Daily GK Updates - 9th March, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.  Girl child ratio increases to 938 per 1000 male: Haryana: The Haryana govt. has informed that the girl child ratio has increased to 938 per 1000 male children in February in Haryana. In January 2017, the registered girl child ratio was 922.

The gradual increase in the ratio of girl child is the result of effective implementation of 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' programme.

2. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah launches 'Pratibimba' to project achievements:  Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched a comprehensive web-based platform Pratibimba to showcase the government’s performance and achievements to the citizens. This dash board will serve as a tool to improve efficiency in governance and allow citizens to track government’s progress.It is available both in English and Kannada.  After Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka has such dash board which will help to report, track and measure departmental performance on programmes, projects and promises made by the government.

3. 2-day North-East Business Summit begins in New Delhi: A two-day North-East Business Summit (NEBS) begins in New Delhi. The summit aims to display the strengths, potentials, and initiatives of the North-East, promote investment the region and also have focused deliberations on strategic areas like healthcare, connectivity, agriculture, food processing and energy.  The Summit will also showcase the untapped business potential of North-East to investors worldwide.

4. INS Tillanchang commissioned by Indian Navy: India Navy has commissioned INS Tillanchang at Karwar, Karnataka. It is a Water Jet Fast Attack Craft (WJFAC) It is the third ship of four follow-on WJFAC built by the Kolkata based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE).  The first two ships INS Tarmugli and INS Tihayu which were commissioned in 2016.

5. India Has Highest Bribery Rate Among 16 Asia-Pacific Nations: According to the Global Corruption Barometer released by Transparency International (TI), in Berlin for 16 Asia Pacific countries India tops the list for being the most corrupt nation. According to the survey, about 69 percent of the population in India paid bribe to get their work done. India was followed by Vietnam (65%), Thailand (41%), Cambodia, Pakistan and Myanmar, each with 40%.  Besides, China (26%) was one of the least corrupt nations and it was the lowest in Japan (0.2%).

6. Vice President Hamid Ansari Attends IORA Summit in Jakarta: Vice President Hamid Ansari was on a two-day visit to Indonesia to attend the 21-nation Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia from March 6-7, 2017. The theme of Summit is ‘Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian Ocean’. IORA has 21 member states, including Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE, and Yemen.

7.  'India by Nile' fest to begin in Egypt: India has organized the fifth edition of the mega cultural festival 'India by the Nile' in Egypt on 8th March to showcase the diversity of the country's culture, arts and cuisine for building enduring partnership between the two ancient civilizations. For the first time, the Indian flag will be projected onto the Giza Pyramids as part of the celebration. The festival, to be held in Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Port Said and Ismaila governorates from March 8 to April 27, 2017. It is the largest cultural foreign festival in Egypt and has been a great success in the country.

8. India launches Stage II of HCFC Phase Out Management Plan: The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has launched Stage II of HCFCs Phase Out Management Plan (HPMP) for the 2017-23 period.  It aims to phase out use of Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), harmful ozone-depleting substances (ODS) by switching over to non-ozone depleting and low global warming potential technologies.

9. D. Bala Venkatesh Varma concurrently accredited as the Ambassador of India to Andorra: IFS officer, D. Bala Venkatesh Varma has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of lndia to the Principality of Andorra, with residence in Madrid (Spain). Venkatesh was presently working as the ambassador of lndia to the Kingdom of Spain.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. China's Parliament approves Prez Xi Jinping as core leader: China's Parliament has approved President Xi Jinping as the core leader, elevating him to a status higher than others in the ruling Communist Party of China's collective leadership system. The core leader status, that had earlier been approved by the Communist Party, puts him at par with party founder Mao Zedong reinforcing his hold over all the organs of power.

2. CIA contractors source of WikiLeaks release: US officials: US officials on Wednesday said that CIA contractors likely breached security and handed over documents about the agency's use of hacking tools to whistleblower organisation WikiLeaks. Intelligence agencies have been aware of the breach since the end of last year, they added. The officials further said that the documents about CIA hacking techniques used between 2013 and 2016 were authentic.

3. US, Russia set up buffer zones to protect Kurdish town: In their first team up, the US and Russia have created buffer zones in Syria to protect the Kurdish town of Manbij from being seized by their common ally Turkey, which threatened to capture it last week. The US considers Kurdish forces allies in the fight against the Islamic State while Turkey considers Kurds as terrorists.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1.  Ashwin, Jadeja jointly ranked number one in ICC Test rankings: India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have become the first pair of spinners to be jointly top-ranked in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers as Jadeja has caught up with his spin-partner in the rankings after the second Test against Australia in Bengaluru.  

2.  Vijay Goel constitutes committee to look into women players' grievances: The sports minister Vijay Goel has constituted a high-level committee to look in to the grievances of women players in New Delhi. The five- member (two- woman player and one sports journalist) committee will be headed by Joint Secretary of Sports Ministry. The government will soon start a diploma course for women coaches.

First “Gramin Khel Mahotsav” will be held from 25th to 31st March in New Delhi.

This festival will help participation of rural youth in large numbers in popular sports and encourage them to achieve excellence and adopt healthy life style.

3. India beat Belarus 3-1 to clinch series 5-0: The Indian women’s hockey team defeated Belarus 3-1 to make a clean sweep of the five-match Test series (5-0) in Bhopal. For India, Vandana Katariya, Gurjit Kaur and Rani (Captain) scored one each, while Yuliya Mikheichyk scored the solitary goal for Belarus.

4. Cuevas wins third Brasil Open tennis title:  Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) has won his third consecutive Brazil Open title by beating Albert Ramos-Vinolas (Spain) 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4 in a final. It was Cuevas' sixth career ATP singles title

BANKING:

5. IDFC Aadhaar Pay launched: IDFC Bank has launched India’s first biometric-based payment system 'Aadhaar Pay' in New Delhi. The Aadhaar Pay app has been developed by IDFC Bank under the guidance of the Ministry of IT, NITI Aayog, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The android app will use the fingerprint of the customer as a digital identity. Customers simply need to select their bank’s name and enter their Aadhaar number in the merchant’s phone.

  

HONOURS & AWARDS:

6. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wins the best actress award for Sarabjit: The actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has won the Best Actress award for her performance in Sarbjit at the International Film Festival and Awards of Australia (IFFAA).

The film “Sarabjit“ was based on the story of an Indian national Sarabjit Singh (Randeep Hooda) who was punished by Pakistan’s Supreme Court on the charges of spying. Sarbjit’s sister Dalbir Kaur (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) fought for him for years to get him back to the country.