Daily GK Update 08th April, 2017

Ban on cash transactions of over Rs 2 lakh not applicable for bank, post office withdrawals 

i. Ban on cash transaction in excess of Rs 2 lakh will not be applicable to withdrawals from banks and post office savings accounts, the Income-Tax department announced. 
ii.  In a clarification on the newly inserted Section 269ST in the I-T Act, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) abort the restriction to withdrawal from banks and post offices. Restriction is also not applicable to any receipt by government, banking company, post office savings bank or co-operative bank respectively. 

PM to launch digital exhibition on Champaran Satyagraha

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a 'special digital exhibition' on the Champaran Satyagraha on 10th April 2017. It is a unique initiative to re-envision the theme of the movement undertaken by Mahatma Gandhi. 
ii. The exhibition will be titled as 'Bapu Ko Karyanjali' and will be launched at the National Archive in New Delhi.
iii. This effort will dovetail into the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, and generate greater awareness towards cleanliness, in the run-up to the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019.

India extends $4.5 billion new line of credit to Bangladesh

i. India and Bangladesh have signed 22 agreements in strategic sectors like defence and civil nuclear cooperation during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to India.

ii. In a joint statement after signing of agreements in Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a new line of concessional credit of $4.5 billion for implementation of development projects in Bangladesh. 

iii. Apart from that, Mr. Modi also announced $500 million of credit for defence procurement in the country.

 Centre kicks off programme on Cyber Physical Systems

i. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has initiated a Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) program. 
ii. CPS is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the deployment of computer-based systems that do things in the physical world such as, the self-driven cars produced by Google and Tesla. 
iii. It has been conceived as a Rs 3,000-crore exercise that would at first take root in some of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). An initial budget of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for the project in the current financial year.

India ranks 40th in WEF’s global travel & tourism ranking

i. India has jumped 12 places to 40th rank globally in total 136 countries in Travel and Tourism Competitiveness report 2017 by World Economic Forum. 
ii.  Spain is ranked at the top in the list. The traditional strong travel and tourism destinations, including Japan (4th), the United Kingdom (5th), the United States (6th), Australia (7th), Italy (8th), Canada (9th) and Switzerland (10th), have also made it to the top 10.

HDFC Bank UPI on Chillr app

i. HDFC Bank announced its Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will also be available on Chillr, a multi-bank mobile payments app. 
ii. UPI is an instant payment system developed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to enable faster money transfer between any two parties’ bank accounts.

Canara Bank partners with BSNL 
i. Canara Bank, a public sector bank, has embarked upon an ambitious project of upgrading the bandwidth at all its branches to 2 Mbps in partnership with BSNL. 
ii. The bandwidth upgradation of branches is in line with the bank’s policy of promoting digital channels and will ensure faster service across the counters. 


South Indian Bank, Flyworld Money in pact for remittances
i. South Indian Bank has entered into an agreement with Flyworld Money Exchange to facilitate remittances by Indian expatriates in Australia. 
ii. Through this tie-up, NRIs in Australia could enjoy quick and cost-effective remittances to India using the SIB Express facility. With this agreement, SIB marks the first remittance arrangement with an exchange house in Australia. 

NPCI disburses Rs. 245 cr in prize money under Niti Aayog's Lucky Draw scheme

i. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for all retail payment systems in the country, has disbursed over Rs. 245 crore worth of prize money to about 18 lakh winners under the NITI Aayog’s Lucky Draw schemes for consumers and merchants which are Lucky Grahak Yojna (LGY) and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojna (DVY).
ii. There are three mega prizes for consumers worth Rs. 1 crore, Rs. 50 lakh and Rs. 25 lakh. For merchants too there would be three mega prizes worth Rs. 50 lakh, Rs. 25 lakh and Rs. 12 lakh. 

Malala to become youngest United Nations Messenger of Peace

i. Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize has become the youngest United Nations Messenger of Peace. 
ii. The United Nations stated that the 19-year-old Pakistani education activist will be appointed by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 10, 2017, and it will help to promote girl education around the world.

Boxer Shyam Kumar wins gold at Thailand International

i. Indian boxer K Shyam Kumar won a gold medal in the 49- kilogram category at the Thailand International Tournament in Bangkok. 
ii. He clinched the medal without even stepping inside the ring for his summit clash as Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan was unable to play the match due to his injury.

NBA launches first basketball school in India

i. The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced the setting up of its first basketball school, a network of tuition-based basketball development programmes, in Mumbai. 
ii. The school, as part of a multi-year agreement announced with India On Track (IOT), is open to male and female players between ages 6-18. 


Important Takeaways from above GK Update are as follows-

• HDFC bank announced its UPI on Chillr, a multi-bank mobile payment app
• HDFC headquarter is in Mumbai and was founded in 1944
• Managing Director of HDFC bank is Aditya Puri.
• Malala from Pakistan has become the youngest UN messenger of peace
• United Nations ninth Secretary-General is Antonio Guterres
• UN headquarter is in New York City, U.S.A
• UN was founded in 1945.
• Canara Bank partnered with BSNL to upgrade bandwidth at all branches
• Canara Bank Headquarter is in Bengaluru, Karnataka and it was founded in 1906
• BSNL was founded in 2000 and its headquarter is in New Delhi
• Chairman of Canara Bank Shri. T.N. Manoharan
• The slogan of Canara Bank is 'Together we Can'.
• NPCI disbursed Rs. 245 crore in prize money under Niti Aayog's Lucky Draw scheme
• NPCI full form is National Payment Corporation of India
• NPCI headquarter is in Mumbai and was founded in 2008
• NITI aayog Chairman is Shri Narendra Modi
• Full form of NITI is National Institute of Transforming India.
• India ranked 40th in WEF’s global travel & tourism ranking
• Spain ranked at the top in the list
• India has jumped 12 places from the previous year ranking
• K Shyam Kumar won a gold medal at the Thailand International Tournament
• He won in the 49- kilogram category
• Bangkok is the capital of Thailand and its currency is Thai Baht
• Thailand International Tournament was held in Bangkok.
• Department of Science and Technology (DST) has initiated a Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) program
• Full form of CPS is Cyber-Physical System
• Full form of DST is Department of Science and Technology.
• India and Bangladesh have signed 22 agreements
• PM of Bangladesh is Sheikh Hasina
• Currency of Bangladesh is Bangladeshi Taka and its Capital is Dhaka.
• Narendra Modi will launch a 'special digital exhibition' on the Champaran Satyagraha on 10th April 2017 in New Delhi
• The exhibition will be titled as 'Bapu Ko Karyanjali'
• Champaran Satyagraha was started in Champaran district of Bihar in 1917
• NBA launches India's first basketball school in Mumbai
• NBA full form is National Basketball Association
• NBA headquarter is in New York, United States of America
• Ban on cash transaction in excess of Rs 2 lakh will not be applicable to withdrawals from banks and post office savings accounts
• In the 2017-18 Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed to ban cash transaction of over Rs 3 lakh which was lowered to Rs 2 lakh.