Daily GK Update - 6th Feb 2015

Modi chairs first NITI Aayog meet

(i) Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the state of the economy, especially the farm sector, and sought suggestions for the upcoming budget at the first ever NITI (National Institute for Transforming India) Aayog meeting he chaired in Delhi on Friday afternoon.

(ii) Economists invited to the meeting made a case for renewed focus on India’s high-cost-low-productivity farm sector at the discussion. Prime Minister Modi will meet State Chief Ministers on Sunday.

(iii) Suggestions received also include steps that could be take for boosting investments in the economy for strengthening growth and specific recommendations on the budget, Union Finance Minister and ex-officio member of the Aayog Arun Jaitley told the media after the meeting.

8% GDP growth helped reduce poverty: UN report

(i) United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has said the 8 per cent GDP growth in India from 2004 to 2011 led to a sharp decline in poverty from 41.6 per cent to 32.7 per cent and achieved the first Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set for 2015 of reducing poverty by half.

(ii) In a report — India and the MDGs — UN ESCAP said other MDGs achieved include gender parity in primary school enrolment, maternal mortality reduction by three-fourths and control of spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. India also achieved MDGs related to increased forest cover, halved the proportion of population without access to drinking water.

Singapore to host annual conference on Tamil language

(i) A three-day conference on Tamil language computing and Tamil internet will be held in Singapore by the end of May and international experts have started work on their papers to be presented at the event.

(ii) More than 500 delegates are expected to attend the 14th International Conference on Tamil Computing and Tamil Internet (Tamil Internet 2015) scheduled May 30 to June 1, organising committee chairman S. Maniam told PTI on Friday.

(iii) Government officials, academics and professionals from India, Malaysia, the US, Sri Lanka and Singapore are expected to deliberate on various aspects of internationalising Tamil language computerisation programmes.

New Home Secretary takes charge

(i) The new Union Home Secretary, L.C. Goyal, took charge on Thursday afternoon following the unceremonious exit of Anil Goswami for alleged misconduct. 

(ii) Mr. Goswami’s abrupt removal, close on the heels of the replacement of Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh late in January, has sent the signal that the Narendra Modi government wants the bureaucracy to perform or perish, observers said. 

(iii) In October last year, the former Finance Secretary, Arvind Mayaram, was transferred twice within a fortnight.

India at the bottom of GIPC index

(i) The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), on Wednesday, released its third annual International IP Index, ‘UP: Unlimited Potential’, which found that 20 of the 30 economies examined in the Index improved their scores from last year.

(ii) India was ranked second from the bottom in the third edition of GIPC index, while the U.S. was at the top.

(iii) The first edition of 2012 mapped and compared national IP environment in 11 economies. The current edition covers 30 economies, representing close to 80 per cent of world’s gross domestic product.

Wi-Fi connectivity project launched

(i) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday launched an ambitious project of extending Wi-Fi connectivity to Kolkata and its suburbs including Salt Lake, Barasat, Howrah and Rajarhat.

(ii) Wi- Fi services were launched in Kolkata’s Park Street at an event where along with Ms Banerjee, city mayor Sovon Chatterjee and a host of other Trinamool Congress Ministers were present.

(iii) From a stage erected at the Park Street crossing blocking significant part of its right flank, Ms Banerjee tweeted to flag off the Wi-Fi connectivity.