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National Current Affairs |
International Current Affairs |
Memorandum of Understanding |
Science & Technology Events |
Sports Current Affairs |
Awards & Honours List |
Appointments GK Updates |
Important Days & Dates |
Recent Deaths Updates |
Banking & Economics Affairs |
Mergers & Acquisition Updates |
Important Abbreviations |
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National Current Affairs | Access the Latest Happenings across India
1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu has renamed the iconic memorial ‘Teen Murti Chowk’ as ‘Teen Murti-Haifa Chowk’ after Israeli City Haifa in a solemn ceremony.
Teen Murti statues have three life-size bronze statues representing the Hyderabad, Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers who participated in the Battle of Haifa for the 15 Imperial Service Cavalry Brigade.
The name of Teen Murti Chowk is renamed as a symbolic gesture of friendship between India and Israel.
2. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), India has been placed at the 30thposition on a global manufacturing index ranking.
Japan has been named first in top-ten list of Geneva-based WEF’s first ‘Readiness for the future of production report’ followed by South Korea, Germany, Switzerland and
India has been placed in the ‘Legacy’ group along with Hungary, Mexico, Philippines, Russia, Thailand and Turkey, among others.
3. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has inaugurated the International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) in New Delhi.
The workshop was organized by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
4. The Indo-US joint military exercise ‘Vajra Prahar’ will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Seattle, USA.
Vajra Prahar is being conducted alternately in India and the US. The last edition of the exercise was held in Jodhpur in March 2017.
5. Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat is leading the Indian delegation to 10th Global Forum for Food & Agriculture.
The theme of this year’s event is Shaping the future of livestock – sustainably, responsibly, efficiently.
The discussions will focus on sustainable and productive animal production among other issues.
6. PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd (HRRL) project commencement of oil refinery in Rajasthan’s Barmer district. It is first oil refinery to be set up in Rajasthan.
The project is undertaken as a joint venture between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and the Rajasthan government.
HPCL owns 74% stake in the project, while the state government owns 26%.
7. Shri Hardeep S. Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs has announced 9 new cities in 4th round under National Smart Cities Challenge.
Silvassa from Dadar & Nagar Haveli has topped the list of winning cities in this round of competition. Other winning cities are –
Erode, Tamil Nadu
Diu, Daman & Diu
Biharsharif, Bihar
Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh
Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh and
Kavaratti, Lakshadweep
8. The government has approved 2018 as ‘National Year of Millets’ to boost production of the nutrient-rich millets and the sunrise agri industry involved in it.
The observation of Year of Millets will help in the promotion of production and consumption of millets will substantially contribute in the fight against targeted hunger and mitigate effect of climate change in long
9. President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Sangeet Natak Academi Fellowship and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards for 2016 to the renowned group of musicians, Dancers, and theater artists.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (Akademi Ratnas) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puruskar) are national honours bestowed by the government on performing artists as well as teachers and scholars in the field of performing arts.
The 4 eminent artists have conferred fellowships in the function, namely Arvind Parikh, R Vedavalli, Ram Gopal Bajaj and Sunil Kothari.
International Current Affairs | Know What’s happening around the World
1. Romania’s Prime Minister Mihai Tudose resigned after his party withdrew its support for him amid a power struggle with the party chairman.
As per the Social Democratic Party officials, Development Minister Paul Stanescu would serve as an interim prime minister.
2. The ISA hosted a two-day event International Solar Alliance Forum during 17-18th January 2018 at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2018.
WFES is a signature event of a global initiative, Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, hosted by Masdar conducted at Abu Dhabi (UAE).
During the ISA event, an ISA Pavilion was also set up for the dissemination of information about ISA and its activities and programmes.
3. SAREX-18, a joint Search and Rescue Exercise was conducted between India and Japan coast guards in the Bay of Bengal.
The exercise includes the scenario of the hijacking of a cruise vessel and subsequent mass rescue of the passenger in a joint coast guard operation.
A total of 9 Indian Ships and 8 aircraft participated in the exercise. Indian Navy, Indian Airforce, and the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) also participated in this 7th exercise.
4. The Israeli Government is pushing for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India to boost trade and investments.
Free Trade Agreements are an important economic agreement in various areas and it helps in reducing tariffs, non-tariff barriers.
FTA will help to lower tax rates and removal of excessive regulations would help to grow the private businesses.
M
emorandum of Understanding (MoU) | Get the Best Information Out of Top Agreements
1. Federal Bank has been exchanged a MoU with Hedge Equities Ltd for providing Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS) services to NRIs.
In a formal agreement, Jose K Mathew (EVP & Head Retail Business, Federal Bank) and Alex Babu (MD, Hedge Equities Ltd) have signed the MoU announcing the tie-up.
Federal Bank is authorized by the Reserve Bank of India to issue permission letter to NRIs on behalf of the RBI to transact in the secondary
2. PM Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu have signed nine MoUs, including the fields of cybersecurity, oil and gas, space and science and technology, civil aviation, information and broadcasting and health. Nine MoUs are as follows:
MoU between the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Ministry of Energy on Cooperation in Oil and Gas Sector.
Protocol on Amendments to the Air Transport Agreement.
Agreement on Film-co-production.
Medical Center on Cooperation in the field of Research in Homeopathic Medicine.
MoU between Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) and the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology for cooperation in the field of space.
Memorandum of Intent between Invest India and Invest in Israel.
Letter of Intent between IOCL and Phinergy Ltd for cooperation in the area of metal-air batteries.
Letter of Intent between IOCL and Yeda Research and Development Co Ltd for cooperation in the area of concentrated solar thermal technologies.
3. Punjab Government has signed a MoU with the Indian Oil Corporation(IOC) to set up biogas and bio-CNG plants in the Punjab state.
The MoU was signed by IOC with Punjab Bureau of Industrial Promotion (PBIP) and Punjab Energy Development Agency(PEDA).
4. The Department of Commerce(DoC) has signed a MoU with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for setting-up of an institutional mechanism for the integrated development of Logistics sector in the country.
The objective of the MoU to modernize India’s logistics sector and bring it to par with the global best.
5. India and Sri Lanka signed four agreements for collaboration in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector.
Sri Lanka has become the first country to be connected to India’s National Knowledge Network (NKN) through a Gigabyte optical fiber network.
NKN and Sri Lanka’s Education & Research Network (LEARN) which connect academic institutions between the two countries have now been linked with each other through high capacity internet.
6. AU Small Finance Bank has signed an agreement with LIC to offer Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), which is an Indian Government Scheme.
According to MoU, LIC will give a life cover of INR 2 lakh in case of death to the customer at a nominal premium of INR 330 per year.
The company will also offer loans under government’s affordable housing and subsidy schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna.
B
anking Awareness & Economics Current Affairs | Understand the Top Trends in India
1. BSE’s India International Exchange (India Inx) has listed Indian Railways Finance Corporation’s first green bond on its debt listing Global Securities Market (GSM).
The bonds issued by Indian Railways Finance Corporation (IRFC) are one of the highest credit rated bonds issued by an Indian corporate and has been IRFC’s first foray into the Green Bond market.
2. India’s most-valued lender HDFC Bank Ltd crossed INR 5 trillion market capitalization for the first time, making it only the third Indian company to achieve this milestone.
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) are the other two companies which crossed market capitalization of INR 5 trillion earlier.
The bank also reports bad loan ratio below 1%, the lowest among Indian lenders.
3. Amplus Energy Solutions announced entering into a pact with private sector Bank, Yes Bank for the strategic tie-up to co-finance projects in the solar energy space in India.
The MoU was signed at International Solar Alliance pavilion at the World Future Energy Summit, Abu Dhabi.
Under the partnership, the project’s total capacity is likely to be up to 1,000 MW and these projects would be developed by Amplus by 2023.
Merger and Acquisition |
Insights of Major Companies & Organizations
1. Digital invoice discounting marketplace Invoicemart has tied up with Bank of Baroda to discount invoices for MSMEs.
Buyers and sellers registered on the marketplace will now be able to access funding from Bank of Baroda.
Invoicemart is a joint venture between Axis Bank Ltd and Mjunction services ltd.
2. Axis Bank is partnering with NGO Srijan through an initiative called Buddha Fellowship Programme to help nurture talent for the development sector.
The bank is mentoring 15 graduates from the Indian Institutes of Management at Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Shillong, who have been taken on board by Srijan as campus hires.
Science & Technology Current Events | Stay Advanced with Latest Inventions
1. A new moth species ‘Elcysma Ziroensis’ has been discovered in the Talle Wildlife Sanctuary, Arunachal Pradesh.
Researchers from Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) have discovered a new species of moth.
The discovery was published in the Journal of Threatened Taxa, an international journal on conservation and taxonomy.
2. China has built 100-meter high world’s largest air purifier, nearly 328 feet tall to combat the deadly pollution in the country.
It is built in Xian in Shaanxi province of Northern China and the preliminary results have shown that smog levels have come down and there is some improvement in the air quality.
3. India has successfully tested Long Range Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile, Agni-5 for its full range from Dr. Abdul Kalam Island, Odisha.
The range of three-stage solid propellant Agni-5 missile is 5,000 kilometers and it can carry a nuclear warhead of more than one ton.
The missile has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
4. The Minister of Power and New and Renewable Energy R K Singh announced setting up of $350 million Solar Development Fund for financing solar projects under the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
Present renewable power capacity of India is currently about 60 GW.
India would achieve the 175-Gigawatt target of installed Renewable Energy capacity well before 2020.
5. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) announced the Cyber Surakshit Bharat initiative in association with National e-Governance Division (NeGD) and industry partners at an inaugural event in Delhi.
It will include an awareness program on the importance of cybersecurity, a series of workshops on best practices.
Cyber Surakshit Bharat is the first public-private partnership of its kind and will leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cybersecurity.
Sports Current Affairs | Read all the Major
Achievements in Popular Tournaments
S. No. | Tournaments/Sports Names | Winners | Pictures |
1. | 8th Sub-junior National Hockey Championship winner | Assam | ![]() |
2. | 106th edition of Grand Slam Australian Open 2018 will be held at | Melbourne, Australia | ![]() |
3. | Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for ICC Cricketer of the Year | Virat Kohli | ![]() |
4. | ICC Test Cricketer of the Year | Steve Smith (Australia) | ![]() |
5. | ICC ODI Cricketer of the Year | Virat Kohli | ![]() |
6. | David Shepherd Trophy for ICC Umpire of the Year | Marais Erasmus | ![]() |
Awards and Honours | Fetch the List of Top
Awardees in Distinct Fields
S. No. | Awards Names | Awardees Names | Pictures |
1. | Janakavi P Sawlaram Award | Actor Sudhir Dalvi | ![]() |
2. | Afghan’s ‘Medal of Bravery’ Award | United States President Donald Trump | ![]() |
3. | Ammannur Madhava ChakyarAward | Actor and playwright Girish Karnad | ![]() |
4. | Film Fair Award 2018 for Best Film | Hindi Medium | ![]() |
5. | Film Fair Award 2018 for Best Actor (Female) | Vidhya Balan (Tumhari Sulu) | ![]() |
6. | Film Fair Award 2018 for Best Actor (Male) | Irfan Khan (Hindi Medium) | ![]() |
7. | Film Fair Award 2018 for Best Director | Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari (Barailly Ki Barfi) | ![]() |
8. | Blind World Cup 2018 Winner | India | ![]() |
Appointments Latest GK Updates | Upgrade
Your Knowledge Cart with the List of Top Influencers
S. No. | Position & Organization | Name | Pictures |
1. | MD and CEO of the Agri-Commodity Bourse NCDEX | Vijay Kumar | ![]() |
2. | First Female Prime Minister of Romania | Viorica Dancila | ![]() |
3. | The 4th edition of the India International Science Festival will be held at | Lucknow | ![]() |
4. | New Chief Election Commissioner | Om Prakash Rawat | ![]() |
5. | New Chairman of Indian School of Business | Harish Manwani | ![]() |
6. | New Director General of National Security Guard (NSG) | IPS Officer Sudeep Lakhtakia | ![]() |
7. | Next Governor of Madhya Pradesh | Anandiben Patel | ![]() |
I
mportant Days & Dates | Mark them to Boost up your General Knowledge
S.No. | Important Days | Dates |
1. | 70th Army Day (Indian Army) | 15 January |
Recent Deaths of Famous Personalities | Know who died today?
S.No. | Names | Pictures |
1. | Raghunath Jha – Former Union Minister | ![]() |
2. | Pt Buddhadev Dasgupta – Sarod Maestro | ![]() |
3. | Gnani Sankaran – Journalist and Writer | ![]() |
4. | W B Rao – Cinematographer | ![]() |
5. | Nandkishore Trikha – Journalist | ![]() |
6. | Charu Rohatgi – Actress | ![]() |
7. | Ava Mukherjee – Actress | ![]() |
8. | Chandi Lahiri – Cartoonist | ![]() |
9. | Kashinath – Kannada Actor, Director, Producer | ![]() |
List of Important Abbreviations asked in General Awareness | IBPS, SSC, RRB Exams
Fill up your knowledge cart with the Important Abbreviations that are asked in General Awareness & Current Affairs section of the competitive exams like – IBPS, SSC & RRB. Below, we are presenting you a list of Top Abbreviations that were used in this article. Please check it out –
S. No. | Important Abbreviations | Full Forms |
1. | WEF | World Economic Forum |
2. | IWDRI | International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure |
3. | NDMA | National Disaster Management Authority |
4. | UNISDR | United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction |
5. | JBLM | Joint Base Lewis-McChord |
6. | HPCL | Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited |
7. | HRRL | HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited |
8. | WFES | World Future Energy Summit |
9. | ISA | International Solar Alliance |
10. | NIOT | National Institute of Ocean Technology |
11. | FTA | Free Trade Agreement |
12. | PIS | Portfolio Investment Scheme |
13. | RBI | Reserve Bank of India |
14. | NRI | Non-resident Indian |
15. | IIST | Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology |
16. | IOC | Indian Oil Corporation |
17. | PBIP | Punjab Bureau of Industrial Promotion |
18. | PEDA | Punjab Energy Development Agency |
19. | MSME | Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises |
20. | DoC | Department of Commerce |
21. | CII | Confederation of Indian Industry |
22. | ICT | Information and communication technology |
23. | NKN | National Knowledge Network |
24. | LEARN | Sri Lanka’s education & research network |
25. | PMJJBY | Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana |
26. | IRFC | Indian Railways Finance Corporation |
27. | GSM | Global Securities Market |
28. | TCS | Tata Consultancy Services |
29. | RIL | Reliance Industries Ltd |
30. | NGO | Non-governmental organization |
31. | BNHS | Bombay Natural History Society |
32. | DRDO | Defence Research and Development Organization |
33. | MeitY | Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology |
34. | NeGD | National e-Governance Division |
35. | ICC | International Cricket Council |
36. | ODI | One Day International |
37. | NSG | National Security Guard |
38. | LIC | Life Insurance Corporation |
39. | UAE | United Arab Emirates |
40. | SAREX | Search and Rescue Exercise |
41. | BSE | Bombay Stock Exchange |
42. | NCDEX | National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange |
To fetch the complete list of Important Abbreviations that are asked in Competitive Exam, please visit the blog – Popular Abbreviations for Competitive Exams: SSC, IBPS, RRB, Govt Jobs.
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