Daily GK Updates - 6th August, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 6TH AUGUST, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

I. LokSabha passes SC & ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill: The bill aims to prohibit the commission of offences against members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and provides for establishing special courts for trials of such offences and the rehabilitation of victims.

II. ISRO bags 1^st ever bunch of US launch orders: ISRO’s commercial venture Antrix Corporation recently signed contracts to launch nine micro and nano space-crafts separately as small co-passengers on the PSLV light-lifter during this year. This will be the first time that ISRO will launch US satellite.

III. TATA Sons to acquire stake in Titan for Rs.680 crore.

IV. LokSabha passed Delhi High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2015: The bill amends the Delhi High Court Act, 1966 and also increases the pecuniary jurisdiction of district courts from Rs. 20 Lakh to Rs. 2 crore.

V. Bharti Airtel launched 4G services in 296 towns across India: With this the largest telecom operatorof India became the 1^st company to roll out the pan-India 4G network which is built on an open partner ecosystem model.

VI. CBDT signed two unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements to usher in tax certainty: This includes for the first time an APA with ‘Rollback’ provision which means extending the tax certainty for nine financial years as against five years in APAs without ‘Rollback’.

VII. The Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi in New Delhi approved the proposal of hiving about 65000 towers of BSNL into a new company.

VIII. Murugappa Group signed agreement with Organo Corp to form Joint Venture: The water treatment engineering company Polutech Limited of Murugappa Group signed an agreement with Japan based Organo Corp to form a Joint Venture (JV) of an industrial water treatment requirement company.

IX. Haryana’s CM M L Khattar launched ‘Thari Pension Thare Pass’ scheme in Chandigarh: Khattar launched the scheme by pressing a button that allowed transfer of social security pensions of July amounting to about 119 crore rupees directly into the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries under the scheme.

X. Union Cabinet approved direct release of wages into bank accounts of MGNREGA workers: As per the scheme, the wage component of MGNREGA will be released following the State Employment Guarantee Fund window directly to the worker’s accounts.

XI. Bihar Legislative Assembly passed the Bihar Public Grievance Redressal Bill, 2015.

XII. Cabinet approves proposal to sign agreement with UNESCO: The Union Cabinet approved the signing of the agreement with UNESCO for establishment of a centre for World Natural Heritage Management and Training for Asia-Pacific region at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun as a category-2 centre of the UN body.

XIII. The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has appointed GirishSrivastava as its General Secretary.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

I.  Indian origin rugby coach Rahul Das named Personality of the Year in New Zealand.

II. NASA signed 490 million US dollars contract with Russia for international space station travel: NASA signed the contract with Russia’s space agency ROSCOSMOS for carrying the US astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

III.  Forbes released the World’s Highest-paid actors 2015 list: The list was topped by Robert Downey Jr, for the 3^rd time in a row. Jackie Chan was placed at the second place while Vin Diesel stood at the third spot. Amitabh Bachhan and Salman Khan stood at seventh position.

IV. India, Mozambique signed MoU to boost ties in Renewable Energy Sector: The agreement was signed during the official visit of Filipe Nyusi, President of Mozambique to India.

V. FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) and International Labour Organisation signed MoU to establish National Coordination Centre for SCORE Training services.

VI. 70^th Anniversary of Hiroshima bombing observed in many parts of the World on 6^th Aug with special vigil and peace marches.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I. South Africa’s Cameron Van Der Burgh breaks 50m Breaststroke Swimming world record at the World Swimming Championship.

AWARDS:

II. ZhannaNemtsova awarded with Poland’s Solidarity Prize 2015: The daughter of slain Russian politician Boris Nemtsov received the award for championing democracy and human rights.

OBITUARIES:

III. Canadian Fashion Designer Arnold Scaasi passed away.

IV. World War-2 hero Colonel (retd) Harwant Singh passed away.