Daily GK Update 18th - Nov - 2014

1. Modi presents Man Singh Trophy to Abbott

i.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday presented the Man Singh Trophy, a prized

possession of Sikh regiment battalions, to his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott at the War Memorial in Canberra to commemorate his visit.

ii.) In his first engagement in the Australian capital, Modi, accompanied by Abbott, arrived at the War Memorial early in the morning.

iii.) Modi presented the trophy to Abbott and also signed the visitor’s book at the memorial.

The trophy, originally in silver, was presented to the Officers’ Mess 14 (King George’s own) Sikhs in the year 1919.

2. Govt. to amend Lokpal, DSPE Acts

i.) The government is moving to amend Lokpal Act and the law governing the functioning of CBI to ensure that there is no requirement of “quorum” in the respective selection panels for choosing the anti-corruption ombudsman or the CBI chief.

ii.) The Law Ministry has finalised a proposal of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to amend the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act and the Delhi Special Police Establishment (DSPE) Act to insert a clause.

iii.) The new clause will make it clear that the proceedings of the respective selection committees are not held as “invalid” due to a lack of quorum, sources said here today.

3. Akash missile successfully test-fired for second day

i.) For the second consecutive day, India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed

surface-to-air ‘Akash’ missile from a test range in Odisha as part of the user trial by the air force. The trial of the missile was ‘fully successful’, ITR director M V K V Prasad said, adding that it hit a para-barrel target.

ii.) The test—fire was a practice and evaluation trial for a new squadron and a repeat performance as the medium range missile had been test-fired successfully on Monday from the same test range.

iii.) Akash’ has been developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

4. Vibrant Gujarat set to take a new avatar

i.) Having established itself as a preferred investment destination, Gujarat is now projecting it as a global platform for exchange of ideas and to attract investment for all Indian States.

ii.) The transformation will be seen from the forthcoming Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015 scheduled in Gandhinagar from January 11 and 13. Aptly the theme is Empowering India.

iii.) Calling Gujarat as the Davos of the East, State Minister for Finance, Energy & Petro chemicals Saurabhbhai Patel said the State started on a small note with respect to Vibrant Gujarat, but today the event had emerged as one of the world’s successful global investment summits.

5. Rate cut by RBI will give good fillip to economy: Jaitley

i.) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that since inflation has moderated, “if RBI [Reserve Bank of India], which is a highly professional organisation, in its wisdom decides to bring down the cost of capital [it] will give a good fillip to the Indian economy.”

ii.) The Finance Minister was delivering the key note address at the Citi’s Investor Summit: ‘India – Poised for Higher Growth’. Also present were Finance Ministry officers and RBI Deputy Governor S.S. Mundra.

6. Kisan Vikas Patra to be re-launched tomorrow

i.) FM to Relaunch (KVP); Available to the Investors in the Denomination of Rs. 1000, 5000, 10,000 and 50,000, with no Upper Ceiling on Investment; Investment made in the KVP will Double in 100 Months

ii.) In a bid to encourage the habit of small savings among citizens, Union government plans to re-launch the once successful Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) on Tuesday.

iii.) Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will re-launch the Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) in New Delhi on Tuesday in the presence of Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Communication and IT and Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance among others, said a PIB release.

7. Hyderabad duo’s innovation wins Aegis Graham Bell Award

i.) Imagine wearing Google glass and focussing it on a brand new electronic gadget, only to

see the screen of the head mounted device get filled up with the technical directions needed to operate the new gadget. The concept may look futuristic and stir up images from scenes of sci-fi movies.

ii.) An innovation is very much possible, thanks to the present day technology of Augmented Reality (AR), based on which two youngsters from Hyderabad have developed a unique product. 

iii.) Their tech innovation on AR platform has recently fetched the duo of Hasan Ali Khan and Vaishali Neotia, ‘Aegis Graham Bell Award’, constituted by Aegis Graham Bell Business School and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). Their work has also been nominated in best innovation in IT category of The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) Innovation Awards, London, scheduled to be held on November 19.

8. Vengsarkar to receive BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award

i.) Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar will receive the C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement

Award for 2014, a Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) statement said on Tuesday.

ii.) He will be handed a citation, trophy and cheque for Rs. 25 lakh at the eighth annual BCCI Awards Ceremony to be held here on Friday to recognise and reward India’s top performers in the 2013-14 season.

iii.) Vengsarkar was nominated for the award by a committee comprising interim BCCI president Shivlal Yadav, secretary Sanjay Patel and senior journalist Shekhar Gupta. Former India skipper 

Kapil Dev received the award in 2013.

9. ISL: Kerala Blasters push Delhi Dynamos to the brink

i.) Delhi Dynamos’ prospects in the inaugural season of the Indian Super League look bleaker than ever as it suffered another loss at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday. This time, Kerala Blasters succeeded at the host’s expense thanks to a Penn Orji goal.

ii.) This was a game in which a draw granted no advantage to either side. The makeup of Blasters’ side reflected the need for a win as it lined up in an aggressive 4-4-2 setup.

iii.) The system was afforded its offensive intent by C.S. Sabeeth and Godwin Franco who pushed forward to such an extent that they could occasionally be classified as wide forwards. Consequently, fullbacks Sandesh Jhingan and Saumik Dey moved up high too.

10. Saina, Srikanth lift China Open

i.) Olympic bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal clinched the $ 700,000 China Open Super

Series Premier tournament after beating young Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the summit clash, in Fuzhou on Sunday.

ii.) The World No. 5 Indian prevailed over the 17-year-old Akane 21-12 22-20 in the women’s singles finals which lasted 42 minutes at the Haixia Olympic Sport Centre.

iii.) Young Indian shuttler K Srikanth clinched his maiden Super Series title after defeating two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China in the men’s singles events of China Open Super Series Premier.