Daily GK Updates - 29th December, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Union Government links LPG subsidy to income: Union Government has decided to link LPG subsidy to income of consumers in order to ensure that the subsidy benefits go to the targeted group. Henceforth, the LPG subsidy will not be available to LPG consumers if the consumer or his/her spouse has taxable income of more than ten lakh rupees. 

2. Ministry of Women and Child Development launches e-office: Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has introduced e-office, an initiative which will help provide efficient services to the people by digitizing more than 12000 files. It was launched by WCD minister Maneka Gandhi. Various modules of this e-office are Knowledge Management System, File Management System, Leave Management System and Tour Management System.

3. 18^th India-Iran Joint Commission meeting held in New Delhi: The session was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Ali Tayebnia, Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance of Iran. There were discussion about progress in trade and economic cooperation, possibilities in cooperation in railways. India stressed that connectivity afforded by Indian participation in Chahabar Port will facilitate linking Afghanistan and Central Asia with India.

4. Reports of Vijay Kelkar Committee on Revisiting & Revitalizing PPP Model released: The 9-member committee was headed by Former Finance Secretary Vijay Kelkar. The committee recognised the PPP Model in infrastructure as a valuable instrument to speed up infrastructure development in India.

5. Amitabh Kant got additional charge of CEO of NITI Ayog: The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet gave Amitabh Kant the additional responsibility of being CEO of NITI Ayog. Kant will replace incumbent Sindhushree Khullar who is set to retire on 31^st December 2015.

6. Bharat Petroleum commissioned Crude Distillation unit in Mumbai: It commissioned a new 6-million tonne Crude Distillation Unit at its Mumbai refinery, which will take the capacity of its oldest facility to 12 million tonne per annum.

7. Civil Aviation Ministry gave clearance for four Greenfield airports: The three airports will be located in Andhra Pradesh and one international airport at Dholera, Gujarat.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. China launched Gaofen-4 dual use geostationary satellite: It successfully launched Gaofen-4 Earth observation satellite towards a geostationary orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. Launched as a part of the China High-resolution Earth Observation System (CHEOS), Gaofen-4 can see an oil tanker on the sea with a huge CMOS camera.

2. Guinea free of Ebola, WHO announced: Guinea was declared Ebola free by the World Health Organisation two years after the virus’ deadliest-ever outbreak began in the country, killing more than 11000 people in the West African region.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Reserve Bank of India released report of Deepak Mohanty Committee on Medium-term Path on Financial Inclusion: The 14-member committee headed by RBI Executive Director Deepak Mohanty with an objective of working out a medium-term measurable action plan for financial inclusion.

2. HDFC Bank cuts lending rate by 0.05%.

SPORTS:

3. Gujarat clinched maiden Vijay Hazare trophy by defeating Delhi by 139 runs in the final played M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru: This was the 14^th season of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

OBITUARIES:

4. Oscar winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler passed away in California (US) at the age of 93: He had penned the script for the first Star Trek episode, The Man Trap.

5. Former Army Chief O P Malhotra died at the age of 93.