Daily GK Updates - 17th September, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India’s 1st National Antimicrobial Resistance Hub set up in Kolkata: India’s first National Antimicrobial Resistance Hub was recently inaugurated in Kolkata. The Kolkata centre would be the hub for research on antibiotic resistance not only for the country but for the entire South Asia. The centre was jointly inaugurated by the ICMR, in association with the U.S. Consulate of Kolkata and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

2. India offers 1,000 PhD fellowships to ASEAN students at IITs: Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' (HRD Minister) and S Jaishankar (External Affairs Minister) have jointly launched a major programme offering 1,000 PhD fellowships to ASEAN students at IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) in India. The country's partnership with South-East Asian nations has developed historically through a shared quest for knowledge. The scheme has an initial budget of Rs. 300 crore. The funding will cover the entire cost of study and living expenses for up to 5 years of a PhD programme. The admission portal for the programme would be executed by IIT Delhi.

Note: In January 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced 1000 fellowships for ASEAN citizens to pursue PhD programmes at an IIT of their choice. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising ten countries in Southeast Asia.

3. India’s first central police university to come up in Greater Noida: The country’s first central police university will be set up by the Union home ministry off the Yamuna Expressway in Greater Noida. Union Government had given in-principle approval for the university and a 100-acre plot has been identified in Sector Techzone for it. The land earmarked for the university had been allotted to an IT company. The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) confirmed that the land had been allotted to the Centre at a cost of Rs 372 crore. The university will offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses on policing, internal security, cybercrime and forensic sciences.

4. Piyush Goyal launches Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS): Piyush Goyal (Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways) and Hardeep Singh Puri (Minister of State for Commerce & Industry) jointly launched the Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) in New Delhi. In this system, the importers of specified steel products will register in advance on the web portal of SIMS, providing the necessary information. SIMS has been developed, in consultation with the Ministry of Steel, on the pattern of US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system. SIMS will provide advance information about steel imports to Government and stakeholders (steel industry (producers), steel consumers (importers)) for effective policy interventions.

5. National Centre for Clean Coal Research & Development inaugurated at Bengaluru: Union Minister of Science & Technology, Dr.  Harsh Vardhan has inaugurated National Centre for Clean Coal Research and Development as a national-level consortium on clean coal R&D, led by Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru. National Centre for Clean Coal Research and Development (NCCCR&D) has been set up by the Ministry of Science & Technology as a national level consortium on clean coal R&D, led by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)-Bengaluru. Dr. Harsh Vardhan also dedicated an Interdisciplinary Centre for Energy Research (ICER) to the Nation. ICER is India’s first of its kind centre equipped with state-of-art facilities for conducting wide spectrum of energy research by knowledge network of elite researchers.

6. Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2019 implemented: The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Amendment Bill, 2019 has come into effect. The Bill will facilitate smooth and speedy eviction of unauthorized occupants from Government residential accommodations and ensure retrieval of these residential accommodations from unauthorized occupants. The Act confers powers upon the Estate Officers to evict such unauthorized occupants from public premises in a smooth, speedy and time-bound manner. As per the Amendment Act, the Estate officer will issue short Show cause notice of three days before eviction of the unauthorized occupant from Government accommodation.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. President Ram Nath Kovind accorded ceremonial welcome in Slovenia: President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in South Central European country of Slovenia after concluding his visit to Iceland and Switzerland. President Kovind was accorded a ceremonial welcome by President Borut Pahor of Slovenia. India and Slovenia signed seven agreements and MoUs in diverse fields in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind and President Pahor. The President will lay a wreath at the memorial of the war victims. This is the first-ever visit by any Indian President to Slovenia after it gained Independence in 1991.

Note: The capital and largest city is Ljubljana.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. Steve Smith creates a record of scoring most runs in a series this century: Australian batsman Steve Smith has become the highest run-scorer in a Test series of this century. Steve Smith finished the Ashes series 2019 with 774 runs from the 4 matches at an average of over 110 with 3 centuries and 3 half-centuries. Earlier, Smith went past his own record of scoring 769 runs against India during the 2014-15 season. Smith has made his comeback in the international cricket in the ICC Men's World Cup after serving a 12 months suspension for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal at Newlands in March 2018.

Most Test runs in a 4 matches series:

829 - Viv Richards (in 1976)

774 - Sunil Gavaskar (in 1971)

774 - Steve Smith (in 2019)

769 - Steve Smith (in 2014/15)

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. ECGC launches scheme “Nirvik” to ease the lending process: Ministry of Commerce & Industry through Export Credit Guarantee Corporation has introduced a new Export Credit Insurance Scheme called NIRVIK. The Niryat Rin Vikash Yojana has been launched to enhance loan availability to exporters and to ease the lending process. Under the new scheme NIRVIK, up to 90 per cent of the principal amount and interest will be covered through insurance. During the launch, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal revealed that Central government will give support of Rs 8,500 crore to Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India in the next 5 years.

2. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy appointed as CMD of Cognizant India: Cognizant Technology Solutions has appointed Ramkumar Ramamoorthy as Chairman and Managing Director of Cognizant India. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy has played a leading role marketing and communications, market research and intelligence, public affairs, and knowledge management in his 21 plus years of experience in the company.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Sheikh Hasina receives Dr Kalam Smriti International Excellence Award 2019: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina received the Dr Kalam Smriti International Excellence Award 2019 in Dhaka for her contribution in fostering cooperation between India and Bangladesh. Chief Adviser of the Dr Kalam Smriti International Advisory Council and former Ambassador T.P. Sreenivasan handed over the award to Sheikh Hasina.  The Presidents of the Maldives, Ghana and Mauritius earlier received the prestigious award since its introduction in 2015.

Note: The award has been instituted in the memory of former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The award is given every year to honour statesmen or leaders who have shown excellence in respective fields to achieve the best for their countries.

2. Bangladesh School project wins Aga Khan Architecture Award: Bangladesh’s bamboo-made school built by Arcadia Education Project at South Kanarchor in Keraniganj has won the 2019 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The award was given away in Kajan, the republic of Tatarstan for the Arcadia Education Project in South Kanarchor of Bangladesh. The project involved the construction of a school in an area which is underwater during the monsoon months. The architect of the project Saif Ul Haque designed a school which remains on the ground during the dry season and floats when the area is submerged in water during monsoon The winners that include five other structures in Bahrain, Palestine, Russia, Senegal and the United Arab Emirates will share USD 1 million between them.

Note: The Award was established by the Shia Ismaili community’s spiritual leader Prince Karim Aga Khan in 1977 to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully addressed the needs and aspirations of communities in which Muslims have a significant presence.

3. Neena Gupta wins two awards at Boston Film Festival: Bollywood actor Neena Gupta has won 2 awards at Indian International Film Festival of Boston. The actress won the Best Actress award for ‘Badhaai Ho‘ and her film ‘The Last Color‘ emerged victorious in Best Feature Film category. ‘The Last Color’ was directed by chef Vikas Khanna. The film deals with taboo surrounding widows in Vrindavan and Varanasi in India.

4. Agnes Kharshiing conferred the 11th International Hrant Dink Award: Meghalaya-based rights activist Agnes Kharshiing, who survived an assault by the coal mafia almost a year ago, received the 11th International Hrant Dink Award. She received the award along with Turkish activist against male violence, Nebahat Akkoc. The two activists were presented the award that commemorates the memory of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed in 2007, in Istanbul.

Note: The Hrant Dink Award is presented every year to individuals, organisations or groups that work for a world free from discrimination, racism and violence.

DEFENCE

1. Trilateral Exercise “SITMEX” Commences at Port Blair: A maiden trilateral exercise SITMEX, involving Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), Royal Thailand Navy (RTN) and Indian Navy (IN) started at Port Blair. The exercise aims to bolster the maritime inter-relationships among the Singapore Thailand and India, and contribute significantly to enhance the overall maritime security in the region. This would also strengthen the mutual confidence amongst three navies in terms of interoperability and development of a common understanding of procedures.

OBITUARIES

1. Former AP Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao passes away: Former Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Kodela Sivaprasada Rao (72-years) passed away at a city hospital in Hyderabad. Kodela reportedly attempted suicide at his residence in the city. He was a 6-time MLA elected to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. He served as the Speaker of Andhra Pradesh Assembly from 2014 to 2019. He also served as a minister in the NT Rama Rao and Chandrababu Naidu governments of Andhra Pradesh.