1.

Paytm has said that it has received final approval of the Reserve Bank to formally
launch its payments bank and it expects to start operations next month.
Payments Banks:
a.

Recommended by Nachiket Mor Committee

b.
Payments Banks can accept demand deposits (only current account and savings
accounts) with a ceiling limit of Rs.1 lakh per customer.
c.

Payment Banks will pay interest at the rate notified by the RBI.

d.

Payment Banks can issue Debit Cards but not credit cards.

e.
Payment Banks cannot engage in lending services i.e. they cannot give loans, thus
phasing out the fear of NPA.
f.
The Deposit up to Rs.1 lakh is insured by the DICGC (Deposit Insurance and Credit
Guarantee Corporation), same as in bank accounts.
g.
Payment banks cannot involve in any credit risk and can only invest in less than one
year G-Secs or treasury bills.
h.
Payment Banks will charge a fee as commission. This will be the sole earning for the
banks.
i.
Payment bank will also have to maintain CRR (Cash reserve ratio) just like other
Scheduled commercial banks (SBI, PNB, BoB, Dena, ICICI etc).
Payment Banks Structure
a.

Minimum equity capital of Rs.100 crore

b.

Minimum capital adequacy of 15%.

c.
The leverage ratio shall not be less than 5% i.e. liabilities should not exceed 20
times its net worth.
d.
Promoters holding shall not be less than 40% for the first five years and 30% for the
10 years and 26% for the 12 years from the commencement of the business of the
payment banks.
e.

Commercial Banks could have Payment Banks as their subsidiary.

Small Finance Banks:

a.
With the objective of deepening financial inclusion, RBI kicked off an era of
differentiated banking by allowing SFBs (small finance banks) and PBs (payments banks)
to start services. A total of 21 entities were given in-principle nod last year, including 11 for
payments banks.
b.

Small finance banks are a type of niche banks in India. Banks with a small finance

bank license can provide basic banking service of acceptance of deposits and lending.
The aim behind these to provide financial inclusion to sections of the economy not being
served by other banks, such as small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro
and small industries and unorganised sector entities.

2. Data on sectoral deployment of bank credit collected on a monthly basis from select
46 scheduled commercial banks, accounting for about 95 per cent of the total nonfood credit deployed by all scheduled commercial banks, for the month of November
2016 have been made available by the RBI. These data are also available in the
Real-Time Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy.
3. Indigenous digital payments app BHIM has been downloaded 3 million times and
enabled over 5 lakh transactions since its launch, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant
has said.
Difference of BHIM from other mobile wallets like Paytm, Mobikwik and Freecharge:
Unlike other wallets, which require a user to load money from her bank account or by
using the debit or credit card, BHIM is based on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
platform, which links up directly with the users bank account.
Simply put, no money is actually stored in the app itself, giving the user the flexibility to
seamlessly access his or her account and transfer cash. Money can be paid using the
receivers mobile number as well as by scanning QR codes, just as in the existing apps.
Security of BHIM:
The BHIM app has three levels of security.
a.
The app first connects to a users phone number and device (using the phones
IMEI number).
b.

It then authenticates the mobile number with the bank,

c.
following which a user has to set a UPI PIN each time he or she wishes to transfer
money.
Number of banks BHIM can link up to:
At present, BHIM can link up to 30 banks, which include most major ones including the
State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. A user can, at present, however transact
using only one bank account at a time.

4. The Finance Ministry granted approval to 12 proposals of PSBs to raise a sum of

Rs 2,914.038 crore through preferential allotment and permission given to raise Rs
200 crore by United Bank of India through QIP mode.
5. Over 26 crore accounts have been opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan
Yojana (PMJDY) across the country now.
The Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August,
2014

 Objective: To cover all households with at least one bank account.

6. PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated the five-day annual Indian Science Congress
at the Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati.
7. Housing, auto and corporate loans are all set to become cheaper with half a dozen
PSU and private banks steeply reducing benchmark lending rate by up to 1.48%
after spurt in deposits following demonetisation.
8. Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has launched mobile
app 'Haj Committee of India', which will provide information and facilitate epayments for Haj pilgrimage.
9.

BSE, the oldest stock exchange in Asia, got the go-ahead from markets regulator
Sebi to launch its IPO, which is estimated to be worth Rs 1,500 crore.

10. With a view to ensuring at least 40 percent bank notes are supplied to rural areas
and mitigating the issue in a more enduring manner, the banks maintaining currency
chests are advised various steps, including liberal issuance of the existing stock of
other denomination notes below Rs 100.
11. Credit to small & micro enterprises fell by 7.7% y-o-y to around Rs 3.44 lakh crore
and to medium enterprises by 10% y-o-y to Rs 1.03 lakh crore, down for the tenth
straight month, restricting growth in industry sector credit.
Credit to industries fell 3.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 25.79 lakh crore for
November compared to a 1.7% drop in October.
12. Gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to achieve annual growth of 7.1 per
cent in the current year, slower than a provisional figure of 7.6 per cent for 2015/16.
13. Mobile commerce and payments company Paytm has got the final permission to
open a payments bank by RBI.
14. Indias per capita income, a gauge for measuring living standard, is estimated
to cross Rs 1 lakh in 2016-17, up from Rs 93,293 in the previous fiscal.
As per the First Advance Estimates of National Income, 2016-17 released by
the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the per capita net national income during
2016-17 is estimated to be Rs 103,007 at current prices. This is higher by
10.4 per cent compared to Rs 93,293 during 2015-16.

RBI
1. RBI has introduced a facility of exchange of specified bank notes (SBNs) to give
an opportunity to Indian citizens and non-resident Indian (NRI) citizens who were
abroad during November 9, 2016 to December 30, 2016.
Resident Indian citizens who were abroad during November 9, 2016 to
December 30, 2016 can avail this facility upto March 31, 2017 and Non
Resident Indian citizens who were abroad during November 9, 2016 to
December 30, 2016 can avail this facility upto June 30, 2017.
2. The Reserve Bank of India has appointed Surekha Marandi as its Executive Director
(ED) in place of U S Paliwal, who retired on December 31, 2016.
3. The RBI stated that foreign exchange reserves rose by $625.5 million to $360.296
billion in the week to December 30, 2016.
In the previous week, the reserves had declined by $935.2 million to
$359.671 billion. The reserves had touched $371.99 billion in the week to
September 30, 2016.
SBI
1. SBI cuts lending rate by 90 bps; home, auto loans to become cheaper
After the move, its so-called overnight marginal cost of funds-based lending
rate (MCLR) fell to 7.75% from 8.65%, while three-year loan rates will now be
8.15% from 9.05% previously.
MCLR Based Funding and Interest Rate Determination: All rupee loans sanctioned
and credit limits renewed w.e.f. April 1, 2016 will be priced with reference to the Marginal
Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR) which will be the internal benchmark for such
purposes.
2. SBI cut its one-year marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR)the benchmark to which
home loans are linked to 8%, against 8.9% earlier, it kept the spread above
MCLR at 60 basis points, against 20 basis points earlier.
So, home loans up to Rs 75 lakh, earlier available at 9.1%, can now be taken
at 8.60%. For others, the rate would be 8.65%, against 9.15% earlier.
3. State Bank of India, Coca-Cola India and Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages have
signed an agreement to enable over 2.6 million retailers and 5,000 distributors
in conducting business transactions digitally.
4. SBI Research has pegged GDP growth rate at 6.7 per cent with a downward bias,
citing the note-ban impact on consumption and therefore production.
HDFC
1.

Loans up to Rs. 75 lakh will attract interest rate of 8.7 per cent per annum,

while it will be 8.75 per cent for higher amounts, HDFC said in a statement.
It lowered their lending rates by up to 0.9 per cent
YES BANK
1. Private lender Yes Bank has entered into a tie-up with Bajaj Electricals for
vendor financing using blockchain solution, and announced to use the technology
more aggressively as it saves over 70 per cent in cost.
KARNATAKA BANK
1. Karnataka Bank has launched a month-long campaign to promote a group
personal accident insurance scheme for savings bank account-holders.
KBL Suraksha, which was launched on January 2, will be in force till January
31.
AXIS BANK
1. Droom has tied up with Axis Bank, Indias third largest private sector bank, to
provide quick sanction of loans on both new as well as used cars.

1. Schemes Related to Agriculture and Animal husbandry

PRADHAN MANTRI FASAL BIMA YOJANA:

During Kharif 2016, however, 366.64 lakh farmers have been covered
out of which 264.04 lakh farmers are lonee and 102.60 lakh farmers are
non-lonee.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana has been implemented by 21

states during Kharif 2016.

SOIL HEALTH CARD SCHEME:

As on 27.12.2016, against a target of 2.53 crore soil samples collection

upto March 2017, 2.33 crore soil samples have been collected till
27.12.2016, from which 12.82 crore soil health cards are being made.

In addition to 460 Soil Testing Labs, 4000 mini labs have also been
sanctioned to the States.

PARAMPARAGAT KRISHI VIKAS YOJANA:

The scheme was started in 2014 to promote organic farming with an

allocation of Rs. 597 crore for three years and a target to set up 10,000
clusters.

Till December, 2016, State Governments have made 9186 clusters while
in 2015-16 it was 8000 clusters.

NATIONAL AGRICULTURE MARKET (NAM):

Under this scheme, 250 mandis of 10 states have been integerated with

e-NAM Portal.

In principal approval has been to integrate 399 mandis with e-NAM for
which an amount of Rs. 93 crore has been released.

As on 27.12.2016, 35,04,371.13 tonnes of agriculture produce worth Rs.

7,131.21 crore has been transacted on e-NAM platform.

As on 27.12.2016, 9,49,112 Farmers, 59,742 Traders and 31,317

Commission Agents have been registered on the e-NAM platform.

2. COCONUT DEVELOPMENT:
From the beginning of this financial year 2016-17, India has started exporting
Coconut Oil to Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka from where coconut oil was
being imported from these countries in previous years.
India became first in coconut production and productivity in the world.
3. NEW SCHEMES FOR DAIRY SECTOR:
PASHUDHAN SANJIVANI :

An animal Wellness Programme; encompassing provision of Animal Health

cards (Nakul Swasthya Patra) along with UID identification of animals in milk
and a National Data Base.

Under the scheme 8.5 crore animals in milk will be identified using UID and
their data will uploaded in the INAPH data base.

This will play crucial role in control of spread of animal diseases. This will also
lead to increase in trade of livestock and livestock products.

E-PASHUDHAN HAAT PORTAL:

This portal will give new dimensions to development and conservation of

indigenous breeds as at present information on availability of germplasm of
indigenous breeds is not available with the farmers.

4. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has launched a new health
scheme, Arogya Raksha Scheme Tummalapalli Kalakshetram in Vijayawada.
Objective: To provide the medical treatment to the people of the Above Poverty
Line at Rs. 1200 premium per annum

1. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) offers unlimited local and STD calls to any
network for a period of one month comes with 300MB of free data usage for Rs144.
This new plan would be available for both prepaid and postpaid customers
2. Customers will get a discount of Rs 5 per cylinder if they book and pay for the
LPG refill online. Oil ministry has announced this incentive to promote cashless and
digital payments.

3. Polling dates:
Goa: February 4
Punjab: February 4
Uttarakhand: February 15
Manipur (two-phase election): March 4 & 8
Uttar Pradesh: (seven-phase election): February 11, 15, 19, 23, 27; March 4
&8
4.

Result/ Counting: March 11 in all five states

5. Chinese smartphone vendors last year captured about 40 percent share in

India, the second largest smartphone market in the world.
6. Aiming to give a technological edge to the small and medium businesses (SMBs) in
India, Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced two initiatives Digital
Unlocked and My Business Website.
7. In a major relief to exporters, the government has agreed to refund as much as
90% of their duty claims within a week under the new goods and services tax
(GST) regime, commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
8. Japan has decided to be associated with the development of Chennai,
Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities.
This was conveyed by Japans Ambassador to India Mr.Kenji Hiramatsu
during his meeting with Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah
Naidu.
9. The Labour Ministry said in a notification that those without an Aadhaar number will
have to make an application to get enrolled by January 31, 2017.
The Centre has made obtaining an Aadhaar number mandatory for 2.5
crore members of the Employees Pension Scheme of 1995, one of the
benefits available to Employees Provident Fund subscribers.
10. EPFO has been launched a three-month campaign beginning January 1, 2017
where employers will get amnesty and pay just Re 1 as damages for not registering
their employees earlier.
To be called 'Enrollment and Establishment coverage campaign 2017'.
11. The Election Commission of India has issued a limitation for campaign
expense per candidate.
In Goa and Manipur, the limit on election expenses per candidate is Rs 20
lakh.
In Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand the election expenses limit per
candidate is Rs 28 lakh.
12. Munich Re is opening a composite branch office in Mumbai to service the
property-casualty, life, health reinsurance markets across the country.
Munich Re Group or Munich Reinsurance Company is a reinsurance
company based in Munich, Germany.

13. The Government has imposed an anti-dumping duty ranging from 6.30 US dollars
to 351.72 US dollars per tonne on imports of jute and its products from
Bangladesh and Nepal.
14. The Textile Minister Smriti Irani has launched a Bunkar Mitra-Handloom
Helpline Centre where professional queries of weavers will be answered by the
experts in the field.
The toll-free helpline number is 1800-208-9988 and will function from 10.00
AM to 6:00 PM in 7 languages (Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada
Bengali and Assamese).
15. The 14th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) convention has begins in Bengaluru.
The three-day event will kick start with the Youth PBD, the theme of which is
'Role of Diaspora Youth in the Transformation of India'.
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas has been held traditionally on 9th January every year
to commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi as a Pravasi from South
Africa to India.
Three plenary sessions are scheduled to be held in Youth PBD. First will be
on reaching out to Indian Students abroad, NRIs and overseas Indian
Community Students in India. Second will be on Start-ups and Innovations
and 3rd on Start-up ecosystem in Karnataka.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Portuguese counterpart Dr
Antonio Costa have inaugurated the main convention of Pravasi Bhartiya
Divas this morning (08th January 2017) in Bengaluru.
16. The All India Conference of Chairpersons and Chief Executive Officers of States and
Union Territories' Waqf Boards begins in New Delhi.
17. The Budget session of Parliament convened to start from January 31, a day
before the Union Budget is likely to be presented. President Pranab Mukherjee has
summoned the Rajya Sabha to meet on January 31, 2017.
18. Road transport ministry is going to launch an app m-Parivahan that will
enable a citizen to report road crashes and traffic violations to enforcement agencies
anywhere in the country simply by posting a photograph on a mobile app that. The
user will also have the option of disclosing or hide her identity.
The m-Parivahan mobile app will also be useful for verifying the
genuineness of drivers and vehicles for those who hire or buy a second hard
vehicle.
E-challan aims to help traffic police enforce transport laws.
M-Parivahan app:
1. If a vehicle number is entered into the m-Parivahan app, it will give full details of
the vehicle and the owner including his driving licence and and registration
certificate.
2. A good Samaritan (a charitable or helpful person ) can report road crashes and
traffic violations to enforcement agencies anywhere in the country simply by
posting a photograph on the mobile app.

3. It will also be useful for verifying the genuineness of drivers and vehicles for those
who hire or buy a second hard vehicle
4. The user will also have the option of disclosing or hide her identity.
5. The user has to be registered so that his credentials can be established.
6. One of the ways of doing this would be through an Aadhar based one-time
password

1. Amazon, after winning a patent for flying the warehouse in the US, announced
plans for an "airborne fulfillment center" (AFC) such as an airship.
The airship is planned to stock a lot of products and would float at an altitude
of around 45,000 feet. When a customer places an order, a drone or
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) will fly down and deliver the parcels.
2. Priyanka Chopra is one of the presenters at the upcoming 74th annual Golden
Globe Awards.
The 34-year-old actress has made a successful international debut with
American show "Quantico" and also stars in the movie adaptation of
"Baywatch" which releases next year.
3. Pakistan recently retired army chief Gen Raheel Sharif will head a Saudi Arabialed 39-nation Islamic military coalition formed to combat terrorism.
The headquarters of the new Saudi-led coalition would be based in Riyadh.
4. Nepal's central bank will get Rs 1 billion in Rs 100 denomination Indian notes
from its Indian counterpart by the end of this month to avert shortages of the currency
widely used in the Himalayan country.
5. The 13th edition of Nepals five-day Chitwan Elephant Festival kicked off in
Kathmandu with the participation of over 50 elephants.
6. Finland has become the first country in the world to pay a basic income to
randomly picked citizens on a national level.
Aim: To dismiss poverty, motivate people to join work force and decrease
unemployment.
7. The U.K.s ambassador to the European Union Ivan Rogers resigned from his post.
8. The United Nations 70th General Assembly has recognised the year 2017 as the
International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.
9. China has launched its longest high-speed train service from Kunming capital of
south-west China's Yunnan Province to Beijing.
The train named 'Shangri-la of the World' left Kunming at 11:05 am on a
2,760-km trip to Beijing. The mileage will increase to 45,000 km by 2030.
10. Japan has decided to be associated with the development of Chennai,

Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities.

This was conveyed by Japans Ambassador to India Mr.Kenji Hiramatsu
during his meeting with Minister of Urban Development Shri M.Venkaiah
Naidu.
11. China's Central Bank says, the country's foreign currency reserves fall by USD
320 billion in 2016, marking large annual losses for the 2nd year in a row.
12. The European Union (EU) has lifted its three-year ban on import of some
vegetables (bitter gourd, snake gourd and aubergines) from India.

SIKKIM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally certified Fully Organic State Status to
Sikkim at a sustainable agriculture conference in Gangtok earlier in 2016.

It has converted around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land into

sustainable cultivation.

ANDHRA PRADESH
Mori, a tiny village under Sakhinetipalli mandal in East Godavari district of Andhra
Pradesh, sealed its place on India's digital map by transforming completely into a
Smart Digital Village, in every sense of the term.
ODISHA
World famous 11-day gala festival Bargarh Dhanua Jatra is all set to begin on 2
January 2017 in Odisha. All rituals were performed before Goddess Samaleswari,
the presiding deity of the event.
GUJARAT
Chief minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani dedicated India's first laser technologybased advanced AVMS RTO check-post at Shamlaji of Aravalli district.
MAHARASHTRA
1. Maharashtra Government has declared to ban the use of Purse Seine Nets for
fishing across Maharashtra to safeguard the Fingerlings, a fish species.
Aim: To curb the exploitation of fish by safeguarding the fingerlings and its
eggs to increase their population.
UTTAR PRADESH
1. In Uttar Pradesh, day-long Digi Dhan Mela is being organised by the central
government and the financial institutions in Meerut on 4 January 2017.
Through such Melas, common people are motivated towards higher usage of

digital transactions by offering incentives like Lucky Grahak Yojana for

Consumers and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana for Merchants.
BIHAR
1. Prime Minister Modi has released special commemorative stamps on Prakash Parv
in 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh in Patna on 5 January 2017.
PUNJAB
1. For the benefit of voters, candidates, election staff as well as the Election
Commission of India (ECI), the district administration of Ludhiana has developed a
mobile application named ECI360.
2. Solar power producer Azure Power commissioned 150 MW solar power project
in Punjab, which is its largest in North India.
KARNATAKA
1. The Centre has approved an assistance of over 1782.44 crore rupees for
Karnataka.
The state will get this sum from the National Disaster Relief Fund as drought
relief.
ASSAM
1. The two-day Assam Biotech Conclave has begun in Guwahati (Assam).
The Chief Minister of Assam Sarbanand Sonowal has inaugurated the
conclave in presence of Science and Technology Minister Keshab Mahanta.

1. India's largest LNG importer Petronet has signed an agreement with Petrobangla to
set up a $950 million liquefied natural gas import project in Bangladesh.
2. India and Kazakhstan have signed a Protocol to amend the existing Double
Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) between the two countries which was earlier
signed on 9th December, 1996 for the avoidance of double taxation and for the
prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.
Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAA)
The DTAA, or Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement is a tax treaty signed between India
and another country (or any two/multiple countries) so that taxpayers can avoid paying
double taxes on their income earned from the source country as well as the residence
country.
Capital of Kazakhstan: Astana
Currency of Kazakhstan: Tenge
3. Cabinet has approved signing and ratifying an agreement between India and
Uruguay regarding cooperation and mutual assistance in Customs Matters.

 Objective: To avail relevant information for the prevention and investigation

of customs offences
Capital of Uruguayan: Montevideo
Currency of Uruguayan: Peso
4. Telangana and Assam signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to join the
Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY) taking the total number of states covered
under the scheme to 20.
5. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has tied up with Life Insurance
Corporation of India (LIC) for augmenting capital support to enterprises in the
country.

1. David R. Syiemlieh from Meghalaya as the Chairman of the Union Public Service
Commission (UPSC).
2. General Dalbir Singh, the Chief of Army Staff, after an illustrious career spanning
over four decades, handed over the baton to General Bipin Rawat in a ceremony
held at South Block.
General Bipin Rawat took over as the 27th Chief of the Army Staff.
3. Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa PVSM AVSM YSM VM ADC took over as
the 25th Chief of the Air Staff at a ceremony held at Air Headquarters (Vayu
Bhawan).
4. Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar was on sworn in as the Chief Justice of India (CJI)
on the 4th of January.
Khehar is the 44th CJI and also the first Sikh to hold the apex office. He
would have tenure of little over seven months.
5.

Technology giant IBM has said that it has appointed Karan Bajwa as managing
director of its India operations.

1. Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has been appointed as Chief Justice of Pakistan
2. Five Indian Americans takes oath as members of US Congress.
3. Jovenel Moise has been elected as the President of Haiti.
Capital of Haiti: Port-au-Prince
Currency of Haiti: Haitian gourde
4. UK Senior diplomat Sir Tim Barrow was appointed the new ambassador to the
European Union (EU).

1. THE SUPREME Court has removed BCCI President Anurag Thakur and BCCI
Secretary Ajay Shirke from their posts, saying cricket is not a personal turf or
fiefdom (a territory or sphere of operation controlled by a particular person or group).
2. India's star singles player Somdev Devvarman has announced his retirement from
professional tennis.
3. Rafael Nadal defeated David Goffin to win the Mubadala World Tennis
Championships in Abu Dhabi.
4. China's table tennis Olympic champion Li Xiaoxia has announced her retirement.
5. Mahendra Singh Dhoni stepped down as India's limited-overs captain.
6. Mithali Raj to lead India womens cricket team for the International Cricket Council
(ICC) World Cup qualifiers to be played from February 3 to 21 in Colombo.
7. India's women's football team defeated Bangladesh in Siliguri to win the 2016
South Asian Football Federation Women's Championship for the fourth
consecutive time.
8. Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza picked up her first title of the season, combining
with American Bethanie Mattek-Sands to lift the Brisbane International women's
doubles title.
9. Novak Djokovic has won the Qatar Open tennis title in Doha
10. Former Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra and legendary Prakash Padukone are
part of the nine-member government panel formed to make recommendations for
bringing out a comprehensive National Sports Development Code across all
disciplines.
The committee will be headed by Sports Secretary Injeti Srinivas.
11. Virat Kohli to take over as captain of Team India ODI and T20 Cricket formats.

1. The flight-trial of India's long range, strategic ballistic missile, Agni-IV, was
conducted from a road-mobile launcher on Abdul Kalam Island, off Odisha coast.
Agni-IV is a two-stage, surface-to-surface missile that can travel 4,000 km
and can carry a nuclear warhead weighing one tonne. Agni-V has a range of
more than 5,000 km.
2. Russia has finally delivered four Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets to China after a delay
of two years.
3. With the upcoming Bengaluru assembly plant of Apple, India will become only the
third country to do the final assembly of iPhones -an indication of how important

the country has become for the world's most-valued company.

4. Irish scientists have recently identified a new human organ that has existed in the
digestive system for hundreds of years. Named as the mesentery, the organ
connects the intestine to the abdomen and had for hundreds of years been
considered a fragmented structure.
5. China is setting up the world's highest altitude gravitational wave telescopes in
a Tibet prefecture close to Line of Actual Control with India with a budget of $18.8
million to detect faintest echoes resonating from the universe which may reveal more
about the Big Bang theory.
6. China has successfully launched a new-generation telecommunications satellite
from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center using the Chang Zheng 3B carrier rocket.

1. Shankar Balasubramanian, an Indian- origin British professor of chemistry and

DNA expert at Cambridge University, has received a Knighthood along with
Olympic stars Andy Murray and Mo Farah among others by Queen Elizabeth II for
their contributions.
2. Two new Hindi writers Shraddha and Ghyansham Kumar Devansh have been
chosen for Bharatiya Jnanpith Navlekhan Award for the year 2016, the literary
organisation announced.
3. State-run National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Chairman and
Managing Director K M Singh has been conferred the 'Power & Energy Persona's
Award for Individual Excellence' at the 10th ENERTIA Awards 2016.
4. An Indian-origin Saudi-based entrepreneur Shaikh Rafik Mohammed, who hails
from Kerala has been appointed Major General of Kyrgyzstan, a rare military
position occupied by an Indian in the Central Asian country.
5. Rio Olympian Sathish Sivalingam from Railways won the gold, for the sixth
consecutive year, in the men's 77 kg category in the 69th men's and 32nd women's
Senior National Weightlifting Championship, at the Ponjesly College of
Engineering.
6. Arthur Morris, who became the 82nd player to be inducted into the ICC Cricket
Hall of Fame, was given the honour posthumously.
7. Dr. Bharat Barai and Dr. Sampat Shivangi to be awarded Pravasi Bhartiya
Samman 2017.
The award will be bestowed by President, Pranab Mukherjee on 9th January
2017 in Bengaluru.
Pravasi Bhartiya Samman is the highest civilian award given to overseas
Indians and people of Indian origin.

1. Vice President Hamid Ansari released a book titled The People's President: Dr APJ

Abdul Kalam.

1. Pan Pan, the oldest male panda in the world, died earlier this week in Chinas
Sichuan province.
2. Karnataka minister for co-operation and sugar H S Mahadeva Prasad passed
away in Bangalore due to cardiac arrest.
3. Indian cinema has lost one of its finest actors with the untimely demise of Om Puri.
4. Renowned Sitar maestro Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan died due to cardiac arrest.