Daily GK Updates – 14th – 15th March 2015
1. PM flags off train service at Talaimannar in Sri Lanka
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today flagged off a train service at the north-western Sri Lankan town of Talaimannar – the closest point to India – restored after decades of civil war, completing the reconstruction of the 
entire Northern Province Railway Line.
ii. Accompanied by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Modi also unveiled a plaque inaugurating Talaimannar 1650 Pier Railway station.
iii. Modi flew in here by an IAF chopper from the ancient holy town of Anuradhapura where he offered prayers at the sacred Mahabodhi tree. He is on his way to Jaffna, a former war zone in the island’s Tamil-majority Northern Province.
iv. The newly-constructed 63-km railway track between Madhu Road and Talaimannar Pier is the last segment of the 265-km long, prestigious Northern Railway Line Reconstruction Project which is being executed byIRCON International Ltd., a Government of India owned company. It is designed with a speed potential of 120 km per hour.
2. Harvard University retains top position in Times’ World Reputation Rankings 2015
i. Harvard University of United States (US) has again topped in World Reputation Rankings 2015 published by 
Times Higher Education.
ii. Times Higher Education in the rankings revealed the top 100 universities across the world.
iii. The top ten universities are all located in the US and United Kingdom (UK). US alone has 8 universities in the top ten rankings. While, UK has 2 universities in the top 10 ranking.
iv. 2015 reputation rankings shows that US alone has 43 higher education institutions in the top 100. While, United has 12 universities in the top 100.
Top 10 Universities in World Reputation Rankings 2015 are:
Harvard University (US).
University of Cambridge (UK).
University of Oxford (UK).
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US).
Stanford University (US).
University of California, Berkeley (US).
Princeton University (US).
Yale University (US).
California Institute of Technology (US).
Columbia University (US).
3. Pakistan successfully tests first indigenous armed drone
i. Pakistan successfully tested its first indigenously built all-weather armed drone named Burraq and a laser guided
missile named Barq.
ii. By successfully testing of Burraq, Pakistan became the 9th country in the World to develop an unmanned combat
aerial vehicle (UCAV) domestically.
iii. Dveloped by a venture of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM). It is named after the flying horse of Islamic tradition.
iv. Burraq has ability to fly in all types of weather conditions. It has capability to strike its targets with pinpoint accuracy. With Barq laser-guided missile mounted on it, Burraq can hit moving targets as well as stationary targets with pinpoint accuracy. UCAV Burraq was first flight tested in May 2009.
4. Union Ministry DoNER announced to appoint Mary Kom as the brand ambassador of the North East
i. Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) on 14 March 2015 announced to appoint Olympic Bronze medallist boxer MC Mary Kom as the brand ambassador of the North-East region.
ii. She as the brand ambassador of the Northeast will showcase the potential of the region which offers 2.4 trillion rupees business opportunities across various sectors.
iii. Her name was selected from the list of shortlisted famous personalities by a committee headed by DoNER Minister Jitendra Singh.
iv. Mary, 32, who hails from Manipur, is a five-time world amateur boxing champion and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each of the six world championships.
5. Government cuts import tariff on gold and silver
i. The government has slashed import tariffvalue on gold to USD 375 per 10 grams and silver to USD 512 per kg
following weak global price trends.
ii. During the first fortnight of the month, the tariff value on imported gold was fixed at USD 393 per 10 grams and on silver at USD 549 per kg.
iii. Gold in New York, which normally sets price trend on the domestic front, declined from a high of USD 1,162 per ounce and is currently ruling at USD 1,158.60 per ounce.
iv. Silver too has dropped to USD 15.64 per ounce. In February, gold imports had jumped by 49 per cent to USD 1.98 billion as compared to the year-ago period, while silver shipments contracted by 60.47 per cent to USD 121.42 million in the same period.
6. UTI MF to launch 2nd offshore equity fund in Dublin
i. UTI Mutual Fund is set to launch a second offshore equity fund to raise $300 million in Dublin next month, shortly after mopping up $300 million through a similar fund last year which tapped vast European investments.
ii. “We are launching offshore equity fund in Dublin to raise $300 million. The approval process is going on and it would likely be launched in April,” Leo Puri, managing director of UTI, told PTI at the ‘Emerging India Forum 2015’ organised by an Indian media house in Singapore.
iii. “We see a potential to get $1 billion,” he said when asked about the scope of raising funds to support investments in India.
iv. UTI Mutual Fund has already raised $300 million through a similar fund launched in Dublin in December 2014, which tapped the vast European investments.
7. TCS appoints Aarthi Subramanian to board of directors
i. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), India’s largest software services exporter, said on Thursday that it has appointed Aarthi Subramanian as an executive director on the board of directors of the company for a period of three years.
ii. With this appointment, the total strength of the board of directors increases to 11 directors, which include six independent directors.
iii. Subramanian is the global head of the delivery excellence group responsible for governance of service delivery, compliance and risk management.
iv. TCS had a total of 318,625 employees as of 31 December, of which 33% are women. The announcement was made after market hours. On Thursday, shares of TCS closed 0.37% up at Rs.2619 apiece, while the benchmark Sensex ended trade 0.95% up at 28,930.41.
8. India’s GDP growth will be 7.5 percent this year: Arun Jaitley
i. Noting that India is emerging as one of the fastest growing economies, finance minister Arun Jaitley has said that this year the GDP growth rate will be 7.5 percent and next year hopefully it would be higher.
ii. Launching the Union Bank of India (UK), a subsidiary of the Union Bank of India, Jaitley on Friday night said that since the new government came to power the economy has regained.
iii. “During the last few years we had fallen off the radar, our growth had slowed down, our priorities were blurred and the world was accusing us of policy paralysis. Finally people of India decided to bring about a change,” he said.
9.’Ex-Maldives President Nasheed to serve jail term in furnished AC prison apartment’
i. Former president Mohammed Nasheed, sentenced to 13 years in jail under anti-terrorism laws, will have a furnished air-conditioned prison apartment complete with a garden, a senior Maldivian minister said on Monday.
ii. Nasheed, 47, was last week sentenced to 13 years in jail over the alleged abduction and imprisonment of a former chief justice while he was president.
iii. “Nasheed’s 264 sqft Prison apartment: 1room, sitting room, furnished, AC, TV, VCD player. Garden 1087 sqft. Live with other inmate-friends,” minister of home affairs Umar Naseer tweeted.
iv. Naseer, in another tweet on Sunday, had said the government will guarantee safety and welfare of the former President while he is jailed.
10. Mumbai HC directed Maharashtra Government to set up a redressal mechanism against noise pollution
i. The Mumbai High Court (HC) on 13 March 2015 directed the Maharashtra government to set up a redressal mechanism for complaints filed by citizens against noise pollution levels.
ii. The direction given by the Mumbai HC is the latest in the series of rules and judgments pertaining to noise pollution given by various courts and the Union Government respectively.
iii. It also directed the state government to frame a policy in this regard within two months and submit a compliance report by 6 June 2015. Further it directed the state government to take prompt action before the festivals get over.
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