DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 04 JULY 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 04 JULY 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1. FOUNDATION STONE OF COUNTRY’S BIGGEST GLOBAL SKILL PARK LAID BY RAJEEV PRATAP SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN IN BHOPAL
i. Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Pratap Rudi and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan laid the foundation stone of the India’s biggest Global Skill Park in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
ii. Global Skill Park will be constructed on 37 acre land allotted in Narela Shankari area of Bhopal.
iii. The park will be established with the support of Singapore’s Institute of Technical Education and Education Services with an estimated cost of Rs. 645 cr.

2. FINO BECOMES PAYMENTS BANK
i. According to the Reserve Bank of India FINO Payments Bank has commenced the operations as a payments bank with effect from June 30.
ii. FINO Pay Tech Ltd, Navi Mumbai, was one of the 11 applicants which were issued in-principle approval for setting up a payments bank.
iii. Besides FINO, the other applicants which have launched payment bank operations are Airtel M Commerce Services, Department of Posts and Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Paytm Payments Bank).

3. UPI CROSSES 1 CRORE TRANSACTION IN JUNE, SAYS NPCI
i. National Payments Corporation of India announced that its Unified Payments Interface has crossed 1 cr transactions mark in June 2017.
ii. NPCI Managing Director and CEO A.P. Hota has mentioned that this is a staggering 10-fold increase in 11 months from barely 1 million UPI transactions in August 2016 to over 10 million in June this year.
iii. Transactions on UPI are growing exponentially due to increased acceptance among member banks, merchants, and consumers. UPI transactions shot up from 7.20 million in April 2017 to 9.36 million in May 2017 and in June 2017 it crossed 10.35 million transactions.
iv. Bharat Interface for Money has also been a significant contributor to rise in UPI transactions.


4. NMCE, ICEX TO MERGE CREATING 3RD BIGGEST COMMODITY EXCHANGE
i. National Multi Commodity Exchange will merge with Indian Commodity Exchange creating the India’s 3rd biggest commodity exchange.
ii. ICEX will hold a 62.8% stake in the merged entity, while NMCE shareholders will own 37.2%.This is the 1st merger deal in the commodity exchange space in India.
iii. The merged entity will offer the world’s 1st diamond futures contract along with a wide range of contracts, including bullion, oil, rubber and other agri-commodities.

5. INDIA SUCCESSFULLY TEST-FIRES SHORT-RANGE SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE QR-SAM
i. The indigenously developed Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air short range missile was successfully test-fired from a test range along the Odisha coast.
ii. The missile has a capability of engaging multiple targets and has a strike range of 25 km to 30 km.
iii. It has been designed to be a quick reaction missile and it involves an all-weather weapon system capable of tracking and firing.
iv. The missile was test-fired at about 11.30 am from a truck-mounted canister launcher from launch complex-3 at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore.
v. All radars, electro optical systems, telemetry systems and other stations have tracked the missile and monitored all parameters and the test met all the objectives.

6. JEHAN DARUVALA BECOMES 1ST INDIAN TO WIN FIA FORMULA 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE
i. Jehan Daruvala became the 1st Indian driver to win in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship claiming victory at Norisring in the final race of  Maiden win for young Indian Round 5.
ii. Jehan Daruvala’s historic win comes 18 years after Naren Karthikeeyan won in the British F3 championship.
iii. Daruvala made for an impressive run to victory facing constant pressure from series leader Maximilian Gunther of Prema Powerteam.

7. PRESIDENT RECEIVES FIRST COPY OF BOOK “PRESIDENT PRANAB MUKHERJEE – A STATESMAN”
i. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has received the 1st copy of a book “President Pranab Mukherjee – A Statesman” from PM, Shri Narendra Modi at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
ii. The President expressed his gratitude to The Statesman for bringing out a photo essay on the 13th Presidency. He wondered about the benefit the photo essay would have since the engagements of the President are all in public domain.
iii. He appreciated the wonderful photos taken by Shri Varun Joshi from The Statesman that feature in the photo essay.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. FOUNDATION STONE OF THE INDIA’S BIGGEST GLOBAL SKILL PARK WAS LAID IN?
a)  Ranchi
b)  Jaipur
c)  Kolkata
d)  Bhopal
Q2. WHICH AMONG THE FOLLOWING ENTITY COMMENCED THE OPERATIONS AS A PAYMENTS BANK WITH EFFECT FROM 30TH JUNE?
a)  Aditya Birla Nuvo Payments Bank
b)  FINO Pay Tech
c)  Vodafone M-Pesa  Payments Bank
d)  Reliance Industries Payments Bank
Q3. NATIONAL PAYMENTS CORPORATION OF INDIA ANNOUNCED THAT ITS UNIFIED PAYMENTS INTERFACE HAS CROSSED _____ TRANSACTIONS MARK IN JUNE 2017?
a)  1 cr
b)  5 cr
c)  2 cr
d)  4 cr
Q4. WHO AMONG THE FOLLOWING BECAME THE 1ST INDIAN DRIVER TO WIN IN THE FIA FORMULA 3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP CLAIMING VICTORY AT NORISRING IN THE FINAL RACE OF ROUND 5?
a)  Jayram Karthik
b)  Vinesh Mehta
c)  Jehan Daruvala
d)  Nishkarsh Rao
Q5. THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, SHRI PRANAB MUKHERJEE RECEIVED THE 1ST COPY OF A BOOK “PRESIDENT PRANAB MUKHERJEE – A STATESMAN” FROM ______ AT A FUNCTION HELD AT RASHTRAPATI BHAVAN?
a)  Home Minister Rajnath Singh
b)  Prime Minister Narendra Modi
c)  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
d)  Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan

ANSWERS:

1 - D    2 - B    3 - A    4 - C    5 - B