DAILY GK 19 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 19 FEB 2020

1.    Permanent commission to women officers in the army

ü The Supreme Court bench of Justices  D.Y. Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta dismissed the central government’s submission that women are physically weaker than men and agreed on Delhi High Court’s decision about eligibility of permanent commission and command post to short service commissioned (SSC) women officers in the army.

2.    Most spoken language

ü The 22nd edition of the world language database Ethnologue stated Hindi, as the 3rd most spoken language of the world in 2019 with 615 million speakers. English language was at the top of the list with 1,132 million speakers and Mandarin Chinese was at the 2nd position with 1,117 million speakers.

ü Bangla has been ranked as the 7th most spoken language of the world and has 228 million native speakers.

3.    WEFFI 2019

ü The Worldwide Education for The Future Index (WEFFI) 2019 ranked India in 35^th position, whereas in 2018 it was ranked 40^th position. The WEFFI report is created by The Economist Intelligence unit and commissioned by Yidan Prize foundation. The index is topped by Finland.

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DAILY GK 18 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 18 FEB 2020

1.    1^st single-use plastic-free airport of India

ü According to the GMR Group-led  Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL), Delhi-based Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has become the 1^st airport in India to be completely free of single-use plastic usage.

2.    State of India’s Bird 2020 report

ü According to the ‘State of India’s Bird 2020’ report launched at the 13^th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals which is taking place in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, around 80 % of the 867 species of birds population in India has been on decline in the past 5 years with close to 50% declining.

3.    World Population Review Report

ü In accordance with the US-based think tank World Population Review, India has become the  fifth-largest in the world with a GDP of $2.94 trillion overtaking the UK and France in 2019. The size of the UK economy is $2.83 trillion and that of France is $2.71 trillion. The list has been topped by the United states (US) with $21.44 trillion GDP.

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DAILY GK 16 – 17 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 16 – 17 FEB 2020

1.    Portugal’s President visit to India

ü The President of Portugal Mr Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has paid a four days visit to India.He attended India-Portugal Business Forum in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

ü Also Portuguese president inaugurated Cha-Chai art work at National Museum, New Delhi.

2.    UN Climate Summit ‘COP26′

ü The 26^th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26) to the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ) is scheduled to be held at Glasgow under the presidency of the UK government.
Indian-origin minister Alok Sharma to lead UK’s COP26 summit

3.    Asian Business & Social Investor Forum

ü 13^th  edition of Asian Business & Social Investor Forum 2019-20 & 4^th edition – Asia’s Greatest Brands & Leaders 2019-20 held at Bangkok, Thailand with the aim to improve investment in India and Asia.

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DAILY GK 15 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 15 FEB 2020

1.    First inter-city electric bus service

ü Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the first inter-city electric bus service, between Mumbai and Pune.
The electric bus has 43 seats manufactured by Mitra Mobility Solution, covers a range of 300 kilometre on single charge & will be operated twice between 2 cities.

2.    IISS Study

ü International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) annual “Military Balance” report states that global spending on defence hiked by 4% percent in 2019, showing largest growth in 10 years (2010-2019). The report showed top 15 countries, among them, the world’s biggest defence spenders are United States (US), China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and India(rank-5).

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DAILY GK 14 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 14 FEB 2020

1.    BIMSTEC ‘Conference on Combating Drug Trafficking’

Amit Shah inaugurated the two-day long BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) ‘Conference on Combating Drug Trafficking’, in New Delhi. It was organized by Narcotics Control Bureau.

Ministry will also establish a training centre for NCB officials regarding enforcement of drug laws, at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

2.    Amazon Web Services to invest $1.6 billion in India

Amazon, E-commerce company and leader in cloud computing service with its Amazon Web Services (AWS), is setting up 2 data centers near Hyderabad, Telangana, with a total investment of Rs. 11,630 crore (around $ 1.6 billion).

3.    Dan David Prize 2020

Gita Sen , an Indian feminist scholar, activist has won the prestigious Dan David Prize 2020 under “present” category for her path-breaking work in the fields of population policies, reproductive and sexual health, women’s rights, poverty, labour markets and global governance.

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DAILY GK 13 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 13 FEB 2020

1.    India bans E-Cigarettes on Flights and Airports

ü  On January 10,2020, Aviation security regulator the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued a circular that Electronic-Cigarettes and all forms of Electronic Nicotine Delivery System(ENDS) will not be allowed in both domestic and International flights.

2.    National Water Conference

ü  The CM of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath has inaugurated the National water conference at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The conference is being held to finalize the guidelines of “Right to Water Act” or “Water Rights Act” and also discussed the water crisis in the state and also making the state a water-rich state.

3.    Top 500 Banking Brands 2020

ü  As per the The Banker’s ‘Top 500 Banking Brands 2020’ report, India’s IndusInd Bank has topped the list of ‘Highest increase in brand value’ among global banks.It’s brand value saw an increase of 122% over the past 12 months.

ü  As a part of the report, the list “Top 50 By Total Brand Value by Country” has been topped by China, India ranked 8^th in this list in comparison to 10^th place in 2019.

  

4.    Facebook launched digital literacy training

ü  Facebook launched “We Think Digital” Programme to provide digital literacy training to 1 lakh women across 7 states, including Uttar Pradesh (UP),West Bengal & Bihar.
It has been launched in partnership with National Commission for Women (NCW) and Cyber Peace Foundation.

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DAILY GK 12 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 12 FEB 2020

1.    African Union (AU) Summit 2020

ü 33^rd African Union (AU) Heads of State Summit 2020 under the theme “Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development” was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

ü President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, is the newly elected Chairperson of the African Union for one year.He replaces Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

ü The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa.

2.    WHO renames deadly coronavirus from China as ‘COVID-19’

ü WHO has officially renamed Coronavirus as ‘COVID-19’ [“co” stands for “corona”, “vi” for “virus” and “d” for “disease”, while “19” was for the year, as the outbreak was first originated in China’s Wuhan area in December 2019].

ü Earlier the WHO had given temporary name for the virus as 2019-nCoV

ü Wild mammal pangolin suspected as coronavirus host

ü According to the researchers at South China Agricultural University, pangolin, an endangered, scaly, ant-eating mammal is believed to be the cause of coronavirus.

3.    International Darwin Day-February 12, 2020

ü This year on 12^th February has marked the 211^th birth anniversary of the Charles Darwin.

4.    India’s foreign investment jumps 40%

ü According to RBI on RBI data on ‘Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI), India ‘s Foreign investment rose by nearly 40 per cent to USD 2.10 billion on a yearly basis in January 2020.

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DAILY GK 11 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 11 FEB 2020

1.     “DefExpo 2020

ü The 11th edition of DefExpo-2020, organized by Ministry of Defence was held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (UP). It’s main theme was “India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub” with focus on “Digital Transformation of Defence”. This expo is also termed as “Mahakumbh of defence manufacturing companies”.

2.    India-UK joint Military Exercise “Ajeya Warrior” conducted in Salisbury plains, UK

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DAILY GK 9 – 10 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 9 – 10 FEB

1.    IOC selects Gopichand for the Lifetime Award

ü Pullela Gopichand, the Chief National coach for the Indian Badminton team has received the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Coaches Lifetime Achievement Award in Male Category of the year 2019.He is the 1st Indian coach to be Honoured with this Lifetime award by the Olympics Committee.

2.    ICC Under 19 CWC 2020

ü 13^th edition of 2020 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was held in South Africa. It was administered by International Cricket Council (ICC) & 16 teams participated.

ü In Finals Bangladesh’s youth team defeated India by three wickets in the final. With this, the Bangladesh team won the under-19 World Cup title for the first time.

ü Bangladesh captain Akbar Ali was adjudged Man of the Match  while India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored the highest 400 runs in the tournament, was adjudged Player of the Tournament.

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DAILY GK 4 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 4 FEB 2020

1.    IHME Report

ü According to a recent report by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation(IHME), 14% of under 5 years of age deaths in India occurred mainly due to pneumonia. This accounted for approximately 1,27,000 deaths annually where the figure was around 1,78,000 in 2013.

2.     ‘Central banker of the year 2020

ü The Banker magazine, a British English-language monthly financial affairs publication has named RBI governor Shaktikanta Das as the ‘Central Banker of the Year 2020’, Asia-Pacific for encouraging growth and balancing the economy.

ü Apart from this, the announcement of the title of Global Central Banker award 2020 has been given to Jorgovanka Tabakovi , the head of the National Bank of Serbia.

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DAILY GK 3 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 3 FEB 2020

1.    Exercise-‘Matla Abhiyaan’

ü Indian Navy has carried out coastal security exercise called, ‘Matla Abhiyaan’ at Sunderban region in Kolkata, West Bengal with the aim to create awareness about the coastal security.

2.    World Sustainable Development Summit

ü Prakash Javadekar was inaugurated World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2020 based on the theme “Towards 2030 Goals: Making the Decade Count” at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
The summit was organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

3.    Maldives readmitted to Commonwealth family

ü Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, President of the Maldives announced that Maldives has once again become a member of the Commonwealth family after the meeting between Abdullah Shahid, Foreign Minister of Maldives & Patricia Scotland, Secretary General of the Commonwealth.

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DAILY GK 2 FEB 2020

DAILY GK 2 FEB 2020

1.    India’s first ‘fruit train’ with bananas

ü Fruit train was launched from Tadipatri Railway Station of Andhra Pradesh. This is the first time an entire train carrying a load of  980 metric tonnes of locally grown bananas which has been sent to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNP). Those bananas will be exported to Iran.The bananas will be exported under the brand name ‘Happy Bananas’. 

2.    Global Go To Think Tank Index Report

ü The index ranked top think tanks from around the world.As per the report India’s Observer Research Foundation (ORF) was ranked at 27th place among 176 global think tanks. The report was topped by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) of US.

3.    Ajay Bisaria  appointed as Next High Commissioner of India to Canada.

4.    New CEO for IBM

ü Indian origin technology executive Arvind Krishna has been elected as Chief Executive Officer of American IT giant International Business Machines Corp (IBM) after a “world-class succession process”.

5.    Dalip Kaur Tiwana passed away

ü Renowned Punjabi novelist, Dalip Kaur Tiwana passed away at the age of 84 due to old age ailments. She was well known for novels ‘Teeli da Nishaan’ and ‘Sooraj te Samandar’.

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