Daily GK Updates - 5th April, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES

1. National Maritime Day of India observed: The National Maritime Day in India is observed on April 5 every year. The National Maritime Day is observed annually to commemorate the maiden voyage of the first Indian owned ship “SS Loyalty” which sailed from Bombay to London in 1919. In 2018, the theme of the National Maritime Day is ‘Indian Shipping – An Ocean of opportunity’.

2. EC to set up Sakhi Polling Booths: The Election Commission (EC) will set up Sakhi/Pink polling booths for the first time in the Karnataka assembly elections. These pink polling booths will have completely female staff including presiding officers, polling officers, micro observers and security personnel. The pink booths are aimed at empowering women and increasing their participation in the poll process.

3. AIIB Conference held in Vishakhapatnam: The second lead-up Conference to 3rd Annual Meeting of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on ‘Enhancing Port and Coastal Infrastructure’ was held in Visakhapatnam. The Conference was organized by the Ministry of Finance, AIIB, CII and Research and Infrastructure System for Developing Countries.

4. CCI to have 3 members only: The Cabinet approved rightsizing of Competition Commission of India (CCI) by halving the number of its members to three. CCI currently has one chairperson and six members. It will now have one chairperson and three members. This would lead to “faster turnaround in hearings” that is expected to result in speedier approvals.

5. India ranked third in facing “most cyber threats”: India ranked third in the list of countries where the highest number of cyber threats were detected, and second in terms of targeted attacks in 2017, according to security software firm Symantec. India was ranked second globally when it comes to spam and phishing (misleading emails, weblink etc). Symantec detected 133 targeted attacks in India which are the work of organised groups.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

1. India, Azerbaijan sign two documents: India and Azerbaijan have inked two documents for the visa waiver for diplomatic, official and service passports holders and cooperation between diplomatic training institutes. The agreements were signed during the ongoing visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to that country. Mrs Swaraj is there to be part of 18th NAM Ministerial Conference in Baku.

OTHER UPDATES

SCIENCE / TECHNOLOGY:

1. X plane to be developed by NASA: NASA is set to develop an ‘X-plane’ designed to fly faster than the speed of sound without producing the noise typical of supersonic flights. The X-plane’s mission is to provide crucial data that could enable commercial supersonic passenger air travel over land. The X-plane makes a quiet sonic boom due to its unique shape and design.

BUSINESS / ECONOMY:

1. NRDC to develop ASEAN technology data bank: The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) will establish a technology data bank for ASEAN region as part of ASEAN-India Innovation Platform. The corporation has been entrusted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) to manage the platform for a period of four years. The proposed data bank will link existing data banks of available technologies in the ASEAN region.

2. Flipkart signs a pact with Make My Trip (MMT): Flipkart and MakeMyTrip (MMT) have struck a partnership wherein the online retailer will start to sell travel services on its platform. MakeMyTrip’s multiple brands, including MMT, Goibibo and redBus, will leverage the large customer base of Flipkart platform to drive online bookings in travel services. The new partnership will start with domestic flight, hotels, bus and holidays bookings.

BANKING / FINANCE:

1. IndusInd Bank got RBI nod to acquire IL&FS: Private sector lender IndusInd Bank has received RBI’s approval to buy the securities services arm of IL&FS. In March 2017, the bank entered an agreement with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) to acquire 100% stake in ISSL. Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) is the promoter shareholder of IL&FS Securities Services Ltd (ISSL).

SPORTS:

1. Mirabai Chanu wins gold in women’s weightlifting at CWG: Mirabai Chanu secured India’s first gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games when she finished first in the women’s 48 kg weightlifting event at Gold Coast. Mirabai Chanu broke the Commonwealth Games’ weightlifting record by lifting 196 kg. The previous Games’ record was 175 kg set by Augustine Nwaokolo of Nigeria in 2010. This is her 2nd CWG medal following the silver she won in Glasgow.

2. P.Gururaja wins silver medal in Weightlifting in 56 kg category: Weightlifter P Gururaja opened India’s medal account on the first competition day of the 21st Commonwealth Games by winning the silver medal in Weightlifting. In the 56 kilogram category, P Gururaja lifted a total weight of 249 kg to finish second in the event. Malaysia took the Gold medal, while Sri Lanka got the Bronze medal.