July 2015

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Daily GK Update -

1st July 2015

1. Digital India huge

opportunity for health,

education: Anil Agarwal i. Prime Minister Narendra

Modi's 'Digital India' drive

will open up huge

opportunities in health and

education for rural areas,

creating a large number of

jobs.

ii. The initiative aims to

digitally deliver all the

essential services to

citizens and transform

India into a digitally

empowered society and

knowledge economy by

leveraging IT.

iii. Agarwal, who heads the

mining giant Vedanta

Resources Plc, is the Non-

Executive Chairman of

Sterlite Technologies Ltd

which is involved majorly

in laying the optical fibre

network to connect 2.5

lakh gram panchyats.

iv. It is undertaking Fiber-

to-the-Home (FTTH)

deployment in India to

enable high speed

broadband connectivity

and is developing several

transmission infrastructure

projects spanning over

5,000 Circuit Kms across

India.

2. World Bank approves

$650 mn loan for Eastern

Freight Corridor

i. The World Bank said on

Wednesday it had cleared a

$650 million loan for a

huge Indian freight rail

corridor that will span

1,840 kms (1,140 miles)

across the northern

heartland of the country.

ii. Construction of the

Eastern Dedicated Freight

Corridor will help speed up

the carrying of goods

between Ludhiana in the

western region and

Kolkata in the east, and is

part of a series of new

freight lines the World

Bank says India needs to

ease congestion on its

network.

iii. The loan is the third

from the World Bank to

help fund the freight

corridor. Last year the

bank approved a $1.1

billion outlay and in 2011

$975 million.

iv. Prime Minister

Narendra Modi's

government, banking on

big investment in

infrastructure to boost the

economy, approved a $137

billion investment plan for

the railways in February.

3. BHEL commissions

Sudan's largest power

project

i. State-owned power

equipment maker Bhel

today said it has

commissioned Sudan's

largest power plant.

ii. Bhel has executed this

project on Engineering,

Procurement and

Construction (EPC) basis.

It has designed,

manufactured, supplied

and installed the complete

power project (4 units of

125 MW each) including

associated civil works.

iii. The project uses crude

oil from South Sudan as

fuel, for which Bhel has

designed special boilers.

All the major equipment

for the project -- boilers,

steam-turbines, generators,

Controls &

Instrumentation (C&I),

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transformers -- have been

manufactured in-house.

iv. The company has also

constructed a canal from

the White Nile River to

supply water for the

project. The project is

funded by the India's Line

of Credit of USD 350

million.

v. The Kosti plant is Bhel's

largest oil-fired thermal

power plant in the overseas

market. It is also Bhel's

first crude oil fired thermal

power plant in Africa and

comes on the heels of the

successful completion of

Bhel's 28 MW Nyaborango

Hydro project in Rwanda.

4. SBI partners with

MakeMyTrip for travel

biz

i. In its series of digital

initiatives and tie-ups,

State Bank of India,

country‘s largest bank,

partnered with online

travel company

MakeMyTrip.com to

capitalise on the business

opportunities of the

booming e-commerce and

m-commerce ecosystem.

ii. The alliance includes

partnership with personal

banking unit for consumer

facing propositions –

including EMIs on

purchase of holidays &

international travel,

customized travel products

like Forex cards and travel

products that inspire SBI

customers to travel.

iii. It also includes

partnership with SME &

Acquiring Business --

MMT suppliers, such as 2-

3 star hotels, franchisees,

Trade & Travel partners

will get access to SBI

products, loans, bank

guarantees, PoS payment

instruments at preferential

rates and partnership with

cards for promoting card

usage which will help in

pushing the agenda of a

less cash economy.

iv. MakeMyTrip

constitutes about 46% of

the bookings in the online

space and a lot of product

work is being done in the

$22-23 billion travel

industry ecosystem.

5. Shimla Rs 643 Cr

water scheme cleared for

World Bank funding

i. Chief Minister Virbhadra

Singh here disclosed that a

Rs 643 crore project for

augmenting the water

supply to the growing hill

city had been approved by

the union government.

ii. The project got the

union finance ministry nod

yesterday (29.6.2015) and

it would be placed before

World Bank for funding

purposes, said a

government spokesman.

PC Dhiman, additional

chief secretary, on behalf

of the state attended the

meeting.

iii. The loan component

would be Rs 514 crore and

the state government

would be contributing Rs

129 crore for funding the

project.

iv. The new project

involves lifting water from

Kol Dam reservoir on

River Satluj and it would

meet the water needs of

Shimla municipal

corporation as well

suburban areas under the

special planning area.

6. Railway Minister

Suresh Prabhu

Inaugurates Integrated

Security System in

Mumbai i. Union Railway Minister

Suresh Prabhu inaugurated

the Integrated Security

System (ISS) at 6 railway

stations in Mumbai,

Maharashtra. The system

was inaugurated

Chhatrapati Shivaji

Terminus (CST), Dadar,

Kurla and Lokmanya Tilak

Terminus (LTT), Kalyan

and Thane.

ii. The ISS is advanced

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security systems that aims

at improving security on

Railway premises and also

ensure safety of the people

and avert terror attacks in

extreme case. The system

has a total of 118 CCTV

cameras. They will beam

the live images of railway

stations under its coverage

on six monitors.

iii. In the first of the

project which was

completed in June 2015 it

covered four stations CST,

Dadar, Kurla and LTT.

iv. The second phase is

expected to be completed

by December 2016. Apart

from this, he also

inaugurated a modified

foot over bridge (FOB) to

facilitate passenger

movement at Diva.

7. Matti Makkonen,

Father of SMS

technology passes away

i. Finnish telecom engineer

and father of messaging

service (SMS) technology

Matti Makkonen passed

away following serious

illness.

ii. He was 63. In 1984, he

had pioneered the idea of

sending messages via

mobile networks but failed

to patent it was merely

idea and was not actual

implementation.

iii. Matti Makkonen was

born on 16 April 1952 in

Suomussalmi, Finland. He

had graduated as an

electrical engineer from

the Oulu technical college

in 1976.

iv. He had served as vice

president of PTL and was

actively involved in the

development of the GSM-

technology from 1984 to

1988. In 1989, he was

appointed as President of

the mobile communication

unit which was later

renamed as Telecom

Finland.

v. he was awarded The

Economist‘s Innovation

Award in the computing

and telecommunications

category.

8. Abhijeet Gupta wins

19th Commonwealth

Chess Championship

i. Former world junior

champion and

Grandmaster Abhijeet

Gupta won the 19th

Commonwealth Chess

Championship.

ii. He won the gold medal

after settling for a quick

draw with his opponent

Arghyadip Das in the ninth

and final round played at

Mumbai, Maharashtra.

iii. In this Chess

Championship, Arghyadip

Das came second winning

the silver medal and M R

Lalith Babu won the

bronze medal in men‘s

section.

iv. In the women‘s section,

Padmini Rout won the gold

medal. While S

Vijayalakshmi and S

Meenakshi won silver and

bronze medal respectively.

In this championship both

Vijayalakshmi and

Meenakshi had won the

last six games.

1. Union Government hiked

national floor-level

minimum wage to 160

rupees per day

i. The Union Government in

June 2015 increased the

national floor-level minimum

wage (NFLMW) to 160

rupees per day from 137

rupees per day. The new rate

will be effective from 1 July

2015.

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ii. If states revise their

minimum wages as per the

new NFLMW, the decision is

expected to benefit millions

of workers in the scheduled

employments in the

respective state jurisdictions.

iii. It was implemented for

the first time in 1996 on the

basis of the recommendations

of the National Commission

on Rural Labour (NCRL)

under the Minimum Wages

Act, 1948.

iv. It is a non-statutory

measure and after every

revision, the State

Governments are persuaded

to fix minimum wages such

that in none of the scheduled

employments, the minimum

wage is less than NFLMW.

2. Greece becomes first

developed nation to default

IMF debt

i. Greece has become the first

developed nation to default

on International Monetary

Fund (IMF) debt. It has

defaulted on a 1.7 billion

dollars payment to IMF.

ii. The deadline for debt

payment was missed by

Greece after Eurozone

Finance Ministers refused to

extend its bailout. They had

refused the bailout after

Greece rejected the proposal

given International Monetary

Fund (IMF), European

Central Bank (ECB) and the

European Commission (EC).

Apart from this, ECB also

has frozen its liquidity

lifeline to Greek banks.

iii. It should be noted that

Greece is now formally in

arrears and there are fears

that this could put Greece at

risk of shifting back to its old

currency Drachma by leaving

the Euro. This may increase

in the cost of imports of

Greece leading to increase

inflation further worsening its

economic crisis.

iv. The Greece crisis may

depreciate the value Euro

which may led investors to

invest in Gold and Dollar to

be on the safer side. In this

case it may appreciate value

of dollar and make it stronger

as compared to Indian rupees.

3. Prof. Sanjeev Galande

selected for G D Birla

Award for Scientific

Research 2014

i.

Prof. Sanjeev Galande has

been selected for the

prestigious G D Birla award

for Scientific Research 2014.

He has been selected for his

significant contribution and

his pioneering research in the

field of Epigenetics and

Molecular Cell Biology.

ii. Presently, he is a professor

at the Indian Institute of

Science Education and

Research (IISER), Pune and

also leading a team of

scientists in studying various

aspects of gene

iii. Galande had obtained

doctorate in biochemistry

from Indian Institute of

Science (IISc), Bangalore in

1996. He is also a

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postdoctoral fellow at the

Lawrence Berkeley National

Laboratory in the US. He is

pioneer for establishing the

Centre of Excellence in

Epigenetics at IISER.

4. Cuba becomes first

nation to eliminate mother-

to-child HIV and syphilis:

WHO

i. Cuba has become the first

country in the world to

eliminate mother-to-child

transmission of HIV and

syphilis. It was announced by

the World Health

Organisation (WHO).

ii. Cuba was able to achieve

this milestone with the help

and efforts of WHO and the

Pan American Health

Organisation (PAHO).

iii. Since 2010, WHO/PAHO

are working with partners in

Cuba and other American

countries to implement a

regional initiative to

eliminate mother-to-child

transmission of HIV and

syphilis.

iv. Services under this

initiative were provided as

part of an equitable,

accessible and universal

health system. It included

services like maternal and

child health programs and

integrated programs for HIV

and sexually transmitted

infections.

5. 'Mhara Gaon - Jagmag

Gaon' scheme launched in

Haryana

i. Haryana government today

announced to launch a

voluntary scheme 'Mhara

Gaon - Jagmag Gaon', aimed

at providing 24-hour

uninterrupted power supply

to rural domestic consumers

and improving electricity bill

collections in order to reduce

"huge" accumulated losses of

power utilities.

ii. Announcing the scheme

here, Haryana Chief Minister

Manohar Lal Khattar said the

state has become first in the

country to launch such an

"innovative" scheme.

iii. Explaining the scheme,

the Chief Minister said at

present rural consumers were

being supplied electricity for

only 12 hours daily.

iv. The consumers in these

310 villages falling under

these 83 feeders would now

be urged to install their

meters outside their houses

and get their old electricity

wires replaced with insulated

wires, the chief minister

said.

6. Dr Anup K Pujari joins

as Secretary, MSME

i. Dr Anup K Pujari has been

appointed Secretary of

Ministry of Small and

Medium Enterprises (MSME)

here on Wednesday.

ii. He succeeds Shri Madhav

Lal who superannuated on

June 30, 2015. Before joining

the Ministry of MSME,

Pujari was holding the charge

of Secretary, Mines.

iii. Born in 1956, Pujari is a

post-graduate from the

University of Boston, and a

Doctorate in Economics. He

has served the Central and

Karnataka Government in

various capacities.

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iv. Shri Balvender Kumar

took over the charge from Dr.

Anup K Pujari IAS (KN:

1980) who is now the

Secretary Ministry of Micro

Small and Medium

Enterprises.

7. NASA unveils prototype

of plane to fly on Mars

i. NASA has unveiled a

boomerang-shaped aircraft

that could be the first to take

flight on Mars to look for

potential landing sites for

future manned mission to the

red planet.

ii. The Prandtl—m will be

released at about at 100,000

feet altitude, which will

simulate the flight conditions

of the Martian atmosphere,

said Al Bowers, NASA

Armstrong chief scientist and

Prandtl—m programme

manager.

iii. The tests could validate

how the aircraft works,

leading to modifications that

will allow it to fold and

deploy from a 3U CubeSat in

the aeroshell of a future Mars

rover.

Daily GK Update -

3rd July 2015

1. Govt releases socio-

economic and caste census

for better policy-making

i. The socio-economic and

caste census (SECC) 2011 on

Friday painted a grim picture

of rural India, indicating that

one out of three families

living in villages is landless

and depends on manual

labour for livelihood.

ii. The SECC 2011, also the

first paperless census

conducted on hand-held

electronic devices by the

government, said 23.52%

rural families have no literate

adult above 25 years,

suggesting a poor state of

education among rural

masses.

iii. The census, carried out in

640 districts under the aegis

of the rural development

ministry, was released jointly

by finance minister Arun

Jaitley and rural

development minister

Chaudhary Birendra Singh.

iv. According to the census,

there are a total number of

24.39 crore households in

the country, of which 17.91

crore live in villages. Of

these, 10.69 crore

households are considered

as deprived.

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2. Nationwide Mobile

Number Portability goes live

i. The countrywide Mobile

Number Portability (MNP)

has become a reality today.

This means mobile

subscribers can now keep

their existing mobile phone

numbers even while shifting

between states and circles.

ii. The move lays the first

stone for the government's

'One nation, One number'

plan and is sure to benefit

millions of people across the

country.

iii. Earlier, the deadline to

rollout full MNP was May 2,

2015. This was, however,

extended by two months

after the Cellular Operators

Association of India asked for

an extension from the

telecom department.

iv. With about 3 million intra-

circle MNP requests every

month, more than 157

million subscribers have

ported to other operators as

of April, according to Trai

data.

3. Airbus to build military

choppers in India with

Mahindra

i. Europe's Airbus Group and

India's Mahindra Group have

struck a deal to build

helicopters jointly as they bid

to win an expected wave of

orders from the country's

armed forces, the companies

said in a statement on Friday.

ii. The two groups will form a

joint venture in the coming

months, aiming to become

the first private

manufacturer of helicopters

in India, the statement said.

It did not say how much the

two will invest.

iii. India is in the midst of a

huge upgrade of its armed

forces — analysts forecast it

will spend $250 billion over

the next decade — and

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi wants to encourage

more indigenous

manufacturing to end India's

position as the world's

largest arms importer.

iv. Airbus Helicopters, part of

Airbus Group, is joining

forces with Mahindra after

talking to several Indian

companies that are investing

hundreds of millions of

dollars to capitalise on the

government's push to build

arms at home.

4. SBI launches initiative to

speed up home loan

applications

i. Country's largest lender

State Bank of India today

launched an initiative to

provide doorstep services

and expedite home loans

application process.

ii. The initiative known as

'Project Tatkal' will help get

the loan within 10 days after

receipt of application form

and relevant supporting

documents, the bank said in

a release.

iii. The implementation will

be done at large centres with

sizable home loan business.

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iv. The bank has also recently

introduced an online

customer acquisition

solution (OCAS) for instant e-

approval of home loan

applications.

5. Indian-American

professor R Paul Singh

named for 2015 World

Agriculture Prize laureate

i.

R Paul Singh, Indian-

American professor has been

selected for 2015 World

Agriculture Prize laureate.

ii. The award was announced

at the annual Global

Confederation for Higher

Education Associations for

Agriculture and Life Sciences

(GCHERA) conference held at

the Holy Spirit University of

Kaslik, Lebanon.

iii. Singh is known for niche

research areas of agricultural

sector such as freezing

preservation, energy

conservation, post-harvest

technology and mass

transfer in food processing.

iv. He had earned a

bachelor’s degree in

agricultural engineering form

Punjab Agricultural

University. He had

completed his doctorate

from Michigan State

University, US.

6. Indian-American teacher

Darshan Jain receives US

Presidential Award

i.

Darshan Jain, an Indian-

American teacher has been

selected for prestigious

Presidential Award for

Excellence in Mathematics

and Science Teaching.

ii. He was named for the

award by President Barack

Obama along with 107

Mathematics and Science

teachers across US. All of

them were chosen for

shaping America’s success

through their passion for

Math and Science.

iii. Presently Darshan Jain is

director of mathematics at

Adlai E. Stevenson High

School in Lincolnshire,

Illinois. Previously, he had

taught mathematics at this

institute for eight years.

iv. US Presidential Award is

awarded annually to

outstanding science and

mathematics teachers from

across US from K-12

(kindergarten through 12th

grades). The award carries

monetary prize of US 10000

dollars.

7. Union Government

launches web portal for

issuing green clearance

Category B projects

i. Union Government has

launched a web portal for

online submission of

applications for environment

clearance by State

Environment Impact

Assessment Authorities

(SEIAA) for Category B

projects.

ii. It was launched by Union

Minister of State for

Environment, Forest and

Climate Change Prakash

Javadekar in New Delhi on

the occasion of Digital India

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Week. Soon after the launch

of the web portal, nineteen

states instantly have joined

it.

iii. The environment

clearance web portal raises

the levels of transparency

and accountability as the

clearances will be monitored

and carried out effectively on

a real time basis. It will also

help to reduce pendency for

maintaining the rigours of

Environment Clearance

process.

iv. It should be noted that

applications for Environment

Clearances under Category

‘B’ projects under EIA

notification, 2006 comes

under State government for

approval purpose.

Daily GK Update - 4th

July 2015

1. Guinness Book Recognises

Madhya Pradesh’s World

Record in Washing Hands

i. The Guinness Book of

World Records has

recognised a record created

in Madhya Pradesh on

‘World Hand washing Day’ in

2014.

ii. The mega hand washing

event was held on 15

October 2014 to create

awareness about hygiene by

washing hands with soap.

iii. It was organised in all the

51 districts of Madhya

Pradesh in over 13 thousand

places. In it more than 12

lakh 78 thousand students

had washed their hand

simultaneously.

iv. This record broke the

earlier the world record

which was jointly held by

Argentina, Peru and Mexico.

The joint record in three

countries was created on

October 14, 2011 in which

7,40,870 people had washed

their hands simultaneously

at different locations.

2. President of India receives

first copy of book 'Uniki'

i. The President of India, Shri

Pranab Mukherjee received

the first copy of the book

'Uniki' in Hyderabad today

(July 3, 2015). The book has

been written by Shri Ch

Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of

Maharashtra. The President

received the book from Shri

K Chandrashekar Rao, Chief

Minister of Telangana who

formally released it.

ii. Speaking on the occasion,

the President appealed to

the people of both the states

of Andhra Pradesh and

Telangana to work in close

harmony, so as to ensure

sustainable development

and betterment of the

people of the country and

help it earn its rightful place

in the comity of nations. He

Page 10 of 72

said that we all belong to

India.

iii. He stated that we need to

remember that we can

choose our friends but

cannot choose our

neighbours. Therefore, it is

us for decide whether we

should live in harmony and

peace with our neighbours.

iv. He stated that the title,

'Uniki', which means

Existence, evokes a

philosophical view of the

issues and events that have

been written about in this

book.

3. C D Balaji took charge as

Director of the Aeronautical

Development Agency

i. Commodore C D Balaji

(Retd) on 3 July 2015 took

charge as the Director of the

Aeronautical Development

Agency (ADA) and

Programme Director of the

Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

ii. He succeeded P S

Subramanyam, Distinguished

Scientist, who

superannuated on 30 June

2015.

iii. Prior to this appointment,

Balaji, an outsatnding

scientists, was Project

Director of the LCA’s naval

version. He was

commissioned into the

Indian Navy's engineering

branch in September 1978

and since then, he has

specialised in the Naval

Aviation Arm.

iv. He served as an Air

Engineer Officer of INAS 310

(Alize aircraft) for about 3

years embarking the Aircraft

Carrier Vikrant. He joined

ADA on deputation in 2002

to work on the development

of a naval version of the light

fighter. In December 2006,

he left the Navy and fully

moved to ADA.

v. Based in Bengaluru, ADA is

the premier multi-agency

body spearheading the

development of combat

aircraft for the Air Force and

the Navy- among them is the

LCA and the proposed

Advanced Medium Combat

Aircraft AMCA.

4. BSNL rolls out pre-paid

card linked mobile wallet

i. BSNL launched a pre-paid

card linked mobile wallet

service on Friday which

allows customers to transfer

cash, pay for services as well

as withdraw cash of up to Rs

1 lakh.

ii. The wallet service, Speed

Pay, allows a customer to

load money even if he does

not have a bank account. The

money loaded in the wallet

can be transferred to an

account and even withdrawn

at branches or at BSNL

outlets.

iii. Loading money into a

mobile wallet from a bank

account is an option. BSNL

customers who don't have

bank accounts can also load

money at any BSNL retail

outlet and ask the retailer to

recharge their mobile wallet

account and pay for various

services.

iv. There will be one-per cent

transaction charge if money

from the wallet is transferred

to other bank accounts or a

there is cash withdrawal.

Page 11 of 72

5. 4 Indian-Americans

honoured with Great

Immigrants award 2015 in

United States

i. Four Indian-Americans

have been honoured

withprestigious Great

Immigrants, The Pride of

America award 2015. They

are among 38 distinguished

personalities from more than

30 countries around the

world who have been

honoured with this year’s

award.

ii. The award is given by New

York-based Carnegie

Corporation on the occasion

of Independence Day of

United States i.e. 4th July.

Preet Bharara: US Attorney,

Southern District of New

York.

Rakesh Khurana: Dean of

Harvard College and Marvin

Bower Professor of

Leadership and

Development.

Madhulika Sikka: Vice

President and Executive

Editor of .Mic.

Abraham Verghese:

Physician, Professor and

Author.

6. Solar Impulse completes

epic flight to Hawaii

i. Solar Impulse, the

aeroplane that is powered

only by the sun, has landed

in Hawaii after making a

historic 7,200km flight across

the Pacific from Japan.

ii. The distance covered and

the time spent in the air -

118 hours - are records for

manned, solar-powered

flight. The duration is also an

absolute record for a solo,

un-refuelled journey.

iii. Mr Borschberg's time

betters that of the American

adventurer Steve Fossett

who spent 76 hours aloft in a

single-seater jet in 2006.

iv. Solar Impulse's slow

speed, light weight and 72m

wingspan put significant

constraints on the type of

weather the vehicle can

handle, and that first sortie

was aborted after just one

day in the air because of a

fast developing cold front

ahead of it.

7. Former CJI Y K Sabharwal

passes away

i. Former Chief Justice of

India Y K Sabharwal passed

away here last evening. 73-

year-old Justice Sabharwal is

survived by two sons Chetan

and Nitin. The cremation will

take place today.

ii. Justice Sabharwal was CJI

from November 1, 2005 to

January 13, 2007.

iii. He was elevated as an

additional judge of the Delhi

High Court in 1986 and

became its permanent judge

in April 1987.

iv. From Delhi High Court, he

went to Bombay High Court

as chief justice before being

appointed as a judge of the

SC on January 28, 2001.

v. Justice Sabharwal

delivered several important

judgements including the

verdict in January 2006, that

held the dissolution of Bihar

Assembly as illegal and

unconstitutional.

Page 12 of 72

Daily GK Update - 5th

and 6th July 2015

1. C-DOT launches solar

powered, long distance WiFi

hotspots

i. As part of the 'Digital India

Week', Centre for

Development of Telematics

(C-DOT) on Monday

launched four new products

including solar powered Wi-

Fi and long distance Wi-Fi.

ii. The solar powered Wi-Fi

hotspots can be used for

smart cities, rural schools or

panchayats, extending

broadband connectivity

remote/ unconnected places.

It can also be used in ship to

ship communications in deep

seas.

iii. The state-of-the-art

telecommunication

technology developer that

launched long-distance Wi-

Fi, said such technology can

be used for operator sharing,

support to link redundancy in

case of failure of one radio/

link.

iv. Apart from these, C-DOT

also launched Next

Generation Network solution

that will address the needs of

the changing telecom

scenario and would enable

smooth transition from Time

Division Multiplexing (TDM)

to Voice over Internet

Protocol (VoIP).

2. Uttar Pradesh first to

have vehicle tracking system

i. Uttar Pradesh State Road

Transport Corporation

(UPSRTC) has become the

first State transport

corporation to have a vehicle

tracking system for inter-city

buses, which has led to a

reduction in accidents and

deaths as drivers are wary of

crossing the speed limits.

ii. In a passenger-friendly IT

initiative, UPSRTC is also in

talks with Delhi Transport

Corporation and State

transport undertakings in

Haryana, Rajasthan and

Himachal to have a common

bus travel card, apart from

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

iii. This is to ensure that the

smart cards used by UPSRTC

passengers (issued by State

Bank of India and ICICI Bank)

become interoperable with

these Metro rail systems and

buses, said Meshram at a

PHDCCI event here.

3. India women’s hockey

team arrive to grand

welcome

i. Having all but booked a

berth in next year’s Rio

Olympics, Indian women’s

hockey team arrived in New

Delhi early morning to a

grand welcome amidst

beating of drums and loud

cheers.

Page 13 of 72

ii. India women’s team’s lone

Olympic appearance was at

Moscow in 1980. Effectively,

India’s fifth spot should

secure them an Olympic

Games ticket when the

countdown to allocate spots

takes place.

iii. Indian women’s team

skipper Ritu Rani said they

will begin their preparations

for the Olympics instantly

even though they still await

an official confirmation from

the International Hockey

Federation (FIH)

iv. Three teams — The

Netherlands, South Korea

and Australia have secured

their Rio de Janeiro tickets,

but South Korea have already

earned an Olympic slot by

winning the Asian Games

gold medal.

4. Tata Teleservices appoints

Anuraag Srivastava as CFO

i.

Telecom service provider

Tata Teleservices today

announced the appointment

of Anuraag Srivastava as its

Chief Financial Officer with

immediate effect. Prior to

taking up the new role,

Srivastava served Indus

Towers as Senior Vice-

President of Internal Audit

and Assurance.

ii. He brings with him over 20

years of experience as a

finance professional with

leadership roles in finance

and consumer goods and

telecom businesses across

multiple geographies,

including India, the US and

South Asia.

iii. Tata Teleservices has

established itself as a trusted

and one of the most relied

upon innovative telecom

brands in the country and is

rapidly scaling its businesses

across the markets,

Srivastava said.

5. E-filing of ITR: Aadhaar

can be linked for easier

processing

i. Last week, the finance

ministry announced the

commencement of the

electronic filing of income

tax returns for 2015-16. The

department had notified the

revised forms two weeks

back, after the earlier forms

were criticised for seeking

unwieldy additional details

on taxpayers' foreign travel

and dormant bank accounts.

ii. starting this time, the ITR

forms now have a space for

Aadhaar card holders to

provide their Unique

Identification Numbers.

iii. The tax department has

also introduced the new

three-page simplified form

called ITR-2A for those who

may own more than one

residential property , but do

not have any capital gains.

iv. Most of these sites have a

freemium model, where the

basic ITR-1 filing is free.

However, for the more

complicated filings such as

for small businesses and

Page 14 of 72

personal CA assistance, you'll

have to pay.

6. Lewis Hamilton wins 2015

Birtish Grand Prix of F1

i. Mercedes driver Lewis

Hamilton of Britain won 2015

Birtish Grand Prix of Formula

One (F1). This was his fourth

victory of the season and his

second of Birtish Grand Prix.

ii. With this victory Hamilton

became second British F1

driver to win Birtish Grand

Prix two times after David

Coulthard.

iii. The drivers ranking after

British Grand Prix 2015

Lewis Hamilton (Britain) of Mercedes.

Nico Rosberg (Germany) of Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel (Germany) of Ferrari.

Felipe Massa (Brazil) of Williams.

7. US wins Women’s FIFA

World Cup for 3rd time

i. United States (US) won the

2015 FIFA Women’s World

Cup. It is overall third world

cup title of US. In the World

Cup final match played at

Vancouver, Canada US

defeated Japan by 5-2 goals

score.

ii. US captain and skipper

Carli Lloyd scored three

goals. Lauren Holiday and

Tobin Heath scored one goal

each.

iii. The important awards in

women world cup :

Golden Ball Award: Carli

Lloyd (US), Amandine Henry

(France), Aya Miyama

(Japan).

Golden Boot Award: Celia

Sasic (Germany), Carli Lloyd

(US), Anja Mittag (Germany).

Golden Glove Award: Hope

Solo (US).

8. Chile wins Copa America

title 2015 of football for first

time

i. Chile won South America’s

most prestigious football

trophy, the Copa America

title 2015 for the first time. It

is Chile’s first ever

international trophy in

Football. In the final match

played at Santiago de Chile,

the hosts defeated 14 times

champion Argentina by 4-1

goals in the penalty shootout

as regular match had ended

in a goal-less draw.

ii. In the penalty shootout

Matías Fernández, Arturo

Vidal, Alexis Sanchez and

Charles Aránguiz of Chilean

team scored 1 goal each.

While from Argentina team

only Lionel Messi scored goal

in the penalty shoot.

iii. The Copa America (means

America Cup in Spanish and

Portuguese) title is an annual

international football

competition.It is played

between the men’s national

football teams of South

American Football

Confederation (CONMEBOL).

Page 15 of 72

Daily GK Update - 7th July 2015 1. ICRISAT unveils $300

phablet for farmers

i. Farmers now can have

customised tips on their

phablet on the kind of

agricultural inputs they might

require for their field.

ii. Based on the specific soil

health of their small chunks

of lands, scientists at the

International Crops Research

Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics

(ICRISAT) and Government

of Telangana would send

timely messages to the

farmers through the phablet.

iii. The Hyderabad-

headquartered ICRISAT

launched the Green Phablet,

priced at $300 (about Rs.

18,600), for farmers in

Telangana. The institute

would maintain servers to

safe keep the information.

And even if a user loses his

device, he would be able to

get back the information in no

time.

iv. ICRISAT Director-General

David Bergvinson signed a

tripartite agreement on

Tuesday with the

Departments of Agriculture

and Information Technology

to collaborate in transforming

agriculture using digital

technologies.

v. Addressing a gathering

later, Telangana IT Minister

KT Rama Rao said that there

was a need to bring down the

cost of the device to Rs.

10,000 to make it affordable

for farmers.

2. Rajasthan might emulate

Maharashtra's 'Jal Yukt

Shivar Abhiyan'

i. Impressed with the

progress of Maharashtra's

'Jal Yukt Shivar Abhiyan,'

Rajashtan may also adopt

the state's flagship water

conservation and Integrated

water management scheme.

ii. Aiming to learn more about

the state's water conservation

programme, a delegation

from Rajasthan, comprising a

minister and senior

bureaucrats are on

Maharashtra tour and will

visit a few sites where the

project is currently

underway.

iii. "Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan

is an ambitious program of

Chief Minister Devendra

Fadnavis and he has toured

almost each and every

district to visit the project

sites," Pankaja Munde,

minister for water

conservation said.

iv. Meanwhile, after

successfully involving people

in implementing the scheme,

Munde is considering to

organise a 'Jalchetana Yatra'

across the state from 2nd

October.

3. Inshore patrol vessel

Rani Durgavati joins Indian

Coast Guard

i. Inshore patrol vessel Rani

Durgavati was inducted into

the Coast Guard here on

Friday at a ceremony where

the Flag Officer

Commanding-in-Chief of the

Page 16 of 72

Eastern Naval Command,

Vice-Admiral Satish Soni,

was the chief guest.

ii. Vice-Admiral Soni said

coastal security had

undergone a sea change

after 26/11, and added that

all agencies were important

partners in preparedness.

However, the Coast Guard

was the most important one

in coordinating with various

agencies. He described Rani

Durgavati as "another arrow

in the quiver of the Coast

Guard.‖

iii. Rani Durgavati, the third in

a series of five inshore patrol

vessels of the Coast Guard,

is named after the legendary

Gond Queen who defeated

the army of Baz Bahadur of

the Mughal Army.

iv. Hindustan Shipyard Ltd

which had built 174 ships and

repaired 2,000 vessels

across the range, including

submarines.

4. President Pranab

Mukherjee Inaugurates

'Nakshatra Vatika'

i. President Pranab

Mukherjee today inaugurated

a 'Nakshatra Vatika' in the

gardens of Rashtrapati

Nilayam in Hyderabad, one of

the Presidential Retreats. He

took a round of the garden

and watered a plant

representing 'Surya' or the

Sun God.

ii. He was accompanied by

Governor of Telangana and

Andhra Pradesh E S L

Narasimhan and Telangana

Deputy Chief Minister

Mohammad Ali, an official

release said.

iii. The garden will be open to

public along with other

gardens of the Nilayam in the

first week of January 2016.

The layout of 'Nakshatra

Vatika' has been developed

in various geometrical

combinations corresponding

to the Sree Chakra of Vedic

astrology on a 0.91 acre plot.

iv. Each square is planted

with a particular tree or plant

variety that represents the

respective planet and is

placed as per the

astronomical direction. The

first inner circular band is

divided in 12 small circles at

parts of 30A each

corresponding to the 12

Rashi (zodiac sign). Each

has a plant that represents

the particular zodiac sign.

5. India skipper Mithali Raj

completes 5000 runs in

women's ODIs

i. Skipper Mithali Raj scripted

a new chapter in the history

of Indian women's cricket as

she became the first from the

country and overall second to

reach the 5000-run milestone

in one-day internationals.

ii. Her stylish unbeaten knock

of 81 in Bengaluru on

Monday guided the team to

an eight-wicket victory over

New Zealand, thereby

leveling the five-match series

2-2.

iii. With the help of her pivotal

innings, India chased down

the target of 220 only in 44.2

overs. Before Mithali, only

English woman Charlotte

Edwards had completed

5000 runs in ODIs.

iv. Mithali fabulous innings

was decorated with 10 well-

timed boundaries. However,

Harmanpreet Kaur's fireworks

of 32 runs in 25 balls, with

the help of four boundaries

and two giant sixes, also

entertained the crowd.

Harmanpreet ended the

match with a straight six off

spinner Leigh Kasperek.

Page 17 of 72

6. IDBI signs refinance

agreement with Mudra

Bank

i. State-run IDBI Bank today

said it has signed an

agreement with Mudra Bank

for refinancing of loans given

to small enterprises.

ii. As per the agreement, the

Bank will offer credit facilities

up to Rs 10 lakh to micro

enterprises, at a competitive

interest rate under Pradhan

Mantri Mudra Yojana

(PMMY) and Mudra will be

providing refinance

assistance to the bank for

eligible sanctioned loan

cases.

iii. The refinance scheme will

be implemented through all

the branches of the lender.

iv. Last week, Bank of

Maharashtra had also signed

an agreement with Mudra

Bank for refinancing of loans

given to new entrepreneurs

and small businesses.

7. China nominated Jin

Liqun, former Chinese

Finance Minster, for the

post of AIIB President

i. Former Finance Minster of

China Jin Liqun was in news

as on 6 July 2015 he was

nominated by China to be the

first president of the Beijing-

backed Asian Infrastructure

Investment Bank (AIIB).

ii. At present, Jin (65) is

Secretary General of AIIB's

interim secretariat. Earlier, he

has held positions at the

World Bank and was the first

Chinese national to serve as

a vice president at the Japan-

controlled Asian

Development Bank (ADB).

iii. Before joining AIIB in

2014, Jin was chairman of

China International Capital

Corporation, one of the

mainland's largest investment

banks. He holds a master's

degree in English Literature

from the Beijing Foreign

Studies University and was a

Hubert Humphrey Fellow in

Boston University's

economics graduate

programme.

iv. The nominations for the

post of president can be sent

by the regional members by

31 July 2015 and the name of

the president-designate will

be finalised at the 6th Chief

Negotiators' Meeting of the

AIIB founding members in

August 2015.

8. Renowned Urdu novelist

Abdullah Hussain passed

away

i. Renowned Urdu novelist

from Pakistan Abdullah

Hussain died on 4 July 2015

in Lahore after battling with

blood cancer. He was 84.He

is survived by his wife, a son

and a daughter.

ii. He authored the bestseller

and critically acclaimed novel

Udas Naslain, it is considered

as a masterpiece of Urdu

literature. His other famous

novels are Baagh, Nadaar

Loag and short stories Faraib

and Nashaib. Hussain was

also awarded with the Prime

Minister's Lifetime

Achievement Award in 2015

for his work.

iii. Hussai was born as

Mohammad Khan on 14

August 1931 in Gujrat,

Punjab Province of Pakistan.

He did his schooling and

graduation from Zameendar

College of Pakistan.

Page 18 of 72

Daily GK

update: 8 July

2015

1. According to World Bank

Report "MGNREGA"

world’s largest public

works programme

i) World Bank has ranked the

Mahatma Gandhi National

Rural Employment Gurantee

Act (MGNREGA) as the

world‘s largest public works

programme.

ii) It was revealed in recently

released World Bank Group‘s

report titled ‗The State of

Social Safety Nets 2015‗.

Report Highlights MGNREGA

(under Ministry of Rural

Development) provides social

security net to 182 million

beneficiaries i.e. almost 15

per cent of the India‘s

population.

iii) Mid-day meal scheme

(under Ministry of Human

Resource Development) has

been classified as biggest

school feeding programme. It

benefits around 105 million

beneficiaries.

iv) Janani Suraksha Yojna

(Under Ministry of Health and

Family Welfare) is top-most

social security programme

with conditional cash

transfers. It has 78 million

beneficiaries.

v) Indira Gandhi National Old

Age Pension Scheme (under

Ministry of Rural

Development) is the second-

largest unconditional cash

transfer social security

progamme in the world. Five

middle-income countries

running the world‘s largest

social safety net programmes

are India, China, South Africa

and Ethiopia.

2. UGC grants heritage

status to 19 colleges

i) UGC has approved for

financial assistance to 19

colleges for conserving

campuses and specialised

courses related to heritage

ii) The colleges which have

been granted the status

include St.Xavier‘s College,

Mumbai; CMS College

Kottayam; St Joseph College,

Trichy; Khalsa College,

Amritsar; St Bede‘s College,

Shimla, Christ Church

College in Kanpur, Old Agra

College, Agra; Meerut

College, Meerut and Langat

Singh College in Bihar‘s

Muzaffarpur.

iii) Others which have figured

in the list are Govt.Brennan

College, Kerala; University

College in Mangalore, Cotton

College in Guwahati,

Midnapore college in West

Bengal, Govt Medical

Science in Jabalpur, Deccan

Education Society‘s

Fergusson College in Pune,

Hislop college in Nagpur,

Govt. Gandhi Memorial

Science College in Jammu,

Kanya Mahavidyalya in

Jalandhar and St Xavier‘s

College in Kolkata.

3. Infosys signs multi-year

agreement with Deutsche

Bank.

i) Infosys, India‘s second

largest IT services exporter,

on Wednesday announced

that it has signed a multi-year

agreement with Deutsche

Bank.

Page 19 of 72

ii) Under the terms of the

deal, Infosys will provide

services like development,

application maintenance,

digital and mobility, package

implementation and testing

services across the Deutsche

Bank Group, Infosys press

release said.

iii) ―Deutsche Bank is

committed to applying

innovative technology to

enhance its efficiency and

service to clients. Working

with Infosys will help the bank

to achieve these goals,‖ Kim

Hammonds, Global Chief

Information Officer, Deutsche

Bank said.of the company

unless it is required by law.

iv) Deutsche Bank‘s Supplier

Partnership Program was

successfully launched in

June 2014 to concentrate the

most strategic vendors based

on business impact across all

categories of the bank.

4. BRICS Central Banks

Sign Forex Reserves Pool

Pact.

i) The five major emerging

national economies, known

by the acronym BRICS, were

a step closer to setting up a

$100 billion pool of mutual

reserves by signing an

―operational agreement‖

ii) The pool would be drawn

on by the central banks of

Brazil, Russia, India, China

and South Africa whenever

they suffered a shortage of

dollar liquidity, helping them

maintain financial stability,

Russia‘s central bank said.

iii) The Bank of Russia in

Moscow. The central banks

of Brazil, Russia, India, China

and South Africa have signed

an operational pact to set up

a pool of foreign exchange

reserves.

iv) Financial stability has

been Moscow‘s sore point

over the past year as the

Russian economy has

slipped into recession, while

the country has lost access to

global capital markets, due to

Western sanctions, and has

had to drain billions of dollars

from its reserves.

5. Ashok Haldia appointed

MD and CEO of PTC India

Financial Services

i) PTC India Financial

Services said on Wednesday

that Ashok Haldia was

appointed the company‘s

new Managing Director and

Chief Executive Officer.

ii) Haldia has been a part of

the company‘s board as a

whole-time director for the

last seven years. Prior to

joining PTC India Financial

Services, Haldia served as a

Secretary in the Institute of

Chartered Accounts of India.

He has also been a member

of several Central

Government committees.

iii) Dr. Ashok Haldia is Whole

Time Director of PTC India

Financial Services Limited. A

member of the Institute of

Chartered Accountants of

India, Institute of Company

Secretaries of India and the

Institute of Cost and Works

Accountants of India. Dr.

Ashok Haldia has diversified

experience of project

financing and industrial

financing policy, public sector

policy reforms, evaluation

and management, power

sector reform, restructuring

and financing.

6. K7 Computing signs pact

with ICT Academy

i) K7 Computing Pvt. Ltd, a

Chennai-based provider of

safe and secure computing

experience, has signed a

memorandum with ICT

Academy of Tamil Nadu to

jointly conduct 12 power

seminars across the state

and ICT awareness week in

six cities.

ii) The seminar will be held in

Chennai, Coimbatore,

Madurai, Tiruchirapalli,

Salem and Tirunelveli and

will highlight the importance

of cyber security and the

latest developments within

that spectrum, says a press

release from K7.

iii) The academy, a

Government of India,

Government of Tamil Nadu

Page 20 of 72

and Industry initiative, has

introduced a platform for all

the stakeholders to discuss

improving the industry-

institute interaction on the

key issues.

7. India, Kazakhstan launch

first drilling at Satpayev oil

block of OVL

i) India and Kazakhstan

launched the first exploratory

drilling at Satpayev oil block

owned by India‘s ONGC

Videsh Limited (OVL) and

Kazakhstan company

KazMunaiGaz. It was jointly

launched by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi and

Kazakhstan premier Karim

Massimov in Astana, Kazakh

capital.

ii) Satpayev oil block is an

offshore field located in the

Northern Caspian Sea. It has

potential reserves estimated

at 1.8 billion barrels crude oil

and natural gas.

1. eMudhra launches eSign

Services

i. eMudhra Limited, a leading

certifying firm in the country

for digital signatures

launched first of its kind

eSign services in the country

as part of the Digital India

Vision.

ii. ESign is an online

electronic signature service

which can facilitate an

Aadhaar holder to digitally

sign a document within

seconds. The signatures

generated by eSign are

legally valid and secure

under the Information

Technology Act, 2000

iii. As part of the Digital India

Vision, Prime Minister

launched eSign services in

the country on July 1st.

iv. ESign can "revolutionise"

the way business and

governance is conducted in

the country and pave the way

for a digital transformation

into a paperless environment,

eMudhra said in a statement.

v. By using eMlocker along

with eSign, one can store

documents such as PAN

cards, Aadhaar cards,

electricity bills or any other

documents electronically.

2. Satish Pillai, new MD &

CEO of CIBIL

i. Credit Information Bureau

India Ltd (CIBIL), India‘s

leader in credit information,

has appointed Satish Pillai as

its new Managing Director

and Chief Executive Officer

on Thursday.

ii. Pillai succeeds Arun

Thukral who retires this year

after a decade. Satish Pillai

has been serving CIBIL in the

capacity of Chief Operating

Officer for more than four

years where he was

responsible for product

development and bureau

operations.

iii. Earlier, Pillai led

TransUnion‘s operations in

India overlooking the creation

of the solutions team that

supported generic and

custom analytics and

decisioning technologies,

including the launch of the

CIBIL TransUnion Score-

India‘s first generic scoring

model, CIBIL said in a

statement.

Page 21 of 72

iv. CIBIL, India‘s largest

credit information bureau,

maintains credit information

on more than 406 million

consumer accounts and 22

million business accounts

and has a membership base

of over 1400 banks and credit

institutions.

3. Lord Kamlesh Patel

becomes first British-Asian

appointee to ECB Director

i. Professor Lord Kamlesh

Patel has become the first

British Asian to be appointed

as Director of England and

Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

ii. He succeeds Lord Morris

of Handsworth, who had

stepped down after 11 years

as an ECB Director. Lord

Patel was born to Indian

parents in Nairobi, Kenya. He

later had moved to United

Kingdom. He hails from

Bradford and is a leading

voice on health, social care

and community cohesion in

UK.

iii. Presently, he is Labour

Peer in the House of Lords

and professor at the

University of East London.

He is also Chair of the

Bradford Teaching Hospitals

NHS Foundations Trust and

is a former Chairman of the

Mental Health Act

Commission.

iv. He had played cricket for

number of local clubs and

was allrounder. He had

retired in 1998 from cricket

after taking all 10 wickets in a

league game. He formerly

had worked for the Yorkshire

Cricket Academy as a part-

time coach.

4. Union Government

appoints Sriram

Kalyanaraman as MD and

CEO of NHB

i. Union government has

appointed Sriram

Kalyanaraman as the

Managing Director (MD) and

Chief Executive Officer

(CEO) of National Housing

Bank (NHB) for a period of

five years.

ii. With this he became the

first person from private

sector to be appointed as

head of a public sector

financial institution.

iii. Presently, Kalyanaraman

is director-business

development Equifax Credit

Information Services. Prior to

joining Equifax, he was

Director, Business Clients

and Asset Products at

Deutsche Bank India.

iv. NHB is apex regulator for

housing finance sector and a

wholly owned subsidiary of

Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

5. Indian Railway’s

launches Mobile ticketing

app for suburban

commuters in Mumbai

i. Indian Railways launched a

mobile ticketing application

for unreserved tickets for

commuters in Western

Railway. It was launched by

Union Railway Minister

Suresh Prabhu. This mobile

ticketing service will cover 35

stations between the 123 km

long Churchgate -Dhauroad

and facilitate a hassle free

travel for lakhs of daily

passengers in Mumbai.

ii. The app is based for both

Android and Windows

platforms and it can be

downloaded from Google

Play Store or Windows Store

by the user.

iii. The app provides

necessary on-screen alerts to

guide the passenger during

the booking process.

Payment for booking the

ticket can be done through

Page 22 of 72

railway wallet feature in the

App. Passenger will get ticket

confirmation screen after

booking the ticket.

6. Sanjeev Nandan Sahai

appointed as Delhi's new

Home Secretary

i. Senior IAS officer Sanjeev

Nandan Sahai was today

appointed as the new Home

Secretary of Delhi, ending a

bitter tussle between

Lieutenant Governor Najeeb

Jung and the AAP

government.

ii. The order appointing

Sahai, a 1986 batch Union

Territory cadre officer, was

issued by Union Home

Ministry, official sources

said.

iii. Sahai's name was zeroed

in as a compromise

candidate for the high post

after continuous tussle

between the LG and the

Arvind Kejriwal-led

government.

iv. Pal was removed by the

AAP government after he

signed a notification

appointing Joint

Commissioner of Delhi Police

M K Meena as new chief of

Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB)

following Jung's order.

7. Essar Oil signs pact to

sell 49% stake to Russia's

Rosneft

i. Russian oil firm Rosneft

will buy 49 per cent stake in

Essar Oil, the firm that owns

India's second biggest oil

refinery, for an undisclosed

amount, the Ruia-owned firm

said on Thursday.

ii. The proposed transaction

is conditional upon various

factors such as due diligence,

determination of the

transaction price, execution

of definitive transaction

documents and receipt of

requisite approvals

iii. Also, a Long Term Crude

Oil Supply Agreement by the

two firms in was signed in

Ufa, Russia for import of 10

million tonnes a year of crude

oil for a period of 10 years.

iv. This contract has been

signed in pursuance to the

Key Terms executed

between the two companies

in December 2014 at New

Delhi.

8. Indian athletes win more

than 150 medals at World

Police & Fire Games

i. Indian athletes put up an

impressive show at the 2015

World Police & Fire Games

which concluded here on

Sunday, winning more than

150 medals.

ii. Hosts United States won

by far the most medals,

1,777, including nearly 700

golds. Canada finished

second with nearly 430

medals.

iii. The Indian athletes‘s tally

included 89 golds and 50

silvers. They competed in

only seven sporting

categories: athletics,

wrestling, boxing, judo,

archery, swimming and

shooting.

iv. Kaur, an assistant sub

inspector with Punjab Police,

earned 5 gold medals in the

track and field events,

winning every event she

competed in. CRPF‘s Mishra,

who was taking part in her

fifth Police & Fire Games,

won an impressive 6 golds

and 2 silvers in swimming

events.

Page 23 of 72

1. India gets full membership

of Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation

i. India today bagged the full

membership of the Shanghai

Cooperation Organisation

(SCO) along with Pakistan.

ii. Prime Minister Narendra

Modi congratulated Pakistan on

joining the SCO.

Modi is on a three-day visit to

Russia to attend the BRICS and

SCO summits

iii. Indian PM Narendra Modi

has accepted an invitation from

his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz

Sharif to attend a regional

summit in Islamabad next year.

2. Bharat Electronics-made

Akash inducted into Indian

Air Force

i) Defence PSU Bharat

Electronics made Akash

inducted into Indian Air

Force.

ii) BEL, the nodal agency and

supplies major sub-systems,

today at a ceremony held at

Air Force Station, Gwalior,

handed over the missile

system.

iii) Akash is a great success

story of the ‗Make in India‘

initiative and Bharat

Electronics Limited is proud

to be a part of it. Barring a

few electronic components,

every bit of Akash has the

‗Made in India' tag. Almost 92

per cent of the total cost of

inputs is sourced within India.

iv)The induction of Akash into

the Indian Air Force was

marked by the symbolic

handing over of the ‗key‘ of

the weapon system by S K

Sharma, Chairman and

Managing Director, BEL, to

the Defence Minister,

Manohar Parrikar, who in turn

handed over the key to Air

Chief Marshal Arup Raha,

Chief of the Air Staff. S

Christopher, Director

General, DRDO, was

present. The ceremony was

also attended by senior

dignitaries of the Ministry of

Defence, Indian Air Force,

DRDO and Defence PSUs.

3. Russian cosmonaut

Gennady Padalka sets

record for spending

longest time in space

i. Russian cosmonaut

Gennady Padalka has set a

Guinness World Record for

spending longest time in

space with a total of 804 days

as on July 2015. With this he

broke the previous record of

803 days, nine hours and 41

minutes set by Russian

cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev

(now retired) across six

missions from 1998 to 2005.

ii. Gennady Padalka was

selected as a cosmonaut

candidate at the Gagarin

Cosmonaut Training Center

in 1989.

iii. Currently, he is the

commander of the

International Space Station

(ISS) which is orbiting the

Earth. He is associated with

ISS from 2000 and had taken

part in various space

expeditions.

iv. Padalka is going to return

to Earth in September 2015.

When he will return to Earth,

he would have spent record

total 877 days or around 2.5

years in space.

Page 24 of 72

4. Uttarakhand gets India’s

first earthquake early

warning system

i. Uttarakhand became first

Indian state to install a

system to detect earthquakes

and disseminate warnings.

The first system has been

installed in its capital

Dehradun which will issue

warnings 1-40 seconds

before earthquakes of

magnitude 5 or more occur.

ii. The system is designed

and manufactured by Italian

firm, Space Dynamics which

already has installed it in

Japan, Italy and US.

iii. The system is

incorporated with sensors

which are capable to detect P

(Primary) and S (Secondary)

waves generated during an

earthquake. It is capable to

detect the harmless P wave,

which travels faster than the

S wave for advance warning.

iv. The second system will be

established at Pithoragarh in

the Kumaon region of

Uttarakhand. According to

the Bureau of Indian

Standards (BIS), Uttarakhand

falls under seismic zone V

i.e. High-Risk Seismic Zone.

Apart from it, Jammu and

Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,

Rann of Kutch (Gujarat),

Northern Bihar and Andaman

& Nicobar Islands also fall

under this seismic zone.

5. State Bank of Travancore

(SBT) has launched the

‘SBT NRI Family Card'

i. State Bank of Travancore

(SBT) has launched the ‗SBT

NRI Family Card,‘ a prepaid

card for resident Indians –

family

member/dependent/acquaint

ance of NRIs.

ii. The prepaid card can be

used for cash withdrawals

through ATM, online

payments and POS (point of

sale) payments at merchant

establishments. Jeevandas

Narayan, Managing Director,

launched the card at a

function held at the NRI

Premium Banking Branch of

the bank here.

iii. A card holder in India can

now easily receive

remittances from an NRI by

way of periodic recharge

through the NRI‘s internet

banking account.

6. Exim Bank, BRICS

member development

banks ink MoU with New

Development Bank

i. Export-Import Bank of India

(Exim Bank) today said it has

signed a multilateral

agreement to cooperate with

New Development Bank

(NDB) along with other

member development banks

of BRICS nations.

ii. New Development Bank

(NDB) is promoted by the

BRICS nations -- Brazil,

Russia, India, China, and

South Africa. The agreement

was signed between Exim

Bank Chairman and

Managing Director

Yaduvendra Mathur and

Chairpersons or Presidents

of other member

development banks of BRICS

in Ufa, Russia during the

BRICS Summit 2015, a bank

release said.

iii. Exim Bank also signed a

cooperation agreement with

Brazilian Development Bank

(BNDES).This MoU is aimed

at sharing of knowledge,

information and best

practices; capacity building of

personnel, including project

development skills; promotion

of joint events, research and

programmes; development of

effective and sustainable

financing solutions for

projects of mutual interest,

7. PM Modi proposes ‘Das

Kadam: Ten Steps for the

Future’ for BRICS nations

The 10 steps (10 kadam)

suggested by PM Modi are:

1. Trade fair

2. Railway Research Centre

3. Cooperation among

supreme audit institutions

4. Digital Initiative

5. Agricultural Research

Centre

6. State/Local Government's

Forum

7. Cooperation amongst

cities in field of Urbanisation

8. BRICS Sports Council

9. Annual Sports Meet

10. BRICS film festival

Page 25 of 72

India will be hosting the 8th

BRICS summit in 2016

Daily GK

update: 11th

July 2015

1. Isro's PSLV rocket

powers five British

satellites into orbit

i. India ferried five British

satellites into orbit on its

space warhorse PSLV-C28

that blasted off from Isro‘s

Satish Dhawan Space Centre

at Srikarihota in Andhra

Pradesh on Friday night.

ii. The rocket blasted off

sharp at 9:58pm from the first

launch pad with five satellites

together weighing around

1,440kg, marking the space

agency's heaviest

commercial mission so far.

iii. The five international

satellites were launched as

part of the arrangement

entered into between DMC

International Imaging

(DMCii), a wholly owned

subsidiary of SSTL, UK and

Antrix Corporation Limited.

iv. These satellites can image

any target on the Earth's

surface every day. Major

application areas include

surveying the resources on

earth and its environment,

managing urban

infrastructure and monitoring

disasters.

v. The last such major launch

by Isro was on June 30, 2014

when France's SPOT 7

satellite weighing 714kg was

carried by a PSLV rocket.

2. On World Population

Day, Indians number

1,274,234,538

i. On World Population Day,

Indians numbered

1,274,234,538 at 2.30 p.m.

on Saturday, constituting an

estimated 17.23 percent of

the overall global inhabitation

of humans, as per data

available with an independent

socio-economic statistical

organisation.

ii. According to Indiastat.com,

which compiled secondary

level socio-economic

statistical information on India

based on official figures, the

numbers were based on data

from the National

Commission on Population

and the US Census Bureau.

iii. India has been forecast to

overtake China as the most

populous country by 2028, as

per official estimates. But the

government also says that

population growth rate of the

country has declined

significantly from 21.54

percent for the decade of

1991-2000 to 17.64 percent

during 2001-11.

iv. Out of 36 states and Union

territories, 24 have reached

population stabilisation.

3. Nationwide model

science labs programme

launched by Dr A P J Abdul

Kalam

i. To inculcate scientific

temperament among

students, government has

proposed to set up ‗model

science labs‘ across the

country, beginning with the

North East region. The labs

aim to ignite passion and

nurture spirit of enquiry and

creativity for mathematics

and science in students

between 6-18 years of age.

Page 26 of 72

ii. The initiative would be

launched through the

Department of Science and

Technology, HRD Minister

Smriti Irani said while

addressing a gathering of

students through video-

conferencing during the

launch the Rashtriya

Avishkar Abhiyan programme

in New Delhi. ―Let us begin

with North East by setting up

one model lab for school

children.

iii. Former President APJ

Abdul Kalam launched the

programme in the presence

of Minister of State of HRD

Ram Shankar Katharia,

Minister of State for

Development of North

Eastern Region and

Department of Space

Jitendra Singh, Science and

Technology Minister Harsh

Vardhan.

4. MPEDA launched

mobile-based applications

to help farmers capture

data through mobile

i. The Marine Products

Export Development

Authority (MPEDA) on 9 July

2015 launched two mobile

based applications to help

farmers get prices on shrimp

and capture data on

aquaculture through mobile.

Moreover, MPEDA also

revamped its website and

launched an online

registration portal for

exporters.

ii. MPEDA is a nodal agency

for promotion of marine

exports from India under

Union Ministry of Commerce

and Industry.

iii. With this application,

MPEDA will provide price

related market information of

Vannamei shrimp and BT

shrimp to farmers over SMS

on a missed call to a

predetermined number. On

receipt of the missed call,

information on price of

Vannamei shrimp and BT

shrimp for different grades in

major markets like Japan,

USA and EU will be provided

by SMS.

iv. The authority also

launched a mobile

applications named mKRISHI

that will provide an easy tool

for book keeping, advisory

services and weather

informations. It is an Android

mobile application which has

been developed by MPEDA

and TCS Innovation Lab,

Mumbai (as part of its CSR

initiative).

5. Prince Saud al-Faisal,

World’s longest serving

Foreign Minister passes

away

i. Prince Saud al-Faisal,

former foreign minister of

Saudi Arabia passed away in

United States. He was 75. He

was the Saudi kingdom‘s

foreign minister for 4 decades

(from 1975 to 2015). He had

retired in April 2015 and was

succeeded by Adel al-Jubeir.

ii. He had served under four

Saudi kings and had

advanced the kingdom‘s

foreign policy, especially after

the 9/11 attacks in US. It

should be noted that he was

world‘s longest-serving

foreign minister.

iii. Saud al-Faisal was son of

King Faisal and was born on

2 January 1940 in Taif near

Mecca. In the 1960s, he

started his career as

consultant for Petroleum

Ministry of Saudi Kingdom.

6. Famous Hollywood actor

Umer Sharif passed away

Page 27 of 72

i. Actor Omar Sharif, famous

for his title role as Doctor

Zhivago in the Oscar-winning

film, has died at the age of

83. Egyptian state television

reported.

ii. Sharif‘s agent also

confirmed his death revealing

that the actor, who played a

wide range of dashing and

dignified characters, had

been suffering from

Alzheimer‘s disease.

iii. Sharif was one of the few

Arab actors who succeed to

make it to Hollywood. He won

international fame and an

Oscar-nomination for best

supporting actor for his role in

the 1962 film ―Lawrence of

Arabia‖ with Peter O‘Toole.

7. Record-breaking Rabada

helps Proteas crush

Bangladesh

i. Kagiso Rabada became

only the second man in

history to claim a hat trick on

debut as South Africa

thrashed Bangladesh by

eight wickets in a rain-hit first

one-day international in

Dhaka on Friday.

ii. Rabada finished with 6-16,

the best ever one-day haul by

a debutante, as Bangladesh

were folded 160 in 36.3 overs

after the hosts opted to bat

first on a rain-soaked pitch at

the Sher-e-Bangla National

Stadium.

iii. Rabada, selected ahead of

experienced Morne Morkel,

struck in the third ball of his

second over when he sent

the off-stump of opener

Tamim Iqbal cartwheeling.

Daily GK update : 13th July 2015 1. India, Kyrgyzstan ink 4

pacts during Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s visit

i. India and Kyrgyzstan have

signed 4 pacts/ agreements

to enhance bilateral

cooperation between the two

nations. These agreements

were inked during the two-

day visit of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi to Kyrgystan

as part of his official visit to 5

Central Asian countries and

Russia.

ii. Agreement on Defence

Cooperation: It was signed to

deepen cooperation between

both countries in matters

relating to security, defence,

military education and

training. It also covers

provisions to conduct of joint

military exercises, exchange

of military instructors,

exchange of experience and

information and observers

etc.

iii. MoU and Cooperation in

the field of Elections: It was

signed to deepen cooperation

in matters relating to

legislation on elections and

referendums. It also covered

rights of elections process

stakeholders, modern

systems and technologies as

well as other issues of

election administration.

iv. MoU on cooperation in the

sphere of Standards: Seeks

to strengthen and enhance

technical cooperation in the

fields of conformity

assessment, standardization

and sharing of expertise on

mutual trade.

Page 28 of 72

v. Agreement on Cooperation

in Culture: To deepen cultural

cooperation between both

countries in areas such as

preservation of cultural

heritage, theatre, youth

festivals and organisation of

folk arts.

2. India, Turkmenistan ink 7

pacts to enhance regional

cooperation & connectivity

i. India and Turkmenistan

have signed 7 pacts/

agreements to enhance

bilateral cooperation between

the two nations. These

agreements were inked

during the two-day visit of

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi to Turkmenistan as part

of his official visit to 5 Central

Asian countries and Russia.

ii.Following are the list of

agreements :

MoU on Supply of Chemical

Products: It was signed

between the India‘s

‗Rashtriya Chemicals and

Fertilizers Limited‘ and the

Turkmenistan‘s

Turkmenhimiya‘.

MoU on Foreign Service

Institutes of both nations and

it was signed between

Foreign Service Institute of

the Ministry of External

Affairs of India and Institute

of International Relations of

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

of Turkmenistan.

Agreement on Cooperation in

the field of Sports: It was

signed between Union

Ministry of Youth Affairs And

Sports of India and State

Committee for Sport of

Turkmenistan.

Programme of Cooperation In

Science And Technology: It

was signed between both

governments for the period of

two years viz. 2015-2017.

MoU on Cooperation in Yoga

and Traditional Medicine: It

was signed between

respective entities of both

governments. MoU on

Cooperation in the Field Of

Tourism: It was signed

between respective entities of

both governments.

Agreement in the field of

Defence: It was signed

between respective entities of

both governments.

3. Tata Steel’s West Bokaro

Division conferred with

Golden Peacock

Environment Management

Award 2015

i. Tata Steel's West Bokaro

Division was on 11 July 2015

conferred with the Golden

Peacock Environment

Management Award

(GPEMA) 2015 in New Delhi.

It was presented by the

Union Environment, Forest

and Climate Change Minister

Prakash Javadekar to Sanjay

Rajoria, General Manager of

West Bokaro, Tata Steel of

Jharkand.

ii .Tata Steel won the coveted

award for its responsible

environmental practices and

resource management while

upgrading the skills of

employees through training

as new technologies evolve.

iii. GMR Hyderabad

International Airport Ltd has

been declared as the winner

of ‗Golden Peacock

Environment Management

Award (GPEMA)‘ for the year

2015 for achievements in the

field of environment

management at Rajiv Gandhi

International Airport.

iv. Golden Peacock

Environment Management

Award is annual award and

presented for attaining

significant achievements in

the field of Environment

Management during the

previous year. It is awarded

to manufacturing as well as

service organizations both in

the Public and Private

domain located in India.

v. Krishnapatnam Port ,

recognized as one of India's

largest ports and ranked

amongst world's finest ports

Page 29 of 72

connecting the eastern and

western parts of the world,

has been bestowed with the

Golden Peacock

Environment Management

Award.

vi. Yes Bank received the

2014 award.

4. SBI partners with

bankbazaar.com

i. State Bank of India (SBI),

the largest bank in India, has

partnered online financial

product aggregator

‗bankbazaar.com‘ along with

the bank‘s subsidiary SBI

CAP Securities.

ii. Under this arrangement,

the bank will be able to

display its home loan

products on bankbazaar.com,

generate leads and provide

door-step delivery, thus

improving the response time.

Bankbazaar.com offers end

to end solutions to the home

loan seekers from getting the

customised quotes,

comparison of the offers and

submission of online

application to SBI

iii. This partnership will help

the bank to provide yet

another online platform to the

prospective tech savvy home

loan borrowers to apply for

SBI Home Loans online. iv.

The tie up with

bankbazaar.com also

highlights SBI‘s strategy to

augment its Home Loan

portfolio by leveraging digital

channels and increasing its

presence in the digital/online

space, it added.

5. Miss USA 2015: Miss

Oklahoma Olivia Jordan

Wins the Crown!

i. Miss Oklahoma, Olivia

Jordan, won big at the 2015

Miss USA pageant on

Sunday, July 12, beating out

50 women to win the crown.

ii. Jordan, 26, made it

through the fierce rounds of

the competition, sliding into

the Top 15 after preliminary

events and captivating

viewers as she worked it in

the live show's bikini and

evening gown rounds.

iii. The Oklahoma native

impressed during the

question portion of the

competition, which was held

in Baton Rouge, La. She

spoke first on the issue of

race relations in the United

States, stressing the need for

improved dynamics, and later

went on to name Oprah and

Harriet Tubman as two

women she would like to see

on the $10 bill.

iv. Jordan was followed in the

top five by first runner-up

Miss Texas Ylianna Guerra,

second runner-up Miss

Rhode Island Anea Garcia,

third runner-up Miss Nevada

Brittany McGowan, and

fourth runner-up Miss

Maryland Mamé Adjei.

6. Green Signals: Ecology,

Growth, and Democracy in

India written by Jairam

Ramesh

i. The

book Green Signals: Ecology,

Growth, and Democracy in

India was in news in the

second week of July 2015. It

was written by former Union

Environment and Forest

Minister (Independent

Charge) Jairam Ramesh.

ii. It unveils the story of

environmental policy making

in India from the perspective

of a pivotal decision maker.

Page 30 of 72

iii. It chronicles India's

environmental decision-

making since the 1991

movement, telling the story of

how, for the first time, the

doors of the environment

ministry were opened to

voices, hitherto unheard, into

the policy-making process.

iv. At present, Jairam

Ramesh is Chair of the

Future Earth Engagement

Committee, a research

platform on global

sustainability. He is also a

member of the Rajya Sabha

from Andhra Pradesh.

7. Indigenously developed

Nag anti-tank missile

tested from helicopter

platform

i. In fresh trials, India has

test-fired its indigenously

developed Nag anti-tank

guided missile, which can hit

a target upto seven km, from

a helicopter at a firing range

in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

ii. Three-round trial of

helicopter-launched Nag

(HeliNa) missile were

conducted yesterday at the

Chandhan firing range.

iii. HeliNa is a helicopter-

launched version of Nag and

has been developed by the

Defence Research and

Development Organisation

(DRDO) under the Integrated

Guided Missile Development

Programme (IGMDP).

iv. The missile was aimed at

hitting targets at varied

distances of upto 7 km.

8. Isro's Gagan Satellite-

Based Navigation System

Launched

i. India on Monday launched

its satellite-based air

navigation services, thereby

joining a select league

comprising the US, Europe

Union (EU) and Japan which

have similar systems. Civil

Aviation Minister Ashok

Gajapati Raju dedicated the

services to the nation in a

ceremony in New Delhi.

ii. The system - known as

Gagan or global positioning

system (GPS) aided geo-

augmented navigation

system - is intended to

provide accurate navigation

services over the Bay of

Bengal, South East Asia,

Indian Ocean, Middle East,

and African regions.

iii. Gagan works by

augmenting and relaying data

from GPS satellites with the

help of two augmentation

satellites and 15 earth-based

reference stations.

iv. Gagan also fills a vital gap

between EU's "European

Geostationary Navigation

Overlay Service" (EGNOS)

and Japan's "Multi-functional

Satellite Augmentation

System" (MSAS) coverage

areas.

9. Mumbai Ranji cricketer

Hiken Shah suspended by

BCCI

i. Mumbai Ranji cricketer

Hiken Shah has been

suspended by the BCCI with

immediate effect after being

found guilty of breaching

BCCI‘s Anti-Corruption Code.

His involvement in any form

of cricket, affiliated with the

BCCI stands suspended till

the time the disciplinary

committee of the BCCI

passes appropriate orders.

ii. The BCCI press release

says that Hiken Shah made a

corrupt approach to one of

his colleagues - Pravin

Tambe of IPL franchise

Rajasthan Royals before the

2015 edition of the IPL.

iii. Tambe had immediately

informed the incident to his

franchise team. Rajasthan

Royals followed the process

of informing the incident to

the Anti Corruption Unit of the

BCCI. Based on the

information, BCCI President,

Mr. Jagmohan Dalmiya,

instructed ACU to conduct an

Page 31 of 72

immediate inquiry into the

matter.

iv. Hiken Shah has played 37

First-class matches in which

he has scored 2160 runs at

42.35 with six hundreds and

eight fifties. He has played

six ODIs and T20Is each and

averages 15 and 32.40

respectively. Last year, he

lost his place in the Mumbai

Ranji side and earlier this

year in January, he was

unhappy with his omission.

Daily GK update : 14th July 2015 1. IPL scam: Apex court

suspends Rajasthan Royals,

CSK for two years.

i. The Supreme Court-appointed

Justice R.M. Lodha Committee

on Tuesday suspended Indian

Premier League (IPL) teams

Chennai Super Kings (CSK)and

Rajasthan Royals (RR) from the

League for two years.

ii. The committee on Tuesday

also imposed sanctions on

Gurunath Meiyappan, and Raj

Kundra who were the face of

these IPL franchises respectively

and were found to have indulged

in betting activities. It declared

them ineligible for participation

from cricket activities for life.

iii. The committee has stressed

that the betting activities of

these individuals had brought

the game of cricket, BCCI and

IPL into disrepute.

iv. The Lodha committee was

formed by the Supreme Court in

its judgment in the IPL betting

case on January 22. This

judgment confirmed the

Supreme Court-appointed

Justice Mukul Mudgal

committee's findings and held

Mr. Meiyappan and Mr. Kundra

guilty of betting.

2. Legendary music composer

MS Viswanathan passes away.

i. Legendary music director MS

Viswanathan, who had scored

music for over 1,000 films,

passed away at his residence

early this morning following

illness.

ii. 88-year-old Viswanathan was

being treated at a private

hospital here for geriatric

problems. The music director is

survived by four sons and three

daughters.

iii. Born in Palakkad in Kerala,

Viswanathan had scored music

for over 1,000 films, some of

them in association with his

partner Ramamurthy. Later they

parted ways.

3. Noted artist Sayed Haider

Raza conferred with France’s

de la Lgion dHonneur.

i. Noted artist Sayed Haider

Raza was conferred with highest

French Civilian Award

Page 32 of 72

Commandeur de la Lgion

dHonneur (the Legion of

Honour).

ii. Raza was bestowed with this

award for his peerless

achievements in transcending all

boundaries, forging ties between

France and India and for

continuing artistic quest

straddling nations, religions,

cultures and philosophies.

iii. Born in 1922 in Madhya

Pradesh. He started his artistic

career at the age of 12.

iv. la Lgion dHonneur (the

Legion of Honour) is the highest

civilian award given by the

French Government.

4. India and Georgia signed

MoU for cooperation in field

of Election Management

i)India and Georgia on 13 July

2015 signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) for

cooperation in the field of

election management and

administration. The MoU was

signed by Chief Election

Commissioner of India Nasim

Zaidi and Tamar Zhvania,

Chairperson, Central Election

Commission, Georgia.

ii) Till now, Election

Commission of India has signed

twenty MoUs with Election

Management Bodies and

international organizations

across the world.

iii) Major purpose of the MoU

between India and Georgia:

a) Promotion of exchanges of

knowledge and experience in

electoral processes

b) Exchange of information,

materials, expertise and training

of personnel

c) Production and distribution of

materials pertaining to electoral

systems, voting technology,

voters‘ education and awareness

d) Participation of women and

minorities in electoral process.

5. IT department launched

OTP to e-file Income Tax

i) The Income Tax (IT)

Department on 13 July 2015

launched One Time Password

(OTP) based e-filing verification

system for taxpayers. This OTP

will help in ending the practice

of sending paper

acknowledgement, called ITR-

V, through post to the I-T

Central Processing Centre

(CPC) based in Bengaluru.

ii) The facility can be accessed

using internet banking, Aadhaar

number, ATM and email.Central

Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

in its notification said that any

taxpayer, whose income is 5

lakh rupees or below per annum

and has no refund claims, can

straightaway generate the

'Electronic Verification Code'

(EVC) for e-filing and

validating their Income Tax

Return (ITR) through their

registered mobile number and e-

mail id with the department.

iii) Once logged in on the

banking portal, the taxpayer will

be sent the EVC to his mobile

number provided in the official

e-filing web portal of the

department which they will put

in their ITR for final

submission.

6. MoD and MSDE signed

MoU to increase employability

of ex-servicemen.

i)The Union Ministry of

Defence (MoD) and Union

Ministry of Skill Development

and Entrepreneurship (MSDE)

on 13 July 2015 signed a

Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU) to facilitate strategic

partnership on skill development

and entrepreneurship.

ii) The MoU was signed by the

Defence Secretary Shri G

Mohan Kumar and his

counterpart from MSDE Shri

Sunil Arora. The MoU will

provide impetus to use the skills

of servicemen for the country

when they retire from the Armed

Forces.

iii) The MoU will be a harbinger

of skill development in the

country that will align the

Page 33 of 72

Armed Forces and the civilian

field.

7. Lt General Man Mohan

Singh Rai appointed as Vice-

Chief of Indian Army

i) Lieutenant General Man

Mohan Singh Rai was on 13

July 2014 appointed as the Vice-

Chief of the Indian Army. Rai

will succeed Lt Gen Philip

Campose, who will

superannuate the office on 31

July 2015.

ii) Presently, Rai is working as

the Eastern Army Commander.

He is from the Corps of

Engineers and is an alumnus of

National Defence Academy,

Khadakwasla. He was

commissioned from the Indian

Military Academy (IMA),

Dehradun, on 15 December

1976.

8. Former BSFI president

Pashupatinath Roy died.

i)Former Billiards and Snooker

Federation of India (BSFI)

President Pashupatinath Roy

died on 13 July 2015 following

a cardiac arrest at a private

hospital in Kolkata. He was 76.

ii) Roy was also the president of

West Bengal Badminton

Association for more than five

decades after he toook over

charge from his father B K Roy

in late 1960's.

iii) He also served BSFI in

various capacities. He was the

secretary and advisor at BSFI

for some time and later went on

to join the Asian body of the

game as Secretary and President.

9. Operation Talaash for

missing Dornier ends.

i) Thirty-five days after a Coast

Guard aircraft on a surveillance

sortie disappeared off the

Chennai coast with three crew,

the search operation has been

―terminated‖ after recovery of

human remains, parts of the

plane and personal effects.

ii)―Eighty per cent of the

aircraft‘s parts have been

retrieved, besides human bones

and wrist watches from the sea

bed,‖ I G Coast Guard S P

Sharma said here today, adding

the search operation was

―terminated‖ last night.

iii) The authorities have called

the families of the crew for

carrying out DNA tests for

identification of the deceased

and collecting the remains and

personal effects.

1. PM Modi launches 'Skill

India' campaign

i) Prime Minister Narendra

Modi on Wednesday launched

the 'Skill India Mission' in the

national capital. The Prime

Minister will formally launch

the National Skill Development

Mission, unveil the new

National Policy for Skill

Development and

Entrepreneurship 2015 and roll

out on all-India flagship scheme.

Page 34 of 72

ii) Narendra Modi‘s ambitious

Skill India Mission targets 40.2

crore workers by 2022 .Pushing

ahead with its ambitious Skill

India mission, Prime Minister

Narendra Modi will launch

'Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas

Yojana' on Wednesday to create

skilled manpower at grass-root

level by providing them

vocational, technical and skill

development education.

iii)These include a redesigned

Model Skill Loan Scheme, Skill

Card for persons certified under

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas

Yojana and the new National

Policy for Skill Development.

2.Boeing, Tata Advanced

Systems ink aerospace

partnership deal.

i) A collaboration in aerospace

and defence manufacturing and

potential integrated systems

development opportunities has

been inked between Tata

Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL)

and Boeing. The deal will

include unmanned aerial

vehicles.

ii) The framework agreement

was signed by Shelley Lavender,

President of Boeing Military

Aircraft, and Sukaran Singh,

Managing Director and Chief

Executive Officer of TASL.

iii) TAL has also provided

ground support equipment for

the C-17 Globemaster III

strategic airlifter.

3. India’s first railway-line

built under PPP model

inaugurated in Gujarat

i) Minister of Railways Suresh

Prabhu on 14 July 2015

inaugurated the broad-gauge

railway-line between

Gandhidham and Tuna-Tekra

Port in Gujarat by flagging off a

goods train.

ii) The rail line is India‘s first

railway-line built with private

sector participation under Non-

Government Railway (NGR)

Policy 2012 of Indian Railways.

The rail line has been built at a

cost of approx 185 crore rupees

for M/s Kandla Port Trust (KPT)

to bring about better and faster

rail connectivity to Port of Tuna

& Tekra.

iii) The rail-line between

Gandhidham, a town in Kutch

district of Gujarat, and Tuna-

Tekra Port, a port 20-km west of

Kandla in Gulf of Kutch, was

funded by M/s Kandla Port

Trust (KPT) and Western

Railway Zone of Indian

Railways coordinated and

pioneered it.

4. Maharashtra assembly

passed Guarantee of Public

Services Bill, 2015

i)Maharashtra legislative

assembly on 14 July 2015

passed the Maharashtra

Guarantee of Public Services

Bill, 2015. The bill was

unanimously passed by the

assembly in the absence of

Congress and NCP members.

ii)Features of the Bill

• It empowers citizens to avail

their rights in stipulated time

with less efforts and cost.

• It will pave way for curbing

corruption, bringing

transparency and empowering

citizens.

Page 35 of 72

• It ensures essential services are

delivered in a time-bound

manner and at nominal charges.

• In case of failure in delivery in

the stipulated time, the

government employee will be

penalized for default, which

ranges between 500 rupees to

5000 rupees.

iii) It provides for three-tier

Appellate Authorities with first

two being Government Officials

or Designated Officers and third

will be a Right to Service

Commission.

5. Skill Development Ministry

inks pact for using Railway

infra for training.

i)Ahead of the Prime Minister‘s

launch of the Skill India

Mission on Wednesday, the

Railways has tied up with the

Ministry of Skill Development

to offer ‗sparable‘ space for

training in its infrastructure,

such as wayside stations,

railway training centres, railway

schools and institutes.

ii)An agreement in this regard

was signed here on Tuesday

between the Railway Ministry

and the Skill Development

Ministry. ―Our schools can be

made available and our

employees can teach as part of

their social duties,‖ said Railway

Minister Suresh Prabhu, adding

that the Railways otherwise will

have a ‗limited role‘ to play.

iii) The Railways already has

300 training centres and 150

schools, of which about 70 per

cent have optical fibre cable

network connections

6. Andromeda acquires

apnapaisa.com in stock and

cash deal.

i) Andromeda, one of the

country's largest loan

distributors, has acquired the

apnapaisa.com, an online loan

solutions space in a stock and

cash deal, the company said.

ii) Apnapaisa.com, promoted by

Harsh Roongta, a personal

finance professional, has worked

with several financial lending

institutions.

iii) Andromeda's acquisition of

apnapaisa is in line with the

increasing trend of digitization

and the tech-edge that apnapaisa

brings would drive the growth of

Andromeda

7. Krishnapatnam Port

receives Golden Peacock

award for environment

management

i)Krishnapatnam Port in Andhra

Pradesh has been awarded

Golden Peacock environment

management award for its

achievements and initiatives in

the field of environment.

ii) The award was presented

during the 17th World Congress

on Environment Management to

C Sasidhar, Managing Director

of Krishnapatnam Port by Union

Minister of State for

Environment Prakash Javadekar

in New Delhi.

iii) Green initiatives of

Krishnapatnam Port are

Plantation of over 20 lakhs trees

within the port and more than

50,000 trees in the surrounding

villages, Installation of solar

lights in the port and solar water

heaters in the employee colony,

Establishing gas connections for

villagers so as to discourage

them from cutting of mangroves

as fuel wood.

8. Iconic musician Joan

Sebastian passed away

i) Iconic Mexican musician Joan

Sebastian passed away on 13

July 2015 after battling bone

cancer for more than 15 years in

Juliantla, Mexico. He was 64.

He was also known as El Rey

del Jaripeo (the King of

Mexican Rodeo).

ii) Born as Jose Manuel

Figueroa, he was best known for

his sentimental love songs such

as Secreto de Amor and Tatuajes

Page 36 of 72

On Billbord‘s Regional Mexican

Albums chart, he placed 10 hit

albums at No 1 position, second

only to Vicente Fernandez with

15 hit albums. He was also

honoured by Billboard multiple

times, first with Hall of Fame

honors at the 2006 Billboard

Latin Music Awards and then

Voice Award at the 2013

Billboard Mexican Music

Awards.

iii)He won seven Latin Grammy

Awards and five Grammy

Awards, making him the most

awarded Mexican performer in

Grammy's history.

1. RBI constitutes Deepak

Mohanty Committee to

frame action plan on

financial inclusion

i. Reserve Bank of India

(RBI) has constituted a

committee to prepare a 5

year action plan to spread the

reach of financial services

across country to unbanked

population. The committee

will be headed by RBI

executive director Deepak

Mohanty and comprise total

of 14 members

ii. It will review the existing

policy of financial inclusion,

including customer protection

framework and supportive

payment system. In this

regard it will take into account

the recommendations made

by various committees set up

earlier.

iii. Suggest a monitorable

medium-term action plan for

financial inclusion. It will

cover various components

including payments, credit,

deposit, social security

transfers, pension and

insurance. Articulate the

underlying institutional and

policy framework for financial

inclusion. Cover financial

literacy and consumer

protection, as well as delivery

mechanism of financial

inclusion.

iv. For this the committee will

encompass both households

and small businesses, with

more emphasis on rural

inclusion including group-

based credit delivery

mechanisms.

2. Kumbh Mela Begins in

Nashik, Thousands Take

Holy Dip

i. Simhastha Kumbh Mela,

the largest congregation of

faith in the world, began

today with the traditional

ceremony of hoisting of flags

and thousands of people

taking a holy dip in

Kushawart and Ramkund in

Godavari river in the two

towns.

ii. The festival, known as the

largest peaceful gathering,

occurs once in 12 years as

per Hindu calendar and is

marked by participation of

'sadhus' from different

denominations (akhadas),

and lakhs of devotees.

Kumbh is also known for the

religious pomp and colourful

processions.

iii. The festival will last for 58

days till August 11. On the

occasion of flag-hoisting at

Trimbakeshwar, a Naval

chopper showered rose

petals on the sea of humanity

that has gathered for the

mega event.

iv. After the ceremony,

thousands of people who

have come to Nashik from

different parts of the country

Page 37 of 72

took a dip at Kushavart teerth

(pond) located near the

temple of Lord Shiva.

3. Varanasi chosen as 'city

of music' by UNESCO

i. In a development set to

tremendously boost its age-

old traditions, Varanasi has

joined the global bandwagon

of UNESCO "Cities of Music"

under the Creative Cities

Network.

ii. It has been chosen in the

music category under

UNESCO's "field of

excellence" plan. The fields

of excellence are classified

into categories of literature,

film, music, craft and folk art,

design, media arts and

gastronomy

iii. The inclusion in the

network has also paved way

for representing the cultural

heritage of the holy city on

the world stage through the

UNESCO project. It will not

only provide a fillip to tourism,

but will also give a chance to

local artists and musicians to

visit countries that are a part

of this network

iv. Nine cities — Glasgow in

the UK, Hanover and

Mannheim in Germany,

Ghent in Belgium,

Hamamatsu in Japan,

Brazzaville in the Republic of

Congo, Bogota in Columbia,

Seville in Spain and Bologna

in Italy — are a part of

UNESCO "Cities of Music".

4. FM Arun Jaitley tries to

improve BJP-SAD ties,

launches HRIDAY for 12

cities in Amritsar

i. Jaitley choose Amritsar to

launch the "National Heritage

City Development and

Augmentation Yojana " (

HRIDAY) for 12 cities in the

country.

ii. Government of India has

sanctioned ` . 69.31 crore as

100% grant for Amritsar city.

iii. The Union Finance

Minister said that Punjab,

being a cradle of Indian

civilization, was all set to lead

the country in the arena of

agriculture and defense for

which it was aptly known as

the sword arm and granary of

the nation.

iv. Making a strong case for

the farmers, Chief Minister

Parkash Singh Badal said

that it was the high time to

redress the grievances of

beleaguered peasantry,

which was on cross roads

due to the apathy of the

previous Congress

governments at the Centre.

5. Agri Ministry launches 3

portals

i. The Centre launched three

new websites for farmers

here on Wednesday aimed at

making organic farming

certification, fertiliser quality

checks and disbursal of soil

health cards easier. The

portals, developed by

National Informatics Centre,

are part of the existing

schemes.

ii. The ‗Participatory

Guarantee System‘ portal will

help small and marginal

farmers engaged in organic

farming to secure certification

after checks for compliance

to standards are carried out.

iii. The ‗Soil Health Card‘

portal has been developed to

register soil samples and

record tests results along

with fertiliser

recommendations to create a

national database on soil

health for future use in

research.

iv. The ‗Fertiliser Quality

Control System‘ portal will

collate results of drawn

samples of imported

fertilisers helping both

consumers and importers

with analysis reports.

6. Net neutrality report:

Fate of Airtel's zero rating

plan left to TRAI

i. Airtel had launched Airtel

Zero under which it offered a

platform for content owners,

Page 38 of 72

e-commerce players, and

start-ups to offer free data

access to users. This was

seen to be against the

principles of net neutrality by

some sections as it allowed

free access to only those

companies which had

resources to partner with

Airtel.

ii. The Committee, after

consideration of all opinions

expressed by Net Neutrality

proponents and network

operators, feels that there are

a multitude of possibilities in

designing tariff plans and it

would not be possible to

either pre-think all

possibilities or determine its

validity with respect to Net

Neutrality principles.

iii. The Committee proposed

that tariff plans (including

zero rating plans) be dealt

with in the following ways: (i)

Ex-ante determination —

Before a licensee launches

any tariff plan, the same

would need to be filed before

TRAI within a reasonable

period prior to the launch of

the plan. TRAI would

examine each such tariff filing

carefully to see if it conforms

to the principles of Net

Neutrality and that it is not

anti-competitive by distorting

consumer markets.

iv. Such a filing requirement

would include a deemed

approval clause, if the

regulator does not decide

within a reasonable period.

This would ensure balance of

interests, protecting the

liberty of service providers to

design specific tariff plans

attuned to specific customer

demands and at the same

time ensure that the

principles of Net Neutrality

are not breached.

Daily GK update : 17th July 2015 1. India and Canada sign

MoU in the field of Civil

Aviation.

i. The Union Cabinet, chaired

by the Prime Minister Shri

NarendraModi, has approved

the signing of Memorandum

of Understanding (MoU)

betweenIndia and Canada in

the field of Civil Aviation.

ii. MoU will help in deepening

the bilateral cooperation and

enhancing theexperience and

technical knowledge in the

field of Civil Aviation between

Indiaand Canada.

iii. The two countries shall

have a cooperation

programme in the areas of

safetyof aircraft operations

and related issues that will

provide more up-to-

dateknowledge to the

Directorate General of Civil

Aviation to make it familiar

withbest international

practices and latest

International Civil

AviationOrganisation‘s safety

oversight programme

requirements.

2. IBM, IIM-B, Catalyst

complete women’s

leadership development

programme.

i. IBM on Friday today

announced the graduation of

the first group of students

from Tanmatra, an

innovative, cross-industry

women's leadership

development program

conducted in collaboration

with The Indian Institute of

Management, Bangalore (

IIM-B) and Catalyst India

WRC.

Page 39 of 72

ii. Thirty high-potential

women from industries

including IT, banking,

pharma, and manufacturing

completed Tanmatra (which

means potential in Sanskrit).

The 10-month program was

open to organisations across

the country and trained a

select group of women with

at least 12 years of work

experience, IBM said in a

press statement.

iii.This course helps prepare

women for leadership in the

Indian business community

and offers a common

platform to network with

industry leaders.

3. Haryana government

named Parineeti Chopra as

its Brand Ambassador for

'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao.'

i. Haryana Government

named Parineeti Chopra as

its brand ambassador for

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi's pet 'Beti Bachao-Beti

Padhao' campaign to

promote the cause of girl

child.

ii. Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao'

campaign, aimed at ensuring

survival, protection and

empowerment of the girl

child, was launched by Prime

Minister Modi from Haryana's

Panipat in January this year.

The state has one of the

worst sex ratios in the

country.

4. India inks $250-million

loan pact with World Bank

for Andhra Pradesh

Disaster Recovery project.

i. India has inked a financing

agreement with World Bank

(WB) to raise US 250 million

dollars financial assistance

for Andhra Pradesh Disaster

Recovery Project (APDRP).

ii. The motive of this project is

Objective: To restore,

enhance resilience and

improve public services,

livelihoods and environmental

facilities in targeted

communities of Andhra

Pradesh.

iii. It also seeks to increase

the capacity of the state to

promptly and effectively

respond to crisis or

emergency.

iv. It includes approximately 3

million populations in 4

heavily impacted districts of

state viz. Srikakulam,

Visakhapatnam,

Vizianagaram and East

Godavari.

5. Union Cabinet gives nod

to redevelop 400 major

railway stations.

i. Union Cabinet meeting

chaired by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi approved the

redevelopment of 400 major

railway stations.

ii. This approval will enable

the Union Ministry of

Railways to accelerate the

redevelopment of ‗A-1‘ and

‗A‘ category railway stations

across the country. These

stations generally are located

in major cities, metros,

pilgrimage centres and

important tourist destinations.

iii. These major railway

stations will be redeveloped

under a new a unique

method which is form of

public procurement of ideas

called the Swiss Challenge. It

will also encourage

innovative ideas from

interested parties without any

additional extra cost from the

Railways.

iv. Under this initiative, major

stations will be redeveloped

Page 40 of 72

by leveraging real estate

development of land and air

space in and around the

stations. It also includes

permitting commercial

development of real estate by

the Zonal Railways.

6. ICC ODI Rankings: India

retain 2nd spot after clean

sweep over Zimbabwe

i. India have retained their

2nd position in the latest ICC

ODI Rankings which were

released today.

ii. its 3-0 series victory over

Zimbabwe, India has

maintained its second place

ranking and still remains 14

points adrift of Australia who

leads the field on 129 points

iii. Australia retained the top

notch in ICC ODI Rankings.

7. Neeraj Kumar appointed

chief security advisor for

ICC World T20 2016.

i. Former Delhi Police

Commissioner Neeraj Kumar

was appointed as the Chief

Advisor of Security and anti

corruption unit (ACSU) of

BCCI for next year‘s T20

World Cup to be hosted by

India.

ii. Kumar was already roped

in by the BCCI for a one-year

period in the anti-corruption

unit during the IPL.

iii. The Board of Control for

Cricket in India announced

the names of the organising

committee for the mega

event with Dr M V Sridhar as

the General Manager for

Cricket Operations,‖ the

BCCI said in a

statement.

Daily GK update

: 18th July 2015

1. India and Myanmar to

strengthen defence ties

i. India and Myanmar have

announced plans to

strengthen their defence

cooperation during a joint

consultative commission

(JCC) meeting held in New

Delhi. This meeting was

chaired by Union External

Affairs Minister Sushma

Swaraj and Myanmar‘s

Foreign Minister Wunna

Maung Lwin.

ii. Both countries to work

together on effective border

management especially on

the issue of cross-border

insurgency and terrorism.

India has reaffirmed to

provide defence assistance

program as part of its

Goodwill Diplomacy to

Myanmar in order to

modernise their Armed

Forces.

iii. Investments of Indian

companies in sectors like

power, ports, agro-industries,

mining, forest products,

construction industry,

highways, consumer goods,

oil and gas, manufacturing,

plantation, hospitality and ICT

will be encouraged.

iv. Recently, defence

cooperation between both

neighbours has grown after

changes in political reforms

of Myanmar under President

Thein Sein, which has made

them less reliant on China.

Page 41 of 72

2. EU approves 7 Billion

Euro Short-Term Loan to

Greece

i. European Union (EU) has

approved a short-term loan of

7.16 billion euros to Greece

after it was backed by the 28

member states. This loan will

allow Greece to pay its huge

debt to European Central

Bank (ECB) and the

International Monetary Fund

(IMF) till new bailout plan is

ratified.

ii. The loan will be given

through the European

Financial Stabilisation

Mechanism (EFSM) which is

a rescue fund set up during

the first time bailout of

Greece in 2010. But

presently it covers the whole

of the 28 EU member nations

and not just the 19 eurozone

members.

iii. This loan fund will be

officially for three months, but

looking at present debt crisis

of Greece it can be sustained

until 20 August 2015.

3. RBI, Central Bank of Sri

Lanka ink currency swap

agreement

i. Reserve Bank of India has

signed a special currency

swap agreement with the

Central Bank of Sri Lanka

(CBS). Under this agreement,

Sri Lankan bank can draw up

to 1.1 billion dollars for a

maximum period of 6

months. It was signed with

an intention to mitigate the

possible currency volatility in

the spirit of strengthening

bilateral relations and

economic ties of India with

Sri Lanka.

ii. It should be noted that, this

special arrangement was

signed in addition to the

existing Framework on

Currency Swap Arrangement

for the SAARC member

countries.

iii. Earlier in March 2015, RBI

had signed similar Currency

Swap Agreement with Sri

Lankan bank for 400 million

dollars under the SAARC

Currency Swap Framework

within the overall limit of 2

billion dollars.

iv. This Currency Swap

Framework is signed

between SAARC member

countries. It seeks to provide

a backstop line of funding to

member countries in order to

meet any balance of

payments and liquidity crises.

4. India's first private air

freight station all set to

open in Chennai

i. India‘s first air freight

station in the private sector

has come up at

Irungattukottai near Chennai.

The first AFS in the country

was set up in 2007 inside

Central Warehousing

Corporation in the city.

ii. Set up by the city-based

Indev Logistics at a cost of

Rs.50 crore, the AFS will

reduce congestion at the

gateway airports and the

carrier operators can choose

the AFS as a final destination

for cargo delivery.

iii. The major advantages of

the AFS include faster

evacuation of cargo from the

major gateway airports; an

integrated supply chain,

minimised transaction

logistics cost; and tracking of

the mobility and movement of

the cargo.

iv. All activities, including

Custom documentation and

examination, cargo

acceptance check, security

checks, cargo palletisation

and warehousing will be

carried out at the AFS, said

Page 42 of 72

Xavier Britto, Chairman,

Indev Group, at the soft

launch of the AFS on Friday.

5. Veteran Telugu playback

singer V Ramakrishna

passes away

i. Veteran Telugu playback

singer Vissamraju

Ramakrishna passed away

due to cancer. He was 68. He

had sung many memorable

songs for legendary south

Indian actor turned politician

N T Rama Rao and other top

stars.

ii. He had sung about 5,000

songs in his nearly 4 decades

long career. His debut movie

song as playback singer was

―Vayase Oka Poolathota‖ in

Vichitra Bandham (1972). He

was also has sang number of

popular devotional songs.

iii. His famous songs are in

Andala Ramudu, Mutyala

Muggu and Alluri Sitarama

Raju films. His songs in N T

Rama Rao‘s film, Pothuluri

Veerabrahmendra Swamy

Charitra were a runaway

success.

6. CCI imposes Rs 671

crore penalty on four state-

run insurance companies

i. The Competition

Commission of India (CCI)

has imposed a penalty of Rs

671 crore on four public

sector insurance companies-

National Insurance Co, New

India Insurance Co, Oriental

Insurance Co and United

India insurance company for

indulging in anti-competitive

practices.

ii. The competition regulator

these insurance companies

guilty of rigging a tender

floated by the Government of

Kerala in 2009 for selecting

insurance service provider for

implementation of the

'Rashtriya Swasthya Bima

Yojna'.

iii. The case was taken up by

the Commission suo moto

pursuant to an anonymous

information alleging

cartelization by four public

sector insurance companies

in relation to a tender issued

by the Government of Kerala

for the implementation of

RSBY and CHIS schemes.

7. Jules Bianchi: F1 driver

dies from Suzuka crash

injuries

i. French Formula 1 driver

Jules Bianchi has died, nine

months after suffering severe

head injuries in a crash at the

2014 Japanese Grand Prix.

ii. Bianchi, 25, had been in a

coma since crashing his

Marussia into a recovery

vehicle at October's rain-hit

race.

iii. He is the first F1 driver to

die from injuries sustained in

a Grand Prix since Brazilian

triple world champion Ayrton

Senna was killed at Italy's

Imola circuit in 1994.

iv. Bianchi made his F1 debut

with Marussia in 2013 and

was also a member of the

Ferrari young driver academy

after previously working as a

test driver for the team.

Daily GK update

: 19th and 20th

July 2015

1. Kerala Tourism’s Muziris

Heritage Project wins 2015

PATA Award

i. Kerala Tourism has won

2015 Pacific Asia Travel

Page 43 of 72

Association (PATA) award in

the ‗Heritage & Culture‘

category for its Muziris

Heritage Project.

ii. The award bestowed in

recognition project efforts

which aim at restoring and

conservation of historical and

cultural significance of the

ancient town and its

uniqueness and impact on

local community located in

stretches from Ernakulam to

Kodungalloor in Thrissur

district of Kerala.

iii. Muziris was an ancient

seaport and urban centre

which dates from at least the

1st century BC and located at

the mouth of the Periyar

River in present south Indian

state of Kerala. It was a key

centre for trade in ancient

times between southern India

on one side and Egyptians,

Phoenicians, Greeks and

Roman Empire on the other

side.

iv. Muziris Heritage Project is

an ambitious tourism venture

of Tourism Department of

Kerala in order to reinstate

the historical and cultural

significance Muziris. It was

started in 2006 and also

covers various other

historically significant sites

and monuments in central

Kerala.

2. Indian-origin doctor Shiv

Pande receives honorary

fellowship in UK

i. Shiv Pande, an Indian

origin doctor has been award

with honorary fellowship by

prestigious University of

Central Lancashire of United

Kingdom. He was award with

this fellowship in recognition

of his contribution to the

community as a general

practitioner and medical

educator.

ii. Pande was born and

educated in India and had

obtained his MBBS and Ms

(General Surgery) degrees.

Later in 1971 he had move to

the UK in 1971.

iii. Till 1974, he had worked in

cardio-thoracic surgery at

London Chest Hospital,

Fazakerley Hospital and

Broad Green Hospital,

Liverpool. Earlier, he was

honoured with the award at

Preston Guildhall by The

University of Central

Lancashire (UCLan) for his

contribution to medical

services.

iv. In 1989 for his community

work Pande was presented

with a Member of the Order

of the British Empire (MBE)

by the Queen Elizabeth II.

3. India, Russia sign

customs pact to boost

trade

i. India and Russia have

signed a customs and

liberalize business visas

agreement to boost trade

between both countries to

remove the hindrances and

boost commerce. This pact

will help to rapid clearances

of imported goods at the land

and sea ports and addresses

the issues related to the non-

tariff barriers.

ii. Both countries also have

fixed a target of US 30 billion

dollars to be achieved by

2025. This agreement will

play important role proposed

International North-South

freight corridor (INSTC) for

trade from India to Russia to

central Asia through Iran.

iii. Presently, bilateral trade

between both nations is

extremely low and it was just

Page 44 of 72

9.51 billion dollars. In Ufa,

Russia prior to BRICS

ministerial meeting Prime

Minister Narendra Modi and

his Russian counterpart

President Vladimir Putin had

discussed ways to increase

bilateral trade.

iv. Both countries also had

reached an agreement on

setting up a Joint Study

Group which will recommend

contours of a Free Trade

Agreement (FTA) between

India and Eurasian Economic

Union (EEU) comprising

Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus

and Armenia.

4. Indo-Bangla joint survey

in LBA enclaves over

nationality preference

concludes

i. The official nationality

preference survey in recently

swapped 162 enclaves on

India- Bangladesh border

under the Land Boundary

Agreement (LBA) has ended.

The survey was conducted

by the Enclaves Exchange

Co-ordination Committee

(EECC) of both countries for

ascertaining the nationality

preference of over 50,000

enclave-residents.

ii. On Bangladesh‘s side it is

found that 1,027 out of

around 37,369 had opted for

Indian nationality from the

recently swapped 111 Indian

enclaves now located in

Bangladesh. In case of

India‘s side, over 14,000

residents in 51 Bangladeshi

enclaves transferred to India

have opted to relocate to

Bangladesh.

iii. The nationality preference

survey was conducted by 75

joint-teams of EECC under

the modalities of the LAB.

The agreement came in to

effect after Prime Minister

Narendra Modi‘s visit to

Bangladesh in June 2015.

iv. India had swapped around

111 enclaves to Bangladesh,

while the counterpart had had

swapped 51 enclaves. As per

LBA, all 162 enclaves will

stand transferred to the two

respective countries on

midnight of 31 July, 2015.

5. Nelson Mandela

International Day was

observed across the world

on 18 July 2015 to honour

the former South African

President and Nobel Peace

Prize laureate Nelson

Mandela (1918-2013)

i. Nelson Mandela

International Day was

observed across the world on

18 July 2015 to honour the

former South African

President and Nobel Peace

Prize laureate Nelson

Mandela (1918-2013).

ii. The overarching objective

of the Mandela Day is to

inspire individuals to take

action to help change the

world for the better, and in

doing so build a global

movement for good.

iii. For the first time the day

was celebrated on 18 July

2010 as per a UN General

Assembly resolution of

November 2009. The UN

created the Mandela Day to

recognize his contribution to

end the discriminatory

apartheid system in South

Africa.

iv. the day also presents an

occasion to remember his

contribution to the struggle

for democracy internationally

and the promotion of a

culture of peace throughout

the world.

6. Godfather actor Alex

Rocco dies at 79

Page 45 of 72

i. Alex

Rocco, the US actor best

known for his role in crime

drama The Godfather, has

died of cancer aged 79.

ii. Rocco played Moe Greene,

the casino boss who angrily

resisted a takeover attempt

from rising mafia boss

Michael Corleone and paid

for it with a bullet through his

eye.

iii. In a career spanning half a

century, Rocco won an

Emmy for his role in 1990s

sitcom The Famous Teddy Z.

He also voiced the studio

boss behind Itchy and

Scratchy in The Simpsons.

iv. Rocco made his debut in

cult director Russ Meyer's

1965 film Motor Psycho. Six

years later, he won a part in

what was to become

regarded as one of the best

films ever made.

7. Uruguayan soccer

legend Alcides Edgardo

Ghiggia died

i. Alcides Edgardo Ghiggia,

the Uruguayan soccer

legend, died on 16 July 2015

following a heart attack. He

was 88. Coincidentally, 16

July 2015 marked the 65th

anniversary of the

Maracanazo match in which

Ghiggia won the goal in a

stunning 2-1 victory over

Brazil in the final game of the

1950 FIFA World Cup.

ii. Ghiggia gave Uruguay its

second World Cup title in the

Maracanazo match when

Brazilians were expected to

win but the loss is still known

in Brazil. He was the last

surviving Uruguayan player

from the match.

iii. Ghiggia started his

professional career with the

famous Uruguay club

Penarol. He played for both

Uruguay and Italy's national

teams in his career. He

played 12 international

matches for Uruguay and

scored four goals, all of which

came in the 1950

tournament.

8. Amelie Mauresmo

inducted into the

International Tennis Hall of

Fame

i. Amelie Mauresmo, the two-

time Grand Slam winner and

former number one tennis

player of France, was on 18

July 2015 inducted into the

International Tennis Hall of

Fame.

ii. Mauresmo was unable to

travel to the ceremony on Bill

Talbert Center Court at the

Hall of Fame because she's

in her third trimester of

pregnancy.

iii. The Frenchwoman is one

of 21 players in the history of

the WTA to rise to No.1,

spending a total of 39 weeks

there in the 2004 and 2006

seasons. She won two Grand

Slam titles in 2006 season,

first at the Australian Open

and then at Wimbledon

(beating Justine Henin in

both finals). She won 25

singles titles and was a silver

medalist at the 2004 Athens

Olympics.

iv. At present, she coaches

Scottish professional tennis

player Andy Murray. She is

also the first woman to coach

a top male tennis player.

Page 46 of 72

Daily GK update

: 21th July 2015 1. BRICS bank launched in

China as alternative to World

Bank, IMF

i. A new USD 100 billion bank

floated by BRICS nations,

including India, as an alternative

to the World Bank and IMF to

boost infrastructure funding in

the emerging economies and

offer them tailor-made services

was launched here today.

ii. The opening ceremony of the

New Development Bank (NDB)

was held here in China‘s

financial capital. Chinese

Finance Minister Lou Jiwei,

Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong

and the bank‘s President K V

Kamath attended the opening

ceremony.

iii. Kamath, 67, who will be the

bank‘s President for the first five

years, said he was confident to

deliver people‘s expectation of

the new bank.

iv. BRICS economies Brazil,

Russia, India, China and South

Africa launched the multi-billion

dollar development bank at the

7th BRICS summit held in the

Russian city of UFA on July 8

amid efforts to finance

infrastructure projects, mainly in

member countries.

2. Union Government

launches National Career

Counselling portal

i. Union Government has

launched National Career

Counselling Portal in a bid to

modernize all government-run

employment exchanges.

ii. It was launched by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi under

the aegis of National Career

Service (NCS) project of Union

Ministry of Skill Development

and Entrepreneurship.

iii. The web portal will be a one-

stop platform for both job

providers and job seekers where

registration can be done online.

It will provide basic platform for

searching and applying for jobs

on the portal.

iv. It will also provide

candidates career-related

counseling either by its helpline

numbers or visiting these centres

along with other facilities like

job posting, aptitude assessment,

job matching, training providers,

skill courses and guidance on

self-employment and

entrepreneurship.

3. Bhanu Pratap Sharma

appointed as Chairperson of

FSSAI

i. Union Government has

appointed Bhanu Pratap Sharma

as Chairperson Food Safety and

Standards Authority of India

(FSSAI).

ii. Presently, he is Health and

Family Welfare Secretary was

given additional charge of

FSSAI for three months. Sharma

is an IAS officer of 1981 batch

from Bihar cadre.

iii. FSSAI is a nodal statutory

agency responsible for

protecting and promoting public

health in India through the

regulation and supervision of

food safety. FSSAI was

established under the Food

Safety and Standards Act, 2006

and operates under aegis of

Union Ministry of Health &

Family Welfare.

iv. FSSAI has been established

to lay down science based

standards for various food

products in order ensure

availability of safe and

wholesome food for human

consumption. It also regulates

the manufacture, storage,

Page 47 of 72

distribution, sale and import of

food products for human

consumption.

4. Indian Railways and Odisha

Government signed MoU for

Dasappla-Bolangir Railway

Line

i. The Union Railways Ministry

and the Odisha Government on

20 July 2015 signed

Memorandum of Understanding

(MOU) for implementation of

Dasapalla-Bolangir segment of

Khurda Road-Bolangir New

Broad Gauge Railway Line on

cost sharing basis.

ii. The agreement was signed by

Ved Parkash Dudeja, Executive

Director (Works) Ministry of

Railways and Sanjay Rastogi,

Commissioner-cum-Secretary,

Commerce & Transport

Department, Odisha

Government.

iii. The project will be

completed in three years of time

after handing over of the land by

the state. This Railway line

running across the state from

east to west will usher the six

districts- Khurda, Puri,

Nayagarh, Boudh, Subarnapur

and Bolangir into a new era of

development.

iv. The signing of MoU by

Odisha Government will help in

accelerating the development in

the districts falling on Khurda-

Bolangir line and will help

create job opportunities in this

naxal-affected state.

5. VICE PRESIDENT

RELEASES THE BOOK

'LOCALE, EVERYDAY

ISLAM AND MODERNITY'

i. The Vice President of India

Shri M. Hamid Ansari released a

book entitled Locale, Everyday

Islam and Modernity authored

by Shri M. Raisur Rahman at a

function here today.

ii. Dissolving the distinctions

between centre and periphery,

this book presents the Qasbahs

of colonial India as vital and

vibrant centres of intense

intellectual and cultural activity.

iii. The book demonstrates that

the emergence of modernity

among Muslims was a process

during their colonial encounter

in which Qasbah residents were

active agents, and the Islam that

emerged was that of everyday

living.

6. Now an exclusive mobile

app for Vat, GST and Service

Tax

i. The rapidly changing indirect

taxation system in India has

made it essential for every

businessman or professional to

be conversant in the basics of

the indirect taxation. In the

current high tech era, everyone

is a tech savvy so it is more

convenient to use a smart phone

and browse the information

rather than searching the

information from the pile of

books.

ii. Keeping in mind the above,

CA Atul Kumar Gupta along

with his team has made an

endeavor to acquaint the

common man apart from the

professionals, regarding the

dynamic indirect taxation

system, through mobile

application TAXO.

iii. The idea behind TAXO is to

update and educate not just the

taxation professionals but every

one on ongoing basis by

providing prompt and live

access to the changing business

environment in India.

iv. TAXO is a platform where

the general public can get an

insight into the basic

Page 48 of 72

fundamentals of Indirect

Taxation.

7. At 50, model-actor Milind

Soman wins Ironman title in

‘‘toughest’ triathlon in Zurich

i. Model-actor Milind Soman,

who turns 50 in November this

year, has won the Ironman title

at a triathlon held in Zurich in

Switzerland on July 19 in which

over 2,000 participants this year

included seven Indians.

ii. The triathlon, organised by

World Triathalon Corporation,

includes a 3.8-km swim, 180.2-

km cycle ride and 42.2-km run

and is widely regarded as the

world‘s toughest race, which has

to be completed in 16 hours by

participants for an Ironman title.

iii. Of the seven Indians who

participated in the race this year,

five completed the race.

Successfully leading the

contingent was 11-time winner

of Ironman title, Pune‘s Dr

Kaustubh Radkar, who

completed the race in 12 hours

and 32 minutes. This is Dr

Radkar‘s 12th Ironman title

which now qualifies him for the

Hawaii Ironman World

Championship to be held in

2017.

iv. The event saw seven-time

reigning champion Ronnie

Schildknect taking his eighth

title and declared the overall

winner.

Daily GK update

: 22nd July 2015

1. Union Government

launched Surakshit Khadya

Abhiyan

i. Union Minister of Consumer

Affairs, Food and Public

Distribution Ram Vilas

Paswan on 21 July 2015

launched the Surakshit

Khadya Abhiyan, a

countrywide campaign, to

create mass awareness and

capacity building for safe and

hygienic food.

ii. The initiative complements

the widely popular multi-

media campaign Jago

Grahak Jago which

empowers the consumers of

its rights and demands. This

campaign, planned by CII

and Consumer Organization

VOICE, and National

Association of Street Vendors

of India (NASVI), is an effort

towards building a culture of

food safety in the country.

iii. Under the campaign,

nationwide sensitisation

sessions on cleaning,

hygiene & sanitation for safe

food, Walkathons and Media

dissemination programmes

for Consumers, Street Food

Industries will be organized

across the country.

iv. The ministry also launched

a website and a logo of the

campaign and also signed a

pledge for adopting safe food

practices.

3. NRIs can invest in NPS:

PFRDA

i. Non-resident Indians (NRIs)

can invest in National

Pension System (NPS) to get

a social security cover.

Page 49 of 72

ii. While RBI has

communicated to PFRDA

about NRIs being eligible to

make such investments, the

government will shortly come

out with a clarification on

Foreign Exchange

Management Act (FEMA)

guidelines to facilitate non-

resident Indians to invest in

National Pension System

(NPS).

iii. Highlighting the

importance of NPS scheme

for Non-Resident Indians

(NRIs), he said such

residents especially living in

the Middle-East are not

having any mandatory social

security benefit.

iv. The Pension Fund

Regulatory and Development

Authority (PFRDA) is in talks

with lenders such as SBI,

HDFC Bank, Canara Bank,

Indian Bank and several

other south India-based

banks to tap potential of

NRIs.

4. United Nations Security

Council adopts resolution

endorsing Iran nuclear deal

i. The United Nations

Security Council (UNSC)

unanimously adopted a

resolution for endorsing the

historic deal on Iran‘s nuclear

program. It was supported by

all 15 representatives of

countries on the Security

Council and opened path to

lift nuclear-related economic

sanctions on Iran.

ii. It also paved the way for

establishing a monitoring

system for Iran‘s nuclear

programme. UNSC‘s passed

resolution marks the

endorsement of the Joint

Comprehensive Plan of

Action (JCPOA) which had

find out the final historic

diplomatic solution for Iranian

nuclear issue in Vienna,

Austria on 14 July 2015.

iii. There was a decade long

deadlock between Iran and

Western countries over the

issue of Iran‘s Nuclear

Programme and safety

concerns of uranium

enrichment. Western

Countries especially US, had

alleged that Iran‘s Nuclear

Programme may be used by

them to produce enriched

uranium to develop nuclear

warheads.

5. Naomi Klein wins 2015

American Book Award

i. Noted Canadian author

Naomi Klein has won the

36th edition of American

Book Award 2015. She has

won this award for her

environmental work This

Changes Everything:

Capitalism vs. the Climate

published in 2014.

ii. Apart from her, 14 others

also have won the award.

Some of them are Marlon

James (A Brief History of

Seven Killings), Carlos

Santana (The Universal

Tone) etc. Poet Anne

Waldman was honoured with

lifetime achievement award in

this edition of prize.

iii. American Book Award

honours persons for their

excellence in American

literature without restriction to

sex, race, ethnic background

or genre. The awards do not

have any individual

categories and since 2000,

Lifetime Achievement award

is also given.

6. Pipavav Defence inks

pact with Russian firm

Zvyozdochka to refit

submarines

i. Anil Ambani-led Reliance

Group‘s Pipavav Defence

and Offshore Engineering

(PDOE) inked a multi-crore

agreement with Russian firm

Page 50 of 72

Zvyozdochka, JSC Ship

Repairing Centre.

ii. The agreement was signed

in lines with Make in India

initiative for the Medium

Refits and Life Certification of

877 EKM Submarines in

India. With this, Reliance

Group became the first

private sector Indian

company to refit of

submarines in India.

iii. Both entities will execute

the programme under a joint

venture (JV) company with

an indicative value of 11,000

crore rupees in which PDOR

will have 51 per cent stake.

iv. As per the agreement,

Zvyozdochka will provide

complete technical support

and assistance to the JV

Company. It will also provide

the enhancement of

infrastructure at the PDOC

facilities in Gujarat and

training of engineers.

7. Ananth Narayanan

appointed as Chief

Executive Officer of Myntra

i. Former McKinsey director

Ananth Narayanan on 21 July

2015 was appointed as the

Chief Executive Officer

(CEO) of the Flipkart-owned

fashion store Myntra. He will

assume the charge on 1

October 2015.

ii. He will succeed Myntra‘s

co-founder Mukesh Bansal

who is presently serving as

the head of Flipkart's

commerce platform.

iii. Prior to this appointment,

he was leading McKinsey‘s

product development in Asia

and its Automotive Practice in

India. He has worked with

McKinsey for 15 years across

four offices, namely Chicago,

Shanghai, Taipei and

Chennai.

iv. The acquisition of Myntra

by Flipkart for more than 300

million US dollars in May

2015, the company in June

2015 also roped in Google

Chromecast head Ambarish

Kenghe as Senior Vice

President and Head of

Product.

8. India and Singapore

signed agreement to

enhance maritime

cooperation

i. India and Singapore on 21

July 2015 signed Technical

Agreement (TA) on sharing

white-shipping information to

enhance maritime

cooperation between the two

navies. The agreement was

signed during the visit of

Navy chief Admiral R K

Dhowan to Singapore.

ii. The White-shipping refers

to commercial shipping

information about movement

of cargo ships.

iii. The Singapore Navy and

the Indian Navy conduct the

Singapore-India Maritime

Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX)

together annually. In 2015,

the SIMBEX was held in May,

this was the 22nd in the

series.

iv. Both navies also interact

regularly through high-level

visits, dialogues, joint military

training, courses and other

professional exchanges.

Daily GK Update

:23rd July 2015 1. Puducherry city first to

get Smart city nomination

i. Puducherry city has

emerged as the first

nomination to be received by

the Urban Development

Ministry for a Smart City

Mission. In this regard,

Government of Union

Territory of Puducherry has

nominated its capital city for

Page 51 of 72

inclusion in the Union

Government‘s flagship 100

Smart Cities Mission.

ii. It also has forwarded the

nomination along with all the

forms and documents as

required in the Stage-1 of

‗City Challenge‘ competition.

iii. The nomination was

forwarded based on the

recommendations of the High

Powered Steering Committee

(HPSC) constituted as per

the guidelines of mission. It

was headed by Chief

Secretary of UT and had

overseen the process of first

stage intra-state competition.

Since 2011, Puducherry

Municipal Corporation (PM)

has achieved 18 per cent

improvement in provision of

household sanitary latrines.

Internal revenue generation

has continuously increased

by 14 per cent over the past

three year period of 2012-13

to 2014-15.

2. 14 States, UTs achieve

literacy rate of 80%:

Government

i. Union Government has

announced that 14 States

and Union Territories (UTs)

have achieved or exceeded

the literacy rate of 80

percent. It was announced by

Union Human Resource

Development Minister Smriti

Irani in a written reply to the

Lok Sabha.

ii. 14 States and UTs

are: Kerala, Lakshadweep,

Mizoram, Goa, Tripura,

Daman and Diu, Andaman

and Nicobar Islands, NCR of

Delhi, Chandigarh,

Puducherry, Himachal

Pradesh, Maharashtra,

Sikkim and Tamil Nadu.

iii. Union Government‘s

flagship scheme of Sarva

Shiksha Abhiyan has helped

to improve literacy rate. For

implementing the scheme,

Centre has helped the States

and UTs. The literacy of

adults has been covered

under the Saakshar Bharat

Programme.

iv. It was also announced that

10 States and UTs have also

been able to reduce gender

gap to 10 per cent or less.

These states are Punjab,

Chandigarh, Nagaland,

Mizoram, Tripura,

Meghalaya, Goa,

Lakshadweep, Kerala and

Andaman and Nicobar

Islands.

3. National Broadcasting

Day observed across the

country

i. National Broadcasting Day

was observed on 23 July

2015 across the country. It is

on this day in 1927, the

Indian Broadcasting

Company started radio

broadcasting from Bombay

station.

ii. To mark the day, All India

Radio (AIR) organized a

symposium on the subject

Creation of New India and

Broadcasting Medium in New

Delhi.

iii. Colonel Rajyavardhan

Singh Rathore, the Minister

of State for Information and

Broadcasting, speaking at the

symposium, highlighted the

role of Prasar Bharati in

taking news of public interest

to the length and breadth of

the country and said that

government is committed to

the autonomy of Prasar

Bharati.

iv. Broadcasting in India

began in July 1923 with

programmes by the Radio

Club of Mumbai. According to

an agreement of 23 July

Page 52 of 72

1927, the private Indian

Broadcasting Company LTD

(IBC) was authorized to

operate two radio stations;

the Mumbai station began on

23 July 1927, and the

Calcutta station followed on

26 August 1927.

4. Conakry named as World

Book Capital for 2017 by

UNESCO

i. Conakry, the capital of the

Republic of Guinea, was on

21 July 2015 named as the

World Book Capital for 2017

by United Nations

Organization for Education,

Science and Culture

(UNESCO). The decision

was made by an international

committee of experts on 30

June 2015 during a meeting.

ii. The selection committee

singled out Conakry for the

quality and diversity of its

programme, in particular for

its focus on community

involvement as well as for its

well-structured budget and

clear development goals with

a strong emphasis on youth

and literacy.

iii. The World Book Capital is

selected every year by the

international organizations

that represent the three major

sectors of the book industry:

The International Publishers Association (IPA)

The International Booksellers Federation (IBF)

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)

The year for awarding World Book Capital starts on 23 April, which is celebrated as World Book and Copyright Day.

5. CCEA extends CCTNS

deadline to March 2017

i. Cabinet Committee on

Economic Affairs (CCEA) has

extended the deadline for

implementation of Crime and

Criminals Tracking network

and Systems (CCTNS)

project till March 2017.

ii. Decision in this regard was

taken by CCEA meeting

chaired by Prime Minister

Narendra on the proposal

forwarded by Union Ministry

of Home Affairs. CCEA also

approved additional five

years phase for operation

and maintenance of the

CCTNS up to March 2022.

iii. It is an ambitious online

system and central citizen

portal that will link all state-

level citizen websites under

single platform which will

provide a number of citizen

friendly services. The

services will include reporting

a crime, police verification for

passports, linkages with

UIDAI, transport database

and National Population

Register.

iv. By computerising the

functioning of police stations,

prosecution directorates,

prisons and forensic

laboratories. It will also

ensure smooth data

exchange among these

various systems along with e-

court systems which are

already functioning

throughout the country.

6. World University Games

no-show: AIU hands three-

year ban to archers and

coach, wants money back

i. Cracking the whip on the

three archers who missed the

bronze medal play-off during

the recently-concluded World

University Games, the

Page 53 of 72

Association of Indian

Universities has banned them

and their coach for three

years, besides asking them

to return the money spent on

them.

ii. The compound team trio

did not turn up at the bronze

medal play-off against Italy in

the July 3-14 World

University Games at

Gwangju in South Korea,

thereby forfeiting the match.

iii. The inquiry report was

examined, it was

found/observed that athletes

and official of the Indian

contingent failed to turn up

for participation in the

prestigious event.

iv. the AIU did not furnish the

reason why the athletes

could not reach the archery

competition venue on time.

The AIU had also asked for a

report from R K Sharma who

had accompanied the Indian

contingent to Korea.

7. Finger lickin' train food:

KFC partners with IRCTC to

start delivery system for

passengers

i. The fast food chain has tied

up with the IRCTC to start a

delivery system for

passengers. From 20 July

onwards, a person travelling

on train can order KFC meal,

while booking ticket through

IRCTC, under e-catering

service initiatives, KFC said

in a statement.

ii. this facility is available only

on 12 trains passing through

New Delhi railway station.

However, it will be expanded

to Vishakhapatnam,

Hyderabad (Kacheguda) and

Bangalore (Yeshwantpur)

stations over the next 10

days, the statement added.

iii. Consumers will have to

visit the IRCTC website or

call on 18001034139 (Toll

Free) to place their order. A

password will then be sent by

KFC to the consumer‘s

mobile phone which will have

to be mentioned at the time

of delivery.

iv. IRCTC is looking to

expand its culinary network

by attempting to get joints

such as Cafe Coffee Day,

Barista and even Subway in

the fold. IRCTC in its effort to

offer better fare at stations is

talking to Cafe Coffee Day,

Pizza Hut, Barista Coffee,

Subway and Jumboking

Vadapav, urging them to

open eateries at stations.

8. Archie Comics

cartoonist Tom Moore dies

at 86

i. Tom Moore, the cartoonist

who brought to life the

escapades of Riverdale

residents in Archie comics

has passed away. He was

86.

ii. Moore, who began drawing

cartoons while in the US

Navy during the Korean War,

died early Monday morning

while in ospice care in his

hometown of El Paso, his son

Lito Bujanda-Moore told The

Associated Press yesterday.

iii. Moore drew Archie

Andrews and his friends on

and off from 1953 until he

retired in the late 1980s.

Annual sales of the comic

regularly surpassed half a

million during the 1960s,

according to the El Paso

Times.

iv. After retiring, Moore kept

tabs on Archie, and

disagreed when the comic

book company decided to kill

off the character. The El

Paso Museum of Art

displayed some of Moore's

work and his vast comic

collection about 20 years

ago.

9. R.D. Burman: The Prince

of Music written by

Khagesh Dev Burman

i. Book titled R.D. Burman:

The Prince of Music authored

Page 54 of 72

by Khagesh Dev Burman was

released on 27 June 2015,

the day when the music world

celebrated the 76th birth

anniversary of Rahul Dev

Burman.

ii. The author through the

book has tried to look into

almost every aspect of R.D

Burman like his childhood in

Kolkata, his failure in studies,

his beginning as an assistant

to his father SD Burman as

well as his rise as a musician.

It also looks into his downfall

due to ill-health and some

bad decisions.

iii. The book also reveals the

fact about number of songs

and tunes of Burman, which

remained unused. It says that

there are songs which

remained unreleased or

shelved films, like two songs

in unreleased film Raj and

two songs of the unreleased

Abhi Abhi remained shelved.

1. Earth 2.0: What we know

about Kepler 452b, the

most Earth-like planet ever

discovered

i. Nasa scientists have

announced the discovery of

Kepler 452b, also known as

'Earth 2.0', an earth-like

planet in our galaxy.

ii. Over the course of years of

data-gathering by the Kepler

space telescope and even

more analysis and work here

on Earth, scientists confirmed

the existence of the distant

exoplanet, which is the most

earth-like planet ever

discovered.

iii. A year on the newly-

discovered planet - the time it

takes to orbit its star, Kepler

452 - lasts for 385 days, only

20 days longer than a year

here on Earth.

iv. Kepler 452b has been the

perfect distance from its star

for many billions of years.

According to Jon Jenkins, the

Kepler data analysis lead at

NASA's Ames Research

Centre, this means it's

possible that it hosts life on

its surface, or at least could

have at some point in its

history.

2. Maharashtra cabinet

approved scheme for

development of villages

around Tiger reserves

i. Maharashtra Cabinet on 23

July 2015 approved

Shyamaprasad Mukherjee

Jan Van Vikas Scheme. The

scheme proposed by Forest

Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar

in the state‘s annual budget

2015-16 aims at creation of

comprehensive development

of villages in the buffer zones

of tiger reserves and around

them.

ii. Its objectives are to reduce

the man-animal conflict and

achieve sustainable

development of these

villages. The scheme also

aims at reducing the

dependence of villagers on

the forest.

iii. The scheme will seek to

boost the supplementary

businesses to farming

activities and create

alternative employment

possibilities in these areas.

Page 55 of 72

The scheme will be launched

on project basis from 2015-

16 to 2019-2020.

3. Reliance Group, Augur

Overseas Operation signed

MoU to manufacture

Aerostats and Airships

i. Anil Ambani-led Reliance

Group through its entity

Reliance Unmanned Systems

on 23 July 2015 signed a

Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) with

Augur Overseas Operation of

Singapore to manufacture

Aerostats and Airships in

India.

ii. As per the MoU, both the

parties will collaborate on

new technologies for the civil

and military market as part of

the Make in India initiative of

Union Government. The two

companies have agreed to

form a joint venture (JV) firm

with Reliance having 51

percent stake as per

Government‘s policy.

iii. The joint venture will be

involved in development,

production, sales,

modification and life support

for different sizes of

Aerostats and Airships. This

JV will address the

requirements of domestic

market and also addressable

regional/global markets.

iv. The Aerostat radars are

deployed extensively in the

surveillance, reconnaissance

and communication roles by

the army. These are also

useful in detecting low-flying

fighter aircraft.

4. CSC, HCL form joint

venture to provide

technology services,

solutions to banks

i. IT companies CSC and

HCL Technologies have

signed an agreement to form

a banking software and

services company to provide

technology services and

solutions to the banking

industry.

ii. The joint venture will invest

in platform modernisation and

product functionality

enhancement and will

capitalise on the proven

capabilities of both

companies in addressing the

multi-billion-dollar, global

core banking software

market.

iii. CSC, which serves over

100 premier banking and

financial services clients in 15

countries, will provide its core

banking, cards, payments

and default management

industry talent, software and

product development

expertise.

iv. HCL will provide capital

investment, its experience in

product engineering and

application implementation

services, as well as banking

sales and client engagement

expertise.

5. T K Chand appointed as

CMD of National Aluminium

Company

i. T K Chand has been

appointed as the new

chairman-cum-managing

director (CMD) of National

Aluminium Company(Nalco).

Chand who has been

Director (Commercial) of

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam

Limited (RINL), will take up

his new position on Monday,

July 27, 2015.

ii. The Public Enterprises

Selection Board

recommended his name for

appointment as CMD of the

Nalco in November last year

after short-listing 11

candidates. The Department

of Personnel issued the

appointment order earlier this

week.

iii. His appointment fills in a

key leadership role at the

Page 56 of 72

country's largest state-owned

aluminium company, almost

three months after the

previous incumbent Ansuman

Das superannuated on April

30, 2015.

6. Suresh Narayanan

appointed new Nestle India

MD after Maggi scare

i. Swiss food group Nestle

has replaced the head of its

Indian operations as the

company battles its worst

ever public relations crisis in

the country, following a food

scare that forced it to

withdraw its popular instant

noodles.

ii. Nestle has been at the

centre of India‘s worst food

scare in a decade, after a

regulator in the northern state

of Uttar Pradesh in May

found excess lead in a

sample of its hugely popular

Maggi noodles.

iii. Criticised for its slow

response to consumer

worries over safety, the

company withdrew the

noodles from the shelves of

Indian stores last month. It

has since challenged the

findings of India‘s food safety

authority in court. (Reporting

by Nivedita Bhattacharjee;

Editing by Clara Ferreira

Marques and Susan Fenton)

7. Shubham Jaglan won

IJGA World Stars of Junior

Golf event 2015

i. 10-year old Shubham

Jaglan on 22 July 2015 won

the IJGA World Stars of

Junior Golf event in Las

Vegas. Jaglan is the son of a

milkman from rural Haryana,

India.

ii. He shot a three round

score of 106 winning by a

five-stroke margin, ahead of

two Americans Justin Dang

and Sihan Sandhu and

Thailand's Pongsapak

Laopakdee for the Boys 9-10

years category title.

iii. He also scripted a

scintillating one-stroke win at

the Junior World Golf

Championships that was held

at Welk Resort Fountain

Course in California.

1. WTO slashes tariffs on IT

goods but implementation

held up.

i. The World Trade

Organization finalised a list of

201 information technology

products to be freed from

import tariffs in a $1.3 trillion

deal on Friday, but said it

was still short of the critical

mass of countries needed to

put it into force.

ii. Valued at $1.3 trillion in

annual trade, the products

include new generation semi-

conductors, GPS navigation,

medical equipment, as well

as machine tools for

manufacturing printed

circuits, telecommunications

satellites and touch screens,

Xinhua news agency

reported.

iii. Eliminating tariffs on trade

of this magnitude will have a

huge impact. It will support

lower prices, including in

many other sectors that use

IT products as inputs, it will

create jobs and it will help to

Page 57 of 72

boost GDP growth around

the world," Azevedo said.

2. Ajay Mathur appointed

as Director-General of

TERI.

i. Ajay Mathur, the newly

designated director general

of TERI, is not as visible as R

K Pachauri but no less

illustrious. The current head

of the Bureau of Energy

Efficiency, a government

body under the Ministry of

Power, is a technocrat who

has been active on the

climate change circuit for

several years now.

ii. A chemical engineer from

Roorkee, Mathur is the man

behind the energy efficiency

programme of the

government.

iii. Incidentally, he had started

his career at TERI in 1986

and was last associated with

it in 1999.

3. Peter Higgs receives

Copley Medal, world’s

oldest scientific prize.

i. Nobel prize winner Peter

Higgs has joined the ranks of

Charles Darwin and Albert

Einstein by winning the

world‘s oldest scientific prize,

the Royal Society‘s Copley

Medal, for his pioneering

work on the theory of the

Higgs boson, which was

discovered in 2012.

ii. 86-year-old Higgs received

the Copley Medal for his

fundamental contribution to

particle physics with his

theory explaining the origin of

mass in elementary particles,

confirmed by the experiments

at the Large Hadron Collider.

iii. The Copley medal was

first awarded by the Royal

Society in 1731, 170 years

before the first Nobel Prize.

iv. It is awarded for

outstanding achievements in

scientific research and has

most recently been awarded

to eminent scientists such as

theoretical physicist Stephen

Hawking, DNA fingerprinting

pioneer Alec Jeffreys and

Andre Geim, for his discovery

of graphene.

v. In 1964, Higgs proposed a

theory about the existence of

a particle that explains why

these other particles have a

mass.

4. PM launches new

scheme for power reforms

in rural areas.

i. Prime Minister Narendra

Modi today launched the

‗Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

Gram Jyoti Yojana‘ for power

sector reforms in rural areas

with a view to ensuring round

the clock electricity supply to

farmers and rural

households.

ii. The new power scheme

focuses on feeder separation

(rural households and

agricultural) and

strengthening of sub-

transmission and distribution

infrastructure, including

metering at all levels in rural

areas.

iii. The scheme is one of the

flagship programmes of the

Power Ministry and will

facilitate 24x7 supply of

electricity.

iv. The scheme has an outlay

of Rs. 76,000 crore for

implementation of the

projects under which the

Centre shall provide grant of

Rs. 63,000 crore.

5. President nominates 2

members of Anglo-Indian

Community to Lok Sabha.

i. President Pranab

Mukherjee has appointed 2

members of Anglo-Indian

Community to Lok Sabha as

per the provisions of Article

331 of Indian Constitution.

ii. Professor Richard Hay: He

hails from Kerala. Presently,

he teaches economics in

various academic institutes in

India as well as abroad.

iii. George Baker: He hails

from West Bengal and is

actor by profession. Since

1970s, he has acted in

several Assamese and

Bengali movies.

Page 58 of 72

iv. His notable film was

‗Chameli Memsaab‘ which

had won national film award

in 1975.

v. Presently, he is member of

Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP).

He had unsuccessfully

contested for 2014 Lok

Sabha election on BJP ticket

from Howrah in West Bengal

after he had joined BJP in

2014.

6. Lupin acquires US

pharmaceutical firm Gavis.

i.

Indian pharmaceutical major

Lupin has acquired US based

Gavis Pharmaceuticals in

cash-free and debt-free

transaction for 880 million

dollars (around 5,606 crore

rupees).

ii. In this regard, Lupin has

entered into definite

agreement with Gavis

Pharmaceuticals LLC and its

subsidiary Novel Laboratories

Inc.

iii. This acquisition will help

the Indian company to

expand and deepen its

presence in US and enter

into niche generics areas

such as dermatology and

controlled substances along

with other high-value areas.

7. Indian-American Amitoj

Chhabra wins junior title at

US Powerlifting

Championships.

i. 20 year old Indian-

American Amitoj Chhabra

has won the Junior Title at

the US Powerlifting

Association National

Championships 2015.

ii. He won this title after he

lifted a total of 1,383 pounds

in the junior title

Championship which was

held at the Golden Nugget

Casino in Las Vegas.

iii. He is son of a Punjabi

father and a Nepali mother.

He had started powerlifting in

2013 and began competing

at various championships in

May 2014. Presently, he is

undergoing Adam Lauritzen

of Silverback Strength and

Conditioning in Reno.

Daily GK Update :26th and 27th July 2015 1. PM launches new scheme

for power reforms in rural

areas.

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi

today launched the ‗Deen Dayal

Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana‘

for power sector reforms in rural

areas with a view to ensuring

round the clock electricity

supply to farmers and rural

households.

ii. The new power scheme

focuses on feeder separation

(rural households and

agricultural) and strengthening

of sub-transmission and

distribution infrastructure,

including metering at all levels

in rural areas.

iii. The scheme is one of the

flagship programmes of the

Power Ministry and will

facilitate 24x7 supply of

electricity.

iv. The earlier scheme for rural

electrification, Rajiv Gandhi

Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana

(RGGVY), which was launched

by previous UPA government,

has been subsumed in the new

scheme as its rural

electrification component.

v. The scheme has an outlay of

Rs. 76,000 crore for

implementation of the projects

under which the Centre shall

provide grant of Rs. 63,000

crore. A total of Rs. 14,680

crore worth projects have

already been approved out of

Page 59 of 72

which projects amounting to Rs.

5,827 crore have been approved

for Bihar state.

2. Christopher Froome rides

to victory in 100th Tour de

France.

i. Chris Froome became the first

Briton to win the Tour de France

twice when he safely reached

the finish line in Paris at the end

of the three-week race.

ii. Exceptionally, the 100th Tour

treated itself to a nighttime

finish on the Champs—Elysees.

The famous avenue and the Arc

de Triomphe at the top of it were

bathed in yellow light

emphasizing the canary yellow

of Froome‘s famous jersey.

iii. In two years, Britain has now

had two different winners-

Bradley Wiggins in 2012 and

then Froome, a cooler, calmer,

more understated but no less

determined character than his

Sky teammate with famous

sideburns.

iv. Froome rode into Paris in

style- Riders pedaled up to him

to offer congratulations; he

sipped from a flute of

champagne; a Tour organizer

stuck an arm from his car

window to shake Froome‘s

hand. He dedicated his victory

to his late mother, Jane, who

died in 2008.

3. Vettel wins classic

Hungarian GP, Lewis

Hamilton sixth.

i. German driver Sebastian

Vettel delivered an emotional

high-speed tribute to his late

colleague Jules Bianchi on

Sunday when he stormed to

victory for Ferrari in a dramatic

and incident-filled Hungarian

Grand Prix.

ii. The four-time world

champion claimed his second

victory of the season and 41st of

his career -- drawing him level

with the late Brazilian legend

Ayrton Senna in equal third on

the all-time list -- after leading

from the start to dominate a

thrilling and unpredictable

contest.

iii. The Red Bull pair of Russian

Daniil Kvyat and Australian

Daniel Ricciardo finished in

second and third respectively..

4. Nation commemorates

valour of Indian soldiers in

Kargil War.

i. The sixteenth anniversary of

the Indian victory in the 1999

Kargil war was celebrated

across the country on 26th July.

ii. Functions are being held in all

army cantonments and by

citizen groups across the

country. The primary function,

however, is being held in Dras

under the aegis of 8 Division

that bore the maximum brunt of

the war.

iii. July 26, 1999, was a fateful

day when the Indian Army put

paid to yet another audacious

misadventure by Pakistan in the

unforgiving heights of the

Kargil and the Batalik sectors.

iii. July 26, 1999, was a fateful

day when the Indian Army put

paid to yet another audacious

misadventure by Pakistan in the

unforgiving heights of the

Kargil and the Batalik sectors.

iv. The Kargil war, that

witnessed fighting in heights up

to 18,000 feet with extremely

low temperatures, culminated

with the complete routing of the

enemy and physical re-

possession of the ground that

had been occupied by stealth

and deceit.

5. Axis Bank signs $200-mn

loan agreement with ADB.

Page 60 of 72

i. Axis Bank today signed a

USD 200-million, seven-year

bilateral loan agreement with the

Asian Development Bank.

ii. The loan will help bolster

Bank's efforts to improve farm

efficiency by extending

customised and affordable

agriculture credit, that will help

leverage its semi-urban and rural

branch network to deliver

agriculture credit, the city-

headquartered lender said in a

statement.

iii. Axis Bank treasury and

transaction banking head

Sidharth Rath said "this

commitment from ADB will

strengthen our rural lending and

microfinance initiatives, which

we regard as an integral

component of its overall

strategy."

6. ONGC to invest $8.8 billion

in KG oil and gas discoveries.

i. State-owned Oil and Natural

Gas Corp (ONGC) plans to

invest over USD 8.8 billion in

bringing to production its much-

touted KG-basin oil and gas

discoveries by 2018-19.

ii. ONGC has divided 12 oil and

gas finds in the block KG-

DWN-98/2 or KG-D5 and gas

discovery in an adjacent G-4

block the Bay of Bengal into

three clusters to quickly bring

them to production, a senior

company official said.

iii. The 7,294.6 sq km deepsea

KG-D5 block has been broadly

categorised into Northern

Discovery Area (NDA - 3,800.6

sq km) and Southern Discovery

Area (SDA - 3,494 sq km).

iv. ONGC plans to develop the

discoveries in the block in three

clusters -- 14.5 million standard

cubic meters per day of gas for

15 years from Cluster-1

comprising of D&E finds of

NDA in KG-D5 block and G-4

find in the a neighbouring area.

7. Maharashtra govt to

develop six solar cities

targeting solar capacity of

7,500 MW.

i. Maharashtra government has

placed a comprehensive plan to

develop six solar cities in order

to add solar capacity of 7,500

MW in the state.

ii. To enhance solar capacity in

country Centre has planned to

develop 55 solar cities across the

country among them six are

from Maharashtra these are –

Nagpur, Thane, Aurangabad,

Kalyan-Dombivli, Shirdi and

Nanded.

iii. The selection of these cities

was done on basis of the

population and other criteria and

would be developed through the

joint funding from Centre and

State Government.

iv. To meet the increasing

demand for power Maharashtra

government has targeted to add

14,400 MW through renewable

energy source. Out of this target

nearly 7,500 MW will be added

through solar energy projects,

over 5,000 MW will be added

through wind and rest from

other sources like industrial and

domestic waste.

8. CSC and HCL forms joint

venture to provide technology

services, solutions to banks.

i. Computer Science

Corporation (CSC) and

Hindustan Computer Limited

(HCL) to big IT companies have

signed an agreement to form a

new company to provide

technology services and

solutions to the banking

industry.

Page 61 of 72

ii. In the joint statement the

partners said that their main

focus will be on platform

modernisation, product

functionality enhancement and

to capitalise their capabilities in

addressing global core banking

software market.

iii. According to the agreement

CSC that serves in 15 countries

with 100 premier banking and

financial services clients, will

provide its core banking

expertise for software and

product development.

iv. Whereas, HCL will provide

funds, it‘s banking sales and

client engagement expertise and

also its experience in product

engineering and application

implementation services in order

to modernise the banking

industries.

9. BEL bags Dun Bradstreet’s

India’s Top PSUs Awards

2015.

i. The Defence PSU Bharat

Electronics Ltd (BEL) became

the front runner in the Dun &

Bradstreet‘s ‗India‘s Top PSUs

Awards 2015 in the category of

electrical and electronic

equipment sector.

ii. The award was received by

Chairman and Managing

Director of BEL Mr. S K

Sharma along with Anandi

Ramalingam the General

Manager-National Marketing for

BEL.

iii. This award sponsored by The

Dun & Bradstreet an US public

company to acknowledge the

critical role played by the PSUs

in the development of the Indian

economy.

iv. BEL was declared winner in

electrical and electronic

equipment category for

providing electrical equipment

and electronic services to the

Indian Defence Services. It has

provided night vision, critical

communication systems, and

electronic warfare and radar

systems to the Indian Defence

services for last 60 years.

10. Anand Krishnamurthy

appointed CEO and MD of

CSB bank.

i. Anand Krishnamurthy is now

the new MD and CEO of

Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB)

replacing Rakesh Bhatia who

had quit due to personal reason.

ii. This appointment was done

by the board of directors of CSB

among the three named sent to

RBI.

iii. Mr. Anand has previously

worked with HSBC for 22 years

and also headed the Wholesale

Banking and Treasury of CSB

for last one year. He was

responsible for corporate

banking, integrated treasury

operations of the Bank and SME

business for CSB.

iv. The Catholic Syrian Bank is

94 year old private sector bank

founded on 26th November

1920. It has its strong base in

Kerala along with significant

presence in Karnataka, Tamil

Nadu and

Maharashtra. Recently it has

filed for an IPO for 400 crore

rupees.

11. Indian women wrestling

team wins silver medal in the

Kazakhstan Presidential Cup.

i. Indian women‘s wrestling

team has won the silver medal

after finishing second in the fifth

Senior International Wrestling

Tournament (also known as Cup

of the President of Republic of

Kazakhstan).

ii. The eight-member team

bagged a silver medal at the July

23-26 event held in

Kazakhstan‘s capital Astana.

Team members who won the

match are Vinesh (48kg), Lalita

Sehrawat (55kg) and Anita

(63kg) in their respective weight

categories. Sakshi Malik lost

just one fight in 58kg division

which resulted with silver medal

for Indian team.

iii. For this victory, Indian team

received a prize money of US

10,000 dollars along with a

trophy and medals. Host country

Kazakhstan won the gold medal,

while Mangolia won the bronze

medal.

Page 62 of 72

12. Rajesh Exports buys

world's largest gold refining

company Valcambi for Rs

2,560 cr.

i. Jewellery company Rajesh

Exports Ltd on Monday said that

it has bought Valcambi, the

world‘s largest gold refining

company, in an all-cash deal

worth $400 million ( Rs 2560

crore).

ii. The company was selected

after a global search by

Valcambi‘s existing owners led

by Newmont Mining Corp, the

world‘s largest gold jewellery

maker said.

iii. The deal will help it secure

raw material supplies and will

add to earnings per share, the

company said.

iv. India is the world‘s biggest

consumer of gold, with annual

demand hovering around 900

tonnes per year.

Daily GK Update

:28th July 2015

1. Former President A.P.J.

Abdul Kalam passes away.

i. Former President A.P.J.

Abdul Kalam, widely

acclaimed as the ―people‘s

President‖, passed away

after collapsing during a

lecture at the Indian Institute

of Management in Shillong.

ii. Mr. Kalam (83), who was

President between 2002 and

2007, took the lead in the

conduct of India‘s nuclear

tests in May 1998 and was

later fielded as the National

Democratic Alliance

candidate by then Prime

Minister A.B. Vajpayee.

iii. Mr. Kalam, the country‘s

11th President, was one of

India‘s most eminent

scientists, and had the

unique honour of receiving

honorary doctorates from 30

universities and institutions.

iv. He has been awarded the

coveted civilian awards -

Padma Bhushan (1981) and

Padma Vibhushan (1990)

and the highest civilian award

Bharat Ratna (1997). He is a

recipient of several other

awards and Fellow of many

professional institutions.

v. As scientific advisor to the

Defence Minister from July

1992 to December 1999, the

former President led the

―weaponisation of strategic

missile systems and the

Pokhran-II nuclear tests in

collaboration with

Department of Atomic

Energy‖.

vi. One of his pet themes was

PURA – or the Provision of

Urban Amenities in Rural

Areas – a theme he referred

to often in his travels abroad.

2. ADB to give $ 300 m loan

to India.

i. The Asian Development

Bank (ADB) will extend a

loan of $ 300 million to India

for improving road

connectivity and increasing

the domestic and regional

trade along the North

Bengal—North Eastern

Region (NER).

ii. The loan is the first tranche

under $ 500 million multi—

tranche South Asian Sub—

regional Economic

Cooperation (SASEC) Road

Connectivity Investment

Programme. Under this

programme, about 500 km of

roads will be constructed.

iii. The project will improve

road connectivity and

Page 63 of 72

efficiency of the international

trade corridors by expanding

roads in NER of the country.

iv. The investment on the

‗last mile‘ connectivity will

contribute to achieve the

objective of regionally

balanced and inclusive

growth of remote and

economically lagging

regions,‖ said Tarun Bajaj,

Joint Secretary in the

Ministry.

3. Centre approves Rs

1,000 cr for India-

Bangladesh rail link.

i. The Indian government has

sanctioned around Rs.1,000

crore for a 15-km India-

Bangladesh railway project,

an official said on Sunday.

ii. The union government on

Saturday communicated to

Tripura that it had sanctioned

Rs.580 crore to lay the rail

tracks and acquire required

land in Tripura, Transport

Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik

said.

iii. Bhowmik told IANS: "The

alignment and other

technicalities of laying the

15.06 km track to link

Agartala with Bangladesh's

Akhaura railway station has

been changed by top

engineers and railway

officials."

iv. The 1,650-km distance

between Agartala and

Kolkata would be reduced to

515 km once the rail track is

constructed through

Bangladesh.

4. Physicist P. Hariharan

passes away.

i. Eminent physicist P.

Hariharan died on Sunday in

Berkeley, California. He was

89.

ii. Dr. Hariharan was the son

of Prof. H. Parameswaran (H.

P. Waran) of Presidency

College and the son-in-law of

Alladi Krishnaswamy

Iyer. He was born on

December 24, 1926.

iii. He worked at the National

Physical Laboratory (NPL),

New Delhi from 1949 to 1951

and then at the National

Research Council, Ottawa

from 1951- 1954. On

returning to NPL, Dr.

Hariharan received a PhD for

his work on photographic

resolving power.

Subsequently, he held key

posts at several scientific

institutes and organisations

and was also an honorary

visiting professor at the

University of Sydney.

iv. Dr. Hariharan's research

contributions include the

design of a new three-beam

interferometer, the double-

passed Fabry-Perot

interferometer, and the first

practical radial-shear

interferometer. He was also

the first to apply digital

phase-shifting techniques to

holographic interferometry for

measurements of vector

displacements and strains.

Dr. Hariharan has published

more than 200 papers and

has authored four books. Dr.

Hariharan was a recipient of

several awards, including the

Joseph Fraunhofer Medal of

the Optical Society of

America, the Thomas Young

Medal of the Institute of

Physics, London and the

Walter Boas Medal of the

Australian Institute of

Physics.

5. IT Secretary R S Sharma

appointed as TRAI

chairman.

i. Information Technology

Secretary Ram Sevak

Sharma on Monday was

appointed chairman of the

Telecom Regulatory Authority

of India (Trai).

ii. Sharma was set to retire in

September as secretary of

department of electronics and

information technology. A

1978-batch IAS officer of the

Jharkhand cadre, he was a

probable choice because of

his familiarity with the

telecom and IT sector.

Page 64 of 72

iii. Sharma holds a Master‘s

degree in mathematics from

Indian Institute of

Technology, Kanpur, and a

Master‘s in computer science

from the University of

California, USA, according to

his profile on the department

of electronics and IT website.

iv. Among the other

candidates short-listed for

Trai chairman were Power

Secretary P K Sinha,

Information and Broadcasting

Secretary Bimal Julka,

Commerce Secretary Rajeev

Kher, former telecom

secretary M F Farooqui, and

former Reserve Bank of India

deputy governor Subir

Gokarn.

6. Mexico Defeat Jamaica

3-1 in Gold Cup Final.

i. Andres Guardado became

the first player to score in

three Gold Cup finals and

Mexico defeated Jamaica 3-1

on Sunday, stretching their

record trophy total to seven.

ii. Andres Guardado was the

star of the match once again

as he scored the opener for

Mexico.

iii. But the "Reggae Boyz"

could not stop the Mexicans

from capturing their third title

in the past four attempts at

the biennial North American

regional football tournament.

7. Renault India Ropes in

Ranbir Kapoor as Brand

Ambassador.

i. Automobile manufacturer

Renault India on Monday

announced that it has roped

in actor Ranbir Kapoor as its

brand ambassador.

ii. Renault is celebrating its

fourth year anniversary in

India this July and is

progressing towards a new

and dynamic phase of

growth. This association will

leverage the versatility and

legacy of both Renault and

Ranbir, as he represents the

underlying brand promise of

Renault -- 'Passion For Life'.

iii. Sumit Sawhney, country

CEO and managing director,

Renault India Operations,

said Ranbir is the perfect

match because he "ideally

portrays

1. Sanjeev Chaturvedi,

Anshu Gupta win Ramon

Magsaysay Award.

i. Whistleblower bureaucrat

Sanjeev Chaturvedi and

human rights activist Anshu

Gupta are among five

persons from India, Laos,

Myanmar, and the Philippines

who will receive Asia‘s

coveted Ramon Magsaysay

Award.

ii. The 2002-batch Indian

Forest Service officer, who is

currently embattled in a

protracted battle with the

Centre over alleged

harassment for his tough

stance on graft, was the

former Chief Vigilance Officer

(CVO) at the AIIMS in New

Delhi.

iii. According to the

foundation, Mr. Chaturvedi

has been awarded for ―his

exemplary integrity, courage

and tenacity in

Page 65 of 72

uncompromisingly exposing

and painstakingly

investigating corruption in

public office, and his resolute

crafting of program and

system improvements to

ensure that government

honorably serves the people

of India.‖

iv. Anshu Gupta, the founder

of NGO Goonj, the statement

said, is being recognised for

―his creative vision in

transforming the culture of

giving in India, his

enterprising leadership in

treating cloth as a

sustainable development

resource for the poor, and in

reminding the world that true

giving always respects and

preserves human dignity.‖

v. Goonj is a non-

governmental organisation

based in Delhi, which works

in 21 states across India in

disaster relief, humanitarian

aid and community

development. It has

converted 1,000 tonnes of

used clothes, household

goods and other urban

discards into usable

resources for the poor.

vi. The other awardees are

Kommaly Chanthavong, from

Laos who is being recognised

for her efforts to develop the

ancient Laotian art of silk

weaving, Ligaya Fernando-

Amilbangsa from the

Philippines for ―her single-

minded crusade in preserving

the endangered artistic

heritage of southern

Philippines".

2. Dr. Suniti Solomon,

Pioneering Indian HIV/AIDS

Researcher, Dies at 76.

i. India‘s foremost HIV/AIDS

researcher Dr. Suniti

Solomon, who documented

the nation‘s first HIV case

before setting up the first

voluntary testing and

counseling center for the

disease, died Tuesday at her

home in the southern city of

Chennai.

ii. India‘s foremost HIV/AIDS

researcher Dr. Suniti

Solomon, who documented

the nation‘s first HIV case

before setting up the first

voluntary testing and

counseling center for the

disease, died Tuesday at her

home in the southern city of

Chennai.

iii. In 1986, her discovery of

the infection in six blood

samples collected from

female sex workers in

southern India generated

headlines internationally.

iv. Trained in the U.K., the

U.S. and Australia, Solomon

won a string of awards for her

HIV/AIDS work.

3. Gujarat makes voting

compulsory in local body

polls.

i. Gujarat became the first

state to have a provision for

compulsory voting with the

state government on Monday

putting out a notification in

this regard.

ii. Besides making voting

mandatory in the local body

polls, the communiqué, dated

July 17, announced the

reservation of 50 per cent

seats for women in municipal

corporations, municipalities,

and village panchayats.

iii. With the government

notifying the Gujarat Local

Authorities Act(Amendment)

2009, a voter in the state

would now invite punitive

action in case he or she fails

to vote in the local body

Page 66 of 72

elections without any

acceptable reason.

4. World Hepatitis Day

observed with theme

‘Prevent hepatitis. Act

now'.

i. World Hepatitis Day was

observed across the world on

28 July 2015 with the theme

Prevent hepatitis. Act now.

The day acts as a significant

global platform for raising

awareness about hepatitis

and influence real change in

disease prevention, testing

and treatment.

ii. The theme highlights the

fact that infection through

transmission can be

prevented through proven

and effective interventions. It

is important for everyone to

be aware of hepatitis and to

learn how they can protect

themselves from being

infected.

iii. The observance of the day

in 2015 focuses particularly

on Hepatitis B and C. These

two combined cause

approximately 80 percent of

all liver cancer deaths and kill

close to 1.4 million people

every year.

iv. In 2015, WHO‘s flagship

event to mark the day will

take place in Egypt, which

has one of the world‘s

highest hepatitis burdens. It

is estimated that 10 percent

of the ‎ noptal‎ pyp s’tpyg‎

netweeg‎51‎’gn‎‎‎ 59 years is

chronically ‎pgtewten‎ wptn‎

nep’tptpl‎h.

5. World Tiger Day

infographic: India home to

70% of world's tigers.

i. World Tiger Day is an

annual celebration to raise

awareness for tiger

conservation, held every year

on 29 July. It is a day to

promote a global system for

protecting the natural habitats

of tigers and to raise public

awareness and support for

tiger conservation issues.

ii. The tiger population in the

country is estimated to be

around 2,226, which

represents a rise of over 30

percent since the last count

in 2010, according to the

latest census report released

in January.

iii. The total number of tigers

was estimated to be around

1,706 in 2010, after dipping

to an alarming 1,411 in 2006,

but it has improved since

then, reported PTI.

iv. India is now home to more

than 70 percent of the world's

tiger population. Releasing

the countrywide tiger

assessment report for 2014,

Environment Minister

Prakash Javadekar termed it

as a "success story" and

noted that while the tiger

population is falling in the

world, it is rising in India.

6.

Former South African

cricketer Clive Rice passes

away.

i. Former South African all-

rounder cricketer Clive Rice

passed away in

Johannerburg, South Africa.

He was 66 and was suffering

from brain tumour.

ii. He was one of the best all-

rounders of his era alongside

Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, Ian

Botham and his county team-

mate Richard Hadlee.

Page 67 of 72

iii. Rice had started his

cricket career in 1969 with

Transvaal (first-class cricket

team). He had played most of

his cricket during South

Africa‘s 2 decade long

isolation from the

international games. He

mostly had played for

Nottinghamshire County

Cricket Club from 1975 to

1987 and was captain of the

club from 1979 to 1987.

7. GM to invest $1 bn in

India; to launch 10 Made-in-

India vehicles over 5 years.

i. General Motors, as part of

Chevrolet's global growth

strategy, on Wednesday said

it will invest Rs. 6,400 crore

($1 billion) in India to

strengthen its market here

over the next five years.

ii. The India investment is

part of the announcement

made yesterday by the

company to make investment

of $5 billion to strengthen its

business in global growth

markets.

iii. Through such

investments, the company

will develop all-new vehicle

family that will meet rapidly

changing demands of

customers in Brazil, China,

Mexico and India, Mary

Barra, Chief Executive

Officer, GM, told reporters

here.

Daily GK Update :30th July 2015 1. Kalam buried with full

state honours.

i. The mortal remains of

former President APJ Abdul

Kalam, who passed away on

Monday, was laid to rest with

full state honours, including a

21-gun salute at his native

island town, Rameswaram, in

Tamil Nadu on Thursday

afternoon.

ii. Prime Minister Narendra

Modi, Tamil Nadu Governor

K. Rosaiah, Chief Ministers of

neighbouring States, Union

Ministers, and State Ministers

were among thousands who

took part in the funeral.

iii. After a guard of honour

given by the tri-forces, the

Prime Minister laid a wreath

and paid his last respects to

the 11th President of the

country. He was followed by

Mr. Rosaiah, Union Ministers

Venkaiah Naidu, Manohar

Parikkar and MoS Pon.

Radhakrishnan.

2. Anuradha Roy’s

'Sleeping on Jupiter'

shortlisted for Man Booker

Prize.

i. Indian writer Anuradha

Roy's latest work on the

malaise of sexual abuse in

India has been shortlisted for

the Man Booker Prize 2015.

ii. Her book 'Sleeping on

Jupiter' that tells the story of

Nomi and is set in Jarmuli - a

city of temples and a centre

of healing on the edge of the

ocean has made it among the

13 books selected for the

£50,000 literary prize.

iii. Announced by a panel of

five judges who picked 13

books from over 150, the

longlist also features Man

Booker Prize-winning Irish

author Anne Enright and the

Pulitzer Prize-winning

American author Anne Tyler,

among others. The shortlist

of six books will be revealed

on September 15 and the

final winner on October 13.

Page 68 of 72

3. Procter & Gamble (P&G)

appoints David Taylor as

its new CEO.

i. Procter & Gamble (P&G)

has appointed its company

veteran David Taylor as the

new CEO by replacing A G

Lafley on 29 July 2015.

ii. The world‘s largest

household products maker

P&G has appointed new

CEO in wake of sluggish

sales in developed countries.

And recently has also

announced to sell off its 40

brands to the perfume maker

Coty Inc for USD 12.5

iii. David Taylor is with the

P&G for last 35 years, who

had joined in 1980. He has

been the group president for

global health & grooming

business since 2013 and has

served the company as in

managerial role across the

globe.

4. Kalyani Group partners

with Israel’s Rafael to make

Spike Missile.

i. India‘s Kalyani Group and

Israel‘s Rafael have

partnered to produce Spike

Anti-Tank Guided Missiles

(ATGM) in India.

ii. In this regard both the

entities have formed a

manufacturing Joint Venture

(JV) and this move is

considered to deepen India-

Israel strategic cooperation.

iii. The manufacturing JV will

be as per the Foreign Direct

Investment (FDI) guidelines

which means that the 51%

ownership stake in JV will

hold by the Kalyani Group.

iv. The FDI proposal in this

regard was cleared by

Defence Acquisition Council

(DAC) in October 2014 which

was chaired by then Defence

Minister Arun Jaitley. The FDI

deal was worth 3,200 crore

rupees and comprises order

of 300 plus launchers and

8,000 plus Spike ATGM

missiles.

v. Spike Anti-Tank Guided

Missiles (ATGM): It is a 3rd

generation, man-portable,

fire-and-forget, anti-tank

missile. Designed and

developed by Israeli

company Rafael Advanced

Defense Systems.

5. Kotak bank launches

‘Kotak Bharat’ mobile

banking app for ‘un-

banked’ regions.

i. Kotak Mahindra Bank

(KMB) launched a mobile

banking app ‗Kotak Bharat‘

aiming to provide mobile

banking services to

customers in the remotest

regions of India.

ii. The Android-based app is

specifically designed to

provide banking service to

customers in the under-

banked and un-banked

regions with provision to use

service in their preferred

language.

iii. Initially the service will be

provided in Hindi and English

language and would also be

available in Marathi, Gujarati,

Tamil and Kannada in few

months.

iv. Customers can manage

their savings/current

accounts and credit cards

through this app. Initially will

be launch in prominent Hindi

belt centre starting from

Lucknow and will spread its

service in other state in few

months.

v. The app is compatible on

SMS banking keyword

process platform where

customers could download

Page 69 of 72

the app on their registered

mobile number without any

separate registration process.

6. Gates Foundation

world’s wealthiest private

charitable organisation.

i. The Bill & Melinda Gates

Foundation has topped the

list of the world‘s wealthiest

private foundations

established by living ultra

high net worth (UHNW)

individuals, according to a

Wealth-X report.

ii. With total assets of USD

43.4 billion, the Gates

Foundation accounts for

more than half of the

combined assets of the 10

charitable foundations on the

list, the global wealth

intelligence and prospecting

firm has said.

iii. Li Ka Shing Foundation,

founded in 1980 by Hong

Kong business magnate Li

Ka-Shing, ranked second

with USD 8.1 billion in assets

followed by Gordon and Betty

Moore Foundation (USD 6.4

billion) and Bloomberg

Philanthropies (USD 5.4

billion) in the third and fourth

place, respectively.

iv. Collectively, the 10

foundations have total assets

of USD 83.1 billion,

equivalent to 29.7 per cent of

combined net worth of the

UHNW individuals who

established them.

7. Flipkart launches ‘India

Art House’ for handicraft

lovers.

i. E-commerce major Flipkart

on July 30 launched India Art

House, an exclusive online

store offering sellers a

platform to promote regional

products.

ii. With over seven million

artisans, India is globally

known for its unique artifacts

and traditional products. India

Art House aims at bringing

products from artisans under

one roof and offer them

access to a wide set of

customers across

geographies.

iii. With over 10,000 hand-

made and traditional

handicrafts products in the

store, customers will now be

able to browse and shop for

skilled crafts from specific

regions of their choice.

8. Paytm bags BCCI

sponsorship rights.

i. Mobile marketplace and

payments site Paytm has

bagged the title sponsorship

rights of BCCI (Board of

Control for Cricket in India)

for Rs. 203 crore.

ii. Shankar Nath, Senior Vice-

President, Paytm told

Business Line that the

sponsorship rights were

acquired for all the 84 series

India will play till 2019. Paytm

will pay Rs. 2.42 crore for

every international match

hosted by BCCI. The first

home series will be against

South Africa starting

September.

iii. The Alibaba-backed

company, owned by One97

communications and founded

by Vijay Shekhar Sharma,

won the bid against home-

grown mobile handset maker

Micromax, which paid Rs.

2.02 crore per match.

1. Centre to put Rs 20,000

crore more as capital

infusion in public sector

banks this year.

Page 70 of 72

i. The government has

decided to infuse capital to

the tune of Rs 20,000 crore in

public sector banks, Financial

Services Secretary Hasmukh

Adhia said. 50%, or Rs

10,000 crore of this money

will find its way to "weak"

banks.

ii. This money is likely to

strengthen balance sheets of

banks reeling with high non-

performing assets and bad

loans. In his union budget for

the fiscal presented in

February, Finance Minister

Arun Jaitley had said that the

government has earmarked

slightly under Rs 8000 crore

for capital infusion purposes

for the current year.

iii. The finance ministry is

setting up a rating system for

public sector banks where

their performance will be

measured. Still in the

planning stage, some of the

criteria that are under

discussion for the rating are

the number of Jan Dhan

accounts and financial

inclusion programmes that

banks have implemented,

and the quantum of retail

advances undertaken by

them against their corporate

advances.

iv. Under this method, a

higher rated bank will enjoy

equity support from the

government unlike the

practice earlier when

government used to support

the weaker banks with equity

erosion.

2. Rajendra Srivastava of

Singapore Management

Univ to be next dean of

ISB.

i. Rajendra Srivastava, the

Provost and Deputy

President and Professor of

Marketing at Singapore

Management University, will

be the next Dean of Indian

School of Business (ISB) with

effect from January 1, 2016.

ii. This was announced by

Adi Godrej, Chairman of the

ISB Board, here on Friday.

Srivastava will succeed Ajit

Rangnekar, the outgoing

Dean, who has held this

position since January 2009.

iii. This was announced by

Adi Godrej, Chairman of the

ISB Board, here on Friday.

Srivastava will succeed Ajit

Rangnekar, the outgoing

Dean, who has held this

position since January 2009.

iv. Prior to SMU, he held

distinguished research chairs

and senior management

positions at the University of

Texas at Austin and Emory

University in Atlanta. He has

an MBA and PhD (Business

Administration) from the

University of Pittsburgh, an

MS in Industrial Engineering

from the University of Rhode

Island, and a B.Tech

(Mechanical Engineering)

from the Indian Institute of

Technology, Kanpur.

3. BHEL signs three MoU in

Kazakhstan for power

projects.

i. Bharat Heavy Electronics

Limited (BHEL) has signed

three strategic agreements

with Kazakhstan companies

in order to deepen its roots in

Central Asia.

ii. BHEL will work with JSU

on projects of mutual interest;

JSU is the national power

utility of Kazakhstan having a

major share in the Kazakh

power sector.

Page 71 of 72

iii. BHEL will work with KUS

in the energy sector for

design and construction of

power plants. KUS is one of

the largest utility companies

in the Kazakh power sector

specifically work in power

generation; transmission and

sale of heat and electricity. It

is owned by the $ 9 billion

assets Ordabassy Group.

iv. BHEL will work with

Kaznex Invest for co-

operation in executing

projects in Kazakhstan.

Kaznex Invest works under

the Ministry of Investments

and Development of

Kazakhstan, it is national

export and investment

agency of Kazakhstan.

4. India’s 10 companies in

Forbes Asia Fabulous 50

list.

i. Forbes Asia Fabulous 50

list released on the eve of its

10th Anniversary has listed

10 Indian companies which

stands second after China in

terms of number of

companies listed.

ii. This year‘s list was also

dominated by Chinese

companies, over 25 Chinese

companies made to the list

against 16 last year.

iii. China‘s Tencent continued

to be at the top on chart,

which now worth $ 176.5 bn.

South Korea has third highest

number of companies with

four firms after China and

India, whereas Malaysia,

Singapore, and Philippines

have two firms each and

Japan, Indonesia have one

firm each on the list.

iv. Indian companies that

made to the list are: HDFC

Bank, Tata Consultancy

Services, HCL Technologies,

Aurobindo Pharma, Lupin,

Sun Pharma Industries,

Motherson Sumi Systems,

Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors

and Titan.

v. Among the fifty companies

HDFC Bank was named as

Asia Fab 50‘s ―brightest star‖

as it has made to the list nine

times that is more than any

other company in the list.

vi. Forbes selects The ‗Fab

50′ companies from the pool

of 1,116 firms that have at

least $ 3 billion in annual

revenue or market cap.

5. Japan’s Nikkei buys

Financial Times in $1.3-bn

deal.

i. The two leading financial

news operations from Europe

and Asia are now together,

as Nikkei Japanese media

group is going to buy the

Financial Times from Britain‘s

Pearson in a $1.3 billion.

ii. Financial Times acquisition

is a triumph for Nikkei as this

is the biggest acquisition ever

by any Japanese media

organisation.

iii. This acquisition has

brought an opportunity to

Nikkei newspaper to expand

its readers outside its home

market.

iv. Pearson a 171-year-old

international media company

sold FT as it wanted to

expand its education

business. Pearson owned FT

for nearly 60 years.

6. DIPP accepts ADB, JICA

plans on industrial

corridors.

i. Department of Industrial

Policy and Promotion (DIPP)

Page 72 of 72

has given nod to Asian

Development Bank‘s (ADB)

and Japan International

Cooperation Agency (JICA)

for their conceptual

development plan (CDP)

report on Vizag Chennai

Industrial Corridor (VCIC)

and Chennai-Bengaluru

Industrial Corridor (CBIC)

respectively.

ii. On 22 April 2015, Andhra

Pradesh government

approved to take loan

assistance from ADB for the

development of proposed

Visakhapatnam-Chennai

Industrial Corridor (VCIC)

project. The conceptual

development plan report was

in pipeline to receive nod

from DIPP to carry forward

it‘s on ground development.

iii. VCIC is envisaged from

Kolkata to Tuticorin (in Tamil

Nadu) also known as East

Coast Economic Corridor

(ECEC). ECEC in its first

phase focuses on the Vizag-

Chennai section which runs

from Vishakhapatnam

(Vizag), Andhra Pradesh to

Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

iv. The recent report

sanctioned by DIPP includes

development of three

industrial nodes in first phase

they are; Krishnapatnam

(Andhra Pradesh), Tumkur(

Karnataka) and Ponneri (

Tamil Nadu).

7. India to surpass China’s

population by 2022: UN

Report.

i. India is going to become

the most populous nation in

the world by surpassing

China in 2022.

ii. It was revealed in recently

released United Nation‘s

report titled ‗World Population

Prospects: The 2015

Revision‘ indicating India‘s

population growth within next

seven years.

iii. India will become most

populous nation, six years

earlier than it was previously

forecasted and will retain the

top spot till year 2100.

iv. At present, China which is

world‘s populous country with

approximately 1.38 billion

population while, India has

1.31 billion.

v. India‘s population around

and after 2022, is projected

to grow for several decades.

It will be around to 1.5 billion

in 2030 and 1.7 billion in

2050.