Daiily GK Updates - 13th August, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 13TH AUGUST, 2015

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.     POSCO, Uttam Galva arm to set up steel plant in Maharashtra: South Korean steel-maker POSCO and Shree Uttam Steel and Power Ltd have agreed to set up a three million tonne per year integrated steel plant in western Maharashtra state.

II.    Premji, Nadar among Forbes’ 20 richest people in technology world: Wipro chairman Azim Premji and HCL founder Shiv Nadar are the only two Indian tycoons in the top 20 richest people in the world of technology, according to an inaugural list by Forbes, topped by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Premji is ranked 13^th followed by Nadar on the 14^th spot.

III.      Woman IPS Officer scales new heights: Aparna Kumar, 2002 batch IPS Officer of the UP cadre, added a feather to her cap when she scaled Mount Elbrus in Russia, which is the highest mountain peak in Europe.

IV.       Acharya Dev Vrat sworn in as Himachal Governer.

V.         Government raises import duty on base metal items by 2.5%: The Government has increased the import duty on base metal items made of steel, iron, copper, nickel and aluminium by 2.5% drawing praise from domestic producer but annoying end users such as engineering exporters.

VI.       Jethabhai Patel re-elected as Amul Chairman.

VII.  Union Government approved MoU between India, Nepal for construction of petroleum pipeline: The Union Cabinet gave its approval for the signing of a MoU between India and Nepal for the construction of a petroleum products pipeline from Raxaul (India) to Amlekhgunj (Nepal).

VIII.  Union cabinet nod for India, US MoU on cooperation to establish the Pace Setter Fund: The PSF seeks to support the Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE) track of the US-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE).

IX.    Sudhakar Shetty elected as the President of Gymnastic Federation of India: He succeeds Jaspal Singh Kandhari.

X.    Survey started to erect memorial for Dr. Kalam at Rameshwaram: Preliminary survey of the place where the mortal remains of former President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam had been laid to rest at Rameshwaram was started by a team of officials from CPWD and Tamil Nadu Government.

XI.    Union Government approved 300 crore package to save standing kharif crops from weak monsoon.

XII.   Jayant Patel appointed as acting Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court.

XIII.Indian Railways signed 4 MoUs with Union Ministries of Power and New & Renewable Energy: The MoUs were signed for Cooperation in areas of electricity transmission, energy conservation and promotion of renewable energy in a time bound manner.

XIV.  Coca-Cola India signs Sourav Ganguly for 3 years as social ambassador.

XV.  Uninor signed worth Rs 1200 crore with Huawei for modernising its network: Uninor, a subsidiary of Norway’s telecom major Telenor has inked an agreement worth Rs 1200 crore with Chinese firm Huawei for modernising and managing its network across six circles in the country.

 

XVI. Government sanctioned 1500 MW ultra-mega solar power park for Andhra Pradesh: The 1500 MW ultra-mega solar power park will be developed in Kadapa district by NTPC.

XVII. O P Rawat has been appointed as the new Election Commissioner: While Nasim Zaidi is the Chief Election Commissioner; Achal Kumar Jyoti is the other Election Commissioner.

   

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

  I.      Astronauts eat food grown in space: Astronauts have taken the first bites of food grown entirely in space and harvested from their own space garden on board the International Space Station (ISS). The harvest comes from the NASA’s Veg-01 experiment.

II.       Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), owned by Tata Motors, signed a letter of intent with the government of the Slovak Republic for the potential development of a new manufacturing plant in the city of Nitra in western Slovakia.

III.    China and Pakistan signed deals worth 1.6 billion USD to implement CPEC: Both the countries signed the deals to implement the ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

AWARDS:

  I.    Urdu Author Shamim Hanfi chosen for the 1^st Jnangarima Manad Alankaran Award, instituted by the Bhartiya Jnanpith.

Daily GK Updates - 12th August, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 12TH AUGUST, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.           L&T Infotech appoints Sanjay Jalona as MD, CEO.

II.     Union Government gives nod to set up All India Institute of Ayurveda: The Government has approved setting up of an All India Institute of Ayurveda, the 1^st referral-cum-teaching facility in the world’s oldest health care system at SaritaVihar, New Delhi.

III.      New frog species discovered in Goa: A group of scientists of Pune has discovered a new leaping frog species on the edge of the Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa. The Netravali Leaping Frog (Indiranasalelkari) is the 12^th species in the Indirana genus.

IV.     India lost 41 tigers in 7 months: Fresh data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and TRAFFIC-India, the wildlife monitoring network revealed that between January and August 2015, India lost about 41 tigers.

V.    Maharashtra Government constituted Cabinetsub-panel to tackle impending drought crisis: The committee will be headed by state Agriculture minister EknathKhadse.

VI.  Petroleum Minister DharmendraPradhan announced marketing of Bio-Fuel Blended High Speed Diesel (HSD).

VII.   Delhi Government constituted panel to probe CNG fitness scam: Delhi Government led by CM ArvindKejriwal decided to constitute an independent commission of inquiry to probe the multi-crore CNG fitness scam of Delhi. This commission will be headed by retired High Court Judge, Justice SN Agarwal.

VIII.  Uttar Pradesh Government approved new guidelines for Begum Akhtar Award: The amendment empowers the Chief Minister to make any further amendments to the guidelines. The award will be annually awarded on singers of Ghazal, Dadra and Thumri, who have achieved a milestone in these forms of music.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.      Facebook donates benefits worth $21 million to India developers: Social Networking major Facebook has given benefits of around $21 million to Indian developers as part of its FbStart initiative. FbStart is a programme launched last year to help early-stage mobile start-ups build and grow their applications. In India, the event is being organised in Bengaluru and Gurgaon. 

II.     US President Barack Obama to host Nuclear Security Summit in March-April, 2016: He would host the 4^th and final nuclear security summit next year which is expected to be attended by a galaxy of World leaders, including PM Modi. The two-day summit will continue discussion on evolving threat and highlight steps that can be taken together to minimise the use of highly-enriched uranium, secure vulnerable materials, counter nuclear smuggling.

OTHER UPDATES: 

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.    NABARD accredited by UN’s Green Climate Fund as National Implementing Entity: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development got accredited by the Green Climate Fund as a national implementing entity for undertaking climate change related projects in India.

II.   India signs Financing Agreement with World Bank for NCRMP Projects: Government of India and the World Bank signed financing agreement for the assistance of National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project-1&2 for $104 million and $308.40 million respectively.

SPORTS:

III.     Pankaj Advani bags 13^th World Snooker Championship: India’s poster boy of cue sports PankajAdvani clinched his 13^th world title after winning the World 6-Red Snooker Championship in a convincing manner. The defending champion outplayed China’s Y. Bingtao 6-2 in the final.

AWARDS:

   IV.     Sania Mirza to be conferred Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna:SaniaMirza became only the 2^nd tennis player to be recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna, while star cricketer Rohit Sharma and ace shooter JituRai were among 17 named for this year’s Arjuna Awards.

Daily GK Updates - 11th August, 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 11TH AUGUST, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.  Xiaomi ties up with Foxconn to ‘Make in India’: Chinese smartphone maker XiaomiInc has tied up with Foxconn to start assembling phones in India, seeking to cut costs and grab a bigger slice of the world’s third largest smartphone market. An assembly line in Andhra Pradesh will very shortly begin rolling out Xiaomi’s 1^st locally made smartphone, the Redmi2 Prime.

II.         Amitabh Bachchan signs up as Maharashtra’s Tiger Ambassador.

III.       ISRO commissions Titanium Sponge Plant in Kerala: ISRO has fully commissioned and started commercial production at the 1^st indigenous Titanium Sponge Plant at Chavara in Kerala. It is the only integrated plant in the world that undertakes all activities right from mining of Titanium minerals to manufacturing of aerospace grade Ti sponge under one roof.

IV.      Kerala Government announces State Film Awards 2014: The list of awardees was declared by the State Minister for Cinema T. Radhakrishnan. Best Actor award was given to N. Pauly while N. Naseem won the Best Actress award. Sanalkumar won the award for the Best Director.

V.      Kochi 1^st to join World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council: Kochi becomes the 1^st Indian city to be a member of Beijing headquartered, WTCF and join its league of leading tourism cities across the world.

VI.    The National Green Tribunal (NGT) headed by Chairperson Swatanter Kumar directed the UP Government to ensure that no unauthorised construction activities are permitted and no trees are cut in the eco-sensitive zone near Taj Mahal.

VII.    Rajasthan High Court banned Santhara ritual in Jain community: Pronouncing its judgement, the court considered the act as a criminal act amounting to suicide and directed to register cases under section 306 of IPC. The ritual was banned after a PIL filed by Human Rights Activist Nikhil Soni a decade ago.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.    10^th August: World Bio-Fuel Day: Every year 10^th August is observed as World Bio-Fuel Day in a bid to create awareness about no-fossil fuels. On this day in 1893, Sir Rudalph Diesel (inventor of diesel engine) for the 1^st time successfully ran mechanical engine with peanut oil.

II.     Google unveils restructuring under new parent company Alphabet Inc: Search engine giant Google Inc has announced formation of a new holding or parent company called Alphabet Inc to encompass its search engine unit and all other subsidiaries.

III.     India’s social security pact with Canada comes into force: According to the pact, the employees posted by Indian entities in Canada are not required to contribute towards Canada’s social security schemes for a period of 60 months and similar employees posted in India would enjoy the same benefit.

IV.     International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples observed on 9^th August: The theme of the day was ‘Post 2015 Agenda: Ensuring Indigenous peoples’ health and well-being. Also, ‘The state of the World’s Indigenous peoples, Volume 2’ was launched at the UN.

V.         India born SundarPichai has been named as the CEO of Google by the company’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.        Railway Finance Corporation to issue Rs 6000 crore tax-free bonds: Railway would utilize these funds to enhance acquisition of rolling stock such as engines, coaches and wagons for use by the Railways.

II.    ICICI Bank launches ‘Saral-Rural Housing Loan’ scheme for weaker section: Housing loan will be provided to the weaker section of the society including women at the ICICI Bank Base Rate which is currently at 9.70%. The loan will range from 5-15 lakh rupees for a period of 3-20 years and the loan can be up to 90% of the property value.

SPORTS:

III.     India tops Asian Youth Chess Championship with 17 medals: Bagging 5 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze out of the available 36 medals, Indian Juniors made their presence felt in the event organised by Korea Chess Federation.

IV.      Hockey India suspended Gurbaj Singh for 9 months for indulging in groupism and creating disharmony within the team.

AWARDS:

V.           SaniaMirza to be conferred Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna:Sania Mirza became only the 2^nd tennis player to be recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, while star cricketer Rohit Sharma and ace shooter Jitu Rai were among 17 named for this year’s Arjuna Awards.

VI.    President Pranab Mukherjee presented Saraswati Samman to Dr. M Veerappa  Moily: He received the award for his epic ‘Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam’ written in Kannada.

OBITUARIES:

VII.     Veteran Marathi stage actor Bhalchandra Pendharkar died.