Daily GK Updates - 29th October, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. ‘Aarambh’, common foundation course for IAS probationers held in Statue of Unity: The Centre’s first-ever common foundation course “Aarambh” (Beginning) for 2019 batch probationer civil servants has begun at the Statue of Unity in Kevadia, Gujarat. There are around 500 newly recruited bureaucrats are undergoing six-day training. The theme this year is ‘How to achieve the goal of making India a 5 trillion dollar economy’.

2. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launches 'Odisha Mo Parivar' programme: The Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik has launched a social service initiative aimed at encouraging environment protection, blood donation and the welfare of Odias in distress. Under the 'Odisha Mo Parivar' (Odisha, my family) programme, party leaders will dedicate themselves to protect the environment and undertake extensive planting of trees, and create awareness among the public.

Note: Governor of Odisha: Ganeshi Lal; Capital: Bhubaneswar.

3. Govt set up a committee of secretaries (CoS) to help ease stress in the telecom sector: The government has constituted a Committee of Secretaries to work out a financial bailout package that may include lowering of spectrum charges as well as ending the era of free mobile phone calls and dirt cheap data. The committee will be headed by Cabinet Secretary, Rajiv Gauba and secretaries from finance, law, telecom ministries will be its members. The panel will comprise of secretaries to the ministries of finance, law, and telecom. The panel has been asked to look at the demands of telecom service providers (TSPs) for deferment of payments they had promised for the spectrum won through auction as well as consider lowering airwave usage charge.

4. Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde Appointed as 47th Chief Justice of India: The senior-most judge in the Supreme Court, Justice Sharad Arvind Bodbe has been appointed as the next Chief Justice of India (CJI). His Warrant of Appointment was signed by President Ram Nath Kovind under Article 124 of the Constitution of India. He will be the 47th CJI and will take oath on November 18th, a day after incumbent Ranjan Gogoi demits office. He will have tenure of 17 months and would demit office on 23rd April 2021. Born in Nagpur, Maharashtra on April 24, 1956, justice Bobde completed a Bachelor of Arts and LLB degrees from Nagpur University. Justice Bobde served as an additional judge in Bombay High Court and Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court. He was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on April 12, 2013.

Note: KK Venugopal is present Attorney General of India.

5. A new book titled "The Unquiet River: A biography of the Brahmaputra", to be released: A new book titled "The Unquiet River: A biography of the Brahmaputra", written by historian Arupjyoti Saikia is to be released. The book published by Oxford University Press (OUP). The book describes the river's long lineage and its centrality in Assam's environment. It is the intertwined story of the river and floodplains, water and land, human and non-humans, which continue to converge.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 9th edition of Bangladesh-India Friendship Dialogue: The 9th edition of Bangladesh-India Friendship Dialogue will be held at Cox Bazar in Bangladesh from November 1, 2019. The dialogue aims to draw from learning and experiences in these sectors between India and Bangladesh. The two-day dialogue will cover a wide range of issues like trade and investment, connectivity, technology, energy, regional security, extremism, and sustainable development among others. The event will be organized jointly by the India Foundation and Bangladesh Foundation for Regional Studies.

Note: Bangladesh Capital: Dhaka; Currency: Taka; PM: Sheikh Hasina.

2. 29th BASIC Ministerial Meet on Climate Change concluded in Beijing, China: The 29th ministerial meeting of the BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) countries on Climate Change was held at Beijing, China on 25th-26th October 2019. The meeting was chaired by E. Mr. LI Ganjie, Minister of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China. The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Shri Prakash Javadekar represented India at the event. India will host the 30th BASIC Ministerial Meeting in 2020.

Note: BASIC: Established by an agreement in 2009 BASIC is a geopolitical alliance (bloc) of four advanced developing countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China. These four countries collectively account for one-third of the world’s geographical area and nearly 40% of the world’s population.

3. Birender Singh Yadav to be next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Iraq: Birender Singh Yadav has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Iraq. The 1997 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Birender Singh replaced Pradeep Singh Rajpurohit as the ambassador.

Note: President of Iraq: Barham Salih; Prime minister: Adil Abdul-Mahdi; Capital of Iraq: Baghdad; Currency: Iraqi dinar.

4. IIM Calcutta’s MBA Ranked in Top 20 in the World: Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) has secured the 17th rank globally in the 'Financial Times Masters in Management Rankings 2019' released on October 28, 2019. The list was topped by the University of St.Gallen in Switzerland followed by HEC Paris, France and London Business School, UK. The IIMC got the ranking for its 2-Year Masters in Business Administration (formerly Post Graduate Programme in Management). IIMC has improved by 6 ranks from last year when it had secured the 23rd spot. The institute has also taken over IIM Ahmedabad for the top spot in the country. IM Ahmedabad is placed at 21st rank this year. IIM Bangalore, the 'B' of the IIM ABC trio, is at 44th place. IIM Udaipur at 76th rank and IIM Indore at 81st rank are the new entrants in the list.

5. Facebook launches healthcare tool for check-up reminders: Facebook has unveiled a ‘Preventive Health’ tool that connects people to health resources and sends check-up reminders. Facebook has launched the tool in the United States. The tool is designed to help users of the social networking giant to find affordable places to receive care, set reminders to schedule tests and mark when tests are completed. The recommendations to the users will be provided on the basis on their age and sex. The resources available in the tool are provided by the American Cancer Society, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Note: Facebook Headquarters: California, US; CEO: Mark Zuckerberg.

6. World Internet Day: 29 October: Every year on October 29, World Internet Day is celebrated all across the world. It was on this day, the first electronic mail (email) was sent from one computer to another in 1969. This was the year of 1969 when Charley Kline, a student programmer at the UCLA transmitted the first-ever message on 29th of October in 1969. The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching, using standard IP (Internet Protocol). Now the Internet has become one of the most important parts of our life.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty bag silver in doubles event at French Open: India's top men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won the silver medal in Badminton French Open 2019. The Indian duo lost to world No.1 Indonesian pair of Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo in the finals of the French Open in Paris. Satwik and Chirag had won their maiden Super 500 title at the Thailand Open earlier in August this year. It was the first time that an Indian men's doubles pair reached a World Tour 750 final.

The list of winners is:

Men’s Singles- Chen Long (China)

Women’s Singles- An Se-young (South Korea)

Men’s Doubles- Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo

Women’s Doubles- Lee So-hee and Shin Seung-chan

Mixed Doubles- Praveen Jordan and Melati Daeva Oktavianti

2. ICC bans Bangladeshi cricketer Shakib Al Hasan for 2 years: The International Cricket Council has banned Bangladesh Test and T20 Captain Shakib Al Hasan for 2 years from all forms of cricket. The Bangladeshi cricketer has been banned for not reporting to the ICC that he was approached by the bookies. The cricketer was approached by the bookies during the 2018 home tri-series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. One year of the punishment has been suspended after he accepted three charges of breaching the ICC Anti-Corruption Code.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. BSE-Ebix JV gets IRDAI approval for distribution of insurance products: The BSE-Ebix Broking Insurance Broking Private Limited, the joint venture between Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and Ebix has received in-principle approval from the insurance regulator for insurance distribution. The venture will enable distribution outlets, wealth management advisors, Points of Sale (POS) to sell life and non-life insurance product". The joint venture will make use of the reach of both BSE and EbixCash, which spans over 300,000 outlets across the country. It will cover the entire insurance lifecycle, from customer relationship management, agency management, multi-quoting, underwriting, policy creation, claims filing to the insurance company and coordinate with the insurance company for settlement of claim and back-end insurance policy administration.

Note: BSE is Asia’s first stock exchange established in 9 July 1875, its headquarters is situated in Mumbai, Maharashtra and its MD and CEO is Ashish Kumar Chauhan. Ebix Headquarters is situated in Atlanta, United States and its President & CEO is Robin Raina.

IRDAI is insurance regulatory body in India Headquartered in Hyderabad, Telangana and its Chairman is Subhash Chandra Khuntia

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Nawazuddin Siddiqui wins award at 2019 Cardiff International Film Festival: Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been awarded the Golden Dragon Award at this year’s Cardiff International Film Festival in the UK. Nawazuddin Siddiqui has made a mark internationally with Netflix’s Sacred Games, Ritesh Batra’s Photograph and BBC UK’s McMafia.