Daily GK Updates - 31st July, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Very serious flood situation in Odisha's Jajpur, Kendrapara districts: Over two lakh people have been affected in the flood in Brahmani river and Seven people had lost their lives in the floods. PM Modi will pay an one-day visit to Assam on Tuesday to discuss a permanent solution to the flood problem.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. U.S. Conducts ‘Successful’ Test of THAAD Defence System With Ballistic Missile: The US military has successfully tested the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense(THAAD) system over Pacific Ocean. Interestingly the THAAD test comes just two days after N Korea fired an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile(ICBM). The exercise will help the U.S. “to stay ahead of the evolving threat,” said MDA Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves in a statement.

2. Donald Trump got disappointment with China’s “NoStand” State on North Korea’s Nuclear Quest : US president took twitter to accuse China for doing nothing to thwart North Korea’s Nuclear quest. The comments came after Kim Jong-un celebrated his country’s second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test. US President Donald Trump has accused China of doing nothing on North Korea and said he was "very disappointed" with Beijing, a day after Pyongyang launched an intercontinental ballistic missile test. Pyongyang is the capital and largest city of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

3. Robert Mugabe says he is 'not dying' as health concerns mount: Zimbabwe's 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe, declaring "I am not dying," sought Saturday to brush aside growing concerns about his health after his wife urged him to name a successor. Mugabe's medical trips to Singapore have become frequent in recent years, fuelling questions about his health. His last visit was early this month for what was described as a "routine medical check-up".Zimbabwe’s 93 year old President Robert Mugabe said he won’t step down leaving behind fractured party. This comes after demans for the resignation of Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980. Zimbabweans will vote in parliamentary and presidential elections in 2018

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Shiva Thapa, Manoj Kumar strike gold at Czech Republic boxing tournament: The Indian boxers at the 48th Grand Prix Usti Nad Labem in the Czech Republic bagged five gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the event. World Championships bronze medallist Shiva Thapa and Commonwelth Games Gold medallist Manoj Kumar claimed Gold medal along with other three boxers. In Toto, Indian boxers bagged 8 medals at Czech Republic boxing tournament.

2.Sebestian Vettel beats Lewis Hamilton at Hungarian Grand Prix: Ferrari’s F1 racer Sebestian Vettel won the Hungarian Grand prix title. With the help of this win, Sebestian Vettel extended his lead over rival Lewis Hamilton to 14 points in the drivers’ championship table. Sebastian Vettel a German racing driver is currently driving in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari. He is a four-time Formula One World Champion, having won the championship in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 with Red Bull Racing, therefore being among the most successful F1 drivers of all time, as he is one of only four drivers to have won four or more drivers' titles. He is regarded by fellow and former drivers as one of the greatest Formula One drivers in the history of the sport. Vettel is contracted to remain as a Formula One driver with Scuderia Ferrari until at least the end of 2017.

BANKING & FINANCE:

1. SBI cuts saving account rate by 0.5% on balance upto Rs 1 cr: SBI said revision of saving bank rate will enable the bank to maintain marginal cost of fund based lending rate (MCLR) at existing rates. Country’s largest lender State Bank of India has slashed interest on savings account deposits by 50 basis points to 3.5 per cent on balance up to Rs 1 crore, ahead of RBI’s policy review this week.However, the bank will continue to offer 4 per cent interest on savings account balance of Rs 1 crore and above.

2. Government is planning strategic disinvestment in Salem Steel Plant: The government is planning strategic disinvestment of the Salem steel plant (SSP) in Tamil Nadu and not total disinvestment said Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh in Lok Sabha. Salem Steel Plant(SSp), which produced 3.39 lakh metric tonnes per annum of steel, was considered to be the country’s best plant producing stainless steel.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

1. Snapdeal ends merger talks with Flipkart to ‘pursue independent path’: Sectoral analysts suggested that while it was imperative for Snapdeal to find a suitor to handle its financial troubles, but the deal did not make much sense for Flipkart except that it could have helped the Bengaluru-based e-commerce firm get backing from SoftBank. Beleaguered online marketplace Snapdeal has called off talks for its merger with rival Flipkart, India’s biggest e-commerce player. “Snapdeal has been exploring strategic options over the last several months. The company has now decided to pursue an independent path and is terminating all strategic discussions as a result,” a Snapdeal spokesperson said in a statement, without naming Flipkart.

2. Maharashtra tops the list of fresh GST registrations, Gujarat comes second: Maharashtra topped the list of GST registration under Goods and Service Tax with over 1.3 lakh applications. Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh ranked second and third with 90,000 and 80,000 applicatons respectively.

HONOURS/AWARDS:

1.Japanese & SriLankan stands in the list of the winners of Ramon Magsaysay Awards: Yoshiaki Ishizawa, a Japanese historian and Gethsie Shanmugam, a Sri Lankan teacher are among six winners of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awards. A Japanese historian who helped Cambodians preserve the Angkor temples and a Sri Lankan teacher who counseled war widows and orphans to overcome their nightmares. The other recipients named Thursday are an Indonesian working for the return of large tracts of forest land to indigenous communities, a Singaporean who leads the cooking of 6,000 meals a day for the destitute, a Philippine theater group which stood up to a dictatorship and a Filipino who oversaw the opening of job-generating export processing zones. These are among the six winners of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Awards, regarded as Asia's version of the Nobel Prize.The Ramon Magsaysay Awards' is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society. The prize was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund based in New York City with the concurrence of the Philippine government. The award has been critically-acclaimed as the most prestigious continental award in Asia, in par with the West's Nobel Prize.

OBITUARIES:

1.Eminent Dhrupad singer Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar passes away at 78: Ustad Hussain Sayeeduddin Dagar, one of the foremost exponents of the Dhrupad tradition, died in a Pune hospital late on Sunday evening following prolonged illness. Known to his admirers as Sayeed Bhaai, Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar succumbed to kidney and other related ailments. The maestro died in a Pune hospital late on Sunday evening following prolonged illness. He was part of the illustrious Dagar family of musicians

Daily GK Updates - 30th July, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. “Sprites” – the world’s smallest spacecraft: “Sprites” launched successfully by an Indian rocket. The world’s smallest ever spacecraft ‘Sprites’ has been successfully been placed in low Earth orbit by ISRO’s PSLV rocket. Spacecraft sprites weighs 4 gram only and runs on sunlight.

2.Sunil subramanyam as Manager of Indian Cricket team: BCCI Picks former Tamil Nadu Ranji team captain Sunil Subramaniam As Administrative Manager Of Team India.

3. Legalising marijuana : Women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi has suggested legalising marijuana, a psychoactive drug, in India for medical purposes on the lines of the practice adopted by some developed countries like the US to curb drug abuse.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.Interim PM of Pakistan after Nawaz Sharif’s resignation: Shahid Abbasi has been appointed as as Interim Prime Minister of Pakistan for 45 days till Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother Shahbaz Sharif takes over as his eventual successor Shortly after Nawaz Sharif’s exit, the ruling party PML-N proposed his younger brother Shehbaz for the role of the prime minister. Shahbaz, however, cannot immediately replace Nawaz Sharif since he isn’t a member of the Parliament

2. US "Lancer" bombers over Korean peninsula: The United States has flown two B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force in response to North Korea's recent missile tests, the US Air Force said in a statement. The US also said it conducted a successful test of a missile defence system located in Alaska. North Korea announced it conducted another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that proved its ability to strike America's mainland, drawing a sharp warning from US President Donald Trump.US airforce flew two B-1B bombers in direct response to the North Korea’s ICBM test. The bombers took off from a US air base in Guam, and were joined by Japanese and South Korean fighter jets during the exercise, according to the statement. The US has in the past used overflights of the supersonic B1-B "Lancer" bomber as a show of force in response to North Korean missile or nuclear tests.

3. Xi Jinping inspects Military parade on PLA’s 90th anniversary: Chinese President Xi Jinping today inspected a massive military parade at the country’s largest military base in Zhurihe in Inner Mongolia as part of the celebrations to mark the 90th founding anniversary of the 2.3 million-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA).The PLA was founded on August 1, 1927 when the ruling CPC under the leadership of Mao Zedong carried on with his national liberation movement. Mao Zedong also known as founding father of People’s Republic of China.

4. Iran parliament adopts motion to reciprocate US sanctions: National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of Iran's Majlis (parliament) on Saturday passed the general outlines of a motion to reciprocate the US sanctions on the country. It also envisages measures to support the Iranian armed and security forces as well as those Iranians who would be affected by the US action.

5.  Need to know: Parliaments of different countries are called as follows:

Country	Name of the Parliament
Iran	Majlis
Saudi Arabia	Majlis Al Shura
Maldives	Majlis Madagascar
Maldives	Majlis Madagascar
Nepal	National Panchayat
Myanmar	Pyithu Hluttaw
Bhutan	Tshogdu
Iceland	Althing
Colombia	Congress
Japan	Diet
Israel	Knesset

OTHER UPDATES:

BANKING & FINANCE:

1. LIC clocks 145% jump in profit from equity investments at Rs 6,100 cr in Q1: India’s largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has booked profits of Rs 6,100 crore from equity investments for the first quarter ended June 30, 2017, showing a 145 percent jump over the same period last fiscal. The insurer had booked profits of Rs 2,489 crore in Q1 of FY17. Notably, the insurance behemoth is looking at a double digit growth in business in the current fiscal.

Daily GK Updates - 29th July, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1.‘Muntra’ – The first unmanned tank of India – out from the Chennai lab : Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed an unmanned, remotely operated tank which has three variants - surveillance, mine detection and reconnaissance in areas with nuclear and bio threats. It is called Muntra.  Muntra has three tested and validated remote-controlled variants – Muntra-S, Muntra-M and Muntra-N. Muntra-S is for unmanned surveillance missions, Muntra-M is for detecting mines and Muntra-N is for areas where risk of nuclear radiation is high. The two remotely operated vehicles designed like an armoured tank were on display at an exhibition - Science for Soldiers - organised by DRDO as a tribute to former President APJ Abdul Kalam at Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment  (CVRDe) in Avadi.

2. Bengaluru makes it to smart city list after two years; core areas to get facelift, Russel Market on its list : Bengaluru has been finally chosen for the Smart City project, making it the seventh city in Karnataka to make it to the list. The city is expected to get Rs. 1,000 crore in the next five years, including Rs 500 crore from the state government under the project. In its presentation, the government had pitched to develop the core areas of the city, including its heritage structures. The Rusell market, developed in 1927 by British colonizers will be revamped under the Rs.2000 crore Smart City Project in which the city was included last month.

3. IIM Bill, 2017 passed by Lok Sabha: Lok Sabha has approved Indian Institutes of Management Bill 2017 that promises to grant administrative, academic and financial autonomy to the B-Schools and allow them to award degrees to their graduates. The bill will grant greater autonomy to these schools and ensure they are board-driven, with chairperson & director selected by board. The govt also agreed not to change the name of IIM-C.

4. Haryana govt has banned mixing of liquid nitrogen in drinks & food: This was done few days after a man burnt a hole in his stomach after drinking a cocktail containing the chemical. Due to its low temperature liquid nitrogen can be extremely damaging to body tissue, causing cryogenic burning on contact. It releases large volume of gas on evaporation & can burst open the stomach if ingested in large quantities

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1.International Tiger Day - July 29 : It was first observed in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit. The world has lost 97% of all wild tigers in a bit over 100 years.

2. Russia - Syria in news: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law ratifying a deal with Syrian govt to allow Russia to keep its airbase in Syria for almost half a century. Russian forces will be deployed at Hmeymim base for 49 years with the option of extending that arrangement for 25-year periods. Russia has previously used the base to conduct strikes against forces opposing President Bashar al-Assad.

3. Bengaluru secures 40th Rank at global level to foster women entrepreneurs: According to a report by Dell, Bengaluru ranks at the 40th spot among the top 50 global cities that foster high-potential women entrepreneurs. The only other Indian city in the top 50 tally is Delhi at the 49th spot. New York ranked topped the list, followed by Bay Area, London, Boston and Stockholm.Globally, women’s entrepreneurship rates are growing more than 10 per cent each year

4.South Korea will proceed with deployment of 4 additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defence units: This comes after North Korea’s latest launch of ICBM. Deployment of additional THAAD units had been delayed after South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered an environmental assessment. THAAD is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down ballistic missiles.

OTHER UPDATES:

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. Shikha Sharma as CEO and MD of Axis Bank, once again:  India’s third largest private lender, Axis bank re-appointed her for a term of 2 years starting June 2018. Previously, she took charge as the CEO of Axis Bank in 2009.Soon after the stock market opened, shares of Amazon spiked 1.8 percent — pushing Bezos’ net worth to USD90 billion, surpassing Gates’ USD89 billion.But Bezos’ reign lasted only four hours, and by the 4 p.m. close of the market, his net worth had slumped to a meager USD88.7 billion, dropping him below Gates — who had topped the list since 2013 — at USD89.8 billion.

BOOKS/AWARDS:

1. Arundhati’s novel “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness”,in Man Booker longlist: Arundhati Roy’s latest work of fiction, “The Ministry of Utmost Happiness”, has made it to the longlist of this year’s Man Booker Prize. The book came after a 19-year-long hiatus since her debut novel “God of Small Things” that won the Booker Prize in 1997. The shortlist of six books will be announced on September 13, and the 2017 winner will be finally announced on October 17.

OBITUARIES:

1. Dharam Singh passes away: N. Dharam Singh, former Chief Minister of Karnataka, passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru after a heart attack. He was the 17th CM of Karnataka and was continuously elected as MLA for 7 times from  Jevargi constituency. He headed Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition govt from May 2004 to February 2006. He was a seasoned politician, was known for his gentle demeanour.

Daily GK Updates - 28th July, 2017

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Supreme Court puts an end to immediate arrests in dowry cases: Supreme Court has put an end to immediate arrest of the husband and his family members in the dowry harassment case. Police will now have to conduct a preliminary inquiry before making any arrest. The court’s latest order came as complaints piled up over the years alleging misuse of the anti-dowry harassment law framed in 1983.

2. Govt of India launches earthquake parameter dissemination apps: Govt has launched 2 Mobile apps – ‘India Quake’ for dissemination of earthquake parameters and ‘Sagar Vani’ to disseminate ocean related information & alert users in timely manner. Developed by NCS, India Quake will automatically disseminate relevant parameter after occurrence of earthquakes.

3. PM launches deep-sea fishing scheme at Rameswaram: Prime Minister Modi launched a deep-sea fishing scheme for fishermen of Rameswaram. Under the initiative taken up under the “Blue Revolution” scheme, centre would allocate Rs 1,500 crore over a period of time for conversion of bottom trawling boats into deep sea liners.

4. NPCI gets final nod from RBI to function as BBPCU: National Payments Corporation of India has received final authorisation from RBI to function as the Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit and operate the Bharat Bill Payment System. This initiative will provide a major push to digital payments as it is a big step forward in formalising the bill payment system in the country.

International UPDATES:

1. World Hepatitis Day observed: World Hepatitis Day is observed on July 28 every year to create awareness about Hepatitis & minimize burden of hepatitis. Hepatitis is a viral infection which causes inflammation in liver. Theme for World Hepatitis Day 2017 is ‘Eliminate Hepatitis’.

2. After the decision of SC of Pakistan, PM Nawaz Sharif resigns: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned from his post, after the Supreme Court disqualified him over corruption claims against his family. Supreme Court said Sharif is not fit to hold office & ordered a criminal investigation into him & his family. Court also disqualified Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

3. Iran launches “Simorgh” rocket: Iran has successfully launched a new type of rocket designed to carry a satellite into space. The “Simorgh” rocket is capable of carrying a 250 kg satellite as far as 500 km above Earth.

OTHER UPDATES:

BANKING & FINANCE:

1. PNB ties up with Bajaj Allianz General for bancassurance: Punjab National Bank & Bajaj Allianz General Insurance have signed an agreement for distribution of insurance products through branches. Under the agreement, Allianz will offer insurance products such as health, personal accident along with commercial products such as property to bank’s customers.

2. Axis Bank extends Shikha Sharma's term by three years: Shikha Sharma has been re-appointed as Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Axis Bank for three-year from June 2018. Earlier, Axis Bank has informed Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) that board of directors has approved the re-appointment.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY:

3. ONGC gets government nod to acquire GSPC’s share in KG basin: Oil and Natural Gas Corp has won govt approval for acquisition of Gujarat State Petroleum Corp’s entire 80% holding in a KG basin gas block for Rs 7,738 crore. The company will also pay part consideration of USD 200 million to GSPC towards acquisition rights for discoveries other than DDW field in the block.

4. Jeff Bezos becomes the World’s Richest Man: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has overtaken Bill Gates as the richest person in the world, with a with a net worth of $90.6 billion. Bezos dethroned Gates, who has been the richest man on the planet since 2013, after a rise in the share price of Amazon ahead of its latest results.

SPORTS:

5. India strikes bronze again at Kathmandu: India’s Ajay Singh has won bronze medal in Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships at Kathmandu. He finished at the third spot in 77 kg men’s junior category after lifting 143 kg in snatch and 172 kg in clean and jerk.

6. Diksha Dagar wins silver at Deaflympics at Samsun, Turkey: Indian golfer Diksha Dagar has won a silver medal in womens individual golf event of the Deaflympics. The first such Deaflympics was held in 1924 in France.