Daily GK Updates - 4th August, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. The Unending Game by Vikram Sood : “The Unending Game: A Former R&AW Chief’s Insights into Espionage” has been written by Vikram Sood.Vikram Sood is the former head of India’s foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing from 2000 to 2003.The book covers some of the most exciting aspects of intelligence failures and successes.Currently, Sood acts as Advisor to Observer Research Foundation.

2. Uttarakhand HC bans use of elephants : The Uttarakhand High Court banned the commercial use of elephants in Corbett Tiger Reserve besides restricting the number of vehicles entering its ranges in a day to 100.The order came after the court was apprised that elephants were chained and ill-treated causing immense cruelty.The elephants shall be temporarily kept at Rajaji National Park, Chilla.

3. Justice Geeta Mittal woman CJ of J&K HC : Justice Geeta Mittal was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, becoming the first woman judge in the history to head it.Justice Mittal was till now the Acting Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.On 3rd August 2018, Sindhu Sharma became the first woman judge of the Jammu and Kashmir HC.

4. Ministers’ panel approves GST discounts: A Group of State Finance Ministers on GST discount gave its nod for incentivising digital payments through a cash back mechanism.As much as 20% of total GST paid up to ₹100 per transaction would be provided as cash back on payments made through RuPay cards, BHIM App and UPI.This move will benefit RuPay card holders as well as BHIM App users.

5. ‘Shor nahin’ mobile app launched in HP : Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur launched ‘horn not ok’ awareness campaign and ‘shor nahin’ (no noise) mobile application.The ‘shor nahin’ mobile application can be used by the general public to report cases of noise pollution.As part of the first phase, the campaign has been launched in Shimla and Manali

6. 5 crore gas connections under Ujjwala Yojana : Loksabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan handed over 5 croreth LPG connection under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) achieving the target in 28 months.PMUY was launched on 1st May 2016 and it is implemented by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.Through PMUY, initially, 5 crore BPL households were targeted for providing deposit free LPG connections to BPL households by 31st March 2019

7. Justice Indira’s appointment to SC: The Supreme Court is going to get its third woman judge.The law ministry cleared the appointment of Justice Indira Banerjee, 60, the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court as a Supreme Court judge.Justice Banerjee, 60, is the eighth woman to be ever elevated to the Supreme Court.This is the first time that the Supreme Court will have three woman judges.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. First single-chromosome yeast created : Chinese scientists claimed to have created the first single-chromosome yeast while not affecting the majority of its functions.Brewer’s yeast, one-third of whose genome is said to share ancestry with humans, has 16 chromosomes.However, Chinese scientists have managed to fit nearly all its genetic material into just one chromosome.

2. Japan become world’s 2nd largest stock market : Japan has pipped China as the world’s second-largest stock market.The Chinese market was worth $6.09 trillion next to Japan’s $6.17 trillion.Both markets are ranked after the US which is the world’s largest at just over $31 trillion.China lost to Japan after Chinese stocks and currency fell this year amid a trade spat with the US.

3. DG AIR elected AIBD President : The Asia-Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (AIBD) on August 3, 2018 elected Fayyaz Sheheryar, Director-General of All India Radio, as its new President.This is the first time India has been elected for the position of president of AIBD.The elections were held at the 44th annual meeting of AIBD in Colombo.AIBD has been established in 1977 under the auspices of UNESCO.

OTHER UPDATES:

BANKING/FINANCE:

1.IDEMIA gets NPCI stamp for RuPay cards : French company IDEMIA has become the first company to be given the certification to manufacture and personalise RuPay chip contact and contactless cards on the qSPARC v2 platform.The qSPARC is a dual interface open loop payment specification, with the option of loading multiple payment applications on a single card.The certification is issued by the National Payments Corporation of India.

2. ‘Umbrella Organisation’ to revive Co-op Bank : India’s co-operative banking sector is set to undergo a transformation with the concept of Umbrella Organisation (UO) of Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) to look into the issues plaguing the sector.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed non-fund-based umbrella organisations at State levels.Gujarat is the first State in the country to have an UO for the UCB sector.

SPORTS:

1. Rohit Kumar Becomes Fourth Youngest Player : Nepal’s Rohit Kumar Paudel, at 15 years and 335 days, became the fourth youngest One-day International (ODI) cricket debutant.Pakistan’s Hasan Raza remains the youngest to play an ODI. Raza made his debut against Zimbabwe in 1996 aged just 14 years and 233 days.Canada’s Nitish Kumar is third on the list – he was 15 years and 273 days when he played Afghanistan in Sharjah in 2010.