Daily GK Updates - 6th December, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Anees Salim, Ramesan Nair win Sahitya Akademi award 2018 : The ‘Sahitya Akademi’ has announced its annual Sahitya Akademi Awards-2018 in 24 languages(22 eighth Scheduled Languages + English & Rajasthani).Anees Salim has been awarded the ‘Sahitya Akademi Award 2018 for English literature category for his novel ‘The Blind Lady’s Descendants’.Ramesan Nair won the award for his work ‘Gurupournami’, a poem on the life of social reformer Sree Narayana Guru.An eminent short-story writer, Mushtaq Ahmad Mushtaq, bagged the Award for his collection of short stories “AAKH’’.Seven books of poetry, six novels, six short stories, three of literary criticism and two of essays have won the Sahitya Akademi Awards, 2018.

2. Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani approves Rs 50 crore SIT fund : Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has approved 50-crore rupees to Science & Technology Innovation (SIT) Fund to provide assistance up to Rs. 50-lakh to UGC and AICTE recognized central and state universities and colleges.The assistance will be for a maximum period of three years to develop latent talents, encourage creativity research and development in strategic fields in the knowledge-based ecosystem.Earlier, Gujarat Government has announced similar assistance under the Biotechnology Policy and IT Policy.

3. Maharashtra CM Fadnavis launches SMART initiative for Agribusiness, Rural Transformation: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has launched a unique initiative called "SMART" (State of Maharashtra’s Agribusiness and Rural Transformation) to transform rural Maharashtra.The objective of the World Bank assisted to revamp agricultural value chains, with a special focus on marginal farmers across 1,000 villages.The project will entail an investment of 300 million US dollars of which the World Bank would contribute 210 million US dollars.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.Jon Ridgeon appointed CEO of IAAF : The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has appointed Jon Ridgeon (British former hurdler) as its new CEO (chief executive officer).Ridgeon (51-years) will take up the new role in March 2019.Jon Ridgeon winning silver in the shorter event at the 1987 World Championships.

2.  OPEC set to meet in Vienna : Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC) and other oil-producing countries are scheduled to meet in Vienna to discuss ways to manage the oil output, supply glut and demand slowdown.OPEC's third-biggest producer Iran has called to be excluded from any decision to cut production.Over the past two months oil prices have plunged and a barrel of Brent crude, the European benchmark.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1.  Rs 60000 crore to be spent on MGNREGA this year: Finance Minister : According to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, about 60 thousand crore rupees would be spent on MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) this year to improve the infrastructure and the quality of life of people.If this level of investment with its annual increase is continued for at least the next two decades, India will be close to providing a quality of life and infrastructure which is more like urban areas.

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. RBI to implement an Ombudsman scheme for digital transactions : Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will implement an Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions covering services provided by entities falling under Reserve Banks regulatory jurisdiction.The scheme will be notified by the end of January 2019.There is an emerging need for a dedicated, cost-free and expeditious grievance redressal mechanism for strengthening consumer confidence in this channel.For customer protection initiative, RBI has issued instructions on limiting customer liability in respect of unauthorised electronic transactions involving banks and credit card issuing non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).