Daily GK Update 03rd April, 2017

19th commonwealth forestry conference to begin in Uttarakhand today

i. 19th Commonwealth Forestry Conference (CFC) 2017 will begin today at Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

ii. Uttarakhand Governor Dr. K.K. Paul will inaugurate the 19th Commonwealth Forestry Conference at the FRI in Dehradun.
iii. The 5-day conference is being organized on the theme ‘Forests for Prosperity and Posterity’.

Union Textiles Minister launches PowerTex India Scheme

i. The Government has launched PowerTex India, a comprehensive scheme for power loom sector development, simultaneously at over 45 locations in the country.

ii. The Union Textiles Minister, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani Launched the scheme in Bhiwandi, Thane district, Maharashtra. The scheme will especially benefit small powerloom weavers.

iii. The Minister and CMs interacted with various states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and others through video conference, as PowerTex India scheme was launched nationwide.

Madhya Pradesh CM launches 'MP e-nagarpalika' app

i. The Madhya Pradesh government has launched an app named ‘MP e-nagarpalika’ to provide various municipal services online.

ii. The mobile app was launched by state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. This app would offer 378 services like online payment of property tax, seeking building permission, birth/ marriage/death certificates etc. It will also register complaints related to garbage, water, streetlights etc.

iii. Online payment gateway would be available on this app. This mobile app would encourage the cashless transaction.

Mizoram signs MoU to join in UDAY

i. Mizoram has become the 27th State to join the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY).

ii. Mizoram signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under the scheme on March 31 for operational improvement of the State’s Power Distribution Department.

iii. According to government estimates, the State will derive an overall net benefit of approximately Rs. 198 crore by opting to participate in UDAY, by way of cheaper funds, reduction in AT&C and transmission losses.
iv. Kerala, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have also recently joined the Centre’s power distribution company debt relief scheme, Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY).

India-Malaysia signs seven agreements

i. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is on a 6-day visit to India. Two countries sign seven agreements including air services agreement and MoUs in education and sports.

ii. The pacts were signed after delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammed Najib Razak at Hyderabad House in New Delhi. This is Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's third visit to India since 2009.

IISc ranked best educational institution by HRD Ministry

i. Bengaluru's Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Delhi's Miranda House have made it to the top of respective categories in the country's official higher education rankings announced by the government.

ii. Releasing the list in New Delhi, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar stated that the government will provide more grants and funds for institutions faring better in rankings.

TOP UNIVERSITIES

1. IISc, Bangalore

2. JNU, New Delhi

3. BHU, Varanasi

TOP COLLEGES

1. Miranda House, Delhi

2. Loyola College, Chennai
3. Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi

Under GST regime, tax evasion over Rs 5 crore a non-bailable offense

i. Tax evasion of over Rs 5 crore under the GST regime would be a non-bailable offense and the police would have the authority to make an arrest without a warrant.

ii. The Central GST (CGST) Bill provides that if the offenses relating to taxable goods and/or services where the amount of tax evaded or the amount of input tax credit wrongly availed or the amount of refund wrongly taken exceeds Rs 5 crore, it shall be treated as cognizable and non-bailable.

Rajiv Kumar Chander appointed as India's Ambassador and permanent representative to the UN

i. Rajiv Kumar Chander has been appointed as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations Offices in Geneva.

ii. Mr. Chander belongs to the Indian Foreign Services batch of 1983. He is currently the consul general of India in Vancouver since August 2015. He was the deputy permanent representative with the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations, Geneva, between 2006 and 2009.

Indira Banerjee appointed as new Chief Justice of Madras High Court

i. Justice Indira Banerjee, a sitting judge of the Delhi High Court, has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.

ii. She succeeded Sanjay Kishan Kaushal. With this, Justice Banerjee became the second woman to head the Madras High Court. Justice Kumari Bhatnagar was the first lady to head the Charted court in 1992.

Vipul takes charge as new Consul General of Dubai

i. Diplomat Vipul, a 1998 batch Indian Foreign Service officer took up the charge as the new Consul General of Dubai.

ii. Mr. Vipul has succeeded Anurag Bhushan. Before joining the Consulate at Dubai, he was working in the office of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. He had earlier served at India’s diplomatic missions in Sri Lanka and Egypt.

Sindhu lifts India Open badminton title 2017

i. Olympic silver-medallist P.V. Sindhu has defeated Carolina Marin (Spain) in straight sets 21-19, 21-16 in 47 minutes at the India Open badminton championship 2017 in New Delhi.

ii. This was the second Superseries title win for Sindhu. The Indian shuttler has shown character in the tournament and she entered the final after beaten Saina Nehwal and Sung ji-Hyun. 

Roger Federer wins Miami Open 2017

i. Roger Federer (Switzerland) defeated Rafael Nadal (Spain) to win Miami Open 2017 Singles title. Miami Open 2017 was held in Florida, USA.
ii. A fourth straight win over Nadal was his longest winning streak in their 13-year professional rivalry which makes Federer the oldest winner of the Miami Open.

iii. The victory was Federer’s 26th ATP Masters 1000 title, only Novak Djokovic with 30 and Rafael Nadal with 28 have won more titles than Federer.

The other winners in Miami Open 2017 are as follows- 

1. Women's Singles- Johanna Konta (United Kingdom)

2. Men's Doubles- Łukasz Kubot (Poland)/ Marcelo Melo (Brazil)
3. Women's Doubles- Gabriela Dabrowski (Canada) / Xu Yifan (China)

Important Takeaways from above GK Update are as follows-

• The 5-day long 19th Commonwealth Forestry Conference (CFC) begun in Dehradun, Uttarakhand
• The theme of conference is ‘Forests for Prosperity and Posterity’
• Dehradun is capital of Uttarakhand
• Governor of Uttarakhand is Dr. K.K. Paul and Trivendra Singh Rawat is newly elected Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
• The Government has launched PowerTex India scheme for power loom sector development
• The Union Textiles Minister, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani Launched the scheme in Maharashtra
• Madhya Pradesh government has launched an app named ‘MP e-nagarpalika’
• The app was launched by MP CM  Shivraj Singh Chouhan
• The mobile app will encourage the cashless transaction
• Full form of UDAY is Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana
• Mizoram has become the 27th State to join UDAY
• First state to join UDAY scheme was Andhra Pradesh
• UDAY was launched in November 2015
• Kerala, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have recently joined UDAY.
• Bengaluru's IISc and Delhi's Miranda House topped in University and College category, respectively
• The list was announced by Union Human Resource Development Minister, Prakash Javadekar
• Tax evasion over Rs 5 crore is a non-bailable offense under GST regime
• GST council is headed by Finance Minister of India Mr. Arun Jaitley
• The government has set a target date of July 1 for rollout of the GST
• The Central GST Bill, The Integrated GST Bill, The GST (Compensation to States) Bill, and The Union Territory GST Bill, 2017 were passed recently by the Parliament of India.
• Rajiv Kumar Chander has been appointed as the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations Offices in Geneva
• He is currently the consul general of India in Vancouver
• United Nations headquartered in New York City, USA.
• Justice Indira Banerjee has been appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Madras High Court
• She succeeded Sanjay Kishan Kaushal
• Justice Banerjee was the second woman to head the Madras High court and Justice Kumari Bhatnagar was the first lady to head the court in 1992.
• Mr. Vipul takes charge as new Consul General of Dubai
• He has replaced Anurag Bhushan
• Abu Dhabi is capital of the UAE and Sheikh Zayed is the prince of UAE
• P.V. Sindhu has lifts India Open badminton title 2017.
• The Final match of India Open badminton title 2017 held in New Delhi.
• Carolina Marin is a badminton player from Spain.
• This was the second Superseries title win for Sindhu.
• P.V. Sindhu has defeated Carolina Marin at the India Open badminton championship 2017.
• Roger Federer wins Miami Open 2017 Singles title
• Miami Open 2017 was held in Florida, USA
• Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal
• Johanna Konta from the UK won the Women's Singles title.