Daily GK Updates - 8th March, 2020

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Aurangabad Airport Renamed As Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport: Maharashtra government on 5th March approved renaming the airport at Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj Airport. Sambhaji Maharaj was the son of Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The airport is situated in the Chikhalthana area of Aurangabad.

2. Paytm & Hyderabad Metro tie up for QR-based tickets: Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd in partnership with Paytm has launched a QR-code-based metro ticketing system at Rasoolpura metro station Hyderabad, Telangana. The new service will enable commuters to travel seamlessly and avoid queues to buy tokens at the metro stations. They can now simply purchase a QR ticket on their Paytm app, which can be displayed at the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates to proceed for the journey.

Note: Paytm founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma; Paytm Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh; Paytm founded: 2010.

3. Govt. invites bids for sale of its entire 52.98% stake in BP: The Union Government has invited bids for the sale of its entire 52.98% stake in the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. The GoI is proposing strategic disinvestment of its entire shareholding in BPCL comprising 114.91 crore equity shares. It constitutes 52.98% of BPCL's equity share capital, along with transfer of management control, to a strategic buyer (except BPCL's equity shareholding of 61.65% in Numaligarh Refinery Limited).

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Denys Shmygal becomes Ukraine’s new prime minister: Ukraine parliament approved Denys Shmygal as a new prime minister of Ukraine. He is the nominee of Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine. He won by majority, previously he held the post as the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of regional Development & before that was governor of the western Ivano-Frankivsk region. Ukraine Parliament also approved Oleksiy Honcharuk resignation who is previous Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Note: President of Ukraine: Volodymyr Zelensky; Capital of Ukraine: Kyiv; Currency of Ukraine: Ukrainian hryvnia.

2. 5th BIMSTEC Summit 2020 to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka: The 5th edition of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Summit 2020 to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in the month of September 2020. The summit will be preceded by the 17th Ministerial Meeting and 21st Senior Officials Meeting by the end of 2020. Sri Lanka is the Chair of BIMSTEC between 2018 & 2020 and it will hand over the chairmanship to Thailand by the end of 2020.

BIMSTEC is a regional organization comprising seven Member States of South Asia and South East Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka from South Asia, and Myanmar and Thailand from Southeast Asia

Note: President of Sri Lanka: Gotabaya Rajapaksa; Prime Minister of Sri Lanka: Mahinda Rajapaksa; Capital of Sri Lanka: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte; Currency of Sri Lanka:  Sri Lankan rupee.

3. International Women's Day: 8th March: International Women's Day (IWD) is being celebrated every year on 8th March to highlight the achievements of women while calling for greater equality. It is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. The UN Women’s theme for 2020 is “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights". And the campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2020 is #EachforEqual. Women's Day was first observed on 28th February 1909 in New York, USA.

Note: Secretary General of United Nations: Antonio Guterres; United Nations founded: 24 October 1945; Headquarters of United Nations: New York, United States.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard becomes 1st player to play 500 T20s: West Indies skipper Kieron Pollard has become the 1st player in the history of T20 (Twenty20) cricket to feature in 500 matches during the field against Sri Lanka for the first T20I in Pallekele, Srilanka. The jersey had the all-rounder’s name at the back along with the number 500. Dwayne Bravo is second in the list with 453 matches under his belt so far. Chris Gayle is at the third spot in the list as he has featured in 404 T20 matches.

2. Australia beat India to win ICC Women's T20 World Cup title: Defending champions Australia wins Women’s T20 World Cup 2020. Australia bowled India out for 99 runs to clinch the final by 85 runs for a record-extending fifth Women’s T20 World Cup title at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Australia. Beth Mooney has been adjudged Player of the Tournament & Alyssa Healy has been adjudged the Player of the Match.

Note: The ICC Women's T20 World Cup is the biennial international championship for women's Twenty20 International cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council.

3. Former India opener Wasim Jaffer announces his retirement: Former India opener and domestic cricket giant, Wasim Jaffer, has announced his retirement from all cricket on 7 March 2020. The 42-year-old Jaffer became the first cricketer to play 150 Ranji matches in December 2019. He is also the only batsman to score 12,000 runs in Ranji Trophy as well as has the highest number of first-class hundreds to his name. Internationally, Jaffer has played 31 Tests, scoring 1,944 runs.

4. Pooja Rani & Vikas Krishan qualify for Tokyo Olympics: Asian champion Pooja Rani (in the 75kg category) and Vikas Krishan (in 69kg category) became the first set of Indian boxers to qualify for Tokyo Olympics 2020. Both boxers advanced to the semi-finals of the continental qualifiers at Amman in Jordan. Rani secured her maiden Olympic spot while Krishan will be making his third successive appearance at the quadrennial showpiece.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. NABARD infused Rs 1.46 lakh crore into rural banking system: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) announced  that it had infused `1.46 lakh crore in the rural banking system so far in FY20, which helps augment credit flow into agriculture and other economic activities in the rural areas. The development bank said that it had extended `87,069 crore to cooperative banks and regional rural banks in short-term refinance as on February 28, while long-term refinance of `59,502 crore had been provided to the banks and financial institutions.

Note: NABARD Founded: 12 July 1982; Headquarters: Mumbai; Chairperson: Harsh Kumar Bhanwala (Next C. Govind Raju)

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Times of India Sports Awards 2019 announced: The 4th edition of TOISA (Times of India Sports Awards) awards honoured the best Indian in 2019 sports in New Delhi, India. The event was powered by BHIM-UPI (Bharat Interface for Money- Unified Payments Interface). Rohit Sharma was named as the Cricketer of the year and PV Sindhu was named as the Sportsperson of the year as she won gold at the World Championships in Basel, Switzerland.

Below is the complete list of winners of Times of India Awards 2019:

S. No.	Award	Award Winner
1	Sports person of the Year	P.V. Sindhu
2	Cricketer of the year	Rohit Sharma
3	Team of the year	Indian men’s Hockey Team
4	Coach of the year	Jaspal Rana
5	Inspiration of the year	Rani Rampal
6	Mentor of the year	Pullela Gopichand
7	Change agent of the year	Odisha
8	Corporate supporter of the year	Reliance Foundation
9	Unbreakable Spirit of Sports	P.V. Sindu
10	Youth Icon of the year	Vijendra Singh
11	Lifetime Achievement	Bhaichung Bhutia
12	Icon of the year	Balbir Singh

2. President of India Confers Nari Shakti Puraskar for 2019: President Ram Nath Kovind presented the Nari Shakti Puraskar 2019 at a ceremony held in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Nari Shakti Puraskar is the highest civilian honour for women in India. The awards were conferred 15 eminent women in recognition of their efforts in rendering distinguished services towards the emancipation of women. They are from fields as diverse as agriculture, sports, handicrafts, afforestation, wildlife conservation, Armed Forces and education.

OBITUARIES

1. DMK Gen Sec K. Anbazhagan passes away: The DMK General Secretary K. Anbazhagan (97-years) passed away due to age-related problems. The prominent ideologist of the DMK, Anbazghagan has been the Dravidian party General Secretary since 1977. He has been elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly nine times and has been a cabinet minister in the Karunanidhi-led Government holding key portfolios like education and finance.