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Persons in the News

Brand Ambassadors

· Akshay Kumar:Revital H, Policybazaar.com, paisabazaar.com, Road safety campaign,

GOQii, Micromax
· Mary Kom: BSNL, Puma
· Aamir Khan: Vivo India, PhonePe
· MS Dhoni: Dream 11 Gaming Site, NetMeds, Indigo paints, Mars’ chocolate brand Snickers
· SonakshiSinha: Asus Smart Phone and tablet
· AR Rahman: Sikkim Brand Ambassador
· Amitabh Bachchan: The Muthoot Group, One Plus 6
· RanbirKapoor:Flipkart, Nissan India
· Cricketer SmritiMandhana: Bata’s Brand Power
· ViratKohli: Uber India, Too Yumm chips, Manyvar, MRF Tyres, PNB, Google Duo,
· ViratKohli, Anushka Sharma:Myntra
· DeepikaPadukone: Go Ibibio
· Shahrukh Khan: Nerolac wall paints, Food Panda, Dish TV, Byju’s, Big Basket, Hyundai
· Ranveer Singh, Aalia Bhatt:MakeMyTrip
· Aalia Bhatt: Frooti, ethnic-wear brand Mohey – Manyavar, Uber eats
· ShraddhaKapoor:Veet
· Kartik Aryan: Emami Fair & Handsome
· KritiSenon: BATA, Dabur Skin Brand Fem,
· Hima Das: Assam state
· VarunDhawan:EmamiNavratna Cool
· Katrina Kaif and VarunDhawan: Reebok
· Salman Khan: BharatPe
· Ranveer Singh: Xiaomi India
· PV Sindhu: PNB MetLife, Chinese sports brand Li Ning.

Some International Organizations

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC):

It is the organization of South Asian countries. The South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of
nations in South Asia.
Its member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives,
Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
SAARC HQ: Kathmandu, Total member states: 8.

BRICS : Organisation of large economies of NICs (Newly industrialized country) namely Brazil,
Russia, China, India, South Africa.
2019 BRICS Summit: Brazil

G4 nations: Informal group of countries which support each other’s bids for permanent seats
on the United Nations Security Council. It consists of India, Germany, Japan and Brazil.

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Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC):
international organization involving a group of countries in South Asia and South East Asia.
These are: Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
2019 BIMSTEC Summit: Srilanka

G7 Countries: The group of seven consists of Canada, France, UK, US, Germany and Italy.
2019 G7 Summit: France

Venues of Some Important sports events

Summer Olympics

2020: Tokyo, Japan

2024: Paris, France
2028: Los Angeles, USA

Cricket World Cup

Men's
2019: England and Wales
2023: India

Women's
2017: England
2021: New Zealand

FIFA Football World Cup

2022: Qatar

Commonwealth games
2022: Birmingham, England

Important Geographical facts about India

India covers 2.4% of the Earth’s surface. Total land area of India is 32,87,263 sq.km.

Kanchenjunga is the highest mountain peak of India.

Deccan Plateau is the largest plateau of India and the Ladakh plateau is the highest plateau of
India.

Andaman is the largest island of India and Majuli is the largest river island of world located in
Assam, India.

India has only one dessert which is the Thar dessert. It is located in the state Rajasthan.

The longest Indian River is Ganga; its length is 2,640 km.

The world’s largest delta, (in West Bengal) Sundarban, is made by Brahmaputra and Ganga.

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Aravallis is the oldest mountain ranges of the India.

Agriculture
Agriculture in India: More than 50 percent of the area of the country is under the cultivation and
about 64% of the
Indian population is engaged in agriculture.
There are two major crop seasons in India, viz.:
(i) Rabi
(ii) Kharif
Rabi: It is sown in October or December and harvested in April or May. Major crops are: barely,
wheat, peas, gram and mustard.
Kharif: It is sown in June or July and harvested in September or October. Major crops are: bajra,
cotton, jowar, rice and jute.

Forests: India is covered about *24.1%* by forest area (as per Forest Survey Report 2015).
Madhya Pradesh has the largest Forest cover in India among all other states.

Gujarat has the longest coastline among all the states in India.

Bangladesh shares maximum boundary with India.

India is divided into 29 states, 6 union territories, 1 national capital territory.

Rajasthan is the largest state of India followed by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, UP.

UP is the most populous state of India followed by Maharashtra, Bihar, and West Bengal.

Awards & Honours

Bharat Ratna Award 2019: BhupenHazarika, NanajiDeshmukh, Pranab Mukherjee

Padma Vibhushan 2019

Ms.TeejanBai (Art-Vocals-Folk)

Shri Ismail Omar Guelleh (Public Affairs) Djibouti

ShriAnilkumarManibhaiNaik (Trade & Industry-Infrastructure)

ShriBalwantMoreshwarPurandare (Art-Acting-Theatre)

Highest civilian award of UAE “Order of Zayed “: Indian Prime Minister NarendraModi

Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy of ICC Cricketer of the Year: ViratKohli

Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award 2019: ISRO Chairman K. Sivan

Vir Chakra: Wing Commander AbhinandanVarthaman

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Ramon Magsaysay Award 2019: Ravish Kumar

“Champions of Empathy Award”: Director General of DD News, MayankAgrawal

‘Entrepreneur of the Year Award, 2019’: Ruhan Rajput

OSCARS/91st Academy Awards

Best picture: Green Book

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Actress: Olivia Colman for The Favourite
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón for Roma
Best Foreign Language Film: Roma

Best Featured Film at SAARC Film Festival 2019: ‘Nagarkirtan’

Miss Deaf World 2019 Title: VidishaBaliyan

54th Jnanpith Award: AmitavGhosh

First Woman to Cross Atlantic Ocean: AarohiPandit

World's Highest Peak Mount Everest for 23rd time: Kami Rita

Man Booker International Prize 2019: JokhaAlharthi(the first Arabic-language writer)

Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize 2019: RanaDasgupta for Solo

SaraswatiSamman 2018: K Siva Reddy

Abel Prize 2019: US Mathematician Karen Uhlenbeck

Pritzker Prize 2019: Japanese Architect ArataIsozaki

VyasSamman 2018: LeeladharJagudi

India’s cleanest city by SwachhSurvekshan Awards 2019: Indore

Sportsman of the Year at Laureus World Sports Awards 2019: Novak Djokovic

Sportswoman of the Year at Laureus World Sports Awards 2019: Simone Biles

Best Film at BAFTA Film Awards 2019: Roma

'Palme d'Or- 2019 (highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival): Parasite

Deepa Malik and BajrangPunia got Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna Awards 2019.

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Important dams and their locations

Indira Sagar Dam: Narmada River, Madhya Pradesh

Mettur Dam: Cauvery River, Tamil Nadu.

Koyna Dam: Koyna River, Maharashtra.

Maithon Dam: Barakarriver, Jharkhand.

Rihand Dam: Rihand Dam, Uttar Pradesh.

TungaBhadra Dam: Tungabhadra River, Karnataka.

Krishna Raja Sagar dam: Cauvery river, Karnataka

Hirakund Dam: Mahanadi River, Odissa

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Cabinet Ministers List

Here is the full list of allocation of portfolios of the Union Council of Ministers.

Prime Minister NarendraModi will be in-charge of:

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions,

Department of Atomic Energy,

Department of Space, all important policy issues, and all other portfolios not allocated to any
minister.

Full list of Cabinet Ministers:

Raj Nath Singh - Minister of Defence.
Amit Shah - Minister of Home Affairs.
NitinJairamGadkari - Minister of Road Transport and Highways; and Minister of Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises.
D.V. SadanandaGowda - Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
NirmalaSitharaman - Minister of Finance; and Minister of Corporate Affairs.
RamvilasPaswan - Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
Narendra Singh Tomar - Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Minister of Rural
Development; and Minister of Panchayati Raj.
Ravi Shankar Prasad - Minister of Law and Justice; Minister of Communications; and Minister of
Electronics and Information Technology.
HarsimratKaurBadal - Minister of Food Processing Industries.
Thaawar Chand Gehlot - Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Dr.SubrahmanyamJaishankar - Minister of External Affairs.
Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ - Minister of Human Resource Development.
ArjunMunda- Minister of Tribal Affairs.
SmritiZubinIrani - Minister of Women and Child Development; and Minister of Textiles.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan - Minister of Health and Family Welfare; Minister of Science and Technology;
and Minister of Earth Sciences.
PrakashJavadekar - Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change; and Minister of
Information and Broadcasting.
PiyushGoyal - Minister of Railways; and Minister of Commerce and Industry.
DharmendraPradhan - Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas; and Minister of Steel.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi - Minister of Minority Affairs.
Pralhad Joshi - Minister of Parliamentary Affairs; Minister of Coal; and Minister of Mines.
Dr.MahendraNathPandey - Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
ArvindGanpatSawant - Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise.
Giriraj Singh - Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat - Minister of Jal Shakti.

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World Geography Points

Boundary lines
Durand line: Pakistan and Afghanistan
Radcliffe line: India and Pakistan
Macmohan line: china and India
38th parallel: North and South Korea
49th parallel: USA and Canada
Hindenburg Line: Germany and Poland

Atmosphere layers in that order from earth

a. Troposphere
b. Stratosphere: ozone layer in it!!
c. Mesosphere or thermosphere
d. Ionosphere

Mountains-Locations
Andes: South America
Rockies: North America
Alps: Europe
Alaska: USA
Himalaya: Asia

Water resources in Oceans:

Pacific> Atlantic>Indian>arctic

Top 5 minerals in earth's crust

Oxygen>Silicon> Aluminium>Iron>Calcium
Top 4 gases in atmosphere
Nitrogen> Oxygen>Argon> CO2
Light year, Astronomical unit and Parsec are the units to measure length.

Solar system
Brightest star after sun: Sirius
Planet with maximum satellites: Jupiter
Red planet: Mars
Blue planet: Earth
Brightest planet: Venus
Biggest planet: Jupiter

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Some more information

A. The Atlantic Ocean lies between the US and the UK.
B. Largest land locked country: Kazakhstan
C. Africa has the most number of countries.
D. The Nile has been determined to be the longest river in the world followed by the Amazon and
the Yangtze.
E. The South China Sea disputes involves namely Brunei, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Philippines, and Vietnam.
F. The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia.
G. Canada has the largest coastline among all the countries in the World.