GK and Current Affairs Updates

Eminent Kannada poet and freedom fighter passed away at Badiyadkka in Kasaragod district of Karnataka. He was 101. He was an author, poet, journalist and Indian independence activist. About Kayyar Kinhanna Rai He was born on 8 June 1915 in Kasaragod in then Madras Presidency of British India. He had started his career as a secondary school teacher and later delved into journalism and contributed his writings to various newspapers.
 Some of his famous poems are Aikyagana, Shreemukha, Chethana, Punarnava and Koraga. His other important works are Sahithya Drushti and Malayala Sahitya Charithre (History of Malayalam literature) which is a translation of an original work by P. K. Parameshwaran Nair. In 1998, he had served as President of 67th Akhila Bharatha Kannada Sahitya Sammelana which was held in Mangalore. 
Activist career:
 He was forefront in the movement of merging the Kannada-speaking region north of the Chandragiri river (Kasaragod district) with Karnataka in order to fulfill its linguistic and development aspirations after the 1957 States Re-organisation. For this cause, he had founded Kasaragod Vileenekarana Kriya Samiti. 
Awards:
 Karnataka Sahitya Academy Puraskar (1969),
 National Award for Best Teacher (1969), 
Karnataka Ekikarana (Unification) Award (2007) 

Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar on 7 August 2015 received the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) - Safari India South Asia Travel Award 2015. Parulekar is the first tourism minister of Goa to receive this prestigious award. Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) found in 1998 at the Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA) Conference in Colombo, Sri Lank, is a professional organization of travel writers.PATWA is an affiliate of United Nations and World Tourism Organization (WTO). It adheres to the fundamental principles of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations (UN), and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).Safari India is a regional tourism magazine covering India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and South East Asia.

India retains its top spot as the world’s largest exporter of beef, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and has extended its lead over the next highest exporter, Brazil. It must be noted, however, that the U.S. government classifies even buffalo meat as beef.
According to the data, India exported 2.4 million tonnes of beef and veal in FY 2015, compared to 2 million tonnes by Brazil and 1.5 million by Australia. These three countries account for 58.7 per cent of all the beef exports in the world. India itself accounts for 23.5 per cent of global beef exports. This is up from a 20.8 per cent share last year.
Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) shows that most of India’s buffalo meat exports go to Asian countries — Asia receives more than 80 per cent, while Africa takes around 15 per cent. Within Asia, Vietnam is the largest recipient, at 45 per cent.
India’s buffalo meat exports have been growing at an average of nearly 14 per cent each year since 2011, and fetching India as much as $4.8 billion in 2014. Last year, India for the first time earned more from the export of buffalo meat than it did from Basmati rice.
Several databases, including the United Nations Food and Agricultural Outlook, show that meat consumption in India is increasing. However, the data also shows that beef consumption has been falling over the years, down -44.5 per cent in 2014 from the level it was in 2000. This fall in consumption has been taking place regardless of the political party in power. Chicken consumption, however, was up 31 per cent in that period.

Make in India is an initiative program of the Government of India to encourage companies to manufacture their products in India. It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 September 2014.
The major objective behind the initiative is to focus on 25 sectors of the economy for job creation and skill enhancement. Some of these sectors are: automobiles, chemicals, IT, pharmaceuticals, textiles, ports, aviation, leather, tourism and hospitality, wellness, railways, design manufacturing, renewable energy, mining, bio-technology, and electronics The initiative hopes to increase GDP growth and tax revenue  The initiative also aims at high quality standards and minimising the impact on the environment. The initiative hopes to attract capital and technological investment in India. The campaign was designed by Wieden+Kennedy 
Under the initiative, brochures on the 25 sectors and a web portal were released. Before the initiative was launched, foreign equity caps in various sectors had been relaxed . The application for licences was made available online and the validity of licenses was increased to 3 years. Various other norms and procedures were also relaxed

 Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has announced its first manufacturing unit in India in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh. The company also launched its first ‘Made in India”smartphone called Redmi 2 Prime at a price of Rs 6,999. Xiaomi has exclusively partnered with Foxconn for this facility and going forward it aims to manufacture all of its smartphones to cater to the demand in the country. Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), said India has a huge amount of young energy right now and in many ways Mi represents the vibrancy, dynamism and innovation for present day India.  “Future of Xiaomi is not in China. It is in India. The kind of growth opportunity this country will give going forward cannot be matched by any other at this point of time. India has been the back office of the world and China has been the factory of the world. But this is radically changing given the IT skillset present here,” he said 
Xiaomi has a similar facility, in partnership with Foxconn in Brazil apart from China. “The unit in Brazil and the one here are exactly the same. It took us about three times more the time to start manufacturing in Brazil than in India,”said Barra.

Pramerica Asset Managers, the asset management business in India of Pramerica Investment Management, said it had agreed to buy Deutsche Bank’s India asset management business.Separately, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd also said that it had decided to acquire 50% of the equity share capital of Pramerica Asset Managers Private Limited — the asset management Company of Pramerica Mutual Fund — and Pramerica Trustees Private Limited, the trustee for the Pramerica Mutual Fund, from PGLH of Delaware Inc.
Pramerica Asset Managers Pvt. Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Prudential Financial, Inc of the US and is the asset management company for Pramerica Mutual Fund, registered with Securities & Exchange Board of India.
Headquartered in Mumbai, Pramerica AMC has a presence in 19 cities across the country including branches in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.
Dewan Housing also said that it had issued a no objection to Pramerica Asset Managers Private Ltd to acquire the Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management business, “since the combined business will enable PAMC to expand their investment management expertise, distribution platform and products portfolio significantly in India.”Pramerica Investment Management’s multi-manager asset management businesses collectively rank among the top 10 institutional money managers in the world, according to Pensions & Investments magazine.
Pramerica AMC’s proposed 50/50 joint venture partnership with Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) in India recently received approval from SEBI, and the joint venture is expected to be completed shortly.
 

 India is likely to back out from a Commonwealth Parliamentary Union (CPU) event to be held in Islamabad next month, in protest against Pakistan not inviting the speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, the Press Trust of India (PTI) has reported.
“A meeting of speakers of all states here today unanimously decided that India will boycott the meeting of the CPU if the speaker of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly is not invited,” the news agency quoted Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan as saying after the meeting.
The decision of the speakers comes against the backdrop of simmering tensions between the two border states over the recent terror attacks in Gurdaspur in Punjab and near Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mahajan said this was against a rule in the CPU in which all the speakers, who are members of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), have to be extended an invitation to the CPU meeting.
 

 Mysore city in Karnataka has topped the Swachh Bharat Rankings of 476 cities in the country with three more from the State figuring in the top 10. West Bengal does well with 25 cities/towns from the State finding a place in the top 100 cities. These rankings are based on the extent of open defecation and solid waste management practices in these cities. The city of Mysore leads the cities with minimal open defecation and extensive adoption of solid waste management practices.
The top 10 ranked cities being : Mysore, Thiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu), Navi Mumbai, Kochi (Kerala), Hassan, Mandya and Bengaluru from Karnataka, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Halisahar (West Bengal) and Gangtok (Sikkim) in that order.
                Damoh (Madhya Pradesh) came at the bottom of 476, preceded by Bhind(MP), Palwal and Bhiwani, both in Haryana, Chittaurgarh (Rajasthan), Bulandshahar (UP), Neemuch (MP), Rewari(Haryana), Hindaun (Rajasthan) and Sambalpur in Odisha at 467thrank.
                All the 476 Class-1 cities in 31 States and Union Territories, each  with a population of above one lakh were surveyed for assessing  total sanitation practices covering a set of parameters including the extent of open defecation, solid waste management, septage management, waste water treatment, drinking water quality, surface water quality of water bodies and mortality due to water born diseases etc.
                The survey conducted during 2014-15 was commissioned by the Ministry of Urban Development as required under the National Sanitation Policy of 2008.
                Since the Swachh Bharat Mission is being implemented in urban areas with focus on construction of individual household, community and public toilets to eradicate open defecation and ensure door-to-door collection and disposal of municipal solid waste, all the 476 Class-1 cities have been ranked based on the data pertaining to these elements from out of the date generated in the survey. This helps in assessing the present situation in these cities so that they can undertake necessary interventions to  meet Swachh Bharat Mission targets in urban areas.
                Over all sanitation rankings of these cities based on a total of 100 marks assigned to different parameters covering all aspects would be announced later. The Swachh Bharat rankings are based on a total of 42 marks including 20 for open defecation indicators and 22 for solid waste management indicators.
Number of cities surveyed in major States include : UP (61), West Bengal (60), Mharashtra (43), MP(32), Gujarat (30), AP(30), Tamil Nadu(29), Rajasthan(28), Bihar (27), Karnataka (26), Haryana(20), Punjab(16), Telangana (11), Odisha (10), Jharkhand(10), Chattisgarh(9) and 6 each from Kerala, Uttarakhand and North-Eastern states.
  

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a new Science and Innovation Museum called ‘Navachara Kaksh’ at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (August 4, 2015).
‘Navachara Kaksh’, established by Rashtrapati Bhavan with the assistance of M/s. Intel India has a compelling mix of information, scientific know-how and inspiring innovation designed to encourage young people on the path to scientific discovery and learning. It will exhibit Robotic Dog, Virtual Tabla, Stringless Piano, 3D printer, Talking Wall and ‘Planet Wall. Visitors can also click selfies 3D-style with the President’s House as a backdrop and email it.
The ‘Robotic Dog’ called Clumsy resembles a real dog. 16 Servo Motors can enable him to perform complex motor actions like walking and squatting. It also has sensors that allow him to see, touch, hear and see. Just like a brain, the microcontroller board takes inputs from these sensors and controls his movements. Clumsy has been designed by a talented school student who won prestigious awards at an International science competition.
Withthe ‘Virtual Tabla’ one can play the drums and hear its rhythmic sound without touching the drums at all. Sensors detect hand movements and play a corresponding sound with the help of microprocessors. Like the Robotic Dog, the Virtual Tabla has been created by a school student at a makeathon.The ‘Stringless Piano’, similar to the Virtual Tabla, is a sensor activated device that creates music seemingly out of thin air. It has a wireless, touch-sensitive electric sound producer that responds to action mechanisms to sound like a regular piano.
The ‘3D printer’ enables making a three dimensional solid object from a digital file by laying out successive layers of material until the entire object is created. The 3D printer is pre-programmed using the open-source Intel® Galileo development board, which enables the printer to be customized in various ways to achieve different objectives.
The museum also has a ‘Talking Wall’ and a ‘Planet Wall’ intended to inform and encourage students on the path to discovery. An interactive audio-visual display (through an LED TV) will arouse curiosity about various discoveries and the mechanics of innovations. It gives information about national science fairs where students can showcase their talent and also features young geniuses, through the passage of time, who have earned international recognition through their ground-breaking research.
At the "Navachara Kaksh",a selfie 3D-style can also be clicked with the President’s House as a backdrop. The Intel® RealSense™ 3D camera, the world’s first and smallest integrated 3D camera, is designed to sense a user’s head and hands in 3 dimensions to provide a natural and immersive interaction.The "Navachara Kaksh" will be open for visitorson weekends (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) as part of the Rashtrapati Bhavan tour.

President Mamnoon Hussain approved Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's advice to appoint Justice Jawwad S Khawaja as the Chief Justice of Pakistan with effect from August 17, 2015.
Incumbent Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk is set to complete his tenure on August 16, 2015.
A news release issued by the Presidency reads:“On a summary initiated by the Law, Justice and Human Rights Division, President Mamnoon Hussain approved the prime minister’s advice for appointment of senior judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, as Chief Justice of Pakistan with effect from August 17, 2015, after superannuation of Justice Nasirul Mulk, Chief Justice of Pakistan, on attaining the age of 65 years w.e.f. August 16, 2015.”
Justice Jawwad Khawaja was born on September 10, 1950 in Wazirabad and obtained a degree in law from Punjab University.
He started his career as an advocate of high court in 1975 and got practicing license of Supreme Court in 1985. He has also served as a visiting lecturer at the Punjab University Law College from 1975 to 1986.Justice Khawaja also received an LLM from University of Berkeley, California and taught at Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) until he was appointed as the Judge of Supreme Court in 2009.It is pertinent to mention here that Justice Khawaja was the first judge to resign in protest from the high court in March 2007 after former President Pervez Musharraf virtually suspended the then chief justice of Pakistan, Chaudhry Iftikhar, and appointed the available senior-most judge, Justice Javed Iqbal, as the acting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.