Daily GK Updates - 12th January, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, the Vishakhapatnam steel plant, has signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh Government for an investment of around Rs 38500 crore in various projects.

2. Ashish Saraf appointed as vice-president of Airbus India.

3. Ansari dedicates to the nation Kerala’s first film institute: Vice-President Hamid Ansari dedicated to the nation the K R Narayanan Institute of Visual Sciences and Arts, a first of its kind initiative of Kerala government at nearby Thekkumithala.

4. BHEL commissions 520 MW thermal power unit in Andhra Pradesh: The unit has been commissioned at the 2x520 MW Vizag Thermal Power Project of Hinduja National Power Company Limited (HNPCL), Vishakhapatnam.

5. Mizoram celebrated ‘Missionary Day’ on 11 January: Missionary Day, anniversary of the arrival of two Welsh Christian missionaries, was observed and celebrated across the Christian-dominated north eastern state of Mizoram.

6. Union Railway Ministry inaugurated Implementation of E-enabled Track Management System: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated implementation of E-enabled Track Management System and Mobile Application of TMS on Indian Railway at Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.

7. ADB to fund $840-m corridor between Vizag and Chennai: The Asian Development Bank will extend a $625 million loan to the proposed $840 million Vishakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, according to Teresa Kho, Country Director-India, ADB.

8. Constro 2016 to focus on ‘Smart City’ concept: The 2016 edition of the Constro exhibition will be held in Pune from January 14-17 and will focus on the Smart City concept. In view of the Government’s mission of creating 100 smart cities, ‘Constro 2016’ will focus on two themes: ‘Emerging Technologies for Smart City and Skill Development’.

9. Telangana becomes first state to make gender education compulsory at Graduate level: In this regard, the state introduced a bilingual textbook titled, Towards a World of Equals.

10. Kullu Folk Dance finds place in Guinness Book of World Records: The colourful Kullu folk dance (Nati), which saw participation of 20,000 dancers during Kullu Dussehra festival has entered the Guinness book of world records.

11. PwC India sets up centre of excellence for forensics in Hyderbad.

12. Andhra Pradesh signs MoU worth of Rs 5,242 crore in Tourism and Hospitality.

13. CIRB became India’s second centre to produce to cloned buffalo: Scientists at Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) in Hisar claimed to have successfully produced a cloned buffalo offspring ‘Cirb Gaurav’.

14. Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off Lokmanya Tilak-Kazipet Anandwan Express.

15. National Youth Day observed on 12 January to mark birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand.

16. Bharthi Sihag assumes additional charge of NMDC Chairman.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Indian origin girl wins Hindi Literary Award in Singapore: Samia Khan, a nine-year old Indian origin girl in Singapore has won the first prize for writing a story in Hindi in a literary competition at the inaugural ‘Hindi Prerna Awards’.

2. Illumina, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos launched start-up GRAIL to develop blood-based cancer tests: Illumina, the world’s largest DNA sequencing company, announced the launch of the start-up named GRAIL to develop blood-based cancer-tests.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. HDFC Life has sets up subsidiary at Dubai International Finance Centre: It has set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) called the ‘HDFC International Life and Re Company Ltd (HILRCL0 with an initial capital outlay of $12.33 million.

2. Binny Bansal appointed as new CEO of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal as Executive Chairman.

3. SBI to monetise non-crore assets, list few units over three years.

SPORTS:

4. Stephen Fleming named coach of Pune IPL Team.

5. Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi wins Ballon d’Or award for world’s best player for fifth time.

AWARDS:

6. EPFO bags National Award on e-Governance: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has won the National Award on e-Governance 2015-16 for launching the Universal Account Number (UAN).

OBITUARIES:

7. British Singer David Bowie died at the age of 69.