General studies

ExamisMake Exam Easier

Last Six months current affairs only prepare for you

Highlights of December current affairs 2015

December 2015 one liner for exam

 8th edition of Indo-Russia Bilateral Naval Exercise (INDRA NAVY- 15) held at Visakhapatanam.

 20th Avadh Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships 2015, Indian Mens' team claim Gold and Womens' team won Silver medal.

 4,030 People of Chengannur (a villiage in Kerala) have set a new Guinness World Record by forming the Largest Human ? Christmas? Tree.

 5-time world champion MC Mary Kom wins bronze in International Boxing Association's Olympic Test event,Rio de Janeiro.

 A Parliamentary panel has suggested the Central government to increase the strength of women personnel in the Delhi Police force to 33% from the existing 9.27%.

 All central government ministries and their Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) were told to dispense with the requirement of interviews for selections at junior level posts within next two days, however, they may continue with skill or physical test.

 All England and World champion Carolina Marin beats India ace Saina Nehwal to win the Female Player of the Year award from BWF president Poul-Erik Hoyer in Dubai.

 American professional tennis player Serena Williams was honored as SI's Sportsperson of the Year 2015  Andhra Pradesh became the first state of India to join the Union Government’s Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY).

 Australia has won the 2014-15 Men’s Hockey World League Final by defeating Belgium.  Bombay High Court has acquitted bollywood actor Salman Khan in the 2002 hitand-run case, and quashed his conviction and 5-year sentence.

 Brazil has entered longest recession since 1930s. BSNL slashes mobile rates by up to 80% for the first two months under a scheme for new customers.

 BWF Superseries Finals 2015 Men's Singles Winner - Kento Momota (Japan), Women's Singles Winner - Nozomi Okuhara (Japan).

 China has hosted 1st BRICS media summit at Beijing.

 China officially abandoned its controversial one child policy, allowing couples to have a second child amid deepening demographic crisis of shrinking workforce and ageing population in the world's second largest economy.

 China successfully launched its “most sophisticated” observation satellite, Gaofen- 4, as part of the country’s high-definition earth observation project.

 China's first manned electric aircraft has been given a licence for production.

 Delhi Govt decides that from 1st of Jan 2016, private vehicles with odd number plates & even number plates are to allowed on alternate days only.

 Delhi recorded its most polluted day of the year on 23rd December 2015. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Islamabad to attend Heart of Asia Conference.

 Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have announced that they will give away 99% of their shares in the company to good causes as they announced the birth of their daughter Max.

 For the first time women of Saudi Arabia are allowed to vote and contest polls in the kingdom.

 Former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has been awarded honorary life membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in recognition of his "stellar career".

 German Chancellor Angela Merkel was named as Time Magazine Person of the Year 2015.

 Giving a boost to women empowerment, Sikkim government is set to have one all-women Police Station each in all the four districts.

 Goa has been featured in the lists of top 10 Best Winter Locations of World.

 Haryana Government has decided to fix a minimum educational qualification for aspirant of contesting Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections by amending state's Municipal Corporation Act.

 Health Minister J P Nadda announced 4 new IT-based initiatives for citizen-centric health services. [Kilkari, Mobile Academy, RNTCP and MCessation]

 In a sign of increasing trustworthiness, US has updated Gas-turbine technology transfer policy with India.

 In it's 5th Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy review, the Reserve Bank kept the key policy rates unchanged.

 In order to encourage innovators in India in the area of Payment and Settlement System, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced

“Payment System Innovation Awards”.

 India’s largest lender State Bank of India is going to issue EMV chip and pin based debit cards to its new customers to ensure enhanced secure transactions.

 India’s second lunar probe Chandrayaan II will land on moon in 2017 and the country’s first solar mission Aditya L1 is likely to be launched in 2019.

 Indian Batsman Ajinkya Rahane becomes fifth Indian batsman to score centuries in both innings of a Test match.  The United States has lifted a 40-year-old ban on export of Oil.

 The US Federal Reserve has raised interest rates by 0.25 percent, its first increase since 2006.

Current Affairs Jan 2016

1. 45 Indians and Indian-origin people made it to the Forbes 5th Annual List of 30 under 30.

2. A 11-year-old Indian-origin girl Kashmea Wahi, has achieved the top possible score of 162 on a IQ test of Mensa, becoming one of the youngest brainiest students in the country.

3. A 24-year-old referee from Dindigul (Tamil Nadu), Rupa Devi has qualified to officiate international football matches conducted by FIFA.

4. A cafeteria, which serves food prepared by the inmates of Poojappura Central Prison, has been opened in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

5. A friendship bus service between India and Nepal via Champawat in Uttarakhand resumed after a gap of 27 years.

6. A Joint Exercise named SAHYOG-KAIJIN-XV was conducted in the Bay of Bengal Off Chennai between Indian and Japan Coast Guard.

7. A new Social Security Agreement signed between India and Australia has come into operation enabling people of both nations to avail retirement benefits in each other's country, a pact likely to boost bilateral business linkages.

8. A survey conducted by American media company US News and World Report has named Denmark as the best country in the world for women to live in.

9. A two-wheeler taxi service, 'Bikxie Pink', for women has been launched in Gurgaon that is completely run by women.

10. A US-based startup has developed a smart wallet 'Walli' priced under $100, that notifies the user of its location and contents.

11. According to a report published in The Lancet journal, India witnessed the highest number of stillbirths in the world in the year 2015.

12. According to a survey conducted by American media company US

News and World Report, Denmark is the best country in the world for women to live in.

13. According to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the year 2015 was the Earth's warmest year in terms of average temperature in 136 years.

14. According to SocialCops analysis, India has 10.1 million child workers as of Census 2011.

15. According to the new rule imposed by Indian Railways, any individual will not be able to book more than six tickets online in a month from IRCTC website from his/her user ID.

16. According to the Press Information Bureau's recent report, India moved

13 positions ahead from 65th to 52nd rank in Tourism & Travel competitive index. Spain topped the list.

17. After 400 years of prohibition, the Parsuram temple in Uttrakhand’s Jaunsar Bawar area has allowed entry to Dalits and women.

18. Ajit Chandila of Rajasthan Royals and Hiken Shah of Mumbai have been handed a lifetime ban and a five-year ban respectively for their roles in the IPL spot-fixing scam.

19. Ambagarh Chowki, a tribal dominated naxal-hit block has become Chhattisgarh's first open defecation-free development block.

20. An annotated edition of Adolf Hitler's “Mein Kampf” has gone on sale in Germany.

21. An Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Aparna Kumar, has successfully scaled the 17000-ft high Mount Vinson Massif, which is the highest peak in the Antarctic sub-continent.

22. Angelique Kerber has won Australian Open women's singles title and her first Grand Slam by beating Serena Williams.

23. Arunima Sinha, the amputee mountaineer who set a record by climbing the Mount Everest, has added another feather in her cap by conquering Mount Aconcagua (highest mountain outside Asia, at 6,960.8 metres) in Argentina.

24. As per the Global Human Development Report (HDR) 2015 by UN Development Programme (UNDP), Sri Lanka has stood at the top position in terms of human development.

25. As per the new Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, Selling cigarette or chewable tobacco to those under the age of 18 will result in a maximum jail term of up to seven years and also carry a fine of a Rs 1 lakh.

26. As per the World Bank report, Indian Government has succeeded in saving one billion US Dollars (Rs 650 crore approx) per annum with the help of its Aadhaar ID which curbs corruption to a great extent.

27. Asia's oldest stock exchange, Bombay Stock Exchange had recently become the world's fastest stock exchange clocking a median trade speed of six micro seconds.

28. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has unveiled the bronze statue of great Ahom General Lachit Borphukan and his soldiers on the river Brahmaputra in Guwahati.

29. Australia's opening batsman David Warner has won the All Border Medal and also the Test Player of the Year honours.

30. Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has joined hands with the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) to develop a battery for passenger cars using technology which is in use to make batteries for space vehicles.

31. Batsman Hamilton Masakadza has been appointed Zimbabwe's new cricket captain, replacing Elton Chigumbura who resigned on the recent tour of Bangladesh.

32. Beverage giant Coca-Cola has announced that it will launch milk-based beverages under the brand name 'Vio' starting January 26.

33. Bihar government has announced 35% reservation to women in government jobs in the state at all levels.

34. Bihar govt has decided to impose 13.5% tax on luxury items to mop up additional revenue for carrying development work.

35. BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha’s biography, “Anything But Khamosh” was released.

36. Brazilian Football Legend, Ronaldinho has been named as the ambassador of the Nagjee International Club Football tournament to be played in Kozhikode, Kerala

37. Canada's newly elected government, led by PM Justin Trudeau, has introduced a bill to change certain words from Canada's national anthem for recognising women's contribution in nation building.

38. Chandigarh Municipal Corporation has announced plans to introduce mobile toilet vans that will be stationed in areas that do not have public toilets.

39. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R. K. Dhowan has commissioned INS Kadmatt, India's second Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette (ASWC) at Visakhapatnam.

40. China and Iran have signed 17 documents & letters of intents to broaden bilateral cooperation.

41. China has allowed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and 5 other international financial institutions to participate in the country’s inter-bank foreign exchange market.

42. China has created three new military bodies as part of reforms to modernize its military and improve its fighting capacity. They are, General command for the People's Liberation Army, Missile force and Strategic support force.

43. China is planning to develop an "exascale" supercomputer that will be capable of performing more than a billion billion calculations per second.

44. China’s country code domain ‘.cn’ has become the world’s most commonly used in the internet, surpassing Germany’s ‘.de’ domain.

45. China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in which India and 56 countries have joined as founding members was opened at Beijing on 16th January 2016 by President Xi Jinping.

46. Chris Gayle equalled the record for fastest fifty in T20s as he scored his half- century off 12 balls, thus sharing the record with Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh.

47. Danish kayaker Rene Holten Poulsen was named the Denmark’s sportsperson of the year 2015.

48. Deborah Herold from Andamans created history by becoming the first Indian to qualify for the Track Cycling World Championships to be held in London in March.

49. Delhi Acers were crowned the champions of the inaugural edition of the Premier Badminton League after they defeated the Mumbai Rockets.

50. Delhi Government has constituted a commission of inquiry headed by Dinesh Dayal (Retired District Judge), to probe into the complaints of crime against women in the national capital since February 2013.

51. Deposits in accounts opened under the government's flagship financial inclusion programme Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) have crossed the Rs 30,000 crore mark.

52. English professional snooker player, Ronnie O'Sullivan won his sixth Snooker Masters title by beating Barry Hawkins in the final at the Alexandra Palace.

53. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Israel and Palestine on 17th and 18th January 2016 to further build on the goodwill generated by the trip of President Pranab Mukherjee to the two West Asian nations three months back.

54. Facebook has launched Audience Optimization, a tool that could help publishers in targeting appropriate audiences and better understand their interests.

55. Following a ruling by the Supreme Court, helmets were made compulsory for pillion (a seat for a passenger behind a motorcyclist) riders in Bengaluru.

56. Following the Pathankot attack, laser walls will soon be used to cover over 40 unfenced areas along the India-Pakistan border as the Home Ministry has made this a top priority to prevent entry of terrorists.

57. For the first time in Haryana, the sex ratio at birth has crossed the 900 mark with 903 girls per 1,000 boys as per records for December 2015.

58. For the first time in the history of India, a strong contingent of French Army marched down the Rajpath on Republic Day along with Indian troops.

59. For the first time, China has launched an online system to check the “authenticity” of top Tibetan Buddhist monks, amid growing incidents of fraud involving religious leaders.

60. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Food Processing sector is likely to go up by at least 25% as FSSAI streamlines regulations to ease product approvals.

61. Former Australian MP, Pat Farmer, who is also an ultra-marathon runner, has set out on marathon 'The Spirit of India Run' covering 4600 km in 60 days.

62. Former Manchester United central defender Nemanja Vidic announced his retirement from professional football.

63. Former World No.1 tennis player Marat Safin of Russia has joined the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

64. Former world number one Victoria Azarenka won her first title since 2013 by beating Angelique Kerber in the Brisbane International final.

65. French President France Francois Hollande is the Chief Guest of this year's Republic Day celebrations 2016.

66. Google, in partnership with Indian Railways, launched its first free high-speed public WiFi service in the country at the Mumbai Central Railway Station.

67. Government decides to jump from Bharat Stage-4 to Bharat Stage-6 from 1st April, 2020 to curb vehicular pollution.

68. Government set up a high-powered panel headed by P K Sinha (Cabinet Secretary) to process the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission which will have bearing on the remuneration of 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners.

69. Hari Nef, the 23-year-old transgender actor and model has became the first transgender model to be signed by top modelling agency.

70. In a major breakthrough for artificial intelligence, a computer program has for the first time defeated a professional player in the ancient Chinese board game of ‘Go’.

71. In Australian Open Johanna Konta becomes first British woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final in the last 32 years.

72. In collaboration with the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, the Gujarat government is ready to set up a 750 MW solar park in the Banaskantha district.

73. In order to boost entrepreneurship, the Cabinet has approved 'Stand Up India' scheme to promote entrepreneurship among Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and Women Entrepreneurs.

74. In the list for the 25 worst internet passwords of 2015 by software security firm SplashData, '123456' retained its top position for the third consecutive year.

75. India and Bahrain signed an agreement on the transfer of convicted persons and vowed to enhance bilateral relations in areas like counter-terrorism, and trade and commerce.

76. India has been ranked at 76th position in public sector corruption out of 168 countries in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2015, improving its slot from 85 in 2014 and 94 in 2013.

77. India has emerged as one of the five most promising markets for businesses globally.

78. India has overtaken Thailand as the world’s largest rice exporter in the year 2015 by shipping (exporting) 10.23 million tonnes of rice.

79. India has slipped from 78th to 89th Rank on an annual Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTC).

80. India has won the T20 Blind Asia Cup 2016 by defeating Pakistan.

81. India hs agreed to supply 300 MW of electricity to energy-starved Nepal in the next one-and- a-half year as the two sides decided to expedite construction of cross-border transmission lines and boost bilateral cooperation including in power trade.

82. India is planning to set up a National Water Informatics Centre in Delhi as part of its flood forecasting systems, by collaborating with France.

83. India ranks first in business optimism, according to Grant Thornton International Business Report, a quarterly global survey of 2,580 business leaders across 36 nations.

84. India signed a $250 million loan agreement with the World Bank for Bihar Kosi Basin Development project, aimed at enhancing resilience to floods and increase agriculture productivity. 85. India was ranked 22nd on an inaugural list of the world's best countries. This list was topped by Germany.

86. India was ranked number one in the latest Test rankings released by the ICC following South Africa's seven-wicket defeat against England.

87. India will be the fastest growing big economy in the world in 2016, a United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects 2016 report announced.

88. India will hold Exercise Force Eighteen, one of the largest multi-national military exercises from March 2 to 8 in Pune as a part of its Look East policy.

89. India’s first blind-friendly train, from Mysuru to Varanasi, made its maiden journey.

90. India’s first radio taxi service for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community, Wings Rainbow started working.

91. India’s indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash missile was successfully test fired by Indian Air Force personnel, from the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur (Odisha).

92. Indian batsman Virat Kohli, while playing against Australia in the third ODI, became the fastest cricketer to score 7,000 runs in the limited overs format.

93. Indian Oil Corporation is the only Asian company that was offered a term contract by Nigeria for selling crude oil.

94. Indian rifle shooter Abhinav Bindra was honoured with the International Shooting Sport Federation President's Button and Diploma of Honour, the highest honour of the sporting body.

95. Indian Shooter Apurvi Chandela emerges as the 'Shooter of the Tournament' in Swedish Cup Grand Prix.

96. Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis beat seventh seeded Czech combination of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka to win Australian Open women's doubles title.

97. India's Ace Shuttler, PV Sindhu has won the Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold Badminton title 2016.

98. India's Apurvi Chandela sets a new world record by clinching Gold medal in women's 10 metre air rifle at Swedish Cup Grand Prix.

99. India's diaspora population is the highest in the world with 16 million people from India living outside their country in 2015, according to a recent UN survey on international migrant trends.

100. India's Siril Verma climbed up a whopping 11 places to occupy the Number One spot in junior men's singles category in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings.

101. India's Srikanth Kidambi won his first Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold after defeating China's Huang Yuxiang in the final match in Lucknow.

102. India's top pistol shooter Heena Sidhu claimed Gold medal in women's 10-meter air pistol event at the Asia Olympic Qualifiers.

103. Indo-French military exercise 'Shakti-2016' held at the Mahajan field firing range in Bikaner, Rajasan.

104. Italy's Ostana town recently witnessed the first birth of a baby in the past 28 years.

105. Japan unveiled country’s first stealth fighter aircraft X-2.

106. Japan's Izumo Takuto and Hong Kong's Zhu Chengzhu became champions in the boys' and girls' categories, respectively, in the 11Even Sports 2015 ITTF World Junior Circuit Finals.

107. Jitendra Kumar Soni, collector of the Jalore district, Rajasthan, has started a scheme, 'Charan Paduka Yojna'.

108. Karnataka’s Malpe beach became India's first beach to provide free 24/7 WiFi service to visitors (this facility was launched by BSNL).

109. Kerala becomes the first state in the country to attain complete primary education.

110. Kerala government has decided to launch 'Gender Taxi (G-Taxi)', a taxi service owned and operated by transgenders.

111. Khesari Dal, widely known as the poor man's dal has received clearance for consumption from the Indian Council of Medical Research after a 55-year- long ban.

112. Lionel Messi has won the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’ Or Award after beating of the challenge from Ronaldo and Neymar. It was Messi’s record breaking 5th Ballon d’Or Award

113. London Based marathon Runner, Fauja Singh set a milestone as he took part in the 2016 Mumbai Marathon at the age of

104. 114. Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered officials to impose ban on polythene in entire state from January 2017.

115. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis unveiled “Laman Diva” as the logo of the first Make in India Week (will be held from 13th to 18th February 2016).

116. Maharashtra will be the first state in the country where women employees in government jobs can avail up to 180 days’ maternity leave while having a baby through surrogacy.

117. Maharashtra-based RBL Bank has launched a new platform called 'India Startup Club' (ISC) to provide all-around banking services to emerging entrepreneurs.

118. Mesut Ozil has been named Germany national team player of the year for 2015.

119. Microsoft Founder Bill Gates is the World's wealthiest man with a net worth of $87.4 billion, according to Wealth-X.

120. Mumbai school cricketer Pranav Dhanawade became the first player to score 1000 runs in a single innings.

121. Mumbai-based TranServ has launched India's first social mobile wallet called Udio.

122. NASA launched SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Jason 3 ocean monitoring satellite from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base in the USA.

123. NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover has completed 12 years on the red planet.

124. National Bravery Awards for the year 2015 were given to 25 Children (22 boys & 3 girls).

125. Nearly 12 years after it was set up to improve engagement with the Indian diaspora, the government has decided to merge the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) with the External Affairs Ministry in sync with its broad principle of minimum government, maximum governance.

126. Nepal has been elected to the Unicef executive board, representing the group of Asia-Pacific countries for the term 2016-2018.

127. Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will in February embark on his first foreign visit post-assumption of office to India.

128. New Zealand has won the three-match T20I series against Pakistan. 129. North Korea claimed that it has successfully tested hydrogen bomb.

130. NOTA (None of the Above) option is being introduced for the first time in rural local body polls. 131. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has won the 26th Lal Bahadur Shastri hockey tournament by beating Indian Railways.

132. Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has announced that the public sector oil firms IOC, BPCL, HPCL, and EIL will invest ₹1.5 lakh crore to set up India's largest refinery in Maharashtra.

133. 'Operation Dhangu' was the codename given to the mission to eliminate the terrorists from the Pathankot airbase after heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists stormed the Air Force base, triggering a fiece gunbattle in which 7 security men were martyred and all the 6 infiltrators were gunned down.

134. Pakistan has successfully test-fired the Ra'ad air-launched cruise missile with a range of 350 km

135. Pakistan’s discarded Test opening batsman Imran Farhat announced his retirement from international cricket in a bid to appear in the Masters Champions League (MCL).

136. Pakistani singer Adnan Sami officially granted Indian citizenship by the govt.

137. Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry launches nationwide LPG emergency helpline number 1906 for leakage complaints.

138. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released a book titled "Maru Bharat Saru Bharat" (My India Noble India) written by Jain Acharya Ratnasundersuriswarji Maharaj through video conference.

139. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released the autobiography of the promoter of Essel/ Zee Group Subhash Chandra, titled The Z Factor: My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time in New Delhi.

140. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Guest of the Airtel-ET Global Business Summit (GBS) which was held during 29th and 30th January 2016.

141. Private sector lender ICICI Bank has recently announced that it has entered South Africa by opening a full service branch at Sandton in Johannesburg.

142. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has ordered ban on manufacture of food products containing tobacco or nicotine like ‘gutkha’ and ‘pan masala’ in the State with immediate effect.

143. Punjab's Education Minister Dr. Daljit Singh Cheema has announced that the state government is planning to initiate the teaching of the Punjabi language online.

144. Qatar's first homegrown supercar called Elibreia was unveiled at the Qatar Motor Show 2016 in Doha.

145. RIKEN group, a Japanese team led by Kosuke Morita, has received official credit for the discovery of element 113, making the group the first in Asia to have its accomplishments enshrined in the periodic table.

146. Russia’s Ivan Popov has won the 14th Delhi International Open chess title.

147. Sahara Force India Academy racer Jehan Daruvala has won one of New Zealand’s most prestigious events, the Lady Wigram Trophy.

148. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis clinched their 2nd title of 2016 by defeating Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic in the final of Sydney International.

149. Sania Mirza-Martina Hingis pair won Brisbane International women's doubles title.

150. Scientists at Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) in Hisar claimed to have successfully produced a cloned buffalo offspring 'Cirb Gaurav'.

151. Sikkim has become India's first fully organic state by converting around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land into sustainable cultivation.

152. South Africa captain Hashim Amla resigned as immediately after his side drew the second Test against England. AB de Villiers is the new captain.

153. South Korea has introduced tougher norms for passengers who disturb pilots, wherein a possible five-year imprisonment and a fine of up to $42,000 will be levied.

154. Sri Lanka embarked on the exercise of making a new Constitution for the country by resolving to convert the current Parliament into a Constitutional Assembly.

155. Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland clinches third consecutive Chennai Open tennis title by beating Borna Coric of Croatia.

156. State Bank of India (SBI) has announced the launch of ‘SBI e-Smart SME’ to provide easy working capital to e-commerce players.

157. State-owned power equipment maker BHEL has commissioned two substations in Afghanistan, expanding its footprint in the strife-torn nation.

158. State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has received a clearance from the Environment Ministry for a ₹53,000 crore project in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna-Godavari basin.

159. Swiss legend Roger Federer has became the first male tennis player to win 300 Grand Slam matches.

160. Switzerland is set to vote on a proposal in which every citizen would be paid 2,500 Swiss Francs (almost ₹1,66,000) per month regardless of whether the citizen is working or not.

161. Syrian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Walid Al Moualem, was on a four-day visit to India.

162. Taking yet another step to put India in the company of select nations which have their own navigation systems, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully placed in orbit IRNSS-1E, the fifth of the seven satellites that would form a constellation of navigation satellite network.

163. Telangana became the first State in the country where electronic motor insurance policies were legally accepted by police and transport departments with the launch of e-Vahan Bima.

164. Telangana has become the first State to introduce compulsory gender education at the graduate level; without repeating gender stereotypes in its bilingual textbook titled, ‘Towards a World of Equals.’

165. Temba Bavuma became the first black South African to make a test century against England.

166. The 4th Edition of India Africa Hydrocarbons Conference (IAHC) was held in New Delhi.

167. The Andhra Pradesh endowments department has decided to introduce a novel scheme, "Bhaktuni Chentaku Bhagvantudu" (God visiting the devotee), from the Telugu new year Ugadi.

168. The Andhra Pradesh Government has launched Giriputrika Kalyana Pathakam Scheme to support the tribal women in their quest for livelihood.

169. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed an $80million loan agreement to continue improving infrastructure in two North Eastern State Capital cities Agartala and Aizwal.

170. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has announced that it would introduce negative interest rates from next month.

171. The blanket ban on polythene bags in Uttar Pradesh began from January 21st and there will be complete ban on the manufacture, import, purchase and storage of all kinds of plastic bags.

172. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will soon deploy about 300 women commandos for undertaking operations in some of the states affected by Naxal extremism.

173. The Centre constituted a one-man judicial commission headed by Ashok Kumar Roopanwal (Retired HC judge), to probe the death of a Dalit scholar of HCU, Hyderabad, Rohith Vemula.

174. The Customs Department has launched a mobile app named 'Indian Customs-Guide to Travellers' to inform people about the Custom rules.

175. The decision to abolish interviews for Class-III and IV government jobs came into effect from 1st January 2016.

176. The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has successfully test fired the new Penetration-Cum Blast (PCB) and Thermobaric (TB) Ammunition tank at Chandipur, Odisha. 177. The Department of Posts (DoP) is planning to open 1,000 ATMs and bring all 25,000 departmental post offices under Core Banking System (CBS) by March this year.

178. The first satellite of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Space Data Highway project has blasted off to space aboard a Proton rocket from Kazakhstan.

179. The governing body of the Oscars has announced to make changes in its voting requirements, recruiting process and governing structure, to increase the racial diversity in Academy Awards.

180. The government decided to extend the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ scheme to 61 more districts this year to improve the skewed child sex ratio.

181. The government has reduced export duty on iron ore pellets to zero from 5 percent, a move that will make the commodity more competitive amid subdued demand and weakening prices.

182. The Government of India signed a loan agreement with World Bank for the Neeranchal National Watershed Project.

183. The government will present the Budget for 2016-17 on February 29, which will set a roadmap for the coming three years.

184. The HRD Ministry has formed a 12-member committee headed by Professor HR Nagendra, in order to set up Yogic Art and Science departments in all universities across the country.

185. The Indian Army asked civilians to avoid wearing "Army-pattern" dresses and shopkeepers to refrain from selling combat clothes, as it issued fresh guidelines to the public to prevent terror attacks.

186. The Indian team has won the 2015 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) championship for the seventh time.

187. The Indian women's cricket team defeated Australia in the 2nd T20I by 10 wickets and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.

188. The Justice RV Easwar led Committee on simplification of Income Tax laws has recommended a 5% reduction of Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) rates for individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUF).

189. The Juvenile Justice Act, which allows children aged 16 to 18 years and in conflict with law to be tried as adults in cases of heinous offences, came into effect.

190. The Kerala Cabinet has decided to implement the ‘Sampoorna Arogya Keralam’ project announced in the 2015-16 State budget.

191. The LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) has launched a new Limited Premium, non-linked, with profit Endowment Plan called LIC Jeevan Labh.

192. The Madhya Pradesh government has inked a pact with International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, to set up the world's largest single-site solar energy plant.

193. The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation, in association with Pawan Hans, will soon begin helicopter tours to tourist attractions in and around Mumbai.

194. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) declared that its spacecraft Juno has broken the Solar Power Distance Record.

195. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC) for web-based monitoring of watershed projects.

196. The Nepal government has approved the construction plan for the country’s second international airport at Nijgadh in Bara district.

197. The Parliament canteen started working on No -profit, No-loss basis from 1st January 2016.

198. The Pin Code Week was celebrated in India from 15th to 21st January 2016 to distribute the message about pin code importance.

199. The Pune IPL franchise, owned by Sanjiv Goenka, have chosen the name 'Rising Pune Supergiants' for the team. This team will be lead by Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

200. The Punjab government has launched the state's biggest employment drive with an offer of 1,13,766 government jobs to its youth within a year.

201. The RBI has amended the Gold Monetization Scheme (GMS) to permit proprietorship and partnership firms to make gold deposits under a joint deposit account in the name of the depositors.

202. The RBI has increased the Ways and Means Advances (WMAs) for all states to ₹32,225 crore per year compared to the earlier ₹15,360 allotted for the current and the next financial year.

203. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it will soon introduce new currency notes of denominations 500 and 100 of the Mahatma Gandhi Series 2005 with additional security features.

204. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sought an additional ₹26,000 crore from the government by 2018 for capital infusion into Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) banks for implementing Basel-III norms in the banks.

205. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposes a penalty of 1 crore rupees on an SBI associate bank, State Bank of Travancore (SBT), for violation of some of its instructions.

206. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed norms for the units of banks operating from International Financial Services Centres (IFSC) and permitted them to open foreign currency current accounts.

207. The second volume of memoirs of President Pranabh Mukherjee titled “The Turbulent Years: 1980-1996” was released.

208. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) panel on Alternative Investment Funds(AIFs) has proposed creating a favourable tax environment for investors, tweaking of safe harbour rules, unlocking domestic pools of capital, enabling onshore fund management in India and reforming the AIF regulatory regime.

209. The Supreme Court has issued an order stating that the husband will not have any right on the property of his wife if she dies under suspicious circumstances within seven years of marriage.

210. The union cabinet approved the crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to boost the farming sector and ensure farmers' welfare.

211. The Union Cabinet has approved Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and United Kingdom for Cooperation in the field Public Administration and Governance Reforms.

212. The Union Cabinet has been approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Department of Space / Indian Space Research Organization (DOS/ISRO) and Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research (KISR) on cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.

213. The Union Cabinet thas given its approval for India becoming a member country of the International Energy Agency - Ocean Energy Systems (IEA- OES) by signing the Implementing Agreement (IA).

214. The union government has granted infrastructure status to the shipyard industry in a bid to ease its financial stress.

215. The Union Government has launched Ganga Gram Yojana to develop 1600 villages in Uttar Pradesh (UP) situated along the banks of Ganga River.

216. The Union Government sanctioned 33000 crore for the development of infrastructure projects in Tamilnadu

217. The United States has approved the sale of almost two billion US dollar worth of bombs and missiles to equip Iraq's squadron of F-16 attack jets in their battle against ISIS.

218. The United States has notified massive increase in fees in certain categories of the popular H-1B and L-1 visas which would mainly hit Indian IT companies.

219. The Uttar Pradesh government signed an agreement with the Union Ministry to take over 75% of loan liabilities of five state owned power distribution companies(DISCOMs) in the state, amounting to around 39,990 crore.

220. The Uttar Pradesh Tourism Department has announced that it will celebrate February 14 as State Tourism Day. 221. The World Bank has agreeded to give a loan of USD 50 million for Nai Manzil Education and Skills Training for minorities.

222. The World Bank has extended an assistance of $20 million for the reconstruction and eco-development of the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park in Vishakhapatnam.

223. The World Bank has projected a robust 7.8% growth for the Indian economy in the current year.

224. The World Health Organization has formally announced the end of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, joining Sierra Leone and Guinea — the epicenters of the latest outbreak — as Ebola-free.

225. The world powers lifted economic sanctions against Iran after it had agreed to impose curbs on its nuclear programme in July.

226. To meet the Basel III norms, the State Bank of India (SBI) proposed to raise up to ₹15,000 crore from various means, including public offer and overseas issuance of shares, in the next 14 months.

227. To put an end to recent controversies surrounding the Censor Board, the Centre has set up a Committee headed by Shyam Benegal (noted film-maker), to work out a revamp plan and submit its report within two months.

228. Two Australians, Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski have designed a device called 'Seabin' with an aim to clean up the ocean trash.

229. Union Government has constituted a committee headed by Arvind Panagariya (vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog) to fast track the Mumbai- Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor, meant for connecting two cities with bullet trains.

230. Union Government has launched a skill development scheme named "Nai Manzil" for girls belonging to the minority communities in the country.

231. United States and Jordan have signed a Joint Action Plan (JAP) to improve efforts against nuclear and radiological smuggling.

232. Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav launched a dedicated helpline for journalists with number 1880. 233. Uttar Pradesh won its maiden Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a 38 run win over two time champions Baroda in the final played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

234. Vice President Hamid Ansari with Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy released a book titled "Jawaharlal Nehru and Indian Polity in Perspective" edited by former DGP P J Alexander, in Thiruvananthapuram.

235. Vice President of India Mohd Hamid Ansari has embarked on a two- nation tour to Brunei Darussalam and Thailand from 1st February 2016.

236. VVS Laxman's knock of 281 against Australia in Eden Gardens in 2001 has been rated as the greatest Test performance of the last 50 years.

237. Wipro Ltd chairman Azim Premji has named as the 'Most Generous Indian' in the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2015.

238. With a total number of 2,33,635 passengers traveling through its station everyday, the Dombivli station has became the most crowded cum fare generating station in the Mumbai suburban Railway network.

239. With all the trustees agreeing to the proposal of depositing the idle gold of the temple, the Somnath Temple Trust of Gujarat will become the first temple in the State to deposit in the Gold Monetisation Scheme.

240. With the help of computer, Scientists of Central Missouri (headed by Curtis Cooper) have discovered the largest prime number 2^74,207,281 – 1.

241. With the Rio Olympics round the corner, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has signed a two-year commercial and marketing deal with Infinity Optimal Solutions (IOS) to the tune of about Rs. 12 crore.

242. World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan has announced that the Zika virus has been spreading explosively.

243. World number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray to clinch his sixth Australian Open (Men's sgles) title.

244. World Number one pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis equaled the world record of winning 28 consecutive matches, which was set by Puerto Rican-Belarusian duo of Gigi-Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva in 1994.

Feb 2016 Current Affairs

1. 12th South Asian Games began in Guwahati on 5th February 2016.

2. 50% of government jobs in Assam will be reserved for women, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi recently announced.

3. A 12-member team of the Indian Army was participated in the “Cobra Gold” multilateral exercises, which was hosted by Thailand, along with its counterparts from China and Pakistan.

4. A 404.2 carat diamond, the world's 27th largest diamond, worth around $20 million was discovered in Africa. It is by far the biggest diamond found in the region.

5. A report by the Central Electricity Authority has stated that power generation in India grew by 6% in January 2016

6. According to a recently released United Nation's report, India has been named the third most disaster-hit nation in 2015.

7. According to a report by Delhi government, breathing the air of the national capital has adverse effects on lungs which are worse than smoking cigarettes.

8. According to a report by Greenpeace, Air pollution in India is higher than that of China.

9. According to recently released MHRD data, 96 million schoolchildren were covered under the Midday Meal Scheme in 2015-16.

10. According to SocialCops analysis of data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the tiger population (over 1.5 years of age) in India has increased since 2006.

11. According to the data released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Muzaffarpur (Bihar) and Varanasi (UP) are most polluted cities in India.

12. After scoring a total of 199 runs in three T20Is against Australia at an average of 199.00, Virat Kohli became the top-ranked T20I batsman in the world.

13. American space agency NASA has invited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) among other space agencies for a meeting in the US to discuss a possible international collaboration on a Mars mission

14. As per a survey of Britons by Scottish investment company Scottish Widows, former British PM Margaret Thatcher is the most influential woman of the last two centuries.

15. Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi tabled interim budget of over 33 thousand 687 crore rupees for the first six months of the next financial year.

16. Australia's Adam Voges surpassed Sir Don Bradman’s batting average of 99.94.

17. Author Ruskin Bond has announced that he will be writing his autobiography in three volumes.

18. Bihar became the 6th state to join Union Government’s UDAY Scheme for financial restructuring of debt of power distribution companies. [after Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat]

19. Britain is set to get the world's biggest wind farm after the proposal for the 1.2-gigawatt Hornsea Project One in northern England was accepted.

20. British Formula One racing team Manor Racing has signed Indonesia’s Rio Haryanto, making him the first Indonesian Formula One driver.

21. British national newspaper, The Guardian's Tom Jenkins was named as the Sports Photographer of the Year at the 2015 Picture Editors’ Guild awards.

22. Celebrity chef and TV host Sanjeev Kapoor was elected to prepare the menu of food to be served on the Indian Railways.

23. China will launch its second space laboratory, Tiangong 2, into Earth’s orbit in the third quarter of 2016.

24. Dubai has confirmed plans to build the world's largest shopping mall named 'Mall of the World' at a cost of $22 billion.

25. Dubai International Airport was declared the world's busiest airport for international passengers in 2015.

26. Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) announced an increase in interest rate on Provident Fund (PF) deposits for 2015-16 to 8.80% from 8.75% in the previous two fiscals.

27. FIFA opened its new $140 million World Football Museum in Zurich. Finance Ministry has reduced the gross budgetary support to the railways to 32,000 from 40,000 crore announced in the railway budget.

28. For the first time in India, a job fair for the transgender community was organised in Chennai.

29. Former Indian cricketer, Virender Sehwag appointed as the new mentor for Indian Premier League (IPL) outfit, Kings XI Punjab for the forthcoming ninth season of the league.

30. Google added flood alerts to its Google Public Alerts service in India.

31. Google's holding company Alphabet has overtook Apple to become the most valuable publicly- traded company in the world.

32. Haryana is set become the first state in the country to complete aquifer mapping for its groundwater resources by May 2016.

33. Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying was on his First official visit to India. 'Hope for a New Life', a picture captured by Australian photographer Warren Richardson was named the 'World Press Photo of the Year 2015' at the 59th annual World Press Photo Contest.

34. In a first-of-its-kind deal, UAE's national oil company Adnoc has signed a deal with the Indian government to store crude oil in India's maiden strategic storage and give two-thirds of the oil to India for free.

35. India and Afghanistan recently signed a MOU for Visa-Free Travel for diplomats.

36. India and Brunei signed three agreements. They are, MoU in health cooperation, MoU on Defence cooperation and MOU on cooperation in youth and sports affairs.

37. India and Nepal signed Nine partnership deals to help develop infrastructure, improve cultural cooperation, and utilise India's $250 million post-earthquake reconstruction grant.

38. India and UAE signed seven agreements on cybersecurity, insurance and infrastructure development in a bid to improve bilateral ties.

39. India continues to remain the world's largest arms importer, accounting for 14% of the global imports in the 2011- 2015 timeframe, in yet another indicator of the country's enduring failure to build a strong domestic defence-industrial base (DIB).

40. India has launched the lightest gun ever which weighs as less as 250 grams, and it has been named 'Nidar'.

41. India has surpassed the USA as the world's second-largest smartphone market in terms of active unique smartphone users.

42. India ranks first in Milk Production, accounting for 18.5% of World production.

43. India secured the top spot for the seventh straight quarter in Nielsen’s Consumer Confidence Index rankings for the December quarter.

44. India test-fired its indigenously developed Prithvi II missile from a test range at Chandipur in Odisha, as part of a user trial by the army.

45. India women cricket team clean sweep three match ODI series against Sri Lanka.

46. India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has launched ‘Japan Desk’, a single window for inbound Japanese investments in India and viceversa.

47. India’s poorest district, Nabarangpur of Odisha launched a 45-day campaign, called 'Jyoti', to train 4,400 traditional healers as the number of tribal children falling victim to local healing practices in the district has increased.

48. India's first professional esports league called the Indian Gaming League (IGL) was launched.

49. India's first transgender sub inspector Prithika Hasini along with 21 other members of the community recently received appointment orders. India's largest wax producing plant was inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi in Assam.

50. India's Tourism Ministry has proposed that all international visitors using the electronic Tourist Visa facility get SIM cards on arrival.

51. International Boxing Federation’s (IBF) super bantamweight world champion Carl Frampton has defeated World Boxing Association’s (WBA) super bantamweight world champion Scott Quigg

52. Sindh became the first Pakistan province to adopt landmark Hindu Marriage Bill, 2015 in order to allow the minority community to register their marriages.

53. Slovenian high-jumper Rozle Prezelj has been elected the new Chairman of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Athletes' Commission.

54. South African batsman David Miller has been named the captain of Kings XI Punjab team for the upcoming Indian Premier League season 9.

55. South African batsman Quinton de Kock became the quickest batsman to score 10 ODI hundreds after his 135 against England in the third ODI.

56. Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera has became only the fourth bowler after Tim Southee, Jacob Oram and Brett Lee to take a hat-trick in Twenty20 internationals.

57. Tata Motors announced that it has renamed its upcoming hatchback Zica as Tiago.

58. Team India's U-19 opener Rishabh Pant records the fastest fifty in the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup against Nepal.

59. The Ministry of Railways signed an MoU with Government of Chhattisgarh for “Formation of Joint Venture Companies for Development of Railway Infrastructure in Chhattisgarh State".

60. The 13th edition of World Spice Congress (WSC) was held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Theme of WSC 2016 : ‘Target 2020: Clean, Safe and Sustainable Supply Chain’

61. The Haryana government launched the 'Kanya Janamdin Utsav', to celebrate birthdays of girl students, with their parents.

62. The HRD Ministry announced to make the installation of the national flag compulsory in all central universities on a 207 feet high mast on their campuses to signify "strong and united India.”

63. The ICC removed India, England and Australia as the permanent members of its decision-making executive committee

March 2016 Current Affairs

26th Foundation Day of NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Services Companies) was observed on 1st March 2016.

7th meeting of the Governing Board of the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) was held in New Delhi.

A 108-feet tall idol of Rishabhdeva, the first Teerthankar of Jains, has entered the Guinness World Records as the world's tallest Jain statue.

According to the World Happiness Report 2016 published by the United Nations, India has ranked 118th out of 156 nations in a global list of happiest nations.

Denmark takes the top spot as the happiest country in the world. After the ambitious Make in India Week, Mumbai will host another international summit, the BRICS Friendship Cities Conclave, on April 14.

Aiming to reduce road accidents by 50% by 2020, the Gujarat government has announced the Road Safety Policy 2016.

Allahabad High Court has celebrated 150 years of its existence.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched India’s first state-wide broadband project called AP FiberNet.

Andhra Pradesh government inaugurated India’s first river linking project viz. Pattiseema lift irrigation project connecting Godavari River with Krishna River from the ongoing Polavaram Multi-purpose Irrigation Project.

As per a report released by Water Aid, India has the world's highest number of people without access to clean water.

Australian golfer Adam Scott won the 2016 WGC-Cadillac Championship.

Authorities in China's capital Beijing have passed a new family planning rule to allow remarried couples to have a second child.

The new law also grants 128 maternity leaves (98 earlier) for mothers and a 15-day holiday for fathers

Beverage giants PepsiCo have been named as BCCI's official associate sponsor for all international matches in India.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) announced that it successfully commissioned a 600 MW coal- based thermal power plant in Telangana.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has commissioned its first 700-MW supercritical thermal unit in Karnataka. 'Bharat Kesri Dangal', a freestyle wrestling tournament of 3 days, recently held at Gurgaon.

Bihar assembly unanimously passes the Bihar Excise Amendment Bill 2016 paving the way for liquor ban in the state from April 1 this year

China is building a tsunami alert centre in South China Sea.

China plans to land a probe on Mars in 2021 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, the sole governing political party of the country.

Citizens of Bhutan planted 1,08,000 trees to welcome the birth of a son to King Khesar and Queen Pema.

Delhi govt presents Rs.46,600 crore annual budget for Delhi Delhi has became the first state in the country to launch the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as a public health programme for school children.

Denmark's 17-year-old Mohamad Al-Bacha was crowned the FIFA'16 world champion after winning the final in New York Dubai has announced to host the Robot Olympics in December 2017.

E-commerce major Flipkart has launched its own wallet and payment method called ‘Flipkart Money’.

European and Russian space agencies have successfully launched ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, an unmanned spacecraft on a mission to find evidence of alien life that exists or may have existed on Mars

Former Indian captain, Rahul Dravid has been named as the Mentor of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Delhi Daredevils.

Former National 6Reds runnerup Rahul Sachdev clinched his maiden title by winning the 1st All India Open Invitational Snooker Championship.

Former USA basketball legend Michael Jordan was placed at the top of Forbes' 2015's list of highest-paid retired athletes.

Germany has announced that it will help India to develop 3 Indian cities as Smart Cities. They are, Kerala's Kochi, Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore and Odisha's Bhubaneswar.

Gujarat has topped the list of 21 states with the most investment potential, followed by Delhi and Tamil Nadu, a report by government thinktank NCAER has revealed.

Hanle village in Ladakh was short-listed as a prospective site to house the World's largest telescope named 'Thirty Metre Telescope International Observatory', estimated to be worth around 98.26 crore.

Haryana CM Manohar Lal formally launched the Ujala (LED bulbs) scheme of Haryana Power DISCOMs.

With this scheme, Haryana Govt is planning to distribute LED bulbs at highly discounted prices to nearly 44 lakh domestic consumers.

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani has decided to rope in the Indian Army to teach patriotism in universities controlled by the government.

ICICI Bank has launched iWork@home, an initiative that allows women employees to work from home for up to a year.

ICICI Bank today launched a Contactless option in its app 'Pockets'.

This will allow users to make payments at outlets by tapping their smartphones.

In an effort to boost the economy, China’s central bank cut banks’ required reserve ratio by 0.5%

India has been ranked at the 90th place in a list of 126 countries on the basis of their ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy.

India has distributed scholarships to over 800 Bangladeshi students under the 'Muktijodha Scholarship Scheme'.

India has observed the 10th Earth Hour on 19th March 2016 between 8.30 pm and 9:30 pm

India has signed an agreement to extend $2 billion as line of credit to Bangladesh.

India has won the 2016 Asia Cup T20 trophy for a record sixth time after beating Bangladesh by 8 wickets in the final.

India Inc. became first in the world to formally adopt the United Nations’ (UN) agenda for the world’s sustainable development and 17 goals identified for its implementation.

Indian wrestler Hardeep has became the first Indian wrestler since Mausam Khatri 12 years ago to book a quota place for 2016 Rio Olympics in the Greco-Roman category.

India's Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve has been added to UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserve among 20 new sites.

India's biggest lender SBI is among four new foreign banks that have been given preliminary approval to open fully-owned branch in mynmar

Jalandhar based Capital Local Area Bank limited (CLABL) became India's first Small Finance Bank (SFB) by flagging-off its operations on April 13, 2016.

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has confirmed that this year's Rio Olympics will be his last Olympics.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah presented a Rs. 1.63 lakh crore annual budget for the state.

Karnataka government has launched Mukhyamantri Santwana Harish Yojana to provide Free medical treatment to road accident victims for the first 48 hours (2 days) in the nearest government or private hospital.

Kazakhstan has banned smartphones in government offices and police stations to prevent information leak.

Maritime India Summit 2016 (MIS 2016), the maiden flagship initiative of the Union Ministry of Shipping, was organised from 14 to 16 April 2016 at Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre, Mumbai.

Republic of Korea is the partner country for MIS 2016. Mumbai is likely to get a CBI branch for probing cyber crime offences. As of now, such a branch is only in the headquarters (Delhi)

New Delhi has topped the list of top 25 destinations in India by travel website TripAdvisor as part of its 'Travellers' Choice Awards' for 2016.

Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Australian Grand Prix.

Nuclear-capable ballistic missile Agni-I was successfully test fired from a mobile launcher from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Odisha's Abdul Kalam Island.

Oculus, the world's most expensive train station, which was built in New York, US, on the site of World Trade Center, which got destroyed in the 9/11 attacks, was recently opened.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Belgian counterpart Charles Michel remotely launched Asia's biggest telescope, the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), built with Belgian assistance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched 'Kisan Suvidha' app for farmers to provide information on weather, market prices, seeds, fertilisers, crop protection and agricultural machinery

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the ambitious Rs 50,800-crore Setu Bharatam project, under which a total of 208 railway crossings will be replaced by rail over bridges (ROBs).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a three nation visit to Belgium, United States & Saudi Arabia.

Private lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank has tied up with National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) for Collateral Management and Warehousing Services.

Rest of India has won the Irani Cup Cricket title by beating Mumbai by four wickets.

Russia has slashed its space budget for 2016 to 2025 by 30%, from 2 trillion rubles ($29.24 billion) to 1.4 trillion rubles ($20.68 billion).

Scientists from Japan have discovered a new species of bacteria, called Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6, that can eat plastic.

Tamil Nadu government recently launched internet services to every household through the state- owned Arasu Cable TV Corporation.

Thailand is facing its worst drought in over 20 years, with water levels in the nation's largest dams below 10%. The 4th Nuclear Security Summit -2016 was held in Washington DC, the United States.

The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate (refinancing rate) to 0% from 0.05%.

The Fast patrol vessel (FPV) of the Indian Coast Guard ICGS Arnvesh was commissioned at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

The Federal Bank is set to launch a dedicated service for startups called 'Launchpad', to open incubation centres at its Bengaluru and Ernakulam branches

April 2016 Current Affairs

33 year-old C Devi is the first transgender person to contest in Tamil Nadu's assembly elections.

 A Nanosatellite named PISAT, developed by 250 students of PES University in Bengaluru will soon be launched by Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

 A street in Switzerland has been named after tennis star Roger Federer, which the 17- time Grand Slam champion inaugurated himself.

 A Trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed in Science and Technology among Sri Lanka, Japan and India.

 According to a Finance Ministry report, India's total external debt stood at $480.2 billion at December-end

 According to research firm IHS, India has become the world’s fourth-largest spender on defence, following a 13.1% increase in its 2016-17 defence budget.

 Air India has announced the launch of non-stop flights to Vienna from New Delhi.  Ajay Lalcheta has been named the Captain of Oman’s national cricket team.

 All tobacco products produced from April 1 will have 85% pictorial warnings on the packaging space.

 Argentina has returned to international markets after 15 years with a $16.5 billion dollar bond sale, after it defaulted on $100 billion worth US dollar debt in 2001.

 As per a study published in The Lancet medical journal, over 640 million people in the world are obese. Assam Rifles has inducted the first batch of 100 women personnel into the force.

 At least 171 nations, including India, have signed the Paris climate agreement at the UN headquarters.

 The pact, negotiated last year, is aimed at reducing carbon emissions to combat global warming.

 Australia has won the 25th edition of Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2016 for record ninth time

 Britain celebrated the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II on 21st April 2016.

 British astronaut Tim Peake ran the 36th London Marathon from Space. British royals, Prince William and Kate Middleton were on a 7 day visit to India from 10th April.

 China and Pakistan have signed an agreement for the launch of a special satellite to monitor the development of the multi-billion dollars ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

 China has successfully launched the Kunpeng-1B sounding rocket from a launch pad in Danzhou City in the southern Chinese Hainan Province.

 Cuba has lifted a decade-old policy that prevented Cubans from entering or leaving the country by a cruise ship or commercial vessel.

 Cyprian Kotut from Kenya has won the 40th edition of the 2016 Paris marathon in the men’s category.

 Danny Willett became the first Briton to win the US Masters for 20 years when he took advantage of Jordan Spieth's capitulation on a sensational final day at Augusta.

 DBS Bank, which is Singapore’s largest, unveiled Digibank, India’s first mobile-only bank, targeting five million retail customers.

 Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced that the 1,260 km of roads maintained by the Public Works Department (PWD) will be vacuum cleaned from 1st April as he launched the 'Greening Delhi' initiative.

 Delhi government banned manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of Pan Masala, Gutkha and all forms of Chewable Tobacco for one year.

 Delhi-based researcher Sudha Gopalakrishnan launched a free online encyclopedia on Indian culture called Sahapedia.

 During the 2016 Rio Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to promote the ‘Make in India initiative’

 England’s snooker great Steve Davis (58) announced his retirement from the game after 38-year career.

 Europe has become the world’s first region to wipe out Malaria, a mosquito-borne vetor disease with zero cases reported in the year 2015.

 Evgenia Medvedeva, a 16- year-old figure skater from Russia, won the World Figure Skating Championship in Boston, US.

 External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was on a a two-nation three-day visit to Iran and Russia.

 Former Pakistan cricket team captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq has been appointed as the Chairman of the senior selection committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

 Government has reconstituted Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) board.

 Ram Bahadur Rai, Senior Journalist has been appointed as Chairman of the Board. Government has set-up a Sub Committee to interact with the trade and industry on the imposition of Central Excise Duty on jewellery.

 The Committee will be headed by : Ashok Lahiri (former Chief Economic Advisor) Greece passed an Asylum amendment bill that is needed for the implementation of the European Union-Turkey migrant deal that will take effect soon.

 Haryana government has decided to rename its largest city Gurgaon to 'Gurugram'.

 Heart of Asia (HoA) conference was held in New Delhi. Focus of the conference was to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan.

 In a first in the country, Maharashtra Assembly has passed the Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill, penalising social boycott by extra-judicial bodies like caste panchayats and communities.

 In a first, private lender DCB Bank has started an Aadhaarbased ATM facility wherein a customer can transact using the biometric details instead of the PIN.

 India and South Korea signed a MoU for cooperation and mutual assistance in development of ports.

 India and Sri Lanka have signed an MOU to supply 150 boats and fishing equipment to the fishermen of Mullaitivu.

 India extended a Line of Credit (LoC) of 1 billion US dollars to Mongolia.

 India has banned the import of milk and milk products from China after finding them substandard

 India has jumped three places to rank 133 out of 180 countries in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders.

 Finland has ranked first for the sixth consecutive year, and is followed by Netherlands and Norway.

 India has overtaken China as the world's top destination for Foreign Direct Investment by attracting greenfield capital investment worth $63 billion in 2015.

 India has signed an MoU with the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for a possible $100 million line of credit to facilitate exports to IDB's member countries.

 India will play their first daynight Test against New Zealand later this year.

 India’s indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash missile was test fired for second consecutive day from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore in Odisha.

 Indian artistic gymnast Dipa Karmakar has created history by becoming the first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics.

 Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced plans to set up a 'Department of Happiness' to infuse "positivity" into the lives of people.

 Maharashtra contributed the highest (2.77 lakh crore) among India’s states and union territories to the total national direct tax collection of 6.96 lakh crore in 2014-15.

 Mairaj Ahmad Khan has won the Silver medal in the skeet event at the ISSF Shooting World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.

 The HRD Ministry has announced IIT Madras and IIM Bangalore as the best engineering and management institutes respectively in India.

 The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is introducing a Heat Index for the entire country starting this month.

 The Indian Navy has recently announced that women officers completing seven years with the Navy will be eligible for permanent commission in the law, education and naval constructors branches.

 The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is going to build Exclusive Holiday homes for its jawans.

 The International Bank Note Society has named New Zealand's $5 note as the Banknote of the Year 2015.

 The International eGames Committee (IEGC) has announced that Brazil's Rio de Janeiro will host the first “EOlympics”, an eGames tournament coinciding with the upcoming Rio Summer Olympics in August 2016.

 The Karnataka government has prohibited taxi-hailing apps like Ola and Uber to apply peak-hour charges

 The Lok Sabha passed the Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill, 2016 to provide statutory status to the existing Regional Centre for Biotechnology in Faridabad, Haryana.

 The Lucknow Metro will get a loan of €450 million (around 3,500 crore) from the European Investment Bank for its Phase-1A project.

 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has ranked India 6th in its biggest military spenders list for 2015.

 The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has reserved seats for Transgenders under the Most Backward Class Category (MBC).

2016 current affairs May updates

 42nd G7 summit was held in Japan from 26th to 27th May 2016. The G7 countries are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States.

 7th President of India Giani Zail Singh's (5 May 1916 – 25 December 1994) 100th birth anniversary was observed on 5th May 2016.

 A two-day international Buddhist conference to mark the 2,560th birth anniversary of Lord Buddha held in Khatmandu. Theme of the conference : "Lumbini, Nepal: the birth place of Lord Buddha and the fountain of Buddhism and world peace".

 According to a World Health Organisation report, Delhi is no longer the world's most polluted city and is ranked 11th in the most polluted cities list.

 The highest PM2.5 levels were recorded in Iran's Zabol (217), followed by India's Gwalior (176). According to SocialCops' analysis of World Bank data, India ranked 137th of 210 countries on electrification with 78.7% of its population having access to electricity. According to the latest census, the number of endangered deer 'Sangai', found only in Manipur, has increased from 204 in 2013 to 260.

 According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, President's rule has been imposed 115 times till date including the one in Uttarakhand recently. After 17 years of construction work, Switzerland is going to open world's longest and deepest train tunnel.

 The Gotthard Base Tunnel will open for the first time on 1st June 2016, extending 57 km in length into the bowels of the earth 2,300 meters below the Gotthard massif in the Swiss Alp

 After winning the Asian 6 Red Snooker championship, India's Pankaj Advani become the first cueist to hold the world and continental titles in 6-red snooker at the same time.

 Ahead of the World No Tobacco Day, the Assam government banned all forms of smoking in public transport vehicles.

 Algeria is building one of the world's largest mosques with a 265-meter tall minaret, which will be the world's tallest.

 The 20,000-square meter Djamaa El Djazair mosque will reportedly be able to accommodate 1,20,000 worshippers. All Gram panchayats in the country will have WiFi connectivity by October 2018 under the Bharat Net programme.

 American professional tennis player, Serena Williams has won her fourth Rome Masters title and the first title in last nine months by beating compatriot Madison Keys.

 An IPL-style T20 league is being scheduled to be hosted by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) in December 2016. Andhra Bank will launch Bharat Bill Payment Service soon to enable customers make all utility bill payments.

 Andhra Pradesh Government has launched Chandranna Bima Yojana, an insurance scheme for the working class people. According to this scheme, any insured worker who meets an accidental death and permanent disability will be paid 5 lakh rupees.

 Andhra Pradesh is going to implement e-Office system in all 13 districts on a pilot basis in June, followed by a full-scale launch in July.

 Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence has received 15 new industrial licences to manufacture a range of defence equipment, taking its total number of licences to 25, the highest held by a private firm in India.

 As many as 2,508 cities across 26 states have been selected under the 'Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana' for providing affordable houses to the urban poor.

 As per Ministry of Home Affairs data, Punjab has been under President's rule for a total of 3,510 days, the most for any state.

 Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has reportedly confirmed that he created digital payment system bitcoins and provided technical proof for his claims.

 Baba Ramdev and Amit Agarwal (Amazon India Head), have been named in the list of ‘100 Most Creative People in Business’ by American magazine Fast Company. Banks in India are expected to cut lending rates by up to 50 basis points (0.5%) by September as there is sufficient liquidity in the system, according to a report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Barcelona lifted a record 28th Copa Del Rey title after defeating Sevilla 2-0 in the finals.

 Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and its alliance partners have won an absolute majority in 2016 Assam state assembly election by winning 87 seats (16.46% votes) in the 126 member House.

 Bollywood Actor Emraan Hashmi launched his book,'The Kiss Of Life : How a Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer'. This book is about his struggle and hardship with his son, Ayan's cancer treatment.

 Border Road Organisation's (BRO) foundation day was observed on 7th May 2016. Britain has granted refugee status to Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed. Cab aggregator Ola has signed a MoU with National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) to focus on building a sustainable framework by supporting entrepreneurship, skill development training and self-defence courses for Safai Karamcharis and Scavengers.

 Capital markets regulator SEBI has tightened the norms for participatory notes (P-notes) in order to check misuse of these instruments in roundtripping and money laundering.

 Carnival Corp’s 704-passenger cruise ship Adonia set sail from Miami to become the first US cruise ship to sail to Cuba in around 50 years.

 China has replaced all business tax with the Value-Added Tax (VAT) after extending it to four new sectors of construction, real estate, finance and consumer services.

 China has signed two agreements with Sudan, its close ally in Africa to build 600- megawatt (MW) atomic reactor.

 China has successfully launched Yaogan-30, a remote sensing satellite to carry out land surveys and disaster relief.

 China is set to be associated with Kolkata's Durga Puja this year. The country is planning to bring 100-200 people to Kolkata during Durga Puja.

 China's central bank has fixed the Yuan 0.6% weaker at 6.4943 against the US Dollar, the biggest downward movement since August 2015.

 China's central bank has set the daily Yuan-fixing rate against the US Dollar at 6.5784, the lowest level since February 2011.

 Colombian President Juan Santos has announced that the US will provide intelligence support to help fight the country's crime gangs.

 Defending champions and hosts Pakistan defeated India 50-31 in the 3rd Asian Kabaddi Championship's final.

 Drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma has received final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to manufacture and market an an aesthetic injection in the American market.

 Ella Mae Colbert, a 100-yearold retired South Carolina teacher set a new world record for the fastest 100- meter sprint by a 100-yearold.

 England batsman, Joe Root grabbed the top honours at the 2016 CEAT Awards as he was named International Cricketer of the Year as well as International Batsman of the Year. England's world number one Mark Selby won World Championship title of Snooker.

 European Union (EU) officials recently announced that all scientific articles in Europe supported by public and publicprivate funds will be freely accessible by 2020.

 Food regulator FSSAI has decided to remove Potassium Bromate from the list of permitted food additives.

 This comes after a study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) claimed that potassium bromate – banned in several countries – is a cancer-causing agent.

 Football's world governing body FIFA has lifted the suspension on Indonesia which was imposed in May 2015 for political interference in the local football association.

 For the first time since its opening in 1889, Paris' Eiffel Tower will be used as an apartment for a night during June's UEFA Euro-2016 football tournament.

 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the telecom sector stood at $4.09 billion (around 27,000 crore) between April 2014-February 2016.

 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in India till December in 2015-16 stood at $40.82 billion, compared to $44.29 billion in the entire 2014-15 fiscal.

 Former Argentinian dictator Reynaldo Bignone (88) has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for conspiring to assassinate leftist dissidents as part of Operation Condor in the 1970s and 1980s.

 Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has accepted Indian Olympic Association's invitation to be India's Goodwill Ambassador at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

 Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid and former Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene were appointed to the ICC Cricket Committee for a threeyear term.

 Former Indian captain Anil Kumble was reappointed as the Chairman of the committee for another three-year term. Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) has launched Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Shaurya at Panaji.

 This is the fifth ship of a series of six Off-shore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) that the Indian Coast Guard had tasked the Vasco defence public sector undertaking to build.

 Government body National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has fixed the ceiling price of 54 drug formulations including those for the treatment of cancer and diabetes.

 Government expands its flagship vaccination programme Indradhanush. According to this expansion, Four more new vaccinations added to existing seven.

 Greek Parliament has passed austerity reforms amid protests in the Greek capital Athens.

 The reforms increase taxes on high earning individuals, fixes a $437 monthly pension to move towards a 'sustainable' system.

 Gujarat Government has launched Smart Village program to improve public facilities in the villages.

 ICICI Bank has became the first financial institution in the country to tie up with the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) Groupingpromoted New Development Bank (NDB).

 ICICI Bank has launched India’s first contactless business credit card in association with Jet Airways for small and midsized enterprises (SMEs) and their employees.

 Named as the ‘Jet Airways ICICI Bank Business Advantage Card’, this co-branded credit card will help customers to save on their business expenses.

 In a first in Kerala, two persons of the transgender community voted in Assembly elections. Surya and Suji were the only two listed as ‘third gender’ in the electoral roll.

 In Haryana, a committee on Jat Quota agitation headed by Parkash Singh (former DGP of Uttar Pradesh & retired IPS Officer) has submitted its report to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

 In his upcoming book titled "India vs. Pakistan", Former Pakistani Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, claimed that former ISI chief Shuja Pasha said "Log hamarey thhe, operation hamara nahin tha", referring to the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

 Inaugural Indian Super League (ISL) champions, Atletico de Kolkata, announced the appointment of former Villareal coach Jose Francisco Molina Jimenez as their Head Coach for ISL-2016.

 India has successfully launched the first technology demonstrator of indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), capable of launching satellites into orbit around earth and then re-enter the atmosphere, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

 India and Australia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance Research and Development (R&D) capabilities in biotechnology by launching a joint funding call. India and Iran reached an agreement for the former to pay Iran $6.4 billion in pending oil payments using European banks.

 India and Japan have decided to exchange sports persons, coaches, experts andadministrators to improve the standard of the game in both nations. India and Mauritius signed a pact to amend the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention.

 India and New Zealand have signed a landmark Air Services Agreement paving the way for introduction of direct flights between the two countries.

 India and Slovenia have signed a protocol to amend the bilateral Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).

 India and the US held their first Maritime Security Dialogue in Delhi which focused on strategic maritime security issues in the Asia-Pacific region.

 India has agreed to pay an interest of 1.5% on the $6.5 billion that refiners like Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery owe Iran in oil dues, as a "goodwill gesture".

 India has been ranked 3rd in the Attractiveness of Renewable Energy, behind the US and China, according to a report by consulting firm Ernst & Young.

 India has secured 9th position in the 2016 Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index. India has sent two Naval ships, with relief materials to Sri Lanka, which is hit by cyclone Roanu.

 The Naval ships, INS Sunayna and INS Sutlej, have been sent to the Colombo coast from the Southern Naval Command Kochi.

 India has signed a $100 million loan deal with the World Bank to develop the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernisation Project that will provide piped water to different cities in the state.

 India has signed a historic Project Collaboration Agreement (PCA) with World Health Organisation (WHO) for cooperation in promoting traditional medicine, a move which will deliver for the first time WHO benchmark document for training in yoga , ayurveda , unani and panchakarma.

 The agreement titled 'Co-operation on promoting the quality, safety and effectiveness of service provision in traditional and complementary medicine between WHO and AYUSH, India, 2016- 2020', aims to support WHO in the development and implementation of the 'WHO Traditional and Complementary Medicine Strategy: 2014-2023'.

 India has signed a pact to grant assistance worth $1 million over the next 10 years to a school in Afghanistan. India is the only country to have won the 60, 50 and the 20-over Cricket World Cups.  India Post's payments bank will start functioning from March 2017 and serve as a wider platform to implement financial inclusion programmes.

 India ranked 5th in the list of countries exporting counterfeit or pirated goods globally, according to a study by global body Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

 India successfully test fired its indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile Prithvi-II off the Odisha coast. India was ranked 9th out of 22 countries in the Crony Capitalism Index in a recent study by The Economist.

 Germany was declared the cleanest while Russia performed the worst in the study

 India, China, Canada, Iceland, Israel, and New Zealand have signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for the automatic exchange of information on tax issues amongst countries. This brings the total number of signatories of the pact to 39 (including France, Japan, Germany, the UK, and Australia).

 India, Iran, Afghanistan ink historic trilateral transit agreement in Tehran to facilitate seamless transport of goods. India, Thailand and Myanmar are currently working on a 1,400-kilometres long highway that will link India with Southeast Asia by land for the first time in decades.

 India, which has emerged as the world’s second largest mobile market, is also the 5th largest producer of e-waste, discarding roughly 18.5 lakh tonnes of electronic waste each year.

 India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a mobile-based payments solution ‘mVisa’. The application will enable users to make payments from their smartphones by scanning a unique QR (Quick Response) code at merchant outlets. Indian batsman Rohit Sharma inaugurated India's first sports expo in Pune.

 Indian para-athlete, discus and club thrower, Amit Kumar Saroha has clinched the gold medal in the men’s club throw F-51 event at the 2016 French Open Athletics Championship.

 Indian professional boxer Vijender Singh kept his unbeaten record intact with a Sixth straight victory in his professional boxing career after he knocked out Polish boxer Andrzej Soldra in their encounter's third round.

 Indian racer, Gaurav Gill started the 2016 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) season on a winning note after finishing first in the Whangarei International Rally. Indian tennis player Sania Mirza's upcoming autobiography ‘Ace Against Odds’ is set to be released in July this year.

 Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari was on a two-nation visit to Morocco and Tunisia. Indian Women's Squash team won the Silver medal at the 18th Asian Squash Championship in Taipei.

 India's economic growth for the 2015-16 fiscal year stood at 7.6%, in line with the official estimate, as against 7.2% witnessed in 2014-15.

 India's proposed single emergency number '112' will be operational from January 1, 2017.

 The service will also be accessible through phones whose network has been stopped. Indigenously developed Advanced Air Defence (AAD) interceptor missile, Ashwin was successfully test fired.

 Of the 11 tests held earlier, 9 were successful. Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to conduct coordinated sea patrols and establish a hotline to combat piracy and kidnappings in waters bordering the three nations.  INS Kalvari, Indian Navy’s first indigenous Scorpene-class stealth submarine, has recently launched for the first sea trial in the Mumbai naval dockyard.

 ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is going to launch a record 22 satellites in a single mission next month.

 IT services company Wipro has inaugurated Saudi Arabia's first all women business and technology park (WBP) at the Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh.

 Italy's Giorgio Calcaterra touched the 88 km mark to win Red Bull's Wings for Life World Run 2016 racing event.

 Jammu and Kashmir has banned the use of nonbiodegradable consumables including items made of plastic in government offices and official functions. id. Jammu and Kashmir is the only Indian state to have a state flag and its own constitution. Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK swept the Tamil Nadu polls to become the first incumbent regime to retain power in the state since 1984.

 Karnataka government has decided establish the Asia’s first Rice Technology Park at Gangavati in Koppal district and a Maize Technology Park at Ranebennur in Haveri district.

 Kenya has vowed to close the world’s biggest refugee camp in Dadaab, home to 3,30,000 mostly Somali refugees, within a year.

 Kotak Mahindra Bank Chief Uday Kotak, with a net worth of $7.1 billion, is the only Indian in Forbes' 'Money Masters: The Most Powerful People In The Financial World' list of 40.

 He ranked 33rd. Lakshadweep became first Union Territory (UT) in the counry to sign 24×7 Power for All document. Leicester City forward Jamie Vardy has been voted the 2016 Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association.

 Lhakpa Sherpa, a 42-year-old US-based Nepali climber, climbed the Mount Everest for the seventh time, breaking her own record for the most ascents to the world's highest mountain by a woman. Long jump world record holder Mike Powell has announced a comeback to the sport at the age of 52.

 Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress retained power in West Bengal, winning 211 seats in the 294-seat Assembly, the highest number of seats won by a single party in the state's history.

 Manavaditya Singh Rathore, son of the 2004 Athens Olympics silver medalist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, clinched the Gold medal in the Men’s Junior Trap event of the International Junior Shotgun Cup in Finland.

 Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed the fastest elevator in the world, having achieved a top-speed of 1,230 meters per minute or 20.5 meters per second. It will be installed at the 632-meter Shanghai Tower (China's tallest building).

 Mohun Bagan FC has won the 2016 Indian Federation Cup football tournament title for the 14th time.

 Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio Infocomm has launched its digital wallet service 'JioMoney Digital Wallet'. Mumbai based IDBI Bank has decided to open an International Banking Unit (IBU) at the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Gandhinagar. This is the first state-run bank to open for IBU centre.

 Mumbai based Kotak Mahindra Bank has opened IFSC Banking unit at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) City. Nagaland has became the first state in the Northeast to introduce a financial literacy course through the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in schools.

 New York-based law firm BakerHostetler recently hired ROSS, 'the world's first artificially intelligent lawyer', which is powered by Watson, an IBM-developed AI system capable of processing natural language.

 Odisha Government has decided to launch Green Passage scheme for orphan students to ensure that they get free of cost higher education in the state.

 As per the scheme Orphan students pursuing higher education (from Plus-II level) to postgraduation level, will be exempted of tuition fees, admission fee and laboratory fees for higher studies.

 Pakistan has missed its growth target for the current year, registering a GDP growth of 4.7% against the target of 5.5%. Pakistan-born Bollywood singer and actress Salma Agha will get an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card. This card will offer her multiple entry, multipurpose life long visa to visit India and exemption from reporting to police.

 Paramilitary force CRPF is set to deploy 567 women commandos in selected Left Wing Extremism-affected states for undertaking antiNaxal operations.

 This is the fourth women battalion of CRPF. Parliament has passed Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016. This Bill amends the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

 Playing against Sri Lanka in the second Test, England skipper Alastair Cook became the youngest cricketer and the first Englishman to score 10,000 Test runs. Cook, aged 31 years, 157 days, broke Sachin Tendulkar's record of breaching the mark at the age of 31 years, 326 days.

 PM Narendra Modi has launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. This 8,000 crore scheme aims to provide five crore free cooking gas (LPG) connections to below poverty line (BPL) families between 2016-19.

 President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena was on a Two Day visit to India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that the retirement age of government doctors across the country will be increased from 62 years to 65 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Iran for two days on May 22 and 23 this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched solar-powered eboats at the Assi Ghat in Varanasi. The initiative is aimed at reducing pollution and keeping the Ganga river clean. Private sector lender Yes Bank has received in-principle approval from markets regulator SEBI to act as custodian of securities.

 Public Sector undertaking, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltdhas commissioned 500 MW thermal power unit at Bokaro Thermal Power-AStation of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) in Jharkhand.

 Rajasthan is set to become the first state to issue newspaper advertisements for the post of Vice Chancellor of state universities.  Real Madrid FC won the 2016 UEFA Champions League for the record 11th time by defeating Atletico Madrid FC by 5-3 goals in penalty shootout.

 Rio Olympics qualified sprinter, Sudha Singh set a new national record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase category.

 SAARC nations have agreed to set up a uniform toll-free child helpline at a three-day meeting of the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children.

 Safra Catz, the co-CEO of Oracle, emerged as the highest-paid US female executive with a $56.9 million package in fiscal 2015.

 Saudi Arabia has joined Turkey, Indonesia and the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) as a prospective founder member of a new Islamic finance infrastructure bank. Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry has announced that brides in the country will now get a copy of their marriage contracts, a privilege that was reserved only to men.

 SBI’s subsidiary Nepal SBI Bank has launched payment gateway to facilitate online trade and non-trade transactions between the Himalayan nation and India.

 Scottish professional tennis player Andy Murray has won his first Rome Masters title by beating Serbia's World number one Novak Djokovic.

 Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic has remained as number one ranked player for 200 weeks, thereby becoming the fifth player in the history of the sport to achieve this feat.

 Sevilla Football club was crowned the UEFA Europa League champions for the third straight year after it defeated Liverpool 3-1 in the finals. Shashank Manohar has resigned as the President of the BCCI and also as the ICC Chairman. 'Shashi Kapoor: The Householder, the Star', a biography of veteran actor Shashi Kapoor authored by film journalist Aseem Chhabra was recently released.

 Six-time Paralympic gold medal-winning British wheelchair racer, David Weir became the first wheelchair racer to complete a mile-long race (approximately 1.6 kilometers) in under three minutes.

 Spanish football giants Real Madrid were named 2016's most valuable football team for a fourth consecutive year by Forbes. State-owned engineering firm BHEL has won a 1,600 crore contract from NSPCL, a joint venture company of state-run NTPC and SAIL, to set up a 250 MW coal- based thermal power plant in Rourkela, Odisha.

 State-owned major, National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) has signed a MoU with Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) to jointly explore the possibility of setting up an aluminium smelter in Iran.

 State-owned power generating firm NTPC has signed a joint venture agreement with staterun Coal India to revive plants run by the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCIL).

 State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) has posted a loss of 5,367 crore for the quarter ended March. This is the highest ever quarterly loss by an Indian bank. State-run Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) is going to be converted to a Green bank to enable it to access funds from overseas banks.

 Sunrisers Hyderabad have defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 8 runs to clinch the IPL title for the first time.

 Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to create more districts in the state. The total number of districts may go up to 24-25.

 As of now, there are ten districts in the state. The 27th edition of the IndiaIndonesian CORPAT (Coordinated Patrol) recently concluded in Belawan, Indonesia.  The ADMM-Plus (ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus) Exercise on Maritime Security and Counter Terrorism (Ex MS & CT) was held at Brunei on May 1, 2016.

 The Australian government has added 49 species of flora and fauna to the 'threatened' and 'endangered' list, of which 9 are 'critically endangered'.

 This marks the largest addition to the fifteen-year-old list since 2009. The BCCI has nominated Indian Test captain Virat Kohli for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and Ajinkya Rahane for the Arjuna award.

 The BJP has won a seat in the 140-member Kerala Assembly for the first time in history after its leader O Rajagopal emerged victorious from the Nemom constituency.

 The Cabinet has approved India's first National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy.

 The policy is guided by seven objectives, including IPR public awareness, generation of IPRs, human capital development, and strong law enforcement.

 The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has launched mobile app “Indian Customs- Guide to Travellers” for dissemination of information about Customs Baggage Rules, 2016.

 The central government has imposed a complete ban on Indian citizens travelling to Libya "irrespective of the purpose" in view of the security situation in the North African country.

 The Central government is working on a programme named Bal Sansad (Children's Parliament) to help children develop skills like leadership, and decision making.

 The Centre has approved plans to construct 1,000 kilometres of expressways at an investment of 16,680 crore under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

 The Congress-DMK alliance claimed victory in Puducherry by winning 17 of the 30 seats with a combined vote share of 39.5%.

 The Environment Ministry has launched a web-based application, Integrated Waste Management System (IWMS), to help in tracking the movement and management of solid waste.

 The first bullet train will run in India in 2023, and its work is on track, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu recently announced. The first World Conference on Tourism for Development (WCTD) was held in Beijing, China from May 18 to 21, 2016.

 The Football World Cup for unrecognized states, de facto independent states, and autonomous regions began in the breakaway region of Abkhazia on 28th May 2016. The four-month compliance window for declaring domestic black money by paying 45% tax and penalty will open on June 1.

 The German government has decided to relax rules on cannabis use by seriously ill persons if no other treatment options are available.

 The Government has decided to set up six new IITs. These IITs will be set up at Goa, Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), Palakkad (Kerala), Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Khanpur Nagrota (J&K) and Dharwad (Karnataka). The government has relaxed FDI norms for Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs), allowing 100% FDI through the automatic route, as per Budget announcements.

 The government recently approved 4,428 crore worth of highway projects in Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh under its highways building programme National Highways Development Project. The Gujarat government has issued a notification giving minority status to the Jain community.

 The Haryana government has notified the Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Services and Admission in Educational Institutions) Act, 2016. The backward classes in the state will now receive reservation in services and educational institutions under the Act.

 The HRD Ministry has launched Bharatavani, India’s first and largest multilingual dictionary in the form of a mobile app.

 The app, currently featuring 35 multilingual dictionaries, lets users search for text of one language in other languages.

 The Income Tax department has launched 'e-nivaran' (electronic solution), a special grievance redressal system to fast-track grievances and ensure early resolution of taxpayers' complaints.

 The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is going to give state-wise monsoon forecast from 2017.

 The Indian 4x100m women’s relay team comprising Dutee Chand, Srabani Nanda, HM Jyoti and Merlin Joseph broke the 18-year-old national record to finish 4th position at the IAAF World Challenge in Beijing.

 The Indian Air Force (IAF) has successfully test-fired an advanced version of BrahMos land-attack supersonic cruise missile system.

 The Indian Army was held Chakravyuh-II, a major military training exercise to validate battle readiness and operational effectiveness of the Pivot Formation and Rapid Division, in Rajasthan's Suratgarh.

 It is a follow up to 'Exercise Shatrujeet' by the Strike Corps (Strike One) in April 2016. The Indian Navy has commissioned indigenously built highly maneuverable Fast Attack Craft INS Tarmugli at the commissioning ceremony held in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

 The Indian Navy has retired the Sea Harrier aircraft of the Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS 300) at a function aboard the INS Hansa in Goa.

 The Indian Space Research Organisation is going to launch a Space shuttle that is completely made in India for the first time before the onset of monsoon this year. The indigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) will be launched from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

 The Indian Women Shooters team of Sanjana Sehrawat, Chinki Yadav and Gauri Sheoran won the bronze medal in the 25m Pistol event at the International Shooting Sport Federation's Junior World Cup in Germany.

 The Indru Nag hillock in Dharamshala is set to have its own sign similar to the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. A 100-feet high national flag mast shall also be erected near the sign.

 The Jama Masjid in Gujarat’s Vadodara has claimed to have the world's largest Quran, with 75 inches length and 41 inches breadth. The Jammu and Kashmir government has issued a notification banning the sale of Loose Cigarettes, Beedis and Tobacco in the state with immediate effect. The Jammu and Kashmir government has signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi for setting up an IIT in Jammu. The Jammu and Kashmir government will provide free medicines in all state-r

General studies

Monday 7 November 2016

HISTORY AND CULTURE OF INDIA (GUPTA EMPIRE)

HISTORY AND CULTURE OF INDIA (GUPTA EMPIRE)

2016 six month current affairs