Current Affairs: Daily GK Update 14th September 2017

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i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe laid the foundation stone of the 508-km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail in Ahmedabad.

ii. The two leaders visited the Sabarmati Ashram after Abe’s arrival in Gujarat. The Japanese Prime Minister is on a two-day visit to Gujarat. He will also attend the 12th Indo-Japan Summit.

iii. About the Bullet Train Project in Brief-

It is 508-km long High-Speed Rail that will run between Mumbai-Ahmedabad.
The cost of the project is Rs 1,10,000-crore.
Once complete, the train which will have a top speed of 350 km per hour will reduce travel time between the two cities to around 2 hours from the existing 7 hours.
The Project is scheduled to complete by December 2023 (Tentative).
The project is mostly on Japanese soft loan.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

Tokyo is the Capital of Japan.
The Japanese Yen is the third most traded currency in the world.

i. Hindi Diwas is an annual observance in India which is a celebration of the Hindi language. Celebrated on September 14 every year, Hindi Divas is an annual day celebration mostly sponsored by the central government of India.

ii. The celebration of Hindi Diwas first began in 1949 when the Constituent Assembly of India had adopted Hindi written in Devanagari script as the official language of the Republic of India on September 14.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

September 14, 1949, marked the 50th birthday of Beohar Rajendra Simha, who made vital contributions to highlight the importance of Hindi and push it to be the official language of the country.

i. India’s first State of art virology laboratory at Dr Anjali Chatterjee Regional Research Institute for Homoeopathy in Kolkata was inaugurated by Shripad Yesso Naik, Union Minister of State for AYUSH.

ii. The laboratory, established at a cost of Rs. 8 crore is the only one in India for conducting basic and fundamental research in Homoeopathy for viral diseases like influenza, Japanese encephalitis, dengue, chikungunya and swine flu.

i. Karnataka is the first state to roll out an Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy that looks not only at boosting sales of Electrical Vehicles but also setting up charging infrastructure and special manufacturing zones.

ii. Karnataka is looking to attract investments to the tune of Rs 31,000 crore from companies looking at R&D and manufacturing of electric vehicles in the state.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

Siddaramaiah is the present CM of Karnataka.
Vajubhai Vala is the Governor of Karnataka.

i. The Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe is on the Two-Day visit to India. In his first move, he has inaugurated the first High-Speed Rail Project of India that will run between Mumbai to Ahmedabad.
ii. Here is the complete list of MoUs/Agreements signed during the visit of Prime Minister of Japan to India.

Find The Complete Table Here

i. India has been placed at a low 103 rank, the lowest among BRICS economies, on the World Economic Forum's Global Human Capital Index. The list has been topped by Norway.
ii. The list takes into account "the knowledge and skills people possess that enable them to create value in the global economic system" to measure the 'human capital' rank of a country. India is ranked lower than its BRICS peers, with Russian Federation placed as high as 16th place, followed by China at 34th, Brazil at 77th and South Africa at 87th place. The report measures total 130 countries.

Top 5 countries in the list are-

Norway
Finland
Switzerland
United States
Denmark.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

India was ranked 105th on this list last year (2016).
Finland was on the top in 2016 which has pushed by Norway to second place this year.
World Economic Forum (WEF) is headquartered in Geneva.

i. Pune-based auto firm Force Motors Ltd has entered into a non-binding joint venture agreement with Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG to produce engines for power generation and rail application and complete power generation systems.

ii. The joint venture with Rolls-Royce will be the company’s first step towards diversifying into the non-auto segment. In the joint venture, Force Motors will hold a 51% stake and Rolls-Royce the rest.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

Rolls-Royce is a luxury car and aero engine manufacturing company that headquarters in the United Kingdom.

i. The Secretary-General of UN Antonio Guterres has appointed the outgoing president of the General Assembly, Peter Thomson as the first special envoy for the oceans, seeking to galvanize efforts to protect the world's seas.

ii. Peter Thomson played a leading role at the first-ever U.N. conference on oceans. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced Thompson's appointment. The former ambassador for Fiji (Peter Thompson) will promote action to implement the conference recommendations.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

The United Nations is Headquartered in New York, United States.

i. Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar launched -Mission 24 for Mumbai's M east ward which is known to have one of highest slum population's in the city.

ii. The project by NGO Apnalaya and Mumbai first plans to work along with the BMC -as the principal stakeholder over the next 24 months to improve the quality of lives of people living in M east ward of Mumbai.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

Devendra Fadnavis is the Present CM of Maharashtra.
C V Rao is the Governor of Maharashtra.

i. Mahendra Pratap Mall was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd.

ii. He is at present director (finance) in the same organization. The appointments committee of the Union cabinet has approved his appointment to the post for a period of five years, as per the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Important Takeaways from Above News-

IRCTC was incorporated on 27th September 1999 as an extended arm of the Indian Railways.
Corporate Office of IRCTC is situated at New Delhi.

i. M. Nagaraja Sarma has been appointed the chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of the United India Insurance Co. Ltd.

ii. Sarma is at present the general manager, Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. He has been appointed the CMD for five years.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

The Head Office of United India Insurance Co. Ltd. is in Chennai.
United India Insurance Company Limited was incorporated as a Company on 18th February 1938.
General Insurance Business in India was nationalized in 1972.

12. Vijaya Bank Bags Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar

i. Vijaya Bank has bagged the first prize under the Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar (Region C) for the year 2016-17.

ii. President Ram Nath Kovind gave away the award to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, R. A. Sankara Narayanan.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

Vijaya Bank is headquartered in Bengaluru.

i. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has formally announced that Paris has been awarded the 2024 summer Olympics and Los Angeles has been given the 2028 edition.

ii. There were no other candidates for either of the Games and the two cities had worked out a deal in advance. Paris, which has hosted two previous Olympics, will stage the event 100 years after its last Games in 1924 while Los Angeles will also organize its third Games after 1932 and 1984.

Important Takeaways from Above News-