13th July 2015 Daily GK Updates |Daily Current Affair Download
1.
India and Turkmenistan signed 7 agreements for enhancing cooperation
in a number of sectors during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fourth leg
of his Central Asian tour to Turkmenistan. The agreements were signed in
the fields of defence, supply of chemical products, foreign affairs,
sports, science and technology, medicine and tourism.
2.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched five
British satellites into space from the first launch pad of the Satish
Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikotta. With the help of PSLV-C28, ISRO
kicked off the biggest and heaviest commercial launch to date. These
satellites are three identical DMC3 optical earth observation satellites
and two auxiliary satellites, viz., CBNT-1 and De-OrbitSail. All these
satellites are built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) and
weigh 1440-kg.
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| 13th July 2015 Daily GK Updates |Daily Current Affair Download |
3.
Cipla, the country's leading company in Pharma sector, has appointed
Samina Vaziralli as Executive Director on its board. Vaziralli is the
daughter of M.K. Hamied, Vice Chairman of the Board of Cipla. She is
part of the core leadership team and has been with the company since
2011. Earlier, she worked at Goldman Sachs's investment management
department. Vaziralli brings diverse experience of working in the US,
the UK, and more recently India.
4.
India and Pakistan were accepted as full members of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional grouping including China and
Russia. This decision was taken at the 15th Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) summit held in Russia. India, which has had an
observer status for the past 10 years, will technically become a member
by next year after completion of certain procedures.
5.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed mass transit system (MTS)
operators like Mumbai Metro, Delhi Metro, Indian Railways, etc. to issue
pre-paid cards to their customer. This is expected to provide a huge
relief to the commuters who face problems while purchasing tickets. RBI
guidelines also say that the balance in the prepaid instrument issued by
the MTS should not exceed Rs. 2,000 at any point of time. Also, MTS
would not be allowed to refunds cash that is stocked in the pre-paid
instruments (PPI). These PPIs will have a minimum validity of 6 months
from the date of issue.
6.
Uttarakhand became first Indian state to install a system to detect
earthquakes and disseminate warnings. The first system has been
installed in its capital Dehradun which will issue warnings 1-40 seconds
before earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more occur. The system is designed
and manufactured by Italian firm, Space Dynamics which already has
installed it in Japan, Italy and US. The second system will be
established at Pithoragarh in the Kumaon region.
7.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar dedicated indigenously developed
surface-to-air Akash Missile to the Air Force at Maharajpur Airbase in
Gwalior. The anti-aircraft missile Akash has a strike range of 25 km and
capability of carrying a warhead of 60 kg. The Akash can employ
multiple air targets while operating in fully autonomous mode.
8.
The World Bank and Norway has approved an amount of 55 crore dollars
for education sector in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Group has signed an
agreement with Norway for result based financial help in the education
sector. Under this agreement both states will get a separate loan of 55
crore dollars. Loan to the state of Bihar is sanctioned for capacity
addition of Primary teachers in Bihar while Madhya Pradesh will get the
financial help for higher education reforms.
9.
Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has signed a multilateral
agreement to cooperate with New Development Bank (NDB) along with other
member development banks of BRICS nations. New Development Bank (NDB) is
promoted by the BRICS nations -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and
South Africa. The agreement was signed between Exim Bank Chairman and
Managing Director Yaduvendra Mathur and Chairpersons or Presidents of
other member development banks of BRICS in Ufa, Russia during the BRICS
Summit 2015.
10.
NRI entrepreneur Lord Karan Bilimoria has been appointed as the
President of the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA).
He will replace Baroness Usha Prashar as she steps down, having served
the maximum term of nine years. Hyderabad born Bilimoria, the founder of
Cobra Beer, is also the Chancellor of the University of Birmingham.
