Monthly Free Current Affairs Booklet- February 2019

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My Journey To Success - Puja Baruah - Inspector of Taxes 2018 (APSC 2016)

 PERSONAL PROFILE

Name	PUJA BARUAH
Roll No.	090300161
Age	26
Marital Status	Unmarried
Total attempts in CEE (including this one)	First
Optional Subjects	Anthropology and Education
Service Joined	Inspector Of Taxes
Schooling Medium	English
College Medium	English
Medium chosen for Mains answers	English
Medium chosen for Interview	English and Assamese
Home town/city	Guwahati

EDUCATIONAL DETAILS

% in class 10	76.6%
% in class 12	85%
Graduation course and %	BA in Anthropology; Best Graduate Arts; 83.3%
Name of college, city, passing out year	Cotton College (2013)
Post-graduation	Anthropology; First Class First; Gold Medallist; 71.5%
Any other professional courses	Pursuing PhD
Hobbies & Extracurricular achievements	Reading books, travelling etc

UNDERSTANDING YOUR ONLINE LIFE?

Daily hrs spent on online platforms for predicting cutoff / syllabus change / age-attempt limit change and other “peripheral-discussion“ related to civil services.	It depends whether I am using it for some constructive purpose or leisure.
Daily hrs spent on WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram study groups	I have used internet a lot during my preparation.
Daily hrs spent on online for exam prep/mock test	1 hour
Primary Device for online study: desktop, laptop, tablet, mobile	Laptop

ANSWER WRITING

Did you use highlighters / sketch pens in your answers?	Yes
Did you draw any diagram in any paper? (e.g. in Geography) If yes, Did you draw diagrams with pencil or pen?	Yes with pencil
Did you use ruler to draw the lines in diagram? Or did you just make it by hand?	No
You wrote the answer in blue pen or black pen?	Blue pen

QUESTIONNAIRE:

1.        Tell us something about yourself, your family, when and why did you enter in this field of competitive exams?

Ans: My name is Puja Baruah. I am from Guwahati. I live with my parents here and I have a brother who stays in Delhi. I have got Inspector of taxes in APSC (CCE) 2016. It is like a passion for me to serve the society.

2.        In recent times, there is spur in electronic material- blogs, sites, pdfs, RSS-feeds. So, how do you balance this i.e. electronic material vs. paper material (Books, newspapers).

Ans: It’s all about focus. One should always remember why he or she has started this journey.

3.        Do you maintain self-notes for revision of optional?

Ans: Yes for few portions I do maintain notes but for me revision is the key. I read multiple times.

4.        What was your approach in the exam?

I always try to give my answers as clearly as possible because clarity is very much necessary.

5.        Did you write answers in bullet points or in paragraphs?       

Ans: Both bullet and paragraphs

6.        What’s your optional subject and why did you chose it and not something else

Ans: Anthropology is my graduation subject so this exam is just a revision for me and for Education I have used the book by L Das as my base book.

7.        What are the books you studied doing your preparations and your list of recommended books? How much of internet-research / current affairs is necessary for this optional? OR can one simply rely on the books and be done with this subject?

Ans:  I always believe that we should keep less books for all these competitive exams and revise what has already been read. Revision is the key

8.        How many months did it take to finish the optional syllabus?

Ans: 3 months

9.        Did you attend any ‘mock tests’? Do you think they’re necessary for success? How many days/ weeks before the exam, you started answer writing practice papers?

Ans: Yes I did. Every week.

Interview

1.        How did you prepare for the interview? – (for college grad, hobbies, place of origin, current affairs at national and international level)

And: This is basically a personality test so the key to success is remain faithful in the interview and speaking what is true and fair.

2.        Did you attend any mock interviews by coaching classes? How were they similar / different than official interview? Do you believe it is necessary to attend such mock interviews?

Ans: Yes I did. It is not that necessary.

3.        Describe the formal-dress worn by you on the day of your interview.

 Ans: Mekhla Chadar

4.        Was your interview on the expected lines of what you had prepared or did they ask you totally unexpected questions?  Was it a stress interview, did they ask any uncomfortable questions? If yes, how did you handle it? It was on expected lines. It was not a stress interview.

 Ans: Yes it was very much on the expected lines. But honesty is something which they want in the interview.

5.        Any side details about technicalities like “make sure you bring xyz document or do xyz thing, or you’ll face problem”?

Ans: Always carry a pen

6.        Please narrate your entire interview- what questions did they ask and what did you reply and other pleasant or uncomfortable experiences during the interview. (Earlier some toppers only tell me their question but not their answer. I would appreciate if you give both Question + your original answers)

My interview was about 20minutes. Basically they had asked about my PhD subject, Anthropology : westernisation, caste system, Syrian war, Ahom king suhungmung etc.

They asked me why you want to join civil service and not academics and I told them that academics can be done later also as Ihad already completed my masters and civil services provides  a broader prospect to serve the society.

The Miscellaneous Ones

1.        If you were not selected, what was your career backup plan? When were you going to “execute” that backup plan

Ans: I am pursuing PhD and I always believe that failure is the pillar to success.

2.        Many candidates prepare sincerely but constantly live under fear about ‘profile insecurity’. I’m not from a big college, I’m not from English medium, and I don’t have work-experience. What if they ask some stressful questions in the interview about this? Did you suffer from such insecurities? What is your message to these candidates?

Ans: Positive actions combined with positive thinking results in success. I am a very positive person and I always believe that hard work pays off sooner or later. So my message for all those candidates is that  sometimes things never go the way we expect them to but at that time one must not get distracted from the goal that he/she has set before. So, always believe in yourself and the rest will fall into place.

3.        People, most of them lack consistency in their preparation. So, how do you keep study momentum going on? How do you fight against the mood swings and distractions?

Ans: Success breeds success. Getting gold medal in both Graduation and Post-graduation always motivate me to work harder every single day.

4.        Behind every topper are many people who stood by during those uncertain times when he/she was merely an ‘aspirant’. Would you like to tell the world, who were those people in your case? Any specific incidence that you would like to share with the readers?

Ans: There are 3 person my mother, my father and my brother. My parents are my pillars of strength and my brother is someone I always looked up to.  He is my first friend and my second father.

Thank You for taking the effort to fill this questionnaire. Your effort will go a long way to guide someone in their preparations and fulfill their long cherished dream of becoming a civil servant.

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Important Government Schemes January 2019

1. Beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana register a refill rate of 80%.

• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana that provides LPG connections to the women member of the BPL households with a support of Rs 1600 per connection has registered a refill rate of 80% as per the current data.
• The data provided by the Ministry of Petroleum states that around 6 crore connections were disbursed, and 23 crore refills were done under the Ujjwala Scheme. Almost 80% of the recipients opted for the refill of LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) cylinders.
• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana launched in the year 2016, intends to safeguard the health of women and children by providing them with a clean cooking fuel so that their health doesn’t get compromised.
• The identification of the BPL (Below Poverty Line) families is done through 2011 Socio- Economic Caste Census.

2. Government of Maharashtra introduces Atal Solar Krishi Pump Yojana

• Government of Maharashtra has introduced the Atal Solar Krishi Pump Yojana to reduce losses due to non-payment of electricity bills and promote solar energy.
• Under the provisions of the scheme the government of Maharashtra has decided to give 2 LED bulbs, a DC fan and mobile charging socket as freebies to farmers of the state.
• The above scheme also provides a subsidy of 95% to the farmers on solar pump sets.
• Eligibility: Farmers with less than 5 acres of land will have to pay 5% of the cost of a 3 HP solar pump set while farmers with more than 5 acres of land will get a 5 HP solar pump for Rs 30,000.
• The implementing agency for the scheme is Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL).

3. Prime Minister Launches Pravasi Teerth Darshan Yojana

• Under this scheme, a group of Indian origin people will be taken on a state- sponsored tour of religious places in India twice a year.
• Indian-origin people in the age group 45 to 65 can apply for the scheme.
• The government will bear all the expenses including the airfare from their country of residence.
• The Scheme accords first preference to people from Girmitiya countries such as Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica.

4. Three New AIIMs to be set up by the Government

• The union cabinet headed by Prime Minister approved the setting up of 3 new AIIMS institutions under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana at Vijaynagar in  Samba of Jammu Region, Awantipora in Pulwama of Kashmir Region and Rajkot in  Gujarat.
• The two new AIIMS for Jammu region and Kashmir region were announced by the  Prime Minister under the Prime Minister’s Development Package and the AIIMS in  Rajkot, Gujarat was announced by the Finance Minister in his budget speech.
• Each new AIIMS will add 100 UG MBBS seats and 60 BSc nursing seats, and the new  AIIMS will have 15-20 super speciality departments.
• Setting up new AIIMS will serve the dual purpose of providing super-speciality  healthcare centres to the population closer to their homes and help in creating a large  pool of doctors and other health workers in these regions to strengthen the primary  and secondary level institutions and facilities being created under the National Health  Mission (NHM).

5. Government of Odisha announced a hike in pension under the  Madhu Babu Pension Yojana

• The government of Odisha announced a hike of Rs 200 per month for the beneficiaries  of the social security pension scheme Madhu Babu Pension Yojana.
• The Madhu Babu Pension Yojana is a pension scheme in Odisha under the Department  of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities for the disabled, old  age persons.

Beneficiaries of the scheme are:

I. Persons with age of 60 years and above.
II. A Widow irrespective of age
III. A Widow patient with AIDS
IV. A Leprosy patient with visible deformity
V. A person of age 5 years and above and unable to do normal work due to deformity or disability.
VI. An AIDS patient identified by identified by the district/state AIDS control society or AIDS prevention control unit.
VII. An unmarried woman of age 30 years or above from the BPL family

Conditions for the Beneficiary:

• Individual Income from all sources should not exceed Rs 24,000 per annum.

• Family Income not exceeding Rs 24,000 per annum.

• Is a permanent resident of Odisha.

• Not been convicted of any criminal offence.

• Increased pension would benefit nearly 48 Lakh beneficiaries.

6. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana announced 3 implementation models.

• Three models have been announced under which the states can implement the  Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
• The three models are:

• Insurance Model – Under this model, the premiums paid for the health insurance  scheme are paid to the insurance company which pays the health claim.

• Truth-Based Model – Under this model, each state is supposed to form its own trust  to manage the scheme and health claims are supposed to be disbursed from the  corpus created from centre and state government contributions.

• Hybrid Model – Under this model, a part of the health claim comes under insurance  model while the remaining part comes under the state and central government trust.

• Under the PM-JAY scheme about 10.74 crore poor, deprived rural families and  identified occupational categories of urban workers’ families as per the latest Socio-  Economic Caste Census (SECC) data (approx. 50 crore beneficiaries) will have health  benefit cover of Rs Five Lakhs per family per year at free of cost.

7. Madhya Pradesh Government announced Yuva Swabhimaan  Yojana

• The government of Madhya Pradesh announced the Yuva Swabhimaan Yojana to provide employment to the unemployed youth from the economically weaker section  in the state.
• The scheme intends to provide employment to the unemployed youth mainly in the urban areas of the state.
• The scheme aims to provide employment to the weaker sections for nearly 100 days of the year.
• The youth will also be given skill training by the government of the state.
• With this scheme the government of the state intends to cover the people who are not covered under MGNREGA.

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LIST OF FAMOUS MONUMENTS IN THE WORLD

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Serial No.	Name of the Monument	Country
1	Abu Simbel	Egypt
2	Acropolis	Athens, Greece
3	Airavatesvara Temple	Tamil Nadu, India
4	Al Aqsa Mosque	Jerusalem, Israel
5	Amber Fort (or Amer Fort)	Jaipur, India
6	Angel Falls	Venezuela
7	Angkor Wat	Cambodia
8	Basilica of Bom Jesus	Bainguinim, India
9	Bhimbetka Rock Shelters	Madhya Pradesh, India
10	Big Ben	London
11	Blue Domed Church	Santorini, Greece
12	Borobudur	Indonesia
13	Bran Castle	Transylvania, Romania
14	Brandenburg Gate	Berlin, Germany
15	Brihadeeswarar Temple	Tamil Nadu, India
16	Burjal Arab Hotel	Dubai
17	Cape of Good Hope	South Africa
18	Charminar	Hyderabad, India
19	Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus	Mumbai, India
20	Chichen Itza	Mexico
21	Chittor Fort	Chittorgarh, India
22	Christ the Redeemer	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
23	Dilwara Temples	Mount Abu, India
24	Elephanta Caves	Mumbai, India
25	Ephesus	Turkey
26	Faisal Mosque	Islamabad, Pakistan
27	Forbidden City	Beijing, China
28	Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple	Tamil Nadu, India
29	Ġgantija	Malta
30	Gol Gumbaz	Bijapur, India
31	Golden Gate Bridge	San Francisco, California
32	Golden Temple	Amritsar, India
33	Gommateshwara Statue	Shravanabelagola, India
34	Gwalior Fort	Gwalior, India
35	Hagia Sophia	Istanbul, Turkey
36	Halebidu	Hassan, India
37	Hampi Monuments	Hampi, India
38	Hawa Mahal	Jaipur, India
39	Hoysala Temples	Hoysala, India
40	Humayun’s Tomb	Delhi, India
41	Iguazu Falls	Located on the border of Argentina and Brazil
42	India Gate	Delhi, India
43	Inukshuk	Canada
44	Jaisalmer Fort	Rajasthan, India
45	Jama Masjid	Delhi, India
46	Kamakhya Temple	Guwahati, India
47	Khajuraho Temples	Khajuraho, India
48	Kilimanjaro	Tanzania
49	Konark Sun Temple	Konark, India
50	Lascaux Cave Paintings	France
51	Loch Ness	Scotland
52	Lotus Temple	Delhi, India
53	Luxor Temple	Egypt
54	Machu Pichu	Peru
55	Mahabalipuram Group of Monuments	Mahabalipuram, India
56	Mahabodhi Temple	Bodh Gaya, India
57	Mehrangarh Fort	Jodhpur, India
58	Meenakshi Amman Temple	Madurai, India
59	Millau Bridge	France
60	Mont St Michel	France
61	Mount Eden Crater	New Zealand
62	Mount Fuji	Japan
63	Mount Rushmore	South Dakota
64	Mysore Palace	Karnataka, India
65	Nalanda	Bihar Sharif, India
66	Newgrange Tomb	Ireland
67	Pattadakal group of monuments	Pattadakal, India
68	Petra Rock-cut Architecture	Jordan
69	Pompeii	Italy
70	Potala Palace	Lhasa, Tibet
71	Pyramids of Giza	Giza, Egypt
72	Qutub Minar	Delhi, India
73	Red Fort	Delhi, India
74	Sagrada Familia	Barcelona, Spain
75	Sanchi Stupa	Madhya Pradesh
76	St Basil’s Cathedral	Moscow, Russia
77	St Peter’s Cathedral	Vatican City
78	Statue of Liberty	New York, USA
79	Statue of Unity	Gujarat, India
80	Stonehenge	England
81	Table Mountain	Cape Town, South Africa
82	Taj Mahal	Agra, India
83	The Blue Mosque	Istanbul
84	The Ciudad Mitaddel Mundo or Middle Earth	Ecuador
85	The Colosseum	Rome, Italy
86	The Eiffel Tower	Paris, France
87	The Empire State Building	New York
88	The Gateway of India	Mumbai, India
89	The Great Canyon	Arizona
90	The Great Sphinx	Giza, Egypt
91	The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall	China
92	The Sultan Ahmed Mosque	Turkey
93	The Wailing Wall	Jerusalem
94	Tilcho Lake	Nepal
95	Tower of Pisa	Italy
96	Twelve Apostles	Australia
97	Twyfelfontein (officially known as ǀUi-ǁAis) – Ancient Rock Engravings	Namibia
98	Uluru Sandstone	Australia
99	Venkateswara Temple	Tirumala
100	Victoria Falls	At the Border Between  Zambia and Zimbabwe
101	Victoria Memorial	Kolkata, India

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