Daily GK Update 12th June 2017

India, Mauritius sign MoU to institutionalize cooperation between Parliaments

i. India and Mauritius have signed an MoU to institutionalize cooperation between Parliaments of the two countries. The MoU was signed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Speaker of National Assembly of Mauritius Santi Bai Hanoomanjee in Port Louis.

ii. Mrs. Mahajan was on a five-day visit to Mauritius from 6th of June with a Parliamentary delegation.

Static Takeaways from above News-

• The President of Mauritius is Ameenah Gurib-Fakim.
• Port Louis is the capital of Mauritius.
• The currency of Mauritius is Mauritian rupee.

Govt launches Tele Law to provide legal aid in rural areas via video conferencing

i. The government of India has launched ‘Tele Law’ service to provide legal aid for the people living in rural areas through video conferencing. The service has been launched to make legal aid easily accessible to the marginalized communities and citizens living in rural areas.

ii. The Ministry of Law and Justice partnered with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to provide legal aid services through its Common Service Centres, CSC at the panchayat level, spread across the country. The service was launched by IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

iii. Under the scheme, the Tele-Law portal will be available across the CSC network connecting the citizens to legal service providers. In the first phase, the Tele-Law scheme will be tested as a pilot across 1000 CSCs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Takeaways from above News-

• Ravi Shankar Prasad is the Law & Justice, Electronics & Information Technology Minister of India. 

Dr. Jitendra Singh Announces “Hill Area Development Programme” for Northeast

i. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra Singh announced the launch of “Hill Area Development Programme” (HADP) for Northeast in Imphal, Manipur.
ii. He announced the launch of the program to address a meet of Investors and Entrepreneurs, organized by NEDF (North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd), with joint participation of the Union Ministry of DoNER and the Government of Manipur.

iii. The program aims to bridge the gap between the hill and valley districts in terms of infrastructure, quality of roads, health and education. HADP was launched during the Fifth Five Year Plan aimed at balanced regional development.
Static Takeaways from above News-

• Keibul Lamjao National Park is situated in Manipur.
• Nongthombam Biren Singh is the newly selected CM of Manipur.

Kolkata to get India's first underwater Metro

i. Kolkata, the ‘City of Joy’ is about to experience a wonder in the form of an underwater Metro train which will run beneath the Hooghly river. It’s one of the path-breaking projects in India as never before a tunnel has been dug beneath a flowing river.
ii. The entire project is 16.6 km long, out of which 10.8 km runs under the ground. Of this 10.8 km, 502 meters is under the water. The project connects Howrah to the west and Salt Lake to the east.
iii. The project is expected to be completed by December 2019.

Static Takeaways for IBPS PO Exam-

• Managing Director of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd is Satish Kumar.
• Howrah Bridge is a propped cantilever bridge with a suspended span over the Hooghly River in, Kolkata, West Bengal.

GST Council revises rates for 66 items

i. At its meeting in New Delhi, the council revised rates on 66 items such as pickles, sauces, fruit preserves, insulin, cashew nuts, insulin, school bags, coloring books, notebooks, printers, cutlery, agarbattis and cinema tickets, following representations from industry.

ii. Restaurants, manufacturers and traders having a turnover of up to Rs 75 lakh can avail of the composition scheme with lower rates of 5%, 2%, and 1%, respectively, with lower compliance, against Rs 50 lakh previously.
iii. A GST rate of 5% will be applicable on outsourcing of manufacturing or job work in textiles and the gems and jewelry sector. Bleaching and cleaning of human hair, a big industry in Midnapore, will not face any tax.

Takeaways from above News-

• GST Council is Headed by Finance Minister of India Mr. Arun Jaitley.

The French Open 2017- Complete list of Winners

i. The French open title 2017 was held recently from 22 May-11 June 2017 at Roland Garros in Paris, France. Here is the complete list of all the winners in different categories of The French Open 2017.

1. French Men's Singles Open Title- Spain's Rafael Nadal (10th French Title) defeated Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland).
2. French Women's Singles Open Title- Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko (1st Grand Slam Title) defeated Simona Halep (Rome).
3. French Men's Doubles Title- Michael Venus (New Zealand) and Ryan Harrison (USA) defeated Santiago Gonzalez and Donald Young.
4. French Women's Doubles Title- Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) and Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) defeated Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua.
5. French Open Mixed Doubles title- Rohan Bopanna (India) and Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Robert Farah.

Shashikant Kutwal wins gold at world chess championship for differently-abled

i. Shashikant Kutwal has won the gold medal at the 17th World Individual Chess Championship for differently-abled. 

ii. The World Chess Championship was held in Slovakia. Shashikant Kutwal is a railway employee with Pune Division.

Static Takeaways from Above News-

• The Capital of Slovakia is Bratislava and its Currency is Euro.

Poet, essayist Haraprasad Das gets Kalinga Literary Award

i. Legendary poet and essayist Haraprasad Das was conferred with the covetous Kalinga Literary Award for his work and contribution to literature at the fourth edition of Kalinga Literary Festival (KLF).

ii. The three-day literary festival was inaugurated by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. This year the KLF introduced two new awards -- the Kalinga International Literary Award, which was received by Anand Neelakantan for his contribution towards literature, and the Kalinga Karubaki Award, which was given to Paramita Satpathy for her contribution to Odia poetry.

Jairam Ramesh’s book on the naturist in Indira Gandhi launched

i. The book “Indira Gandhi – A life in Nature”, was launched by Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the Indira Gandhi Memorial.
ii. The book was authored by Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh. The 488-page book was launched to mark the birth centennial year of the former Prime Minister.