Daily GK Updates - 9th January, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES

1. Pratyush, India’s fastest supercomputer, unveiled: India unveiled Pratyush, an array of computers that can deliver a peak power of 6.8 petaflops. A petaflop is a measure of a computer’s processing speed and can be expressed as a thousand trillion floating point operations per second. Pratyush is the fourth fastest supercomputer in the world dedicated to weather and climate research and follows machines in Japan, USA and UK.

2. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas observed: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is a celebratory day observed annually on 9 January by India to mark the contribution of the overseas Indian community towards the development of India. The day commemorates the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to Mumbai on 9 January 1915. It was established in 2003 and is sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs and FICCI, CII and DoNER. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also inaugurated the PIO (First Persons of Indian Origin) Parliamentarian Conference in New Delhi. Over 140 MPs and mayors of Indian-origin from 23 nations have converged as part of a conference.

3. Railways to deploy drones, West Central Railways the first zone to do so: Drones would now monitor railway projects, aid crowd management and oversee maintenance works across its zones. The West Central Railways, headquartered at Jabalpur (MP), is the first zonal railway to procure the drone cameras. The cameras (UAV/NETRA) would be used for these activities. ‘Netra’ is an Indian, light-weight, autonomous UAV for surveillance and reconnaissance operations and was developed by DRDO.

4. Akshay Kumar to promote the Swachh Survekshan: After Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) urged Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar to partner it to promote the Swachh Survekshan 2018 campaign, the actor promptly agreed. He will be an integral part of the team to promote its cleanliness campaign in Mumbai. The Swachh Survekshan 2018 will be carried out between January 4 to March 10, 2018, by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

5. Bengali actor Soumitra Chattopadhyay to be conferred French honor: At the 42nd International Kolkata Book Fair, France would be conferring its highest order of merit, the 'Legion of Honour', on legendary film and theatre actor Soumitra Chattopadhyay. He has acted in several of Satyajit Ray's iconic films including Apur Sansar, Abhijan, Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri and Sonar Kella. The honor would be bestowed on the veteran actor by the French culture and communication minister Francoise Nyssen in Kolkata.

6. Nitish Kumar to get Mufti M Sayeed Award for Probity in Public Life: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has been selected for the first Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Award for Probity in Public Life. He will be conferred the award at an official function of Jammu & Kashmir government to be held at Jammu on Monday. The award was constituted recently by the Jammu and Kashmir government to commemorate the death anniversary of PDP founder and two-time J&K Chief Minister Sayeed.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

1. World’s largest ice festival in China: 34th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, world’s largest ice festival started on January 5, 2018 in Harbin (north-east China). The festival will continue through late February.

OTHER UPDATES

DEFENCE:

1. Defence Innovation Centre in Coimbatore: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced the release of ₹20 crore to the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association for setting up a defence innovation centre. The centre will help the MSME and start-ups engaged in the manufacture of components for the defence sector to conduct tests and trials. It is noteworthy that India is the third biggest armaments procurement country in the world.

SCIENCE/ TECHNOLOGY:

1. India to have LIGO observatory in Maharashtra: India to set up LIGO observatory in Aundh (Hingoli dist.), Maharashtra which is expected to start functioning by 2025. India’s role in studying gravitational waves touted as one of the most important discoveries of the recent past will increase once the proposed gravitational wave observatory is set up in the country.

BANKING/ FINANCE:

1. AIIB plans to issue first USD bonds: China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, in which India is a second largest shareholder, plans to issue its first US dollar-denominated bond with the minimum worth of a USD billion by June this year. With 84 members so far, the AIIB was officially established in December 2015. The Beijing-based AIIB is a multilateral development bank with authorised capital of USD 100 billion.

SPORTS:

1. Nick Kyrgios takes Brisbane crown: Nick Kyrgios defeated American Ryan Harrison to claim the Brisbane International in straight sets. The 6-4, 6-2 win was the third-seeded Australian’s fourth title on the ATP tour and his first on home soil.

2. Julia Goerges wins Auckland Classic: Julia Goerges claimed a third-straight WTA title with victory over Caroline Wozniacki in the Auckland Classic final. ln the final, Goerges was dominant against the top-seeded Dane by 6-4 7-6 (7-4).