Daily GK Updates - 3rd February, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.US Air Force chief flies Indian-made Tejas aircraft in Jodhpur: Aiming to strengthen the relationship between the air forces of US and India, Chief of Staff of the US Air Force General David L Goldfein on Saturday flew the ‘Made in India’ light combat aircraft Tejas at Air Force Station in Jodhpur. Goldfein also became the first foreign military chief to fly Tejas aircraft.

2. Narendra Modi at Assam Global Investors’ Summit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the inaugural Assam Global Investors’ Summit in Guwahati.  the event will showcase the state’s investment potential to countries in South and South East Asia, in sectors including manufacturing, services, power, agriculture and food processing, IT, transportation, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles and handicrafts and tourism.

3. PM Modi’s ‘Exam Warriors’ book: A book authored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for students facing exams was launched on Saturday by HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi. The book, titled ‘Exam Warriors’, aims to get through to students across the country on the threshold of examinations, and hopes to help them thread the needle with ease.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Bhutan opens consulate in Guwahati: Bhutan opened a consulate general's office in Assam's capital on Friday, a day before the first Global Investors' Summit here is to be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi.It is the second country in the Indian subcontinent, after Bangladesh, to do so. Bangladesh had set up its consulate general here last year.

2. New Manchester-India Partnership set up in UK : A new Manchester-India Partnership (MIP) aimed at connecting Indian companies with the northern regions of England has been set up to further trade, investment, science and innovation ties between India and Britain.The public-private initiative between India and Manchester, a core city of what has been termed as the Northern Powerhouse in Britain, is backed by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and will have permanent full-time teams based in Manchester, Delhi and Bangalore.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1.India win U-19 World Cup: India won the finals of the U-19 World Cup defeating Australia by eight wickets at the Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui on Sunday. With this victory, India became first nation to win the trophy four times. Manjot Kalra was the star on the day as he became the second player in history to score a ton in ICC U-19 World Cup final, after Unmukt Chand.

2. Two athletes to represent India at the Winter Olympic: Luger Shiva Keshavan and cross country skier Jagdish Singh will represent India at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.The Winter Olympics is set to begin on Feb 9th.

BANKING/FINANCE: 

1. IWAI signs agreement with World Bank for Jal Marg Vikas Project on Ganga: The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) on Friday signed a project agreement with the World Bank, even as the latter entered into a 375 million dollar loan agreement with the Department of Economic Affairs, for Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP). The JMVP, which is expected to be completed by March, 2023, was being implemented with the financial and technical support of the World Bank. 

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. IOC to invest Rs 3,400 crore in Assam to augment operations: Indian Oil Corporation will invest Rs 3,400 crore in Assam over the next five years to expand its operations by setting up new units as well as upgrading the existing ones. The company will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Assam Government to this effect at the two-day ‘Advantage Assam – Global Investors Summit 2018’, beginning in Guwahati

2. Maharashtra has largest share in India’s export and GST base: Maharashtra’s status as one of the largest states in terms of its economic size and prosperity gives it the largest share in India’s exports and the goods and service tax (GST) base, showed the Economic Survey 2017-18 released on January 29. According to the survey, authored by Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian, there were 9.8 million unique GST registrants in the system as of December 2017.

3. India’s first MSE sentiment index: Honourable Finance minister Shri Arun Jaitley today launched CriSidEx, India’s first sentiment index for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) developed jointly by CRISIL and SIDBI. CriSidEx is a composite index based on a diffusion index of 8 parameters, and measures MSE business sentiment on a scale of 0 (extremely negative) to 200 (extremely positive). The parametric feedback was captured through a survey of 1,100 MSEs in November-December.