Daily GK Updates - 6th May, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Bankruptcy Bill 2016 passed in Lok Sabha: It aims to defuse the crisis of the looming bad loans in the banking sector and also to cover individuals, companies and partnership firms. The bill proposes setting up of an Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Fund.

2. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launches new train services for J&K: He flagged off two new train services for Jammu and Kashmir from the Rail Bhavan in New Delhi. These trains will ply on the Banihal-Baramulla-Budgam route.

3. Cabinet apprised IT agreement between India and Qatar: The Union Cabinet has apprised of the MoU between India and Qatar for promoting bilateral cooperation in the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT).

4. Snapdeal acquires TargetingMantra: E-commerce marketplace Snapdeal has acquired Gurgaon-based predictive marketing technology start-up TargetingMantra for an undisclosed amount.

5. Google partners Idea for direct carrier billing: It has entered in a partnership with telecommunication major Idea Cellular to offer direct carrier billing in India. Idea user will now be able to make purchases on Google Play Store directly through their postpaid and prepaid accounts.

6. Sudhir Yadav has been appointed as the new Director-General of the Tihar Jail.

7. Kumar Rajesh Chandra appointed as Aviation Security Wing Chief.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Zimbabwe to print own version of US Dollar: It is all set to introduce its own version of US Dollars in order to ease a cash shortage in the country.

2. Musician Angelique Kidjo honoured with Amnesty International top human rights award: The issuance of the 500 euro banknote will be stopped around the end of 2018, when the 100 euro and 200 euro banknote of the Europa series are planned to be introduced.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. State Bank of India launches card-less payment solution for offline transactions: The country’s largest bank, SBI has launched a mobile payment solution that will enable customers to make digital payments at offline stores by scanning a QR (quick response) code on their smartphones at merchant outlets.

2. ICICI Bank, first Indian bank to partner with New Development Bank: The largest private sector lender of India has become the first financial institution in the country to tie up with the New Development Bank to explore opportunities around bond issuance, co-financing, treasury management and human resource.

SPORTS:

3. Cricketer Rohit Sharma unveils India’s first ever sports expo in Pune: It is the first sports expo being held in the country organised by city-based Steps Sports Entertainment Pvt Ltd.

4. India finishes fourth at the Junior Shooting World Cup while Italy topped the points table.

AWARDS:

5. Andhra Pradesh Harita-Priya Agriculture Project wins 2016 WSIS Prize: It has won the prestigious World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2016 Prize in the e-Agriculture category.

6. Indian Author and Social Science Professor Prashar Kulkarni has won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for 2016, in the Asia region for his ‘politically grounded, funny’, fiction ‘Cow and Company’ about four men in search of a cow.