GK & Current Affairs: August 10-11, 2015

Kochi
Kochi has become the first city in India to be a member of Beijing-headquartered World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Council. The WTCF is a non-profit, non-governmental international organisation formed to create a global platform for cooperation and development of tourism by tourism cities and organisations from various countries and regions. (Chairman of the WTCF Council: Mr. Wang Anshun)

Rs.351
On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, the scheme “Suraksha Bandhan” has been launched by Union Government. Under it, people can gift social security schemes viz. gift cheques and special deposits to their loved ones. In it, Jeevan Suraksha Gift cheques will be available to purchase for Rs. 351 in bank branches. The payment of Rs. 351 for Gift cheques will cover one year payment of the premium of Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY). The other facilities under Suraksha Bandhan are Suraksha Deposit Scheme (Rs. 201) and Jeevan Suraksha deposit scheme (Rs. 5001). The last date for the enrollment for PMSBY and PMJJBY has been extended till September 30, 2015.

Bihar
Mr. Ram Nath Kovind has been appointed as the Governor of Bihar. He succeeded Governor of West Bengal Mr. Keshri Nath Tripathi, who was holding an additional charge of Bihar.

Disha
To aid digital literacy in Bihar, the Telecom Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched a mobile app ” Disha” in Bihar. The mobile app is prepared to spread digital literacy through self-learning modules. It is free and available on Google Play Store. The Disha handbook is framed by the Common Service Centres (CSCs) for the purpose of digital literacy. The book has been composed to ensure that anyone with little or no digital literacy can also learn using this book.

Rajasthan
As per section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code, the Rajasthan high court banned “Santhara” or a religious fast to death practised by followers of Jainism, declaring it unconstitutional. The judgement came after the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Nikhil Soni in 2006 against the practice of Santhara. According to the Press Trust of India, on average 240 Jains practice santhara (also known Sallekhana Vruta) until death each year in India.

India
As per recently released data by US Department of Agriculture (DoA), India is the world’s largest exporter of beef in FY-2015. In FY-2015, India exported 2.4 million tonnes of veal and beef, while Brazil exported 2 million tonnes and Australia exported 1.5 million tonnes.

Raghavendra Gadagkar
The Indian socio-biologist Mr.Raghavendra Gadagkar bestowed with Germany’s highest civilian honour “the Cross of Order of the Merit” for contribution in the field of behavioural ecology and sociobiology and also for works in strengthening research corporation between India and Germany.

Mr.Sundar Pichai
Google will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alphabet Inc, it is announced by Google co-founder, Mr. Larry Page. In other words, Alphabet Inc. will replace Google Inc. as the publicly-traded entity and all shares of Google will automatically convert into the same number of shares of Alphabet, with all of the same rights. After create a new organizational structure, “Alphabet Inc.”, Mr. Larry Page will become the CEO of Alphabet , Mr.Sergey Brin will be President and Mr.Sundar Pichai will take over the CEO role at Google.

Dilip Parulekar
The Tourism Minister of Goa, Mr. Dilip Parulekar won the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) – Safari India South Asia Travel Award in the category for ‘Best Innovated Tourism Minister’ for the year 2015. He is the first tourism minister of Goa to receive this prestigious award.

ICICI
India’s largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank, launched ‘ Saral-Rural Housing Loan’ at base rate of 9.70 % for borrowers from the rural areas. The loan amount will be between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 15 lakh, while the tenure can be anywhere from 3 years to 20 years. Interest rate will keep changing as the bank changes its base rate.