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National Current Affairs | Access the Latest Happenings across India
1. ‘Mission Buniyaad’ launched to improve the Students Learning Skills.
For improving the learning skills of small children from class 3 to 9, Delhi Govt. has launched the “Mission Buniyaad”.
The Primary education of Delhi falls within the space of Municipal Corporations while the Upper primary to Senior Education is offered by Delhi Govt.
The learning program is going to be offered in the MSD Schools for class 3 to 5 students, whereas the class 6 to 9 students skills are going to be furnished in govt. schools of Delhi.
2. Health and Wellness Care Centers inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi
The PM of India Narendra Modi inaugurated the Health and Wellness Care Centre under the Union Government’s ambitious Health Assurance Program- Ayushman Bharat.
The Center was inaugurated on Ambedkar Jayanti at Jangla Development Hub in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh.
PM of India distributed the loan sanction letters to the beneficiaries under the Mudra Scheme of India.
He also interacted with the Rural BPO Employees along with the inauguration of a bank branch at Jangla.
3. Minister of State inaugurates the Solar Lamp Assembly & Distribution Center.
On the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Awardee BR Ambedkar, the Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy Shri R K Singh, inaugurated the Solar Study Lamps at Mahuli village in Arrah for welfare of underprivileged.
The program would be assisted by the Self-Help Group (SHG) women who would assemble the Solar Lamps and distribute them to the needy students who do not have electricity access.
4. The President of India received the first copy of the book ‘Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar – Vyakti Nahin Sankalp
On the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the president of India received the first copy of book ‘Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar- Vyakti Nahin Sankalp’ at Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot and Editor of the Book Kishor Makwana were present in the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
5. Home Expo India 2018 inaugurated by the Union Minister of India.
The Union Minister of Textiles and Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani inaugurated the seventh edition of Home Expo India 2018 at Greater Noida.
The Home Expo is organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) for benefit of more than 650 Indian exporters in displaying the houseware, decorative, furnishing, flooring, textiles and furniture’s accessories.
6. PM of India on 5 days visit to European Countries
The PM of India is visiting the two European Countries Sweden and United Kingdom for 5 days. The mission of the Foreign countries visit is
To attend the Bilateral meetings with Prime Ministers of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland and for India- Nordic Summit and Common Wealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
To address a unique event ‘Bharat Ki Baat, Sabke Saath’ in London.
To participate in the CHOGM program being hosted by the United Kingdom.
7. Choice Based Credit System to be introduced by the Haryana Govt for Students.
The Govt. of Haryana is going to introduce the Choice based Credit System (CBCS) for the betterment of students and decreasing the work load in eleven subjects under graduation level and revise the syllabus.
The subjects under the program are Political Science, Mathematics, Economics, Psychology, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Botany, Zoology, Commerce and Geography.
To make the Choice Based System working they would review the existing syllabus in the Universities of Haryana, University Grant Commission, the neighboring states as well as model states of Haryana.
8. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana launched in Telangana
On the 127th Birth Anniversary of the BR Ambedkar, Union Minister of Natural Gas and Petroleum, Dharmendra Pradhan launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY).
The aim of this program is to provide the deposit free LPG Connections for the domestic cooking purpose.
Till now over 3.5 crore families have been benefited by the scheme and over 20 lakh new connections are going to be provided within 2 years.
9. First regional Conference held in Eastern States on Water Resources.
To address the outstanding water issues of states the first conference of eastern states on Water Resources was held in Kolkata.
The interlinking of the rivers was one of the major issues for this conference.
To find a solution to the intra- basin issues of water resources in the states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal the conference was schemed.
10. Second longest bridge in Odisha opened
Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik has inaugurated the 2nd longest bridge in Odisha in the Sambalpur District.
The bridge is around 2.5 Km long and costs around INR 117.50 crore.
11. Goa to be developed as Cargo hub of India
Goa is going to be promoted by the Central Govt. in the collaboration with the State Govt along with the private partners to become the tourism destination and cargo hub.
Goa is one of the highest tourism destinations in India.
Seeing this Union Minister of Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu has decided to make Mopa Airport operative from September 2020.
Renovation work of around INR 300 crore is being completed at Dabolim Airport and it would be continued to operate along with the Mopa Airport.
12. India & Wiesbaden Conference 2018 took place in New Delhi
Two-day Conference held on at Federation House in New Delhi between India & Wiesbaden on 16 & 17 April.
The host of the Conference was Ministry of External Affairs of India, United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) and Govt. of Germany.
The Conference was held to share the experiences on export control systems for the participants to identify the legal and technical assistance.
13. The Central Govt. of India has shifted the targets to complete the plan of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana from the year 2022 to 2019
As per the Union govt. reports the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is on its way to completion and would achieve the target up to 2019.
The target has been shifted to 2019 as it was decided to complete till the end of 2022.
Till now around five lakhs fifty thousand Kms. of road has been constructed.
14. SAARC regional Summit held in Hyderabad
The proposal is declared for more than 5 lakh govt employees in the State.
15. Government plans to accelerate the district growth by 3%
The Govt. of India has decided to initiate a District plan to accelerate the growth of districts by 3 %.
The Minister of Union Commerce and Industry, Suresh Prabhu stated that the district plan will ensure the 5 trillion dollars target for the Indian economy would become achievable at the National level.
The first six districts included in the program are Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Solan in Himachal Pradesh.
16. First meeting for Poshan Abhiyan held in New Delhi
The first meeting of National Council of India’s Nutrition Challenges held in New Delhi under POSHAN Abhiyaan.
The Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Dr. Rajiv Kumar, CEO Amitabh Kant and representatives of various ministers of the central and State Govt. participated in the program.
The purpose of the meeting was to provide the policy directions to address the nutrition challenges of the country through coordinated Inter Sectoral action.
17. Vice President launched the Cashless Health Scheme
Vice President of India launched the Assam Govt. health scheme named Atal Amrit Abhiyan that would offer free medical care up to INR 2 lakhs for every individual Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty line (APL) too.
The amount of INR 400 crores is decided for the scheme in the financial year 2018-19. Whereas the 92 percent of the population of state would be covered in the scheme having an annual income below 5 lakh rupees.
18. President of India visits to Jammu & Kashmir
President of India Ram Nath Kovind visited the Jammu & Kashmir where he addressed the sixth convocation of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVDU) AT Katra
President met the Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir high Court Mr. Ramalingam Sudhakar, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises and Chairman of Munjal Auto Engineering Limited at the event.
International Current Affairs | Know What’s happening around the World
1. Former PM of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif banned from holding office.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has banned the former PM of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif from holding any public office for life time
The reason for ban is the corruption charges and holding the undeclared source of Income.
2. Road Safety Fund launched by United Nations
Noticing the rise of Road Accidents in India and Canada, the officials of United Nation has launched the Road Safety Funds.
The UN Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed claimed that around 1.3 million drivers, passengers and pedestrians die per year and more than 50 million gets injured in road accidents around the world.
The Road Safety plan would be carried out on five pillars named- Strengthened road safety management capacities, enhanced safety of vehicles, improved safety of road infrastructure and border transport networks, improved behavior of Roads users and improved post – crash care of Global Plan by UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).
As per the UNECE reports USD 51000 would be leveraged for the Road Safety fund whereas each USD 1500 would save one life and prevent 10 serious injuries.
3. India and China would work together on OPEC
India, China, and other Asian Countries are going to work together to voice against the ‘Asian Premium’ being charged by the Organization of the Petroleum Exportin Countries (OPEC).
OPEC is a petroleum selling organization that sells the Petrol and Products to India and other Asian Countries at High Price as compared to the European Countries and America.
The Ministry of Union Petroleum has setup the Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) Chairman Sanjiv Singh to coordinate with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in this project.
OPEC was formed in 1960 and its headquarters is in Vienna, Austria. The member of this organization is Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
4. US Announced Eligibility of India for Generalized System of Preferences(GSP).
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has announced that they would review the eligibility of India, Indonesia, and Kazakhstan for Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
GSP is a process to allow the duty-free entry of the goods and products like Chemicals, gems, textiles etc. to the US market.
5. US and Nigeria to hold the Military Summit in Abuja.
The African Country Nigeria and United States are working on the African Land Forces Summit (ALFS) at the Nigerian Capital Abuja.
The participants of this summit are US Army, NATO allies and Military Leaders and almost every African Country.
6. 50 million Euro humanitarian aid announce by France for Syria.
The President of France Emmanuel Macron has announced to help Syria by donating 61.9 million dollars in Urgent Humanitarian Aid.
The NGOs and U.N agencies are working in Syria and the fund would be contributed to them for helping 13 million people and 6 million children in Syria.
7. Trade Office to be opened by Taiwan in India.
Taiwan is working on the project to open a trade office in New Delhi by next month.
The step is seen as the developing the diplomatic relationship between the countries and to expand the business ties with China.
8. United Nations is going to restrict the movement of Pakistan diplomats
The United States has taken a serious step against Pakistan by restricting the movement of Pakistani Diplomats in Washington and in other cities up-to 40 Kms radii.
The diplomats have to take the permissions before travelling outside of the 40 Km radii within the Country.
9. India- China- Nepal Economic Corridor program proposed by China
China has proposed an India- Nepal- China economic corridor through the Himalayas that comprises of multi- dimensional connectivity.
The proposal was made after the visit of Chinese Officials to the Nepal foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali.
The MoU is signed between the China and Nepal which is based on the multibillion-dollar belt and Road Initiatives (BRI).
10. First Theater opened in Saudi Arabia after 35 years.
The opening of the film theater in Saudi Arabia after a long break of 35 years has been highly foreseen across the country.
Due to the Religious reasons Saudi Arabia theaters were closed, now as the theater has opened the people from Saudi Arabia and other countries watched the film “Black Panther” in the theater.
11. India and Afghanistan bi lateral meet held on drugs.
A bi lateral meeting on the discussion related to the illicit drug trafficking and narcotics issues was held between India and Afghanistan, in New Delhi.
The Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) from India Mr. Abhay and Director of Ministry of Counter Narcotics Mr. Abdul Qayyaom Samer were present in the meeting.
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) | Get the Best Information Out of Top Agreements
1. MoU signed between L& T and BEL for Defense Products
Larsen & Turbo (L&T) and Bharat Electronics India Limited have signed an MoU to cater the needs of the evolving domestic as well as export markets for benefit of the product and systems.
The Program is under the Make in India initiative that would help in the growth of the Defense and Security system of our countr
2. India and World Bank Signed an MoU for Loan agreement
For Meghalaya Community- Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP), India has signed a Loan Agreement of USD 48 million with World Bank.
The Project is based on three components – Strengthening Knowledge and Capacity for Natural Resource Management, Community- led landscape planning and implementation as well as Project Management and Governance.
3. SIDM (India) and GIFAs (France) has signed an MoU for Defense
The Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and Groupement des Industries Francaises Aeronautiques et Spatiales (GIFAS), France has signed an MoU to enhance the sustainable framework and cooperative actions between Indian Defence Industry and French Aerospace Industry
This is a major step for aerospace and defense manufacturing, research and technology, human capital, Engineering Services and System Integration for both the countries.
The Managing director of GIFAS is Pierre Bourlot and Director Gen. of SIDM is Lt Gen Subarta Saha.
4. MoU signed between India and Sweden
India and Sweden have signed MoUs while the visiting of PM Narendra Modi to Stockholm.
The agreements signed between both the countries is as follows-
Agreement on Cooperation in the field of Sustainable and Smart Urban Development.
Agreement on the Cooperation in the fields of Dairy and Animal Husbandry.
Agreement on Food Safety Cooperation.
Agreement on Cooperation in the Agriculture Research and Education.
5. Agreement signed between India and UK in several factors
To promote better Cyber Relationship framework between the countries and to develop the common and better understanding 10 MoUs have been signed between the countries.
The Agreement is based on the rejuvenation of River Ganga under National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMGC) and UK based Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
The Agreement includes the strengthening of the skills by vocational and education training.
An agreement on NITI Aayog and UK’s Departmental of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has also been signed.
The agreement for the betterment in the field of Dairy and Animal Husbandry, Exchange of Information on combating International Criminality and serious organized crime is signed.
6. Agreement signed between India and Eritrea.
India and Eritrea signed an MoU for Foreign Office Consultation in New Delhi.
The MoU would be strengthening the bilateral corporation between the countries in political, commercial, and educational spheres.
Banking Awareness & Economics Current Affairs | Understand the Top Trends in India
1. New Product launched by PNB Bank
The products like Pre- approved credit card and UPI solution launched by the Punjab National Bank on the 124th Foundation day of the bank.
The bank has also announced the UPI Partnership with Walnut, an App embedded with features such as bill reminders, bill split and instant paperless loans.
2. NABARD’s Authorized Capital by Union Govt. up to INR 300 Billion
The Union Govt. of India has increased the Authorized Capital of NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) to 300 billion from INR 50 billion to double the income of farmers by 2022.
NABARD was setup in 1982 for the promotion of sustainable and equitable development of the Rural Areas.
3. Japanese Banks provided INR 3250 Crore funding to the Reliance Jio
An agreement has been signed between the Reliance Jio and Japan based Bank for providing INR 3250 crore loan.
The deal is seen as the largest Samurai Loan with Japan on a very low rate of Interest.
4. India’s GDP Growth at 7.3-7.7 % for 2018-2019 as per the CII Reports
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has declared that the expected Growth Domestic Product (GDP) of India is going to grow at 7.3 % to 7.7 % during 2018-19
The positive sign of India’s GDP growth is seen this year due to the better Market Values, Rural Economy, Agriculture growth, Climatic Conditions for Global Growth of India.
5. Kotak Mahindra Bank became India’s 2nd Valuable Bank beating SBI
Private Bank of India Kotak Mahindra has raised to the 2nd Position in terms of Value. It had also left India’s largest lender bank State Bank of India (SBI).
As per the reports the shares of Kotak Mahindra have grown to 1.7 % with market capitalization of INR 2,22,560.9 crore.
Whereas the Market Capitalization of SBI stood at INR 2,22,043.75 Crores. The shares were 1% down from its previous close.
6. Natural Gas Trading to be setup in India by October
In order to boost the natural gas supply and consumption, Govt. of India is going to setup a Gas Trading Hub / Exchange (GTHE) by October 2018.
A consultant is being invited by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) to develop a regulatory framework for operationalizing the process.
7. YES GST facility launched by the YES Bank
India’s Private Bank YES Bank has launched the YES GST overdraft to benefit the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in India (MSME).
Under this scheme, the YES Bank would enable the MSME Enterprises to make avail the Overdraft up to INR 1crore.
The Facility would be given by noticing the Goods and Service Tax (GST) returns of the Enterprises on the yearly turnover of Goods and Products
8. The Decision for EPFO reversed to allow offline claims of over INR 10 lakhs
The Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has reversed its decision and would accept the provident fund withdrawal claims of over INR 10 lakhs via physical forms.
The rule is applicable for the withdrawals of over INR 5 lakhs under Employees’ Pension Scheme.
9. Minister of Communication launched the DARPAN-PLI App.
Minister of Communication had launched the DARPAN-PLI app for collecting the premium of PLI and RPLI policies at the Post Office Branch anywhere from India. With online updating of the policies
Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for a new India (DARPAN) Project connects the Post Office branches all over India to enable the Online Postal and Financial Transactions.
10. First meeting between the BRICS and Central Bank Officials held.
The first meeting of BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was held in Washington D.C. United States in the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings.
The purpose of the meet was to –
Improve the pipeline projects of the New Development Bank (NDB) across the member Countries, expanding the NDB’s membership and BRICS Bonding Funds.
12. Yes Bank to open offices in London and Singapore.
Private Sector Bank, Yes Bank has approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open the two representative offices in Singapore and London.
Yes Bank also opened its first Office in the Abu Dhabi with the launching of GIFT city in Gandhinagar in April 2015.
Science & Technology Current Events | Stay Advanced with Latest Inventions
1. Fourth and Final Orbit raising operations of IRNSS – 1 carried out by ISRO
The fourth and Final orbit raising operation of IRNSS -1 is successfully carried out by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
IRNSS – 1 is the last and the eighth navigation satellite of India with targeted perigee height of 35, 381 Km and apogee height of 35, 793 Km.
2. NASA is going to launch a washing machine sized spacecraft
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is launched by NASA which is a washing machine sized spacecraft.
The goal of the program to expand the mankind search for planets beyond the solar planet and to scan more than 200000 of the brightest stars for next two years.
TESS is the second phase of the Kepler Spacecraft which is running on low fuel currently and is near to the end of life.
3. Suzlon Commissions 626 MW Wind Power Projects in 2018
The Renewable Solution provider Suzlon has claimed the highest installations of 626 MW of the Wind Power Projects in 2018.
A market share of 35 % is gained by the Suzlon compromising the various challenges faced due to the shift from feed-in- tariff (FIT) to the bidding Regime.
4. China is going to launch the Weather Satellite named Fengyun- 2nd 09
China Space Agencies has announced to launch a new Weather Satellite named Fengyun -2nd 09 this year to make advancement in the Weather Forecasting process.
Fengyun -2nd 09 works in the geostationary orbit and collects the meteorological, maritime and hydrological data.
5. Plastic Eating Enzymes developed by the Scientists
The Scientist of the United States and Britain are working on the project for consumption of Plastic and nearly got succeed. They have discovered an enzyme called ‘PETase’ that can easily digest plastic creating pollution.
The Researchers from US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Britain’s University of Portsmouth were working on this project.
6. India & France jointly to work on Mission Mars & Venus
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and French Space Agency National D’ Etudes Spatiales (CNES) are jointly working on the mission to Mars and Venus.
The joint mission to the planets is a part of the 14 MoUs signed previously between the countries during the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India, including the defense and nuclear project worth INR 1 lakh crore.
7. India & US set up a joint task force on natural gas
US and India have decided to promote the joint task force on natural gas to promote the strategic and economic interest of the two nations.
8. Indian Scientists discovered the medicine to cure dengue
Indian Scientists got success in generating the cure of Incurable Disease Dengue by Ayurvedic Method.
Dengue is the world’s fastest growing mosquito growing disease caused by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito which breeds in the clean water.
The Research has been done by the Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) which works under Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMRs) and Ministry of Ayush.
9. NASA Launched CHESS mission to study matter between stars
The American Space Agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) launched the CHESS 4 (Colorado High Resolution Echelle Stellar Spectrograph) successfully from the Islands of Republic of the Marshall
The mission is to study the interstellar medium (the matter between the stars).
Sports Current Affairs | Read all the Major Achievements in Popular Tournaments
| S.No. | Tournaments/Sports Names | Winners | Pictures |
| 1. | India’s youngest gold medalist | Anish Bhanwala | |
| 2. | Gold Medal in 21st Commonwealth games in Badminton | Saina Nehwal | |
| 3. | India’s 21st Commonwealth games campaign ends with | 66 Medals | |
| 4. | Commonwealth Games Concluding ceremony held at | Gold Coast | |
| 5. | Entered the top 100 list of Tennis Rankings | Yuki Bhambri | |
| 6. | Cricketer Fined for Playing against team | Mohammad Shahzad | |
| 7. | Won the Chinese Grand Prix | Daniel Ricciardo | |
| 8. | Official Mascot for FIBA Basketball World Cup | Son of Dreams | |
| 9. | Federation Cup Junior National Athletics Meet organized by | Tamil Nadu Athletics Association (TNAA) | |
| 10. | Game to be excluded by the Birmingham Organizing Committee of CWG | Shooting |
Awards and Honours | Fetch the List of Top Awardees in Distinct Fields
| S.No. | Awards Names | Awardees Names | Pictures |
| 1. | Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement Award | Dharmendra | |
| 2. | Raj Kapoor Special Contribution Awards | Raj Kumar Hirani | |
| 3. | Highest Paying City for Talent | Bengaluru | |
| 4. | BAFTA Special Awards | Game of Thrones | |
| 5. | 10th Rank in Commonwealth Innovation Index | India | |
| 6. | India’s First District with complete LED Lightning. | East Godavari | |
| 7. | Banco Award for the best cooperative performing Bank | Bhuj Mercantile Coop Bank | |
| 8. | Pulitzer Prize for Public Service | New York Times and The New Yorker | |
| 9. | Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the Best Leading Lady | Aditi Rao Hydari. | |
| 10. | Pulitzer Prize for Fiction | Andrew Sean Greer | |
| 11. | Won Elections in UN Subsidiary | India | |
| 12. | First rapper to win the Pulitzer Prize | Kendrick Lamar | |
| 13. | India Talent Management Award 2018 | Rana Kapoor | |
| 14. | India’s most Trusted Bank | SBI Bank |
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