Daily GK Update 09th March, 2017

Daily GK Update 09th March, 2017

List of Winners of BCCI Annual Award 2017

i. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the 'BCCI Annual Awards for 2015-16'. The awards were given away at a ceremony held in Bangaluru March 8, 2017 which also marks the International Women’s Day.  

ii. Indian Skipper Virat Kohli was honored with the Polly Umrigar Award for third time.   
iii. R Ashwin was awarded the Dilip Sardesia Award for the second time for his brilliant performance in test cricket in 2016. He is also the only one to be awarded twice. 

iv. Vaman Viswanath Kumar and late Ramakant Desai were given the BCCI Special Award in recognition of their yeoman services to Indian Cricket.

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2-day North-East Business Summit begins in New Delhi 

i. A two-day North-East Business Summit (NEBS) begins in New Delhi.The summit aims to display the strengths, potentials, and initiatives of the North-East, promote investment the region and also have focused deliberations on strategic areas like healthcare, connectivity, agriculture, food processing and energy. 

ii. The Summit will also showcase the untapped business potential of North-East to investors worldwide.

EPFO extends Digital Life Certificate submission through Jeevan Pramaan Patra by March 31

i. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has extended the last date of submission of digital life certificate through Jeevan Pramaan Patra by March 31st, 2017 under Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS).

ii. The decision was taken as many pensioners failed to submit their life certificates for continuation of drawal of pension. 

iii. An official released that members and pensioners of the EPS are required to furnish Aadhaar number by the end march, 2017.

First time Mobile World Congress to be held in India

i. India to host its first mobile congress on 27 September 2017 with a special focus on reaching out to the South East Asian markets at Pragati Maidan, Delhi.This was announced by Rajan S Mathews, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) Director General. 

ii. The three-day event will be organized by GSM Association. All Indian mobile operators, Facebook, Huawei, Ericsson, Cisco etc are likely to participate in the mobile congress. This is the first time held in India after Barcelona(Spain) and Shanghai(China).

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah launches 'Pratibimba' to project achievements 

i. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched a comprehensive web-based platform Pratibimba to showcase the government’s performance and achievements to the citizens.

ii. This dash board will serve as a tool to improve efficiency in governance and allow citizens to track government’s progress.It is available both in English and Kannada. 

iii. After Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka has such dash board which will help to report, track and measure departmental performance on programmes, projects and promises made by the government.

Committee to resolve women’s grievances

i. The Sports Ministry has decided to constitute a high-level committee to resolve the grievances and complaints of women sports persons in India.

ii. Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel addressed a congregation of top women athletes of the country on International Women’s Day at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium, New Delhi. 

iii. He assured the equality of right and all support to the sports women. The committee will function under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary (Sports) and will comprise athletes, an advocate, senior officers of the Sports Ministry and sports journalists.

India Has Highest Bribery Rate Among 16 Asia-Pacific Nations

i. According to the Global Corruption Barometer released by Transparency International (TI), in Berlin for 16 Asia Pacific countries India tops the list for being the most corrupt nation.

ii. According to the survey, about 69 percent of the population in India paid bribe to get their work done. India was followed by Vietnam (65%), Thailand (41%), Cambodia, Pakistan and Myanmar, each with 40%.  Besides, China (26%) was one of the least corrupt nations and it was the lowest in Japan (0.2%).

 Vice President Hamid Ansari Attends IORA Summit in Jakarta

i. Vice President Hamid Ansari was on a two-day visit to Indonesia to attend the 21-nation Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia from March 6-7, 2017.

ii. The theme of Summit is ‘Strengthening Maritime Cooperation for a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indian Ocean’.

iii. IORA has 21 member states, including Australia, Bangladesh, Comoros, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Seychelles, Singapore, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, UAE, and Yemen.

'India by Nile' fest to begin in Egypt

i. India has organized the fifth edition of the mega cultural festival 'India by the Nile' in Egypt on 8th March to showcase the diversity of the country's culture, arts and cuisine for building enduring partnership between the two ancient civilizations.

ii. For the first time, the Indian flag will be projected onto the Giza Pyramids as part of the celebration. The festival, to be held in Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Port Said and Ismaila governorates from March 8 to April 27, 2017.

iii. It is the largest cultural foreign festival in Egypt and has been a great success in the country.

IDFC Aadhaar Pay launched

i. IDFC Bank has launched India’s first biometric-based payment system 'Aadhaar Pay' in New Delhi.

ii. The Aadhaar Pay app has been developed by IDFC Bank under the guidance of the Ministry of IT, NITI Aayog, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

iii. The android app will use the fingerprint of the customer as a digital identity. Customers simply need to select their bank’s name and enter their Aadhaar number in the merchant’s phone.

Karur Vysya Bank launches 3 technology services

Karur-based Karur Vysya Bank’ s Chief Executive K. Venkataraman has rolled-out of three technology services FASTag, UPI and BBPS.

i.FASTag : The FASTag service has been launched in association with the Indian Highways Management Company, a subsidiary of National Highways Authority of India.The preloaded tags affixed on vehicles are valid at all toll plazas throughout the country.

ii.UPI app : United Payments Interface (UPI) is a mobile app that enables inter-bank transfer of funds. The transfer is effected through the IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) platform of NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India).

iii.BBPS : BBPS (Bharat Bill Payment System) will make utility bill payments such as electricity bills, water charges and gas cylinders, among others, at a single site instead of accessing multiple sites.

D. Bala Venkatesh Varma concurrently accredited as the Ambassador of India to Andorra

i. IFS officer, D. Bala Venkatesh Varma has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of lndia to the Principality of Andorra, with residence in Madrid (Spain). Venkatesh was presently working as the ambassador of lndia to the Kingdom of Spain.

Environment Minister launches Web Portal for obtaining CRZ Clearances

i. Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Anil Madhav Dave, launched the web portal for obtaining Coastal Regulation Zone clearances in New Delhi. 

ii. The interactive Portal is for obtaining clearances required from the Ministry under the 'Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ)' by the Project proponents which Minister also termed the launch of the portal as a good example of ‘Ease of Doing Business’.

IIT-M solar inverter system wins award

i. Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has won the 2017 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Spectrum Technology in the Service of Society Award for its solar-direct current (DC) inverter system.

ii. The system, developed using microgrid technology, converts in-home power distribution from 230V Analog Current to 48V DC to directly power appliances and devices. 

Veteran journalist Arvind Padmanabhan dies

i. Veteran journalist Arvind Padmanabhan, an Executive Editor at IANS, died of cardiac arrest.Padmanabhan, who would have turned 50 next month, breathed his last . 

ii. Arvind Padmanabhan had a long inning at IANS, joining the India Abroad newspaper that was then part of the wire service in 1999 as in-charge of its Business Section.He was earlier with the PTI, The Times of India and TV18.

Ashwin, Jadeja jointly ranked number one in ICC Test rankings

i.India’s Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja have become the first pair of spinners to be jointly top-ranked in the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers as Jadeja has caught up with his spin-partner in the rankings after the second Test against Australia in Bengaluru.