Daily GK Updates - 16th March, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 7^th Governing Board Meeting of Indo-German Science and Technology Centre held in New Delhi: The meeting was chaired by Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences. During the meeting he highlighted the achievements and progress of IGSTC in accelerating the bilateral Science and Technologies Collaboration.

2. Singareni 600 MW power unit synchronised in Telangana.

3. MoU signed between Ministry of Tourism and Ecotourism Society of India for Responsible and Sustainable Tourism.

4. Union Government and Jammu & Kashmir Government signed MoU on UDAY Scheme: J&K will be the 9^th state to join the scheme. 

5. Lok Sabha passed Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015: The bill aims at protecting the interests of the large number of aspiring house buyers and enhances the credibility of construction industry. It was earlier passed by Rajya Sabha on March 10.

6. Reliance Industries and Tata Motors among top 10 sustainable firms: Sustainable Plus survey.

7. Lok Sabha passed Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2016: The proposal relates to the inclusion of certain communities, modification and removal of area restriction in respect of certain communities and exclusion of certain communities in the case of State of Odisha.

8. India’s first education focused accelerator programme Edugild started at MIT, Pune.

9. Maharashtra Assembly passed amendment to Public Trusts Act, 1950: The bill provides for de-registration of long-defunct trusts among other things.

10. Punjab passed Punjab Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal land (Transfer of Proprietary Right) Bill, 2016: The bill is an attempt to divest its neighbouring states from getting share from Punjab’s river waters.

11. Career Guidance Counselling Centres launched in Delhi to improve employment opportunities for women.

12. Union Government imposed anti-dumping duty on plastic-processing imports.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. March 15 celebrated as World Consumer Rights Day across the world: The theme for this year was ‘Antibiotics off the menu’.

2. World Kidney Day observed on 16^th March 2016 across the world with theme ‘Kidney disease and Children. Act early to prevent it’.

3. 90% of domestic workers excluded from Social Protection: It was revealed by the International Labour Organisation in its Social Protection Paper 16 entitled Social Protection for Domestic Workers: Key Policy Trends and statistics.

4. Glenmark Pharma received final approval from US Food and Drug Administration for Frovatriptan Succinate tablets for Migraine.

5. My Biosphere, My Future campaign launched in Lima.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. ICICI Bank launched NFC-based mobile payment solution Touch & Pay: This solution is based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and will enable the bank’s customers to make secure contactless payments at retail stores using smartphones.

SPORTS:

2. UN suspended Maria Sharapova as goodwill brand ambassador after doping allegations.

AWARDS:

3. India-based software engineer Abdulqadir Rashik won first prize in UN #LinksSDGs Data Visualisation Challenge

4. Priyanka Kakodar and Raksha Kumar won Chameli Devi Jain Award for their work that clubs social concern and compassion with pioneering reportage and analytical skills. 

BOOKS AND AUTHORS:

5. Book titled ‘Gandhi: An illustrated Biography’ authored by Pramod Kapoor was in news recently.