Weekly CA Quiz: August 2019 4th week with PDF

Taking inspiration from e-commerce behemoths like Alibaba and Amazon, the government is planning to launch its own desi version of an e-commerce portal. The government has named the portal Bharatcraft, which will provide a platform for MSMEs to markets and sell their products.

Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that FASTags will become mandatory for all vehicles from December this year. FASTag enabled vehicles can cruise through the dedicated FASTag lane without stopping at toll plazas on National Highways.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has announced that his government would canalise all the rivers of the state, taking technical support from the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri yesterday announced that the Hollongi Airport in Itanagar will be completed by March 31, 2022.

To help save the world’s only mangrove tiger habitat, Discovery India and WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) India have partnered with the Forest Directorate, the government of West Bengal and local communities in the Sundarbans.

The Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering has put Pakistan on its ‘enhanced blacklist’ over terror financing. Pakistan now faces being placed on FATF’s overall blacklist. The FATF had warned Pakistan to meet its commitment by October or face action after the country failed to complete its action plan on terror financing.

Russia has launched an unmanned rocket carrying a life-size humanoid robot that will spend 10 days learning to assist astronauts on the International Space Station.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted processing of e-mandate on credit and debit cards for recurring transactions (merchant payments) with a cap of ₹2,000 from September 1.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has suspended the accreditation of India’s National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) for six months in what could be a massive blow to anti-doping movement in the country with less than a year left for Tokyo Olympics.

Former opener Vikram Rathour will replace Sanjay Bangar as India’s new batting coach while Bharath Arun and R Sridhar were expectedly retained as bowling and fielding coaches respectively.

Constable Monali Jadhav from Maharashtra won three medals, including two golds, at the recently concluded World Police and Fire Games International Championship held in Chengdu, China. Jadhav is attached to the Jalamb police station in Buldhana district of Maharashtra.

The Indian men’s hockey team won the Olympic Test event, beating New Zealand 5-0 to avenge the loss it endured in their round robin clash.

The Union Cabinet approved the appointment of Ajay Kumar Bhalla as Home Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Media company NDTV said that its Interim CEO Suparna Singh has resigned from her role with immediate effect. Singh who was the former head of NDTV Convergence was named as its CEO in December 2017.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has awarded PM Modi with the Order of Zayed, its highest civilian award, which was conferred earlier in April 2019 in recognition of his distinguished leadership for giving a big boost to bilateral relations between the two countries. PM Modi is on a visit to UAE.

A committee comprising government officials, members of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), national sports federations, private bodies and fitness promoters has been formed to advise the government on the “Fit India Movement”.

President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the first-ever World Youth Conference for Kindness organised by the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

The Statue of Unity in Gujarat and Soho House in Mumbai were featured in Time magazine’s second annual list of the world’s greatest places this year. The list is a compilation of 100 new and “newly noteworthy destinations to experience right now”.

CWMI (Composite Water Management Index ) 2.0 ranks various states for the reference year 2017-18 as against the base year 2016-17. “Gujarat continues to hold on to its rank one in the reference year (2017-18), followed by Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu,” the release said.

Russia launched the world’s first floating nuclear reactor. The vessel weighs 21,000 tons and has two reactors with a capacity of 35 megawatts each. This reactor loaded with nuclear fuel, the Akademik Lomonosov left the Arctic port of Murmansk to begin its 5,000 kilometres (3,000-mile) voyage to Pevek in northeastern Siberia.

In a feat unmatched by other banks globally, DBS (HQ – Singapore) has become the first bank to concurrently hold three global best bank awards. This was achieved after DBS was named “World’s Best Bank” by leading global financial publication Euromoney in its 2019 Awards for Excellence.

Moody’s Investors Service has cut India’s GDP growth forecast for the calendar year 2019 to 6.2 per cent from its previous estimate of 6.8 per cent.

Pacer Jasprit Bumrah has become the fastest Indian bowler to scalp 50 Test wickets. The 25-year-old recorded 50 Test wickets in his 11th match for the team in the longest format of the game.

Likee, the pioneering global short video creation platform, has won the Guinness World Record for creating the largest online video album of people waving the Indian flag during its ‘No matter where I am, #IAMINDIAN’ campaign.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred ‘The King Hamad Order of the Renaissance’ during his meeting with the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in Manama. PM Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Bahrain.

Haryana Government announced the roll-out of ‘Mukhya Mantri Parivar Samridhi Yojna’ which will provide social security to families. Under the scheme, Rs 6000 per year will be given to each eligible family.

Serbia has officially become the 73rd non-regional member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced measures to revive economic growth and markets. She also said that GST regime will be simplified further and the government will release ₹70,000 crore capital upfront to public sector banks to boost credit to different sectors of the economy.

The new Henley Passport Index is out, and there has been a major shuffle in the global ranking of the world’s passports.India slipped to 86th spot from the previous 79th place with access to 58 countries. The country shared the spot with Mauritania, and Sao Tome and Principe.

India’s B Sai Praneeth lost the men’s singles semi-final 13-21, 8-21 to World No. 1 Kento Mmomta of Japan at the BWF World Championships 2019 in Basel but finished with his maiden medal at the world meet.

India clinched a gold medal in the compound junior mixed team event of the World Archery Youth Championships in Madrid.

In football, Gokulam Kerala FC won the 129th Durand Cup, defeating heavyweights Mohun Bagan 2-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

IIT graduates Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal founded out of an apartment in Bangalore what would become India’s biggest e-commerce start-up. Recounting the astounding story of how the Bansals built Flipkart into a multi-billion-dollar powerhouse in a span of few years, journalist Mihir Dalal has penned a new book.

Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Prakash Javadekar has inaugurated the National Centre for Avian Ecotoxicology at Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural Sciences ((SACON) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani has launched a project which aims to move towards sustainable fashion that contributes to a clean environment.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s flagship free medicine scheme secured the top position in the country in the ranking issued by the National Health Mission (NHM).

The Central Vigilance Commission has constituted a 4-member Advisory Board for Banking Frauds. The ABBF will be headed by former Vigilance Commissioner T.M. Bhasin.

Indian shuttler PV Sindhu won the BWF World Championships title by defeating Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in straight games by 21-7, 21-7 at St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland.

The seventeen-year-old Indian Komalika Bari defeated Japan’s Waka Sonoda in the recurve cadet women’s final to win a gold medal at the 2019 World Archery Youth Championships in Madrid, Spain.

A mobile app — IndTokyo — was launched to help Indian para-athletes to look up accessible places in Tokyo during their visit to the city for the 2020 Paralympics Games.

Spain motorcycle racer, Alex Rins of the Team SUZUKI ECSTAR has won the British Grand Prix. He defeated Marc Marquez by 0.013 seconds.

Human Resource Development Ministry under its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology, NMEICT has launched the National Digital Library of India project to develop a framework of virtual repository of learning resources with a single-window search facility.

A National Centre for Avian Ecotoxicology was inaugurated at Salim Ali Centre for Ornithlogy and Natural Sciences (SACON) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

The fourth edition of India’s largest confluence of digital-technology stakeholders, the IoT India Congress 2019 concluded its two-day event in Bangalore with a footfall of 1600+ participants and 70+ speakers. The IoT India Congress is the platform of platforms for the Internet of Things. This year’s theme was ‘Mainstreaming the Internet of Things’.

The 2019 Indo Pacific Chiefs of Defence (CHOD) Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand in which Air Chief Marshal and Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee, Birender Singh Dhanoa participated. The theme for the conference was “Collaboration in a free and Open Indo – Pacific”.

The Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the transfer of Rs 1,76,051 crore to the Government of India.

FICCI’s latest Economic Outlook Survey released puts the quarterly median forecast at 6 per cent for GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019-20.

Amazon India announced the launch of a Military Veterans Employment programme that it said will create hundreds of opportunities for military veterans and their spouses across Amazon India’s Fulfillment Centres, Sort Centres and Delivery Centres in the country.

Sumit Nagal became the first Indian to win a set against Roger Federer. Nagal achieved the feat during his first-round match against Federer in the US Open as he outclassed him in the first set. Nagal ended up losing the match 6-4, 1-6,2-6,4-6 against Federer.

The first woman Director General of Police (DGP), Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya, passed away following an illness. Bhattachary, a 1973 batch IPS officer, made history when she was appointed the DGP of Uttarakhand in the year 2004.

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers, D.V. Sadananda Gowda has launched a mobile application “Janaushadhi Sugam” and has announced that “Jan Aushadhi Suvidha Oxo-Biodegradable Sanitary Napkin” will now be available at only One Rupee per pad.He said that the “Janaushadhi Sugam” will enable people to search Janaushadhi generic medicines and the stores at the tip of their fingers.

45th G-7 Summit held in the southwestern French city of Biarritz. The summit focused on fighting income and gender inequality and protecting biodiversity.

The air forces of Pakistan and China are jointly exercising ‘Shaheen-VIII’ in Chinese city of Holton, close to the Indian border near Ladakh. The annual joint training is the eighth of its kind between the two countries since it was first launched in March 2001.

Public sector lender Canara Bank has launched India’s first OTP facility for ATM withdrawals. In order to offer a more secured and safe system, Canara bank will activate OTP facility for cash withdrawals of Rs 10,000 or more in a day.

The 2019 BWF Para-Badminton World Championships was held from 20 to 25 August 2019 in Basel, Switzerland. India won a total of 12 medals in the Championship with 3 Gold Medals. China won the championships with a total of 13 medals (7 Gold).

Indian Air Force’s Wing Commander S Dhami has become the first female officer in the country to become the Flight Commander of a flying unit.

India has become the first country in the world to issue Biometric Seafarer Identity Document, BSID, capturing the facial biometric data of seafarers.

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank launched a web portal ‘Shagun’ to provide all-inclusive information on school education including the results of students through a single platform.

In major decisions to liberalise Foreign Domestic Investment (FDI) norms to boost investment, the Union Cabinet approved 100 per cent FDI in coal mining and contract manufacturing through automatic route.

Union Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated a waste plastics to diesel plant in Dehradun.

Insurance regulator Irdai has set up a single point contact for its regulatory sandbox (RS) initiative, wherein financial technology firms can seek permission to experiment with innovative approaches for the growth of the sector. Regulatory sandbox (RS) usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing.

Sri Lanka spinner Ajantha Mendis has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 34-year-old made his Test debut in 2008 and played 19 Tests matches claiming 70 wickets in the format.

At an age where players retire from Test cricket in their 20s and early 30s, West Indies’ Cecil Wright has finally announced his retirement from all forms of cricket at the ripe old age of 85.

Indian documentary film I’m Jeeja beat several international films to bag the top award in the ‘Under 30 minute’ category at the 14th edition of the ‘We Care Film Festival on Disability Issues’.

The Centre released Rs 47,436 crore to various states in a major boost towards promoting afforestation and achieving green objectives in the country. The money is released under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar announced the approval for the new Gorewada International Zoo to be inaugurated in Nagpur district of Maharashtra.

Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar launched Mukhyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana from Red Bishop, Panchkula.

Two well-known products from Tamil Nadu — Dindigul lock and Kandangi saree — have been given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag by The Geographical Indications Registry in Chennai.

Pakistan has successfully carried out a night training launch of 290-km range surface-to-surface ballistic missile Ghaznavi. Ghaznavi was developed after studying Chinese M-11 missiles, which were delivered to Pakistan in 1987.

India Ratings and Research has revised downwards its projection of the country’s GDP growth in financial year 2019-20 to 6.7%, a six-year low, from its earlier forecast of 7.3%.

In shooting, Abhishek Verma won the gold medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event of the World Cup at Rio de Janeiro.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved “re-appointment” of Pramod Chandra Mody for a period of one year. Mody was to retire on August 31.

Veteran actor Nimu Bhowmik who essayed major character roles in Bengali classics such as ‘Ganadebata’, ‘Baghini’ and ‘Dadar Kirti’ has passed away following prolonged illness. He was 84.

The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry launched the ‘Angikaar campaign’, a move aimed at bringing beneficiaries of PMAY (urban) into the fold of other central schemes such as Ujjawala and Ayushman Bharat.

The Lifeline Express, also known as “Hospital on Wheels”, has been inaugurated at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus by the Central Railway (CR) for its latest project, which involves providing medical treatment to poor patients.

Asian Development Bank, ADB, President Takehiko Nakao met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to India and pledged to support the government’s new flagship initiatives.

Mumbai has been ranked as the 45th safest city on the Safe Cities Index (SCI), while Delhi stood at the 52nd position, according to a report by Economist Intelligence Unit.

Saidan Secondary School of Mizoram was crowned Under-14 boys champions of Subroto Cup International Football tournament after defeating Unique Model Academy of Manipur 2-0 in the summit clashin New Delhi.

Former Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha has been appointed as OSD (Officer on Special Duty) in the PMO after Nripendra Misra’s request to be relieved as Principal Secretary was accepted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Obama: The Call of History’, written by Peter Baker, the Chief White House Correspondent for The New York Times, chronicles a period of “great hope, tumult, accomplishments, and, yes, failure”. It will give an in-depth account of the former US President’s years in office, while examining his legacy as it stands today.