Daily GK Update: 14th and 15th November 2015

1. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates 35th IITF in New Delhi

i. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated 35th edition of India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. The 14 day fair has been organised by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), under aegis of Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

ii. In this edition over 7,000 firms from India and overseas are participating.

iii. This year Afghanistan has been roped as the partner country and Bangladesh is the focus country. Within Indian states, Goa and Jharkhand are roped as partner states, while Madhya Pradesh is the focus state.

iv. Theme of 2015 edition of IITF is Make in India in order to encourage companies to manufacture their products in India.

v. The major objective behind this international trade festival is to focus on 25 sectors of Indian economy for skill enhancement and job creation. Some of these sectors are: automobiles, chemicals, Information Technology (IT), textiles, ports, pharmaceuticals, leather, aviation, tourism and hospitality, railway, auto components, wellness, design manufacturing, renewable energy, mining, bio-technology, and electronics etc.

2. PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Ambedkar memorial in London

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the recently acquired Ambedkar memorial by Maharashtra Government at King Henry’s Road in London, United Kingdom. On this occasion, Prime Minister unveiled a plaque to mark the dedication of the Memorial and was accompanied by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

ii. Maharashtra government had bought this house in London where social reformer and architect of the Indian Constitution Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar had stayed as a student in the 1920s.

iii. In September 2015, Maharashtra Government had purchased the house for 32 crore rupees and had converted into an international memorial consisting of a public museum and a library owing to its cultural and national importance and pride of millions of people of India.

iv. Apart from it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also unveiled a Basaveshwara Statue at Lambeth in London. Basaveshwara (1105-1167 AD) was a great philosopher and social reformer who had fought against social evils of his time, and worked for the strengthening of democracy at the grassroots.

3. 2017 announced as the UK-India Year of culture

i. Britain announced 2017 as the UK-India Year of Culture to mark the 70th Anniversary of Indian Independence.

ii. To mark the Occasion, UK Institute will partner with Indian Institutes for the program and the British Library will digitize 2,00,000 pages from its South Asian Archives.

iii. The government will send Shakespeare’s First Folio and the 800 year old Magna Carta to tour India.

4. Naval Ship Vishwakarma commissioned

i. INS Vishwakarma, the erstwhile Shipwright School (SWS) and a premier training establishment of the Indian Navy has been commissioned. It was commissioned by Admiral RK Dhowan, Chief of the Naval Staff at a formal ceremony held at Visakhapatnam.

ii. INS Vishwakarma was commissioned in keeping with the Navy’s thrust towards indigenisation and ‘Make in India’ initiative. It also was commissioned keeping in view the role of the SWS which has assumed greater significance presently in honing Indian Navy’s warship and submarine design.

iii. Shipwright School (SWS) was established in 1941 at INS Shivaji for training shipwright artificers of Indian Navy. SWS was a premier technical establishment and alma mater for Naval Architect Officers, Shipwright Officers and Shipwright Sailors of the Indian Navy.

iv. It was subsequently shifted in 1943 to Naval Barracks, Mumbai (now INS Angre). In 1981, it was again shifted to the present premises at Visakhapatnam as a dedicated training establishment with independent facilities for training of shipwright apprentices.

5. India, UK announced commercial deals worth 9 billion pounds

i. India and the UK announced commercial deals worth 9 billion pounds in London. The deals took place between the companies operating from both the countries and were agreed upon during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the UK.

ii. The deal included HDFC, India’s largest housing finance company, which has announced the proposal to issue rupee denominated bonds overseas of up to 490 million pounds.

iii. Bharti Airtel Ltd announced that it intends to issue its maiden sterling bond of up to 500 million pounds to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.

iv. Major UK-based insurance companies like Standard Life, Bupa and Aviva have committed to invest a combined total of approximately 238 million pounds worth of FDI in their Indian joint ventures.

v. London Stock Exchange Group and Yes Bank will sign a MoU to foster the development around bond and equity issuance, with a strong focus on green infrastructure finance. As part of this MoU, the bank is expected to list a green bond of up to 330 million pounds through Medium Term Notes by December 2016.

vi. State Bank of India (SBI) and London Stock Exchange Group have announced a collaboration to create the FTSE-SBI India Bonds Indices to be used initially by a new investment fund run by SBI. These indices, to be launched in the first half of 2016, will facilitate investment into India’s bond markets and support market liquidity and pricing.

6. Terrorist attack in Paris; Hundreds Killed

i. Terrorists attacked six locations around Paris killing around 160 civilians and injuring another 200 people and security personnel.

ii. While majority of the deaths occurred in the Bataclan concert venue, around 80000 football fans in the Stade de France (National Stadium of France) came under the deadliest attacks who were watching a friendly match between France and Germany.

iii. To deal with impending attacks, France President Francois Hollande, who was at the venue during the attack, immediately convened an emergency cabinet meeting outside the stadium and announced a state of emergency.