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Daily GK Update: 17th April, 2016

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Delhi ranked 44th among world’s 50 Future-ready Cities 
i. National Capital of India, Delhi has been ranked 44th among the world’s 50 ‘future-ready economies cities’ that are embracing technology for growth.
ii. It was revealed by the recently released report ‘Future-Ready Economies Model’ by the Information Technology major Dell. 

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Key facts 
  • The list is topped by San Jose, followed by San Francisco, Singapore, London, Washington DC, etc. 
  • These high-growth cities were evaluated on the parameters of human capital, infrastructure and commerce. 
  • The model scores large, high-growth global metropolitan areas based on attributes that enable people and organisations to access new tools and ideas that deliver better connectivity, better economic performance and a greater ability to attract talent. 
  • The cities were positioned in the list were evaluated along three dimensions human capital, infrastructure and commerce.

Indian Army conducts Shatrujeet battle exercise in Rajasthan 
i. The Indian Army conducted major battle exercise named as ‘Shatrujeet’ in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan near to the border with Pakistan. 
ii. The sole purpose of the exercise was to evaluate the capability of the Indian Army and fine tune its proactive war strategy to respond swiftly to any threat to nation’s security. 
Key facts 
  • The 2016 Shatrujeet battle exercise was steered by the Mathura based 1 Corps, one of the three principle strike corps of the Indian Army. 
  • It aimed to evaluate the capability of the Indian Army to strike deep into enemy territory in an integrated air-land battle environment. 
  • It was an operation-oriented exercise that focused on validating integrated battle theatre fighting concept. It also incorporated the new-age technologies, weapon platforms and systems as well as long range precision targeting vectors. 
  • It was post preparatory training exercise manoeuvres at subordinate units and formation levels by conducting integrated operational manoeuvres. 
  • It mainly validated India Army’s operational plans in simulated high tempo battlefield environment 
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Background 
  • Indian Army at regular intervals undertakes such battle exercises at different levels to ensure forces are provided war-like situations and kept in high-state of battle readiness as part of so called Cold Start Doctrine. 
  • The doctrine involves the various branches of India’s military conducting offensive operations against enemy (mainly Pakistan) as part of unified battle groups. 
  • It would involve limited, rapid armoured thrusts, with infantry and necessary air support. 
  • Under it, the offensive operations must begin within 48 hours after orders have been issued. Such a limited response time would enable Indian forces to surprise their enemy. 
  • It is intended to allow India’s conventional forces to perform holding attacks in order to prevent a nuclear retaliation from the enemy.

Delhi Government launches Phase 2 of odd-even scheme 
i. Delhi Government has launched the second phase of odd-even car rationing scheme to check pollution in the national capital. 
ii. The second phase will be from 15 April 2016 till 30 April 2016. The scheme aims at curbing vehicular pollution and reducing traffic congestion on the roads of NCR Delhi. 
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Key facts 
  • Under it, four wheelers with licence plates ending in an odd number will ply on odd dates and those ending with an even number can run on even dates. 
  • It will be between 8am and 8pm and on Sunday no restrictions are applied. The penalty in case of a violation is Rs. 2,000. 
  • During this implementation, public transport including buses and the Metro will be run at high frequency. Residents are being urged to carpool in order to reduce pressure on public transport. 
  • Exemptions: President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Union Ministers and other VIPs have been exempted. Besides emergency vehicles, vehicles driven by women, CNG vehicles and cars carrying school children in uniforms will be also exempted.

G20 Countries seek to crackdown on tax havens, terror financing 
i. The G20 countries including India have sought a crackdown on tax heavens, shell companies and terror financing in the wake of the ‘Panama Papers’ scandal. 
ii. In this regard a communiqué was issued by G20 countries after meeting of its Finance Ministers and Governors of Central Banks on the sidelines of the annual Spring Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank at Washington. 
iii. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan attended the meeting on behalf of India. 
Key highlights of G20 meeting 
  • G20 countries called for increasing financial transparency and sharing of key information in a timely manner to crackdown on tax heavens, shell companies and terror financing 
  • Focused on fully implementation of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards on transparency as an essential part for countries and their jurisdictions. 
  • Called on all countries to join its efforts including through swift and effective implementation of FATF standards. 
  • It also focused on the new Consolidated Strategy on Combating Terrorist Financing and provisions of the UN Security Council Resolution 2253. 
  • Called on countries which have not yet committed to implement the standard on automatic exchange of information by 2017 or 2018 to do so without delay. It also asked them to sign the Multilateral Convention.

Google extends free internet service through WiFi to 10 railway stations 
i. The search engine giant Google has extended free internet service through WiFi to 10 railway stations across the country to provide internet to over 1.5 million people. 
ii. The free internet service was extended as part of Google’s tie up with Railtel, the internet provider arm of Indian Railways. 
iii. These 10 Railway Stations are: Pune, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Kacheguda (Hyderabad), Ernakulum Jn (Kochi) and Vishakhapatnam.
iv. The free internet service is built over the fiber network of Raitel which is designed to offer high speed broadband experience to users. The first such kind of service was launched at Mumbai Central in 2015. 
v. This service will provide travellers passing through these stations to easily stream a high definition video, research their destination, download a book or a new game for their journey. 
Hero group co-founder Satyanand Munjal passes away 
i. The co-founder of Hero Cycles group Satyanand Munjal passed away in Ludhiana, Punjab. He was 99. 
ii. He was popularly known as ‘mahatma’ Satyanand Munjal for being devoted to several social causes related to the Arya Samaj. 
About Satyanand Munjal 
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  • He had co-founded hero group with his three brothers including On Prakash. He had played important role in success of Hero Cycles group staring from bicycle spare parts business with his three brothers. 
  • He had served as a Co-Chairman and Managing Director (MD) of Hero Cycles Ltd. Apart from building a business empire, Munjal also propagated teachings of the arya samaj extensively.
  • He was known for his philanthropic acts such as Bahadur Chand Munjal (BCM) Arya schools, Hero DMC Heart Institute, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH). 
  • He had undertaken several new initiatives by keeping a regular track of the functioning of these institutions.


Mary Kom named as AIBA ambassador for Women’s World Boxing Championship 
i. Iconic Indian woman boxer Mary Kom has been named as the International Boxing Association (AIBA) ambassador for Women’s World Championship. 
ii. She is one of the eight ambassadors for the upcoming World Championship of AIBA scheduled from May 19 to 27, 2016 in Astana, Kazakhstan. 
iii. The AIBA-appointed ambassadors for the World Championship also include Nicola Adams (Great Britain), Marlen Esparza (US), Adriana Arauja (Kazakhstan), Stanimira Petrova (Bulgaria) and Khadija Mardi (Morocco). The female officials chosen as ambassadors are Kheira Siki Yakoub (Algerian) and Jennifer Huggins (Canada). 
About MC Mary Kom 
  • Her full name is Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom and belongs to Kom tribal community of the north-eastern state of Manipur. 
  • She is nicknamed Magnificent Mary. She is Five-time World Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won gold medal in each one of the six world championships. 
  • She had won a bronze medal in 2012 London Olympics in the flyweight (51 kg) category and was only Indian woman boxer to qualify for this category. 
  • She is also first Indian woman boxer to get a Gold Medal in the 2014 Asian Games held at Incheon, South Korea. 
  • Her Autobiography: Unbreakable
  • Awards and Honours: For her precious contribution to the sport of boxing (sports), she has been conferred with Padma Bhushan (2013), Padma Shree (2010) and Arjuna Award for Boxing (2003).

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