Daily GK Update : 26-27 March 2017

Honours & Awards

1. Ravish Kumar awarded first Kuldip Nayar journalism award

• Eminent TV journalist Ravish Kumar (Senior executive editor of NDTV India) has been awarded inaugural ‘Kuldip Nayar journalism award’ for his contribution to the field of journalism at the India International Centre, New Delhi.
• He conferred with an award plaque along with a cash amount of Rs. 1 lakh.
• The award was set up to honor those working in vernacular media.

Note:

• Ravish Kumar was born in a small district called history city East Champaran, Bihar.
• He studied at Loyola High School, Patna and graduated from the ‘Deshbandhu college’ University of Delhi.

2. HDFC Bank MD Aditya Puri features in World's best CEOs list by Barron's

• Managing Director (MD) of HDFC Bank Aditya Puri (66-year) got featured in the World's Best CEOs list of American financial magazine Barron’s.
• He ranked at 23rd position.
• Puri transformed HDFC into one of the world's higest-quality banks.
• Barron's is America's premier financial magazine, provides in-depth analysis and commentary on the markets, updated every business day online.

Top three CEOs :

1. Mary Barra (General Motors).
2. Gary Dickerson (Applied Materials).
3. Stephen Hemsley (UnitedHealth Group).

Important Dates

3. 27th March: World Theatre Day

• The World Theatre Day (WTD) is celebrated globally on 27th March.
• World Theatre Day was created in 1961 by an international non-governmental organization International Theatre Institute (ITI), France.
• ITI was founded in 1948 by UNESCO and the international theater community.

Note:

• Each year, a World Theatre Day International Message is circulated, through which, at the invitation of International Theatre Institute (ITI), a figure of world stature shares his/her reflections on the theme of Theatre and a Culture of Peace.

National & International Appointment

4. Randeep Guleria appointed Delhi AIIMS director

• ‘Dr. Randeep Guleria’ has been appointed as the new director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi.
• He succeeds Dr. M C Misra who retired in, January 2017.
• Guleria is the head of the Department of Pulmonology and Sleep Disorders at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (India's first center) New Delhi.
• He was honored by the Government of India (GoI) in 2015 with Padma Shri.

Note:

• Guleria joined AIIMS in 1992 as an assistant professor in the department of medicine.
• He also served as personal physician to former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee for over three decades.
• AIIMS, New Delhi was established in 1956.

5. Madhabi Puri Buch appointed as whole-Time Member of SEBI

• The founder-director of Agora Advisory Pvt Ltd Madhabi Puri Buch has appointed as the new Whole-Time Member (WTM) of the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
• Currently, she is working at the BRICS Development Bank in Shanghai, China.
• She will have the tenure of 3 years.

National Affairs

6. Kerala transport minister resigns

• Kerala transport minister A. K. Saseendran has announced his resignation after allegations of misconduct were raised against him.
• The minister made the decision following an audio clip hinting at alleged misconduct with a woman was aired by a TV channel.

7. Bengaluru gets India’s first vertical garden

• The first vertical garden of India has been set up at the Hosur Road Electronics City Flyover in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• The garden will help to control the pollution level of the city and also act as a sound proofing barrier.
• The vertical garden is an automatic drip irrigation system allowing the plants to get water on a daily basis.

 Sports

8. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel wins Australian Formula One Grand Prix

• Sebastian Vettel (Germany) has won the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix for Ferrari at Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia.
• Lewis Hamilton finished second and the Briton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas into third.

Note:

• The race was contested over fifty-seven laps of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and was the first round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship.

9. India wins 73 medals in 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games

• India’s special athletes have won 73 medals (37 golds, 10 silver, and 26 bronze) in the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games held in Austria.
• This year’s edition witnessed 2,600 athletes from over 105 countries competing with each -other.

Note:

• Special Olympics is a worldwide movement of people, which establishes a new world of inclusion and community, where each individual is accepted and included, irrespective of their abilities or disabilities.
• "Special Olympics International" was founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968 and has its seat in Washington, USA.

 10. West Bengal win Santosh Trophy for 32nd time

• West Bengal has won the 71st edition of premier domestic football tournament ‘Santosh Trophy’ by defeating Goa 1-0 in the final at Bambolim, Goa.
• The match-winner came in extra time through Manvir Singh, after a goalless 90-minutes of play.
• West Bengal has appeared in the Santosh Trophy finals 43 times and won the trophy 32nd times (the most by any team).

Note:

• Santosh Trophy is an annual Indian football tournament started in 1941.
• It is knock-out competition contested by the regional state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF).

11. Shaun Tait retires from all forms of cricket

• The Australian fast bowler 'Shaun Tait' retires from all forms of cricket.
• Tait represented his country in 3 Tests, 35 One-Day Internationals (ODI) and 21 Twenty20 Internationals during which he picked up 95 wickets.
• He made his Test debut against England at Trent Bridge in the 2005 Ashes and last played for Australia in January 2016.
• Tait was an integral part of Australia's victorious campaign in the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

  "Thought of the Day"

“A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.” 

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