Daily GK Updates - 1st March, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES

1. India’s first Aviation Multi Skill Development Centre to be inaugurated: Union Minister of Civil Aviation P Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated the country’s first Aviation Multi Skill Development Centre at Chandigarh Airport’s old terminal. The centre, which is a CSR initiative of Airports Authority of India (AAI), will initially train 2,360 students free of cost in three years.

2. Cabinet approves the Action Plan for CSS: The Union Cabinet approved the proposal of Ministry of Commerce and Industry to give focused attention to 12 identified Champion Services Sectors (CSS) for promoting their development and realizing their potential. 12 identified CSS are The Information Technology & Information Technology Enabled Services (IT & ITeS), Medical Value Travel, Transport and Logistics Services, Tourism and Hospitals. The respective Ministries/Departments will finalize Action Plans and implementation timelines along with monitoring mechanism to monitor implementation of Scheme. It will enhance the competitiveness of country’s service sectors through implementation of focused and monitored Action Plans.

3. Haryana to give death penalty to rapists: Haryana government gave its nod to a proposal to bring in a legislation that would have a provision awarding death penalty to those guilty of raping girls aged 12 years or less. Existing criminal laws related to sexual offences will be made more stringent.

4. First Mega Food Park inaugurated in Mahrashtra: The first Mega Food Park in the state of Maharashtra Satara Mega Food Park Private Limited at Village Degaon, District Satara was inaugurated by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister of Food Processing Industries. This is the 10th Mega Food Park being operationalized in the country and the 8th operationalized during the tenure of the present government. Satara Mega Food Park has been set up in 64 acres of land at a cost of Rs. 139.30 crore.

5. India back as the world’s fastest-growing major economy: India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth surged to 7.2% in the December quarter of 2017-18, restoring its status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy. The economy grew at 6.7% in Gross Value Added (GVA) terms. The GDP growth rebounded from 6.5% in the previous quarter, reportedly indicating that the economy has moved past disruptions due to demonetisation and GST rollout. China remains a major competitor of India.

6. Chilka is the home to world’s largest number of Irrawaddy Dolphins: The Chilka lake in Odisha has emerged as the single largest habitat of Irrawaddy dolphins in the world with the spotting of 155 dolphins. The finding is based on the preliminary report of the first ever ‘Annual Monitoring’ of the lake.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

1. Taliban to be recognized as a political group: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani offered to recognise Taliban as a legitimate political group in order to end the over 16 year long war. He also proposed a ceasefire and the release of Taliban-linked prisoners along with fresh elections and a constitutional review.

OTHER UPDATES

DEFENCE:

1. India’s first defence ‘Quad’ to be made in the South: The Defence Ministry has started the process to set up the country’s first defence industrial corridor to promote industries manufacturing weapons and military equipment. Quad or quadrilateral corridor will connect Chennai, Hosur, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchirappalli.

SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY:

1. New plant species named after Abdul Kalam: Scientists from the Botanical Survey of India have identified a new plant species from two protected National Parks in West Bengal. Named Drypetes kalamii, it is a small shrub found to be shorter version of its close relative Drypetes ellisii. The plant is named after former President Abdul Kalam.

BANKING / FINANCE:

1. SBI hikes deposit rates: After announcing a hike in the MCLR based lending rate, SBI raised the retail and bulk deposits rates for various maturities by up to 0.75% with immediate effect. This is the third pricing revision in past four months by the bank. For retail deposits, below ₹1 crore, rates have been increased by up to 0.50%, while for deposits maturing in one year to less than two years, the pricing has been raised by 0.15% to 6.40% from 6.25% earlier.

2. PNB appoints AK Pradhan as Chief Risk Officer: Hit by nearly Rs 12,700 cr fraud, PNB appointed its General Manager A K Pradhan as the Group Chief Risk Officer. PNB said that the amount of fraud in the Nirav Modi case can go up to Rs 12,700 crores as against the earlier estimate of Rs. 11,400 crores.

3. Catholic Syrian Bank ties up with Celebrus Capital: The Catholic Syrian Bank Ltd (CSB) has tied up with Celebrus Capital Ltd (Celebrus), to offer CSB’s customers online trading and demat services. With this partnership, CSB’s customers will be able to open a Celebrus trading account free of cost and also enjoy preferred rates on brokerage charges/AMC fees on the demat account.

4. Corporation Bank reports fraud of Rs. 6.77 crores in Jharkhand: The CBI has booked an auto dealer in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand for allegedly siphoning off the loan amount and causing a loss of Rs. 6.77 crore to Corporation Bank. The agency has booked Ramnandi Estate and its directors along with the bank’s valuer, Sanjay Kumar. Corporation Bank alleged that Kumar filed enhanced valuation reports based on which the loan was sanctioned.

BUSINESS/ ECONOMY:

1. Aircel files for bankruptcy: India’s sixth-largest telecom operator Aircel filed for bankruptcy at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) claiming that it has a debt of ₹15,500 crore. This comes after the Ananda Krishnan-owned Malaysian parent Maxis Communications refused to infuse more funds into Aircel.

SPORTS:

1. Blue-checked and pink-checked mascots chosen for Olympics 2020: The mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics selected by elementary school kids were unveiled. The Olympics mascot is a blue-checked, doe-eyed character with pointy ears and “special powers”, while the Paralympics mascot sports pink checks and can “talk with stones and the wind”. A total of 6.5 million children cast their vote to select the mascots. It is noteworthy that Summer Olympics will start from July 29, 2020.

OBITUARIES:

1. Kanchi saint Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi passes away: Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, the senior seer of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt situated in Tamil Nadu, passed away. The junior pontiff, Sri Sankara Vijayendra Saraswathi will be the 70th Jagadguru of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. Sri Jayendra Saraswathi came to wield enormous say in matters affecting the Hindu religion in the country, including the Ayodhya issue.