Daily GK Updates - 4th October, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            PM Modi inaugurates Solar-Powered Court in Jharkhand.

II.   Dabur India to adopt 5 UP villages to support ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign: Coinciding with the first anniversary of PM’s Swachh Bharat initiative, homegrown FMCG major Dabur India adopted five villages in Uttar Pradesh and pledged to make them ‘Open Defecation free’ within the current fiscal.

III.         S Mookherjee is new Financial Commissioner of Railways.

IV.     E-FIR system launched in Odisha: The Odisha Police launched its ambitious e-FIR system under the Centre-sponsored Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  

I.          INS Sahyadri in Vietnam on a four-day visit: As a part of India’s Look East Policy, Indian Navy’s indigenously built multi-role stealth frigate INS Sahyadri entered Da Nang in Vietnam.

II.     Microsoft acquires Irish 3D physics provider Havok from Intel: Redmond based technology major Microsoft has acquired Irish video game engine and 3D physics provider Havok from American chip maker Intel.

III.    Google Inc has morphed into Alphabet Inc: Alphabet replaced Google as the publicly traded company that will house Google’s Search and Web advertising businesses, maps, YouTube and its ‘moonshot’ ventures such as driverless cars.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.    Gold zooms Rs 660, biggest one day gain this year: Snapping its five day falling streak, gold rebounded by Rs 660, its biggest one day surge this year, to trade at Rs 26,810 per ten grams at the bullion market.

II.   ICICI brings in card-less mVisa: ICICI Bank has become the first institution worldwide to launch m-Visa, a card less solution to make the payments. It has incorporated the m-visa application in its Pockets app, which allows payments to be made by scanning at a QR code and entering the amount.

III.  India’s foreign reserves plunge by over $2 million: India’s foreign exchange (FOREX) reserves declined by $2.04 billion to $349.97 billion in the week ended.

IV.   Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help to finance the increased transmission capacity of electrical link between India and Bangladesh: ADB’s loan of $120 million to Bangladesh will double the capacity of the existing interconnection system which links the power grid of Western Bangladesh at Bheramara and the grid of eastern India in Bharampur.

SPORTS:

V.           Shashank Manohar elected unopposed as BCCI President.

VI.         SaniaMirza and Martina Hingis won Wuhan Open women’s doubles WTA title.

VII.   Venus Williams wins Wuhan Open: Venus Williams won her second title of the season at the Wuhan Open in Central China after GarbineMuguruza retired in the second set.

VIII.  Jordon Spieth voted PGA Tour Player of the Year: American world number one Jordon Spieth was named as the PGA Tour’s Player of the year after a stellar 2014-15 campaign highlighted by two major victories among his five wins.

Daily GK Updates - 3rd October, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Dr Anup K Pujari assumed additional charge as CMD of Steel Authority of India Ltd: At present, he is secretary, Government of India, Ministry of MSME. Besides as the CMD of SAIL, he was also given additional charge of the post of Secretary in Ministry of Steel.

II.            Forbes India Leadership Awards-2015 presented in Mumbai: Transformational leadership, which the 2015 edition of the Forbes India Leadership Awards seeks to honour, includes individuals and organisations who have achieved success through their vision, foresight and business ethics. Various awards were given for various categories. Some of them are as follows:

Outstanding start-up for the year: BhavishAgarwal&AnkitBhati of Ola

Nextgen Entrepreneur for the year: SiddharthLal of Eicher Motors Ltd.

Conscious Capitalist Company of the Year: Godrej and Amul.

III.       Fadnavis inaugurates ‘National Agriculture and Orange Festival: Maharashtra CM DevendraFadnavis inaugurated ‘National Agriculture and Orange Festival’ on 1^st October. Nagpur based orange grower DhirajJunghare and specialist S.A.M.H Naqvi will be awarded MohanraoToteySantraBhushan award for their remarkable achievements in orange production and orange pest control research respectively.

IV.     Rajiv Lal appointed as MD & CEO of IDFC (Infrastructure Development Finance Company).

V.    Kerala cabinet accorded sanction to Rs 475 crore rehabilitation package: The rehabilitation package is for those who would be affected due to implementation of VizhinjamDeepwater International Transhipment Terminal project.

VI.            Scientist M V K V Prasad has been appointed the new Director of Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE).

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.            International Day of Non-Violence observed across the World: It was observed on 2^nd October 2015 to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, a pioneer of the Philosophy and strategy of non-violence.

II.            NATO Special Forces to support Afghan: NATO Special Forces reached Kunduz to augment Afghan troops after the Taliban seized strategic northern city.

III.            India submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions to UNFCC: With the presentation of its INDCs, India set its tone for the Conference of Parties (COP-21) in Paris that is scheduled to meet in December 2015 to adopt a new environmental protocol for post-2020 scenario.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.            IDBI Bank cut its Base Rate by 0.25% to 9.75% while PNB, BOB and Oriental Bank of Commerce cut their base rate by 0.40%, 0.25% and 0.20% respectively.

SPORTS:

II.               South Africa beat India by 7 wickets in the 1^st T20 of the Freedom Series: J P Duminy of South Africa was adjudged Man of the Match for his outstanding winning knock.

AWARDS:

   III.  Laureates of 2015 Right Livelihood Awards announced: Tony de Brum and the People of the Marshall Islands, Sheila Watt-Cloutier (Canada), Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesara (Uganda) and Gino Strada and his organisation ‘Emergency’ (Italy) were chosen for the prestigious award that is also known as Alternate Nobel Prize.

Daily GK Updates - 2nd October, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Black money window: Rs 3770 crore unaccounted foreign assets declared: Nearly 638 declarations have been received through the one time compliance window for disclosing black money under a new law enacted by the Modi-led Government.

II.            ItzCash Card inks pact Flipkart for facilitating online shopping:ItzCash has announced its partnership with Flipkart to reach out to the next billion segments, especially those without having access to either a debit or a credit card.

III.            Adani ports sign MoU with L&T shipbuilding for evaluating port operations:Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited today informed the Bombay Stock Exchange that the company has entered into a non-binding MoU with L&T Shipbuilding Limited for evaluating the operations of the port at Kattupalli, Tamil Nadu.

IV.            Sarat Kumar Acharya takes over as CMD of Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            Google partners Ridley Scott, Richie Mehta to capture ‘India in a Day’: Google in partnership with filmmakers Ridley Scott, Richie Mehta and AnuragKashyap is coming out with a film project titled ‘India in a Day’ that will capture the essence of evolving India across 24 hours.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

       SPORTS:

I.               ICC Women’s team rankings released: Australia topped the list while India was placed on the 4^th spot.

 

AWARDS:

 II.            Maruti Suzuki chairman R C Bhargava honoured with the lifetime achievement award at the Forbes India Leadership Awards, 2015.

Daily GK Updates - 1st October, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.        Union Government released commemorative postal stamp on Dr B R Ambedkar: It was released by Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad as the Government is celebrating 125^th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar in the year 2015.

II.        Union Government reduced domestic natural gas price by 18 % to 3.81 USD per mmBtu.

III.     Uttar Pradesh decided to implement National Food Security Act, 2013 in three phases: The National Food Security Act, 2013 is an act of the parliament of India which aims to provide subsidized food grains to approximately two thirds of India’s 1.2 billion people.

IV.        Union Government notified Mid-Day Meal Rules, 2015.

V.        PM Modi briefed about Project Loon during Google headquarters tour: Google’s flagship Project Loon was praised by PM Modi as he believed that it has multiple uses like long distance education, rural schools and telemedicine.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.    India up 16 places to 55^th on global competitiveness index released by World Economic Forum: In a big jump, India has moved up 16 positions to rank 55^th on a global index of the world’s most competitive economies, where Switzerland remains on top.

II.         China launched 20^th satellite for its BeiDou Navigation System: It was launched on the Long March 3B carrier rocket and has put China one step closer to providing an alternative to the U S operated Global Positioning System (GPS).

III.   Palestinian flag hoisted at UN headquarters for the 1^st time: The flag hoisting ceremony was attended by the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.

IV.        Russian parliament gave green signal to Putin to use troops in Syria, however the ‘Kremlin’ decided that it will only use Air Force there, and not ground troops.

V.         WHO removed all limitations on eligibility for Antiretroviral Therapy among HIV infected people.

VI.     World Vegetarian Day observed globally: It was observed on 1^st October 2015 as an annual celebration to promote joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism.

VII.    International Day of Older Persons observed across the world: It was observed on 1^st October 2015 with the theme ‘Sustainability and Age Inclusiveness in the Urban Environment’.

VIII. Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif proposed 4-point Peace Initiative with India during his speech at the UN General Assembly.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.     IMF announces disbursement of USD 504 million to Pakistan: The International Monetary Fund has announced ‘immediate disbursement’ of USD 504 million to Pakistan bringing the total amount released to bolster the country’s struggling economy to USD 4.54 billion..

SPORTS:

II.      Hina Sidhu and Shweta Singh win gold and silver in 10m Air Pistol event at the Asian Air Gun Championship.

III.    ICC Women’s team rankings released: Australia topped the list while India was placed on the 4^th spot.

AWARDS:

IV.     Zenia Bhumgara of India conferred with Merlin Award by International Magicians Association in Mumbai.

V.            Ratan Tata honoured by UK City of Coventry: The leading Indian Industrialist took oath as an Honorary Freeman of the City of Coventry. Since 1914, only 13 people have been conferred with the honour.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS:

VI.      Book titled ‘Hungry Bengal: War, Famine, Riots and the End of Empire’ authored by Janam Mukherjee was released.

OBITUARIES:

 VII.     Twin Peaks star Catherine Coulson died at the age of 71.