Daily GK Updates - 15th September, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Gujarat tops the list of "ease of doing business in India": World Bank Report: The World Bank report titled Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms was released in New Delhi under the aegis of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which placed Gujarat at the top position in the World Bank’s 1^st ever ranking of states on the ease of doing business in India.

II.            200 people in Sastamnada village in Kerala pledge organs for donation: The Kerala Network of Organ Sharing (KNOS) was launched by the department of Health as registry. Now, 200 people will give letters of intent to donate their organs to KNOS.

III.            IFC’s ‘Suryoday’ in rural Rajasthan: IFC’s Lighting India program that aims to provide safe, affordable and quality solar lights to people with limited or no access to electricity, is increasing the availability of solar products in rural parts of Rajasthan through a consumer awareness campaign, ‘Suryoday’.

IV.            Government says 50 days additional work under MGNREGA in drought hit areas: The centre decided to provide additional 50 days of work in drought hit areas under the MGNREGA scheme to provide relief to farmers in view of deficit monsoon in various parts of the country.

V.            SpiceJet became the first-ever airline to make night landing at Port Blair’s Veer Savarkar Airport.

VI.            Union Government formed Mihir Shah Committee on restructuring water agencies: The committee was mandated to suggest ways for optimal development of water resources in the country.

VII.            India-Maldives joint military training exercise EKUVERIN 2015 held in Kerala: It was held at the Pangode Military Station in Thiruvanathpuram district of Kerala from 31^st Aug to 13^th September. The exercise saw the participation of the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Forces.

VIII.            The Supreme Court sought the Union Government’s response on pleas made by several state governments for the recall of the ban on publishing photographs of Chief Ministers and bureaucrats in government advertisements.

IX.            Sports Ministry recognised the Indian Kalarippayattu Federation (IKF) as Regional Sports Federation.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.            Malcum Turnbull sworn in as Australia’s new Prime Minister: The 60-year old former investment banker unseated Tony Abott as the leader of the ruling Liberal-National coalition government in a party rebellion, as voter surveys pointed to defeat for the ruling Liberal-National coalition at the federal elections due next year. He is Australia’s 29^th Prime Minister and also 4^th in the span of just over two years.

II.            Indian origin Ashok Sridharan becomes Mayor of Germany’s Bonn city: Ashok Sridharan, a mayoral candidate of Chancellor Angela Merkel-led Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has comprehensively won the election in Bonn, becoming the 1^st person of Indian origin to occupy the Mayor’s office in a major German city.

III.            Nepal Constituent Assembly rejected proposal for Hindu nation in favour of secularism: It has rejected the proposal of Pro-Hindu National Democratic Party to declare Nepal a Hindu state and reaffirmed to remain secular.

IV.            UNGA adopted document of Advancing Security Council Reforms: In a draft decision, the body decided to reaffirm its central role on the question of equitable representation on an increase in the membership of the Security Council and other related matters.

V.            UN adopted resolution proclaiming 9 December as International Genocide Commemoration Day.

VI.            QS World University Rankings 2015-16 released; IISc-B and IIT-D figured in top 200: While MIT of the USA was adjudged as the top university in the world, the Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi were ranked 147^th and 149^th respectively.

VII.            We Care Solar have won $1 million ‘Powering the future we want’ grant of the United States.

 OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.            SBI Card launches credit card for online shopping: SBI Card, a leading credit card issuer announced a strategic partnership with 7 of India’s biggest e-commerce players for its newest offering, the SimplyCLICK SBI Card. This is billed as the 1^st ever credit card that is focused on online shopping across diverse platforms. For this, SBI has partnered with Amazon India, BookMyShow, Cleartrip, Fabfurnish, Foodpanda, LensKart and Ola Cabs.

II.            RBI and Nepal Rashtra Bank ink MoU for supervisory information exchange: By signing the MoU, RBI is seeking to promote greater co-operation and share supervisory information among the authorities.

III.            FreeCharge partners Yes Bank, FinoPayTech to launch wallet solution: Snapdeal-owned mobile transaction platform FreeCharge has partnered with Yes Bank and payment bank licensee FinoPayTech to launch the service.

IV.            Paytm introduces cashless payments in educational institutions: It has launched cashless payments in educational institutions, which will enable users to pay school fees and dues, cafeteria bill, buy uniforms, books and merchandise.

V.            Mahindra Group enters e-commerce space, launches M2ALL.com: This e-marketplace, to begin with, will offer a range of Mahindra products and services and has already started taking bookings for newly launched Mahindra TUV 300, the compact sports utility vehicle from the Mahindra stable.

OBITUARIES:

 VI.            Brian Close, former England and Yorkshire captain dies at the age of 84.

VII.            Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Frank D Gilroy died at the age of 89.