Daily GK Updates - 2nd February, 2020

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Madhya Pradesh grabs first position for implementation of PMMVY: Madhya Pradesh’s Minister for Women and Child Development Imarti Devi and Principal Secretary Anupam Rajan received the award from Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Indore has been ranked at first place among the districts for better performance of the scheme. Indore district has also bagged the first place for better performance of the scheme. The objective of the Matru Vandana Yojana is to provide incentives of Rs. 5000 for the loss of wages of working women, to ensure their proper rest and nutrition.

Note: Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh: Kamal Nath; Governor: Lal Ji Tandon.

2. Task force constituted by Government of India to restrict Novel Coronavirus: A task force has been constituted by the Government of India to restrict the Novel Coronavirus outspread in India. Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri are the members of the task force.

3. Andhra Pradacesh flags off country’s first ‘fruit train’: Railways flagged off a ‘Fruit Train’ from Tadipatri Railway Station (in Anantapur district) carrying a load of 980 metric tonnes of locally grown bananas to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai. These bananas will be exported under the brand name ‘Happy Bananas’. As 150 trucks would have been required to send a consignment of this size by road to JNPT, before the temperature-controlled containers are loaded on ships.

4. Union Govt. appoints M Ajit Kumar as chairman of CBIC: The Union Govt. has appointed M Ajit Kumar IRS (C&CE 84) as chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). The new Chairman’s immediate responsibilities will include accelerating the Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues and to deal with the changes introduced in customs duties in the Union Budget for 2020. The CBIC is the apex body for administering the levy and collection of indirect taxes of the Union of India.

5. Ramesh Pokhriyal Chairs Meeting of Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO in New Delhi: The meeting of the Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO (INCCU) was held in New Delhi. The meeting was chaired by Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’.

Note: INCCU:

INCCU is a governmental body formed by the Government of India in 1951. It functions under the Department of Secondary and Higher Education in the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The objective of the commission is to advise the Government in matters relating to the UNESCO.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 12th South Asia Conference by IDSA Held in New Delhi: Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh addressed the 12th edition of the South Asia Conference at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) in New Delhi from January 28-29, 2020. The theme of the South Asia Conference 2020 was India’s “Neighbourhood First” Policy: Regional Perceptions. The conference is organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi since 2007. The conference deals with a number of important issues such as economic cooperation for development, changing political context in India’s neighbourhood, common challenges of terrorism in South Asia and prospects of regional cooperation among other important aspects. All members of SAARC and Myanmar participated in the conference

2. Bengaluru is Worst Traffic Congested City Globally: TomTom Traffic Index 2019: Dutch multinational developer & creator of location technology and consumer electronics Tomtom has released its 9th edition of Tomtom Traffic Index 2019. As per the index, Bengaluru (Karnataka) emerged as the worst traffic congested cities in the world. The report reveals that drivers in Bengaluru spend an average of 71 percent extra travel time stuck in traffic. Apart from this three other Indian city have also made in to the top 10 of the index. The other Indian cities ranked in the top 10 places were Mumbai (Maharashtra), Pune (Maharashtra) and New Delhi in the 4th 5th and 8th places respectively. Top cities with worst traffic: Bengaluru was followed by Manila (Philippines) and Bogota (Colombia) in the 2nd and 3rd places respectively.  Moscow (Russia), Lima (Peru), Istanbul (Turkey) and Jakarta (Indonesia) were ranked in 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th places respectively. Least congestion level capital: Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the least congested national capital, it had just 10% congestion level in 2019.

3. Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina inaugurates “Ekushey Book Fair: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated the month long Ekushey Book fair at the Bangla Academy premises in Dhaka. The fair is organised annually to commemorate the martyrs of the language movement which helped in establishing Banglaas the official language of the then East Pakistan.

Ekushey Book Fair is the biggest and longest book fair of Bangladesh. The book fair aims to publicize the art, culture and literature of Bangladesh across the globe. The Prime Minister presented the Bangla Academy literary award 2019 to ten eminent poets and writers on this occasion.

Note: Prime Minister of Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina; Capital: Dhaka; Currency: Taka.

4. Maldives re-joins Commonwealth: The Maldives has once again become a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Patricia Scotland, confirmed Maldives’ reinstatement into the organization as its 54th member state. The Commonwealth of Nations is a political association of 54 member states, mostly former territories of the British Empire. The Maldives withdrew from the Commonwealth on 13 October 2016.

5. World Wetlands Day 2020: 2nd February: The world wetlands day is being celebrated every year on 2nd February with activities like catamaran race, rangoli competition, quiz and drawing competition for children, heritage walk and folklore programs. The theme for 2020 WWD is “Wetlands and Biodiversity”. It highlights the importance of healthy and intact wetlands to one of the most pressing challenges of our times: climate change.

6. India & Maldives sign five MoUs for establishing Addu Tourism zone: India and Maldives signed five MoUs for establishing the Addu Tourism zone in five islands of Addu atoll at a cost of 2.49 million dollars. A 6th MoU to set up a bottled water plant in Hoarafushi was also signed today. All six projects are grant projects falling under India’s High Impact Community Development Scheme (HICDP). These projects are driven by the needs of communities on the islands.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. Novak Djokovic wins Australian Open 2020 men's title: Serbia's Novak Djokovic has won his record 8th Men's singles title in Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. He beat Dominic Thiem of Austria (6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4). The men's doubles title was clinched by Joe Salisbury of UK and American Rajeev Ram who beat Australia's Luke Saville and Max Purcell. Sofia Kenin has become the youngest woman to win the Australian Open in 12 years.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. Gross GST collection for January cross Rs 1 lakh cr: GST revenues during the month of January from domestic transactions showed a growth of 12% over the revenue during the month last year. The IGST collected from imports of goods, total revenue during January this year has increased. It has gone up by 8% in comparison to revenue during same time last year. This is the sixth time during the current financial year that GST revenue has crossed 1 lakh crore rupees.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Vinod Shukla bags first Mathrubhumi Book of the Year 2020 Award: Noted Hindi poet-novelist Vinod Kumar Shukla (83-year) has bagged the inaugural Mathrubhumi Book of the Year 2020 award for his translated book “Blue Is Like Blue”. The stories in “Blue Is Like Blue” has been translated into English by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai. The award is given by Kerala based Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi to the best fictional work released in the previous year.

OBITUARIES

1. Noted Odia Poet Rabi Singh passes away: Eminent Odia poet Rabi Singh (89-years) passed away following a prolonged illness. He was popularly known as “Biplabi Kabi” (the revolutionary poet) for his patriotic writings. Earlier, Mr. Singh was conferred with the Odia Sahitya Akademi award and the Ati Badi Jagannath Das Samman.