Daily GK Updates - 9th July, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 9TH JULY, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

I. Guidelines for Border Area Development Programme released:Department of Border Management of the Ministry of Home Affairs issued the guidelines in consultation with all the stake holders viz. concerned ministries/departments of Government of India, state governments implementing the BADP, Border Guarding Forces and NITI Ayog.

II. Operation smile helps trace 44 missing children in Uttarakhand: Operation smile, a unique initiative of the Ghaziabad police was able to trace at least 44 missing children from various parts of the state within a week.

III. S N Sahai appointed as Home Secretary of Delhi.

IV. Electronic Nose for environmental monitoring jointly developed by CSIR-NEERI and CDAC: An E-Nose was jointly developed by Nagpur based National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute of CSIR and Centre for Advanced Computing (C-DAC). It will help monitor the surrounding environment to sniff out dangerous gases.

V. Union Railway Ministry launched Mobile ticketing app for suburban commuters: The app was launched for the unreserved tickets that will cover 35 stations between the 123 km long Churchgate-Dhauroad suburban section in Western Railway.

VI. Indian Army dedicates PrernaSthal at Hussainiwala to the nation: The commemorative was built to honour the sacrifice of soldiers of India. The PrernaSthal is located at the gateway of the memorial to ShaheedBhagat Singh at Hussainiwala, a village in Firozpur district of Punjab.

VII. Climate Change was announced as the theme of 2015 Science Express: The announcement was made during the 1^st meeting of Science Express Climate Change Special chaired by Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr.Harshvardhan in New Delhi.

VIII. eMudra launches eSign Services: eMudra Limited, a leading certifying firm in the country for digital signatures launched 1^st of its kind eSign services as a part of the Digital India Vision.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

I. Russian Investment Fund to set up joint mechanism for financing infrastructure in BRICS countries: Russian direct Investment Fund (RDIF) signed agreements for equity investments in infrastructure projects in BRICS countries. The agreement was signed during the BRICS Summit in Ufa.

II. World Health Organisation (WHO) released Global Tobacco Epidemic 2015 report: According to the report there is notable progress in global tobacco controlsince the publication of Global Tobacco Epidemic Report 2013. The focus of this report is on ‘R’ of MPOWER measure which stands for ‘Raise Taxes on Tobacco’

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

I.   BRICS Central Banks sign Forex reserves pool pact: The pool would be drawn on by the central banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa whenever they suffered a shortage of dollar liquidity, helping them maintain financial stability. India will contribute $18 billion to BRICS $100 billion foreign exchange reserves pool.

II.  Sriram  Kalyanaraman appointed as MD and CEO OF National Housing Bank.

III. Essar Oil signs pact to sell 49% stake to Russia’s Rosneft.

IV. Satish Pillai appointed as the new MD and CEO of CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau of India Ltd): Pillai succeeds ArunThukral who retires this year after a decade.

SPORTS:

V. Lord Kamlesh Patel becomes 1^st British-Asian appointee to England and Wales Cricket Board: He was appointed as independent member of the board.

VI. Wimbledon 2015 Semi Finals:  Rodger Federer (Switzerland) to take on Andy Murray (GBR).Novak Djokovic (Serbia) to take on Richard Gasquet (France).

VII. Union Sports Ministry constituted AshwiniNachappa committee to study the status of Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centers: The committee will be headed by former athlete AshwiniNachappa and will include PhullelaGopichand as a member among others.

VIII. Indian Athletes win more than 150 medals at World Police & Fire Games: Hosts USA won by far the most medals and Canada finished second.