Correct Answer :   Odisha

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Forest department personnel in Odisha recently arrested four poachers and two timber smugglers from Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Mayurbhanj district during patrolling.

About Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) :

Location :

* STR is located within the Mayurbhanj District, in the northernmost part of Odisha.

* It was declared a 'Tiger Reserve' in 1956 and included under the national conservation programme 'Project Tiger' in 1973.

* It is surrounded by high plateaus and hills, the highest peak being the twin peaks of Khairiburu and Meghashini (1515m above mean sea level).

* The STR, along with a 'transitional area' of 2250 sq. km, was included as a part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves by UNESCO in 2009.


Terrain :

* The terrain is mostly undulating and hilly, interspersed with open grasslands and wooded areas.

* The inclined plateau has risen abruptly from the low coastal plains. The steep side faces the Bay of Bengal and runs northwards to finally merge with Chhota Nagpur.

* The water level is high, and the tract is woven with perennial water sources converging into rivers like Budhabalanga, Salandi, and many tributaries of the Baitarani River flowing from the Reserve.

Vegetation :

* It is a mix of different forest types and habitats, with Northern tropical moist deciduous dominating some semi-evergreen patches.

* It is the only landscape in the world that is home to melanistic tigers.

* The region around STR is home to a variety of tribes, including Kolha, Santhala, Bhumija, Bhatudi, Gondas, Khadia, Mankadia, and Sahara.


Flora :

* An astounding 1078 species of plants, including 94 species of orchids, are found here.

* Sal is the dominant tree species here.

* Fauna: Leopard, Gaur, Elephant, Langur, Barking and Spotted Deer, Sloth Bear Mongoose, Flying Squirrel, Porcupine, Turtle, Monitor Lizard, Python, Sambar, Pangolin etc.

Correct Answer :   Uttar Pradesh

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Marking the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated UP’s first intra-district helicopter service from Bateshwar in Agra to Goverdhan in Mathura.

Based on the private-public partnership (PPP), the helicopter service is to be run by a private player from Uttrakhand. A helicopter service will cover a distance of 65 km between Agra city and Mathura.

“The chief minister inaugurated the first helicopter service today, marking the beginning of the helicopter service from one district to another in the state,” said Avinash Chandra Mishra, Joint Director of the Uttar Pradesh Tourism department.

During the ceremony, UP CM Yogi Adityanath also unveiled a statue of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birth anniversary in his native village Bateshwar in Agra district.

UP CM also laid the foundation stone of projects worth ₹100 crore, which are aimed at bringing new life to Bateshwar, a historical village located amid the ravines of Chambal across the borders of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh..

Source : Financial Express

Correct Answer :   Maharashtra

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Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar is scheduled to release a special postal cover commemorating the 100th anniversary of the late Justice Konda Madhav Reddy, Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh and Mumbai High Courts and former Governor of Maharashtra, on 27th December 2023. The event will be held at the AV College in Gagan Mahal.

The event, hosted by the Justice Konda Madhav Reddy Foundation, will be presided over by the Governor D. Tamilisai Soundararajan. The guests include Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court Alok Aradhe; former judge of the Supreme Court of India Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, Chief Postmaster General, Telangana Circle, P.V.S. Reddy and chairman of Apollo Hospitals group Dr Prathap C. Reddy..

Source : Deccan Chronicle

Correct Answer :   Angola

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The south-western African country Angola has decided to withdraw from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) with effect from January 1, 2024.

Angola became a member of OPEC in 2007. Earlier, Ecuador in 2020 and Qatar in 2019 had left this organization.

OPEC, an organization of permanent petroleum exporting countries, was established in Baghdad in 1960. Its headquarters is in Vienna, Austria. 

Correct Answer :   Rs.13,000 crore

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The objective of the PM Vishwakarma Scheme is to enable / provide support to artisans and craftspeople who work with their hands, using tools, in the 18 trades covered through:

* the recognition of artisans and craftspeople as Vishwakarma, making them eligible to avail all the benefits under the Scheme;
* skill upgradation to hone their skills and make relevant and suitable training opportunities available to them;
* support for better and modern tools to enhance their capability, productivity, and quality of products and services;
* providing the beneficiaries an easy access to collateral free credit and reduced cost of credit through interest subvention;
* incentives for digital transactions to encourage digital empowerment of Vishwakarmas; and
* a platform for brand promotion and market linkages to help them access new opportunities for growth.

The financial outlay for the scheme from FY 2023-2024 to FY 2027-28 is Rs.13,000 crore.  Year wise funds allocation is given below:

As per guidelines of the PM Vishwakarma scheme, the eligibility criteria for availing the benefits of the PM Vishwakarma Scheme are as under;

* An artisan or craftsperson working with hands and tools and engaged in one of the 18 family-based traditional trades, in the unorganised sector, on self-employment basis, shall be eligible for registration.

* The minimum age of the beneficiary should be 18 years on the date of registration.

* The beneficiary should be engaged in the trade concerned on the date of registration.

* The beneficiary should not have availed loans under similar credit-based schemes of Central Government or State Government for self-employment/business development e.g. PMEGP, MUDRA and PM SVANidhi in the past 5 years. However, beneficiaries of MUDRA and PM SVANidhi who have fully repaid their loan will be eligible under PM Vishwakarma.

* The registration and benefits under the Scheme shall be restricted to one member of the family. For availing benefits under the Scheme, a ‘family’ is defined as consisting of the husband, wife and unmarried children.

* A person in government service and her/his family members shall not be eligible under the Scheme.

* As on 18.12.2023, as per PM Vishwakarma Portal, 57,815 applications have been registered for availing the benefits of the PM Vishwakarma Scheme.


As informed by the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, 177 candidates have completed the Basic training and 133 candidates have been assessed and certified as on 17.12.2023. The payment of stipend to the Basic Training certified Vishwakarmas is currently under process in Public Finance Management System (PFMS).  State-wise details of Trained and Assessed/Certified candidates are given at Annexure.


Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

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The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways recently said 1467 projects of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have been brought under the Bhoomi Rashi Portal.

About the Bhoomi Rashi Portal :

* It is an e-Governance initiative of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

* The portal intends to expedite the process of land acquisition for National Highways.

* It acts as a single-point platform for the online processing of land acquisition notifications to accelerate highway infrastructure development projects in India.

* This portal would enhance the efficiency of the land acquisition process, ensure transparency and accountability, and result in the e-transfer of benefits directly to the accounts of the beneficiaries.

Features :

* The portal has been integrated with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) of the Ministry of Finance for depositing compensation in the accounts of affected/ interested persons on a real-time basis.

Correct Answer :   IndiGo

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In a first, India’s largest airline IndiGo on Monday (18 December 2023) announced that it had made history by “becoming the first Indian airline to carry 100 million passengers in a single calendar year.”

This remarkable milestone solidifies IndiGo’s position in the aviation industry and underscores its significant contribution to air travel in the country. With this development IndiGo has joined a select group of carriers globally.

“In CY (calendar year) 2022, the airline welcomed 78 million passengers on board (slightly above pre Covid-19 levels). IndiGo recently achieved another first for India, by becoming the first airline to operate more than 2,000 flights a day. Today, IndiGo operates to 118 destinations, including 32 international destinations,” the airline said in a statement.

* The airline had previously welcomed 78 million passengers onboard in the calendar year 2022, slightly surpassing pre-COVID-19 levels.


2,000 daily scheduled flights :

* In addition to this significant passenger milestone, IndiGo recently set another record for India by becoming the first airline to operate more than 2,000 flights a day.

* Presently, the airline serves 118 destinations, including 32 international destinations, reflecting its widespread operational reach, as mentioned in a statement released by IndiGo.

IndiGo’s commanding market presence :

* As of November, IndiGo maintained a dominant position in the domestic aviation market, boasting a robust market share of 61.8%, a staggering six times more than its closest competitor, Air India. In the international segment, IndiGo continued to assert its influence with a significant market share of 18.5% during July-September, solidifying its standing among all international airlines operating flights to and from India.



IndiGo’s expansion plans :

* The airline is expanding both its network and fleet and has rrecently made history with the largest-ever aircraft order, securing 500 Airbus A320 family planes. Combined with pending deliveries from previous orders, IndiGo has an impressive total of nearly 1,000 planes on order, and the planned deliveries extend well into the next decade.

* “Over the last 6 months, IndiGo has added more than 20 new international routes to its network while strengthening domestic connectivity. Over the next few months, the airline aims to further add destinations like Bali, Indonesia, and Medina, Saudi Arabia to its network and deliver growth in the most financially and environmentally sound way possible,” IndiGo said..


Source : Financial Express

Correct Answer :   Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar

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Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy under National Sports Awards 2023 will be awarded to Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar this year (2023).

The Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy is awarded every year for outstanding performance in inter-university tournaments.

The first runner up award will be given to Lovely Professional University, Punjab and the second runner up award will be given to Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. 

Correct Answer :   Sanjay Singh

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Sanjay Singh was elected the new president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) with his panel comfortably winning most of the posts in the delayed polls to assert control over the sports body on Thursday (21st Dec 2023).

* Singh, who is part of the Brij Bhushan faction and UP Wrestling Association vice president, secured 40 votes as against the seven that the other candidate, Anita Sheoran, polled. The result to many was a foregone conclusion as the opposing faction simply didn’t have the necessary numbers.

* Singh hails from Varanasi and is known to be a close associate of Brij Bhushan, former WFI chief, whose term had ended amid allegations of sexual harassment.

* “Jinko kushti karni hai woh kushti karein. Jinko rajneeti karni hain woh rajneeti karein. (Wrestlers who want to compete, they should wrestle. Those who want to do politics, should do politics)” Singh says after sweeping the election.

* “It’s triumph for thousands of wrestlers in the country who suffered in the past seven-eight months,” Singh said.

* However, it wasn’t a complete loss for Sheoran’s panel as they claimed the key post of secretary general with Prem Chand Lochab, a former RSPB (Railway Sports Promotion Board) secretary, beating Darshan Lal 27-19.

* Devender Singh Kadian, who runs a chain of food outlets on national highways and is considered close to the protesting wrestlers, claimed the senior vice president’s post, beating I D Nanavati 32-15.

* The Brij Bhushan camp swept all the four posts of vice presidents with Delhi’s Jai Prakash (37), West Bengal’s Asit Kumar Saha (42), Punjab’s Kartar Singh (44) and Manipur’s N Phoni (38) winning. The new Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav, who did not turn up for the polls, got only five votes in the election for the post of vice president.

* Uttarakhand’s Satyapal Singh Deshwal, who is also from the Brij Bhushan camp, is the new treasurer. He beat Jammu and Kashmir’s Dushyant Sharma 34-12. All five executive committee members are also from the outgoing chief’s camp.

* The outcome of the polls shows that little is likely to change in the field of Indian wrestling despite the desperate calls from the protesting wrestlers, who had accused Brij Bhushan of sexually harassing women wrestlers.

* The wrestlers had officially called off their protest on June 7 after sports minister Anurag Thakur assured them that none of the family members or close associates of Brij Bhushan will be allowed to enter the WFI election fray..

Source : Hindustan Times

Correct Answer :   $5.9

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India's October 2023 FDI Hits 21-Month High at $5.9 Billion, Led by Strong Inflows and Reduced Repatriation. Global Economic Slump Reflects in Cumulative April-October FDI Plunge to $10.43 Billion.

In October 2023, India experienced a surge in net foreign direct investment (FDI), reaching a 21-month high at $5.9 billion. This upswing was attributed to robust gross inflows and a decrease in repatriation. The Reserve Bank of India’s data revealed a notable increase from $1.54 billion in September 2023 and $1.16 billion in October 2022.


Key Points :

* Repatriation Decline : Repatriation, the withdrawal of funds from direct investments in India, dropped to $1.10 billion in October 2023, compared to $3.43 billion in September 2023 and $2.93 billion in October 2022.

* Major Source Countries : Mauritius, Singapore, Cyprus, and Japan emerged as major contributors, accounting for over four-fifths of the total FDI inflows in October 2023.

* Sectoral Inflows : Approximately four-fifths of gross inward FDI equity flows were directed towards manufacturing, retail and wholesale trade, electricity and other energy sectors, and the financial services sector.

* Global Investment Landscape : Despite global economic challenges, emerging economies like India continue to attract investments. The RBI’s ‘State of Economy’ article in the November 2023 bulletin emphasized India’s resilience as an investment destination.

Contrast in Cumulative FDI :

However, the cumulative net FDI for April-October 2023 plummeted by half, reaching $10.43 billion compared to $20.76 billion in the same period of 2022. This downturn is attributed to the worldwide economic slowdown affecting both inbound and outbound investment flows.


Outward FDI Commitments in November 2023 :

India’s outward FDI commitments declined by 19.6% in November 2023 to $1.55 billion. This is in stark contrast to the over $1.93 billion recorded in October 2023 and a significant drop from $3.67 billion in November 2022. The components of outward FDI, including equity, loans, and guarantees, all witnessed notable reductions..