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Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams

Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_2.1


1. India signs US$100 mn loan agreement with World bank 
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i. The Government of India signs US$100 mn loan agreement with World bank (IBRD) for the Karnataka Urban Water Supply Modernization project. 
ii. The agreement has signed by Shri V. Ponnuraj, Managing Director, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) on behalf of the Government of Karnataka and Mr. Michael Haney on behalf of the World Bank.
iii. The government has initiated this step with an objective to avail city-wide piped water to the state of Karnataka and to strengthen the service delivery arrangements at the city level. KUIDFC is the implementing agency for the project and according to reports, the project will be implemented over a period of 6 years in the cities of Hubballi and Dharwad. However, the project will later be expanded to other eligible cities too. 

2. Govt renames disability dept- ‘divyang’ replaces ‘viklang’
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_4.1
i. The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities will now be known as ‘Divyangjan’ Sashaktikaran Vibhag in Hindi and dropped the word ‘viklangjan’ from its previous nomenclature. 
ii. The decision has came after PM Narendra modi’s address on Mann Ki Baat, when he said physically challenged people have a “divine ability” and the term “divyang” should be used in place of “viklang” for them. For this amendment President Pranab Mukherjee has given approval to the new nomenclature.
iii. So the Centre had proposed the change in name of the department by amending the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. Now according to an order issued by Cabinet Secretariat, the Department of Empowerment of Persons (‘Viklangjan’ Sashaktikaran Vibhag) with Disabilities will be ‘Divyangjan’ Sashaktikaran Vibhag in Hindi but in English it will remain same. 

3. Govt revises norms of Performance in Credit Rating Scheme
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i. The government of India has approved the revision in guidelines of the Performance in Credit Rating Scheme which aims to increase its credibility and effectiveness for both borrowers and banks. 
ii. Under the revised guidelines, the fee to be paid to the rating agencies shall be based on the turnover of the micro and small enterprises which has been categorized into three slabs.
iii. For turnover up to 50 lakh rupees, the fee to be reimbursed by the MSME Ministry will constitute 75 % of the fee charged by the rating agency subject to a ceiling rs.15,000. For turnover between 50 lakh and 2 cr. rs, the fee to be reimbursed will be 75 % of the fee charged by the rating agency subject to a ceiling of rs. 30,000 . Similarly, enterprises having turnover above 2 crore rs, the fee to be reimbursed will be 75 % of the fee charged by the rating agency subject to a ceiling of 40,000 rs. Besides, only rating agencies registered by SEBI and enrolled as External Credit Assessment Institution (ECAI) by RBI would be eligible to carry out rating of MSEs under the Scheme.  

4. Pinarayi Vijayan sworn in as Kerala CM
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_6.1

i. Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Pinarayi Vijayan has taken oath as the Chief Minister of Kerala with 19 ministers at the central stadium in capital Thiruvananthapuram. 
ii. Pinarayi Vijayan served for 17 years as the CPM’s Kerala state secretary, the longest tenure ever. He has been elected to the state assembly five times and won this year’s election from Dharmadam constituency by a margin of 36,000 votes.

iii. In his cabinet, he will have 12 ministers from the CPM or Communist Party of India-Marxist, four from the Communist Party of India or CPI and one each from LDF constituents the Janata Dal-S, the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress-S. 

5. UGC approves new norms for deemed universities
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i. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has brought out a new set of regulatory norms for deemed universities in order to reduce subjectivity and government interference and focus more on quality. 
ii. According to the UGC Regulations, 2016, an institution will be eligible to become a deemed university if it has undergraduate and 5 post-graduate programmes with research in existence for 3 years.
iii. As per the new regulations, a deemed university should have a minimum 40 per cent open space of the total built up area. Additionally, to ensure quality, institutions vying for the ‘deemed university’ tag will have to either get the highest NAAC or NBA accreditation rating for three cycles consecutively or an ‘A’ grade at the time of application and a position among the top 20 institutions under the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF). Deemed universities will be able to open off-campus centres only after five years of their existence. 

6. Rail Hamsafar Saptaah to be launched to celebrate achievements
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i. Railway will launch Rail Humsafar Saptaah from 26th of this month to 1st June – a week long celebration to highlight Railway achievements during the last two years. 
ii. Each day of the week will focus on a particular theme and will be observed as Swachchta Diwas, Satkar Diwas, Sewa Diwas, Satarkata Diwas, Saamanjasya Diwas, Sanyojan Diwas and Sanchaar Diwas. 
iii. Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu has directed that all the General Managers should personally supervise various activities to be undertaken during the week. During the last two years a number of initiatives have been launched and significant achievements made by Indian Railways in all spheres, especially in its responsiveness, accessibility and improvement of passenger amenities.

7. Union HRD Ministry to launch ASMITA, student tracking system
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_9.1
i. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD)  has decided to launch ASMITA, a student tracking system programme. 
ii. ASMITA is acronym for All School Monitoring Individual Tracing Analysis and shall be launched under Shala Asmita Yojana (SAY).
iii. SAY aims to track the educational journey of school students from Class I to Class XII across the 15 lakhs private and government schools in the country. ASMITA will be an online database which will carry information of student attendance and enrolment, learning outcomes, mid-day meal service and infrastructural facilities among others. Students will be tracked through their Aadhaar numbers and incase those not having unique number will be provided with it.

8. Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated five new activities
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_10.1
i. Union Railway Minister, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated five new project namely – New AC Weekly Express train between H. Nizamuddin-Pune, – Expansion of VIKALP Scheme of Alternate Train Reservation to Delhi-Howrah, Delhi- Chennai, Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Secunderabad Circuits ,- Pilot Project of Sale of Unreserved Tickets through Hand Held Terminals, -Launching of Ergonomically Redesigned & Optimised Tools for Track Gangs, Keymen & Patrolmen, -Pilot Project for Improving Safety at Unmanned Level Crossing.  
ii. Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated following activities through video conferencing from Mumbai.  
iii. Simultaneously, there was a parallel ceremony at H. Nizamuddin Railway Station where Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science and Technology & Earth Sciences and Minister of State for Railways Shri Manoj Sinha were specially present to grace the occasion. 

9. World First Humanitarian Summit held at Istanbul, Turkey
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i. The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit was held in Istanbul from 23 to 24th May since World War II. 
ii. The summit was inaugurated by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and hosted by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and attended by world leaders of UN member states, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. 
iii. The purpose of summit were – World leaders to be committed to improving the humanitarian responses to crises. preventing and ending conflict, respecting the rules of war, addressing forced displacement, achieving gender equality, responding to climate change, ending the need for aid,  and investing in humanity.

10. Mahindra incorporates Trringo as wholly-owned subsidiary
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_12.1
i. The Indian Multinational automobile giant, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has stated that it has incorporated its agricultural equipment rental services arm Trringo.com as a wholly-owned subsidiary. 
ii. The tractor and farm equipment rental business company, Trringo is incorporated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of M&M with an initial subscription of 50,000 shares of Rs 10 each aggregating Rs 5 lakh.
iii. The Trringo.com was incorporated on May 23 as a franchise-based model using new-age digital technology which will initially operate in India only. The Trringo platform will be use as a proprietary digital platform which enabler to process orders and pass them on to the nearest franchisee through location-based mapping. 

11. BHEL commissions 800 mw thermal unit in Karnataka
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_13.1
i. State run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has successfully commissioned the first 800 MW super critical thermal unit in Karnataka. This is the highest rating unit in the state. 
ii. The unit has been commissioned at the 2×800 MW Yeramarus thermal power station (TPS) located in Raichur district of Karnataka.
iii. Yeramarus TPS is being developed by Raichur Power Corporation Ltd (RPCL). RPCL is a joint venture of Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd (KPCL) and BHEL. The second unit of this project is also in an advanced stage of construction and is expected to be commissioned shortly. 

12. Freecharge names Kunal Shah as chairman, and Govind Rajan as CEO
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_14.1
i. Snapdeal-controlled digital payments platform FreeCharge has named Kunal Shah as chairman, and Govind Rajan as Chief Executive Officer. 
ii. Presently, Rajan is currently the chief operating officer while Shah is the Co-founder and CEO. 
iii. FreeCharge was founded in 2010 by Kunal Shah and Sandeep Tandon and was acquired by Snapdeal in April 2015. While, Rajan joined the company in 2015 as COO.

13. US engineer Frances Arnold wins Millennium Technology Prize
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_15.1
i. US biochemical engineer, Frances Arnold has won the Millennium Technology Prize for her work ‘directed evolution’ in Finland. 
ii. Directed evolution is a method of rewriting DNA to improve medicines and develop green fuels. 
iii. With this Arnold has become the first female winner in its 12 year of history and awarded with the 1 million euro prize. The award was presented by the Technology Academy Finland. 

14. Newly elected AIADMK MLA ‘S.M. Seenivel’ passes away
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_16.1
i. SM Seenivel, a newly elected MLA of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the new Tamil Nadu Assembly has passed away in a private hospital in Bibikulam in Madurai. He was suffered a stroke a week ago. 
ii. He was 65 year old and elected as MLA from Thiruparankundram constituency in Madurai in the 16th May election.
iii. He was the secretary of Panchayat Union in Thiruparankundram from 1980 to 2005. He was also the chairman of Thirupankundram Housing Board Association from 2001 to 2006. Mr. Seenivel had already served as an MLA of Thiruparankundram constituency when AIADMK was in power between 2001-06. This time in May election, he has defeated the rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate M. Manimaran by a margin of 22,992 votes.

15. Pink Panther star, Burt Kwouk has passed away
Daily GK Update : 25th May, 2016 For All The Upcoming Exams |_17.1
i. Mr. Burt Kwouk, who was best known for playing Inspector Clouseau’s manservant Cato in the Pink Panther films. He was 85 year old. 
ii. He appeared in seven Pink Panther films between 1964 and 1993, opposite Peter Sellers as Clouseau’s servant who regularly attacked his employer to keep him alert.
iii. He also starred in BBC sitcom Last of the Summer Wine from 2002 to 2010. The actor, who was born in Warrington, England but raised in Shanghai, was awarded an Order of Britsh Empire in the 2011 New Year Honours List.


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