Daily GK Updates - 15th April, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES

1. Dharmendra to receive Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement award: According to the Maharashtra culture minister, Veteran Bollywood actor ‘Dharmendra’ will be conferred with the prestigious ‘Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement’ and filmmaker ‘Rajkumar Hirani’ with Raj Kapoor Special Contribution awards

2. Smriti Irani inaugurates Home Expo India 2018 : The union minister of Textiles and Information and Broadcasting ‘Smriti Irani’ has inaugurated the three days Home Expo India 2018 (seventh edition) at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida.The expo is three segmented categories show comprising Housewares, Textiles, and Furniture.Around 650 Indian exporters of all the three categories will be displaying exquisite products of Houseware, decorative, furnishing, flooring, textiles and furniture accessories.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

1. Nepal: Bisket Jatra to be celebrated in Bhaktapur: The famous nine days annual festival ‘Bisket Jatra’ (Nepali new year) is being celebrated in Bhaktapur and the other parts of Kathmandu valley in Nepal.The Jatra begins four days before the start of new year.The main attraction of Bisket Jatra is chariot procession of Lord Bhairavanath.

OTHER UPDATES

SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY:

1. ISRO carries out fourth and final orbit raising operation of IRNSS-1I: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully carried out its fourth and final orbit raising operation of IRNSS-1I navigation satellite.The targeted perigee height is 35,381 km and apogee height at 35,793 km.Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, IRNSS-1I is the eighth and the last navigation satellite in the constellation.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. L&T, BEL Ink MoU for Defence Products : In line with the efforts to indigenize the defence sector under the 'Make in India' initiative, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) signed an MoU to cater to the needs of evolving domestic and export markets for defence products and systems.The MoU seeks to leverage the capabilities of both the firms for meeting the growing requirements of the Indian Armed Forces

2. PNB Launches Products to Mark Foundation Day :  State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) launched new products such as pre-approved credit card and UPI solution to mark its 124th foundation day.esides, the bank announced its UPI partnership with the expense management app WALNUT that comes embedded with features such as bill reminders, bill-split and instant paperless loans.

SPORTS:

1.  Saina first Indian shuttler to win two singles gold in Commonwealth Games: Ace Indian shuttler ‘Saina Nehwal’ defeated PV Sindhu 21-18, 23-21 in women's singles final to clinch a gold medal in women’s badminton singles at the 21st Commonwealth Games.Now, she became the first Indian shuttler to have won two singles gold medals in badminton in Commonwealth Games.Earlier, Saina had won a gold medal in 2010 Commonwealth Games which were hosted by India.

2.  Kidambi Srikanth wins his first CWG Silver : World number one Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth won his career's first Commonwealth Games singles Silver medal.In the final, the 25-year-old Indian lost to Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei, who won his career's third Commonwealth Games singles gold medal. Notably, only three Indian shuttlers have won CWG men's singles title– Prakash Padukone (1978), Syed Modi (1982) and Parupalli Kashyap (2014).