BAZOOKA: AUGUST

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

SR.NO TOPIC
1. Top 100 Current Affairs of July
2. Top 50 Banking and Business affairs of July
3. Important Abbreviations in News
4. Word Power: Made Easy

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TOP 100 CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY

APPOINTMENTS
1. B Harideesh Kumar has been appointed as director of Institute of
Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).
2. International Monetary Fund (IMF) (Headquarter: Washington DC)
Managing Director Christine Lagarde has been appointed as new head
of European Central bank (ECB) (Headquarter: Frankfurt, Germany).
3. Karnam Sekar has been appointed as the new MD and CEO of
Chennai based Indian Overseas Bank (IOB).
4. Anshula Kant, MD of SBI has been appointed as Managing director
and Chief Financial Officer (MD & CFO) of the World Bank.
5. B.S. Yediyurappa of BJP took oath as 31st Chief Minister of
Karnataka, this would be his fourth term.
6. Boris Johnson is the new PM of Britain; he has appointed Indian
origin Priti Patel as the Home Secretary of Britain.
7. Arun Kumar has been appointed as the new Director General (DG)
in Directorate General in Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
8. Recently the President appointed new governors of the following states:
UP: Anandiben Patel, MP: Lalji Tandon, Tripura: Ramesh Bais, Nagaland:
RN Ravi, West Bengal: Jagdeep Dhankar, Bihar: Phagu Chauhan,
Chhattisgarh: Anusuiya Uikey, Andhra Pradesh: Biswa Bhusan
Harichandan, Himachal Pradesh: Kalraj Mishra and Gujarat: Acharya
Dev Vrat.
9. Justice A K Sikri, former Supreme Court judge has been appointed as
an International Judge of Singapore International Commercial
Court.
SCHEMES
10. Uttar Pradesh government has launched a massive campaign
called ‘Dastak’ to eradicate deadly Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and
Japanese Encephalitis.
11. University Grants Commission (UGC) has launched STRIDE (Scheme
for Trans-disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy) scheme
to boost research culture and innovation in colleges and universities.
12. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has launched
‘LaQshya’ (Labour room Quality improvement Initiative) initiative to

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improve quality of care in labor room and maternity operation theatres

in public health facilities.
13. Haryana Government launched online portal named “Meri Fasal
Mera Byora” for farmers to directly avail crop related benefits of state
government schemes.
14. Union Jal Shakti Minister, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat,
launched the Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) for water conservation and
water security. It will focus on 256 water stressed districts and 1,592
water stressed blocks.
15. Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has launched a
scheme called “Paramarsh” which aims at aims at mentoring
institutions who want to acquire National Accreditation and Assessment
Council (NAAC) accreditation, to develop quality assurance in Higher
Education.
16. Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister has stated that
the average monthly income per agricultural household from all
sources is Rs. 6,426 in the country according to the NSSO Survey of
Agricultural Households.
STATES
17. IIT-Kharagpur students have developed an android-based app
called ‘CARE4U’ aims to provide better elderly care practices.
18. Butterfly species Tamil yeoman (Cirrochroa thais) has been
officially declared as state butterfly of Tamil Nadu.
19. Andhra Pradesh government recently passed a legislation that
reserves 75% private job to locals across factories, industrial units,
joint ventures and private projects taken under the Public-Private
Partnership (PPP) model.
20. Asia’s first Six Sigma Institute of Mountain Medicines and High-
Altitude Rescue to be established at Rudraprayag district in
Uttarakhand.
21. On 12 July 2019, West Bengal government observed Save Water
Day across the state to spread the message of water conservation.
22. The annual festival of worship of 14 Gods, popularly known as
Kharchi Puja was recently celebrated in Tripura.

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23. Rasagola, a popular dessert of Odisha, has received Geographical

Indication (GI) tag. Earlier in 2017 West Bengal had got GI for ‘Banglar
Rasogolla’ in 2017.
24. Four-day International Shark Meet was recently held at Central
Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Kochi.
25. Meghalaya government has recently announced Meghalaya State
Water Policy 2019 and has become the first state in the country to have
State Water Policy.
26. India's first garbage café was recently opened in Ambikapur,
Chhattisgarh, under this program, any person fetching plastic waste to
the garbage cafe will be assured of a meal.
27. Asia’s first Six Sigma Institute of Mountain Medicines and High-
Altitude Rescue to be established at Rudraprayag district in
Uttarakhand.
28. Delhi Government launched a 15-day “Happiness Utsav” across
all its schools, to mark the completion of a year of introduction of its
happiness curriculum.
29. The State Government of Telangana and World Economic Forum’s
(WEF) Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) Network announced
the launch of drone-delivery project called ‘Medicine from the Sky’.
30. Haryana government and Bombay stock exchange (BSE) have
signed a pact to encourage and support state’s micro, small and medium
enterprises (MSMEs) to raise capital.
31. The annual festival of worship of 14 Gods, popularly known as
“Kharchi Puja” was recently celebrated in Tripura.
NATIONAL
32. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has constituted a High-powered
Committee of Chief Ministers (CMs) for ‘Transformation of Indian
Agriculture’, the nine-member committee would be headed by
Devendra Phadnavis (CM Maharashtra).
33. INS Sagardhwan started its two-month long second mission “Sagar
Maitri” recently, under which it will be visiting Thailand, Malaysia,
Singapore, and Indonesia and would be initiating collaborative research
programmes with selected institutes in these countries.
34. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has
operationalized first ‘Aadhaar Seva Kendra’ (ASKs) in Delhi and
Vijayawada.

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35. Jaipur known for its iconic architectural legacy and vibrant culture
became the second Indian city to be listed as a heritage city by
UNESCO.
36. 7th Economic Census (EC) for the year 2019 which is conducted by
the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI)
commenced from Tripura.
37. Border Security Force (BSF) has launched a massive exercise,
code named as Sudarshan, to fortify Anti-Infiltration Grid along Pakistan
border in Punjab and Jammu.
38. Indian scientists from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
(TIFR), Mumbai have developed a new material called ‘black gold’.
40. As per the fourth tiger census (2018) released by PM Modi the
country now has 2,967 tigers i.e. a growth of 33 per cent from the
figures of the previous census (2013). Also, India now has 70% of the
world’s tiger.
As mentioned in the Tiger Census, Madhya Pradesh has the highest
number of tigers at 526, followed by Karnataka at 524. Also, Madhya
Pradesh's Pench sanctuary and Kerala’s Periyar sanctuary emerged as the
best managed tiger reserves in the country.
41. Chandrayaan-2, India’s 2nd moon mission (after Chandrayaan-1,
2008) was successfully launched by GSLV-MkIII-M1 from Satish
Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
Chandrayaan-2 has 3 components- Orbiter, lander (Called Vikram) and
Rover (called Pragyan).
42. The book titled “War over Words: Censorship in India, 1930-
1960” authored by Devika Sethi was released recently.
43. Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar’s political thriller film ‘Indu Sarkar’
has been included into NFAI (National Film Archives of India).
44. Government has set a target for installation of Rooftop Solar
projects (RTS) of 40,000 Megawatt (MW) by 2022 in the country
including installation of RTS on rooftop of houses.
45. Bhabha Kavach called as “India’s lightest bulletproof jacket” was
launched at the International Police Expo 2019 in New Delhi recently. It has
been developed by Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) and metal alloys
manufacturer Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI). The nanotechnology from
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has been used in its making.

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46. Union Government has formed a high-level 10-member Committee

under the chairmanship of Kiren Rijiju, Sports Minister to coordinate
and strategize the preparation for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
INTERNATIONAL
47. NASA will send a nuclear-powered drone, “Dragonfly” to Saturn’s
moon Titan to search for signs of microbial alien life.
48. 1,000-year-old Shawala Teja Singh Temple located in Sialkot city
of Pakistan has been re-opened for devotees for the first time since
partition.
49. BRICS Foreign Ministers Meet was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
recently. India was represented Minister of State (MoS) VK Singh.
50. ‘Fashionova’, India’s first Design Development Center was
launched in the Textile city Surat, Gujarat to promote the city in the field
of the fashion design sector.
51. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed that Measles
disease has been eradicated from the island nation Sri Lanka.
52. South Central Railways (SCR) of Indian Railways commissioned the
longest electrified tunnel in India. It is situated between Cherlopalli and
Rapuru stations in Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh.
53. World’s largest burn and plastic surgery institute named Sheikh
Hasina National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute started its functioning
in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
54 Infosys has opened its new state-of-the-art Cyber Defence Center
in Bucharest, Romania.
55. The French government has imposed a GAFA Tax (an acronym for
Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon) of 3% on sales generated in the
country by these online giants.
EVENTS
56. The Indian Air Force and French Air Force have participated in a
bilateral air exercise Garuda VI at Mont de Marsan in France.
57. Eleventh biennial arms exhibition ‘DefExpo 2020’ would be held in
Lucknow in the month of February next month.
Theme: India: the emerging defence manufacturing hub.

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58. First Global Conference for Media Freedom 2019, hosted by the
United Kingdom (UK) and Canada, was recently held in London, UK.
59. Fifth International Dharma-Dhamma conference was recently
held at Rajgir International Convention Centre in Rajgir, Bihar.
60. Third edition of the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) will be held
in Guwahati, Assam in January next year.
61. Vice President of India, Shri Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the 13 th
edition of the annual Global Healthcare Summit (GHS) at Hyderabad.
62. The annual Joint Military Exercise “Hand-in-Hand” between India
and China will be held at Umroi, near Shillong, Meghalaya in December.
63. India hosted the 3rd edition of International Sunflower Seed and
Oil Conference (ISSOC) 2019 in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
64. To celebrate fourth anniversary of the Skill India Mission, the Union
Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launched “Kaushal
Yuva Samwaad” in New Delhi.
65. To celebrate fourth anniversary of the Skill India Mission, the
Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)
launched ‘Kaushal Yuva Samwaad’ in New Delhi.
RANKS
66. NITI Aayog released its “Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly
Reforms Index” (AMFFRI) for the year 2019. Maharashtra was
ranked first for implementing most of the marketing reforms. Gujarat
secured the second rank.
67. According to CIBIL – SIDBI Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
(MSME) Pulse Report, Gujarat was ranked first in terms of
performance and credit growth potential for MSME Corporate Lending
in India.
68. According to RBI, Maharashtra registered the highest number of
Automated Teller Machine (ATM) frauds in India for the FY 2018-19.
Maharashtra registered 233 case of ATM frauds with a total of 4.8 crores.
69. Tata Steel Kalinganagar (Odisha) becomes the first and the only
Indian manufacturing plant that has been included in prestigious
Lighthouse Network of the World Economic Forum (Headquarter:
Cologny, Switzerland).
70. India improved its ranking in the Global Innovation Index released
by Cornell University, INSEAD and WIPO by five places to 52nd spot in
2019. Switzerland retained its number-one spot in the index.

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The theme of the 2019 GII is “Creating Healthy Lives – The Future of
Medical Innovation”.
71. According to the recent Henley Passport Index 2019, Indian
passport ranked at 86th position with a mobility score of 58. Japan and
Singapore secured the joint top spot as the most powerful passports in the
world with a score of 189.
72. According to the 2nd edition of Razorpay Software Pvt Ltd’s digital
transactions quarterly report, ‘The Era of Rising Fintech’, Bengaluru got
the top position in the list of “most digitised cities” in the April-June
2019 quarter accounting for highest card payments.
73. Reliance Industries has been ranked 106 globally and is the
highest-ranking Indian firm on the Fortune Global 500 list.
AWARDS
74. Indian men’s football team captain Sunil Chhetri and women’s
footballer Ashalata Devi have been announced as the men’s and
women’s footballer of the year respectively at All India Football
Federation (AIFF) 2018-19 awards.
75. Popular sand artist from Puri, Odisha Sudarshan Pattnaik was
awarded People’s Choice Prize at the Boston International Sand Art
Championship 2019.
76. Four eminent personalities in field of Performing Arts namely tabla
virtuoso Zakir Hussain, dancer Sonal Mansingh, dancer and
choreographer Jatin Goswami and Bharatnatyam exponent K.
Kalyanasundaram Pillai for the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi
Awards.
77. The Annual Gandhi Mandela Peace Medal 2019 has been awarded
to Thich Nhat Hanh a global spiritual leader, poet, and peace activist.
78. Social entrepreneur philanthropist and eminent fashionista Priya
Priyadarshini Jain was conferred with the prestigious “Indian Women
of Influence” award at the House of Lords, London, UK.
79. Carnatic vocalist S. Sowmya has been chosen for Sangita
Kalanidhi Award 2019.
80. Former International tennis player Vidisha Balyan from Uttar
Pradesh wins Miss Deaf World 2019 title at an event held in Mbombela,
South Africa.
81. Director Kaushik Ganguly’s Bengali film “Nagarkirtan”, has won the
Best Feature Film at prestigious 2019’s SAARC (South Asian Association
for Regional Cooperation) film festival held in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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SPORTS
82. Indian pro boxer Vaibhav Yadav became World Boxing Council
(WBC) Asia silver Welterweight Champion after winning the title bout
held in Pattaya, Thailand.
83. India won 15 medals including 7 Golds in the 21st edition of the
Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships held in Cuttack,
Odisha. Harmeet Desai and Ayhika Mukherjee won Gold Medals in the Men’s
and Women’s singles category respectively.
84. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Simona Halep (Romania) won the
Wimbledon Tennis Grand Slam in the men’s and women’s category
respectively.
85. Max Verstappen (Belgium) who drives for Red Bull won the 2019
won the German Grand Prix recently. Lewis Hamilton (from UK) who
drives for Mercedes won British Grand Prix.
86. Sachin Tendulkar was inducted into International Cricket Council’s
(ICC) Hall of Fame along with South African pace legend Allan Donald
and Australian woman cricketer Cathryn Fitzpatrick.
Sachin became the sixth Indian to be inducted into the ICC Hall of
Fame.
87. IIT Kanpur awarded an honorary doctorate to Pullela Gopichand,
national coach for the Indian Badminton team.
88. Indian sprint runner Hima Das won 5 Golds in the month of July:
200m Golds in Poznan and Kutno Athletics Grand Prix in Poland and
Tabor Athletics Meet & Kladno Athletics Meet at Czech Republic. Fifth Gold
was in 400-meter race in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic.
India’s Mohammed Anas (from Kerala) also won Gold Medals in men’s
category in 400-meter races in Kladno Athletics Meet and Nove Mesto in
Czech Republic.
89. The United States of America (USA) won FIFA Women’s World Cup
2019 title after beating Netherlands in final at Lyon, France.
90. Former Indian cricketer & wicket-keeper Kiran Moore has been
appointed as the interim coach of the USA (United States of America)
cricket team.
91. Dutee Chand recently became the first Indian woman to have won
gold medal in women’s 100m in World Universiade, 30th Summer
University Games held in Naples, Italy.

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92. England beat New Zealand in the finals held at Lord’s, London UK to
win the 12th ICC Cricket World Cup.
Ben Stokes (England) was the Man of the Match in the Finals and
Kane Williamson (New Zealand) was the Man of the tournament.
93. Bhakti Kulkarni from Goa retained her title in the 46th National
Women Chess Championship 2019 held in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu.
94. Arjun Bhati won Future Champions Golf (FCG) Callaway Junior
World Golf Championship 2019.
95. Bodybuilder Ravinder Kumar Malik has clinched Mr. South Asia
title at 12th South Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship
held in Kathmandu.
OBITUARIES
96. Jaya Arunachalam, Indian social worker and pioneer of the
women’s SHG and founder of Working Women’s Forum (WWF) passed
away recently.
97. Basant Kumar Birla, businessman and the patriarch of the Birla
Group passed away recently.
98. Founder of popular South Indian food chain “Saravana Bhavan”, P
Rajagopal passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu recently.
99. Famous economist and former RBI Deputy Governor Subir Vithal
Gokarn passed away recently.
100. Former three-time CM of Delhi from Congress Sheila Dikshit
passed away recently.

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TOP 50 BANKING & BUSINESS AFFAIRS OF JULY

1. RBI has constituted a six-member working group headed by Tapan

Ray to review regulatory guidelines and supervisory framework for
Core Investment Companies (CIC).
2. Karnataka Bank launched the web tool named ‘Vasool So-Ft’
(Vasool So-Fast) for digitizing the Non-Performing Asset (NPA)
recovery process of the bank.
3. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will now be the regulator of Housing
Finance Firms (HFFs) instead of NHB (National Housing Bank).
4. RBI will adopt a three-year road map for medium-term objective
named “Utkarsh 2022” for strengthening regulation, supervision of the
central bank.
5. Reliance Jio has partnered with Facebook to launch a digital
literacy initiative named “Digital Udaan” to empower first-time internet
users with digital literacy and understanding of the Internet in real time.
6. In a first ever loan to an NBFC, AIIB will provide $100-million
loan to L&T Infrastructure Finance Company (LTIF) for wind and solar
infrastructure projects.
7. Punjab & Sind Bank has set up a centralized hub named
“Centralised MSME & Retail Group” (Cen-MARG) for processing retail
and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) loans.
8. In the recent budget the government announced that the Public Sector
Banks (PSBs) will be provided with a capital infusion of Rs 70,000
crores, giving a much-needed boost to the stressed banks who are under
pressure owing to the rising NPAs.
9. Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) located in Kolkata signed an
MoU with BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BRICS CCI) for
promoting trade and investments between BRICS countries and the
eastern part of India.
10. As per World Bank for the year 2018, the turnover ratio (cash
market turnover divided by market capitalisation) of Indian stock market
fell from 143 in 2008 to 58 in 2018 i.e. by 60% in the past 10 years.
11. Andhra Bank launched its AI (Artificial Intelligence) interactive
assistant called “ABHi” at a in Hyderabad, Telangana recently.
12. NABARD recently announced that it has planned to raise about Rs
55,000 crores from the market in the current fiscal (FY 20) to fund its

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business growth and also support various agricultural and rural

development schemes of the government.
13. South Korean company Samsung has partnered with
Paisabazaar.com, India’s largest online marketplace to offer financial
products.
14. According to IHS Markit, a global information provider, has stated
that India will surpass Japan to be the world’s third largest
economy in 2025 and it will overtake the United Kingdom (UK) to become
the fifth biggest economy in 2019.
15. Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) in its report titled ‘Asian
Development Outlook 2019 has estimated India’s GDP growth to be
7% in Fiscal Year 2020 (FY-20) and 7.2% in FY21.
16. According to Brand Finance annual report, “Brand Finance India
100 2019”, “Tata” has become India’s most valuable brand in 2019
with the brand value of $19.6 billion.
17. UK- based Standard Chartered will be the first foreign bank to
launch operations at International Financial Service Centre (IFSC),
Gujarat.
18. ICICI bank launched a new digital platform called ‘InstaBIZ’
targeted at micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and self-
employed customers, enable them to undertake their business banking
transactions digitally and instantly.
19. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has introduced
a web-based application system for contribution from the Fund of
Funds for Start-ups (FFS) to improve the turnaround time and increase
transparency.
20. US-based software firm Ebix Inc acquired online travel portal
Yatra Online Inc. for $337.8 million (Rs 2,325 crore) in an all-stock
transaction.
21. HDFC and CSC (Common Service Centres) launched a co-branded
‘Small Business Money Back Credit Card’ for small traders and village
level entrepreneurs (VLEs).

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22. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India’s Current

Account Deficit (CAD) rose to $68 billion in 2018-19 from $49 billion in
2017-18.
23. India will be the first recipient of local currency financing by the
Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank (AIIB). The objective of local
currency financing is to provide more options to borrowers.
24. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Japan Credit
Bureau (JCB) along with domestic banks have recently launched RuPay
JCB Global Cards.
25. The RBI has given the portfolio of monetary policy and
forecasting to Deputy Governor BP Kanungo after the resignation of
Viral Acharya.
26. PNB Housing Finance Ltd has raised $100 million from
International Finance Corporation (IFC) for the purpose of lending to
buyers in housing projects.
27. Four-member inter-ministerial committee headed by Subhash
Chandra Garg has submitted its report on “Virtual Currencies”
suggesting a complete ban on the virtual currencies.
The committee recommended a fine of up to 250 million rupees and
imprisonment for up to 10 years for anyone who mines, generates, holds,
sells, transfers or issues cryptocurrency.
28. Amazon recently launched IIT-JEE preparation app called” JEE
Ready” in its first product in the ed-tech sector in India.
29. LIC has agreed to offer Rs 1.25 trillion line of credit by 2024, to
fund highway projects under Bharatmala Scheme.
30. As per the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s World
Economic Outlook (WEO) report 2019, India’s GDP growth is
expected to grow by 7% in FY-20 and 7.2% in FY-21.
31. After Oppo’s exit, e-learning platform, Byju’s will be the official
sponsor of the Indian cricket team for a period of three years until 31st
March 2022.
32. Nandan Nilekani has come up with a RBI backed platform-
“Sahamati”- an account aggregator model, which will help individuals and
small businesses share their digital financial data with third-parties in a safe
and secure manner.
33. As per the new rules (under Section 230 of Companies Act, 1956)
by IBBI, promoters and other stakeholder would get 90 days after

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the commencement of insolvency proceedings to re-take control of the

company through agreements with creditors.
Also, a limit of one year has been set for the liquidation of such a company
from the date of commencement of insolvency proceeding.
34. Department of Commerce has approved financial assistance for
three trade promotion centres under the ‘Trade Infrastructure for
Export Scheme (TIES), these centres are located in Manipur, Tamil
Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.
35. Publicis Sapient, the digital business transformation hub of Publicis
Groupe, and Microsoft, announced their partnership supporting the
launch of the world’s first end-to-end digital trade bank, Anglo-Gulf
Trade Bank.
36. Union Government has increased the authorised capital of
Chennai-based Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs
15,000 crore.
37. Six entities — Jio Information Solutions, NESL Asset Data, CAMS
Finserv Financial Services, Cookiejar Technologies, FinSec AA Solutions and
Yodlee Finsoft — have received an in-principle approval from RBI to
function as AAs.
38. Savings Account Holders have paid nearly Rs 10,000 crores to
banks in the last three years in penalties for not maintaining the minimum
balance in their savings accounts.
39. Bengaluru based Jana Small Finance Bank has accumulated Rs
2,193 crore worth loan defaults under Mudra Yojana just behind SBI.
40. In less than 18 months after its commencement, Aditya Birla
Payments Bank has announced to shut down operations.
41. Loan Write-offs made by 27 banks in FY19 crossed the Rs 2-lakh-
crore mark, with 16 public sector banks (PSBs) alone accounting for Rs
1.77 lakh crore worth of written-off loans.
42. The value of balances in bank accounts opened under the Pradhan
Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark.
43. ICICI Bank has topped the list of banks with the highest number
of fraud cases over the last three years state-run State Bank of India
comes a close second.
44. As per Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, the
government has place 51.23 lakh individuals (21 percent) from the
72-lakh people trained under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas
Yojana (PMKVY) since its launch.

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45. RBI recently liberalised the norms related to External Commercial

Borrowing (ECB) by relaxing the end-use restrictions with regard to
working capital, general corporate purpose and repayment of rupee loans
46. E-commerce major Flipkart has partnered with private sector lender
Axis Bank to launch a co-branded credit card. The new co-branded
card - powered by payments processor Mastercard
47. Interest rates applicable to select small savings schemes:
15-year Public Provident Fund (PPF): 7.90%
National Savings Certificate (NSC): 7.90%
Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP): 7.60%
Sukanya Samriddhi: 8.40%
Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS): 8.60%
48. A Committee constituted by RBI, headed by former SEBI Chairman
UK Sinha, has recommended that the limit for collateral free lending
should be increased to Rs 20 lakh for MSMEs and Self-Help Groups
(SHGs)
49. Apple will acquire the majority of Intel’s smartphone modem
business for $1 billion.
50. State-owned banks had classified Rs. 1.50 lakh crore worth of
loans as "wilful defaults" in 2018-19, with the biggest lender State Bank
of India accounting for nearly a third of these defaults

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IMPORTANT ABBREVIATIONS IN NEWS

Financial/Banking Term Full Form

AA Account Aggregators
ARCs Asset Reconstruction Companies
BPS Basis Points
CRILIC Central Repository of Information
on Large Credits
CPFR (also CFR) Central Payments Fraud Registry
CIC Core Investment Companies
DHFL Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd.
ECB External Commercial Borrowings
FEO Fugitive Economic Offender
FFS Fund of Funds for Start-ups
FPIs Foreign Portfolio Investors
GAFA Google Apple Facebook & Amazon
GMPI Global Multidimensional Poverty
Index
HFCs/ HFFs Housing Finance Companies/
Housing Finance Firms
ICA Inter Creditor Agreement
LoC Line of Credit
NBFC Non-Banking Financial Company
NII Net Interest Income
NIIF National Investment &
Infrastructure Fund
MFIN Micro Finance Institutions Network
OD OverDraft
PCR Public Credit Registry
TIES Trade Infrastructure for Export
Scheme
VLE Village Level Entrepreneur
WLBs Women Livelihood Bonds

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BAZOOKA: AUGUST
EDITION

WORD POWER: MADE EASY

A Reading Comprehension passage accounts for around 30% of the verbal

section of most banking and government exams. Due to the lack of a
regular reading habit, many students are unable to score marks in this
section. PracticeMock is here to help such students gain mastery over this
part of the verbal section through a holistic approach. In this initiative, we
will be picking passages that span a variety of topics, ranging from
economics to environmental science from prominent newspapers such as
The Hindu, Economic Times, etc, and provide the meanings of all the
difficult words/ phrases used in the passage. We hope this will help you not
only to master your vocabulary but also to understand the contextual usage
of the words.
Let’s see analysis of the below editorial.
The terrorist tag: on the latest amendments to the NIA Act
The idea of designating an individual as a terrorist, as the
latest amendments (a change to a law, either one that has already been
passed or one that is still being discussed; संशोधन / एक कानू न में बदलाव, या तो
पहले से ही पारित हो चुका है या जो अभी भी चचाा में है ) to the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act propose to do, may appear innocuous (harmless;
हाननिनहत). However, designating an individual as a terrorist raises serious
constitutional questions and has the potential for misuse. The practice of
designating individuals under anti-terrorism laws, prevalent in several
countries, is seen as being necessary because banned groups tend to
change their names and continue to operate. However, there is no set
procedure for designating an individual a terrorist. Parliament must
consider whether an individual can be called a ‘terrorist’ prior to conviction
in a court of law. The absence of a judicial determination may render the
provision vulnerable (able to be easily attacked or influenced; कमजोि) to
invalidation. There ought to be a distinction between an individual and an
organisation, as the former enjoys the right to life and liberty. The likely
adverse consequences of a terrorist tag may be worse for individuals than
for organisations. Further, individuals may be subjected to arrest and
detention; even after obtaining bail from the courts, they may have their
travel and movements restricted, besides carrying the taint. This makes it
vital that individuals have a faster means of redress (compensation;
ननवािण) than groups. Unfortunately, there is no change in the process of
getting an entity removed from the list. Just as any organisation getting
the tag, individuals, too, will have to apply to the Centre to get their names
removed.

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BAZOOKA: AUGUST
EDITION

A wrongful designation will cause irreparable damage to a person’s

reputation, career and livelihood. Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s warning
that his government would not spare terrorists or their sympathisers, and
his reference to ‘urban Maoists’, are portentous (of momentous
significance महत्वपूणा महत्व का) about the possibility of misuse. It has been
argued by some members in Parliament that the Bill contains anti-federal
features. The provision to empower the head of the National Investigation
Agency to approve the forfeiture (loss of property especially as a result of
breaking a legal agreement; ज़ब्ती) of property of those involved in terrorism
cases obviously overrides a function of the State government. At present,
the approval has to be given by the State police head. Also, there will be a
section allowing NIA Inspectors to investigate terrorism cases, as against a
Deputy Superintendent of Police or an Assistant Commissioner. This
significantly enhances the scope for misuse. The 2004 amendments to the
Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, made it a comprehensive anti-
terror law that provided for punishing acts of terrorism, as well as for
designating groups as ‘terrorist organisations’. Parliament further amended
it in 2008 and 2013 to strengthen the legal framework to combat (a fight;
मुकाबला) terror. While none will question the need for stringent laws that
show ‘zero tolerance’ towards terrorism, the government should be mindful
of its obligations to preserve fundamental rights while enacting legislation
on the subject.

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