Daily GK Update :30th July 2015

1. Kalam buried with full state honours.

i. The mortal remains of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who passed away on Monday, was laid to rest with full state honours, including a 21-gun salute at his native island town, Rameswaram, in Tamil Nadu on Thursday afternoon.

ii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah, Chief Ministers of neighbouring States, Union Ministers, and State Ministers were among thousands who took part in the funeral.
iii. After a guard of honour given by the tri-forces, the Prime Minister laid a wreath and paid his last respects to the 11th President of the country. He was followed by Mr. Rosaiah, Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Manohar Parikkar and MoS Pon. Radhakrishnan.

2. Anuradha Roy’s 'Sleeping on Jupiter' shortlisted for Man Booker Prize.

i. Indian writer Anuradha Roy's latest work on the malaise of sexual abuse in India has been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015.

ii. Her book 'Sleeping on Jupiter' that tells the story of Nomi and is set in Jarmuli - a city of temples and a centre of healing on the edge of the ocean has made it among the 13 books selected for the £50,000 literary prize. 

iii. Announced by a panel of five judges who picked 13 books from over 150, the longlist also features Man Booker Prize-winning Irish author Anne Enright and the Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Anne Tyler, among others. The shortlist of six books will be revealed on September 15 and the final winner on October 13.

3. Procter & Gamble (P&G) appoints David Taylor as its new CEO.

i. Procter & Gamble (P&G) has appointed its company veteran David Taylor as the new CEO by replacing A G Lafley on 29 July 2015.

ii. The world’s largest household products maker P&G has appointed new CEO in wake of sluggish sales in developed countries. And recently has also announced to sell off its 40 brands to the perfume maker Coty Inc for USD 12.5 

iii. David Taylor is with the P&G for last 35 years, who had joined in 1980. He has been the group president for global health & grooming business since 2013 and has served the company as in managerial role across the globe.

4. Kalyani Group partners with Israel’s Rafael to make Spike Missile.

i. India’s Kalyani Group and Israel’s Rafael have partnered to produce Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) in India.

ii. In this regard both the entities have formed a manufacturing Joint Venture (JV) and this move is considered to deepen India-Israel strategic cooperation.

iii. The manufacturing JV will be as per the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) guidelines which means that the 51% ownership stake in JV will hold by the Kalyani Group.

iv. The FDI proposal in this regard was cleared by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) in October 2014 which was chaired by then Defence Minister Arun Jaitley. The FDI deal was worth 3,200 crore rupees and comprises order of 300 plus launchers and 8,000 plus Spike ATGM missiles.

v. Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM): It is a 3rd generation, man-portable, fire-and-forget, anti-tank missile.  Designed and developed by Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

5. Kotak bank launches ‘Kotak Bharat’ mobile banking app for ‘un-banked’ regions.

i. Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) launched a mobile banking app ‘Kotak Bharat’ aiming to provide mobile banking services to customers in the remotest regions of India.

ii. The Android-based app is specifically designed to provide banking service to customers in the under-banked and un-banked regions with provision to use service in their preferred language.

iii. Initially the service will be provided in Hindi and English language and would also be available in Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Kannada in few months.

iv. Customers can manage their savings/current accounts and credit cards through this app. Initially will be launch in prominent Hindi belt centre starting from Lucknow and will spread its service in other state in few months.

v. The app is compatible on SMS banking keyword process platform where customers could download the app on their registered mobile number without any separate registration process.

6. Gates Foundation world’s wealthiest private charitable organisation.

i. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has topped the list of the world’s wealthiest private foundations established by living ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals, according to a Wealth-X report.

ii. With total assets of USD 43.4 billion, the Gates Foundation accounts for more than half of the combined assets of the 10 charitable foundations on the list, the global wealth intelligence and prospecting firm has said.

iii. Li Ka Shing Foundation, founded in 1980 by Hong Kong business magnate Li Ka-Shing, ranked second with USD 8.1 billion in assets followed by Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (USD 6.4 billion) and Bloomberg Philanthropies (USD 5.4 billion) in the third and fourth place, respectively.

iv. Collectively, the 10 foundations have total assets of USD 83.1 billion, equivalent to 29.7 per cent of combined net worth of the UHNW individuals who established them.

7. Flipkart launches ‘India Art House’ for handicraft lovers.

i. E-commerce major Flipkart on July 30 launched India Art House, an exclusive online store offering sellers a platform to promote regional products.

ii. With over seven million artisans, India is globally known for its unique artifacts and traditional products. India Art House aims at bringing products from artisans under one roof and offer them access to a wide set of customers across geographies.

iii. With over 10,000 hand-made and traditional handicrafts products in the store, customers will now be able to browse and shop for skilled crafts from specific regions of their choice.

8.  Paytm bags BCCI sponsorship rights.

i. Mobile marketplace and payments site Paytm has bagged the title sponsorship rights of BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) for Rs. 203 crore.

ii. Shankar Nath, Senior Vice-President, Paytm told Business Line that the sponsorship rights were acquired for all the 84 series India will play till 2019. Paytm will pay Rs. 2.42 crore for every international match hosted by BCCI. The first home series will be against South Africa starting September.

iii. The Alibaba-backed company, owned by One97 communications and founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma, won the bid against home-grown mobile handset maker Micromax, which paid Rs. 2.02 crore per match. 

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