Daily GK Updates - 8th March, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Government launches Web Portal for obtaining CRZ Clearances:  The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has launched the web portal for obtaining Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearances. The portal is a web-based system for obtaining clearances required from the Ministry under the (CRZ) by the Project proponents for ease of doing business.

2. Government announces new licensing policy to boost oil output: The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has announced new Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) for oil and gas exploration. The new policy will allow bidders to carve out areas where they want to drill. It will help energy hungry India and world’s third-largest oil consumer to attract greater foreign investment to boost output.

3. Prez Pranab Mukherjee honours Asia's first woman diesel engine driver: Mumbai motorwoman Mumtaz M. Kazi was honoured with this years "Nari Shakti Award" by President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday. Kazi is presently a motorwoman piloting suburban locals trains of Central Railway on the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus.

4. International Yoga fest to begin today in New Delhi: Today, the two-day International Yoga fest has been inaugurated by the union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu at Talkatora stadium in New Delhi. More than 3,500 participants including yoga gurus, yoga masters, scholars, policy makers and representatives from 15- 18 countries has participated in this event. It will comprise parallel yoga workshop, lectures, Satsang, cultural programs and yoga demos. A half-day seminar will be conducted on Life Sketch and contributions of two Yoga Gurus ‘Swami Ved Bharati’ and ‘T K V Desikachar’ for the promotion and development of Yoga.

5. CBSE introduces mobile application for class 10th,12th students locate their exam centers: The Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE) has introduced a mobile application 'Exam Locator' to help students appearing for class 10th and 12th examinations locate their exam centres. The App will help students to quickly know the exam centre (address, images, and geolocation) on the basis of their roll number. A student or a parent will have to register using mobile number to receive one time password which will help the user log in to the mobile application. The user can then access information by selecting the option class X or XII and entering the roll number.

6. IISc becomes first Indian university to be ranked among top 10 in world: The Indian Institute of Science(IISc), Bangalore has become the first Indian educational institution to make it to the top 10 of a global ranking for universities. The IISc has been ranked eighth in the Times Higher Education Rankings, 2017 in the best small universities category. It joined the elite list that includes California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from the US, Ecole Normale Superieure from France and Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea. Small universities are those with a student strength of less than 5,000. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings was founded in 2004 by the UK-based Times Higher Education magazine. Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has congratulated IISc for the recognition. IISc, a public university for scientific research and higher education, was established in 1909 with active support from Jamsetji Tata and Sir Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV, the Maharaja of Mysore.

7. Giriraj Singh launches air conditioned jacket made of cotton fabric: The Union Minister Giriraj Singh has launched the first of its kind Air Conditioned jacket made of cotton fabric in Nawada district of Bihar. This jacket has been made by a villager of Khanwa of the district through Solar charkha using swadeshi technology.  Climate gear has been fitted in this jacket which controls temperature. The cost of this jacket price would be decided by NITI AAYOG.

8. India tops in bribery rate among 16 Asia-Pacific nations: Transparency International:  According to recent survey released by Transparency International (TI), India had highest bribery rate among the 16 Asia-Pacific countries surveyed between July 2015 and January 2017. The survey was conducted among more than 21,000 people in the region. It revealed that more than one in four people, when accessing basic services like medicine, education or water.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Commonwealth launches Peace in the Home programme to stamp out domestic violence: The Commonwealth of Nations has launched “Peace in the home” programme to help member states tackle domestic violence which still remains a “stubborn stain” on communities, disproportionately impacting women. The programme was launched on Women’s Day (March 8) and will continue through till 2018 when there is expected to be an accord on ending domestic violence in the Commonwealth.

2. International Women's Day being observed on 8th March: International Women's Day is observed globally on 8th March every year. It is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. The theme of International Women's Day (IWD) 2017 campaign is'Be Bold For Change'.  IWD has been observed since in the early 1900's - a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world that saw booming population growth and the rise of radical ideologies. IWD is all about unity, celebration, reflection, advocacy and action - whatever that looks like globally at a local level. But one thing is for sure, it has been occurring for well over a century and continues to grow from strength to strength.

3. EU launched 5th satellite of Copernicus observation program: The European Unio ((EU).) has launched the fifth satellite of the Copernicus observation program. It will cut the time of imaging the earth by half and improve the services for farmers, fishermen and other users of land and sea maps. The program is aimed at improving the life of EU communities by providing near-real-time global environment data.

                       OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Man has world record for 1,871 underwater skips in one hour: Professional rope skipper Peter Nestler from the United States is recognised by the Guinness World Records for the 'most underwater rope jumps in one hour' with 1,871 skips. Nestler established the record in October 2014. He also has the record for most skips in one hour at 12,702 skips.

2. Cuevas wins third Brasil Open tennis title: Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas won his third consecutive Brasil Open title by beating Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas in a final. Rogério Dutra Silva (Brazil) and André Sá (Brazil), defeated Marcus Daniell (New Zealand) and Marcelo Demoliner (Brazil) in Doubles Men's Category.

BANKING:

3. SBI launches 'Work from Home' facility for employees: Country's largest lender State Bank of India launched a new facility to enable its employees to 'work from home'. The Board of the bank has recently approved the 'Work from Home' policy to enable its employees to work while at home using mobile devices to address any urgent requirement they may have, that prevents their travel to work.

4. China overtakes eurozone as world’s biggest bank system: According to the Financial Times, China’s banking system has overtaken the eurozone  to become the world’s biggest by assets. Statistics show Chinese bank assets hit $33 trillion at the end of 2016, versus $31 trillion for the eurozone. US assets stood at $16 trillion and the Japanese at $7 trillion. The value of China’s banking system is more than 3.1 times the size of the country’s annual economic output, compared with 2.8 times for the eurozone and its banks.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY:

5. Fitch Estimates Indian Economy to Grow 7.1% in 2016-17: Global rating agency Fitch stated that Indian economy will grow by7.1% in the current fiscal, 2016-2017 before stepping up to 7.7% in the next two financial years. The US-based agency, however, termed the 7% GDP growth for the October-December, 2016 quarter as surprising, a tad lower than 7.4% in the previous quarter. 

HONOURS & AWARDS:

6. Actress Viola Davis named Harvard ‘Artist of the Year’ award: Viola Davis has honored with the Harvard foundation 'Artist of the Year-2017 award" in Cambridge. Recently, She has won an Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild Award for the best-supporting actress female for her performance as Rose Maxson in the film adaptation of August Wilson’s play ‘Fences’.