11th August 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download

1. Mysore city in Karnataka has topped the Swachh Bharat Rankings of 476 cities in the country with three more from the State figuring in the top 10. West Bengal does well with 25 cities/towns from the State finding a place in the top 100 cities. These rankings are based on the extent of open defecation and solid waste management practices in these cities. The city of Mysore leads the cities with minimal open defecation and extensive adoption of solid waste management practices.

2. Payment system running companies in India like Airtel, Vodafone, OneMobikvik etc. who have applied for licence with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), might have to be under control of the two regulators. They will contnue to be regulated by the RBI, and after the Indian Financial Code (IFC) is implemented the proposed financial authority will also superwise them. Regulation of banking sector, the systematically important payment systems and authorized dealerships shall remain with RBI.

3. In a report on ‘Working Conditions of Women in Public Sector Banks’ a parliamentary panel has recommended making at least 15 per cent public sector banks branches all-women offices to provide safe and convenient work environment to women in the banking sector. The PSBs have a total staff strength of about 8, 57, 868. Of this, women employees account for 1, 96, 374, constituting 24 per cent of the total workforce as of September, 2014.

4. The Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana launched by the Government of India on August 15, 2014, is set to close on August 14, 2015. Administered by the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, the scheme is aimed at the welfare of the senior citizens of the country, offering a yield of 9.38 per cent annually.

5. ICICI Bank has launched its ‘Saral-Rural Housing Loan’ at base rate of 9.7 per cent for borrowers from the rural areas.The loan would range from Rs. 5-15 lakh for a period of 3–20 years and the loan could be up to 90 per cent of the property value.The offer would be available in 189 cities across the country.

6. There has been a rush for registration of political parties, with as many as 239 new outfits enrolling themselves with the Election Commission between March, 2014 and July this year, taking their number to 1,866. Out of these, 56 are recognised as registered national or state parties, while the rest are “unrecognised, registered” parties.

7. For the first time Department of Science and Technology (DST) has decided to fund research on the impact of yoga and meditation on human health. Research and studies on yoga have so far remained within the domain of AYUSH, a government department whose mandate is to promote traditional medicine, including ayurveda, unani and homeopathy.

8. The largest ever rainfall in over a century by Super Typhoon Soudelor in China had forced evacuation of more than 3.34 lakh people. More than 550,000 people and 19,600 hectares of crops in ten cities were affected by the typhoon.

9. On the 10th August in the afternoon, in many parts of north India, including Delhi-NCR, tremors of Earthquake were felt. The epicenter was Hindukush in Afghanistan, the earth was trembling in the national capital for nearly 40 seconds. Apart from Delhi-NCR, shocks were also felt in Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Srinagar. The intensity of the earthquake was 6.2.

10. Overtaking the CIA, FBI, NASA and the Pakistani army Indian army once again has reached the top of popularity on social networking site Facebook. Indian Army Facebook page has now figured in the "People Talking About That" (PTAT) ranking in terms of popularity. It was the second time within a few months, when the Indian Army Facebook page topped the list.