Gk Update 31 July 2016

1. PM Modi flags off 'Run for Rio'

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has flagged off the Run for Rio event in New Delhi today to celebrate the Olympic mood in the country.
ii. The mass run was announced by the Sports Minister Vijay Goel at a press conference.
iii. Around 20,000 school children participated in the event, which commenced from Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in Delhi.

2. SEBI's first phase of new enterprise portal goes live

i. Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has initiated the first phase of its new enterprise portal to facilitate accurate and timely circulation of information to internal and external stakeholders.
ii. The portal, developed by IT firm Tech Mahindra, provides an e-platform to registered and prospective intermediaries to interact in a secure, transparent, and paperless manner with SEBI.

3. PM  Modi wishes Rio-bound athletes in 'Mann ki Baat'

i. PM Modi talked about various subjects such as health, environment, technology, Olympics games  while addressing 22nd edition of ‘MannKiBaat’ programme and appealed the country to encourage the Indian contingent for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
ii. Government hospitals and other facilities will provide free medical care to needy pregnant women in the country. On 9th day of every month pregnant woman will be checked and given free medical aid.
iii. He also emphasised the need to embrace new technology, saying that the "future is going to be technology driven". Further, Modi invited public suggestions for his August 15 Independence day speech.

4. Gold bond scheme sees record Rs. 919cr in 4th tranche

i. The government's collections under the Sovereign Gold Bond scheme realised through the fourth tranche reached around Rs. 919 crore, the highest achieved yet.
ii. With issue price fixed at Rs. 3,119 per gram, the amount was mobilised through over 1.95 lakh applications representing around 2.95 tonnes of gold.
iii. The SGB scheme was launched as an alternative to keeping physical gold.

5. Centre to organise ‘Make in India’ conference in Bhubaneswar

i. Centre has decided to organise a Make in India conference in Bhubaneswar in December this year.
ii. The conference would be organised by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to attract investment in the state as well as the country.
iii. The Odisha government has requested the ministry to hold the conference in the first week of December.

6. Yahoo researchers built a powerful new online abuse detector

i. Yahoo researchers have developed a new online abuse detecting algorithm.
ii. Most current abuse filters use a combination of blacklisted terms or expressions to catch hate speech online, but the new method applies machine learning as well.
iii. The system, with a reported 90% accuracy, can recognize an offensive string of words, even when individual words are inoffensive on their own.

7. Bihar lifts ban on toddy (palm wine) sale, consumption

i. Bihar government has lifted the ban on the sale and consumption of toddy (palm wine) in the state.
ii.In April after Bihar imposed a total liquor ban in the state, it also banned the sale of ‘toddy’. But the decision to banned toddy was not lauded by Lalu Prasad and his party Rashtriya Janata Dal.

8. Kerala Tourism bags six National Tourism awards

i. Kerala Tourism has bagged six National Tourism awards for 2014-15 in the marketing category for states. It received two more awards, including the one for its Responsible Tourism (RT) initiative in Wayanad.
ii. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan presented the awards to Principal Secretary Venu V and Director U V Jose in the presence of Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma at a function at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.
iii. Kerala Tourism received three out of the six awards for states in the Tourism Promotion and Publishing category, including the one for ‘Most Innovative use of Information Technology’ – social media/mobile app. The Wayanad initiative, which has transformed the hilly district’s economy through intensive participation of the local people, was selected for the award in the ‘Responsible Tourism’ category.

9. AAAI confers Lifetime Achievement Award on adman Srinivasan Swamy

i. The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) announced the recipient of this year’s AAAI Lifetime Achievement Award as Srinivasan K Swamy popularly known as Sundar Swamy.
ii. This Award is the highest honour to be given to an individual in India for his/her outstanding contribution to the Advertising Industry. This award was instituted in 1988 by AAAI and so far 23 persons have been bestowed with it earlier.

10. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book launched

i. The book based on the script of the play 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' launched today globally. This is JK Rowling’s eighth Harry Potter story written along with Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.
ii. Thorne scripted the two-part play based on the original story, which begins 19 years after 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows', which was published in 2007.

11. WHO to remove transgenders from its mental disorders list

i. The World Health Organisation (WHO) is considering changing the way it classifies transgender identity.
ii. It came following calls from researchers and advocates to remove it from the WHO's list of mental disorders.
iii. The study was led by the National Institute of Psychiatry in Mexico.

12. Oracle to Buy NetSuite for $9.3 Billion

i. Business software maker Oracle has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NetSuite, the very first cloud company. The transaction is valued at $9.3 billion .
ii. The deal would help Oracle gain market share in the fast-growing cloud computing business.
iii. Oracle Database (commonly referred to as Oracle RDBMS or simply as Oracle) is an object-relational database management system produced and marketed by Oracle Corporation.

13. Skydiver Luke Aikins Sets Record For Highest Jump Without Parachute

i. Skydiver Luke Aikins, 42, became the first to jump from a height of 25,000 feet without a parachute, landing in a net in southern California.
ii. He has completed the jump in Simi Valley, west of Los Angeles.
iii. He had made his first tandem jump when he was 12.