Daily GK Updates - 11th August, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 11TH AUGUST, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.  Xiaomi ties up with Foxconn to ‘Make in India’: Chinese smartphone maker XiaomiInc has tied up with Foxconn to start assembling phones in India, seeking to cut costs and grab a bigger slice of the world’s third largest smartphone market. An assembly line in Andhra Pradesh will very shortly begin rolling out Xiaomi’s 1^st locally made smartphone, the Redmi2 Prime.

II.         Amitabh Bachchan signs up as Maharashtra’s Tiger Ambassador.

III.       ISRO commissions Titanium Sponge Plant in Kerala: ISRO has fully commissioned and started commercial production at the 1^st indigenous Titanium Sponge Plant at Chavara in Kerala. It is the only integrated plant in the world that undertakes all activities right from mining of Titanium minerals to manufacturing of aerospace grade Ti sponge under one roof.

IV.      Kerala Government announces State Film Awards 2014: The list of awardees was declared by the State Minister for Cinema T. Radhakrishnan. Best Actor award was given to N. Pauly while N. Naseem won the Best Actress award. Sanalkumar won the award for the Best Director.

V.      Kochi 1^st to join World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council: Kochi becomes the 1^st Indian city to be a member of Beijing headquartered, WTCF and join its league of leading tourism cities across the world.

VI.    The National Green Tribunal (NGT) headed by Chairperson Swatanter Kumar directed the UP Government to ensure that no unauthorised construction activities are permitted and no trees are cut in the eco-sensitive zone near Taj Mahal.

VII.    Rajasthan High Court banned Santhara ritual in Jain community: Pronouncing its judgement, the court considered the act as a criminal act amounting to suicide and directed to register cases under section 306 of IPC. The ritual was banned after a PIL filed by Human Rights Activist Nikhil Soni a decade ago.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.    10^th August: World Bio-Fuel Day: Every year 10^th August is observed as World Bio-Fuel Day in a bid to create awareness about no-fossil fuels. On this day in 1893, Sir Rudalph Diesel (inventor of diesel engine) for the 1^st time successfully ran mechanical engine with peanut oil.

II.     Google unveils restructuring under new parent company Alphabet Inc: Search engine giant Google Inc has announced formation of a new holding or parent company called Alphabet Inc to encompass its search engine unit and all other subsidiaries.

III.     India’s social security pact with Canada comes into force: According to the pact, the employees posted by Indian entities in Canada are not required to contribute towards Canada’s social security schemes for a period of 60 months and similar employees posted in India would enjoy the same benefit.

IV.     International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples observed on 9^th August: The theme of the day was ‘Post 2015 Agenda: Ensuring Indigenous peoples’ health and well-being. Also, ‘The state of the World’s Indigenous peoples, Volume 2’ was launched at the UN.

V.         India born SundarPichai has been named as the CEO of Google by the company’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.        Railway Finance Corporation to issue Rs 6000 crore tax-free bonds: Railway would utilize these funds to enhance acquisition of rolling stock such as engines, coaches and wagons for use by the Railways.

II.    ICICI Bank launches ‘Saral-Rural Housing Loan’ scheme for weaker section: Housing loan will be provided to the weaker section of the society including women at the ICICI Bank Base Rate which is currently at 9.70%. The loan will range from 5-15 lakh rupees for a period of 3-20 years and the loan can be up to 90% of the property value.

SPORTS:

III.     India tops Asian Youth Chess Championship with 17 medals: Bagging 5 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze out of the available 36 medals, Indian Juniors made their presence felt in the event organised by Korea Chess Federation.

IV.      Hockey India suspended Gurbaj Singh for 9 months for indulging in groupism and creating disharmony within the team.

AWARDS:

V.           SaniaMirza to be conferred Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna:Sania Mirza became only the 2^nd tennis player to be recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, while star cricketer Rohit Sharma and ace shooter Jitu Rai were among 17 named for this year’s Arjuna Awards.

VI.    President Pranab Mukherjee presented Saraswati Samman to Dr. M Veerappa  Moily: He received the award for his epic ‘Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam’ written in Kannada.

OBITUARIES:

VII.     Veteran Marathi stage actor Bhalchandra Pendharkar died.