Daily GK Updates - 6th February, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. ‘Gobardhan Yojana’: The Haryana government has launched the ‘Gobardhan Yojana’ to provide for the sale of organic manure and cow urine with an aim to benefit farmers. Under this scheme, a provision of Rs 11 crore has been made to provide benefits of various projects. According to official release, the Gobardhan Yojana would help in doubling the income of farmers and next time, the MSP would be given with additional benefit of 50% over the cost of production.

2, The 2018 Genome Valley Excellence Award of Telangana: Eminent molecular biologist Professor Michael N Hall of the Biozentrum University of Basel, Switzerland, has been chosen for the 2018 Genome Valley Excellence Award for his pioneering work in discovering the nutrient-activated TOR (Target of Rapamycin) proteins and their central role in the metabolic control of cell growth. The award will be presented to him during BioAsia 2018, an annual flagship event of the Telangana government. The award, instituted in 2004, was in recognition of the transformative advances toward biomedical research and facilitating improvement in human life and was chosen by an international advisory board consisting of eminent personalities of the life sciences industry.

3. security campaign has been launched by Google India: Google has launched new online security campaign #SecurityCheckKiya in India to promote security awareness among general public. The purpose of the campaign is to protect young and first-time web users from account hijacking, safeguard Android devices from malicious apps and secure all their personal data if they lose their device. Under the campaign, Google recommended three simple steps for Internet safety. It includes reviewing security settings and Google account activity. Furthermore, ‘Google Play Protect’ service scans and checks Android devices for any harmful apps.

4. ‘Times Power Women of the Year 2017’: Shabnam Asthana, an Indian public relations expert, speaker, and entrepreneur, has been honoured with the ‘Times Power Women of the Year 2017’- Pune for Global PR. The Times Group recently celebrated the invaluable contribution of women by introducing The Times Power Woman 2017 (Pune) awards. These awards were initiated to celebrate the victories of women who have been a great source of inspiration. These awards focused on the women of Pune and the prestigious list included 34 select women with power, supremacy, command and control. These awardees have been instrumental in working towards the improvement of the socio-economic, art, health, education, and fashion, scientific and intellectual potential of the society.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. The world’s smallest rocket to carry tiny satellite into orbit: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has successfully launched the world’s smallest rocket with the ability to put a tiny satellite into orbit. The experimental SS-520 sounding rocket lifted off from the Uchinoura Space Center. It carried a microsatellite TRICOM-1R, a three-unit CubeSat weighing about 3 kilograms. The CubeSat will now be used to collect images of the Earth’s surface via multiple cameras. This satellite launch was a re-flight of the TRICOM-1 mission, which was lost in SS-520’s failure in 2017.

2. The new Chairman of the Federal Reserve: Jerome Hayden Powell has been sworn-in as the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve for a four-year term on February 5, 2018. The oath was administered by Vice Chairman Randal K. Quarles in the Board Room. He succeeded Janet Yellen, the first woman to lead the US central bank in its 100-year history. He was nominated to the position by President Donald Trump on November 2, 2017, and was later confirmed by the United States Senate.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Murugappan takes charge of Murugappa Group: South-based diversified conglomerate Murugappa Group has appointed M M Murugappan as the Executive Chairman. Murugappan, who was the vice-chairman, succeeds A Vellayan, who served as executive chairman from November 2009.

SPORTS:

1. India Open Badminton tournament 2018: Zhang Beiwen, a professional badminton player from America, has won the 4th edition of India Open Badminton tournament 2018 in New Delhi on February 4, 2018. In the final, she defeated Olympics and World Championships Silver medalist PV Sindhu by 21–18, 11–21, 22–20 at Siri Fort Indoor Stadium. It was the fifth meeting between Sindhu and Zhang and the head-to-head record now is 3-2 with Sindhu losing this match.