Daily GK Updates - 17th August, 2015

Daily gk updates - 17th august, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.     President Pranab Mukherjee approved 67 Gallantry Awards: The President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces Pranab Mukherjee approved 67 gallantry awards to armed forces personnel and members of paramilitary forces on the eve India’s 69^th Independence Day celebrations.

II.      Housing.com acquired Bengaluru based HomeBuy360: Mumbai based real estate listing portal Housing.com acquired Bengaluru based customer relationship management software company HomeBuy360 in all cash deal of 2 million USD.

III.       Odisha Government approved Fisheries Policy 2015: The policy aims at increasing the productivity and production of fish from Island, brackish water and marine resources.

IV.     Union Government appointment two private sector professionals to head BoB, Canara Bank: Union Government appointed private sector professionals, namely PS Jayakumar and Rakesh Kumar as MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank respectively.

V.            Ajith Kumar Seth appointed as Chairman of Public Enterprise Selection Board.

VI.    Odisha Government approved State Capital Region Improvement of Power System Scheme: The scheme aims to provide 24x7 quality power supplies to people in and around the state capital of Bhubaneshwar.

VII.  Taj Mahal becomes 1^st monument in the World to have a twitter account: The monument’s official twitter handle @TajMahal was launched by UP CM Akhilesh Yadav on the eve of 69^th Independence Day in Lucknow.

VIII.  Birla Corporation to acquire Lafarge’s two Indian units for Rs 5000 crore: It has signed an agreement with French-based Lafarge Group to acquire its Jojobera unit in Jharkhand and Sonadih in Chattisgarh for a sum of Rs. 5000 crore.

IX.       Hero Cycles acquires leading UK based Avocet Sports.

X.         MHA to setup pan-India National Fingerprint Database: This will aid in the speedy identification of criminals and identification of crimes across the country.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.       India and Bangladesh signed MoU to tackle the menace of fake Indian currency notes: The MoU was signed during a maiden meeting of the Joint Task Force on Fake Currency Notes in Dhaka.

II.        India- US combined Military Training Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2015 to be held from Sep 9-23.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.         HDFC to sell its 9% stake in HDFC Life to JV partner Standard Life for Rs 1700 crore.

SPORTS:

II.       World Badminton Championship: Saina became 1^st Indian shuttler to win silver medal: India’s ace shuttlerSainaNehwal became the 1^st Indian to win silver in the World Badminton Championship. She lost to Spain’s Carolina Marin in the final held at Jakarta, Indonesia.

III.       Andy Murray won Rogers Cup Masters tournament: Briton Andy Murray won the Rogers Cup Masters tournament in Montreal, Canada. In the title clash, Murray defeated world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. It was Murray’s 11^th Masters Title.

IV.     Indian Men’s Hockey team won European series against Spain: The three match series of the European Tour 2-1 after registering 2^nd win in the third and final match of the series.

AWARDS:

  V.   Mustansir Barma won 2015 Gujar Mal Modi award for innovative science and technology: He was awarded for his commendable contribution in the field of Science and Technology.