Current Affairs Current Affairs - 4 December 2016

General Affairs

Line I’ve made you stand in is last line, to end all lines: PM Modi at Moradabad

Exactly at the half-way mark of his 50-day demonetisation deadline, on day 25th, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed that the corrupt would be sent to jail and he would get their money into accounts of the poor.

Addressing a Parivartan Yatra rally at Moradabad on Saturday, Modi addressed the issue of people queuing up for money but said this would be the last time Indians would have to stand in a line.

Heart of Asia Conference: We are here despite all the tension. Now let’s see what Indians do, says Syed Abrar Hussain

Syed Abrar Hussain, Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan, who is in Amritsar for the Heart of Asia conference, tells Kamaldeep Singh Brar that Pakistan has put the ball in India’s court by attending the conference and it’s now for India to respond. Excerpts from an interview:

Afghanistan is the focus of the conference. What does Pakistan hope to gain out of it?

Afghanistan is our close neighbour. It shares a long border with us. Both countries are so close that the relationship we share with each other is unique. Yes, there are ups and downs, but we share many common concerns. Pakistan is working on many projects in Afghanistan, including health, infrastructure and education. Around 30,000 Afghanistan students have studied in Pakistan so far. Around 30,000 to 40,000 people cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan border every day. There are ups and downs, but we always try to support Afghanistan like a brother would.

Can India, Pakistan and Afghanistan work together for the region?

We are in favour of good relations with all our neighbours. We should solve our issues peacefully. Yes, there are problems and disputes —like the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan —but we should sit and talk; not refuse to talk. We (Pakistan) remain engaged in negotiations with Afghanistan and all our neighbours, including Iran, China and India.

Success and failure are a part of negotiations, but we will strive to maintain peace with our neighbours because our real challenges are social and economic. If you have to wage war, then it should be against poverty, hunger, illiteracy and diseases instead of fighting each other. World has move forward and we should also resolve our issues with negotiations.

Do you think Sartaj Aziz’s visit will bring a thaw in India-Pak relations after the recent tension?

See, India is the host. Asi jeyada ton jeyada eh kar sake si ke asi aa gaye han. Tamam halat de bavjood (The best we could have done was to come here, despite all the tension). There is tension on the border —firing is on. Despite all this, our delegation has come here. Sartaj Aziz has come. Now let’s see what Indians do.

Those opposing development projects for environmental reasons should use bicycles: Manohar Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said those who protest against developmental projects for environmental reasons should start using bicycles instead of cars. “BJP has given most important thing to Goa: political stability, due to which prosperity came. Due to this, despite opposition to many things, we could finish the (infra) projects,” Parrikar said at the party’s ‘Vijay Sankalp’ rally at Bicholim ahead of next year’s state polls.

“In Goa there can be opposition to anything. I (as the Chief Minister) had to approach the court to get clearance for a third bridge over Mandovi river. There was similar opposition to construction of garbage treatment plant for Saligao. Every thing is opposed through media and public protests,” he said.

“The other day I saw four people standing on the roadside with placards, opposing the construction of the second bridge over Zuari river. The land for the bridge has been acquired long back,” Parrikar said.

“(They were saying) Don’t kill the nature! (Then) Don’t buy a car, nature will be automatically saved. Use bicycle, Sweden does it. Even Swedish Prime Minister goes around on a bicycle. We should also start using bicycles,” he said.

“Goa is the best place to become a cashless society. That does not mean there will be no cash, it means less-cash society. We can make payments using cards and mobile,” he said.

I-T officials recover Rs 1.20 cr from factories, residences of Ludhiana businessman

Income tax raids continued for the second day on Saturday at the factories and residences of owners of Bajaj & Sons, a Ludhiana-based auto parts manufacturing company.

As per sources, the Income Tax department, has till now recovered Rs 1.20 crore out of which Rs 72 lakh are in the new currency notes of Rs 2,000. “Rs 72 lakh in 2,000 notes is the biggest recovery by IT department in Ludhiana till now. Owners have failed to explain from where they got 2,000 notes in such huge numbers and interrogation continued on Saturday. Police action is likely if they fail to produce the source of Rs 2,000 notes. Rest of the amount is in Rs 100 notes.”

Sources further said that owners have failed to produce any proof or explanation for the new 2,000 notes recovered.

Kashmir Police turn counsellors, advice youth against stone pelting

In an effort to curb incidents of stone pelting, police in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district are conducting counselling sessions with the pelters to guide them on ways to lead better lives. More than 200 stone pelters participated in these counseling sessions and were asked to refrain from indulging in protests and to stay away from pelting. “We have tried to explain to the students to concentrate on their studies and their careers rather than indulging in stone pelting incidents,” Mir Imtiaz, Senior Superintendent of Police, told ANI. The pelters were asked to get into constructive work that would be beneficial to society.

Stone pelting, known locally as “Kanie Jung”, has become a tool of resistance in the hands of young boys who take to the streets to express their anger at the Indian state. The need to rehabilitate stone pelters can be attributed to the spate of stone pelting incident that took place post the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Wani, who was gunned down in southern Kashmir on July 8 by the security forces. Reportedly, Kashmir has so far witnessed more than 2,347 incidents of stones pelting at security forces, across all ten districts.

Business Affairs

GST council: Stalemate continues, next meet on December 11-12

The fifth session of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, on Saturday, made some progress in fine-tuning the draft model law, based on which the Central GST (CGST) and state GST Bills will have to be approved by Parliament and state assemblies, respectively. However, no resolution was in sight on the issue of how the Centre and states will share their administrative powers on the 10-million indirect tax assessee base.

With the Council’s next meeting slated for December 11-12, the Centre will require to race against time to ensure passage of the three bills for CGST, integrated GST and states’ compensation bills in the current Parliament session, and roll out the new tax from April 1, 2017. The GST’s launch can’t anyway be delayed beyond September 16 next year, as the recent Constitutional amendment renders the extant taxes — which are to be subsumed in GST — non-enforceable from that date.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said discussion on the “cross-empowerment” issue — the IGST daft is also integrally linked to this — was “continuing”. “Logjams are meant to be broken,” he said. Stating that the Council had a “long and good” discussion on the division of administrative powers, he added: “If you ask me if we are close to a resolution, well, I can’t answer that… I’m keeping my fingers crossed.” Asked whether the GST Council would put the issue to vote, Jaitley said his approach as chairman of the Council has been to arrive at a consensus through deliberative democracy and “avoid division to the extent possible”.

Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac said: “We were not able to arrive at a consensus regarding the cross-empowerment model. Therefore, the discussion on GST laws could not be completed. The compensation law was not taken up, but a formula has arrived and we will discuss it.”

The sticking point is how the relatively small taxpayers — who, under existing regime, are largely with states — will be administered. The states want exclusive control on businesses with turnover below Rs 1.5 crore (the current threshold for central excise), including the service taxpayers, who are close to 30 lakh in number. Sources said the Centre is inclined to give the states exclusive right to assess goods suppliers up to Rs 1.5 crore, but is firm that the service tax assessees should remain under its sole control at least in the initial years.

The states, according to the Centre, require to have the competence to deal with service tax, which the Centre has acquired over the last 22 years.

The states’ concerns are over optimal use of their bureaucracy, rather than revenue-related. The GST revenues are to be shared between the Centre and states, with a slightly higher share for the latter. The states are also assured of full compensation for any revenue loss in the initial five years after the new tax kicks in. It was decided earlier that in order to compute the states’ revenues losses from GST, a 14 per cent annual growth over their 2015-16 revenue base (from relevant taxes) would be assumed. Although the states are worried about revenue losses due to demonetisation, it is not relevant to the GST compensation talks as 2015-16 was adopted as the base year.

While industry in general is worried about an enabling non-profiteering clause in the model GST law and e-commerce firms fret about the retention of the tax collected at source obligation on them, the Council was inclined to endorse both, sources said. The anti-profiteering provision — which could be implemented only with the setting up of a designated authority — compels businesses to pass on the benefits from any reduction in output tax and rise in input tax credit as a result of GST roll-out. Analysts are also concerned about the likely compliance burden on large players in services sector in the GST regime. Even though the GST principle that tax will be paid where the consumption takes place is welcome, more clarity is required on the place of supply rules, they feel.

Pratik Jain, partner and leader, indirect tax, PwC, said: “The industry would be disappointed that the GST Council meeting could not achieve the desired outcome. However, substantial progress seems to have been made in terms of discussions on draft laws and FM mentioned that there was a general consensus on as many as nine chapters of the GST draft.”

Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016: State-level dilution may give leeway to realtors

While the Union government was forced to strengthen its rules issued under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) following much pressure from citizen groups, the dilution of the rules to give leeway to builders has started at the level of various states.

So far, the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat have notified their own version of the RERA rules while Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh are yet to notify the draft rules prepared by them. The Ministry of Urban Development, which is in charge of urban planning in Delhi has also recently finalised its rules. Almost all states have tweaked the regulations in the interest of real estate developers mainly by excluding ongoing real estate projects, which account for a majority of realty projects in the country.

Replicating Flawed Framework

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, requires mandatory registration of all ongoing and new real estate projects, provides safeguards against delays and fraudulent practices and imposes punitive measures as well as jail term on unscrupulous builders. It also requires builders to disclose project details on the website of the regulator along with quarterly update on its progress on site.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation issued the draft rules under RERA in June this year. Home buyers’ groups immediately made representations before urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu stating that the draft rules did not subject ongoing projects to the stringent regulatory framework that is applicable to new projects under the Act. After much fine-tuning, the final rules were notified four months later in October. The Central government’s rules are applicable to all Union territories without their own legislatures. In case of states, the Central rules were to serve as a model template on which they could base their own rules tailored to meet specific local demands.

“One after another, states have begun diluting the regulatory protection provided to home-buyers under the central Act and rules,” said a Central government official. The draft rules of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, both issued this month, are an exact replica of the Union government’s flawed draft rules instead of the final rules. On the other hand, the notified rules of Gujarat and UP have inserted various provisions so as to exclude ongoing real estate projects from the purview of the real estate regulator.

Section 3 of the Central government’s RERA mandate that all “promoters of all ongoing projects which have not received completion certificate” will have to register with the state-level regulatory authority and provide complete disclosure of project details. In contravention of this crucial section of the Central Act, the Gujarat government has decided to exempt all projects that were launched before November 2016 even if the construction is yet to start on ground.

The UP government has inserted clauses that will take several ongoing projects out of the Central Act’s purview. These include projects that have applied for (not received) completion certificates, projects where conveyance deed has been executed in 60 per cent of cases and even those incomplete projects where maintenance handed over to association of allotees Moreover, the UP government has reduced the penalty for compounding the offences and also watered down the definition of common areas.

Scenario in Delhi

In case of Delhi, urban ministry officials point out that the under-preparation draft rules will require builders to make public details of only those court cases that have been disposed of in the preceding five years without having to disclose the pending litigation. The reason given for this move is that the developer may be unaware of the various cases filed against his projects at the time of furnishing such information to the regulatory authority.

Abhay Upadhyay, national convenor of the citizens’ collective Fight for RERA said that, in a country like India where consumer disputes take years to get resolved in courts, allowing builders to conceal details of ongoing litigation will disadvantage home buyers. “Not only will this reduce transparency and not allow consumers to take informed decisions, it is also in contravention of Section 4 (2) (b) of RERA which clearly provides for revealing “details of cases pending”. This provision will reduce transparency; consumers will not be able to take informed decisions. The Urban Development portfolio is held by Venkaiah Naidu who as the housing minister willingly improved his ministry’s draft rules based on our suggestion. Hence we feel that he has been misled by the UD ministry officials into approving a diluted version for Delhi,” said Upadhyay.

Fight for RERA, which has already written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the chief ministers of Gujarat and UP on the matter of dilutions, is now planning to bring these issues to the notice of Naidu in a meeting with him this Saturday.

“RERA derives its powers from the concurrent list. States are free to make their rules under the Act but these rules can’t be in contravention of the central legislation. This amounts to questioning the supremacy of Parliament,” added Upadhyay.

Market Stabilisation Scheme: Ceiling hiked to Rs 6 lakh cr to tackle extra liquidity

The government has approved an increase in the ceiling for bonds issued under the Market Stabilisation Scheme (MSS) ceiling to Rs 6 lakh crore from the current Rs 30,000 crore to manage the extra liquidity fuelled by the surge in deposits after the scrapping of high-value notes on November 8.

Bonds issued by the government under this scheme are aimed at providing the central bank with a stock of securities to intervene in the market for managing liquidity. Money raised via these bonds are not used for government spending and are sequestered and maintained in a separate account. Over the years, the government has issued these bonds to absorb the liquidity arising out of huge capital inflows. This time the bonds will be used to soak excess liquidity in the local market.

The RBI may well ease the incremental cash reserve ratio (CRR) of 100 per cent for banks announced on November 26 after the RBI’s monetary policy review on December 7.

The RBI on Friday announced the auction of the 28 days Government of India Cash Management Bills for Rs 20,000 crore on Friday using ‘Multiple Price Auction’ method. CMBs will have the generic character of Treasury Bills, it said.

After the demonetisation move, there has been a significant rise in liquidity which is expected to continue for some time, it said. “In order to facilitate liquidity management operations by the RBI in the current scenario, the government has, on the recommendation of the RBI, decided to revise the ceiling for issue of securities under the MSS to Rs 6,00,000 crore,” the RBI said.

Banks have reportedly received deposits worth around Rs 10 lakh crore since November 8. The RBI hopes to absorb a part of the surplus liquidity to the banking system, while leaving adequate liquidity with banks to meet the credit needs of the productive sectors of the economy, it said on November 26.

According to India Rating, normalisation of the CRR requirement will be gradual and staggered, as the RBI may exercise caution before releasing the mopped up Rs 300,000 crore to banks. The persistence of the surplus liquidity conditions will lead the RBI to evaluate alternatives available for liquidity sterilisation. It said cash management bills can effectively manage the liquidity, owing to their short tenor and consistency with the monetary policy stance.

Crisil said the stock of G-secs with the RBI, necessary to conduct reverse repo operations, is limited. So far, the RBI had been conducting reverse repo auctions to siphon out excess liquidity from the banking system. However, this can’t be done perpetually. Between November 8 and 25, funds parked by banks with the RBI under these auctions surged 10 time to Rs 1,50,000 crore. The deluge is so humongous and unprecedented that the RBI chose CRR over more nuanced measures.

According to economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das, the RBI will operate within that limit as per requirement, not as if the entire quantum of MSS would be utilised overnight. “Whatever liabilities come in this year we should be able to absorb it in Budget provisions for interest payment, which is there already in the Budget,” he said.

Finance Ministry suspends 27 officials of PSU banks

The Finance ministry on Friday said it has suspended 27 officials of various public sector banks for allegedly indulging in illegal transactions post demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes on November 8.

The ministry said while banks have done “commendable” work by “putting in long hours of untiring effort in managing banking transactions”, it has come across cases where bank officials have carried out transactions that violate RBI instructions. “Action has been taken in such cases and 27 officials of various public sector banks have been placed under suspension and 6 officials have been transferred to non-sensitive posts,” said a statement. “While all efforts are being made to facilitate genuine transactions, illegalities will not be tolerated and appropriate action will be taken against individuals involved in irregular and unauthorised activities,” it added.

The finance ministry on Friday also warned that those indulging or colluding in money laundering activities and converting their ill-gotten money into white will not be spared as law-enforcement agencies are already chasing such trails. “Those indulging in or colluding with money laundering or converting black money into white will not be spared,” Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said in a tweet.

“Trails being pursued by agencies. Coordinated action underway. Result already visible. Will be more visible in coming days,” he said.

Last month finance minister Arun Jaitley too had said law enforcement agencies will keep a close watch on illegal currency changers, converting the scrapped Rs500 and Rs 1,000 rupee notes to legal tender and those who are investing their money in gold and bullion to hide unaccounted wealth.

Currency withdrawal: ‘Ensure fair money flow to farmers for crop’

The Reserve Bank of India on Friday asked banks managing currency chests to engage district co-ordinators of state-level bankers’ committee to ensure fair and even flow of money to farmers for their winter crop requirements in view of cash shortage post demonetisation.

To ensure adequate allocation of bank notes is made for rural branches, post offices and DCCBs, banks are advised to involve the district co-ordinators (Lead District Managers) functioning under State Level Bankers’ Committee in facilitating/planning distribution of currency from currency chests, the RBI said.

The RBI also said there is a perception that banks with currency chests are giving priority to their own branches to supply cash and asked them to quell the misinformation. “These banks with currency chests are, therefore, advised to make visible efforts to dispel the perception of unequal allocation among other banks and their own branches,” the RBI said.

Meanwhile, State Bank of India has estimated that money worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore may not come back into the banking system post demonetisation of high-value notes.

The Economic Research Department of SBI said “around Rs 2.5 lakh crore on a conservative basis will not be coming back into the system”. As per the SBI analysis, the market estimate of Rs 14.18 lakh crore currency — excluding cash with banks — is based on March 2016 data while in reality it should be based on data available as on November 9, a day after demonetisation was announced.

SBI noted that going by data as on November 9, the amount of high currency denomination notes was Rs 15.44 lakh crore (excluding cash in the banks), an increase of Rs 1.26 lakh crore compared to the March figure.

It stated that RBI has published twice the deposited and exchanged notes data with banks in November with a gap of 9-days. SBI said: “If we closely look at the data, the daily working day average deposited/exchanged at banks has declined significantly from Rs 605 billion (November 10-18) to Rs 501 billion (November 19-27), a decline of 17 per cent.”

General Awareness

Latest Current Affairs - November 2016

Appointments

A K Bhatt has been appointed as India's new director-general of military operations (DGMO).

Ajit Narayanan named as chief technology and product officer of Fashion e-commerce marketplace Myntra.

Ami Bera re-elected to US House of Representatives for 3rd consecutive term.

Asha Ram Sihag appointed as Chairman of National Authority Chemical Weapons Convention.

Bank of Baroda Capital Markets appointed Ratnesh Kumar as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

Bollywood Actor Ranveer Singh named as Indian ambassador for Switzerland Tourism campaign for 2017 Nature wants you back.

Book Swimmer Among the Stars, has been authored by Kanishk Tharoor (Son of Shashi Tharoor).

C.V.R. Rajendran appointed as Managing Director & CEO of Catholic Syrian Bank for 3 years.

Debbie Hockley elected as president of New Zealand Cricket. She has become first woman to hold this role in 122-year history of New Zeealand Cricket's History.

Former CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) Vinod Rai has been appointed as Chairman of Fund Trustee and Advisory Commission of Kerala.

Former Hockey player Mariamma Koshy appointed as Hockey India's president.

Gautam Kumra elected Global Management Consulting Firm McKinsey & Company’s India managing director.

Government appointed Praveen Kumar Sharma as Central Registrar (CR), Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Central Registry of Securitisation Asset Reconstruction and Security Interest of India (CERSAI).

Guy Ryder from United Kingdom has been re-elected Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for a second five-year term.

Indian lawyer Aniruddha Rajput elected as a member International Law Commission (ILC), a top body of legal experts of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Ishaat Hussain appointed as Chairman IT Firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

Jagdish Singh Khehar is appointed as new Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority (NALSA).

Kim Byong-joon has been appointed as the new Prime Minister of South Korea. Yim Jong-yong is appointed new Finance Minister.

Kirpal Singh Badungar elected as 41st president of Sikhs' single largest representative body - Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.

MM Kutty has been appointed as Delhi chief secretary.

Mahesh Bhalla appointed as Chief Mentor of StartupsClub India.

Mahindra and Mahindra Group appointed Pawan Goenka as Managing Director.

McLaren Technology Group appointmeed Zak Brown as Executive Director.

Meng Hongwei became first Chinese citizen to be elected as President of International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), for 4 years.

Ministry of Railways Creates 3 New Director General Level Posts At Apex Scale -

Director General (Signal & Telecommunications) - Akhil Agarwal

Director General (Railway Stores) - AK Goel

Director General (Personnel) - Anand Mathur

N V Srinivasan elected as National President of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce for 2016-17.

N V Srinivasan elected as National President of Trade body Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) for 2016 - 17.

Narinder Batra became first Indian to be elected President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH). He succeeded Spaniard Leandro Negre.

New Appointments -

Rajiv Yadav - Secretary in Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

Raghav Chandra - Secretary in National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

Susheel Kumar - Secretary in Ministry of Coal

Rajeev Kapoor - Secretary in Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.

Yudhvir Singh Malik - Chairman in National Highways Authority of India.

K.P. Krishnan - Secretary in Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.

New President-elect of USA, Donald Trump nominated Indian Seema Verma to post of Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Pankaj Patel elected as President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for 2017.

Qamar Javed Bajwa appointed as 16th Pak Army Chief. He will replace Raheel Sharif.

Rajiv Kumar Gupta appointed as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) in Oil India Limited (OIL).

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed M Rajeshwar Rao as Executive Director (ED) following voluntary retirement of G Mahalingam.

Gurumoorthy Mahalingam will now take over as a Full time member in SEBI (Search Results Securities and Exchange Board of India).

S.K. Sinha appointed as Special Director in Intelligence Bureau.

Sanjiv Arora appointed as India's Ambassador to Lebanon.

Satish Dua appointed as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC).

South Indian Bank launched contactless debit cards, using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology that makes transaction safe and fast.

State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) appointed Siby Sebastian as Chief Executive for its India operations.

Susan Kiefel named Australia's first female chief justice.

Times Internet appointed former Twitter India head Rishi Jaitly as chief executive officer (CEO) of Times Global Partners, that supports expansion of emerging global digital companies in India.

Two officials of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) - Parmod Kumar Nagpal and Amarjeet Singh elected as chairpersons of two committees set up by IOSCO (International Organisation of Securities Commissions). Nagpal will chair Committee on Issuer Accounting, Audit and Disclosure while Amarjeet Singh will chair Assessment Committee (AC).

U.P. Singh appointed as Director General in National Mission for Clean Ganga.

US President - elect Donald Trump named Indian-American Nikki Haley for high-profile post of USA's ambassador to United Nations (UN).

United Nations re-appointed Russian Tennis Player Maria Sharapova as goodwill ambassador. Her doping ban expires in April 2017.

United States president elect Donald Trump named Michael Flynn as USA's National security adviser.

Upma Chowdhary became first woman to be appointed as new (23rd) Director of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) at Mussoorie.

YES Bank appointed Amresh Acharya as Group President and Head of Global Indian Banking.

Awards

11 year old Pune girl Anvita Prashant Telang named winner of Doodle 4 Google contest 2016. Her Doodle's theme is If I could teach anyone anything, it would be. Doodle will be featured on the Google India homepage on November 14 to celebrate Children’s Day.

17th annual Latin Grammy Awards announced in Nevada (US). Winners -

Record of the Year - Carlos Vives & Shakira

Rock Album - Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, La Salvación De Solo Y Juan

Singer - Songwriter Album ->Manuel Medrano

2016 Reporters Without Borders (RSF) - TV5 Monde Press Freedom Prize will be awarded to Syrian reporter Hadi Abdullah, Chinese news website 64Tianwang and Chinese citizen journalists Lu Yuyu and Li Tingyu.

39th Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation Awards 2016 -

Sheikh Rached Ghannouchi (Gandhian and President of Tunisia’s Ennahdha Party)

Mohan Hirabai Hiralal (founder of Vrikshamitra).

BonBehari Vishnu Nimbkar (founder of Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute)

Nannapaneni Manga Devi (founder secretary of Sri Venkateswara Bala Kuteer and Chetana Charitable Trust)

47th International Film Festival Held in Goa -

It Opened With Polish Film ‘Afterimage’ and closed with South Korean film Age of Shadows. Indian Panorama opens with Sanskrit feature Film ‘Ishti’.

South Korea is focus country of IFFI 2016.

Singer SP Balasubrahmaniam honored with the 2016 Centenary Indian Film Personality of year award.

Lifetime Achievement Award at IFFI 2016 was bestowed upon legendary South Korean film director and writer Im Kwon Taek.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated multimedia exhibition on theme of ‘Aazadi 70 Saal, Yaad Karo Kurbani’.

Awards -

Golden Peacock award - Iranian film “Daughter”. It has been directed by Reza Mirkarimi.

Special jury award - The Throne (South Korea) directed by Lee Joon-Ik.

Best Actor Female - Elina Vaska (Latvia) for Mellow Mud.

Best Actor Male - Farhad Aslani (Iran) for Daughter.

Best Director - Shared by Soner Caner and Baris Kaya for Turkish film “Rauf”.

ICFT UNESCO Gandhi Medal Prize - Turkish director Mustafa Kara for his film “Cold of Kalandar”.

Magical Piano, a short film by India's Toonz Media Group has won award at prestigious UNESCO Salon Youth Video Competition 2016.

Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee won Best Performance by an Actor at 10th edition of Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) for his performance as Professor Siras in Aligarh directed by Hansal Mehta.

Book The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan, by Sebastian Mallaby has won 2016 FT Business Book Award.

Captain Radhika Menon became first woman to receive International Maritime Organisation (IMO) award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea. She was presented with this award for saving lives of seven fishermen from sinking fishing boat in Bay of Bengal.

Chinese actor Jackie Chan has been bestowed with honorary Academy Award (or Oscar) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 8th Hollywood Annual Governors Awards.

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE 2016 Competition Awards 2016 Presented by President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi -

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE is a national competition of original technological innovations by children up to class 12 (or those under 17 years age). It is organized by National Innovation Foundation(NIF).

This year, 31 students have been awarded for their ideas.

The awards of competition are announced on 15 October every year on Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s birthday, which is celebrated by NIF as Children’s Creativity and Innovation Day.

Ecuado's Katherine Elizabeth Espín won 2016 Miss Earth Title, held at Philippines.

Faraaz Ayaaz Hossain has been posthumously conferred 2016 Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice, in Mumbai by NGO Harmony Foundation.

He refused to leave his friends during the July 1 terror attack at Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka (Bangladesh).

Fortune magazine named Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as Business Person of Year, 2016.

Indian - Australian Uppma Virdi Won Business Woman of the year award 2016, from Indian Australian Business and Community Awards (IABCA).

Indian IT Firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been awarded with 2016 Digital Innovator of Year by GE Digital in Ecosystem Excellence award category at GE’s Minds + Machines event in California (USA).

Indian companies Tata Consultancy Services and Vedanta awarded for at 3rd annual Asia Corporate Excellence and Sustainability Awards (ACES).

TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) named as Industry Champion in Leadership category.

Vedanta Limited named among Top Companies to Work For in Asia. u

Indian journalist Malini Subramaniam conferred with 2016 International Press Freedom Award, for her reporting from Naxal infested Bastar area. Malini Subramaniam is a contributor to news website Scroll.in. She is among four journalists selected by the Committee to Protect Journalists for this year’s award. Other 3 are - Oscar Martinez (El Salvador), Can Dundar (Turkey) and Abou Zeid (Egypt).

Indian researcher Shamik Chowdhury named among 25 young researchers selected for German Green Talent Award.

Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Islam awarded with Interfaith Leadership Award in Washington (USA).

Indian-origin man in South Africa - Imtiaz Sooliman has been awarded Global Citizen Award by international citizenship advisory firm Henley & Partners.

Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) announced Infosys Prize 2016 -

Engineering and Computer Science - V. Kumaran. He is chosen for his work in complex fluids and complex flows especially in transition and turbulence in soft walled tubes and channels.

Humanities - Sunil Amrith. He is chosen for his contributions to history of migration, international public health and environmental history.

Life Sciences - Gagandeep Kang. He is chosen for her contributions to understanding natural history of rotavirus and other infectious diseases.

Mathematical Sciences - Akshay Venkatesh. He is chosen for his contributions to modern number theory.

Physical Sciences - Anil Bhardwaj. He is chosen for his contributions to Planetary Science and Exploration.

Social Sciences - Kaivan Munshi. He is chosen for his deep analysis of multifaceted role of several castes and ethnic groups in economic development.

Each category prize carries a 22-carat gold medallion, a citation certificate and prize money of 65 Lakh rupees.

Journalist Akshaya Mukul has been awarded 2016 Shakti Bhatt First Book Prize for his book Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India.

Lyricist Gulzar will be honoured with 2016 Tata Literature Live! Poet Laureate Award.

Mike McCormack from Ireland won 2016 Goldsmiths Prize for his novel Solar Bones. This annual British literary prize has £10,000 remuneration.

Noted Bollywood actress and Rajya Sabha MP Rekha will be honoured by upcoming Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Noted Indian Author Ruskin Bond honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award at 14th Raymond Crossword Book Awards in Mumbai.

Noted author Amitav Ghosh will be honored by 2016 Tata Literature Live Lifetime Achievement Award.

Noted flautist Pandit Hari Prasad Chourasia conferred with 2016 Sumitra Charat Ram Award for lifetime achievement in field of Indian classical music.

Noted journalist S Nihal Singh honoured with 2016 Raja Ram Mohan Roy Award for his outstanding contribution to journalism.

Olympic bronze-medallist and 5-time world champion M C Mary Kom will be honoured with Legends Awardby International Boxing Association (AIBA).

Poland-born Marta Jakimowicz elected for Lifetime Achievement Award 2016 by Karnataka Lalithakala Academy, along with Baburao V Nadoni and KK Makali.

President Pranab Mukherjee presented 2nd ICCR ‘Distinguished Indologist’ Award to Prof. Yu Long Yu of China.

This Award has been instituted by ICCR to recognize eminent Indologists working abroad, who have made outstanding contribution to India’s philosophy, art, culture, society etc. Award amount is US$ 20000.

First ‘Distinguished Indologist’ Award was presented to Heinrich Freiherr Von Stietencron of Germany last year.

Rashtriya Kalidas Samman will be conferred to Banshi Kaul for 2016-17 and Raj Bisaria for 2015-16. Kalidas Samman is annual award presented annually by Madhya Pradesh government.

Saudi Arabia awarded 8 scientist Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water UN headquarters in New York. This bi-annual prize was established in 2002.

Sonam Wangchuk, Noted educationist and social scientist from Ladakh has been awarded 2016 Rolex Awards for Enterprise at Los Angeles (USA) for remedying water scarcity in Western Himalayas by building artificial glaciers - Ice Stupas.

Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar honoured with Dr Nagendra Singh International Peace Award for his efforts in ensuring world peace, at a function at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) won 2016 Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance during the 16th London Global Convention on Corporate Governance and Sustainability in London (UK).

Swiss Tennis Star Roger Federer won Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award at ATP awards 2016. It is 12th time in his career that he has won this award.

UAE's Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been awarded with Mother Teresa International Award by Mumbai-based NGO Harmony Foundation.

World Sanskrit Awards -

2015 - Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

2016 - American linguist and Indologist George Cardona.

Books

Actor Twinkle Khanna launched her second book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad, Her first was Mrs Funnybones: She's Just Like You and a Lot Like Me (2015).

Book A Season of Ghosts has been authored by noted Indian author Ruskin Bond.

Book An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India, authored by Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor has been released.

Book Conflicts of Interest: My Journey through India's Green Movement, by Sunita Narain has been acquired by Penguin India.

Book Death under the Deodars: The Adventures of Miss Ripley-Bean by noted author Ruskin Bond has been released.

Book Harp, has been authored by Nidhi Dalmia.

Book Heyday: Britain and the Birth of the Modern World, has been authored by Ben Wilson.

Book How to Steal a Ghost@Manipal, has been authored by Shweta Taneja.

Book Immortal, by Krishna Udayasankar has been released.

Book Migrants, Refugees and the Stateless in South Asia has been authored by Partha S.Ghosh.

Book SRK – 25 Years of a Life, authored by Samar Khan has been released. It traces journey of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

Book The Burning Forest: India’s War in Bastar, authored by sociologist Nandini Sundar has been released.

Book CHARAIVETI, CHARAIVETI has been Released, with its first copy presented to President Pranab Mukherjee. Book is compilation of select recollections of sixty years in public life of Shri Ram Naik (Governor of Uttar Pradesh).

PM Narendra Modi released book on life of Shri Kedarnath Sahni. He was a governor of Indian states of Sikkim and Goa.

Rajiv Gandhi Assassin Nalini Sriharan approved release book about her prison life (24 years).

Book Rajiv Gandhi assasin, hidden truths, Priyanka meeting Nalini has been written by journalist Ekalaivan.

Vice President Hamid Ansari released Festschrift A lifetime of Moulding Technology and Science Policy in India, dedicated to Prof. Ashok Parthasarthi.

Festschrift is a collection of writings published in honour of a scholar.

Committees

Government constituted a committee of Chief Ministers of 5 states, in wake of demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes. It will be headed by Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu. It will suggest measures to normalise the situation.

Government constituted committee to form a strategy to expedite the process of transforming India into a cashless economy. It has been headed by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.

H.R. Nagendra committee has been created by Ministry of for AYUSH, on Yoga Education in Universities.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) sets up 2 committees to gather inputs from experts, including on service providers and corporate liquidation -

Advisory committee on services - To be headed by educationist Mohandas Pai

Advisory committee on corporate insolvency and liquidation - To be headed by noted banker Uday Kotak

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) formed Special Task Force under RBI Deputy Governor S.S Mundra, to speed up process of recalibration of automated teller machines (ATM) to dispense new denomination notes.

Supreme Court constituted Kailash Gambhir committee to verify availability of night shelters and checking if they are in compliance with guidelines under National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM).

Days

6 November: International Day for Preventing Exploitation of Environment in War and Armed Conflict.

Nov 01 - Statehood Day of several Indian States -

Haryana (1966), Chhattisgarh (2000), Karnataka (1956), Kerala (1956 (A Day Before Karnataka)), Madhya Pradesh (1956), Punjab (1966).

Kerala government launched four programmes - Parippida Mission, Haritha Keralam, Ardram and Life.

PM Narendra Modi unveiled statue of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya in Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh). He also dedicate to people, ‘Ekatma Path’ and the Bus Rapid Transport System in the city.

Punjab government observed November 1 as ‘No Tobacco Day’ in an effort to discourage tobacco use in the State

Nov 01 - World Vegan Day. Observed every year by setting up stalls, hosting potlucks and planting memorial trees to benefit veganism for humans, animals and natural environment.

Nov 02 - International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

Nov 05, 2016 - First Global Tsunami Awareness Day.

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) had constituted the day by adopting a resolution in December 2015. Proposal was first mooted by Japan after s3rd UN Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai (Japan) in March 2015. 2016 Theme is Effective Education and Evacuation Drills.

Nov 09 - Foundation Day of State of Uttarakhand. It was created in 2000.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat conferred Uttarakhand Ratna award on former Uttarakhand CM Narayan Dutt Tiwari.

Nov 10 - World Science Day for Peace and Development. 2016 Theme is Celebrating Science Centres and Science Museums.

In India, National Science Day is celebrated in India on 28 February each year to mark discovery of the Raman effect by Indian physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman on 28 February 1928.

Nov 12 - Public Service Broadcasting Day. It marks M K Gandhi’s First and Only visit to All India Radio (AIR) studio On November 12, 1947.

Nov 12 - World Pneumonia Day. 2016 Theme is Keep the Promise, Stop Pneumonia Now.

Nov 14 - Children's day in India. It is celebrated on occasion of Birth Anniversary of Jawahar Lal Nehru, India's First Prime Minister. He was born on Nov 14, 1889

On This Occasion, President Pranab Mukherjee gave away National Child awards to 16 persons, Including Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva Award 2016 to Devesh Nath Dikshit (Bihar), Bandana Kumari (Jharkhand0 and Yesu.S (Kerala).

2nd National children’s film festival (NCFF) held in Jaipur (Rajasthan) on children's day 2016 with theme Make in India.

Nov 14 - World Diabetes Day. 2016 theme is Eyes on Diabetes.

Nov 15 - Jharkhand Statehood Day. It was created on Nov 15, 2000.

Nov 16 - India's National Press Day.

Nov 16 - International Day for Tolerance.

UNESCO awarded tolerance prize 2016 (Madanjeet Singh Prize) to Moscow Jewish museum. Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center is a $50 million institution that opened in 2012. UNESCO had instituted Madanjeet Singh Prize in 1995.

Nov 17 - World Philosophy Day, celebrated on third Thursday of November by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Nov 19 - World Toilet Day. Observed every year to raise awareness and inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. 2016 Theme is Toilets and jobs.

Nov 19, 2016 - 100th Birth Anniversary of Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Nov 20 - United Nations'(UN) Universal Children’s Day. 2016 theme is Stop Violence Against Children.

Nov 20 - World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims 2016. It is held on Third sundauy of November.

Nov 21 - United Nations’ (UN) World Television Day.

Nov 25 - International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. 2016 Theme is Orange the World – raise funds to end violence against women.

Nov 26 - Constitution Day of India. On this day in 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India, that went into effect on 26 January 1950.

Nov 26 - National Milk Day (NMD). It marks mark birth anniversary of Father of India's White Revolution Dr.Verghese Kurien.

World Milk Day is observed on June 1, by UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

On this occasion, Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh launched e-pashuhaat portal (www.epashuhaat.gov.in). Under National Mission on Bovine Productivity, ‘e-pashuhaat’ portal has been developed for connecting breeders and farmers regarding availability of bovine germplasm.

Nov 29 - International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Nov 7 - 128th birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Bharat Ratna Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman.

He discovered Raman Effect, a scientific phenomenon of scattering of light which makes the sea and clear sky look blue. He had discovered that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the deflected light changes in wavelength.

His discovery of Raman Effect had earned him the 1930 Nobel Prize for Physics and In 1954, he was honoured him with India’s highest civilian award Bharat Ratna.

National Science Day is observed every year in India on February 28 to mark discovery of Raman Effect.

Nov 7 - National Cancer Awareness Day.

Oct 31 - World Savings Day. 2016 theme is “Grabbing Hold of Your Financial Future”.

Defence

10th India-Nepal Joint Military Training exercise Surya Kiran conducted at Saljhandi in Nepal.

2 surface-to-surface nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile successfully tested. It has range of 350 kms and capable of carrying 1000 kg of conventional or nuclear warheads.

6th India - Bangladesh Joint military training exercise SAMPRITI 2016 will be conducted at Tangail (Bangladesh) in November 2016.

6th annual India-China Joint Training Exercise Hand in Hand 2016 to be held in Pune (Maharashtra) in November 2016.

Assam Regiment celebrated its 75th Raising Day (Platinum Jubilee). It was raised on 15 June 1941 in Meghalaya.

DRDO successfully tested TAPAS 201 (RUSTOM – II), a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAV. Ttest flight took place from Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga, near Bangalore.

Defence Ministry will re-form blacklist guidelines for dealing with global defence firms engaged in corruption in arms deals.

Instead of ban, new policy will imposes heavy penalties. It will also reduce period of blanket ban to 5 years from 10 years.

It allows doing business with a blacklisted firm for support of critical spares and maintenance in view of national security.

India signed 5000 crore deal with USA for purchasing 145 M777 ultra-light howitzers (Artillery Guns). This is the first deal for artillery guns since Bofors scandal in 1980s. It was signed during 15TH India-Us Military Cooperation Group Meeting.

Indian Navy Sailing Vessel (INSV) Mhadei with an all-women crew was flagged off from Goa to Cape Town, South Africa. It will participate in Cape to Rio Race in December 2016.

Indian Navy inducted four types of DRDO developed sonars, to boost its underwater surveillance capability -

Abhay - advanced hull mounted active-cum-passive integrated sonar system.

Humsa UG - upgraded Humsa sonar system.

NACS - Near-field Acoustic Characterisation System.

AIDSS - Advanced Indigenous Distress sonar system for submarines.

Indian Navy’s 7th landing craft utility L-57 launched by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) in Kolkata LCU L-57 is largest ship of this kind in world. It is the 7th vessel in series of 8 LCU Ships, built by GRSE for Indian Navy.

Indian Navy’s INS Sumitra arrived New Zealand, to represent Indian Navy at Royal New Zealand Navy International Naval Review 2016.

Indian army successfully completed its task of laying an irrigation pipeline in Demchok region of Eastern Ladakh, under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to link villages in the region with a hot spring.

Indigenously built nuclear capable Agni-I ballistic missile tested successfully, from a test range off Odisha coast. It weighs 12 tonnes and is 15-metre-long and can carry payload of over 1 tonne. It can hit a target 700 km away.

P 15A Guided Missile Destroyer INS Chennai commissioned into Indian Navy.

It is third and last of ‘Kolkata’ class destroyers, indigenously designed by Directorate of Naval Design and constructed by Mazagon Dock Limited Mumbai.

Upgraded Jaguar DARIN III twin-seat aircraft received Initial Operation Clearance (IOC).

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) upgraded 3 DARIN I Standard Jaguars to DARIN III Standard, now equipped with world class avionics systems including Open System Architecture Mission Computer (OSAMC), Fire Control Radar., Solid State Digital Video Recording System (SSDVRS and Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF) etc.

Economy

16 of 22 public sector banks skipped paying dividends to Government in 2015-16 due to mounting NPA (bad loans).

It has led to a 67% decline in government receipts to Rs. 1,444.6 crore.

State Bank of India (SBI) paid highest dividend to government - INR 1,214.6 crores, 22% lower than in previous fiscal.

ADB (Asian Development Bank) approved $500 Million Loan for India, for Building Longest River Bridge In India. It will be built on River Ganges to Improve Connectivity Between North and South Bihar and Better Link Between Patna, and Surrounding Areas. Bridge will be 9.8 km Long.

According to new GST law, E-commerce giants Flipkart and Snapdeal will have to deduct 2% TCS(Tax Collected at Source) while making payments to their suppliers and deposited TCS amount with government.

Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh said that India achieved 4.2% average growth in milk production, ahead of world average of 2.2%. During 2015-16, growth in milk production in India has been 6.7%. Per capita Availability of milk will rise to 500 gram daily by 2021-22 (currenlty 337 gram).

Airtel launched India's First Payments Bank services (in name of Airtel Payment Bank Limited) in Rajasthan.

Airtel Payments Bank is a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel Limited. Kotak Mahindra Bank holds 19.9% stake in it.

Airtel retail outlets across Rajasthan will act as banking points. Customers can open bank accounts by using Aadhaar based e-KYC. Airtel subscriber’s mobile number will function as a bank account number.

Bank will accept deposits under 1 lakh and give an interest rate of 7.25% per annum on deposits in savings accounts. It cannot give loans.

Though payment banks are allowed to issue debit card facility, but Airtel Payments Bank will be not offering this facility right now.

Akodara village in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat became India's first digital village.

With population of 1191 people, All transactions in village are carried out through digital modes like SMS, net-banking or debit cards.

Akodara village was adopted by ICICI Bank under its Digital Village Project in 2015 and made cashless by adopting digital technology.

American Financial Firm Morgan Stanley lowered its growth forecast for India for FY’17 to 7.3% from 7.7% earlier, on account of currency replacement programme. Global growth will accelerate to 3.4% in 2017 from 3% in 2016.

As the biggest and boldest decision in Independent India's History, PM Narendra Modi announced to demonetise All currently circulated notes of 500 and 1000 denominations. It has been done to root out menace of black money, corruption and fake currency from country. Currency notes of all other denominations - 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 rupee are unaffected by this decision.

Measures for Public Convenience -

Till 11 November midnight, Railway booking counters, Hospitals, Govt buses ticket booking counters, Airlines, Petrol & CNG outlets, Crematoriums, International airports will accept Old 500 and 1000 Notes.

How to Deposit Old Notes of Rs 500 and 1000 -

People can deposit Old Notes of Rs 500 and 1000 in Their banks by Dec 30, using specialized form and any Valid Government issued ID Proof. There is no upper limit on these deposits, however deposits above 2.5 Lakh will be scrutinized and if Income source is not justified / mismatched, it may carry 200 % penalty.

If someone is unable to deposit the amount by Dec 30, they can deposit it at designated RBI Offices by March 31, 2017. RBI will require a form to be filled, stating reason for not depositing the money in bank by Dec 30 and accepting Tax Terms.

How to Get Cash in Initial Days -

ATMs to be Closed on Nov 9 & 10, will start functioning from Nov 11 and will dispense Rs 50 Notes as well. Banks to be closed on Nov 09.

ATM will only dispense Rs 2000 a day in the beginning, later to be increased to 4000 / day. It will depend on availability of new notes. Customers can withdrawl money by cheque also - limited to 10000 / day and 20000 / week.

For immediate needs, Old notes can be exchanged for new notes / lower denomination notes at any Bank Branch /Post Office. This exchange is limited to 4000 / day.

Background

It may be noted that while total number of bank notes in circulation rose by 40% between 2011 and 2016, increase in number of notes of Rs.500 denomination was 76% and for Rs.1,000 denomination was 109% during this period.

New Series bank notes of Rs.500 and Rs.2,000 denominations will be introduced for circulation from 10th November, 2016. Infusion of Rs.2,000 bank notes will be monitored and regulated by RBI.

Pune-based Chartered accountant Anil Bokil is person who ideated the formulae of demonetisation. He is founder of NGO Arthkranti Pratishtan.

New Notes of Rs 500 and 2000 circulated from Nov 10 - Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued new series of notes for 500 rupees and 2,000 rupees denomination with improved features and newer sizes. New notes have different metrices that are comparatively tough to duplicate.

2,000 rupees note -

It will be for the first time 2,000 rupees note denomination has been issued. called as ‘Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series’.

Base colour of the note is magenta. Size of the new note is 66mm166mm. It has a motif of Mangalayan on the reverse side and Mahatma Gandhi on front side.

Specimen -

500 rupee note

It has portrait and electrotype watermarks. It will be in a stone grey in colour.

The motif Delhi’s Red Fort is on reverse side and Mahatma Gandhi on front side.

Size of the new note is 63mm150mm.

Specimen -

Asian Development Bank (ADB) and India signed a $48 million loan to help Assam state continue its drive to improve access to efficient and reliable power in the national capital. This is the second tranche loan of $300 million multi tranche financing facility for the Assam Power Sector Investment Program that was approved by ADB in July 2014.

Axis Bank in association with NITI Aayog, IIT-Bombay, National Institute of Design and ISRO, announced ‘Splash 2016’, a pan India painting competition for children in the age group of 7 – 15 years. Online registration at myideaofprogress.com/Splash.

BHEL commissioned a 93 MW steam turbine-based captive power plant (CPP) at Hazira in Gujarat for Reliance Industries (RIL).

Bank of America (BofA) lowered India’s economic growth estimates by 30 basis points to 7.1 % for the current fiscal after demonetisation drive. Earlier, BofA estimated India's GDP growth at 7.4 % for 2016-17 and 7.6 % for 2017-18.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) hiked Minimum Support Price (MSP) of wheat and pulses to boost output of these rabi crops -

MSP of wheat hiked by 100 rupees per quintal for 2016-17 rabi crop (procurement cost will be 1,625 rupees per quintal).

MSP on Pulses -> Masur (INR 3950), Mustard and safflower - (INR 3700), rupees per quintal each, Gram - (INR 4000).

Canara Bank signed agreement with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance for distribution of Bajaj Allianz’s general insurance products through its branches.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) signed 3 Bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with United Kingdom (UK), taking total number of APAs signed [both- bilateral and unilateral] so far to 111.

Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) extended duty drawback facility on all textile products for 1 year to boost exports. Besides, CBEC also has increased rates in some cases for the benefit of Indian exporters.

Duty drawback is refund that can be obtained when an import fee has already been paid by a business entity for a good but the good is then subsequently exported.

In order to obtain a duty drawback, a business does not have to have paid the import duty nor do they have had to perform the product’s exportation. But they only need to be assigned the drawback from those to whom it would typically be due.

Classified advertising platform Quikr acquired online home rental solutions provider Grabhouse in an all-stock deal.

Competition Commission of India approved amalgamation of Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) into State Bank of India (SBI).

Export Development Canada (EDC) sanctioned first-ever masala loan of Rs. 340 crore($50 million) to Indian firm Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services(IL&FS). This is first lending of EDC in Indian Rupees.

Federal Bank received Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s permission to open its first international branch in Dubai.

Federal Bank tied up with Oxigen to expand bank’s e-collection facility to 3 lakh- retail outlets of Oxigen.

Foreign Companies providing online information and database access or retrieval [OIDAR] services in India will pay Service Tax from 01 Dec, 2016. It is being done to provide a level playing field to Indian service providers providing taxable OIDAR services.

GST Council finalised 4 tier Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate structure with a multiple-slab rates. GST will be levied at multiple rates ranging from 0% to 28%.

Four bands of tax rates have been fixed at 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. Besides, another category of tax between 40% and 65% will be imposed on luxury goods like pan masala, tobacco products, aerated drinks and high-end cars.

Nearly half of the consumer inflation basket goods including food grains, will be zero-rated (i.e. 0% GST) to insulate people from inflationary pressures. Lowest slab of 5% will be for items of common consumption.

Bulk of the goods and services including fast-moving consumer goods will be included in 12% and 18%.

The highest slab of 28% will include white goods and all those items on which current rate of incidence varies from 30-31%.

Governmenrt along with NTPC, REC (Rural Electrification Corporation) and PFC (Power Finance Corporation), will launch a USD 2 billion clean energy equity fund to support government's target of adding 175 GW renewable energy generation capacity by 2022.

Government allowed National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to disburse Rs 21,000 crore to help farmers to sow Rabi crops, through District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs).

After Government’s demonetisation move, 86% of currency in circulation had been swept away. It has badly hit farmers leaving them without cash just ahead of Rabi sowing season.

Government allowed farmers to purchase seeds with old high denomination bank notes of Rs.500 from Govt Units.

Government announced that it will present Union Budget 2017 - 18 on February 1 and budget session will begin in January. Government earlier scrapped 92-year old tradition of presenting a separate Railway Budget and merged it with Union Budget.

Government has put 10,000 crore rupee fine on Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and its partners BP and Niko for pumping out gas that flowed to Krishna Godavari-D6 Block from an adjoining field owned by ONGC.

Government has set up target of increasing LPG coverage to 75% by 2019. Under PMUY (Ujjwala Yojana), 5 crore new LPG connections over a 3 years starting from 2016-17 will be given to BPL households.

Government imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods (for 6 months) from China to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap imported shipments.

Anti-dumping duty is an import duty imposed by government on imported products which have prices less than their normal values or domestic price.

Government imposed safeguard duty on import of certain steel products to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap in-bound shipments. These steel products include hot rolled flat sheets, plates of alloy or non-alloy steel.

Duty arrived at would be 10% in the first year and will gradually reduce to 8% by 2018 and 6% by 2019.

Government introduced Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system for fertilizer subsidy payments. Now, 100% subsidy on fertilizers will be released to manufacturers / importers on basis of actual sales made by retailer to beneficiaries. It is different from normal DBT implemented in LPG subsidy as Under it, subsidy will be released to fertilizer companies instead of beneficiaries.

Government removed excise duty on goods for manufacturing of POS (Point of Sale) machines, due to great demand among merchants after demonetization drive. POS machines will be exempted from 12.5 per cent excise duty and 4 per cent SAD (Special Additional Duty) till March 31, 2017.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Public sector banks (PSBs) rose to 6,30,323 crore as against 5,50,346 crore in June 2016, showing 14.5 % increase in a quarter. Several measures taken for this purpose are -

Enactment of Insolvency and Bankruptcy code 2016.

Amendment of Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI).

Recovery of Debt due to Banks and Financial Institutions (RDDBFI) Act.

six new Debt Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) have been established.

HSBC rolled out Unified Payments Interface‘ (UPI) solution for corporates in India, to provide improved collection solution to corporates.

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) became India's first firm to get debt recast under RBI's new Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A).

Under this debt recast of HCC 52% of debt (2,600 crore) was serviced as per original terms and conditions, including about interest rate and tenure.

Of Remaining 48% (2,400 crore) debt, 1,000 crore debt will be converted into equity for banks and remaining debt of Rs. 1,400 crore would get converted into optionally convertible debentures to be issued to lenders.

ICICI Bank announced to transform 100 villages into ‘ICICI Digital Villages’ in 100 days to enable villagers go in cash less banking and payments transactions.

ICICI Bank launched ICICI Bank Home Overdraft facility for salaried customers, enabling customers to seek loans upto Rs 1 crore for personal needs against property. Mini and max loan over Home Overdraft facility is Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 1 crore. Customers can avail themselves of min 10% of total amount as term loan and max 90% as overdraft.

Indian Steel Association (ISA) asked Central Government not to impose any anti-dumping duty on Metallurgical Coke (met coke) fearing cost escalation of their products.

India’s GDP grew at 7.3% in 2nd quarter of 2016-17. It was 7.6% in corresponding quarter last year.

India’s first banking robot Lakshmi launched by Kumbakonam-based City Union Bank (CUB) in Chennai (Tamil Nadu). Lakshmi will be first on-site huamanoid (robot) in India.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board (IBBI) of India notified 2 regulations - IBBI (Model Bye-Laws and Governing Board of Insolvency Professional Agencies) Regulations 2016 and IBBI (Insolvency Professional Agencies) Regulations, 2016.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 seeks to ensure time-bound settlement of insolvency, faster turnaround of businesses and create a unified database of serial defaulters.

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare will provide Rs. 10 lakh for every ‘mandi’ (market) for setting up waste management plants under ‘e-Nam scheme,’ and to spend 1 % of fund under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) on solid and waste management.

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas sign MoU to boost to skill initiatives in Hydrocarbon Sector.

Ministry of Steel will set up Steel Research & Technology Mission of India (SRTMI), to promote research iniron and steel sector. Initial corpus for setting up of SRTMI is 200 crore rupees (Ministry of Steel will provide 50% and balance to be provided by participating steel companies).

MoU signed between Indian Army and Corporation Bank on Defence Salary Package.

Nagpur Metro securied Loan of Euro 130 million from AFD (French Development Agency).

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) reduced rate of interest for long term Capital Gain Tax Exemption Bonds (u/s 54EC of Income Tax Act 1961) to 5.25%, from 6 & earlier.

PM Narendra Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana (PMAY-G), flagship housing for all scheme in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

Under PMAY-G, Government aims to provide affordable and safe houses to every rural household living below poverty line by 2022. It replaces Indira Awas Yojana.

Beneficiaries for this scheme will be selected through a completely transparent process using the Socio Economic Census 2011 data and validating it through the Gram Sabha.

Unit cost for houses has been increased with convergence of a minimum support of nearly Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 1.6 lakh to a household is available. Bank loan upto Rs. 70,000 is also available.

Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) sought a loan of US$ 1 Billion from Asian Development Bank (ADB), comprising of Sovereign guaranteed loan of US$ 500 million and Non-Sovereign loan of US$ 500 million.

President Pranab Mukherjee Approved 2% hike in Dearness Allowance to central government employees, to benefit over 1 Crore employees and pensioners.

DA is provided to employees and pensioners to minimise the impact of price rise on their earnings. Earlier this year, DA was hiked 6% to 125% of the basic pay.

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Limited (ECGC) in New Delhi.

RBI (Reserve Bank of India) asked banks to temporarily maintain additional average daily balance with it in order to drain out surplus liquidity with them. It has been triggered by a heavy inflow of deposits after ongoing demonetisation exercise. Cash reserve ratio (deposits that banks have to maintain with RBI), continues at 4 % of deposits.

Banks collectively parked INR 2,27,242 crore in 3 reverse repo auction conducted by RBI recently, showing overflow of money in Banks.

RBI stated that on increase in deposits between September 16 and November 11, banks will have to maintain incremental CRR of 100 %, beginning November 26.

In wake of demonetisation, bank deposits with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have reached record high of Rs. 4.3 trillion, beating earlier record of Rs. 1.7 trillion in May 2009. Indian banking system had collected deposits worth Rs. 5.12 trillion as of now.

RBL Bank (Earlier Ratnakar Bank) tied up with Bajaj Finance to launch series of co-branded credit cards.

Reliance Group partnered with Cisco Jasper for its new venture - UNLIMIT, to provide Internet of Things (IoT) services to enterprises across India. Number of IOT devices projected to rise from 200 million today to around 3 billion by 2020, and revenues set to increase from $5.6 billion today to USD 15 billion in 2020.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued Clarifications on hedging for External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) in a bid to effectively address currency risk at the systemic level. Clarifications were issued by RBI under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) 1999.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed opening of Islamic window in conventional banks for gradual introduction of Sharia-compliant or interest-free banking in India. Islamic or Sharia banking is a finance system based on principles of not charging interest as charging of interest is prohibited under Islam.

Reserve bank of India (RBI) increased per month limit of Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs or Digital Wallets) to Rs 20000 from Rs 10000 and to Rs. 50000 for merchant bank. This decision was taken after increase in demand for digital wallets after demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) tightened rules for credit rating agencies, prescribing more disclosures on suspension and withdrawal of ratings. CRISIL, ICRA and CARE are the major agencies that assign credit ratings to issuers of debt instruments.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) liberalised norms for angel investors to invest in early-stage firms, by amending SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations 2012. This decision was taken based on recommendations of NR Narayana Murthy Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee.

SEBI Increased upper limit for number of angel investors in a scheme from 49 to 200.

Angel Funds will also be allowed to invest in start-ups incorporated within 5 years instead of the earlier norm of 3 years.

Requirement of minimum investment amount by an angel fund in any venture has been reduced to 25 lakh from earlier 50 lakh.

Lock-in requirements of investment made by angel funds in venture capital undertaking has been reduced to 1 year from 3 years.

Such funds also have been allowed to invest in overseas ventures. It will be up to 25% of their investible corpus in line with other Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs).

Taxation Laws (Second Amendment) Bill 2016 passed in Lok Sabha. Scheme namely Taxation and Investment Regime for Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana 2016 proposed in the Bill, That allows people to deposit undisclosed money in their accounts till April 1, 2017.

Those who declare their income -

Declarant shall be required to pay tax @ 30% of undisclosed income + penalty @10% of undisclosed income and surcharge to be called ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Cess’ @33% of tax is also proposed to be levied (approx 50% of total income).

Additionally, Declarant shall have to deposit 25% of undisclosed income in Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme 2016 (4 year lock in period). This amount will be utilised for irrigation, housing, toilets, infrastructure, primary education, primary health, livelihood, etc.

Suppose if some one declares 1 Crore of Undisclosed income, Then -

Approx 50 Lakh will be paid as taxes.

25 Lakh is to be deposited in Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme 2016 (4 year lock in period).

Those who do not declare their income and get caught -

75 % tax will be put on them (Flat rate of tax @60% + surcharge @25% of tax (i.e. 15% of such income)).

10 % additional tax also possible, if assesing officer finds suitable.

Transportation network Firm Ola tied up with State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Andhra Bank to set up mobile ATM in cab to help people withdraw cash (upto 2000) easily.

UCO Bank announced to raise Rs.271 crore from Life Insurance Corporation of India in preferential allotment of equal shares at Rs.37.74 a piece.

Utkarsh Micro Finance received final license from RBI to start operations as Small Finance Bank (SFB)ii. It is one of the 10 entities that got in-principle approval to set up Small Finance Bank in September last year.

Vittiya Saksharata Abhiyan (VISAKA) launched by HRD minister Prakash Javadekar to make people aware about cashless economic system. VISAKA aims to create awareness among people about digital economy and cashless transactions.

World Bank's report South Asia’s Turn: Policies to Boost Competitiveness and Create the Next Export Powerhouse -

India must take steps to improve ports and logistics and frame policies to reduce farm subsidies to emerge as an export powerhouse.

Report has suggested a set of policy actions in four sectors — agribusiness, apparel, electronics and automotive.

By adopting right policies, India and South Asia region can triple its share in global markets of electronics and motor vehicles and double its share in apparel (excluding textiles and leather) by 2030.

World’s third largest tractor maker TAFE is setting up a Centre of Excellence JFarm Rajasthan and a Custom Hiring Centre in six zones in Rajasthan at total investment of 970 crores.

YES Bank partnered with Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) to digitise payment of bus tickets for Gujarat People.

Yes Bank launched “Yes Mobile 2.0” as new mobile banking app with multiple more features and support for banking transactions on Apple and Android-based SmartWatches.

e-commerce giant Amazon will sell Indian dairy brand Amul’s products online in USA, as part of Amazon’s Global Selling Programme launched in India in May 2015.

International

13th World Robot Olympiad (Theme - Rap the Scrap) organized by National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) and India STEM Foundation in Greater Noida (UP).

Indian Team named High Voltage from Gurugram, won a silver in Regular Junior High category.

2016 World Travel Market (WTM), global event for travel industry started in London (UK).

2017 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) by German NGO Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe . CCPI is an instrument designed to enhance transparency in international climate politics. It is list of countries doing the most to combat climate change.

India placed at 20th rank among 58 countries.

First three spots in the list of 2017 CCPI rankings were left vacant. France was placed at 4th place, thus leads list for the first time. It was followed by Sweden (5th) and UK (6th).

48th edition of Top 500 list of supercomputers -

China’s ‘Sunway Taihulight’ is fastest supercomputer in world, followed by Tianhe-2 of China and Titan of USA. Chinese supercomputers are now at top for 8th consecutive year. China and USA both have 171 supercomuters each in top 500 list of supercomputers.

India has 5 of its supercomputers listed in top 500 list, with SERC CRAY XC40 at top of Indian entries (at 133 overall).

Patel is most common Indian surname in UK, according to Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. Over 100,000 Patel surname bearers recorded in 2011 UK census.

According to Oxford Economics -

Delhi has overtaken Mumbai as top metropolitan economic city in India. Delhi is at 30 annd Mumbai at 31 rank, among top economic cities globally.

Delhi had Gross domestic product (GDP) at Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of $370 billion while Mumbai had a GDP of $368 billion.

According to report of commercial Real-estate agent Cushman & Wakefield -

New Delhi’s Khan Market is India's 1st and world’s 28th most expensive retail location.

Top 4 - Upper 5th Avenue (New York), Causeway Bay (Hong Kong), Avenue des Champs Elysees (Paris), New Bond Street (London)

An aircraft carrying Brazilian first division soccer team crashed in Colombia.

Annual ministerial meet of India UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) held in New Delhi.

Co-Chairs of the India UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP) are Uday Kotak and Sir Gerry Grimstone.

As per Booking.com Data -

Mumbai ranked among World’s top Tourists destinations for 2017.

Top 3 destinations - 1 Reykjavik (Iceland), Cairns (Australia), Savannah (US)

As per Time Magazine's images that changed the world report -

A 1946 picture of M K Gandhi with his Charkha is among 100 most influential images of all time.

As per report by Skyscanner -

New Zealand is favourite destination among Indian travellers, with growth of 52 % in travel searches in a year. Australia is second with anual increase of 47 % in travel searches.

As per report on global wealth published by Credit Suisse

Wealth in India is rising but disparity between rich and poor is also rising. 96% of adult population in India is at base of wealth pyramid with wealth below $10,000. 0.3% has net worth of more than $100,000.

Wealth in India is mostly dominated by property and other real estate. It makes up 86% of its estimated household assets. The wealth in India in local currency terms increased 5.1% in 2016 but due to adverse currency exchange movements.

India’s household wealth fell by 0.8% to $3 trillion in dollar terms.

Number of millionaires is 1.78 lakh with $973 billion in wealth. 1,040 people are worth more than $100 million (600 Crores).

Global Scenario - Total global wealth in 2016 increased by 1.4, to $256 trillion.

Australia announced an online program for its pre-schools to learn foreign languages (including Hindi) from 2017, under program named Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA).

BBC World Service will launch 11 new language services as part of its biggest expansion since 1940s. New Languages are - Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, Afaan Oromo, Amharic, Igbo, Korean, Pidgin, Tigrinya, and Yoruba.

BJP Vice President Avinash Rai Khanna appointed as a member of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

Bangladesh announced to honour 1668 soldiers of Indian Army, who martyred during Bangladesh Liberation War. Each family will receive a Rs. 5 lakh as a mark of respect from Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, who will be in India in December 2016.

Bharti Airtel completed merger of its subsidiary unit in Bangladesh with Robi Axiat. This entity will now be the second-largest mobile operator in Bangladesh.

China again decided to block India’s bid for Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership ahead of plenary meet of NSG in Vienna (Austria).

China completed world's highest road tunnel costing about $170 million on Sichuan-Tibet highway which will shorten time to reach Tibet by two hours. 7 km long tunnel at 6,168 metres height, passes through main peak of Chola Mountain.

China launched a navigation satellite - X-ray pulsar navigation satellite XPNAV-1, which will conduct in-orbit experiments using pulsar detectors to demonstrate new technologies.

China launched its fourth data satellite named Tianlian I-04, meant to join its three predecessors to achieve global network operation.

Tianlian I and CTDRS-1 is a Chinese data tracking and relay communications satellite series, similar to USA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System.

China selected historical-adventure film Xuanzang, which co-stars Bollywood actor Sonu Sood, as its official entry for 89th Academy Awards (Oscars).

China will import rice from 17 registered mills in Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. It is considered as a major breakthrough in India’s efforts to ensure market access for Indian products (especially rice) in China as it is world’s largest rice importer.

It is also important in view of India's rising trade deficit with china, which is at all time high of $52.7 billion in 2015-16 (from $1.1 billion in 2003-04).

Colombian Government signed revised peace agreement with country’s largest rebel movement - Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). This is second attempt to end Latin America’s longest-running conflict (civil war), which has killed 220000 people.

During PM Narendra Modi Visited India, India and Japan signed ten agreements to boost bilateral cooperation -

Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy - This agreement will allow Japan to supply nuclear reactors, fuel and technology to India. India will be first country that has not signed Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT to have such a deal with Japan.

Manufacturing Skill Transfer Promotion Program - It envisages to train 30000 Indian youth in the Japanese style manufacturing in the next 10 years. This would be achieved through the programmes of Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) and the Japanese Endowed Courses (JEC) in select Engineering colleges.

Other MOUs - Outer Space, Marine and Earth Science and Technology, Agriculture and Food Related Industry, Transport and Urban Development, Textiles, Cultural Exchange.

Europe’s largest manufacturer of home appliances, BSH Household Appliances (Germany) opened There first technology centre in India, at Bengaluru.

Festival of India being organized in Oman from 15 November, 2016 to 24 March, 2017.

Forbes Fab 40 Most Valued Sportspersons List 2016 -

Indian Cricket Team's ODI Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains most valued Indian athlete in 2016, despite his brand value reduced from $21 million in 2015 to $11 million this year. He slipped from 5th to 10th rank globally.

Swiss tennis Star Roger Federer is most valued athlete globally, With brand value of $36 million.

Fortune’s top 50 business persons list for 2016

HDFC Bank’s Aditya Puri has been ranked 36th. He is only Indian among three persons of Indian origin in List.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg is at top while , Microsoft’s Indian Origin CEO Satya Nadella at 5th.

Grant Thornton International Business's global business optimism index during third quarter (July-September 2016) Report -

India ranked second, after Indonesia.

Report was prepared on basis of a quarterly conducted global business survey of 2,500 businesses across 36 economies.

High Court of United Kingdom ruled that Government does not have the power to invoke Article 50 of the European Union treaty, to start BREXIT process without approval from Parliament.

India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) will participate in IM INTERMODA-International Apparel & Textile Fair in Guadalajara (Mexico) from January 17 to 20, 2017.

India and Cyprus have signed revised Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation and Prevention of Fiscal evasion (DTAA) with respect to taxes on income.

India and UK signed MoU for cooperation in field of Intellectual Property.

India and United Kingdom have signed two MoUs, during visit of UK Prime Minister Theresa May to India. MOUs are for Ease of Doing Business and intellectual property. British government also announced that 4 rupee-denominated bonds worth of 600 million pounds are expected to be listed in London in the next three months.

India and Venezuela signed an oil production deals worth about 1.45 billion USD to increase oil production. The agreement was signed between Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Venezeulas Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA), and Venezuela’s consortium Delta Finance BV.

India became Associate Member State of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research).

CERN is world’s largest nuclear and particle physics laboratory, where scientists and engineers are probing fundamental structure of Universe by using most sophisticated scientific instruments and advanced computing systems. CERN is based in Geneva (Switzerland).

CERN has 22 members, 4 associate members , and observer status is given to 4 nations and 3 International Organizations.

Headquarters of CERN is located at Geneva, Switzerland.

India elected as Vice Chair for 2018 and Chair for 2019 of KPCS (Kimberley Process Certification Scheme), during KP Plenary Meeting 2016 at Dubai.

Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) was established in 2003 to prevent conflict diamondsfrom entering mainstream rough diamond market. It was created by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/56 following recommendations in Fowler Report.

Conflict diamonds (also called Blood / war / hot / red diamonds) is a term used for a diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency or an invading army's war efforts.

India hosted golden jubilee (50th anniversary) celebrations of United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in New Delhi. UNCITRAL was established by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 1966 to promote progressive unification and harmonisation of international trade law.

India said that it will not grant ‘Market Economy Status’ (MES) to China under World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms. Reason is that the MES staus will give china right to sell its cheap products in India at high prices. It will hurt Indian domestic suppliers.

Market Economy Status Under WTO norms - Once a country gets MES status, exports from it are to be accepted at the production costs and selling price as the benchmark. Prior to this, country is considered as a Non Market Economy (NME).

India signed Joint Declaration with Switzerland for implementation of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) between two nations.

In a big step towards fighting black money stashed overseas, Switzerland has agreed to automatic sharing of information with India on Swiss bank accounts of Indians as of September 2018 onwards.

India's Ministry of Earth Sciences signed MoU with Japan's Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), for co-operation in Earth Sciences.

India's Ramco Systems signed deal with Brunei's largest bank - Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD) for integrating Bank's business processes with Ramco's Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

India, Myanmar and Thailand Friendship Motor Car Rally will be organized in November 2016 To improve connectivity by road in South East Asian region.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur ranked as top Indian institution by QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2017.

This is 2nd consecutive year that IIT Kharagpur has been placed in list of top 100 universities.

Top 3 - Stanford University (USA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Tsinghua University (China).

Other Indian Institutes such as IIT Madras, Delhi and Bombay have been ranked in 101-150 band. IIT Kanpur and University of Delhi are in over-201 band.

International Forum on Adopting an ICT Perspective to Education and Learning held in New Delhi. It is organized by International Bureau of Education (IBE), UNESCO in partnership with Google.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved $12 billion loan for Egypt, the largest loan package (3 year) ever for a Middle East nation. It includes immediate disbursement of $2.75 billion.

International Telecommunications Union (ITU)'s ICT Development Index 2016 -

Report was released during World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS), held in Botswana (South Africa).

ICT Development Index (IDI) rankings compare the state of ICT development across countries. IDI is based on 11 ICT indicators, grouped in three sub-indices: access, use and skills.

Top 5 - South Korea (1st), Iceland (2nd), Denmark (3rd), Switzerland (4th) and United Kingdom (5th).

Bottom 5 - Niger (175), Chad (174), Guinea-Bissau (173), South Sudan (172) and Burundi (171).

India Facts -

India has been ranked 138th in 2016, out of 175 countries. In 2015, India was at 135th position. India’s score improved from 2.50 (in 2015) to 2.69.

In India, over 40% of population still does not own a mobile phone.

Percentage of users on the internet has gone up from 21% in 2014 to 26% of the population in 2015.

Iran surpassed Saudi Arabia to become India’s top crude oil supplier, for the first time. Iran's supplying stats were hit badly after tougher western countries sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear development programme. In October 2016, oil imports from Iran surged more than threefold as compared to October 2015.

Japan and South Korea signed controversial agreement to share defence intelligence on North Korea.

Largest drug firm of India, Sun Pharma bought 85.1 % Stake in Russian pharma company JSC Biosintez, for $60 million.

Latvia has become the first country in Baltic Sea area to sign a MOU to link up with China’s One Belt and One Road (OBOR) Initiative.

OBOR initiative is China’s ambitious framework that aims to boost its connectivity and trade across Asia, Africa and Europe.

It comprises Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

NASA launched highly advanced geostationary weather satellite Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R (GOES-R), first of four new advanced weather satellites of the GOES-R program managed by US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Online Portal for facilitating trade between India and Iran has been launched by Government. It is available at URL hindirantrade.org.

PETROTECH 2016, 12th International Oil & Gas Conference & Exhibition will be organised by Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in New Delhi.

Pakistan conducted Raad ul Barq (Strike of Thunder) military exercise in Punjab province, bordering India.

Pakistan inaugurated operations at revamped Gwadar port in south-western Balochistan Province, with this China-Pakistan Economic Corridor ((linking western China to Arabian Sea) became a reality.

Paris Agreement to combat climate change officially entered into force after nations accounting for at least 55% of total GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions ratified it. At present, 94 parties have ratified the convention. India was 62nd country to ratify it.

Paris Agreement on Climate Change is an international climate deal to combat climate change. It facilitates enforcement of global GHGs reduction measures in the post-2020 i.e. in post Kyoto Protocol scenario. Under it, all countries must pursue to keep global temperature rising below 2°C by 2100.

It forces developed countries to provide 100 billion USD annually to developing counterparts beginning in 2020 to deal with climate change.

Pepsico bought USA Drinks Maker Kevita for 200 Million USD.

Real estate Businessman turned politician and Republican Party candidate Donald Trump elected as 45th President of United States of America. He will succeed Barack Obama and will take office on 20 January 2017.

Donald Trump gained 48% of the votes and 279 votes in Electoral College to defeat Democrat Party opponent Hillary Clinton who gained 47% votes.

Trump's Republican party won Both Houses of USA Parliament - Senate and House of Representatives

California’s Attorney General Kamala Harris became first India-American to win U.S. Senate seat from California state.

Pramila Jayapal became first Indian-American woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representative. She won Senate seat from state of Washington.

Reuven Rivlin, president of Israel visited India.

India and Israel signed 2 agreements in field of water resources management and agriculture.

Ruins of Ancient city of Abydos, dating back approx 7000 years, found in Egypt.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement for withdrawing Russia from International Criminal Court (ICC), by pulling out of 2002 Rome Statute that establishes ICC’s status and powers.

Swiss Firm Molinari Rail will set up manufacturing centre for auxiliary power units for diesel locomotives in India by 2017.

The 1st BRICS Trade Fair organized at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi in October 2016.

To boost ties with India, Australia announced 19 grants worth $6,30,000 dollars for several projects in the field of education, science, sports, arts and culture.

Grants include exchange between TAFE NSW and India’s Centurion University and collaboration between University of New South Wales and Indian scientists to develop effective new water purification systems for water supply in India.

Turkey will chair Energy Club of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2017. With this, Turkey became first non full member country to be chairman of a club in SCO.

USA announced 2 projects worth 95 million USD for India, As part of its efforts to continue global transition to zero-and-low carbon energy sources.

USA space agency NASA will work with United Arab Emirates (UAE) for MARS Hope spacecraft, that will reach Mars in 2021.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed Yoga in its representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, at a meeting held in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). Yoga was added along with other entities from 18 nations.

United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a Pakistan-sponsored resolution reaffirming universal right of people to self-determination as a fundamental condition for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights. It was co-sponsored by 72 countries.

Website Dictionary.com named word ‘Xenophobia’ as Word of the Year 2016 as there was massive surge in lookups for this word. It is connected to attacks on foreign workers, mainly in South Africa.

Word Post Truth has been named as word of the year 2016 by Oxford Dictionaries.

Post Truth word saw massive spike after Brexit and Donald Trump’s nomination as USA president.

World Economic Forum's Global Enabling Trade Report 2016 -

India improved its ranking by four places to 102nd position among 136 economies in terms of enabling cross border trade.

Top 3 - Singapore (1), Netherlands (2), Hong Kong SAR (3).

Bottom 3 - Venezuela (136), Chad (135), Yemen (134)

BRICS - South Africa (55), China (61), Russia (111), Brazil (110).

Neighbours - Sri Lanka (103), Nepal (108), Pakistan (122), Bangladesh (123)

World Health Organisation (WHO) dropped the term ‘counterfeit’ and retained ‘falsified’ to describe medicines of inferior quality.

It settles longstanding India, EU medicine dispute and battle about labelling of drugs as above terms were used interchangeably to confiscate (Seize) Indian made cheap generic drugs exported to other countries by showing that they were in violation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).

World’s first Bollywood theme park opened in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). It has cinematic rides, themed restaurants and live shows that are inspired by bollywood blockbusters.

Worst mass coral bleaching event has been recorded on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef's Northern part, with 700 km stretch of coral dying in past 9 months.

Zimbabwe launched bond notes currency in bid to ease cash crunch. This currency holds value against U.S. dollar.

Meetings

2016 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum’s Leaders Summit will be held in Lima (Peru) from November 19 to 20, 2016. Theme of summit is Quality Growth and Human Development and official logo is the architecture of ancient city of Caral.

22nd Annual environmental Conference of Parties (COP 22) and 12th session of Conference of the Parties serving as meeting of Parties to Kyoto Protocol (CMP 12) held in Marrakech (Morocco).

COP is organized under United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Over 20 countries signed framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) during COP22 meet in Morocco. Agreement will become operational after 15 countries ratify it.

22nd session of Conference of the Parties (COP 22) of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Morocco.

2nd BRICS Communication Ministers meeting held in Bengaluru (Karnataka).

3rd World Internet Conference held in Wuzhen (China), to be attended by over 120 countries.

64th International Congress of Aviation and Space medicine (IAASM) held in New Delhi.

7th Heart of Asia – Istanbul Ministerial Process will be held in Amritsar (Punjab) in December 2016.

7th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) will be held in Kolkata (west bengal) in December 2016, organized by World Ayurveda Foundation. Ministry of AYUSH will also organize AROGYA Expo in December 2016, coinciding with 7th World Ayurveda Congress.

Competition Commission of India (CCI) selected to host 2018 International Competition Network (ICN) in New Delhi in March–April 2018. CCI has also been inducted as an ex-officio member of steering group member of the ICN for 3 years.

2017 ICN Annual Conference will be held in Portugal.

DRDO's Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR) hosted 58th Conference of International Military Testing Association (IMTA) in New Delhi.

High Level Meeting of Interior Ministers of Indian Ocean Region (IOR) to Counter Drug Trafficking held in Colombo (Sri Lanka), adopting Colombo declaration. It was attended by 18 littoral (तटीय) nations of IOR.

India will host 2016 International Energy Forum – International Gas Union (IEF-IGU) Ministerial Forum in New Delhi in December 2016 with theme Gas for Growth: Improving economic prosperity and living standards.

India will preside 8th Conference of Parties (COP) to WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to be held in Switzerland's Geneva in 2018. CK Mishra chosen as President of the COP Bureau for 2 years.

7th Conference of Parties (COP7) to WHO FCTC (Framework Convention for Tobacco Control) hosted in November 2016 by India at Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh).

Tobacco Production Stats -

Annual Global Production - 67 Lakh Tons

Biggest Producer - China (32 Lakh), Followed by India (8.75 Lakh Tons) and Brazil (8.51 Lakh Tons)

Canadian Cancer society's Status report 2016 for Tobacco Awareness -

India Jumped from 136th rank in 2014 to 3rd Rank in 2016. This massive improvement has been caused by increasing size of Pictorial warnings on Tobacco products from 40 % to 85 %.

Top 2 nations are Nepal and Vanuatu.

Indian Air Force Chief Arup Raha Inaugurated 64th International Congress of Aviation and Space medicine at In New Delhi, organized by Indian Society of Aviation Medicine (ISAM).

International Research Conference on Brucellosis Disease held in New Delhi.

Ministry of AYUSH organized 9th Annual Meeting of International Regulatory Cooperation for Herbal Medicines (IRCH) in New Delhi.

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in partnership with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) organized 3 day International seminar on Approaches and Methodologies for Private Food Grain Stock Measurement in New Delhi.

Ministry of Tourism in association with North Eastern States and West Bengal will organize 5th International Tourism Mart in Imphal (Manipur).

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated 2016 Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in New Delhi.

Conference is organised in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). AMCDRR will pave the way for implementation of the Sendai framework in Asian region and monitoring its progress.

2016 AMCDRR is 7th edition of conference after it was established in 2005 and first major inter-governmental event after theadoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) adopted at 3rd UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan in March 2015.

It is second time India hosting AMCDRR (after 2007).

India and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction signed a Statement of Cooperation (SoC) of the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR).

Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-30 is an international Treaty that was approved by UN member states in March 2015 at 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan.

Next AMCDRR will be held in Mongolia in 2018.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated International Conference and Exhibition on Sugarcane Value Chain – Vision 2025 Sugar - at Pune (Maharashtra).

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated first International Agro-biodiversity Congress (IAC 2016) in New Delhi, attended by 900 delegates from 60 countries.

National

Tejaswin Shankar (Delhi) smashed 12-year-old national senior record of high jump with his 2.26 meters jump., during 32nd National Junior Athletics Championships in Coimbatore (Tamilnadu).

36th India International Trade Fair (IITF) has started at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi (Organized by Ministry of Commerce and Industry) -

150 companies from 27 countries are taking part in the fair.

2016 IITF’s partner country is South Korea and focus country is Belarus.

Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand are partner states and Haryana is focus state.

10 day long Losar festival began in Ladakh (J&K), to mark beginning of New Year.

10-day Sangai Festival 2016 held in Manipur with theme Destination Manipur.

World War II Vintage Jeep Rally flagged off from Koirengei Old Air Field.

2 member team of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been sent by UNESCO to Bhitarkanika National Park (Odisha), for assessment of bio-diversity of unique mangrove eco-system of park.

2016 Global Citizen India festival held in Mumbai (Maharashtra), to bring together popular culture and public policy.

2016 Great Indian Film and Literature Festival (GIFLIF) will be held at in Gurugram (Haryana) from December 2 to showcase spirit of Indian film and literature.

2016 Urban Mobility India conference held in Gandhinagar (Gujarat), with theme “Planning Mobility for City’s sustainability”.

2nd Windmill Festival (known as India’s first International Children’s festival), will be held at Reliance Jio Garden in Mumbai in January 2017.

51st Annual Conference of Directors-General of Police of States held at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) in Hyderabad (Telangana).

6th Kathakar: International Storytellers Festival held in New Delhi. It has been Organized by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA).

According to data from Registrar General of India, Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) has declined to 887 in 2014 from 898 in 2013 and 909 in 2011.

Highest SRB is in Lakshadweep (1043), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1031) and Arunachal Pradesh (993).

Lowest SRB is in Manipur (684), Rajasthan (799) and Tamil Nadu (834).

After Demonetization, Uttar Pradesh government allowed payment of land registry fee the demonetised 500 and 1000 currency notes.

Aligarh leads 500 cities in undertaking IEC (Information, Education and Communication) Swachh awareness generation activities under Swachh Survekshan-2017, launched by Ministry of Urban Development.

IEC performance has been assessed by Ministry while evaluation of other parameters of Swachh Survekshan-2017 will be done by Quality Council of India.

Andhra Pradesh Government launched Smart Water Distribution Monitoring application on ourvmc.org.Using this portal , people can check the status of drinking water in water tanks nearby.

As per Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, 272 products have been registered as geographical indications since September 2003.

As per report, India's present installed nuclear power capacity is 5780 MW. It will be enhanced by 1000MW once Kudankulam Unit-2's commercial operations begin by end of 2016.

Asia’s first cycle highway inaugurated in Uttar Pradesh. This 207 km long cycle highway runs between Etawah and Agra. It is approx 7 feet wide and runs parallel to main highway.

Assam's Haflong will host Judima Festival in December 2016.

Bihar government launched Har Ghar Bijli Lagataar programme to provide free electricity connection to 50 lakh households above poverty line.

Bollywood Film Pink, (Directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury and starring Amitabh Bachchan) has been invited for a special screening at the United Nations head quarters in New York.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved setting up 1 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) in each of 62 uncovered districts, with an outlay of INR 2,871 crores (upto 2024-25). Approx 35,000 students will be benefitted from these JNVs, along with permanent employment for 2914 persons.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) launched portal Parinam Manjusha= to provide easier access to academic documents online.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for first time deployed a team of 135 women commandos (232 battalion) in anti-Naxal operations in Jharkhand.

Chhattisgarh Government launched Lakshya Bhagirathi campaign to complete 108 identified irrigation projects that could not be completed.

Chhattisgarh became first Indian state to adopt a resolution on demonetization of high-value currency notes.

Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Pema Khandu allowed renaming Chief Minister’s Trophy for Football and Volleyball (men’s and women’s) after martyr Hangpan Dada.

Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajpathi Raju launched AirSewa portal and mobile app as an initiative to offer convenient and hassle-free air travel experience. It will include mechanism for grievance redressal, flight status information and airport Information etc.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) launched Startup Mentorship Circle as a unique platform to help in connecting start-ups with global marketplace. Under this, Large corporate houses will mentor 100 start-ups over 2 years.

Construction of Rail-cum-Road bridge over Brahmaputra at Bogibeel with linking lines (73 km) is being done at cost of approx 5000 crores, expected to complete in 2017-18. It will be India's longest rail-cum-road bridge.

Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC) approved guidelines for suspension or banning of business dealings with arms companies, discontinuing Government's imposing blanket bans on armament companies suspected of corruption. Armament companies will be blacklisted only for a year at a time.

Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) signed MoU with Indian Institute of Technology Delhi to establish a ‘Joint Advanced Technology Centre’ (JATC). DRDO will support JATC in equipping it with advanced research facilities that will enable faculty and scholars to conduct advanced research and transform the JATC as Centre of Excellence.

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized about 23.5 metric tonnes of Mandrax Tablets (Methaqualone) from Udaipur (Rajasthan), In one of biggest seizure of Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances ever.

DRI is apex counter-smuggling agency of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

Election Commission of India (ECI) launched online survey for Overseas Indian Citizens in collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. Aim is to assess awareness about registration and voting process and to also gather opinion about their preferred method of voting. Survey findings may be seen at www.everyvotecounts.in.

Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) launched 'Kahin Bhi-Kabhi Bhi' medical service for its insured in Delhi region under which beneficiaries can visit day-care units for minor ailments.

First titanium project of India started its test production Ganjam district of Odisha, established by Saraf Group.

It is expected to produce 36,000 tons of titanium slag and 20,000 tons of pig iron per year.

Raw material of plant is ilmenite, which would be procured from Odisha Sands Complex, a unit of Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL).

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) rolled out a major scheme for strengthening of Food Testing Infrastructure in country, at estimated cost of Rs 482 crores.

Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet (GRAM) held in Jaipur, with focus on doubling income of farmers through suitable technologies and agricultural activities. Australia, Netherland and Israel are international partners of this meet.

Goa will become first Indian state to become cashless from December 31, 2016. People will be able to buy daily use items through Mobile wallets.

Google tied up with Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI), for 360 degree virtual tour of 280-odd monuments across India. ASI has allowed Google for creating virtual tour of monuments, to be available in Google maps.

Government approval negotiating position adopted by India at 28th Meeting of Parties (MoP) to Montreal Protocol in Kigali (Rwanda).

Kigali meet was held in October 2016 with aim of including HFCs in the list of chemicals under Montreal Protocol.

Montreal Protocol of Vienna Convention for Protection of Ozone Layer which entered force in January 1989, aimed to phase out the ozone depleting substances (ODS).

India negotiated baseline years within a range of 2024 to 2030 for phasing down use of HFCs. India will completely phase down of HFCs in 4 steps - 10% in 2032, 20% in 2037, 30% in 2042 and 85% in 2047. Freeze year for India will be 2028, with a technology review in 2024 to 2025.

China (largest producer of HFCs in world), South Africa and Brazil opted for 2020-22 baseline. Developed countries will reduce production and consumption of HFCs by 70% in 2029.

Government approved 6 new special economic zona (SEZs) for IT and biotechnology across Telangana, Haryana and Karnataka.

Government approved Assistance of 2000 crores for 36384 displaced families from Pakistan occupied areas of Jammu & Kashmir (POJK) and Chhamb in several wars with pakistan till date.

5.5 lakh cash benefit per family will be disbursed to displaced families through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).

Government approved Merchant Shipping Bill 2016 for introduction in Parliament. It is aimed at simplifyig merchant shipping norms in India. Merchant Shipping Bill 2016 is a revamped version of Merchant Shipping Act 1958. It is aimed at repealing Merchant Shipping Act 1958 and Coasting Vessels Act 1838.

Government approved Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) Phase III, with total cost of Rs 10947 crores. It is expected to be completed in next 5 years during 13th Plan period.

Government approved closure of Kota Unit of Instrumentation Limited and transfer of Its Palakkad Unit to Government of Kerala.

Government approved establishment of National Institute of Sowa Rigpa at Leh (Jammu & Kashmir), at a cost of 100 Crores.

Tibetan Medicine system is known as Sowa Rigpa (Amchi).

Government approved forming special committee for inter-linking of rivers in compliance with a 2012 Supreme Court order. Committee will help in monitoring precious projects to be carried out under National Perspective Plan, 1980.

Government approved heavy fine and ban on celebrities who endorse products making unrealistic and dodgy claims.

First time offender celebrities to be fined Rs 10 lakh and banned for 1 year. Repeating offenders to be fined Rs 50 lakh and banned for 3 years (No jail term).

Government approved liberalization, simplification and rationalization of existing visa regime in India, to stimulate economic growth and ease travel for foreigners.

Government declared Zakir Naik’s NGO, Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), as an ‘unlawful organisation’ and banned it for five years.

Government is developing a National Data Registry (NDR) to compile metadata of different agencies and re-engineer feature data sets for improving their use. Department of Science and Technology (DST) will be the nodal coordinating agency of the NDR, that will require all agencies state, private and academic, collecting and storing geospatial data to provide details of data they store.

Government launched Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) to provide free health check-ups to pregnant women at government health centres and hospitals.

Objectives of the scheme are Provide healthy life to pregnant women, Lowering maternity mortality rate, Making pregnant women aware of their health issues and diseases and Making sure safe delivery and healthy life of the baby.

Scheme is applicable only for pregnant women in their pregnancy period of 3 to 6 months.

Government will bring a new green urban mobility scheme that will have a central assistance of Rs 25000 crore, In order to create non - motorised transport infrastructure in cities like footpaths and cycle-tracks, mainly 6 large cities of India - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Government will open Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Kendra in every Parliamentary Constituency to impart skill training to people and make them employable.

Governmenty approved inclusion of 15 new castes and modification in 13 other castes in Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in 8 states - Assam, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

Gujarat government will start Deendayal generic medicine stores to provide 24 hours service and sell around 1000 generic drugs to poor at 40 - 80 % less rates.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurated world’s largest digital national building initiative “Smart India Hackathon 2017”. Through this, HRD ministry is keen on reaching out to all technology institutions in India and challenge students to offer innovative solutions to approx 500 daunting problems faced by our nation, which will be published on innovate.mygov.in.

Haryana government made it mandatory to fit auto-dippers in all four wheeled transport vehicles, As per Rule 106 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.

Himachal Pradesh got Centre's approval for pneumonia vaccine by Ministry of Health. Ministry approved introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine under universal immunization programme. Himachal Pradesh will be among 5 states where pneumonia vaccines will be introduced - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh from 2017.

In order to promote research in field of fertilizers, Indian Council for Fertilizers and Nutrient Research (ICFNR) has been set up as an Institution exclusively devoted to promotion of research in fertilizers.

Income Tax department will implement first phase of ‘Project Insight’ from May 2017 to monitor high value transactions, with a view to curbing the circulation of black money. It has IT Contract with L & T Infotech.

Indian Army launched “Operation school chalo” in South Kashmir under a local slogan ‘Chyem ne zaroorat Daulat-o-ubab, Faqat Gochum School te Kitab (I don’t need money and fame, I need books and school’).

Indian Railways will soon introduce Tri-Netra (terrain imaging for diesel drivers infrared, enhanced optical and radar assisted) system on its trains to reduce train accidents.

Indian archaeologists will use Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology to survey archaeological evidence, flora and fauna in ancient Rajgir hills in Bihar, as part of inter-disciplinary Rajgir Archaeological Survey Project (RASP).

India’s first Cherry Blossom Festival held at Shillong (Meghalaya). It is widely celebrated in Japan.

India’s longest expressway (302 KM) connecting Agra and Lucknow has been inaugurated, built by Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) in just 23 months. It will cut downtime to reach lucknow from agra by falf (3.5 hours). During inauguration, 6 fighter jets (3 Mirage 2000s and three Sukhois) of Indian Air Force (IAF) touched down on expressway.

Jammu and Kashmir Government launched Jhelum-Tawi flood recovery project to push rehabilitation of infrastructure after 2014 floods in state. India had signed $250 million loan agreement with World Bank for this project.

Jharkhand government created Nizi Niyozan Abhikaran and Gharelu Kamgar (viniyam) vidheyak 2016 as strict law against placement agencies involved in exploiting people on pretext of giving employment outside state.

Kala Utsav 2016, annual festival to celebrate talent of school children all over India, held at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi. Students from Leh-Ladakh region of J&K participated for the first time.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu became last states to roll out National Food Security Act (NFSA). With this, NFSA Act has been implemented in all States and Union Territories. 81.34 crore people will now get wheat at Rs. 2/ kg and rice at Rs. 3/ kg.

Maharashtra became first state to adopt Fly Ash Utilization Policy.

It paves way for generating wealth from waste, seeking 100% use of fly ash generated from thermal power plants and biogas plants.

It Facilitates use of fly ash to make bricks, blocks, tiles, wall panels, cement and other construction materials.

Maharashtra became first state to have a cyber-police station in each district to take on cyber criminals. State government is converting 42 state-of-the-art cybercrime labs into cyber police stations simultaneously.

Maharashtra government signed agreement with Canada to implement a joint action plan on urban infrastructure development in state.

Ministry of Culture released Commemorative Coin of 500 and a Circulation Coin of 10 on occasion of 500th anniversary of Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s visit to Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh).

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change constituted 4 member team for conservation and management of Loktak Lake in Manipur.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched Healthy India Initiative magazine and No More Tensionmobile App, for promotion of health and to strengthen health communications programmes.

Ministry of Home Affairs extended Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in 3 districts of Arunachal Pradesh - Tirap, Changlang and Longding, as they have been “disturbed area” under Section 3 of AFSPA.

AFSPA has been extended in these districts because Naga underground factions including National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah)/ NSCN-IM and NSCN (Khaplang)/NSCN-K continues to extort and recruit locals in these districts.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has put hold its order imposing a oneday ban on Hindi channel NDTV India (09-11-2016). Ban was imposed over its live coverage of Pathankot terror attack, violating Programme/Advertising Code.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) issued Guidelines for bidding process for setting up of 1000 MW Wind Power Project connected to inter-state transmission system (ISTS).

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has launched of Pradhan Mantri Yuva Yojana (PMYY) to scale up an ecosystem of entrepreneurship for youngsters.

Scheme launched for 5 years period (2016 - 21) with project cost of 499.94 crore rupees.

It will offer entrepreneurship education and training to around 7 lakh students in 5 years through 3050 Institutes. These institutes will carry out the training through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

Ministry of Textiles signed agreement with ethnic apparel brand BIBA and launched India Handloom Brand garments at BIBA’s flagship store in New Delhi.

MoU approved among New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (Japan), Indian Ministry of Finance and and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) concerning ICT based Green Hospital at AIIMS in Delhi.

Mobile Application “R-MITRA” (Railway Mobile Instant Tracking Response & Assistance) launched by Eastern Railway for security of passengers especially women passengers in Kolkata and suburban areas of the zone.

National Cadet Corps (NCC), largest uniformed youth organisation in world, celebrated 68th Raising Day.

Odisha Government inaugurated 55,000-tonne per annum (TPA) Odisha ferro-chrome plant set up by Tata Steel at a cost of Rs 542 crore in its Gopalpur Industrial Park in Ganjam .

Odisha Government signed MoU with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) for setting up of four more centres at Angul, Jajpur, Koraput and Sambalpur. Taking number of STPI centres in State to 8, highest in India.

PM Narendra Modi flagged off Humsafar train (equipped with several advacned facilities) between Gorakhpur and Delhi, from Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh).

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated Asia’s largest man-made “Jungle Safari” at Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh. It is 800-acre Nandanvan Zoo and Safari.

PM Narendra Modi laid Foundation Stone of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Bathinda (Punjab).

AIIMS is currently at 7 locations - New Delhi, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Jodhpur, Patna, Raipur and Rishikesh

PM Narendra Modi launched Indian Police at Your Call mobile app in Hyderabad. The app is a GIS Map based interface for citizens to locate police stations nearby.

PM Narendra Modi launched Saur Sujala Yojana in Chhattisgarh. Under this, solar powered irrigation pumps of 3HP and 5HP capacity will be distributed to farmers at subsidised price.

PM Narendra Modi presented Ramnath Goenka Awards for Excellence in Journalism at a function in New Delhi. It acknowledges exceptional work across 28 categories in print, broadcast and online journalism in English, Hindi and regional languages.

Ramnath Goenka was an Indian newspaper publisher. He launched The Indian Express and created Indian Express Group with various English and regional language publications.

Palampur Assembly Constituency became India’s first e-assembly constituency at Kangra district in Himachal Pradesh. Residents may now know development works going on, and also send their requirement about funds for different schemes in their respective areas online.

President Pranab Mukherjee launched National Student Startup Policy (NSSP), formulated by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). It aims to create 1 lakh technology based student start-ups and a million employment opportunities within 10 years.

Professional Social Network LinkedIn signed MoU with Ministry of Human Resource Development to create more job opportunities for Indian students. LinkedIn’s ‘Placements’ product will be adopted by all Indian colleges affiliated with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Pune-based company Finkick Adventures organized India’s First Underwater Festival, to promote awareness about state of marine life and encourage people to conserve it.

Punjab Government launched Aware and Care campaign by flagging off 100 Information Education Communication (IEC) mobile vans. Aim is to inform people about diseases like cancer, hepatitis-C, cervical cancer and preventive measures to be taken at early stages.

Qaumi Ekta Week (National Integration Week) observed 19 - 25 November -

November 19 - National Integration Day.

November 20 - Welfare of Minorities Day.

November 21 - Linguistic Harmony Day.

November 22 - Weaker Sections Day.

November 23 - Cultural Unity Day.

November 24 - Women’s Day.

November 25 - Conservation Day.

Rajasthan Government will start Annapurna Rasoi Programme to provide quality meal at less price to weaker section and labourers. Food under this programme will be provided at subsidized rates of breakfast @ rs 5 per plate and lunch/dinner @ rs 8 per plate.

Regional news Unit of Radio Kashmir Jammu started morning news bulletin in Gojri language.

Scientists from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur claimed to discover evidence of lost river Chandrabhaga in Odisha.

Chandrabhaga River is an ancient mythical river believed to have existed about 2 km from 13th century Sun Temple at Konark (built by King Narasimhadeva I of Eastern Ganga Dynasty in 1255 CE.), a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling laid foundation stone of Bhaleydhunga Skywalk Project at Dhapper in Yangang (Sikkim). It will be the world’s highest skywalk at height of 10,300 feet.

Supreme Court banned sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR in an attempt to keep the rising pollution level of the capital and its surrounding areas under check.

Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by Tamil Nadu to review a 2014 apex court judgment banning Jallikattu, a Bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu on Mattu Pongal day as a part of Pongal celebrations.

Supreme Court ordered cinema halls to mandatorily play national anthem before every screening of shows, as a measure of showing respect.

Supreme Court ordered search engines Google, Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing to stop displaying advertisements relating to pre-natal sex determination tests.

Supreme Court scrapped Punjab Termination of Water Agreements Act 2004, that allows Punjab to stop sharing Ravi, Beas waters with other States. As per SC Supreme Court, Punjab Termination of Water Agreements Act 2004 terminate a 1981 agreement entered into among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan to re-allocate waters of Ravi and Beas.

The Verdict is seen as a Big respite for Haryana that is suffering from lack of water. The SYL (Satluj Yamuna Link) Canal project has been withheld by Punjab for 22 years. This SC decision insists Punjab to complete its share of work on SYL canal as soon as possible.

Telangana government signed MOU with Microsoft Corporation for digital Telangana programme.

Texiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani inaugurated Apparel & Garment Making Centre at Imphal (Manipur), made under North-East Region Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS).

Textile Minister Smriti Irani launched Pehchan identity cards seheme for artisans in Ahmedabad (Gujarat).

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) reported highest cases of breast cancer. It has been termed as country's breast cancer capital, with cases at a record high of 40 per / lakh women.

Trial run of Lucknow Metro train flagged off by UP CM Akhilesh Yadav.

Under program Logistic Efficiency Enhancement Programme (LEEP), Government is aiming to enhance freight transportation in India through improving cost, time, tracking and infrastructure.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) launched revamped version Toll-free helpline 1947, to help residents get quick access to information about Aadhaar.

Uttarakhand High Court banned any construction activities near glaciers in Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand has 968 glaciers spread across 2,857 sq km area. These glaciers are a source of major rivers including Ganga and Yamuna.

Vice-Chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has been designated as Regulatory Authority for Delhi, under Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act 2016.

Vigilance Awareness Week is observed every year from October 31 across India to promote probity in public life and achieve a corruption free society. 2016 theme of the week is “Public participation in promoting integrity and eradicating Corruption”.

Wangala - annual post-harvest festival of Garo tribe, held in Meghalaya.

World Bank’s report - India’s State Level Energy Efficiency Implementation Readiness’ -

Andhra Pradesh topped with overall score of 42.01 followed by Rajasthan (41.89), Karnataka (39.34) and Maharashtra (39.29).

Andhra Pradesh topped the list by achieving an energy saving of 1,500 million units (MU) i.e. around 650 MW in two years through use of LED lighting.

World’s first Genetic Garden of Halophytes (naturally occurring salt-tolerant plants) inaugurated at Vedaranyam in Tamil Nadu, set up by M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) founded by M S Swaminathan, father of Indian Green Revolution. It will have over 1,600 species belonging to 550 genera and 117 families of Halophytes plants.

World’s largest online homestay marketplace, Airbnb signed MoU with Self-Employed Women’s Association of India (SEWA) to promote tourism in rural areas, begining in Gujarat.

Persons

USA's Denton A. Cooley - noted heart surgeon who performed world’s first artificial heart transplant, has passed away.

Antonio Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal will be Chief Guest at 14th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention to be held from 7 to 9 January 2017 at Bengaluru (Karnataka). While, Michael Ashwin Satyandre Adhin, Vice President of Suriname will be Special Guest at Youth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) to be held on 7 January 2017 in Bengaluru.

As per Forbes, the co-founder brothers of Stripe , Patrick and John Collison are officially world’s youngest self-made billionaires now. At US $9.2 billion, John Collison is world's youngest self-made billionaire.

As per recent study, 7th century Chinese Buddhist pilgrim and scholar Xuan Zang (Hsuan Tsang) stayed a couple of years in Bezawada (the old name of Vijayawada) to copy and study Buddhist scriptures.

In 630 AD, Xuan Zang came to India through Kashmir after visiting Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan through SilkRoute. During his stay, he studied and copied Abhidhammapitakam, last of the three pitakas (Pali for baskets) constituting the Pali canon, scriptures of Theravada Buddhism.

Bhaskar Bhat resigned as director on board of Tata Chemicals Limited.

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Visited Bhutan. A new bilateral Trade Agreement signed between India and Bhutan.

Congress leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Naresh Yadav passed away.

Cuba’s former president Fidel Castro passed away, considered a great friend for India.

Former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma passed away.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Lt Gen S K Sinha passed away.

Former NASA scientist and grandson of MK Gandhi, Kanubhai Gandhi Passed away.

Fromer Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar adopted another village - Gollapalli, in Andhra Pradesh. His first village under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna is Puttamrajuvari Kandriga in Andhra Pradesh.

Gen Dalbir Singh, Chief of Indian Army visited Nepal.

George Yeo resigned as Nalanda University Chancellor. He is former Foreign minister of Singapore.

Indian Army Chief Dalbir Singh Suhaag Visited China.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee Visited Nepal.

Janet Reno, first woman Attorney General of USA, passed away.

Legendary Sri Lankan singer and composer Pandit Amaradeva passed away.

MN Sharma, first chief architect of Chandigarh passed away.

Mauritius Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth visited india.

Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates Visited India.

Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan visited Trinidad and Tobago.

Mota Singh, First Indian-origin Sikh in UK, passed away.

Noted Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen passed away.

Noted Carnatic artist Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna passed away.

Noted Hindi and Bhojpuri litterateur Viveki Rai passed away.

Noted Irish author William Trevor (among best short story writers), has passed away.

Noted Journalist Dileep Padgaonkar passed away.

Noted Marathi author Anand Yadav passed away. His autobiography Zombi, won him prestigious Sahitya Akadmi award in 1991.

Noted Tamil writer director K Subaash passed away. He was best known for penning superstar Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chennai Express.

Noted geophysicist Janardhan G Negi passed away, known for outstanding contribution in understanding earthquakes, mass extinctions and movement of Indian sub-continent plates.

Noted physicist and policy maker Mambillikalathil Govind Kumar Menon passed away.

Persons Visiting -

Salameh Hammad - Interior Minister of Jordan

Toshihiro Nikai - Secretary General of Liberal Democratic Party of Japan

Bui Van Thanh - Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Public Security

Shigeki Habuka - Japan’s Vice Minister for Policy Coordination meets MoS (Home)

Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya - Bangladesh's Minister of Disaster Management & Relief

Lutfi Elvan - Turkish Minister of Development

Dawa Gyaltshen - Bhutanese Minister of Home & Cultural Affairs

Khurelsukh Ukhna - Mongolian Deputy Prime Minister

Maithripala Sirisena - President of Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amraveera (For discussing Fishering Issues with India)

Shotaro Yachi - National Security Advisor of Japan

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand visited India.

Russian aircraft designer and co-creator of MiG-29 fighter jet, Ivan Mikoyan passed away.

Twitter's Chief Operating Officer (COO) Adam Bain resigned.

Science

A panel of British scientists approved introduceing three-parent baby fertility treatments or mitochondrial gene therapy (MGT) procedures, to prevent certain genetic diseases from being passed on to future generations.

In February 2016, Britain became first in world to legalise creation of In-Vitro Fertilisation babies with DNA from three people.

World’s first three-parent baby boy was born in Mexico in April 2016 to a Jordanian couple.

MGT (Mitochondrial donation) - It is a medical technique in which defective mitochondria carried by a woman is replaced with the healthy mitochondria of a donor.

According to World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 2016 is warmest year on record globally. Global temperatures for January to September 2016 were 1.2o C above pre-industrial levels and 0.88°C above average for 1961-1990 Period.

Battery car developed by CSIR-Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI) and CSIR-CMERI, in collaboration with Mahindra showcased at ‘Energy’ theme at 36th India International Trade Fair (IITF) 2016 in New Delhi.

Biggest and Brightest Supermoon ever observed, while moon being closest to Earth at 3.56 lakh km.

Last time, moon came closer to earth on 26 January 1948. Next time, supermoon will be observed on 25 November 2034 (even closer than this year)

During Supermoon, moon appears approx 30% larger in area and 30% brighter than normal full moons.

Doctors from Netherlands performed first-ever brain implant in a 58-year-old woman paralysed by Lou Gehrig’s disease. She became first patient to use a brain-computer interface and can now communicate via a speech computer.

Facebook's Connectivity Lab has set a world record transmitting at 20 Gbps for 13.2 kilometers using Milli Meter Wave (MMW) technology, in a test from Malibu, California to a building rooftop in Woodland Hills.

With this, Facebook broke previous record set in May 2016 by German scientists of 6 Gbps data transmission over 37 km using MMW. In February 2016, Japanese researchers had hit 100 Gbps by batching multiple 10 Gbps signals but not in MMW spectrum.

Millimeter waves (MMW) is electromagnetic waves with wavelength 1 to 10 millimeters. These waves share features of microwaves and far infrared waves since its wavelength ranges between these two.

Google launched scanning app Google PhotoScan to scan and digitise physical photographs.

Image of Mars taken by ISRO's Mars-orbiting spacecraft Mangalyaan has been featured place on cover of Coveted magazine National Geographic. Mangalyaan completed 3 years of launch on November 5, 2016.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch 83 satellites in one go in January 2017, weighing over 500 kg.

80 satellites are foreign, belonging to five countries - Israel, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.S.

Three Indian satellites are Cartosat-2 series weighing 730 kg as primary payload, INS-IA and INS-1B, totally weighing 30 kg.

India’s first eco-friendly liquefied natural gas (LNG)-driven bus launched in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) as a joint effort of Petronet LNG Limited, Indian Oil Corporation and Tata Motors.

NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has set Guinness world record for highest altitude fix of a Global Positioning System (GPS) signal.

4 MMS satellites operating in a highly elliptical orbit around Earth has set the record at 70,006.4 kilometres above Earth.

NASA's Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission is an unmanned space mission to study the Earth’s magnetosphere, using four identical satellites flying in a tetrahedral or pyramid formation. Launched in March 2015, it aims to map magnetic reconnection, a process that occurs as sun and Earth’s magnetic fields interact.

Private aerospace Firm TeamIndus is planning to send a spacecraft to moon on December 28, 2017, aboard an Indian Space Research Organisation Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). It will also travel at least 500 metres and beam high- definition images, video and data back to the earth.

Researchers from Hyderabad isolated Helicobacter pullorum bacterium in chicken that may be source of transmission of the multidrug resistance pathogen to humans.

Helicobacter pullorum is a pathogen commonly found in the liver and gut of poultry birds including chickens. It is untreatable and may be cancer-causing.

Researchers from Mumbai identified 2 biomarkers in serum samples that could help in TB diagnosis and TB disease prognosis. The identified microRNA biomarkers could be used for drug-sensitive pulmonary TB and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients.

Researchers from University of Illinois (USA) successfully increased Tobacco crop yield by 14 - 20 %, after experiment of boosting levels of 3 proteins involved in photosynthesis. This modification increased amount of sunlight energy crop plants can channel into food production.

Scientists detected presence of water on Psyche, largest metallic asteroid in our solar system, based on observations from NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Hawaii. The telescope observations show evidence of water or hydroxyl on its surface.

Scientists developed Zika replicon system, a novel tool to replicate Zika virus by stripping it of the genes that make it infectious. It may pave way for development vaccine to fight Zika virus.

Scientists from Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic) developed a model of a functioning human lung using 3D printing and other technologies. It has received three patents for its modeling. It can be used to simulate problems like asthma or other chronic diseases and their treatments.

Scientists from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology created world’s first ‘water-wave laser’ that emits a beam through interaction of light and water waves.

A laser is created when electrons in atoms become excited by energy absorbed from outside source, causing them to emit radiation in form of laser light. However, water-wave laser for first time showed that water wave oscillations within a liquid device can also generate laser radiation. It also demonstrated nonlinear optics and water waves, two areas that were previously considered unrelated.

Scientists have discovered a new ‘super Earth’ type exoplanet named as GJ 536b orbiting a very bright star near to our Sun, discovered by Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) and Geneva Observatory.

World's first hydrogen-powered and zero-emission passenger train - Coradia iLint has been unveiled in Germany, developed by French rail company Alstom.

Coradia iLint only emits excess steam and condensed water into the atmosphere.

Coradia iLint is powered by a hydrogen fuel tank fitted on its roof. The fuel cell is supplied with hydrogen and oxygen from air. The fuel cell converts hydrogen and oxygen into electric power. Excess electric is stored with onboard lithium batteries.

Sports

15-time World Billiards and Snooker Champion Pankaj Advani won bronze at IBSF World Snooker Championship by defeating Andrew Pagett of Wales in Doha (Qatar).

9th Delhi Half Marathon 2016 Held in delhi. Over 34 thousand participants participated in it (including 13 Rio Olympians) -

Men’s title - Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya).

Women’s title - Worknesh Degefa (Ethiopia).

Indian men’s category - Lakshmanan.

Indian womens category - Monika Athare.

AIBA Youth World Championships 2016 held in St Peterburg (Russia). Sachin Singh became 3rd Indian boxer to win gold at AIBA Youth World Championships . India finished tournament with one gold and a bronze.

Argentina defeated Croatia to win their first ever Davis Cup tennis title, Held in Croatia.

Australia will host the 2018 Invictus Games for wounded military personnel, Britain's Prince Harry announced.

Australia’s former women cricket captain Karen Rolton inducted into ICC’s Hall of Fame.

Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova won 2016 WTA Elite Singles Tennis Trophy. She defeated Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

First Indian National Open Accuracy Paragliding Championship held at Bir-Billing, Himachal Pradesh.

German Footballer Miroslav Klose retired. He is top scorer in world cup games (16 goals) and also Germany’s record scorer with 71 goals.

Haryana sprinter Dharambir Singh banned for 8 years by National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), after his second dope-related offence.

Hashim Mansoor (Jammu and Kashmir) won gold in Asian Karate Championship in New Delhi.

Henri Kontinen (Finland) and John Peers (Australia) won ATP World Tour Masters Doubles title at BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.

Hong Kong Open Super Series Badminton 2016 -

Men's Singles - Ng Ka Long (Hong Kong)

Women's Singles - Tai Tzu-ying (Chinese Taipei )

Men's Doubles - Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda (Japan)

Women's Doubles - Kamilla Rytter Juhl and Christinna Pedersen (Denmark)

Mixed Doubles - Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir (Indonesia)

India - Sameer Verma Lost in Men's Singles Final and P.V. Sindhu Lost in Women's Singles Final

IAS officer Suhas LY (Azamgarh DM) won Asian Para-Badminton Championships in Beijing, defeating Indonesia's Harry Susanto.

India won eight gold medals in Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Singapore.

Indian Badmnton Player PV Sindhu won China Open badminton tournament 2016, by defeating her Sun Yu of China. It Carried $700,000 Prize Money. It is first Super Series Premier title for Rio Olympic 2016 Silver Medalist P V Sindhu.

Indian Cricketer Rahul Dravid became brand ambassador for 2017 T20 Blind Cricket World Cup, to be hosted by India in January - February 2017. 10 countries will participate in the event.

Indian Golf player Aditi Ashok became first Indian woman to win a Ladies European Tour title after she won $60000 Prize Title of Hero Women’s Indian Open in Gurugram (Haryana).

Indian Golfrer Gaganjeet Bhullar won US $ 300,000 BANK BRI-JCB Indonesia Open for 2nd time in his career.

Indian chess champion Viswanathan Anand won 2016 Champions Showdown in Saint Louis (USA).

Indian golfer Aditi Ashok defeated Nanna Koerstz Madsen to win inaugural Qatar Ladies Open in Doha (Qatar).

It is her second successive victory on Ladies European Tour, after Hero Women’s Indian Open earlier.

In Qatar Open, Maha Haddioui became first Arab professional golfer to play in Ladies European Tour.

Indian golfer SSP Chawrasia won $1 million Resorts World Manila Masters in Philippines, his first Asian Tour title outside India.

Indian professional boxer Neeraj Goyat placed in World Boxing Council (WBC) rankings at 35th place. His win over Australia’s Ben Kite in mid-October 2016 to retain WBC welterweight Asia title has helped his rankings.

Indian women's hockey team wont its first Asian Champions Trophy, defeating China by 2 - 1. The tournament was hosted by Singapore.

Indian women’s carrom team won gold at 7th World Carrom Championship by defeating Sri Lanka in Birmingham (UK).

International Olympic Committee stripped 10 athletes of their medals from 2008 Olympics, after these athletes were tested positive for various banned steroids.

Magnus Carlsen (Norway) won 2016 World Chess Championship for third consecutive time, held in USA. He retained this title after defeating Sergey Karjakin of Russia.

Men’s hockey Junior World Cup will be held in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) in December 2016. Harjeet Singh (Punjab) has been named as captain for the tournament.

Mercedes Racer Lewis Hamilton (Britain) won 2016 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix -

2016 Formula One season -

After Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg won 2016 Formula One championship with 385 points (9 wins) and Hamilton holds second position with 380 points(10 wins).

Total 21 Grand Prix Races were across world in 2016. Calendar is -

Grand Prix Date Winner

Australia 20 March Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Baharain 3 April Nico Rosberg (Germany)

China 17 April Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Russia 1 May Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Spain 15 May Max Verstappen (Netherlands)

Monaco 29 May Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Canada 12 June Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Europe 19 June Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Austria 3 July Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Britain 10 July Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Hungary 24 July Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Germany 31 July Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Belgium 28 August Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Italy 4 September Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Singapore 18 September Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Malaysia 2 October Daniel Ricciardo (Australia)

Japan 9 October Nico Rosberg (Germany)

USA 23 October Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Mexico 30 October Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Brazil 13 November Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Abu Dhabi 27 November Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Mercedes Racer Lewis Hamilton (Britain) won 2016 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix -

2016 Formula One season -

Total 21 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2016. Calendar is -

Grand Prix Date Winner

Australia 20 March Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Baharain 3 April Nico Rosberg (Germany)

China 17 April Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Russia 1 May Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Spain 15 May Max Verstappen (Netherlands)

Monaco 29 May Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Canada 12 June Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Europe 19 June Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Austria 3 July Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Britain 10 July Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Hungary 24 July Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Germany 31 July Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Belgium 28 August Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Italy 4 September Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Singapore 18 September Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Malaysia 2 October Daniel Ricciardo (Australia)

Japan 9 October Nico Rosberg (Germany)

USA 23 October Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Mexico 30 October Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Brazil 13 November Lewis Hamilton (Britain)

Abu Dhabi 27 November

Mumbai's Western Railways women's team won 33rd Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey Tournament defeating Haryana.

Noted Philippines Boxer Manny Pacquiao reclaims World Boxing Organisation (WBO) welterweight title for third time.

Padmini Rout has won 2016 National Women Premier Chess Championship, creating hat-trick in National Women Premier Chess Championship in 3 consecutuve years.

Palpreet Singh became first Indian to be drafted into USA's Premier Basketball League NBA, after being selected 11th in 4th Round of NBA D-League Draft held in New York.

Rashtrapati Bhavan T-20 Cricket Tournament held in Delhi, won by Team President’s Secretariat Avengers.

Ravichandran Ashwin became first bowler ever to complete 50 wickets in 2 consecutive years.

South African Cricketer Robin Peterson announced retirement from all forms of Cricket.

Virat Kohli became first Indian Test captain to be out hit wicket since Lala Amarnath in 1949, during Rajkot Test against England.

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Grand Prix	Date	Winner
Australia	20 March	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Baharain	3 April	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
China	17 April	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Russia	1 May	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Spain	15 May	Max Verstappen (Netherlands)
Monaco	29 May	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Canada	12 June	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Europe	19 June	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Austria	3 July	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Britain	10 July	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Hungary	24 July	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Germany	31 July	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Belgium	28 August	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Italy	4 September	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Singapore	18 September	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Malaysia	2 October	Daniel Ricciardo (Australia)
Japan	9 October	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
USA	23 October	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Mexico	30 October	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Brazil	13 November	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)
Abu Dhabi	27 November	Lewis Hamilton (Britain)