Daily GK Updates - 17th October, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. H M Pernal gets Vishwa Konkani book award : According to the World Konkani Centre, H M Pernal has won the prestigious ‘Vimala V Pai Vishwa’ Konkani best book award for the year 2018.He has conferred this award for ‘Beeg Ani Beegath’, a collection of short stories in Konkani.

2.  'Building A Legacy': Mr. Naidu releases the biography of Anumolu Ramakrishna : Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has released a biography of late Anumolu Ramakrishna titled 'Building a Legacy'.The biography is authored by Chartered Accountant V Pattabhi Ram.Ramakrishna (former president and Managing Director at Larsen and Toubro) is the pioneer of the application of innovative systems and construction techniques in the Indian construction sector.Ramakrishna posthumously awarded Padma Bhushan in 2014.

3. IRCTC gets new AI-based assistant 'Disha' to Resolve Problems : IRCTC has launched a new (artificial intelligence) AI-based assistant, 'Ask Disha' for its website.

This new assistant will be prompt in answering generic queries about most frequently asked questions on the ticket booking platform. 'Ask Disha' is powered by CoRover (Bengaluru-based startup) that owns the platform which is built on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. British writer Anna Burns wins 2018 Man Booker Prize for ‘Milkman’ : British writer Anna Burns (56-year) has won the prestigious Man Booker for her Novel 'Milkman'.Milkman is a vibrant, violent story about men, women, conflict, and power set during Northern Ireland’s years of Catholic-Protestant violence.Ms. Burns won the 50,000-pound ($66,000) prize.Anna Burns was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.She is the author of two novels, No Bones and Little Constructions, and of the novella, Mostly Hero.

2. 17th October: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty : The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is an international observance celebrated every year on 17th October throughout the world.The theme of 2018 is ‘Coming together with those furthest behind to build an inclusive world of universal respect for human rights and dignity’.This year marks the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

3. Vice President leaves for Brussels to attend the 12^th ASEM summit : Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu left for Brussels (Belgium) to attend the two-day Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit.The theme of this year’s ASEM Summit is "Global Partners for Global Challenges”.Mr. Naidu will also participate in the Plenary Session and interact with various stakeholders.ASEM Agenda for 2018 will prioritize issues related to connectivity, trade and investment, sustainable development, climate change, terrorism, migration, maritime security and cyberspace.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1.Govt hikes GPF interest rate to 8% for Oct-Dec quarter : The union government has increased the rate of interest for General Provident Fund (GPF) and other related schemes by 0.4 percentage points to 8 percent from 1^st October-31^st December 2018.The interest rate on GPF was 7.6 percent for the July-September quarter.The interest rate would apply on Provident Funds of central government employees, railways and defense forces.Earlier, the union government has announced that the interest on small savings, including NSC and PPF, will be hiked by up to 0.4 percentage point for the October-December quarter.

2.  India is 58th most competitive economy in the WEF index : India has been ranked as the 58th most competitive economy on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) global competitiveness index for 2018.On the list of 140 economies, the US (1st) is followed by Singapore(2nd) and Germany (3rd).India’s rank rose by five places from 2017.

SPORTS :

1.Praveen Chitravel bags a Bronze medal at 2018 Summer Youth Olympics : Indian Triple Jumper ‘Praveen Chitravel’ won the Bronze medal at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Argentine.Praveen ended at the third spot with a combined effort of 31.52 meters.Cuba won the Gold, while Nigeria won the Silver.This was India's second medal in Athletics at the Games after Suraj Panwar clinched a Silver in Men's 5,000 meters race walk event.Currently, India has 12 medals in its kitty (3 Gold, 8 silver and 1 Bronze) and they are 14th in the table.