Daily GK Updates - 31st May, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. No tax deduction for PF withdrawals of up to Rs 50,000 from June 1: The Government has notified that it has raised the threshold limit of PF withdrawals for deduction of tax (TDS) from existing Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000. So there will be no deduction for PF withdrawals of up to Rs 50,000.

2. Indian Railways, PEC sign MoU to set up Kalpana Chawla Chair on geospatial technology: The PEC University of Technology of Chandigarh and Union Ministry of Railways have signed a MoU for setting up of Kalpana Chawla Chair on Geospatial Technology for Indian Railways at the University. The objective of the chair is to encourage research activities of Indian Railways in Geospatial Technology.

3. India and US to sign two key pacts during Homeland Security Dialogue: India and the US are all set to sign two key agreements in the month of July during the Homeland Security Dialogue, which is going to be held in Washington. The first deal is likely to be signed would exempt prominent Indian citizens from immigration checks in America and the other one pave the way for exchange of information on terrorists on a real time basis.

4. Public sector company NBCC to launch Ganga cleaning project in Bihar.

5. ONGC Videsh Ltd signs pact with State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) to foray into oil trading.

6. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) sells stake in African oil retailer Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation (GAPCO) to Total S.A of France.

7. Surajit Kar Purkayastha appointed as the Director General of West Bengal Police.

8. Ashok Lavasa named as the new Finance Secretary after the retirement of the Former Finance Secretary Ratan P Watal.

9.  India and Australia sign MoU to enhance R&D capabilities in biotech: India and Australia have signed a MoU to enhance research and development capabilities in biotechnology by launching joint funding call. The MoU was signed between India’s BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) and Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA).

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed an agreement with the Government of India to provide a loan of Rs 1,548 crore to improve the quality of urban healthcare services in Tamil Nadu.

2. Snapdeal opens data sciences centre in California: Online marketplace Snapdeal has established a data sciences centre in California which will help it to get top global talent and build high-value solutions.    

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Virat Kohli named T20 Player of the Year in Ceat Award event.

2. Alastair Cook becomes the youngest cricketer to score 10000 test runs breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record.

AWARDS:

3. AR Rahman conferred with Japan’s Fukuoka Prize 2016 for his outstanding contribution towards creating, preserving and showcasing South Asian tradition fusion music.

OBITUARIES:

4. Noted Kannada writer D Javare Gowda passed away in Mysuru at the age of 101.

5. Former Lok Sabha MP Rudra Madhab Ray passed away at the age of 80.

Daily GK Updates - 30th May, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj launched PMO’s official website in six regional languages including Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali.

2. Railways holds trial of high-speed Talgo coaches: Indian Railways has conducted the first ever trial run for high-speed Talgo trains of Spain on the Bareilly-Moradabad stretch in Uttar Pradesh with speeds averaging 80-115 kmph.

3. Manohar Parrikar inaugurated second submarine assembly workshop in Mazgaon Dock Limited (MDL).

4. Gujarat CM launches state-wide campaigns against malnutrition: She has launched two state-wide campaigns i.e. Bal Amritam and Mission Shakti against malnutrition at Ahwa town in Dangs district. As per the campaigns, iron-rich supplementary food would be provided to children and women, whether they live in towns or remote forested areas.

5. Vice Admiral Girish Luthra takes charge of Western Naval Command, Mumbai.

6. Kiran Bedi took oath as the Lt Governor of Puducherry.

7. V Narayanaswamy to be Puducherry Chief Minister where the Congress-DMK alliance won the May 16 Assembly polls.

8. Actor R Madhavan becomes the goodwill brand ambassador of LEPRA India, an organisation that fights against diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis.

9.  India and Australia sign MoU to enhance R&D capabilities in biotech: India and Australia have signed a MoU to enhance research and development capabilities in biotechnology by launching joint funding call. The MoU was signed between India’s BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) and Horticulture Innovation Australia (HIA).

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. China to launch world’s 1^st quantum satellite: According to a scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China will launch the world’s first quantum communication satellite in July. It aims to improving the security of data transmission. 

  

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. SRH defeated RCB by 8 runs to clinch their maiden IPL title.

2. Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes wins Monaco F1 Grand Prix.

AWARDS:

3. India-American Scientist Arnab De wins Springer Theses Award in recognition for his outstanding research in which he developed transgenic mice to study a critical tumour-suppressor called A20.

OBITUARIES:

4. Veteran film and Television actor Suresh Chatwal passed away in Mumbai.

Daily GK Updates - 29th May, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh bagged India Biodiversity Award 2016.

2. India’s first integrated web portal to promote Net Energy Buildings launched: The portal www.nzeb.in was designed to promote and mainstream Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in India. The portal is first of its kind and provides complete information about Net Zero Energy Buildings that generate as much energy as they use.

3. Formulate national policy to provide adequate relief to rape survivors: Supreme Court tells Union Government: It said that setting up a separate fund like the Nirbhaya fund is not enough and amounted to just a lip service.

4. Cancer-causing chemical, potassium bromated/iodate, found in bread samples from Delhi as per a study conducted by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

5. India emerges as 5^th largest producer of e-waste in world as per a study conducted by ASSOCHAM-KPMG.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Guinea Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz named BaciroDja as Prime Minister.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Real Madrid beat Atletico de Madrid in the penalty shoot out to win the UEFA Champions Trophy for the record 11^th time.

OBITUARIES:

2. Noted Marathi literary critic R G Jadhav passed away at the age of 83.

BOOKS AND AUTHORS:

3. Book titled ‘Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a cover up’ authored by RanaAyyub released.

Daily GK Updates - 28th May, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Lakshadweep becomes the first Union Territory to sign 24x7 ‘Power for All’ documents: The document chalks out a plan to increase solar capacity of the region from 2.15 MW to 8.45 MW.

2. New committee to swipe towards cashless society: From past couple of month, the GOI and RBI have been working on how to reduce cash transactions in the economy. For this, they have formed a committee of 7 members which is chaired by a ministry official, Neeraj Kumar Gupta. The committee is working on maximizing the acceptance of card payments.

3. PM Modi flags off direct train from Kamakhya to Katra: The train will connect the two pilgrim towns of Devi Peeth of MaaKamakhya and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine.

4. President of India to present MaltiGyanPeethPuraskars tomorrow: Every year the MaltiGyanPeethPuraskars are awarded to five teachers, one each in the subjects of Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, English and Social Studies.

5. FM ArunJaitley to embark on six-day official visit to Japan: He will have meetings with CEOs of Japanese companies including Soft Bank in Tokyo and will also attend the 22^nd International Conference on the Future of Asia.

6. Bihar Government, UNICEF and MDM join hands to curb Malnourishment: As per the MoU signed between the three, an Agriculture Nutrition Cell would be set up in the Rajendra Agriculture University, Pusa.

7. Committee of Evolution of a National Education Policy submits report to Ministry of HRD: The committee headed by Ex-Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanium submitted the report. The report containing its recommendations to the Ministry of HRD which had undertaken a consultation process for framing a New Education Policy and this process included online, grass-root and national-level thematic deliberations on 33 themes.

8. Special webpage on two years of NDA Government unveiled by Press Information Bureau.

9.  Sadhguru to lead Yoga Session at UN on 2^nd International Yoga Day: Spiritual leader and Isha Foundation founder, SadhguruJaggiVasudev will lead a yoga session at the UN on the occasion of the 2^nd International Yoga Day on 21^st June. The theme for this year will be Sustainable Development Goals.

10. Tata Group forays into e-commerce with the launch of ‘Tata CliQ’, an online and app-based platform to let users buy apparel and electronics.

11. Tech Mahindra to acquire UK-based Target Group.

12. Ashok Leyland reappoints Vinod K Dasari as Managing Director for 5 years.

13. Three school-girls from J&K scale Mount Everest: The girls StanzlinLaskit, TashiLaskit and TseringAngmo were a part of the first ever all-girls Mount Everest expedition of the National Cadet Corps (NCC).

14. Telangana Government enters Limca Book of Records for conducting the most intensive household survey by a state.

15. Man gets 366 flag tattoos for Guinness record: HarPrakash Rishi is an Indian man who holds the Guinness World Record for having the maximum number of flags (366) tattooed on his body.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Google cleared of infringement in Oracle lawsuit over Java: Google has won a major US court battle with software firm Oracle after a jury ruled it did not unfairly appropriate parts of the Java programming language.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Number of public sector banks to come down to 8-10: As per the Minister of State for Finance JayantSinha, India will have 8-10 very competitive public sector banks once the ‘dust settles’ and the consolidation phase ends.

2. RBL Bank to launch scheme for fintech entrepreneurs: RBL Bank is going to set launch an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) programme for fintech start-ups in the next 9-12 months.

AWARDS:

3. India Author AditiKrishnakumar wins Asian Book Award for her 32000-word manuscript rooted in ‘Love of Indian History’.

Daily GK Updates - 27th May, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Government approves over Rs 5500 crore investment to improve infrastructure in six states: The centre has approved an investment of over 5500 crore rupees for basic urban infrastructure in six states under the Atal Mission. The states are Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, Jharkhand and Meghalaya.

2. 1^st bullet train to run in India in 2023 as per a statement by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu: According to him the train will connect Mumbai and Ahmedabad and is expected to cover 508 km in about two hours, running at a maximum speed of 350 kmph.

3. I&B Ministry frames guidelines for online government advertisements: All online ads from the Centre would now be routed via the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), which would empanel eligible websites.

4. India’s growth to rise to 8% in FY 2019 according to the US Global rating agency Fitch.

5. Mamata Banerjee takes oath for second successive term as West Bengal CM.

6. Centre approves Rs 4241 crore National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) in Odisha: The project will create job opportunities for around 1.5 lakh people and will help Odisha grow as a manufacturing hub and help Paradip port’s growth.

7. BrahMos supersonic cruise missile successfully test-fired by IAF at the Pokhran field range in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district.

8. Indian Coast Guard Ship ARUSH commissioned at Kochi.

9.  Cabinet approves the takeover of Hindustan Steel Works Construction Limited (HSCL) by National Buildings Construction Corporation Ltd (NBCC) for financial restructuring of HSCL.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Google cleared of infringement in Oracle lawsuit over Java: Google has won a major US court battle with software firm Oracle after a jury ruled it did not unfairly appropriate parts of the Java programming language.

2. China signs deals with Sudan to build 600 MW atomic reactors: The agreements were signed during a three day visit to Sudan by a Chinese delegation led by Nur Bekri, head of the National Energy Administration (NEA) and deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

3. Guinea Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz named Baciro Dja as Prime Minister.     

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. HDFC among world’s top 10 consumer financial services company: The mortgage lender HDFC Ltd has been ranked among the world’s top ten biggest and most powerful companies in the consumer financial services sector on a Forbes list. The list is topped by American Express and HDFC was ranked 7^th in the list.

SPORTS:

2. Indian boxer Sonia Lather settles for silver after losing World Championship final.

3. Para-athlete Amit Kumar Saroha from Haryana won gold medal in record breaking performance in men’s club throw (F-51) at the recently concluded 2016 French Open Athletics Championship in Paris.

4. Sanjay Bangar appointed India’s coach for Zimbabwe tour and Abhay Sharma to be fielding coach.

AWARDS:

5. Indian-American Rishi Nair wins 28^th Annual National Geographic Bee Competition.

6. Sunil Bharti Mittal receives 2016 Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award.

OBITUARIES:

7. Veteran Communist leader K C Mathew passed away at the age of 92.

8. Noted Marathi literary critic R G Jadhav passed away at the age of 83.

Daily GK Updates - 26th May, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Government approves Capital Goods Policy, aims 21 million new jobs by 2025: The objectives of the National Capital Goods Policy are to create an ecosystem for a globally competitive capital goods sector to achieve total production in excess of Rs 7.5 lakh crore by 2025 from the current Rs 2.3 lakh crore, and also to raise direct to increase direct domestic employment from the current 1.4 million to at least 5 million and indirect employment from the current 7 million to 25 million by 2025.

2. EPFO doubles insurance for subscribers to Rs 6 lakh: The Government has enforced the decision of retirement fund body EPFO to almost double the maximum sum assured under its insurance scheme from 3.6 lakh to 6 lakh for its 4 crore subscriber.

3. Government waives over Rs 9000 crore loans of HFCL: The Union Cabinet has waived off loans worth more than Rs 9079 crore owed by Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation Ltd (HFCL) as part of a financial restructuring package for the PSU.

4. Cabinet gives ex-post facto approval to the MoU between India and Maldives: It has granted ex-post facto approval to the MoU signed between the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and the Ministry of Tourism, Government of Maldives for strengthening cooperation in the field of tourism.

5. Cabinet gives ex-post facto approval to the MoU between India and Japan: It has given ex-post facto approval to the MoU between India and Japan for promoting sustainable, stable and low-carbon thermal power development in India.

6. HRD Ministry launches portal: The Ministry of Human Resource Development has announced the launch of a multilingual knowledge portal www.bharatavani.in. It aims to not only ensure universalization of education but also creation of a knowledge society in the digital age.

7. Union Government gives approval to 6 new IITs: The new IITs will be functional at Tirupati (AP), Palakkad (Kerala), Dharwar (Karnataka), Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Goa, Jammu and Kashmir. Besides, the cabinet also gave approval to convert the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad into an IIT.

8. Union Cabinet approves MoU between ISRO and United Arab Emirates Space Agency.

9.  Union Cabinet gives ex-post facto approval to Amendments in Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950: The approval was given to modify the list of Scheduled Tribes in respect of five states, namely Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu and Tripura.

10. Union Road Transport Minister NitinGadkari launches safety feature-rich Nirbhaya buses: He launched 20 Nirbhaya buses of Rajasthan State Transport Corporation with multiple safety measures to better protect women passengers. The buses are equipped with safety features like VTS, CCTV and panic buttons on every seat.

11. Draft rules of Juvenile Justice Act 2015 released: Maneka Gandhi has released the draft model rules to repeal the existing rules for effective implementation of Juvenile Justice Act. The rules take care of the development needs of children and child friendly procedures are incorporated in it.

12. Cabinet clears Railway Projects worth Rs 11000 crore.

13. Dial 139 for wait-listed ticket cancellation: Railway passengers can now cancel their wait-listed and RAC train tickets by just dialing 139.

14. ISRO to test Air-breathing Propulsion System: It has decided to test an Air-breathing Propulsion System after the successful test of Reusable launch vehicle technology demonstration (RLV-TD).

15. Gujarat CM launches Ujala Scheme from Vadodara: Under this Central Scheme, the state government will distribute more than one crore LED bulbs at subsidized rate of Rs 80 to Rs 85 per piece. The bulb will have a 3-year replacement warranty. It will be of 7 to 8 watt capacity.

16. Telangana Government signs MoU with Eclat Health Solutions.

17. Aditya Birla Fashion buys India rights of Forever 21 to acquire its India business from its current franchisee, Diana Retail Pvt Ltd for an unspecified amount.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. World leaders kick off G7 talks with economy in focus: The World leaders begin two days of G7 talks in Japan with the deteriorating global economy, terrorism and refugee crisis, China’s controversial maritime claims and a possible Brexit headlining on top the agenda.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. Islamic Banking to debut in Gujarat: Saudi Arabia based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has announced to open its first branch in India at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

SPORTS:

2. Mirza, Bopanna and Paes win at French Open: The Indian contingent got off to a winning start at the French Open. Mirza-Hingis pair defeated the Russian pair of DariaKasatkina and Alexandra Panova. Paes and Bopanna also win their first game at the French Open.

Daily GK Updates - 25th May, 2016

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India signs US$ 500 million loan agreement with World Bank: The Government of India has signed US$ 500 million loan agreement with the World Bank for the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernization Project.

2. Government of India renames disability department-‘divyang’ replaces ‘viklang’: The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities will now be known as ‘Divyangjan Sashaktikaran Vibhag’ in Hindi and dropped the word ‘viklangjan’ from its previous nomenclature.

3. Government revises norms of Performance in Credit Rating Scheme: The Government of India has approved the revision in guidelines of the Performance in Credit Rating Scheme which aims to increase its credibility and effectiveness for both banks and borrowers. Under the revised guidelines, the fee to be paid to the rating agencies shall be based on the turnover of the micro and small enterprises which has been categorised into three slabs.

4. Pinarayi Vijayan sworn in as the 12^th Chief Minister of Kerala after the 14^th Assembly elections held recently.

5. UGC approves new norms for deemed universities: The University Grants Commission has brought out a new set of regulatory norms for deemed universities in order to reduce subjectivity and government interference and focus more on quality. According to the UGC Regulations, 2016, an institution will be eligible to become a deemed university if it has undergraduate and five post graduate programmes with research in existence for three years.

6. Rail Hamsafar Saptaah to be launched to celebrate achievements: Indian Railways will launch Rail Hamsafar Saptaah from 26^th of this month to 1^st June- a week-long celebration to highlight Railway achievements during the last two years. Each day will focus on a particular theme and will be observed as Swachchta Divas, Satkar Divas, Sewa Divas, Satarkata Divas, Saamanjasya Divas, Sanyojan Divas and Sanchaar Divas.

7. Union HRD Ministry to launch ASMITA, student tracking system: ASMITA is acronym for All School Monitoring Individual Tracing Analysis and shall be launched under Shala Asmita Yojana (SAY). SAY aims to track the educational journey of school students from Class I to Class XII across the 15 lakh private and government schools in the country.

8. Minsiter of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhu inaugurated five new activities: The five new projects are New AC Weekly Express train between H. Nizamuddin and Pune, Expansion of VIKALP Scheme of Alternate Train Reservation to Delhi-Howrah, Delhi-Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Secunderabad circuits, Pilot Project of Sale of Unreserved Tickets through Hand Held Terminals, Launching of Ergonomically Redesigned and Optimised Tools for Track Gangs, Keymen and Patrolmen, Pilot project for improving safety at unmanned level crossing.

9.  Mahindra incorporates Trringo.com as wholly-owned subsidiary.

10. BHEL commissions 800 MW Yeramarus Thermal Power Station in Raichur, Karnataka.

11. Freecharge names Kunal Shah as Chairman and Govind Rajan as the new CEO.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. World First Humanitarian Summit held at Istanbul, Turkey: The summit was inaugurated by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and hosted by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended by world leaders of UN member states, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.   

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. FIFA’s acting Secretary General Markus Kattner dismissed over bonus payments.

AWARDS:

2. US Engineer Frances Arnold wins Millennium Technology Prize for her work ‘directed evolution’ in Finland: Directed Evolution is a method of rewriting DNA to improve medicines and develop green fuels.

OBITUARIES:

3. Newly elected AIADMK MLA S.M Seenivel passed away at the age of 65.

4. Pink Panther star, Burt Kwouk passed away at the age of 85.