Current Affairs: Daily GK Update 17th and 18th September 2017

• India’s Permanent Representative to the UN is Mr. Syed Akbaruddin.

ii. Until the circular was issued, the existing permissible time for sleeping was between 9 pm and 6 am. The new provision replaces paragraph 652 in the Indian Railways Commercial Manual, Volume I. This provision is applicable to all reserved coaches with sleeping accommodation.

• Mr. Piyush Goyal is the Present Railways Minister of India.

ii. During trial firings at Pokhran ranges, ATAGS registered the longest ever distance of 48.074 km, surpassing the maximum range of 35-40 km fired by any artillery gun system in this category.

• ATAGS is a 155mm, 52 calibers towed artillery gun being developed in mission mode by DRDO as a part of the Army’s artillery modernization program.

ii. The animals still face serious challenges including poaching and loss of prey in their high Himalayan habitat. Using improved methods for counting cat numbers, experts now estimate there are about 4,000 snow leopards in the wild.

• Snow leopards had been listed as endangered since 1972.

• Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. is NASA Acting Administrator.
• NASA was established in 1958.

ii. Russia suspended regular flights to Iraq in 2004 after the US-led invasion in 2003 plunged the Arab country into war.

• Haider al-Abadi is the Prime Minister of Iraq.
• Baghdad is the capital of Iraq.
• Vladimir Putin is the President of Russia.
• Moscow is the Capital of Russia.

ii. The Indian arm of the US e-commerce giant, Amazon plans to provide unsecured micro-loans, as low as 1 lakh, at interest rates as low as 10.45-11 percent at a short span of 3-5 days.

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the Sardar Sarovar Dam – the world’s second-biggest – on the river Narmada in Gujarat.
ii. The 1.2-km-long dam, which is 163 meters deep, will irrigate over 18 lakh hectares in the state, the water from the Narmada will flow into over 9,000 villages through a canal network, Sardar Sarovar Nigam Limited (SSNL).

ii. Arjan Singh had the honor of leading the fly-past of more than a hundred IAF aircraft over the Red Fort on India’s first Independence Day, August 15, 1947. In 2002, on the occasion of Republic Day, he was granted the honorary rank of Marshal, the highest military rank attainable, which before him only two Army chiefs, K M Carriappa and Sam Manekshaw, had achieved.

ii. Olympic silver medallist shuttler P V Sindhu beat world champion Nozomi Okuhara in a thrilling final to clinch the women’s singles title at the Korea Open Super Series today.

ii. Tez means fast in Hindi, which the company stated was one of the selling points of its new app. Google Tez is a standalone payments app, available on Android and iOS, and is powered by UPI, a payments protocol built by government-backed organization NPCI. The company has partnered with HDFC Bank, ICICI, and State Bank of India for backend processing.

ii. Airtel Payments Bank has become the first payments bank in India to integrate the UPI on its digital platform. In January 2017, Bharti Airtel launched Payments Bank in India to enable transactions on digital platforms.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Airtel Payments Bank is India’s first Payment Bank.

ii. The award was presented to Roopa for her meritorious service by Governor Vajubhai Vala at a ceremony at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

• Siddaramaiah is the CM of Karnataka.
• Vajubhai Vala is the Present Governor of Karnataka.

i. The US and UAE’s ground forces had begun a joint military exercise in Abu Dhabi, as part of efforts to consolidate their bilateral relations and exchange training and military expertise. Code-named Iron Union 5, the drill is an extension of a series of Iron Claw exercises.

ii. The exercise aims to upgrade and boost the readiness of the UAE’s armed forces and to allow both armies to promote their international co-operation in joint military operations.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Abu Dhabi is the Capital of United Arab Emirates (UAE).

i. The President of Peru, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has appointed a former Economy Minister Mercedes Araoz Fernandez as new Prime Minister of Peru.

ii. She served as an economy minister during part of the 2006-11 administration of President Alan Garcia. Araoz replaced Fernando Zavala, who lost the vote of confidence by lawmakers recently.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Lima is the Capital of Peru.

i. Senior IPS officer Y.C Modi has been named the chief of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved Mr. Modi’s appointment as Director General of the NIA.  He will take over from Sharad Kumar after he completes his tenure on October 30.

ii. Another senior IPS officer, Rajni Kant Misra, has been appointed Director General of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Mr. Misra is at present the Additional Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF).

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Mr. Modi will hold the post till his superannuation, i.e. May 31, 2021.
• Mr. Misra has been appointed Director General of the SSB till the date of his superannuation, i.e. August 31, 2019.
• Mr. Modi is at present special director in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

i. Prime Minister of Iceland Mr. Bjarni Benediktsson has resigned from the post. He lost his nine-month-old, center-right coalition after one party quit.

ii. The President of Iceland, Gudni Th. Johannesson accepted the resignation of the PM. Benediktsson took office in January 2017, uniting his Independence Party, the Reform Party, and the centrists.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Iceland is a wind-lashed island near the Arctic Circle with a population of 320,000.

i. Infosys Senior Vice President Sanjay Rajagopalan has resigned from his post. The decision has come a month after Vishal Sikka stepped down as the company’s MD and CEO.

ii. He was employed with Infosys from August 2014 to September 2017.

Important Takeaways from Above News-

• Nandan Nilekani has been recently appointed as the New Chairman of Infosys.
• Infosys is country’s no. 2 software services exporter.

21. ‘Father of nephrology in India’ Dr KS Chugh dies of cancer at 85

i. Dr. KS Chugh, the “father of nephrology in India”, breathed his last at the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh. He was 85.

ii. He was a recipient of several national and international awards, including the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award, in 2000.

• Study notes of banking awareness for IBPS Exam 2017
• More questions of banking awareness for bank exams