DAILY GK UPDATE: 17TH OCTOBER

1. Pranay Sahay appointed as New DG of CRPF
Pranay Sahay, a 1975-batch IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre, has been appointed as New Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

NOTE:- Mr. Sahay is presently working as Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal and is also holding the additional charge of Director General of CRPF. 

2.British writer Hilary Mantel won this year's Booker literary prize.
British writer Hilary Mantel won this year's Booker literary prize for her historic novel, 'Bring Up The Bodies'. Mantel is the first woman and the first British author to win the prestigious literary prize twice. 

NOTE:- The book is about Thomas Cromwell, an adviser to King Henry VIII, and charts the bloody downfall of Anne Boleyn. She receives 50,000 pounds cheque as prize money and 2,500 pounds for being short listed, along with the other five novelists in the race.

3. India, Australia sign four agreements of cooperation

India and Australia agreed to expand cooperation in Security and Defence including fight against terrorism. They also agreed to begin negotiations for an agreement on Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation which will precede actual cooperation.
NOTE:- Both the countries also signed four Agreements in the field of space science technology and education, cooperation in student mobility and welfare, skill development and textiles.

4. India and Bangladesh to set up a high level committee to monitor development works related to border infrastructure
India and Bangladesh have decided to set up a high level committee to monitor the development works related to border infrastructure.

NOTE:-  In a joint press statement issued at the end of the 13th Home Secretary level talks in Dhaka yesterday evening, both countries welcomed the opening of several land ports and integrated check-posts for promoting bilateral trade. Both countries also agreed to revive the mechanism for regular meetings of district administration officials of border districts to resolve local issues for better border management. In addition to this, the two sides also decided to hold a meeting soon to discuss liberalization of visa procedures for facilitating people to people contact and movement of people on both sides.
5. Petrotech-2012 Conference held in New Delhi.
Petrotech-2012 Conference held  in New Delhi today. India and Pakistan announced some deals on the sidelines of the conference.

While Pakistan has removed fuel imports from its list of items that are not allowed to be imported from India, it allows import of diesel and jet fuel only in ships. India, which has refineries across the border, are keen to take the road route to reach fuel-deficient Pakistan. 
6.European Union has imposed fresh sanctions on major Iranian oil and gas companies and has put further restrictions on the country's central bank. 

The new measures call for freezing the assets of over 30 Iranian companies and institutions in Europe, including the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), one of the world’s largest oil exporters. The move is aimed at increasing pressure on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme.
7. Vikram Pandit, the CEO of Citigroup resigned
Vikram Pandit, the CEO of Citigroup Inc. the words largest financial service network, resigned from his post,  a day after the company reported its earnings in Q3 to be stronger than that expected. 

NOTE:- Michael L Corbat head of bank’s European and Middle East Division would now be the new CEO for the firm.   
8. NRAI appointed Jaspal Rana as Junior Pistol Chief Coach
National Rifles Association of India (NRAI) appointed Jaspal Rana as the chief coach for the Junior Pistol Shooters. 

NOTE:- The triple Gold Medallist at Doha Asian Games, Rana would be entitled for a salary of Rs. 50,000 per month.
9. Land Acquisition Bill Cleared By Group of Ministers (GoM)Land Acquisition Bill was cleared  by a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. It is going to be presented to the Cabinet this month
The bill was cleared after three rounds of vigorous debate with few changes from the version presented to the Union Cabinet in September 2012.

10. Civil Aviation Ministry announced omission of Airport Development Fee from January 2013
The Civil Aviation Ministry announced to abolish the airport development fee on Delhi and Mumbai Airports, from 1 January 2013. The ministry directed the operators of the two airports to stop levying the charges for Airport Development Fee from the travellers from next year and also asked the Airport Authority of India to infuse equity in form of joint venture firms that operates the two largest airports of the nation.
The Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh asked the DIAL (Delhi International Airport Ltd) and MIAL (Mumbai International Airport Ltd) to submit proposals for stopping the Airport Development Fee to the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
11.Children in India 2012 - A Statistical Appraisal Report released
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation released a report named "Children in India 2012 - A Statistical Appraisal", showcased the griming status of children in India. 

The report in its finding pointed out a growth of population by 181 million people, between 1991 to 2011 and at the same time also a huge reduction of 5.05 million of child in the age group of 0 to 6 years. And among this the decline in female population reportedly was 2.99 million and of male population was 2.06 million.

NOTE:- The report indicates a huge dip in the sex ratios of child, increased crime and troubles against the girl child and continued child labour that is constitutionally believed to be a social crime.