DAILY GK UPDATE 20TH JULY

1. Sports Min recommends Dhyan Chand for Bharat Ratna

i. Sports Ministry has recommended hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand's name for India's highest civillian honour -- the Bharat Ratna.

ii. "The letter recommending Bharat Ratna for Dhyan Chand has already been sent to the Prime Minister," Sports Secretary P K Deb said in New Delhi on Friday.

iii. The recommendation, sent to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, will be studied further before it goes for approval of President Pranab Mukherjee, for the hockey wizard to get the award posthumously.

iv. Thegovernment in 2011 had ignored the plea of 82 Members of Parliament, who recommended Dhyan Chand's name for Bharat Ratna but in January 2012, the Ministry itself forwarded his name along with Olympic gold medallist shooter Abhinav Bindra and mountaineer Tenzing Norgay for the award.

v. However, Tendulkar's name was not given as the BCCI had not recommended him.

vi. Dhyan Chand won three gold medals at the Olympics -- 1928 in Amsterdam, 1932 in Los Angeles and 1936 in Berlin. He passed away in 1979.

2.    India's forex reserves up by $21 mn

i. India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves increased by $21.1 million to $280.188 billion for the week ended July 12, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

ii. The reserves had declined by $4.47 billion to $280.167 billion for the week ended July 5.

iii. The foreign currency assets (FCA) - the biggest component of the forex reserves - grew by $33.5 million at $252.13 billion, the weekly statistical supplement of the central bank shows.

iv. Gold reserves remained stagnant at $21.55 billion. The gold reserves had plunged by 1.28 billion in the week ended July 5.

v. The special drawing rights (SDRs) rose by $6.7 million to $4.33 billion during the week under review, while reserves with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) went down by $19.1 million to $2.16 billion.

vi. The SDRs had dropped by $14.6 million to $4.32 billion during the previous week, while reserves with the IMF went down by $7.4 million to $2.18 billion.

3.    China launches three experimental satellites

i. China Saturday successfully launched three satellites for scientific experiments, authorities said.

ii. The Chuangxin-3, Shiyan-7 and Shijian-15 satellites were boosted by a Long March-4C carrier rocket, according to the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi province.

iii. The three satellites will be used mainly for conducting scientific experiments on space maintenance technologies,

4.    Sammy named BMW brand ambassador

i. West Indies Test and Twenty20 captain Darren Sammy has etched his name in the history books by becoming the first Caribbean sports personality to be named brand ambassador for German automobile giant BMW

ii. In accepting the role, the Windies skipper was presented with a BMW sports convertible from St. Lucian BMW representatives Ultimate Automobiles Friday,

iii. "Darren Sammy is the first West Indian to ever be appointed on behalf of the BMW Group as a brand ambassador outside Germany. 

iv. Typically sportsmen like golfers Bernhard Langer and Martin Kaymar and Rugby's Alex Cordisio have been endorsed as brand ambassadors for BMW,"

5.    Additional charge of Manipur to Nagaland Governor

i. President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Nagaland Governor Dr. Ashwani kumar as Governor of Manipur, (with additional charge) when the incumbent, Gurbachan Jagat, Governor of Manipur, completes his tenure.

ii. The Nagaland Governor will discharge the functions of the Governor of Manipur until regular arrangements are made.

6.    Former Union Minister Khurshed Alam Khan dead

i. Khurshed Alam Khan, a former Union Minister and father of External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, died on Saturday at the age of 95.  

ii. Khan, who had served as Minister of State under the late Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, was admitted to a private hospital in New Delhi six days ago after he complained of chest pain.

iii. Khan, who was in a major way responsible for creation of the Jamia Milia Islamia as an independent university through a Parliamentary law, had served as Chancellor of the university.

iv. Born in Pitaura village in Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh, he had represented Farrukhabad in Lok Sabha between 1984 and 1989.

7.    South Asian Jr TT Championship begins in New Delhi

i. The South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship began at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi today.

ii. Indian paddlers start as favourites, as they will be eyeing a clean sweep of all the 10 Gold medals for the second successive year. 

iii. In the last edition held at Shillong, the hosts not only won the Gold in team and individual events of all the four sections - Cadet Boys, Junior Boys, Cadet Girls and Junior Girls - but also claimed four Silver medals in the Singles events.

8.    Haley Anderson wins 5km open water world title

i. American swimmer Haley Anderson won the 5km open water race on Saturday to take the first gold medal of the swimming world championships.

ii. Anderson edged Poliana Okimoto of Brazil in a sprint finish in the city’s harbour.

iii. Anderson finished in 56 minutes, 34.2 seconds while Okimoto took second 0.02 behind.