Daily GK Updates - 5th July, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. J&K village gets electricity first time : A village in J&K’s Rajouri district, Narla Bambal, received electricity connection and metalled road for the first time since Independence.It is the district’s last village to be connected to the rest of the state by road, reports said.“All the developmental works in these areas can now be done without any problem,” Rajouri District Collector Shahid Iqbal said.

2. Punjab orders mandatory dope test : Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh has ordered a mandatory dope test for all government employees, including police personnel, from the time of their recruitment through every stage of their service.Drug screening will be mandatory in cases of promotions, and also be a part of annual medical examinations.The state’s Chief Secretary has been asked to issue an order.

3. UNESCO to set up Design University for Gaming : UNESCO has come into an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government to set up a ‘Design University for Gaming’ in Visakhapatnam.A UNESCO delegation met with CM Chandrababu Naidu and asked for 100 acres of land to develop the city as an ‘International Gaming and Digital Learning Hub’.They will develop edutech gaming in the state, with the target of providing 50,000 jobs in 10 years.

4. CCI launched an Online Guidance System : The Competition Commission of India (CCI) launched an Online Guidance System for determining notifiability of merger & acquisitions.The Guidance System has been named as “Do It Yourself (DIY): A notifiability check for mergers & acquisitions under the Competition Act, 2002”.It is a part of CCI’s outreach initiatives and measures to simplify compliance requirements regarding combinations.

5. Centre approved WIPO treaties : The Union Cabinet approved the WIPO Copyright Treaty and WIPO Performers and Phonograms Treaty, 1996.It extends coverage of copyright to the internet and digital environment.The approval is a step towards the objective laid in the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy.It will enable creative right-holders enjoy the fruit of their labour, through international copyright system.

6. CMSMS and ‘Khan Prahari’ App launched : Shri Piyush Goyal launched the Coal Mine Surveillance & Management System (CMSMS) and Mobile Application ‘Khan Prahari’.It is developed by CMPDI, Ranchi a Subsidiary of CIL and Bhaskarcharya Institute of Space Application and Geo-informatics (BISAG).The basic objective of CMSMS is reporting, monitoring and taking suitable action on unauthorised coal mining activities.

7. Agartala airport’s name changed : Union Cabinet gave its approval to rename the Agartala Airport, Tripura as ‘Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore Airport, Agartala’.Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore, ascended the throne of the erstwhile Tripura Princely State.Due to his initiative, an aerodrome at Agartala was constructed that is second busiest airport in the North East and provides crucial air connectivity to Tripura.

7. ISRO’s first ‘pad abort’ test successful : The first ‘pad abort’ test critical for a future human space mission was conducted successfully by ISRO.‘PAT’ is the 1^st in a series of tests to qualify a crew escape system technology of a manned mission in the future.Crew Escape System is an emergency escape measure to quickly pull the crew module along with astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in event of a launch abor

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. World’s First All-Digital Art Museum at Tokyo : The world’s first digital art museum opened at the MORI Building Digital Art Museum in Tokyo, a collaboration between the developer and art collective TeamLab.Owing to projection-mapping technology, the artworks react to movement and touch, inviting visitors to imagine they possess new superpowers.In 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics visitors to Tokyo will experience something unique.

2. WIPO treaties approved : The Union Cabinet approved MoU between India and United Kingdom regarding cooperation between both countries in the sphere of Law & Justice.A Joint Consultative Committee will also be set up.It concerns exchange of experience by legal professionals, government functionaries for resolution of disputes.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Oil prices- Main risk to Indian economy : According to MOODY’s survey Oil prices, Pace of Banks’ balance sheet clean-up and investment are the main risks to the Indian economy.These issues were raised at MOODY’s 4th annual India credit conference held at Mumbai and Singapore in June 2018.Banks have not been able to raise capital from equity market as planned under government’s recapitalization mesurer.

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. RBI grants licence to Bank of China : The Reserve Bank of India has issued the license to Bank of China to launch operations in India.With this, Bank of China becomes the second Chinese bank after the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to have a branch in India.Bank of China is one of the four biggest state-owned commercial banks in China.Bank of China opened its first branch in South Asia in Pakistan’s Karachi in 2017.

  

SPORTS:

1. Sports Authority of India’s name changed : Union Ministers of Youth Affairs and Sports Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore announced that Sports Authority of India (SAI), will now be known as ‘Sports India’.SAI is a successor organization of the IXth Asian Games held in New Delhi in 1982.It aims at the joint preparation of long term sports-specific development plans by National Sports governing bodies and federations of India (NSFs).