Daily GK Updates - 11th November, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 'India Disaster Response Summit': The Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has inaugurated the 'India Disaster Response Summit' in New Delhi. The summit focused on how best to leverage social media platforms to 'prepare, respond and recover' during and after a disaster. The summit has been organized jointly by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) & Facebook.

2. NITI Aayog releases proposal to develop electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Delhi: NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar has released a proposal to develop electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Delhi. The "quick pilot" project includes 55 locations with 135 charging stations. The proposal can be used to provide a structure for electric vehicle infrastructure rollout in the Gurgaon-Indira Gandhi International Airport-South Delhi-Noida corridor.  

3. Second official language of Telangana state - Urdu: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has declared Urdu as the state's second official language. According to CM Rao, every office in the state will have an Urdu speaking officer. Muslims form 12.7% of the state's total population.

4. Newly appointed DGP of Telangana State - M Mahender Reddy: M Mahender Reddy (Hyderabad Police Commissioner) has been appointed Director General of Police (DGP) of Telangana State. He succeeds Present DGP Anurag Sharma (who will superannuate today). M Mahender Reddy is a civil engineering graduate from the Regional Engineering College, Warangal, Mr Reddy got selected for IPS while pursuing his M.Tech. in IIT of Delhi. In India, the Director General of Police (DGP) is a three-star rank and the highest-ranking police officer in Indian States and Union Territories (UT).

5. Indian Government  to provide 100 foreign students full scholarship to study Ayurveda: Indian govt will provide 100 non-Indian students a full scholarship for study Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy (Ayush) in any of the public deemed universities across India. The initiative is to encourage and popularize the alternative system of medicine. Soon, the details of the application process and scholarship will be available with the Indian missions abroad. Minister for Ayush Sripad Naik is on a three-day visit to UAE to participate in the first-ever International Ayush Conference and Exhibition in Dubai. Ayurveda is a system of medicine with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. Globalized and modernized practices derived from Ayurveda traditions are a type of complementary or alternative medicine.

6. Home Ministry sets up two new divisions for radicalization & cybercrime: The Union Home Ministry has formed two new divisions Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Radicalisation (CTCR) and the Cyber and Information Security (CIS) to exclusively deal with emerging security challenges such as radicalization & cyber-crime. The two divisions also encompass merger of some of the Ministry’s existing divisions. The CTCR wing is the basically modified version of the Home Ministry’s internal security-II division to focus on tracking & assessing the online reach of global terrorist outfits and devising strategies to counter their propaganda. The CIS division will monitor online crimes and threats (cyber fraud, hacking) and also suggest ways to minimise and fight them.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. US & South Korea start joint naval exercises involving 3 US aircraft carriers: The United States and South Korea has started four-day joint naval exercises involving three US aircraft carriers in what military officials described as a clear warning to North Korea. Japan would also send its largest warship to join three U.S. aircraft carriers in exercises in waters near the Korean Peninsula.

2. UAE, Saudi & Kuwait have advised its citizens from traveling to Lebanon amidst rising regional tension between Riyadh & Tehran over Yemen and the Lebanon issue: Earlier, Lebanese prime minister Saad Al Hariri announced his sudden resignation while visiting the Saudi kingdom. Bahrain has already issued a similar advisory for its nationals.

OTHER UPDATES:

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY:

1. Earth observation satellite launched by Morocco: Morocco has successfully launched an earth observation satellite called “Mohammed VI-A” (1,110 kg) from French Guyana Space Centre. The ‘Mohammed VI-A satellite’ built for Morocco by Thales Alenia Space as prime contractor and Airbus as co-prime. It will be used for mapping and land surveying activities along with regional development and agricultural monitoring. The satellite has been launched by European consortium Arianespace's Vega rocket.

BUSINESS/ ECONOMY:

1. GST Council reduces tax on 178 items from 28 to 18%: After the Council's meeting in Guwahati, The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has reduced tax rate on products. Tax on 177 items have been reduced to 18% from 28% and only 50 items now remain in the highest tax slab of 28%. The Council has decided that food at all restaurants in the country, except those in starred hotels, will be taxed at 5% rather than 18%, without Input Tax Credit (ITC). The new rates will be effective from the 15th of this month.

2. IDFC Bank has entered into a “strategic alliance” with mobile wallet major MobiKwik to launch a co-branded virtual Visa prepaid card for customers of MobiKwik: This pre-paid card will now allow MobiKwik users to shop from Amazon or Flipkart where currently MobiKwik wallet use is not allowed. This Visa pre-paid card is the replica of the wallet and can be used anywhere. Within the MobiKwik App, a user will be able to generate a Visa pre-paid card. You can not only be able to pay where the MobiKwik wallet is accepted, but also all the locations where Visa cards are accepted.