Daily GK Update: 13th December, 2015
Legendary actor Dilip Kumar gets Padma Vibhushan award.
- He was presented the award by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the thespian’s residence in suburban Bandra.
- Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, were among other dignitaries present at the actor’s home when he received the award.
National Green Tribunal imposes ban on registration of diesel run vehicles in Delhi.
- The decision was taken to curb the growing menace of air pollution in the capital city.
- This ruling was given by NGT bench headed by Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar and also questioned Delhi government’s odd-even formula for vehicles to check pollution in the city.
- The ban will be valid till 6th January 2016 as interim steps i.e. till the next date of hearing of NGT on Delhi pollution.
Union Govt. inked MoU for estabilishement of IIITs at Ranchi, Nagpur and Pune.
- The agreement to this effect was signed between Department of Higher Education (DoHE) and private agencies including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Motors, ADCC Infocad and Hubtown.
- Apart from the Central Government, these institutions will be operated on a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) mode with participation of state government and industry.
Renowned agro economist Sharad Joshi passes away.
- Renowned agro-economist and veteran leader of farmers Sharad Anantrao Joshi passed away in Pune, Maharashtra. He was 81.
- He was founder of Shetakari Sanghtana (farmers’ Organisation) an NGO dedicated to the cause of farmers in Maharashtra.
Daily GK Update: 14th December, 2015
Saudi voters elected women candidates for first time in Municipal council polls.
- Saudi Arabian voters on 12 December 2015 voted to elect women in at least 18 municipal council seats.
- It was a historic local elections in Saudi Arabia in which women were allowed to vote and run for office for the first time.
- This event occurred for the first time in the history of the country.
Losar, biggest Tibetan Buddhist festival begins in Ladakh region of J&K.
- The Festival marks the beginning of new year for Buddhists.
- It is an annual festival celebrated by people of area with traditional and regional fervor.
- The festival begins with illumination of religious and residential places.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Ahmad appointed as Saudi Arabia Ambassador.
- He is expected to take up the charge shortly.
- His appointment to the post will fill the vacancy which was lying vacant since retirement of Hamid Ali Rao in April 2015.
- With this, Javed became the 20th Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. He is also the fourth IPS officer to be appointed as an Ambassador, which is generally is a domain of Indian Forest Service officers.
- Javed, a 1980-batch IPS officer from Maharashtra Cadre, is scheduled to retire on 31 January 2016.
TAPI Gas Pipeline construction work started in Turkmenistan.
- Construction work on the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) Gas Pipeline project started in Turkmenistan on 13 December 2015.
- The work started after the button to begin the welding process of the project was pressed.
- The button was pressed by Vice President of India Hamid Ansari along with PM of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani and President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimohamedov.
Mascot and logo of South Asian Games 2016 unveiled.
- The mega event will be jointly held in Guwahati and Shillong from 6 February to 16 February 2016.
- Orgnaising committee of 12th South Asian Games (OC-SAG) on 13 December 2015 unveiled mascot of the games and logo at ITA Cultural Center Machkhowa in Guwahati, Assam.
- The mascot Tikhor is a one horned rhino and is the brand ambassador of the games carries the message of peace, stability, amity and progress in the South Asian region.
J M Sali , Indian origin writer wins South East Asian Write Award 2015 for Singapore.
- Sali will receive the award for literary excellence on 14 December 2015 at a ceremony in Bangkok.
- He produced books on famous people including martial art icon Bruce Lee and legendary boxer Muhammad Ali.
- He retired in 2000 from journalism to do full-time writing and translation work.
Nozomi Okhuhara, Kento Momota of Japan won singles title at World Dubai Superseries Finals.
- Japanese shuttlers Kento Momota and Nozomi Okuhara won Men’s singles and Women’s singles title respectively at the BWF World Superseries finals held at the Hamdan Sports Complex, Dubai.
- Okuhara defeated China’s Wang Yihan by 22-20, 21-18 to grab the women’s singles crown.
- Momota crushed Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen by 21-15, 21-12 and clinched the Men’s singles title.
Vijay Kumar wins Gold in 59th National Shooting Championship
- The 15 day event began on 1 December 2015.
- Vijay Kumar scored 588 points to pip Gurpreet Singh by two points to win the gold.
- Vijay Kumar won the silver medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol event in 2012 Olympics held in London.
Daily GK Update: 15th December, 2015
Mahindra Group acquired Italian auto design firm Pininfarina.
- Tech Mahindra and Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, part of the Mahindra Group, on 14 December 2015 acquired Italian car designer Pininfarina SpA for 165 million US dollars in an all-cash deal.
- Pininfarina is well-known for designing cars for Ferrari, Maserati, Rolls-Royce and Cadillac.
- Tech Mahindra and Mahindra and Mahindra have formed a 60:40 joint venture for the acquisition of Milan-listed Pininfarina.
WB Govt honors Bappi Lahiri and Kumar Sanu with lifetime Achievement awards.
- WB Government honoured music composer Bappi Lahiri and singer Kumar Sanu with Lifetime Achievement Awards.
- State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee handed over the awards at the inauguration of the annual Bangla Sangeet Mela.
Pravin Gordhan, an Indian origin politician becomes South Africa’s Finance Minister.
- An Indian-origin politician, Pravin Gordhan has been appointed as South Africa’s new Finance Minister.
- With this he becomes country’s third Finance Minister in a week.
- He replaces David van Rooyen who was appointed on 10 November 2015.
- Earlier President Jacob Zuma had sacked incumbent Nhlanhla Nene from Finance Ministry.
Maharastra Govt constitutes task force for setting up an IFSC in Mumbai.
- Union Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha will head the task force.
- The task force will be required to plan and oversee the development of designated areas at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).
- They will also review the process of all stakeholders, take various decisions and issue directives to departments of the state and the Union Government.
Operation SMILE-II to start from 01 January 2016.
- Union Government on 14 December 2015 requested the states and Union Territories (UT) to start Operation Smile-II from 1 January 2016.
- The operation will end on 31 January 2016.
- Operation Smile-II is a campaign to rescue/rehabilitate the missing children. It is a follow up of the exercise Operation Smile that helped in rescuing and rehabilitating 9146 missing children.
UN Human Development report 2015 released.
- United Nations Human Development Report 2015 was released on 14 December 2015 with the title Work for Human Development in Ethiopia.
- As per the report, 2 billion people lifted out of low human development in last 25 years.
- The report urges governments to act to ensure no one is left behind in the fast-changing world of work. It calls for equitable and decent work for all.
Union Govt appoints L Narasimha Reddy to head Judicial Committee on OROP.
- Union Govt appointed Justice L Narasimha Reddy, retired Chief Justice of Patna High Court, to head the Judicial Committee which will look into the implementation of OROP scheme for the ex-servicemen.
- Committee has been given a six-month deadline for submission of its recommendations.
- The Committee will have its headquarters in Delhi.
- All administrative support to the committee will be provided by Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence.
Indian Golfer Anirban Lahiri wins Order of Merit crown of Asian Tour.
- In the 2015 season world No. 41, Lahiri has earned $1,139,084 a way ahead of second-placed Scott Hend of Australia who has earned $491,631.
- With this he became only the fourth Indian golfer to win this coveted award after Jeev Milkha Singh (2006, 2008), Arjun Atwal (2003) and Jyoti Randhawa (2002).
