Daily GK Updates - 17th October,2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.       M K Surana appointed as new HPCL Chairman.

II.        Civil Aviation Minister inaugurates International Civil Helicopters Conclave 2015: Union Minister of Civil Aviation P Ashok GajapathiRaju inaugurated the International Civil Helicopters Conclave 2015 in New Delhi.

III.   G R Chandak appointed as Director of Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderbad, under the Department of Biotechnology.

IV.    Association for Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), the industry body for mutual funds, elected Leo Puri of UTI AMC as its new chairman and retained A Balasubramanian as Vice-chairman.

V.     Mumbai Metro Users can now recharge their smartcards on Paytm: Paytm, a leading mobile commerce platform, has tied up with the Mumbai metro to offer online ticketing and recharges on the ‘Paytm platform’.

VI.      PM Modi says India proud to host India-Africa Summit: Ahead of the India-Africa summit, he said India was proud to host the event which reflects a desire by the two sides to engage more intensively for better future. Representatives of 54 African Nations including the heads of state and government of around 40 countries and powerful African Union are expected to participate in the four day India-Africa Summit beginning on October 26.

VII. Aditya Birla Group launched online fashion store Abof.com.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.     Nepal elects first woman as Parliament Speaker: Nepalese lawmakers elected the country’s 1^st woman speaker of the parliament following formation of a new government after promulgation of the constitution. Parliament unanimously elected UCPN-Maoist lawmaker OnsariGhartiMagar as the speaker of the house.

II.      China launches new communication satellite for HK firm: China put into orbit a new communication satellite APSTAR-9 in a commercial mission by the Long March-3B carrier rocket for the Hong Kong based APT Satellite Company Ltd.

III.   Pakistan and Russia signed agreement to build 1100 km Gas pipeline: The pipeline will be stretching from Karachi on Arabian Sea to the eastern city of Lahore.

IV.  China and Indonesia signed 5.5 billion USD deal to build high-speed railway in Indonesia: The project will be implemented by state-owned China Railway International and a consortium of Indonesian State Companies.

V.    International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Observed globally: It was observed on 17^th October 2015 with a theme ‘Building a sustainable future: Coming together to end poverty and discrimination’.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.        RBI formed Financial Inclusion Fund with 2000 crore rupees corpus: The fund was formed by merging the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund (FITF). The new FIF will be administered by the reconstituted Advisory Board constituted by Union Government and will be maintained by NABARD.

SPORTS:

II.       Indian lifters sweep team trophies at Commonwealth Championship: India bagged top honours in senior men, senior women, junior men, junior women and youth girls’ categories, while finishing runners-up in the youth boys division.

AWARDS:

VI.   Shah Rukh Khan receives honorary doctorate from Edinburgh University: Shah Rukh Khan received the degree of Doctor HonorisCausa from the University Chancellor HRH The Princess Royal in Edinburgh.

VII. Bank of Baroda has conferred poet, lyricist and advertising guru Prasoon Joshi with Maharaja SayajiraoBhashaSamman.

OBITUARIES:

   I.     Admiral RadhakrishnaHariramTahiliani (Retd) passed away at the age of 85. He served as the 11^th Chief of Naval Staff from Dec 1984 to ovember 1987.