Daily GK Updates - 29th August, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. PM Modi to attend BRICS summit in China: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Xiamen in China to attend the BRICS summit which will be held from September 3-5. The announcement comes a day after India and China ended their 73-day standoff in Dokalam by withdrawing their troops from the area.

2. National Sports Day observed: National Sports Day in India is celebrated on August 29, the birthday of Dhyan Chand, one of the greatest field hockey players of all time. Dhyan Chand is also known as ‘The Wizard’ in the world of hockey. The Government of India (GoI) has designated 29th August as the country’s ‘National Sports Day’ in 2012. The President confers Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Award, and Dronacharya Award at Rashtrapati Bhawan on this day.

3. Winner of Miss Transqueen India 2017: Nitasha Biswas, a trans woman who hails from Kolkata, was crowned Miss Trans Queen India 2017, winner of the first beauty pageant for trans women in the country. Nitasha will now represent India at the Miss International TransQueen in Thailand in March 2018.

4. Mandarin made a must for ITBP: Following Doklam standoff, Indo Tibetan Border Police has decided to make it compulsory for new recruits to learn Chinese language — both Mandarin & version of the language that is spoken in Tibet. Good knowledge of Chinese language will help in avoiding misunderstandings & lead to better resolution of confrontations.

5. India & Germany ink agreement to improve grid integration of renewable energy: India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) of Germany have signed an agreement on technical cooperation under the Indo-German Energy Programme-Green Energy Corridors (IGEN-GEC). The main objective of this program is to improve the sector framework and conditions for grid integration of renewable energies with conventional power grids.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Atomic Fuel Reserve Bank to open in Kazakhstan: International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Low Enriched Uranium Bank is all set to open this week in Kazakhstan. The reserve is a “mechanism of last resort” for situations in which a UN member nation cannot access fuel by the usual means.

2. France holds migration summit: European countries are at loggerheads over how to deal with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war, poverty and political upheaval in Middle East & Africa. Hence, the European leaders will meet their counterparts from Niger, Chad, and Libya in Paris to discuss ways of stemming economic migration.

3. Kenya comes up with toughest law against usage of plastic bags: Kenya has imposed world’s toughest laws to reduce plastic pollution, with people selling or using plastic bags at risk of up to 4 years in prison & fines of up to 4m Kenyan Shillings.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

1. Indian Commodity Exchange launches the world’s first derivatives exchange for diamond futures contract: The diamond contracts initially will be in size of 1 karat with compulsory delivery. It likely to create a new market for diamond industry players where sellers can deliver their certified quality diamonds to a different set of buyers from across the country. The Indian Commodity Exchange is promoted by the Anil Ambani group.

2. Ease of Doing Business report: NITI Aayog launched Ease of Doing Business report based on an Enterprise Survey of 3,500 manufacturing firms across Indian states & Union Territories. Survey has conducted along with IDFC Institute, to assess business regulations & enabling environment across India from firms’ perspective.

3. Bharti Airtel joins hands with Symantec Corporation to protect users from online threats: Bharti Airtel has entered into a partnership with Symantec Corporation to protect businesses in India from online threats. Through the partnership, these two companies will target IT security requirements of large enterprises, small & medium businesses, as well as the government.

4. DIPP releases next edition of consolidated FDI policy: The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) compiles all policies related to foreign investment regime into a single document to make it simple and easy for investors to understand. In the last year, the union government has liberalized FDI policy in over a dozen sectors, including defence, civil aviation, construction and development, private security agencies and news broadcasting.