DAILY GK UPDATE 26TH JULY

1.    Nation Celebrates Kargil Vijay Diwas today 

i. The nation on Friday observes Kargil Vijay Diwas, Defence Minister AK Antony and the three service chiefs paid homage to Kargil martyrs at Amar Jawan Jyoti, India Gate. 

ii. Kargil Vijay Diwas is celebrated on 26th July every year in honour of the Kargil War's Heroes.

iii. Kargil Vijay Diwas keeps alive the memories of the brave soldiers ensuring that their Martyrdom does not go waste.

iv. Soldiers of the Indian Armed forces have made the highest sacrifices for the security of the country and the Kargil war is no exception.

NOTE: i. 14 years ago Indian soldiers successfully foiled Pakistan's attempt to intrude and capture outposts in Indian Territory, teaching the Pakistani intruders a lesson and causing them to retreat.

ii. The Kargil war which was fought for more than 60 days, ended on 26th July 1999.

2.    Advanced weather satellite INSAT-3D successfully launched

i. India's advanced meteorological satellite INSAT-3D was successfully launched by an European rocket from the spaceport of Kourou in French Guiana early on Friday, giving a boost to weather forecasting and disaster warning services.

ii. European space consortium Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket launched INSAT-3D and Alphasat satellites.

iii. Alphasat is Europe's largest telecommunication satellite-ever manufactured and results from a large-scale public-private partnership between the European Space Agency and Inmarsat.

iv. According to ISRO, INSAT-3D adds a new dimension to weather monitoring through its atmospheric sounding system, which provides vertical profiles of temperature, humidity and integrated ozone from surface to top of the atmosphere.

Features of INSAT-3D

i. The new satellite, INSAT-3D will be operational for next seven years, i.e., up to 2020. 

ii. The aim of the satellite is to make a crucial difference to the disaster warning systems as well as weather forecasting of India. 

iii.  INSAT-3D will also provide monitoring of the ocean as well as land areas, apart from providing meteorological observation.

iv.  It is important to note that the imaging system and mechanism of INSAT-3D has a lot of improvement in comparison to INSAT-3A as well as KALPANA. 

v. INSAT-3D carries the newly developed 19 channel sounder, which is the first payload of this kind to be flown to the ISRO satellite mission.

vi. INSAT-3D will provide continuity to earlier missions and further augment the capability to provide various meteorological as well as search and rescue services.

3.    Former Union Minister Arun Nehru passes away

i. Former Union Minister Arun Nehru passed away on Thursday night in a hospital in Gurgaon after prolonged illness.

ii. He was a powerful figure during the Prime Ministership of Rajiv Gandhi. Family sources said that the funeral would take place at the Lodhi Crematorium in New Delhi today.

iii. Nehru, 69, a cousin of Rajiv Gandhi was Minister for Internal Security in his government.

iv. Lucknow-born Nehru was a three-time Lok Sabha member. He had a successful career in the corporate world before joining politics in the early 1980s.

4.    Paradip Port Conferred With the Major Port of the Year Award

i. Paradip Port was conferred with the Major Port of the Year award for its excellent performance in the year 2012-13.

ii. The award was received by SS Mishra, Chairman, Paradip Port Trust, at the SCOPE International Conference & Exhibition 2013 held in Chennai. 

iii. Paradip Port Trust (PPT) handled 56.55 million tonnes of traffic in the year 2012-13.

iv. There is an increase from 54.25 million tonnes of traffic in 2011-12. During 2012-13, the port also added 22 million tonnes of capacity, thus bringing the total to 102 million tonnes. 

v. It is important to note that the Paradip Port was also adjudged as the Major Port of the Year during 2009-10 at the Annual Indian Maritime Gateway Awards 2010 ceremony organised by Gateway Media Private Ltd.

vi. Paradip Port is one of the major Indian ports that serve the Eastern and Central parts of the country.

vii. The port primarily deals with the bulk cargos as well as clean cargos. 

viii.  From the past 10 years, there has been an exceptional growth in the traffic handled by the Paradip Port. 

5.    Crisil slashes GDP forecast to 5.5% on rupee weakness

i. Rating firm Crisil revised downwards its GDP growth forecast to 5.5 pc this fiscal from its earlier estimate of 6 pc, citing reduced likelihood of monetary easing going forward due to falling rupee.

ii. "We have lowered GDP forecast for FY 2014 by 50 basis points to 5.5 per cent, given the reduced likelihood of interest rate cuts and weak momentum in both industry and services," Crisil Research President Mukesh Agarwal said in Mumbai on Thursday.

iii. In backdrop of the recent measures by RBI to absorb liquidity from the system to contain rupee volatility, Crisil said there is significantly diminished probability of a repo rate cut during the remaining part of the current fiscal.

iv. Besides ADB, several brokerages like Nomura, BofA-ML, Deutsche Bank had last week lowered their GDP growth forecast and pegged it between 5 and 5.8 percent.

v. RBI has come out with a slew of steps to squeeze liquidity out of the system to stabilise rupee.

vi. The rupee is the worst performing Asian unit this year, losing close to 10 percent against the US currency this fiscal alone.

6.    AADHAR platform must be only channel for DBT payments says Chidambaram

i. AADHAR platform must be only channel for DBT payments says Chidambaram Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that he has asked all public sector banks to approach beneficiaries of Direct Benefit Transfer, DBT, and scheme to link AADHAR number with their bank accounts.

ii. In an exclusive interview to Prasar Bharati, Mr Chidambaram stated that the AADHAR platform must be the only channel for the payments.

iii. He said district collectors have been asked to expeditiously ensure digitization of the beneficiaries' list.

iv. The Finance Minister said that the DBT scheme would be fully rolled out in the country by December this year. 

v. The Finance Minister said, LPG roll out will be the biggest test for DBT and it will eliminate duplicity in accounts. Mr. Chidambaram said, MGNREGA would also be brought under the ambit of DBT scheme, initially as a pilot project.

7.    India, France discuss Rafale deal, Af-Pak situation  

i. The over Rs 50,000 crore deal for supplying 126 Rafale combat aircraft and the security situation in the Af-Pak region are understood to have been discussed during the Defence Minister-level talks between India and France in New Delhi on Friday.

ii. During the around 90-minute meeting between Defence Minister A K Antony and his visiting French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, the two sides are believed to have flagged the ongoing military hardware cooperation including the Rafale combat aircraft deal.

iii. They said such a briefing had earlier been held by France only for two countries - the United Kingdom and the US.

iv. The Rs 30,000-crore Maitri surface-to-air missile defence system is also understood to have been discussed at the meeting between the two sides.

v. The 126 medium-multirole combat aircraft deal is the biggest focus of the two sides at the moment.

vi. India has been treading cautiously on the contract, which would be the biggest-ever defence deal for the country in case it is signed.

8.    Romashina wins another gold in synchro swimming

i. Svetlana Romashina has won her third gold medal of the Barcelona world championships, winning the synchronized swimming solo.

ii. Romashina easily took the top spot with 97.340 points, increasing her career haul to 13 world championship golds dating to 2005.

iii. China’s Huang Xuechen won silver with 95.720, while Spain’s Ona Carbonell took bronze before the home crowd at the Palau Sant Jordi with 94.290.

iv. Romashina added to her wins in the solo technical, where the top three were exactly the same, and the duet technical teaming with Svetlana Kolesnichenko.

v. Russia has won the first four synchronized events at these world championships and is heavily favored to duplicate its sweep of the golds in Shanghai two years ago.

vi. China has taken three silver medals, while Spain has a silver and three bronzes.

9.    Registration for online transfer of PF accounts starts

i. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, EPFO, has started registration of digital signatures of employers for online transfer of Provident Fund accounts.

ii. The system is aimed at making the fund transfer process transparent, efficient and comfortable for employees. 

iii. According to an official circular, the EPFO has directed its all field offices to depute a nodal officer to facilitate the registration. 

iv. The facility of uploading digital signatures will be available on the Online Transfer Claim Portal through the EPFO website, www.epfindia.gov.in.

10.  Meghalaya CM launches Centre for Adaptation to Climate Change

i. Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma today launched a Centre for Adaptation to Climate Change which aims to engage government departments and civil societies to address the issue of climate change.

ii. Dedicating the centre to the people of this north eastern state, the Chief Minister said that the centre can be a source of knowledge and data that will benefit not only Meghalaya but also its neighbouring North Eastern states and countries like Bangladesh."

iii. The centre was launched in cooperation and technical support from the German Development Cooperation through the climate change adaptation programme in the North East Region.