Daily GK Update : 9th February 2017

By Vijay Kumar|Updated : February 9th, 2017

 National & International Appointment

1. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo elected Somalia's president

  • Somalia's Parliament has elected former Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo (US-Somali citizen) as the country's new president.
  • He beat incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in a surprise result.
  • Mohamed obtained 184 votes, compared with 97 for the outgoing president.
  • The new president is popularly known as "Farmajo", Italian for cheese, because of his love for the dairy product.

Note:

  • The Federal Republic of Somalia is a country located in the Horn of Africa and estimated population of around 3 million.

2. Jovenel Moise sworn in as Haiti's new president

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  • After a long-running political crisis Jovenel Moise (48-year) has been sworn in as Haiti's new president in a ceremony in the capital, Port-au-Prince.
  • He has been declared the winner of Haiti's 20th November presidential election, ending a protracted electoral process that has paralysed the Caribbean country's politics for more than a year.
  • According to the UN World Food Programme, two and half million Haitians live in poverty. Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas.

3. US Senate votes to confirm Jeff Sessions as next US Attorney General

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  • In United States (US) Senate has voted (52-47) to confirm Republican Senator Jeff Sessions as the next Attorney General of the United States.
  • The Alabama senator is known for his tough stance on immigration enforcement and his early support of President Donald Trump who nominated him for the job.

 Banking & Finance

4. IFFCO signs MoU with BoB to launch debit cards for farmers

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  • The Bank of Baroda (BOB) has tied up with IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative) to provide co-branded debit cards with inbuilt overdraft facilities (Rs2500/- per card) to the farmers.
  • Two lakh cards will be issued to the farmers beginning with the state of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.
  • These co-branded debit cards will be exclusively used for the purchase of IFFCO products only.

National Affairs

5. UGC asks central universities to review & revise curricula once in every 3 years

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  • The University Grants Commission (UGC) has asked the central universities to review and revise their curricula at least once in every three years to make the college and university students more employable.
  • This review and revision of academic curricula should focus on the existing potential demand and supply of skill. sets to make the university and college students employable.

Note:

  • The University Grants Commission of India is a statutory body set up by the Indian Union government in accordance to the UGC Act 1956 under Ministry of Human Resource Development(HRD).
  • It provides recognition to universities in India, and disburses funds to such recognized universities and colleges.
  • Its headquarters is in New Delhi, and six regional centers in Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Bangalore.

 6. Govt. forms committee to expedite ‘Namami Gange programme’

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  • The Union water resources Minister Sushri Uma Bharti has announced to form the committee to expedite the implementation of its ambitious “Namami Gange programme” in New Delhi.
  • Under Namami Gange programme, it plans to free the Ganga river of waste by next year.
  • More than two thousand 700 villages have been declared as open-defecation free out of four thousand 291 marked villages along the main stem of the river.

7. Arunachal implements 'e-Cabinet' system

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  • Arunachal Pradesh has become the first North-eastern state to implement “e-Cabinet “system for the state cabinet members.
  • The ‘e-Cabinet’ system uses a web-based software by which ministers can prepare for cabinet meetings, conduct them and review minutes, entirely without paper.
  • The e-Cabinet system is a multi-user secure solution that keeps information organized and updated in real time.

 8. Cabinet approves 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan'

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  • The Union Cabinet has approved 'Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan' (PMGDISHA) to make 6 crore rural households digitally literate.
  • Under the scheme, 25 lakh candidates will be trained in the FY 2016-17, 275 lakhs in the FY 2017-18 and 300 lakhs in the FY 2018-19.
  • The expenditure for this project is Rs. 2,351.38 crore to usher in digital literacy in rural India by March,2019.

International Affairs

9. US authorities can access data with internet companies, rules US Court

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  • US court has ruled that American authorities can access data with internet companies even if such data is located on foreign servers.
  • Personal data on platforms such as Facebook and Google is no longer firewalled from American investigators.
  • Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden had, earlier, said that American tech giants secretly co-operate with US authorities for global surveillance.

10. UK House of Commons passes Brexit bill

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  • The UK Parliament has given PM Theresa May, the authority to officially trigger Brexit and start negotiations for leaving the 28-member European Union.
  • The draft legislation has been approved by 494 to 122 votes and now moves to the House of Lords.
  • Shadow business Secretary Clive Lewis was one of 52 Labour MPs to defy party orders to back the bill and he resigned from the front bench.
  • Prime Minister Theresa May wants to invoke Article 50 (the starting gun on the two-year process of the UK leaving the EU) by the end of March.

Note:

  • The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union is widely known as Brexit, a portmanteau of ‘British’ and ‘exit’.
  • A referendum held on 23 June 2016, in which 52% of votes cast were in favor of leaving the EU, the UK government intends to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union by the end of March 2017.  

Thought of the Day

“You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.”

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GK Quiz (for previous day’s news only) Take the quiz below to find out how well-versed you are with current affairs. You can also go through the Daily GK Update: 8th February 2016 before attempting the quiz.

Read Daily GK update of  8th February here.

Daily GK Update : 9th February 2017

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