GK Quiz – 1

Indore has become the India’s first city where robot is being used on an experimental basis to control its ever growing and unruly traffic. The traffic police in association with a private engineering college of the city for the first time have installed a metallic robot at a busy MR 9 intersection on an experimental basis to control the chaotic traffic in the locality. This traffic controller robot has been designed by 2 professors of an engineering college of the city Prof Rahul Tiwari and Aniruddh Sharma.

Axis Bank has launched India’s first open loop EMV contactless metro card “KMRL Axis Bank ‘Kochi1’ Card” in association with Kochi Metro Rail Corporation (KMRL) to make travel a convenient and hassle free experience for commuters in Kochi. Axis Bank has partnered with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in developing this transit EMV contactless specification on interoperable open standards. The prepaid card has integrated benefits and offers a plethora of services to commuters such as instant issuance of personalized cards, convenience of recharge, hassle free shopping experience, etc

Nisha Dutt, the CEO of Intellecap, has been honoured with the “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” award at The 7th Asian Awards in London in recognition of her work in making Intellecap a globally known enterprise that focuses on social capital. With this, Dutt has become the first Indian woman leader to be honoured with this award. Her key contribution has been integrating technology with challenges of healthcare, financial services, incubation and conceptualizing programs such as Innovations Labs and Credit-tree.

Facebook Inc has launched an Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI) in the United Kingdom (UK) to remove extremist and terrorism content from its social media platform. The new initiative will train Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to help them monitor and respond to extremist content and create a dedicated support desk so they can communicate directly with Facebook.

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji will be honoured with the 2017 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy for his efforts to reform India’s public school system. He is among the 9 philanthropists named recipients of the 2017 Medal of Philanthropy, who are selected for their distinguished and longstanding contributions to the public good. The Carnegie institutions will award the medals during a formal ceremony in October 2017. The honorees are recognized as catalysts for good whose philanthropy has had a significant and lasting impact on a particular field, nation, or community of people.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Union Minister of Science and Technology, has launched the Visiting Advanced Joint Research Faculty (VAJRA) scheme in New Delhi to bring together the Indian scientists abroad and India-based researchers for conducting joint researches in India. Under this scheme, scientists or senior researchers abroad – of Indian origin or otherwise – can collaborate with faculties in India and would receive endowments at par with those in their own countries. The endowments for faculties would be US $15,000 in the first month of residency and US $10,000, for the remaining month. As per the scheme, the broad areas of research like energy, health, advance material and others would be promoted.

Bengaluru has become the India’s first city where one can have fuel delivered at one’s doorstep just like milk and newspapers. Mypetrolpump, a one-year-old startup, has conducted a soft launch with three delivery vehicles – each with a capacity of 950 litres. It has already delivered more than 5,000 litres of diesel. Diesel is delivered at the day’s running price with a fixed delivery charge. For up to 100 litres, the one-time delivery charge is Rs 99. Above 100 litres, one needs to pay the diesel price plus one additional rupee per litre. The startup has got 20 odd customers, including 16 schools (which have 250-300 buses) and a few apartments. One can place orders online, through a phone call or by downloading the free app.

The United Nations Public Service Day is observed every year on June 23 to recognize the work of public servants and to encourage young people to pursue careers in the public sector. The day is also observed to celebrate value and virtue of public service to the community and to raise awareness regarding the contribution of public service in the development of society and honouring the work of public servants.

Indian anti-hunger activist Ankit Kawatra has honoured with the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders award for his exceptional work in transforming the lives of others. Kawatra is among the 60 others from all 53 Commonwealth countries to be felicitated with the prestigious award by Queen Elizabeth (II) at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace in London on June 29, 2017. The honourees will also undergo a year-long mentoring and online learning by the University of Cambridge to build leadership capabilities and better their work towards the communities. He is the founder of Feeding India, a not-for profit organization that works towards solving problems of hunger, malnutrition and food wastage, mainly by redistributing extra food from restaurants, canteens, households, corporates etc. to help people in need.

The Kishtwar National Park (KNP) is located in the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. is surrounded by Rinnay River in the north, Kibar Nala catchments in the southern part, the Great Himalaya in the east and Marwa River in the west. The park is located at the high altitude of 1,700 meters to 4,800 meters. It is home to brown bear, leopard, snow leopard, Himalayan musk deer, hangul, ibex, etc.