GK & Current Affairs: August 5, 6, 2015

Dr. Verghese Kurien
The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has won the Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award 2015 for exemplary work in Dairy Geographical Information System. This institute was founded by Dr. Verghese Kurien in 1965 at Anand, Gujarat. He was the chief architect who made India the largest milk producer in the world and is best known as the “Father of the White Revolution” in India.

Maruti Suzuki
India’s leading car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki launched its first premium crossover “S-Cross” in India. The vechile will be available in two diesel engines viz. DDiS 200 and DDiS 320 and sold from the company’s newly-launched Nexa showrooms.

Airtel
Bharti Airtel became the first telecom operator in India to commercially launch its 4G high-speed data services in 296 towns across India. The service will be made available to customers through Wi-Fi routers, internet dongles and 4G-enabled mobile phones. The company has also launched an automated platform “Flexpage” that allows customers to track their data usage and get real-time usage alerts. With it, customers can also upgrade their mobile plan on the go, as and when they exhaust their monthly data quota.

International Labour Organisation
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and FICCI signed the Phase II of MoU for cooperation in establishing a ‘National Coordination Centre for Sustaining Competitive and Responsible Enterprises (SCORE) Training Services in India’. The purpose of this pact is to provide training to Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) so that they become competitive and boost the productivity of the sector.

Dehradun
The Union Cabinet gave its nod to a proposal to sign an agreement with UNESCO for establishment of a Centre for World Natural Heritage Management and Training for Asia-Pacific region at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand as a category-2 centre of the UN body. Presently, there are nine category-II centres related to cultural heritage and the centre at Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun will be the first institute to get natural heritage recognition by UNESCO.

IDBI
IDBI Bank has signed an agreement with Mudra Bank for refinancing of loans given to small enterprises. As per the agreement, the Bank will offer credit facilities up to Rs. 10 lakh to micro enterprises, at a competitive interest rate under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) and Mudra will be providing refinance assistance to the bank for eligible sanctioned loan cases. The refinance scheme will be implemented through all the branches of the lender.

Shoppers Stop
India’s oldest organized retailer, Shoppers Stop has tied up with Snapdeal (online shopping portal) to retail their products online. This partnership will allow consumers to buy Shoppers Stop merchandise on Snapdeal and collect it from the brick-and-mortar stores. This facility will be launched first in North India and will later be extended to other regions over the next 12 months.

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As per the Forbes’s ranking of the ‘World’s Highest-Paid Actors’ 2015, Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar are among the world’s top ten highest-paid actors. In the list, Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor ranked 18 and 30 with estimated earning of $26 Million and $15 Million. The list has been topped by actor Robert Downey Jr with earnings of $ 80 million.

New and Renewable Energy Sector
To strengthen cooperation in New and Renewable Energy Sector, a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between India and Mozambique during the official 5-day visit of President of Mozambique Mr. Filipe Nyusi to India.

George Washington University
The Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law (RGSOIPL) at IIT Kharagpur has signed an MoU with the Law School of George Washington University (GWU) of USA for students and faculty exchange.