Daily GK Update - 22nd June 2015

Yoga a compulsory subject in Central schools

(i) Yoga would now be taught as a compulsory subject not only from class VI to X in Central Government-run schools but also as a training module in teacher education programmes.

(ii) HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Monday said a national-level yoga competition would be organised in Delhi in 2016, where the best performing student will be given a cash prize of Rs five lakh.

(iii) Ms. Irani said the subject would not put any additional burden on students as 80 marks would be reserved for practicals.

China opens Nathu La as 2nd route for Kailash pilgrims

(i) China on Monday opened the second land crossing in Tibet via Nathu La to allow the first batch of Indian pilgrims undertaking the arduous Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra, in the latest confidence-building measure between the two neighbours.

(ii) The opening of the second route through the Himalayan pass of Nathu La in Sikkim, 4,000 metres above sea level, was officially announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China last month and will allow more Indians to undertake the pilgrimage.

(iii) Chinese President Xi Jinping had promised opening the new route for the Yatra to Mr. Modi during the former’s maiden visit to New Delhi in September last year.

(iv) Mr. Modi wanted the second route for the Yatra, keeping in view the terrain difficulties through the existing routes through Uttarakhand and Nepal which involve arduous journey, including heavy trekking and travel on the backs of mules.

Jazz and classical musician Gunther Schuller dies at 89

(i) Gunther Schuller, a horn player, educator and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who was the leading proponent of the Third Stream movement fusing jazz and classical music, died Sunday at age 89.

(ii) “He was a great musician.

(iii) Mr. Schuller wrote more than 200 compositions, including solo and orchestral works, chamber music, opera and jazz. His orchestral work, “Of Reminiscences and Reflections,” dedicated to his wife Marjorie Black, won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

(iv) In 2008, Mr. Schuller was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts, the nation’s highest jazz honour. 

(v) Earlier this year, the MacDowell Colony, a prestigious artists’ residence program, awarded him its lifetime achievement award “for setting an example of discovery and experimentation” as a composer and teacher.

Markets surge ahead of last-ditch summit on Greece

(i) Markets surged on Monday on hopes that eurozone leaders, who gathered for a last-ditch summit on Greece, would reach a breakthrough that might keep the country from defaulting on its debt and falling out of the currency union.

(ii) Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras presented the leaders of Germany, France and the European Union over the weekend with a proposal “for a mutually beneficial agreement, which will provide a permanent solution.”

International Day of Yoga in Pakistan confined to Indian mission

(i) As the world on Sunday celebrated the inaugural International Day of Yoga, in Pakistan it remained confined to the premises of Indian High Commission in Islamabad with the staff of the mission along with other foreign diplomats in the country performing asanas.

(ii) The members of the diplomatic community in Pakistan and staff of the Indian High Commission performed various Yoga postures in the premises of the mission to celebrate the ancient Indian practice.

(iii) Pakistan had rejected visa to an Indian Yoga teacher who was being sent for preparations of events planned for the International Yoga Day.

(iv) After the cancellation of the visa to the Yoga instructor, India had decided to organise an in-house event at its High Commission to mark the day.

Rail minister Suresh Prabhu launches India's first air-conditioned DEMU train in Kochi 

(i) Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today flagged off India's first diesel electric multiple unit (DEMU) train service with an air-conditioned coach here. 

(ii) The Angamaly-Ernakulam-Tripunithura-Piravom train service is expected to help in reducing traffic congestion in the state's fastest growing city. 

(iii) "It is for the first time in a DEMU service, we have provided air conditioned service. We want to increase it further," Prabhu said at a function in Ernakulam Junction. 

(iv) Top Railway officials said the AC coach provides reclining type comfortable cushion seats for 73 passengers similar to air-conditioned chair car of inter-city express trains.