Daily GK Updates - 3rd July, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Campaign to eradicate AES and JES launched in UP: Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh have launched the 2nd phase of Communicable Disease Control and Dastak Abhiyan 2019. The campaign is launched to eradicate deadly Acute Encephalitis Syndrome and Japanese Encephalitis disease. The state wide program was organized under the banner of Health department and UNICEF. Chief Minister flagged off the vehicles of awareness campaign and also honored the Dastak Yoddhas by awarding certificates.

Note: Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh: Yogi Adityanath; Governor: Ram Naik

2. Chattisgarh govt raises the retirement age of private sector labourers to 60 years: The Chattisgarh government has decided to increase the retirement age of industrial labourers working in private sectors to 60 years from the current 58 years. Employees and labourers working in various undertakings, factories, industries and commercial institutions would now retire at the age of 60 years. Final notification will be issued within 15 days after disposing of the suggestions received from all stakeholders. This will be applicable to all undertakings, including factories, establishments, institutions and other industrial units coming under the purview of the Chhattisgarh Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Act, 1961, and the Chhattisgarh Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Rule, 1963.

3. Smriti Irani launches a book title ‘Whispers of Time’: Union Minister Smriti Irani has launched a book titled 'Whispers of Time' at the India International Centre in New Delhi. The book 'Whispers of Time' authored by Dr Krishna Saksena (91-years). ‘Whispers of Time' is an effort to condense nine decades of her life experiences, realisations and observations into a book of fiction based on facts. Dr.  Saksena is the first woman candidate from Uttar Pradesh to get a PhD degree in English Literature in the year 1955.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. USA designates Baloch Liberation Army as terror group: The Department of State of USA has designated the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Hizballah operative Husain Ali Hazzima as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The USA has also blamed the organizations for the attacks on Chinese assets amid an ongoing civil war like situation in Pakistan’s biggest province Balochistan.

2. U.S. Senate passes provision to give India NATO ally-like status: The U.S. Senate has passed a legislative provision National Defense Authorisation Act for India. The act will bring India at par with America’s NATO allies which will increase U.S.-India defence cooperation in the Indian Ocean in the areas of humanitarian assistance, counter terrorism, counter-piracy and maritime security. The act has been passed for the fiscal year 2020.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. Ambati Rayudu retires from international cricket: Indian batsman Ambati Rayudu has announced his retirement from international cricket. He has played 55 ODIs for India, scoring 1694 runs at an average of 47.05 with three hundreds and 10 half-centuries.

2. India loses to Pakistan in the IBSF Snooker World Cup finals: The Indian team lost to Pakistan in the final of the IBSF Snooker World Cup in Doha. India lost the summit clash by 1-3. Pankaj Advani and Laxman Rawat represented the Indian team in the world cup.

3. Odisha to host 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis tournament: Odisha Government will host the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship at the Jawaharlal Indoor Stadium in Cuttack (from 17th to 22 July 2019). This championship will see participation from some of the best players from across the world. Sports Secretary Vishal Dev and senior vice president, TTFI SN Sultan and president, OSTTA LN Gupta signed the MoU in presence of CM Naveen Patnaik.

Note: The tournament has received a good entry with 14 associations, consisting India, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, England, Scotland, Wales, Jersey, Australia, Cyprus, South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. RBI fines 4 Public Sector Banks for violating KYC norms: The Reserve Bank of India has imposed penalties on four state-run lenders for violating Know Your Customer norms and anti-money laundering standards. Punjab National Bank, Allahabad Bank, and UCO Bank were fined Rs 50 lakh each while Corporation Bank was fined Rs 25 lakh.

2. S. Vishwanathan reappointed RBI deputy governor for one year: N.S. Vishwanathan has been reappointed as deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved the extension of Vishwanathan's term as RBI deputy governor by one year (from 4 July 2019). Vishwanathan is in charge of regulation of banks, non-banking finance companies and cooperative banks. Besides Vishwanathan, the other deputy governors of the RBI include B.P. Kanungo and M.K. Jain.

3. Karnam Sekar takes over as Indian Overseas Bank MD and CEO: Karnam Sekar was taken over the charge as new Managing Director (MD) and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Indian Overseas Bank. He has replaced R Subramaniakumar. Mr. Sekar began his career in State Bank of India (SBI) as a probationary officer. He also had served Dena Bank as its Managing Director and CEO

Note: Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is a major public sector bank based in Chennai, India, with about 3,400 domestic branches and about 6 foreign branches and representative office.

4. IMF appoints economist David Lipton as interim leader: American economist David Lipton will serve as interim leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He will replace Christine Lagarde who was nominated to head the European Central Bank. Chief of International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde has been nominated as the first woman to head the European Central Bank.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. Ola Electric gets $250m funding from SoftBank: Japanese company SoftBank has invested around $250 million in Ola Electric Mobility. With this investment, Ola Electric has become the newest unicorn of India, joining the list of companies like Flipkart, Zomato and Paytm.

Note: CEO of Ola Electric: Bhavish Aggarwal; CEO of Softbank Corp.: Ken Miyauchi, Chairman: Masayoshi Son.

2. Manoj Kumar Nambiar elected chairman of MFIN: Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) has elected Manoj Kumar Nambiar as its chairman. He will replace Udaya Kumar Hebbar, President MD & CEO of CreditAccess Grameen. Vineet Chattree (Svatantra Microfin) will be the vice-chairman.

Note: Microfinance Institutions Network is an association for the microfinance sector in India. Its member organizations constitute the leading microfinance institutions in India. MFIN comprises 56 NBFC-MFIs and 40 associates including banks, small finance banks and NBFCs.

Chief Executive Officer of MFIN: Harsh Shrivastava; Founded: December,2009.

3. Nalin Singhal has been appointed as new CMD BHEL: Dr. Nalin Shinghal has been appointed as the chairman and managing director (CMD) of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL). Mr. Singhal is presently working as Chairman and Managing Director of Central Electronics Limited. BHEL is India’s largest power generation equipment manufacturer and is owned by Government of India.

4. Amazon tops as the world’s most valuable brand: BrandZ Report: As per the BrandZ Report, Amazon has topped in the 100 Most Valuable Global Brand for 2019. The brand value of Amazon saw an increase of 52% in 2019 at USD 315,505 million (USD 207,594 million- in 2018). Apple is at the second rank followed by Google at 3rd. Three Indian companies (HDFC Bank-60^th, LIC-68^th & TCS-97^th) have found place in the ranking.

Note: The BrandZ rankings of the world’s most valuable brands have been compiled by WPP’s research arm. BrandZ calculates the value that the brand contributes to businesses by combining financial and market data with surveys of nearly 4m consumers in 51 countries on their views about brands. 

DEFENCE

1. Indo-French Joint Air Exercise Garuda-VI Begins: The Indian and French Air Force has started Garuda VI exercise at Mont de Marsan in France. The exercise is scheduled to take place from 1 July to July 12, 2019, in France. The Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent comprises of 120 air-warriors and four Sukhoi 30 MKI along with an IL-78 flight refuelling aircraft.

Note: Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa is the present Chief of the Air Staff of IAF.