DAILY GK UPDATES 21ST APRIL 2016

DAILY GK UPDATES 21ST APRIL 2016

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates second edition of ‘Global Exhibition on Services’ in Greater Noida.

 

2. PM Modi confers awards for excellence in implementation of priority programmes: He conferred the awards for excellence in implementation of priority programmes on the occasion of 10th Civil Services Day today. For the priority programme PM Jan Dhan Yojana, Nagaon, Assam was awarded in North East and Hill states category, Chandigarh in UTs and North 24 Parganas, West Bengal in other States group. Under Swachch Bharat Mission (Gramin), West Sikkim and Bikaner, Rajasthan were awarded in North East and Hill States and other states category respectively.

 

3. First meeting of All India Handloom Board held in New Delhi: The Chairman and Union Textiles Minister, Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar gave an overview of the various initiatives being taken by the government for the development of the sector.

 

4. The 3 day Curtain Raiser International Yoga Fest inaugurated by Shri Shripad Yesso Naik: It was inaugurated by the Minister of State for AYUSH and Health and Family Welfare in New Delhi.  

 

5. High Court of Uttarakhand revoked President’s rule in Uttarakhand.

 

6. Accenture launches Cyber Centre in Bengaluru to expand its global security pressure and help organisations tackle complex security challenges.

 

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

 

8. Zee Media Corporation Group CEO Bhaskar Das quits following his transfer to another Essel Group entity.

 

9. Centre appoints IAS Officer A Ajith Kumar as Chairman of the Kerala based Rubber Board.

 

10. Goa appoints Justice P K Mishra as its Lokayukta.

 

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. IMF, WB, UN and OECD form new group to stop tax erosion: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank has stated that they are going to join forces with the UN and OECD to cooperate on tax issues and develop new tools and standards to halt tax base erosion and evasion.

2. Communist Laos appoints new President and Prime Minister: The National Assembly of Laos elected the chief of the ruling Communist Party, B Vorachit, as President in a transition of power necessitated by the completion of the maximum permissible 10 years in office by the outgoing President C Sayasone. Foreign Minister T Sisoulith was elected as the Prime Minister.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:

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

 

AWARDS:

2. Indian Diplomat Amitav Banerji honoured with Commander of the Order of Merit, the highest award of Cyprus for his work in a number of senior roles within the Commonwealth Secretariat for over two decades.

OBITUARIES:

3. Comedian, Singer and Writer Victoria Wood has passed away at the age of 62.

 

DAILY GK UPDATES 20TH APRIL 2016

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 6th 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 Deen Dayal Jan Aawas Yojna, 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. Kadambot Siddique 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 MoUwith 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 Geeta Pasi 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 Ge Fuping 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

DAILY GK UPDATES 19TH APRIL 2016

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Maneka Gandhi launches Beti Bachao BetiPadhao 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 17th month; at -0.85% in March: Continuing the deflationary trend for 17thmonth, 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 Manohar Parrikar 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. 14th 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

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: Mandd Sobhan, a Konkani cultural organisation will set up a Konkani Museum in Mangaluru.  

 

5. 69th Himachal Day celebrated 17th April in the state: Himachal Pradesh is celebrating 69th 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 18th 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 3rd, 23rd and 26th 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 Rangana Herath retired from T20Is and ODIs.

 

4. Nico Roseberg 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.