Daily GK Update - 22nd January 2015

Microsoft shows off Windows 10 and ‘HoloLens’

(i) Microsoft has taken the wraps off a new version of Windows and a new wearable 3D gadget it calls the HoloLens.

(ii) The company showed the new headset, which lets users view and interact with three-dimensional images, at an event where it also revealed new features coming to the company’s flagship operating software.

(iii) Executives said Windows 10 is designed to embrace the way people use computers today, offering a familiar experience as they switch back and forth from personal computers to tablets, smartphones and other gadgets such as gaming consoles or even holographic projectors .

Daily GK Update - 21st January 2015

Shubham, 13, Silicon Valley’s youngest entrepreneur, develops Braille printer

(i) In Silicon Valley, it’s never too early to become an entrepreneur. Just ask 13-year-old Shubham Banerjee.

(ii) The California eighth-grader has launched a company to develop low-cost machines to print Braille. Tech giant Intel Corp. recently invested in his start-up, Braigo Labs.

(iii) Mr. Shubham built a Braille printer with a Lego robotics kit as a school science fair project in 2014 after he asked his parents a simple question - How do blind people read? “Google it,” they told him.

Daily GK Update - 20th January 2015

India to overtake China next year: IMF

(i) In its latest World Economic Outlook report released on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that India will grow 6.5 per cent in 2016, overtaking China which, it projected, will slowdown to 6.3 per cent.

(ii) For 2015, the IMF forecast India will grow at 6.3 per cent, up from 5.8 per cent in 2014. China’s 2014 growth rate was 7.4 per cent.

Daily GK Update 18th and 19th January 2015

Canadian actor-writer Don Harron dies at 90

(i) Don Harron, who entertained TV audiences in Canada and the U.S. with his comic alter ego Charlie Farquharson and helped bring the Canadian classic novel “Anne of Green Gables” to the stage, has died. He was 90.

(ii) Harron’s eldest daughter Martha said her father died on Saturday morning surrounded by family at his Toronto home after choosing not to seek treatment for cancer.

(iii) The wit and humour that landed him roles on CBC radio and television programs continued to define her father to the very end, Martha Harron said.

Daily GK Update - 17th January 2015

Google in talks to buy mobile-payments company Softcard

(i) Google Inc is in talks to buy mobile-payments company Softcard, TechCrunch reported on Friday.

The deal could help pair Google with the largest U.S. wireless carriers to battle Apple Inc and its new 

(ii) Apple Pay service, TechCrunch said.

(iii) The deal may be valued below $100 million, the report said citing sources.

(iv) Softcard is jointly owned by AT&T Inc, Verizon Communication Inc's Verizon Wireless Inc and T-Mobile US Inc.

Daily GK Update 16th January 2015

VPT to issue Letter of Award to Essar Group for 3 berths

(i) After sorting out of the teething problems, Visakhapatnam Port Trust is all set to issue Letter of Award to Vadinar Oil Terminals, part of Essar Group, to launch work on development and operation of three iron ore berths.

(ii) This will be the second facility being developed on the East Coast by Essar Group, one of the largest private sector port companies in India. It has already developed four berths at Paradip. 

(iii) By adding 23 million tonne in three years at Vizag, the Essar Group, a BSE and NSE-listed company, will have a total iron ore handling capacity of 39 million tonne per annum on the East Coast. It has terminals at Vadinar and Hazira on the West Coast.

Daily GK Update - 15th January 2015

World’s newest airliner Airbus A350 begins first commercial flight

(i) The world’s newest jetliner, the Airbus A350, took to the skies on Thursday carrying its first paying passengers from the Gulf Arab nation of Qatar.

(ii) The Qatar Airways flight departed the Qatari capital Doha bound for Frankfurt, Germany. 

(iii) It marks the debut of the relatively lightweight, twin-aisle, long-range plane, which promises to connect smaller cities with major aviation hubs nonstop at a cheaper cost for airlines.

(iv) The new plane offers wider panoramic windows and larger overhead storage space plus the ability to limit connections.

Daily GK Update 14th January 2015

DRDO chief was removed to bring in younger generation: Parrikar

(i) Avinash Chander as chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday said that he had recommended that the top position should be held by someone from a "slightly younger generation" and not by someone who was on contract.

(ii) Such senior positions should not be on contract. There are so many eligible persons, we will find someone good from the DRDO, senior most person of a cluster head will head the organisation," Mr. Parrikar told journalists here.

Daily GK Update - 13th January 2015

Raghuram Rajan conferred central banker of the year award

(i) RBI chief Raghuram Rajan has been named as the “governor of the year” in the Central Banking Awards for 2015 by a British magazine.

(ii) The British magazine Central Banking, announcing the name of Mr. Rajan as the ‘Governor Of The Year’ said, “Mr. Rajan’s disciplined and focussed approach in leading the Reserve Bank during his first year as Governor was remarkably impressive.

(iii) This is the second award by the London-based magazine and will be presented in the British capital on March 12.

Daily GK Quiz 13th January 2015

Q. : 1 Vasant Gowarikar passed away recently. He was an eminent

1) musician 

2) author

3) zoologist 

4) space scientist

5) None of these 

Q. : 2 4,000-year-old house with rare clue to Harappan habitation was found by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at Chandyan village in which of the following locations recently?

1) Baghpat, UP 

2) Rajkot, Gujarat

3) Ajmer, Rajasthan 

4) East Champaran, Bihar

5) None of these 

Daily GK Update - 12 January 2015

Delhi elections on February 7

(i) Delhi elections will be held on February 7, Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath told

reporters in the capital on Monday.

(ii) The counting of polls will be held on February 10th. The last date for filing the nomination is January 24.

(iii) Delhi headed for a mid-term Assembly election after all the major political parties — the BJP, Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) — expressed their inability to form a government. 

Vice-chairman of NITI Aayog is an NRI: Jiatley

(i) Arvind Panagariya, Vice-Chairman of the newly-created NITI Aayog, is a non-resident India, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told an audience at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit on Monday.

(ii) He was responding to a question on whether NRIs could get representation on the Aayog.

(iii) “Mr. Panagariya has spent a large part of his life in international universities. Our Chief Economic Adviser (Arvind Subramanian) is also in the same category,” Mr. Jaitley said.

Daily GK Update - 10th January 2015

Q. : 1 Who among the following has been appointed the CEO of the newly formed NITI Aayog?

1) Arvind Panagariya 

2) Sindhushree Khullar

3) VK Saraswat 

4) Bibek Debroy

5) None of these 

Daily GK Update - 10th January 2015

Sindhushree Khullar named NITI Aayog CEO

(i) The Modi Government on Saturday appointed former Planning Commission Secretary Sindhushree Khullar as the first CEO of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.

(ii) Ms. Khullar, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS officer, was appointed Planning Commission’s Secretary in April 2012. 

(iii) She continued to hold the post even after the Modi Government scrapped the Cabinet resolution in August 2014 through which the Planning Commission was set up.

Daily GK Update - 9th January 2015

Tatas’ Vistara starts flying

(i) Marking Tatas’ re-entry into the Indian aviation space after over six decades, new airline Vistara on Friday flew its first flight, and said its aim will be to “do it right” without making a big splash.

(ii) Entering at a turbulent time facing the sector, the airline said it would not be “lavish or over-the-top” in the name of being a full service carrier.

(iii) Tatas hold a majority 51 per cent stake in Vistara — a joint venture with Singapore Airlines, which holds the remaining 49 per cent. 

Daily GK Update - 8th January 2015

Narendra Modi inaugurates Pravasi Bharatiya Divas

(i) Mission to clean Ganga is of great religious and environmental value; key to economic development of 40 per cent of India's population: Modi

(ii) I know the problems you faced. That is why visa on arrival facilities are being made available for several nations: Modi

(iii) PIO and OCI cards have been merged. Everyone will get the same benefits: PM

Everything is not measured in dollars or pounds.The relationship we have with Pravasis is beyond that.: Modi

Daily GK Update 7th January - 2015

Palestine to join International Criminal Court on April 1

(i) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Palestine will join the International Criminal Court (ICC) on April 1, a high stakes move that will enable the Palestinians to pursue war crimes charges against Israel.

(ii) The Palestinians submitted the documents ratifying the Rome Statute that established the court last Friday, the last formal step to becoming a member of the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal.

Daily GK Update 6th - January - 2014

ISRO gears up to launch IRNSS 1D

(i) ISRO is gearing up for some satellite launches this year, with the IRNSS 1D being the first, which would put in place India’s own navigation system on par with the Global Positioning System of the U.S.

(ii) “The launch campaign for IRNSS 1D has come, which starts on January 16. Within two months, all components from other ISRO labs have to reach Sriharikota. The launch is likely after March 15,” a senior ISRO official told PTI.

(iii) IRNSS 1D is the fourth in the series of seven satellites, the national space agency is planning to launch to put in place the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). 

Daily GK Update 4th and 5th January 2015

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg starts reading programme

(i) The Facebook founder and CEO announced on his page recently that he has vowed to read a book every other week in 2015, with an emphasis on learning about different beliefs, cultures and technologies.

(ii) Mr. Zuckerberg created a page called “A Year of Books” and urged his friends to join him in the project. As of late Sunday afternoon, it had more than 100,000 likes.

(iii) “I’m excited for my reading challenge,” Mr. Zuckerberg wrote.

Daily GK Update 3rd - January - 2015

Jiji Thomson to be Kerala chief secretary

(i) Sports Authority of India (SAI) director general Jiji Thomson is set to become the next chief secretary of Kerala.

(ii) The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has approved premature repatriation of Thomson to his cadre state Kerala, said an order issued in this regard. 

(iii) he will leave for his home state next week to take charge.

(iv) Thomson, a 1980 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, will take over from present incumbent, EK Bharat Bhushan, who will retire on January 31.

Daily GK Update 2nd - January - 2015

New U.S. Ambassador Richard Verma arrives in Delhi

(i) The new U.S. Ambassador, Richard Rahul Verma, arrived in Delhi on Friday. He is the first ever Indian-American to be appointed the U.S. envoy to India.

(ii) Mr. Verma will continue the embassy’s work in advancing the U.S.-India strategic partnership, said a communiqué from the mission.

(iii) “I am honoured to serve as U.S. Ambassador to India at such an exciting time in our bilateral relationship,” he was quoted as saying.

(iv) “I look forward to meeting the Indian people and working together with the Indian government on our shared goals of security, development and prosperity,” Mr. Verma said.