Daily GK Update 05th April, 2017

SASEC's Finance Ministers Meeting held in New Delhi

i. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley chaired the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Finance Ministers meeting in New Delhi.

ii. It was attended by the seven Finance Ministers from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka and the Asian Development Bank as a supporting SASEC in this endeavor.

iii. Myanmar has joined the SASEC program as its seventh member.

National conference on Communicating India to be organized

i. A day-long national conference on Communicating India will be organized in New Delhi which will be inaugurated by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore.
ii. Telling the India's story to the world, Communicating via Journalism and Dialogue with Diaspora are three main themes which are outlined for the conference.

Jhargram becomes 22nd Bengal district

i. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared Jhargram as the 22nd district of West Bengal.
ii. Jhargram has been formed by bifurcating West Midnapore, which has a population of more than 11.37 lakh. Mamta Banerjee announced a budget of Rs 200 crore for the development of Jhargram.


Rs 40,000 crore expressway project in northeast announced

i. The first express highway project in the northeast region will be developed along the Brahmaputra river in Assam at an estimated investment of Rs 40,000 crore inaugurated by Union Road Minister Nitin Gadkari.
ii. The agreement was signed by the Assam government, the National Highways Authority of India and the Inland Waterways of India.

BS-IV Grade Fuel launched by Central Government after BS-III ban

i. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas officially launched the low emission Bharat stage (BS)-IV Grade fuel in Bhubaneswar.
ii. The launch was made on the special occasion of Utkal Diwas which is the foundation day of Odisha.
iii. The launch was made in 12 cities of India. They were Varanasi, Vijayawada, Durgapur, Gorakhpur, Imphal, Bhopal, Ranchi, Madurai, Nagpur, Patna, Guwahati and Shillong.

ICICI, Axis Bank sell Rs 1800 crore Ballarpur loans to Edelweiss

i. ICICI Bank and Axis Bank sold Rs.1,800 crore of loans to paper maker Ballarpur Industries Ltd to Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company.
ii. It is the first time that loans have been sold to an asset reconstruction firm. Axis Bank sold loans of Rs.1,200 crore and ICICI Bank sold loans of Rs.600 crore. 

Geetha Johri- Gujarat's first woman Police Chief

i. A 1982 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) Geetha Johri has been appointed as the first woman Director General of Police (DGP) of Gujarat.
ii. She has replaced P P Pandey, who resigned recently. Johri is posted at the State Police Housing Corporation in Gandhinagar.


Amazon.in launches ‘Classroom’ for new sellers

i. To make on-boarding easy for new sellers, Amazon India has launched an initiative called 'Amazon Classroom', a virtual training program to help teach them the nuances of online selling.
ii. The program focusses on areas such as order processing, adding products and managing returns that are required to operate a successful online business.

 Gionee India ties up with RCB for IPL 10
i. Handset maker Gionee India announced its association with the ‘Royal Challengers Bangalore’, as their presenting sponsors for the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
ii. Gionee is already the principal sponsor of the Kolkata Franchise — ‘Kolkata Knight Riders’. Gionee has become the first brand ever to sponsor front jerseys of two IPL teams in the same edition and will have its logo feature on the front jersey of both the teams.
iii. The smartphone manufacturer had signed Captain Virat Kohli as its brand ambassador in November 2016.

Berhampur Thakurani Yatra fetival begins in Odisha
i. The famous Berhampur Thakurani Yatra, one of the biggest festivals of southern Odisha, has been celebrated with pomp and gaiety.
ii. Nearly a month-long festival celebrates the journey of the deity Maa Budhi Thakurani. 



 WTO sets up panel to resolve steel dispute with India, Japan
i. The WTO’s dispute settlement set up a panel to resolve the dispute between Japan and India over imposition of safeguard import duty on iron and steel products.
ii. Japan in December 2016 dragged India to the WTO against certain measures taken by New Delhi on imports of iron and steel products.
iii. Japan, which is the second largest steel producer in the world, had alleged that duties imposed on steel imports by India violates WTO trade norms.

Indian Cricketer MS Dhoni named CEO of Gulf Oil for 1 day
i. The former Indian cricket team skipper MS Dhoni became an acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gulf Oil India just for a day.
ii. He took charge of Gulf Oil India at the Mumbai head office. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was also named as the brand ambassador for Gulf Oil in the year 2011.


Important Takeaways from above GK Update are as follows-

• National conference on Communicating India will be organized in New Delhi 
• Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting is Rajyavardhan Rathore
• Geetha Johri has been appointed as the first woman DGP of Gujarat
• She has replaced P P Pandey
• Governor of Gujarat is Mr. Om Prakash Kohli and its Chief Minister is Mr. Vijay Rupani
• Nitin Gadkari announces Rs 40,000 crore expressway project in northeast 
• Nitin Gadkari is the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping
• Amazon.in launches ‘Classroom’, a virtual training program for new sellers
• Jeff Bezos is CEO of Amazon
• Amazon is USA based company
• SASEC's Finance Ministers Meeting was held in New Delhi
• South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation is the full form of SASEC
• Myanmar has joined the SASEC program as its seventh member
• ICICI, Axis Bank sell Rs 1800 crore Ballarpur loans to Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company
• ICICI bank headquarter is in Mumbai and CEO is Chanda Kochhar
• Axis Bank headquarter is in Mumbai and CEO is Shikha Sharma
• Ballarpur is a town and a municipal council in Chandrapur district in the state of Maharashtra, India
• Jhargram declared as the 22nd district of West Bengal
• CM of West Bengal is Mamta Banerjee
• Governor of West Bengal is Keshari Nath Tripathi
• Government officially launched the low emission Bharat stage (BS)-IV Grade fuel in Bhubaneswar, Odisha
• Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas is Dharmendra Pradhan.

QUIZ-05

Q1. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan inaugurated the two-day South Asian Speaker’s summit held in _______________, recently.
Answer: Madhya Pradesh

Q2. President Dr. Pranab Mukherjee has extended his greetings and felicitations to the Government and people of the Islamic Republic of The Gambia on the occasion of their Independence Day. What is the capital of Gambia?
Answer: Banjul

Q3. _____________________ has been given the maximum ratings by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for vaccine regulations, recently.
Answer: National Regulatory Authority of India

Q4. Which bank has bagged the “National MSME Excellence Award 2017” instituted by the Federation of Industry, Trade and Services, recently?
Answer: Corporation Bank

Q5. Who has been appointed as non-executive chairman of Punjab National Bank, recently?
Answer: Sunil Mehta

Q6. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has launched __________ appeal to help two million acutely malnourished children across Sudan including hundreds of thousands living in conflict areas.
Answer: US $110 million

Q7. India has been ranked 143 out of 186 economies in the annual Index of Economic Freedom 2017 released by US based Think Tank, The Heritage Foundation. Which country has topped the annual Index of Economic Freedom 2017?
Answer: Hong Kong

Q8. The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Radha Mohan Singh has inaugurated the Indian Seed Congress 2017 in-
Answer: Kolkata

Q9. Who has/have been appointed as the new executive director of Bank of India?
Answer: Atanu Kumar Das and Neelam Damodaran

Q10. The Bihar cabinet has cleared an amendment in the state prohibition law, after which bureaucrats, judges or magistrates caught drinking anywhere in the world will be punished. Who is the present Chief Minister of Bihar?
Answer: Nitish Kumar

Q11. _______________ has received markets regulator SEBI’s approval to raise Rs. 4,300 crore through Initial Public Offering (IPO), recently.
Answer: IRB InvIT Fund

Q12. Name the first Indian sportsperson to ink Rs 100-cr deal for eight years with Puma.
Answer: Virat Kohli

Q13. The decks have been cleared for the national rollout of accrual accounting in Railways. The CA Institute’s _____________ has signed an agreement with Railways for this purpose.
Answer: Accounting Research Foundation (ARF)

Q14. On the occasion of the Foundation Day of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), it has come up with several digital offerings including launch of mobile wallet ‘Oriental Batuaa’, recently. Its headquater is in ______________.
Answer: Gurugram

Q15. Name the e-commerce company that has tied up with Microsoft to be parners on 'cloud' in Bangalore, recently.
Answer: Flipkart