Daily GK Updates - 18th October, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Railways to invest Rs3,000 crore to mechanize, automate yards: The Indian Railways plans to spend around Rs3,000 crore to make smart yards in order to mechanize maintenance and repair work of rakes, ending a century-old practice of manual inspections. According to the proposal, 40 of the 100 yards that the national carrier has would be automated and mechanized at an average cost of around Rs70-75 crore each. To start with, yards at Mughalsarai and Tughlakabad will be made smart yards.

2. Govt. planning one Ayurveda hospital in every district: Honourable PM, inaugurating the All India Institute of Ayurveda, appealed to the private sector to channel some of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds towards the development of yoga and Ayurveda. Modi also said his government was working to establish an Ayurveda hospital in every district. The Prime Minister also released the “Ayurvedic Standard Treatment Guidelines” developed by the AYUSH ministry. The Pharmacopoeia Commission of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy is also working for the standardization of traditional Indian medicines.

3. Govt. plans to revive Gorakhpur, Barauni, Sindri fertilizer plants using US LNG: India’s biggest gas utility plans to use some of the liquefied natural gas it gets from the US to restart three idled fertilizer plants, according to people with knowledge of the matter. State-run GAIL India Ltd plans to supply the factories in eastern India with more than a third of the LNG it’s contracted to buy from the US. The company will connect them by pipelines to supply the imported gas.

4. Asian University Rankings 2018- IIT Bombay top among Indian universities, IISc slips: IIT Bombay was ranked 34th in Asia, followed by IIT Delhi (41), IIT Madras (48) and IISc Bengaluru at 51, according to Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Asian University Rankings for 2018. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore has emerged as the Top University in Asia.

5. 1 million Maharashtra farmers to get farm loan waiver benefits today: The first set of one million farmers in Maharashtra will get the benefit of loan waivers on 18 October, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced in Mumbai. The farmers are spread across all districts of Maharashtra and the amount on account of loan waiver will be deposited directly into their accounts on 18 October.

6. I-T dept launches 'online chat' to answer taxpayers' queries: The income tax department has launched an 'online chat' service for taxpayers so that they can seek answers to their basic queries and doubts relating to direct tax issues. A window has been hosted on the main page of the department's website with a prominent icon stating 'Live Chat Online- ask your query'.

7. ICAI seeks post graduation status for CA qualification: Chartered accountants’ apex body the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said it has sought post graduation degree status for CA qualification. Besides, the CA intermediate programme should be accorded the graduation degree status. In this regard, ICAI has recently written a letter to the corporate affairs ministry. According to the release, the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), back in 1984, had recognised chartered accountancy along with graduation to be equivalent to a post graduate degree in commerce or allied disciplines for the purpose of registration to PhD programme.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. George Saunders wins 2017 Man Booker Prize: US author George Saunders wins Britain’s renowned Man Booker Prize, which was awarded for his first full-length novel ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’.

2. 40% decline in Indians looking for work in US: US president Donald Trump's anti-immigration stance and Britain's exit from the European Union last year have resulted in a lower number of Indians looking for jobs in these countries.
There has been a 38% and 42% drop in Indians looking to move to the US and UK respectively in the last one year (September 2016 to October 2017), compared to the corresponding previous year, data from job site Indeed showed. Overall, there has been a 5% decrease in Indians looking to move abroad in search of job opportunities, the report added.

3. China's prospects are bright but challenges severe-Jinping at Communist Party’s National Congress: Chinese President Xi Jinping trumpeted his nation's prospects as bright but made a rare acknowledgement of severe economic challenges as he opened the Communist Party's twice-a-decade National Congress. Among the grave issues Xi said were insufficiently addressed are a widening income gap and problems in employment, education, medical care and other areas. Xi has been consolidating his already considerable power and is expected to get a second five-year term as party leader at the gathering.

4. Sebastian Kurz - World's youngest leader in waiting: "Whizz-kid", "Basti Fantasti", "Messiah" are just some of the monikers given to Austrian conservative Sebastian Kurz , the world's youngest leader in waiting. His People's Party (OeVP), revamped by the 31-year-old as a more hardline "movement", was projected to have come first in Sunday's election with some 31.5 percent of the vote.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Airtel plans to phase out 3G in two years, offer VoLTE nationwide: Bharti Airtel Ltd plans to phase out its 3G service in two years and upgrade all subscribers using the service to faster 4G networks in a move that will help India’s largest telecom operator save on costs and improve user experience. The entry of Reliance Infocomm has accelerated the growth of 4G in India.

2. Mahindra Logistics IPO to open on 31 October: Mahindra Logistics, Mahindra Group’s logistics arm, on Wednesday said it will launch its Rs700 crore initial public offering (IPO) on 31 October. The public offering will close on 2 November. The public issue of Mahindra Logistics comprises 19,332,346 equity shares that are up for sale. This includes 9,666,173 shares, amounting to 13.74% stake, by parent firm Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.