DAILY GK 1 JULY 2019

DAILY GK 1 JULY 2019

1. $250-M LOAN PACT SIGNED BY INDIA AND WORLD BANK FOR REBUILD KERALA INITIATIVE

✔The Government of India, State Government of Kerala and World Bank signed a loan agreement of $250 million (Rs 1,725 crore) for the Kerala Resilient Programme.

✔This will enhance the state’s resilience against the impact of natural disasters and climate change.

2. PB ACHARYA SWORN IN AS THE GOVERNOR OF MANIPUR

✔Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya was sworn in as the Governor of Manipur.

✔He is given the additional charge as the Governor of Manipur, in addition to his own duties as the Governor of Nagaland in the absence of Dr Najma Heptulla, Governor of Manipur.

3. GOVT CUTS INTEREST RATE ON SMALL SAVINGS SCHEMES

✔The GoI has reduced interest rates for small savings schemes by 10 basis points for the July-September quarter of the 2019-20 financial year.

✔Some schemes that will fetch lower interest rates are Kisan Vikas Patra (7.6%), Public Provident Fund (7.9%), Sukanya Samriddhi Account (8.4%).

4. IIT KANPUR HONOURS GOPICHAND WITH HONORARY DOCTORATE

✔IIT Kanpur honours India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand with honorary doctorate on the occasion of their 52nd convocation.

✔Former President APJ Abdul Kalam and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are past recipients of the honour.

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DAILY GK 28 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 28 JUNE 2019

1. UNDER PRADHAN MANTRI AWAS YOJANA SCHEME, 81,03,196 HOUSES WERE APPROVED

✔Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri announced that 81,03,196 houses were approved under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana scheme.

✔Central Assistance of Rs. 51,113 crores was released under the PMAY(Urban).

✔State Level Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary of the concerned State/Union Territories reviews the progress of implementation of the Mission ‘Housing for All by 2022’ at the State level.

2. RBI RECOMMENDS COMMERCIAL BANKS TO ADOPT EDUCATION LOAN SCHEME

✔India’s central banking institution, The Reserve Bank of India has advised all Scheduled Commercial Banks to adopt Education Loan Scheme which is formulated by Indian Banks’ Associatio.

✔The IBA scheme circulated to all member Banks including State Bank of India for providing financial support to meritorious students for pursuing higher education in India and abroad.

✔Loan up to Rs 10 lakh for study in India and upto Rs 20 lakh for study abroad. Collateral free loans upto Rs 7.5 Lakh under the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Education Loans.

✔Repayment period of 15 years.

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DAILY GK 27 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 27 JUNE 2019

1. MHA RELEASED THE RANKINGS OF POLICE STATIONS FOR 2018; RAJASTHAN TOPS THE LIST

✔The Ministry of Home Affairs released the rankings of police stations for the year 2018.

✔The Kalu police station in Bikaner district of Rajasthan was ranked the best police station in the country. It was awarded the first rank for its performance in crime prevention, investigation and disposal of cases, crime detection, community policing and maintenance of law and order, women help desk facility, drinking water facility and WiFi.

✔Campbell Bay police station in Nicobar district of Andaman & Nicobar Islands was ranked second. iii. Farakka police station in Murshidabad, West Bengal was ranked third.

2. RBI PANEL LED BY U.K. SINHA SUGGESTS RS.5,000 CRORE STRESSED ASSET FUND FOR MSMES

✔The Reserve Bank released the report of the expert committee under former SEBI chairman U K Sinha on measures for the economic and financial sustainability of the MSMEs.

✔Inorder to support Venture Capitalists or PE (private equity) investing in the MSME sector, the committee recommended the formation of government-sponsored Fund of Funds of Rs 10,000 crore.

✔It also recommends the creation of a distressed asset fund of Rs 5,000 crore for small enterprises. The fund will operate on the lines of the Textile Upgradation Fund Scheme which makes equity investments that lead to reviving the sick & Debt-burden units.

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DAILY GK 26 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 26 JUNE 2019

1. CENTRAL GOVERNMENT MOVE TO SET UP KRISHI VIGYAN KENDRAS TO DOUBLE FARMERS’ INCOME BY 2022

✔The Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar announced that central Government has decided to use digital technology in rural India to double farmers’ income by the year 2022.

✔The Government has set up 713 Krishi Vigyan Kendras and 684 Agricultural Technology Management Agencies at district level in the country for dissemination of technologies among the farming community.

✔Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analytics, and Block Chair Technology, Internet of Things, etc are the technologies which will be used.

2. RBI LAUNCHES NEW COMPLAINTS PORTAL FOR FILING ONLINE COMPLAINTS AGAINST BANKS, NBFCS

✔The Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has launched a Complaint Management System for lodging complaints against banks and NBFCs on its website. The online portal aims at improving customer experience in timely redressal of grievances.

✔The public can use the portal (https://cms.rbi.org.in), to lodge complaints against any regulated entity with a public interface such as commercial banks, urban cooperative banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies which would be directed to the appropriate office of the Ombudsman/Regional Office of the RBI.

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DAILY GK 25 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 25 JUNE 2019

1. QU DONGYU, THE FIRST CHINESE NATIONAL TO HEAD FAO

✔China’s agricultural deputy minister, Qu Dongyu elected as the new director general of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization at Rome, Italy.

2. RBI DEPUTY GOVERNOR VIRAL ACHARYA RESIGNS 6 MONTHS BEFORE HIS TERM ENDS

✔Reserve Bank of India’s Deputy Governor Viral Acharya has quit his role six months before the end of his term.

✔Acharya, who was in charge of monetary policy, will return to New York University as an economics professor in August instead of February 2020.

✔He had raised concern over the importance of RBI’s independence in October 2018.

✔The RBI is now left with three deputy governors N S Vishwanathan, B P Kanungo and M K Jain.

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DAILY GK 24 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 24 JUNE 2019

1. MEXICO BECAME THE FIRST COUNTRY TO RATIFY THE TRADE DEAL TO REPLACE NAFTA

✔Mexico became the first country to ratify the trade deal to replace 25 year old North American Free Trade Agreement. The new trade deal is known as known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

✔The USMCA has been modified to include changes for automakers, stricter labor and environmental standards, intellectual property protections, and digital trade provisions.

2. INDIA’S ACE CUEIST PANKAJ ADVANI CLINCHED THE 35TH MEN’S ASIAN SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP IN DOHA

✔India’s ace cueist Pankaj Advani, clinched the 35th men’s Asian snooker championship in Doha, Qatar. He defeated Thai’s Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon.

✔He became the only one to win the Asian and World championships in all formats.

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DAILY GK 23 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 23 JUNE 2019

1. BALAKOT AIRSTRIKES CODE NAMED AS ‘OPERATION BANDAR’ BY IAF

✔The Indian Air Force mission to bomb a terrorist hideout in Pakistan’s Balakot was codenamed ‘Operation Bandar’.

✔The codename was also chosen by the IAF to maintain top secrecy for the operation which involved 12 Mirage 2000 jets crossing over into Pakistani territory to completely destroy a large Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot.

2. COUNTRY’S FIRST IRON ORE MINE DISCOVERED IN BANGLADESH

✔Country’s first iron ore mine was discovered at Isabpur village in Dinajpur of Bangladesh. The discovery was done by the Geological Survey of Bangladesh.

✔Percentage of iron is 60 in the mine, which is higher in quality in comparison to other iron ore mines in the world.

✔Other countries are Canada, China, Brazil Sweden and Australia which comprises less than 50 percent of iron.

✔With this discovery in Bangladesh, economic and employment opportunities will enhanced in the country.

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DAILY GK 22 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 22 JUNE 2019

1. FOR THE FIRST TIME, INDIA OPENS WATER CLINIC FOR ELEPHANTS IN MATHURA

✔India has opened its first specialized hydrotherapy treatment center for elephants suffering from arthritis, joint pain and foot ailments, in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.

✔It is a collaboration of Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), Wildlife SOS.

2. INDIA RANKED 20TH AMONG THE TOP CAPITAL IMPORTING COUNTRIES

✔According to Knight Frank, India with the 20th rank among the top capital importing countries, globally. In terms of outbound cross-border investments, it was ranked 30th.

✔The United States was the top capital importing country, followed by Canada and Germany.

3. INDIA’S DATA USAGE PER SMARTPHONE IS THE HIGHEST IN THE WORLD AT 9.8GB PER MONTH

✔As per the Ericsson Mobility Report of June 2019 edition, India‘s data usage per smartphone was the highest in the world at 9.8 Giga Byte per month up to December 31, 2018.

✔It is set to double to 18 GB by 2024.

✔ North East Asia stood at the second place with 7.1 GB per month and North America at third with 7 GB.

✔The 4G LTE subscriptions in India will grow from 450 million in 2018 to 1.16 billion in 2024.

4. INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA 2019: JUNE 21

✔The 5th annual International Day of Yoga was observed on June 21, 2019.

✔There are two themes for World Yoga Day 201, United Nation has declared theme as “Yoga for Climate Action” and Ministry of Ayush, India has declared theme for Yoga Day is ”Yoga for Heart“.

✔Prime Minister’s Award for outstanding contribution for promotion and development of Yoga were given on the occasion of IDY 2019.

5. WORLD MUSIC DAY: JUNE 21

✔The world music day is being celebrated across the country on June 21, 2019.

✔The theme of world music day 2019 is “Music at the intersections”.

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DAILY GK 21 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 21 JUNE 2019

1. G20 MINISTERIAL MEETING ON ENERGY TRANSITIONS AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH HELD IN KARUIZAWA, JAPAN

✔G20 Ministerial Meeting on Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable Growth for the year 2019 was held at Karuizawa Prince Hotel Japan.

✔Ministers and Representatives exchanged views on the key themes of “Accelerating the Virtuous Cycle of Environmental Protection and Economic Growth by Innovation”, “Resource Efficiency Marine Plastic Litter” and “Adaptation and Resilient Infrastructure including Ecosystem-based approaches”.

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DAILY GK 19 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 19 JUNE 2019

1. 3RD EDITION OF NAMASTE THAILAND FESTIVAL 2019 CONCLUDES IN NEW DELHI

✔A two day event of Namaste Thailand Film Festival 2019 concludes its third edition at Select Citywalk in New Delhi.

✔It was organized by Royal Thai Embassy with an aim to strengthen bilateral ties and increase cultural exchange between India and Thailand.

✔The 1st edition of Thai film festival was inaugurated in 2017 to celebrate the 70 years of Indo-Thai diplomatic relations.

2. INDIA WILL OVERTAKE CHINA AS WORLD’S MOST POPULOUS COUNTRY: UN REPORT

✔ “World Population Prospects 2019” published by the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs states that India is going to surpass China as the world’s most populous country by 2027.

✔India currently ranks second in the index (out of 230 countries), with over 17 per cent of the world population.

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DAILY GK 18 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 18 JUNE 2019

1. AS PER RBI, DIGITAL TRANSACTIONS WILL RISE FOUR TIMES BY 2021

✔The Reserve Bank of India stated that the digital transactions till March 2019 witnessed tremendous growth and they will rise by four times from Rs 2,069 crore in December 2018 to Rs 8,707 crore in December 2021.

2. DENMARK’S INGER ANDERSEN APPOINTED AS UNEP’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

✔Inger Andersen, Denmark’s Economist and Environmentalist took over as United Nations Environment Programme’s Executive Director.

✔Andersen was the Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

✔She worked at the United Nations for 12 years.

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DAILY GK 13 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 13 JUNE 2019

1. CLEAN DRINKING WATER TO ALL BY 2024: CENTRE

✔The minister of Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat announced that central Government committed to provide clean drinking water to all citizens by 2024.

✔only 18 per cent of rural households have accessed drinking water.

✔This is less than 5 percent in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, while Sikkim has 99 per cent.

✔The scheme “Nal se Jal” launched by the Jal Shakti ministry, which aims to provide drinking water by 2024.

2. BANCHA BECAME THE FIRST SOLAR KITCHEN ONLY VILLAGE IN INDIA

✔Bancha in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh became the first village in India to have zero wooden stoves.

✔There was no use for Liquified Petroleum Gas cylinders as all 75 houses relied on solar-powered stoves to meet their cooking needs.

✔The solar-powered stoves were developed by IIT Mumbai.

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DAILY GK 12 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 12 JUNE 2019

1. ELECTION COMMISSION GRANTS NATIONAL PARTY STATUS TO NPP

✔The Election Commission of India granted the National party status to National People’s Party led by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma. It becomes the first Party from North East region to get this tag.

✔It becomes the eighth national party in the country among All India Trinamool Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, BSP, CPI, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Indian National Congress and NCP parties.

✔It is getting status of state party in four states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland.

2. PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI’S VISIT TO MALDIVES AND SRI LANKA

✔Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited the Republic of Maldives at the invitation of Mr. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, President of the Republic of Maldives to strengthen the bilateral ties, reflecting the importance India attached to its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.

✔This was the first overseas visit of the Prime Minister after his re-election.

✔Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the Maldives’ highest honour “Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen” by the President of Maldives.

✔Prime Minister Modi visited Sri Lanka at the invitation of Mr. Maithripala Sirisena, President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. On second leg of PM’s first foreign visit to Sri Lanka, he was received by the Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Bandaranaike International Airport.

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DAILY GK 11 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 11 JUNE 2019

1. INDIA’S FIRST DINOSAUR MUSEUM INAUGURATED IN GUJARAT

✔Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani inaugurated the new Dinosaur Museum-cum-Park at Raiyoli village in Balasinor town of Mahisagar district.

✔This is the first such park in the country and also the world’s third park which exhibits remains of various dinosaurs and fossil records.

✔3D projection, 360 degrees virtual reality presentations, interactive kiosks, gaming consoles are the facilities equipped with the museum.

2. G20 MINISTERIAL MEETING HELD IN JAPAN

✔The G20 Ministerial meeting on Trade and Digital Economy was held in Tsukuba city, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.

✔The Indian delegation for G20 Ministerial Meeting was led by the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways, Piyush Goyal.

✔G-20 surveillance note expected that Indian economy will grow 7.3% in 2019 and 7.5% in 2020. This was prepared by the staff of International Monetary Fund.

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DAILY GK 10 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 10 JUNE 2019

1. ESTONIA, NIGER, ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES, TUNISIA, VIETNAM ELECTED TO UNSC AS NON-PERMANENT MEMBERS

✔Estonia, Niger, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam were elected to United Nations Security Council as Non-permanent Members for a 2-year term beginning January 1, 2020.

✔The Security Council has 15 members – 5 permanent members namely China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom & the United States and 10 non-permanent members who are elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.

✔At present, 10 non-permanent members are Belgium, Cte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Germany, Indonesia, Kuwait, Peru, Poland and South Africa.

2. WORLD’S MOST PUNCTUAL AIRLINE TAG WON BY SRILANKAN AIRLINES

✔Sri Lanka’s state-run Srilankan Airlines has been named the world’s most punctual airline by flight data analysis company Flightstats.com. 

✔This is the second consecutive time in less than 12 months that Sri Lankan has achieved this milestone.

✔LATAM Airlines was in second place, All Nippon Airways was in third place.

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DAILY GK 9 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 9 JUNE 2019

1. GOVERNMENT LAUNCHED SWACHH SURVEKSHAN 2020 LEAGUE

✔Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri launched Swachh Survekshan 2020 League in New Delhi.

✔It will be a cleanliness assessment of cities and towns in India on quarterly basis. The 5th edition of the annual cleanliness survey of urban India to be conducted between January – February 2020.

✔It is aimed at “sustaining the on ground performance of cities along with continuous monitoring of service level performance on cleanliness”.

✔The purpose of quarterly cleanliness assessment is that many cities and towns slip back once they get a decent ranking on cleanliness levels in annual sanitation survey exercise Swachh Survekshan.

2. FINCARE SFB, KOOKMIN BANK ADDED IN SECOND SCHEDULE OF RBI ACT

✔Fincare Small Finance Bank and Kookmin Bank have been included in the second schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

✔Both banks can now broad-base its lines of funding and liquidity facilities. They can issue certificates of deposits and get access to interbank borrowings at competitive interest rates.

✔They can also get deposits from new sources such as governments, public sector undertakings, corporates, mutual funds, insurance companies and other market participants.

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DAILY GK 7 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 7 JUNE 2019

1. MUMBAI RANKED MOST CONGESTED CITY IN THE WORLD, DELHI RANKED 4TH: TRAFFIC INDEX 2018

✔The recent study “Traffic Index 2018”, analysis of current status of traffic mobility was conducted.

✔Mumbai is the most traffic congested city among 403 cities in 56 countries with a congestion level of 65 per cent, while New Delhi ranked fourth with a congestion of 58 per cent.

✔Top five most congested North American are in the list are: Mexico City (52 per cent), Los Angeles (41 per cent), Vancouver (38 per cent), New York (36 per cent) and San Francisco (34 per cent).

2. SECOND BI-MONTHLY MONETARY POLICY OF RBI 2019-20

✔The 2nd Bi-Monthly monetary policy statement has been released. On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the Monetary Policy Committee at its meeting decided to:

✔Reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility by 25 basis points to 5.75% from 6.00% with immediate effect.

✔Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 5.50%, and the marginal standing facility rate and the Bank Rate to 6.0%.

✔The Reserve Bank of India lowered the economic growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7% due to a slowdown in domestic activities and escalation in global trade war.

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DAILY GK 5 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 5 JUNE 2019

1. IAF AN-32 AIRCRAFT WENT MISSING IN ASSAM

✔IAF AN-32 Aircraft, taken off from Jorhat, Assam headed towards Mechuka in Arunachal Pradesh went missing with 13 people. The AN-32 was inducted into the IAF in the 1980s.

✔The Aircraft consisted of 8 crew members, including 6 officers led by a Wing Commander and 5 passengers.

✔Similar cases were registered in 2009 and 2016. In June 9, 2009, an IAF AN-32 had crashed over Rinchi Hill near Heyo Village, West Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh, which killed 13 personnel and the biggest IAF AN-32 crash took place on July 22, 2016 when the aircraft went off the radars over the Bay of Bengal which killed 29 people.

2. INDIA RANKED 95TH IN 129 COUNTRIES IN NEW GENDER EQUALITY INDEX

✔India was ranked 95th among 129 countries in new Sustainable Development Goals Gender Equality Index with 56.2 scores.

✔The gender gap index of the World Economic Forum had ranked India with 108.

✔The list was topped by Denmark followed by Finland and Sweeden.

✔Chad was placed at bottom most position (129th).

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DAILY GK 4 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 4 JUNE 2019

1. BANK FRAUDS REACHED UNPRECEDENTED RS 71,500 CRORE IN 2018-19: RBI

✔The Reserve Bank of India has reported that bank frauds have been reached to Rs 71,500 crore in 2018-19 with over 6,800 cases. In 2017-18, 5,916 cases were reported by banks which involved Rs 41,167.03 crore

✔RBI’s data reported that in last 11 fiscal years, 53,334 cases of fraud were reported by banks involving the amount of Rs 2.05 lakh crore.

2. ONGC OVERTAKES IOC TO BECOME A MOST PROFITABLE PSU

✔ONGC, India’s top oil and gas producer, has toppled Indian Oil Corp to regain the crown of being the country’s most profitable public sector company. According to earnings statements of the listed companies, Oil and Natural Gas Corp reported a 34 percent jump it’s in 2018-19 fiscal net profit to Rs 26,716 crore.

✔In comparison, IOC registered a net profit of Rs 17.274 crore for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2019. ONGC, in the previous two financial years, had lost the most profitable PSU tag to IOC.

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DAILY GK 3 JUNE 2019

DAILY GK 3 JUNE 2019

1. UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN INDIA AT 6.1% IN 2017-18

✔According to a survey conducted by NSSO, the unemployment rate was about 6.1% in 2017-18, highest in 45 year since 1972-73.

✔Unemployment was higher in urban areas as compared to rural. The unemployment rate in rural areas was about 5.3% while in urban areas it was about 7.8%.

✔6.2% males and 5.7% females are jobless in India. The unemployment rate is highest amount urban females at 10.8% followed by urban males at 7.1 % rural males at 5.8% and rural females at 3.8 %.

2. INFANT MORTALITY RATE IN INDIA FALLS BUT THE PACE OF CHANGE SLOWS

✔India’s infant mortality rate declined by 9 positions from 42 in 2012 to 33 in 2017.

✔Madhya Pradesh and Assam had the worst IMR of 47 and 44 respectively while Kerala and Tamil Nadu recorded the lowest IMR of 10 and 16 respectively.

✔This is a cause of worry for India that India’s IMR is even today worse than those of South Asian neighbours, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Nepal.

✔Among the states Odisha and Uttarpradesh showed the biggest improvement between 2012 and 2017.

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