Daily GK Updates - 7th February, 2020

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. SC notifies all states to established Gram Nyayalayas: The Supreme Court has directed the states to establish Gram Nyayalayas within four weeks’. Gram Nyayalayas are mobile village courts established under Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008. They are aimed at providing speedy and inexpensive justice to people in rural areas at their doorsteps. The Gram Nyayalayas should be established for every Panchayat at the intermediate level or a group of contiguous Panchayats at an intermediate level in a district or where there is no Panchayat at an intermediate level in any State for a group of contiguous Panchayats.

Note: Chief Justice of India: Sharad Arvind Bobde; Founded: 28th January 1950.

2. ‘Pink City’ becomes certified UNESCO World Heritage City: Jaipur “The Pink City” has been certified by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as the World Heritage site. The certification was done by the UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay during an event held in Jaipur, Rajasthan. As part of certification, the World Heritage City certificate was handover by UNESCO Director General to Minister of Urban Development Shanti Dhariwal.

Note: CM of Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot; Governor: Kalraj Mishra; Capital: Jaipur.

3. “Central Asia Business Council” launched in New Delhi: The “Central Asia Business Council” was launched in New Delhi. The event was organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) and addressed by India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar. This was the first instance when the business chambers of all five Central Asian states i.e. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, were brought together by India to push trade and investment partnership.

4. 22nd India International Seafood Show (IISS) 2020 to be held in Kochi: The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, in association with the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), is organizing the 22nd edition of India International Seafood Show (IISS) 2020 in Kochi from 7-9 February 2020. The theme of this year’s seafood show is “Blue Revolution- Beyond Production to Value Addition” The biennial event provides a platform for Indian exporters and overseas importers of Indian marine products to interact and finalize future business dealings, thus paving way for Foreign Direct Investment in India. Over 200 exhibitors, 350 stalls and more than 5000 delegates, including foreign delegates, are expected to attend the three-day event at Kochi.

Note: Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority: K.S. Srinivas; Marine Products Export Development Authority headquarters: Kochi; Marine Products Export Development Authority founded: 1972.

5. Telangana CM to inaugurate 11-km stretch of elevated Hyderabad Metro Rail: Today, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will inaugurate the 11-km stretch of corridor-II of elevated Hyderabad Metro Rail. The stretch will join Secunderabad and Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station in Hyderabad facilitating bus commuters with two major Railway Stations in the State Capital. Hyderabad Metro is the second-largest metro service after Delhi in the country and the largest one in the world under PPP mode.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Britain’s Prince unveils children’s protection fund for India: Britain’s Prince Charles has unveiled a new children’s protection fund for India as part of British Asian Trust. The charity founded by him in 2007 to fight poverty in South Asia. American singer Katy Perry will be the ambassador of the new fund.

Note: British Asian Trust was chaired by Indian-origin businessman Manoj Badale; British Asian Trust founded: 2007; British Asian Trust founder: Prince Charles.

2. 5th India-Russia Military Industrial Conference held in Lucknow: The fifth India-Russia Military Industrial Conference was held on the sidelines of the ongoing Def Expo 2020 in Lucknow. The India-Russia Military Industrial Conference was attended by over 100 Russian and over 200 Indian industry leaders. 14 MoUs were signed between Indian and Russian companies under the Make in India initiative. The MoUs were signed to produce different defence equipment like parts of T-72, T-90, ASW Rocket launchers, radar systems and 3D modelling.

3. India becomes second largest steel producer of Crude Steel: As per World Steel Association data, India became the second-largest steel producer of crude steel after China 2019, by replacing Japan. India’s crude steel production in 2019 was at 111.2 MT, an increase of 1.7 per cent from 109.3 MT in 2018. China remains number one with 996.3 million tonnes in 2019.

Here is the list of Top 5 Crude steel producers in the world in 2019:

Rank	Country	Qty (mt)
1	China	996.3
2	India	111.2
3	Japan	99.3
4	USA	87.9
5	Russia	71.6

Note: Union Minister of Steel: Dharmendra Pradhan.

4. Sri Lankan PM Mahinda Rajapaksa on 5–day visit to India:Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in New Delhi on a five-day state visit to India. During the visit, Mr Rajapaksa will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and call on President Ram Nath Kovind. He will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Rajapaksa is also scheduled to visit Varanasi, Sarnath, Gaya and Tirupati.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. Mirabai Chanu sets new national record to win gold at Senior National Weightlifting Championships: The 72nd Men and 35th Women Senior National Weightlifting Championships 2019-20 is going on in Kolkata from 2-7 February 2020. Former world champion weightlifter Saikhom Mirabai Chanu beat her own national record to win the 49 kg gold at the Championships. Manipur-based Mirabai lifted a total of 203 kg to win the gold, bettering her previous record of 201 kg which she had achieved at the World Championships in Thailand in 2019. With this, she has been elevated to fourth place in the world rankings behind China’s Jiang Huihua (212kg) and Hou Zhihui (211kg) and Korea’s Ri Song Gum (209kg). In addition to this, Services lifter Sambo Lapung scripted a new National record to take the gold medal in men’s 89kg, lifting total of 333kg.

Other gold medal winners include:

Papul Changmai (SSCB) – men’s 81kg

Sambo Lapung (SSCB) – men’s 89kg

Jeremy Lalrinnunga (Mizoram) – men’s 67kg

Rakhi Halder (West Bengal) – women’s 64kg

Lalchhanhimi (Mizoram) – women’s 71kg

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. RBI to conduct “Financial Literacy Week 2020”: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will conduct the “Financial Literacy Week 2020″ from February 10 to February 14, 2020. The theme of the Financial Literacy Week 2020 is “Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)”. This year India’s central bank is focusing on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The Financial Literacy Week 2020 will aim to aware people about the formalisation, collateral free loan, discounting of receivables, rehabilitation of stressed units and timely repayment.

Note: RBI 25th Governor: Shaktikant Das; Headquarters: Mumbai; Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. Flipkart shuts down fashion portal Jabong, to focus fully on Myntra: E-commerce marketplace Flipkart is downing shutters on Jabong and the portal is now redirecting the users to the Myntra website. Flipkart (Walmart-owned) had acquired Jabong for USD 70 million (in 2016) and acquired fashion e-commerce platform Myntra (in May 2014). In November 2018, Walmart acquisition, Flipkart merged both Myntra and Jabong.

2. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner steps down after 11 years: LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner is stepping down after 11 years at the helm of the popular professional social networking company owned by Microsoft. Ryan Roslansky, senior vice president of product, will become CEO as of June 1. Roslansky has been at LinkedIn for more than 10 years. He will report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and join Microsoft’s senior leadership team. During Weiner’s tenure, LinkedIn’s revenue increased to more than USD 7.5 billion in the trailing 12 months from USD 78 million. Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26 billion in 2016.

Note: LinkedIn Corp: Founded: 2002.

LinkedIn Corp: Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California, United States.

3. Rishabh Pant becomes brand ambassador of JSW Steel: Jindal South West (JSW) Steel has appointed Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant as its brand ambassador. Pant will help promote JSW’s steel products which include Colouron+ colour-coated sheets and JSW Neosteel TMT bars, for a three year period.

Note: JSW steel Founded: 1982; JSW steel Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra; JSW steel Founder: Sajjan Jindal.

4. IOC signs 1st term contract for Russian crude oil: Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Russian Rosneft signed 1st term contract for importing 2 Million Metric Tonnes of Urals grade crude oil to India for the year 2020. India is the 3rd largest Energy Consumer in the world, India imports globally 83% of oil to meet its oil need. India has to enlarge its sources for oil imports away from the Middle East oil-producing countries.

Note: Headquarters of Indian Oil Corp: New Delhi, Mumbai (Registered Office)

Founded of Indian Oil Corp: 1959; Chairman of Indian Oil Corp: Sanjiv Singh.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. President Kovind Presents International Gandhi Awards for Leprosy 2019: The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, presented the International Gandhi Awards for Leprosy for the year 2019 to Dr N.S. Dharmashaktu under the Indian nomination (individual) category and the Leprosy Mission Trust under the institutional category on February 6, 2020, New Delhi. The annual award has been instituted by Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation to recognise the work of individuals and organisations who have worked tirelessly to fight this disease and the prejudices associated with it. The award has been launched to commemorate the compassion that Gandhiji possessed and service he rendered towards people afflicted with leprosy.