Daily GK Update 11th July 2017

1. World Population Day: 11 July

i. World Population Day is being observed globally on 11th July.

ii. The theme of this year is 'Family Planning- Empowering People, Developing Nations'.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• World Population Day was established by the then-Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989.
• Antonio Guterres is the Secretary-General of United Nations.

2. Khaltmaa Battulga elected as Mongolian president

i. Mongolian Businessman and Martial Arts expert Khaltmaa Battulga was sworn in as president, vowing to revive the flagging economy and pursue relations with countries outside its giant neighbors Russia and China. 

ii. Battulga replaces Tsakhia Elbegdorj after the outgoing president served the maximum four-year terms for two times. 

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Ulaanbaatar is the capital of Mongolia.
• The Currency of Mongolia is Mongolian togrog.

3. MoHUA is the new name for urban development & housing ministry

i. The government has merged the urban development and housing and urban poverty alleviation ministries. Now this will be known as Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). This is the third time the ministries have been merged.

ii. Venkaiah Naidu heads the ministries of urban development, and housing and urban poverty alleviation.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Ministry of Works & Housing was changed to Ministry of Urban Development in September 1985.

4. Government to organize global food fair in November 2017 to boost food sector

i. The government of India will organize a global food fair in November this year to provide a platform to Indian farmers and manufacturers to showcase their products and explore partnerships with foreign companies.

ii. The three-day international level fair 'World Food India 2017' is being organized on November 3-5 by the Food Processing Ministry, where industry body CII will be an event partner.
iii. The World Food India is a step aimed at creating India a 'Global Food Factory' and 'Global Food Retail Market'.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Harsimrat Kaur Badal is the Food Processing Minister.

5. Finance Ministry launched next gold bond tranche

i. The next tranche of sovereign gold bond (SGB) scheme was launched recently by the Government. This time, providing a 2.5 percent annual interest to investors.
ii. The bonds will be available in banks, Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL), designated post offices and recognized stock exchanges namely National Stock Exchange of India Limited(NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE).

iii. Finance Ministry has announced the sixth tranche of gold bonds applications for which will be accepted from July 10 to July 14, 2017, according to the finance ministry. The bonds will be issued to eligible applicants on July 28.

iv. The minimum investment will be 1 gram of gold. The maximum limit can be subscribed up to 500 grams per person per fiscal year.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Shri Arun Jaitley is the present Finance Minister of India.

6. RBI amends order on bankruptcy action on 12 large NPAs

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has amended its earlier order asking banks to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against 12 companies which have outstanding loans amounting to over Rs 5,000 crore as on March 2016.

ii. The amendment, made through a notification, comes after the Gujarat High Court asked the RBI to remove the stipulation on its order last month that the 12 non-performing assets (NPAs), or bad loans, would be granted priority at the National Company Law Tribunal. 

iii. Essar Steel, one of the 12 large NPAs identified by the RBI, had approached the Gujarat High Court for the RBI proceedings. 

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• RBI Headquarters in Mumbai.
• The 24th Governor of RBI is Dr. Urjit Patel.

7. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Launches 'Aaykar Setu' To Enhance E-Access Of Taxpayers

i. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched 'Aaykar Setu', an e-initiative for the Income tax Department to directly communicate with the taxpayers and aimed at providing information on useful tax services.
ii. To enhance mobile access experience, a mobile responsive Android version was also released along with the desktop version.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• The Finance Minister of India Shri Arun Jaitley is the head of GST council. 

8. Mother Teresa’s Blue-Bordered Sari declared an Intellectual Property

i. The famous blue-bordered sari of Mother Teresa, who has been canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta by the Vatican, has been recognized as an Intellectual Property of the Missionaries of Charity.

ii. This is the first time that a uniform has been made the intellectual property. It has obtained “distinctive symbolic identity” of the Missionaries of Charity.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Mother Teresa was born on 26 August 1910 into a Kosovar Albanian family.
• She died at the age of 87 on 5th September 1997 at Calcutta, West Bengal.

9. Ministry of Health signs MoU with Government of West Bengal to set up Centre of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine

i. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare signed an MoU with the Government of West Bengal to formalize its support to set up a state-of-the-art Centre of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine at Kolkata.

ii. The Centre of Excellence in Transfusion Medicine will be set up in Kolkata. The initiative helps in strengthening the blood transfusion services in the State and the surrounding region. The government of India has approved this important initiative with an outlay of approximately Rs.200 Crores towards equipment, manpower and running costs.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi is the Governor of West Bengal.
• Smt. Mamta Banerjee is the CM of West Bengal.

10. P V Sindhu bags ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ award

i. Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu was bestowed with the 'Sportsperson of the Year' award during the ‘Maruti Suzuki Sportsperson of the Year’ Charity Gala Awards.

ii. Sindhu’s coach P Gopichand received the Coach of the Year award while the Flying Sikh Milkha Singh was given the Living Legend of the Year award.
iii. Young India cricketer K L Rahul, who made a mark in the last Test series against Australia, was awarded Gamechanger of the Year award.

iv. The 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medallist and the country’s sole gold medal winner in individual events at Olympics, Abhinav Bindra was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Deepa Malik was given Inspirational athlete of the year award.
• Gaurav Gill was given Athlete of the year award.

11. Leslie Thng to take over as new CEO of Vistara

i. The board of TATA SIA Airlines Ltd, which owns and operates the full-service airline Vistara, has appointed former SilkAir head Leslie Thng as Vistara’s new chief executive officer (CEO), effective from October 2017.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Leslie Thng will succeed Vistara’s incumbent CEO Phee Teik Yeoh.
• Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, commenced operations on 9 January 2015.