Daily GK Updates - 15th October, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.      DRDO Missile Complex renamed as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex: The country’s prestigious DRDO Missile Complex in Hyderabad was renamed as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex on his birth anniversary on 15^th October 2015 by Defence Minister ManoharParrikar.

II.   President Pranab Mukherjee becomes 1^st Indian President to address Israeli Parliament Knesset: He addressed the Knesset as last leg of his official visit to three countries of west Asia viz. Jordan, Palestine and Israel.

III.      Union Cabinet gives nod to RCE for Kaladan Multi Modal Project in Myanmar: The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of 2904 crore rupees for the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project in Myanmar.

IV.    Union Cabinet approved MoU with Mozambique for cooperation in Renewable Energy: The MoU aims at establishing a cooperative institutional relationship to encourage and promote technical bilateral cooperation, investment promotion and partnership on new and renewable energy issues on the basis of mutual benefit, equality and reciprocity.

V.        Tata Housing tied-up with Facebook to sell its affordable homes online: Real Estate developer Tata Housing tied-up with social networking firm Facebook to sell its affordable homes online. For this, Tata Housing launched the new campaign titled Social Sell on Facebook.

VI.      Uttar Pradesh Government launched mobile app mSehat for health workers: The application was developed by Kellton Tech, a company that was selected as the technology partner for the initiative by State Innovations in Family Planning Services Agency (SIFPSA).

VII.  Government to declassify Netaji files from January 23: PM Modi has announced that the process of declassification of files relating to Netaji will begin on 23^rd January 2016, the birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose.

VIII. Union Cabinet approved MoU between India-Taipei Association (ITA) in Taipei and Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) in India: The MoU was signed for the cooperation in the field of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).

IX.   Kundhavi Kadiresan appointed as Food and Agriculture Organisation Assistant Director General.

X.     Union Government approved performance-linked payment for CIL Officers: It gave a green signal to payment of Performance Related Pay (PRP) to executives and non-unionised supervisors of Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  

I.          India, US and Japan navies kick off 2015 Malabar Naval Exercise: The navies have started 2015 Malabar Naval Exercise of the eastern coast in Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.

II.  Dell Inc acquired EMC Corporation for 67 billion USD: Dell Inc and EMC Corporation signed a definitive agreement under which Dell, together with its owners will acquire EMC Corporation, while maintaining VMware as a publicly-traded company. VMware Inc is a subsidiary of EMC Corporation.

III.   Portugal became the 1^st European country to sign the MoU on establishment of Nalanda University: It was signed in New Delhi by Portugese ambassador to India Ana Martinho and Dr JitendraNathMisra, the ambassador of India to Portugal.

IV.  India and Israel signed pacts on Double Taxation Avoidance and Cultural Exchange: The agreements were inked after President Pranab Mukherjee, who was in Jerusalem on the final leg of his tri-nation tour to West Asia, held a meeting with his Israeli counterpart ReuvenRivlin.

V.  Iran’s Parliament, Majlis approved Vienna Agreement on Iran Nuclear Programme: Ending a 12-year stand-off, the agreement was signed by Iran and P5+1 countries comprising of United States, UK, Russia, China, France and Germany on 14^th July 2015. With this, the agreement gives Iran to develop its nuclear programme for peaceful purposes; on the other hand it lifts the economic sanctions on Iran.

VI.         Omid Kordestani appointed as Executive Chairman of Twitter.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  

I.           RBI data shows bank credit growth at 9.4%: Credit in banking system continues to grow at a muted pace. As per the RBI data, credit in the system grew by 9.4% by October 2015.

AWARDS:

II.  Kailash Satyarthi selected for 2015 Harvard Humanitarian of the Year Award: Nobel Peace laureate KailashSatyarthi has been selected for the prestigious 2015 Harvard Humanitarian of the Year Award. He has been awarded this award in recognition for championing the cause of child reform and ending all forms of violence against children.

III. Salisbury University of US honoured Tibetan PM LobsangSangay with Presidential Medal for Promoting peace.