GK Update 16th May 2017

Kerala tops, Bihar last in public affairs index

i. Two South Indian States – Kerala and Tamil Nadu – secured first and second rankings for the second year in a row while poll-bound Gujarat gained two positions rising from five in 2016 to three in 2017 and Bihar stayed at the bottom in public affairs index (PAI) in governance in States.


India-UK agree on MoU in urban transport sector

i. India and the UK agreed to sign an MoU in the urban transport sector for cooperation in policy planning, technology transfer and institutional organisation.
ii. Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari was on a three-day visit, finalised the bilateral cooperation arrangement between the Transport for London (TfL) and the India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to cover a wide range of transport mobility solutions and associated activities in urban environments.

Telangana hosted first Videsh Sampark

i. Telangana hosted the first outreach program of the Ministry of External Affairs ‘Videsh Sampark’ to engage the State governments in creating awareness about various programmes of the Ministry.
ii. It was inaugurated by the Minister of State for External Affairs, Gen. V.K. Singh.
iii. Also, Telangana has become the first state in the country where the pilot ‘e-Sanad’ project for online attestation of documents, was rolled out.

RBI puts restriction on Uco Bank’s business 

i. Reserve Bank of India has put restriction on Kolkata-based PSU UCO Bank’s lending and branch expansion plans as the state-run lender made net losses for the two successive fiscal amid severe stress on asset quality.
ii. RBI has initiated ‘Prompt Corrective Action’ (PCA) framework on  UCO bank on account of high bad loans and negative return of assets.
iii. UCO has become the second lender to face business restrictions after IDBI Bank.

 IIT Kharagpur collaborates to turn Varanasi into smart city 

i. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has collaborated with the British Geological Survey to turn Varanasi into a smart city.
ii. 3D geological modeling of the geology under Varanasi will be prepared to help improve the building of new transport and service infrastructure.
iii. It would be the first major 3D subsurface urban study and planning of its kind in India.

ISKCON’s Govardhan Eco Village wins Smart Village Award

i. Govardhan Eco Village, set up by the ISKCON in adjoining Thane district, has won a Smart Village award for being a sustainable project in rural Maharashtra.
ii. The award, “Smart Village,” has been instituted by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO).

India ranks 26 in World Bank’s electricity accessibility list
i. India moved up to the 26th spot in the global electricity accessibility rankings of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index 2016.
ii. India was at the 99th position in 2014, it jumped 73 ranks in 2016. The compounded annual growth in electricity prices in 2014-16 stood at 3.27% compared to 5.97% in 2004-14.

Palestine President arrives on 4-day visit to India

i. President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas arrived in India on a four-day State visit.
ii. The visit of President Mahmoud Abbas will provide an opportunity for reviewing the entire gamut of bilateral relations, regional and international issues.
iii. This is his third State visit to India.

Rafael Nadal wins 5th Madrid Open title

i. Rafael Nadal beat Dominic Thiem to win his fifth Madrid Open title held in Spain and move into the world’s top four.
ii. In Madrid he battled past a determined Dominic Thiem of Austria to win the crown in straight sets 7-6, 6-4.
iii. For the 14-times Grand Slam Winner, it was also the 72nd tournament win of his career.

India win 1 gold, 5 silver & 4 bronze in Asian Wrestling Championship

i. India finished their Asian Wrestling Championship campaign on a resounding note with Sumit winning a silver medal in the 125 kg category on the concluding day of the continental event held in New Delhi.
ii. Bajrang Punia defeated Lee Seung-chul of Korea to win the gold medal in the men’s 65 kg freestyle category at the Asian Wrestling Championship.
iii. The Indian wrestlers overall bagged 10 medals comprising a gold, five silver, and four bronze.

Important Takeaways from above GK Update for Exams are as follows-

• WPI  stands for Wholesale Price Index.
• IIP stands for Index of Industrial Production.
• The team which prepared the PAI 2017 report was led by Dr. C.K.Mathew.
• Pinarayi Vijayan is the current Chief Minister of Kerala.
• Palanisamy Sathasivam is the current Governor of Kerala.
• International Day of Families is organized by United Nations
• United Nations Headquarters in New York
• The current Secretary-General of the UN, and the ninth occupant of the post is Mr. Antonio Guterres of Portugal
• Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping is Mr. Nitin Gadkari
• London is the Capital of UK
• Theresa May is the Prime Minister of UK
• Pound Sterling is the Currency of UK.
• CM of Telangana is Chandrasekhar Rao and the governor is E. S. L. Narasimhan
• Hyderabad is the capital of Telangana.
• MD and CEO of UCO bank is Shri Ravi Krishan Takkar
• UCO bank headquarter is in Kolkata
• Newly appointed Deputy Governor of RBI is BP Kanungo.
• Tagline of the UCO Bank is ‘Honour your Trust’

• IIT Kharagpur was founded in 1951.

• ISKCON full form is International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

• Rafael “Rafa” Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player
• Nadal became the first man to win the Monte-Carlo Masters Tournament by 10 times in 2017.
• The last edition of the Championship was held in Bangkok in which India bagged 9 Medals
• Sakshi Malik, the first Indian woman wrestler to win an Olympics medal, clinched silver in the Championship.
• She was defeated by Japan’s Risako Kawai in the 60kg category final.
• Capital of Palestine is East Jerusalem
• Its Prime minister is Rami Hamdallah.
• Arabic is the official language of Palestine.