Daily GK Update 30th March, 2017

Kerala, Tripura and Arunachal joined UDAY
i. Kerala, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have joined the Centre’s power distribution company debt relief scheme, Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY). With this, 26 states have joined the scheme.
ii. The government estimates that Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura will gain net benefits of approximately Rs 4,178 crore, Rs 309 crore and Rs 810 crore respectively. 

Union Government launches Online Film Certification System

i. Information & Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu launched the online film certification system, 'e-cinepramaan' with an aim to censor corruption and promote clean cinema.

ii. The new system of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) will make the entire process of certification transparent and efficient. The payments made during the process by the producers will go to Bharat Kosh portal.

Chenani-Nashri Tunnel: The longest road tunnel in South Asia
i. In the Historic move, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will formally open the longest road tunnel of South Asia- Chenani-Nashri Tunnel on 2nd April 2017.

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Govt signs deal for Hydrocarbon project in Neduvasal

i.  The Government of India signed a contract for the Discovered Small Fields (DSF) Bid 2016 with GEM Laboratories for extracting Hydrocarbons at Neduvasal, in Tamil Nadu.

ii. The contract was one of the many signed for 31 areas under the DSF Bid Round 2016.

India, Nepal renew fuel supply pact

i. India and Nepal have renewed the fuel supply agreement between Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) for another five years.

ii. Supplies to Nepal from India have been meeting the petroleum product requirements since 1974. Both countries are working together for the construction of petroleum product Motihari-Amlekhgunj Pipeline.

Third meeting of G-20 framework working group held at Varanasi

i. The 3rd G-20 Framework Working Group (FWG) Meeting under the G-20 German Presidency was held in Varanasi on 28th and 29th of March, 2017.

ii. The first two G-20 FWG meetings under the G-20 German Presidency have already been held at Berlin in Dec 16 and at Riyadh in Feb 17. Since the inception of the FWG in 2009, this is the fourth occasion that India is hosting this meeting.

iii. Previously, India had hosted the G-20 FWG Meetings in Rajasthan (2012), in Goa (2014) and in Kerala (2015) under different presidencies.

NASA, ISRO jointly working on project NISAR

i. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are jointly working on the development of Dual Frequency (L and S band) Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging Satellite named as NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR)

ii. The L-band SAR is being developed by JPL/NASA, while ISRO is developing S-band SAR.

World Environmental Education Congress 2017

i. The 9th World Environmental Education Congress (WEEC) will be held in Vancouver, Canada between September 9-15 2017. The theme will be 'Weaving new connections'.

ii. The International Organizing Committee is the WEEC Permanent Secretariat, based in Italy. The congress is an international meeting point for everyone working with education for environment and sustainable future or who has an interest in the field.

 Amazon makes entry in UAE by acquiring Souq.com

i. Amazon, the USA based e-commerce giant made its entry in UAE by acquiring Souq.com, the Middle East’s largest online retailer.

ii. This agreement brings Amazon into a fast-growing market as it expands into a wide range of services. Souq.com, based in Dubai is the largest e-commerce platform in the Arab world offering more than 400,000 products such as consumer electronics, fashion products, and household goods.

 ALTBalaji ties up with MobiKwik

i. ALTBalaji, the digital platform of Balalji Telefilms Ltd, has announced a partnership with mobile wallet major MobiKwik.

ii. The Over-the-top (OTT) entertainment platform ALTBalaji will offer 250 hours of original content and subscribers can now avail themselves of 25 per cent cashback while paying for the service using MobiKwik wallet.

Indian Army Releases Book on Rashtriya Rifles
i. General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) in New Delhi, released the book ‘Home of the Brave’ on the history of Indian Army’s Counter Insurgency Force, the Rashtriya Rifles (RR).
ii. The book is authored by Mr. Nitin A Gokhale, Defence & Security Analyst and Brig S K Chatterji (Retired).

Important Takeaways from above GK Update are as follows-

• Kerala, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have joined UDAY scheme
• First state to join UDAY scheme was Andhra Pradesh
• Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojna is the full form of UDAY
• UDAY was launched in November 2015
• Union govt launched online film certification system 'e-cinepramaan'
• M Venkaiah Naidu is Information & Broadcasting Minister
• CBFC full form is  Central Board of Film Certification 
• Govt of India signed contract for extracting Hydrocarbons at Neduvasal, Tamil Nadu
• Edappadi K. Palaniswami is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
• C.Vidyasagar Rao is the governor of Tamil Nadu.
• India and Nepal have renewed the supply agreement  of fuel for another five years
• Prime Minister of Nepal is  Pushpa Kamal Dahal
• India is supplying fuel to Nepal to meet the petroleum product requirements since 1974
• The currency of Nepal is Nepalese Rupee and capital is Kathmandu.
• The 3rd G-20 FWG Meeting under the G-20 German Presidency was held in Varanasi
• The G-20 is the group of 19 countries and European Union (EU) deliberating on global economic issues
• The headquarter of G-20 developing nation is in Cancún, Mexico.
• NASA and ISRO are jointly working on project NISAR
• ISRO  full form is Indian Space Research Organization
• ISRO chairman is Kiran Kumar and its headquarter is in Bengaluru, India
• Full form of NASA is National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• Full form of NISAR is  NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar
• WEEC full form is World Environment Education Congress
• 9th WEEC will be held in Vancouver, Canada
• The Theme of WEEC 2017 is 'Weaving new connections'
• Amazon acquired Souq.com
• CEO of Amazon is Jeff Bezos
• Amazon headquarter is in the United States of America
• Souq.com headquarter is in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates
• CEO of Souq.com is Ronaldo Mouchawar
• MobiKwik partnered with ALTBalaji
• MobiKwik head office is in Gurgaon, India
• CEO of MobiKwik is Bipin Preet Singh
• ALTBalaji is the digital platform of Balaji Telefilms Ltd.