Daily GK Updates - 30th June, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Aadhaar Virtual ID to be started from July 1 : UIDAI has recently declared to accept Virtual ID from their users from 1st July from service providers and agencies like banks and telecom companies.This will give the users the option of not sharing their Aadhaar number at the time of authentication.The Virtual ID will be a temporary and revocable 16 digit random number mapped to a person’s Aadhaar number.

2. Arunachal to repeal anti-conversion law : BJP-ruled Arunachal Pradesh is likely to repeal the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act or the Anti-Conversion Law which was passed in 1978.The law was adopted to check Proselytism: an act of attempting to convert people to another religion or opinion. But now the govt thinks that it is undermining secularism.Arunachal was the 3rd State after Odisha and MP to enact this law.

3. Govt to link 22,000 rural markets to e-NAM : Centre has announced that 22,000 rural markets would be linked to Electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) by 2020 as part of its drive to double the income of farmers.These rural markets will be upgraded to Gramin Agricultural Markets & linked with e-NAM to enable farmers to sell directly to potential buyers.e-NAM is an electronic unified national market for agricultural commodities

4. India exports Rs 18,000-crore worth spices : India exported a record 10,28,060 tonnes of spices and spice products valued at Rs 17,929.55 crore in 2017-18.There is an increase of 8% in volume and 1% in rupee terms in the year ended March 2018, compared to the previous financial year.The export of value-added products like curry powder/paste, spice oils and oleoresins also increased in volume and value during the period

5. Govt notifies Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 : Govt has recently notified Electoral Bonds, which may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India.Political Parties registered under Section 29A of Representation of People Act, 1951 shall be eligible to receive Electoral Bonds.Electoral Bonds shall be valid for 15 days from the date of issue & no payment shall be made after the expiry date

6. NITI Aayog releases first Delta ranking :NITI Aayog has launched the first Delta ranking (incremental progress) for the Aspirational Districts.The ranking is based on self-reported data of districts across 5 developmental areas of Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development & Basic Infrastructure.The ranking is a tool to identify sectors and indicator specific challenges.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Agriculture JWG between Gujarat and Israel : Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and Israel’s Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Uri Ariel and announced a joint working group in the fields of agriculture and allied sectors.The initiative is taken as a step to double the farmers’ income by 2022.This Agriculture Plan would also explore opportunities for using the hi-tech protective cultivation and precision farming methods of Israe

2. Mumbai is 5th-least punctual airport : ReportAccording to the British aviation intelligence firm OAG, Mumbai is the fifth-least punctual airport in the world in terms of on-time performance out of 513 airports.Japan’s Nagoya Komaki airport was ranked the best with 94.5% on-time performance during the 12-month period.

The top Indian airport on the list was Port Blair, which recorded 84.6 per cent on-time performance and ranked 65.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Fiscal deficit hits 55% due to higher capex : The Centre’s fiscal deficit for the first two months of the fiscal year 2018-19 stood at Rs 3.45 trillion, this is a sign of growing economy.The fiscal deficit target for 2018-19 is Rs 6.24 trillion, or 3.3 percent of the gross domestic product.The difference between total revenue and total expenditure of the government is termed as fiscal deficit.

2. Kerala govt signs MoU with Nissan : A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Kerala government and Nissan officials to boost digital operations.The first phase of the digital hub will come up over 30 acres of land in Technocity, 20 kilometres outside Thiruvananthapuram.The company is looking at providing 500 direct jobs by the end of April 2019 with indirect employment for software development

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. World Bank: Maha most vulnerable to climate : Maharashtra is among the states where people’s standards of living are most vulnerable to climate change, says a World Bank study released, titled “South Asia’s Hotspots”.The study projects that India could shave off 2.8% of GDP by 2050 if greenhouse gas emissions continue unmitigated.Many districts will see 9% – 11% decline in standards of living with Chandrapur district topping at 12.4%

SPORTS:

1. Dutee Chand sets new national record in 100m : Dutee Chand broke her 100m national record at 58th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships at Guwahati.The 22-year-old Dutee, representing Odisha, ran 11.29 sec in the semifinal race to better her national record of 11.30sec and later clinched the gold in 11.32sec.She has already qualified the 2018 Asian games which will be held in Jakarta and Palembang.