Daily GK Updates - 19th February, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES

1. PM Modi opens ‘biggest party office in world’: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the BJP’s new headquarters on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, spread over 1.70 lakh square feet. According to the BJP Chief, the building is bigger than the office of any political party in the world. The new headquarters is fitted with the latest communication technologies and has a spacious social media office.

2. Assam is worst in maternal mortality rate(MMR): Assam is at the bottom of the list in MMR with a figure of 300 against the national average of 167. The fund spending under National Health Mission(NHM) is just 13.58%for 2017-18.

3. World Congress on Information Technology: The three day long, World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) has begun in Hyderabad. WCIT is being organised for the time in the country and Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the summit through a video conference. It has been organized in partnership with NASSCOM, WITSA and the Government of Telangana. The humanoid, Sophia the robot, is also one of the featured speakers at the WCIT summit.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

1. Singapore to impose “carbon tax” from 2019: Singapore would impose a carbon tax from next year to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. The tax would be levied on all facilities producing 25,000 tonnes or more of greenhouse gas emissions a year. Singapore ranks 26th out of 142 countries in terms of emissions per capita.

OTHER UPDATES

DEFENCE:

1. Garuda Shakti Exercise begins: A special task force of Indian Army and Indonesian Army have begun the 6th Garuda Shakti exercise in the West Java province of the archipelago country. The drill aims to build experience sharing in counter-terrorism operations, close quarter combat and other areas of special operations. The exercise between Indian and Indonesian Special Forces highlights the increasing trust and cooperation between the two armies.

2. India’s defence budget breaks into top 5: According to a report by London-based global think tank, India’s defence budget broke into the world’s top 5, beating the UK for the first time. India overtook the UK as the 5th largest defence spender in 2017 at $52.5 billion. While India continues to modernise its military capabilities, China’s defence budget remains far ahead with 3 times India’s defence budget at USD 150.5 billion.

SCIENCE/ TECHNOLOGY:

1. ISRO plans to launch second space observatory: Indian Space Research Organisation is planning to launch the country’s second AstroSat-2 or space observatory. The mission is meant to further the study of astronomy and astrophysics. The advantage of having such a space observatory in outer space is that it helps observe distant planets, galaxies and other astronomical objects more clearly than from the Earth.

BANKING/ FINANCE:

1. Axis Bank hikes MCLR by 10 basis points: Axis Bank has hiked its benchmark marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 10 basis points in the three month to three year buckets. The bank’s three months MCLR is now 8.15% and 6 months at 8.30% while the 1 year rate is 8.40%. This is the second time that the bank has hiked its lending rates in two months. MCLR is closely linked to the cost banks pay on their deposits.

BUSINESS/ ECONOMY:

1. Amazon India enters food retail venture: Amazon has rolled out its own food retailing business in India called Amazon Retail with a pilot in Pune. With this Amazon becomes the first foreign e-commerce firm to stock and sell food items directly to consumers.vAmazon had last year secured govt’s permission to invest $500mn in a wholly-owned venture to retail locally produced and packaged food products through offline and online channels.

2. PhonePe partners with IOCL: PhonePe has partnered with Indian Oil Corporation Limited for adoption of its indigenously-designed Point of Sale device at IOCL retail outlets. Customers can now pay using UPI, credit and debit cards, PhonePe wallet and other wallets for their fuel purchases, through PoS device at IOCL retail outlets in Bengaluru. PhonePe received its RBI licensing in Aug 2014 and was later acquired by Flipkart.

  

SPORTS:

1. Roger Federer wins Rotterdam Open title: Roger Federer celebrated his return to the top of the world rankings by winning his third Rotterdam Open. Federer thrashed Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-2. In the Open era, only American Jimmy Connors has won more titles than Federer, with 109 titles under his belt.