Daily GK Update : 16-17th July 2017

Sports

1. ‘Roger Federer’ and ‘G. Muguruza’ win Wimbledon 2017

• Switzerland’s Roger Federer (36 -year) has won the 2017 Wimbledon title in the men’s single category.
• Federer defeated Marin Cilic (Croatia) by 6-3, 6-1, 6-4.
• It was Federer’s record 8th Wimbledon title and overall 19th Grand Slam.
• Spain’s Garbine Muguruza (23-years) has won the Wimbledon Women’s singles title beating Venus Williams (United States) 7-5, 6-0.
• Men’s Doubles: Łukasz Kubot (Poland) & Marcelo Melo (Brazil) defeated Oliver Marach (Austria) & Mate Pavić (Croatia) and won the 2017 Wimbledon title in the men’s doubles category.
• Women’s Doubles category: Russian pair Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina defeated Chan Hao-ching (Chinese Taipei) and Monica Niculescu (Romania) to win 2017 Wimbledon title.
• Mixed Doubles: Jamie Murray (United Kingdom) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) defeated Henri Kontinen (Finland) and Heather Watson (United Kingdom) to win 2017 Wimbledon title in Mixed Doubles category.

Note:

• The 2017 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom.

2. India’s Harinder Pal Sandhu wins Victorian Open squash tournament

• India’s professional squash player ‘Harinder Pal Sandhu’ (28-year) has won the Victorian Open squash tournament in Melbourne, Australia.
• He defeated top-seed Rex Hedrick (Australia) by 12-14, 11-3, 11-4.
• It was his fourth title of the year.

3. I H Manudev wins 1st National Masters snooker tournament title

• I H Manudev has won the first National Masters snooker tournament title in Chennai.
• Manudev defeated former Asian champion Alok Kumar 4-1 (68-42, 60-22, 65-59, 17-66, 63-33) to win the National Masters Snooker’s Title.

International Appointments

4. Justice Gopal Prasad Parajuli is the new Chief Justice of Nepal

• Nepal’s acting Chief Justice ‘Gopal Prasad Parajuli’ has sworn in as the Chief Justice.
• President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office at a special program organized at the office of the President in Sheetal Niwas.
• Earlier, the Parliamentary Hearing Special Committee (PHSC) of the Legislature-Parliament unanimously approved the name of Parajuli for the post of Chief Justice.

Note:

• Gopal Prasad Parajuli’ was born on April 28, 1953, in Tanahun district.
• Parajuli had practiced law for long and was appointed the Ad-Hoc Justice at the appellate court in 1990.

National Affairs

5. Maharashtra govt to include agriculture related subjects for out of school working students

• Maharashtra government has decided to include agriculture related subjects for out of school working students.
• The agriculture related subjects will be available to students who are appearing for SSC and HSC level exams.
• Subjects like Agriculture Science and Technology, Agriculture Allied Vocations, Animal Husbandry will be available for those out of school working students under the newly set up Maharashtra State Open School Board.

Obituaries

6. Former Chief Minister of Sikkim, Nar Bahadur Bhandari passes away

• The former Chief Minister of Sikkim, Nar Bahadur Bhandari(76-year) has passed away in New Delhi today.
• Bhandari was the founder leader of Sikkim Sangram Parishad had governed Sikkim from 1979 to 1994.

7. Iranian- born mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani passes away

• An Iranian- born mathematician ‘Maryam Mirzakhani’ (40-year) who was the first woman to win the coveted Fields Medal, has passed in a US hospital.
• Mirzakhani, a professor at Stanford University in California won the Fields Medal, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for Mathematics in 2014.

Note:

• The award recognized her sophisticated and highly original contributions to the fields of geometry and dynamical systems, particularly in understanding the symmetry of curved surfaces such as spheres.

Science & Defence

8. Super-flexible and strong artificial silk developed

• Scientists developed super-stretchy and strong artificial silk which may be used to make eco-friendly textiles and sensors.
• The fibres, which resemble miniature bungee cords as they can absorb large amounts of energy, are sustainable, non-toxic and can be made at room temperature.
• The fibres are spun from a soupy material (hydrogel) which is 98% water and the remaining 2% of the hydrogel is made of silica and cellulose, both naturally available materials, held together in a network by barrel-shaped molecular “handcuffs” known as cucurbiturils.

Banking & Finance

9. Digital transactions 'leapfrogged' by 3 yrs post note ban

• According to State Bank of India (SBI) research report, India has leapfrogged three years of digitisation in just seven months post demonetisation and the government's drive to promote use of debit and credit cards at point of sale or PoS terminals.
• The volume of digital transactions has crossed the Rs. 70,000 crore level in last seven months and 11.8 lakh additional POS terminals installed.
• The similar trends are observed in usage of pre-paid instruments including m-wallet, PPI cards and mobile banking.
• An increase of 10,000 crore rupees of transactions by credit and debit cards at PoS terminals will lead to around 1.1% decline in Consumer Price Index based inflation.

International Affairs

10. India & Sri Lanka sign MoU to develop village in Anuradhapura District

• India and Sri Lanka have signed a MoU to develop a village in Anuradhapura District at a cost of 30 crores Sri Lankan rupees to benefit 153 families.
• The village in the name of a famous Buddhist monk ‘Sobitha Thero’, envisages construction of 153 new houses, a multipurpose community building, internal water supply system and renovation of monk’s quarters & library.
• The project is in line with Government of Sri Lanka’s policy of rehabilitation of rural villages for economic development.

Honours & Awards

11. 18^th IIFA Awards 2017: International Indian Film Academy Awards

• Bollywood movie ‘Neerja’ has won the best film award and actor ‘Shahid Kapoor’ earned the best actor award (for Udta Punjab), Alia Bhatt won the best actor (Female) award for the same film.
• Neerja is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical thriller film directed by Ram Madhvani and written by Saiwyn Quadras and Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh.
• The 2017 IIFA Awards (18th International Indian Film Academy Awards ceremony) presented by the International Indian Film Academy honouring the best Hindi films of 2016, occurred in East Rutherford, New Jersey on 14 th - 15^th July 2017.

Some IIFA 2017 winners:

• Best Film: Neerja
• Best Actor (Male): Shahid Kapoor (Udta Punjab)
• Best Actor (Female): Alia Bhatt (Udta Punjab)
• Best Director: AnirudhRoy Chaudhary (Pink)
• Best Playback Singer (Male): Amit Mishra (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil)
• Best Playback Singer (Female): Kanika Kapoor (Udta Punjab) and Tulsi Kumar (Airlift)
• Best Music Direction: Pritam (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil)

 "Thought of the Day"

“When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself.”

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