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.

Daily GK Updates - 14th September, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Prabhat Singh takes over as MD & CEO of Petronet LNG: Prabhat Kumar Singh took over as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Petronet LNG Ltd, India’s biggest liquefied natural gas importer.

II.            Hormusji N Cama elected as Chairman of Press Trust of India: H N Cama was unanimously elected as the new chairman of the Press Trust of India (PTI). He is also the Managing director of India’s oldest continuously published newspaper ‘Bombay Samachar’.

III.            DMRC to execute 6769 crore rupees worth Vijayawada Metro Rail Project: The state government of Andhra Pradesh gave in principle approval to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for the execution of the Vijaywada and Visakhapatnam Metro Rail Projects.

IV.            Hindi Diwas observed on 14 September 2015 across India: The day was observed to promote the MatraBhasha- the mother tongue of India and show its importance as a language in the country and the world at large.

V.            Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalitha announced to set up Tamil Nadu Fibernet Corporation:Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalitha announced to set up Tamil Nadu Fibernet Corporation to implement the Union Government’s Bharatnet scheme. The corporation will be established at an estimated cost of 3000 crore rupees and will oversee the linkage of 12524 villages in the state through optical fibre network.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.            Indian Bankers top Fortune’s most powerful women list: Bankers ChandaKochhar and Arundhati Bhattacharya have been ranked as top two in a list of most powerful women in Asia-pacific prepared by the global magazine Fortune.

II.            Ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) won Singapore general elections for record 12^th time: Lee Kuan Yew was the founding father of modern Singapore and also the People’s Action Party. Incumbent Prime Minister Lee HsienLoong who is heading the party presently is the son of Lee Kuan Yew. This was the 1^st election held after his death. The PAP won the elections for the record 12^th time since Independence from Malaysia in 1965.

III.            Germany introduced border controls along Austrian border to check migrant influx from Syria: The controls along the borders imply that its temporary exit from the Schengen Agreement that facilitates unhindered movement of people within the EU region.

IV.            Mount Aso, the largest volcano of Japan erupted: The Volcano situated on main southern Island of Kyushu erupted unexpectedly; however there have been reports of no casualties or damage from the volcano’s eruption.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I.               FlaviaPennetta won 2015 US Open Women’s Singles title: The Italian defeated her fellow Italian Roberta Vinci in the final summit clash held in New York. It was her maiden Grand Slam Title and after the victory she announced that she will retire from professional tennis after the 2015 season.

II.               Novak Djokovic defeated Roger Federer to win 2015 US Open Men’s Singles title.

III.               French pair of Pierre Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut won the 2015 US Open Men’s doubles title.

IV.               Narsingh Pancham Yadav books an Olympic berth for 2016 Rio Olympics: He qualified for Olympic Games after winning bronze medal in the Men’s 74 kg Freestyle category at the World Wrestling Championship held at Las Vegas, US.

OBITUARIES:

   I.            Classical dancer KalamandalamSathyabhama passed away in Palakkad district of Kerala at the age of 77.

Daily GK Updates - 13th September, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Union Government extends e-Tourist visa scheme to 37 more countries: It was announced by Secretary of Union Tourism Ministry VinodZuthsi in New Delhi. With this extension, total 150 countries will come under the ambit of e-tourist visa scheme from present 113 countries.

II.            IndraNooyi, 2^nd powerful women in 2015 Fortune’s business list:IndraNooyi, CEO of Food and Beverage giant PepsiCo is the sole Indian-origin executive in 2015 edition of Fortune’s list of 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. CEO of General Motors Mary Barra has topped the list.

III.            ABVP sweeps Delhi University Polls: The BhartiyaJanata Party affiliated AkhilBhartiyaVidyarthiParishad (ABVP) has for the second consecutive year trounced National Students Union of India (NSUI) to win all four seats in the student union elections of Delhi University.

IV.            Google to provide free Wi-Fi across 400 Indian Railway stations under ‘Project Nilgiri’: Google and Indian Railways have partnered to launch a new project under the code name Project Nilgiri that will deliver free Wi-Fi access to around 400 railway stations across India.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.            India and Pakistan agreed to maintain peace along border after DG level talks: Both the countries agreed to maintain peace along the border after the DG level talks which are being held at New Delhi. Director General of Border Security Force (BSF) D K Pathak is leading 23 member Indian delegation and his counterpart Major General Umar FarooqBurki, DG of Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) is leading a 16 members Pakistani delegation.

II.            AUSINDEX15, first Australia and India maritime exercise begins in Visakhapatnam: Inaugural bilateral maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Royal Australian Navy AUSINDEX15 commenced off the coast of Visakhapatnam.

III.            Las Vesgas declares September 10 as ‘AnupamKher Day’: Bollywood actor AnupamKher has been awarded for his commendable contribution to cinema and art globally in Nevada with the US state’s most populous city Las Vegas declaring September 10 as ‘AnupamKher Day’.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

I.               Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won US Open Women’s Doubles Title 2015: The 1^st seeded Indo-Swiss pair defeated Casey Dellacqua and YaroslavaShvedova in the finals.

AWARDS:

II.            G Satheesh Reddy, Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister has been conferred with Silver Medal of Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS).