Daily GK Updates - 29th October, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

  

I.    Aruna Sundarajan appointed as new Steel Secretary: She has been appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Steel.

II.        Govt. appoints 5 member committee to review Research Grants offered by UGC: The Review Committee will submit its report to the Ministry by December 2015. The ministry has also directed the UGC not to implement its decision to discontinue the non-NET fellowships and continue all existing fellowships.

III.    India, France ink MoU on preserving Written Heritage at National Library in Kolkata:Both the countries have signed a MoU to conserve, develop and publicize written heritage at the National Library in Kolkata.

IV.        MP Government announces 33 percent quota in Government jobs.

V.      Najib Shah appointed as Chairman of CBEC: He has been appointed as the Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs.

VI.     IBM and TASK signed MoU to ensure cloud technology in Telangana colleges: The agreement aims at making the IBM cloud available to colleges in Telangana for faculty and students to utilize it for practicals and project work.

VII.   Supreme Court reinforced its earlier view of No Reservation in Super Speciality Courses in Medicine.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.  Mahatma, Modi among most admired globally: WEF Survey: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the 10^th most admired personality globally, as per a new survey by the World Economic Forum (WEF) that has ranked late South African President Nelson Mandela on the top.  Mahatma Gandhi is ranked 4^th most admired leader.

II.     Asia Pacific Region most disaster prone part of the world, says UN report: The Asia-Pacific region is the most disaster prone part of the world as it had suffered around 1625 disasters in the decade through 2014. It was revealed in recently released 2015 United Nations Asia-Pacific Disaster Report.

III.   UNGA members voted a resolution condemning US embargo on Cuba: United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly approved the resolution condemning an economic embargo imposed by the US on Cuba. It stated that existence of such restrictions undermines multilateralism and credibility of the UN.

IV.  Freedom on the Net 2015 Report released: Freedom House, a non-government watchdog, released the report on the theme-Privatizing Censorship, Eroding Privacy. As per the report, global online freedom declined for a 5^th consecutive year as governments, including some advanced democracies, continue to clamp down dissidents using social media platforms on the internet. With respect to India, the report found that freedom on the internet is partly free with a total score of 40 on a 0 to 100 scale.

V.       Nepal signed MoU with China to ease fuel crisis: Nepal signed the MoU with China in order to ease fuel crisis in the country by importing all kinds of fuel. This will be the 1^st time that China is commercially supplying petroleum to Nepal.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I.          Hockey India signed three years partnership with Sports Authority of India: As per the terms of agreement, SAI will promote hockey, which is amongst the world’s most popular sports, as a tool for youth development and excellence in sports.

II.   Sarbhanand Sonowal inaugurated Games Secretariat of 12^th SAF Games in Shillong: The secretariat would oversee the smooth functioning of the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games 2016.