Daily GK Updates - 18th March, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.   ‘Sajibu Nongma Panba Cheiraoba’ the New Year of Manipuri lunar calendar: It was celebrated in Manipur on 18th March. The festival was celebrated on the first day of the Manipuri month, Sajibu, which usually falls in the month of March end or early part of April. Sanamahi, the domestic deity of the people of Manipur is worshipped on this day.

2.   The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will set up India’s first offshore wind turbines at Arichamunai near Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu:  This region was selected on the basis of the quality and speed of the wind which was found to be good. The MNRE will install 4 to 5 wind turbines, each with the capacity to generate a minimum of 6 MW of power.

 INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.    Indo-French Naval exercise Varuna 2018: The first phase of Indo-French joint naval exercise Varuna 2018 began on March 19, 2018, at the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) in Vasco da Gama, Goa. The exercise is being held in the Arabian Sea, off the Goa coast. The second and third phases of the exercise will be held at the Chennai coast in April 2018 and in La Reunion Island in May 2018, respectively.

2.  Global Recycling Day – 18^th March: To promote action on recycling, recycling associations across the globe are observing the first Global Recycling Day on 18th March. By 2025, India’s waste management sector is expected to be worth US$13.62 billion with an annual growth rate of 7.17 percent. Polyethylene Terephthalate is a food grade plastic which is used for food and pharma packaging has the highest rate of recycling.

3.      Disaster Risk Reduction workshop help between India and Japan: It was inaugurated on 19th March. The two-day workshop is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Government of Japan. The workshop’s aim is to develop a specific bilateral Action Plan on areas of cooperation in Disaster Risk Reduction.

4.    Victory of Russian President Vladimir Putin for the 4^th term: Vladimir Putin will lead Russia for another six years, after securing victory in the presidential elections held on 18th March. Putin, who has ruled Russia for almost two decades, won more than 75% of the vote. He was well ahead of his nearest rival Communist Party candidate Pavel Grudinin.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1.   Israel Junior 2018 -  Purva Barve: Purva Barve won the women’s singles (Under-19) title at the Israel Junior badminton tournament 2018 held in Rishon LeZion. The title is her first in 2018 and third overall. Earlier she won the Israel Junior 2017, Italian Junior International 2017 apart from a bronze at the Russian Junior White Nights 2017.

2.  Ranji winner Vidarbha clinched maiden Irani Cup title: Vidarbha has lifted their maiden Irani Trophy at Nagpur on 18th March after they beat ‘Rest of India’ by virtue of their massive first innings lead. It is their second title in the domestic cricket season after they won Ranji Trophy. Rest of India were bowled out for 390, falling short of Vidarbha’s first-innings total by 410 runs.

BUSINESS/ ECONOMY:

1.   WTO ministerial meet in Delhi - 50 nations to take up global trade issues: The meeting would be more of an "ice-breaker" as it is being held after the collapse of talks at the Buenos Aires WTO Ministerial in December. The informal meeting of ministers will provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions with the hope that it will lead to political guidance on some major issues. It further said that safeguarding and strengthening the multilateral trading system was never as important as it is today, and the WTO is also facing systemic challenges, particularly its dispute settlement arm.

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY:

1.   ‘HAMMER’ Spacecraft: NASA is up to build a huge nuclear spacecraft that is capable of shunting or blowing up dangerous space rocks and safeguarding life on Earth. The spacecraft named Hammer (Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response) is an eight-tonne spaceship which could deflect a giant space rock. The 1,600-foot-wide asteroid Bennu is circling the sun at 63,000 mph.

Daily GK Updates - 30th October, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India, UAE discuss security, defence ties at 2nd strategic talks: India and the UAE have discussed measures to deepen cooperation in a range of areas including defence, security, terrorism and trade as the two countries held the second round of their strategic dialogue in Abu Dhabi. The Indian delegation at the talks held yesterday was led by Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar while the UAE side was headed by its Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash.
During the talks, the two delegations expressed satisfaction at the "great progress" achieved in the bilateral relationship, a statement said.

2. Piyush Goyal & Jharkhand CM inaugurates 3 days Jharkhand Mining Show: The Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Chief Minister of Jharkhand Raghubar Das have inaugurated a three -day "Jharkhand Mining Show" at Prabhat Tara ground in Ranchi. There are proposals for auctioning of 23 mines during this period. More than two thousand delegates have enrolled for this show.

3. Death brings home the reality of Indian workers' life in Gulf: Govt figures show there are some 6 million Indian migrants in the six Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman. According to official data, more than 30,000 Indian nationals died in the Gulf states between 2005 and 2015.

4. Govt extends date to claim GST transition credit till Nov 30: The union govt. has extended the deadline for businesses to claim credit of transitional stock in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime till 30th of next month. TRAN-1 is to be filed by those businesses that are keen to claim credit for taxes paid before the launch of GST on 1st July. It also allowed businesses to revise the form once in case of any discrepancy. The Central Board of Excise and Customs had ordered a scrutiny of all such claims above 1 crore rupees.

5. Sushma Swaraj calls on Italian PM: External Affairs Minster Sushma Swaraj on Monday called on visiting Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni and discussed issues of mutual interest. Gentiloni arrived here on Sunday. This was the first Italian prime ministerial visit since the last one in February 2007 by then Prime Minister Romano Prodi.

6. Tushar Gandhi moves SC opposing reopening of Mahatma's assassination case: Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, today moved the Supreme Court opposing a plea seeking reopening of the 70-year-old assassination case of the Mahatma. A bench of Justices S A Bobde and M M Shantanagoudar questioned the locus of Tushar Gandhi in the case. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Gandhi, said she will explain the locus if the court moves ahead with issuing of notice. The bench said there were several ifs and buts in the case and will like to wait for the amicus curiae (friend of the court) Amrender Sharan's report.

7. Indian Army team to bring back remains of World War I soldiers: The decision came after the French government recently found the remains of four soldiers, including two unnamed Indian soldiers, at a construction site near Laventie, about 70km from Dunkirk, in France. A team of the Garhwal Rifles will travel to France in November to identify and bring back the remains of its two soldiers killed during the First World War, an Army official said. 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. PM of Italy Paolo Gentiloni to meet PM Modi today: Today, The Prime Minister of Italy Paolo Gentiloni meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hold a delegation level talks. The visit is aimed at strengthening the bilateral political and economic relations between the two countries. Over 600 Italian companies are active in India covering various sectors such as fashion, garments, textile and textile machinery, automotive, automotive components industry, infrastructure, energy, and insurance.

2. Pakistan to host next Asian Cricket Council Emerging Nations Cup in April: According to the Pakistan will host the next Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Emerging Nations Cup in April next year. Six ACC teams including five full members will play in the tournament. In March 2009, Militants had attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore which led to international teams refusing to tour Pakistan and the PCB was forced to hold its home series away from home in the UAE.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Kidambi Srikanth wins men's singles French Open badminton title: India’s shuttler Kidambi Srikanth (8th seeded) lifted the men's singles title of the French Open Super series badminton in Paris, France. Srikanth defeated Kenta Nishimoto (Japan) 21-14, 21-13 in the final. This is his fourth title (earlier Denmark Open, Indonesia Open and Australia Open) in the fifth super series final. Greysia POLL and Apriyani Rahayu won the Women's doubles title, defeating Lee Sottee and SHIN Seung Chen 21-17, 21-15. The Mixed Doubles title went to Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana NATSIR who beat Zheng Siwei and Chen.

2. India beat New Zealand by 6 runs in 3rd ODI to take series 2-1: India beat New Zealand by six runs in the third and final one-day international (ODI) Cricket, in Kanpur to take the series 2-1. Rohit Sharma has been named Man of the Match while winning captain Virat Kohli won Man of the Series award. India set up the total of 337 for six in their 50 overs, with New Zealand replying with 331 for seven. Now, India and New Zealand will also play three Twenty20 matches.

3. Bopanna wins Erste Open, Myneni-Prashanth clinch Vietnam Open trophy: Rohan Bopanna has won the Erste Open title in Vienna with Pablo Cuevas while the team of Saketh Myneni and Vijay Sundar Prashanth clinched the Vietnam Open trophy at the Ho Chi Minh City. Unseeded Bopanna and Cuevas beat Sam Querrey and Marcelo Demoliner 7-6, 6-7, 11-9. Earlier, Rohan Bopanna has won the Chennai Open with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan and Monte Carlo Masters with Cuevas. Myneni and Vijay Prashanth beat the Japanese combination of Go Soeda and Ben Mclachlan 7-6, 7-6 in the summit clash.

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. SIDBI Revamps Portal for Easy Credit Access: Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has revamped its portal “udyamimitra.in” to provide easy access to credit and hand-holding services for micro small medium enterprises (MSME). The portal is mobile-enabled and provides a self-assessment module. It sends various information on registered MSMEs from time to time and also allows loan applications to be perused and picked up by multiple lenders.

BUSINESS/ECONOMY:

1. Railways to invest over 150 billion Dollar create one million jobs in 5 years: According to the Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, Railway is looking to invest over 150 billion Dollar over the next five years which would help create one million additional jobs. Ministry was also compressing the time taken for complete electrification of rail lines to four years from the earlier plan of 10 years, which would help cut costs by around 30 per cent for the loss-making Railways. This electrification initiative would help save the national transporter around 10 thousand crore rupees per annum on fuel bill.

2. Employment growth has not kept up pace with economic growth, says rating agency Care: The rating agency said the services sector has extended some relief, but manufacturing has failed to create jobs in recent times and called for proactive measures from the government. Confirming fears of a ‘jobless growth’, domestic rating agency Care Ratings said employment generation had not kept pace with GDP expansion,  terming it a “major concern”. Such a scenario called for “proactive measures” from the government and the recent infrastructure building efforts would help, it noted and said, “employment growth has not kept pace with economic growth”.