Daily GK Updates - 29th May, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. NSIC signs MOU with Ministry of MSME: The National Small Industries Corporation Limited (NSIC) signed an MoU with Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) for the year 2019-20. The MoU envisages provision of enhanced services by NSIC under its marketing, financial, technology, and other support services schemes for MSMEs in the country. The Corporation projects to increase Revenue from Operation by 22% from Rs. 2540 crore in the year 2018-19 to 3100 crore in the year 2019-20.

2. Record 78 women MPs elected to 17th Lok Sabha: Record 78 women candidates have been elected to the Lok Sabha in the recently held general elections. According to the Election Commission, the number has grown from the previous 62 women who were elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014. In the country’s first general elections in 1951, twenty-four women were elected to the Lower House, and since then, the number has been increasing.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Saudi Arabia lifts export ban on fruits and vegetable from Kerala: Kerala’s fruits and vegetable exporters have heaved a sigh of relief following the lifting of the export ban by Saudi Arabia after the Nipah virus attack last year. With the lifting of the embargo, he said Kozhikode airport was alone handling 20 tonnes of fruits and vegetables per day valued at $50,000 to various destinations in Saudi. Kerala ships around 150 tonnes of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis to various gulf countries and of this, the consignment to Saudi alone was 30-40 tonnes.

2. US removes India, Switzerland from its currency monitoring list: The Trump administration removed India from its currency monitoring list of major trading partners, citing certain developments and steps being taken by New Delhi addressing some of its major concerns. Switzerland is the other nation that has been removed from the list. However, the list includes China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam among others.

3. India moves up to 43rd in competitiveness; Singapore tops chart: India has moved up one place to rank 43rd most competitive economy in the world on the back of its robust economic growth, a large labour force and its huge market size, while Singapore has toppled the US to grab the top position, a global study showed. Singapore has moved up to the top, from the third position last year, while the US has slipped to the third place in the 2019 edition of the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings. Hong Kong SAR has held onto its second place, helped by a benign tax and business policy environment and access to business finance.

4. Scott Morrison sworn in as Australia’s PM: Scott Morrison has been sworn in as Australia’s Prime Minister, 11 days after retaining the position in the country’s general election. Along with Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, Morrison was sworn in by Queen Elizabeth’s official representative in Australia, Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, in the capital, Canberra. Also sworn in was Morrison’s revamped Cabinet, which includes a record seven women, and Australia’s first Aboriginal federal Cabinet member, Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt, who wore a traditional kangaroo skin.

5. 29th May: International Day of UN Peacekeepers: The ‘International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers’ is being observed on 29th May to pay tribute those who served in the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations. They also honour the memory of people who died in the name of peace. The theme for the 2019 International Day of UN Peacekeepers is “Protecting Civilians, Protecting Peace.”

6. Sri Lanka signs tripartite agreement with India and Japan: Sri Lanka has signed a tripartite agreement with India and Japan for development of eastern terminal of Colombo port. The Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) was signed in Colombo by Sri Lankan ports minister Sagala Ratnayake, Indian high commissioner to Sri Lanka Taranjit Singh Sandhu and a Japanese representative. As per the agreement, Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) will hold 51% majority stake in the port development while Japan and India will have combined stake of 49 percent. The deal is significant as over 70% of India’s transhipment business is handled at Colombo ports.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS 

1. ICC launches criiio campaign on eve of World Cup: The ICC has launched the criiio campaign on the eve of the men’s World Cup, bringing together 460 million people playing cricket globally to celebrate the magnificent diversity of cricket. The ICC asked the fans to join the social cricket tribe by sharing pictures and videos of where and how they play cricket across the world using the newly launched #criiio and visiting criiio.com. This builds on the success of the recent user-generated social media initiative #WorldWideWickets and is the first of a series of programs that will be launched by the ICC over the next 12 months.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. RBI extends timings for RTGS from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended timings for customer transactions in the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system to 6:00 pm from 4:30 pm. The new time window for RTGS will come into effect from 01st June 2019.

Note: The RTGS is an online fund transfer system, supported by the RBI, which enables money transaction on a real-time basis. The minimum amount for the transaction under this system is Rs 2 lakh. There is no upper limit on the value of funds that can be transferred via the RTGS system.

2. Corporation Bank launches loan scheme for MSME sector: State-owned Corporation Bank has launched ‘SMESuvidha’ scheme to provide loans to the GST-registered MSMEs at affordable interest rates. The product is designed as a part of the lender’s efforts to improve service and provide the best products to the MSME sector. This is a unique product for GST-registered Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The bank is actively participating in the government’s flagship programmes including ‘MUDRA’ and ‘Stand-up India’ to provide the much-needed push to the MSME sector.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. Walmart Appoints Suresh Kumar as Chief Technology Officer: US-based retail chain Walmart has appointed Suresh Kumar, an IIT Madras graduate and former Google executive, as chief technology officer and chief development officer. The appointment comes at a time when Walmart is transforming its customer and associate experiences.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Horticulture award for TNAU V-C: N Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has been conferred the lifetime recognition award by the Confederation of Horticulture Association of India. The award has been conferred for his outstanding contribution in the field of horticulture and academic leadership focussed on human resource development in agriculture.

OBITUARIES

1. Nobel prize winning Physicist Murray Gell-Man passes away: Nobel laureate and American physicist, Murray Gell-Mann (89-years) passed away at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gell-Mann transformed physics by devising a method for sorting subatomic particles into simple groups of eight based on an electric charge, spin and other characteristics. He called his method the “eightfold way” after the Buddhist Eightfold Path to enlightenment. Mr. Mann received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1969 for his work on the theory of elementary particles.