Daily GK Updates - 10th February, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES

1. ‘Shankhnaad’ creates world record: A record was set at the Rajim Kumbh Mela in Chhattisgarh after over 2,100 saints and locals blew ‘shankh’ (conch shells) together. Golden Book of World Records has certified the record.

2. Modi Conferred ‘Grand Collar Of The State Of Palestine’: PM Narendra Modi on Saturday became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Palestine after he arrived in Ramallah as part of his three-nation tour. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred the ‘Grand Collar of the State of Palestine’ by President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas, recognising his key contribution to promote relations between India and Palestine. The Grand Collar is the highest order given to foreign dignitaries – Kings, Heads of State/Government and persons of similar rank.

3. First woman Chief Justice of Manipur HC: Justice Abhilasha Kumari is the first woman to become the chief justice of the Manipur High Court. Justice Kumari has served as a Gujarat High Court Judge and Chief Justice of Tripura High Court. She has also served as additional advocate general of Himachal Pradesh after the Congress government came to power in March 2003.

4. NITI Aayog’s health index report released: Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu were the top rankers in NITI Aayog’s latest Health Index report. The report attempted to establish an annual systematic tool to measure and understand the heterogeneity and complexity of the nation’s performance in the health sector.

5. NHAI to Start ‘Pay As You Use’ Pilot Project: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will start a pilot project called “pay as you use” on the Delhi-Mumbai Highway. It will study and implement the ability of the system in the country. The project to be run for one year involves implementing a satellite-based electronic toll collection system running on GPS/GSM technology for around 500 commercial vehicles.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

1. Mahmoud Abbas receives Modi in Palestine: PM Narendra Modi’s first engagement after arriving in Ramallah was to lay a wreath at the Mausoleum of Late President Yasser Arafat. Modi, who is on his maiden trip to Palestine, will be received by President Mahmoud Abbas. Prior to Modi, former President Pranab Mukherjee and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had visited Palestine in October 2015 and January 2016 respectively. However, Modi is the first Indian PM to visit Palestine.

OTHER UPDATES

BANKING/ FINANCE:

1. Application for Education Loans to be made online only: The government has directed the banks to only accept online applications for education loans in a bid to make the loan disbursement process transparent and efficient. The banks have also been asked to not consider any application received in physical form. The move also aims to tackle the delay in sanctioning of the education loans.

2. SBI posts a quarterly loss, NPAs the reason: India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday reported a loss of ₹2,416.4 crore for the December quarter, marking its first quarterly loss in at least 17 years. The bank had reported a standalone profit of ₹2,610 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

BUSINESS/ ECONOMY:

1. Indians are the top the list of visitors to Dubai: Dubai witnessed 15% growth in tourist arrivals from India in 2017, hosting 2.1 million visitors, retaining top spot as the source market. It also became the first country to cross the 2 million mark in a single year. The growth is mainly due to the success of Dubai Tourism’s ongoing collaboration with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in the ‘BeMyGuest’ campaign.

SCIENCE/ TECHNOLOGY:

1. Scientists simulate Mars mission in an Oman desert: Over 200 scientists from 25 countries have chosen a desert in Oman to field-test technology for a manned Mars mission for four weeks. Analog astronauts would sport a 50-kg spacesuit and stay in an inflated habitat, having a 10-minute communication delay from their base in Austria. The project features 15 experiments including exploration of the surface using a wind-powered rover.

2. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft beams the farthest image: NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has beamed back an image while being 6.12 billion km away, breaking a 27-year-old record set by Voyager 1. NASA’s Voyager 1, the farthest man-made object, had captured the “Pale Blue Dot” photo of Earth before exiting the Solar System. Meanwhile, New Horizons shared an image of a Kuiper belt object, beyond the orbit of Neptune.

3. Asteroid shaves past the Earth-NASA: Asteroid 2018 CB, estimated to be around 15-40 metres in size, safely flew past Earth making a closest approach of about 64,000 kilometres, nearly one-fifth the average Earth-Moon distance, on Saturday at 4:00 am IST, NASA revealed.

SPORTS:

1. Indra Nooyi becomes ICC’s First Female Director: PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi has been appointed as the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) first-ever independent female director. Nooyi will join the cricket body in June 2018 for a 2-year term. The introduction of an Independent Director, who must be female, was approved by the ICC in June 2017, aimed at improving the global governance of the sport.

2. Winter Olympic Games Starts In Pyeongchang: The 23rd Olympic Winter Games officially kicked off at Pyeongchang in South Korea. 92 countries are participating in the event. There will be 102 medals up for grabs in Pyeongchang, covering seven sports and 15 disciplines. Hosts South Korea also produced a show of unity with neighbours North Korea during the ceremony.

3. World record for using maximum drones at Pyeongchang Olympics: As many as 1,218 drones outfitted with LED lights were used during a light show at the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. This made a world record for the ‘most unmanned aerial vehicles airborne simultaneously’. The drones, controlled through an automated software program, flew in sync and created light-up images of Olympic sports and the Olympic rings.