Daily GK Potion – 9th December 2015

 

  1. Indian-American entrepreneur Frank Islam to get Uttar Pradesh Ratna Award
    • An Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist will be conferred with Uttar Pradesh Ratna Award to recognise his achievements and outstanding contributions in a foreign country.
    • Frank Islam, 63, who was born in Uttar Pradesh’s (UP) Azamgarh district and studied at Aligarh Muslim University, will be honoured by UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav at the inaugural UP Pravasi Diwas in Agra on January 4.
    • The UP Ratna award has been instituted to recognise achievements and outstanding contributions of NRIs who hail from the state.
  2. Pune, Rajkot join the IPL bandwagon
    • The Indian Premier League (IPL) Governing Council painted a rosy picture of the tournament while announcing the two news teams — Pune and Rajkot — as replacements for the suspended Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR).
    • Pune and Rajkot will be franchises for a period of two years.
    • New Rising, the Kolkata-based businessman Sanjiv Goenka’s company, bought the Pune franchise, while Rajkot was won by Intex Mobiles through reverse bidding. T
  3. International Anti-Corruption Day observed across the world on 9th December
  4. MoU signed between Ministry of Textiles & Ministry of MSME for establishing a Technology Centre at Kanpur
    • A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed today, among Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) & National Textile Corporation (NTC) in order to set up a Technology Centre (Tool Room) at Kanpur.
    • Under the MoU, Ministry of MSME will fund the project, while NTC would provide the land in  a closed, unviable mill.
    • Management will be through a Governing Council where Development Commissioner, MSME will be Chairman and Ministry of Textiles representative, co-chair
      tech-centre-at-kanpur
  5. Hetero gets DCGI approval to market Hepatitis C drug
    • Drug maker Hetero has received approval from DCGI to market generic version of Gilead’s Harvoni, a drug used in the treatment of Hepatitis C, in the country.
    • Hetero is the first company in India to receive the approval for the fixed-dose combination Ledipasvir-Sofosbuvir (90mg/400mg) from Drug Controller General of India (DCGI),
    • The product will be available under the brand name ‘Ledisof’.
  6. Delhi Government announced vehicle rationing scheme to curb air pollution
    • The primary objective of the initiative is to halve the vehicular population in the city and thereby to bring pollution levels under control.
    • In the first phase of the scheme, vehicles with odd and even number plates would be allowed to run on alternate days between 1 January and 15 January 2016 in the capital city.
    • While the odd-numbered vehicles will ply on odd dates, the even-numbered vehicles would ply on even dates.
    • The rule will be enforced between 8am and 8pm only and there will be no restrictions on Sundays.
    • Emergency vehicles such as ambulances were excluded from this restriction.
  7. Carolina Marin wins BWF Female Player of the Year award
    • Reigning World No.1 and 2015 All England and World champion Carolina Marin pipped Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal on Tuesday to win the Female Player of the Year award from BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer in Dubai.
    • Marin, who has won five World Superseries titles, held off competition from China’s Zhao Yunlei, Saina and China’s Bao Yixin.
    • China’s Chen Long retained the Male Player of the Year award that he won last year.
  8. ‘Heart of Asia’ Conference Begins in Pakistan
    • A regional conference hosted by Pakistan with focus on Afghanistan started here today where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will represent India at the ministerial-level meeting tomorrow.
    • The fifth ‘Heart of Asia’ conference, an annual gathering of Asian and other countries, is aimed at enhancing cooperation for countering security threats and promoting connectivity in the region.

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