GK and Current Affairs Updates

Judo Federation of India (JFI) president Mukesh Kumar has been nominated as director in the International Judo Federation (IJF) Coordination Committee of Directors by the executive committee.The main role of the coordination committee of directors is to promote and implement the IJF strategy and judo values. Mukesh Kumar is also the general secretary of the Judo Union of Asia (JUA)

About International Judo Federation ( IJF )-The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe plus Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National Federations on all continents. There are over 40 million people around the globe who practice Judo.Since 2009, IJF organizes yearly World Championships and the World Judo Tour consisting of five Grand Prix, four Grand Slams, a master tournament and a Continental open tournament.

The West-Central Railway (Headquarter: Jabalpur) Zone has become the first Railway Zone on Indian Railways to eliminate all unmanned level crossings from its system by 31st August, 2015. Out of total 118 unmanned level crossings falling on West-Central Railways as on 1st April, 2014, 80 were eliminated in the financial year 2014-15 and the target of 66 and the remaining 38 have been achieved in current financial year by 31st August, 2015. This could only be achieved by constructing 33 Limited Height Sub Ways (LHs) and manning of 30 level crossings. It is a big safety initiative. 

It can be termed as a great success for West-Central Railway. West-Central Railway has been taking all possible initiatives to improve its working by adopting all available modern technologies and has started special drive to improve its performance at all fronts including safety, cleanliness, punctuality etc. 

Mumbai won the Buchi Babu Memorial Trophy in the All India invitation cricket tournament. In the final match played in Chennai, Mumbai defeated Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Districts (TNCA) XI by six wickets.About Buchi Babu Trophy Buchi Babu Memorial Trophy in an annual tournament held in honour of Mothavarapu Buchi Babu Naidu. Buchi Babu born in 1868 was an Indian socialite and cricket pioneer who organised cricket clubs for native Indians. He is considered to be the “father of south Indian cricket”, who founded the annual Madras Presidency Matches, the first of which was held shortly after his death.Two of Naidu’s sons, M Baliah and C Ramaswami, played for the Indian national cricket team.Naidu challenged the social norms embodied in Madras cricket, such as the rule that forbade non-Europeans from enjoying the comforts of the pavilion during lunch and instead being left sitting under the shade of trees to eat lunch. 

Australian trade minister Andrew Rob said that India has emerged as the 8th largest tourism market for Australia. In 2014, over 2 lakh Indians visited the nation in and spent about 1 billion dollars which was an increase of 39 percent. Earlier in 2013, India stood at 11th position.Till date in 2015, a total number of 207000 Indians have visited Australia. This increase was supported by the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand. 

Rob also said that India was one of the fastest growing markets and the result demonstrates that tourism is one of its strengths. He said that tourism can be its fastest growing sector this decade if it continues to leverage on the 'clean, green and safe' brand to position itself for tourism.

The Sports Ministry  decided to recognize 'Yoga' as a sports discipline and place it in the 'Priority' category.The Ministry also decided to upgrade Fencing from 'Others' to 'General' category, based on the past performance in major international events. It has also been decided to place 'University Sports' in the 'Priority' category.

The Ministry today reviewed the categorization of various Sports disciplines and the revised categories of sports disciplines and the scale of financial assistance admissible to each category was conveyed to IOC and all recognized National Sports Federations on 23rd March, 2015.It was also conveyed that 'General' category of sports disciplines shall be retained. Criteria for inclusion in this category and financial assistance to be provided will be separately issued.

Financial assistance for this category will be as under: National Championships are to be funded, One international event in India in a year, can be funded and a Maximum of one foreign exposure each in Senior and Junior categories can also be funded during a year.

Senior IAS officer Raghav Chandra has taken over as the Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) . Mr. Chandra succeeds Road Transport and Highways Secretary Vijay Chhibber, who was given the additional charge of the key post in June for three months after relinquishment of charge by former chairman R.P. Singh on completion of his tenure.

Ahead of beginning of work on the Budget for 2016-17, government on Monday designated Ratan P Watal as new Finance Secretary even as a new team of officials took charge at the finance ministry. Shaktikanta Das, took charge as the Secretary for Department of Economic Affairs after Rajiv Mehrishi on his last day in office was appointed Home Secretary for a two-year tenure. Das, who was Revenue Secretary, held discussions at length with his successor Hasmukh Adhia.Watal, 59, is a 1978-batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer while Das belongs to 1980 batch from Tamil Nadu cadre. 

Ministry of Railways has launched a paperless unreserved ticketing mobile application for the passengers travelling from New Delhi to Palwal Section. Now the passengers can buy unreserved tickets through their smart phones and need not visit Stations to purchase tickets. Besides, the Railways has also installed a Cash or Smart Card ticket vending machine at New Delhi Railway Station to provide unreserved tickets with a view to cater to passenger rush. Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu started both the facilities at a function organised at Rail Bhawan .

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank said Tuesday they would hold their 2018 annual meetings on the Indonesian island of Bali.The meetings, usually held every three years outside Washington where the sibling 188-nation institutions are headquartered, will take place in Nusa Dua in October 2018, the IMF and World Bank said in a joint statement.
The 2015 annual meetings are scheduled for October 9-11 in Lima, Peru.

About IMF --The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization headquartered in Washington, DC, of "188 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world".  Formed in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference, it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international payment system. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a quota system from which countries with payment imbalances can borrow.

About Worlds Bank--The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans  to developing countries for capital programs. It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group, and a member of the United Nations Development Group . The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has 188 member countries, while the International Development Association (IDA) has 172 members. Each member state of IBRD should be also a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and only members of IBRD are allowed to join other institutions within the Bank (such as IDA)

For her contribution to India’s health care sector over the last couple of decades, Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO of Wadia Hospitals, has been bestowed with the Jan Kalyan Award by one of India’s top brand management consultancies . Two hospitals of the group – Mumbai-based Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children and Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital – were also presented “Rashtriya Pragati Award” and “Standard Certified Organisation Award” at the recently concluded 13th conference of All India Economy Survey Award Council (AIESAC).AIESAC awards recognise the world’s best economic development programme and partnership, marketing materials and the year’s most influential leaders.