Daily GK Updates - 23rd May, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India becomes second largest steel producer in the world: According to the International Stainless Steel Forum (ISSF) data (May 2017), India overtook Japan to become the second-largest steel producer in the world in 2016. In 2016, India’s stainless steel production rose to 3.32 million tons. While the top producer of steel in the world is China.

2. India’s Rohan Chakravarty wins WWF International President’s Award: Indian wildlife and environment cartoonist Rohan Chakravarty has won WWF International President’s Award 2017 for his efforts to inspire change and attitudes towards nature in Manado, Indonesia. Chakravarty, under the banner of Green Humour, has published several wildlife and environment magazines and newspapers.

3. Jacqueline Fernandez wins UK Humanitarian Award: Jacqueline Fernandez has been awarded the International Humanitarian Award (Editor's Choice category) of Asian Voice Charity Awards for her philanthropic work in India. She has been working with the charity Habitat for Humanity for last five years.

4. Committee on Scouts and Guides submits its report: A seven-member High-Level Committee on Scouts and Guides has submitted its Final Report to Sports Minister, Vijay Goel, with various recommendations. The committee is headed by Harsh Malhotra and was established in 2016.

5. Cochin Port Trust bags two Best Performance awards: Cochin Port Trust has received two Best Performance Awards from Ministry of Shipping for the highest growth in operating surplus and also for achieving third highest growth in cargo traffic among the major ports in the year 2016-17. It has registered an operating profit of Rs 127.7 cr during 2016-17 as against Rs 70.89 cr during 2015-16. The Port handled 25.01 MMT cargo in 2016-17.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Start up India Summit starts today in Abu Dhabi: A two day “Start up India Summit” began today in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This is the first “Start Up Summit” being held in the UAE by the Consul General of India (in Dubai and Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi in partnership with iSPIRIT, a nonprofit think tank and supported by TiE, Dubai.

The aim is to provide a shared platform for the Start up eco system in both India and UAE.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

1. Karnataka Bank, LIC join hands: Karnataka Bank Ltd has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India for selling life insurance products of LIC.

2. Megha Airways to get UDAN licence: Turbo Megha Airways has become the first private airline to get a licence to fly under UDAN. The Hyderabad-based airline, which flies as TruJet, last month said it will launch flights on Hyderabad-Cuddapah, Hyderabad-Nanded and Nanded-Mumbai routes.

3. Microsoft to reskill people under Project Sangam: As part of project ‘Sangam’ Microsoft India signed an MoU with the Telecom Sector Skill Council to improve skills of telecom executives. Project Sangam is a cloud hosted platform that leverages Azure services & LinkedIn.