Daily GK Updates - 19th June, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.Nitin Gadkari to attend water conference : Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation & Shipping, Nitin Gadkari is going to attend a conference on International Decade for Action: Water for sustainable development 2018 – 2028.It is being held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan from 20-21 June.It aims to promote national & international action on integrated and sustainable water resource management worldwide.

2. Yoga Ambassador tour in Kerala : Around 60 yoga exponents from 22 countries would participate in yoga ambassador tour in Idukki district of Kerala.The tour has been organised by Association of Tourism Trade Organisation, India (ATTOI) in association with Ministry of Ayush and Kerala tourism and will conclude on 21st June.The tour was inaugurated by Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State, Ministry of AYUSH.

3. 11th Common Review Mission report : Shri Ashwini Choubey, Minister of Health and Family welfare released the 11th Common Review Mission (CRM) report.The report stated that the country had registered 22% reduction to 130 from 167 in Maternal Mortality rate (MMR) since 2013.The report also focussed on creation and conversion of Sub health centers as health and wellness centers (HWC) to achieve the aim of 150000 HWC by 2022.

4. Inter-governmental meeting on anti-doping : The 15th annual Asia and Oceania region inter-governmental  meeting on Anti-doping begins in Colombo, Sri Lanka.The 2 day meeting would be based on how to ensure compliance with world anti-doping code, support capacity building & also conduct research to prevent athletes falling victims to doping.World Anti – Doping Agency (WADA) is the governing body with its president Sir Craig Reedie.

5. Govt agrees with Google for flood forecasting : Central Water Commission, India’s apex technical organization in the field of Water Resources, has entered into a Collaboration Agreement with Google.CWC would use state-of-the-art advances made by Google in the in the field of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and geospatial mapping for effective management of water resources.It will give flood-related information to the masses.

6. 3-day national yoga olympiad-2018 : A 3-day National Yoga Olympiad was inaugurated at the National Council of Educational Research and Training in CIET in New Delhi.This is the third consecutive year of National Yoga Olympiad of NCERT and this year about 500 students from 26 States and 4 RIEs are participating.Two books – Joy of Theatre and Sangeet — training packages were released on the occasion.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Brazil & India firm most vulnerable to hikes : According to a report from Mckinsey Global Institute, a 200 basis-point increase in interest rate would spark a sharp price in corporate debt especially in case of Brazilian and Indian firms.This is seen as central banks of many emerging economies have raised interest rates, a similar thing done by RBI.It also said advanced economies would be protected from such increase of interest.

2. Goa and Hawaii to sign sister agreement : The government of Goa and US state of Hawaii will sign a sister agreement as the draft was cleared by State Cabinet.This would enhance the cooperation between Goa and Hawaii and would include areas such as trade, tourism, sports, technology, yoga, skill development, agriculture and Ayurveda.This would also boost the infrastructure project such as Mandovi river project & Zuari river bridge

3. Jeff Bezos becomes richest man in the world : Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos becomes the richest man in the world with a net worth of USD 141.9 billion according to the Forbes world’s billionaire list.Bezos beat the principal founder of Microsoft Corp. Bill Gates, who is the second richest man with a total wealth of USD 92.9 billion.Bezos’ company Amazon has now become the second most valuable company in the world after Apple.

4. 7th OPEC international Seminar : The Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill development & Entreprenuership Dharmendra Pradhan to participate in the 7th OPEC International seminar as a special guest in Vienna, Austria on 19th June.The visit is crucial as global oil prices are at highest since 2014 and are impacting India’s increasing economy.He will also be visiting Germany and will take part in a yoga event.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. IRDAI set up panel to review marketing firms : IRDAI has formed a panel to review the regulations pertaining to insurance marketing firms.The committee is headed by Suresh Mathur, Executive Director, IRDAI, with nine more members.The new distribution channel of insurance marketing firms was introduced in 2015 by IRDAI, with the objective of increasing insurance penetration in the country through an area-wise registration approach.

BANKING/FINANCE:

1.Bank credit rises 3.4% in Dec. 2017 quarter : Bank credit grew 3.4% on a sequential basis in the December 2017 quarter.It was due to better performance by private sector banks and an uptick in industrial credit after two successive quarters of declines, according to the Reserve Bank data.At the end of the December quarter, bank credit stood at ₹80.62 trillion compared with ₹77.95 trillion in the Sept 2017 quarter as per the RBI data.