Daily GK Updates - 2nd May, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. PM Modi launches country’s first solar-powered e-boats in Varanasi: He launched the country’s first solar powered e-boats at the AssiGhat in the river Ganga, Varanasi.

2. PM Modi launched PradhanMantriUjjwalaYojana: The scheme was launched at Ballia in Uttar Pradesh. It aims to provide cooking gas connections to five crore below poverty line beneficiaries, especially women, over the next three years.

3. EPFO launches One Employee-One EPF Account drive: The initiative of launching the Mission consolidation One Member One EPF Account is a step towards encouraging EPF members to access enhanced IT enabled services through Universal Account Number that are linked with Aadhaar.

4. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia have now become the classical languages of India.

5. India and New Zealand sign agreement for direct Air Service: Both the countries signed a bilateral air service agreement that would facilitate the operation of direct flights between the two countries. The agreement was signed by President Pranab Mukherjee and PM of New Zealand John Key.

6. Paytm ties up with Wipro for payments bank.

7. Airtel and GBI announce partnership for West Asia: Airtel, the enterprise arm of BhartiAirtel and networking player GBI has announced the partnership to increase its reach in West Asian countries.

8. Reliance Defence gets 15 new defence licenses.

9. Jammu and Kashmir Government signs MoU with IIT Delhi to set up IIT in Jammu.

10. Ajay Mittal takes charge as new Information and Broadcasting Secretary.

11. Indian Railways signed MoU with Haryana and Punjab to plant trees alongside Railway tracks.

12. IISc Professor S Ramaswamy elected as the Fellow of the Royal Society.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Wipro inaugurates Saudi’s 1^st all-women IT park: IT Service Company Wipro has inaugurated Saudi Arabia’s first all women business and Technology Park at the Princess Nourah Bint Andulrahman University in Riyadh.

2. International Labour Day observed across the world on May 1, 2016: The theme for this year was ‘Celebrating the international labour movement.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. NABARD partners with Germany for food security initiative: It entered into collaboration with the German government for a special programme on ‘Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security’.

SPORTS:

2. Mercedes driver NicoRoseberg won Russian Grand Prix held at Sochi.

AWARDS:

3. Indian-American journalist, Neela Banerjee received the Edgar A. Poe Award and was felicitated by US President Barack Obama.