Daily GK Updates - 15th December, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Maharashtra Government constituted a task force for setting up an IFSC in Mumbai: The task force for setting up an International Financial Services Centre will be headed by Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha.

2. Mahindra Group acquired Italian Auto design firm Pininfarina: Tech Mahindra and Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, part of the Mahindra Group acquired Italian car designer Pininfarina SpA for 165 million US Dollars in an all-cash deal. Pininfarina is well known designing cars for Ferrari, Maserati, Rolls-Royce and Cadillac.

3. Union Government appointed L Narasimha Reddy to head Judicial Committee on OROP: The committee has been given a six month deadline for submission of its recommendations. It may give interim reports to the government on any of the matters related to its terms of reference.

4. Operation Smile-II to start from January 1, 2016: Operation Smile-II is a campaign to rescue/rehabilitate the missing children. It is a follow up of the exercise Operation Smile that helped in rescuing and rehabilitating 9146 missing children.

5. Gift City Phase-2 work launched: Gujarat International Finance Tech-City announced the launch of phase 2 development, which will be focused on International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) to be set up in GIFT SEZ. GIFT IFSC has already made allotment to around 20 institutions including leading names such as YES Bank, SBI, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

6. Infosys invests USD 3 million in sports startup WHOOP: WHOOP’s system includes a device worn by athletes on their wrist that continuously measures key strain and recovery variables and actionable analytics powered by proprietary algorithms that generate intensity and recovery scores.

7. Rajasthan first to submit smart city plan: Rajasthan has become the first state to submit smart city action plan to the Urban Development Ministry.

8. Lok Sabha passed Atomic Energy (Amendment) Bill 2015: The bill seeks to overcome difficulties encountered in the setting up of new nuclear projects and enhancement of nuclear power generation.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. United Nations Human Development Report 2015 released: The report was released with the title ‘Work for Human Development in Ethiopia’. As per the report, 2 billion people lifted out of low human development in the last 25 years. India has been ranked 130th out of 188 countries.

2. Indian-origin politician Pravin Gordhan becomes South Africa’s Finance Minister.

3. Saudi Arabia launched a 34-nation Islamic Military Coalition to counter terrorism: It was established in pursuance of the principles and objectives of the charter of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which calls for member states to cooperate to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt are also a part of the coalition.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. World Bank released Shock Waves: Managing the Impacts of Climate Change on Poverty report: The report examines the two-way relation between climate change and poverty and concludes that climate change is one of the primary contributing factors for growing poverty scenario across the world.

2. World Bank Group, FIRST Initiative launched Principles for Public Credit Guarantee Schemes: The principles provide a generally accepted set of good practices that can serve as a global reference for the design, execution and evaluation of public CGSs that serve small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

SPORTS:

3. Anirban Lahiri wins Order of Merit crown of Asian Tour: India’s star Golfer Anirban Lahiri has won the coveted Order of Merit crown of Asian Tour for the year 2015.

AWARDS:

4. West Bengal Government honoured Bappi Lahiri and Kumar Sanu with Lifetime Achievement Awards: State CM Mamata Banerjee handed over the awards at the inauguration of the Annual Bangla Sangeet Mela. Besides, Bollywood musician Shantanu Moitra was awarded with the Sangeet Mahasamman Award.

5. Renowned Violinist Itzhak Perlman won 2016 Genesis Prize: Renowned Israeli-US violinist Itzhak Perlman was announced as the 2016 Genesis Prize laureate for his accomplishments as a musician, teacher and advocate for people with disabilities. He will receive the award from Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu.