Daily GK Update : 23rd February 2017

 Banking & Finance 

1. Bharat QR code launched to push less-cash economy

• The Union Government has launched “Bharat QR code” to enable digital payments without card swiping machines.
• It is world’s first interoperable payment acceptance solution launched by Indian Govt. to move towards the less-cash economy.
• Bharat QR code has been developed by jointly by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), MasterCard Visa, and American Express under instructions from Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• It works as a common interface for the MasterCard/Visa/ RuPay platforms and also facilitate acceptance of Aadhaar-enabled payments and Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Note:

• QR code (Quick Response code) is a two-dimensional machine-readable code made up of black and white squares and are used for storing URLs or other information and can be read by the camera of a smartphone.

2. Bharti Airtel to acquire Telenor India

• Bharti Airtel will acquire the business of Telenor India for an undisclosed sum in all seven circles Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam.
• Airtel will take over Telenor India’s spectrum, licenses, and operations, including its employees and customer base of 44 million.
• Telenor India’s operations and services will continue as normal until the completion of the transaction.
• Airtel is India’s largest wireless operator with over 269 million subscribers and a revenue market share of over 33 per cent.

Note:

• Telenor India (formerly known as Uninor) was an Indian mobile network operator based in Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
• The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telenor Group, a telecommunications company headquartered in Oslo, Norway.

3. Indian digital payments market to reach $500 bn by 2020

• According to the global telecom body report, more than 50% of India's Internet users will use digital payments by 2020.
• The size of digital payments industry in the country will be 500 billion dollars.
• In India, BCG estimates that digital technologies will influence up to 45% of all retail sales by 2025.
• The report counts government's plans to build 100 smart cities across the country and 'Digital India', which aims to increase the optical fibre network to thousands of villages where two-thirds of the population lives.
• The report appreciated India for the use of digital and mobile technologies for creating educated and digitally literate user base.

4. WTO's trade facilitation agreement comes into effect

• The WTO's trade facilitation agreement has come into effect with its two-thirds members ratifying the pact.
• The TFA will give a boost to the global trade, which has been impacted due to slowdown in the world economy.
• Now, the member countries who have ratified would now be required to ease customs barriers.
• A major milestone for the global trading system was reached as the first multilateral deal concluded in the 21-year history of the multi-lateral trade body entered into force.
• It said full implementation of the pact is forecast to slash members' trade costs by an average of 14.3%, with developing countries having the most to gain.
• Meanwhile, increasing for the fifth month in a row, India's exports grew by 4.32% to USD 22.11 billion in January.

Note:

• The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization which regulates international trade.

5. Dish TV partners with ICICI Bank for digital payments

• The Direct-to-home operator Dish TV has joined hands with private lender ICICI bank for digital payments.
• Now, customers to do recharge through unified payment interface (UPI) transactions.
• This alliance with ICICI Bank through UPI will drive higher customer adoption and allow them to be a part of the digital economy.

Note:

• Dish TV is India's largest Direct to Home (DTH) television operator using MPEG 4 DVB S2 and MPEG 2 digital compression technology.
• It is a division of Zee Entertainment Enterprises.

6. India's GDP projected to slow to 6.6% due to demonetization Strains: IMF

• India's growth is projected to slow to 6.6 % in 2016-17 fiscal due to the strains that have emerged in the economy as a result of temporary disruptions caused by demonetization.
• According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demonetisation would have only short-term impact on the economy and it would bounce back to its expected growth of more than 8% in the next few years.
• India's economy grew at 7.6% in 2015-16.

International Affairs

7. Pak army launches nationwide military ops 'Radd-ul-Fasaad' to eliminate terrorists

• The Pakistan army has launched nationwide military operation 'Radd-ul-Fasaad' to eliminate terrorists and consolidate gains of its counter-terrorism operations.
• The operation aims include the elimination of the residual and latent threat of terrorism, consolidating gains of operations made so far and ensuring the security of Pakistan's borders.
• The operation came after a wave of suicide attacks across Pakistan last week.

Science & Defence 

8. Astronomers discover 7 new Earth-sized exoplanets that may sustain life

• Astronomers have discovered for the first time seven new Earth-sized exoplanets that may be able to sustain life.
• The stunning discovery of seven Earth-like planets orbiting a small star in the galaxy open up the most promising hunting ground so far for life beyond the Solar System.
• The planets closely circle a dwarf star named Trappist-1, which at 39 light years away makes the system a prime candidate to search for signs of life.
• Earlier, Astronomers have found other seven-planet systems before, but this is the first time to have so many Earth-sized worlds.
• Only marginally larger than Jupiter, the star shines with a feeble light about 2,000 times fainter than Earth's sun.

National Affairs

9. Maneka Gandhi announces compensation fund for children

• The union Minister of the Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has announced the setting up of a compensation fund under Nirbhaya scheme to provide financial help to children who are victims of sexual crimes.
• The money for this fund will be drawn from “Nirbhaya Scheme” and will be monitored directly by the Women and Child Development Ministry.

10. Health Ministry launches ‘Saathiya Kits’ to improve adolescent health

• The Union Health Secretary K. Mishra has launched "Saathiya Resource Kits" to provide information on adolescent-related issues such as puberty and mental health.
• The resource kit comprises of an Activity Book, Bhranti-Kranti Game, a Peer Educator Diary and a Question-Answer Saathiya Kits Book.
• Around 1.6 lakh selected communicators have been identified and will be provided knowledge on adolescent health issues among teenagers across the country.
• Mishra has also launched the mobile app”Saathiya Salah” for adolescents.
• It was developed in partnership with the Population Foundation of India and UN Populations Funds and launched as part of the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program.

11. Haryana Govt. confer Bhim Award to 42 sportspersons

• Haryana govt. has given the Bhim awards to 42 sports person of the state, spotting them for their outstanding performance at the national and international fronts between the years 2013 and 2017 at a function held at Haryana Raj Bhawan.
• A total prize money of Rs 2.10 crore was distributed among the 42 sports persons.
• The awardees would be presented Bhim award that would get in cash, a memento, citation, blazer, tie and a scarf.

12. Suresh Prabhu unveils Antyodaya Express for common man

• The Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has dedicated “Antyodaya Express” to the nation at the Delhi Safdarjung Station.
• ‘Antyodaya Express’ is fully unreserved train for the common man with specially designed colorful coaches and will be operated only on the dense route.
• All coaches will be inter-linked and there will be cushioned seats with aluminium composite panels for enhanced aesthetic interior look of the coaches along with cushioned luggage racks with coat hooks, the train will also have LED lights and enhanced capacity dustbins.

 The trains are proposed under Antyodaya:

• Jaynagar - Udhana (Surat) (Weekly)
• Darbhanga - Jalandhar (Weekly)
• Santragachi (Kolkata) - Chennai (Weekly)
• Howrah (Kolkata) - Ernakulam (Weekly)
• Tatanagar - Mumbai LTT (Bi-weekly)
• Bilaspur - Firozpur (Weekly)
• Bandra T. (Mumbai) - Gorakhpur (Weekly)
• Bikaner - Chennai

 "Thought of the Day"

“Great anger is more destructive than the sword.”

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