Daily GK Updates - 11th July, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 11TH JULY, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

I.  Nationwide model science labs programme (RashtriyaAvishkarAbhiyan) launched by Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam: This is an initiative taken by the Government of India to inculcate scientific temperament among students.

II. World Population Day: Indians numbered 1,274,243,538: This is about 17.23 % of the overall global inhabitations of humans

III. ISRO’s powerful PSLV rocket powers 5 British satellites into orbit: PSLV C-28 was launched from ISRO’s SatishDhawan Space centre at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The satellites are namely DMC3 optical earth observation satellites, 3 numbers, CBNT-1 and De-OrbitSail.

IV. New species of butterfly called Banded Tit discovered in Arunachal Pradesh

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

I. India and Turkmenistan inked 8 agreements to increase regional cooperation and connectivity: The agreements were signed during the 2-day visit of PM Modi to Turkmenistan at the invitation of President G. Berdimuhamedov of Turkmenistan.

II. India gets full membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation along with Pakistan by 2016: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is an international organisation founded in Shanghai by 6 existing members (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) to strengthen relations among member states.

III. 11^th July 2015: World Population Day observed with theme Vulnerable Populations in Emergencies.

IV. India and Pakistan issued a joint statement at Ufa, Russia after a bilateral meeting between the PM Modi and Nawaz Sharif

V. NASA selected 4 astronauts for 1^st US Commercial Spaceflights: The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration selected four astronauts to provide crew transportation services to and from the International Space Station.

 OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I. Wimbledon 2015: Serena Williams beats Garbine Muguruza 6-4 6-4 to claim 6^th Wimbledon crown and 21^st grand slam title.

II. KagisoRabada’s record breaking hat trick helps proteas crush Bangladesh: He becameonly the second man in the history to claim a hat trick on debut as South Africa thrashed Bangladesh by 8 wickets in rain hit 1^st one day international in Dhaka.

                            

OBITUARIES:

I. Famous Hollywood actor Omar Sharif passed away: He won international fame and an Oscar-nomination for best supporting actor for his role in the 1962 film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’.

II. Prince Saud Al-Faisal, World’s longest serving Foreign Minister passed away: He was the former foreign minister of Saudi Arabia.

Daily GK Updates - 10th July, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 10TH JULY, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

I. Uttarakhand gets India’s 1^st earthquake early warning system: Uttarakhand became 1^st Indian state to install a system to detect earthquakes and disseminate warning. The 1^st system has been installed in the capital city of Dehradun which will issue warnings 140 seconds before earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more occur.

II. Bharat Electronics-made Akash inducted into Indian Air Force: The missile system was inducted into the Air Force at a ceremony held Air Force Station, Gwalior.

III. MPEDA launched mobile-based applications to help farmers capture data through mobile: The Mobile Products Export Development Authority launched two mobile based applications to help farmers get prices on shrimp and capture data on aquaculture through mobile. Shrimp price information can be received over an SMS by a miss call. Mkrishi- was launched for aquaculture operations and online MPEDA registration portal was lauched for exporters.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

I. PM Modi proposes ‘Das Kadam: Ten Steps for the future’ for BRICS nature: The ten steps suggested by PM Modi are Trade fair, Railway research centre, Cooperation among supreme audit institutions, Digital Initiative, Agricultural research centre, State/Local Government’s forum, Cooperation amongst cities in field of Urbanisation, BRICS Sports council, annual sports meet, BRICS film festival. India will be hosting the 8^th BRICS Summit in 2016

II. India gets full membership of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation along with Pakistan.

III. India, USA signed MoU on cooperation to establish PACESetter Fund: The PACESetter Fund is meant to support the Promoting Energy Access Through Clean Energy (PEACE) track of the USA-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE).

IV. 7^th BRICS Summit held in Ufa, Russia with a theme ‘BRICS-partnership-a Powerful Factor of Global Development.

V. Typhoon Chan-Homlashes Okinawa island chain in Japan.

VI. India and US signed Inter Governmental Agreement to implement FATCA: The Foreign Account Tax compliance Act agreement was signed in New Delhi that will promote transparency on tax matters between the two countries.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

I. EXIM Bank, BRICS member development banks ink MoU with New Development Bank: Export Import Bank of India signed a multilateral agreement to cooperate with New Development Bank (NDB) along with other member development banks of BRICS nations

II. State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has launched the ‘SBT NRI Family Card’: This is a prepaid card for resident Indians-family member/dependent/acquaintance of NRI’s.

III. RBI releases Final Guidelines on PPI for Mass Transit System (PPI-MTS): It issued guidelines on Prepaid Payment Instruments for Mass Transit systems. Such PPIs will be reloadable instruments subject to an outstanding limit of 2000 rupees at any point of time.

IV. E-commerce has overtaken Banking and Financial Services (BFSI) as the second largest occupier of space in India after information technology (IT), said global property consultant CBRE.

V. Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank appointed Ashok Kumar Lahiri as chairman and Chandra ShekharGhosh was appointed as MD & CEO.

VI. Housing.com appoints Rishabh Gupta as Interim CEO.

SPORTS:

VII. Sunil Chhetri goes to Mumbai City FC for Rs 1.20 Crore: Chettri was having the highest base price of Rs 80 Lakhs during the ISL 2015 auctions.

VIII. Wimbledon 2015: Rodger Federer of Switzerland will face Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men’s singles finals.

IX. Former Indian Amateur Boxing Federation Secretary General Brig. P K Muralidharan Raja launched the Indian Boxing Council (IBC) to promote professional boxing.

X. Inderjeet Singh became 1^st Indian to win Gold Medal at World University Games in Gwangju: The Indian-shot putter created history to become the 1^st Indian to win a gold medal at the World University Games in South Korea.

OBITUARIES:

XI. Renowned Urdu Poet Bashar Nawaz who was also known as an Indo Pak shayer passed away: His works Rayagan, AjnabeeSamundar were famous among Gazal lovers.

Daily GK Updates - 9th July, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 9TH JULY, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

I. Guidelines for Border Area Development Programme released:Department of Border Management of the Ministry of Home Affairs issued the guidelines in consultation with all the stake holders viz. concerned ministries/departments of Government of India, state governments implementing the BADP, Border Guarding Forces and NITI Ayog.

II. Operation smile helps trace 44 missing children in Uttarakhand: Operation smile, a unique initiative of the Ghaziabad police was able to trace at least 44 missing children from various parts of the state within a week.

III. S N Sahai appointed as Home Secretary of Delhi.

IV. Electronic Nose for environmental monitoring jointly developed by CSIR-NEERI and CDAC: An E-Nose was jointly developed by Nagpur based National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute of CSIR and Centre for Advanced Computing (C-DAC). It will help monitor the surrounding environment to sniff out dangerous gases.

V. Union Railway Ministry launched Mobile ticketing app for suburban commuters: The app was launched for the unreserved tickets that will cover 35 stations between the 123 km long Churchgate-Dhauroad suburban section in Western Railway.

VI. Indian Army dedicates PrernaSthal at Hussainiwala to the nation: The commemorative was built to honour the sacrifice of soldiers of India. The PrernaSthal is located at the gateway of the memorial to ShaheedBhagat Singh at Hussainiwala, a village in Firozpur district of Punjab.

VII. Climate Change was announced as the theme of 2015 Science Express: The announcement was made during the 1^st meeting of Science Express Climate Change Special chaired by Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr.Harshvardhan in New Delhi.

VIII. eMudra launches eSign Services: eMudra Limited, a leading certifying firm in the country for digital signatures launched 1^st of its kind eSign services as a part of the Digital India Vision.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

I. Russian Investment Fund to set up joint mechanism for financing infrastructure in BRICS countries: Russian direct Investment Fund (RDIF) signed agreements for equity investments in infrastructure projects in BRICS countries. The agreement was signed during the BRICS Summit in Ufa.

II. World Health Organisation (WHO) released Global Tobacco Epidemic 2015 report: According to the report there is notable progress in global tobacco controlsince the publication of Global Tobacco Epidemic Report 2013. The focus of this report is on ‘R’ of MPOWER measure which stands for ‘Raise Taxes on Tobacco’

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

I.   BRICS Central Banks sign Forex reserves pool pact: The pool would be drawn on by the central banks of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa whenever they suffered a shortage of dollar liquidity, helping them maintain financial stability. India will contribute $18 billion to BRICS $100 billion foreign exchange reserves pool.

II.  Sriram  Kalyanaraman appointed as MD and CEO OF National Housing Bank.

III. Essar Oil signs pact to sell 49% stake to Russia’s Rosneft.

IV. Satish Pillai appointed as the new MD and CEO of CIBIL (Credit Information Bureau of India Ltd): Pillai succeeds ArunThukral who retires this year after a decade.

SPORTS:

V. Lord Kamlesh Patel becomes 1^st British-Asian appointee to England and Wales Cricket Board: He was appointed as independent member of the board.

VI. Wimbledon 2015 Semi Finals:  Rodger Federer (Switzerland) to take on Andy Murray (GBR).Novak Djokovic (Serbia) to take on Richard Gasquet (France).

VII. Union Sports Ministry constituted AshwiniNachappa committee to study the status of Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centers: The committee will be headed by former athlete AshwiniNachappa and will include PhullelaGopichand as a member among others.

VIII. Indian Athletes win more than 150 medals at World Police & Fire Games: Hosts USA won by far the most medals and Canada finished second.