Daily GK Updates - 6th August, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Venkaiah Naidu elected as Vice President of India: M Venkaiah Naidu was elected as the 13th Vice-President of India. He defeated Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi by 272 votes.

2. India will have 100% literacy rate in next 5 years: Union HR Development Minister Prakash Javedkar said class 6 to 12 students are being trained to educate illiterate members of their families. The literacy rate of 18% in the post-independence era has gone up to 80% now in India.

3. Rajiv Kumar - new Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog: Noted economist Rajiv Kumar has been named as the next Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, think-tank that replaced Planning Commission. He will succeed Arvind Panagariya, who had recently quit as Vice Chairman of Niti Aayog.

4. Pindra district launches SwachhtaBandhan and Bhai No. 1 campaigns, “toilets” gifted: To promote cleanliness and sanitation amongst the villagers, the local govt. has come up with unique ideas. Under the campaign brothers gifted “toilets” to their sisters on the day of Rakshabandhan. This will ensure that the practice of “open defecation” is curbed to some extent.

5. Government merges NCRB with BPRD: National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has been merged with another central police organisation the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) by the government. BPRD Director General will head the merged new entity, NCRB Director, an Additional DG rank post will report to the former.

6. S. Aparna appointed as ED to World Bank to represent India: S. Aparna, an IAS officer from Gujarat cadre has been appointed as Executive Director, World Bank to represent constituency of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan & Sri Lanka for 3 years. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared her name for the position.

7. Akshay Kumar appointed as the brand ambassador of the UP Cleanliness Mission: He promised to proactively work towards making UP the open defecation free state, a cause in line with the theme of his upcoming movie Toilet Ek Prem Katha. The state government aims to make Uttar Pradesh open defecation free by October 2, 2018.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Japan marks 72 years since world’s first atomic bomb attack: US dropped an atom bomb on the city of Hiroshima in 1945 at the end of World War II. The bomb claimed the lives of 1.4 lakh people followed by another bombing in Nagasaki three days later.

2. Sri Lankan Navy commissions AOPV, an India built vessel: Sri Lankan Navy has commissioned an India-built state-of-the-art Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel. Built at Goa Shipyard, SLNS Sayurala is 1st ever platform purchased from a foreign ship builder to boost search & rescue capabilities.

3. Paul Kagame elected as the President of Rwanda: This will be his third consecutive term as the president. He won international praise for stability and economic development he brought in Rwanda since the 1994 genocide

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

1. SEBI asks banks to disclose default in payment to banks within a day: SEBI has made it mandatory for companies to disclose any instance of default on payment of interest or repayment of principal to banks within a day of default. It is expected the banks have Rs. 10 trillion of stressed assets.

SPORTS:

2. India beat Sri Lanka in Test Series: India defeated Sri Lanka by 53 runs in the second Test to clinch 8th successive Test series win. Virat Kohli is now only behind Ricky Ponting who won 9 test series consecutively.

3. Mo Farah wins 6th world championship gold: British runner Mo Farah won gold in Men’s 10,000 meter race in London. He now has 10 consecutive global track distance titles.

4. Justin Gatlin stuns Usain Bolt: In his farewell 100m, Bolt clocked a time of 9.95 seconds but was left behind by Justin Gatlin who clocked 9.92 seconds to claim Gold.

5. Vijender wins WBO boxing title: Indian professional boxer Vijender Singh outslugged his Chinese opponent Zulpikar Maimaitiali to win his 2nd WBO boxing title. He retained his WBO Asia Pacific super middleweight title & claimed opponent’s WBO Oriental Super Middleweight belt.