DAILY GK UPDATES 21ST SEPTEMBER 2016

DAILY GK UPDATES 21ST SEPTEMBER 2016

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Indira Awas Yojana renamed after Prime Minister: The flagship rural housing scheme Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), started by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, has been restructured and renamed as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), which will be launched next month.

 

2. Government merges Railway Budget with Union Budget: The Cabinet today approved the scrapping of the 92-year old practice of presenting a separate Railway Budget and merged it with the Union Budget.

 

3. Centre announces new list of 27 smart cities: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi made it to the list of 27 Smart Cities that was announced. Vadodara, Agra, Nagpur, Ajmer, Amritsar, Gwalior, Thane and Thanjavur are some of the other cities that have been named.

 

4. Government approves 9 highway projects worth Rs 2600 crores: These projects include Rehabilitation and Up-gradation of Allahabad-Mirzapur section of NH-76 in Uttar Pradesh to 2-lane. The other highways approved are in the states of Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

 

5. Flipkart becomes 1st e-commerce in India to cross 100 million customers: Flipkart has crossed the 100-million registered users mark, becoming the first e-commerce company in the country to hit the milestone.The Bengaluru-based company has doubled its user base over the last year.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Google rolls out travel app: Google Inc. has rolled out Google Trips, a new travel app that lets users plan each day of their trip and help them manage travel reservations.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:​

1. Bangladesh’s Junaid Ahmad appointed as new World Bank head in India: Junaid Ahmad has become the World Bank's Country Director for India, replacing Onno Ruhl who served a four-year term based out of the national capital.

 

SPORTS:

2. Ajay Shirke re-elected as BCCI Secretary.

 

3. Anup Kumar to lead India in Kabaddi World Cup.

 

4. Misbah-ul-Haq becomes first Pakistani to receive Test mace from ICC: Misbah-ul-Haq has received the prestigious ICC Test Championship mace for inspiring Pakistan to the top of the ICC Test Team Rankings.

 

AWARDS:

5. Shubha Mudgal to get ‘Lalit Arpan Samman’: Hindustani classical singer Shubha Mudgal will be honoured with the annual 'LalitArpan Samman' this year. Mudgal, a Padma Shri recipient, was born in Allahabad and is known for her singing in genres of Khayal, Thumri and Dadra.

 

OBITUARIES:

6. Oscar winning writer and director dies at the age of 71: Oscar-winning writer and film director Curtis Hanson has died at his home in Hollywood at the age of 71. He is known for his work in films like Kevin Spacey-starrer LA Confidential, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and The River Wild.

DAILY GK UPDATES 20TH SEPTEMBER 2016

DAILY GK UPDATES 20TH SEPTEMBER 2016

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India successfully test fires surface to surface air missile: India has successfully test-fired its new, long-range surface-to-air missile jointly developed with Israel from a defence base off Odisha coast. The missile was launched from a mobile launcher at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur.

 

2. Punjabi version of PM Narendra Modi’s website launched: People can now visit the PM Modi's website in the Punjabi language at the URL www.pmindia.gov.in/pa. The website which was initially started in English and Hindi is now accessible in nine regional languages - Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi.

 

3. Param-Ishan supercomputer unveiled at IIT Guwahati: The high-performance “Param-Ishan” has computing speed of 250 teraFLOPS and capacity of 300 tera bites (TB).

 

4. Railways to launch Yatri Mitra for differently-abled: The Ministry of Railways has announced the launch of ‘Yatri Mitra Seva’, through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to provide wheelchair-cum-porter services for the differently-abled, elderly and ailing passengers at major railway stations.

 

5. India’s GDP to grow by 8% over next few years: Standard & Poor's (S&P) Global Ratings has forecasted a "relatively high quality and steroid-free" GDP growth of 8% for India over the next few years.

6. Facebook appoints Anand Chandrasekaran in a strategic role for its Messenger app.

 

7. Jubilant FoodWorks CEO Ajay Kaul resigns.

 

8. BSE ties up with Twitter to provide live stock updates: Investors can now track BSE updates real-time on Twitter by following the official Bombay Stock Exchange account.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Vladimir Putin’s big win: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won a huge victory in the country’s parliamentary election. Putin’s party had won 54% of the vote in elections for the Duma, the lower house of parliament.

 

2. First Indian music-dance festival starts in Australia: The 10-week long festival “Confluence: Festival of India” was inaugurated by Union Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma in Sydney, Australia.

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:​

1. Vijaya Bank rolls out three new apps: The new IT products, according to Kishore Sansi, Managing Director and CEO of Vijaya Bank, are: VPAYQWIK, Vijaya *99# and V-eConnect+.

 

2. ADB approves $631 million loan for Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $ 631 million loan to develop the proposed Vishakhapatnam- Chennai industrial corridor, the first such along a coastline in India.

 

3. SS Mallikarjuna Rao appointed as the new Executive Director of Syndicate Bank.

 

SPORTS:

4. Deaf Shooter Priyesha Deshmukh wins bronze in World Championship: Investors can now track BSE updates real-time on Twitter by following the official Bombay Stock Exchange account.

DAILY GK UPDATES 19TH SEPTEMBER 2016

DAILY GK UPDATES 19TH SEPTEMBER 2016

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Alka Sirohi appointed as the Chairman of UPSC.

 

2. Charkhi Dadri is Haryana’s 22nd district: Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today announced Charkhi Dadri as 22nd district of Haryana.

 

3. ‘Selfie with toilet’ to boost Swachh Bharat in Ludhiana: To make the Swachh Bharat Mission successful and encourage people to use clean toilets, the Ludhiana district administration has started a ‘Selfie with my Shauchalya’ campaign.

 

4. Government to expand DBT to 147 schemes by next March: The Government plans to double the number of schemes under DBT to 147 by March and has launched pilots for paying subsidy on food, kerosene and fertiliser directly via bank accounts of beneficiaries.

 

5. Lt Gen Surinder Singh takes charge of Western Command.

 

6. Monika Kapil Mohta appointed Ambassador to Sweden.

 

7. Indian-origin South African is head of Global Blood Service: An Indian-origin South African has become the first person from the African continent to head a global organisation of medicine professionals working for the safety of blood transfusion worldwide.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Malaysian envoy releases translated book on SaiBaba: The Consul General of Malaysia in India EldeenHusaini Muhammad Hashim has released the translated version of 'Sai Charitra Granth', a book on the life of Sai Baba. The book is translated into Malay by a social outfit called 'I love Sai'.

 

2. 17th NAM summit held at Venezuela: 17th NAM summit held in Venezuela and Vice President Hamid Ansari held talks with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on a host of issues of mutual interest.

 

3. World’s largest ship lift begins trial run in China: The trial operation of a world's largest permanent ship lift designed by Chinese and German engineers on China's Three Gorges Dam began.

 

4. Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to get Humanitarian award: Myanmar leader Aung San SuuKyi has been honored as the 2016 humanitarian of the year by students and faculty at the Harvard Foundation. Suu Kyi gained international prominence as the General Secretary of the newly formed National League for Democracy in Myanmar in 1990.

5. China and Russia conduct naval exercises Joint Sea-2016 to improve security: The Chinese and Russian navies have concluded Joint Sea-2016, eight days of naval exercises, in the South China Sea.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

FINANCE/BANKING:​

1. Federal Bank launches Federal Skill Academy at Coimbatore: Federal Bank has launched its second Federal Skill Academy at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu aspart of its CSR initiatives.

 

SPORTS:

2. Rio Paralympics 2016 concluded: The 15th Rio 2016 Paralympic Games 2016 (7-18 September) is over now and this time, we have witnessed some of the world record-breaking performances by the athletes. The 2020 Summer Paralympics, the 16th edition of the international multi-sports event, will be held in Tokyo, Japan.

AWARDS:

3. Malayalam Critic M Leelavathi bags MohananSuvarna Mudra Award: Eminent Malayalam critic and academician Dr M Leelavathi has been chosen for the prestigious N Mohanan Suvarna Mudra Award 2016, instituted in memory of well-known short story writer N Mohanan.

 

4. West Bengal to confer Bangabibhushan Award to Lata Mangeshkar.

 

5. Emmy Awards 2016: 68th Emmy Awards, television's biggest award ceremony, was held in Los Angeles on September 18. 'Game of Thrones' won the best Drama Series award. Tatiana Maslany won the best actress award for Orphan Black, Rami Malek won the best actor for Mr. Robot.