1

Daily GK Update - 1st May 2015 1 Canara Bank ties up with Life Insurance Corporation

i Canara Bank has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Life

Insurance Corporation of India for offering the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana insurance cover to all i ts eligible customers

ii The bank has also partnered with the United India Insurance Company for offering

the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana insurance cover iii According to the MoU LIC will offer a life

cover of 2 lakh in case of death of the insured person at a nominal premium of 330 per annum iv All savings bank account holders in age group of 18 to 50 years can avail themselves of product

2 BARC India TV viewership rating i Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India launched two years ago to

measure and assess TV viewership in India has announced i ts fi rs t data for week 16 of

2015 ii As per BARC data Star Plus was the leading Hindi general entertainment channel (GEC) in

the Hindi-speaking markets (HSM) Zee emerged as a s trong player in the regional

channels such as Marathi and Telugu Aaj Tak was the leader in Hindi news (HSM) and Times Now led in the English News category

(All India)

iii BARC India will monitor 12000 sample households using a s tratified random sampling technique This will go up to 20000 reporting homes iv BARC India was set up as a collaboration

between advertisers and the TV broadcasters to replace TAM (Television Audience Measurement) media research data 3 lsquoExtremely simplifiedrsquo income tax return

form i An ldquoextremely simplifiedrdquo income tax return form will soon replace the

controversial 14-page ITR that sought information like all bank accounts and

foreign trip details

ii The Finance Ministry is considering easy taxation form which an assessee can do

things himself and does not have to run to various advisers

iii As i t s tands the new ITR forms including the ITR-1 and ITR-2 require an assessee to furnish the number of bank accounts held by

the individual

4 Reform implementation to determine rating upgrade i India rsquos sovereign rating will depend on

implementation of policies by its leaders to improve the business environment for the private sector and for infrastructure growth according to rating agency Moodyrsquos

ii Moodyrsquos which has given the lowest investment grade rating to India named regulatory complexity and weak social and

physical infrastructure as challenges before the country

iii Lower global commodity prices support Indiarsquos growth and balance of payments but i ts banking system would pose sovereign

risks over the medium term i f asset quality and capitalisation levels do not improve 5 India extends e-tourist visa scheme to 31 more countries

i India will provide e-touris t visa to 31 more countries including France and Canada enabling the ci ti zens of these nations easy entry to the country ii The e-touris t visa had been launched in November last year for 45 countries from nine designated Indian ai rports iii With the latest addition the total number of countries under this scheme will go up to 76 By the end of current financial year

Government intends to exte nd the scheme to 150 countries

6 Dr Pramod Patil and Dr Ananda Kumar won 2015 Whitley Awards for wildlife

conservation i Two Indians have been awarded with the

prestigious Whitley Awards for their contribution to wildlife conservation ii Dr Ananda Kumar a conservationist from

India was awarded the prize in honour of his work using innovative communication

systems to enable human-elephant coexis tence in southern India iii Another winner of the Whitley Award

dubbed Green Oscar is Dr Pramod Patil He has been awarded for his work to protect the iconic great Indian bustard in the Thar Desert

iv HRH The Princess Royal presented the awards and each of them receiving a Whitley

prize worth pound35000 at a ceremony in London

7 Seychelles becomes 161st member of World Trade Organisation i Seychelles an archipelago of 90000

inhabitants became the 161st member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) It is one of the smallest nations among the WTO members ii This approval by WTO ended Seychelles

20-year long wait to become a member of WTO since i t had applied for WTO membership in May 1995 iii Seychelles also became the 33rd government to accede to the rules-based multilateral trading system through Article XII negotiations since the WTO was

established in 1995 iv It should be noted that the Protocol of Accession was signed by former Seychellesrsquo

Minister of Trade Finance and Investment Pierre Laporte and WTO Director General

(DG) Roberto Azevedo

Daily GK Updates - 2nd May 2015 1 John Kerrys visit to Sri Lanka i US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in

Sri Lanka to offer support for newly elected President Maithripala Si risena after years of tensions with the former government of

President Mahinda Rajapaksa over human rights

ii It is the fi rst time in a decade that a US secretary of s tate has visi ted Sri Lanka

iii Kerry will discuss US interest in expanding trade and investment with Sri Lanka

iv Sri Lanka exports roughly $25 billion in goods mostly textiles to the United States a

year 2 Tata Power LampT to supply mobile artillery

system to the Army

i The army is set to get an artillery boost with a proposal being moved to raise six new

regiments of the indigenous Pinaka Multi -

2

Launcher Rocket System (MLRS) a formidable system designed to annihilate enemy targets with a blanket of precisely

guided rockets ii Tata Power and Larsen amp Toubro (LampT) will get a major share of the Rs 1950-crore contract that is to be approved by the defence ministry as they are the primary manufacturers of the mobile artillery system along with s tate-run Bharat Earth Movers (BEML) iii From the exis ting capaci ty of 1000 rockets a year the government has sanctioned an increase to 5000 rockets annually

3 CRPF to adopt village in earthquake-hit Nepal

i para-mili tary force CRPF has decided to adopt a village in the Himalayan country ii The CRPF has decided to adopt Karikat

village near Bi rganj in Nepal to provide people immediate relief and help in its

reconstruction

iii The para -mili tary force has set up a medical camp for earthquake victims and was also distributing daily need i tems like rice tea biscui t candle etc

4 Buenos Aires is worldrsquos bookstore capital i The ci ty has more bookstores per capita

than any other major ci ty in the world according to a recent s tudy by the World Ci ties Cultural Forum an organization that works to promote cul ture ii With a population of 28 million people within the ci ty limits there are 25 bookstores for every 100000 people putting Buenos Aires far above other world cities like London Paris Madrid Moscow and New York The closest is Hong Kong which has 22 bookstores per 100000 people

5 Goldman Sachs invests in Foodpanda i Mobile food delivery app Foodpanda on Friday announced raising of fresh funds to

the tune of $100 million (about Rs 635 crore) in a financing round led by Goldman Sachs

ii Its investors include Rocket Internet (52 per cent s take) Phenomen Ventures Investment AB Kinnevik and iMENA Holdings

Active in over 580 ci ties globally Foodpanda has partnered with over 60000 restaurants

iii In India the company has partnerships with more than 3000 restaurants including brands such as Pizza Hut Subway Nirula rsquos

Faasos Baskin Robbins and Ammirsquos Bi ryani 6 Nitin Gadkari Dedicates to the Nation

Two Major Highway Projects in the North East i Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Shri Ni tin Gadkari today dedicated to the nation two major Highwa y projects in the North East at a function near Shillong ii The projects considerably ease the travel from Guwahati towards Shillong and other parts of the North East These include Shillong Bypass and four laning of Jorabat-Barapani Section of NH-40 iii The Shillong Bypass connects NH 40 and

NH 44 (New NH 6) and will decongest the traffic in the ci ty of Shillong from trucks and heavy vehicles coming from or moving

towards North Eastern parts of Assam and other states -Mizoram and Tripura iv The 4876 Km Bypass begins from NH 40

at Umiam in Ri-Bhoi District and ends on NH 44 (new NH 6) at Mawryngkneng in East

Khasi Hills District The bypass was constructed by NHAI on BOT (Annuity) mode

Daily GK Update - 3rd May 2015 CNR Rao conferred with Japans highest civilian award

i Eminent scientist and Bharat Ratna awardee Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao was conferred with Japanrsquos highest civilian award the Order of the Rising Sun Gold and Silver Star

ii He was bestowed with this award for his outstanding contributions to science and Indo-Japanese science cooperation

iii Rao is a National Research Professor Linus Pauling Research Professor He is also

the Honorary President of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance Scienti fic Research Bengaluru and a former Chair of the Japan -

India Science Council A Book titled China ndash Confucius in the

Shadows written by Poonam Surie released

i A Book titled China ndash Confucius in the Shadows was released by the Vice President

M Hamid Ansari on 1 May 2015 Confucius was considered as the most efficient author

in Chinese his tory ii Book has been wri tten by Poonam Surie Poonam Surie is an Adjunct Fellow at the

Insti tute of Chinese Studies New Delhi iii The book highlights that in the evolving socio political milieu of China interpreting Confucian philosophy as being non-confrontationis t benevolent and with values

such as filial piety and harmony could help the current political regime deal with such problems as corruption and rising inequalities Four Indians to be conferred with 2015 Spring Imperial Decorations of Japan

i Four Indians will be conferred with the Spring Imperial Decorations of Japan which were announced on 29 April 2015

ii These Indians are among the 85 foreign recipients who will receive the award at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on 8 May 2015 The awards will be conferred by Emperor of Japan Akihi to The Order of the Rising Sun Gold and Silver Star -

Thottuvelil Krishna Pillai Aiyappankutty Nair (75) He is a former Advisor and

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh

Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao

(80) He is the Honorary President of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance

Scientific Research Bangalore and a former Chair of the Japan-India Science Council

The Order of the Rising Sun Gold and Silver Rays

Nikunj Parekh (74) He is the President of Indo-Japanese Association Mumbai

and Director of Bonsai Study Group of Indo-Japanese Association Mumbai

The Orders of the Sacred Treasure Gold and Silver Rays

Topgay Bhutia (64) Former local employee of the Embassy of Japan in

3

India was awarded for his contribution to the activi ties of the Japanese overseas establishment

Surender Singh took over as Director General of CISF

i Senior IPS officer Surender Singh took over

as Director General (DG) of central paramilitary force Central Industrial Securi ty Force (CISF) ii Surender Singh is a 1980-batch police officer of West Bengal cadre Earlier he served as a Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) before getting the new assignment

iii His tenure will end in August 2016 He succeeded Arvind Ranjan iv CISF is the largest industrial securi ty force in the world It is directly under the Union Minis try of Home Affai rs and its headquarters are at New Delhi

Rajasthan government allocates 12 crore rupees for Project Great Indian Bustard

i Rajasthan Forest department has allotted more than twelve crore rupees for a bi rd conservation programme Project Great

Indian Bustard (GIB) ii For this project Japan Bank is going to provide financial support of three crore rupees iii Under the GIB Project closures will be made at many places in Khudi rasla Pokhran and Shahgarh of Jaislmer dis trict for safe habitat of bi rd In order to regularly monitor the bird information chips will installed

iv The Great Indian Bustard locally called as Godawan is also the state bi rd of Rajasthan

Status of the Great Indian Bustard

The Great Indian Bustard presently is confined to only eight pockets in 6 Indian s tates- Rajasthan Gujarat Maharashtra Madhya Pradesh Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

The largest population is found in Jaisalmer Barmer and Bikaner dis tricts of Rajasthan

Great Indian Bustard is the State Bird of Rajasthan and locally is called as Godawan

It is listed as cri tically endangered species by the International Union for

the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red data list

IGI adjudged Worlds Best Airport i Delhi rsquos Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has been adjudged the worldrsquos best

airport for the year 2014 ii In this regard Airports Council

International (ACI) presented the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) award to IGIA under the category of handling 25 to 40 million

passengers per annum iii IGIA had scored 490 on a scale of 5 points measured by 300 members of the ACI ASQ benchmarking programme It should be noted that IGIA has bettered its ranking from second position for three consecutive years 2011 2012 and 2013 to emerge on top

in 2014 iv Airport Service Quality (ASQ) is the key to understanding how to increase passenger

satis faction and improve business performance While the ACI is a trade

association of the worldrsquos ai rports and was founded in 1991

Tennis player Rafael Nadal received Golden Medal for Merit in Work of Spain

i Ace tennis player Rafael Nadal on 1 May 2015 received the Golden Medal for Meri t in Work Golden Medal is one of the top civilian

honours of Spain which aims to highlight an

exemplary performance in any job or profession ii Nadal received the honour from the

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey at the PMrsquos official residence Moncloa Palace in Madrid iii Rafael Nadal is 14-time Grand Slam singles champion out of which he has won the French Open for a record nine times He is often called The King of Clay and is currently ranked World Number Besides he has won the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles a record 27 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and 15 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments

Floyd Mayweather Jr defeats Manny Pacquiao to win World Welterweight Title

of Boxing i American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr has won the uni fied World Welterweight ti tle of

World Boxing Council World Boxing Organisation and World Boxing Association ii To win this ti tle he defeated Manny

Pacquiao from Philippines on a unanimous decision with Judges Scores of 118-110 116-

112 and 116-112 in 12 rounds of intense boxing iii The legendary bout termed as lsquoFight of

the Centuryrsquo was played at iconic MGM Grand Las Vegas This fight was also the

highest watched and most revenue generating with almost 400 million dollars of all time

Daily GK Updates - 4th May 2015

Direct tax collection falls short by 14 in 2014-15 i The direct tax collection by the government during 2014-15 fell short of the target by

about 14 per cent with Rs 696200 crore revenue coming to i ts ki tty ii The Income Tax Department which collects

a variety of taxes like Income Tax and Corporate Tax collected approximately Rs

696200 crore in the fiscal ending March 31 2015

iii The achieved collections are about Rs

9000 crore less or 14 per cent short of the projected target of Rs 705000 crore iv The collections are however 19 per cent

more than the last fiscal In 2013mdash14 the mopmdashup was Rs 583000 crore

Gold imports jump 195 at $3432 billion in FY15 i Gold imports surged 195 per cent to reach USD 3432 billion in 2014-15 due to declining

prices and easing of restrictions by the Reserve Bank ii Imports of the metal were USD 287 billion

the previous fiscal 2013-14

iii Increase in gold imports impacts the countryrsquos trade defici t which has reached

4

USD 137 billion in 2014-15 and the current account defici t (CAD) iv The imports almost doubled in March to

USD 498 billion which pushed the trade defici t to a four-month high of USD 1179 billion for the month according to the Commerce Minis try data v India is the largest importer of gold which mainly caters to the demand of the jewellery industry Future Groups Retail Business to Merge With Bharti Retail i Future RetailBSE 1206 Ltd said on Monday i t had agreed to merge i ts retail

operations with rival Bharti Retail Ltd to create one of Indias biggest retail chain with more than 570 s tores across the country

ii Under the deal structure approved by the boards of the two companies the retail business of Future Retail will be merged with

Bharti Retail The combined entity will own the retail operations of both the companies

iii In the second s tep infrastructure investments and assets of both the companies will be combined to create a new enti ty to be called Future Enterprises Ltd

World Press Freedom Day observed globally i World Press Freedom Day is annually

observed on May 3 to inform the

international community that freedom of the press and freedom of expression are fundamental human rights

ii This year the theme of World Press Freedom day is Let Journalism Thrive

Towards better reporting gender equality and media safety in the digi tal age iii World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed

by the UN General Assembly in December 1993 following the recommendation of UNESCOs General Conference in 1991 Since then 3 May is celebrated worldwide as World Press Freedom Day Tennis player Rafael Nadal received Golden Medal for Merit in Work of Spain i Ace tennis player Rafael Nadal received the Golden Medal for Meri t in Work Golden Medal is one of the top civilian honours of Spain which aims to highlight an exemplary

performance in any job or profession

ii Nadal received the honour from the Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy Brey at the PMrsquos official residence Moncloa Palace

in Madrid iii Rafael Nadal is 14-time Grand Slam singles champion out of which he has won the French Open for a record nine times He is often called The King of Clay and is currently ranked World Number 5 Indian Railway girls clinch 5th National Hockey Championship title i Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) have won the 5th National women hockey championship ti tle

ii In the final match played at the Master Chandgi Ram sports s tadium at Saifai Uttar Pradesh the the RSPB gi rls team defeated

Hockey Jharkhand by 12-2 goals iii For the RSPB Saundarya Yendala scored three goals in the final match while Sunita

Lakra and Lilima Minz scored two goals each Anuradha Devi Manmeet Kaur Anupa Barla

Poonam Barla and Deepgrace Ekka scored one goal each for the winning team

Daily GK Update - 5th May 2015

1 The Union Cabinet approved the 119th Constitutional Amendment Bill on Land

Boundary Agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh i Under the land boundary agreement India

and Bangladesh will exchange several enclaves which are under each others

adverse possession The bill also includes the terri tories in Assam in addition to terri tories of West Bengal Tripura and Meghalaya

ii The bill will need rati fication by the

Parliament and would also require ratification of at least 50 percent of the s tate legislatures before i t comes into effect

iii Earlier in 2013 the bill in regard to this was placed in the Rajya Sabha and subsequently was referred to a select

committee which was headed by Shashi Tharoor of Congress Later the committee unanimously recommended implementation of the deal

2 Surface-to-air short range Akash missile

system inducted into Indian Army i Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) in partnership with Bharat Dynamics

Limited (BDL) is supplying cri tical electronic systems for Akash Weapon System (AWS)

inducted into the Indian Army

ii Akash is a surface-to-ai r missile indigenously developed by the Defence

Research Development Laboratory (DRDL) under Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP)

iii The fi rst off production models (FOPM) of these systems were success fully realised and delivered by ECIL in close association with

DRDL 3 Microsoftrsquos Edu-Cloud to make learning lsquofunrsquo

i Microsoft India unveiled Edu-Cloud a cloud computing-based offering designed to offer

digital learning and teaching in schools and higher educational insti tutions through vi rtual learning platforms in India

ii Microsoft India Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik said Edu-Cloud is expected to

benefi t 10 lakh teachers and 60 lakh s tudents in over 1500 insti tutes over the next 18 months

iii The company has also announced a tie -up with the Chaitanya group of educational insti tutions which will adopt Edu-Cloud iv In the last 10 years Microsoftrsquos education skill development entrepreneurship and digital literacy programmes have touched over 5 crore people in 20 different s tates of

India 4 MoneyGram Ready to Handle Electronic-Mode Remittances in India i NASDAQ-listed MoneyGram is ready to

handle remittances through electronic modes in India as soon as the government allows such transactions through a series of

electronic modes such as online ATM and phone banking

ii It would happen when the government allows transactions to be managed through a series of electronic modes such as online

5

Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and phone banking

iii In 2013 India received $70 billion in remittances topping the list in Asia followed by China at $59 billion and the Philippines at $27 billion according to the World Bank data

iv The top countries sending money into India are those in North America the Middle East the UK and Europe according to the two MoneyGram executives

5 Offering whole internet for free not sustainable Mark Zuckerberg

i Facebook is opening up Internetorg which provides connectivi ty to people in developing nations to outside applications following a

controversy over i ts limited set of online services ii Internetorg would operate as a free platform so anyone can build free basic services but that the full internet would not be included iii NDTV Newshunt and Cleartrip had also announced that they were withdrawing from Internetorg on the same day 6 India to tie up with Iran for Chabahar i India and Iran agreed in 2003 to develop a

port at Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman near Irans border with Pakistan but the venture has made little progress because of Western

sanctions on Iran ii Shipping Minis ter Nitin Gadkari will travel on a day-long tour to Iran to sign a

memorandum of understanding for development of Chabahar port

iii Iran has also proposed a free-trade agreement with India a trade minis try source said Rupee-denominated trade with Iran s tarted in 2012 because of complications arising from sanctions has almost doubled Indian exports to Tehran in the past two years to $4 billion

Daily GK Update - 6th May 20151 LS approves GST Bill

i The long-pending GST bill was approved by Lok Sabha after a walkout by Congress even

as government vowed to compensate s tates for any revenue loss and assured that the new uni form indirect tax rate will be much

less than 27 per cent recommended by an expert panel

ii The Consti tution Amendment Bill to implement the Goods and Services Tax (GST) originally mooted by the UPA was passed by

352 votes against 37 after the government rejected the opposi tion demand of referring i t to Standing Committee

iii By subsuming most indirect taxes levied

by the central and state governments like excise service tax VAT and sales tax the pan-India goods and services tax (GST) regime has proposed to facilitate a common market in the country iv Taxes on alcohol make up a major chunks of s tate revenues -- for instance in Kerala it

contributes 22 percent of revenue while in Tamil Nadu i t yields about Rs 21000 crore per year

2 Government declared 11 pacts that

signed between India Germany at Hannover fair i Indian companies including HMT and Essel

Group have signed 11 MoUs with German fi rms that will help boost foreign fund inflows

as well as domestic manufacturing ii The pacts were signed last month at the Hannover trade fai r Prime Minister

Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had inaugurated the fai r in Germany last month

iii These Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) are expected to increase FDI flows to India bring in new technology help growth of manufacturing sector and create employment opportunities in the country

thereby boosting i ts economy iv Instrumentation Ltd signed a pact with German-based KE Kauer Engineering for production of control valves Vikram Solar inked MoU with Fraunhofer Insti tute for solar energy systems v Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) inked

separate pacts with FT Machine Tools and Enit GmbH for collaboration in engineering sector

3 Narendra Modi set to revive Vajpayee

governments FIIA project i The Foreign Investment Implementation Agency a brainchild of the former Vajpayee

government is set to get a new lease of life under Prime Minister Narendra Modi ii The agencys role will be reinvented and expanded to handhold foreign investors and keep tab on sectors that have end-use

operational conditions iii The Minis try of Finance and the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion have had discussions on FIIA playing a more effective role as the government looks to boost capital flows into the country

iv The Reserve Bank of India the administrative ministries in charge of sectors the department of economic affairs which

houses the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and DIPP have all expressed di fficul ty

in monitoring sectoral conditions

4 Real estate bill sent to select committee

of Rajya Sabha i A united Opposition forced Government to

send the controversial Real Estate Bill that seeks to regulate real ty business to a 21-member select committee of Rajya Sabha

which has been asked to submit i ts report by the fi rst week of the Monsoon Session

ii The government brought a motion to refer the bill to Select Committee chaired by BJP member Anil Madhav Dave

iii The government had brought the bill earlier in this session after taking the view of all stakeholders However amid lot of

cri ticim the bill was delayed even after the recommendations of the Standing Committee 5 Salman Khan Finally Loses Celebrity Cover i Actor Salman Khan sentenced to five years for killing a homeless man in a hi t-and-run in

2002 will not go to jail for now He has been allowed to go home till Friday when the Bombay High Court will hear his appeal for bail ii A Mumbai court this morning rejected Mr

Khans claims that i t was his driver who was at the wheel of his Toyota Land Cruiser when i t ran into a group of homeless men sleeping

outside a Mumbai bakery One man Nurullah Mehboob Shari f died four were injured

iii Mr Khan broke down in court after hearing he was sentenced to five years in jail

The court said all seven charges against him -including culpable homicide - had been

proven The maximum sentence he could have got was 10 years iv Mr Khan 49 then applied for bail to the

Bombay High Court which has said he will not be arrested till Friday

6

v He is under trial in Rajasthan for shooting an endangered black buck gazelle in 1998 He spent a week in jail in 2006 in Jodhpur before

being granted bail If convicted he faces a maximum sentence of 7 years 6 World Asthma Day 2015 observed i World Asthma Day 2015 was observed globally on 5 May 2015 Theme of the year is You Can Control Your Asthma and sub-theme is Itrsquos Time to Control Asthma ii World Asthma Day takes place on the fi rst Tuesday of May The inaugural World Asthma Day was held in 1998

iii The day is annually organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) to improve asthma awareness and care around

the world iv An awareness drive and a continuing medical education (CME) were held at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) to mark the World Asthma Day 7 Bhel commissions GVKs hydro-power project in Uttrakhand i State-owned power equipment maker Bhel has commissioned GVK Groups 825 MW greenfield hydro electric project in Uttarakhand

ii Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd said in a regulatory filing that i t has successfully commissioned the fi rs t unit of 825 MW at

the upcoming Shrinagar Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Uttarakhand

iii The greenfield hydro electric project consisting of four units of 825 MW each is being set up by Alaknanda Hydro Power Corporation Ltd ( GVK Group) iv The project is designed to utilise the waters of River Alaknanda by way of a diversion dam

v Bhel said power generation from Shrinagar HEP is likely to result in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions

Daily GK Update - 7th May 2015 1 Lok Sabha passes Juvenile Justice Bill

i The central government on Thursday moved the Juvenile Justice Bill in the Lok Sabha which will allow children in the 16-18

age group to be tried as adults i f they commit heinous crimes

ii According to data from National Crime Records Bureau crimes by juveniles in the age group of 16-18 years have increased

especially in certain categories of heinous crimes

iii The bill s tates that in case a heinous crime has been committed by a person in the age group of 16-18 years i t will be examined by a

Juvenile Justice Board to assess if the crime was committed as a child or as an adult iv The legislation which would replace the exis ting Juvenile Justice Act 2000 was proposed in view of increasing number of serious offences being committed by persons in the age group of 16-18 years

2 Election 2015 Party leaders cast votes in general election

i A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected with about 50 million people registered to vote ii There are more than 9000 council seats being contested across 279 English local

authori ties iii Bri tains ruling Conservatives and the opposi tion Labour Party were tied with

support at 33 per cent

iv There are a total of 59 Indian-origin

candidates in the fray from the Tories (17) Labour (14) Liberal Democrats (14) Green

Party (4) United Kingdom Independence Party- UKIP (3) Independents (2) and one each from the smaller parties like All Peoplersquos

Party Chris tian Movement for Great Bri tain National Liberal Party Socialist Labour Party and Young Peoplersquos Party 3 Indian Cabinet Approves Amendments to

Whistleblowers Act i The union cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the Whistlebowers Protection Act 2011 aimed at s trengthening safeguards against disclosures ii The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in December 2011 and by Rajya Sabha in

February last year The bill has received the assent of the president in May last year iii The amendments would address concerns

relating to national securi ty and the amendment bill will be moved during the budget session of parliament

4 Rajya Sabha unanimously passes

Bangladesh land deal i In a historic s tep the Rajya Sabha passed the bill to operationalise the Land Boundary

Agreement with Bangladesh and the entailing exchange of enclaves between the

two countries ii The Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth Amendment) Bill 2013 was

unanimously passed by the upper house with 180 votes in favour and none against i t iii Moving the bill for passage External Affai rs Minister Sushma Swaraj clarified that no movement of population was necessitated by the exchange of enclaves iv In 2011 then Prime Minis ter Manmohan

Singh and Bangladeshi Premier Sheikh Hasina had signed the land swap deal known as the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA)

5 India home to 56 of the worldrsquos 2000

powerful companies i India is home to 56 of the worldrsquos 2000

largest and most powerful public companies according to the Forbesrsquos annual list which is topped by the US with i ts share of 579

companies ii Mukesh Ambani -led Reliance Industries leads the pack of 56 Indian companies in the 2015 Forbes lsquoGlobal 2000rsquo list

iii Forbes said tha t for the fi rs t time Chinarsquos

four biggest banks own the top four spots and the South Asian giant is home to 232 of the worldrsquos largest companies adding more spots than any other country in the world and surpassing Japan for the fi rs t time iv The other Indian companies on the lis t are Oil and Natural Gas ranked 183 Tata Motors

(263) ICICI Bank (283) Indian Oil (349) HDFC Bank (376) NTPC (431) Tata Consultancy Services (485) Bharti Ai rtel (506) Axis Bank

(558) Infosys (672) Bharat Petroleum (757) Wipro (811) Tata Steel (903) and Adani Enterprises (944)

6 Cabinet gives nod to revise DTAA with

South Korea i The Union Cabinet gave i ts nod for revising the existing double taxation avoidance

agreement (DTAA) with South Korea

7

ii The new agreement will among other things provide for effective exchange of information for tax administration purposes

It will also have limitation of benefit clause so that the benefi ts of the DTAA are availed of by genuine residents of both the countries iii This Cabinet nod assumes signi ficance as it came days before the Prime Minister Narendra Modis official visi t to South Korea The exis ting double taxation avoidance convention between the two countries was signed in 1985 for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income for the ci tizens of both the countries

7 Geeta Phogat wins bronze in Asian championship

i Geeta Phogat won a bronze medal in the Womens Freestyle 58kg category in the Senior Asian Wrestling championship in

Doha

ii She defeated Vietnams Thi Loan Nyguen by Fall verdict in the bronze medal play-off iii En-route to the bronze medal play off Geeta lost in pool bout only to Kaori Icho of Japan the Olympic gold medallist Daily GK Updates - 8th May 2015

1 Conservatives win majority in UK elections i David Cameron has returned to Downing

Street with the Tories having defied polls and won the general election ii The Conservatives are expected to get a

37 share of the national vote Labour 31 UKIP 13 the Lib Dems 8 the SNP 5 the

Green Party 4 and Plaid Cymru 1

iii Labour has been hammered in Scotland by the SNP with Nicola Sturgeons party

seizing 56 of the nations 59 seats Jim Murphy leader of the Scottish Labour Party and shadow foreign secretary Douglas

Alexander both lost their seats to the SNP 2 RBI puts in place new mechanism for banks to check loan fraud i The RBI put in place a new framework to check loan fraud including by way of early warning signals at banks and red flagging of

accounts while swindlers will have no access to further banking finance

ii The central bank will set up a Central Fraud Registry that can be accessed by all

banks to identify borrowers having committed frauds with any bank in the past

iii The CBI and the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) will also share their databases with banks

iv The concept of a Red Flagged Account (RFA) is being introduced in the current framework as an important s tep in fraud risk control

3 Govt gets SC notice on PSB chief criteria i The Centres new appointment norms for public sector bank chiefs mdash capping the age

at 55 years and mandatory three -year board level experience mdash has come under judicial scrutiny with the Supreme Court ii A bench of Justices A R Dave and R K Agrawal issued notice to the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India seeking their response on a PIL filed by a reti red banker who alleged

that the policy was intended to pave the way for private bankers to lead the country top banks - Punjab National Bank Bank of India

Bank of Baroda Canara Bank and IDBI Bank iii The upper age limit for the post was 58

years but the government decided to amend the rules arguing that it was part of a plan to professionalize bank boards

iv The rules fixed the age limit for MDs amp CEOs at 45-55 years with 15 years of banking

experience out of which three years should have been at the board level

4 Jitan Ram Manjhi announces new party as Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) i Expelled JD(U) leader and former Chief Minis ter Ji tan Ram Manjhi today announced launching of a new party Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) which he said would contest alone all the 243 seats in coming Bihar polls

ii He named former Bihar minis ter Shakuni Chaudhary as Bihar President of the HAM

iii Names of 108 leaders were announced in the Bihar unit of the party It comprises former Union minis ter Devendra Prasad Yadav ex-MP Brahamdeo Anand Paswan and

former s tate ministers and Legislators like Ganesh Yadav Ram Kumar Yadav Om Prakash Paswan K D Yadav and Ramchandra

Prasad Singh

5 Pakistan helicopter crash kills foreign envoys

i An army helicopter has crashed in a mountainous part of northern Pakistan killing seven people including the Philippine and

Norwegian ambassadors ii The diplomats flying in the ill-fated MI-17 were headed for a li ttle advertised but extremely exci ting inauguration ceremony of a ski chairlift built in the breathtaking resort of Naltar in northern Pakis tan

iii Pakis tani Prime Minis ter Nawaz Shari f was scheduled to attend the inauguration but his

ai rcraft turned back from Gilgi t a fter reports of the crash 6 AK Jyoti appointed as Election Commissioner i Achal Kumar Jyoti a former Gujarat Chief Secretary was appointed as the Election

Commissioner ii 62-year-old Jyotis tenure will commence from the day he assumes his charge

iii He reti red from active service in January 2013 before serving in various capaci ties in

Gujarat He was also posted at the Kandla Port Trust between 1999 and 2004

7 Prime Minister releases commemorative coin on Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati

i Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday released a commemorative coin to mark the birth centenary of Swami Chinmayananda

ii Swami Chinmayananda was a renowned Hindu spiritual leader and teacher who had inspired the formation of a global nonprofit organisation called Chinmaya Mission to spread the knowledge of Advaita Vedanta iii Swami Chinmayananda born as Balakrishna Menon on 8 May 1916 pioneered

works in the field of education and social reform He died on 3 August 1993 iv He saw the need to inculcate Indias great

cul ture and spiri tual traditions through the English medium among an eli te class of people who had moved away from this heri tage

8 Jitu Rai wins Sportsperson of the Year Award at TOISA i Ace marksman Jitu Rai was declared the

Sportsperson of the Year at the Times of India Sports Awards in a gli ttering ceremony

that was graced by the legendary Carl Lewis ii Flying Sikh Milkha Singh received the Li fetime Achievement Award from the

Olympian of the century and Times Group MD Vineet Jain in a ceremony that was attended by the who and who of Indias

sporting fraterni ty iii Besides Lewis and Milkha prominent figures from the sporting world included former Indian cricket captain Sourav

8

Ganguly Olympic bronze medallists boxer MC Mary Kom shuttler Saina Nehwal and CWG gold medallist squash player Dipika

Pallikal

Daily GK Update - 9th May 2015 1 INS Sardar Patel commissioned i A strategically important new Naval base mdash INS Sardar Patel mdash was commissioned in Porbandar ii The base was commissioned by Gujarat

Chief Minis ter Anandiben Patel

iii Ms Patel unveiled the plaque and read

the commissioning warrant of the new base which is second in the s tate for the Indian Navy after INS Dwarka near Okha

iv Gujarat has a coastline of 1600 km interspersed with 43 ports Of these Kandla

being a major port 11 are intermediate and 31 are minor ports

2 Russia celebrates victory day i Victory Day is Russias most important

secular holiday both commemorating the Soviet Unions huge suffering in the war and highlighting Russias portrayal of i tsel f as a

force for peace and securi ty ii Chinese President Xi Jinping was the most prominent world leader to attend the Victory Day parade

iii Russia showed off new machines of war

including a highly sophis ticated tank in the annual Victory Day mili tary parade through Red Square that marks the surrender of Nazi Germany and the Red Armys key role in the defeat 3 Modi to inaugurate first Gandhian studies

centre in China i The fi rs t centre for Gandhian s tudies in China will be inaugurated at Shanghairsquos Fudan Universi ty by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ii The Centre for Gandhian Studies will be established at the Fudan University in China and the s taff for i t will be provided by Indian

Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR)

iii Mr Modi during his visi t from May 14-16 will also announce the setting up of a Yoga College in China iv India will provide Yoga specialis ts and help China to bring about a s tandardisation of

Yoga techniques 4 MoUs worth Rs 24000 cr signed during PM Narendra Modis visit to Chattisgarh i In a big push for infrastructure development in Chhattisgarh MoUs worth Rs 24000 crore were signed at Dantewada

ii Here is a list of the MoUs that were signed

MoU between Government of Chhattisgarh NMDC IRCON and SAIL for 140 km rail line

between Rowghat and Jagdalpur Estimated project cost Rs 2000 crore

MoU between Minis try of Steel Government

of Chhattisgarh SAIL and NMDC for 3 million ton Ultra Mega Steel Plant with an investment of approximately Rs 18000 crore

MoU between Government of Chhattisgarh and NMDC for Slurry Pipeline and 2MTPA Pellet Plant at Nagarnar in Bastar Dis trict with an investment of Rs 4000 crore

MoU between Government of Chhattisgarh

and SAIL for setting up 1MTPA Pellet Plant at Dalli-Rajhara Balod District with an investment of Rs 826 crore

5 PM Modi to unveil 3 social security

schemes in Kolkata i Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi will launch three social securi ty schemes pertaining to

insurance and pension in Kolkata ii While two insurance schemes - Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) will provide insurance

cover in the unfortunate event of death by any cause or disability due to an accident the pension scheme - Atal Pension Yojana (APY) will address the old age income securi ty needs iii The convenient delivery mechanism of the schemes is expected to address the problem

of very low penetration of li fe or accident insurance and old age income securi ty products in the country

iv The PMSBY will offer a renewable one year accidental death cum disability cover of Rs two lakh to all the savings bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 70 years for a premium of Rs 12 per annum

6 India Postss e-commerce centre set to start operations i To cash in on growing online shopping trend India Post Delhi ci rcle will s tart i ts e -commerce centre from 11th May 2015

ii Considering the rapid growth of e -commerce business in the country in the recent past the Department of Posts

through Delhi Postal Ci rcle has taken up a project to establish the e-commerce centre at Safdarjang New Delhi iii The centre is to be dedicated to the nation by Ravi Shankar Prasad honble minister of communications and information technology iv The centre is capable of handling 30000

parcels or articles per day and parcels collected from the e-commerce customers processed and dispatched within 24 hours to respective destination through quickest available flight or train as the case may be

7 Now Whatsapp the money to your friends

i Axis Bank the countrys thi rd largest

private sector bank now facilitates instant transfer of money on various social media channels like Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Email lis t and phone contact list ii The banks Ping Pay service competes with other banks digi tal products like ICICI Banks Pockets and HDFC Banks Chillar iii The transfer of funds is instant while in

other platforms there is a waiting period of 30 minutes to one day iv The person to person funds transfer through Ping Pay would happen via NPCIs

9

Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and currently the transaction limit is at Rs 50000 per day

8 Sakshi Lalita win bronze in Asian Wrestling Championship i Sakshi Malik and Lalita bagged bronze medal in Womens Freestyle 60kg and 55kg categories respectively even as Babita Kumari lost out on a thi rd-place finish in 53kg

division of the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship in Doha ii Lalita was defeated by North Koreas Han

Kum-ok 3-9 in the semifinal but she managed to settle for a bronze medal in the end in her category iii In a total of five rounds in the 60kg category Sakshi won two of her bouts to claim the third position

Daily GK Update - 10th May 2015

Shashi Kapoor has been conferred with prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award 2014 i The award was bestowed upon him by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jai tley at a special function held in Pri thvi Theatre in Mumbai Maharashtra ii He is the 46th film personality to receive this honour and third member of his

illustrious family after father Pri thviraj Kapoor (1972- Posthumously) and elder brother Raj Kapoor (1987)

About Shashi Kapoor

Born as Balbir Ra j Pri thvira j Kapoor on

March 18 1938 in Kolkata West Bengal Started acting in films as a child in late 1940s Since then he has appeared in 160 movies al together 12 being in English and the rest in Hindi

His Bollywood debut as a lead actor was in the film Dharmputra (1961) His best

known performances as child artist were in Aag (1948) Awaara (1951) and Sangram (1950) He is also best-known for his performances in Hindi films like lsquoJab Jab Phool Khilersquo lsquoDeewarrsquo and

lsquoKabhi Kabhiersquo American and British films The Householder (1963) Shakespeare Wallah (1965) Bombay

Talkie (1970) Heat and Dust (1982) The Deceivers (1988) Side Streets (1998)

etc

Apart from acting in movies he also had worked as a film director assistant

di rector and film producer WHO declares Liberia Ebola-free i WHO has hailed Liberiarsquos Ebola eradication efforts as an enormous development in the long crisis and monumental achievement as the vi rus has killed more than 4716 people in the country alone ii Now Liberiarsquos neighbous Guinea and Sierra Leone are only two countries fighting to s top Ebola outbreak since i t began in

December 2013 Criteria for declaring a nation Ebola-free

WHO can declare a country Ebola

free i f no new cases are reported over two incubation periods of vi rus i e 21 days

In case of Liberia no new cases of Ebola were reported in past 42

days i e twice the number of days the vi rus requires to incubate The last confi rmed death in Liberia was

reported on 27 March 2015

Haryana Government has decided to include Deaflympics in its Sports Policy i Haryana Government has decided to include Deaflympics in i ts Sports Policy in

order to boost the morale of di fferently-abled sportspersons in the s tate Decision in this regard was taken during a s tate cabinet

meet chaired by Chief Minis ter Manohar Lal Khattar

ii With this inclusion Deaflympian medalists now will be able to get cash rewards jobs and other benefits from the s tate

government About Deaflympics

Deaflympics is an International Olympic

Committee (IOC) sanctioned event at which deaf athletes compete at an elite

level

The fi rs t event of was held in Paris in

1924 It is the fi rst international sporting event for athletes with a disability

Previously i t was known as World Games for the Deaf and International Games for the Deaf

Organised by the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf

(French- Committee International des Sports des Sourds) since fi rs t event

Deaflympics are held every 4 years and

often considered as the longest multi -sports event excluding the Olympic

To qualify for the Deaflympics athletes must have a hearing loss of at least 55 decibel (dB) In order to maintain

equality and same level in participation among athletes hearing aids cochlear implants are not allowed during the

games

Navneet Rajan Wasan appointed as DG of Police Research amp Development Bureau i The post of Director General (DG) of

Bureau of Police Research and Development had been lying vacant since March 2015 following the reti rement of Rajan Gupta ii Presently Wasan is working as Special Director General in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) He is a 1980-batch IPS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre Other Appointment- Indian Postal Service

(IPoS) officer Sheuli Burman was appointed as the Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) in the Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) Bangalore Book titled Unbelievable ndash Delhi to Islamabad written by Prof Bhim Singh released

i Book ti tled Unbelievable ndash Delhi to Islamabad authored by senior Advocate Prof Bhim Singh was released on 8 May 2015 by

Vice President M Hamid Ansari in New Delhi ii The book a travelogue is an effort ini tiated

by the lawyers of India and Pakistan to work jointly to ensure that Pakis tani prisoners languishing in Indian jails are treated in

accordance with the spiri t of the Consti tution of India Similarly the same treatment should be mended for the Indian prisoners on Pakistan and they should be given fair trials

10

Daily GK Updates - 11th May 2015 1 KV Kamath appointed BRICS bank

president

i Eminent banker KV Kamath was on

Monday appointed as head of the USD 50 billion New Development Bank being set up by the five emerging economies of BRICS grouping ii Mr Kamath will have a five -year term of the bank which is likely to be operationalised within one year

iii About NDB - The New Development Bank (NDB) formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank is a multilateral development bank operated by the BRICS s tates (Brazil Russia India China and South

Africa) as an al ternative to the exis ting US-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund The bank is set up to foster

greater financial and development cooperation among the five emerging

markets 2 President Mukherjee inaugurates

`Namaste Russia` festival in Moscow i President Pranab Mukherjee currently on his four-day official visi t to Russia has

inaugurated a festival of Indian Culture Namaste Russia in Moscow ii As part of the festival the Russian Minis try of Culture will support the ini tiatives of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in

sending Indian teachers of music and dance to regional centres in Russia from May 2015 to October 2015

iii Special emphasis will be on encouraging

the participation of youth of both the countries in cultural exchanges iv The logo for the festival was designed by a

young Russian from the Russian town of

Krasnoyarsk who succeeded in an open

competi tion participated by both Indians and Russians 3 Jayaram Jayalalitha cleared of corruption charges i An appeals court in southern India has acquitted powerful regional poli tician Jayaram Jayalalitha of corruption charges

clearing the way for her to return to public office ii The High Court of Karnataka delivered its

verdict on the appeal by former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha challenging a

special court order convicting her in the disproportionate assets case

iii Supporters from Jayalalitha s party cheered set off fi re crackers and danced in the s treets of the Tamil Nadu s tate capital of Chennai her hometown after the Karnataka High Court in Bangalore delivered i ts verdict

4 China becomes worlds top crude buyer

i China overtook the United States as the

worlds top importer of crude oil for the fi rst time in April and i ts purchases are expected to remain s trong despite a slowing economy with far-reaching consequences for global oil and commodities markets

ii China is al ready the worlds biggest energy consumer with oil by far the largest traded energy market

iii The Saudi-led decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in November 2014 not to cut production despite the slide in oil prices has been largely motivated by an effort to defend market share against outside competi tors like Russia or US shale

producers

5 Rosberg wins Spanish GP

i Nico Rosberg has finally got the better of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamil ton this season winning the Spanish Grand Prix ii A crowd of 86700 watched the race with

a total of 189000 spectators attending the Catalunya ci rcuit iii McLarenrsquos misery continued as two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso reti red just short of halfway with faulty brakes on the track

6 May 11 National Technology Day i Every year `National Technology Dayrsquo is observed across India on May 11

ii This day glori fies the importance of science in day-to-day li fe and motivates students to

adopt science as a career option iii National Technology Day is being commemorated to celebrate the anniversary

of fi rs t of the five tests of Operation Shakti (Pokhran-II) nuclear test which was held on 11 May 1998 in Pokhran Rajasthan iv Apart from Pokhran nuclear test on this day fi rs t indigenous ai rcraft Hansa-3 was test

flown at Bangalore and India also conducted successful test fi ring of the Trishul missile on the same day 7 Andy Murray beats Rafael Nadal to win Madrid Masters final i Andy Murray claimed his fi rs t victory over

Rafael Nadal on clay to win the Madrid Masters ii The Bri ton had never beaten Nadal in six

previous meetings on the surface but won 6-3 6-2 to s tun the home crowd

iii Defending champion Nadal was aiming for a record fifth win in Madrid but Murray outclassed his Spanish opponent to lift his fi rs t Masters ti tle on clay

Daily GK Updates - 12th May 2015 1 GST bill referred to select committee i The government and opposi tion parties

agreed to refer the constitutional amendment bill on goods and service tax (GST) to a 21-member select committee of

the Rajya Sabha ii The committee will submit i ts report on the last day of the fi rs t week of Parliamentrsquos monsoon session

iii The committee will be headed by Bhupendra Yadav a Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) MP and a party general secretary Members of major political parties including BJP Shiromani Akali Dal Congress Bahujan

Samaj Party Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (United) will be represented in the committee

11

iv After passing the bill in the Lok Sabha the government has faced problems in the upper house The government which has 62

members in the 244-member house needs 162 members to support the bill for its clearance 2 Nepal earthquake magnitude 73 strikes near Everest

i A major earthquake has s truck eastern Nepal near Mount Everest two weeks after

more than 8000 died in a devastating quake ii The US Geological Survey said it had a magnitude of 73 An earthquake on 25 April

centred in western Nepal had a magnitude of 78 iii The tremor was also fel t in northern India and Bangladesh and was centred east of the Nepalese capital Kathmandu in a rural area close to the Chinese border

3 LS passes Black Money Bill with Opposition support i A s tringent law imposing 120 per cent tax

jail term of up to 10 years and penalty on undisclosed foreign assets and income to

deal with the black money menace was passed in Lok Sabha Monday by voice vote and with support from the Opposition

ii The Congress argued that the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of

Tax) Bill 2015 is a finance bill

iii However Speaker Sumitra Mahajan agreed to Finance Minister Arun Jai tleyrsquos argument that i t is a money bill in which

case approval of the Upper House is not mandatory

iv Under the proposed law there would be a short compliance window within which persons with undisclosed income abroad can

come clean by paying 30 per cent tax and 30 per cent penalty Once the window closes anyone found having undeclared overseas wealth would be required to pay 30 per cent tax 90 per cent penalty and face criminal prosecution 4 Justice Cyriac Joseph appointed NHRC

acting chief

i President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Justice Cyriac Joseph as acting Chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ii His appointment comes after then Chairman of NHRC Justice KG Balakrishnan completed his tenure iii Presently Justice Cyriac Joseph is member

of NHRC He hails from Kaiphuza village of Kottayam district in Kerala and was a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2008 to 2012

iv Justice Balakrishnan the former Chief Justice of India completed his tenure as the

sixth and the longest serving NHRC Chairperson During his tenure he was instrumental in charting out several new

ini tiatives towards promotion and protection of human rights in the country

5 MIDC inks MoU with SIDBI to raise Rs 200-crore fund for MSMEs

i Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has inked memorandum of understanding (MoU) with s tate -run Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to provide easy finance to micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for their growth

ii The MoU was signed Ananta P Sarma MD and CEO of SIDBI and MIDC CEO Bhushan Gagrani in the presence of Maharashtra Chief

Minis ter Devendra Fadanvis in Nashik Maharashtra iii As per the MoU both signatory parties have jointly created funds to the tune of 200 crore rupees to provide immediate finance to

the MSMEs iv Of the total amount the MIDC has contributed 75 crore rupees while SIDBI has

provided the remaining 125 crore rupees

6 India-born Nikesh Arora named Japans SoftBank Corp president i Indian-born Nikesh Arora was on 11 May

2015 appointed as the President of Japanrsquos multinational telecommunications and internet company SoftBank Corp

ii As per the announcement made at the companyrsquos earning conference he will also

be the Representative Director of SoftBank Corp

iii Before the present elevation he had been the Vice Chairman of the company and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SB Group US

Inc (former SoftBank Internet and Media Inc) since September 2014 iv He succeeds Masayoshi Son Chairman and CEO of the Softbank Corp v Earlier Arora worked in Google for 10 years and left the company as the Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer before joining SoftBank Corp in 2014 7 Canara Bank launches mega CASA campaign i Canara Bank has launched a mega CASA (current account savings account) campaign

in Bengaluru with the CanBank men and women with their logo colour caps flooding the nook and corners of the ci ty to sell their

products

ii Executive directors P S Rawat and Harideesh Kumar spearheaded the campaign iii The enti re ci ty was di vided into 16 clusters covering 173 branches Each cluster was led

by the rank of a General Manager from head office 8 Hyderabad to host global pharma summit i Hyderabad will play host to a four-day global pharma expo and summit from July 23 ii With lsquoInnovation and Advances rsquo as i ts theme the event will deliberate on a range

of issues from pharmaceutical technology to education indigenous drugs and drug regulatory affai rs besides serving as a

platform for joint ventures and project collaboration

iii Renowned pharmaceutical experts will be addressing the Indo-Global Pharma Expo and Summit 2015 being organised by Indus

Foundation in association with FTAPCCI and OMICS group according to SB iv Anumolu president of the Foundation More than 4000 delegates are expected to attend the event which will serve as a one

s top s tage for showcasing latest technological developments 9 Indian- origin Priti Patel gets British cabinet rank

i Indian-origin Tory MP Pri ti Patel has been

appointed minister of s tate for employment in Bri tish Prime Minis ter David Camerons

new cabinet

12

ii Patel who called her new posting at the department for work and pensions a real privilege won the recent elections by

securing 58 of the votes from Witham iii She was the exchequer secretary to the treasury from July 2014 to May 2015 The 43-

year-old was fi rs t elected the MP for Witham in May 2010

Daily GK Update - 13th May 2015 1 President Pranab Mukherjee appoints new Governors in six states

i President Pranab Mukherjee on 12 May 2015 appointed Governors in six s tates Their

appointments will take effect from the dates they assume charge

Following are newly appointed Governors

Jharkhand Former Odisha Minister Droupadi

Murmu was appointed as Governor of Jharkhand She will replace Dr Syed Ahmed

Manipur Dr Syed Ahmed has been

transfered to Manipur for remaining period of his term

Arunachal Pradesh J P Rajkhowa was appointed as Governor of Arunachal Pradesh He will replace Lt General (Retd) Nirbhay

Sharma

Mizoram Lt General (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma has been transferred and appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of

his term

Tripura Tathagata Roy will be the Governor of Tripura

2 Centre okays Rs 20000-crore budget for

Namami Gange scheme i The Cabinet approved the flagship ldquoNamami Gangerdquo programme which

integrates the efforts to clean and protect the River Ganga in a comprehensive manner

ii The programme has a budget outlay of Rs 20000 crore for the next 5 years iii The amount was a signi ficant four-fold

increase over the expenditure allocated to the task of cleaning the Ganga over the past 30 years

iv The programme would be implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and i ts state counterpart organisations that is the State Programme

Management Groups (SPMGs) v Namami Gange will focus on pollution abatement interventions namely

interception and diversion and treatment of waste water flowing through open drains via

bio-remediation appropriate in-situ treatmentuse of innovative

technologiessewage treatment plants (STPs)effluent treatment plant (ETPs) 3 Houses nominate members for Joint Committee on land bill i Rajya Sabha on Wednesday named 10

members including Digvi jaya Singh of Congress and Trinamool rsquos Derek OrsquoBrien to the Joint Committee that will look into the

controversial Land Acquisi tion Bill ii The 30-member Joint Committee of Lok

Sabha and Rajya Sabha would submit its report on the fi rst day of Monsoon Session on the bill which has al ready been passed by

the Lower House iii The government which had promulgated ordinance twice on the bill since December last after i t faced similar resis tance earlier had agreed to refer i t to the committee after NDA allies Shiv Sena and Akali Dal joined the Opposition in Lok Sabha to oppose the measure 4 Retail inflation eases to 4-month low

i Retail inflation in April softened further and fell to a four-month low of 487 per cent as

prices of food i tems vegetables and fruits turned cheaper

ii The retail inflation measured on the basis of Consumer Price Index (CPI) was revised upwards to 525 per cent from 517 per cent

in March 2015 iii Food inflation based on Consumer Food Price Index fell to 511 per cent during the

month from 614 per cent in March iv Fall in food inflation was mainly driven by frui ts vegetables milk and related products 5 HSBC cuts India ratings to ldquounderweightrdquo

i In the fi rs t major downgrade for Indian markets in the past one year global brokerage HSBC changed i ts stance on the country to ldquounderweightrdquo saying corporate earnings may remain muted monsoon could be weak and odds are against further rate cuts

ii HSBC further said that India has be come the second most expensive and one of the most over-owned markets in Asia iii The downgrade comes at a time when Indian markets are already under acute pressure primarily because of foreign

investors turning heavy sellers on concerns related to the controversial MAT levy and delay in the ambitious indirect tax (GST) and

land reforms

6 Reliance Jio to raise $750 million from Korean company i Reliance Industries has signed up for a

$750 million loan backed by Korea Trade Insurance Corp to primarily finance the procurements for i ts infrastructure rollout from Samsung Electronics and Ace Technologies Corp ii It has a door-to-door tenor of 12 years including a two-year availability period and a 10-year repayment period thereafter

iii Reliance Jio Infocomm is setting up a pan-India telecom network for 4th generation

Net services communication services and other digi tal services in areas like education

healthcare security financial services government-ci ti zen interfaces and entertainment

7 BRICS Cup from next year first one to be

held in India i Coinciding with the BRICS (Brazil Russia India China and South Africa) summit next

year in India an under-17 football tournament will be played between the nations ii As a lead-up to the 2017 under-17 FIFA World Cup India will use the competi tion to test i ts infrastructure and on-field preparation

iii FC Barcelona or Qatarrsquos under-17 side have been mooted as possible participants due to their links with the United Nations

body iv The tournamentrsquos launch was

accompanied by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Associated Chambers of Commerce

(ASSOCHAM) and the Brazilian representatives

13

Daily GK updates - 14th May 2015 Punjab becomes first state to issue Soil

Health Cards to farmers i Punjab has become the fi rst s tate in India to issue Soil Health Cards (SHCs) a Union Government ini tiative to all farmers in the s tate ii In this regard every district of s tate has been assigned mobile soil tes ting lab These labs will take soil sample from every farm

and issue a digi talised soil health details

iii Presently s tate government has 66 such laboratories and has capability to test 35 lakh soil samples annually State government also has made mandatory for these labs to check soil health on quarterly basis

iv It will help farmers in maintaining the balanced health s tructure of the soil and educate them to use right quanti ty of

fertilisers in order to prevent soil from becoming arid v Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi had formally launched the nationwide lsquoSoil Health Cardrsquo Scheme in Februrary 2015 in Suratgarh Rajasthan

Disinvestment Cabinet nod for IOC NTPC stake sale may fetch Rs 13600 crore i The government will sell its 10 per cent

s take in blue-chip Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and 5 per cent in power producer NTPC

to mop up about Rs 13600 crore in this fiscal rsquos fi rst disinvestment approval ii The approvals are part of Rs 41000 crore

disinvestment target for the current financial year

iii Buoyed by diesel price deregulation the government is looking at selling s take in

Indianrsquos largest fuel retailer IOC for the

second time in 13 months Sale of 2427 crore shares or 10 per cent stake in IOC would mop up close to Rs 8000 crore at current market price iv Decision in this regard was taken by Union Cabinet Meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi v Currently Union government holds 7496

per cent in NTPC and 6857 per cent in IOC Lok Sabha passes Negotiable Instruments

(Amendment) Bill i The Lok Sabha passed the negotiable

Instruments (Amendment) Bill which aims at making filing of cases more convenient for payees if cheques bounce

ii The government faced questions from its own members and allies over whether the Bills provisions could be used by corporates to harass common people iii The Bill was passed by a voice vote with Minis ter of State for Finance Jayant Sinha insisting that i t would boost the integrity of financial system and not lead to the harassment of the common man iv The Bill was necessitated due to a Supreme Court order that cases against those having defaulted on their cheque

payments could only be filed in courts under whose jurisdiction the bank account of the accused fell

RBI plans IT wing as financial crimes rise in

cyber space i The Reserve Bank is planning to set up an information technology wing to face the

rising challenges coming from the cyber world ii It can be noted that online frauds in the financial sector have been on the rise and hundreds of gullible people have been

defrauded by crooks using their s tolen credit and debit card information iii The cyber thieves have even been using

RBI logos to send out mails to cheat customers India way behind on WHO health targets i India has met only four of ten health targets under the Millenium Development Goals (MDG)

ii The report finds that globally life

expectancy at bi rth has increased by six years for both men and women since 1990

iii Since 1990 child deaths have almost halved mdash falling from an estimated 90 deaths per 1000 live bi rths to 46 deaths per 1000

live bi rths in 2013 Yet the world will not achieve the MDG target of reducing the

death rate by two-thirds iv In India li fe expectancy grew by eight years between 1990 and 2013 While India

has sharply reduced i ts infant mortality between 2000 and 2013 i t still contributes for the most infant deaths globally Non-communicable diseases are the top killers followed by communicable diseases and injuries

WPI inflation dips to record (-)265 per i Deflationary pressure continued for the sixth month in a row with inflation dropping to a new low of (-)265 per cent in April mainly on account of decline in prices of fuel

and manufactured i tems even as food prices increased

ii Inflation as measured on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) has been in the negative zone since November 2014 iii The deflationary trend has bolstered the

case for a rate cut by the Reserve Bank as retail inflation has also eased and industrial production is down

Daily GK Update - 15th May 2015 1 Modis Visit to China i Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi announced that India will grant e -visas to Chinese tourists

ii Agreements between India and China 1 Protocol for es tablishment of consulates in Chengdu and Chennai

2 Cooperation in vocational education and skill development and setting up of Mahatma

Gandhi insti tute on skill development in India

3 Consultative mechanism on cooperation in trade negotiations 4 Cooperation between Foreign Minis try and and Central Committee of Communist Party

of China (CCCPC) 5 Action plan between national railway administration of China and Indian Railways

6 Memorandum of Understanding on education exchange programme

7 Cooperation in the fields of mining and minerals

14

8 Space cooperation outline 9 Safety regulations on importing Indian rapeseed meal

10 Broadcasting agreement between CCTV and Doordarshan 11 Agreement for cooperation in the field of tourism 12 Memorandum of Understanding on establishing India -China think tanks forum 13 Memorandum of Understanding between NITI Aayog and Development Research Centre iii Two MoUs between Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Yunnan Minzu Universi ty and another with Fudan Universi ty

were signed on the establishment of a yoga college and centre for Gandhian and Indian s tudies respectively

2 Rajyavardhan Rathore inaugurates India Pavilion at 68th Cannes Film Festival

i Minis ter of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

inaugurated the India Pavilion at the 68th Cannes International Film Festival ii The government is channelising that

objective through campaigns like Make in Indiarsquo and lsquoSkill Indiarsquo and realises that the film industry is an important part of these campaigns given i ts tremendous potential towards job creation

iii The session also saw unveiling of the 46th IFFI 2015 regulations and lsquoIndia Film Guidersquo by Rathore iv The India Film Guide is a comprehensive booklet with information on policy ini tiatives

by the government pertaining to film sector the listing of Indian companies at Cannes Film Market

3 Google in talks with Arunachal govt for

Chromebook laptops in schools i Global tech giant Google is in discussions with the Arunachal Pradesh government to

run a pilot for deploying Chromebook laptops for school s tudents ii The pilot is proposed to be run in schools

in two ci ties mdash Itanagar and Zi ro

iii Chromebook is a laptop running Googlersquos Chrome Operating System The devices are designed to be used primarily while

connected to the internet with most applications and data residing ldquoin the cloudrdquo 4 SBI Launches NFC-Enabled Contactless Debit and Credit Cards i State Bank of India joined i ts private sector rivals to launch contactless cards using latest near field technology (NFC) ii Called the SBIinTouch cards these contactless debit and credit ca rds are more secure and hassle-free to use at merchant outlets or ATMs and use the NFC technology

which enables users to make payments by waving or tapping the card near the contactless reader instead of swiping or

dipping i t iii Private lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have al ready launched such NFC cards

iv Launching the cards SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattachrya said the bank has al ready issued 108 lakh new cards to its

customers in the eight largest metros and the remaining customers will get the cards in the following months 5 RBI allows transactions upto Rs 2000 without second factor authentication i In a move that will promote tap and pay

electronic payments the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that bank can allow customers to transa ct with contactless card

upto Rs 2000 without customers punching a separate PIN for authentication

ii The tap and pay refers to the use of near-field communication ( NFC) technology enabling users to make payments by waving

or tapping the card near the contactless reader instead of swiping i t

iii Prior to this relaxation after tapping the card at a point of sale machines the customer had to punch their PIN number as

an additional factor authentication to avoid any chances of fraud iv Tap and pay refers to the use of near field communication technology in payment cards

where instead of the traditional swiping of the card and punching in payment details all the customer needs to do is wave a card in

front of an acceptance device for the bill to be settled 6 MHRD Gave Nod For Setting Up IIIT in Nagpur Maharashtra i Union Minis try of Human Resource Development (MHRD) gave an in-principle approval for setting up an IIIT (Indian Insti tute of Information Technology) in Nagpur Maharashtra ii It will be the fi rs t IIIT to be set up in the s tate

iii The IIIT will join a batch of national insti tutes which are set to come up in the ci ty namely the All India Insti tute of Medical

Sciences (AIIMS) and Indian Insti tute of Management (IIM) iv The setting up of these higher educational

insti tutions in Nagpur is aimed at improving educational infrastructure in the backward

Vidarbha region 7 Tejaswini Sagar wins gold at Under-15

World School Chess Championship i Talented Indian youngster Tejaswini Sagar won her maiden world ti tle bagging the gold in the under-15 category of World School Chess Championship that concluded in

pattaya

ii Needing a las t round win and one favourable result the Aurangabad-girl

defeated Kavinya Miyuni Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka in the ninth and final round iii Tejaswini was aided by the result on the

top board as overnight leader Irina Barbayeva of Russia lost to Alisa Kozybayeva of Kazakhstan in the final clash iv For the record Tejaswini scored seven points out of a possible nine winning six drawing two and losing one game

Daily GK Updates - 16th May 2015 1 Egypts ousted President Morsy sentenced to death

i An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted President Mohammed Morsy to death

ii Judge Shaaban el-Shami referred his death

sentence on Morsy and more than 20 others to the nationrsquos top Muslim theologian or mufti for his non-binding opinion

iii The ousted leader al ready is serving a 20-year sentence following his conviction on

April 21 on charges linked to the killing of protesters outside a Cairo presidential palace in December 2012

2 Airtel clinches $25 billion Chinese

financing deals

i Bharti Ai rtel has received financing

commitments of up to USD 25 billion from China Development Bank and Industrial and

15

Commercial Bank of China with an average maturi ty of about nine years ii This is the single-largest bilateral

commitment by China Development Bank to any telecom operator globally and the largest bilateral commitment to a private Indian company iii Bharti Airtel announced a s trategic collaboration with China Mobile under which the two companies will work towards growth of the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) ecosystem and evolving mobile technology s tandards 3 Arun Shrivastava assumes charge as

Syndicate Bank MD and CEO

i Arun Shrivastava assumed charge as Managing Director amp CEO of Syndicate Bank ii He was Executive Director of Bank of India looking after Finance Strategy amp Planning Large Corporate amp Mid Corporate Business

Corporate Debt Restructuring Project Finance amp Syndication Credit Monitoring amp Asset Recovery Publici ty amp Public Relations

portfolios of the bank iii Earlier Shrivastava was overseeing the

foreign subsidiaries ndash BoI Indonesia and Botswana and joint venture ndash India Zambia Bank

iv He is a Certi fied Associate of Indian Insti tute of Bankers and AIBM He started his career as di rect recrui t officer in Bank of

Baroda in 1979

4 Modi inaugurates ICICI Banks first branch in China i Top private sector lender ICICI Bank

opened i ts fi rst branch in China which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ii The new branch would begin with 17 banking professionals handling different

functions including corporate banking operations finance and treasury iii Some public sector banks including SBI

UCO Bank Canara Bank and Allahabad Bank have also expanded their presence in China in the recent years to tap growing trade flows between the two countries 5 PM Modi extends e-visa for Chinese nationals i Brushing aside objections Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced granting of e -visa (electronic visa also called visa on arrival) facili ty to the Chinese nationals in Bei jing even as he urged China to reconsider its

approach to issues that have long strained ties and complicated business between the two Asian giants

ii Pledging to improve his torically weak economic links between their countries India and China also signed 24 deals worth over $10 billion including MOUs in the area of skill development railways establishing sister relations between ci ties of the two countries among others

iii Modis announcement on e -visas took everyone by surprise as only a couple of hours before had Indias foreign se cretary S

Jaishankar said categorically We are expanding i t (e-visa) bit by bi t With regard to

China no decision has been taken yet on extending e-visa

6 Shakuntala Gamlin takes charge as Delhi chief secretary despite CM Arvind Kejriwals directive

i Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Shakuntala Gamlin on Saturday took charge as acting Chief Secretary of Delhi

Government despite being asked by the Chief Minis ter not to do so ii A senior Delhi government official said that in his letter to Gamlin Delhi Chief Minis ter Arvind Kejriwal had said that her appointment is against the set rule iii Lt Governor Najeeb Jung gave the additional charge of Chief Secretary to Gamlin a 1984-batch IAS officer hours after she wrote a scathing letter to Jung claiming that she was pressurised by a senior bureaucrat in Chief Ministers office not to be

in race for the post due to her alleged proximity to BSES discoms

7 Gagan Narang wins World Cup bronze earns India quota for Rio Olympics i Gagan Narang won the bronze medal in the

50m Ri fle Prone Event of the ISSF World Cup at Fort Benning in USA earning himself a

quota place for the 2016 Rio Olympics ii Narang who won the bronze in 10m Rifle at the London Olympics shot 1858 overall to

secure thi rd place behind gold medalist Michael McPhail (2088 points ) of USA and Ole Kris tian Bryhn (2063) of Norway iii The other quota place from the event went to McPhail

iv Earlier in the competition Narang and Indias only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra had failed to qualify for the 10m Ri fle final v Narang is thi rd Indian shooter to make the Rio cut after Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela

PM Modi on Three Day Visit to China In Detail Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi visited China

this week to build friendship between the two Asian giants despite a long his tory of

disputes and rival ries along with some areas of cooperation especially in the economic sphere

PM Narendra Modi believes that his three -day visit to China will deepen bilateral ties and create a milestone for the relations between developing countries in Asia and around the world

DAY 1 PM Modi rsquos fi rs t leg of his high-octane China

visi t in Xian promised a rich harvest of positive optics as Chinese President Xi Jinping went on record as saying that Modi was the

fi rs t foreign leader whom he had received in his home province Xian Mr Modi has been given a traditional welcoming ceremony It

came as a reciprocation of sorts since Xi himself had begun his maiden India trip eight months ago in Ahmedabad in Modi rsquos native state Gujarat

You received me very warmly in your

hometown I am very glad to receive you in my hometown Xi told Modi in Chinese

Modi in Hindi responded This is an honour to 125 crore Indians whom I am representing as Prime Minister

16

After their meeting Xi Jinping accompanied Modi to several ancient si tes in Xian He also hosted a banquet for him in a building on the

ancient ci ty wall

DAY 2 On the Day 2 of Modis visit India and China signed a record 24 agreements in key sectors including in railways and education Protocol for setting up Consulates-General at Chengdu and Chennai besides an MoU on consultative mechanism for cooperation in trade negotiations were among the 24 agreements signed in the presence of Modi and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang An

action plan between the Indian Railways and China National Railways on enhancing cooperation in the railway sector was also

signed Heres the complete lis t

Protocols between India and China on the establishment of consulates-general at Chengdu and Chennai and the

extension of the consular dis trict of the consulate general of India in Guanzhou to include Jiangxi province

MoU between the minis try of skill development and entrepreneurship of

India and the ministry of human resources and social securi ty of China on cooperation in the field of vocational education and skill development

Action plan on cooperation in setting up of the Mahatma Gandhi National Insti tute for Skill Development and

Entrepreneurship in AhmedabadGandhinagar in Gujarat

MoU between India and China on

consultative mechanism for cooperation in trade negotiations

MoU on cooperation between the ministry of external affai rs of India and international department of the central

committee of the Communist Party of China

Action plan between the National Railway Administration of China and the ministry of railways of India on

enhancing cooperation in the railway sector (2015-16)

MoU on education exchange programme

MoU between the minis try of mines of India and the ministry of land and

resources of China on the cooperation in the mining and minerals sector

Space Cooperation Outline (2015-2020)

Protocol on health and safety regulations on importing Indian rapeseed meal between the export inspection council minis try of commerce and industry of India and the

general administration of quality supervision inspection and quarantine

MoU between Doordarshan and China Central Television on cooperation in the field of broadcasting

Agreement between the ministry of tourism of India and the national

tourism adminis tration of China on cooperation in the field of tourism

MoU on establishing India -China think-tanks forum

MoU between Indias Niti Aayog and the

Development Research Centre State Council of China

MoU between Indias ministry of earth sciences and the China Earthquake Administration concerning cooperation

in the field of earthquake science and earthquake engineering

MoU between Indias ministry of earth sciences and the State Oceanic Administration of China on cooperation in the field of ocean science ocean technology climate change polar

science and cryosphere

MoU on scientific cooperation between Geological Survey of India ministry of

mines of India and the China Geological Survey ministry of land and resources

of China in geoscience

MoU between the minis try of external

affai rs of India and minis try of foreign affai rs of China on establishment of s tatesprovincial leaders forum

Agreement on the establishment of sister-s tateprovince relations between s tate government of Karnataka and provincial government of Sichuan of China

Agreement on establishment of sister-ci ty relations between Chennai and

Chongqing of China

Agreement on establishment of sister-ci ty relations between Hyderabad and Qingdao of China

Agreement on establishment of sister-ci ty relations between Aurangabad and Dunhuang of China

MoU between the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Fudan Universi ty on the establishment of a centre for Gandhian and Indian s tudies

MoU between Indian Council for

Cultural Relations and Yunnan Minzu Universi ty on the establishment of a yoga college

DAY 3

On the third day of his visit to China Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi met CEOs of top

Chinese companies in Shanghai Taking ties to a new level 21 Memorandum of Understandings were signed between Indian

and Chinese companies

Modi who interacted with CEOs of 22

companies invi ted them to participate in his Make in India campaign and lis ted the 5F formula He said I have come to say to you

Make in India The 5F Formula - From Farm to Fibre to Fabric to Fashion to Foreign India and China can together give something to the world In a major takeaway Bharti enterprises and

ILampFS signed deals worth $25 billion and $3 billion respectively

In the three days that Prime Minister

Narendra Modi has been in China he has announced a slew of bilateral agreements mdash ranging from finding a political solution

to the border issue to strengthening cultural ties We hope that this visit to one of the most powerful country in the world will be fruitful in both political and friendly

manner

Daily GK Update - 17th May 2015PMs social security schemes Canara Bank rolls out awareness campaigns across Delhi

i Building on the success of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana the s tate-owned Canara Bank on Sunday rolled out awareness

campaigns across Delhi on the Prime Minis ters three latest social securi ty schemes

ii Roadshows were held in 16 clusters across Delhi to promote the three new social securi ty scheme -

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) iii For the Delhi region Canara Bank has enrolled the maximum number of persons (112929 lives ) under the PMSBY among all banks till date Even in the case of PMJJBY

Canara Bank is leading the league table with 74512 lives enrolled up to May 13 this year

data available with the Delhi State level Bankers Committee showed

CII welcomes biz outcomes of Modirsquos China visit

17

i According to CII Prime Minister Narendra Modi rsquos visi t to China has redefined the economic partnership between the two

largest and fastest-growing developing economies in the world ii Welcoming the business outcomes of the visi t i t said ldquoPrime Minister Modi rsquos visi t to China has redefined the economic partnership of the two largest and fastest-growing developing economies in the worldrsquorsquo iii In the presence of the Prime Minister at the India-China Business Forum in Shanghai Indian and Chinese companies exchanged 24 agreements for cooperation totalling $22 billion including investments and financing

across sectors the s tatement said iv Chinese ini tiatives in the sectors of railways skill development public health and

medical education will further build on economic cooperation between the two countries i t added

Govt contains fiscal deficit at 4 of GDP

beats its own target

i The Government has managed to restrict the fiscal defici t to 4 per cent during 2014-15 which is even below the revised estimate

announced in the budget Fiscal deficit is di fference between the income and expenditure of the Government ii The fiscal deficit at the end of 2014-15 s tands at Rs 501880 crore which is 98 per

cent of the projected figure in RE (Revised Estimate) 2014-15 Fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP is 4 per cent as against

the RE of 41 per cent (44 per cent for the previous year i e 2013-14)

Revenue Deficit The revenue defici t also came down to 28

per cent as against the revised estimate of 29 per cent This defici t refers to mismatch in the projected earning ad expenditure

Since the Government managed to collect more taxes than it was expecting i t impacted

positively not just the revenue but also fiscal defici t too

Income Tax authori ties managed to collect over Rs 1245 lakh crore during the 2014-15 which is 9 per cent more than 2013-14 This collection is 98 per cent of GDP Such earnings which also comprise of disinvestment s tands at Rs 43439 crore with an increase of 4 per cent Expenditure In terms of plan expenditure the RE was Rs 468 lakh crore but actual was Rs 436 lakh crore Similarly non plan expenditure came

down to Rs 1191 lakh crore from the RE of of Rs 1213 lakh crore

India grants $1 bn credit to Mongolia deepens defence ties i India today announced a US$ one billion

credit line to Mongolia for infrastructure development as they upgraded their ties to

ldquoStrategic Partnershiprdquo and agreed to deepen defense cooperation besides exploring potential for tie ups in areas like

the civil nuclear sector ii The two Prime Ministers signed a joint s tatement committing to further consolidate bilateral ties and upgrade the comprehensive partnership to ldquos trategic partnershiprdquo and

agreed to renew their Treaty of Friendly Relations and Cooperation iii The two sides inked 13 other pacts that includes one on enhancing cooperation in border guarding policing and surveillance ai r services cyber securi ty and new and renewable energy

Airtel clinches $25 billion Chinese financing

deals i The funds will help the company further diversi fy i ts global financing pool and invest

in growth of data networks

ii Bharti Ai rtel has received financing commitments of up to USD 25 billion from China Development Bank and Industrial and

Commercial Bank of China with an average maturi ty of about nine years iii The company signed the term sheets for the financing options in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is currently on an official visit to China Infosys to open first overseas campus in China i As India pressed China to open i ts markets for Indian IT fi rms technology major Infosys on Sunday announced establishing i ts fi rst

overseas centre outside India in China with an investment of about USD 120 million to tap in the burgeoning Chinese market

ii An MOU in this regard was signed between Infos ys and the local Chinese provincial government at the India-China

Business Forum which was addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Shanghai

on Sunday iii The development centre to be established in Chinarsquos Guizhou province with

a s taff capacity of about 4500 will help to focus on Chinese and global markets

Rome Masters 2015 Winners

Womens Singles - Maria Sharapova

Mens Singles - N Djokovic

Womens Doubles - Timea Babos and Kris tina Mladenovic

Mens Doubles - P Cuevas and D Marrero

At a glance Narendra Modis 1 year as PM 16th May marked 1 year since Narendra

Modi was sworn in as the 14th Prime Minis ter of India The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) took charge on 26 May and

formed India rsquos strongest government after almost thi rty years Led by Modi the BJP

i tself managed to win 282 seats out of 543 seats of the Lok Sabha For a simple majori ty merely 272 seats were required The

overwhelming performance of the NDA gushed confidence into PM Modi Narendra Modi rsquos campaigns gave an impression that he could just wave a magic wand and sort of issues prevailing in the

country It seemed as though he would be able to control inflation price hike boost GDP eradicate poverty and push away terrorism in a flash But on the practical side all of it is not possible at one go

Simply getting a clear mandate is not enough

for one to prove themselves The true test lies in governance that would eventually win confidence of the people

Be i t for the good or bad Modi rsquos government has ini tiated trends that break the traditional

way of the previous government The Prime Minis ter has set out to restore the insti tutional balance of power

Arguably 100 days is not enough to assess

anyone let alone a government that has to deal with 125 billion people

18

But just for the record we are compiling separate lis ts of issues on which Narendra Modi and his government have been

appreciated and cri ticized 1 There was a time when i t was not usual to see government officials coming to their offices on time But now within a span of 100 days times have changed Peons bureaucrats and minis ters have to reach office by 930 am ndash No exceptions

To cap i t all Union Minis ters give surprise visi ts to their officers Punctuality is rewarded and lethargy is reprimanded

Minis ters politely ask late comers to rest at home

2 Throughout Narendra Modirsquos election campaigns he spoke about lsquominimum governmentrsquo and lsquomaximum governancersquo

Keeping to his words the Prime Minister has had 17 departments and ministries clubbed into seven categories to ensure smoother execution of work More administrative restructuring is in process This will also ensure speedy decision making 3 The stark difference in the functioning of

Manmohan and Modi rsquos government is clear Many projects that had been s talled by have now been cleared UPA government had set

up 62 GOMs and EGOMs But Modi has had them all removed For quick clearance of legal cases National Data Li tigation Grid has

been set up 4 Narendra Modi had ridiculed Rahul

Gandhi rsquos concept of having 125 billion watchdogs in the country to ensure accountability He has given stern emphasis

to accountabili ty Ministers in the PMO know that they are being closely observed Modi

burns the midnight oil everyday for the country thus he expects his comrades to follow sui t

5 Veteran leaders like L K Advani and Murli

Manohar Joshi have been sidelined In contrasts to Congress that yet clings on to the Gandhi family and seems vulnerable with

them Narendra Modi has taken a courageous step by making way for other leaders to prove their worth Advani and

Joshi have been dropped from the Parliamentary board too Instead Modi has handed over the Partyrsquos baton to his closest

aide Amit Shah ho is now the President of the BJP 6 Narendra Modi rsquos greatest gi ft is his art of

oratory Moreover he knows how to use i t when to use it and where to use it While the NDA government was being severely cri ticized for price hike CSAT issue etc Modi mesmerized the nation from the Ramparts of the Red Fort on Independence Day He spoke about sanitation women empowerment and unity of SAARC nations He reached out to the world to lsquomake in Indiarsquo and use Indiarsquos skill and resources He spoke fine words on communal harmony and peace Once again he won millions of hearts

7 This Budget Session has proved to be most productive during the last decade with the Lok Sabha working 117 percent of the scheduled working hours and the Rajya Sabha reported a productivi ty of 101 percent The government failed to ensure passage of the controversial Land Acquisition Bill as also key reform measure of GST amid

s tiff resistance from opposi tion Key Bills Passed by Parliament during the

Budget Session (February 23- May 13 2015)

The Companies (Amendment) Bill 2014 The Bill introduces certain amendments in relation to Related Party Transactions fraud

reporting by auditors making common seal optional and jurisdiction of special courts to try certain offences etc The Black Money BillUndisclosed Foreign Income and Assets ( Imposition of Tax) Bill 2015 It penalizes the concealment of foreign income and provides for criminal liability for attempting to evade tax in relation to foreign income The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill 2015 Lays out the procedure for auction of coal blocks that were cancelled by the

Supreme Court in September 2014 and enables private companies to mine coal The Mines and Minerals (Development and

Regulation) Amendment Bill 2015 Allows auction as a method for granting mining

leases for both bulk minerals and notified minerals Also extends mining leases from 30 years to 50 years

The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2015 Raises the limit of foreign holdings to 49 in an Indian insurance company and

allows entry of foreign reinsurers (companies that insure insurance companies)

8 Modi rsquos foreign policies have found approval too He invi ted all the neighboring leaders to his swearing- in ceremony including Pakis tanrsquos Prime Minis ter Nawab Sharif The following international trips were made by Narendra Modi during 2014-15

Bhutan

Brazil

Nepal (2)

Japan

United States

Myanmar

Australia

Fiji

Seychelles

Mauritius

Sri Lanka

Singapore

France

Germany

Canada

China

Mongolia

9 There has been higher visibility of growth

as the Indian economy regis tered a GDP growth of 57 per cent in the April-June quarter of 2014-15 The Indian economy

registered i ts highest growth in nine quarters this financial year 10 Indian markets have witnessed their best period in the past 100 days after the NDA government took charge on 26 May 2014 Both the Sensex and the Nifty have managed to hi t fresh record highs almost on a daily

basis The SampP BSE Sensex has rallied nearly 9 per cent since the time Modi government came to power The SampP BSE Sensex has been the best performing market among the major global markets up over 27 per cent so

far in the year 2014 supported by s trong global liquidi ty and expectation of pro-growth reforms from the newly-elected Modi

government According to experts one thing which s tands out since NDA took over the

charge is the fact that business confidence is back

19

Modi government has been criticized for following reasons 1 Talking about policies the Congress

accuses the government of simply following up UPArsquos policies To a certain extend it does seem like giving old things in new packages The BJP was against FDI while they were in Opposition They held protests and dis rupted the Parliament session against UPArsquos proposal But of late they have taken a complete u-turn by invi ting FDI in railways defense and insurance Similarly the UPA government had launched a subsidy scheme on the basis on Aadhar card Through this it was mandatory to open bank accounts The

NDA government has apparently taken out a new version of the Aadhar Card in the form of Jan Dhan Yojna

2 The BJP has been cri ticized for practicing politics of vendetta They made i t clear from the very beginning that they wanted all the

governors appointed by the UPA government to be replaced with their own people The

government sacked Kamla Beniwal aged 87 She was the governor of Gujarat who shared hostile relationship with Narendra Modi

while he was the Chief Minister of the State They fi rs t had her transferred to Mirzoram for a couple of days before transferring her

3 Despite disapproval of the Supreme Court and continuous demands of the Congress the government adamantly refused to grant

the Congress position of Leader of Opposition Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said that she was merely following the consti tution The Supreme Court expressed concern over appointment of Lokpal that required the presence of LoP NDA government decided to provide Z-plus

securi ty to Muzaffarnaga r riots accused Sangeet Som His case is pending in the High Court This move not just drew sharp cri ticisms but i t also raises questions on BJP apparent move to promote polarized poli tics Modi ndash led government also appointed Uttar Pradeshrsquos controversial figure Yogi

Adityanath MP of Gorakhpur to lead

campaign in Uttar Pradesh by-polls Yogi Adityanath is the one who raked the lsquoLove Jihadrsquo issue which spread communal hatred

between two communities 4 Though Narendra Modi tried to establish peace and ha rmony between India and Pakis tan by invi ting Shari f to his swearing- in ceremony he failed to maintain diplomatic relations with the country The Pakis tan army has been violating ceasefi re continuously after Modi government took charge but the government failed to take necessary steps against i t On the Pakis tan envoyrsquos meet with Kashmir separatis ts India called off the Secretary level meeting but could not bar

Pakis tan from talking to separatists through diplomatic pressure

Given the challenges hersquos done remarkably

well But itrsquos just the start

Daily GK Updates - 18th May 2015 Narendra Modi reaches South Korea economic and trade cooperation high on agenda i Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in South Korea on the last leg of his three -nation visit during which he will hold talks with the South Korean leadership aiming to give a fillip to economic and trade cooperation

ii A slew of agreements are expected to be signed during the visit including one on Double Taxation Avoidance Convention cooperation in shipping and logistics

audiovisual co-production transport highways and electric power development in new energy industries

iii The Prime Minis ter who flew in from Mongolia after his three-day visi t to China

will hold talks on the enti re gamut of bilateral regional and global issues with President Park Geun-hye and explore ways to

upgrade cooperation in diversified areas

6th National Conference on Nuclear Energy

held in New Delhi i Sixth edition of National Conference on

Nuclear Energy held in New Delhi The theme

of this edition was Nuclear Energy a Clean Energy option ii It was organized by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) one of the apex trade associations of India

iii The conference discussed the issue

related to the s tatus of Nuclear Energy in India iv Apart from i t various issues were also

discussed including on nuclear energy to the decarbonisation of power sector Climate

change amp the future of nuclear energy nuclear energy expansion amp Make in India

Centre allocates Rs 5000 crore for development of AYUSH i The government has allocated Rs 5000 crore for the growth of Department of AYUSH and launched an independent National AYUSH Mission aimed at capaci ty building for the sector ii For creating awareness about Ayurveda the Minis try is considering to observe Ayurveda Day

iii Independent National AYUSH Mission is

launched aiming capacity building for the sector The mission will ensure creation of a centre of excellence for Ayurveda Yoga Unani Siddha and Homoeopathy independently

HDFC Bank launches medical benefits prepaid card

i HDFC Bank has launched HDFC Bank Apollo Medical Benefi ts Card ii The bank has partnered with Apollo Hospitals for this prepaid product which allows corporates to easily disburse medical allowance to their employees saving time

and cost iii With the card the administrative process of disbursing money is being made quick and

simple Corporates can load the specified allowance onto the card each month which

can be used by employees for medical expenditure at pan-India VISA MasterCard outlets

20

iv The card offers employees access to a wide range of additional benefi ts in the form of offers and discounts and facilities such as

free ambulance services India to assume Presidency of the 68th World Health Assembly i Minister of Health amp Family Welfare Jagat Prakash Nadda will preside over the 68th Session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) at Geneva as India assumes the Presidency of the WHA the high decision making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO) after a gap of 19 years ii The Union Minis ter is leading a high level

Indian delegation to the WHA to be held in Geneva From May 18-27 2015 iii According to a PIB release the 68th World

Health Assembly is expected to deliberate on key issues of global interest including anti -microbial resistance ai r pollution and health

global health emergency preparedness and surveillance global strategy and plan of

action on public health innovation and intellectual property and research and development in neglected tropical diseases

iv The Union Minis ter will also participate in a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines of the WHA including the Commonwealth Health Ministers rsquo Meeting 8th NAM Health

Minis ters rsquo Meeting and BRICS Health Minis ters rsquo meeting

Worlds oldest comatose patient Aruna Shanbaug dead i Aruna Shanbaug the former nurse at KEM Hospital here who was brutally sexually assaulted by a ward boy at the facility 42 years ago and had been lying in a vegetative s tate ever since passed away today ii The 66-year-old was battling a serious bout of pneumonia and was on ventilator support King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital sources said

iii She was in the medical ICU of the hospital

located in Parel area of Mumbai iv On November 27 1973 while working as a junior nurse at KEM Hospital she was

sexually assaulted by a ward boy She was in a vegetative s tate since the assault On 24 January 2011 after she had been in this s tate

for 38 years the Supreme Court responded to the plea for euthanasia filed by Arunas

friend journalist Pinki Virani by setting up a medical panel to examine her

Brad Haddin Australia wicketkeeper quits one-day game i Brad Haddin the Australia wicketkeeper has formally announced his reti rement from ODI cricket a day before leaving for Test tours of the West Indies and England ii Amid the Australia teams celebrations after the World Cup final victory over New Zealand in Melbourne in March Haddin had revealed that he was not going to play any more one-day games iii Haddin played 126 ODIs and scored 3122

runs at an average of 3153 with two centuries and 16 fi fties He also had 170 catches and 11 stumpings the thi rd-most

dismissals for Australia after Adam Gilchrist and Ian Healy

Daily GK Updates - 19th May 2015 Google help for NGOs working on child

safety i Google India has announced support for

three non-governmental agencies from India working on child safety ii The three organisations are ChildLine India

Foundation Bachpan Bachao Andolan and the Chennai-based Tuli r - Centre for the Healing and Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

iii ChildLine provides a toll-free helpline service (1098) for children in distress fi rst

launched in 1996 Bachpan Bachao Andolan sets i tself a mission to protect and rescue children from slavery trafficking and forced labour iv Google will help these organisations pilot smart new applications of technology with $ 500000 in grants through Googleorg to

ensure that children in India remain safe IDBI Bank to roll out e-huts

i IDBI Bank has decided to roll out e-huts to

connect with the rural populace ii The bank has currently introduced e -

lobbies which are next to the branches The e-hut concept will be completely unmanned units

iii e-huts is a concept that is widely accepted in the West but in India i ts yet to pick up Draupadi Murmu sworn in as first woman Governor of Jharkhand

i Draupadi Murmu was sworn in as the fi rst woman Governor of Jharkhand Murmu succeeds Syed Ahmed who will take over as

Manipur Governor ii A two-time BJP MLA from Odisha she was a minis ter in the Naveen Patnaik cabinet when the Bi ju Janata Dal ruled the s tate with the support of Bharatiya Janata Party

iii She headed the BJPs Mayurbhanj dis trict unit in Odisha and had represented Rairangpur in the Odisha assembly

Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice Virendra Singh administered the oath of office to Murmu iv Jharkhand Chief Minis ter Raghubar Das his cabinet colleagues former Chief Minis ters Shibu Soren and Arjun Munda Union Minis ter of State for Rural Development

Sudarshan Bhagat and a host of other

dignitaries were present during the oath-taking ceremony

India Meteorological Department signed MoU with POSOCO Ltd

i The India Meteorological Department (IMD) under the Union Ministry of Earth

Sciences on 18 May 2015 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO) for optimum use of weather informationforecast in the power sector

ii All weather information provided by ESSO-IMD will be used by the Power System Operators across the India for better

management of Indian Power System iii IMD will make available current weather

information for the identi fied s tations and forecasts at di fferent time scales of temperature humidity wind speed wind

direction and rainfall of the identified s tationssectors

Indian-American Harkeert Singh Saini won Prestigious Police Award in Texas

21

i Harkeert Singh Saini an Indian-American

policeman in third week of May 2015 won the prestigious Top Civilian Supervisor of the

Year ii Saini who hails from Hoshiarpur dis trict of Punjab received his award from Houston

Mayor Anise Parker and Police Chief Charles A McClelland iii 44-year-old Saini shifted to Houston in 1998 and joined i ts police department in March 2000

Reliance Jio inks pact with Huawei for sourcing 4G devices i Reliance Jio Infocomm the telecom arm of Reliance Industries (RIL) has signed a pact with Chinese fi rm Huawei for sourcing various 4G devices

ii RJio plans to launch 4G service this year in around 5000 towns and ci ties accounting

for over 90 per cent of urban India and over 215000 villages

iii Reliance Jio and Huawei have signed an agreement for 4G devices which includes

smartphones tablets and mifi dongles It has signed agreement with couple of other Chinese device maker as well iv On May 7 RJio raised a $750 million (nearly Rs 4500 crore) loan to procure goods and services from South Korean fi rms Samsung Electronics and Ace Technologies

INS Kavaratti launched i Indian Navys latest anti -submarine warfare

class s teal th corvette the INS Kavaratti was launched in line with a series of recent

developments in Indias defence preparedness

ii Kavaratti is the last of the four anti -submarine warfare class steal th corvettes being buil t for India under Project 28

iii The corvette with a displacement of 3300 tonnes has a length of 1091 metres and measures 137-m at beam iv It was designed by the Directorate of Naval Design and buil t by Garden Reach Ship Builders and Engineers v INS Kamorta the fi rs t ship under this project was commissioned by the Navy last year Kadmatt and Kiltan are scheduled for delivery between 2015-2017

डिबचर (Debenture) कया ह डिबचर भी शयर की तरह होता ह बस फकक इतना होता ह कक यह प जी का हहससा ना होकर कमपनी दवारा पबलिक स माागा गया ऋण होता ह इस डिबचर पर का पननयाा परनतवरक डिवीिि की जगह लयाज दती ह कई कमपननयाा डिबचर को शयर म सथानाातररत करन का भी परावधान रखती ह आजकि डिबचर का परचिन कम हो गया ह यह बहत जयादा सरकषित होत ह अगर का पनी ि ब भी जाय तब भी उनह इन डिबचर धारको को उनका पसा िौटना पड़गा चाह इस क लिए का पनी को अपनी ज़मीन मशीन बबबिाग ही कयो न बचनी पड़ पर द सर शयर म ऐसा नहीा होता यह इस हद तक सरकषित होत ह की परफिक शयर स पहि डिबचर वािो का पसा िौटना होता ह बाद म परफिक शयर वािो का पसा िौटना होता ह| कान न म डिबचर एक दसतावज ह जो ऋण सबजत करता ह या उस सवीकार करता ह कापोरट ववतत म यह शलद पस उधार िन क लिए बड़ी का पननयो दवारा परयकत मधयम स दीराकवधध ऋण लिखत क लिए इसतमाि होता ह कछ दशो म इस शलद को बााि ऋण सटॉक या नोट क लिए अातबकदि तौर पर उपयोग ककया जाता ह आम तौर पर डिबचर डिबचर-धारक दवारा सवततर रप स हसतातरणीय ह डिबचर-धारको को कोई वोहटाग अधधकार नहीा होता और उनको परदतत लयाज का पनी की ववततीय वववरणणयो म िाभ क परनत परभार होता ह सायकत राजय अमररका म डिबचर ववशर रप स एक ब-जमानती कॉपोरट बााि को ननहदकषट करता ह| अथाकत एक बााि जहाा बााि की पररपकवता पर म िधन को िौटान की गाराटी क लिए ननबचचत आय या सापवतत का अाश या उपकरण मौज द नहीा

ह अमररका म ऋण सटॉक या बााि क लिए जहाा जमानत उपिलध कराई जाती ह उनह बाधक बााि कहा जाता ह िककन य नाइटि ककागिम म आम तौर पर डिबचर जमानती होत ह एलशया म यहद भ लम पर परभार दवारा चकौती रकषित हो तो ऋण दसतावज को बाधक कहा जाता ह| जहाा चकौती का पनी की अनय आबसतयो पर परभार दवारा रकषित होती ह दसतावज को डिबचर कहा जाता ह| और जहाा कोई जमानत शालमि ना हो दसतावज को नोट या गर जमानती जमा नोट कहा जाता ह एक अमररकी ननगम को तब फायदा पहाचता ह जब वह डिबचर (जमानती कॉपोरट बााि जारी करन क बजाय) जारी करता ह कयोकक इस वजह स का पनी को पररपकवता पर म िधन चकौती म उसक दवारा च क क परनत गाराटी दन क लिए ककसी पररसापवतत या आय को अिग रखन की आवचयकता नहीा होगी| इसलिए डिबचर जारी करन वाि ननगम दवारा अनयथा एक अिग खात म धाररत की जान वािी उन पररसापवततयो या ननधध का इसतमाि अनय ववततीय गनतववधधयो क लिए ककया जा सकता ह डिबचर क परकार दो परकार क डिबचर मौजद ह पररवततनीय डिबचर जो पररवतकनीय बााि या ऐस बााि ह बजनह प वक ननधाकररत अवधध क बाद जारीकताक का पनी क इबकवटी शयरो म पररवनतकत कर सकत ह पररवतकनीयता एक ऐसी ववशरता ह बजस ननगम जारी ककए जान वाि बााि क साथ जोड़ सकत ह ताकक उनह खरीदारो क लिए अतयधधक आकरकक बना सक | द सर शलदो

म कापोरट बााि स जड़ी यह एक खास ववशरता ह पररवतकन की िमता स खरीदार को लमिन वाि िाभ की वजह स अपररवतकनीय कापोरट बााि की तिना म पररवतकनीय डिबचर पर ववशरतः कम लयाज दर िगता ह अपररवततनीय डिबचर जो कवि ननयलमत डिबचर ह उततरदायी का पनी क इबकवटी शयरो म पररवनतकत नहीा ककए जा सकत ह व ऐस डिबचर ह बजनस पररवतकनीयता सववधा जड़ी नहीा ह पररणामसवरप आम तौर पर पररवतकनीय परनतरप क मकाबि उन पर उचच लयाज दर िगता ह खल म इसका उपयोग असाखय खि सागठनो न अपन परशासको को किब म ववततीय हहससदारी अनमत करन और सामदानयक भावना को बढावा दन क लिए डिबचरो क ननग कम का उपयोग ककया ह ववमबििन टननस परनतयोधगता क आयोजक ऑि इागि ि किब अपन डिबचर-धारको को ट नाकमट क परतयक हदन क लिए दो हटकट जारी करत ह इसक अिावा कवि डिबचर-धारको को अनय पिकारो को अपनी हटकट बचन की अनमनत ह इसी तरह डिबचर जारी करन वाि अनय खि सागठन भी ह जो इस परकार ह- आसकनि फटबॉि किब हपिन पाकक वमबि सटडियम द लमिननयम सटडियम टववकनहम सटडियम नॉहटारमशायर काउा टी किकट किब िॉननागटन पाकक 2007 म ऑि इागि ि किब क डिबचर-धारको क सम ह न सीध जनता क सदसयो को डिबचर-धारको दवारा हटकट बचन को अनमत करत हए पहिी

22

वबसाइट बनाई| इसस प वक आम जनता को हटकट दिािो दवारा अधधकााश हटकटो की बबिी की जाती थी जो उनह डिबचर-धारको स काफी कम पसो म खरीदत थ नई वबसाइट डिबचर-धारको को बबना ककसी बबचौलिय क अपनी हटकट सीध बचन की सववधा दती ह बजसस उपभोकताओ ा क लिए हटकट

काफी ससत दामो म सिभ हो जाती ह सावधानी पसा जटान क लिए अचछी खराब दोनो परकार की का पननया बाजार म उतरती ह इसलिए हरदम अचछी का पननयो म ही ननवश कर इसक लिए का पनी की ऋण साख की रहटाग को पमाना बनाया

जा सकता ह वस जब अचछी का पननया डिबचर िाती ह तो अपनी रहटाग को परमखता स बयान करती ह

Foreign Visits of PM of India - In Detail - Part I1 Bhutan - 16 ndash 17 June

Highlights Modi made his fi rs t foreign visi t to Bhutan

following an invi tation by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Tobgay

The visit was called by the media as a charm offensive 1 India and Bhutan reiterated their commitment to achieving the 10000 MW target in hydropower cooperation

2 Modi inaugurated one of Indias assistance projects - the building of the Supreme Court of Bhutan and laid foundation s tone of the 600MW Kholongchu Hydro-electric

3 India also announced exemption of Bhutan from any ban on export of milk powder wheat edible oil pulses and non-basmati

rice 4 The two sides recalled the free trade

arrangement between them and the expanding bilateral trade and i ts importance in further cementing their friendship

5 Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi also mooted the idea of an annual hill sports festival with Indias northeastern states along with Bhutan and Nepal 6 Modi announced doubling of scholarships being provided to Bhutanese students in India which will now be worth Rs 2 crore

7 India will also assist Bhutan set up a digital library which will provide access to Bhutanese youth to two million books and periodicals 8 Both India-Bhutan reaffirmed their

commitment to extensive development cooperation and discussed ways to further enhance economic ties

Key persons --Sushma Swaraj National Securi ty Adviser Ajit Doval amp Foreign

Secretary Sujatha Singh

2 Brazil - 13 ndash 16 July

Highlights In July 2014 he visi ted Brazil for his fi rst

multilateral visi t the 6th BRICS summit was held at the north-eastern beach ci ty of Fortaleza

In the Fortaleza summit the group have agreed to establish a financial insti tution

rivaling the western dominated World Bank and IMF The bank would be named the New Development Bank as suggested by the Indian side but Modi govt failed to bag the banks headquarter for New Delhi which would be located in Shanghai China

Later the BRICS leader also attended an event in Brasilia where they met the UNASUR heads of government

At the same time the Ministry of External Affai rs added Spanish to i ts list of available languages

Key persons --BRICS countries prime ministers

3 Nepal - 3 ndash 4 August

Highlights Modi arrived for a two-day visi t to Nepal on 3

August The last visit of an Indian prime minister to Nepal was 17 years ago in 1997 by I K Gujral

1 India-funded hydroelectrici ty projects in Nepal and other infrastructure projects in Nepal 2 Modi became the fi rst foreign leader to address the Parliament of Nepal

3 He did puja at the fi fth century Pashupatinath temple

4 Modi announced a credit assistance programme of US$1 billion to Nepal 5 HIT policy which s tands for Highways Information Technology and Transmission key persons --Nepal Prime Minis ter GP Koirala Note1 The last visi t of an Indian prime

minister to Nepal was 17 years ago in 1997 by I K Gujral Note2 18th SAARC summit-katmandu-His

fi rs t ever SAARC summit

4 Japan - 30 August ndash 3 September

Highlights 1 Fi rst bilateral s tate visit outside the

subcontinent

2 Pledging financial support for building infrastructure in India

3 Sticking to his Make in India slogan 4 Modi gave an open invi tation to Japanese companies to consider India as a competitive

low-cost manufacturing hub 5 PM Modi s 3D mantra --Democracy Demography and Demand 6 Bullet trains With Japan committing to fund bullet trains the dream of running high-

speed trains on Indian tracks is now a step closer 7 Special Strategic Global Partnership Japan and India have upgraded their partnership to the level of Special Strategic and Global Partnership with the signing of a defence pact for regional s tability and Tokyos

decision to double FDI in India 8 Civil nuclear deal remains elusive - Despite last-minute negotiations the two sides could

not narrow down differences over Tokyos insistence for a tougher safe-guard regime and no nuclear test clause in the bilateral

agreement

5 United States 26 ndash 30 September Highlights

1 Modi delivered his maiden speech in the sixty-ninth session of the United Nations

General Assembly on 27 September 2014 2 Indias long s tanding demand of a permanent membership in Securi ty Council

3 He had also argued why UN should serve as G-All for global governance instead of several parallel sub-groupings like G7 G20 etc

23

4 Modi -Obama joint s tatement-cooperation in various fields including defence intelligence counter-terrorism Afghanis tan

space exploration and science 5 Madison Square Garden pi tch-3D Mantra skill development talent pool and Indias bright economic prospects 6 Comprehensive on International Terrorism by the UN and offered Indias pro-active role in it ci ting India as a victim of terrorism for decades 7 Demand Shari f has made in his address at the UNGA on 26 September on Kashmir related mater he s tated that his govt is ready for bilateral talk

8 Modi commented briefly on climate change and use of clean energy in this regards he also asked world leaders and UN

officials for observing Yoga Day 9 Modi fasted during a White House dinner in his honor

10 Smart ci ty assistance -- AJMER ALLAHABAD VISIKAPATNAM--CISCO

key persons-- obama ban-ki -moon

6 Myanmar - 11ndash13 November

Highlights 1 Modi attended East Asia Summit--9th summit -Naypyidaw 2 Importance All the countries supported

the East Asia summit declaration on Islamic s tate (terror group) 3 And also asserted that an international partenership is required for a comprehensive response against terrorism

4 The summit also rejected any linkage between religion and terrorism 5 They have also said that i t should be

ensured that cyberspace and space remain a source of connectivi ty and prosperity and not new threats of conflicts key persons-- ASEAN COUNTRIES PM

7 Australia - 14ndash18 November

1 Fi rs t timeAustralian and Indian Prime Minis ters have made reciprocal visits in the same year 2 The Prime Minis ter of India Narendra Modi paid an official visit to Australia from

16-18 November 2014 following the G-20 Summit 3 Priori ty areas such as resources

education skills agricul ture infrastructure investments financial services and health 4 CECA_Comprehensive Economic

Cooperation Agreement be brought to an early conclusion to realise the potential of

commercial relations 5 Australian investment in cold chain s torage energy infrastructure and other

sectors can do for the Indian economy

6 India will hold a Make in India event in

Australia in 2015 and organise shows in gems and jewellery engineering and pharmaceuticals to showcase Indiarsquos manufacturing capabilities 7 KEY - a Civil Nuclear Agreement signed in SeptemberAustralian supply of uranium in

coming years will enhance India rsquos energy securi ty b cooperate on clean coal technologies

c defence counter-terrorism cyber policy 8 They announced collaboration on rejuvenatingthe Ganga River- two-way exchanges and cooperation in river basin planning 9 MoU on Arts and Culture which will create a framework for deeper cul tural exchanges world-class Sports Universi ty key persons-- TONY ABOTT --PM

8 Fiji - 19 November

Highlights 1 In more than 33 years Modi became the fi rs t Indian head of government to visi t Fiji

after Indira Gandhis visit in 1981 2 There he also attended a Forum for India -Pacific Island cooperation along with leaders

from all 14 Paci fic islands nations key persons--Frank Bainimarama--PM

Foreign Visits of PM of India - In Detail - Part II Hello Readers

One of our ardent Reader Mr Cool has shared the below given informative post with us We hope that you all will like it

1 Seychelles - 10 - 11 March

Highlights A AGREEMENTS Total 4 Hydrography Renewable energy

Infrastructure Development and sale of navigation charts and electronic navigational charts

Trick --HRD-I

B Mapping i ts hydrology reserves C launched a coastal surveillance radar

project to boost securi ty cooperation with the island nation D Provide free of cost visas for three months

for i ts ci tizens and making i t available to them on arrival Note__Modi the fi rs t Indian Prime Minister to visi t Seychelles in 34 years Indira Gandhi was the last prime minister to visi t Seychelles in 1981 key person---President James Alix Michel

2Mauritius - 11 ndash 13 March

Highlights AGGREMENTS Total 5 A India Offers $500 Million Credit to Mauri tius During PM Modis Visit 5 Pacts Signed

Indian line of credit of $ 200 million ini tially meant for the light railway transit system to

projects in the water and e nergy sector

Ocean Economy

Cultural Cooperation Homeopathy Agricul ture and Cooperation-- importation

of fresh mango from India Sea and Air Transportation Facilities at

Agalega Island of Mauri tius B Modi was the Chief guest at the Mauritian National Day on 12 March

24

C India -Mauri tius Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) is being revised amid concerns that Mauri tius

D Mauri tius has been one of the biggest sources of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India key persons --PM of mauriti us--aniruthJugnauth

3 Sri Lanka - 13 ndash 14 March Highlights 4 agreements with Sri Lanka Customs pact to balance trade Credit line of more than $300 million

Currency swap agreement Visa on arrival for Sri Lankan nationals in India

A Educational exchanges with banaras university

B Announcing a new line of credit of $318 million for Sri Lankan railways C Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank

of Sri Lanka have agreed to enter into a currency swap agreement of $15 billion D Energy cooperation Indian Oil Corp Ltdrsquos

Sri Lankan subsidiary Lanka IOC Plc and Ceylon Petroleum Corp E Stands ready to help Trincomalee become a regional petroleum hub F Joint venture project between the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and NTPC Ltd of India G Comprehensive Economic Partnership

Agreement (CEPA) between the two countries

NOTE Modi said adding that tourism ci rcui ts would be developed along the

Ramayana Trail in Sri Lanka and a Buddhist pilgrimage ci rcui t in India Prime Minister Narendra Modi today

flagged off a train service at the north-western Sri Lankan town of The newly-

constructed 63-km railway track between Madhu Road and Talaimannar Pier is the last segment of the 265-km long

During this trip Modi also visi ted to Jafna in the Northern Province 27000 new homes to Tamils in jafna dis trict Modi is the fi rs t Prime Minister to visit Sri Lanka on a bilateral visit since Rajiv Gandhi in 1987

key persons --president -Maithripala Si risenaRanil prime minster --Wickremesinghe

4 Singapore 29 March

Highlights

A Prime Minis ter Modi attended the s tate -funeral of Lee Kuan Yew The fi rs t Prime Minis ter of Singapore There at the sidelines he met several world leaders including Is raeli President It was his fi rs t visi t to Singapore and he is expected to visit again during

the later part of the year for golden jubilee celebration of India -Singapore diplomatic

relation

5 France 9 ndash 12 April Highlights

20 pacts signed between India and France India France sign 17 agreements during PM Narendra Modi rsquos visi t__ Participate in the Make In India programme in defense civil nuclear power and food processing India asked France to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets in lsquofly-awayrsquo condition

A Including on the stalled nuclear project in Jaitapur in Maharashtra

B MoU was signed between Larsen and Tubro and AREVA C Re-engineering agreements were inked

between NPCIL and Areva which intend to bring clari ty on all technical aspects of the plant so that all parties D MoU on cooperation between the Minis try of Youth Affai rs and Sports and French Ministry of Sports Youth Affai rs Public Education and Community Li fe

E Signed agreements increasing bilateral cooperation in the economic sector F MoU on cooperation in the field of

renewable energy between the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and

Francersquos Ministry of Ecology Sustainable Development and Energy G Railway protocol between Indian Minis try

of Railways and French National Railways (SNCF) was also inked seeking to establish cooperation between Indian and French

Railways for semi-high speed rail and station renovation on upgradation of the Delhi -

Chandigarh line to 200 kmph

H MoU between ISRO and French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) on the Indo-French Megha Tropiques satelli te which was

launched on board the Indian launch vehicle PSLV on October 12 2011 I Other agreements signed were in the fields of energy culture tourism conservation Ayurveda skill development and science and technology French President Francois Hollande

6 Germany 12 ndash 14 April Highlights The PMrsquos visit to Germany was widely

covered by the media there especially his inauguration of the famous Hannover industrial fair along with German Chancellor

Angela Merkel A Both leaders spoke in favour of a free trade agreement between the European

Union and India PM Modi said that this was important for the expansion of India as a

manufacturing hub B The joint s tatement by both countries recognized the establishment of a working

group on urban development

C PM Modi promised to set up a mechanism to help German companies invest and do business in India mdash something that he has done only for Japan and the US

D While addressing a diaspora event in Berlin PM Modi said that India would lead the way in dealing with climate change He

added that India is not answerable to the world in relation to climate change E Make in India lion is a symbol of new India-

Modi at India Pavilion FThe two countries said s tronger

educational exchanges will be encouraged along with collaborations between universities

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Indian community during a reception

hosted by the Indian Ambassador in Berlin Germany chancellor--- angela merkel

7 Canada 14 ndash 16 April Highlights

The fi rs t official visi t by an Indian PM in over 40 years is a sure sign that relations

25

between our two countries are reaching new heights A The visi t which resulted in several new

bilateral agreements and commercial deals worth over $16 billion B These include energy railway transportation education and skills development space cooperation and maternal newborn and child health C One of the commercial agreements signed was for a Canadian company Cameco to supply over 3175 million kg of uranium concentrate to India over the next five years for the generation of electrici ty D India is currently Canadarsquos largest trading

partner in South Asia and merchandise trade between our two countries has more than doubled over the past 10 years reaching

record heights of almost $65 billion in 2014 E Co-chairs of the Framework Working Group of the G-20

Note Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement and a Comprehensive

Economic Partnership Agreement LAST VISITOR -- cannada is smt INDIRA GANDHI

key person --Stephen Harper-PM

8 China 14 ndash 16 May Highlights

Modi will undertake a three -nation tour of China Mongolia and South Korea from May 14 to 19 According to officials the visi t is aimed at giving a boost to the East Asia policy aligning i t with Make in India ini tiatives and bringing momentum to the countryrsquos foreign policy in

the s trategically significant region

A During the Modi s visi t India would seek greater market access removal of non-tari ff

barriers and investments in sectors such as defence B China has already signed MoUs to set up

industrial parks in India C India wants greater market access for its products including textiles pharmaceuticals and bovine meat D China which is conducting a feasibility s tudy into a $36 billion bullet train project from the capital in the north to Chennai in

the south E The country imports about 65 per cent of bulk drugs from China for i ts generic

medicine industry but s trict regulatory procedures in the neighbouring country rest

F Both countries have an unsettled boundary of 3488 km that often acts as an i rri tant to the ties

G Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which is seen as a counter to the US Japan

dominated Asian Development Bank is likely to announce funding for infrastructure projects in India during the visit of PM Modi

leading role in India becoming a founding member of the bank key persons--Xi Jinping

9 Mongolia 16 ndash 17 May Highlights

A Mongolia and India are keen to move forward on the MoU for Uranium supply that the two countries had entered in 2009

B Mongolia is keen on Indian helping the country in cyber securi ty

C Help in border patrolling is another area where the two countries will be s tepping up the ties

Prime Minister to visi t Mongolia and during his visi t talks on Uranium supply to India likely to get boost Key person --Chimed Saikhanbileg--PM

10 South Korea 18 ndash 19 May Highlights A His visit to South Korea has a definite Make in India angle to i t B India is keen on getting investment and going for joint manufacturing in areas where

South Korea has a technological edge C In the manufacturing sector South Korean companies including Samsung LG and

Hyundai that have s trong presence in India D Infrastrcuture developments

key person --President Park Geun-hye prime minis ter--Lee Wan-koo

Daily GK Updates - 20th May 2015 1 Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai wins Man Booker Prize i Hungarian wri ter Laszlo Krasznahorkai won Bri tains Man Booker International Prize for career achievement ii Best known in Germany and Hungary Krasznahorkai is the author of Satantango

(1985) which was later made into a film The Melancholy of Resistance (1998) and Seiobo There Below (2008)

iii The Man Booker International Prize worth pound60000 is awarded for an achievement in fiction on the world s tage It

is presented once every two years to a living author for a body of work published ei ther

originally in English or available in translation in the English language 2 Centre to launch agri-training programme in 593 Sansad Adarsh Grams i Centre is planning to launch soon an agri -training programme in 593 villages under the

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana one of the flagship schemes of Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi

ii The nodal Agriculture Ministry is working out the training programme guidelines for implementation in each village adopted by

Members of Parliament under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)

iii The agri -training programme to be conducted for two days in each village will be implemented by the National Centre of Organic Farming and Central Fertiliser Quali ty Control and Training Institute along with the support of the s tate governments iv SAGY which was launched in October

2014 is a rural development programme that primarily focuses upon the development in villages

3 Government to award road projects

worth Rs 3 lakh crore i In a big push for infrastructure development the government plans to

award Rs 3 lakh crore of road projects this year as i t looks to more than double highway construction to 30 km per day

ii Besides the plans to upgrade and expand National Hi ghways govt is planning a 1000-

km Chaar Dhaam Yatra project to connect the four holy towns of Yamunotri Gangotri

26

Kedarnath and Badrinath with highways at a cost of Rs 11000 crore iii Ministry is planning to build 5000-km of

road network all along the borders and coastal areas under a new scheme to be called Bharat Mala at a cost of Rs 50000 crore 4 25 companies to sell shares for the first time i The government has drawn up a list of 25 s tate-owned companies that could sell shares to the public for the fi rs t time possibly raising more than a thi rd of Indias record divestment target for the fiscal year

ii They include profit-making arms of Coal India and ONGC that could help the government get around Rs 25000 crore in

total iii The unlis ted fi rms may include ONGC Videsh Southern Coalfields Bharat

Broadband KIOCL and Mazagon Dock

iv Recently the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) approved a 10 per cent s take sale in the countrys biggest

refiner and fuel retailer Indian Oil Corp and 5 per cent in power producer NTPC 5 Indias economic growth to surpass Chinas in 2015-16 UN report

i Indias economic growth is projected to surpass that of Chinas with the GDP

expected to zoom by 77 per cent in 2016 according to a UN report which said India will help accelerate economic growth in South

Asia ii China is projected to grow by 7 per cent in 2015 and 68 per cent next year iii The report termed South Asias economic outlook as largely favourable since most economies are expected to experience a s trengthening of growth in 2015-16 on the back of s tronger domestic consumption and investment

Daily GK Update - 21st May 2015

SBI partners with PayPal i The countrys largest bank announced a partnership with digital payments fi rm

PayPal so that the Customers of State Bank of India (SBI) can now use their debit cards on PayPal for buying products from overseas

websites

ii The partnership will also allow SBIs Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) customers to use PayPals secure payment

solutions iii SBI has also announced a partnership with

e-commerce fi rm Amazoncom in India India continues to lead in global confidence

index i India continued to lead the global confidence index in anticipation of improvement in the economy through reforms and s timulus announced by the central government ii Indiarsquos consumer confidence score rose to

130 followed by Indonesia (123) and Philippines (115) iii Eighty per cent urban Indian respondents

indicated that the s tate of personal finances was good or excellent in the firs t quarter of

2015 iv The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer Confidence and Spending Intentions

es tablished in 2005 measures consumer confidence major concerns and spending

intentions among more than 30000

respondents with Internet access in 60 countries

Meghalaya Tripura governors sworn-in

i Senior BJP leader V Shanmuganathan was

today sworn-in as the Governor of Meghalaya at the Raj Bhavan ii Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court

Uma Nath Singh adminis tered the oath of office to Shanmuganathan at a solemn ceremony attended by Chief Minister Mukul

Sangma and most of his cabinet colleagues

iii Tathagata Roy on 20 May 2015 was sworn in as the 16th Governor of Tripura in Agartala Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court Mr Jc Deepak Gupta administered the oath of office to him as per the provisions of Article 159 of Consti tution of India iv He replaced Padmanabh Balkrishna

Acharya Governor of Nagaland who had held the additional charge of Tripura

SEBI sets new norms for mutual funds managing offshore assets

i Markets regulator SEBI on Wednesday simpli fied norms for domestic mutual funds to manage offshore pooled assets dropping

i ts 20-25 rule which requires a minimum of 20 investors and a cap of 25 percent on investment by an individual for funds from low-risk foreign investors ii In a noti fication saying the new regulations

would be called the Securi ties and Exchange Board of India (Mutual Funds) Regulations 2015 SEBI said the restrictions would not

apply i f the funds managed are of Category I foreign portfolio investors (FPIs ) andor Category II foreign portfolio investors which

are appropriately regulated broad based

funds

iii SEBI has classified FPIs into three categories with the fi rs t two being low-risk

foreign insti tutions that include sovereign wealth funds pension funds banks mutual funds insurers multilateral insti tutions and well-regulated foreign enti ties including portfolio managers Infosys is first Indian company to join RE100

global renewable energy campaign i The Climate Group announced that Infosys one of Indias largest Information Technology corporations has become the fi rs t Indian company to join RE100 a global platform for

major companies committed to 100 renewable power ii As part of i ts commitment to RE100

Infosys aims to become carbon neutral by 2018

iii The company is already working to reduce i ts per capita electricity consumption by 50 per cent from i ts 2007-2008 levels and

source all i ts electrici ty from renewable resources by 2018

27

Daily GK Update - 22nd May 2015 TN CM O Panneerselvam resigns makes

way for Jayalalithaa to take over i Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam handed over his resignation to Governor K Rosiah making way for AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa to take over the administrative reins ii Popularly referred to as caretaker CM this was Panneerselvams second s tint as

Tamil Nadu chief minister both for brief periods

iii In a meeting all 151 MLAs of the party unanimously re-elected Jayalalithaa as the legislature party leader paving the way for her to become the s tate chief minister for the fifth time She is expected to be sworn in to the chief minis terrsquos post on 23 May

Government relaxes FDI norms for NRIs PIOs OCI

i Aiming to attract overseas funds government decided that non-repatriable investments by NRIs OCIs and PIOs will be treated as domestic investments and will not be subject to foreign direct investment caps ii The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi had approved amendments including changes in defini tion

of NRIs to be incorporated in the FDI policy iii Investments by NRIs under under Schedule 4 of FEMA regulations will be deemed to be domestic investment at par with the investment made by residents an official s tatement said iv The Cabinets decision is expected to

result in increased investments across sectors and greater inflow of foreign exchange remittance leading to economic

growth of the country v The government had earlier raised the FDI

limit in sectors such as defence insurance

real es tate railways and medical devices

Obama Names Yale Professor to Key Administration Post

i Akhil Amar an Indian American professor

at Yale University was nominated by President Barack Obama to the National Council on the Humanities a key administration post

ii Akhil Reed Amar is the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale a posi tion he has

held since 2008 where he teaches consti tutional law

iii He has been a professor at both Yale Law School and Yale College since 1985 and has held various professorships including

Southmayd Professor from 1993 to 2008 professor from 1990 to 1993 associate professor from 1988 to 1990 and assistant professor from 1985 to 1988 Finance Ministry sanctions Rs 5223-crore fuel subsidy for IOC BPCL

i Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will get Rs 2932 crore subsidy and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) Rs 2291 crore for selling fuel below cost in Q4 of 2014-15 but Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will not get any

support ii The Finance Minis try has sanctioned Rs 5223 crore fuel subsidy for the January-

March quarter to cover almost all of the revenue loss that the two retailers suffered on selling domestic cooking gas (LPG) and

kerosene at government rates

iii With this the total subsidy provided by the government in 2014-15 goes up to Rs 27308 crore For the firs t three quarters the government had provided Rs 22085 crore iv The fuel retailers had lost a total of Rs

72314 crore on selling diesel (up to October 17) LPG and kerosene at government rates which were way below cost in 2014-15

IAFs Mirage-2000 lands on Yamuna eway in

successful runway trial i In an attempt to practise using highways for emergency landings an IAF Mirage 2000

jet successfully test landed on the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh

ii According to IAF the aircraft made a practise approach on the highway coming down to a height of 100 metres before

landing off the next approach

iii The operations were conducted with active support from the government of Uttar Pradesh Yamuna Expressway Authori ty toll authori ties of JP Infratech and Civil Police

iv The IAF has plans to activate more such s tretches on highways in the future

Gujarat government signs pact with ZTEsoft for smartcity projects

i Gujarat government and Chinese software fi rm ZTEsoft have entered into an agreement for smartci ty projects in the s tate

ii The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in Shenzhen during visit Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Ben Patel with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China iii The agreement was signed by Gujarats Industries Commissioner Mamta Verma and ZTEsoft CFO Xu Shan in presence of Gujarat

CM along with other s tate officials iv Chinese telecom gear maker ZTEs software arm ZTEsoft and Gujarat government will jointly work to find the target ci ty and area and after technical

closure both team will work together to set up a trial project in the s tate

IRCTC Partners With MyDala To Offer Deals To Ticket Buyers i Ticketing arm of Indian Railway IRCTC

doesnrsquot seem to leave any opportunity to capitalise its reach and traction After

partnering with Amazon and Paytm the government-owned ticketing portal has partnered with mydala to provide deals and

offers to customers ii The partnership will give travelers access to the best deals and offers while booking their tickets iii This partnership is an IRCTCrsquos move to

deliver signi ficant improvement in customer experience This is the thi rd partnership in a row this year by IRCTC

28

Daily GK Update - 23rd May 2015 Jayalalithaa sworn in as Tamil Nadu CM for

fifth time i AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa sworn in for the fifth time as Tamil Nadu chief minister nearly eight months after she was forced to quit over corruption charges ii Governor K Rosaiah gave oath to Jayalalitha at the Madras Universi ty Centenary Auditorium Actor Rajinikanth ICC

Chairman N Srinivasan and Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan attended the ceremony

iii Along with Jaya 28 others were sworn in as Minis ters Jayalalithaa will hold the portfolios of home police public all India

services general administration and dis trict revenue officers iv As for portfolio allocations Jayalalithaas trusted lieutenant O Panneerselvam has been given Finance and Public works which he held previously too Natham R Viswanathan will continue to hold electrici ty

prohibi tion and excise portfolio BSE drops Tata Power from Sensex Lupin to come in

i Private sector electrici ty producer Tata Power will move out of the s tock market benchmark index Sensex and will be replaced by drugmaker Lupin ii Besides Adani Power would be dropped from the SampP BSE 100 index while various changes have been made to a host of other

BSE indices as well iii The SampP BSE-100 an index of the top 100 listed companies in the country would see

Aurobindo Pharma and Tata Motors (DVR) coming in while the SampP BSE-200 would get

five new entries -- Ajanta Pharma Suzlon Energy Dewan Housing NCC India and Tata Motors (DVR)

iv Those moving out of BSE-100 include Sanofi India Hindustan Copper Amtek Auto

Jaiprakash Power Ventures

SAIL ArcelorMittal ink MoU to set up steel

plant in India

i Worlds largest s teel maker ArcelorMittal

and SAIL inked a pact to jointly set up a steel plant in India for the fast growing automotive sector ii The MoU the fi rs t step towards establishing the JV was signed in London by ArcelorMittal Chairman amp Chief Executive Lakshmi Niwas Mittal and SAIL Chairman CS Verma

iii The proposed JV will construct a state -of-the-art cold rolling mill and other

downstream finishing facilities in India that will offer technologically advanced steel products to India s rapidly growing

automotive sector said a joint statement by the two companies

Bank of India ties up with MasterCard to launch three cards

i State-run lender Bank of India tied up with MasterCard to launch three new cards and also two new banking solutions for i ts card holders ii The bank launched Business Debit MasterCard Platinum Credit MasterCard and International Travel MasterCard to improve customerrsquos payment experiences

iii It will also offer two banking solutions - In

Control for spend management and MasterCard rewards program for its customers

UN observed International Day for

Biological Diversity i The United Nations (UN) observed the International Day for Biological Diversi ty

(IBD) on 22 May 2015 The theme for the year 2015 is Biodiversi ty for Sustainable

Development ii This year theme highlights the relevance of biodiversi ty in achieving the goal of

sustainable development iii It also highlights the importance of efforts made to establish a set of Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the UN Post-2015 Development Agenda (2015-2030)

iv The selection of the theme also underlines the adoption of the Gangwon Declaration at the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in South Korea in 2014

Parvinder Singh Batth becomes first Sikh mayor in United Kingdomrsquos Wokingham Borough Council i Parvinder Singh Batth an Indian-origin

Conservative party councillor was chosen as the mayor of United Kingdomrsquos Wokingham Borough Council

ii With this he became the fi rs t Sikh to hold the Mayorrsquos posi tion in UK He succeeds

Councillor UllaKarin Clark for this post and will serve till 2016 iii Parvinder Singh Batth previously had

served as Deputy Mayor of borough of Wokingham in Berkshire in south east England iv He was born in Indian s tate of Punjab in the farmerrsquos family Later he had migrated to United Kingdom

29

Schemes launched by Modi Government In Detail Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana

The scheme will be a one year cover renewable from year to year Accident Insurance Scheme offering accidental death and disability cover for death or disability on account of an accident The scheme would be offered administered through Public Sector General Insurance

Companies (PSGICs) and other General Insurance companies willing to offer the product on similar terms with necessary

approvals and tie up with Banks for this purpose

Highlights of the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (Pmsby ndash Scheme 1 ndash for

Accidental Death Insurance) are

Eligibility Available to people in age

group 18 to 70 years with bank account

Premium Rs 12 per annum

Payment Mode The premium will be di rectly auto-debited by the bank from the subscribers account This is the only

mode available

Risk Coverage For accidental death and full disability ndash Rs 2 Lakh and for partial disability ndash Rs 1 Lakh

Additional Eligibility Any person having a bank account and Aadhaar number linked to the bank account can give a

simple form to the bank every year before 1st of June in order to join the scheme Name of nominee to be given

in the form

Terms of Risk Coverage A person has to

opt for the scheme every year He can also prefer to give a long-term option of continuing in which case his account will

be auto-debited every year by the bank

Who will implement this Scheme The scheme will be offered by all Public Sector General Insurance Companies and all other insurers who are willing to join the scheme and tie-up with banks

for this purpose

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana

The scheme will be a one year cover

renewable from year to year Insurance Scheme offering li fe insurance cover for death due to any reason

Here are the key highlights of this scheme

Eligibility Available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 and having a bank account People who join the scheme

before completing 50 years can however continue to have the risk of

life cover up to the age of 55 years subject to payment of premium

Premium Rs 330 per annum It will be

auto-debited in one instalment

Payment Mode The payment of

premium will be directly auto-debited by the bank from the subscribers account

Risk Coverage Rs 2 Lakh in case of death for any reason

Terms of Risk Coverage A person has to opt for the scheme every year He can also prefer to give a long-term option of continuing in which case his account will be auto-debited every year by the bank

Atal Pension Yojna (APY)

The scheme will be launched on June 1 2015

and focus is on the unorganised sector A pension provides people with a monthly income when they are no longer earning A

Subscriber receives pension based on accumulated contribution out of his current

incomeUnder the Atal Pension Yojna Scheme (APY) the subscribers under the age of 40 would receive the fixed monthly pension of Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 at the age of 60 years depending on their contributions

To make the the pension scheme more attractive government would co-contribute

50 per cent of a subscriberrsquos contribution or Rs 1000 per annum

Eligibility for APY Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is open to all bank account holders

who are not members of any s tatutory social securi ty scheme

Age of joining and contribution

period The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and maximum age is 40

years One needs to contribute till one attains 60 years of age

Enrolment agencies Al l Points of

Presence (Service Providers) and Aggregators under Swavalamban

Scheme would enrol subscribers through setup of National Pension System

if person joined Atal Pension Yojna at 35 years he will contribute till age of 60 years ie 25 years

If he wants monthly pension of Rs 1000 he would contribute Rs 181 a month On his death his wi fe would get Rs 1000 per month and after her death the

nominees will get 17 lakh

If he wants monthly pension of Rs 3000 he would contribute Rs 543 a month On his death his wi fe would get Rs 3000 per month and after her death the

nominees will get 51 lakh

30

Daily GK Update - 24th May 2015 India-Singapore bilateral naval exercise

SIMBEX-15 commences in Singapore i Bilateral naval exercise SIMBEX-15 between India and Singapore commenced on 23 May 2015 in Singapore and concluding on May 26 2015 ii This edition of naval exercise will give traditional emphasis on anti -submarine warfare (ASW) and more complex mari time

exercises It will involve various facets of naval operations such as ai r and surface practice fi ring ai r defence maritime securi ty

and search amp rescue operations iii For this edition of exercise Indian navy is

represented by

INS Satpura- an indigenously buil t guided missile s tealth frigate with

integral helicopter

INS Kamorta- an indigenous anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette

P 8I Aircraft- It is a long Range Mari time Reconnaissance Anti - Submarine (LRMRASW) ai rcraft

Indian film Masaan wins critics prize at 68th Cannes film festival

i Indian film Masaan has won the prestigious cri tics prize in the Un Certain Regard category at the 68th Cannes Film Festival

after i t was premiered on May 20 2015

ii The film is di rectoral debut of Neeraj

Ghaywan and a joint production of Manish Mundra Macassar Productions Arte France Cinema Sikhya Entertainment amp Phantom Films iii It s tars Vicky Kaushal Shweta Tripathi along with Richa Chadda and Sanjay Mishra The film is a narrative set based in Varanasi and i ts characters connected with the

Ganga iv The cri ticrsquos prize in the Un Certain Regard category runs parallel to the competition for

the main prize Palme drsquoOr in the film festival

Tanishq Abraham 11-year old Indian-

American creates record by graduating from California College i Tanishq Abraham 11-year-old Indian-

American child prodigy created a record by graduating from California College with three

associate degrees in science maths and foreign language s tudies ii He is native of Sacramento California and

youngest to graduate from the American River College (ARC) in Sacramento California iii In 2014 he also had created a record by becoming one of the youngest ever in the US to graduate high school

Indians posthumously chosen for UNs

prestigious Dag Hammarskjold Medal i Two Indian peacekeepers have been chosen posthumously for United Nationrsquos

Dag Hammarskjold Medal They are Lance Naik Nand Ram and Raju Joseph

ii Both of them are among the 126 police mili tary and civilian personnel who have been posthumously awarded a prestigious

UN medal iii They have been chosen for this award for their courage and sacri fice while serving in UN peacekeeping operations in 2014 and lost their lives as a result of hostile acts accidents and disease iii Lance Naik Nand Ram had served with the

UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) While Ra ju Joseph had served

in a civilian capaci ty with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)

Daily GK Update - 25th May 2015 1 China sets up largest gold fund for nations along Silk Road

i China the worlds biggest gold producer has set up a gold sector fund involving countries along the ancient Silk Road which is

expected to raise $161 billion ii The fund led by Shanghai Gold Exchange

(SGE) is expected to raise an estimated 100 billion yuan ($161 billion) in three phases

iii About 60 countries have invested in the fund which will in turn facilitate gold purchase for the central banks of member

s tates to increase their holdings of the precious metal iv The fund will invest in gold mining in countries along the Silk Road which will increase exploration in countries such as

Afghanistan and Kazakhstan

2 Government Clears 21 FDI Proposals Worth Rs 281 Crore

i The government has cleared 21 foreign direct investment (FDI) deals worth Rs 281 crore but deferred Kotak Mahindra Banks

proposal to hike foreign investment limit in the bank to 55 per cent

ii FDI proposals under approval route are cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)

iii Proposals involving investment of more than Rs 3000 crore are given final clearance by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affai rs (CCEA) 3 Facebookrsquos Internetorg attracts 8 lakh users in India

i Social media giant Facebook has garnered 8 lakh users in India for i ts Internetorg ini tiative that has been in the thick of the net neutrality controversy ii Facebook had partnered telecom major

Reliance Communications to offer free access to over 30 websites without data charges to users in India

iii Internetorg service is available for Reliance customers in seven telecom ci rcles

of Mumbai Maharashtra Gujarat Andhra Pradesh Chennai Tamil Nadu and Kerala

iv The goal of Internetorg is to allow more people to experience the benefi ts of being online

4 Nobel Awardee mathematician John

Forbes Nash Jr died

i John Forbes Nash Jr the Princeton Universi ty mathematician died along with his wi fe in a car crash He was 86 His taxi

crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike in Monroe Township when the driver lost

control ii Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind was inspired by his li fe

iii Nash born on 13 June 1928 was an American mathematician who became famous for his game theory differential geometry and partial di fferential equations which provided an insight into the factors

31

that govern chance and events inside complex systems in daily life 5 Mumbai Indians saunter to second title

win i Mumbai Indians put up an all-round show to outshine Chennai Super Kings by 41 runs in the final to win the Indian Premier League 2015 ii Mumbai Indians completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in the eight-year his tory of the Indian Premier League by transforming a terrible s tart to the tournament - they were at the bottom of the table for the fi rs t two weeks - into a title win

iii CSK had won the toss in final summit had chosen bowl fi rst MI by batting firs t had set

the target of 202 to their opponent team However the CSK failed to reach the target

score This is the second IPL ti tle triumph for MI after their maiden win in the season six in 2013

Man of the Match Rohit Sharma

Captains of the two teams Mumbai Indains Rohit Sharma

Chennai Super Kings Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Looking at the Other highlights of IPL 2015

Player of the Tournament Andre Russell (KKR)

Orange Cap awarded to Da vid Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Purple Cap awarded to Dwayne Bravo

(CSK)

Emerging Player of the Season Shreyas

Iyer (Delhi Daredevils)

Most Valuable Player Andre Russell (KKR)

6 Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany won Monaco Grand Prix of

Formula One i Mercedes racing driver Nico Rosberg of Germany won the Monaco Grand Prix

Formula 1 World Championship ti tle by winning the final race held in Monaco ii While Sebastian Vettel of Germany representing the Ferrari team stood at the second position Rosbergrsquos team mate Lewis Hamiltion of UK was at the thi rd posi ton iii It is the tenth overall championship title for Rosberg and the second ti tle in the 2015 season having won the Spanish Formula 1 World Championship on 10 May 2015 iv With the present victory he has become the fourth driver to win three Monaco Grand

Prix ti tles in a row The others were Graham Hill Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost

Latest Welfare Schemes launched by Narendra Modi Friends Here is the list of latest schemes amp plans announced by Narendra Modi led Union Government during the past few months This will be highly useful for all

upcoming competi tive exams 1) Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

Launched on 28 August 2014 Aim Ambitious scheme for comprehensive financial inclusion

by providing bank accounts insurance cover and a debit card to all the citi zens of the country Minis tryDepartment in charge of

the scheme Department of Financial Services Ministry of Finance 2) Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate Karyakram

Launched on 16 October 2014 Aim To create an environment conducive to industrial development while also ensuring transparency in the labour sector Minis tryDepartment in charge of the scheme Labour Ministry

3) Bal Swachhta Mission Launched on 14 November 2014 Aim Nationwide sanitation ini tiative for schools as

part of Swachh Bharat Mission Minis tryDepartment in charge of the

scheme Minis try of Women and Child Development

4) Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana Launched on 25 September 2014 Aim Aims

at training 10 lakh (1 million) rural youths for jobs in three years that is by 2017

Minis tryDepartment in charge of the scheme Ministry for Rural Development

5) Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana for urban and rural poor

Launched on 25 September 2014 Aim Aims at alleviating urban and rural poverty through enhancement of livelihood opportunities through skill development and

other means Minis tryDepartment in charge of the scheme Union Ministry of Housing amp Urban Poverty Alleviation amp Union Minis try

of Rural Development

6) Digital life certificate Jeevan Pramaan for pensioners Launched on 11 November 2014 Aim

Reti red employees of government and PSUs can now digi tally provide proof of his exis tence to authori ties for continuity of pension every year instead of requiring to present himself physically or through a Life

Certi ficate issued by speci fied authori ties Minis tryDepartment in charge of the scheme Department of Electronics and IT 7) Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign) Launched on 2 October 2014 Aim National

level campaign by the Government of India covering 4041 s tatutory towns to clean the s treets roads and infrastructure of the

country Aims to accomplish the vision of Clean India by 2 October 2019 150th

birthday of Mahatma Gandhi Minis tryDepartment in charge of the scheme All Minis tries amp Departments

8) lsquoMake in Indiarsquo global initiative Launched on 25 September 2014 Aim Aims

to boost India`s manufacturing sector

9) Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana Launched on 12 October 2014 Aim encourages Members of Parliament from

both Houses to identi fy and develop one village from their consti tuency as a model

village by 2016 and two more by 2019 covering over 2500 villages of the 6 lakh villages country-wide Minis tryDepartment in charge of the scheme Rural Development

Minis try 10) Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Yojana Launched on 10 July 2014 Aim Help in

generating awareness and improving the efficiency of delivery of wel fare services

meant for women with an ini tial corpus of Rs 100 crore

11) Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana Launched on 20 November 2014 Aim To provide access of electrici ty to rural households across the country

12) Sukanya Samriddhi account Launched on 22 January 2015 Aim Under the scheme an interest of 92 per cent (FY 2015-16) is provide on deposited amount which is tax free The account under this scheme a saving account can be opened by

the parent or legal guardian of a gi rl child of less than 10 years of age with a minimum deposit of Rs 1000 in any post office or

authorised branches of commercial bank

13) HRIDAY (National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana) scheme

Launched on December 2014 Aim For conserving and preserving the heri tage characters of 12 ci ties These are Amritsar

Varanasi Gaya Puri Ajmer Mathura Dwarka Badami Velankanni Kanchipuram

Warangal (Telangana) and Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) Minis tryDepartment in charge of the scheme Urban Development

Minis try

32

Daily GK Updates - 26th May 2015 PM Modi launches Kisan TV for farmers

i Marking the fi rst anniversary of NDA government Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched lsquoKisan TVrsquo at a function held in Vigyan Bhawan ii In his address PM stressed on the need for improving farmers rsquo condition in the country He said if country wants to progress the elevation of villages and farmers is the

s tepping stone

iii After coming to power the NDA government had announced that i t will launch a 24mdashhour TV channel for farmers

iv In his Union Budget 2014 speech Finance Minis ter Arun Jai tley who now also holds the charge of the IampB ministry had announced

that a 24mdashhour TV channel will be dedicated to the agriculture sector for which he had marked an outlay of Rs 100 crore On day one Tamil Nadu CM Jaya okays Rs

1800-crore for welfare schemes i A day after being sworn in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the fi fth time J Jayalalithaa

on Sunday announced development and welfare schemes worth over Rs 1800 crore

ii Jayalalithaa launched several schemes including those for improvement of roads drinking water facilities and for helping

needy families headed by women

iii The major thrust will be for urban and rural roads She allocated Rs 1000 crore for urban roads including those under Chennai corporation limits as i t was necessary to repair roads dug up repeatedly by various agencies like Metrowater and those

damaged in rains iv For the rural roads the government will spend Rs 800 crore covering 3500 km of road network of which 50 per cent will be spent on laying new bitumen roads and the

rest for repairing the damaged roads v As industrialisation of cities increased housing demand in town panchayats the

Chief Minister had sanctioned green houses for 20000 families in the ini tial phase Each family will be granted Rs 210 lakh and poor

in town panchayats living in mud or thatched houses were eligible for the scheme to be

implemented by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board

ICICI Launches Voice Password Facility for Phone Banking

i ICICI Bank launched voice recognition service which authenticates customers based on their speech patterns and allows them to

execute banking transactions through the banks call centre in a quick secure and convenient manner

ii The-fi rs t-of-i ts kind service by a bank in the country i t is available to over 33 million

customers of its savings account and credit card iii With the voice recognition technology in

place customers are no longer required to enter their card numbers PIN and answer securi ty questions to authenticate themselves iv Their voice will now act as the password for banking transactions through the call centre

v The voice recognition technology works on voice prints which are unique to an individual It comprises more than 100 characteris tics including voice modulation speed accent pronunciation which are

impossible to imitate thereby enhancing securi ty

Corporation Bank Cuts Lending Rate

i State-run Corporation Bank cut base rate or minimum lending rate by 025 percentage

point to 10 per cent a move which will lead to lower EMIs for i ts customers

ii The bank has revised the base rate for lending from 1025 per cent to 10 per cent with effect from June 1

iii With the reduction all loans linked to base rates will now become cheaper by at least 025 per cent iv During the month many banks including Punjab National Bank Bank of Baroda and IDBI BankBSE -184 reduced base rate by 025 per cent to 10 per cent

v State Bank of India the countrys largest lender had reduced i ts base rate by 015 per cent to 985 per cent effective April 10

MUDRA banks partners with 19 regional

coordinators to reach small entrepreneurs i Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank has partnered with 19

s tate and regional level coordinators to reach

those small entrepreneurs who are often cut off from the banking system because of a limited branch presence ii This ini tiative is expected to help finance lsquoLast Mile Financiersrsquo of small and micro businesses These businesses would in turn generate almost 10 times jobs compared to what was being generated by the big

companies currently

iii MUDRA Bankrsquos effort is likely to transform small enterprises into a Rs 11 lakh crore industry which would give a significant push to countryrsquos economy iv The Central government had set up

MUDRA Bank to boost the growth of small scale businesses as small entrepreneurs face di fficulty to access banking system for

various reasons This venture by MUDRA will help finance small and micro businesses at

the grassroots level Manoj Mishra appointed as CMD of

National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL)

i Government has appointed Manoj Mishra as Chairman and Managing Director of s tate -

run National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL) ii Mishra currently posted as Director

Finance at State Trading Corporation (STC) is likely to assume the charge of CMD of the fertiliser fi rm this week

iii In September last year government headhunters Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) had recommended Mishras name for the top post at NFL NFLs CMD post fell vacant after the reti rement of Neeru Abrol in February 2014 Mandeep Kaur wins two gold medals at World Junior Championship i Punjab pugilist Mandeep Kaur Sandhu has won two gold medals (52 kg category) on Saturday at the Womens World Junior

Boxing Championship in Taipei thus scripting a classic rags to rich s toryline

33

ii Indian boxers had a terrific outing in the tournament as they won 7 medals in all including three golds a silver and two

bronze iii Fi fteen year old Mandeep who hais from Chakkar village defeated Irelands Niamh Earley in the final match by a 3-0 margin to win gold Mandeep was dominant in her category throughout the tournament and registered some thrilling wins

Daily GK Updates - 27th May 2015

ANZ Bank to open 2 India branches by early

2016 i ANZ Bank will open two more branches in India by early next year ii The two branches would be opened at Gurgaon and Bangalore ANZ Executive

Director (International banking) Subhash DeGamia said The bank opened i ts fi rst branch in India at Mumbai four years ago

iii In June 2014 Australia New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) said i t received in -

principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India to open new branches in Gurgaon and in outer Bengalore

iv Its Mumbai branch offers Indian Rupee and foreign currency services working capital and term financing transaction banking global markets deposits and advisory services v In addition ANZs Bangalore-based operations and technology shared services

hub employs more than 6000 s taff supporting ANZs businesses around the world Four Indians among Forbes worldrsquos 100

most powerful women i Four Indians have been named in Forbes magazinersquos 12th annual list of Worldrsquos 100

most powerful women ii They are

Arundhati Bhattacharya Firs t woman

(and youngest) Chairperson of State

Bank of India (SBI) was placed at 30th

position

Chanda Kochhar Managing Director (MD) and CEO of India rsquos largest private sector lender ICICI Bank was placed at 35th position

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw Founder Chairman and MD of Biocon Limited was placed at 85th posi tion

Shobhana Bhartia Chairperson and Editorial Director of the Hindustan

Times Group was placed at 93rd position It should be noted she has appeared on the list for the fi rs t time

iii Top 10 powerful women German Chancellor Angela Merkel (1st) Hillary Clinton (2nd) Melinda Gates (3rd) US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (3th) GM CEO Mary Barra (5th) IMF Chief Christine Lagarde (6th) Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (7th) Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (8th) YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki (9th) and US Fi rs t Lady Michelle Obama (10th) India gets its first transgender college

principal

i In a fi rst in India Manabi Bandopadhyay has been appointed the fi rs t transgender principal at a college in West Bengal ii Manabi will assume the role of Krishnagar Womenrsquos College principal in West Bengal on June 9 She is currently an associate

professor in Bengali at Vivekananda Satobarshiki Mahavidyalaya iii This decision was taken by the College

Service Commission I dont interfere in their decisions They are aware of our open mind I

am happy with this decision state education minister Partha Chatterjee said

NASSCOM launches Cyber Security Task Force i National Association of Software and

Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Data

Securi ty Council of India have launched

NASSCOM Cyber Securi ty Task Force

ii Rajendra Pawar Chairman NIIT will chair this task force The task force over a 12 week period will identify the key priori ties and

build the detailed action plan for the sector iii It aims to improve the cyber securi ty

industry market share of the country from 1 of the IT-BPM industry to 10 by 2025 and plans to have a trained base of 1 million

certi fied cyber securi ty professionals It also expects to build over 100 securi ty product companies in India iv BVR Mohan Reddy chairman of Nasscom said that the task force ldquowill s tudy the Indian cyber securi ty ecosystem to identi fy issues and challenges and develop an

action plan to address the priori ty issues v It has proposed four working groups which focus on industry development policy enablement technology development and skill development respectively

Nirbhay Sharma sworn-in as governor of Mizoram

i Lt general (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma was sworn-in as the governor of Mizoram at the

Durbar Hall of Ra j Bhavan Justice T Vaiphei judge of the Gauhati high court administered the oath of office to general

Sharma ii State chief minister Lal Thanhawla his cabinet colleagues legislators from both the

ruling Congress and the opposition Mizo National Front (MNF) senior officials of the s tate government and the Army attended the gubernatorial swearing-in ceremony

34

iii General Sharma the former governor of Arunachal Pradesh was transferred and appointed as Mizoram governor on May 12

by President Pranab Mukherjee replacing West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi who took additional charge of Mizoram iv He is the eighth governor of Mizoram after the then s tate governor Vakkom Purushothaman resigned on July 12 last year in protest against being transferred to Nagaland FM Arun Jaitley announces setting up of NIIF

i Finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced the setting up of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund(NIIF) in the Union Budget The north block has now issued a draft Cabinet note on i ts formation

ii The note is likely to be taken up by the Cabinet within a months time iii The National Investment and

Infrastructure Fund is likely to have an initial

corpus of less than Rs 20000 crore Infact we pick up from our sources that the initial capital could be approximately between Rs

5000 crore and Rs 10000 crore iv The finance ministry is likely to seek the Parliaments nod for supplementary funds once the Cabinet has given i ts nod The government is also invi ting foreign investors for their participation in the fund Sangakkara named CEAT International Cricketer of the Year Rahane is Indian Cricketer of the Year i Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara on 25 May 2015 was named as

the International Cricketer of the Year 2015 while the middle order batsman Ajinkya Rahane was named as the CEAT Indian

Cricketer of the Year 2015 ii Former Indian captain Kapil Dev was conferred with the International Lifetime

Achievement Award at the 19th edition of the awards

iii Rohit Sharma was given a special award for his record-breaking 264 made against Sri Lanka in an ODI at Kolkata

List of award winners

International Li fetime Achievement Award - Kapil Dev

International Cricketer of the Year ndash Kumar Sangakkara

Indian Cricketer of the Year ndashAjinkya

Rahane

International Batsman of the Year ndash Hashim Amla

International Bowler of the Year ndash Rangana Herath

T20 Player of the Year ndash Dwayne Bravo

Popular Choice Award ndash Kieron Pollard

Special Performance of the Year Award ndash Rohit Sharma

Domestic Cricketer of the Year ndash R Vinay Kumar

Young Player of the Year ndash Deepak Hooda

Various Important Schemes Launched by NDA Government

I Banking amp Financial inclusion A Pradham Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to

ensure access to financial services namely Banking Savings amp Deposi t Accounts Remittance Credit Insurance Pension in an

affordable manner Account can be opened in any bank branch or Business Correspondent (Bank Mitr) outlet PMJDY accounts are being opened with Zero balance However if the account-holder wishes to get cheque book heshe will have to fulfill minimum balance cri teria

Special Benefits under PMJDY Scheme

Interest on deposi t

Accidental insurance cover of Rs100 lac

No minimum balance required

Life insurance cover of Rs 30000-

Easy Transfer of money across India

Beneficiaries of Government Schemes will get Direct Benefi t Transfer in these accounts

After satisfactory operation of the account for 6 months an overdraft

facili ty will be permitted

Access to Pension insurance products

Accidental Insurance Cover RuPay Debit Card must be used at least once in 45 days

Overdraft facili ty upto Rs 5000- is available in only one account per household preferably lady of the household

Documents required to open an account under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana If Aadhaar Card is not available then any one of the following Officially Valid Documents (OVD) is required Voter ID Card Driving License PAN Card Passport amp NREGA Card If these documents also contain your address i t can serve both as ldquoProof of Identi ty and Addressrdquo

HIGHLIGHTS

scheme for comprehensive financial inclusion launched by the Prime

Minis ter of India Narendra Modi on 28 August 2014

Run by Department of Financial Services Ministry of Finance

inauguration day 15 Crore bank

accounts were opened under this scheme

By 28 January 2015 1258 crore accounts were opened with around ₹10590 crore

B Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) (Re-Introduced)

The re-launched Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) will be available to the investors in the

denomination of Rs 1000 5000 10000 and 50000 with no upper ceiling on investment

The certi ficates can be issued in single or joint names and can be transferred

from one person to any other person persons multiple times The facility of

transfer from one post office to another anywhere in India and of nomination

will be available The certi ficate can also be pledged as securi ty to avail loans from the banks and in other case where

securi ty is required to be deposited Ini tially the certi ficates will be sold

through post offices but the same will soon be made available to the investing

public through designated branches of nationalised banks

Kisan Vikas Patras have unique liquidi ty feature where an investor can i f he so desi res en cash his certi ficates after the

lock-in period of 2 years and 6 months and thereafter in any block of six

months on pre-determined maturi ty value The investment made in the certi ficate will double in 100 months

35

Reintroduction of Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) is a welcome step not only in the direction of providing safe and secure

investment avenues to the small investors but will also help in augmenting the savings rate in the country The scheme will also safeguard small investors from fraudulent schemes With a maturi ty period of 8 years 4 months the collections under the scheme will be available with the Govt for a fai rly long period to be utilized in financing developmental plans of the Centre and State Governments and will also help in

enhancing domestic household financial savings in the country

INTEREST RATE - 87

HISTORY Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) ndash a certificate savings scheme was launched by the Government on

1st April 1988 The scheme provided facility of unlimited investment by way of purchase

of certi ficates from post offices in various

denominations The maturi ty period of the scheme when launched was 5 frac12 years and the money invested doubled on maturi ty

The scheme was very popular among the investors and the percentage share of gross collections secured in KVP was in the range of 9 to 29 against the total collections received under all National Savings Schemes in the country Gross collections under the scheme in the year 2010-11 were Rs 2163116 crores which was 9 of the total gross collections during the year In the year of i ts closure the scheme secured gross collections of Rs 757595 crores (April 2011 to November 2011)

C Sukhanya Samridi Account

Sukanya Samriddhi Account is another

welcome step from Govt of India Honorable Prime Minis ter of India Sh Narendra Modi Ji launched Sukanya Samriddhi Account ldquoA

Small Savings Schemerdquo on 22nd January 2015 It is part of ldquoBeti Bachao ndash Beti

Padhaordquo ini tiative of Government of India (GOI) also known as BBB

OBJECTIVE Sukanya Samriddhi Account Govt is trying to give a social message that Girl Child is not a financial burden if parents of a Girl child secure their future through proper financial

planning 7 Benefits

Highest Interest Rate among all Small Savings Schemes offered by Govt of India Sukanya Samriddhi Account will offer interest rate of 91 for current

financial year i e FY 2014-15 It is highest among all Small Savings Schemes

Tax Savings In order to encourage

people to open Sukanya Samriddhi Account Govt has exempted contribution to this account us 80C of

the Income Tax Act 1961

Lock-in Period In my opinion this is the

BEST Feature of this scheme The maturi ty of account is 21 years from the date of opening of the account or

Marriage of the Girl Child Which ever is earlier For Marriage Girl should be of

18 years at the time of marriage The operation of account is not permitted beyond date of marriage

Purpose of Sukanya Samriddhi Account As I mentioned earlier i t is quite evident that Sukanya Samriddhi Account is launched with sole objective of financial planning for the marriage of Girl Child Social Message is that Marriage or Education of a Girl Child is not a

financial burden if parents plan well in advance

Maturi ty Proceeds to be Paid to Girl Child On maturi ty of Sukanya Samriddhi Account the account balance along with

accrued interest will be paid di rectly to the account holder i e Girl Child It gives

financial independence to Girl child which is currently missing in India

Interest to be paid even after Maturi ty Unlike other financial schemes where

interest is not paid after maturi ty of the deposit investment scheme Unique feature of Sukanya Samriddhi Account is

that even after maturi ty if the account is not closed by the account holder Interest shall be payable in the account till final closure of the account

Flexibility to operate Sukanya Samriddhi

Account Based on past experience Government of India has given lot of

flexibility in terms of account operations I am listing down few of them

(a) Account can be opened with initial deposit of Rs 1000 and thereafter any amount in multiple of Rs 100 can be

deposited subject to max limit of 15 lakh during financial year Every FY a min sum of Rs 1000 should be deposi ted to keep account operative (b) On attaining age of 10 years a gi rl child can operate her account (c) Account can be closed if i t is proved that account is causing undue hardship to the account holder (d) Account can be transferred anywhere in India

D MUDRA Bank Yojana

1 BUDGET SPEECH The Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi launched the promised Micro Units Development and

Refinance Agency Ltd (MUDRA) Bank on 8 April 2015 with a corpus of Rs 20000 crore

and a credit guarantee corpus of Rs 3000 crore The launch was the fulfillment of an announcement made earlier by the Finance

Minis ter Arun Jai tley in his FY 15-16 Budget

speech

2 MUDRA Bank Make a Difference to the Economy As per NSSO Survey of 2013 there are close

to 577 crore small-scale business units mostly sole proprietorships which undertake trading manufacturing retail and other small-scale activi ties Compare this with the organised sector and larger companies that employ 125 crore individuals Clearly the potential to harness and nurture these micro businesses is vast and the government recognises this Today this segment is unregulated and without financial support or

cover from the organised financial banking

system

3 The principal objectives of the MUDRA Bank are

Regulate the lender and the borrower of

microfinance and bring s tability to the microfinance system through regulation and inclusive participation

Extend finance and credit support to Microfinance Insti tutions (MFI) and

agencies that lend money to small businesses retailers self-help groups and individuals

36

Regis ter all MFIs and introduce a system of performance rating and accreditation for the fi rs t time This will help last-mile

borrowers of finance to evaluate and approach the MFI that meets their requirement best and whose past record is most satisfactory This will also introduce an element of competi tiveness among the MFIs The ul timate beneficiary will be the borrower

Provide structured guidelines for the borrowers to follow to avoid failure of business or take corrective s teps in time MUDRA will help in laying down

guidelines or acceptable procedures to be followed by the lenders to recover money in cases of default

Develop the s tandardised covenants that will form the backbone of the last-

mile business in future

Offer a Credit Guarantee scheme for providing guarantees to loans being offered to micro businesses

Introduce appropriate technologies to assist in the process of efficient lending borrowing and monitoring of dis tributed capital

Build a suitable framework under the

Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana for developing an efficient last-mile credit delivery system to small and micro businesses

4 Major Product Offerings MUDRA Bank has rightly classified the

borrowers into three segments the s tarters the mid-stage finance seekers and the next level growth seekers

To address the three segments MUDRA Bank has launched three loan instruments

Shishu covers loans upto Rs 50000-

Kishor covers loans above Rs 50000- and upto Rs 5 lakh Tarun covers loans above Rs 5 lakh and upto

Rs 10 lakh Ini tially sector-speci fic schemes will be confined to ldquoLand Transport Community Social amp Personal Services Food Product and Textile Product sectorsrdquo Over a period of time new schemes will be launched to encompass more sectors 5 Some of the Offerings Planned for the Future

MUDRA Card

Portfolio Credit Guarantee

Credit Enhancement

II Agriculture amp Irrigation Schemes A Krishi Amdani Beema Yojana

To give an impetus to the dying agricul tural practice

There is 14 crore hectares of agricul tural

land in India of which only 44 per cent in under i rrigation

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sinchai Yojana

would be introduced so that more agricul tural land is i rrigated

Talking about the plight of small and marginal farmers he said that most of

them were leaving the agricul tural practice because of the uncertainty over the produce and returns

Krishi Amdani Beema Yojana so that the farmers donrsquot bear any financial burden if thei r produce gets destroyed due to

unexpected weather or for any other reason

B Pradhan Mantri Gram Sinchai Yojana

ensure water supply to farmers round

the year

basic contours of the agri -i rrigation

programme would be on lines of the PMGSY under which each i rrigation project would be selected for releasing funds by the state government after seeking nod of the concerned Zilla Parishad

importance in the wake of poor

implementation of various i rrigation

projects in some states despite release

of central funds by di fferent minis tries under various schemes for several years

Besides water is necessary for farmers as countrys 50 per cent of the agricul ture land is rainfed

C Pradhan Mantri Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

The Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana was launched last week for the development of model villages Under the Yojana Members of Parliament (MPs) will be responsible for

developing the socio-economic and physical infrastructure of three villages each by 2019 and a total of eight villages each by 2024

The fi rs t Adarsh Gram must be developed by 2016 and two more by 2019 From 2019 to

2024 five more Adarsh Grams must be developed by ea ch MP one each year This

implies that a total of 6433 Adarsh Grams of the 265000 gram panchayats will be created by 2024 Key features of the Yojana are outlined below

Objectives Key objectives of the Yojana include

The development of model villages called Adarsh Grams through the

implementation of existing schemes and certain new initiatives to be designed for the local context which

may vary from village to village

Creating models of local development

which can be replicated in other villages

Identification of villages

MPs can select any gram panchayat other than their own village or that of their spouse to be developed as an

Adarsh Gram The village must have a population of 3000-5000 people i f it is located in the plains or 1000-3000

people i f located in hilly areas

Lok Sabha MPs can choose a village

from their consti tuency and Rajya Sabha MPs from the s tate from which they are elected Nominated members

can choose a village from any district of the country MPs which represent

urban consti tuencies can identi fy a

village from a neighbouring rural consti tuency

37

D Soil Health Card Scheme for Every Farmer

AIM

Farming as an activi ty contributes nearly 16th of our Gross Domestic Product and a majori ty of our population is dependent on it

for their livelihood Deteriorating soil health has been a cause of concern and that has been leading to sub optimal utilization of farming resources Imbalanced use of fertilisers low addition of organic matter and

non-replacement of depleted micro and secondary nutrients over the years has resulted in nutrient deficiencies and decrease in soil fertility in some parts of the country

Soil health needs to be assessed at regular intervals so as to ensure that farmers apply the required nutrients

while taking advantages of the nutrients al ready present in the soil

Government has launched a scheme to

provide every farmer a Soil Health Card in a Mission mode The card will carry

crop wise recommendations of nutrientsfertilizers required for farms making i t possible for farmers to

improve productivi ty by using appropriate inputs

Central Government provides assistance

to State Governments for setting up Soil Testing Laboratories for issuing Soil Health Cards to farmers State Governments have adopted innovative practices like involvement of agricul tural s tudents NGOs and private sector in soil testing determining average soil health of villages etc to issue Soil Health Cards

A Soil Health Card is used to assess the current s tatus of soil health and when used over time to determine changes in

soil health that are affected by land management A Soil Health Card displays soil health indicators and

associated descriptive terms The indicators are typically based on

farmers practical experience and knowledge of local natural resources The card lis ts soil health indicators that

can be assessed without the aid of technical or laboratory equipment

BENEFITS

The scheme will provide all 145 million

farm owners in the country with a soil health card in the next three years

The budget allotted Rs 100 crore for issuing cards and an additional Rs56 crore to set up 100 mobile soil tes ting laboratories across the country

The soil health card details exis ting

nutrient s tatus of the soil and crop-wise

recommendations of nutrients and

fertilizers required making i t easier for farmers to improve productivi ty by using appropriate inputs

ldquoApplying fertili zer best quality seeds and ample water is not enough Farmers should nurture their soil and know what inputs to use and in what quanti ties rdquo Modi said while launching the scheme ldquoStarting soil health laboratories could be an employment avenue for rural youth In Gujarat where every farmer has a soil health card unnecessary

expenses on inputs have come down and farmers have saved a lot of moneyrdquo

The agricul ture ministry released Rs86

crore for the soil health card scheme In comparison between 2007-08 and April

2014 the minis try had spent Rs112 crore on the scheme The flagship scheme of the ministry has been

sanctioned Rs 568 crore for the next three years

Imbalanced use of fertilizer is has led to declining crop productivi ty in the country further fuelled by a skewed

fertilizer policy where urea is heavily subsided leading to overuse

While urea consumption increased from 59 to 66 of total consumption in 2012-13 over 2010-11 per hectare consumption of fertilizer declined from 140kg to 128kg over the same period

Daily GK Updates - 28th May 2015 PM Modi Shiekh Hasina to inaugurate Kamalasagar border haat i Prime Minis ter Narendra Modi and

Bangladesh premier Sheikh Hasina will jointly inaugurate a border haat (market) at Kamalasagar in Tripura s Sipahi jala dis trict which borders Brahmanbaria dis trict of Bangladesh ii The haat would be jointly inaugurated through video conferencing from Dhaka

during Modis two-day visit to Bangladesh beginning from June 6

iii The construction of a market shed and other infrastructure facilities at a cost of Rs 25 crores is almost complete

iv Sepahi jala Additional Dis trict Magis trate Dilip Kumar Chakma and his Brahmanbaria counterpart Nazma Begum informed that Indian traders from India and Bangladesh can

transact selected commodities respectively at the lsquohaatrsquo They met five times since Kamalasagar border point was selected

Mega Food Park Inaugurated at Nalbari Assam i Ministry of Food Processing Industries had sanctioned a Mega Food Park to Ms North East Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd at Nalbari Assam

ii The Central Processing Centre of the Park at Tihu in Nalbari Dis trict of Assam has been completed and was inaugurated by Honble

Chief Minister Assam Shri Tarun Gogoi and Union Minis ter for Food Processing

Industries Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal

iii Minister of State for Home Mr Ki ren Ri jiju was also present to grace the occasion iv To give a major boost to the food

processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage and loss at each s tage

of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables Minis try of Food Processing Industries is implementing a Mega Food Park

Scheme in the country since 2008 v Financial assistance upto Rs 5000 Crore is provided for setting up Mega Food Parks for creation of modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to consumer

TaxiForSure Ties up With Paytm Launches Faster App

i Taxi aggregator TaxiForSure announced a

tie-up with mobile commerce platform Paytm to enable Paytm users to pay for the

cab service through their prepaid wallet According to the company the new app will enable booking of cabs in a single touch

ii With the new partnership the balance amount in companys exis ting wallet will be

converted to TFS credit iii Commenting on the move Arvind Singhal CEO of TaxiForSure said that currently 80 per

38

cent of our booking comes from mobile applications and 35 per cent of the total payment is done through our wallet With

the partnership with Paytm over 70 million Paytm use can pay TaxiForSure fare through mobile Tripura government decides to withdraw AFSPA from state i Tripura government has decided to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) 1958 from the remaining areas of the state ii Decision in this regard was taken during the s tate cabinet meeting chaired by Chief

Minis ter Manik Sarkar in Agartala after Police in i ts latest half-yearly review had found no need to extend the act any further

iii Now state government will move to the Union Home Ministry for formal withdrawal

of the central Act from state which was in effect for the last 18 years to curb insurgency

iv Union Government had enforced AFSPA in Tripura after the relentless violence and bloodshed in tribal areas of s tate in February

1997 Since then i t was reviewed and extended in every six months as per the provisions of the Act v The last six-month extension was given in November 2014 and i ts term ends by the end of May 2015 Now a satellite tracking system to tackle forest fires in Himachal

i A satellite tracking system has been set up to check forest fi res during summers in

Himachal Pradesh ii Under the satelli te tracking system continuous vigil was being kept on the

forests to ensure that the fi re fighting staff reached the spot immediately on receiving information iii The Forest Minister said that awareness campaign was being launched throughout

the s tate for protection of forest wealth from fi re for which 693 participatory committees had been consti tuted

Abhinav Bindra qualifies for Rio Games 2016 through Olympic quota i Bei jing Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra qualified for the Rio Olympics 2016 through one of the Olympic quotas ii Bindra shot 6275 to qualify in the 10m air ri fle event at the 1972 Olympic Shooting Range in Hochbrucke iii Bindra is the fourth Indian shooter to qualify for Rio Games after he clinched one of the three quotas available to qualify for

the games iv Notably Bindra has had a slow start to the season recording below-par finishes in the

fi rs t two World Cups after he failed to qualify for the final in Changwon as well as Fort Benning

Daily GK Updates - 29th May 2015 India tops in World Hunger List with 194

Million People UN Report i India is home to the highest number of

hungry people in the world at 194 million surpassing China according to United Nations annual hunger report

ii At the global level the corresponding figure dropped to 795 million in 2014-15

from 1 billion in 1990-92 with East Asia led by China accounting for most of the reductions UN body Food and Agricul ture

Organisation (FAO) said in i ts report titled The State of Food Insecuri ty in the World 2015

iii India too saw a reduction between 1990

and 2015 i t added In 1990-92 those who were s tarved of food in India numbered 2101 million which came down to 1946 million in 2014-15 iv The overall analysis suggested that inclusive economic growth agricul tural investments and social protection along with

political s tability can eradicate hunger PK Sinha appointed cabinet secretary by Narendra Modi

i Power Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha was

appointed as the next Cabinet Secretary of the government He will succeed Aji t Seth

who has been holding the position for the last four years ii Sinha a 1977-batch IAS officer of Uttar

Pradesh cadre has been asked to take over as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in Cabinet

Secretariat an official release said He will formally take over the new charge on June 13 i t said

iii The Prime Minis ter has approved the

appointment of Sinha as the next Cabinet Secretary with effect from June 13 Sinha has

been serving as Power Secretary since July 2013 iv He has earlier served as the Shipping

Secretary and has also held several other important positions in the Union Government and in his cadre state --Uttar Pradesh

Renowned scientist Selvin Christopher appointed as DG of DRDO

i Eminent scientist Dr Selvin Chris topher has been appointed as the Director General (DG)

of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) along with the rank of a secretary ii As a DG of DRDO he will also severe as Secretary at Department of Defence

Research and Development (DDRampD) for a period of 2 years from the date of taking over the charge

iii Prior to this appointment S Christopher was Director of DRDOrsquos Centre for Air-Borne Systems (CABS) Bengaluru iv Presently he is also Programme Director of Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWampC) system He was fi rs t pioneer fi rst Indian scientis t who had directed the

manufacturing of India rsquos fi rs t indigenous AEWampC system

Researchers Create First Single-Molecule Diode

i Led by Indian American scientis t Latha Venkataraman a team of researchers at Columbia Engineering have created an

electronic diode the size of a single molecule that performs 50 times better than all prior

diode designs ii Their findings mdash which could have real -world applications in regards to

39

nanotechnology mdash were published on May 25 in the paper ldquoSingle-Molecule Diodes with High On-Off Ratios through

Environmental Control rdquo via the Nature Nanotechnology journal

iii The idea of creating a single -molecule diode was suggested by Arieh Aviram and Mark Ratner who theorised in 1974 that a

molecule could act as a rectifier a one -way conductor of electric current

iv She and her team are now working on understanding the fundamental physics behind their discovery and trying to increase

the recti fication ratios they observed using new molecular systems

90 Percent Of Global Chemical Weapons Stockpile Destroyed

i Nobel peace prize winning organisation OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibi tion of Chemical Weapons) has achieved major miles tone of destroying 90 per cent of the global chemical weapons s tockpile ii OPCW has mentioned that around 65000 metric tonnes of declared chemical weapons

mostly from US and Russian arsenals of cold war era have been destroyed in a safe manner

iii It also includes total of 1300 metric tonnes of chemical weapons removed from Syria in 2014 The remaining s tockpile is

underway in phase of destruction and is scheduled to be completed before the end of 2020 and 2023 The weapons s tockpiles included caches containing chemicals needed to make deadly nerve agents like Sarin iv OPCW is an intergovernmental organisation headquatered in Hague Netherlands The organisation promotes administers and veri fies the adherence to the Convention on the Prohibi tion of the Development Production Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their

Destruction (CWC) 23-year-old US-educated Yaduveer crowned

lsquoMaharaja of Mysurursquo i In a traditional ceremony US-educated Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wodeyar

the adopted son of Pramoda Devi Wodeyar is crowned as the ti tular head of the

erstwhile Mysuru royal family ii The coronation took place at Kalyana Mantap in Amba Vilas Palace in Mysuru at an

auspicious hour this morning amid Vedic chants and slogans hailing the Mysuru royalty and the 23-year-old ldquoKingrdquo as he ascended the silver throne lsquoBhadrasanarsquo

iii Yaduveer the 27th King of Wodeyar dynasty will have to wait until Dasara to

ascend the golden throne when he will preside over the lsquokhasa (private) durbarrsquo which is reminiscent of the bygone era

iv Pramoda Devi Wodeyar widow of Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wodeyar the

last descendant of the Wodeyar dynasty formally adopted Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs in February after which he was rechristened as

Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wodeyar Bharti Airtel surges 6 after Vodafone stake sale i UK telecom major Vodafone has sold its 42 stake in Bharti Ai rtel Ltd to Bharti Enterprises (Holding) Pvt Ltd for $200 million ii In 2005 Vodafone had picked 10 stake in Bharti Ai rtel Following i ts entry into the Indian market with i ts buyout of Huntchinson s take in Hutch Essar Vodafone brought its

s take in Bharati Ai rtel down to 5 iii Vodafones decision to offload i ts s take in largest telecom operator in India in terms of

subscribers base follows the new unified licence (UL) regime in Department of Telecommunication

iv Vodafones Indian unit the countrys No 2 carrier is Bharti Ai rtels closest competi tor

in the ma rket

Daily GK Update - 30th May-1st June 2015 1 Presidents visit to Sweden i President Pranab Mukherjee arrived in

Sweden on the fi rs t leg of his five-day s tate visi t to Sweden and Belarus the fi rst ever by

any Indian head of State during which a number of key agreements on sustainable development scienti fic research are likely to

be signed

ii During his three-day State visi t in Sweden the President will meet Prime Minister Stefan

Lofven the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament and the Leader of Opposition Anna Kinberg Batra besides number of

meetings with the King and the Queen

iii The visi t will focus on innovation sustainable development urban

development and scienti fic research with both countries exploring ways to enhance

mutual exchange in the areas of trade and science

2 Service tax increased to 14 i Finance Minis ter Arun Jai tley in his Budget had proposed to raise service tax from 1236 percent (including education cess) to 14 percent

ii Some of the key services that will attract higher tax and hence become costlier are

railways ai rlines banking insurance advertising architecture construction credit

cards event management and tour operators iii Jaitley had proposed to raise the service

tax rate to 14 percent to facilitate a smooth transi tion to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime which the government wants to roll out from April 2016 3 New chairman of Engineers India Ltd i Sanjay Gupta today took over as chairman and managing director of Engineers India Ltd the s tate-owned engineering and consultancy procurement and construction ( EPC) company in hydrocarbons and petrochemicals

ii Gupta replaced A K Purwaha who superannuated yesterday

40

iii Gupta has about 34 years of experience in the company ranging from planning to implementation of mega grassroot projects

in the refineries and petrochemical sector 4 KSivan-new VSSC chief i K Sivan Distinguished Scientist ISRO assumed office as the 12th Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC)

ii He takes over from MS Dathan who has reti red from service iii Dr Sivan joined ISRO in 1982 in the PSLV

project and has contributed towards mission planning design integration and analysis iv He also spearheaded the Reusable Launch

Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) project In April 2011 Dr Sivan joined the

GSLV project as di rector v His leadership led to the successful flight of GSLV with an indigenous cryogenic s tage

5 Shooter Gurpreet Singh qualifies for Rio 2016 i Former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Gurpreet Singh became Indias fifth shooter to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games finishing fourth in the 10m Air Pistol

category at the ISSF World Cup RiflePistol event being held in Munich ii The 28-year-old shot a total of 1548 points to finish fourth in the Final iii Joao Costa of Portugal who shot a total of

2014 in the event won the gold medal iv The other Indians to have earned India the earlier four quota places are Ji tu Rai Olympic

bronze medallist Gagan Narang Apurvi Chandela and Indias only individual Olympic

gold medallist Abhinav Bindra 6 Bhanot elected Asian Athletics

Association vice-President

i Scam-tainted former IOA Secretary General Lalit Bhanot was elected vice -President of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) in polls

held in Wuhan China ii Recommended by the Athletics Federation of India Mr Bhanot fought through a 14-strong challenge in the elections to be picked as one of the five vice -Presidents during the

AAA council on the eve of the Asian Championships in Wuhan

iii Tainted in the corruption scandal that engul fed the 2010 Commonwealth Games Mr Bhanot served as secretary of AFI for

more than a decade and was the Secretary General of the IOA when i t served a 14-month suspension by the IOC 7 Cricket greats Sachin Ganguly Laxman inducted into BCCIs high-powered advisory panel i Former greats Sachin Tendulkar Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman on Monday joined the BCCI in a newly-consti tuted advisory panel to guide the board in all matters related to the game

ii It has been learnt that Thakur and

president Jagmohan Dalmiya will consult with the panel on all major cricketing

decisions iii Board wants batsmen to speci fically speak to Tendulkar before any tough international

assignment iv Ganguly might well be consulted for

preparing a blueprint for success of the team overseas with Laxman working on the bench-strength and the new talent coming in

through the system