Daily GK Updates - 20th April, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India ranked 133 on World Press Freedom Index: The 2016 ‘World Press Freedom Index’ released by ‘Reporters without Borders’ (RSF) is led by Finland which retained its top spot for the 6^th consecutive year, followed by the Netherlands and Norway.

2. MoU between India and Bhutan on Technical Cooperation: The MoU was signed between India and Bhutan on technical cooperation in the field of capacity building, benchmarking and bilateral exchange in infrastructure engineering.

3. Cabinet approves signing of Paris Agreement: The Paris Agreement recognises the importance of sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption with developed countries taking the lead and notes the importance of ‘climate justice’ in its preamble.

4. Compat sets aside Rs 258-crore fine on Jet Airways, IndiGo and SpiceJet: The Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat) stayed penalties totalling Rs 258 crore imposed by Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Jet Airways, IndiGo and SpiceJet for fuel surcharge collusion.

5. Panasonic, US-based AES to install energy storage project in Haryana: Panasonic India and AES India Pvt Ltd has announced an agreement to construct a 10 MW energy storage array at Panasonic’s Technopark manufacturing facility in Jhajjar, Haryana.

6. Affordable plotted housing policy notified in Haryana: Under the DeenDayal Jan AawasYojna, the policy will enable the creation of additional affordable housing stock in the low and medium potential towns of the state.

7. J K Tyres acquired Cavendish Industries for 2200 crore rupees.

8. KadambotSiddique named ambassador for International Year of Pulses.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 2016 Pulitzer Prize announced: The prizes were announced in the US. The awards are for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition in the United States.

2. Sri Lanka to sign MoU with Japan and India for collaboration in Science and Technology: Sri Lanka’s University of Sri Jayawardenepura will sign the MoU with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science (AIST) and Biomedical Research Institute (BMRI) of Japan and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of Ministry of Science and Technology, India.

3. Barack Obama nominates Indian-American GeetaPasi as US envoy to central African nation Chad.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. RBL Bank becomes first private sector bank to open dedicated branch for start-ups.

SPORTS:

2. BCCI appoints Rahul Johri as its new CEO.

3. India’s Durga Thakur promoted as International Umpire by International Hockey Federation.

4. English Snooker legend Steve Davis retired.

5. ICC and Emirates Airlines renewed their deal for additional seven years.

AWARDS:

6. Chinese professor GeFuping honoured with George Grierson prize for promoting Hindi: President Pranab Mukherjee awarded him the prize for his remarkable works done for the propagation of Hindi abroad.

OBITUARIES:

7. William Bill Campbell, Silicon Valley Coach and Mentor passed away at the age of 75.

8. Renowned American Hollywood actress Doris Roberts passed away at the age of 90.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS:

9. Book titled ‘The Making of India: The Untold story of British Enterprises’ authored by KartarLalvani was released.

Daily GK Updates - 19th April, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Maneka Gandhi launches BetiBachaoBetiPadhao scheme in 61 more districts: On completion of its first year, the BBBP Scheme is being executed in additional 61 districts across 11 states/UTs with low Child Sex Ratio.

2. India’s ad growth rate to be the fastest in 2016 as per a report: According to agency Carat, India’s 2016 advertising growth rate will be the fastest at 12%, which is ahead of global average of 4.5%.

3. Inflation negative for 17^th month; at -0.85% in March: Continuing the deflationary trend for 17^th month, WPI inflation was at -0.85% in March but may inch up gradually in the coming months on growing pressure on food and vegetable prices.

4. PM Modi inaugurates super-speciality hospital in Katra: Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Super-speciality Hospital was inaugurated at Katra in Jammu and Kashmir.

5. Maneka Gandhi to inaugurate conference of North-east states on Child Adoption in Shillong, Meghalaya.

6. India, Afghanistan and Iran finalize draft of Chabahar Trilateral Agreement on Transport and Transit Corridors.

7. India sign MoU with Mauritius for Cooperation in Traditional Medicine and Homeopathy.

8. India to purchase 145 M777 Howitzers for US$ 740 million to equip its Mountain Strike Corps: The decision to buy Ultra-light Howitzers produced by BAE Systems under the ‘Make in India’ program was discussed at a meeting on April 12 between Indian Defence Minister ManoharParrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter.

9. Petroleum Minister visits Bangladesh: Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, DharmendraPradhan is on a three day visit to Bangladesh to take stock of the ambitious agenda set for the India-Bangladesh Hydrocarbon Sector during the visit of PM Modi to Bangladesh in June 2015.

10. Culture and Tourism minster releases commemorative and circulation coin on Tatya Tope: The memorial coin of Rs 200 and the circulation coin of Rs 10.

11. FICCI Ladies Org plans to set up centres in Gujarat: It has planned to set up two Mahila Huts in Vadodara and Ahmedabad. These centres will help in the upliftment of women belonging to all sections of the society through education and training.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. 14^th meeting of Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China held in Moscow: The ministers discussed various aspects of trilateral cooperation on global and regional issues, the progress in strengthening the international legal framework underlying the modern world order and the neutralisation of common challenges.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Banks to share all transaction details in Standard Format: From now onwards all the banks have to share the transaction details in a standard format. The revenue intelligence and central security agencies are looking seriously into money laundering and financial fraud cases.

SPORTS:

2. Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams bagged their third Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year award respectively at the Laureus World Sports Awards.

Daily GK Updates - 18th April, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. World’s largest Charkha is to be on display at IGI Airport, New Delhi: The world’s largest wooden Charkha (spinning wheel) is planned to be installed at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.

2. New centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies: National Mission for Clean Ganga under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) announced the formal launch of Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies in New Delhi.

3. US Jury slaps $940 million fine on Tata Consultancy Services and Tata American International Corp. in trade secret case while TCS denies any wrong doing.

4. Konkani museum to be set up in Mangaluru: ManddSobhan, a Konkani cultural organisation will set up a Konkani Museum in Mangaluru.

5. 69^th Himachal Day celebrated 17^th April in the state: Himachal Pradesh is celebrating 69^th Himachal Day. On the occasion, a state-level function would be held at Ghumarvin town in Bilaspur district where Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will unfurl the national flag.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. World Heritage Day observed across the world on 18^th April 2016: The day was observed with an aim to create awareness among the people to conserve and protect the valuable assets and cultural heritage across the world. This year’s theme was ‘The Heritage of Sport’.

2. Forbes releases first ever ‘Global Game Changers’ list’: Three Indians make the cut: The list is topped by Mark Beniff of Salesforce.com and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook was ranked 30. Three Indians namely Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Enterprises, Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India and Sunny Varkey of GEMS Education were ranked 3^rd, 23^rd and 26^th respectively.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Banks to share all transaction details in Standard Format: From now onwards all the banks have to share the transaction details in a standard format. The revenue intelligence and central security agencies are looking seriously into money laundering and financial fraud cases.

2. FSS to provide UPI solution for 6 banks: Financial Software and Systems Pvt Ltd (FSS) has inked agreements with six banks to provide Unified Payment Interface (UPI) solution across the country on a hosted platform.

SPORTS:

3. Sri Lankan spinner RanganaHerath retired from T20Is and ODIs.

4. NicoRoseberg of Mercedes wins Chinese Grand Prix for sixth straight Formula 1 victory.

5. Australia won 2016 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup of Hockey by defeating India by 4-0 in the final held in Ipoh, Malaysia.

AWARDS:

6. T N Ninan gets Mumbai Press Club’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Daily GK Updates - 17th April, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Delhi ranked 44^th among world’s 50 future-ready crisis: National capital of India, Delhi has been ranked 44^th among the world’s ‘50 future-ready economies’ that are embracing technology for growth. It was revealed by the recently released report ‘Future-ready economies model’ by the Information Technology major Dell.

2. Indian Army conducts Shatrujeet battle exercise in Rajasthan: The sole purpose of the exercise was to evaluate the capability of the Indian Army and fine tune its proactive war strategy to respond swiftly to any threat to nation’s security.

3. Google extends free internet service through WiFi to 10 railway stations: The free internet service was extended as part of Google’s tie up with Railtel, the internet provider arm for Indian Railways. The 10 ten stations include Pune, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Ranchi, Vijaywada, Kacheguda (Hyderabad), Ernakulum Jn and Vishakhapatnam.

4. Nuclear capable K-4 undersea ballistic missile successfully test fired from INS Arihant from Vishakhapatnam port in Andhra Pradesh. 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. G20 countries seek to crackdown on tax havens, terror financing: In this regard a communiqué was issued by G20 countries after meeting of its Finance Ministers and Governors of Central Banks on the side-lines of the annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank at Washington.

2. WADA revoked accreditation of Moscow Anti-doping Centre for corruption in sport in Russia.

3. EU Parliament cleared joint system for sharing air passenger data to fight terror.

4. Pepsi-Cola sign got historic landmark designation in New York: The sign of 60 feet high and 120 feet long was built in 1936 and installed atop Pepsi bottling plant in an industrial area bordering the East River in Long Island City.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Kane Williamson named as Wisden Almanack’s Cricketer of the Year 2016.

OBITUARIES:

2. Hero Group founder Satyanand Munjal passed away at the age of 99.

3. British playwright Arnold Wesker died at the age of 83.

Daily GK Updates - 16th April, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. PM Modi inaugurated Maritime India Summit 2016: The is India’s first ever Maritime Summit and the flagship event organised by Union Ministry of Shipping held at the Bombay Convention and Exhibition Centre in Goregaon, Mumbai from 14^th April to 16^th April, 2016.

2. India, US to collaborate on tackling offshore tax evasion: India and the US have agreed to enhance collaboration on tackling offshore tax evasion and increase cooperation in sharing of cross-border tax information.

3. BRICS Bank disburses $250 million loan for Renewable Energy Project to Canara Bank: The New Development Bank (NDB), commonly known as BRICS Bank, has sanctioned its first batch of loans, including $250 million to India’s renewable energy projects.

4. Jharkhand Government launched Bhimrao Ambedkar Awas Yojana for Widows: Raghubar Das, the CM of Jharkhand has launched the ‘Bhimrao Ambedkar Awas Yojana’ for widows on the 125^th birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar. The scheme has a target to build 11,000 houses for the current financial year with a budget allocation of Rs 80 crore. 

5. 69^th Himachal Day being celebrated in the state: Himachal Pradesh is celebrating 69^th Himachal Day. On the occasion, a state-level function would be held at Ghumarvin town in Bilaspur district where Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh will unfurl the national flag.

6. Supercomputer Param Kanchenjunga unveiled at NIT Sikkim.

7. Panagarh Airbase of West Bengal renamed as Air Force Station Arjan Singh after the Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh.

8. P P Pandey appointed as in-charge of Gujarat DGP.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Canada ranks near bottom on UNICEF’s ‘fairness’ report card: Canada’s poorest children are falling further behind, according to a UNICEF report card that ranks the country in the bottom third among OECD and EU nations when it comes to inequality in the well-being of its youngest citizens. 

2. Ukrainian Parliament appoints Volodymyr Groysman as new Prime Minister.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Federal Bank launched Campus Wallet for Students: This is a student identity card integrated with banking technology. The ID card facilitates students to make petty payments within their school/college campus without opening a bank account with an aim to streamlining and easing the administrative tasks.

OBITUARIES:

2. Former Malian Photographer Malick Sidibe passed away at the age of 80.

Daily GK Updates - 15th April, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Odd-even 2.0 begins in the capital with public appeals, ‘zero’ peak time traffic: The second phase of the odd even vehicle rationing scheme in force here on Friday morning with appeals to follow its provisions from the government matched by visible compliance from Delhi’s citizens.

2. Swaraj Abhiyan to start pilot run of its electoral plunge with MCD polls: Swaraj Abhiyan is not a political party but the upcoming by-election in MCD is an occasion to create a model of how it may intervene in electoral politics in the future.

3. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik inaugurated opening of 100 more Aahar Centres across the State as part of Government’s cheap meal programme for the poor.

4. Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) board reconstituted and Ram Bahadur Rai appointed as Chairman. 

5. Narendra Modi launches village self-governance campaign: The main aim of the campaign is to spread awareness about the various schemes that the centre has launched keeping rural India in mind.

6. India was world’s largest remittance recipient in 2015 as per a report from the World Bank attracting $69 billion from abroad.

7. Flipkart’s Chief Product Officer quits.

8. Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma to head Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI)’s Payments Banks Group.

9. Susmita Pande appointed as the Chairperson of National Monument Authority.

10. Delhi Government banned chewable tobacco for a year.

11. Water levels in 91 major reservoirs alarmingly low as per data released by Central Water Commission.

12. PM Modi launched online trading platform e-NAM for farm goods: This online portal will help in trading agriculture produce and it promises to liberate farmers from the clutches of middle-men and realise fair market value for their yields.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. World Bank and AIIB sign first Co-Financing Framework Agreement.

2. Barack Obama appoints MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga to his new commission on Enhancing National Cyber-security.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. India’s ace boxer Mary Kom named International Boxing Association (AIBA) ambassador for Women’s World Championship.

2. England batsman James Taylor retired from International Cricket.

Daily GK Updates - 14th April, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Piyush Goyal launches ‘Deep’ E-Bidding & E-Reserve Auction Portal: The government has replaced the conventional tendering process for power purchase by state power distributors with an e-bidding platform in an attempt to make the bidding more efficient and transparent by bringing power procurement contract details to the public domain. Deep stands for Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price.

2. Government launches Carpool app: Days before the second phase of the odd even anti-traffic scheme which begins from April 15, the government today launched ‘PoochhO Carpool app’ to help people explore carpooling options during the 15 day car-rationing exercise.

3. Cabinet nod to adopt statue of SAWEN to check wildlife crimes:  It has given its approval for Indian to adopting the Statue of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) and becoming its formal member in order to strengthen ties with the member countries in controlling the trans-boundary wildlife crime through communication, coordination, collaboration, capacity building and cooperation in the region.

4. Indigenously developed surface to air supersonic Akash missile system successfully test fired from complex-3 of the ITR at Chandipur. 

5. Maharashtra CM Fadnavis launched Mission Drinking Water: The mission was launched in the backdrop of recurring droughts and severe water crisis in Marathwada and Vidarbha region of the state.

6. Maharashtra Legislative Assembly approved Social Boycott Bill 2016: The bill provides for prohibition of social boycott of a person or group of persons, including their family members as an individual or as a group like caste panchayat. The bill states that social boycott is prohibited and its commission shall be an offence.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Nauru becomes 189^th member of IMF, World Bank: The tiny South Pacific island nation Nauru has become the 189^th member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank i.e. Bretton-Woods institutions. The capital of Nauru is Yaren and its currency is Australian Dollar.

2. Sushila Karki selected as the Chief Justice of Nepal’s Supreme Court.

OTHER UPDATES:

AWARDS:

1. Aishwarya Rai won Global India of the Year Award at a function held in Mumbai.