Daily GK Updates - 14th January, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Sikkim becomes India’s first fully organic state: Sikkim has become India’s first fully organic state by converting around 75,000 hectares of agricultural land into sustainable cultivation.

2. Pilot project on DBT for kerosene to start soon: In order to cover more households under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, the union minister of state for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan informed that soon kerosene customers would be able to get their subsidy directly into their bank accounts.

3. R Shivakumar appointed Chairman of Assocham Karnataka.

4. Sachin opens railway police safety drive: Master blaster and former captain of the Indian cricket team Sachin Tendulkar launched two safety and awareness initiatives by the Mumbai Railway Police. The two initiatives, SAMEEP (Safety Alert Messages Exclusively for Passengers) and B-SAFE, were launched at the RPF headquarters in Wadi Bunder.

5. Centre approves Rs 791 crore as Drought assistance for Telangana.

6. Government limits Foreign Travel by Bureaucrats to four a year.

7. Jharkhand to add drinking water crisis in local disasters list: The decision was taken in a Cabinet meeting and will cover those districts where the rainfalls have been less than 75% of the normal or where the groundwater level has gone below by four metres or more.

8. Jharkhand to set up fast track courts for trial of witchcraft-related attacks.

9. Nitin Gadkari inaugurated 2^nd liquid chemical berth of Mumbai Port Trust: With commissioning of this berth, the cargo handling capacity of the Port will increase by 2.5 MMT per annum.

10. Bhaskar Bhat becomes Tata SIA Airlines Chairman.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. WHO declares world’s worst ever Ebola outbreak over: The World Health Organisation announced that the Ebola epidemic that has ravaged west Africa for two years was over after Liberia, the last affected country , received all clear. 

2. USA increased H-1B and L-1 visa petition fees.

3. India tops Asia in sending scientists, engineers to US: Report: India continued its trend of being the top country of birth from Asia for immigrant scientists and engineers in US, with 950,000 out of the continent’s total 2.96 million, according to a new report.

4. UN released dataset titled Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 Revision: The dataset analysed trends in migration flows across the world, even country as well as region wise, between 2000 and 2015.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. SBI launches dedicated branch for start-ups in Bengaluru: State Bank of India launched its wealth management offering and inaugurated a dedicated branch for start-ups. While the wealth management service ‘Exclusif’ is targeted at the fast-growing affluent segment in the country. ‘SBI InCube’-the branch for start-ups-would offer advisory services to the budding entrepreneurs under one roof.

2. RBI allows banks to provide all services at off-site ATMs: It has allowed banks to offer the whole array of services even at off-site ATMs. Off-site ATMs are the ones that set up on a standalone basis and are not on the premises of a bank branch.

SPORTS:

3. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis create world record for most successive victories by winning their 29^th women’s doubles match in a row en route to their entry into the women’ doubles final of the WTA Sydney International.

AWARDS:

4. Subhashini Vasanth honoured with Neerja Bhanot Award: She was awarded for her endeavour to help people in distress and for empowering widows of martyrs and their families across the country.

5. UNICEF presented David Beckham with Danny Kaye Humanitarian Leadership Award

OBITUARIES:

6. Actor Alan Rickman, known for his role as ‘Snape’ in Harry Potter series, died at the age of 69.

Daily GK Updates - 13th January, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Kerala declared first state to attain Total Primary Education: Vice President Hamid Ansari declared Kerala as the first state to attain ‘Total Primary Education’ and described the achievement as ‘histroric’.

2. CII Partnership Summit 2016 concluded in Vishakhapatnam: The 22^nd edition of Confederate of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit-cum-Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Summit was concluded at Vishakhapatnam.

3. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group signed MoU to set up naval facility in Vishakhapatnam: Reliance Defence Ltd, a unit of Anil Ambani led Reliance Infrastructure Ltd signed a MoU with Andhra Pradesh Government to set up a world class naval facility in the state.

4. Amitabh Bachchan made honorary life member of Mohammedan Sporting.

5. 20^th National Youth Festival inaugurated in Naya Raipur: The five day long annual festival is celebrated by the Union Government in partnership with a state government on the occasion of birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

6. Indra Nooyi becomes ‘most generous graduate’ of Yale School of Management: The Prestigious Yale School of Management will name its deanship in honour of PepsiCo’s India-Born CEO Indra Nooyi as she gifted an undisclosed amount to her alma meter, becoming the school’s biggest alumni donor and the first woman to endow a deanship at a top b-school.

7. PM sets up panel to fast-track bullet trains: The PMO has constituted a committee under Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog, to hasten the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor, meant for bullet trains between the two cities.

8. NHAI signs MoU with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) under ISRO and NECTAR for use of spatial technology for monitoring national highways.

9. Union Government announced green-field petrochemical complex and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Vishakhapatnam.

10. C Sridhar assumes charge as West Zone IG.

11. Union Cabinet approved MoU between Indian and Maldives for co-operation in health sector.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Lenovo to launch new smartphone under Google’s Project Tango: The term Project Tango was in news as Lenovo, a Chinese multinational computer technology company, announced that it entered into a partnership with Google for the project.

2. Conference of QCG on Afghan Peace and Reconciliation held in Islamabad: The purpose of the conference was to explore ways to create consensus for talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan’s government. The conference was participated representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US.

3. Indian-American professor developed Galacto-Seismic method to hunt Dark Matter: An international team of scientists led by Indian-American Sukanya Chakrabarti deviced a new method, glactoseismology, to detect dwarf galaxies dominated by dark matter.

4. US and Jordan signed Joint Action Plan on cooperation to counter Nuclear Smuggling.

5. US-India Business Council (USIBC) Board of Directors selected Council board members Edward Monser and Punit Renjen as Vice Chairs.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Government unveils Rs 8800 crore crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY): In order to provide relief to drought-hit farmers, the government announced a new Rs 8800 crore crop insurance scheme, with significantly lower premium, to cover for loss of crop to natural calamities. Farmers will pay only 2% of the premium fixed by insurance company for kharif food-grains/oilseeds crops and 1.5% for rabi food-grains/oilseeds crops under the PMFBY. The remaining sum of premium would be borne by the centre and state governments equally.

2. SBI opens branch in Seoul, South Korea: Country’s largest lender has opened a branch in Seoul, South Korea to predominantly finance growing trade and investment relations between Korean and Indian companies.

3. India largest recipient of World Bank Loans over 70 years: India is the largest recipient of World Bank, amounting to $102.1 billion, between 1945 and 2015 according to the Bank’s lending report.

SPORTS:

4. FIFA dismisses Jerome Valcke as General Secretary.

OBITUARIES:

5. 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War hero Lt General J F R Jacob died at the age of 92.

6. Monte Irvin, Hall of Fame outfielder passed away at the age of 96.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS:

7. The book titled ‘Jawaharlal Nehru and the Indian Polity in Perspective’ edited by Prof Alexander was released by Vice President Hamid Ansari.

Daily GK Updates - 12th January, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, the Vishakhapatnam steel plant, has signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh Government for an investment of around Rs 38500 crore in various projects.

2. Ashish Saraf appointed as vice-president of Airbus India.

3. Ansari dedicates to the nation Kerala’s first film institute: Vice-President Hamid Ansari dedicated to the nation the K R Narayanan Institute of Visual Sciences and Arts, a first of its kind initiative of Kerala government at nearby Thekkumithala.

4. BHEL commissions 520 MW thermal power unit in Andhra Pradesh: The unit has been commissioned at the 2x520 MW Vizag Thermal Power Project of Hinduja National Power Company Limited (HNPCL), Vishakhapatnam.

5. Mizoram celebrated ‘Missionary Day’ on 11 January: Missionary Day, anniversary of the arrival of two Welsh Christian missionaries, was observed and celebrated across the Christian-dominated north eastern state of Mizoram.

6. Union Railway Ministry inaugurated Implementation of E-enabled Track Management System: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated implementation of E-enabled Track Management System and Mobile Application of TMS on Indian Railway at Rail Bhawan in New Delhi.

7. ADB to fund $840-m corridor between Vizag and Chennai: The Asian Development Bank will extend a $625 million loan to the proposed $840 million Vishakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, according to Teresa Kho, Country Director-India, ADB.

8. Constro 2016 to focus on ‘Smart City’ concept: The 2016 edition of the Constro exhibition will be held in Pune from January 14-17 and will focus on the Smart City concept. In view of the Government’s mission of creating 100 smart cities, ‘Constro 2016’ will focus on two themes: ‘Emerging Technologies for Smart City and Skill Development’.

9. Telangana becomes first state to make gender education compulsory at Graduate level: In this regard, the state introduced a bilingual textbook titled, Towards a World of Equals.

10. Kullu Folk Dance finds place in Guinness Book of World Records: The colourful Kullu folk dance (Nati), which saw participation of 20,000 dancers during Kullu Dussehra festival has entered the Guinness book of world records.

11. PwC India sets up centre of excellence for forensics in Hyderbad.

12. Andhra Pradesh signs MoU worth of Rs 5,242 crore in Tourism and Hospitality.

13. CIRB became India’s second centre to produce to cloned buffalo: Scientists at Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) in Hisar claimed to have successfully produced a cloned buffalo offspring ‘Cirb Gaurav’.

14. Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off Lokmanya Tilak-Kazipet Anandwan Express.

15. National Youth Day observed on 12 January to mark birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand.

16. Bharthi Sihag assumes additional charge of NMDC Chairman.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Indian origin girl wins Hindi Literary Award in Singapore: Samia Khan, a nine-year old Indian origin girl in Singapore has won the first prize for writing a story in Hindi in a literary competition at the inaugural ‘Hindi Prerna Awards’.

2. Illumina, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos launched start-up GRAIL to develop blood-based cancer tests: Illumina, the world’s largest DNA sequencing company, announced the launch of the start-up named GRAIL to develop blood-based cancer-tests.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. HDFC Life has sets up subsidiary at Dubai International Finance Centre: It has set up a wholly-owned subsidiary in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) called the ‘HDFC International Life and Re Company Ltd (HILRCL0 with an initial capital outlay of $12.33 million.

2. Binny Bansal appointed as new CEO of Flipkart, Sachin Bansal as Executive Chairman.

3. SBI to monetise non-crore assets, list few units over three years.

SPORTS:

4. Stephen Fleming named coach of Pune IPL Team.

5. Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi wins Ballon d’Or award for world’s best player for fifth time.

AWARDS:

6. EPFO bags National Award on e-Governance: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has won the National Award on e-Governance 2015-16 for launching the Universal Account Number (UAN).

OBITUARIES:

7. British Singer David Bowie died at the age of 69.

Daily GK Updates - 11th January, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. DRDO successfully test fired New Tank Ammunition for Arjun MBT: DRDO successfully test fired the new Penetration-cum blast (PCB) and Thermobaric (TB) Ammunition tank at Chandipur, Odisha. This was specially designed for Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT).

2. NALCO to develop Bhubaneswar as floral hub: Under corporate social responsibility, National Aluminium Company will begin several beautiful projects and steps to enhance green cover and horticulture activities in the capital city.

3. Country’s first woman SHO of GRP: Popular among her colleagues as ‘Lady Dabang’, Archana Singh has been appointed as the first woman Station House Officer (SHO) of the Government Railway Police (GRP).

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 73^rd Golden Globe Awards announced in California: The 73^rd Annual Golden Globe Awards were announced on 11 January 2016 at Beverly Hills, California, USA. These annual awards honour the best in Motion Pictures and Television for the Year 2015. The Revenant won the Best Motion Picture award-Drama, while best Actor and best Director Awards were conferred to Leonardo DiCaprio and Alejandro Inarritu for the same movie. Brie Larson won the best actress award for ‘The Martian’.

2. Process to formulate new constitution began in Sri Lanka: In this regard, the Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe presented a resolution in the Parliament to set up a Constitutional Assembley.

3. Japan elected as UNICEF’s executive board member for 2016-18: Nepal’s Permanent Representative to United Nations, Durga Prasad Bhattarai, was also unanimously elected vice-president to the Bureau of Executive Board of the UNICEF for 2016.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Milos Raonic of Canada won 2016 Brisbane International Tennis men’s singles trophy by defeating Roger Federer.

2. Rene Holten Poulsen named Denmark’s sportsperson of 2015.

3. ICC announces MoneyGram as Event Partner; signs 8-year deal.

AWARDS:

4. Balkrishna Garg conferred with 2015 Harikrishna Devsare Baalsahitya Award.

OBITUARIES:

5. British Singer David Bowie died at the age of 69.

Daily GK Updates -10th January, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES: 

1. Union Government launched an online initiative to engage LPG consumers and citizens: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) launched an initiative to engage the LPG consumers and citizens in providing efficient and citizen friendly services in LPG distribution. It has launched two online discussion forums namely Citizen Friendly Services and Increasing LPG Coverage in the country, which are available on the websites www.mygov.in and www.mylpg.in.

2. President of India inaugurates 88^th Annual Conference of Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan at Ranchi, Jharkhand.

3. International Kite Festival started in Ahmedabad from 10^th January 2016: The festival was inaugurated by Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel at the Sabarmati Riverfront.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES: 

1. Kenya published new Broadcast Regulations: In order to protect children, Kenya published new broadcast regulations that place strict limits on sexual content. The regulations also ban preachers from soliciting money from audiences in exchange of blessings and prayers on air.

2. Burkina Faso’s President named Paul Kaba Thieba as Prime Minister.

3. Japan elected as UNICEF’s executive board member for 2016-18: Nepal’s Permanent Representative to United Nations, Durga Prasad Bhattarai, was also unanimously elected vice-president to the Bureau of Executive Board of the UNICEF for 2016.

4. 11^th World Hindi Day observed on 10^th January.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won 2016 with WTA Brisbane title.

2. Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka won third consecutive Chennai Open Title.

OBITUARIES:

3. Rhythm and blues singer Otis Clay passed away at the age of 73.

4. Noted Hindi writer Ravindra Kalia passed away at the age of 78.

5. Maria Teresa de Filippis, first female Formula One driver died at the age of 89.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS:

6. The book titled ‘Maru Bharat Saru Bharat’ authored by Jain Acharya Maharaj was released.

Daily GK Updates - 9th January, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL) signed two pacts for air services and bus manufacturing on the last day of Bengal Global Business Summit: The first MoU was signed with Bhutan’s Drunk Air for operating flights from Andal to Durgapur, Bagdogra, Bhutan and onwards to Singapore. The 2^nd MoU is for bus manufacturing at Andal in Burdwan district with China’s Zhongtong Bus Holding Company.

2. French Soldiers to march down Rajpath on Republic Day 2016 along with Indian troops: French President Francois Hollande is to be the chief guest.

3. Thermal power companies to transport fly ash free of cost to road construction site in Odisha: The decision in this regard was taken at the joint meeting between NTPC and State Pollution Control Board at Bhubaneswar.

4. Smriti Irani inaugurates 43^rd New Delhi World Book Fair: HRD Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the 43^rd edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair which commenced here with China as the guest of honour country and a theme presentation of the cultural heritage of India.

5. President promulgated Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Ordinance, 2016: These amendments will help in dealing with the loopholes of the Enemy Property Act, 1968 and ensure that the enemy properties that have been vested in the custodian remain so and they do not revert back to the enemy subject or enemy firm.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES: 

1. South Korea’s Parliament adopted a resolution denouncing DPRK’s (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) fourth nuclear test: In the resolution, the South Korean lawmakers urged Pyongyang to scrap all plans relevant to nuclear development, saying that its reckless acts would further isolate itself from the international society and increase pressures and ostracism.

2. US introduced measures to combat recruitment of Americans to extremist groups.

OTHER UPDATES: 

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Urjit Patel to be RBI Deputy Governor for three more years.

SPORTS:

2. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won 2016 with WTA Brisbane title.

3. Australia wins Hopman Cup for 1^st time in 17 years: Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova had singles wins over Ukraine to lead Australia Green to the Hopman Cup, the country’s first title in the mixed team’s event in 17 years.

Daily GK Updates - 8th January, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Rajan is The Banker’s central banker of the year: RBI Governor Raghuram G Rajan was named The Banker magazine’s Global and Asia-Pacific Central Bank Governor of the Year 2015, for stabilising the Indian rupee, initiating key reforms to attract much needed foreign capital in the country and reigning in a runaway price appreciation. The Banker is a prestigious monthly magazine of the Financial Times Group.

2. Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry and MEA merged: In order to avoid duplication of work and to improve efficiency, the Government merged the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs with the Ministry of External Affairs.

3. Indo-French military exercise Shakti-2016 started: India and France started their eight-day counter terrorism and counter-insurgency joint exercise Shakti-2016 in Rajasthan. This is the third edition in the series of bilateral exercises under this banner and is being held in Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Rajasthan’s Bikaner.

4. First Company of Ganga Task Force deployed: As a major initiative towards fast track implementation of Namami Gange Programme, the first company of Ganga Task force Battalion was deployed at Grahmukteshwar yesterday.

5. Sailesh appointed new Registrar General and Census Commissioner.

6. Tata Steel bags PM’s trophy: Tata Steel has been declared as the winner of Prime Minister’s Trophy for being the ‘Best Performing Integrated Steel Plant’ in the country for the performance year 2013-14 for the 8^th time.

7. Amitabh Kant appointed as the new CEO of NITI Aayog.

8. Devendra Kumar Sikri appointed as Chairman of Competition Commission of India.

9. Indigenously built ASW Corvette INS Kadmatt commissioned in Vishakhapatnam: Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette INS Kadmatt was commissioned in the Indian Navy at naval dockyard in Vishakhapatnam by Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral R K Dhowan.

10. Operation Green Hunt to hunt Maoists: Operation Green Hunt, an all-out offensive by India’s paramilitary forces and the state’s forces against the Naxalites came in news recently. The operation which is believed to start in November along five states in the ‘Red Corridor’ came in news after Maoists called a two-day bandh opposing it in Nuapada, Malkangiri and Kalanidhi districts of Odisha.

11. Union Government allowed traditional bull-taming sports Jallikatu in Tamil Nadu.

12. Quikr acquired online real estate portal Commonfloor.com: After the deal, Quikr will be valued at about 1.5 billion USD based on the share-swap ratio.

13. Azim Premji, who donated Rs 27, 514 crore for education is the ‘Most Generous Indian’ for the third year running followed by Nandan Nilekani and Narayana Murthy in the second and third place, respectively as per the Hurun India Philanthropy List.

14. Union Ministry of Urban Development approved the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for Punjab and Uttarakhand for the year 2015-16.

15. Rajasthan inked deal with Cairn India to provide clean drinking water in Barmer.

16. Kerala Government decided to implement health care project Sampoorna Arogya Keralam.

17. Airtel appoints Rakesh Bharti Mittal as Non-Executive Director.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. California declared state of emergency in Los Angeles after methane gas leak: The leak happened at the Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon storage field in Porter Ranch of Los Angeles.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Miguel Tabuena won Hilton Asian Tour Golfer of the month.

AWARDS:

2. GMR Group Chairman G.M Rao was honoured with ‘Bulandh Bharath Award’ for his exemplary contributions towards nation building.

OBITUARIES:

3. Indian-origin South African freedom fighter Indrasena E Naidoo dies at the age of 79.