Daily GK Update 20th July 2017

1. Ram Nath Kovind elected 14th President of India

i. The NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind has been declared by the Secretary General of Lok Sabha Anoop Mishra as elected President of India. Mr. Kovind got 7,02,044 votes while his opponent, the joint Opposition candidate Meira Kumar, got 3,67,314 out of a total of 10,69,358.

ii. Succeeding Pranab Mukherjee, Kovind will be sworn in as the 14th president of India on July 25. Kovind will be the seventh youngest person to be anointed to the coveted post. He is also the second Dalit after KR Narayanan to adorn the coveted post. He is the first President from Uttar Pradesh.

Know More About Ram Nath Kovind

2. Important Cabinet Approvals: 19th July 2017

i. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved following agreements and MoUs on different fields.

The Cabinet has approved- 

1. MOC in respect of tax matters between India and BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.
2. MoU between India and Netherlands on cooperation in space technology.
3. IRDAI's admission as a signatory to International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU).
4.  Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
5.  Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2017. 
6.  Revision of Indian Community Welfare Fund guidelines.
7.  Cadre Review of Indian Defence Accounts Service, IDAS  

3. Patnaik dedicates to Nation Odisha’s longest bridge

i. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik dedicated to the nation the state's longest bridge and named it after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

ii. The 2.88 km bridge over the river Kathajodi will connect the state capital of Bhubaneswar with Cuttack reducing the distance between the two cities by 12 km.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• S C Jamir is the Present Governor of Odisha.

4. MoU Signed Between Department of Defence Production and GSL

i. Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL), a Miniratna Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) signed an MoU for the financial year 2017-18 with Ministry of Defence.

ii. This year’s MoU target for ‘Revenue from Operations’ has been set at Rs1150 crore, which is 43 percent higher than the financial year 2016-17 target of Rs800 crore.
iii. Notably, in the financial year 2016-17, the Shipyard achieved historical high VoP of Rs1030 crore and PBT of Rs177 crore. GSL was adjudged as ‘Best Performing Shipyard’ by MoD.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Dr. Subhash Bhamre is the Union Minister of State for Defence
• Shri Arun Jaitley is the Defence Minister of India.

5. L K Advani receives Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions in Lok Sabha

i. Veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions as a parliamentarian in the Lok Sabha. JD-U leader Sharad Yadav also received the Lifetime Achievement Award as a Rajya Sabha representative from Vice President Hamid Ansari at a function organized by the Lokmat Media Group to honor distinguished Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members.
ii. The other awardees from the Lok Sabha-

• Best Parliamentarian- Revolutionary Socialist Party MP N.K. Premachandran,
• Best Woman Parliamentarian- Congress leader Kumari Sushmita Dev and 
• Best Debut Woman Parliamentarian- BJP leader Meenakshi Lekhi.

iii. The awardees from the Rajya Sabha-

• Best Parliamentarian- CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury, 
• Best Woman Parliamentarian- Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan and 
• Best Debut Woman Parliamentarian- Congress MP Rajni Patil.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Smt. Sumitra Mahajan is the Present Speaker of Lok Sabha.
• Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari is the Present Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

6. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi tops poll of most powerful Arab women: Forbes

i. Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the UAE Minister of State for Tolerance has topped a poll of the most powerful Arab women in government for 2017, according to Forbes Middle East.

ii. Ms. Qasimi was followed by two women from Egypt - Sahar Nasr, the country’s minister of investment and international cooperation and Ghada Wali, the minister of social solidarity.
iii. Forbes has also released a list of the top 100 most powerful Arab business women for 2017, and the UAE represents the highest number of women, with 18, followed by Egypt, with 16.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Abu Dhabi is the Capital of  UAE.
• Forbes is an American business magazine and was founded in 1917
• The headquarter of Forbes is in New York City, USA.

7. Australia joins International Solar Alliance led by India and France

i. Australia became the 35th country to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA), an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2015 in Paris. It is co-led by India and France.

ii. The aim of ISA is to support developing countries to boost their solar production capacity. India on its part through the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) is contributing $1 million to the ISA fund.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• The Capital of Australia is Canberra.
• Malcolm Turnbull is the present Prime Minister of Australia.

8. India on track to grow at 7.4 per cent in 2017: ADB report

i. According, to Asian Development Bank supplement report India is expected to achieve the projected growth rate of 7.4 per cent in 2017 and further up to 7.6 per cent next year on strong consumption demand, with South Asia leading the growth chart in Asia and the Pacific.

ii. According to the report, South Asia will be the fastest growing of all sub-regions in Asia and the Pacific, with growth on track to meet original projections of 7 per cent in 2017 and 7.2 per cent in 2018.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Headquarter of ADB is in Manila, Philippines.
• President of Asian Development Bank is Takehiko Nakao.

9. Google introduces recruiting app 'Hire' for businesses

i. Google has launched 'Hire', a recruiting app for small- and medium-sized businesses that also integrates seamlessly with G Suite.  It is a move to compete with Microsoft-owned LinkedIn.

ii. Hire makes it easy to identify talent, build strong candidate relationships and efficiently manage the interview process end-to-end"

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• CEO of Google is Sundar Pichai