Daily GK 9th July 2015 Updates |Current Affair Download

1. Sriram Kalyanaraman, Director-Business Development, Equifax Credit Information Services Pvt. Ltd has been appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, National Housing Bank for a period of five years from the date of his taking over the charge. The appointment of Shri Kalyanaraman is unique in its way as he is the first person form the Private Sector to head a Public Sector Financial Institution. 

2. India and Kazakhstan inked 5 agreements, including defence, railways and uranium supply, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev on his second leg of visit to the Central Asian countries. Both sides also agreed to collaborate closely in the framework of the International North South Transport Corridor and through bilateral initiatives to improve surface connectivity.

3. According to World Bank India's rural employment guarantee programme MNREGA has been ranked as the world's largest public works programme, providing social security net to almost 15 percent of the country's population. According to World Bank Group's report 'The State of Social Safety Nets 2015', India is among the five middle-income countries running the world's largest social safety net programmes. India's Mid-day meal scheme has been classified as biggest school feeding programme benefiting 105 million beneficiaries.

4. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kazakhstan premier Karim Massimov launched the first exploratory drilling of the Satpayev oil block by India's OVL and KazMunaiGaz. The two leaders launched the drilling through live video conferencing. ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) -- the overseas arm of state-run ONGC -- had in 2011 picked up 25 percent stake in the Satpayev oil block in the North Caspian Sea. The Satpayev oil block is an offshore field in the Northern Caspian sea, with potential reserves estimated at 1.8 billion barrels.

5. Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, the railway coach manufacturing entity of the Indian Railways, became the first in the world to have manufactured 50,000 railway coaches. Union Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu released the 50,000th coach manufactured by ICF. To mark this occasion the Rail Minister also dedicated the New LHB Coach (Modern Passenger Coach) Manufacturing Unit in ICF itself to the nation. 

 

6. China named Jin Liqun as the first Chief of the Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which is being established as an alternative financial entity to World Bank and IMF. Jin Liqun is a former Finance Minister of China. AIIB is a multilateral development bank proposed by the government of China to provide finance to infrastructure projects in the Asia region.

Daily GK 9th July 2015 Updates |Current Affair Download

7. Indian woman cricketer Mithali Raj made history by becoming the first Indian and second in women’s ODI history to complete 5000 runs. Indian captain Mithali Raj achieved this distinction as she scored a stylish 81 runs in the fourth one day international (ODI) of the series against New Zealand to enable the Indian team to register a comfortable eight-wicket victory. She became the second woman cricketer in history to complete 5000 runs in ODIs after England’s Charlotte Edwards.

8. State-run IDBI Bank has signed an agreement with Mudra Bank for refinancing of loans given to small enterprises. As per the agreement, the Bank will offer credit facilities up to Rs. 10 lakh to micro enterprises, at a competitive interest rate under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) and Mudra will be providing refinance assistance to the bank for eligible sanctioned loan cases.

9. India has overtaken the US to become the world's third largest steel producer and is working towards achieving 300 million tonnes (MT) target in the next 10 years. So far India was the 4th largest steel producer in the world only after China, Japan and the US. Last year the growth in crude steel production in India was more than 8 percent.

10. Mariyappan Thangavelu from Salem district in Tamil Nadu clinched the high jump gold medal at the just-concluded IWAS World Junior Games 2015 in the Netherlands. He had cleared a distance of 1.77 meters in the F 42 category.