DAILY GK UPDATES - 7TH NOVEMBER 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 7TH NOVEMBER 2015 

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Government to impose 0.5% Swachh Bharat Cess on Services from Nov 15: All services including air, travel, telephony, eating out and banking will become expensive from November 15 as the government decided to impose a 0.5% cess on all taxable services to fund the Swachh Bharat Programme.

 

2. Indian Army successfully test fired Supersonic Cruise Missile BrahMos in Rajasthan: It was test fired from the Pokhran test range. For BrahMos, it was the 50th test flight. Recently, it was test fired from INS Kochi off the west coast.

 

3. From today, trucks passing through Delhi to ‘pay green tax’: After a six-day delay in the implementation of the Environment Compensation Charge or ‘environment cess’ on trucks entering Delhi, the concessionaire-SYMR Consortium LLP has begun to collect the tax at its toll booths.

 

4. Supreme Court upheld Kerala Government’s ban online lotteries: The judgement was delivered by a bench headed by the Chief Justice of India H L Dattu.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India and China ink pacts on water resources and culture: India and China signed two agreements including one in the field of water resources on sharing hydrological data on Satluj River after talks between Vice President Hamid Ansari and his Chinese counterpart Li Yuanchao.

 

2. WHO officially declares Sierra Leone Ebola-free: The country has been declared Ebola free by the World Health Organisation, prompting nationwide celebrations tinged with sadness over the loss of 4,000 victims to the disease.

 

3. President of China and Taiwan shake hands in first ever meeting: President Xi Jinping of China met with Ma Ying-Jeou, the President of Taiwan in the first ever meeting between both the countries. The meeting is a high point in the two leaders’ efforts to bridge the divisions of civil war and decades of animosity.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS:

1. Hina Sindhu won gold in 13th Asian Shooting Championship: She won the gold medal in 10m air pistol women’s event at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship held at Kuwait City. Heena was also the winner of the gold medal in the 10m air pistol event in the 8th Asian Air Gun Championship held at Delhi.

 

2. India beat South Africa by 108 runs in the 1stFreedom Series Test Match held at Mohali.

 

DAILY GK UPDATES - 6TH NOVEMBER 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 6TH NOVEMBER 2015

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Union Cabinet gives not to UDAY Scheme for financial restructuring package for power DISCOMs: Union Cabinet chaired by PM Modi has given its nod to Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojna(UDAY) for financial restructuring of debt of power distribution companies.

 

2. Union Cabinet approves MoU between India and Belgium for Energy: It has approved a MoU which has been signed between Indian and Belgian government authorities at the Federal and regional level for cooperation in development of new and renewable energy technologies.

 

3. MP Government proposed 1656 crore rupees AMRUT Action Plan: The MP Government proposed to improve basic infrastructure relating to water supply, sewerage network services, storm water drainage, urban transport and parks and green services.

 

4. CCEA hiked Minimum Support Prices for Rabi Crops of 2015-16 season: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) hiked the minimum support prices for Rabi crops of 2015-16. It was done on the recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) for the price policy for rabicrops. The commission also decided to give a bonus of 75 rupees per quintal for rabi pulses.

 

5. 21st INCOFYRA to be organised in Bengaluru in 2016: The 21st International Conference on Frontiers in Yoga Research and Its Applications (INCOFYRA) will be held from 3 to 7 January 2016 at Prashanti Kutiram, Bengaluru. The summit will be organised by the Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Sansthana. The theme of the conference is ‘Yoga in integrated healthcare systems’.

 

6. Rajasthan Government launched the Agro-Processing and Agri-Marketing Promotion Policy 2015: The policy seeks to promote agro-processing and to reduce post-harvest losses at the farm gate.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Tanzania’s first female Vice President SamiaSuluhu sworn in: She was sworn in along with the new President John Pombe Magufuli at the swearing-in ceremony held in the country’s economic capital Dar esSalaam.

 

2. Bosnia and Serbian Governments held first joint session post-Bosnian War in Saravejo: The aim of the session was to improve their relations and contribute to the stabilization of the Western Balkans.The two governments signed cooperation agreements on finding missing persons, telecommunications, protection of cultural heritage and sustainable development.

 

3. Maldives Parliament voted to impeach Vice President Ahmed Adeeb: All 61 parliamentarian present voted in favour of the impeachment and none opposed in the 85-member house. Vice President Ahmed Adeeb is accused of plotting to kill the President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

 

4. ‘India in Shanghai’ Cultural Week inaugurated at Shanghai: It was inaugurated at China Shanghai International Arts Festival (SIAF) at the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. RBI issued Uniform Guidelines on Internet Banking for Cooperative Banks: The Reserve Bank of India issued revised and uniform guidelines on internet banking for all licensed cooperative banks including Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs), Cooperative Banks and District Cooperative Banks.

 

SPORTS:

2. Ashwin fastest Indian to reach 150 Test wickets: Ravichandran Ashwin’s CV has another bullet point under the achievements column as he is now the fastest among Indian bowlers to reach the landmark of 150 Test wickets in 29 tests.

 

3. FIFA World Ranking 2015: Belgium topped for first time: The team rose from third to first after overtaking Argentina and world champions Germany.

 

AWARDS:

3. Veteran Actor Vikram Gokhale honoured with Vishnudas Bhave Award: Renowned film, television and stage actor Vikram Gokhale was conferred with the prestigious Vishnudas Bhave Award.

 

OBITUARIES:

4. French intellectual Rene Girard passed away at the age of 91.

 

BOOKS AND AUTHORS: 

7. The book titled ‘Rebooting India’ authored by Nandan Nilekani and Viral Shah has been released.

 

 

DAILY GK UPDATES - 5TH NOVEMBER 2015

DAILY GK UPDATES - 5TH NOVEMBER 2015

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Justice T S Thakur appointed as the next Chief Justice of India: He will succeed Justice H L Duttu, who is set to retire on December 2.

 

2. Flipkart names Google executive SurojitChatterjee as Vice-President.

 

3. Twitter launches Make in India emoji: The Indian Government became the first non-US based brand to have a Twitter emoji-#MakeInIndia-which aims to promote the country as a global manufacturing hub.

 

4. Mysuru Railway Station became the first blind-friendly Railway Station in India: It became the first blind-friendly railway station in India. Tactile maps of the railway station and train schedules in Braille were unveiled on the occasion of inauguration.

 

5. PM Modi launched three gold related schemes: The schemes are-Gold Monetisation scheme, Sovereign Gold Bond scheme and Indian Gold Scheme. The primary purpose of the schemes is to reduce dependence of imported gold, recycle the unutilized gold in the country and most importantly, streamline the gold business in the country.

 

6. PM Modi launched research project Imprint India: He launched Imprint India, a Pan-IIT and IIScjoint initiative. The project encourages the Indian technical institutions to develop a blueprint for research to crack major engineering and technology challenges relevant to the nation.

 

7. Navtej Singh Sarna appointed as Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom.

 

8. Union Government constituted Empowered Committee to approve schemes under NirbhayaFund: The committee comprises officials from various ministries, including Women and Child Development, Home Affairs, Road Transport and Railways. The Empowered Committee of Officers will take decision on the sanction of schemes/projects from NirbhayaFund within 15 days of the date of receipt of the proposal by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

 

9. V Sivaramakrishnan appointed as MD of Oxford University Press India.

 

10. Andhra Pradesh signed MoU with World Economic Forum to support state in assessing its competitiveness.

 

11. Dr T K Vishwanathan Committee on Bankruptcy Law Reforms submitted its report.

12. Ola signs MoU with Rajasthan to train 50,000 people in state: Ride-hailing startup Ola has signed a MoU with Rajasthan Government to train 50,000 men and women over the next five years, as it looks to expand its base of drivers on its platforms.

 

13. Indian Railways signed MoU with OdishaGovernment for implementation of railway projects.

 

14. Phase-1 of T-Hub inaugurated in IIIT-Hyderabad: T-Hub (Technology Hub) is a technologyincubation and is located at the International Institute of Information Technolgy (IIIT-Hyderabad) in Gachibowli on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Tropical Cyclone Chapala hits Yemen triggering heavy floods: A rare tropical cyclone Chapala has slammed into Yemen triggering heavy flooding and causing damage in coastal region of the war racked country.

 

2. Forbes list of World’s Most Powerful People 2015 released: This was the 7th annual ranking of World’s most powerful people. The list was topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the third year in a row, followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama. India’s PM NarendraModi was ranked as the world’s 9th most powerful person.

 

3. Indian-born Harjit Singh sworn-in as Defence Minister of Canada.

 

4. UNHCR released study titled ‘I am Here, I belong on need to end childhood statelessness’: The report draws on interviews with more than 250 stateless children and youngsters, their parents and guardians in seven countries around the world.

 

5. Financial Secrecy Index 2015 released, India moderately secretive: Tax Justice Network released the Financial Secrecy Index 2015 that ranked jurisdictions according to their secrecy and the scale of their offshore financial activities. While Switzerland is the most secretive jurisdiction in the World, India, with 42nd rank was moderately secretive among 92 countries.

 

6. Maldives declared State of Emergency for 30 days: The measure was taken after arms and explosives were seized by the police in a lorry parked at an island resort in male.

 

7. Romania’s Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned: He resigned after a deadly nightclub blaze which left 32 dead and nearly 200 injured.

 

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

FINANCE/BANKING:

1. RBI notified Operational Guidelines of Sovereign Gold Bonds 2015-16: The Reserve Bank of India notified the Operational Guidelines of the Sovereign Gold Bonds 2015-16. These bonds will be issued by the RBI from 5 November-20 November.

 

2. RBI imposes Rs 1 crore penalties on DhanlaxmiBank: It has imposed Rs 1 crore penalties on Dhanlaxmi Bank for violation of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) norms.

 

SPORTS:

3. Inzamam to be Afghanistan coach for two years: Inzamam Ul Haq, the former Pakistan captain, has been roped in as the Afghanistan coach for a two-year period.

 

4. Jitu Rai won silver in 13th Asian Shooting Championship held in Kuwait City.

 

AWARDS:

5. Priyanka Chopra bags People’s Choice Awards nomination.

 

OBITUARIES:

6. Former England cricketer Tom Graveney died at the age of 88.

 

7. India’s former ambassador to Nepal BimalPrasad died at the age of 92.