Daily GK Updates - 24th February, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES

1. Blue Aadhaar for kids: UIDAI tweeted that children below the age of five years will receive a blue-coloured ‘Baal Aadhaar’ card. While the Baal Aadhaar will not carry biometric details of the child, it will be updated with the information after the child crosses the age of five.

2. Assam to celebrate ‘Rhino Day’ on Sept 22: In a bid to keep the world famous one-horned rhinoceros of Assam under the global spotlight, Assam Government has decided to celebrate September 22 as ‘Rhino Day’. CM Sarbananda Sonowal made this announcement at the 10th meeting of State Board for Wild Life.

3. India’s first 5G Trial Successful, 3 GB/sec Speed Achieved:: Chinese technology giant Huawei and telecom services provider Bharti Airtel announced to have successfully conducted 5G network trial under a test set-up in India. The trial was conducted at Airtel’s Network Experience Centre in Manesar (Gurugram). During the test trial, the speed of more than 3Gbps was achieved. This is the highest measured throughput for a mobile network in 3.5 GHz band with 100MHz bandwidth and end-to-end network latency of approximately 1 msec.

4. 44th Khajuraho Dance Festival held in MP: The 44th edition of Khajuraho Dance Festival 2018 was held at Khajuraho temple, a UNESCO world heritage site in Madhya Pradesh. Khajuraho Dance Festival is an annual cultural festival that highlights the richness of various Indian classical dance styles.

5. India to host first International Solar Alliance in March 2018: India will host the first International Solar Alliance (ISA) summit on 11th March 2018. It will be attended by French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The summit will be held in Delhi. The ISA aims to launch 121 projects during the summit. During the summit, two new programmes will be inaugurated on- Scaling Solar E-Mobility and Storage, and Rooftop Solar.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

1. US tightens H-1B visa rules: The Donald Trump has just made it more difficult for companies and individuals to get H-1B work visas. Indians and Indian IT companies will feel the impact the most because they are the biggest users of this visa.

OTHER UPDATES

DEFENCE:

1. Dhanush missile successfully test fired: India has successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Dhanush ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km. This naval variant of the indigenously-developed Prithvi-II missile was test-fired from the ship positioned near Paradip in the Bay of Bengal. ‘Dhanush’ missile is is capable of carrying a payload of 500 kg and hitting both land and sea-based targets.

BANKING / FINANCE:

1. In a strategic move, RBI launches Ombudsman Scheme for NBFCs: The RBI launched ‘Ombudsman Scheme’ for redressal of complaints against NBFCs. The scheme will provide a cost-free and expeditious complaint redressal mechanism relating to deficiency in the services by NBFCs covered under the Scheme. The offices of the NBFC ombudsmen will function at 4 metro centres – Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi.

2. Idea Payments Bank begins operations: Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Ltd commenced operations as a payments bank with effect from February 22, 2018. In November 2016, Airtel Payments Bank Ltd became the first entity to start operations as Payments Bank. Paytm and Fino Payments Bank are the other two entities that have already launched their operations.

BUSINESS/ ECONOMY:

1. Brand Nirav Modi loses Priyanka Chopra: Actress Priyanka Chopra’s spokesperson has confirmed that she has quit as the global ambassador of jewellery designer Nirav Modi’s brand following allegations of money laundering against him. The actress had earlier accused him of non-payment of dues for several advertisement campaigns.

2. Viking Air joins hands with Mahindra Aerospace for UDAN projects: Mahindra Aerospace Private Limited has signed a MoU with Canada’s Viking Air Ltd. to form a strategic alliance to take advantage of India’s growing regional air connectivity opportunities. Under the MoU, both would support each other’s non-competing aircraft business to boost market expansion. In India, this portfolio can address the much-needed requirements of regional connectivity scheme, UDAN.

3. Paytm ventures into Insurance business: Digital payments startup Paytm has launched two insurance companies, Paytm Life Insurance and Paytm General Insurance. Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CFO Madhur Deora, and Shankar Prasad Nath are the three signatory stakeholders in both the companies. In January this year, Paytm announced that it has set up Paytm Money Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of One97 Communications.

SPORTS:

1. NADA bans Jithin Paul: Athlete Jithin Paul became the first Indian athlete to be banned by the National Anti-Doping Agency for possession of a prohibited substance. NADA has meted out a 4-year-ban on Paul for possession of a banned substance called ‘Meldonium’.

2. Cricket Canada Unveils ICC-Approved T20 League: Canada’s own first franchise-based Twenty20 league “Global T20 Canada”, was announced in New Delhi. The Global T20 Canada League will begin functioning from July 2018 at three venues in Toronto. Global T20 Canada League has received official sanction of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Cricket Canada has become the first Associate member of the ICC to start a Twenty20 franchise league in the North America market.