Daily GK Updates - 26th May, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. President appoints Odisha, Mizoram governors : President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed new Governors of two states – Odisha and Mizoram.President Kovind appointed Professor Ganeshi Lal as the Governor of Odisha while Kummanam Rajasekharan has been appointed as the Governor of Mizoram.Rajasekharan will replace incumbent Lt Gen Nirbhay Sharma.

2. Indian Navy commissioned the fourth LCU : Indian Navy has commissioned IN LCU L54, the 4^th ship of Landing Craft Utility MK-IV, into its fleet at Port Blair.It has been indigenously designed & built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers.It can be deployed for multi-role activities like disaster relief operations and evacuation from distant islands.A total of 8 vessels in the class are planned to be built for the Indian Navy

3. Panel for health sector : The 15th Finance Commission has constituted a high level group to explore and give recommendations for a balanced expansion of the health sector.The group will be headed by AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria.It will suggest ways to optimize the use of existing financial resources & to incentivise state governments’ efforts towards fulfillment of well-defined health parameters in the country.

4. Sushil Chandra gets another one-year extension : Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Sushil Chandra has got a one-year extension up to May 31, 2019.He took over as chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in 2016.This is the second extension that he has got.CBDT has six members, apart from the chairman, and is responsible for framing policy related to direct taxes and the Income Tax Department.

5. RSM 2018 to be celebrated in Uttarakhand : Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav 2018 will be organised by Ministry of Culture in Tehri, Uttarakhand under the Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat.It is the 19^th edition & will be organised from May 25-27 2018, with its important thrustbeing presenting uniqueness & rich diversity of Indian cultureTehri Lake Festival will be a part of RSM 2018, where Uttarakhand Tourism organizes water sports for people

6. IRCTC partners with ixigo : In order to exclusively power hotel bookings, IRCTC has partnered with the ixigo, a travel marketplace.Under this partnership, wide range of accommodations from ixigo would be available on the mobile and web platforms of IRCTC.ixigo is a Gurugram based travel search engine and also a mobile travel application available for all OS.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Netherlands signed framework agreement of ISA : Netherlands has signed the framework agreement of International Solar Alliance (ISA) following a bilateral summit between PM Modi & his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte.ISA was launched by Modi and then French President Francois Hollande at the Paris climate summit in 2015.The objective of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

2. PM Modi to visit Indonesia : PM Modi will be visiting Indonesia on May 29-31 with an aim of working together with Indonesia to strengthen the strategic partnership between both the nations.During the visit, major areas of cooperation will be in the field of space, security & defence.An agreement on cooperation between India and Indonesia on kite museums in both the countries may also take place.

3. World Environment Day to be hosted by India : India will be the host country for this year’s celebrations of World Environment Day.World Environment Day is celebrated annually on June 5th.This year’s theme is “Beat Plastic Pollution: If you can’t reuse it, refuse it”.World Environment Day was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. First company to achieve Rs 7 lakh crore m-cap : Tata Consultancy Services’ market valuation briefly crossed the Rs 7-lakh crore mark on May 25, 2018, making it the first company to achieve this milestone.TCS is the country’s most valued firm, followed by Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Hindustan Unilever Limited.TCS recently became the first Indian company to close the trading session with over USD 100 billion market valuation.

2. MobiKwik launches UPI on platform : MobiKwik has announced the launch of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its platform via its own Virtual payment address (VPA) handle @ikwik.Users can simply scan and generate UPI QR functionality to send and receive money using VPA and phone number from the contact list.MobiKwik is the first in the industry to offer UPI access to a huge base of three million merchants on its app.

3. Customs duty on wheat raised by 30% : Customs duty on wheat has been raised by the government from 20% to 30% in order to protect domestic growers and curb cheaper imports.This has been done to restrict overseas purchase so that the farmers get their MSP (Minimum Support Price) and also to avoid pressure coming under domestic prices of wheat.Walnut shell has also seen an increase in the import duty from 30% to 100%.

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. Direct funding facility to VLEs in CSCs : Small Industries Development Bank of India has signed an MoU with Common Service Centres Special Purpose Vehicle for providing financial support to CSCs.SIDBI will extend financial support to Village Level Entrepreneurs of CSCs, with minimum 1 year of operation, under the Direct Financing Window of SIDBI.The MoU aims to bring more citizens under the ambit of financial inclusion.

DEFENCE:

1. World’s longest surface-to-air missile : World’s longest surface-to-air missile test was conducted by Russia quietly.This S-500 surface-to-air missile successfully struck a target that was 299 miles away.Russia claims that this missile system is capable of destroying objects flying in space 62 miles above the Earth’s surface.It is also capable of intercepting aircrafts, drones and hypersonic missile.