kandahar‟, „Bhuwan Shome‟,

„Akash Kusum‟ & „Calcutta 71‟.

Miscelleneous

1. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be chief guest at India‟s 70th Republic Day

celebrations on 26th January 2019.

2. India will arrange G-20 Summit In 2022, when it will be serve its 75th year of Independence. It was

declared by PM Narendra Modi during current G-20 meet of international grouping in Buenos Aires,

Argentina.

3. Qatar has declared its withdrawal from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries- OPEC from

January 2019 and emphasis more on the production of natural gas.

It makes Qatar 1st Gulf nation to leave Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries bloc of

oil-producing nations led by Saudi Arabia.

4. The World Soil Day was celebrated worldwide on December 5th, 2018.

The theme of the day present year is “Be the Solution to Soil Pollution”.


5. „Sahitya Akademi‟ has declared names of 24 poets and authors who will be awarded the prestigious

2018 Sahitya Akademi Award in 24 various Indian languages. Sanjib Chattopadhyay received the

award in Bengali.

6. Sahitya Akademi also declared its Bhasha Salman for year 2017 & 2018. Yogendra Nath Sharma

was bestowed for North zone; Gagendra Nath Das for Eastern zone; G Venkatasubbiah for South

zone; and Shailaja Bapat for Western zone respectively.

7. The United Kingdom court on December 10th, 2018 instructed the deportation of Indian business

tycoon and liquor baron Vijay Mallya from Britain to India to face offence of fraud filed against him.

8. The United Kingdom court on December 10th, 2018 instructed the deportation of Indian business

tycoon and liquor baron Vijay Mallya from Britain to India to face offence of fraud filed against him.

9. Union Cabinet has sanctioned execution of Shahpurkandi Dam Project on river Ravi in Punjab. It

also has sanctioned central funding of Rupees 485.38 crore for irrigation component, over 5 years

period from 2019-2023.

10. Kerala has become 1st state in the nation to have 4 international airports with the inauguration of

Kannur airport. The 1st commercial flight from this airport Air India Express flight with 180 travelers

on board to Abu Dhabi was flagged off recently.

The other 3 international airports are Trivandrum International Airport, Cochin International

Airport and Calicut International Airport.

11. The International Human Rights Day is celebrated every year on December 10th to honour

adaptation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On this day in 1948, UN General Assembly,

then HQ in Paris, sanctioned Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The theme for present year is

“Stand Up for Human Rights”.

12. Union Ministry of Home Affairs has released Twitter account @CyberDost to widespread

awareness about cyber-crimes and general precautions to be taken regarding this.

13. The recently released rankings by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute- “SIPRI” have

positioned 4 Indian Public Sector Undertakings among world‟s topmost 100 arms producers. These

PSUs are as-Indian Ordnance Factories at 37, Hindustan Aeronautics at 38, Bharat Electronics at 64,

Bharat Dynamics at 94.

14. Miss Philippines Catriona Gray won Miss Universe title after she secured the final round of the

Miss Universe 2018 pageant, organised in Bangkok, Thailand on December 17th, 2018.

15. Sonam Kapoor, a vegetarian, has been termed PETA India's Person of the Year for 2018.


16. The Kaiga Atomic Power Station of Karnataka has formed a new world record, with one of its

units working continuously without any disruption for 941 days. The earlier world record was secured

by Unit-2 of Heysham of the UK. It functioned without any disruption for 940 days.

16. The central Government has finalised to outspread the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana- PMUY to

all poor families in the country.

17. India‟s largest Cancer Institute, National Cancer Institute- NCI, has inaugurated on December

18th, 2018 in Jhajjar, Haryana for public.

18. India has come at 108th place in the freshly released Gender Gap Index 2018 by World Economic

Forum. India was positioned at the similar position in 2017 rankings as well.

The Global Gender Gap Report is issued yearly by the World Economic Forum since 2006.

The Global Gender Gap Index is an index that calculates gender equality across 4 Key

pillars including economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment and

health & survival.

Iceland has been positioned as number One in the World Economic Forum‟s Gender Gap

Index for the10th successive year. Norway at the 2nd position, Sweden at the 3rd

.

19. Late human rights activist, Asma Jahangir was awarded with the United Nations Human Rights

Prize 2018, posthumously, on December 18th, 2018.

20. Government of Haryana has started a mobile application known as “Shiksha Setu” with an

objective to assist the students of the state. The “Shiksha Setu” mobile application will assist in

bringing transparency in the Education Department & in the college‟s administration in the state. Also,

it will enhance the connectivity among students, parents, teachers & administration via this mobile

application.

21. The IDFC Bank has amalgamated completely with the Non-Banking Financial Company Capital

First on December 18th, 2018 into a new entity to be known as „IDFC First Bank‟.

22. The CM of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee has been presented with the „Skoch Chief Minister of

the Year Award‟ for the year 2017. The reward was given to Mamta Banerjee for highlighting her

contribution in the general development of West Bengal.

23. India's Vedangi Kulkarni has become the reckless Asian to cycle the globe. The 20 years old

Kulkarni finished the 29000 kms distance needed to qualify as bicycling globally on December 23rd,

2018. Overall, Kulkarni spent 159-day peddling about 300 kilometres a day in 14 nations.

24. Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the longest Rail-cum-Road bridge Bogibeel Bridge on the

birthday of the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, December 25 which is celebrated as Good Governance Day.

This 4.9 kilometer long Bogibeel Bridge joins the southern restrict of the Brahmaputra River in

Assam‟s Dibrugarh district with Silapathar in Dhemaji district, Arunachal Pradesh.


25. Mohammed Rafi Award introduced by the NGO Spandan Arts was conferred upon late music

composer Laxmikant Shantaram Kudalkar and playback singer Usha Timothy.

26. PM Narendra Modi will rename 3 islands of Andaman & Nicobar following Netaji Subhash

Chandra Bose on December 30th, 2018. These 3 islands are - Ross Island, Neil Island and Havelock

Island. These islands will be retitled during Prime Minister Modi‟s visit to Port Blair to celebrate the

75th Anniversary of hoisting of the National Flag at Port Blair by Subhash Chandra Bose.

Renaming of islands

Ross Island will be renamed as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island.

Neil Island will be renamed as Shaheed Dweep.

Havelock Island will be renamed as Swaraj Dweep.

27. The Election Commission of India, for the 1st time, has restricted all kinds of tobacco in polling

booths during the general elections 2019.

28. The MP Government has deliberated the annual Tansen Samman upon renowned Sitar Player

Manju Mehta for her contribution in the area of Hindustani Classical Music.

29. Gahirmatha marine sanctuary and Rushikulya rookery coast in Ganjam district are chief Olive

Ridley Nesting sites in Odisha. Of these sites, Gahirmatha marine sanctuary is biggest mass nesting

site of Olive Ridley turtles. Odisha is home to 50 percent of the total world‟s population of Olive

Ridley‟s and about 90 percent of Indian population of sea turtles. Freshly, Odisha forest department

added another Olive Ridley mass nesting site Bahuda Rookery at beach on Bahuda river mouth,

Ganjam district.

30. The central government has released Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskaar yearly

awards to highlight the excellent work done by individuals, institutions in the nation in the field of

disaster management.

Documents

Current Affairs Year Book 2018 - Avijit Sir's Classes€¦ · Northeast, after Sikkim and overall 5th state after Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Haryana to be announced ODF state. 2