GK and Current Affairs Updates

The total sown area as on 19 th August, 2016 as per reports received from States, stands at   992.76 lakh hectare as compared to 938.57 lakh hectare at this time last year.
•    Rice has been sown/transplanted in 346.38 lakh ha, pulses in 136.04 lakh ha, coarse cereals in 180.20 lakh ha, oilseeds in 175.49 lakh ha, sugarcane in 45.55 lakh hectare and cotton in 101.54 lakh ha.
•    The details of the area covered so far and that covered during this time last year are given below:
 Lakh hectare 
Crop    Area sown in 2016-17    Area sown in 2015-16
  Rice                     346.38                      334.26
Pulses                   136.04                        100.57
Coarse Cereals    180.20                        167.69
Oilseeds                   175.49                      168.49
Sugarcane              45.55                           49.60
Jute & Mesta             7.56                             7.73
Cotton                         101.54                      110.23
Total                          992.76                          938.57

All eyes are at Shuttler P V Sindhu after she defeated Nozomi Okuhara, her higher ranked Japanese opponent in the semifinals. Now, P V Sindhu will take on the two-time World champion and currently ranked world No.1 , Carolina Marin of Spain to bring pride to her nation.

•  A medal is assured for India.

• If she wins in the final, it will be a gold medal else a silver medal.

• She has also now bettered Saina Nehwal’s feat of bronze medal at London 2012 Olympics.

•  Born on July 5th 1995, She is a 21 year old Shuttler hailing from Hyderabad, Telengana.

P V Sindhu's score in Rio Olympics 2016 :

Pre-Quarters : Defeated Tai Tzu yang with a score of 21-13, 21-15

Quarter Finals : Defeated Wang Yihan of China (Rank 2) with a score of 22-20, 21-19

Semi-Finals: Defeated Nozomi Okuhara with a score of 21-19, 21-10

Sakshi Malik, 23 year old freestyle wrestler hailing from Rohtak won India’s first medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics by clinching the bronze in the 58 kilogram category.

•   She became the fourth woman athlete from India to win an Olympic medal.

•   This is the first time a women is getting medal from India in wrestling event.

•   In the playoff bout, Sakshi defeated Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan by 8-5 points.

•   With this she becomes only the fourth woman athlete from India to win an Olympic medal. Weight-lifter Karnam Malleshwari was the first Indian to win an Olympic medal.

•   She had won a bronze medal in weight lifting event at the 2000 Sydney Games. Boxer MC Marykom and Badminton star Saina Nehwal also had won a bronze medal each in respectively at the 2012 London Games.

•   Olympic medals in Wrestling Sakshi Malik’s bronze medal was India’s fifth wrestling medal in overall at the Olympic Games till date.

•   KD Jadhav , Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt are the other wrestlers winning medal at Olympics earlier.

A bried about Sakshi Malik :

Born on September 3, 1992 in Rohtak district of Haryana.She had started her training in wrestling at an early age of 12 years under the support of Ishwar Dahiya at an akhara in the Chotu Ram stadium. She has won bronze medal at the 2010 Junior World Championships in the 59-kg category, Gold medal at the 2014 Dave Schultz International Wrestling Tournament (60-kg). She also has won silver medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, bronze medal in 2015 Senior Asian Wrestling Championships in Doha and bronze medal at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix in 60-kg category.



 

Charti Lal Goel, the first speaker of the Delhi Assembly and father of Union Minister Vijay Goel, passed away today after prolonged illness.
•    Charti Lal, 89, breathed his last at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences earlier today. 
•    He was cremated at Nigambodh Ghat. 
•    Charti Lal Goel was an Indian politician. 
•    He was a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party from Delhi. 
•    He was Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly from 1993 to 1998. 
•    He was associated with Bharatiya Jan Sangh and was jailed in 1975 in the emergency.
•    He died at the age of 89 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences. 
•    He is survived by his wife, two sons, including Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel, and two daughters.
 

Karnataka has received the highest IT investments in 2015-16, getting nearly 25% of the total 2.2 lakh crore investments in the sector. 
•    IT investments in the state grew from 14,337 crore in 2005-06 to 53,396 crore in 2015-16, at a CAGR of 14%. 
•    Gujarat ranked second with 35,300 crore investment in the sector, the report added.
•    Karnataka attracted Rs 53,396 crore investments in the IT sector last fiscal, a nearly 25 per cent of total Rs 2.2 lakh crore from both public and private sources across the country.
•    Clocking a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 14 per cent, IT investments in Karnataka had grown from Rs 14,337 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 53,396 crore in 2015-16.
•    Investments attracted by the IT sector in India increased from over Rs 46,200 crore in 2005-06 to over Rs 2.2 lakh crore in 2015-16, thereby clocking a CAGR of over 17 per cent during this period.
 

Zambia's President Edgar Lungu has been re-elected, according to official results, which are being challenged by the main opposition party.
•    The electoral commission said Mr Lungu had secured 50.35% in Thursday's vote, just over the 50% threshold needed to avoid a second round under a new electoral system.
•    His main rival, Hakainde Hichilema, who alleges electoral fraud, won 47.67%.
•    Mr Hichilema described this election as a sham which did not reflect the will of the people.
•    He plans to petition the constitutional court to challenge the result. 
•    He may well be going at it alone because of the fluidity of Zambia's political landscape.
•    Mr Lungu defeated Mr Hichilema in the previous election, last year, by less than 28,000 votes. This time, his margin of victory was about 200,000 votes.
 

India became the top-ranked Test side in the world after Australia slipped to joint third following a 0-3 whitewash at the hands of Sri Lanka today. 
•    Pakistan has risen to number two, having drawn their four-Test series against England. India will, however, need to win their last Test against the West Indies to retain their top ranking.
•    Australia has conceded its number-one ranking to India after Sri Lanka made a clean sweep of the three-Test series in Colombo on Wednesday.
•    Australia had arrived in Colombo in number-one position on 118 points. 
•    But following loses by 106 runs in Pallekele, 229 runs in Galle and 163 runs in Colombo, Australia has joined England on 108 points but is ranked above Alastair Cook’s side, while Sri Lanka has jumped to 95 points.
•    ndia had started the year as the top-ranked side before Australia reclaimed the position following its 2-0 win over New Zealand in New Zealand.
 

The Union Government has allowed online authentication using Aadhar for new mobile connections. 
•    In this regard Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued guidelines for Aadhaar Electronic-Know Your Customer (e-KYC). 
•    The e-KYC seeks to make the online process of application and authentication faster and simpler for subscribers. 
•    Customer through their Aadhaar number and biometrics will online authorise UIDAI to provide demographic details. 
•    The details will include name, address, date of birth and gender, along with the digitally-signed photograph, to the mobile operator. 
•    The e-KYC seeks to bring down the cost of subscriber acquisition significantly as telecom companies will not have to spend on physical transportation of forms, verification, scanning and storage. 
•    Besides it will be an instant, secure and green mobile subscriber verification project, where a customer’s Aadhar card and fingerprints are adequate for both validating and activating prepaid and postpaid connections.
 

The first South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Youth Parliamentarians Conference on `Peace and Harmony for Development’ was held in Islamabad, Pakistan. (from August 16 to 18, 2016)
•    8 parliamentary delegates from 8 SAARC member countries are participating in the conference. 
•    Lok Sabha MP Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo, is leading the three member Indian delegation. 
•    The conference was hosted by the Pakistan National Assembly and was inaugurated by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. 
•    The goal of the conference is to build bridges between the future leaders of South Asia on a platform that supports continued engagement and cooperation. 
•    It is dialogue among Young Parliamentarians of SAARC region to create democratic space to meet expanding expectations of burgeoning youth population in region. 
•    It seeks to set the foundation of strong inter-parliamentary linkages between parliamentarians from across South Asia. 
 

Former Union Minister Najma Heptullah was on 17 August 2016 appointed as the Governor of Manipur. With this, Heptullah will be the 18th Governor of the state.
•    Before her appointment, V Shamuganathan, the Governor of Meghalaya, was looking after the state of Manipur since September 2015.
•    Heptullah had resigned from the Union Ministry on 12 July 12 2016 as she completed 75 years of age.
•    Banwarilal Purohit was appointed as the Governor of Assam.
•    VP Singh Badnore was made the Governor of Punjab.
•    Prof Jagdish Mukhi was named Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in place of Lt Gen (Retd) AK Singh.
•    Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital.
•    Manipur is sometimes called alternative names such as Kangleipak or Sanaleibak.
•    The state covers an area of 22,327 square kilometers. 
•    Its people include the Meetei, Kuki, Naga, and Pangal peoples, who speak Sino-Tibetan languages.