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1. Which of the following will have the country’s first Central Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology?

1. Assam
2. Telangana
3. Gujarat
4. Andhra Pradesh

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• Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya said that Gujarat will get the country’s first Central Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (CICET) at Vatva or Surat.
• It will be built on the lines of Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET).
• The aim is to facilitate the chemical industry with research and innovations.

2. Thar Link Express connects which of the following countries?

1. India and Sri Lanka
2. India and Nepal
3. India and Bangladesh
4. India and Pakistan

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• Thar Link Express runs on the Indian side between Bhagat Ki Kothi railway station in Jodhpur to Munabao. Passengers from Munabao then clear customs and are transported to across the border to Zero Point station where the Thar Express takes passengers to Karachi, Pakistan.
• India suspended weekly Thar Link Express which connects Jodhpur in Rajasthan to Karachi in Pakistan.

3. President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the underground Bunker Museum at Raj Bhavan. Where is it situated?

1. Uttar Pradesh
2. Bihar
3. Punjab
4. Maharashtra

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• President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the underground Bunker Museum at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.
• The 15,000 square feet underground bunker museum has virtual reality booths in which visitors can time travel to the 19th century.
• The bunker was created in the 19th century to fire cannons at approaching enemy ships. Another section depicts the history of Raj Bhavan. The museum will be opened for the general public with an online booking facility later this year.

4. Which of the following finalized India’s first National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL?

1. Health Ministry
2. Niti Aayog
3. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
4. Indian Medical Association (IMA)

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• India has got its first National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL) finalised by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) which aims to bridge the current regulatory system’s gap that do not cover all the medical devices and In-Vitro Diagnostic device (IVD).
• With this, India has become the first country to compile such a list that would provide guidance to the government for deciding the kind of diagnostic tests that different healthcare facilities in villages and remote areas require.

5. What is the age of retirement of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel?

1. 50
2. 52
3. 59
4. 60

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• All personnel of the forces - the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Sashastra Seema Bal - will superannuate at the age of 60, instead of 57 years for certain rank of officials.
• The development pertains to a January order of the Delhi High Court where it had called the current policy of different age of superannuation in these four forces as “discriminatory and unconstitutional” and said it created two classes in the uniformed forces.

6. Who among the following is the Prime Minister of Bhutan?

1. KP Oli
2. Sheikh Hasina
3. Tandi Dorji
4. Lotay Tshering

S- d

7. Which of the following states has rolled out Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana?

1. Punjab
2. Haryana
3. West Bengal
4. Maharashtra

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• Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh launched his government’s flagship universal health insurance scheme — Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana — benefiting nearly 46 lakh families.
• It would entitle beneficiaries to avail annual cashless treatment up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year, including pre-existing diseases.
• With this scheme, covering 76% of the state’s population, Punjab has become the first state in the country to offer medical insurance cover to the maximum number of its people.

8. Which of the following ministries launched the NISHTHA portal?

1. HRD Ministry
2. Ministry of Commerce & Trade
3. Ministry of External Affairs
4. Ministry of Women & Child Development

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• Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ launched the National Mission to improve Learning Outcomes at the Elementary level- NISHTHA, National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement at Dr Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.
• This is the  largest teachers’ training programme of its kind in the world and the basic objective of this massive training programme ‘NISHTHA’ is to motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical thinking in students.

9. Consider the following for Op-Blue Freedom-

1. It is a nation-wide adaptive scuba diving programme for people with disabilities.
2. It is an initiative in which a group of armed forces veterans train sports enthusiasts in survival training and self-defence.

1. Only I
2. Only II
3. Both I & II
4. None of the above

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• Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and former India football captain Baichung Bhutia flagged off the Delhi leg of Op-Blue Freedom, an initiative in which a group of armed forces veterans train sports enthusiasts in survival training and self-defence.
• Op-Blue Freedom is a nation-wide adaptive scuba diving programme for people with disabilities as well as the able bodied.
• The program aims to train adventure enthusiasts in special forces skills like survival techniques, emergency first response skills, unarmed combat, endurance and fitness.

10. By when will Indian railways ban the use of single use plastics?

1. October 31, 2019
2. October 9, 2019
3. October 2, 2019
4. October 1, 2019
5.  

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• The Indian Railways has decided to enforce a ban on single-use plastic materials on its premises, including trains, with effect from October 2, 2019.
• While directing the authorities to expedite installation of 1,853 plastic water bottle crushing machines at 360 major stations in the first phase, the Railway Board asked Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Development Corporation (IRCTC) to implement return of plastic drinking bottles as part of Extended Producer Responsibility.

11. Which of the following states launched “School Fagadaba”?

1. Meghalaya
2. Assam
3. Manipur
4. Tamil Nadu

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• Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh launched a scheme to improve infrastructure of government schools in the state under the scheme named “School Fagadaba” (Make education better).
• The objective of the scheme was to ensure better infrastructure, quality education and overall improvement of government schools to make them model schools.
• The project is aimed at improving 60 government schools across the state, in as many assembly constituencies.

12. Which of the following has marked its first-ever loss of a glacier to climate change?

1. Russia
2. US
3. Iceland
4. Greenland

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• Iceland has marked its first-ever loss of a glacier to climate change as scientists warn that hundreds of other ice sheets on the subarctic island risk the same fate.
• As the world recently marked the warmest July ever on record, a bronze plaque was mounted on a bare rock in a ceremony on the barren terrain once covered by the Okjökull glacier in western Iceland.
• Nation commemorated the once huge Okjokull glacier with plaque. The commemoration ceremony was also attended by Prime Minister of Iceland Katrin Jakobsdottir.

13. Which of the following sent its first humanoid robot Fedor into space?

1. Russia
2. China
3. Ireland
4. Sri Lanka

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• Russia launched an unmanned rocket, named Fedor carrying a life-size humanoid robot that will spend 10 days learning to assist astronauts on the International Space Station.
• Fedor stands for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research. The robot is the first ever sent up by Russia.

14. Which of the following was the first space agency to send humanoid robot into the space?

1. JAXA
2. ESA
3. NASA
4. ISRO

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• NASA was the first space agency to send humanoid robot into the space.
• In 2011, NASA sent up Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot developed with General Motors that had a similar aim of working in high-risk environments.

15. By when will Nepal make the Everest region a plastic-free zone?

15. January 31, 2020
16. December 1, 2019
17. December 31, 2019
18. January 1, 2020

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• Nepal will make the Everest region a plastic-free zone by 2020 by banning single-use plastics, a move that will curb excessive pollution on the highest point of the Earth’s surface.
• The new rule will come into effect from January 1, 2020.