Daily GK Update 11th March, 2017

Daily GK Update 11th March, 2017

Goa Election 2017: Francis D'Souza (BJP) wins from Mapusa 

i. Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza wins from Mapusa constituency by a margin of over 6,000 votes.

ii. The total voter turnout was 78.94% and Francis D’souza was the candidate from BJP who had won followed by Ashish Tulshidas Shirodkar of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). 

RBI Restricts Cash Loan Against Gold by NBFC to Rs 25,000

i. Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) cannot lend more than Rs 25,000 in cash against gold according to RBI.

ii. The earlier provision for NBFC was that high-value loans against the gold of Rs 1 lakh and above must only be disbursed by cheque. RBI reduced the amount to Rs 25,000 from the earlier Rs 1 lakh in line with the provisions of the Income Tax Act.

iii. The decision was taken in the backdrop of government’s focus on less cash economy and promoting digital payments.

Himachal launches mobile app 'Mera Hunar HP' for job-seeker

i. Virbhadra Singh led Himachal Pradesh government has launched mobile app and website titled ‘MeraHunar HP’ or ‘My Talent’  to help skilled and semi-skilled workers find jobs.

ii. The mobile app will connect prospective employers with job aspirants as the latter’s resume will contain addresses and contact numbers.

iii. This initiative will foster the skill development scheme and be of great help to pass-outs of industrial training institutes also make available real-time employment data of the state.

President of India inaugurates the 12th CII-Exim bank conclave on India Africa Project Partnership

i. President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated the two-day 12th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership in New Delhi.The first conclave has held in 2005.

ii. It was organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the EXIM Bank of India with the support of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.

iii. The Objective is to discuss cooperation in Trade, Regional Integration & Infrastructure Development, Finance & Consultancy, Mining & Minerals, Agriculture & Agro-Processing, Power & Alternative Energy, Healthcare, Small & Medium Enterprises, Human Capital Development and People-to-People Contacts. 

Government releases draft rules for wallet companies

i. In a bid to make transactions through e-wallets safer and strengthen the grievance redressal mechanism for consumers, a government has released a set of guidelines for wallet firms.

ii. The draft Information Technology (Security of Prepaid Payment Instruments) Rules 2017 which have been released for public consultation by the ministry of electronics and IT cover an entire spectrum such as protecting consumer information, especially financial data. The Rules mandate that each Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) company or wallet firm will have a privacy policy posted on its website.

iii. It will also have to appoint a chief grievance officer, the contact details of whom will have to be prominently displayed on the website. The grievance officer will have to "act upon" any complaint within 36 hours and "close" it in a month's time. 

Paytm to levy 2% fee on recharge via credit cards

i. Digital wallet player Paytm will now levy a 2% fee for adding money to Paytm wallet using credit cards.

ii. This is a result of multiple users using Paytm to get free credit by using credit cards to top up their digital wallets and transferring the money back to their bank accounts at zero transaction cost.

iii. The digital payment wallet will, however, provide an equivalent amount of cashback for using credit card to add money to the wallet. The cost of adding money to the wallet through other modes such as net banking and debit cards remains non-chargeable.

IBM Researchers Creates World’s Smallest Magnet to Store Single Bit Data

i. A team of researchers at IBM has created the world’s smallest magnet using a single atom which can store one bit of data on it.Currently, hard disk drives use about 100,000 atoms to store a single bit.

ii. The IBM scientists used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to build and measure isolated single-atom bits using the holmium atoms.  Then, they used an electrical current to write and read binary data (1s and 0s) on the atom.

Google acquires Kaggle for undisclosed amount to boost data play

i. Technology giant Google has announced the acquisition of Kaggle, a start-up that hosts a number of data scientists, for an undisclosed amount at the Cloud Next 2017 conference.

ii. Kaggle and Google Cloud will continue to support machine learning training and deployment services while offering the community the ability to store and query large datasets.

Ford Foundation appoints Pradeep Nair as regional director for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka

i. New York-based Ford Foundation has appointed Pradeep Nair as regional director for India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.Nair will take charge at the end of March from David Hulse.

ii. He will lead the global non-profit grant-making organization’s operations in New Delhi, serving the three countries.

Paddleboarder makes world-first Atlantic crossing

i. A South African man Chris Bertish has become the first person to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a stand-up paddleboard after completing an epic 4,050-mile voyage alone at sea.

ii. Chris Bertish pulled into Antigua, in the Leeward islands of the Caribbean after departing from Agadir, Morocco, 93 days ago. Bertish, 42, a big-wave surfer as well as a sailor, who won the renowned Mavericks surf contest in northern California in 2010.