Daily GK Updates - 16th March, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Swati Shingade bags the first prize of DD Mahila Kisan Award: Swati Shingade of Pune, Maharashtra has bagged the first prize of DD Mahila Kisan Award for 2018-19.The award was presented by Prasar Bharati Chairman A. Surya Prakash to Ms Shingade at a grand finale event organised by DD Kisan Channel in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Surya Prakash said, the Kisan Channel has provided a platform to the women farmers and the aim of the channel is to make aware the people about the various schemes of the government.

2. Manmohan Singh presents an award to Arun Jaitley for implementing GST :  Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presented the BusinessLine Changemaker Of The Year award to Union Minister Arun Jaitley for successfully introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST). Jaitley received the award on behalf of the GST Council. The award was also presented to the petitioners against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalised homosexuality.

3. Padmanaban Gopalan wins the Commonwealth Youth Award for The Asian Region :  A social entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu, Padmanaban Gopalan, founder of No Food Waste, was named the winner of the Commonwealth Youth Award for the Asian region worth 3,000 Pounds at a ceremony at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. His initiative runs a geo-mapping platform, which allows users to drop food at located “hunger spots” and has so far recovered over 650,000 meals across 14 cities and the platform has been used by over 12,000 volunteers.

4.  Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant to head transformative mobility panel :  Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will head the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage, which is being set up to promote clean and sustainable mobility initiatives in the country. The Union Cabinet on March 7 had approved setting up of the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage. The terms of reference of the mission include ensuring implementation and compliance of the decisions and recommendations of the steering committee.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.Vienna placed at the top position in the Mercer’s Quality of Living Survey 2019 : The Austrian capital Vienna topped the new Mercer Quality of Living Survey. Thirteen out of the world’s 20 best places to live are in Europe. Zurich, Switzerland's biggest city, came in second place for overall quality of living, followed by Auckland, Munich and Vancouver in joint third place. Luxembourg was named as the safest city in the world, followed by Helsinki in Finland and the Swiss cities of Basel, Bern and Zurich.

2.  First BRICS Sherpa meeting under the Presidency of Brazil concludes successfully :  The first BRICS Sherpa meeting under the Presidency of Brazil concluded yesterday at Curitiba in Brazil. Secretary, Economic Relations in the Ministry of External Affairs, T S Tirumurti led the Indian delegation at the two-day meeting. During the meeting, India conveyed its support for the priority areas set out by Brazil, particularly to take forward BRICS cooperation on counter-terrorism in a meaningful and concrete manner with BRICS member countries.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Kent RO receives the Best Domestic Water Purifier Award 2019 :  One of the leading brands in the water purifier industry, Kent RO Systems Pvt. Ltd. has been bestowed with the Best Domestic Water Purifier Award 2018-19 for its RO+UV+UF technology at the Water Digest Water Awards. Water Digest Water Awards backed by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and UNESCO. Kent has become the first choice when people think of a water purifier and winning awards like these just reflect on the kind of quality that we intend to provide to our users.

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. SBI Yono App to allow cardless withdrawals :  The State Bank of India has launched the YONO Cash service for its customers which will allow them to withdraw cash from ATMs without their debit cards. A part of SBI's digital banking platform, You Only Need One (YONO),the cardless cash withdrawal service will be available across 16,500 ATMs of the bank in the country. Such SBI ATMs will be called YONO Cash Point.

SPORTS:

1.India to host U-17 Women's Football World Cup in 2020 :  India will host the Under-17 Women's Football World Cup in 2020. This was announced by the President of International Football Federation (FIFA) Gianni Infantino after the council meeting in Miami, USA on 15th March 2019. The tournament in India will be the seventh edition and the second to be held in Asia after Jordan in 2016. This will be the second FIFA tournament India will be hosting, after the U-17 Men's World Cup in 2017.

2. Karnataka lifts maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy :  Karnataka defeated Maharashtra to win their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore on 14th March 2019. With the win, Karnataka set a record of most number of wins in a row by an Indian domestic team as they won 14 T20 matches to lift the coveted T20 trophy. Karnataka also equalled Indian Premier League outfit Kolkata Knight Riders’ record of 14 consecutive wins.

3. JP Duminy to retire from ODIs after ICC World Cup 2019 :  South African all-rounder JP Duminy announced that he would retire from ODIs after the ICC World Cup in England. However, he will continue to be available for South Africa in T20 Internationals. The 34-year-old made his ODI debut against Sri Lanka in 2004 and has played 193 matches in the format.

4. SC appoints PS Narasimha as a mediator to resolve disputes of admin in BCCI :  The Supreme Court (SC) has appointed senior advocate P S Narasimha as a mediator for resolving various disputes related to cricket administration in the country. Narasimha is assisting the apex court as an amicus curiae in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) matter. According to the SC bench, the game must go on, asking Narasimha to act as a mediator in the cricket administration disputes.