GK and Current Affairs Updates

India and Egypt on 2 September 2016 signed an agreement on Maritime Transport. The agreement would help the two nations to step-up co-operation on the seas not only in terms of maritime commerce but also in transit of naval vessels. 
•    The agreement was signed after delegation level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in New Delhi. President Sisi is on a three-day visit (1-3 September 2016) to India at an invitation of President Pranab Mukherjee.
•    Earlier in October 2015, the Union Cabinet gave its approval for signing of an agreement between India and Egypt on Maritime Transport. 
•    It was decided that the agreement would be signed on a mutually convenient date and venue.
•    They also called for the proposal to have the inaugural "Egypt by the Ganga Festival" in 2017.

With a view to engage youth of Jammu & Kashmir in constructive sporting activities, a special package has been announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for Rs. 200 crore. 
•    The package provides for construction of indoor sporting halls in all districts of the State with a view to provide playing facilities to youth during long winter in the state. 
•    Two stadia in the State capitals of Srinagar and Jammu will be upgraded to the international standards under the package while existing stadia at Poonch and Rajouri and Udhampur will be upgraded. 
•    In addition, water sport facilities will be provided at an estimated cost of Rs. 6 crore. 
•    For immediate engagement of youth in the state in sporting activities, a special programme 'Sports for AII' is being implemented through J&K State Sports Council which provides for village level competitions and development of popular sports, such as, football etc. 
•    An amount of Rs.5.00 crore has already been provided to J&K State Sports Council for organizing these village level sporting activities. 
 

Canada’s British Columbia has become the first foreign government issuer of masala bonds, with the province successfully raising Rs.5 billion through a rupee-denominated bond on the London Stock Exchange, Canadian Finance Minister Michael de Jong said.
•    India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and is one of B.C.’s (British Columbia) priority export market partners,” Mr. de Jong said. 
•    The masala bond issuance offers British Columbia a means to become well-positioned to profile our confidence in the outlook for India, and to participate in the internationalization of the rupee and India’s economy.
•    British Columbia’s bond with a three year tenor was priced to yield 6.62 per cent semi-annually, according to the Canadian government.
•    “B.C. is also working on a reciprocal arrangement where representatives from the Province of B.C. would work in India” the government said in a statement
 

LG has built the world's largest OLED tunnel at an industry meet in Berlin to mark the 50th anniversary of the first TV it produced. 
•    The record-breaking structure, which is 5m tall, 7.4m wide and 15m long, is made up of 216 separate 55-inch curved OLED displays. 
•    The 450-million pixel display showcases Aurora Borealis, underwater ecosystems and deep space footage.
•    LG Corporation is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation. 
•    It is the fourth-largest chaebol in South Korea. 
•    It is headquartered in the LG Twin Towers building in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.
•    LG makes electronics, chemicals, and telecom products and operates subsidiaries such as LG Electronics, Zenith, LG Display, LG Uplus and LG Chem in over 80 countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Vietnam ahead of G20 summit here was aimed at jointly piling pressure on China and to raise their "bargaining chips" with the country.
•    Given the South China Sea issue, Beijing-Hanoi relations have not been smooth over the past years. 
•    Negative emotions toward Beijing among the Vietnamese people have also been rising.
•    Under such a backdrop, Modi's visit to Vietnam has without doubt made Indians associate the tour with many strategic meanings, believing that New Delhi and Hanoi might jointly pile pressure on Beijing.
•    The fundamental reason behind it is the interests of India and Vietnam. 
•    New Delhi and Hanoi both wish to raise their bargaining position while having interactions with China, but neither of them wants direct confrontation with Beijing.
•    While such a possibility cannot be totally excluded, but it will not play a vital role either.

Actor Rishi Kapoor was felicitated at the opening ceremony of the first BRICS Film Festival for his and the Kapoor family’s contribution to the field of cinema.
•    The festival, which is an initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, started in New Delhi on Friday. 
•    It will feature films from the five member countries and also has a competition section.
•    The five-day festival aims at providing a platform for people of the film industry of member countries to explore areas of cooperation in the domain of cinema, culture and cuisine.
•    The idea of BRICS film festival has been conceived to build bridges and bring harmony amongst the BRICS countries, i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
•    The opening film for the festival will be the world premiere of the Malayalam movie, Veeram.
•    The closing film will be the Chinese movie, Skiptrace, starring Jackie Chan directed by Renny Harlin.
•    In the course of 5 days of the event, 20 movies will be screened in the competition section, 4 from each of the countries.
 

Aiming to promote avian tourism, the Goa forest department will host its first "Bird Festival" in the state in November, state Environment and Forest Minister Rajendra Arlekar said on Friday. 
•    Goa is home to nearly a third of all the bird species in the country. 
•    The event will include bird-watching sessions at the state’s numerous wildlife sanctuaries.
•    The bird festival will be held over three days from November 11 to 13 and participants at the event will be treated to bird-watching sessions at the state’s numerous wildlife sanctuaries including Dr. Salim Ali bird sanctuary.
•    The participants will also watch a series of films screened on birds and their habitats, and engage with well known ornithologists who would be conducting technical sessions at the event.
•    Addressing a press conference in Panaji, Arlekar said that his ministry was in talks with the state Tourism Ministry, in order to promote avian tourism in Goa, which is home to 432 of the 1,224 bird species found in India.
 

The Guinness World Records on 1 September 2016 declared Assam's Majuli as the largest river island in the world.
•    The island is located in the Brahmaputra River.
•    As per the Guinness World Records, the island has lost around one-third of its area in the last 30-40 years due to frequent flooding of the river.
•    Majuli had a total area of 1250 square kilometres at the beginning of the 20th century. However, it had lost significantly to erosion.
•    It had an area of only 352 square kilometres in 2014.
•    The island is formed by River Brahmaputra in the south and the Kherkutia Xuti, an anabranch of the Brahmaputra, joined by the Subansiri River in the north.
•    The island is accessible by ferries from the city of Jorhat.
•    It was formed due to course changes by the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries, mainly the Lohit.
•    It is the abode of the Assamese neo-Vaisnavite culture.
 

India has improved its ranking in the World Bank Group's bi-annual "Logistics Performance Index 2016", jumping from 54th in 2014 to 35th in 2016. This was announced by the World Bank Group in its recent launch of the report. In the latest ranking India has gone past countries like New Zealand, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Iceland, Latvia and Indonesia who were ahead of it in the index. India's jump of 19 positions in the ranking demonstrates the commitment of various Ministries and agencies of Government of India to make it easy to do business in India. Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of World Bank met the Prime Minister of India recently and congratulated him on this achievement. 
•    India also improved significantly in the following sub-indices: 
•    The ability to track and trace consignments, improving from 57 to 33; 
•    The quality of trade and transport infrastructure, improving from 58 to 36; and
•    The competence and quality of logistics services, improving from 52 to 32. 
•    On the remaining two sub-indices - the ease of arranging competitively priced shipments and the frequency with which shipments reach consignees within scheduled or expected delivery times - by 5 and 9 places respectively. 
•    The World Bank Group's bi-annual report ‘Connecting to Compete 2016: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy’, launched on Wednesday, captures critical information about the complexity of international trade. The Logistics Performance Index (LPI) within the report scores 160 countries on key criteria of logistics performance.
 

The first BRICS Film Festival will kick started on 2 September 2016 at the Sirifort Auditorium Complex, New Delhi. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore inaugurated the festival.
•    The five-day festival aims at providing a platform for people of the film industry of member countries to explore areas of cooperation in the domain of cinema, culture and cuisine.
•    The idea of BRICS film festival has been conceived to build bridges and bring harmony amongst the BRICS countries, i.e., Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
•    The opening film for the festival will be the world premiere of the Malayalam movie, Veeram.
•    The closing film will be the Chinese movie, Skiptrace, starring Jackie Chan directed by Renny Harlin.
•    In the course of 5 days of the event, 20 movies will be screened in the competition section, 4 from each of the countries.
•    The festival that kick started on 2 September 2016 will conclude on 6 September 2016.