Daily GK Updates - 11th March, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. BJP wins UP, Uttarakhand: Akhilesh Yadav submitted his resignation as UP chief minister to governor Ram Naik. BJP+AP has won 324 seats, SP 48, BSP 19, INC 07 & OTH 04.

In Uttarakhand - BJP has won 57 seats, Congress 11 & Other 02. 

2. President of India inaugurates the 12th CII-Exim bank conclave on India Africa Project Partnership: President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the two-day 12th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership in New Delhi.The first conclave has held in 2005.

It was organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the EXIM Bank of India with the support of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.

3. Government releases draft rules for wallet companies: In a bid to make transactions through e-wallets safer and strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism for consumers, a government has released a set of guidelines for wallet firms.

The draft Information Technology (Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules 2017 which have been released for public consultation by the ministry of electronics and IT cover an entire spectrum such as protecting consumer information, especially financial data. 

The Rules mandate that each Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) company or wallet firm will have a privacy policy posted on its website. It will also have to appoint a chief grievance officer, the contact details of whom will have to be prominently displayed on the website. The grievance officer will have to "act upon" any complaint within 36 hours and "close" it in a month's time. 

4. Congress wins Punjab: The Congress party has registered a landslide victory in Punjab Assembly elections, winning 77 seats in the 117-member house. 

Congress has won 77 seats, SAD+BJP 18, AAP 20 & OTHERS 02.

5. NTPC commissions 45 MW of Bhadla solar plant: India’s largest power generator NTPC Ltd has commissioned another 45 Megwatt (MW) capacity solar power plant at Bhadla in Rajasthan. With this, the company’s total installed capacity has become 48,188 MW.

6. Germany’s KfW, EESL in energy efficiency pact: The German Development Bank (KfW) and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has signed a loan agreement for €200 million to enhance energy efficiency in India. EESL will invest these funds in energy efficiency in buildings, households, street lighting, agriculture, water supply and industry.  KfW also signed a funding deal of €500,000 with Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to maintain solar projects.

7. Four States come together for elephant census: For the first time in India, four states Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have decided to conduct a synchronised elephant census in May 2017. 

These four together have the maximum number of human-elephant conflict-prone regions in India.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. IBM Researchers Creates World’s Smallest Magnet to Store Single Bit Data: A team of researchers at IBM has created the world’s smallest magnet using a single atom which can store one bit of data on it.Currently, hard disk drives use about 100,000 atoms to store a single bit.

2. Cyclone in Madagascar – kills 3 people and 500 homeless: Tropical Cyclone Enawo in Madagascar took the lives of 3 people and made 500 people homeless. The cyclone was at the extreme level. The country has given a red alert for the danger-prone areas.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

1. Ford Foundation appoints Pradeep Nair as regional director for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka: New York-based Ford Foundation has appointed Pradeep Nair as regional director for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.Nair will take charge at the end of March from David Hulse.

BANKING:

2. RBI Restricts Cash Loan Against Gold by NBFC to Rs 25,000: Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) cannot lend more than Rs 25,000 in cash against gold. RBI reduced the amount to Rs 25,000 from the earlier Rs 1 lakh in line with the provisions of the Income Tax Act.

SPORTS:

3. Sachin Tendulkar appointed as official ambassador of women’s World Cup 2017: International Cricket Council (ICC) has appointed Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar as the official ambassador of Women’s Cricket World Cup 2017. The women’s World Cup is scheduled to be held in June 2017 at England and Wales.