Daily updates 9 November 2019

National

1. Indian Railways launches 3 online applications for all-India rollout

• Indian Railways has launched three applications for all-India roll out to strengthen its IT-enabled services which will help ensure proper monitoring of projects being undertaken by Railways.
• The applications, namely CRS Sanction Management System, Rail-road crossing GAD approval system and TMS for construction aim at beefing up IT-enabled services.
• The CRS Sanction Management System is an important aspect in construction, maintenance and up-gradation of railway assets, whereas Rail-road crossing GAD approval system will expedite preparation, processing and approval of general agreement drawings related to the construction of Road Over Bridges and Road Under Bridges.
• Application TMS for construction has been developed for new assets being constructed by the construction organization.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RBI Grade ‘B’ 2019:

• Railway Minister: Piyush Goyal.

Appointments

2. Sanjay Gupta appoints country manager at Google India

• Google India has appointed Sanjay Gupta as its new country manager and vice-president of sales and operations for India. Gupta, the former Star and Disney India managing director, will contribute to Google’s efforts to expand the internet ecosystem in the country.
• He will take on the role early next year, working closely with the teams based in Gurugram, Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
• He replaces Rajan Anandan, who left Google to join Sequoia Capital India.

Agreements

3. Indian Bank, Muthoot Microfin sign MoU

• Public sector Indian Bank has signed a memorandum of understanding with Muthoot Microfinance to serve Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME).
• Under the memorandum of understanding, the bank and the non-banking finance company will jointly lend to the MSME borrowers.
• The agreement was signed by Sudhakar Rao, Indian Bank general manager-MSME &Praveen T, Muthoot Microfin deputy CFO (Chief Financial Officer)in the presence of the bank’s managing director (MD) and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Padmaja Chunduru.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/SSC CGL:

• Indian Bank founded: 15 August 1907.
• Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
• Tagline: Your Own Bank.

Awards

4. Kumar Mangalam Birla conferred ABLF Global Asian award

• Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, was conferred the ABLF Global Asian Award, for "powerful individual whose business footprint and commitment to excellence have engaged international interest and attention".
• The Asia Business Leadership Forum (ABLF) is backed by the UAE government and currently runs in three forms- talks, awards, and publications.
• The previous awardees include Dhirubhai Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal, Mohamed Ali Alaber, chairman of Emaar group, and Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Emirates.

Defence

5. Indian Coast Guard conducted Exercise ReSAREX-2019

• The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) tested its efficiency and preparedness during the Regional Level Search and Rescue Workshop and Exercise 2019 (ReSAREX- 19) conducted off the Goa coast.
• ICG participation: 5 ships of ICG, 2 Chetak helicopters were used for the workshop while resources from State Marine Police, Indian Mission Control Centre (IMCC) in Bengaluru, Karnataka, Captain of Ports, state administration of Goa, Goa medical college and Goa’s Mormugao Port Trust were used in the service.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/SSC CGL:

• Indian Coast Guard founded: 18 August 1978.
• Headquarters: New Delhi.
• Motto(s): Vayam Rakṣ āmaḥ (We protect).

Banking

6. Exim Bank grants $30 million line of credit to Ghana

• The Export-Import (Exim) Bank has provided a USD 30 million (about Rs 210 crore) line of credit to Ghana for a potable water project in the country.
• Under the arrangement, financing of export of eligible goods, works and services from India would be allowed subject to their being eligible for export under the Foreign Trade Policy of India and whose purchase may be agreed to be financed by the Exim Bank.
• As per the agreement, the terminal utilisation time is 60 months period after the scheduled completion date of the project.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/SSC CGL:

• President of Ghana: Nana Akufo-Addo.
• Capital of Ghana: Accra.
• Currency of Ghana: Ghanaian cedi.

7. Moody’s revises India’s economic outlook to “negative” from “Stable”

• The American financial service company Moody’s has downgraded India’s economic outlook to “Negative” from “Stable”. This downgrade was due to slow growth in the economy.
• It also predicted that slow growth would be prolonged and would also have debt rises.
• Moody’s has also predicted a budget deficit of 3.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the year through March 2020, which is a breach in the govt’s target of 3.3%.
• This was due to corporate tax rate cuts, slow growth etc. The long term foreign currency bond and bank deposit ceilings were unchanged at Baa1 and Baa2(both being 2nd lowest investment-grade score), respectively.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RBI Grade ‘B’ 2019:

• Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Moody's: Raymond W. McDaniel Jr.
• Headquarters: New York, United States; Founded:1909.

Rank and Reports

8. India Justice Report 2019: Maharashtra holds top, UP ranks bottom

• According to ‘India Justice Report 2019’, Maharashtra is the top state in delivering justice to its citizens followed by Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Haryana in the first-ever ranking of states on their capacity to deliver justice to citizens.
• The list of seven small states (population less than one crore each) was topped by Goa, followed by Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh.
• In this classification, Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are at the bottom.
• The ranking is part of the India Justice Report (IJR) 2019, an initiative of Tata Trusts in collaboration with Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS- Prayas and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
• The India Justice Report brings together, in the first such exercise, otherwise soiled statistics, from authoritative government sources, on the four pillars of justice delivery – police, judiciary, prisons and legal aid.

Summit and Conferences

9. PM Modi to visit Brazil for BRICS summit

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a 2-day visit to Brazil from the 13th of this month to attend the 11th BRICS Summit in Brasilia, Brazil.
• The theme of the Summit this year is "Economic Growth for an Innovative Future”.
• This will be the sixth time that Mr Modi participates in the BRICS Summit.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/SSC CGL:

• BRICS is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• Originally the first four were grouped as "BRIC", before the induction of South Africa in 2010.

Sports

10. India to host 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup

• India will host the 2023 Men's Hockey World Cup from 13th to 29th of January.
• The International Hockey Federation (FIH) India will play host to the men's tournament while Spain and the Netherlands have been named as the co-hosts of the 2022 Women's World Cup scheduled to be held from 1st to 22nd of July.
• The decisions were made during FIH's Executive Board Meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Obituaries

11. Sahitya Akademi awardee writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen passes away

• Sahitya Akademi awardee writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen passed away.
• A poet, novelist and short-story writer, Dev Sen won the Sahitya Akademi award in 1999 for her book 'Naba-Nita'. She was also the recipient of the Padma Shri in 2000.
• She is the founder and president of the West Bengal Women Writers’ Association. Nabaneeta Dev Sen’s 1978 book on ‘Naxal movement in Bengal’ was published in English.

Miscellaneous

12. IFFI 2019 to screen 3 films for differently-abled

• This year, at the Golden Jubilee of International Film Festival of India (IFFI), will have the screening of Accessible India Films.
• This is a collaboration between IFFI, Saksham Bharat and UNESCO with the aim to promote the creation of inclusive spaces for the differently-abled to access the joy of cinema through Audio Deion.
• Audio Deion is an additional narration that translates images, visual information or non-dialogue portions of film into spoken words so that visually-impaired people can access, enjoy and learn from works of popular films.
• This unique film section will witness the screening of three films, two in Hindi - Lage Raho Munna Bhai and M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story and one in Konkani- Questao De Confusao in Konkani.

Maths Easy calculations and formulas

Daily updates 8 November 2019

International

1.Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan re-elected as President of UAE

• The UAE's Supreme Council of the Union has re-elected his Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan as its President for a 4th five-year term, in accordance with the provisions of the UAE Constitution.
• He was first elected President on November 3, 2004, following the death of his father Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RBI Grade ‘B’ 2019:

• Capital of UAE: Abu Dhabi; Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham.

Appointments

2. Arvind Singh takes over as AAI chairman

• Arvind Singh, a 1988-batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre, took charge as the chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
• The AAI, which comes under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, owns and manages more than 100 airports across the country.
• Prior to this appointment, Singh was the additional chief secretary (Energy) of Maharashtra government.
• He also worked as chairman and managing director of Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited and Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited.

3. Dr. Vinaya Shetty appointed as IODA’s 1st Indian and Asian General Vice President

• Dr Vinaya Shetty is the first Indian to be elected to the position of General Vice President (GVP), International Organisation Development Association (IODA) since its inception in 1986.
• She has helped in change and transformation of numerous organisations across industries in India and has been contributing to facilitating IODA's efforts since 2009.
• In 2016, Vinaya became the first Indian woman entrepreneur finalist for the prestigious Empretech Women in Business Award by United Nations Conference Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/SSC CGL:

• President of IODA: Michelle de Bruyn; Formed: 1986.

Agreements

4. GeM partners with Central Bank of India for payment related services

• Government e-Marketplace (GeM) signed MoU with Central Bank of India.
• Through this partnership, Central Bank of India will be able to offer an array of services including transfer of funds through GeM Pool Accounts (GPA), advising of electronic Performance Bank Guarantees (e-PBG) and Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) to the registered users on the portal.
• GeM has already signed MoU with 18 Public Sector and Private Banks to enable this.
• GeM is an initiative of the Government of India which offers a one-stop platform for facilitating online procurement of goods and services by Central and State government organizations.
• GeM provides tools for Direct Purchase, bidding and reverse auction for ensuring transparent and efficient procurement.

Awards

5. Infosys Prize 2019 for science and research

• The Infosys Prize for 2019 was announced on November 7 at the Infosys campus in Bengaluru.
• The award is given annually to honour outstanding achievements of contemporary researchers and scientists across six categories are: Humanities: Manu V. Devadevan, Life Sciences: Manjula Reddy, Mathematical Sciences: Sidhartha Mishra, Physical Sciences: G. Mugesh, Social Sciences: Anand Pandian, Engineering and Computer Science: Sunita Sarawagi. The annual award includes a pure gold medal, a citation and a prize purse worth $100,000 or it's equivalent in the Indian rupees.

6. West Bengal based writer Abhisek Sarkar wins award at Dhaka Lit-fest

• At the 9th edition of the Dhaka Literature festival, West Bengal-based writer Abhishek Sarkar and Bangladeshi poet Rofiquzzaman Rony were given the Gemcon Young Literature Award and Gemcon Young Poetry Award.
• Abhishek and Rofiquzzaman won the awards for their manuscripts, "Nishiddho" and "Dhoashar Tamate Rong," respectively.
• The special focus of this year's lit-fest is on Indigenous Languages as the UNESCO has marked 2019 as the year of Indigenous Language Protection.

7. Gulab Kothari to be awarded Raja Ram Mohan Roy Award

• Rajasthan Patrika group chairman Gulab Kothari has been chosen for the prestigious Raja Ram Mohan Roy Award, presented by the Press Council of India, for his outstanding contribution towards journalism.
• Sanjay Saini, Correspondent, Dainik Bhaskar, Mandi, and Raj Chengappa, Group Editorial Director, India Today, have been jointly named as winners of the award in the category of 'Rural Journalism'.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/SSC CGL:

• Press Council of India Formation: 1966; Headquarters: New Delhi.

Defence

8. Indian Navy, Indonesian Navy bilateral maritime exercise ‘Samudra Shakti

• India is jointly exercising its anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kamorta along with Indonesian warship KRI Usman Harun, a multi-role corvette, in the Bay of Bengal as part of an ongoing bilateral exercise ''Samudra Shakti''.
• The aim of the exercise is to strengthen bilateral relations, expand maritime co-operation, enhance interoperability and exchange best practices.
• The joint exercises include manoeuvres, surface warfare exercises, air defence exercises, weapon firing drills, helicopter operations and boarding operations.

Banking

9. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance launches ‘Farmitra’ mobile app for farmers

• Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has launched a new mobile app called ‘Farmitra’ for the ease of farmers. This app intends to help the farmers needs and address their worries.
• It also resolves with relevant information, which they can use in optimizing their farming practices.
• The app ‘Farmitra’ provides services for even those who are not customers of Bajaj Allianz.
• Besides crop insurance, the farmers can buy other covers from the private insurer and also obtain information like weather forecasts and market price of crops and locators for agriculture inputs.
• The application is currently implemented in 6 states, namely Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RBI Grade ‘B’ 2019:

• Managing Director of Bajaj Allianz: Tapan Singhel; Headquartered: Pune, Maharashtra.

Summit and Conferences

10. 15th Governing Council of SACEP 2019 held in Dhaka, Bangladesh

• The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and climate change & Information and Broadcasting(I&B), Prakash Javadekar, has participated in the 15th governing council meeting (GCM) of the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme 2019 (SACEP) in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• The meet with the SACEP members countries witnessed the issues of plastic waste management, biodiversity and other issues related to the environment were discussed among South Asian Member countries.
• South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP) is an inter-governmental organization which was established in 1982.
• Its member countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka aim to promote and support protection, management and enhancement of the environment in the region.
• The 14th meeting of the SACEP Governing Council was held in March last year in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RRB NTPC/SSC CGL:

• Prime minister of Banladesh: Sheikh Hasina.
• Capital: Dhaka; Currency: Bangladeshi taka.

11. 2nd ‘No money for terror conference 2019’ held in Australia

• The 2nd ‘No Money for Terror’ 2019 conference going on in Melbourne, Australia.
• Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, G.Kishan Reddy is leading a five-member delegation to the 'No Money For Terror' Ministerial Conference taking place in Melbourne, Australia.
• This conference is Organised by Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) of over 100 countries.
• This conference jointly called The Egmont Group, which was created to provide FIUs around the world a forum to exchange information confidentially to combat money-laundering, the financing of terrorism and other predicate offences.
• The first “No Money for Terror” conference was held in France in 2018. India would host the next 'No Money For Terror' Conference in 2020.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RBI Grade ‘B’ 2019:

• Prime minister: Scott Morrison; Capital: Canberra.
• Currency: Australian dollar.

12. Vice President inaugurates 10th Asian Conference of Emergency Medicine

• Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurating 10th Asian Conference of Emergency Medicine in New Delhi.
• The aim of the conference is to develop programs and manuals to train citizens in emergency first aid procedures such as Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation as it will help in saving a life while waiting for emergency services.
• The Government of India has made it mandatory for all medical college hospitals to have full-fledged Emergency Departments by 2022 with an aim to improve trauma care.

Sports

13. Women’s boxing icon Nicola Adams announced retirement

• Two-time Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams (37 years) announced her retirement from the sport on medical advice due to the vulnerability of losing eyesight.
• She became the first-ever women's Olympic boxing champion at London 2012 in the United Kingdom(UK), and also the first female boxer to become a double Olympic champion after winning a second gold medal at the Rio Olympics 2016, in Brazil.

Important Days

14. National Cancer Awareness Day 2019

• The National Cancer Awareness Day is observed annually in India on November 7, to spread awareness on cancer, its symptoms and treatment.
• The day was first observed in 2014 as and when announced by the union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
• The day coincides with the birth anniversary of scientist Marie Curie (Marie Skłodowska Curie), winner of the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For RBI Grade ‘B’ 2019:

• World Cancer Day: February 4th

Miscellaneous

15. BBC's announced 100 'Novels That Shaped Our World' list

• The British Broadcasting Corporation announced a list of ‘100 Novels That Shaped Our World’. A panel of leading writers, curators and critics compiled the list for the network.
• The list contains ten categories including identity, love, sex and romance, politics, power and protest, and class and society. The BBC’s novel list is to mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of Daniel Defoe’s novel ‘Robinson Crusoe’.
• Renowned Indian authors like R K Narayan ( Swami and Friends), Arundhati Roy (The God of small things), Salman Rushdie (The Moor’s Last Sigh), Vikram Seth (A Suitable Boy) and S. Naipaul (A House for Mr Biswas) are among 100 writers who have featured on a list of the most inspiring novels chosen by a panel of experts and revealed by the BBC.