3rd September 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download
1. Foreign brokerages firms have cut their Indian GDP
rate forecasts by up to 0.3 percentage points. Standard Chartered has
revised down Indian GDP rate forecast for the FY 2015-16 to 7.3 per cent
from 7.7 per cent. It attributed the cut to weaker growth data for Q1,
external headwinds and slower agriculture growth. Its Japanese peer
Nomura has also cut its forecast by 0.2 percentage points to 7.8 per
cent for the fiscal.
2. India has won the top UNESCO prize 'Award of
Excellence-2015' for the remarkable conservation efforts of the majestic
Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple in Kerala. The Award of Excellence for the
conservation of Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple, Thrissur, won this year's
top prize in the Asia Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage
Conservation. The award recognises the remarkable conservation effort
undertaken at the sacred site which employed age-old rituals and
conservation techniques drawn from vastu shastra focusing on
architecture and construction. Sdaring Xieng Thong Temple in Luang
Prabang won the ‘Award of Merit’.
3. Nuclear safety expert Shiv Abhilash Bhardwaj has
been appointed as the new chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
(AERD). Bhardwaj took over from Satinder Singh Bajaj who was steering
the organisation since January 2010. A post graduate in mechanical
engineering, Bhardwaj was earlier with Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)
and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). He is a recipient
of Indian Nuclear Society award for outstanding achievement in nuclear
technology including nuclear safety.
4. Mumbai won the Buchi Babu Memorial Cricket Trophy in
the All India competition. In the final match played in Chennai, Mumbai
defeated Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Districts (TNCA) XI by six
wickets. TNCA batting first was able to score 163 all out in 74 over, in
response to which, Mumbai scored 166 for four in 45.2 over. Mumbai's
Surya Kumar Yadav, was adjudged as the Man of the Series.
5. The Reserve Bank of India declared SBI and ICICI
Bank as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), which literally
means that these banks are so integral to the national economy that
their failure would have to be prevented at any cost. While State Bank
of India (SBI) is the largest public sector bank and the largest banking
entity in the country, ICICI Bank is the largest private sector bank in
the country. SBI and ICICI have been so designated on the basis of a
systemic importance score, arrived at after an analysis of the banks’
size as a percentage of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Banks with
assets that exceed 2% of GDP will be considered to be part of this class
of lenders.
6. RBI released the preliminary estimates, according to
which, the household financial savings in the country have successfully
broken a five year trend over which the share of financial savings was
seen dipping. Financial savings stands for savings or investments done
in deposits, stocks, insurance, mutual funds, pension funds and other
such instruments. Household financial saving for 2014-15 placed at 7.5 %
of India’s income as against 7.3% in 2013-14.
7. India won a historic Test series against Sri Lanka
as it defeated the hosts by 117 runs in the third and final test match
played in Colombo. With this win India ended a 22-year long wait for a
Test series win over Sri Lanka on their home soil. India’s last series
success in Sri Lanka came under Mohammad Azharuddin’s captaincy in 1993
when they won 1-0. India won this Test series under the captaincy of new
Test captain Virat Kohli. Needing 386 runs to win the final Test as
well as the series, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 268.
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3rd September 2015 Current Affair Updates | Daily GK Download |
8. Noted scientist S.A.V. Satya Murty has been
appointed as Director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research
(IGCAR), Kalpakkam. Murty, a Gold Medalist from Jawaharlal Nehru
Technological University, Kakinada, currently serves Electronics and
Instrumentation and Radiological Safety Group as its Director, an
official release said. Murty succeeds P.R. Vasudeva Rao.
9. Global ratings agency Fitch, downgraded Punjab
National Bank's Viability Rating (VR) by one notch to ‘bb’ on account of
the growing risk to the bank’s capital position from mounting stock of
stressed assets. It has been done to reflect the growing risk to the
bank’s capital position from its mounting stock of stressed assets,
which has risen at a faster rate than its capital replenishment. Fitch
affirmed the Long Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at “BBB-” for banks
including State Bank of India (SBI), PNB, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank, ICICI
Bank, Bank of Baroda and its subsidiary in New Zealand.
10. An Indian-origin driver in Australia Tejinder Pal
Singh has been named for ‘Australian of the Day’ award by Commonwealth
Bank of Australia for feeding the homeless in Darwin for the past three
years. The award recognises the extraordinary Australians who have made a
big difference to the country. He dedicated the last Sunday of every
month to feed the poor and homeless in northern Darwin.