Daily GK Update - 1st July 2015

Matti Makkonen, Father of SMS technology passes away

(i) Finnish telecom engineer and father of messaging service (SMS) technology Matti Makkonen passed away following serious illness. He was 63. 

(ii) In 1984, he had pioneered the idea of sending messages via mobile networks but failed to patent it was merely idea and was not actual implementation.

(iii) He had started his career at Telecoms and Postal agency (PTL) as a systems engineer from (1976–1983). 

(iv) He had served as vice president of PTL and was actively involved in the development of the GSM-technology from 1984 to 1988.

(v) In 2008, for his work on SMS he was awarded The Economist’s Innovation Award in the computing and telecommunications category.

Literacy rate 71% in rural areas, 86% in urban areas: NSSO survey

(i) National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) survey has pegged literacy rate in the rural areas at 71 per cent and 86 per cent in the urban areas in year 2014. 

(ii) It was revealed in NSSO’s 71st Round of survey on Social Consumption: Education which was conducted from January to June 2014.

(iii) Adult literacy (age 15 years and above) rate was around 71 per cent. In rural areas- 64 per cent, urban areas- 84 per cent. 

(iv) Education level of graduation and above was 4.5 per cent of males and 2.2 per cent of females in rural areas. While, in urban areas it was 17 per cent of males and 13 per cent of females.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu Inaugurates Integrated Security System in Mumbai

(i) Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the Integrated Security System (ISS) at 6 railway stations in Mumbai, Maharashtra. 

(ii) The system was inaugurated Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Dadar, Kurla and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT), Kalyan and Thane. 

(iii) The ISS is advanced security systems that aims at improving security on Railway premises and also ensure safety of the people and avert terror attacks in extreme case. 

(iv) The system has a total of 118 CCTV cameras. They will beam the live images of railway stations under its coverage on six monitors. 

(v) In the first of the project which was completed in June 2015 it covered four stations CST, Dadar, Kurla and LTT. The second phase is expected to be completed by December 2016.

Madhya Pradesh government starts e-registration of property all districts

(i) Madhya Pradesh government has initiated the facility of e-registration of property documents in all the districts of state. 

(ii) The e-registration of property documentation will be done through software named Sampada. Under this facility, people can obtain e-stamp through internet banking or service provider. 

(iii) They may also obtain information about market value of their property and registration fees to be payable on its purchase or sale through internet. 

(iv) Besides, information about registry at any place can be obtained through search and a copy of it could be downloaded online. 

(v) This initiative will help to enhance transparency and curb delays in property registration Earlier in December 2014, state government had started this facility of e-registration of property documents in 5 districts on pilot basis. These five districts were Ujjain, Sehore, Tikamgarh, Balaghat and Anuppur.

Abhijeet Gupta wins 19th Commonwealth Chess Championship

(i) Former world junior champion and Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta won the 19th Commonwealth Chess Championship. 

(ii) He won the gold medal after settling for a quick draw with his opponent Arghyadip Das in the ninth and final round played at Mumbai, Maharashtra. 

(iii) In this Chess Championship, Arghyadip Das came second winning the silver medal and M R Lalith Babu won the bronze medal in men’s section. 

(iv) In the women’s section, Padmini Rout won the gold medal. While S Vijayalakshmi and S Meenakshi won silver and bronze medal respectively. 

(v) In this championship both Vijayalakshmi and Meenakshi had won the last six games.

30 June 2015 clocked one second longer with a leap second added to clocks worldwide

(i) 30 June2015 clocked one second longer as an extra second or a leap second was added to clocks world- wide after 23:59:59.

(ii) With the addition of 61st second to the 59th minute of the 23rd hour, clocks across the world registered 23:59:60 before turning on to 00:00:00 on 1 July 2015.

(iii) TFSL is the nation’s official time keeper and located at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in New Delhi.

Housing.com sacks CEO Rahul Yadav

(i) Realty portal Housing.com’s board on Wednesday sacked its CEO and co-founder Rahul Yadav with immediate effect, saying that his behaviour towards investors and media was not “befitting” of a CEO.

(ii) Mr. Yadav will not be an employee or part of the SoftBank backed portal in any manner, the company said.

(iii) “Housing.com has released its CEO Rahul Yadav, with immediate effect, after a regular board meeting, held earlier today,” it said in a statement.

(iv) “Yadav who is also the co-founder of the company, will no longer be an employee of Housing and be associated with the company in any manner, going forward,” it added.

(v) Within two years of its founding, the company expanded from its original rent and resale proposition to include PGs and hostels, serviced apartments, land, plot projects, and new projects.