DAILY GK Updates 29-March-2017

1.The Indian Navy has de-inducted TU142M Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft after 29 years of dedicated service to the nation and 30,000 hours of accident-free flying.

The aircraft was formally de-inducted at a ceremony held at INS Rajali naval air station in Arakkonam, Tamil Nadu. Now its role will be taken on by the newly inducted Boeing P-8I aircraft.

2.The Union Defence Ministry has approved most of the proposals of a committee of experts, headed by Lt. Gen. D.B. Shekatkar (Retd) to bring host of reforms in the military and improve financial management.

3.The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has joined the 36th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (36-ISEA) organised by the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR).

It has send four teams-one team each from Space Applications Centre (SAC), National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) and and Space Physics Laboratory(SPL). 

4.Dr. Neena Srivastava has been bestowed with the Hari Om Ashram Alembic Research Award for 2016 to recognize the basic research in medical science.

5.Ahmed Kathrada (87), the veteran Indian-origin South African anti-apartheid activist, has recently passed away in Johannesburg, South Africa.

6.The Karnataka Bank has recently launched “MoneyPlant RuPay International Platinum Debit Card” to provide more privileges to its premium & HNI customers.

7.The first-ever Houston India Conference was hosted by Asia Society Texas Center in Houston, United States with the theme of ‘Make in India -The Inside Story’ from March 24, 2017.

8.Odisha has become the first Indian state to carry financial inclusion and extend banking services to unbanked areas through Self Help Groups (SHGs). For this, the state government has signed an agreement with State Bank of India (SBI) to provide banking facilities to people in unbanked areas.

9.Tehmtan R. Andhyarujina (84), the senior Advocate and eminent jurist, has recently passed away. He was the Solicitor General of India from 1996 to 1998.

10.Indian-American Vanita Gupta has been appointed as President and CEO of ‘The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights’.

With this, she has become the first woman to head the prestigious organisation.

11.The category-4 cyclone “Debbie” has recently hit north-east Australian coast with the speed of 263km/h

12.Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty has clinched the $20,000 Vietnam Open International challenger badminton title at Hanoi.

13.The World Theatre Day is observed every year on March 27 to draw attention to the power of the stage.

14 Gauri Singh (14) from Rajasthan has become the first Indian girl to explore the route from Sea Link near Worli Koliwada to the Gateway of India.

15.As per latest report by the Sydney-based aviation think-tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), India has become the third largest aviation market globally in terms of domestic passenger traffic and has overtaken that of Japan (97 million) and was behind only US (719 million) and China (436 million).

16. The West Bengal football team has won the 71st edition of the Santosh Trophy Football tournament-2017 for the 32nd time by defeating Goa in the final at Bambolim, Goa.

17 The 105th edition of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) will be held at the Osmania University (OU) in Hyderabad from January 3-7, 2018. The theme of the conference will be ‘Science and Technology – Reaching the Unreached’

18. Tanushree Pareek from Rajasthan has become the first woman field officer in the Border Security Force (BSF), the country’s largest border guarding force.

19. Sebastian Vettel, a German racing driver, has won the 2017 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Australia.

20.Purva Barve from India has won the Under-19 Women’s Singles Li Ning-Israel Open badminton tournament 2017 by defeating Lela Minadze of Russia by 21-6, 21-4 at the Sports Hall, Rishon LeZion in Israel.

21 The INLCU L51 was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 28 March 2017.

The ship was commissioned by Vice Admiral Bimal Verma, AVSM, Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command at Port Blair.

22.Airports Authority of India (AAI), Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Jharkhand Government on 28 March 2017 signed a tripartite MoU for development of Deoghar Airport in Deoghar district of Jharkhand. 

23.Social media giant Facebook on 28 March 2017 added Snapchat-like features and Facebook Camera on its app. It introduced filters, masks, frames, animation and other interactive elements to visually decorate images and video as that of Snapchat. 

24.The Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa PVSM AVSM YSM VM ADC on 28 March 2017 formally launched the Aviation Turbine Fuel Digital Issue and Payment (ATF DIP) system.

25.The Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat was on 29 March 2017 conferred with the title of Honorary General of the Nepalese Army during his official visit to Nepal and Bangladesh from 28 March 2017 to 2 April 2017.

26.The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Bipin Rawaton on 27 March 2017 released a book titled Home of the Brave at the South Block in New Delhi.

Home of the Brave: Nitin A Gokhale & Brig S K Chatterji (Retired)

27  The Uttarakhand High Court on 28 March 2017 ordered ‘complete’ ban on mining activities in the State for four months.

28.Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), appointed former South Carolina Governor David Beasley to run the World Food Programme (WFP).

headquartered in Rome.

29. Gurdev Singh Badal, former Punjab minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader passed away at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana on March 28, 2017

30.Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu on 27 March 2017 launched Online Film Certification System E-Cinepramaan of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) with an aim to promote transparency and ensure Clean Cinema Clean India.

31 Ravichandran Ashwin on 28 March 2017 was awarded the prestigious Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy in Dharamsala.Ashwin has become the third Indian and the 12th player overall to win the award.

Ashwin was honoured with the trophy for being named the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2016.

32. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) and Government of Odisha on 27 March 2017 announced that the Men’s Hockey World League Final 2017 and Hockey Men’s World Cup 2018 will be held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

33. The below poverty line households in the urban and rural areas of Uttar Pradesh will henceforth get free power connection and those above the poverty line will get the 100 per cent financing option with easy EMIs.

34.Rana Kanwar Pal Singh was on 27 March 2017 elected as the Speaker of the Punjab Legislative Assembly.

35 India reclaims Border-Gavaskar Trophy with 2-1 series victory of Australia

Ravindra Jadeja was declared the Man of the Match and also the Man of the Series.

36.The Delhi High Court on 27 March 2017 ruled that Sahitya Akademi awardees are not eligible to return their awards as they are granted after considerable deliberations.

37.India, US, Britain, France boycott UN’s conference on banning nuclear weapons.

38 The Supreme Court on 17 March 2017 asked the Union and the Jammu and Kashmir governments to sit together and decide contentious issues including the question whether Muslims can be treated as a minority in the state.

39. US Universities report 26 per cent decline in Indian student applications

40 India’s special athletes won 73 medals in the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games. The games were held between 18 March and 25 March 2017 in Austria.

41Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi features among the names of probable contenders for Time magazine’s annual list of 100 most influential people in the world.

42. HDFC Bank Managing Director Aditya Puri was on 25 March 2017 got featured in the World's Best CEOs list of American financial magazine Barron’s. Puri ranked at 23rd position in the list beating social media giant Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg who got the 30th spot.

43 The World Conference on Environment 2017 concluded on 26 March 2017 in New Delhi. 

44.The Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) on 26 March 2017 launched Mobile Clinic Services for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

45 Carrie Lam, a Beijing-backed civil servant, was on 26 March 2017 chosen as the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong. Lam becomes the first women to be named as the women chief of the financial hub.

46 A court in Yemen’s capital city Sanaa sentenced the country’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and six other top government officials to death for treason on 25 March 2017. 

47 Railways will set up Wi-Fi hotspot kiosks at about 500 stations and help people access an array of online services, including various government schemes.

Christened as Railwire Saathi, the Wi-Fi kiosks will function like a PCO for Digital India and enable people to use services like e-commerce, online banking and much more.



48.Pujara achieved the landmark for scoring the most runs in a Test season, surpassing the mark of 1269 by Gautam Gambhir which he achieved in the 2008/09 season.

49 General Insurance Corporation (GIC Re) is likely to be the first PSU insurer to tap the capital market as the Finance Ministry has started scouting for merchant bankers to manage its Initial Public Offering (IPO), yet not officially released.



50 Repco Home Finance Ltd (RHFL) has signed an agreement with National Housing Bank (NHB) for implementation of a credit-linked subsidy scheme for the middle-income group.




51 State-run Pawan Hans has joined hands with public sector chopper maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to train helicopter pilots.



52 The archaeology department of Telangana has discovered the world's largest capstone after excavating an ancient human burial site in Siddipet district, Telangana



53 Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait has announced his retirement from international cricket.

54 FIFA confirmed that the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata will be the venue of the final of the FIFA Under 17 World Cup to be held later in 2017

55 Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) has been adjudged the ‘Best Small Bank for 2016’. 



56 Vijaya Bank entered into an MoU with Piaggio Vehicles for providing financial support for the purchase of vehicles under Small Road Transport Operators (SRTO) scheme in Bengaluru. 




57 Syndicate Bank digitally inaugurated 40 ‘Ananya’ transformed branches. Project Ananya is a two-year large-scale transformation project undertaken by the bank to provide customers with ‘best in class’ services while improving and modernizing the whole bank



58Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), a defence public sector undertaking, signed an MoU with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for export of torpedoes.



59 ICICI Bank announced a partnership with mobile app firm Truecaller for a new UPI-based mobile payment service.The new feature called as Truecaller Pay, and it will allow users of the app to instantly create a UPI ID, send money to any UPI ID or a mobile number registered with the BHIM app.



60 Leading communication app Truecaller has tied up with Google to integrate the tech giant's video calling app Duo within the Truecaller app.



61 The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has imposed a reduced penalty of Rs 591 crore on Coal India Ltd for fuel supply pacts



62 Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has appointed Minoru Kato as a new President and Chief Executive Office of the company effective from April 1, 2017. 



63 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Mar 25 2017 conducted the WORLD CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT at the country’s capital, New Delhi.

64 The British Parliament tabled a motion on March 23, 2017 stating Pakistan’s move as illegal to declare the Gilgit­Baltistan region, bordering Pakistan­occupied Kashmir, as its fifth province

65 Mangaluru based private sector lender, Karnataka Bank achieved a landmark installation of 10,000 Point of Sales (PoS) terminals on March 27, 2017.

66. Paytm, one of the fastest growing mobile wallet and e­commerce industry in India has achieved a new milestone by becoming the sole member of Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

67 The state owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited commissioned a 55 Mega Watt (MW) Bhadla Solar Power Project in Rajasthan on March 27, 2017.

68  T­-Hub, one of the largest start­up ecosystem builders in India have bagged four “Acumen global awards, 2017” by bringing up four startups to be emerging as the first choice of top Indian startups. This competition is mainly meant for the emerging startups.The award function was held in Kenya.

69. As insisted by our Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Mr. M.Venkaiah Naidu, 500 cities and towns that account for the 65% of India’s urban population are to be credit rated by Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). Out of these 500 cities, 94 cities got its rating from AMRUT.

70 The National Theatre Festival 2017 was held in Tagore Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from March 16­-24, 2017.

71 . The four holy cities of Hindus namely Ayodhya, Mathura, Varanasi and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh are to be provided with 24*7 power supply on the event of its chair took by Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of UP.

The state government also banned the usage of PAN and TOBBACO products in Schools, Colleges, Hospitals and other Government buildings. On the account of this, the officers are made to take a pledge of spending 100 hours a year for cleanliness.

72 Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) will sanction a loan worth 13K Crore Rupees for clean energy projects in FY18, which plays the major role in reducing the pollution in India.

73 . India’s largest online retailer Flipkart is planning to acquire eBay India’s operations as part of its latest capital raising programme of $2billion

74. The world’s largest capstone has been discovered by the Archaeology Department of Telangana on March 21, 2017, after excavating an ancient human burial site in Narmeta village, Siddipet district. 

75 State-run Engineers India Ltd on said that Shazia Ilmi Malik has been appointed as additional director (non-official part-time independent).

76 Society for Transformation, Inclusion, and Recognition through Sports (STAIRS) announced that Mr. Siddhartha Upadhyay, its founder and secretary general has been appointed to the governing body of Sports Authority of India.