Daily GK Updates - 6th March. 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.ISRO launches 'Yuva Vigyani Karyakram' for school children : Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched Young Scientist Programme “Yuva Vigyani Karyakram”, for the School Children to be studying in the ninth standard. ISRO Scientists will impart basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the young ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities. Two weeks “Catch them young” residential training programme will be held during summer holidays to select 3 students from each State and Union Territory, covering CBSE, ICSE and State syllabus.

2. Maharashtra Cabinet clears 29-kilometre metro line for Thane : Maharashtra state cabinet chaired by Devendra Fadnavis approved the 29-kilometre metro line for Thane. It will feature 22 stations along a 29 kilometres route, connected to lines 4 and 5 of the Mumbai Metro. The project will take four years to be completed and will be built at a cost of nearly 13,095 crore rupees. The metro will start from the New Thane metro station in the old city area and will connect to Wadala-Kasarvadavli Metro at two places, namely the New Thane station and Dongripada. It will also have a link to the Thane-Bhiwandi- Kalyan Metro Line 5 at Majiwada junction.

3.  Karnataka launches ‘Jalamrutha’ scheme for water conservation : Karnataka chief minister ‘H D Kumaraswamy’ has initiated the ‘Jalamrutha’ initiative which is a water conservation scheme. The objective of the initiative to create awareness among the people of the state about the invaluable nature of water and the need to conserve it at any cost. The state of Karnataka has announced the year 2019 as ‘Jalavarsha (year of water)’.

4. Bhagwan Lal Sahni appointed Chairman of the National Commission for Backward Classes :  President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Bhagwan Lal Sahni as the chairman of the newly constituted National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). Kaushalendra Singh Patel, Sudha Yadav and Achary Talloju have been appointed as members of the commission. The National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) was given constitutional status by Parliament in 2018, after repealing the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Kylie Jenner becomes a youngest self-made billionaire at 21 :  American reality television personality ‘Kylie Jenner’ (21-years) has been named the youngest-ever, self-made billionaire by Forbes magazine (move over Mark Zuckerberg).Facebook's Zuckerberg was 23 when he hit the big B mark. According to Forbes magazine, Jenner's Kylie Cosmetics is worth at least USD 900 million, and she owns it all. She has starred in the E! reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians since 2007 and is the founder and owner of cosmetic company Kylie Cosmetics.

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. TVS Motor Company wins Green Era Award for Sustainability :  TVS Motor Company has won the International Sustainability Award ‘Green Era Award for Sustainability’ (second time) in Lisbon, Portugal. The company also won the ‘Quality and Business Excellence Award’ in acknowledgement of its endeavour to create new benchmarks in product quality. TVS Motor Company bagged the award because of its sincere commitment towards being a responsible manufacturer. The awards are based on the conclusion of the research team of Otherways Management & Consulting, France.

2. Google getting rid of the ability to unlock mobile phones with Voice Match : The search-engine giant ‘Google’ is getting rid of the ability to unlock mobile phones with Voice Match and the 'Ok Google' command. Google has decided to limit this unlock feature to only launch the Assistant interface on the lock screen instead of unlocking the Android device based on voice match. A few devices have already lost the functionality with the Google app's 9.27. For users, this will mean a loss of functionality, but a significant gain in terms of security.

3. Govt fixes sugar sale quota for March : The Union government has fixed sugar sale quota for March month to each of the 524 mills in the country. Sugar mills can sell 24.5 lakh tonne of the sweetener in the open market in the current month. According to Ministry, mills can sell sugar at a minimum selling price of 31 rupees per kg (earlier 29 rupees per kg) to realise maximum revenue and clear cane price arrears of farmers.

SPORTS:

1.  Yonex All England Championships 2019 begins :The Yonex All England Championships 2019 begins at Arena Birmingham in England, organized by Badminton England and sanctioned by the BWF (6th to 10th March 2019). Only the top 32 in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings qualify for the tournament. Prakash Padukone became the first Indian to win the All England Open Badminton Championships. It has a total purse of USD 1,000,000.