Daily GK Update : 1st-2nd January 2017

Science & Defence

1. India successfully test-fires intercontinental ballistic missile Agni-IV

• Today, India has successfully test-fired its home-grown long range intercontinental surface-to-surface nuclear capable ballistic missile Agni-IV from the Abdul Kalam Wheeler Island off Odisha coast.
• Agni-IV test is aimed at re-validating new technologies incorporated in Agni-IV system and checking the readiness of armed forces to launch the missile on its own.
• Agni-IV is the 20 metres long and weighs 17 tonnes and carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead over a distance of 4,000 kilometre.
• The missile also possesses a submarine launch capability.

Honours & Awards

2. British-Indian Professor Shankar Balasubramanian Receives Knighthood

• An Indian-origin British professor of chemistry and DNA expert at Cambridge University Shankar Balasubramanian (50-years) has received a Knighthood along with Olympic stars Andy Murray and Mo Farah among others by Queen Elizabeth II for their contributions.
• He  has been recognised for his work as a co-inventor of Next Generation DNA sequencing and described as the most transformational advance in biology and medicine for decades.

3. Bharatiya Jananpith announces Navlekhan award 2016

• Hindi writers Shraddha and Ghyansham Kumar Devansh have been chosen for Bharatiya Jnanpith Navlekhan Award for the year 2016.
• The decision to confer the award on Shraddha for her short story, 'Hawa Mein Phadphadati Chitthi' and on Devansh for his poem 'Akash Mein Deh' was taken unanimously by a selection panel chaired by eminent poet Vishnu Nagar.

National Affairs

4. World famous 11-day gala festival Bargarh Dhanua Jatra to begin today

• Today, the World famous gala festival Bargarh Dhanua Jatra is all set to begin in Odisha.
• All rituals were performed before Goddess Samaleswari, the presiding deity of the event.
• It is the annual drama-based open air theatrical performance celebrated in and around Bargarh city and is considered to be the world’s largest open air theatrical festival.

Obituaries

5. Bambi artist Tyrus Wong passes away

• A Chinese immigrant Tyrus Wong (106-year) has passed away.
• Mr. Wong best known for his sketches for the Walt Disney animated feature "Bambi".
• After studying as an artist, he began working with Disney in 1938 as an inbetweener.

6. Pakistan first Test team member Imtiaz passes away 

• A member of Pakistan's first-ever cricket Test team Imtiaz Ahmed (88-year) has passed away in a Lahore(Pakistan).
• He featured in Pakistan's first Test played in Delhi against India in October 1952 and went on to play 41 matches as a wicket keeper-batsman.
• Batsman Waqar Hasan is now the only surviving member of Pakistan's first Test team.

Banking & Finance

7. RBI extends period of enhanced Prepaid Payment Instruments limit

• The Reserve Bank of India has extended the period of enhanced Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) limit of Rs 20,000 as part of efforts to promote digital payments.
• Bank has decided to extend the measures till the completion of review of the PPI guidelines.
• RBI had introduced additional measures by way of special dispensation for small merchants and enhancement in limits for semi-closed PPIs.
• The merchants can transfer funds from such PPIs to their own linked bank accounts up to Rs 50,000 per month, without any limit per transaction.
• Now , 47 non-bank entities and 45 banks are operating payment systems for PPI.

8. State Bank of India cuts lending rate by 90 bps

• Today, the country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has cut benchmark interest rate (bps) across various maturities by 0.9 per cent.
• The State Bank of India (SBI) has reduced marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 0.9% from 8.90% to 8% for 1-year tenure.
• The new interest rate for other tenures including one month, three months and six months has been reduced by 0.9 per cent.

9. British govt to launch new one-pound coin at end of March

• The British government has announced that it would launch a new one-pound coin at the end of March this year and scrap the current one pound coin by October.
• The new 12-sided one pound coin would become legal tender on 28th March and the new coin would be produced by the Royal Mint in Wales.
• A total of 1.5 billion of the coins will be issued in the first minting.

Sports

10. Somdev Devvarman announces retirement from professional tennis

• India's tennis singles player Somdev Devvarman (31-year) has announced his retirement from professional tennis.
• Somdev touched a career-high rank of number sixty two in 2011.
• He has two runners-up finishes on the ATP World Tour as his best performances on the Tour.
• Somdev made the finals of Chennai and Johannesburg ATP events and also won Singles and Doubles medals in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

 11. India's premier Tennis tournament Chennai Open begins

• Today, India's premier tennis event Chennai Open, begins and this year in the singles event, three Indians (Saketh Myneni, Ramkumar Ramanathan and Yuki Bhambri) are in the main draw.
• Saketh and Ramkumar were handed wild card entry and Yuki qualified for the singles main draw after registering a straight sets 6-3, 6-1 win over Argentine Nicolas Kicker.
• In the first round Saketh will be playing against seventh seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny.
• In the doubles main draw, besides 3rd seeded Leander Paes along with his Brazilian partner Andre Sa, 4 Indian pairs are also competing.

Thought of the Day

“Jumping to conclusions seldom leads to a happy landings.”

“सीधे ही किसी निष्कर्ष पर कूद पड़ना कभी कभार ही ख़ुशहाल पड़ाव पर पहुंचाता है

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