Daily GK Updates - 8th October, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Indian Air Force Celebrated 87th Air Force Day: 8 October: On October 8, 2019 the Indian Air Force (IAF) celebrated its 87th anniversary on Air Force Day at Hindon Air Base in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. During the IAF parade, wing commander Abhinandan Varthaman who shot down Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) F-16 aircraft during a dogfight in February 2019 led the aircraft group of three MiG-21 Bison aircraft flying in ‘avenger’ formation. Balakot heroes Group Captains Saumitra Tamaskar and Hemant Kumar flew a Jaguar and a Mirage 2000, respectively. Former Indian cricketer and Indian Air Force’s first Honorary Group Captain from sportsfield, Sachin Tendulkar also attended the celebration. Air Chief Marshal, R K S Bhadauria, Army Chief Bipin Rawat and Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Karambir Singh paid tributes at the National War Memorial in New Delhi.

2. Telangana police becomes the first in country to integrate police patrol systems with passenger cabs: In order to provide a safe & secure environment to passengers, especially women, the Telangana police in its 1st of its kind in the country, has taken up a high tech initiative to integrate their police patrol systems with passenger cabs. This is being done using police’s ‘Hawk-Eye’ app that is connected to every taxi aggregator apps that provides a cab service facility. In case of emergency, the commuter can access the ‘emergency button’ installed in the related cab service app, the message will be transmitted to Hawk-Eye App through a back-end operational workflow. This will send the latitude and longitudinal coordinates of the passenger to the police & other details of the private cab service to the police attending to emergency services such as control room and closest patrol mobile. ii. The police will be able to respond quickly to reach the commuter by continuously tracing the movement of the vehicle on the geo-tagged map.

Note: Telangana Capital: Hyderabad; Chief minister: K. Chandrashekar Rao; Governor: Tamilisai Soundararajan

3. UP CM Yogi Adityanath intoduced Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath introduced the Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana which aims to empower the girl child. If a girl child is born, that family will receive Rs 15,000. Under the community marriage scheme, the support amount to poor girls for marriage was increased from Rs 35,000 to Rs 50,000.

4. Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat Launched ‘Ganga Aamantran’ Abhiyan: The Union minister of Jal Shakthi Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched ‘Ganga Aamantran’ abhiyan, a month long open-water rafting and kayaking expedition in New Delhi. The expedition which begins from October 10- November 11 2019, will cover an area of 25,000kms from Devprayag in Uttarakhand to Ganga Sagar in West Bengal. It is the first of its kind effort by National Mission for Clean Ganga(NMCG) to raft across the entire stretch of the river. It is also the longest ever social campaign undertaken through an adventure sporting activity in spreading the message of river rejuvenation and water conservation on a massive scale. The expedition will encompass 5 Ganga basin states. They are Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Indonesia and Vietnam Lead SE Asia’s $100bn Internet Economy: 4th E-Conomy SEA Report For 2019: The 4th Edition of the report titled “e-Conomy SEA report 2019: Powering Southeast Asia’s $100 billion Internet economy” was jointly released by Google, Singapore investment company Temasek and American consultancy Bain & Company. As per the report, Indonesia and Vietnam led the SE (SouthEast) Asia’s $100bn internet economy becoming the fastest-growing digital economies in the region. Until 2018, this report was jointly published by Google and Temasek. Total of 6 countries namely Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam were surveyed. Indonesia’s internet economy is the largest in the region, estimated at $40 billion in 2019, is expected to reach $133 billion mark by 2025. Vietnam’s internet economy is forecast to reach $12 billion in 2019 and up to $43 billion in 2025.

Note: Google Inc: Founded: 1998; Headquarters: California, US

Temasek: Founded: 25 June 1974; Headquarters: Singapore

Bain & Company: Founded: 1973; Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S

2. Remains of 5,000-year-old city unveiled in Israel’s archaeological site En Esur: Archaeologists of Israel have unveiled remains of a 5,000-year-old city believed to be the biggest in the region from the Bronze Age. The site known as “En Esur” included fortifications, a ritual temple, and a cemetery. An even earlier settlement, believed to be 7,000 years old, was discovered beneath the city. It is regarded as the ‘New York City’ of its time period.

Note: Israel Capital: Jerusalem; Currency: Israeli new shekel; Prime minister: Benjamin Netanyahu.

3. Saturn created a solar system record after the discovery of 20 new moons, surpassing Jupiter: A team of researchers led by Carnegie’s Scott S. Sheppard from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) discovered 20 new moons orbiting Saturn, increasing its tally of moons to 82. It surpassed the number of moons orbiting Jupiter planet which stands at 79. This was announced by the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Minor Planet Center (MPC), France. They were discovered using the Subaru telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii (a state in the Pacific United States) and were about five kilometers in diameter. 17 moons were found orbiting the planet backwards, in a direction opposite to that of Saturn’s rotation around its axis while 3 moons orbited in the same direction as Saturn’s rotation, which is called prograde motion.

4. Michelle Obama’s book “Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice” set to release: Former First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama‘s second book titled “Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice” is set to release on November 19, 2019. It is published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House. The journal will be published in more than 20 countries. It includes more than 150 inspiring questions and quotes that resonate with key themes in Mrs. Obama’s memoir. Her first memoir titled “Becoming” (Crown Publishing Group) was released in November 2018.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. India to host 3×3 basketball qualifying tournament for Tokyo Olympics in March 2020: As per the world governing body of the basketball, FIBA (International Basketball Federation), India will host the Tokyo Olympic Games 3×3 basketball qualifying tournament in March 2020 with a total participation of 40 teams (20 male and 20 female teams). The location of the event will be announced later. The competition will be organized under the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Six places (3 each in both women and men) will be awarded for the Olympic 2020 in the FIBA 3×3 Olympic qualifying tournament. This competition will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo where eight teams will participate in the women’s and men’s categories.

Note: FIBA: Motto: We Are Basketball; Formation: 18 June 1932; Headquarters: Mies, Switzerland; President: Hamane Niang

2. Indian Batsman, Rohit Sharma Attains Career Best 17th In ICC Test Player Rankings 2019: As per the recently released MRF (Madras Rubber Factory) Tyres International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Test Player Rankings” as of October 7, 2019, Rohit Sharma, who became the first Indian cricketer to score a century in both innings of his first test as an opener, reached a career-best 17th position. He jumped from the 54th position to the 17th. Captain Virat Kohli has retained his second position, though he has slipped below 900 mark for the first time since January 2018.

Top 3 players & Other Indians in the batsmen rankings:

Rank	Player Name	Country	Rating points	Average
1	Steve Smith	Australia	937	64.56
2	Virat Kohli	India	899	53.12
3	Kane Williamson	New Zealand	878	49.75
17	Rohit Sharma	India	650	44.95
25	Mayank Agarwal	India	620	55.22
52	Ravindra Jadeja	India	524	33.26

Top 3 & Indian Players in the Bowler Rankings:

Rank	Player Name	Country	Rating points	Average
1	Pat Cummins	Australia	908	21.45
2	Kagiso Rabada	South Africa	828	22.25
3	Jasprit Bumrah	India	827	19.24
10	Ravichandran Ashwin	India	770	25.39
16	Mohammad Shami	India	710	28.45

All-rounders (top 3):

Rank	Player	Team	Points
1	Jason Holder	West Indies	472
2	Ravindra Jadeja	India	398
3	Shakib Al Hasan	Bangladesh	397

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. Centre forms inter-ministerial panel to check money laundering: The government formed a 19-member Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee (IMCC) chaired by the revenue secretary Mr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey to check money laundering activities. It is set up as per the powers conferred under Section 72A of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. Its objective is to facilitate policy and operational coordination among the law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies and various regulators in matters relating to countering of terror financing and money laundering. It has 5 secretaries from the departments of Financial Services, Economic Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of External Affairs and chiefs from various regulatory authorities and probe agencies. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Cell in the Department of Revenue will be the secretariat of the IMCC.

2. Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey Inaugurated National E-Assessment Scheme of IT Department in New Delhi: The Revenue Secretary Shri Ajay Bhushan Pandey who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) inaugurated National e-Assessment Scheme (NeAS) in New Delhi. This e-Assessment scheme along with the National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC), would benefit the Income Tax(IT) department in imparting efficiency, transparency, accountability in the assessment process and would have no physical interface between taxpayers and tax officers. Section 143(3A) & (3B) of the IT Act empowered notification of E-assessment scheme. NeAC is to be headed by Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (Pr.CCIT). In this regard, the 1984 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Krishna Mohan Prasad has been appointed for the same.

3. India gets first details of accounts of Indian citizens in Swiss banks: In the matter of getting information about black money from foreign land, India has got the first details of accounts of Indian citizens in Swiss banks under the new regular system of automatic exchange of information (AEOI). However, the exchange of information is done with the condition of confidentiality. The Federal Tax Administration (FTA) of Switzerland has exchanged details of financial accounts under 75 global standards of AEOI to 75 countries. India is also included in them. Financial accounts information would be exchanged with India again in September 2020. In total, the FTA has shared information (resident’s country, name, address and financial institution with tax identification number, balance in the account and capital income) of 31 lakh financial accounts to partner countries. At the same time, Switzerland has received information about 24 lakh accounts.

Note:  Swiss bank: Headquarters: Basel, Switzerland; Founded: 1872

AWARDS & HONOURS

1. James Peebles, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz awarded 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (RSAS) decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics 2019 “for contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth’s place in the cosmos”; with one half of the prize to James Peebles of Princeton University, United States of America (USA) “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology” (after the Big Bang theory) and the other half jointly to Michel Mayor from the University of Geneva, Switzerland and Didier Queloz, University of Geneva, Switzerland, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK) “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star”. Peebles was awarded half the 9-million-Swedish krona ($910,000) prize while Mayor and Queloz, shared the other half.

2. Arjun bansal and Ankit bose of Indian origin included in Fortune’s 2019 “40 Under 40 list”: Indian-origin Arjun Bansal (35) and Ankiti Bose (27) have made it to Fortune’s 2019 “40 Under 40 Global List”. Arjun is the Vice President of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Software and AI Lab of the US (United States) tech company Intel. Ankiti is the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and co-founder of the fashion platform Zilingo. Amazon’s voice user interface designer Alison Atwell (31) & US Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (37) were also on the list.

3. IFS officer Ramesh Pandey to be felicitated with 4th Asia Environmental Enforcement Award: The 1996-batch Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Ramesh Pandey will be felicitated with the prestigious United Nations Asia Environmental Enforcement Award 2019 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on November 13, 2019 at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Bangkok, Thailand for combating trans-boundary environmental crime. It is the 4th Edition of the awards. At present, he serves as a as Chief Conservator Forests in Lucknow and Secretary of Uttar Pradesh (UP) State Bio-diversity Board (SBB).

Note: UNEP Formation: 5 June 1972; Headquarters: Nairobi, Kenya; Executive Director: Inger Andersen