General Awareness PYQs

• World Day for Audiovisual Heritage is observed globally on 27 October. "Engage the Past Through Sound and Images" is the theme of the 2019 year's celebration.
• The General Conference of UNESCO approved the commemoration of a World Day for Audiovisual Heritage in 2005 as a mechanism to raise general awareness of the need to preserve and safeguard important audiovisual material for future generations.

• Vikram Solar Limited (formerly known as Vikram Solar Pvt. Ltd.) is a globally recognized leading solar energy solutions provider.
• They specialize in high-efficiency PV module manufacturing and comprehensive EPC solutions.
• It is headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal.
• With an international presence across 6 continents, they are an active contributor in shaping the solar revolution.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that Public Sector Banks will organise ‘loan melas’ in 400 districts.
• The meetings will be organised to provide loans to NBFCs and retail borrowers, including homebuyers and farmers.
• PSBs will focus on giving loans to the ‘RAM‘ category: retail, agriculture and MSMEs.
• The open house public meetings will be held in two tranches.

• The capital boost of Rs. 25000 crores is given to complete the uncompleted projects that have halted due to insufficient funds.
• A consortium of banks led by State Bank of India has agreed to provide finance for Nagpur-Mumbai 'Samruddhi Corridor' expressway project.
• Other lenders include Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra as well as the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India.
• SBI has agreed to lend the highest amount, 8,500 crore rupees.

• Researchers from the Indian Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT-H), Telangana have created the first-ever ‘Indian brain atlas’(IBA).
• The study has revealed that the Indian brain, on an average, is smaller in height, width and volume when compared to Western and other Eastern populations.
• This will help in early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and other brain-related ailments.

• Srei Equipment Finance Limited has partnered with United Bank of India to jointly offer loans under co-lending programme to MSME and retail sector customers.
• It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Srei Infrastructure Finance Limited.
• The Finance Minister of India- Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier encouraged banks to organise gatherings across India where banks along with their NBFC partners would offer loans to sectors like MSME and retail and this move is an inspiration from that.
• The NBFC and the United Bank of India jointly organised Loan Utsavs across 20 cities to proliferate its co-lending initiative.
• To make credit available to the MSME sector is also in line with Government objective.
• The Loan Utsavs was attended by leading Equipment manufacturers, dealers and customers who got on the spot approvals for their Equipment needs.
• Sri Ashok Kumar Pradhan- MD & CEO, United Bank of India
• Mr Devendra Kumar Vyas - Managing Director, Srei Equipment Finance

• WLAs stand for White Label ATMs and are authorized under the Payment & Settlement Systems (PSS) Act, 2007 by the RBI.
• These are set up owned and operated by non-banking entities.
• They do not have a bank logo.
• Tata Communications Payment Solutions Limited (TCPSL) was the first company authorized by RBI to open White Label ATMs in the country. It opened its outlets by the name Indicash.
• 100 per cent FDI in White Labelled ATM operations.

• Govt has recently notified Electoral Bonds, which may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India.
• Political Parties registered under Section 29A of Representation of People Act, 1951 shall be eligible to receive Electoral Bonds.
• Electoral Bonds shall be valid for 15 days from the date of issue & no payment shall be made after the expiry date.

• The Spanish capital city of Madrid hosted the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 25) from 2 to 13 December.
• The decision was taken following Chile's stepping down as host for the event.
• The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $200 million loan on 9 September 2019.
• It will upgrade rural roads to all-weather standards in 34 districts of Maharashtra State, improve road safety and better connect rural areas with markets and services.
• The project will improve the condition of about 2,100 kilometres (km) of rural roads to all-weather standards$.

Vyas Samman Award:

• It recognizes the outstanding literary work in Hindi authored by an Indian citizen and published during the last 10 years.

Note:

Nasira Sharma was conferred with Vyas Samman 2019 for her novel Kagaz ki Naav(Paper Boat)

• In 2017 Vyas Samman was given to Mamta Kalia for her novel Sukkham Dhukkam.
• In 2018 Vyas Samman was given to Leeladhar Jagoori for her poetry collection Jitne Log Utne Prem​​.

• The RBI has recently increased loan exposure limit of banks to a single NBFC (not including gold loan companies) from 15% to 20% of its capital base for increase in credit supply to the crisis-ridden shadow banking sector.
• As per extant 'Large Exposures Framework (LEF)', exposure of banks to a single NBFC is restricted to 15% of their available eligible capital base, while general single counter-party exposure limit is 20%, which can be extended to 25% by banks' boards under exceptional circumstances.
• But now, it has been decided that exposure of bank to a single NBFC (not including gold loan companies) will be restricted to 20% of that bank's eligible capital base.
• Non-Banking Financial Company is a financial institution that is not supervised by a banking regulatory agency. It also does not have a full banking license . It helps in facilitating bank-related financial services, such as investment,market brokering, etc.
• RBI HQ- Mumbai
• RBI Governor- Shaktikanta Das

• RBI has imposed restrictions on Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank where customers would not be able to withdraw more than Rs. 25,000 from their accounts.
• The RBI has increased the withdrawal limit from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 25,000
• The central bank had enhanced the withdrawal limit of the PMC bank initially from Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 10,000. It gradually increased the withdrawal limit to Rs. 25,000 after reviewing the liquidity position of the Mumbai-based co-operative bank.
• The RBI said that 70% of the depositors can withdraw their full balance after the current move.
• The bank would not be able to disburse or agree to disburse any payment whether in the discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise.
• The banks would not be able to enter into any compromise or arrangement and sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of its properties or assets.
• The imposition on Bank would be in force for six months from September 23, 2019.
• RBI clarified that this order should not be taken as a cancellation of banking.
• PMC Bank's Managing Director- Joy Thomas

• Siemens Limited has signed an MoU with NTPC Limited to identify, evaluate and set up reference use cases of hydrogen sector-coupling for various upstream and downstream applications.
• Siemens Limited has also inked a separate MoU with TERI for collaboration on technologies to support the energy transition in India including sector-coupling.

State Bank of India joined its private sector rivals to launch contactless credit and debit cards using latest near field technology (NFC).Called the SBI inTouch cards, these contactless debit and credit cards are more secure and hassle-free to use at merchant outlets or ATMs and use the NFC technology which enables users to make payments by waving or tapping the card near the contactless reader instead of swiping or dipping it.

• Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan dedicated the robotic surgery facility in the Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi.
• Robotic surgery has the advantage of providing minimally invasive surgery, reducing significantly the morbidity and mortality of critically ill, cancer and kidney failure patients.
• The operating time also decreases resulting in improvement in the turnover of patients.

• ICICI Bank launched a fixed deposit scheme called FD Health, that comes with an in-built critical insurance policy.
• The FD Health – Critical illness Cover will be provided to only the primary holder of the FD account.
• Anyone between of 18-50 years, will get complimentary insurance cover for a year on 33 critical illnesses.
• Free of cost insurance cover will be provided for 1^st year.

• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi has formally launched its global alumni endowment fund with an initial commitment of Rs. 250 crore .
• This fund was launched by the president, Ram Nath Kovind.
• Along with this, the IIT is known for the highest number of startups launched by its alumni among all IITs in the country, also announced the launch of ‘Each One Teach One’ initiative wherein it invites alumni, wealthy individuals and corporates to be a part of this fund.
• The institute aims to achieve a target corpus of $1 billion over a period of 7 years for the newly launched fund that will work towards the development of the institute, encourage innovation and entrepreneurial spirit$.

• Indian Railways’ Central Railway zone conducted ‘Operation Dhanush’ recently against ticket touts involved in e-ticketing.
• The operation was carried out in all the five divisions falling under the Central Railway Zone.
• The operation was aimed to control touts on e -ticketing in view of Diwali rush of passengers to their native places.
• The drive yielded arrest of 23 agents.

• The RBI has recently proposed a minimum equity capital of Rs**. 200 crore** to set up a small finance bank under the 'on tap' licence regime to expand the banking services.
• RBI has released the draft guidelines for 'on tap' licensing of small finance banks in the private sector. It includes that the existing non-banking financial companies, microfinance institutions and local area banks in the private sector, which are controlled by residents, can opt for conversion into small finance banks.
• RBI will not entertain proposals from public sector entities and large industrial house/business groups and autonomous boards/bodies.
• A small finance bank is usually set up to undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to unserved and underserved sections, including small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and unorganised sector entities.
• The draft proposal talks about the objectives of setting up of SBFs is to further financial inclusion and supply of credit "through high technology-low cost operations.
• The draft also includes that the promoters should hold a minimum of 40 per cent of the paid-up voting equity capital of the bank, which would remain locked in for five years from the date of commencement of the bank's business.
• RBI HQ- Mumbai
• RBI Governor- Shaktikant Das