Daily GK Update - 20th and 21st June 2015

1. India sets two Guinness world records on International Yoga Day

i. India has set two Guinness world records (GWR) in Rajpath yoga event held on the eve of first International Yoga Day led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

ii. First record is the largest number of participants- 35,985 people had participated in largest yoga demonstration at a single venue i.e. Rajpath yoga event.

iii. Second is the most number of nationalities at a single event– People of 84 nationalities performed yoga at one place.  

iv. The awards were received by Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Yesso Naik from representatives of Guinness World Records.

v. In this event all participants of all ages had performed various yoga exercises on the entire two-km stretch from Rafi Marg crossing near Vijay Chowk to India Gate. This mass yoga event has broken previous world record on mass yoga exercise which was set by 29,973 students from 362 schools on November 19, 2005 led by Vivekananda Kendra at Jiwaji University Gwalior.

2. Vocalist Sanjay Subrahmanyam selected for ‘Sangita Kalanidhi’ award 2015

i. One of the foremost south Indian classical vocalists, Sanjay Subrahmanyam has been selected for the ‘Sangita Kalanidhi’ award 2015. It will be bestowed upon him when he will preside over the 89th annual conference of the Academy which will be held between December 15, 2015 and January 1, 2016.

ii. With this, he is seventh artistes to be conferred with the award before completing 50 years of age. Others are Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Maharajapuram Viswanatha Iyer, Musiri Subramania Iyer, G.N. Balasubramaniam, Semmangudi R. Srinivasa Iyer, M.L. Vasanthakumari and M. Balamuralikrishna

iii. Sangita Kalanidhi is a prestigious award bestowed annually upon an expert of Carnatic Music by the Madras Music Academy. The award’s name has been derived from Sanskrit which means treasure of Music and art in English. This honour is considered one of the highest awards in Carnatic music.

3. International Yoga Day: Stamps, coins and commerce

i. The government of India has released stamp s and coins of the denomination of Rs.10 and Rs.100 on International Yoga Day (IYD) on June 21.

ii.The Department of Posts is bringing out stamp and the finance ministry coins.

iii. Also, on IYD, the Discovery Channel has telecasted a short film 'The Story of Yoga' to take viewers through a journey of rediscovering the Indian ancient practice.

4. HAL delivers ‘Orbiter Craft Module Structure’ of Chandrayaan-2 to ISRO

i. HAL has delivered ‘Orbiter Craft Module Structure’ of Chandrayaan-2 to ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC).

ii. The Orbiter Craft Module structure is a 3 tonne category bus structure made out of a central composite cylinder, shear webs and deck panels

iii. The Chandrayaan-2 mission is aimed at placing an Orbiter around the moon and sending a Lander and Rover to the surface of the moon. It will be launched by a Geo-Stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-MKII).

iv. HAL has partnered and supported ISRO throughout its journey by providing hardware for satellites, SLV, ASLV, PSLV, GSLVMKII and GSLV MKIII (LVM3).

5. National vendor development programme in Bengaluru

i. Peenya Industrial Assocation (PIA) will hold PIA: Expo 2015 - National Vendor Development Programme at Bengaluru from June 25-27.

ii. Peenya Industrial Complex is one of the biggest industrial complexes housing about 8,500 MSMEs and spread over an area of 45 sq. km. It is surrounded by a dozen peripheral industrial estates, employing about 8.5 lakh people, out of which about four lakh are women employees.

iii. This year’s PIA Expo:2015 is being held held at Dr Prabhakar Kore Convention Center, Yeshwanthpur, Bengaluru.

6. Overnight Liquid Transaction facility on NSE’s Web-based Mutual Fund platform began functioning

i. National Stock Exchange (NSE) on 22 June 2015 operationalised the Overnight Liquid Transaction facility on its web-based Mutual Fund Service System (MFSS) platform. The platform was launched on 19 June 2015.

ii. The facility allows the participants to place purchase and redemption orders simultaneously in liquid schemes. This facility will only be available on MFSS Web based platform and in Physical mode only.

iii. Earlier in May 2015, a similar product was introduced by Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) which has so far seen daily transactions of worth 400-500 crore rupees.

7. Federer Wins Weber Title for Eighth Time

i. Roger Federer showed he was ready for Wimbledon by defeating Andreas Seppi of Italy, 7-6 (1), 6-4, on Sunday in Halle, Germany, to claim his record-setting eighth Gerry Weber Open title.

ii. It was Federer’s fourth title of the season, after wins at Brisbane, Dubai and Istanbul, and a timely boost for Wimbledon eight days before the tournament begins.

iii. Andy Murray claimed his 34th career title and third title of the season with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over unseeded Kevin Anderson in the final of the grass-court Queen’s Club tournament in London. Murray joined John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt as four-time winners of the event.

8. Nico Rossberg of Mercedes wins Austrian Grand Prix of F1

i. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg from Germany has won the Austrian Grand Prix Formula One (F1) World Championship title. It is Rosberg’s eleventh overall championship title and the third win in the 2015 season.

ii. First was the Spanish Formula 1 World Championship title won on May 10, 2015 and second was Monaco Grand Prix on May 24, 2015. Nico Rosberg had also won the Austrian Grand Prix of 2014 season which was maiden win for Mercedes on this track.

iii. Lewis Hamiltion (Mercedes) from United Kingdom was placed at the second position. Felipe Massa (Williams) from Brazil was placed at the third position. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) from Germany stood at the fourth position.

9. Former Indian women hockey captain Shashi Bala passes away

i. Former Indian women hockey team captain Shashi Bala passed away on 21 June 2015. Shashi was killed in a car accident along with her son in Kahma village of Punjab. ii. She was a former hockey player and had made international debut in 1987. 

iii. She had captained Indian hockey team for women in Women Hockey World Cup Qualifier held in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1997. She was also team member of the Indian hockey team for women in 1998 World Cup played at Netherlands.