Daily GK Updates - 9th August, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 9TH AUGUST, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.      Coal India to invest over Rs. 62,500 crore by 2019-20: CIL, the largest producer of the fuel in the country, will invest over Rs. 62,500 crore in the next five years with an aim to ramp up annual production to 908 million tonnes by 2019-20.

II.    National ‘Kala Utsav’ to be held in Delhi in December: Union HRD Minister SmritiIrani announced that the national-level Kala Utsav for students studying in CBSE School would be held in Delhi in December every year.

III.     Government notifies changes in IT rules to comply with FATCA pact: The revenue department has amended income tax rules to provide for reporting of information with regards to financial assets and accounts, a month after India and the US signed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a tax information sharing agreement.

IV.   India received $24 bn in FDI from EU in last 3 years: Despite the free trade agreement talks with the European Union being in limbo, India has received an impressive $24 bn in Foreign Direct Investment from the 28-nation bloc over the last three years.

V.        Government to ship 10,000 tonne of rice branoil this fiscal: Government is expecting to ship 10,000 tonne of rice bran oil this financial year after it eased restrictions on its bulk sale, giving a boost to small rice millers.

VI.   Mysuru tops Swachh Bharat rankings: Mysuru in Karnataka topped the Swachh Bharat rankings. The 2^nd position was bagged by Thiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu followed by Navi Mumbai.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

I.         Thomas Cook acquires Kouni Travel for Rs 535 crore: Travel Major Thomas Cook has acquired Kouni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd and Kouni Travel (China) Ltd.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I.         Michael Clarke announces retirement from International Cricket: Australia Captain Michael Clarke will retire from international cricket at the end of the Ashes series.

AWARDS:

 

II.   Indian origin Scribe A.Batra awarded ‘Best Journalist’ in Canada: An Indo-Canadian woman journalist has been awarded by Indian community members in Ottawa for outstanding achievements in the field of journalism.

Daily GK Updates - 8th August, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 8TH AUGUST, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.      BHEL commissions 500MW thermal unit at Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station: State run BHEL commissioned a 500MW unit of NTPC’s Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station located at Vindyachal, Singrauli (MP).

II.      Government to impose 10% import duty on wheat till March 2016: The step has been suggested by the Food Ministry to curb the premium quality Australian wheat shipments in order to liquidate the stocks lying with the Food Corporation of India.

III.    Government to allow aadhaar enrolments of NRIs, PIOs, and OICs: Government has decided that Aadhaar enrolment of Non-Resident Indians, Persons of Indian Origin and Overseas Citizens of India should be eventually allowed to help them authenticate their identity digitally.

IV.    Mumbai gets a Flamingo Sanctuary: Mumbai is setting another record after being home to a national park for decades. The Maharashtra Revenue and Forest Department notified the northern part of the Thane Creek as a wildlife sanctuary under section 18 of the Wildlife (Protection Act), 1972.

V.         3 Kancheepuram weavers get national awards: Expert weavers V. Sundararajan, K. Jayanthi and V. Palanivelu were presented with the SantKabir award by the PM for their contribution to the revival of the World famous Kancheepuram silk saree.

VI.   Tendong Lho Rum Faat, annual festival of ethnic Lepcha tribe of Sikkim was celebrated on 8^th August 2015.

VII. Tripura Legislative Assembly passed a resolution against death penalty: The resolution moved by Congress MLA JitendraSarkar requested the Union Government to amend the section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and replace it with life sentence unto death.

VIII.Accenture appointed RekhaMenon as chairperson of India’s operation and AnindyaBasu as MD.

IX.     Boost for ‘Make in India’: Global electronic manufacturing giant Foxconn to invest $5 billion over the next five years in Maharashtra, the company chairman Tery Gou said.

X.    Ram NathKovind, AcharyaDevVrat appointed as Governers of Bihar and Himachal Pradesh: Mr.Kovind will succeed KeshriNath Tripathi, the governer of WB who was holding additional charge of Bihar. AcharyaDevVrat will succeed Kalyan Singh (Governer of Rajasthan) who was holding additional charge of HP.

XI.   ESIC extends health insurance scheme to Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Manipur.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

   

I.          Thomas Cook acquires Kouni Travel for Rs 535 crore: Travel Major Thomas Cook has acquired Kouni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd and Kouni Travel (China) Ltd.

II.        China remains World’s largest robot market: It has retained its rank as the world’s largest robot market for the second successive year. It accounted for one fourth of the world’s total.

III.  Pramerica AMC to acquire Deutsche’s India AMC business: Pramerica Asset Managers Pvt Ltd is going to acquire Deutsche’s Bank’s Asset management business in India for an undisclosed amount.

IV.    Typhoon ‘Soudelor’ battered Taiwan leaving four people dead and a trail of devastation.

V.          India decided to boycott 61^st Commonwealth Parliament Conference to be held in Islamabad: The reason for the boycott was Pakistan’s deliberate decision to not invite the Speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Kavinder Gupta.

VI.     Global Satellite to be named after the ‘Missile Man’: A global satellite for earth observation and disaster risk reduction – Globalsat for DRR, proposed under the UN framework is to be dedicated to APJ Abdul Kalam as a tribute to the vision of the celebrated scientist and former Indian president who died recently. The satellite will be renamed as UN KalamGlobalSat.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I.           Bronte dethrones sister Cate for 100m freestyle gold: Bronte Campbell of Australia took the 100m freestyle gold at the World Championship, in Kazan (Russia), to succeed her sister Cate Campbell as champion.

II.      BCCI announced ad-hoc committee for Cricket Administration in Bihar and Uttarakhand: The Bihar panel will be headed by its chairman Niranjan Shah while the Uttarakhand panel will be headed by MP Pandove.

OBITUARIES:

   III.  F. O Kelsey, the anti-thalidomide Canadian Doctor died in London at the age of 101.

Daily GK Updates - 7th August, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 7TH AUGUST, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.       Centre liberalizes single-brand retail norms: India might see a flurry of single-brand retailers entering, with the government allowing them to operate across multiple platforms.

II.      Ashish Dasgupta assumes charge as Air India Engineering Services’ new Executive Director.

III.    Southern States to set up Inter-State Coordination Council to resolve forest-related issues: Forest Ministers of the Southern States of India decided to set up a Southern Forest Ministers’ Inter-state Coordination Council. Kerala Forest Minister T. Radhakrishnan will be the president of the council for the 1^st year.

IV.       Delhi Government reconstituted Urdu Academy: Dr.MajidDeobandi was appointed as the Vice-chairperson of the academy.

V.         Amitava Ghosh appointed as Vice-President (Engineering) of Snapdeal: Ghosh will head company’s technology innovation centre in Bengaluru and lead the company’s future development of intuitive technology solutions.

VI.  The Charted Institute of Management Accounts, (CIMA) has conferred the prestigious award of the ‘Most Influential CFOs of India’ on Rakesh Kumar, Director-Finance, Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC).

VII. PM Modi inaugurated first National Handloom Day on 7^th August 2015: He inaugurated the 1^st National Handloom Day at the Centenary Hall of Madras University in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, where he also unveiled ‘India Handloom’ brand.

VIII. Snapdeal tied up­-with department store chain Shoppers Stop Ltd.

IX.   LokSabha passed Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2015: The bill provides for filing of Cheque bounce cases at the place where a cheque is presented for clearance and not the place of issue. It will have implications for over 18 lakh cheque bounce cases pending in various courts.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.         Indo-American AtulKeshap confirmed Ambassador to Sri Lanka: Indo-American AtulKeshap has been confirmed as the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives, becoming the second Indian-Origin diplomat to be posted to the region after Richard Rahul Verma.

II.        Ukraine lifts ban on HIV positive visitors: It has removed its restriction on entry and foreign travel for HIV positive people as a part of growing efforts to improve relations with Europe after decades of Moscow rule.

III.     Egypt launches Suez Canal expansion: Egypt’s government has inaugurated an $8 bn expansion of the Suez Canal with an elaborate ceremony hailing the project as a national achievement.

IV.      India and Myanmar inked agreement to set up CESDT in Myanmar: The Centre of Excellence in Software Development and Training (CESDT) is to be set up with the financial support through ASEAN-India Cooperation Fund and will be implemented by C-DAC.

V.        48^th ASEAN Foreign Minister’s meet held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: The meet was held under the theme ‘Our People, Our Community, Our Vision’ and was chaired by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia, Mr.AnifahAman.

VI.       IS seizes central Syrian town of Qaryatain.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.    Banks can shift; merge urban, semi-urban branches without approval: RBI: Reserve Bank of India notified that banks can shift, merge or close urban and semi-urban branches without its approval. This is to allow greater operational freedom.

II.        EPFO makes stock market debut through SBI Mutual Fund: In a historic move, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation has commenced investing into Indian Stock markets, a move aimed at generating inflation-beating returns in the long term.

III.       LIC is market leader in Bahrain, No. 3 in the UAE: India’s top life insurer, LIC has emerged as the market leader in Bahrain, part of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It has also emerged as the third player in the UAE with a strong presence in cities like Dubai.

IV.       SBI Life Insurance launched Smart Humsafar Plan: It is a unique plan which offers multiple benefits of savings and insurance cover for husband and wife under a single policy.

SPORTS:

V.       August Edition of FIFA World Rankings released: Argentina maintained its No.1 position followed by Belgium at No.2 and the World Cup winner Germany at No.3 position.

OBITUARIES:

   VI.    Hollywood actor George Cole passed away.