Daily GK Update : 25th March 2017

Honors & Awards

1. French Mathematician Yves Meyer wins Abel Prize 2017

• The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has announced that the 2017 Abel prize has been awarded to mathematician ‘Yves Meyer’ for his pivotal role in the development of the mathematical theory of wavelets”.
• The prize ceremony will be at Oslo in May.
• Meyer will receive 6 million Norwegian krone for the prize.
• The Abel Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.

Note:

• The Abel Prize has been awarded annually since 2003 and was last year won by Briton Andrew Wiles for his work on solving Fermat’s Last Theorem.

National Affairs

2. Aadhaar to be mandatory for getting Telecom connection

• The Department of Telecom (DoT) has sent a notice to all telecom operators that all mobile phone subscribers (prepaid and post-paid) will have to be verified using e-KYC.
• The Telecom department has directed mobile service providers to finish the e-KYC re-verification of existing subscribers by 6^th February, next year.
• The telecom operators will have to re-verify its existing users through Aadhaar.

3. World Bank signs USD 100 million credit agreement with Centre & Uttarakhand

• The World Bank has signed a USD 100 million credit agreement with the Centre and Uttarakhand to improve quality of health care services in all 13 districts of the state.
• Most public health facilities in the middle and upper mountainous areas of Uttarakhand are unable to function optimally.
• The project also aims to reduce the financial risk for its citizens and make affordable, quality health care available to all.

4. Pawan Hans set to launch its "Delhi Darshan" rides from 1st April

• The National chopper operator 'Pawan Hans' is all set to launch its "Delhi Darshan" rides from first April 2017.
• Through this ride the visitors can experience the beauty through aerial view of Pritampura Tower, Majnu Ka Tila, Red Fort, Rajghat, Akshardham Temple and surrounding areas by paying about Rs. 5,000 rupees for a 20-minute ride and about Rs. 2,500 for a ten-minute ride.
• Pawan Hans Limited is a National chopper service company based in New Delhi, India.

5. Nellore in AP to get Post Office Passport Seva Kendra

• The Government has decided to open a Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh.
• It would be the 86th POPSK in the country.

6. Assam Forest department starts elephant census today

• Today, the Forest department has started the five-day long elephant census in Assam.
• The census is being held at all 39 forest divisions of the state.
• The forest divisions have been divided into 974 compartments to conduct the census.
• As per last census (in 2011), there was 5,620 elephants in Assam.
• The new census will help the Forest department to find out elephant inhabitants in various districts of Assam.

International Affairs

7. WHO: 116 million African children to get polio vaccines

• According to World Health Organization(WHO),116 million children in 13 countries in west and central Africa are to receive polio vaccines as part of its efforts to eradicate the disease from the continent.
• The synchronized vaccination campaign programme will see all children under the age of 5 in these countries immunized from today in a coordinated effort to raise childhood immunity to polio.

Science & Defence

8. Indian Navy gets three naval systems from DRDO

• The union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley handed over three naval systems, developed by premier defense research organization DRDO to the navy.
• The naval systems, given to Indian Navy, are USHUS-II submarine sonar, directing gear for hull-mounted sonar array, and inertial navigation system for ship applications.
• Sonars detect objects on or under the water and the latest systems are expected to significantly enhance the navy's navigation and communication network.

9. Navy successfully test-fired Barak missile from INS Vikramaditya

• The Indian Navy successfully has successfully test-fired the short-range Barak surface-to-air missile from the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.
• The firing was conducted between 21 to 23 March 2017 as part of the 'Operational Readiness Inspection' of the Western Fleet by Vice Admiral Girish Luthra.
• During the firing carried out in the Arabian Sea, the missile was fired against a live low flying high-speed target.

Banking & Finance

10. SEBI bans Reliance Industries from equity derivatives trading for one year

• Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI) has banned Reliance Industries and 12 other entities from equity derivatives trading for one year.
• SEBI directed the Mukesh Ambani-led firm to forfeit nearly 1,000 crore rupees for unlawful gains made through alleged fraudulent trading in a nearly 10-year-old case.
• The case relates to alleged fraudulent trading in the futures and options space in the securities of RIL's erstwhile listed subsidiary Reliance Petroleum Ltd.

Sports

11. T20 cricket for physically challenged from 30^th

• The 7th National IInter-ZonalT20 cricket tournament for the differently-abled is to be held in Mumbai from March 30 to April 1.
• The tournament would be held under the International Cricket Council's T20 cricket tournament format.
• Their eligibility is calculated based on definitions provided by the World Health Organisation.
• The five regions of the country (North , East, South, Central and West zone) are the teams set to participate in the event.

12. Santosh Trophy: West Bengal & Goa will clash with each other in finals

• Former champions West Bengal and Goa will clash with each other for the coveted Santosh Trophy in the finals of the football tournament.
• In the first Semi-final West Bengal (31- time champion) prevailed over Mizoram 6-5 (via sudden death) while hosts Goa (5-time champion) beat Kerala 2-1 in the second semi-finals.

Note:

• The Santosh Trophy is an association football knock-out competition contested by the regional state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
• The tournament was started in 1941 and is named after the president of the Indian Football Association (West Bengal's football association) at the time, Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh.

 "Thought of the Day"

“Health and intellect are the two blessings of life.” 

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