Daily GK Updates - 15th February, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. President Pranab Mukherjee conferred Infosys Prize 2015: The awards were received by 6 winners in New Delhi namely Prof Umesh Waghmare, Prof Jonardan Ganeri, Dr Amit Sharma, Prof Mahajan Mj, Prof G Ravindra Kumar and Dr. Shrinath Raghavan. 

2. What, Why and How of India’s gravitational wave observatory initiative IndIGO: The term IndIGO or Indian Initiative in Gravitational Wave Observations was in news as international physicists announced detection of gravitational waves for the first time since their prediction by Albert Einstein in 1916.

3. 3 MoUs worth Rs 21000 crore signed on the 1^st day of Make in India Week: On the first day of the ‘Make in India’ week in Mumbai, three MoUs between Maharashtra government bodies and various companies for total investment worth Rs 21000 crore have been signed.

4. Devaraja Reddy elected as the new President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

5. Air Vice Marshal R D Mathur promoted to the rank of Air Marshal.

6. Tata Steel wins TIME’s best in class for manufacturing award.

7. Indian Government to distribute 14 crore Soil Health Cards by March 2017.

8. Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) launched mobile application ‘DIAL Cargo’ for cargo operations to reduce paperwork and track movement of shipments on real time basis.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 69^th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) announced: The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio won the best film award. Brooklyn was named the Outstanding British Film while Inside Out won the Best Animated Film. Amy won the award in the Best Documentary category. Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, Best Actress: Brie Larson, Best Director: Alejandro Inarritu.

2. 7^th India, Seychelles joint military exercise LAMITYE 2016 began in Seychelles.

3. Indian, Israeli firms join hands for defence cooperation: Around 25 Indian and 100 Israeli firms will come together for a unique business seminar on defence and security in Israel. The seminar will be organised jointly by SIBAT, the Israeli Defence Ministry, the International Defence Cooperation Directorate and Ficci will take place on 21-25 February 2016.

4. President Idriss Deby appoints MP Albert Pahimi Padacke as new PM of the central African country Chad.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. RBI allows 3% more of SLR for LCR: It allowed banks to qualify 10% of SLR bonds as Liquidity Coverage Ratio from 7% earlier, a requirement mandated under the Basel-III accounting norms from their SLR requirements.

SPORTS:

2. West Indies won maiden ICC U19 Cricket World Cup defeating India by 5 wickets.

3. India beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets in the third T20 to clinch the series 2-1.

4. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won 2016 St Petersburg Ladies Trophy: The victory was their 40^th consecutive win.

AWARDS:

5. ‘Nagaland is changing, but…’ Film on conservation efforts by Nagaland villagers won Golden Beaver Best Film Award at the 6^th National Science Film Award and Competition. 

6. Vidya Balan awarded with The Pride of Kerala Award.

OBITUARIES:

7. Indian Ambassador to Tajikistan Biraja Prasad passed away due to cardiac arrest.