Daily GK Updates - 20th February, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Government of India approves highway contracts worth Rs 6000 crore: These contracts are for six states-Punjab, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha.

2. Prasra Bharti signs historical MoU with EBC: It has signed a MoU with Empressa de Brazil Communicacao (EBC) in connection with several broadcast related activities including exchange of news, programmes and co-production.

3. Cipla acquires 2 US Generic Drug companies: Indian Pharmaceutical giant Cipla Ltd, has acquired two US Generic Drug Companies, InvaGen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Exelan Pharmaceutical Inc.

4. Uma Bharti to inaugurate Jal Manthan 2016: Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Uma Bharti will inaugurate ‘Jal Manthan-2’ on February 22, 2016. The main theme of two day event is ‘Integrated Approach for Sustainable Water Management’.

5. World Bank to support Rajasthan on energy reforms: It has decided to support Rajasthan Government on energy reforms. The decision was taken at a meeting between World Banks country director in India, Onno Ruhl and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje.

6. Odisha Government launched Pucca Ghar Yojana for construction workers: CM Naveen Patnaik announced that pucca houses will be built for 50,000 construction workers during the current financial year with a cost of Rs 500 crore.

7. First Phase of Kerala’s smart city project inaugurated.

8. K N Vyas appointed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Chief.

9. Nitin Kapadia appointed Head of Standard Chartered Securities.

10. Jharkhand State Budget 2016-17 presented by CM Raghubar Das in the legislative Assembly.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Skype launches Group Video Calls on IOS and Android Phones and Tablets: Microsoft has announced that they are going to begin rolling out an update to Skype for IOS and Android that will support group video calling.

2. Christine Lagarde appointed for second term as IMF Chief.

3. US launches anti-dumping probe on tyres form India, Sri Lanka.

4. Japan launched astronomy satellite ASTRO-H: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched astronomy satellite ASTRO-H from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Kagoshima Prefecture.

5. 6 Indian-American scientists selected for Presidential Early Career Awards: Shwetak Patel (University of Washington), Rahul Mangharam (University of Pennsylvania), Sachin Patel (Vanderbilt University Medical Centre), Milind Kulkarni (Purdue University) Vikram Shyam (NASA) and Kiran Musunuru (Harvard University) were named as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by President Barak Obama.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Aditya Birla, Idea form JV for Payments Bank: Aditya Birla Nuvo, one of the eleven entities that have received in-principle approvals from the RBI to set up payments bank.

SPORTS:

2. Indian Women Cricket Team won three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka, 3-0.

OBITUARIES:

3. Renowned Novelist Harper Lee passed away at the age of 89: She was the author of the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. She died in her home town, Alabama, US.