Daily GK Update 19th April, 2017

UP Govt Renames Gorakhpur and Agra Airports

i. The UP government changed the name of Gorakhpur and Agra Airports as well as the name of the department of welfare of the differently abled.
ii. The Gorakhpur Airforce Station has been renamed as Mahayogi Goraknath Airport after the founder of the Nath monastic movement.
iii. The Agra Airport will be renamed after Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay airport. The Department of Disabled Welfare will now be known as 'Divyang Jan Vikas Empowerment'.

Rajasthan State govt, HPCL sign agreement for Rs 43,129 cr Barmer refinery

i. In Rajasthan, the state government and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) signed an agreement for the Rs 43,129 crore Barmer refinery.
ii. The Barmer refinery will be the first in the country to produce BS-6 standard fuel. The state government will have 26% stake in the project while rest will be held by HPCL.

Navy’s missile destroyer dedicated to Chennai

i. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami dedicated the Indian Navy’s indigenously designed ‘P15A Guided Missile Destroyer’, INS Chennai to the city Chennai.
ii. INS Chennai is commanded by captain C. R. Praveen Nair and has 45 officers. The ship was commissioned by ex-Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar in 2016. It is one of the most potent warships to have been constructed in India.

India jumps to 8th place on Global FDI Confidence Index

i. India has jumped one spot to 8th rank in the 2017 A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index.
ii. USA has topped A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index for the fifth year in a row. The top 5 countries in A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index 2017 are:

1. USA

2. Germany

3. China

4. UK

5. Canada

RBI opened the Office of the Banking Ombudsman at Chhattisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir

i. The Reserve Bank of India has set up two new Offices of the Banking Ombudsman for the State of Jammu and Kashmir (in Jammu) and Chhattisgarh (in Raipur).
ii. The Office of the Banking Ombudsman at Reserve Bank of India, Jammu and Chhattisgarh will have the jurisdiction over the entire State of Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh which, hitherto was under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Banking Ombudsman, New Delhi-I and Bhopal, respectively.

RBI signed MoU with the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan

i. The Reserve Bank of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on “Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information” with the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan.
ii. The MoU was signed by Mr. Phajo Dorjee, Deputy Governor on behalf of Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan and Mr. S S Mundra, Deputy Governor on behalf of Reserve Bank of India.

SEBI launched revamped website with user-friendly features

i. SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) launched its revamped website having several user-friendly features and compatible with all desktop and mobile devices.
ii. The website now also allows visitors to share web pages on their social media network. The new website is compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines for making web content more accessible to differently abled people and also conforms to the guidelines for Indian government websites.

ICICI Bank data centre becomes country's first IGBC Platinum rated project

i. The ICICI Bank Data Centre in Hyderabad has achieved the distinction of becoming the country's first Platinum rated project under IGBC (Indian Green Building Council) Green Data Centre Rating System.
ii. Prem C Jain, Chairman, IGBC presented IGBC plaque to Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank at a programme organized on recently in Hyderabad.
iii. IGBC Green Data Centre Rating System would facilitate in providing tremendous tangible and intangible benefits. Tangible benefits include 20 to 25 percent reduction in Power Usage Effectiveness, 25 to 30 percent reduction in water consumption. Intangible benefits include enhanced air quality, excellent daylighting, health, and well-being of the staff operating such facility.

Vinay Shah, appointed as new MD & CEO of LIC Housing Finance

i. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has appointed Vinay Shah as the new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Director of its mortgage loan arm and listed entity LIC Housing Finance.
ii. He comes in place of Sunita Sharma after Government had elevated her to Managing Director of LIC.

Former AP minister Devineni Rajashekhar passes away

i. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former Andhra Pradesh minister Devineni Rajashekhar had died due to cardiac arrest in Hyderabad.
ii. He was made the Education Minister in NTR Cabinet in 1994. He was elected to AP assembly from Kankipadu in 1983 and retained the seat in 1985, 1989, and 1994.

Important Takeaways from above GK Update are as follows:

• The Gorakhpur Airforce Station has been renamed as Mahayogi Goraknath Airport
• Agra Airport has been renamed as Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay airport
• The Department of Disabled Welfare will now be known as 'Divyang Jan Vikas Empowerment'
• Rajasthan State govt and HPCL have signed an agreement for Rs 43,129 crore Barmer refinery
• The Barmer refinery will be the first in the country to produce BS-6 standard fuel
• Chief Minister of Rajasthan is Mrs. Vasundhara Raje
• Union Minister of state for petroleum and natural gas is Shree Dharmendra Pradhan
• Indigenously designed ‘P15A Guided Missile Destroyer’, INS Chennai was dedicated to the city Chennai
• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is Mr. Edappadi K. Palaniswami
• Sunil Lanba is the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS)
• India ranked 8th in the 2017 A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index
• The USA topped the list
• Among the emerging economies, India and China were the top two performers
• RBI opened the Office of the Banking Ombudsman at Chhattisgarh and Jammu & Kashmir
• J&K till now was under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Banking Ombudsman, New Delhi-I
• Chhattisgarh till now was under the jurisdiction of the Office of the Banking Ombudsman, Bhopal
• RBI is headquartered in Mumbai and its Governor is Mr. Urjit Patel.
• RBI signed MoU with the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan
• The MoU was signed on Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information
• Prime minister of Bhutan is Tshering Tobgay and its capital is Thimpu
• SEBI launched revamped website with user-friendly features
• Securities and Exchange Board of India is full form of SEBI
• Shri Ajay Tyagi Chairman is the Chairman of SEBI and its Headquarter is in Mumbai
• ICICI Bank data center becomes country's first IGBC Platinum rated project
• Chanda Kochhar is the MD & CEO of ICICI Bank
• Headquarter of ICICI bank is in Mumbai
• The event was organized in Hyderabad
• Vinay Shah has been appointed as the new MD & CEO of LIC Housing Finance
• He has replaced Smt. Sunita Sharma
• Smt. Sunita Sharma had been  elevated to Managing Director of LIC
• Shri. Vijay Kumar Sharma is the Chairman of LIC and it is Headquartered in Mumbai
• Former AP minister Devineni Rajashekhar passed away in Hyderabad
• He was made the Education Minister in NTR Cabinet in 1994
• N. Chandrababu Naidu is the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh

QUIZ-19

Q1. The Centre has constituted National Board of Electric Mobility (NBEM) to promote electric mobility and manufacturing of electric vehicles and their components. The Board will be chaired by _____________.

(a) Shri Harish Bhagwat

(b) Shri Prakash Javedkar

(c) Shri Rajyavardhan Rathore

(d) Shri Girish Shankar

(e) Shri Nitin Gadkari

Q2. A national conference on Communicating India will be organized in which of the following Indian cities that will be inaugurated by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore.

(a) Kolkata

(b) New Delhi

(c) Bengaluru

(d) Chennai

(e) Varanasi

Q3. Name the IPS officer who has been appointed as the first woman Director General of Police (DGP) of Gujarat.

(a) Vimala Roy

(b) Falguni Upadhyay

(c) GeethaJ ohri

(d) Urmika Vansh

(e) Veera Joshi

Q4. The Government of India has recently announced a fund of ____________ for the first express highway project in the northeast region which be developed along the Brahmaputra river in Assam.

(a) Rs 25,000 Crore

(b) Rs 30,000 Crore

(c) Rs 35,000 Crore

(d) Rs 40,000 Crore

(e) Rs 45,000 Crore

Q5. Amazon India has launched an initiative called 'Amazon Classroom', a virtual training program to help sellers in learning online shopping. Name the CEO of Amazon.

(a) Larry Page

(b) Jeff Bezos

(c) Tim Cook

(d) John S. Watson

(e) Jeremy Stoppelman

Q6. Union Finance Minister ArunJaitley chaired the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Finance Ministers meeting in New Delhi. Name the country that has joined the SASEC program as its seventh member.

(a) Bangladesh

(b) Bhutan

(c) Myanmar

(d) Maldives

(e) Nepal

Q7. Name the Bank/Banks that sold Rs.1,800crore Ballarpur Industries loans to Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company.

(a) ICICI Bank

(b) HDFC Bank

(c) Axis Bank

(d) Both (a) and (c)

(e) Both (b) and (c)

Q8. The WTO’s dispute settlement set up a panel to resolve the dispute between ___________ and India over imposition of safeguard import duty on iron and steel products.

(a) Japan

(b) Pakistan

(c) China

(d) Afghanistan

(e) Myanmar

Q9. Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee declared ___________ as the 22nd district of the state.

(a) Chenani

(b) Ghorghram

(c) Bhorangram

(d) Jhargram

(e) Nasaini

Q10. Union Finance Minister ArunJaitley chaired the SASEC's Finance Ministers meeting in New Delhi. What is full form of SASEC?

(a) South Asean Specific Economic Cooperation

(b) South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation

(c) South Asia SubRegional Essential Cooperation

(d) South Asean Standard Export Corporation

(e) None of the given options are true

                                                            Solutions

S1. Ans.(d)
Sol. the Centre has constituted National Board of Electric Mobility (NBEM) to promote electric mobility and manufacturing of electric (& hybrid) vehicles and their components. The Board will be chaired by the ShriGirish Shankar, Secretary of the Department of Heavy Industry.

S2. Ans.(b)
Sol. 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 RajyavardhanRathore.

S3. Ans.(c)
Sol. A 1982 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) GeethaJohri has been appointed as the first woman Director General of Police (DGP) of Gujarat.

S4. Ans.(d)
Sol. The first express highway project in the northeast region will be developed along the Brahmaputra riverin Assam at an estimated investment of Rs 40,000 crore inaugurated by Union Road Minister NitinGadkari.

S5. Ans.(b)
Sol. 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. Jeff Bezos is CEO of Amazon

S6. Ans.(c)
Sol. Union Finance Minister ArunJaitley chaired the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Finance Ministers meeting in New Delhi. Myanmar has joined the SASEC program as its seventh member.

S7. Ans.(d)
Sol. ICICI Bank and Axis Bank sold Rs.1,800crore of loans to paper maker Ballarpur Industries Ltd to Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company.

S8. Ans.(a)
Sol. 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

S9. Ans.(d)
Sol. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared Jhargram as the 22nd district of West Bengal.

S10. Ans.(b)
Sol. Union Finance Minister ArunJaitley chaired the South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Finance Ministers meeting in New Delhi.