Daily GK Updates - 16th September, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Suvidha acquires mobile PoS platform AasaanPay: SuvidhaInfoserve, India's largest payment management company has acquired a mobile PoS device AasaanPay, along with its intellectual property rights. It is a device developed by IIT-Hyderabad dropouts Sainath Gupta, PruthviSubbu and ShashankSahni, that can be plugged into a mobile phone, which can then be used for credit or debit card transactions.

II.            National Engineer’s Day celebrated on 15^th September: It is marked on the birth anniversary of the most beloved engineer Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The 48^th Engineer’s Day was celebrated with the theme of ‘Engineering Challenges for Knowledge Era’.

III.            Godavari, Krishna Rivers to be formally linked today: Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu released water of river Godavari into Krishna to mark the formal linking of the two rivers.

IV.            Union Cabinet approved Shyama Prasad MukherjiRurban Mission for overall development of rural areas: The mission approved with an outlay of 5142 crore rupees, is a bid to transform rural areas to economically, socially and physically sustainable spaces.

V.            Only Marathi speaking people to get auto-rickshaw permit in the state: Maharashtra Government: Maharashtra Government issued an order stating that it will give away one lakh new auto-rickshaw permits for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), but only to those applicants who speak Marathi.

VI.            Delhi Government approved Victim Compensation Scheme: It enhanced the upper limit of compensation to rape victims to 5 lakh rupees from existing 3 lakh rupees and to the victims of acid attack to 7 lakh rupees from 3 lakh rupees.

VII.            Shauryanjali Exhibition on 1965 Indo-Pak War inaugurated on 15^th September: The Exhibition celebrates the victory of India over Pakistan and remembers the supreme sacrifice of Indian soldiers.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            International Democracy Day observed on September 15^th: The International Democracy Day was celebrated with the theme ‘Space for Civil Society’.

II.            Pentagon sets up India Rapid Reaction Cell: The Pentagon has established a first-ever country special cell to speed up its defence ties with India and accelerate the process of co-development and co-production of hi-tech military equipment in the country.

III.            World’s largest Continental Volcanic Chain discovered in Australia: The team of scientists led by Rhodri Davies, an earth scientist at Australian National University, have discovered the longest chain of continental volcanoes of the world in Australia, stretching almost 2000 km along Australia’s east coast.

IV.            India, Sri Lanka exchanged four agreements to ensure peace and stability in the region: The agreements in various fields including medicare facilities were exchanged with an aim to ensure peace and stability in the region. These agreements were exchanged during the visit of Prime Minister of Sri Lanka RanilWickremesinghe to India from September 14-16.

V.            Hungary declared emergency in areas near Serbian border to check Migrant crisis: This state of emergency empowers the Hungarian Police to detain anyone trying to breach a razor-wire fence built on the border with Serbia.

VI.            Indian origin lawmakers SeemaMalhotra and Lisa Nandy have been appointed to the shadow cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn, the newly elected leader of Labour Party in the United Kingdom.

VII.            National Geographic Society has been selected for 2015 UNEP Champions of the Earth award in Science & Innovation Category.

VIII.            Natura Brasil has been selected for 2015 Champions of the Earth award in Entrepreneurial Vision category.

IX.            Jeremy Corbyn was elected as the leader of Labour Party in UK.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I.               Hangzhou to host 2022 Asian Games: The Chinese City of Hangzhou was confirmed as the host of the 2022 Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia announced at its General Assembly in Ashgabat (Turkmenistan).

II.               American Boxer Floyd MayweatherJr announced retirement after defeating Andre Berto: He took the decision after the win against Andre Berto in the Welterweight World Championships held at MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, USA. The present win was his 49^th overall and he never lost a game since his 1^st match in 1996. He had a 19 year long career in the ring.

AWARDS:

 III.            Sheikh Hasina wins UN Award for leadership on climate change: Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina has been announced as one of the winners of the United Nations Champions of Earth Award in recognition of her country’s initiatives to address climate change.

IV.            Indian origin British author SunjeevSahota has been shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize 2015 for Fiction.

V.            AnupamKher honoured with Certificate of Recognition in US: AnupamKher received the ‘Certificate of Recognition’ from the California legislature for his dedication to help Kashmiri Hindu Community.

VI.            Indian American SwethaPrabakaran selected for Champions of Change award in US: She was chosen for the award in recognition of her efforts for empowering the community by imparting education of internet coding through her non-profit Organisation ‘Everybody Code Now’.

Daily GK Updates - 15th September, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Gujarat tops the list of "ease of doing business in India": World Bank Report: The World Bank report titled Assessment of State Implementation of Business Reforms was released in New Delhi under the aegis of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which placed Gujarat at the top position in the World Bank’s 1^st ever ranking of states on the ease of doing business in India.

II.            200 people in Sastamnada village in Kerala pledge organs for donation: The Kerala Network of Organ Sharing (KNOS) was launched by the department of Health as registry. Now, 200 people will give letters of intent to donate their organs to KNOS.

III.            IFC’s ‘Suryoday’ in rural Rajasthan: IFC’s Lighting India program that aims to provide safe, affordable and quality solar lights to people with limited or no access to electricity, is increasing the availability of solar products in rural parts of Rajasthan through a consumer awareness campaign, ‘Suryoday’.

IV.            Government says 50 days additional work under MGNREGA in drought hit areas: The centre decided to provide additional 50 days of work in drought hit areas under the MGNREGA scheme to provide relief to farmers in view of deficit monsoon in various parts of the country.

V.            SpiceJet became the first-ever airline to make night landing at Port Blair’s Veer Savarkar Airport.

VI.            Union Government formed Mihir Shah Committee on restructuring water agencies: The committee was mandated to suggest ways for optimal development of water resources in the country.

VII.            India-Maldives joint military training exercise EKUVERIN 2015 held in Kerala: It was held at the Pangode Military Station in Thiruvanathpuram district of Kerala from 31^st Aug to 13^th September. The exercise saw the participation of the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Forces.

VIII.            The Supreme Court sought the Union Government’s response on pleas made by several state governments for the recall of the ban on publishing photographs of Chief Ministers and bureaucrats in government advertisements.

IX.            Sports Ministry recognised the Indian Kalarippayattu Federation (IKF) as Regional Sports Federation.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.            Malcum Turnbull sworn in as Australia’s new Prime Minister: The 60-year old former investment banker unseated Tony Abott as the leader of the ruling Liberal-National coalition government in a party rebellion, as voter surveys pointed to defeat for the ruling Liberal-National coalition at the federal elections due next year. He is Australia’s 29^th Prime Minister and also 4^th in the span of just over two years.

II.            Indian origin Ashok Sridharan becomes Mayor of Germany’s Bonn city: Ashok Sridharan, a mayoral candidate of Chancellor Angela Merkel-led Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has comprehensively won the election in Bonn, becoming the 1^st person of Indian origin to occupy the Mayor’s office in a major German city.

III.            Nepal Constituent Assembly rejected proposal for Hindu nation in favour of secularism: It has rejected the proposal of Pro-Hindu National Democratic Party to declare Nepal a Hindu state and reaffirmed to remain secular.

IV.            UNGA adopted document of Advancing Security Council Reforms: In a draft decision, the body decided to reaffirm its central role on the question of equitable representation on an increase in the membership of the Security Council and other related matters.

V.            UN adopted resolution proclaiming 9 December as International Genocide Commemoration Day.

VI.            QS World University Rankings 2015-16 released; IISc-B and IIT-D figured in top 200: While MIT of the USA was adjudged as the top university in the world, the Indian Institute of Science-Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi were ranked 147^th and 149^th respectively.

VII.            We Care Solar have won $1 million ‘Powering the future we want’ grant of the United States.

 OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.            SBI Card launches credit card for online shopping: SBI Card, a leading credit card issuer announced a strategic partnership with 7 of India’s biggest e-commerce players for its newest offering, the SimplyCLICK SBI Card. This is billed as the 1^st ever credit card that is focused on online shopping across diverse platforms. For this, SBI has partnered with Amazon India, BookMyShow, Cleartrip, Fabfurnish, Foodpanda, LensKart and Ola Cabs.

II.            RBI and Nepal Rashtra Bank ink MoU for supervisory information exchange: By signing the MoU, RBI is seeking to promote greater co-operation and share supervisory information among the authorities.

III.            FreeCharge partners Yes Bank, FinoPayTech to launch wallet solution: Snapdeal-owned mobile transaction platform FreeCharge has partnered with Yes Bank and payment bank licensee FinoPayTech to launch the service.

IV.            Paytm introduces cashless payments in educational institutions: It has launched cashless payments in educational institutions, which will enable users to pay school fees and dues, cafeteria bill, buy uniforms, books and merchandise.

V.            Mahindra Group enters e-commerce space, launches M2ALL.com: This e-marketplace, to begin with, will offer a range of Mahindra products and services and has already started taking bookings for newly launched Mahindra TUV 300, the compact sports utility vehicle from the Mahindra stable.

OBITUARIES:

 VI.            Brian Close, former England and Yorkshire captain dies at the age of 84.

VII.            Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Frank D Gilroy died at the age of 89.