Daily GK Updates - 24th July, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 19th Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations begins : The 19th Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations began at the Drass War Memorial in Jammu and Kashmir.The Kargil Vijay Diwas is celebrated every year for three days till 26th July to commemorate India’s emphatic victory against Pakistan.During the war, the Indian Army evicted Pakistani intruders and succeeded in recapturing the Tiger Hill and other posts as a part of Operation Vijay.

2. Sitamarhi - 1st ODF district in Bihar : Sitamarhi becomes the first Open Defecation Free (ODF) district in Bihar with more than five lakh households having toilets.Bihar needs to construct over six lakh toilets to go ODF by October 2019.Swachh Bharat Mission is a campaign launched on 2 Oct 2014 that aims to achieve Open-Defecation Free and a clean India by 2nd Oct 2019, which is the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

3. Odisha forms committee for film development : Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has set up a ministerial committee to prepare a draft policy for the development of Odia film industry.The committee headed by Finance Minister S B Behera, will have Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Prafulla Samal and Industries Minister Ananta Das as its members.The committee will examine the problems faced by the Odia film industry.

4. Gadkari kicks off work on road projects in MP : Union roads minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stones for over Rs 35.8 billion of roads projects in Madhya Pradesh.The minister said work on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway passing through Jaipur and the Bhopal-Indore Expressway and the Chambal Expressway will start soon.The minister also inaugurated the upgraded Shivpuri-Guna, Guna-Biora, Lakhanadoan-Chhapara roads.

5. First-ever tribal atlas of Odisha released : Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released the first tribal atlas of Odisha, a set of maps and statistics highlighting the tribal demography of the state.The atlas has been prepared by the SC & ST Research and Training Institute in collaboration with the Academy of Tribal Language and Culture.The atlas has been brought out utilising the data of Census 2011 and other relevant statistics.

6. Bijli Mitra’ Mobile app in Rajasthan : Farmers in Rajasthan will soon be able to get their defunct transformers replaced within six hours of registering a complaint through a mobile app.The government decided to introduce mobile app ‘Bijli Mitra’ so that farmers can register their complaint.The scheme was being launched on a pilot basis from Jhalawara in Rajasthan.

7. Lupin Foundation adopts 3 districts : An agreement was signed between the Niti Aayog and Lupin Foundation.Lupin Foundation has adopted Dholpur, Vidisha and Nandurbar as part of government’s ‘Aspirational Districts Programme’ under the Niti Aayog.Dholpur in Rajasthan, Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh and Nandurbar in Maharashtra are amongst the districts ranked at the bottom in terms of development.

8. Lok Sabha passes NCTE amendment bill : The Lok Sabha passed a bill to amend the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Act.It will provide post-facto approval to those approved institutions which are funded by the Centre or states but do not have recognition under the 1993 law.This has been done as a one-time measure to ensure that the future of students studying in these institutions is not jeopardised.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Venezuela inflation will hit 1,000,000% : Inflation in Venezuela is expected to reach 1,000,000% by the end of 2018, according to the International Monetary Fund.Venezuela’s economy has been steadily collapsing since the crash of oil prices in 2014.Venezuela’s economy is expected to shrink 18% in 2018 — the third consecutive year of double-digit contractions.

2. Pakistan gets its first woman chief justice : Justice Tahira Safdar was named as the Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court.Justice Safdar will take charge of her new role following the retirement of incumbent Balochistan High Court Chief Justice.Justice Safdar had made history in 1982 when she became the first woman civil judge in Balochistan.

3. Iran pips S. Arabia in oil supply to India : Iran overtook Saudi Arabia to be the second largest supplier of crude oil to Indian public sector firms during the first three months of current fiscal.Indian PSUs bought 5.67 million tonnes of crude oil from the Persian Gulf nation during April-June, higher than imports from Saudi Arabia.

Imports from Iran were only second to Iraq.

4. India, Rwanda sign eight agreements : India and Rwanda have signed 8 agreements following delegation-level talks between PM Modi & Rwandan President Paul Kagame.The two countries signed agreements in the fields of Defence, Trade, Agriculture, Leather and Dairy.India also extended 2 Lines of Credit of $100 million each – one for development of industrial parks & Kigali SEZ and the other for 3 agricultural projects in Rwanda.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Karnataka sees 300% jump in FDI inflows : Karnataka registered the biggest increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2017, as inflows from overseas jumped 300% in the 12 months ended March 2018.While Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh all saw a drop in FDI inflows, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) presented in Parliament show.While Karnataka received $8.58 billion in 2017/18 and Tamil Nadu netted $3.47 billion.

2. India drops 3 ranks in FDI Confidence Index : India in 2018 has fallen out of top 10 destinations for FDI in terms of its attractiveness, according to an AT Kearney report.

India ranks 11 in the 2018 AT Kearney FDI Confidence Index, down from 8 in 2017 and 9 in 2016.According to the report, the fall in ranking is due to teething troubles in the implementation of the GST and the government’s demonetisation decision in 2016.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:

1. Materials that respond to light developed’ : Scientists have developed new materials that move when exposed to lightThe light actuated materials created by researchers are based on the principle of the Curie temperature.Curie Temperature is a temperature at which certain magnetic materials undergo a sharp change in their magnetic properties.

SPORTS:

1. Dhanvir Singh wins gold in shotput : Indian shot-putter Dhanvir Singh bagged a gold medal in the ongoing 15th National Youth Athletics Championship.While Adish Ghildiyal of Uttarakhand won the silver medal with a throw of 18.23 metre. Meanwhile, Dhanvir Singh and the winner of Women’s 100-metre hurdle race, Aparna Roy, were declared the ‘Best Athletes’ of the National Youth Athletics Championship.