DAILY GK UPDATES - 12TH AUGUST 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 12TH AUGUST 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES:

   I.            L&T Infotech appoints Sanjay Jalona as MD, CEO.

II.     Union Government gives nod to set up All India Institute of Ayurveda: The Government has approved setting up of an All India Institute of Ayurveda, the 1^st referral-cum-teaching facility in the world’s oldest health care system at Sarita Vihar, New Delhi.

III.      New frog species discovered in Goa: A group of scientists of Pune has discovered a new leaping frog species on the edge of the Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary in Goa. The Netravali Leaping Frog (Indiranasalelkari) is the 12^th species in the Indirana genus.

IV.     India lost 41 tigers in 7 months: Fresh data from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and TRAFFIC-India, the wildlife monitoring network revealed that between January and August 2015, India lost about 41 tigers.

V.    Maharashtra Government constituted Cabinet sub-panel to tackle impending drought crisis: The committee will be headed by state Agriculture minister Eknath Khadse.

VI.   Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced marketing of Bio-Fuel Blended High Speed Diesel (HSD).

VII.   Delhi Government constituted panel to probe CNG fitness scam: Delhi Government led by CM Arvind Kejriwal decided to constitute an independent commission of inquiry to probe the multi-crore CNG fitness scam of Delhi. This commission will be headed by retired High Court Judge, Justice SN Agarwal.

VIII.  Uttar Pradesh Government approved new guidelines for Begum Akhtar Award: The amendment empowers the Chief Minister to make any further amendments to the guidelines. The award will be annually awarded on singers of Ghazal, Dadra and Thumri, who have achieved a milestone in these forms of music.  

   

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.      Facebook donates benefits worth $21 million to India developers: Social Networking major Facebook has given benefits of around $21 million to Indian developers as part of its FbStart initiative. FbStart is a programme launched last year to help early-stage mobile start-ups build and grow their applications. In India, the event is being organised in Bengaluru and Gurgaon.

II.      US President Barack Obama to host Nuclear Security Summit in March-April, 2016: He would host the 4^th and final nuclear security summit next year which is expected to be attended by a galaxy of World leaders, including PM Modi. The two-day summit will continue discussion on evolving threat and highlight steps that can be taken together to minimise the use of highly-enriched uranium, secure vulnerable materials, counter nuclear smuggling.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.     NABARD accredited by UN’s Green Climate Fund as National Implementing Entity: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development got accredited by the Green Climate Fund as a national implementing entity for undertaking climate change related projects in India.

II.   India signs Financing Agreement with World Bank for NCRMP Projects: Government of India and the World Bank signed financing agreement for the assistance of National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project-1&2 for $104 million and $308.40 million respectively.

SPORTS:

III.        Pankaj Advani bags 13^th World Snooker Championship: India’s poster boy of cue sports Pankaj Advani clinched his 13^th world title after winning the World 6-Red Snooker Championship in a convincing manner. The defending champion outplayed China’s Y. Bingtao 6-2 in the final.

AWARDS:

   I.       Sania Mirza to be conferred Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna: Sania Mirza became only the 2^nd tennis player to be recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, while star cricketer Rohit Sharma and ace shooter Jitu Rai were among 17 named for this year’s Arjuna Awards.

DAILY GK UPDATES - 11TH AUGUST 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 11TH AUGUST 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES: 

   I.         Xiaomi ties up with Foxconn to ‘Make in India’: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc has tied up with Foxconn to start assembling phones in India, seeking to cut costs and grab a bigger slice of the world’s third largest smartphone market. An assembly line in Andhra Pradesh will very shortly begin rolling out Xiaomi’s 1^st locally made smartphone, the Redmi2 Prime.

II.         Amitabh Bachchan signs up as Maharashtra’s Tiger Ambassador.

III.     ISRO commissions Titanium Sponge Plant in Kerala: ISRO has fully commissioned and started commercial production at the 1^st indigenous Titanium Sponge Plant at Chavara in Kerala. It is the only integrated plant in the world that undertakes all activities right from mining of Titanium minerals to manufacturing of aerospace grade Ti sponge under one roof.

IV.     Kerala Government announces State Film Awards 2014: The list of awardees was declared by the State Minister for Cinema T. Radhakrishnan. Best Actor award was given to N. Pauly while N. Naseem won the Best Actress award. Sanalkumar won the award for the Best Director.

V.       Kochi 1^st to join World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council: Kochi becomes the 1^st Indian city to be a member of Beijing headquartered, WTCF and join its league of leading tourism cities across the world.

VI.     The National Green Tribunal (NGT) headed by Chairperson Swatanter Kumar directed the UP Government to ensure that no unauthorised construction activities are permitted and no trees are cut in the eco-sensitive zone near Taj Mahal.

VII.    Rajasthan High Court banned Santhara ritual in Jain community: Pronouncing its judgement, the court considered the act as a criminal act amounting to suicide and directed to register cases under section 306 of IPC. The ritual was banned after a PIL filed by Human Rights Activist Nikhil Soni a decade ago.

   

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

  I.            10^th August: World Bio-Fuel Day: Every year 10^th August is observed as World Bio-Fuel Day in a bid to create awareness about no-fossil fuels. On this day in 1893, Sir Rudalph Diesel (inventor of diesel engine) for the 1^st time successfully ran mechanical engine with peanut oil.

II.            Google unveils restructuring under new parent company Alphabet Inc: Search engine giant Google Inc has announced formation of a new holding or parent company called Alphabet Inc to encompass its search engine unit and all other subsidiaries.

III.            India’s social security pact with Canada comes into force: According to the pact, the employees posted by Indian entities in Canada are not required to contribute towards Canada’s social security schemes for a period of 60 months and similar employees posted in India would enjoy the same benefit.

IV.            International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples observed on 9^th August: The theme of the day was ‘Post 2015 Agenda: Ensuring Indigenous peoples’ health and well-being. Also, ‘The state of the World’s Indigenous peoples, Volume 2’ was launched at the UN.

V.            India born Sundar Pichai has been named as the CEO of Google by the company’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

  I.        Railway Finance Corporation to issue Rs 6000 crore tax-free bonds: Railway would utilize these funds to enhance acquisition of rolling stock such as engines, coaches and wagons for use by the Railways.

II.    ICICI Bank launches ‘Saral-Rural Housing Loan’ scheme for weaker section: Housing loan will be provided to the weaker section of the society including women at the ICICI Bank Base Rate which is currently at 9.70%. The loan will range from 5-15 lakh rupees for a period of 3-20 years and the loan can be up to 90% of the property value.

SPORTS:

III.     India tops Asian Youth Chess Championship with 17 medals: Bagging 5 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze out of the available 36 medals, Indian Juniors made their presence felt in the event organised by Korea Chess Federation.

IV.       Hockey India suspended Gurbaj Singh for 9 months for indulging in groupism and creating disharmony within the team.

AWARDS:

   I.       Sania Mirza to be conferred Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna: Sania Mirza became only the 2^nd tennis player to be recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, while star cricketer Rohit Sharma and ace shooter Jitu Rai were among 17 named for this year’s Arjuna Awards.

II.      President Pranab Mukherjee presented Saraswati Samman to Dr. M Veerappa Moily: He received the award for his epic ‘Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam’ written in Kannada.

OBITUARIES:

   I.            Veteran Marathi stage actor Bhalchandra Pendharkar died.