GK July Part-3 Teachwell · The committee's five-pronged strategy is nothing but a shoddy attempt...

TeachwellI n s t i t u t e

(1)TeachwellI n s t i t u t e

CORPORATE OFFICE : 415, 4th Floor., Amba Tower, DC Chowk Complex, Sec-9 Rohini, Delhi-110085 Ph.: 27860899, Mob: 9015557890; Website: www.teachwell.co.in GK July Part-3

GK July Part-3

ONE YEAR OF GST

Govt Manages to Remove Multiplicity of TaxesThe implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) starting Jul 1, 2017, is by far the most transformative indirect tax reform in post-independent India's history. The United Progressive Alliance (UFA) dispensation sat on the Kelkar Committee recommendations for ten long years without being able to forge a consensus on even bare,, basics like the mechanism of compensation to States or method of dispute resolution under GST. Hundred per cent compensation to States for the first five years for revenue losses incurred and two-thirds weightage to States in composition of GST Council, with the Union Govt retaining only one-third, made GST a reality in the true spirit of co-operative federalism.The key success of GST is that Govt managed to remove multiplicity of taxes and the cascading taxes. It increased the tax base in the country. There are 45-50 lakh new taxpayers who have come into the tax net. There has been reasonably good robust growth rate in indirect taxes. As per one estimate made by the chief economic adviser, there has been 13 per cent growth rate post-GST.

CuRRENT TOPICS

Project ShashaktWith the banking sector's bad-loans problem spiralling to epic proportions, public and private sector bank officials hashed out a new framework to deal with the crisis. The Inter-Creditor Agreement (ICA) framework, which envisages effective communication among lenders and lays down same ground rules for multiple-banking arrangements and consortium lending, will now be taken to boards of all the banks. ICA is a part of the recently announced Project Sashakt, the five-pronged strategy to deal with non-performing assets (NPAs) recommended by the Sunil Mehta-led committee.

Project 'Sashakt' offers little by way of any actionable plan to tackle the issues at hand. The committee's five-pronged strategy is nothing but a shoddy attempt to politicise cleaning up of banks' balance sheet and state the obvious, after the initial intent of setting up an asset reconstruction company to take over bad loans ran aground.

Rupee Slumps to All-time LowAfter an extraordinarily smooth ride in 2017, the Indian currency rupee has been on a steady decline since Apr and crashed to a life-time low in the recent time. A sudden outrush of foreign investors triggered by the US Federal

Reserve signalling a tighter monetary policy further complicated the challenges of managing currency markets. Escalating trade tensions too weighed on the trading front.The rupee stands out as one of the most vulnerable and worst-performing currencies in Asia with an almost 8 per cent fall in the value against the resurgent dollar bull. The greenback has rallied since new Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell delivered upbeat testimony to lawmakers. His acknowledgment of stronger US economic growth fuelled speculation the central bank may raise interest rates as many as four times this year.

A weak rupee against the dollar makes imports costlier. Some imports cannot be cut down such as oil, which can negatively affect India's current account deficit. Costlier oil means costlier vegetables and groceries since transportation costs go up. Weak rupee also makes education and holidays in foreign countries more expensive. The goods that use imported components such as computers, smaitphones and car also get more expensive. All import-based industry and trade suffer.

LIC-IDBI Bank DealHow is an insurance company that has no major prior experience in handling banking business taking over one of the worst-performing banks? Beginning with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) era. the Centre has been scouting for potential buyers for smaller state-owned banks to push ahead with its privatisation agenda. This was after several experts, including the PJ Nayak committee, had recommended that the govt exit its majority stake in state-run banks. Yet, nothing worked as there was no special interest from the private sector to take ownership of badly governed, inefficient and NPA-ridden state-run banks.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) plans to increase its stake in the state-owned IDBI Bank have raised quite a few eyebrows in recent days. Experts say LIC is hardly going to gain any advantage from this investment, but it could give a huge lifeline for the ailing %IDB1 Bank and address some of its capital requirements. LIC already holds around 11 per cent stake in the state-owned lenderTV

Higher Education CommissionIndia's higher education system needs thorough overhauling for five reasons: (a) to catch up with the global higher education order and be relevant to changing times; (b) to integrate it with the job market more effectively; (c) to stop the discriminatory functioning style; (d) to universalise the global and domestic best practices in the curriculum; and (e) to protect the system from politicisation and to introduce new methods of accountability.

GK_Part-3_July 2018 by Puneet Bhatia Sir

contu...



The University Grants Commission (UGC), which currently overseas this rotten system, is to be replaced by a new Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) to correct all the existing defects. But the HECI Bill has not set out how it is going to meet the challenges.

The HECI plan does well to justify the new bill, the failures of the system, changes in the global economy, employment issues and strategies for arresting discriminatory curriculum,but except for declaring lofty ambitions like uniform development of quality and standard higher education in the preamble, it has not looked deeper into the daunting issues to confront.

Govt Embraces Net NeutralityEven as the US gets set to roll back laws protecting net neutrality, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released comprehensive recommendations that experts say signal a clear commitment to the principle of neutrality and could count as some of the strongest regulations in the world. Net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers must treat all data on the internet equally, which means they cannot choose to speed up or slow down a particular service or charge different rates for different kinds of data. The regulator has recommended that no internet provider should be allowed to slow down or speed up a website or service. A fast lane would allow an internet provider to load, say, Hotstar faster than another service like Netflix. Conversely, allowing this would be equivalent to letting providers slow down certain websites. Thus, there can be no fast lanes.

The Central Govt has taken its first stab at framing net neutrality rules. The Telecom Commission accepted all the recommendations that the telecom regulator had made in a report submitted in Nov 2017. The move caps three years of contentious debate on a somewhat slippery concept on which no two people can ever agree on an acceptable definition. In May 2015, a committee established by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had drafted a report on the subject which suggested that there was no need to 'hard code' the definition of net neutrality, but instead to embrace its core principle that all internet traffic should be treated equally. The ball was then lobbed to TRAI, which came out with its recommendations that effectively prohibited internet access service licensees from entering into any arrangement that would promote discriminatory treatment of content. On the face of it, it now looks all hunky-dory. The new net neutrality rules will ban data throttling, blocking and zero-rating like Facebook's Free Basics.

But this will not solve a deeper, technological problem. In its report, the DoT committee had identified two problems: first, bandwidth is not an infinite resource and, therefore, users must expect some choking in data flow. Second, data packets that flow through the dumb pipes of the internet are not equal. A packet of data for an email has different characteristics from that carrying video information, and the network will handle them differently. That is why the regulator said content .delivery networks — a system of

servers that is designed to deal with data congestion — have also been left out of the scope of net neutrality restrictions. Telecom service providers also use certain traffic management practices to improve network performance. TRAI has said it will come up with separate regulations for reasonable deployment of such network-enhancing practices. It remains to be seen whether such exclusions will undermine the concept of net neutrality altogether.

Trump's Trade WarAfter four months of negotiation and tit-for-tat threats, US President Donald Trump's trade war on China finally broke out on Jul 7, when a 25 per cent tariff began to be levied on $34 bn worth of Chinese goods. The US administration has threatened another $200 bn worth of Chinese imports with a 10 per cent tariff.

Will Donald Trump's trade war tip the economy into a recession? The White House has initiated a rapidfy escalating global tit for tat, with thousands of products from the US, China, Canada, Mexico, and Europe now affected or threatened by tariffs. The price of imported goods is increasing. The demand for exported goods is falling. American businesses are laying workers off, and some are warning of bankruptcy.

On the surface, the trade war was directly initiated with a US Trade Representative (USTR) investigation into China's theft of US companies' intellectual property (IP). However, the picture is much more complex. As early as Jan 2018, when the IP theft problem had not fully come to the media's attention, the Trump administration imposed a 30 per cent tariff on imported solar panels, which were mostly made in China. In Feb, the US Commerce Department initiated investigations on pipe fittings imported from China and anti-dumping duties went into effect. Two weeks later, China's aluminum foil faced the same fate. These measures eventually led to Trump's biggest tariff declaration in Mar. Since then, tension between the world's two largest economies has escalated.

In order to fully understand the current trade war between the two sides, it's also critical to put it in the larger context of US-China relations. Ever since China began its rise, the "China threat debate" has persisted, with engagement or containment as the two strategic options for the US. The Clinton administration took the engagement approach. As former President Bill Clinton once explained, to engage China can push it to "accelerate its internal reforms and propel it toward acceptance of the rule of law." After China gained WTO membership in 2000, Clinton further claimed China "is agreeing to import one of democracy's most cherished values: economic freedom."

However, after decades of engagement, China has not reached the level of economic and political liberalisation many had expected. All the while, it has become the second largest economy in the world, thus fuelling the China threat perception. Against this backdrop, the trade war can be viewed as a paradigm shift of Washington's China policy. Along with other recent developments in the US policy,



such as the Taiwan Travel Act passed in Feb, the trade war is part of a much larger strategy of hedging. Once we realise that it is not merely a trade war, we can appreciate the very real potential for the large-scale conflict.

Erdogan Re-Elected in TurkeyRecep Tayyip Erdogan, who'was re-elected as President of Turkey in Jun, is among those leaders, such as Vladimir Putin of Russia and Viktor Orban of Hungary, who are using the levers of democracy to vastly expand their authority. Against a backdrop of widespread repression and a weakened economy, President Erdogan was re-elected, while his alliance won a majority in the parliament.

Formerly the prime minister, Erdogan was elected President in 2014 and, after a failed coup in 2016, persuaded voters to change the constitution to transform the once-ceremonial job into a position with executive control of the govt. In the days since, he has issued several equally lengthy decrees and presidential decisions, centralising power and giving him the ability to exert control in nearly all areas of life with almost unchecked authority. None of the amendments Erdogan decreed were subjected to public debate before becoming law.

The vast accumulation of power fulfils Turkey's shift from a parliamentary system to the presidential one. The voluminous decrees, analysts say, promise months of administrative upheaval as agencies are abolished and govt employees reassigned. In practice, however, the nature of Erdogan's role will change little, since he already informally exerted far more power than his position had technically allowed.

When he first came to power in 2003, Erdogan brought Turkey closer to Europe by accelerating

membership negotiations with the EU - and sought a historic settlement with the country's Kurdish minority. But to maintain the support of nationalist voters in recent years, he has increasingly picked fights with European politicians, led a campaign of repression in Kurdish areas, and drawn increasingly close to Putin.

Erdogan has always been very anti-Syrian regime, anti-Assad. He is not going to change that position.

However, partially because of deteriorating relations with the US, Erdogan has gotten closer to the Russians — and the Russians have played a very good game with Turkey. The Russians know how to create, take advantage of, or deepen fissures between the US and Turkey. Moreover, Putin has included Erdogan in the Astana peace process, which means Erdogan is essentially one of the three important figures in the future of Syria. Erdogan's victory was partly the outcome of his alliance with a far-right party, the Nationalist Movement Party, with anti-western and anti-Kurdish views Erdogan must continue to accommodate. It is also bad news for the US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces that have carved out an independent enclave in northern Syria, which Erdogan regards as a threat to Turkish security. Emboldened by his victory, Erdogan may see no reason to

abandon his strategy of chasing the Syrian Kurds away from key areas of northern Syria.

MATCH POINT

�� The typhoon which hit Shanghai city of China recently –Ampil�� The host of the 2018 women's hockey World Cup

–England�� The mascots of 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic

games respectively –Miraitowa and Someity�� The Internet satellite which Facebook is going to launch

in 2019 –Athena�� India's growth rate in 2018-19 as estimated by the Asian

Development Bank recently –7.3%�� The head of the four-member committee set up to

suggest measures to effectively deal with the incidents of lynching-Rajiv Gauba Winner of the '2017 Player of the Year' award at All India Football Federation (AIFF) awards –Sunil Chhetri�� The state-of-the-art Air Quality and Weather Forecast

System launched by the govt recently –SAFAR�� The host city of the WSF-World Junior Squash

Championship 2018 –Chennai�� India's GDP growth rate in 2018 as predicted by the

IMF in its recent World Economic Outlook forecast –7.3 per cent�� The state where Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar

recently launched •Paudhagiri' campaign –Haryana�� Winner of the men's singles title of the 2018

Wimbledon –Novak Djokovic–Winner of the women's singles title

–Angclique Kcrbcr�� The country which recently declared a 60-day state

of'emergency on its border with Colombia –Peru �� The city where the US President Donald Trump and the

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a historic summit recently –Helsinki (Finland)�� The Wholesale Price Index (WPA) in Jun 2018-5.77

per cent India's GDP growth in 2018-19 as per the new report by the OFCD Development Centre –7.4 per cent�� The state where PM Narendra Modi dedicated to the

nation the Bansagar Canal Project recently –Uttar Pradesh�� The Union Ministry which is implementing (TOPS

seheme) in India –Sports Ministry�� The Prime Minister of Haiti who resigned recently

–Jack Guy Lafontant�� The interest rate on Sukanya . Samriddhi Account for

the quarter\ending Sep 2018 –8.1 per cent � The interest rate on Kisan Vik'as Patra (KVP)

–7.3 per cent � The interest rate on Senior Citizen Savings

Schemes –8.3 per cent



� The interest rate on National Savings Certificate (NSC) –7.6 per cent

� The interest rate on Public Provident Fund (PPF) –7.6 per cent

�� The firm which has unveiled the country's first internet telephony service to dial any telephone number in India through its mobile app "Wings" –BSNL�� The venue of the recent North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO) Summit –Brussels (Belgium)�� India's position as the world's biggest economy

according to the World Bank figures for 2017 –Sixth�� The state which has topped the ease-of-doing-business

rankings as per the State Business Reform Assessment 2018 released recently by the DIPP –Andhra Pradesh�� The state where the Rythu Bandhu scheme is being

implemented –Telangana�� The new chairperson of the National Green Tribunal

(NOT) –Adarsh Kumar Goel�� The firm which is India's largest payer of Goods and

Services Tax (GST), Excise and Customs Duty, and Income Tax in the private sector –RIL�� The city where the Airports Authority of India (AAI)

will set up a Civil Aviation Research Organisation (CARO) at Begumpet Airport –Hyderabad�� The place in Uttar Pradesh where the world's largest

mobile factory set up by Samsung was inaugurated recently –NOIDA�� The South Korean president who visited New Delhi

recently –Moon Jae-in�� The present chairman of the 21st Law Commission of

India (LCI) –Balbir Singh Chauhan�� The city where the 17th World Sanskrit Conference was

held recently –Vancouver, Canada�� The state govt which has launched 'Purna' project to

eliminate malnutrition among girls in the age group of 14 to 18 –Gujarat�� The new head of the UN mission for monitoring the

ceasefire line between India and Pakistan –Jose Eladio Alcain�� The bank on which the RBI has imposed a monetary

penalty of ` 40 lakh for non-compliance of its directions on detection and impounding of counterfeit notes –SBI�� The state which has launched 'Happiness Curriculum'

for school students –Delhi�� The head of the committee set up to lay down standards

for metro rail systems –E Srecdharan�� The new President of Mexico

–Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

ECONOMY

AutomobileVolkswagen's 'India 2.0'The German auto major Volkswagen Group on 2 Jul announced an investment of 1 bn euro (around ` 79 bn)

between 2019 and 2021. As part of 'India 2.0' project, it is setting up an engineering design and development centre at Pune besides enhancing capacities at the group's two plants at Aurangabad and Pune. The group has set a target of capturing 5 per cent of the Indian passenger vehicles market by 2025.

BankingSBI, Nabard tie-upThe State Bank of India (SBI) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) have joined hands to provide collateral-free credit through Joint Liability Groups in Telangana. The two signed an Moll, along with seven NGOs from Nizamabad, Medak and Warangal districts, for the promotion and credit linkage of 2,000 JLGs during the current year.

LIC Buys 51% in IDBI BankThe IDBI Bank's board recently considered Life Insurance Corporation of India's (LIC) offer to buy 51 per cent controlling stake in the former and decided to seek the govt's approval for the acquisition. The transaction, entailing LIC pumping in about ?10,000-11,000 cr to increase its stake in IDBI Bank from 7.98 per cent to 51 per cent via a preferential issue of shares and/or open offer, is likely to be completed by Sep. Post acquisition, the Bank will become a subsidiary of LIC. The public sector bank's board meeting came a day after the life insurance behemoth's board gave its nod to up its stake in the beleaguered bank. Almost 94 per cent stake in the bank is held by the govt (85.96 per cent) and LIC (7.98 per cent). The balance 6 per cent is with the public.

RBI Gets Global PraiseThe RBI has come in for effusive praise by the global banking authority, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), for its effective communications strategy. The RBI has been applauded by the BIS, which calls itself a bank for central banks', for effectively using a targeted communication strategy for reaching out to the right audience in "short and simplified'' language. In its latest annual economic report. Basel-based BIS. which is owned by 60 central banks from across the world, including the Reserve Bank of India, has said that effective communication is critical for success, as in many other policymaking areas.

India Shareholder of EBRDIndia shareholder of EBRD India has become the 69th shareholder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), paving the way for more joint investment with Indian companies across the bank's regions of operation. European Bank President Suma Chakrabarti said in London that India had applied for the membership in Dec 2017. The Board of Governors voted unanimously in favour of the country's application in Mar 2018, with the entire membership process having now been completed. London-headquartered EBRD is a multilateral development bank set up in 1991 after the fall of the Berlin Wall. It aims to promote private and entrepreneurial initiative in emerging Europe and invests in 38 emerging economies.



APB Gets RBI NodAirtel Payments Bank Ltd (APB) has received requisite approvals from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to start onboarding customers using Aadhaar-based e-KYC (know your customer). In Dec 2017, the UIDAI had temporarily suspended Airtel and its payments bank from conducting Aadhaar-based verification of its mobile customers as well as those of the bank using the e-KYC process after receiving complaints that it was opening payments bank accounts without the explicit consent of users. It was also alleged that govt subsidies were being credited in these accounts without the knowledge of users.

K-EXIM Signs MoU With SBJThe Export-Import Bank of Korea (K-EXIM), the Korean Export Credit Agency, and SBI Capital Markets (SBICAP), one of India's leading investment banks, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) lo establish a line of credit of up to $1.5 bn from K-EXIM to Indian lenders, targeting projects largely in sectors such as energy, petrochemicals and refinery, natural resources, infrastructure, transportation, shipbuilding, environment, automobiles and machinery.

ADB Approves ProjectThe Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved 503-mn-US-Dollar lining project of the Son canal in Shahabad-Bhojpur region of Bihar, which would benefit the agriculture sector immensely in the region. Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister RK Singh held a meeting with the officials from the ADB and the finance ministry to review the progress of lining project of the Son canal. The estimated cost of the project is 503 mndollars, out of which 352 mn dollars is being provided by ADB.

Bank of China in IndiaThe Reserve Bank of India on 4 Jul issued licence to Bank of China to operate in India. The decision was based on the commitment made by Prime Minister NarendraModi to the Chinese leadership. Following this, the 106-year-old Bank of China will open a branch in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Qingdao, China. During the meeting, they discussed the issues of security, economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. The Bank of China (BoC) opened its first branch in South Asia in Pakistan's Karachi last year.

New NPA norms for MSwwMEsThe financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said that the 180-day NPA norm for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) would help reverse ` 15,000 cr in the banking system. The Reserve Bank of India in its circular dated Feb 12 said that a bank could resolve a loan of ` 2,000 cr or more within 180 days, failing which insolvency proceedings will have to be invoked against the defaulter.

CommunityMehta Panel reportThe high-level committee on restructuring stressed assets and creating more value for public sector banks (PSBs) has suggested a transparent market-based solution with a focus on asset turnaround to ensure job protection and creation. Accepting the report submitted on 2 Jui by the committee headed by Sunil Mehta, Non-Executive Chairman of Punjab National Bank, Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said the recommendations were fully compliant with RBI regulations, and that there was no proposal to create a "bad bank".

The idea behind Project 'Sashakt' is to ensure the operational turnaround of the banks and stressed companies so that the asset value is retained.The Five-Pronged Resolution Route Includes:�� outlining an SME resolution approach�� bank-led resolution approach�� AMC/AIF-led resolution approach�� NCLT/IBC approach and�� asset-trading platformThe above approach envisaged by the committee will be

applicable to smaller assets with exposure up to ` 50 cr, midsize assets between T50 cr and ̀ 500 cr, and large assets with exposure of ` 500 cr and more which have a potential for turnaround. For loans above ` 500 cr, an independent asset management company (AMC) will be set up. An alternative investment fund (AIF) would raise funds from institutional investors.

GDPIndia to be Third-Largest EcoIndia is eyeing the tag of the world's third-largest economy by 2030, after overtaking France as the sixth-largest economy and coming close to the UK, which is at the fifth place. Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said on 14 Jul the Indian economy was at a take-offstage and was expected to be the world's third largest by 2030 with GDP worth $10 tn. This means India is aiming to overtake the UK, Japan and Germany by 2030, to be behind only the US and China. If India grows at 8 per cent a year at constant prices on average, the economy could expand to over 10 tn by 2028 itself.

This would be subject to the assumption of 4 per cent inflation rate a year, which is also the target range of the Reserve Bank of lndia.New Base YearThe govt will come out with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data with the new base year during 2019-20. It also plans to bring out an employment survey by the end of this calendar year. At present, the base year for GDP is 2011-12 while it is 2012 for CPI. There is a need to change the base year for GDP to 2017-18 and for CPI to 2018. Base year revision is normally done once in five years to accommodate and factor in the changes that take place in the economic scenario of the country.



ManufacturingBiggest Mobile FactorySouth Korean company Samsung has set up what is the world's largest mobile factory in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The new 35-acre Samsung Electronics facility at Sector 81. was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Moon .lae-in on 9 Jul. The company is currently making 67 mn smartphones in India and with the new plant being functional, it is expected to manufacture nearly 120 mn mobile phones.

Books and Authors

• In a Free Stale—VS Naipaul• Indian Cultures as Heritage: Contemporary Pasts

—Romila Thapar

NATION

CentreNational Health StackThe NITI Aayog on 6 Jul came out with a blueprint of the National Health Stack (NHS), a shared digital healthcare infrastructure, with a view to implementing the Centre's flagship scheme Ayushman Bharat and other public healthcare programmes in the country.

The NHS is proposed to be the country's first futuristic nationally shared digital healthcare infrastructure usable by both the Centre and the states across public and private sectors.

StatesAnti-Witch Hunting BillPresident Ram Nath Kovind has approved the Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2015, converting it to an Act, almost three years after it was passed by the state Assembly. The Act. aimed at eliminating the superstition from the society, imposes a punishment of up to seven years and a fine of up to ` 5 lakh.Sindhu Darshan FestivalThe three-day annual Sindhu Darshan Festival was celebrated on the bank of Indus River in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. The Festival, organised by Sindhu Darshan Yatra Samiti and Ladakh Phandey Tsogspa. Leh. was inaugurated by RSS General Secretary Bhaiya Ji. The programme was focused at national integration, communal harmony and national pride. This year marks the 22nd Sindhu Darshan festival and it was started by the former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advaniin 1997.Behdienkhlam FestivalThe Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Prime Minister's Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions. Atomic Energy and Space. Dr Jitcndra Singh attended the famous 4-day Meghalaya Annual Cultural Festival, "Behdienkhlam", held every year at the small peripheral town of Jowai in the state.

Happiness CurriculumThe Delhi govt on 2 Jul launched 'Happiness Curriculum" for .school students, with the Dalai Lama gracing the occasion and saying that India can help the world overcome "negative emotions" of the mankind. The curriculum is for students up to class 8.

'Sambal' Scheme in MPIn Madhya Pradesh^tne govt has launched an outstanding power bill waiver scheme and subsidised power scheme 'Sambal' for labourers and poor families. Under this scheme, outstanding electricity bill worth ?5179 cr is to be waived off.

Defence

BrahMos Supersonic MissileThe BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired, from the Integrated Test Range (1TR) in Odisha's coastal Chandipur district on 16 Jul. The test was carried out under extreme conditions.

The missile has a range of up to 290 km with supersonic speed. Its cruising speed is up to Mach 3.0. or three times the speed of sound.

Tejas Begins OperationsIndigenous fighter aircraft Tejas of No. 45 Squadron formally commenced operations from the Air Force Station at Sulur near Coimbatore. With tiie deployment of Tejas. the No. 45 Squadron 'The Flying Daggers' would take up wartime role towards safeguarding national skies.

WORLD

2018 NATO SummitThe 2018 Brussels Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was the 29th formal meeting of the heads of state and heads of govt of the NATO, held in Brussels. Belgium, on IT and 12 Jul 2018. NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries. The alliance is based on the North Atlantic Treaty thai was signed on 4 Apr 1949. NATO constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.

Important Days

• 01 Jul: National Doctors' Day; SBI Day• 07 Jul: International Day of Cooperatives (first

Saturday in JuA)• 11 Jul: World Population Day• 15 Jul: World Youth Skills Day• 18 Jul: Nelson Mandela International Day• 26 Jul: Kargil Vijay Diwas• 28 Jul: World Hepatitis Day• 29 Jul: Global Tiger Day• 30 Jul: International Day of Friendship World Day against Trafficking in Persons



PERSONS IN NEWS

AppointedAdarsh Kumar Goel: The Supreme Court judge who retired recently, was appointed as the chairperson of National Green Tribunal (NGT). He is best remembered for passing the controversial judgment on diluting provisions of the SC/ST Act. The post of the chairperson of the green tribunal, which disposes cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests aruj other natural resources, had been vacant for the pasl eight months after justice Swaianter Kumar retired on Dec) alter completing his five-vcar tenure.

SentencedNawaz Sharif: An accountability court in Pakistan sentenced the ousted prime minister to 10 year in prison in one of the three corruption cases against him in the high-profile Panama Papers scandal The ruling came weeks before the general elections in Pakistan on the 25th of Jul.

VisitedMoon Jae-in: The South Korean President was in India on a four-day visit from Jul 8 to Jul 11. This was his first visit to India. He was accompanied by First Lady Knn .lung-sook. He inaugurated world's largest mobile factory in Noida, UP along with the Indian Prune Minister Natendra Modi. India and South Korea signedxarious MoUs during his visit.

Dasho Tshering Tobgay: The Prime Minister of Bhutan came on a three-day visit to India. During flic visit he called on President Ram Nath Kovind and held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India and Bhutan enjoy unique ties of friendship and cooperation, which are characterised by utmost trust and mutual understanding.

Places in NewsVancouver: The Human Resource Development Minister Prakasli Javaclekar inaugurated the 17th World Sanskrit

Conference in the Canadian city. More than 500 scholars and delegates from over 40 countries participated in the five-day conference and exchanged their knowledge by presenting papers on various subjects. The purpose of this conference is to promote, preserve ,nui practise the Sanskrit language all over the world by the people.

SPORTS

Football2018 FIFA World CupThe 21st edition of the FIFA World Cup concluded on 15 .Tul in Russia.

Wimbledon 2018

• Men's Singles: Novak Djokovic of• Serbia defeats Kevin Anderson of South Africa• Women's Singles: Angelique Kerber of Germany beats

Serena Williams of the US

WrestlingPunia Diams GoldBajrang Punia emerged champion at the Tbilisi Grand Prix in the 65kg eategory alter outplaying Iranian wrestler Mehran Nasiri in the final in Georgia.

AWARDS

Golden Man Booker PrizeMichael Ondaatje's The English Patient was named the greatest-ever winner of the Man Booker Prize at an event celebrating five decades of the prestigious literary award. The Canadian writer's tale of love and conflict during World War II was awarded the Golden Man Booker Prize for fiction after winning a putvc vote.



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GK July Part-3

GK July Part-3

Test-1

1. The Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble was inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site recently. These buildings are located in

A) NewDelhi B) Kolkata C) Chennai D) Mumbai E) Hyderabad 2. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has launched

'EPIC' with Braille on it to help visually impaired persons. Here, the term EPIC means

A) Electors Personal Identity Card B) Election People Identity Card C) Election Purpose Identity Card D) Electors Photo Identity Card E) None of these 3. The RBI recently issued licence to which bank to

operate in India? Now, the 106-year-old bank will open a branch in India.

A) Bank of China B) Golden Star Bank C) Hana Financial Group D) National Bank of Iran E) Russian Agricultural Bank 4. The Central Govt's Chemicals and Fertilizers Ministry

intends to set up India's first-ever govt sector state-of-the-art e-waste recycling unit in which city?

A) Gurugram B) Noida C) Chennai D) Hyderabad E) Bengaluru 5. The annual cultural festival Behdienkhlam was

celebrated recently in which of the following states? A) Maharashtra B) Odisha C) Kerala D) Goa E) Meghalaya 6. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has

extended the deadline for the PAN-Aadhaar linking till

A) 31 Oct 2018 B) 31 Dec 2018 C) 31 Mar 2019. D) 31 May 2019 E) 31 Jul 2019 7. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

(SIPRI) is an international institute dedicated to research into arms control and disarmament and is based in

A) UK B) US C) Norway D) Sweden E) Netherlands 8. The Swedish Academy which awards Nobel prizes

has cancelled which of the following prizes for 2018 following allegations of sexual misconduct, financial malpractice and repeated leaks?

A) Nobel Peace Prize B) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

C) Nobel Prize in Chemistry D) Nobel Prize in Physics E) Nobel Prize in Literature ' „ v 9. The Manila-headquartered Asian Development Bank

(ADB) has approved USD 503-mn lining project of the Son canal in Shahabad-Bhojpur region in

A) Uttar Pradesh B) Madhya Pradesh C) Bihar D) Jharkhand E) Uttarakhand 10. Interest rates on small savings schemes for the quarter

ending Sep 2018 were announced recently. The interest on National Savings Certificate (NSC) for the quarter is fixed at

A) 7.3 per cent B) 7.6 per cent C) 7.8 per cent D) 8.1 per cent E) 8.3 per cent 11. Which of the following recommends the minimum

support prices (MSP) for crops to the govt? It recently said that farmers must be given the "right to sell (their produce) at MSP".

A) IEG B) ICAR C) CACP D) APMC E) ICRIER 12. Nameri National Park is located in the foothills of the

Himalayas situated in Sonitpur District of A) Assam B) Jammu and Kashmir C) Himachal Pradesh D) Sikkim E) Arunachal Pradesh 13. Rythu Bandhu scheme is being implemented in which

of the following states at present? It is a welfare programme to support farmer's investment for two crops a year.

A) Tamil Nadu B) West Bengal C) Telangana D) Jharkhand E) Madhya Pradesh 14. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is a system that

powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application. Which of the following is NOT required to do a UPI transaction?

A) Bank account B) Smart Phone with internet facility C) Debit Card for re-setting MPIN D) Mobile number should be linked with bank

account E) None of these 15. Which of the following has become the most valuable

bank in the emerging markets outsides China (with current market capitalisation of $78.4 bn)?

A) ICICI Bank B) Axis Bank



C) Bank of Baroda D) HDFCBank E) Kotak Mahindra Bank 16. Which state has topped the Ease of Doing Business

rankings as per the State Business Reform Assessment 2018 released recently by the DIPP?

A) Haryana B) Andhra Pradesh C) Telangana D) Karnataka E) Gujarat 17. Which firm is India's largest payer of Goods and

Services Tax (GST), Excise and Customs Duty, and Income Tax in the private sector?

A) TCS B) Wipro C) Bharti Airtel D) Vedanta E) RIL 18. Who among the following was appointed as the

chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) recently?

A) Lokeshwar Singh Panta B) Jawad Rahim C) Adarsh Kumar Goel D) Kurian Joseph E) Uday Lalit 19. The port of Piraeus is the largest seaport situated in

the European nation of A) Greece B) Italy C) Austria D) Spain E) Norway 20. What is the full form of the term AMFI as used in

banking/finance? A) Association of Marketed Funds of India B) Association of Marketable Funds of India C) Association of Mutual Funds of India D) Association of Medium Funds of India E) Association of Managed Funds of India 21. Wrestler Bajrang Punia emerged champion at the

Tbilisi Grand Prix in the 65kg category. Tbilisi is capital city of

A) Kenya B) Chile C) Colombia D) Chad E) Georgia 22. Which country has surpassed India to become the top

destination for greenfield Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2017 with $87.4 bn of announced FDI?

A) China B) US C) Indonesia D) Malaysia E) Brazil 23. The Kaiga atomic power plant has set a new record

of operating for 766 days continuously. The plant is situated in the state of

A) Kerala B) Tamil Nadu C) Telangana D) Gujarat E) Karnataka 24. The Human Resource Development Ministry granted

Institution of Eminence status to which of the following institutions recently?

A) IISc Bangalore B) IIT Bombay C) IIT Delhi D) All the above E) Only A) and B) 25. Jio Payments Bank is a joint venture between

Reliance Industries and a leading public sector

bank. RIL holds 70 per cent stake in Jio Payments Bank while the remaining 30 per cent is held by

A) Bank of Baroda B) PNB C) SBI D) CanaraBank E) Allahabad Bank 26. The Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (BBY), a price

deficiency payment scheme, is being implemented in which of the following states on a pilot basis?

A) Haryana B) Punjab C) Rajasthan D) Madhya Pradesh E) Gujarat 27. Narinder Nath Vohra is the present governor of which

of the following states? A) Jammu and Kashmir B) Andhra Pradesh C) Uttarakhand D) Bihar E) Uttar Pradesh 28. President Ram Nath Kovind went on an official visit

to Cuba recently. The currency of Cuba is A) Baht B) Ngultrum C) Peso D) Krona E) Kyat 29. The RBI had constituted a committee to study

'Comprehensive financial services for small businesses and low income households'. The committee was headed by

A) Nachiket Mor B) Usha Thorat C) KV Kamath D) Raghuram Rajan E) Khwaja Abdul Hamied 30. The ESAF Small Finance Bank recently received

the RBI's approval for NRI operations. The bank is headquartered in

A) Manipal (Karnataka) B) Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) C) Chennai (Tamil Nadu) D) Tirunelveli (Tamil Nadu) E) Thrissur (Kerala) 31. Who among the following has been appointed as the

new chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC)?

(A) Sushil Chandra B) S Ramesh C) J Satyanarayana D) Prakash Kumar E) Sushil Chandra 32. Who among the following was conferred with French

honour, Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, recently?

A) Kalki Koechlin B) Dia Mirza C) Kangana Ranaut D) Farhan Akhtar E) Konkona Sen Sharma 33. Every year 11 Jul is observed internationally as which

of the following days? A) International Day of Cooperatives B) International Day of Friendship C) World Hepatitis Day D) Nelson Mandela International Day



E) World Population Day 34. Which of the following banks acquired Bharatiya

Mahila Bank in2017. The BMB was launched in 2013.

A) PNB B) Bank of Baroda C) SBI D) Axis Bank E) IDBI Bank 35. In case of regional rural banks (RRBs), the stakes

of the union govt, the respective state govt and the sponsor bank respectively are

A) 15%, 35% and 50% B) 25%, 50% and 25% C) 50%, 35% and 15% D) 25%, 25% and 50% E) 50%, 15% and 3 5% 36. A new Banks Board Bureau (BBB), with Bhanu Pratap

Sharma as head, was appointed recently. The'BBB is aimed at improving which of the following in public sector banks?

A) governance B) profitability C) expansion D) acquisition E) automation 37. Gangrel Dam, also known as the RS Sagar Dam, is

located in which of the following states? A) Haryana B) Chhattisgarh

C) Punjab D) Jharkhand E) Tamil Nadu 38. Buddh International Circuit, which is used for auto

racing and formula one events, is situated in which of the following states?

A) Haryana B) Uttar Pradesh C) Madhya Pradesh D) Maharashtra E) Himachal Pradesh 39. PM Narendra Modi recently approved a proposal

for setting up a committee to lay down standards for metro rail systems. The Committee is headed by

A) TN Seshan B) MS Swaminathan C) Mangu Singh D) G Madhavan Nair E) E Sreedharan 40. From 1 Jul 2018, private manufacturers are not

allowed to manufacture Oxytocin for domestic use. Oxytocin is misused in the

A) fisheries industry B) sea food industry C) dairy industry D) trans fat industry E) sericulture

1. D 2. D 3. A 4. E 5. E 6. C 7. D 8. E 9. C 10. B

11. A 12. A 13. C 14. E 15. D 16. B 17. E 18. C 19. A 20. C

21. E 22. B 23. E 24. D 25. C 26. D 27. A 28. C 29. A 30. E

31. B 32. A 33. E 34. C 35. E 36. A 37. B 38. B 39. E 40. C

Answer Key (GK July-Part-3_TEST-1)




GK July Part-3

Test-2

116. Which company has unveiled India's first internet telephony service that will allow users to dial any telephone number in India through its mobile app "Wings" without using SIM?

A) MTNL B) BSNL C) Airtel D) Vodafone E) Reliance Jio 117. Surat is a large city in the west Indian state of Gujarat.

The city is situated on the bank of which of the following rivers?

A) Tapi B) Rapti C) Narmada D) Sabarmati E) Ozat 118. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala is the present Chairman of

which of the following financial institutions? A) SIDBI B) NABARD C) EXIM Bank of India D) NHB E) NPCI 119. The release of linguistic data from the 2011 census

indicates that Nagaland is the most linguistically diverse state in India. The capital of Nagaland is

A) Aizawl B) Gangtok C) Kohima D) Agartala E) Shillong 120. Sberbank is a leading bank which has its headquarters

situated in A) London B) Seoul C) Moscow D) Johannesburg E) Paris 121. The Hindi edition of the book 'An Uncertain Glory:

India and its Contradiction' named 'BharatAur Uske Virodhabhas' was launched recently. The book has been co-authored by Jean Dreze and

A) TN Srinivasan B) Arvind Panagariya C) Jagdish Bhagwati D) Raghuram Rajan E) Amartya Sen 122. Which of the following teams clinched the Kabaddi

Masters title defeating Iran 44-26 in the summit clash in Dubai recently?

A) India B) Pakistan C) Bangladesh D) Nepal E) Afghanistan 123. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) will set up a

Civil Aviation Research Organisation (CARO) at Begumpet Airport in which city?

A) Hyderabad B) Bengaluru C) Gurugram D) Pune E) Mumbai 124. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

offers to banks, financial institutions, corporates and Govt a service termed as NACH, which includes both debit and credit. The term NACH means

A) National Advanced Clearing House B) National Augmented Clearing House

C) National Automated Clearing House D) National Aggregate Clearing House E) National Accredited Clearing House 125. The RBI recently imposed a monetary penalty of

?40 lakh on which bank for non-compliance of its directions on detection and impounding of counterfeit notes?

A) PNB B) SBI C) BoB D) Canara Bank E) Vijaya Bank 126. The Upper House Rajya Sabha has entered into an

MoU for the first time with a foreign counterpart for promoting inter-parliamentary dialogue. The MoU has been signed with

A) Uganda B) Paraguay C) Rwanda D) Kenya E) Chile 127. Asian trade ministers met recently in Japan for

creating what could be the world's biggest trading bloc. It has been named

A) Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership B) Regional Cooperative Economic Partnership C) Regional Collective Economic Partnership D) Regional Constructive Economic Partnership E) None of these 128. Which of the following days is observed on the first

Saturday in Jul every year? A) International Day Against Nuclear Tests B) International Day of Cooperatives C) World Humanitarian Day D) International Youth Day E) World Youth Skills Day 129. The Indian Financial System Code or IFSC is an

11-digit alpha-numeric code that uniquely identifies a bank branch. This code is compatible with which of the following?

A) IMPS B) NEFT C) RTGS D) All the above E) Only B) and C) 130. The NABARD has sanctioned ?735.53 cr under Rural

Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) to which state for the first quarter of 2018-19?

A) Bihar B) Uttar Pradesh C) Maharashtra D) West Bengal E) Jharkhand 131. Satyarup Siddhanta has become the second Indian

mountaineer to climb Ml Ojos del Salado, the highest volcano in the world located in/on

A) Italy B) Indonesia C) South Africa D) Argentina-Chile border E) China-Mongolia border



132. The Payments Council of India (PCI), an apex body representing companies in payments and settlement system, has appointed who among the following as its new chairman?

A) Sangram Singh B) Sameer Nigam C) Vishal Mehta D) Sachin Bansal E) Vishwas Patel 133. The Human Resource Development Ministry granted

the institution of eminence status to which of the following institutions recently?

A) IISc Bangalore B) IIT Bombay C) IIT Delhi D) Jio Institute E) All the above 134. What does letter 'R' stand for in the term LIBOR as

used in banking/economic parlance? A) Region B) Resource C) Rate D) Ratio E) Receipt 135. The new ?10 denomination banknote released by the

RBI bears the signature of RBI Governor Dr Urjit R Patel and has on the reverse side the motif of the

A) Sanchi Stupa B) Hampi with Chariot C) Char Minar D) Sun Temple of Konark E) Lal Qila 136. India jumped three places to reach 57th spot on the

2018 Global Innovation Index (GiA) rankings. The 2018 Gil is topped by

A) China B) Switzerland C) Finland D) South Korea E) Sweden 137. Which of the following cities recently unveiled the

world's first all-digital psychedelic art museum? A) New York B) Shanghai C) London D) Tokyo E) Manila 138. According to the figures released by the World Bank

for 2017. what is India's position as the world's biggest economy with its GDP touching USD 2.597 tn in 2017?

A) Third B) Fourth C) Fifth D) Sixth E) Seventh 139. Which of the following pairs of new banknotes issued

by the RBI, their colours and their dimensions is NOT matched correctly?

A) ` 10 – Chocolate brown – 63 mm × 123 mm B) ` 50 – Fluorescent blue – 66 mm × 135 mm C) ` 200 – Bright yellow – 66 mm × 146 mm D) ` 500 – Stone grey – 66 mm × 150 mm E) ` 2000 – Magenta – 66 mm × 173 mm 140. The former IAS officer GC Chaturyexii was appointed

as non-executive Chairman of which of the following banks recently?

A) HDFC Bank B) Federal Bank C) YES Bank D) ICICI Bank E) Axis Bank 141. The Rajmahal Coalfield is located in which of the

following states?

A) Jharkhand B) West Bengal C) Odisha D) Assam E) Sikkim 142. In which of the following states, Chief Minister HD

Kumaraswamy recently announced a mega ?340-bn farm loan waiver scheme while presenting the state budget?

A) Tamil Nadu B) Kerala C) Karnataka D) Andhra Pradesh E) Telangana 143. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Summit was held recently in its headquarters in Brussels, the capital city of

A) Bulgaria B) Sweden C) Greece D) Finland E) Belgium 144. Vijay Srinivas has been appointed as the new Director

and General Manager of the United India Insurance Company Ltd. The headquarters of the UIICL is located in

A) New Delhi B) Mumbai C) Bengaluru D) Hyderabad E) Chennai 145. ____ is an instrument denominated in Indian Rupees

in the form of a depository receipt created by a domestic depository against the underlying equity of issuing company to enable foreign companies to raise funds from the Indian securities markets.

A) IDR B) Commercial paper C) LAP D) Promissory note E) MSF 146. The Bhutanese Prime Minister Dasho Tshering

Tobgay visited New Delhi recently. The currency of Bhutan is

A) Ngultrum B) Baht C) Rand D) Togrog E) Bolivar 147. The No. 45 Squadron Indian Air Force is based at

Sulur, Tamil Nadu. The squadron operates which of the following fighter planes?

A) Rafale B) MIG 35 C) Sukhoi 30MKI D) HAL Tejas E) Mirage 2000 148. Which of the following Union Ministries runs the

TOPS scheme? A) Home Ministry B) Sports Ministry C) HRD Ministry D) Commerce Ministry E) Finance Ministry 149. The term ARPU or Average Revenue Per User is a

measure used primarily by companies operating in A) Banking B) Insurance C) Telecom D) Automobiles E) Courier 150. The high-level committee on restructuring stressed

assets and creating more value for public sector banks (PSBs) submitted its report recently. The Committee was headed by

A) RGandhi B) HR Khan C) Kamalesh Chandra Chakrabarty D) Anand Sinha E) Sunil Mehta



1. B 2. A 3. B 4. C 5. C 6. E 7. A 8. A 9. C 10. 2

11. C 12. A 13. B 14. D 15. D 16. D 17. E 18. E 19. C 10. 4

21. B 22. D 23. D 24. E 25. D 26. A 27. C 28. E 29. E 30. A

31. A 32. D 33. B 34. C 35. E 36. E 37. E 38. C 39. B 40. A

Answer Key (GK July-Part-3_TEST-2)

151. The former PNB'executive T Latha was appointed as the new MD and CEO of which of the following private sector banks recently?

A) IndusInd Bank B) Federal Bank C) Axis Bank D) Kotak Mahindra Bank E) Dhan Laxmi Bank 152. Which of the following teams won the Champions

Trophy hockey in Breda, the Netherlands recently? A) Malaysia B) Pakistan C) Japan D) India E) Australia 153. Which of the following state govts has launched an

outstanding power bill waiver scheme and subsidised power scheme 'Sambal' for labourers and poor families?

A) Rajasthan B) Karnataka C) Madhya Pradesh D) Maharashtra E) Haryana

154. Which of the following biosphere reserves is situated in the state of Meghalaya?

A) Pachmarhi Biosphere Reserve B) Nokrek Biosphere Reserve C) Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve D) Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve E) Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve 155. Which state has topped the ease of doing business

rankings in terms of obtaining utility permit as per the State Business Reform Assessment 2018 released recently by the DIPP?

A) Uttar Pradesh B) Andhra Pradesh C) Uttarakhand D) West Bengal E) Karnataka

GK July Part-3 Teachwell · The committee's five-pronged strategy is nothing but a shoddy attempt...

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