Daily GK Update - 1st April 2015

1. Mustafa Kamal resigned from the post of

President of International Cricket Council
i. Mus ta fa Kamal on 1 April 2015 s tepped down
as the President of the Internati onal Cri cket
Council (ICC). He sent out the resigna tion letter
to the ICC.
ii. The Bangladeshi cri cket administra tor had
succeeded Alan Isaac as the 11th President of
the ICC i n June 2014 for a period of two yea rs .

iii. He has been associa ted wi th cri cket for 30

yea rs and served cri cket in di fferent capa cities .
In 2012, he was named as the Vi ce -President of
the ICC for the term 2012-2014.
2. Commerce Ministry releases Foreign Trade
Policy
i. The commerce ministry announced i ts new
Foreign Tra de Policy for the period 2015-2020.

ii. To address the infrastructural bottlenecks ,

complex procedures and manufa cturing
hurdles , the new trade policy announced two
new schemes -- Merchandise Exports From India
Scheme (MEIS) and Servi ces Exports From India
Scheme (SIES).
iii. The new tra de policy will boos t exports ,
crea te jobs while supporting 'Make In India' a nd
'Digi tal India' Will focus on defence, pha rma ,
envi ronment-friendl y products and value-added
exports .
3. Snapdeal acquires majority stake in
RupeePower
i. E-commerce ma rketpla ce Snapdeal has
a cqui red a majori ty s take in di gital fi nancial

1. Odisha Government launches Aahar scheme

i. Odisha Chief Minis ter Na veen Pa tnaik
launched his governments much-hyped
subsidised Aaha r s cheme on the occasion of the
Sta tes Founda tion Da y.
ii. The s cheme was launched in Bhubaneswa r,
Cutta ck, Berhampur, Sambalpur and Rourkela in
the fi rst phase.

dis tribution pla tform RupeePower for an

undiscl osed a mount.

ii. Snapdeals entry into online financial servi ces

is a fi rst for a n e -commerce company in India .
Following the deal , the SoftBank-ba cked
Snapdeal will offer consumer loa ns through the
RupeePower network. The online fi nancial
servi ces market in India is es tima ted a t Rs 4,500
crore.
iii. The lates t development is pa rt of Snapdeals
$1-billion a cquisition spree. Founded in 2011,
RupeePower has pa rtnered 12 banks , including
the Sta te Bank of India, and non-banking
fi nancial companies .
4. Kotak Mahindra-ING Vysya merger gets RBI
approval
i. The merger deal between Kotak Ma hindra
Ba nk and ING Vys ya Bank has recei ved the
Reserve Bank's approval , whi ch would crea te
the country's fourth la rgest pri va te sector
lender.
ii. The scheme of a malgama tion (of Kotak
Mahindra Bank and ING Vys ya Bank) shall come
into effect from April 1, 2015. Following the
merger, all the tangible and intangible assets
ha ve been tra nsferred to Kotak Mahindra Bank.

i. The Reserve Bank of India penalised 16 central

coopera ti ve banks with a fine of Rs 5 lakh ea ch
for non-adherence of the Know Your Cus tomer
and Anti -Money Laundering guidelines .
ii. The lenders were issued show-ca use noti ces
and the a ction was taken a fter going through
the responses.
iii. The penalties were i mposed on these co opera ti ve banks i n exercise of powers ves ted in
RBI under the provisions of Section 47(A) read
wi th Section 46 of the Banking Regulation Act,
1949
6. New Zealand cricketer Mills follows Vettori
into retirement
i. New Zealand pace bowler Kyle Mills
announced his reti rement from all cri cket
Wednesda y, following Daniel Vettori i n calling i t
quits after the World Cup fi nal.
ii. Mills was consistentl y ranked among the
world's top 10 one -da y bowlers throughout his
illustri ous 14-yea r ca reer, a nd for a long ti me
was ranked number one.
iii. Mills represented New Zealand in 170 ODIs
and took 240 wi ckets to be the Black Ca ps'
second highest wi cket-taker in the shortened
ga me behind Vettori, who took 297.

iii. The Rs 15,000 crore merger deal between

Kota k Mahindra and ING Vys ya got the
Competition
Commission's
approval
in
Februa ry.

Daily GK Update - 2nd April 2015

2. Andhra Pradesh Cabinet approved
Amaravathi as capital of the State
i. Andhra Pra desh Cabinet chai red by Chief
Minis ter N Chandrababu Naidu approved tha t
Ama ra va thi will be the new capi tal ci ty of the
s tate. The ca pital will come up a t Tullur in
Vija ya wada-Guntur region of the sta te.
ii. The name of Ama ra va thi as s ta te capi tal was
fi nalised in view of i ts his tori cal, s pi ritual and
mythologi cal si gnifi cance.
3. Indirect tax collection exceeds target by Rs
4,000 crore in FY15

iii. The Chief Mi nister launched the scheme in

two towns firs t a t the Capi tal Hospital
premises in Bhubaneswa r followed by
Government Hospi tal in Rourkela.
iv. Four Aaha r outlets ea ch ha ve been opened in
fi ve towns where meal consisting of ri ce and
Dalma is being provi ded a t a subsidised ra te
wi th financial assistance from three Sta te run
corpora tions and Ta ta Steel.

5. RBI penalises 16 Central Co-operative Banks

(CCBs)

i. The collection of indi rect ta xes has surpassed

the revised esti mates by Rs 4,000 crore to rea ch
Rs 5.46 la kh crore for the fis cal ended Ma rch
2015.
ii. The total collection as on Ma rch 31 is Rs
5,46,479 crore, based on the provisional report
as a gainst revised es tima tes of Rs 5,42,325 crore

for 2014-15The total collection as on Ma rch 31

is Rs 5,46,479 crore, based on the provisional
report as a gainst revised es tima tes of Rs
5,42,325 crore for 2014-15.
4. Muhammadu Buhari claims victory in
Nigeria's presidential elections
i. Former milita ry di cta tor Muhammadu Buha ri
has become Nigeria s president elect a fter
defea ting Goodluck Jona than in the fi rs t
democra ti c change of power ever in Afri ca's
mos t populous nati on.
ii. Mr Jona than on Tuesda y publi cl y conceded
defea t, expressing his gra titude for the
opportuni ty to lead the na tion.

iii. Mr Jona than's defea t is the fi rst ti me in

Nigeria s brief democra cy tha t a si tting
president has not won a second term or handed
power to a nomina ted successor.

5. Punjab Government launches Padho PunjabKhedo Punjab Mission

i. Punjab Government has launched Padho

Punjab- Khedo Punjab Mission i .e. Lea rn
Punjab- Pla y Punjab Mission.
ii. It is a special mission launched to provide
s chool s tudents a sepa ra te period in the
curri culum for pla ying along wi th studies .
iii. The purpose of the mission is to encoura ge
more youngs ters towa rds sports to produce
quality players for the country. This will also
incul ca te the sports manship spi ri t a nd
competi ti veness amongs t them.
6. Union Government launches FAME-India
scheme to boost electric, hybrid vehicle sales

ii. The s cheme was launched as pa rt of the

Na tional Mission for Electri c Mobili ty to boos t
eco-friendl y vehi cles sales in the country.
iii. It's main objecti ve is to support the hybrid or
electri c vehi cles ma rket development a nd i ts
ma nufacturing eco-s ys tem in the country in
order to a chieve self-sus tena nce in s tipula ted
peri od.
iv. The overall s cheme is proposed to be
implemented over a period next 6 yea rs i .e. till
2020.
7. Gulshan Rai takes charge as Indias first
cyber security chief
i. Gulshan Rai, the Di rector General of Indian
Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In),
will take over as India's fi rs t Cyber Security
chief.
ii. Rai , who also heads the eSecuri ty and Cyber
Law di vision in the Minis try of Communi ca tions
and Informa tion Technology, has been invol ved
in va rious ca paci ties rega rding cyber securi ty fo r
over two decades. He is pa rt of the Depa rtment
of Electroni cs a nd IT.

i. Union Government on 1 April 2015 launched

Fas ter Adoption and Manufa cturing of Hybrid
and Electri c vehi cles (FAME) India Scheme.

iii. Rai's appointment comes a t a time when

cyber securi ty assumes importance in the
ba ckdrop of growing network intrusions and
ha cking a ttempts on not jus t businesses but also
on the government.
8. Isro IRNSS-1D Launch Puts India a Step
Closer to Own GPS-Like System
i. India is set to opera tionalise i ts own
na vi ga tional s ystem with the succesful launch of
IRNSS-1D, the fourth in the series of seven
na vi ga tional satellites , onboa rd PSLV-C27 from
Sri ha rikota .
ii. The expendable rocket had a si ngle but
important lugga ge, the 1,425 kg IRNSS-1D.
iii. The rocket blas ted off from the second
launch pad a t the Satish Dhawan Spa ce Centre,
a round 80 km from Chennai .

iv. The IRNSS will provide two types of servi ces s tanda rd positioning servi ce and res tri cted
servi ce. The former is provided to all users and
the la tter is an encrypted servi ce for authorised
users .

Daily GK Update - 3rd April 2015

1. President gives nod to land ordinance
i. The land a cquisition ordi nance, re promulga ted, a da y before it is to lapse.
ii. The government could not get converted i nto
a legislation in Rajya Sabha due to s tiff
opposi tion from the other pa rties .
iii. The fresh ordinance, which is the 11th by the
Na rendra Modi government, incorpora tes nine
amendments tha t were part of the bill passed in
Lok Sabha .

iv. To enable re -promulga tion of the ordinance,

the government las t week got the Ra jya Sabha
prorogued. Under the Cons ti tution a t least one
of the Houses has to be prorogued for
Government to issue an ordinance.

i. Subadhra Devi Rai , a senior lecturer a t the

School of Health Sciences (Nursing) a t Nanyang
Pol ytechni c (NYP), has been named winner of
the 2015 Interna tional Achievement Awa rd by
the Internati onal Council of Nurses' Florence
Nighti ngale Interna tional Founda tion (FNIF).
ii. She was na med for the a ward for her work in
the healthca re sector of women and refugees
and will recei ve the awa rd on 21 June 2015 a t a
conference in Seoul .
iii. Wi th this 51-yea r-old Rai beca me the fi rs t
Si ngaporean to get the pres tigious biennial pri ze
since its introduction in 1999.
4. India ranks 119 on 2015 FM Global
Resilience Index
i. In recentl y released 2015 FM Global Resilience
Index, India has been ranked a low 119 out of
130 countries .

2. Former world champion hurdler Liu Xiang to

retire

i. Chi nas former Ol ympi c champion hurdler Liu

Xiang plans to announcement his reti rement
next week following yea rs of nagging injuries .
ii. The 31-yea r-old Liu became one of China s
bes t-known a thletes by winning the 110-meter
hurdles ti tle a t the 2004 Athens Ol ympi cs in a
then-world record time.
iii. Liu missed previ ous two ol ympics outi ngs
due to simila r problems .
3. Indian-origin nurse Subadhra Devi Rai
named for 2015 International Achievement
Award

ii. India despite ha ving s cope a nd global

potential was ranked 119 compa red to 112th
rank in 2014 Global Resilience Index.
iii. India is ranked 115 posi tion on the economi c
pa ra meter tha t takes into a ccount GDP, poli tical
risk and oil intensi ty. This rank is same as in yea r
2014.
iv. In the risk quali ty fa ctor, India is ranked 109
for i ts quality of na tural ha za rd and fi re risk
ma nagement. In this pa rameter, India has
shown sli ght i mprovement from i ts 113th rank
in 2014.
5. Vijay Kelkar resigns from Tata Chemicals'
Board
i. Former Fi nance Commission chairman Vi ja y
Kelka r has resigned from the companys Boa rd.

ii. Kelka r was appointed on the Boa rd of Ta ta

Group fi rm on Ma y 30, 2012. He has also served
as chai rman of the Na tional Stock Exchange a nd
the 13th Finance Commission, besides being
adviser to Fina nce Mi nister.
iii. He is an Indian economist and a cademi cian
who served as the Chai rman of the Thi rteenth
Fi nance Commission cons tituted by the
President of India. He also served as Advisor to
the Union Mi nistry of Finance (20022004), a nd
is known for his role in economi c reforms in
India.
iv. He was awa rded the Padma Vi bhushan, the
second highes t ci vilian awa rd, in Janua ry 2011.
6. Amitabh Bachchan honoured by Egypt's
Academy of Arts
i. Megasta r Ami tabh Ba chchan feels humbled
and honoured to ha ve recei ved a honora ry
doctora te from the Egyptian Academy of Arts
for his contribution to cinema.
ii. He took to mi cro-blogging si te Twi tter to
sha re the news.

iii. This is the fi rs t time that the Academy of

Arts has gi ven a doctora te to an interna tional
a ctor.

7. Saina Nehwal reaches Malaysia Open

semifinals

i. Newl y crowned World No. 1 Saina Nehwal

continued her rampaging run wi th a win over
Chi na's Sun Yu to rea ch the semi finals of the
Mala ysia Open Super Series Premier.

ii. Saina defea ted Yu 21-11, 18-21, 21-17 in 1

hour and 11 minutes to set up last four clash
wi th worl d no. 2 Li Xuerui of China .
8. Brendon McCullum conferred with Sir
Richard Hadlee Medal for 2014-15
i. New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum has
been awa rded Si r Richa rd Hadlee medal , the
countrys highest cri cketing honour, for his
inspi ra tional leadership and exemplary ba tting
a t a glittering ceremony, in Auckalnd.
ii. McCullum, 33, led the Ki wis to thei r fi rs t
World Cup final where they did lose to Aus tralia

by seven wi ckets a t a pa cked MCG on Ma rch 29

but won a million fans with thei r ente rtaining
show throughout the 50-over showpiece event.
iii. Wi th 328 runs in nine ma tches a t a s trike
ra te of 188.50, McCull um led by exa mple to be
na med captain of the ICCs team of the
tournament.

Daily GK Update - 4th April 2015

1. Planet named after Indian chess
grandmaster Viswanathan Anand
i. The Indian Chess gra ndmaster, Viswana than
Anand adds another fea ther i n his cap wi th a
mi nor planet being named a fter hi m. The planet
was dis covered back in 1988 but ha d not been
formally na med until recentl y.
ii. The minor planet, now known as Vishya nand,
was previ ousl y identified as planet 4538.

i. Bha rti AXA General Insura nce (GI) Company

Ltd. has launched 'Sma rt Tra veller' tha t offers
gl obal covera ge for s tudents , indi viduals,
fa milies and frequent tra vellers .
ii. The Sma rtTra veller Insurance policy offers a
choi ce of two ma jor plans ca tering to Indi viduals
and Families and frequent tra velers through a
va riant - known as Annual Multi Trip
Interna tional tra vel insurance plan.

iii. Wi th this pri vilege, Anand joins former world

chess champi ons Alexander Alekhine and
Ana tol y Ka rpov who ha ve had a similar honour
bes towed on them.

4. Union Government extends National Food

Security Act deadline by 6 months
i. Union Government again has extended rolling
out deadline for Na tional Food Securi ty Act
(NFSA), 2013 by si x months . It was announced
by Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in
order to gi ve more time to s ta tes to roll out
NFSA.
ii. The extension will help remaining sta tes
adopt and implement the la w within next si x
months.
iii. It is thi rd ti me, this deadline has been
extended a nd the second deadline was to end
on 4 April 2015.

2. Rain-hit areas to get NREGS boost

i. The Union government will increase the

number of work da ys under the Ma ha tma
Ga ndhi Na tional Rural Empl oyment Gua rantee
Scheme from 100 to 150 i n pla ces where the
recent unseasonal rain and hailstorms ha ve
affected crops .
ii. The Fi nance Ministry and the Agri culture
Minis try a re readyi ng a relief package tha t will
include cash compensation for da maged crops
to fa rmers hi t by the unseasonal rain and
hailstorms .
iii. Pri me Minister Na rendra Modi has sought
recommenda tions from NITI Aa yog on how
insurance ca n be used to protect fa rmers from
losses a rising out of crop damage.

3. Bharti AXA General Insurance launched

Smart
Traveller

iv. 11 s ta tes and UTs tha t ha ve i mplemented

NSFA full y or pa rtiall y a re- Punjab, Ha ryana ,
Ra jas than, Hi ma chal Pra desh, Madhya Pradesh,
Bi ha r, Chha ttisga rh, Ma ha rashtra , Ka rna taka ,
Delhi and Chandiga rh.
5. Doping scandal hits Indian Weight lifting

6. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched

Give it Up campaign
i. Pri me Minister Na rendra Modi launched Gi ve
i t Up campaign. The campaign was launched a t
the a nnual energy-focussed summi t Urja
Sa nga m 2015.

ii. The campaign seeks to extort the better off

sections of s ociety to forego thei r liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) s ubsidy, whi ch would be
utilised in providing subsidised LPG connections
to the poor.
iii. The Pri me Minister asked companies and
banks to encourage their employees to gi ve up
the s ubsidy on LPG. The Gi ve i t Up campai gn
should be taken up on the lines of Swa cch
Bha ra t and Beti Ba chao, Beti Padhao ini tia ti ves.
7. Saina Nehwal ends runner- up at Malaysia
Open
i. Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal bowed out
of the Mala ysia Open badminton champi onship
following a semifi nal defea t in a thrilling three set game agains t tourna ment top seed Li Xuerui
of China in Kuala Lumpur.
ii. World number one Saina squandered a one ga me adva ntage as she los t 21-13 17-21 20-22
to worl d number three Li i n a gruelling semifinal
tha t las ted one hour a nd ei ght minutes a t Putra
Sta dium.
iii. Saina , who won the India Open Super Series
last week, once again failed to come good
agains t Xuerui , who has now bea ten the Indian
nine times in 11 meetings.

i. 21 weightli fters ha ve been provisionall y

suspended by the Indian Wei ghtlifting
Federa tion a fter testing posi ti ve for banned
subs tances .
ii. Ma ximum numbers of offenders were caught
a t the National Youth and Juni or Wei ghtlifting
Cha mpionships , whi ch was held in Yamunanaga r
in Janua ry.

Daily GK Update - 5th April 2015

K.N. Tripathi sworn in as Governor of Mizoram
i. West Bengal and Biha r Governor Kesha ri Na th
Tripa thi took addi tional cha rge of Mizoram .

ii. He was sworn in as 16th Governor of

Mi zora m on 4 April 2015.

iii. Jus tice Mi chael Zothankhuma of the Gauha ti

Hi gh Court a dminis tered oa th of offi ce to him a t
Ra j Bha van in Ai zawal .

iv. Tri pathi was gi ven addi tional cha rge of

Mi zora m after Union Government had sa cked
then Governor Azi z Qureshi .

Pedro Cateriano Bellido appointed as Prime

Minister of Peru
i. Pedro Ca teriano Bellido was appointed as
Pri me Mi nister of Peru by the President Ollanta
Humala .
ii. He will repla ce Ana Ja ra , who had lost a
confidence vote and was sa cked by Peruvian
Congress amid allega tions of corruption.

Malli Mastan Babu, India's ace mountaineer

passes away
i. Malli Mas tan Babu, one of Indias top
mountaineers passed awa y. His dead body was
recovered i n the Andes Mountains between
Argentina and Chile after he went missing on
24th Ma rch, 2015 during an expedi tion to Cerro
Tres Cruces Sur.
ii. Babu was rega rded as the fastes t 7
summi teer tha t is fas tes t mountaineer to cli mb
summi ts in all seven continents from India.
iii. In 2006, he had famousl y s caled 7 summits of
the world in record 172 da ys .

iv. He was the fi rs t Indian mountaineer to

summi t the tallest pea k in Anta rcti ca, Mt Vi nson
Massif. He was also the fi rs t person from
Andhra Pradesh to scale the Mt Everes t.
v. Babu hails from Nellore distri ct of Andhra
Pradesh and was a 2000-2002 IIM Kolka ta pass
out. He also had a degree from IIT Kha ragpur.

About Pedro Cateriano Bellido

a. Prior to this appointment, he was servi ng as
Perus Defence Mi nister and was appointed in
Jul y 2012, Ca teriano, by profession is a lawyer
and is specialized in consti tutional law.
b. He was member of the Peruvian pa rliament
from 1990 to 1992. Ca teriano also had served as
deputy jus ti ce minister from 2001 to 2002. He
also tea ches law at the Uni versi ty of Lima .
1. Delhi airport bags Golden Peacock National
Quality Award
i. Delhi Interna tional Ai rport Li mited (DIAL) has
ba gged the pres tigi ous Golden Pea cock Na tional
Quali ty Awa rd for the yea r 2015.
ii. The awa rd hi ghlights the bes t in class quality
process that we ha ve been building up a t DIAL
over the yea rs , whi ch ha ve brought signifi cant
resul ts and many a wards and a ccolades.
iii. The awa rd will be presented to DIAL by the
UAE Minis ter for cul ture, youth a nd
development Shei kh Nahyan bin Muba ra k Al
Nahyan a t a spe cially organi zed presenta tion
ceremony to be held in Dubai on April 20.

iv. Gol den Pea cock Awa rds were founded by the
Ins ti tute of Di rectors , India in 1991 and a re
gl oball y rega rded as a benchma rk of corpora te
excellence.
v. The Na tional Quality Awa rd Scheme was
ins ti tuted
to encoura ge
total
quality
improvements in both manufacturing and
servi ce organi zations in India.
2. India to host fifth meeting of SAARC health
ministers
i. Indian will hos t the fi fth meeting of SAARC
heal th minis ters next week to delibera te on key
issues including HIV/AIDS, preventi on of
communi cable and non-communicable diseases
and to s trengthen collaborati ons amongst the
na tions .

FM Global released Global Resilience Index

2015 Report
i. The Index offers powerful insights to help
business executi ves ta rget thei r investments
towa rds more reliable returns and to protect
thei r cus tomers from unforeseen disruption.

ii. Out of the 130 countries and regions assessed

Norwa y topped the lis t in terms of business
resilience and Venezuela came at last.
iii. The Index used nine core dri vers tha t a re
ca tegorized into three fa ctors namel y Economi c
Producti vi ty, Risk Quality, a nd Suppl y Chain to
assess business resilience of the countries or
regions surveyed.
Indias position in the Index
India has been pla ced at the 119th posi tion in
the 2015 Index compa red to 112th rank i t
secured in the 2014 Index.
India is ranked a t the 115th position in the
Economi c Producti vi ty ca tegory that takes into
a ccount GDP per ca pita , politi cal risk and oil
intensi ty. This ra nk is same as in the Index
2014.
In the Risk Quality fa ctor, India is pla ced a t the
109th position from 113th rank in 2014 whi ch
took into account exposure to na tural ha za rd,
Quali ty of na tural ha za rd risk mana gement and
Quali ty of fi re risk mana gement.
In the Suppl y Chain ca tegory, which takes i nto
a ccount control of corruption, Infras tructure
and local supplier quality, India has improved i ts
rank from 100th posi tion i n the yea r 2014 to
89th position.
According to the report, despi te Indias huge
economic potential i t is pla ced a t the 119th
position because one thi rd of i ts population is
s till li ving below the poverty li ne-one of the
hi ghes t inci dences outside sub-Saha ran Afri ca .

Daily GK Update - 6th April 2015

NOTE: GMV refers to the overall revenue
generated by online retailers through sale of
goods on the online platforms.

ii. The meeting will delibera te on a road map for

s trengtheni ng collabora tion a mong SAARC
countries on a number of issues and challenges
fa ced by them.
iii. The health minis ters will also discuss
adoption of the "Delhi Declara tion" a ffi rming
thei r commitment to work together in identi fied
a reas
and
further s trengthen heal th
collabora tion wi th agreed road map and
timelines , in the meeting scheduled to take
pla ce on April 8.
3. Myntra to shut website from 1 May; to be
available as a mobile app only
i. After closing i ts mobile website last month,
online fashion retailer Myntra is now moving to
an app-onl y s tra tegy by shutting down i ts
desktop website.

ii. Myntra , which was a cqui red by Flipka rt last

yea r for a sum of Rs 2,000 crores claims tha t
a round 85 percent of all users come to the si te
via the app anywa y, and tha t a round 63 percent
of all purchases happen on the app.
iii. Myntra is on course to complete Rs 2,000
crore in sales or gross merchandise value (GMV)
for the current financial yea r.

4. Mumbai: Defence Minister Manohar

Parrikar undocks first Scorpene submarine

i. Defence Minis ter Ma noha r Pa rri kar launched

the country's fi rst indi genousl y-built Scorpene
subma rine a t the Ma zagaon Dockya rd Ltd in
Mumbai .
ii. The Scorpene is pa rt of the a mbi tious Project
75 of Indian Na vy's subma rine programme,
undertaken wi th French collabora tion, whi ch
will include six such vessels joini ng the fleet over
the next few yea rs.
iii. The subma rine is expected to be
commissioned by September 2016.
iv. Presentl y, Indian Na vy has 14 conventional
diesel-electri c powered subma rines whi ch
include 10 Russian Kilo Class and four German
HDW class vessels.
5. MoU inked for construction of BR Ambedkar

memorial at Indu Mills land

i. A three pa rty MoU was signed between Union

Minis try of Textiles, Ma ha rashtra government
and Na tional Textile Corpora tion for tra nsfer of
land for cons truction of the memorial for Dr
Ba basaheb Ambedka r memorial in Mumbai .
ii. The MoU was signed in the presence of Pri me
Minis ter Na rendra Modi, Maha rashtra Chief
Minis ter Devendra Fadna vis and Union textile
mi nister Santosh Gangwar in New Delhi .
iii. The memorial will be cons tructed on the si te
where the las t ri tes of a rchi tect of the Indian
Cons ti tution, Bha ra t Ratna Dr Ambedka r were
performed after he had died on December 6,
1956.

launched India's fi rst Ai r Quali ty Index. The

index will be opera tional in ten Indian ci ties to
s ta rt wi th.
ii. The air quali ty index will inform the publi c
about the level of pollution in the ai r on a dail y
basis in real-time.
"Environment protection and development can
go hand in hand," Prime Minister said while
speaking on the launch event, in New Delhi's
Vigyan Bhavan.
7. Miami Open 2015 - Winners
Mens Singles Title

6. PM Modi launches national air quality index

World No. 1 and Serbian a ce tennis pla yer

Nova k Djokovi c has won the 2015 Mia mi Open
Mens Singles Title. In the final ma tch he
defea ted Bri tains Andy Murra y.
Womens singles Title
World No. 1 and Ameri can a ce tennis pla yer
Serena Williams has won the 2015 Miami Open
Womens singles Ti tle. In the final ma tch she
defea ted Spains Ca rla Su rez Na va rro.
Mens doubles Title
Ameri can Bob Bryan a nd Mike Bryan pai r has
won the 2015 Mia mi Open Mens doubles Ti tle.
In the final match they defeated Vasek Pospisil
(Canada ) and Ja ck Sock (US) pair.
Womens doubles Title
Indias Sania Mi rza and Switzerlands Ma rtina
Hi ngis pai r has won 2015 Mia mi Open Womens
doubles Ti tle. In the final ma tch they defea ted
Russian pai r of Eka terina Maka rova and Elena
Vesnina .

i. In a
concerted effort to ta ckle the mena ce of ai r
polluti on, Pri me Minis ter Na rendra Modi

Daily GK Update - 7th April 2015

1. RBI keeps Key Rates unchanged
i. The Reserve Ba nk of India (RBI) kept the repo
ra te unchanged a t 7.5% in i ts moneta ry policy
review. Along ma rket expecta tions, Ra ghura m
Ra jan also kept the Cash Reserve Ra tio (CRR) a t
4%.
ii. Ra jan kept poli cy ra te unchanged a waiting
cla ri ty on i mpa ct of unseasonal rains on food
inflation even as he wanted banks to pass on
benefi ts of previous two ra te cuts .

iii. The RBI will awai t the tra nsmission by banks

of i ts front-l oaded ra te reducti ons in January
and Februa ry into thei r lending ra tes .
Transmission of policy ra tes to lending ra tes has
not ta ken pla ce so fa r despi te weak credit off
take a nd the front loa ding of two ra te cuts , said
RBI.
2. Dena Bank inked MoU with Life Insurance
Corporation
i. Dena Bank on 6 April 2015 signed a
Memorandum of Unders tanding (MoU) wi th
Life Insurance Corpora tion (LIC) of India to
provide insurance cover to all Aadhaa r-linked
sa vings a ccount holders of the bank in the a ge
group of 18 to 50 yea rs .
ii. The insurance cover will be provided under
the Prime Mi nisters Pra dhan Ma ntri Jeevan
Jyoti Bi ma Yojana (PMJBY) s cheme. The s cheme
will come into effect from 1 June 2015.

iii. The bank said tha t people who join the

s cheme before completing 50 yea rs can
continue to ha ve the risk of li fe cover up to the
age of 55 yea rs .
3. World Health Day 2015 observed globally

i. World Health Da y (WHD) 2015 was observed

gl oball y on 7 April 2015. The theme for the yea r
is "From farm to plate, make food safe."
ii. The theme was selected by the World Heal th
Organisation (WHO) to bring focus on growing
gl obal burden of food borne diseases and
unders core the need for coordina ted crossborder a ction a cross the enti re food suppl y
chain i .e. from fa rm to pla te.
iii. The da y is celebra ted every yea r since i t was
fi rs t celebra ted in 1950 to ma rk the anni versary
of the WHO forma tion in 1948.
4. Yuvraj set to begin new innings as
businessman with YouWeCan Ventures
i. Cri cketer Yuvra j Singh is set to s ta rt his new
innings as businessman wi th YouWeCan
Ventures,
aiming
to
support
young
entrepreneurs by i nves ting i n s ta rtups a cross
sectors .

ii. Yuvra j will put about INR 50 crore - mos tl y his

own money - over a peri od of 3-5 yea rs in the
fund, YouWeCan Ventures. The fund is expected
to raise a round INR 300 crore from other
inves tors during the period.
iii. YouWeCan Ventures will mainl y fund
s ta rtups in sports products, heal thca re, tra vel
and tourism, servi ces and fashion, e -commerce
and hospitali ty. The plan is to offer seed ca pital
ranging from INR 10 lakh to INR 25 lakh.
5. Indian origin UK School Boy Gets top Physics
Prize on Einstein Model

i. An Indian ori gin s chool boy Pra tap Si ngh, 15,

in the UK has been chosen for a presti gious
pri ze this yea r for the Ins ti tute of Physi cs (IOP)
Pri ze, tha t ca rries 500 pounds sterling and a trip
to a na tional physi cs-rela ted a cti vi ty.
ii. Pra tap Singh was gi ven the awa rd for ca rrying
out a verifying experiment on the effect of
Albert Eins teins theory of special relati vi ty.
iii. He was presented the a wa rd at the Bing
Ba ng Fai r held a t the Na tional Exhibi tion Centre
(NEC) Birmingham
6. Steel Companies partnered with Union
Ministry of Steel to set up Steel Research &
Technology Mission
i. Ma jor Indian Steel Companies signed a
Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) wi th Union
Minis try of Steel for setting up of Steel Resea rch
and Technology Mission of India (SRTMI) in New
Delhi .
ii. The pri ma ry objecti ve of SRTMI is to promote
collabora ti ve Research and Devel opment (R&D)
progra mmes between the ministry and s teel
industries in pri ori ty a reas of na tional
importance in the s teel sector.
iii. The pa rti cipa ting s teel companies in this
ini tiati ve a re Steel Authori ty of India Li mi ted
(SAIL), Tata Steel, JSW Steel of Jindal Group,
Jindal Steel and Power Li mi ted, Rashtri ya Ispa t
Nigam Limi ted (RINL), Na tional Mineral
Development
Corpora tion
(NMDC) a nd
Metallurgical & Engineering Consul tants (India)
Limi ted (MECON).
7. Xiaomi to partner with Snapdeal and
Amazon, no more exclusive to Flipkart
i. Chi nese phone maker Xia omi ended i ts
exclusi ve pa rtners hip wi th Flipka rt and joined

hands wi th new online pa rtners Amazon and

Snapdeal to sell i ts products i n the country.

ii. Xiaomi 's India head Ma nu Jain announced

these new pa rtnerships on Twi tter and tweeted
tha t cus tomers can now purchase Mi products
from Flipka rt, Snapdeal, Ama zon, The Mobile
Stores and Ai rtel India stores .

iii. The company has jus t completed fi ve yea rs

of opera tions in the country.

Indian Gra ndmas ter Koneru Humpy in the

qua rters.

8. Dronavalli Harika wins bronze in World

Womens chess championship
i. Indian Grandmaster Drona valli Hari ka won the
bronze medal along wi th Swedish Grandmas ter
Pia Cramling by vi rtue of ma king i t to the semi fi nals of Worl d Women's chess championship.
ii. Ha rika l ost to the eventual winner Ma ri ya
Muzychuk of Ukraine in the semi -finals .
iii. Muzychuk ba gged the ti tle after defea ting
Russian Na talija Pogonina 2.5-1.5 in the fourga me final. She had ea rlier defeated top seeded

Daily GK Update - 8th April 2015

1. SBI, ICICI, HDFC Bank heed Raghuram Rajan's
call, cut base rate

i. Sta te Ba nk of India was the fi rs t off the block

to impress the regula tor by reducing i ts base
ra te, forcing pri va te sector peers HDFC Bank
and ICICI Bank to follow suit as they took heed
of RBI governor Raghura m Ra jan's stern
message to ensure transmission of monetary
policies .
ii. Sta te Bank of India lowered i ts base ra te by a
token 15 basis points from 10% to 9.85%.
HDFC Bank lowered i ts base rate by 15 bps to
9.85%, while ICICI Bank cut i t by 25 bps to
9.75%, the lowes t in the i ndus try now.
iii. SBI's new base ra te is effecti ve from April 10,
while HDFC Bank's will come into effect from
April 13. ICICI Bank said i ts existing floa ting ra te
cus tomers will get the benefi t of the new ra te
from April 10, while new borrowers will get i t
from Jul y 1.
iv. HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank ha ve also reduced
deposit ra tes by 25 bps for medium-term
deposits of up to Rs 1 crore.
Base rate is the minimum rate at which a bank
can lend. One basis point is one-hundredth of a
percentage point.
2. Rs 20,000 cr MUDRA Bank launched by PM
Narendra Modi
i. PM Na rendra Modi launched the Rs 20,000 cr
Mi cro Uni ts Development Refinance Agency
(MUDRA) Bank and said , the aim of the bank is
to fund the unfunded small entrepreneurs a nd
to s trengthen sa vings habit in the country.
ii. MUDRA Bank will provide credi t of up to Rs
10 lakh to small entrepreneurs and a ct as a
regula tor for Mi cro-Finance Ins titutions (MFIs).
iii. The roles envisaged for MUDRA incl ude
la ying down poli cy guidelines for micro
enterprise financing business and regis trati on of
MFI enti ties as well as thei r a ccredita tion and
ra ting.
iv. MUDRA is to be set up through a s ta tutory
ena ctment. It would be responsible for
developing and refinancing through a Pra dhan
Mantri MUDRA Yojana.
v. MUDRA
would
also
pa rtner
wi th
s tate/regional level coordinators to provide

fi nance to Last Mile Financiers of small/micro

business enterprises .

3. Narendra Modi announces compensation for

farmers
i. Coming to the res cue of fa rmers hi t by
unseasonal rains and hailstorm, Pri me Minis ter
Na rendra
Modi
announced
higher
compensation for crop dama ge and eased
cri teria for them to a vail government support.
ii. Modi said cri teria of 50 per cent crop da mage
for providing compensa tion to affected farmers
has been reduced to 33 per cent whi ch will help
more fa rmers to get compensa tion for thei r
crop loss.
iii. Following Mr. Modi's footsteps the Reserve
Ba nk has ins tructed banks to res tructure loans
of fa rmers whose crops ha ve been damaged by
the recent unseasonal rains and hailstorms.
iv. In i ts fi rs t bi - monthl y moneta ry poli cy on
7th April 2015, the RBI said tha t the adverse
impact of unseasonal rains and hailstorms in
Ma rch is s till unfolding.

4. Snapdeal acquires FreeCharge

i. Online marketpla ce Snapdeal a cqui red Indias
fas tes t growing mobile transa ction platform
FreeCha rge.
ii. Wi th this a cquisition, Snapdeal has become
Indias la rgest mobile commerce fi rm wi th 40
million users and the larges t mobile transa ctions
base for any company.
iii. Now Snapdeal can offer wide ra nge of
servi ces and products including fi nancial
servi ces , mobile recharge and utili ty pa yments
to i ts growing user base.

5. Mayilsamy Annadurai appointed as Director

of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC)

i. Ma yilsamy Annadurai is appointed as Di rector

of ISRO Sa tellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru.
ii. He took over as Di rector, ISAC from Dr SK
Shi vakuma r who superannuated on 31 Ma rch
2015.
iii. As the Di rector of ISAC he will oversee
development of sa tellite technology a nd
implementa tion of satellite s ys tems for
s cientifi c,
technological
and appli ca tion
missions .
iv. Before the present appointment he ha d been
the Programme Di rector of Indian Remote
Sensing Satelli tes (IRS) and Small Sa tellite
Sys tems (SSS) a t the ISAC since 2011.
6. Government raises stake in state-owned IFCI
to 51%
i. IFCI Ltd has now become a sta te - owned fi rm
wi th the government increasing its s take in the
infrastructure financing fi rm to 51.04 per cent.
ii. Government has a cqui red IFCI's 6,00,00,000
Preference sha res of Rs 10 ea ch from certain
s cheduled commercial banks and has
consequentl y i ncreased its holding from 47.93
per cent to 51.04 per cent of the paid-up sha re
capi tal.
7. World Cup heartache fades as fresh IPL
season starts
i. The Indian Premier Lea gue (IPL), wi th i ts
heady cocktail of cri cket, money and glamour,
begins its eighth edi tion on 8th April 2015. The
T20 tourna ment bri ngs together the supers ta rs
of the game i n an epi c fes ti val of club cri cket a t
i ts bes t.
ii. The fi rst a nd final ma tch of IPL 2015 will both
be pla yed a t the Eden Ga rdens. The ti tle clash
will take place on Ma y 24.
iii. Yuvra j Singh - bought by Delhi for Rs 16
crores - is the mos t expensive pla yer in the
tournament. His amount is 3.5 crores more than
even that of Dhoni .

Daily GK Update - 9th April 2015

1. Moody's raises India outlook to 'positive',
edges toward ratings upgrade
i. Gl obal ra tings agency Moodys reaffi rmed
Indias ra ting a t Baa3 but raised the ra ting
outlook to Positi ve from "Stable", a step closer
to an upgrade of the credi t ra ting, as i t expects
a ctions by poli cymakers to lift the country's
economic growth.
ii. According to Moody's the policyma kers a re
es tablishing a framework tha t will allow the
country's growth to continue to outperform
tha t of i ts peers over the medium-term a nd
improve India's ma cro-economic, i nfras tructure
and ins ti tutional profile.

wi th the approval of Foreign Inves tment

Promotion Boa rd (FIPB).

iii. The RBI notifi ca tion is in tune with Ma rch

2015 decision of Depa rtment of Indus trial Policy
and
Promotion
(DIPP)
rega rding
opera tionalisation of increased FDI li mit in the
insurance sector.
4. President appoints Dr Nasim Zaidi as chief
election commissioner

iii. Moody's not onl y expects India's economi c

s trength to be enhanced over ti me, but also
sa ys tha t the recent measures ta ken by
government will reduce s ome of India's
sovereign credit constraints .
2. PM Narendra Modi departs on a nine-day
visit to three nations

i. Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi flies out toda y

for his visi t to Fra nce, Germany and Canada , in
whi ch he plans to take his "Make i n India" push
to Eurozone's two bi gges t economies .
ii. Pri me Minis ter Na rendra Modi 's nine da ys
abroad will be the longes t overseas visit that he
will be underta king a fter becoming Pri me
Minis ter eleven months ago.
iii. The focus of the visit is to shore up as much
forei gn
di rect
i nves tment
(FDI)
a nd
technologi cal expertise as he can for the BJP-led
NDA Government's pet projects : Make in India ,
Sma rt Ci ties , Clean India, Skill Development,
Defense, Energy Securi ty, Railwa ys , Roads and
Ports Mana gement.
3. RBI notifies hike in FDI cap in insurance
sector to 49%
i. The Reserve Bank notified government's
decision to raise foreign di rect investment (FDI)
limi t in the i nsurance sector to 49 per cent from
the present 26 percent.
ii. As per the noti fica tion, FDI up to 26 percent
will be under automa ti c route and beyond 26
percent and up to 49 percent will be allowed

i. President Prana b Mukherjee has appointed

the senior-mos t Election Commissioner, Dr
Nasim Zaidi , as the next Chief Election
Commissioner (CEC).
ii. Zaidi will assume the cha rge of offi ce of the
chief election commissioner wi th effect from
April 19, a fter the incumbent Ha rishanka r
Bra hma will reti re on April 18.
iii. A 1976 ba tch IAS offi cer, Dr Zaidi has worked
in the Ci vil Aviati on Ministry for a lon g time.
5. China's Olympic hurdles g old medallist Liu
Xiang retires
i. Chi na's Ol ympic gold medal-winning hurdler
Liu Xiang, one of the country's biggest s ports
s ta rs, has reti red.
ii. The 31-yea r-old won the country's fi rs t
Ol ympi c men's a thleti cs gold in the 110m
hurdles in Athens in 2004 a nd added a world
ti tle in 2007.
iii. He also held the world record in 2006 wi th a
time of 12.88 seconds.

iv. Li u has been a ffected by an Achilles problem

ever since i t caused him to pull out of his fi rs t
hea t a t the 2008 Beiji ng Ol ympi cs.

i. Sumi t Ma zumder, Chai rman & Ma naging

Di rector, TIL Li mited, has been elected as the
President of CII for the yea r 2015-16. He
succeeds Mr Aja y Shri ram as the new President.
ii. TIL is the manufa cturer of India s la rges t
range of ma terial handling equipment in
techni cal collabora tion wi th worl d leaders
Mani towoc Cra ne Group, USA; Hys ter (a pa rt of
NACCO Ma terials Handling Group, USA) etc.
iii. Ma zumder is also the Executi ve Chai rman of
TIPL (Tra ctors India Pvt. Ltd.). The company is a
dis tributor for Ca terpilla r, USA, i n India , Nepal
and Bhutan for ea rthmoving, cons tructi on,
mi ning equipment and power s ystems .
7. Gopaldas Neeraj, Uday Pratap Singh
conferred with Sahitya Shiromani Samman of
Uttar Pradesh
i. Utta r Pradesh Government conferred Sahi tya
Shi romani Samman on noted Hindi poet
Gopaldas Neeraj and veteran Hindi littera teur
Uda y Pra tap Singh.
ii. Along wi th the awa rd, the duo was gi ven a
cash pri ze of 21 lakh rupees.
iii. Chief Minis ter of Utta r Pra desh Akhilesh
Yada v conferred the awa rd on Neeraj and Singh.
Yada v also announced that Neera j will be gi ven
Rashtra Ra tn-Si ta ra-e Hind awa rd for his lifelong
servi ce to Hindi li tera ture.
iv. Beside this , Yada v also unveiled the poetry
book of Gopal Das Neeraj named Geets ri in
Lucknow.
8. Indian-origin Sim Bhullar makes NBA history
i. Gursimran 'Si m' Bhulla r became the fi rs t
pla yer of Indian des cent to pla y in the high profile Na tional Basketball Associa tion (NBA)
league as he made his debut for Sa cramento
Kings .
ii. The 22-yea r-old came on wi th 16 seconds
remaining i n the Ki ngs ' 116-111 vi ctory over the
Minnesota Timberwol ves a t the Sleep Train
Arena .
iii. The 7-foot-5-inch Ca nada-born had signed a
10-da y contra ct to join the Kings' ros ter.

6. Sumit Mazumder is the new president of CII

Daily GK Update - 10th April 2015

1. EPFO suspends Rs 1,000 minimum monthly
pension scheme
i. Reti rement fund body EPFO has suspended
the Rs 1,000 minimum monthl y pension s cheme
from this month, a decision whi ch will hi t about
32 lakh pensioners.
ii. The s cheme was launched wi th effect from
September 2014, hiking the pension a mount to

a flat Rs 1,000 per month for those who were

getting lower amount ea rlier.

iii. Wi th the s uspension of the s cheme, the

benefi cia ries will get pension a t ea rlier ra tes .
iv. In a ci rcula r to i ts field offi ces, the Employees
Provident Fund Organisati on (EPFO) said i t has
decided to suspend the s cheme in the absence
of any di rection from the government to
continue this benefit beyond Ma rch 31.
v. According to the government noti fi ca tion
issued on August 19 last yea r, the benefit of

mi nimum pension was made effecti ve from

September 1 to Ma rch, 2015.
2. Seoul succeeds in WWFs Earth Hour City
Challenge 2015

i. Seoul ci ty, the capi tal and la rgest metropolis

of South Korea was a wa rded the ti tle of Global
Ea rth hour Ca pital 2015 a fter i t won the Ea rth
Hour Ci ty Challenge (EHCC) of World Wildlife
Fund (WWF).
ii. The challenge saw the pa rti cipa tion of 163
ci ties from 16 countries . The awa rd ceremony
was held in Seoul, South Korea .
iii. The city of Balikpapan, Indonesia was
recognized as the Mos t Loveable Ci ty for 2015
and Thane city was named as the Na tional Ea rth
Hour Capi tal 2015 of India.
3. IndusInd Bank to buy RBS India's bullion
financing biz
i. IndusInd Bank entered into an agreement to
a cqui re Royal Bank of Scotland's Diamond &
Jewellery Financing business in India and rela ted
deposit portfolio.
ii. This is pa rt of ABN AMRO Ba nk NVs diamond
& jewellery clients [unit] that is housed i n Royal
Ba nk of Scotland NV a cting through i ts Mumbai
bra nch in India .

4. Former Air Chief Marshal Hrushikesh

Moolgaonkar passes away
i. Reti red Ai r Chief Ma rshal Hrushikesh
Moolgaonka r passed
awa y in
Pune,
Maha rashtra . He was 95.

ii. Hrushikesh Moolgaonka r had joined Indian

Ai r Force (then Royal Indian Ai r Force) in
November 1940 as the ra nk of an a cting Pilot
Offi cer. He was appointed Chief of Ai r Sta ff in
Februa ry 1976. He had succeeded then Ai r Chief
Ma rshal Om Prakash Mehra .
iii. He had led the fl y-pas t of IAF on
Independence Da y i n August 15, 1947 and also
on the Republic Da y i n Janua ry 26, 1951 when
he was a Squadron Leader.
5. Arun Kumar Jha appointed CEO, KVIC
i. Arun Kuma r Jha was appointed as Chief
Executi ve Offi cer of Khadi and Village Industries
Commission (KVIC), Mumbai .
ii. He has been appointed to the pos t of CEO
(Joint Secreta ry level pos t) for the balance
peri od of his overall fi ve yea r tenure up to
September 13, 2016
iii. Jha , a 1985-batch offi cer of Indian Economi cs
Servi ce, is presentl y working as Di rector
General , National Ins titute of Entrepreneurship
and Small Business Development (NIESBUD)
under the Minis try of Mi cro, Small and Medium
Enterprises.

i. Nasa's Ma rs Atmosphere and Volatile

Evol utioN (MAVEN) probe - the fi rst mission
ever devoted to unders tandi ng the Ma rtian
upper a tmosphere - has completed 1,000 orbi ts
a round the Red Planet, four-a nd-a-half months
into i ts one -yea r pri mary mission.
ii. Ma ven s ta rted its venture on November 18,
2013 a nd successfull y entered the ma rtian orbi t
on September 5, 2014. Since then i ts has been
orbi ting ellipti call y in the Ma rs s upper
a tmosphere wi th 6,500 kilometers being the
fa rthes t point while 130 kilometers being the
closes t point to the Ma rtian surfa ce.
iii. The prime objecti ve of Ma ven is to observe
the Ma rs a tmosphere and gi ve an insight into
how the tra nsition from moist a nd wa rm planet
to dry a nd cold planet took pla ce on Ma rs .
7.
Nuclear-capable
Dhanush
missile
successfully test-fired
i. India on Thursda y successfull y test-fi red i ts
nuclear-capable Dhanush ballisti c missile wi th a
s trike ra nge of 350 km from a na val ship o ff the
Odisha coast.
ii. The surfa ce-to-surfa ce Dhanush, a na val
va riant of India's indigenousl y-developed Pri thvi
missile, was test fi red from a ship in the Ba y of
Bengal off Odisha coast by the Stra tegi c Force
Command (SFC) of the defence force.
iii. The single-s tage, liquid-propelled Dhanush
ha vi ng 350 km ra nge has already been inducted
into the a rmed forces and is one of the fi ve
missiles developed by Defence Resea rch and
Development Orga nisation (DRDO) under the
Integra ted Guided Missile Development
Progra mme (IGMDP)

6. Marvelous Maven com pletes 1000 orbits

around Mars
iii. ABN AMRO was a cqui red by RBS in 2007.
Until ownership of the loans transfer to
IndusInd Bank, da y-to-da y management of the
loan portfolio will remain wi th Royal Bank of
Scotland NV. Employees wi thin diamond a nd
jewellery clients in India will also move to
IndusInd Bank a nd will ensure seamless
transi tion of the cus tomer base.

Daily GK Update - 11th April 2015

1. India to chair 9th IRENA meet in Abu Dhabi
i. India has been designa ted to chai r the ninth
meeting of the Interna tional Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA) Council. The meeting is
s cheduled to be held in June i n Abu Dhabi .
ii. India is a founder Member of the IRENA. The
body is an intergovernmental organisation tha t
supports countries in thei r transi tion to a
sus tainable energy future.

iii. IRENA has two main governing s tructures .

IRENA Assembl y takes decisions a t Ma cro level
and gi ves poli cy guidance to IRENA.
iv. IRENA Council which is the main governing
body of the a gency responsible for
implementing va rious decisions of the assembl y.

2. Apurvi Chandela wins Bronze in ISSF Rifle

and Pistol World Cup

i. Commonweal th Games gold medal winning

Indian shooter Apurvi Chandela toda y qualified
for next yea r's Ol ympi c Ga mes a fter notching up
the 10m ai r ri fle bronze in the ongoing ISSF
World Cup (Rifle/Pistol) in Changwon, Korea.
ii. Apurvi shot a total of 185.6 in the finals, to
fi nish behind Pejci c Snjezana of Croa tia , who
won gold, and Iva na Maksimovi c of Serbia, who
clinched the sil ver medal.
iii. Pejci c eventually finished wi th a s core of
209.1 to Ivana 's 207.7 a t the end of the gold
medal ma tch up. There were three Ol ympi c
quota places to be bagged in the event.

3. India's first IFSC becomes operational at GIFT

City

i. India's fi rst Interna tional Financial Servi ces

Centre (IFSC) a t Guja ra t Interna tional Finance
Tec (GIFT) Ci ty in Gandhinaga r dis tri ct of Guja ra t
beca me opera tional toda y and Fina nce Minis ter
Arun Jaitley unveiled rules and regula tions for
this global fina ncial hub.
ii. Jai tley also a tta cked the previous UPA
government for being "letha rgi c" in gi ving
permission to the IFSC.
iii. The regula tions are ai med a t creati ng a
vibra nt IFSC on the lines of those in Dubai and
Si ngapore and check the flight of tra ding in
rupee and Indian securi ties to such offshore
fi nancial hubs.

4. April 11: National Safe Motherhood day

i. Every yea r on 11 April, Na tional Safe
Motherhood da y is being observed a cross India .
ii. Main Objective of the day is:
To crea te awa reness on proper
heal thca re and ma terni ty fa cilities to
pregnant and la cta ting women.
It also seeks to crea te a wa reness
about the i nsti tutional deli very,
reducing anemia among women and
better pre and pos t na tal heal th ca re
a re necessary for mothers.

iii. It should be noted tha t sa fe motherhood also

means to ensure that all women recei ve the
ca re they need to be sa fe and healthy
throughout pregnancy and childbi rth.
5. Bharat Hari Singhania takes over as JK
Organisation President

i. Delhi -based JK Organisation has appointed

Bha ra t Ha ri Singhania as i ts new president.
ii. He succeeds Gaur Ha ri Singhania , who died in
Februa ry.
iii. Bha rat Si ngha nia has been wi th the
organisati on for more than fi ve decades . He is
the chairman of JK Pa per, JK Lakshmi Cement
and other group compa nies, apa rt from being
on the boa rd of JK Tyres and other companies
and enti ties of the organisati on.
6. NGT imposed ban on air pollution causing
construction activities in National Capital
Region
i. The Na tional Green Tribunal (NGT) on 10 April
2015 i mposed ban on all cons truction a cti vities
in the Na tional Capi tal Regi on (NCR) tha t do not
follow the guidelines provi ded by the then
Union Ministry of Envi ronment and fores t in
2010.

ii. The di recti ve was deli vered by a bench

headed by Jus ti ce Swa tanter Kuma r, NGT
chai rman, in order to check growing mena ce of
ai r pollution in the NCR.
7. Greenpeace India's license suspended
i. The Indian government announced i t has
"tempora ril y" suspended the registra tion of
Greenpea ce
India
under the
forei gn
contributions law for "under-reporti ng" s uch
funding i t and conducting tra nsaction of s uch
funds without informing the authori ties as
requi red by the law.
ii. Along with the 180-da y suspension, the
mi nistry of home a ffai rs froze all seven bank
a ccounts of the organisa tion and served i t a
show-cause notice seeking explana tion why i ts
li cense should not be cancelled.

Daily GK Update - 12th April 2015

1. Jitu Rai wins bronze at ISSF World Cup

i. Ace Indian shooter Ji tu Rai on 12 April 2015

won a bronze medal in the 10m ai r pis tol event
a t the Interna tional Shooting Sport Federa tion
(ISSF) World Cup in Changwon, South Korea .
ii. Rai won the bronze medal after he s cored
181.1 poi nts in the fi nal and had missed out for
the gold medal shoot-out by 0.4 points.
iii. Ji tu Rai a fter winning won sil ver in the 50m
Free Pistol event i n 2014 a t the World
Cha mpionships in Granada , Spain had qualified
for the 2016 Ol ympi cs .
2. 17 Agreements signed between India and
France during PM Narendra Modis visit
i. India and France on 11 April 2015 si gned 17
agreements in va rious fields during Pri me
Minis ter (PM) Na rendra Modi s visi t to France.
ii. They were signed in presence of Indian PM
and his counterpa rt French President Francois
Hollande a fter they had held wide -ranging talks
in Pa ris.

Some of key agreements signed are

MoU between Larsen and Tubro and
AREVA- It ai ms a t i mprove the
fi nancial viability of the Jai tapur
Nuclea r plant project by reducing cos t

by i ncreasing localiza tion. It will also

enable Fra nce to tra nsfer of
technology to India for development
of indigenous nuclea r energy indus try
in India .
Pre-engineering agreements (PEA)
between NPCIL and Areva- It intends
to bri ng cla ri ty on all techni cal aspects
of the plant. It will help all pa rties
including AREVA, Alstom and NPCI L to
fi x thei r pri ce and optimise all
provisions for risks (still included a t
this s ta ge) in the cos ts of the project.
MoU between CNES and ISRO on
Megha Tropiques satellite- It extends
MoU for two more yea rs of joint
project for sha ring and use of data
from the satellite. The satelli te was
launched in October 2011 on boa rd of
Indian launch vehi cle PSLV.
MOU between ISRO, CNES and
ONERA- It proposes coopera tion in
the a reas of satelli te remote sensing,
satelli te communica tions and sa tellite
meteorology and others field.
MoU between Union Sports Ministry
and French Ministry of Sports- It
envisa ges coopera tion and exchange
of experiences in the fields of sports
medi cine a nd insti tuti onal
coopera tion.
Railway protocol between Union
Railways Ministry and French
National Railways (SNCF)- It seeks to
es tablish coopera tion between Indian
and French Railwa ys for semi -high
speed rail and s ta tion renova tion.
Other a greements signed between
both na tions in the fields of economy,

energy, culture, tourism,

conserva tion, Ayurveda , skill
development and s cience and
technology. Note - NPCIL (Nuclea r
Power Corpora tion of India), CNES
(French Na tional Centre for Spa ce
Studies), ISRO (Indian Spa ce Resea rch
Organisation).
3. Asteroid 316201 named after Malala
Yousafzai
i. As teroid 316201 was na med as 316201
Malala after the younges t Nobel laurea te and
gi rls educa tion ca mpaigner Malala Yousafzai .
ii. The asteroid was named after her by Amy
Mainzer, as tronomer a t NASAs Jet Propulsion
Labora tory in California , Uni ted States under the
Interna tional As tronomical Union rules .
iii. In 2010, Mr. Mainzer had dis covered the
asteroid whi ch was known as 316201. As a
dis coverer of the asteroid he had owned the
ri ghts to name i t.
iv. As teroid 316201 Malala is loca ted i n the
Main Belt between Ma rs and Jupi ter. It orbi ts
a round the Sun every 5.5 yea rs a nd is more than 2 mile wide.

4. Yuki Bhambri wins $15,000 ITF Futures

tournament title
i. Yuki Bhambri on 11 April 2015 has won the
15,000 US Dollar ITF Futures tournament ti tle. In
the final he recorded a strai ght-set win over
Dzmitry Zhyrmont of Bela rus pla yed a t Ka rshi ,
Uzbekis tan.

ii. Bhambri defeated his ri val wi th Bha mbri wi th

6-2 6-4 s core. This win has pocketed 27 ra nking
points on Bha mbri whi ch will ta ke him to a rank
between 215 and 220. It was also Yuki s 10th ITF
Futures singles ti tle.
iii. This win also has ensured Yuki s entry i nto
the French Open qualifying event whi ch will be
the Cla y Court Gra nd Slam that will begin on
the19 Ma y 2015.
About ITF Futures tournament title
ITF Futures tournament ti tle is a series
of professional tennis tournaments
held a round the world.
These tournaments a re organized by
the Interna tional Tennis Federa tion
(ITF).
This ti tle represents the lowes t rung of
the mens professional tennis ladder.
These tournaments a re incorpora ted
into the ATP rankings which helps
young professionals to progress on to
the ATP Challenger Tour and then in
ATP World Tour.
5. President Pranab Muk herjee inaugurates
Songs and Dances of the North East festival
i. President Pra nab Mukherjee i naugura ted fi rs t
Songs and Dances of the North Eas t, a cul tural
festi val in New Delhi .
ii. The da y l ong fes ti val was organi zed by
Government of Meghala ya and sponsored by
the North Eas tern Council (NEC).
iii. The purpose of festi val is to showcase the
cul ture of India s northeast region a nd highli ght
the i mmense contri bution made by the people
of the region in na tion building.
iv. This fes ti val will be held by rotation in
di fferent pa rts of the country as pa rt of the
series of events planned by NEC and Union
Minis try of Development of North-Eastern
Region (DoNER).
v. All ei ght States of the northeas t regi on will
collabora te to hos t the fes ti val in di fferent pa rts
of the country wi th an ai m to a ttra ct i nves tors
and visi tors to the region.

6. Bharat Hari Singhania became the president

of JK Organization
i. Bha rat Ha ri Singhania assumed the presidency
of JK Orga niza tion. The company issued a formal
s tatement on 9 April 2015 in this rega rd.
ii. He s ucceeded Gaur Ha ri Singhania who died
on 4 April 2015.
iii. The JK Group is 125-yea r-old and has
footprint in 100 countries . It has overseas
ma nufacturing opera tions in Indonesia, Mexi co,
Romania , Bel gium, Portugal and the UAE.
About Bharat Hari Singhania
He is an indus trialist with over fortyfour yea rs of experience in ma naging
va rious indus tries including cement,
automoti ve tyres , paper, s yntheti cs ,
audio magneti c tapes a nd high
yielding hybrid seeds.
He has been the Chairman of JK
Lakshmi Cement Ltd., the holding
company of Hansdeep Industries and
Trading Company Ltd., since Ma y
2013.
He has been a Di rector of Bengal and
Assam Company Ltd. since Februa ry
2009.
He is also the chancellor of JK
Lakshmipa t Uni versity, Jaipur.
7. Arun Kumar Jha appointed as CEO of Khadi
and Village Industries Commission (KVIC)

Training (DoPT) of the Union Minis try of

Personnel , Publi c Grieva nces and Pensions.
iii. As the CEO of KVIC, he will oversee the da yto-da y functioning of the commission a nd
report about i ts a cti vi ties to the Union Ministry
of Mi cro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSME).
iv. Before this appointment, he had been
working as the Di rector General of Na tional
Ins ti tute of Entrepreneurship and Small
Business Development (NIESBUD) functioning
under the Union Minis try of MSME.
v. Jha is a 1985-batch Indian Economics Servi ce
(IES) offi cer.
About KVIC
It is a s ta tutory body es tablished by
the Khadi and Village Indus tries
Commission Act, 1956.
It functions under the aegis of Union
Minis try of MSME.
Its prima ry objecti ve is to crea te selfreliance a mongs t the poor a nd build
s trong rural communi ty spi ri t by
produci ng saleable a rticles and
providing employment.
8. Lewis Hamilton wins Chinese Grand Prix of
Formula One
i. Mercedes Formula 1 dri ver Lewis Ha milton
from Bri tain on 12 April 2015 won Chinese
Grand Pri x of Formula One on the Shanghai
Interna tional Ci rcuit i n China . This was his
second win of the season and his fourth Chinese
Grand Pri x wi n.
ii. It was also Lewis Ha miltons overall 35th
Grand Pri x wi n.
iii. In Chinese Grand Pri x, Hamilton was
followed by teamma te Ni co Rosberg a t second
pla ce.

i. Arun Kuma r Jha was appointed as Chief

Executi ve Offi cer (CEO) of Kha di and Village
Indus tries Commission (KVIC).
ii. The decision in this rega rd was ta ken on 10
April 2015 by the Depa rtment of Pers onnel and

Daily GK Update - 13th April 2015

1. Modi inaugurates German industrial fair
i . Prime Minis ter Na rendra Modi opened on
Sunda y the Hanover Messe, the worlds la rges t
industrial fai r, alongside German Chancellor
Angela Merkel .
ii . India is the partner country of this yea r's
trade fair, whi ch brings together about 6,500
exhi bitors from 70 na tions .

iii. Germany is India s la rgest tradi ng pa rtner in

Europe and total bilateral trade between the
two countries was valued a t 16.08 billion euro
(17 billion dollars ) in 2013. There a re currentl y
more than 1,600 Indo-German business
collabora tions and 600 Indo-German joint
ventures in opera tion.

2. Larsen & Toubro inks MoU with AREVA

i . La rsen & Toubro (L&T) has announced si gning

a memorandum of unders tanding (MoU) wi th
AREVA of France for co-opera tion to ma ximise
localisation of the EPR nuclea r power plant to
be built a t Jai tapur, Maha rashtra .
ii . This pa rtnership will add new dimensions to
the capabilities of Indias manufa cturi ng sector
in the nuclea r business .
iii. AREVA will transfer technology to utilise the
forging capabilities of L&T Special Steels and
Hea vy Forgings (a joint venture wi th Nuclea r
Power Corpora tion of India Ltd.).
3. SBI Cuts home loan rate by another 10 bps
for new buyers

i . Sta te Bank of India (SBI), has cut the interes t

ra te for new home l oans by a nother 10 bps , to
9.9 per cent.
ii . In effect, the i nteres t ra te for new home
loans will be reduced by 25 bps . For the existing
ones, 15 bps is the reduction.
iii. The move comes a mid the RBI di recti ve tha t
an interes t ra te differential will not be allowed i f
cus tomer profiles a re similar.

4. Gujarat government launches industrial

tourism to showcase development
i . In a fi rs t of i ts kind initia ti ve in the country,
Guja rat government is promoting a tour
pa ckage covering ma jor i ndus trial ins tallations
whi ch ha ve ea rned global a cclaim for the sta te.
ii . Some of the major a ttra ctions of this recentl y
launched tour pa cka ge include a visit to Ta ta

Nano plant i n Sanand, Pipa va v port nea r Amreli ,

Alang ship breaking ya rd in Bha vnaga r and Amul
Dai ry in Anand.
iii. The pa ckage, called Indus trial Tour of
Guja rat, has been offered by ci ty-based Aksha r
Tra vels Pvt Ltd, offi cial pa rtner of s tate -run
tourism agency Touris m Corpora tion of Guja ra t
Ltd (TCGL), whi ch is promoting the tour on i ts
website.

ii . Grass was lauded by Germans for helping to

revi ve thei r cul ture in the afterma th of World
Wa r II and helpi ng to gi ve voi ce and support to
democra ti c dis course in the pos t wa r na tion.
iii. Grass made his li tera ry reputati on wi th The
Tin Drum, published in 1959. It was followed by
Ca t and Mouse and Dog Years , which made
up wha t is called the Danzig Trilogy after the
town of his bi rth, now the Polish ci ty of Gdansk.

5. German Nobel laureate Guenter Grass dies

at age 87

6. Sania seals historic world no. 1 rank with

Charleston
title
i . Sania Mi rza crea ted his tory by becoming the
fi rs t female tennis pla yer from India to achieve
the world number one ra nk i n doubles .
ii . Sania a chieved her stupendous title win a t the
WTA Fa mil y Ci rcle Cup wi th pa rtner Ma rtina
Hi ngis .
iii. The top-seeded Indo-Swiss pai r defea ted
Casey Della cqua and Da ri ja Jura k 6-0 6-4 in jus t
57 minutes in the lop-sided final of the
$731,000
cla y
court
event.

i . Guenter Grass , the Nobel-winning German

wri ter who ga ve voi ce to the genera tion tha t
came of a ge duri ng the horrors of the Nazi era
has died. He was 87.

i v. Before Sania , onl y Leander Paes and Mahesh

Bhupa thi ha d a chieved the top rank when they
domina ted mens doubles ci rcui t in the las t 90s .

Daily GK Update - 14th April 2015

1. Following cons umer backlash, Flipkart pulls
out of Airtel Zero

i . Following popular outra ge a gainst net

neutrality viola tions to internet apa rtheid, e retailer Flipka rt pulled out of the controversial
Ai rtel Zero preferential a ccess pla tform.
ii . Flipka rt was one of the pa rtners in the Ai rtel
Zero platform whi ch allowed Ai rtel's subs cribers
to a ccess select websi tes and servi ces for zero
da ta cha rges, as long as owners of these
websites /servi ces paid Ai rtel .
iii. Telecom Minis ter Ra vi Sha nka r Prasad said a
si x-member panel has been cons tituted by the
telecom
depa rtment
to
submi t
i ts
recommenda tions rega rding the same by ea rl y
next month.
2. FM transmission of Vividh Bharati launched
i . The popula r Vi vidh Bha ra ti servi ces of All
India Radio (AIR) will now be a vailable to
listeners in and a round Delhi on mobile
handsets wi th the launch of FM tra nsmission of
the channel .
ii . Informa tion and Broadcas ting Mi nister Arun
Jaitley, who launched the FM transmission, also
deli vered a message to the lis teners of the
channel, sa ying Vi vidh Bha ra ti servi ces would
rea ch people wi thin a range of 60-65 km wi th
much cla ri ty a t all times in all weather
condi tions .

iii. Vi vidh Bha ra ti offers a mi x of film musi c,

ski ts , short pla ys and intera cti ve programmes . It
is known to ha ve the larges t collecti on of film
and non-film songs in the country.
i v. Mobile appli cati ons of all channels that a re
li ves treamed by AIR li ke Vi vidh Bha ra ti , FM

Gold, FM Rainbow, Urdu servi ce a nd several

regional channels , will also be made a vailable.
3. Indias GDP growth rate to reach 8% by
2017: World Bank
i . The World Bank has predi cted a GDP growth
ra te of 8 per cent for India by 2017 and said tha t
a s trong expansion i n the country, coupled wi th
fa voura ble oil pri ces .

ii . In India , GDP growth is expected to a ccelera te

to 7.5 per cent in fis cal year 2015/16. It could
rea ch 8 per cent in FY 2017/18, on the ba ck of
signi fi cant a ccelera tion of i nves tment growth to
12 per cent during FY 2016-FY 2018.
iii. The report shows tha t households in the
region s tand to gain from lower oil pri ces, both
di rectl y through l ower energy s pending a nd
indi rectl y through faster growth.
4. FDI in services sector up 47 per cent during
April-January
i . FDI inflows into servi ces sector grew by about
47 per cent to $2.64 billion in April -Janua ry last
fis cal .
ii . Helped wi th the growth in FDI in important
sector like servi ces , overall forei gn inflows in the
country rose by 36 per cent to $25.52 billion
during the ten months of 2014-15.
iii. The other sectors where inflows ha ve
recorded growth a re: telecom ($2.83 billion),
automobile ($2.04 billion) and power ($612
million).
i v. Government has raised the FDI cap in
insurance sector to 49 per cent from 26 per
cent. The poli cy was also rela xed in other
sectors such as defence, railwa ys and medical
devi ces.
5. Retail inflation drops to 3-month low of
5.17% in March

i . Easing of food pri ces , mainl y milk a nd

vegetables , pulled down the Ma rch retail
inflation to 3-month l ow of 5.17 per cent.
ii . The retail inflation as measured by Consumer
Pri ce Index was 5.37 per cent in Februa ry, a nd
5.19 per cent in Janua ry.
iii. It was 8.25 per cent in Ma rch last yea r.
i v. To calculate the CPI, pri ce da ta a re collected
from selected towns by the field opera tions
di vision of NSSO and from selected villages by
the Depa rtment of Pos ts .
Haryana govt to give cabinet minister status to
Baba Ramdev
i . The BJP government in Ha rya na has decided
to gi ve the sta tus of cabinet minis ter to yoga
guru Ramdev, who was ea rlier made the sta tes
bra nd ambassador to promote yoga and
a yurveda .

ii . The governments decision was announced

on Monda y by educa tion minis ter Ram Bilas
Sha rma , who said the s tate government would
also honour Ramdev a t a function a t
Indradhanush Audi torium in Panchkula on April
21.
iii. Recentl y, government a nnounced to make
yoga compulsory i n all s chools and equi p all
sports s tadiums in every distri ct wi th a yoga
centre. Muni cipal bodies and Huda would
construct yoga pra cti ce halls in thei r a reas of
jurisdi ction. Special coa ching of physical
educati on teachers in yoga will be organised.
North Korean foreign minister Ri Su Yong to
visit
India
i . North Korea s top diplomat, Ri Su-yong,

a rri ved in India on a ra re visit where Delhi

hosted
the
meet.
ii . Ri beca me the fi rs t North Korean forei gn
mi nister to visit India in a t leas t 25 yea rs .
iii. In New Delhi , Ri met with his counterpa rt,
Indian External Affairs Minis ter Sushma Swa ra j.
According to reports , the two dis cussed North
Koreas nuclea r weapons progra m and regional

securi ty issues, including the s tabili ty of the

Korean
peninsula .
i v. In addi tion to Swa ra j, Ri met wi th Indian Vi ce
President Ha mid Ansari . Ri s trip to India comes
ahead of Indian Pri me Minister Na rendra Modi s
s cheduled visi t to Seoul , South Korea , whi ch is
expected in Ma y.

Daily GK Update - 15th April 2015

1. Wholesale prices contract 2.33% in March
i. India's wholesale pri ce index-based infla tion
(WPI) provisionall y stood a t -2.33 per cent for
Ma rch, government data s howed on
Wednesda y. This compares wi th -2.06 per cent
for Februa ry and 6 per cent for the same peri od
last yea r.
ii. This is the fi fth consecuti ve month of
deflati on in wholesale pri ces, a clear reflection
of lower commodi ty pri ces.

Jnanpith a wa rd-winner Mamoni Raisom

Goswa mi.
iii. Apa rt from di rection, Chakraborty a cted in
several Assamese movies and serials.
4. New visa scheme renamed e-Tourist Visa
i. Union Ministry of Home Affai rs (MHA) has
rena med Touris t Visa on Arri val -Electroni c
Tra vel Authori za tion s cheme (TVoA-ETA) to eTouris t Visa wi th effect from 15 April 2015.
ii. Wi th this ambigui ties fa ced by forei gn tourists
especially by s chemes nomenclature VoA,
presuming that they would be granted visa on
a rri val upon landing will be removed.

iii. Ea rlier Consumer Pri ce Index-based (CPI)

inflation for Ma rch eased to 5.17 per cent, the
lowest in three months.
2. Govt forms panel to review Official Secrets
Act
i. The government has formed an intermi nisterial commi ttee headed by cabinet
secreta ry to review the Offi cial Secrets Act in
context of demands to declassify files related to
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's dea th or
disappea rance.
ii. RAW, IB, Union home ministry a nd PMO
officials will be pa rt of the panel .
iii. Pri me Minis ter Na rendra Modi had met
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's grandnephew,
Surya Bose, in Berlin and promised to exa mine
the reques t for declassifica tion of all files
rela ted to events since his death or
disappea rance in Tai wan on Augus t 18, 1945.
3. Assamese Filmmaker Bidyut Chakraborty
passes away

i. Renowned Assamese filmmaker a nd a ctor

Bi dyut Chakraborty breathed his las t toda y in a
pri va te nursing home in Guwaha ti after brief
illness.
ii. In his film ca reer he had di rected several
Assamese movies including Goon Goon Gaane
Gaane, Dwaar a nd Raag-Bi raag. His di rectorial
fil m Rag-Bi ra g is based on a novel wri tten by

iii. e-Touris t Visa Scheme is a pre-authori za tion

of Visa to forei gners tha t being gi ven prior to
tra vel . TVoA-ETA was launched in November
2014. It had enabled Electroni c Tra vel
Authori zation to 44 countries at nine ai rports
a cross India .
5. Zomato acquires cloud-based data firm
MaplePOS
i. Online res taurant guide Zoma to announced
the a cquisi tion of MaplePOS, a cl oud -based
point of sale product for res taurants developed
by a group of techies from Delhi.

the offi ce was adminis tered by the Governor

Sri ni vas Pa til a t Ashi rwad Hall a t Raj Bha va n in
Ga ngtok.
ii. Rai is also the thi rd High Court judge who
hails from the s mall border sta te.
iii. This appointment of Rai as the judge of the
Si kki m High Court has helped the s tate to get i ts
full s trength of three judges a fter a gap of about
one yea r.
7. Union Government forms task force to
expedite work on inter-linking of rivers
i. Union Government on 14 April 2015
consti tuted a task force on interlinking of ri vers
in the country.
ii. The Task Force will be chai red by former
Secreta ry of Mi nistry of Water Resources B N
Na valawala and comprises experts and senior
officials.
Terms of References of Task Force:

ii. Gurgaon based Zoma to has alrea dy rena med

the MaplePOS product to 'Zoma to Base' whi ch
will help the company and i ts res taurant
pa rtners to manage business into online orders
and pa yments .
iii. MaplePos , a sale product offers va rious
features of restaura nts such as inventory a nd
menu mana gement, and has in-built pa yment
solution to a ccept debi t and credit ca rd
pa yments .
6. Justice Meenakshi Madan Rai sworn in as
first lady judge of Sikkim HC
i. Meena kshi Madan Rai sworn in as the fi rs t
lady judge of the Sikkim High Court. Her oath of

Consider alternati ve plans in case of

infeasible links in the present Na tional
Perspecti ve Plan (NPP) apa rt from
exa mining the exis ting links whi ch are
laid out as per the NPP under both
Hi mala yan and Peninsula r
components .
Fa cili tate interlinking of intra-basin
and intra -sta te Ri vers , along wi th tha t
of inter-sta te and inter-basin links.
Sugges t different means of funding
mechanisms for the interlinking of
ri vers project.
Provide guidance norms of appraisal
for indi vi dual projects in respect of
economic viabili ty, envi ronmental
impacts , socio-economi c and
prepa rati on of resettlement plans.
Devi ce sui table mechanisms in order
to bri ng speedy consensus among the
s tates .
To implement the interlinking of
Ri vers , propose sui table organiza tional
s tructure.

Daily GK Update - 16th April 2015

1. Indian Prime Minister Modi inks uranium
deal, talks trade with Stephen Harper
i . Ca nada and India ha ve signed wi th a series of
agreements and promises tha t will send
Cana dian ura nium to the South Asian na tion,
liberalize visas for Ca nadian tra vellers , soon
ra tify a long-awaited foreign inves tment deal

and la y a roa d map to complete s talled trade

talks .
ii . Under a n agreement si gned between Modi
had Ha rper, Ca meco Corpora tion will suppl y
3,000 metri c tonnes of uranium over fi ve yea rs
to India for $254 million.

iii. The two countries also decided to s trengthen

defence and securi ty coopera tion and decided

to coopera te to s tabilise the Asia Pa cifi c regi on.

Modi also announced Electroni c Visa
Authorisation for tourist visa for Canadian
na tionals .
i v. Ca nada's Stephen Ha rper returns 900-yea rold Kha juraho temple s culpture to PM Na rendra
Modi
v. The s cul pture, known as 'Pa rrot Lady', was
handed over by Ha rper to Modi yes terda y in
a ccordance wi th 1970 UNESCO Convention.
2. RBI allows differential interest rate on
deposits
i . The Reserve Bank of India said banks will ha ve
the dis cretion to offer di fferential interes t ra tes
based on whether the term deposi ts a re wi th or
wi thout-prema ture-withdrawal -fa cility, s ubject
to condi tions .
ii . All term deposi ts of indi vi duals (held singl y or
jointl y) of Rs . 15 lakh and below should,
necessa ril y, ha ve premature wi thdra wal fa cility.
iii. For all term deposi ts a bove Rs. 15 lakh banks
can offer deposi ts without the option of
prema ture withdra wal as well .
3. Agni-III missile test-fired successfully by SFC

i . India on Thursda y successfull y test-fi red

nuclear weapons -capable Agni-III ballisti c
missile from the Wheeler Island off Odisha
coas t. Al though the missile has a s trike range of
more than 3,000 k.m.
ii . i t was tes ted for a lesser range, in toda y's
mission.
iii. Agni -III is one of the sophis ti cated and
a ccura te missiles of its class and has already
been inducted into a rmed forces .

i v. It is capable of ca rryi ng a pa yload wei ghing

1.5 tonnes to a distance of more than 3,000
k.m.
4. Janata Parivar announces merger
i . Leaders of si x Janata Pa ri va r parties
announced their decision to merge into one
la rger enti ty. Mula ya m Singh Yada v will the
head new pa rty
ii . The new pa rty will ha ve a strength of 15
members in the Lok Sabha a nd 30 in the Ra jya
Sa bha .

iii. Wi th 30 MPs , the new pa rty will be the thi rd

la rges t bloc behind the Congress (68) and the
BJP (47) in the Rajya Sa bha , where the Modi
government continues to be in a minori ty.
i v. In the Lok Sabha , the pa rty will ha ve 15 MPs ,
ma king i t the eighth la rges t party i n the House.
5. MoU to set power plant in Kazakhstan
between BHEL and Russian firm INTMA inked
i . Bha rat Hea vy Electri cals Li mited (BHEL), an
engineering and manufa cturi ng company
announced that i t has inked a Memorandum of
Unders tanding (MoU) wi th a Russian company
na med INTMA wi th an aim to set up a gas-based
power project in Kazakhsta n as well as further
boos t i ts presence in the CIS countries .
ii . BHEL, currentl y executing 23 major projects in
16 countries has set i ts footprint i n over 75
countries .
iii. INTMA is one of the leading general
Engineering Procurement a nd Cons tructi on
contra ctors (EPC) in Russia and Ka zakhstan.

i . Asia Cup 2016 is set to undergo a ra dical

change and will be a Twenty20 competi tion
ins tead of the 50-over ga me.
ii . It would be reva mped to include more
Associate na tions and to gi ve some pra cti ce
pri or to the T 20 World Cup .
iii. The tournament would then revert to a 50over tournament in 2018 ahead of the 2019
World Cup in England and be pla yed as a T20
competi tion a gain in 2020.
7. Sachin Tendulkar elected as member of
Laureus Sports Academy
i . Indian cri cket i con Sa chin Tendulka r was
inducted as one of the fi ve new members i nto
the pres tigious Laureus Sports Aca demy in a
gli ttering annual awa rd ceremony a t the
Shanghai Grand thea tre.
ii . Besides Tendulka r, reti red Chinese
professional basketball pla yer Yao Ming, Kenyan
long-dis tance runner Tegla Loroupe, Chinese
gymnast Li Xiaopeng a nd former Chinese short
tra ck speed s ka ter Yang Yang were the other
a thletes to be inducted into the Laureus
a cademy.
iii. Tendulka r, who made his ODI debut agains t
Pakis tan wa y back in 1989, reti red from the
forma t a fter the Asia Cup in 2013 a fter
completing a century of interna tional hundreds .

6. Asia Cup 2016 to be played in T20 format

Daily GK Updates - 17th April 2015

1. Modi Xi among Time's most influential
people
i . Indian Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi , who
entered offi ce this yea r on the promise of
revi ving the countrys economy, is the winner of
this yea rs reader poll for TIME Person of the
Yea r.
ii . In the final tall y, Modi recei ved more than
16% of the almost 5 million votes cas t.

iii. Readers from more than 225 countries in

total pa rticipa ted, with U.S. votes leading the
pa ck a t 37%, followed by India at 17% and
Russia at 12%.
i v. Mr. Modi was named by TIME among the
100 mos t influential people in the world in i ts
annual list on Thurs da y, wi th U.S. President
Ba ra ck Obama penning a fla ttering profile of
hi m.
2. India to grow at 7.5 % in 2015: Moodys
i . A week after i t revised i ts outlook on India to
positi ve from s table, interna tional credi t

ra ting ma jor Moodys pegged Indias growth a t

7.5 percent for 2015.
ii . Low inflation ra te has enabled the Reserve
Ba nk of India (RBI) to cut interes t ra tes by 50
basis points in ea rl y 2015 whi ch has helped in
easing pressure on the pri va te sector.
iii. Moodys Anal yti cs is of the view tha t Indias
s tateowned companies a re notori ousl y
ineffi cient, wi th signifi cant bureaucra cy a nd
endemi c corruption.
3. Obama to honour Satya Nadella with
'Champion of Change' award
i . US President Ba ra ck Oba ma plans to honour
Mi crosoft's Indian-ori gin CEO Sa tya Nadella wi th
the 'Champions of Change' a wa rd for bri nging
about change wi thin his company to support
working families.

ii . Before being na med CEO in Februa ry 2014,

47-yea r-old Nadella held leadership roles in
both enterprise and consumer businesses a cross
the company.

iii. the Whi te House released a Middle Class Ta x

report highlighting his budget proposals to help
those 44 million mi ddle-class Ameri ca ns.
i v. The 'Champions of Change' programme was
crea ted as an opportuni ty for the Whi te House
to fea ture indi viduals doing extraordina ry things
to empower a nd inspi re members of thei r
communi ties.
4. RIL Reclaims Tag of Most Profitable Indian
Firm
i . Reliance Industries regained i ts sta tus as the
mos t profi table Indian company a fter posting an
8.5 per cent rise in consolida ted net profi t for
the Ma rch qua rter.
ii . The opera tor of the worl d's bigges t refining
complex reported a net profi t Rs 6,381 crore for
the three months to Ma rch, 2015.

iii. RIL had los t i ts crown as India's mos t

profi table fi rm to outsourcing giant TCS in the
December qua rter.
i v. TCS, whi ch announced i ts Ma rch qua rter
numbers on Thursda y, reported a net profi t of
a round Rs 5,900 crore (including one -time
bonus for empl oyees).

5. UN Peace Envoy Jamal Benomar Resigns

i . Uni ted Na tion (UN) pea ce envoy to Yemen,

Jamal Benoma r has resigned, a fter l osing
support from Gulf countries for his mission in
the confli ct-ri ven na tion.
ii . His resigna tion comes a fter UN Security
Council adopted a resolution calling for the swi ft
resumption of pea ce talks and an end to
vi olence in Yemen.
iii. The adopted resolution adopted calls on the
Huthis to withdra w from Sanaa and all other
a reas they ha ve seized.

6. Pakistan, Russia to hold first-ever joint

military exercises
i . Pa kistan and Russia ha ve a greed to hold fi rstever joint milita ry exercises as pa rt of thei r
enhanced defence coopera tion, in a sign of
increasing bonhomie between the Cold Wa r-era
adversa ries .
ii . The agreement was rea ched during a meeting
in Mos cow between Pa kistan Defence Minis ter
Kha wa ja Asif and his Russian counterpa rt Sergei
Shoi gu.
iii. Asif is on an offi cial visit to Mos cow to attend
a regional securi ty conference. He held talks
wi th the Russian defence minis te r, during whi ch
the two minis ters a greed to increase mili tary
coopera tion in training and import of arms and
equipment.

i . Senior diplomat Mohan Kuma r, currentl y

India's top envoy to Bahrain, has been
appointed the next Ambassador to Fra nce to
succeed Arun Kuma r.

ii . A 1981-ba tch IFS offi cer, Mohan Kuma r is

expected to take up his assignment shortl y.
iii. The official announcement for Mohan
Kuma r's appointment comes si x da ys a fter
Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi's visit to France.

7. Mohan Kumar appointed as new Indian

Ambassador to France

Daily GK Update - 18th April 2015

1. PM Narendra Modi's visit to Canada
generated business worth 1.6 billion dollars
i . Prime Minis ter Na rendra Modi 's visi t to
Cana da has generated business worth more
than 1.6 billion Canadian dollars , a ccording to
official figures released by the Harper
government i n Toronto.
ii . Si xteen commercial agreements and
announcements were made by Ca nadian and
Indian companies and orga nisations during
Pri me Mi nister Modi's visit.

iii. Ha rper and Modi welcomed the progress

ma de on negotiating a Bilateral Forei gn
Investment
Promotion
and
Protecti on
Agreement and a greed to intensify discussions
to finalise all outs tanding issues.
i v. agreement invol ving Saskatchewan -based
Ca meco will see the company suppl y India wi th
over seven million pounds of uranium over the
next fi ve yea rs .
2. Vishal Sikka appointed as
Advisory Professor at ECNU

3. SEBI bars 129 entities, suspects money

laundering
i . Securi ties and Exchange Boa rd of India (SEBI)
ba rred Mishka Finance and Trading and 128
other enti ties from the securi ties ma rket.
ii . These enti ties a re es tima ted to ha ve shown
fi cti tious capi tal gains to the tune of Rs .254
crore and jus t 29 of them made unlawful gains
to the tune of Rs . 92 crore on an investment of
jus t Rs . 2 crore.
iii. SEBI has suspended trading in nea rl y 30 lis ted
companies for such viola tions while a ction has
been taken a gains t more than 500 en tities ,
including promoters and others , for ta x evasion
of over Rs .3,000 crore.
4. Two Indians named 2015 Yale World Fellows
in US
i . Two Indians are a mong 16 people na med by
Yale Uni versi ty as i ts 2015 World Fellows , the
signa ture global leadership development
ini tiati ve a t the pres tigious US ins ti tution.
ii . Zeena Joha r, SughaVa zhvu Heal thca re
Founder a nd journalist and author Rahul
Pandita a re the Indians who a re named by the
uni versity.

his tori cal monuments a nd si tes loca ted i n every

pa rt of the worl d by ma king collecti ve efforts a t
international level .

iii. The fi rs t world Herita ge Da y was celebra ted

on 18 April 1982 by the Interna tional Council on
Monuments and Si tes (ICOMOS) i n Tunisia and
was approved in 1983 by UNESCO.
i v. The 2015 World Heri tage Da y also ma rked
50th
anni versary
of
ICOMOS.
6. World Hemophilia Day 2015 observed
globally
i . World Haemophilia Da y was observed globall y
on 17 April 2015 wi th theme Building a famil y of
support. The da y provides an opportuni ty to talk
to your extended famil y and friends , colleagues ,
and ca regi vers to raise awa reness and in crease
support for those li ving wi th an inheri ted
bleeding disorder.

University

i . The Eas t China Normal Uni versity (ECNU), one

of the pres tigi ous uni versities in China ,
announced the appointment of Dr. Vishal Si kka ,
Chief Executi ve Offi cer of Infos ys , as Advisory
Professor.
ii . Professor Shi jun Tong, CCP Secreta ry of ECNU,
formally conferred the Advisory Professorship
to Mr Sikka .
iii. East China Normal Uni versi ty, commonl y
referred to as ECNU, is a comprehensi ve
resea rch uni versi ty in Shanghai, China .
Es tablished in 1951,i t is the firs t na tional normal
uni versity of the People's Republi c of China .

iii. Joha r founded SughaVa zhvu Heal thca re

(SVHC) and IKP Centre for Technologies in Publi c
Heal th (ICTPH) to create a prima ry- ca re deli very
network through rural clini cs .
i v. New Delhi -based Pa ndi ta has reported
extensi vel y about conflicts in Iraq a nd Sri Lanka
and is known for his reporta ge on Maois t
insurgency i n central and eastern India, and on
the turmoil in Kashmi r.
5. World Heritage Day 2015 observed globally
i . World Heri tage Da y was observed a cross the
world on 18 April 2013. The da y is observed
wi th an aim to crea te awa reness among the
people to conserve a nd protect the valuable
assets and cul tural heri tage a cross the world.
ii . The da y ma rks the necessity of protecting the

ii . Hemophilia da y was es tablished in 1989 wi th

the s upport of the World Federa tion of
Hemophilia
(WFH).
iii. The da te of 17 April was chosen to honor
Fra nk Schnabel the founder of WFH, whose
bi rthda y
falls
on
the
sa me
da te.
7. Hinduja brothers win Asian Business Leader
of
the
year
award
i . NRI indus trialists Hinduja brothers S P
Hi nduja and G P Hinduja ha ve won the
Business Leader of the Yea r 2015 awa rd a t the
pres ti gious 5th Asian Awa rds for thei r
outstanding a chievement in the field of
business.
ii . Recei ving the a wa rd, Co-Chai rma n of the
Hi nduja Group G P Hinduja said this yea r his
group has been winni ng one or two awa rd every
month and each awa rd keep us goi ng and put
more responsibili ty on our shoulders to do

better. He recei ved the awa rd from Lord Ka ran

Billimoria .
iii. Bollywood a ctor Shah Rukh Khan also
recei ved an a wa rd for outstanding a chievement
in ci nema while Sri Lankan cri cketer Kuma r
Sa ngakka ra , who s cored four consecuti ve
centuries in the recent Worl d Cup, won an

awa rd
for
a chievement
in
sports .
i v. The Asian Awa rds honouring Asian Excellence
is founded by businessman Paul Sagoo.

Daily GK Update - 19th April 2015

Maharashtra government sets up task forces
on agriculture development and poverty
alleviation

iii. It was signed in the presence of Union

Railwa y Minister Suresh
Prabhu and
Maha rashtra Chief Minis ter Devendra Fadna vis
in
Mumbai .
iv. Dighi Port is the fi rs t non- major pri va te
sector seaport in Maha rashtra loca ted on the
banks of Ra japuri Creek i n Raigad distri ct over

150
km
from
Mumbai .

i. Maha rashtra government on 18 April 2015 set

up a task force on a gri cul ture development a nd
poverty allevia tion to address the issues .
ii. It will be 12-member panel for agri culture
development and will be headed by the sta tes
addi tional chief secreta ry (Agri cul ture).
iii. Task force for poverty alleviation - Sta te
government also has set up a nother task force
for poverty alleviati on. It will be headed by
pri ncipal secreta ry (Social Justi ce Department).

Andhra Pradesh Government inks MoU with

IISL Company to replace streetlights in 13
municipalities with LED lights
i. Andhra Pra desh Government has signed a
Memorandum of Unders tanding (MoU) with the
IISL Company to repla ce the exis ting s treetlights
in 13 muni cipalities wi th LED lights i n the s ta te.
ii. MoU was signed by Minis ter for Municipal
Administra tion and Urban Development P.
Na ra yana and IISLs representati ves in
Ama ra va ti , the new ca pital sta te.
iii. As per the a greement, IISL will maintain
repla ce and maintain LED s treetlights in the 13
muni cipalities for seven yea rs .
iv. The all exis ting s treetlights in all the
muni cipal corpora tions and muni cipali ties will
be changed to LED s treetli ghts in a phased
ma nner.
v. By ins talling LED s treetlights, s ta te
government aims to reduce the power
consumption by 50 per cent.

Background
During the fi rs t meeting of Na tional Insti tution
for Transforma tion of India (NITI) Aa yog held in
Februa ry 2015, Prime Mi nister Na rendra Modi
had sugges ted to all sta te governments to set
up panels for agri culture development a nd
poverty allevia tion to address the issues .
Vankadarath Saritha, first woman bus driver of
Delhi Transport Corporation

International
Paralympic
Committee
derecognises Paralympic Committee of India

i. Va nkada ra th Sa ri tha , a 30-yea r-old dri ver

beca me fi rst woman bus dri ver to be inducted
in Delhi Transport Corpora tion (DTC).
ii. DTC has currentl y pos ted her a t Sa rojini Naga r
depot and will work i n da y-ti me duty a t a route
in the central pa rt of the ci ty, s ta rting from 20
April 2015.
iii. Sa ri tha hails from Nalgonda distri ct in
Telengana. She had sta rted her ca reer as an
autori ckshaw dri ver and previousl y had worked
as a bus dri ver in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
Prior to joining DTC, s he was working as a ta xi
dri ver in Delhi .
iv. Delhi governments this s tep will alla y i ts
concern rega rding womens securi ty in the
capi tal and also encoura ge
womens
contribution to such sectors where theyre
currentl y not pa rticipa ting.
RVNL Sings MoU with Private Sector Dighi Port
Limited
for
Rail
Connectivity
i. A Memora ndum of Unders tanding (MoU) was
signed on 18 April 2015 between Rail Vikas
Nigam Limi ted (RVNL) and Dighi Port Li mi ted.
ii. The MoU will fa cilita te cons truction of 34 km
of railwa y link between Roha and Di ghi Port in
Rai gad distri ct of Ma harashtra . The project cos t
is es tima ted a round Rs. 723 crore.

i. The International Pa ral ympi c Committee (IPC)

has suspended the Pa ral ympi c Committee of
India
(PCI)
for
i ndefini te
peri od.
ii. IPCs this move comes a fter PCI had provi ded
shoddy trea tment to a thletes during the
Na tional Pa ra -Athletics Cha mpionships held in
Ghaziabad from Ma rch 20 to 22, 2015.
iii. This is second time PCI has been suspended
by PCI. Wi th this suspension, Indian para a thletes will not be able to parti cipa te in any
IPC-sanctioned competi tion, incl uding 2016
Pa ral ympi c Games at Rio de Janei ro. In this
rega rd, Union Sports Ministry also has issued a
show
cause
noti ce
to
PCI.
iv. This noti ce was issued based upon enquiry
conducted by Sports Authori ty of India (SAI). SAI
in i ts enqui ry had reported tha t the s ports
venue did not ha ve proper facili ties to conduct
Na tional Cha mpionship and also la cked allied
fa cili ties requi red for differentl y abled a thletes .
About Paralympic Committee of India (PCI)

PCI was founded in 1992 as the Physi call y

Ha ndi capped Sports Federa tion of India .
It was recogni zed in November 2011, as
Na tional Sports Federa tion (NSF) for promotion
of sports a mongs t the physi cally challenged
sports persons i n the country.
It is also responsible for selecting a thletes to
represent India a t the Pa ral ympi c Games and
other interna tional a thleti c meets .
Ashish Jakhar from Haryana sets National
Youth
record
in
hammer
throw
i. Ashish Ja kha r from Ha rya na on 17 April 2015
set a na tional youth record in boys hammer
throw event and won gold medal in the 12th
Na tional Youth Athleti cs Championships held in
Ba mbolim,
Goa .
ii. In this event, Ashish had hurled 5kg ball-andchain a t record distance of 72.04 metres in a
second throw whi ch made a na tional youth
record. In his opening throw he had hurdled at a
dis tance
of
71.92
metres .
iii. Wi th this , he broke the previous na tional
record of 70.35 metres whi ch was set by
Ha ryana s Sukhdev Singh in 2009.
SC appoints CBI SP Vivek Priyadarshi as head of
team
probing
IPL
scandal
i. Supreme Court has appointed Vi vek
Pri ya da rshi to head an i nves tiga ting team to
further probe the Indian Premier Lea gue (IPL)
season 6 spot-fi xing and betting scandals.
ii. Decision in this rega rd was taken by a SC
bench comprising Jus ti ces T S Thakur and F M I
Kalifulla . The bench took this decision on the
recommenda tion of a three member panel
headed by former Chief Jus ti ce of India (CJI) RM
Lodha whi ch was appointed in Janua ry 2015.
Punjab government approves release of
Gharials in Sutlej and Beas rivers to prom ote
eco-tourism
i. Punjab Chief Minister Pa rkash Singh Badal on
17 April 2015 approved release of Gha rials in
Sutlej a nd Beas ri ves in the s tate to promote
eco-tourism. Ini tiall y, 10 Gha rials (last survi ving
species of the famil y Ga vialidae) will be released
in the Ha rike Wildlife Sanctua ry as a pa rt of
Gha rial
Recovery
Acti on
Plan.
ii. Decision in this rega rd was taken a fter
recommenda tions of the Sta te Boa rd for
Wildli fe. Union Mi nistry of Envi ronment Forests
and Clima te Change (MoEFCC) also had gi ven
permission for release of Gha rials under Secti on
12 of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

About Gharial
The gha rial (Ga vialis gangeti cus ) is also known
as the ga vial . It is a fish-ea ting crocodile and

belongs to one of the three crocodilian species

found in the Indian Sub-Conti nent.
It is listed in Schedule I of Indian Wildlife
(Protecti on) Act, 1972.
It is also listed as Cri ti call y Endangered in the
Interna tional Union for Conserva tion of Nature
(IUCN) Red Lis t of Endangered Species .
In histori c times it was present in Indus Ri ver
s ys tem, i ncluding Beas and Sutlej ri vers ,
indi ca ting healthy ri ver s ys tem.
Vijender G upta appointed Leader of
Opposition in Delhi Assembly

i. Vi jender Gupta was appointed the leader of

opposi tion (LoP) in the Delhi assembl y on 16
April 2015 wi th immedia te effect. Delhi
Assembl y Spea ker has recognized him as LOP as
per Section 2 of the Leader of Opposi tion in the
Legislati ve Assembl y of the Na tional Ca pital
Terri tory ( NCT) of Delhi (Salary a nd Allowa nces)
Act, 2001.

ii. Gupta is one of three legislators of Bha ra ti ya

Jana ta Pa rty (BJP), whi ch has greates t numeri cal
s trength as opposi tion pa rty in the legislati ve
assembl y.
iii. Prior to this he was leader of the house of
the pa rty in opposi tion in the house.
iv. In Februa ry 2015 Assembl y electi on, BJP had
won three seats whi ch is less than one -tenth of
the total s trength of 70 of the Delhi assembl y.
While, the Aa m Aadmi Pa rty (AAP) had won 67
seats .
Gupta is a former BJP s tate president. In 2015
Assembl y election he had won from Rohini
consti tuency by defea ting AAP candi date C.L.
Gupta by a round 5,000 votes .

Daily GK Updates - 20th April 2015

Yechury is new CPI( M) chief
i . Rajya Sabha member Si ta ram Yechury was
elected the fifth general secreta ry of the
Communist Pa rty of India (Ma rxis t).
ii . To ensure a s mooth transi tion by a verting a
vote, Mr. Pillais candida ture was withdra wn
pa vi ng the wa y for the unanimous election of
the 91-member CC, a fter whi ch Mr. Ka ra t
proposed Mr. Yechury for general secretary
whi ch was unani mousl y a ccepted.

iii. Three pa rty veterans two former Chief

Minis ters , V.S. Achuthana ndan from Kerala a nd
Budhhadeb Bhatta cha rya from West Bengal ,
and Ni rupa m Sen ha ve been dropped from the
CC.
ICICI launches NFC-enabled payment service
Tap-n-Pay
i . ICICI Bank in collaborati on with Tech
Mahindra launched a pa yme nt servi ce Tap-nPa y based on the nea r-field communi ca tions
(NFC) technology, enabling cus tomers make
over-the-counter pa yments wi thout using cash.
ii . It ca n be used for merchant pa yments by
merel y tapping a NFC-enabled mobile phone or
a ta g on the counter.

iii. For making pa yments , the user will ha ve to

bri ng the NFC tag or the mobile phone nea r a
devi ce a t the merchants fa cility a nd the amount
will automati call y get debi ted from the prepaid
a ccount.

Navy launches
Visakhapatnam

stealth

destroyer

INS

i . The Indian Na vy launched Visakha patnam,

the firs t of s teal th destroyers under the P15-B
project.
ii . The wa rship is 163 metres in length and has a
displa cement of 7,300 tonnes .
iii. The ship is the fi rs t of the four follow followup order of the Kol kata class wa rships .
i v. The total cos t of the project is li ttle over Rs
29,600 crore.
BHEL commissions 250-MW thermal unit in
Jamnagar
i . Sta te-owned power equipment maker BHEL
has commissioned a 250-mw coal-based
thermal power plant in Guja rat.
ii . The uni t has been commissioned a t the
Guja rat Sta te Electri ci ty Corpora tion Ltd's
(GSECL) Sikka thermal power s ta tion (TPS) by
Bha ra t Hea vy Electri cals Ltd (BHEL), on EPC
(engineering, procurement and construction)
basis, the company said in a regulatory filing
toda y.
iii. Sikka TPS is loca ted nea r Jamnaga r, an
industrial town in Guja ra t.
i v. Two uni ts of 120 mw ea ch, supplied and
executed ea rlier by BHEL a re al ready in
opera tion at Sikka . Another 250 mw uni t,
presentl y under execution a t Si kka TPS, is also in
an advanced s ta ge of commissioning.
Kerala launches project to help people
overcome substance
i . The Kerala government on Sunda y launched a
ma jor campaign "Subodham" to help people in
the s ta te overcome al cohol , drug and other
subs tance abuse.
ii . The project was launched by Chief Minis ter
Oommen Chandy and Art of Li vi ng Founda tion
founder Sri Sri Ra vishanka r in the presence of
religious leaders, representa ti ves of s tudent

organisati ons and NGOs worki ng agains t drug

abuse.
iii. "The s ta te government aims to wipe out the
mena ce of subs tance addi ction from our s ociety
through 'Subodha m'. If total alcohol prohibi tion
could save the society, the sta te government is
ready to forego the revenue from the sale of
liquor tha t is a round Rs 7,000 crore per annum,"
said Chandy.
Former Bengal U-19 captain Ankit Keshri
succumbs to on-field injury
i . In another tragi c on-field incident after Phillip
Hughes' dea th last November, a promising
Bengal ba tsman Anki t Keshri on passed a wa y
owing to an injury sus tained during a Cri cket
Association of Bengal's senior one-da y knockout ma tch.

ii . The 20-yea r-old, a talented right-ha nder, had

captained the Bengal U-19 team in Cooch Beha r
Trophy and was in the 30-member India U-19
probables list for the 2014 Col ts Worl d Cup in
the Uni ted Arab Emi ra tes .
iii. Keshri was not a pa rt of the pla ying XI a nd
was the 12th man of the side in the fa teful
ma tch. He ca me to replace Railwa ys Ranji allrounder Arnab Nandi, who had taken a break.
Lewis Hamilton cruises to Bahrain GP win,
Raikkonen second
i . Formula One worl d champion Lewis Ha milton
won the Bahrain Grand Pri x for the second yea r
in a row wi th Ferra ri 's Kimi Raikkonen ba ck on
the podium to deny Mercedes a nother one -two
fi nish under the floodli ghts .
ii . The Bri ton's fl ying pole-to-flag vi ctory a t the
desert tra ck was his thi rd win i n four ra ces this
season a nd 36th of his ca reer.
iii. He i ncreased his lead over Rosberg in the
s tandings to 27 points . The Bri ton now has 93
points to the German's 66.

Daily GK Updates - 21st April 2015

1. Former Odisha Chief Minister J.B Patnaik
passes away
i . Former Governor of Assam and three -time
Chief Mi nister of Odisha Janaki Ballav Pa tnaik
passed awa y in a pri va te hospital a t Ti rupa ti in
Andhra Pradesh.
ii . He was born in Puri dis tri ct on Janua ry 3,
1927. He was Chief Minis ter of Odisha from
1980 to 1989 and a gain from 1995 to 1999.

i v. A corners tone of the project will be to

develop the Pa kistani port of Gwada r, a wa rmwa ter port run by the Chinese on the doors tep
of the Middle East.

iii. Sa tya Prabhaka r is the Founder and CEO of

Sulekha .com.
4. Japan maglev train breaks world speed
record again

iii. He was also the Leader of Opposition in

Odisha Assembl y from 2004 to 2009.
i v. Mr. Pa tnaik, who s ta rted his ca reer as a
journalist, was a Sanskri t s cholar a nd wrote
several books .
2. Egypt President Morsy jailed for 20 years

i . An Egyptian cri minal court sentenced ous ted

President Moha mmed Mors y to 20 yea rs in
prison over the killing of protesters in 2012.
ii . The case s tems from violence outside the
presidential pala ce in December 2012. Mors ys
supporters a tta cked opposition protes ters ,
spa rking clashes tha t killed a t least 10 people.
iii. 12 Brotherhood leaders and supporters ,
including Mohammed el -Bel ta gy a nd Essam elErian, also were sentenced to 20 yea rs in prison.
3. Sulekha.com raises Rs 175 crore from GIC,
NVP
i . Chennai -based local listing servi ces provi der
Sulekha .com has raised Rs . 175 crore from the
sovereign weal th fund of Si ngapore-GIC a nd
Norwes t Venture Pa rtners .
ii . The Chennai-based company has about 50
lakh businesses listed on its pla tform.

i . A Japanese ma gneti c levi ta tion train has

broken i ts own world speed record, hi tting
603km/h (374mph) in a tes t run nea r Mount
Fuji.
ii . The train bea t the 590km/h speed i t had set
last week in another tes t.
iii. Japan is known for i ts shinkansen that run on
s teel rails, but has been investing in ma glev
technology whi ch it is hoping to sell overseas .
i v. Central Japan Railwa y (JR Central), whi ch
owns the trains , wants to introduce the servi ce
between Tokyo and the central ci ty of Nagoya
by 2027.
5. China Readies $46 Billion for Pakistan Trade
Route
i . Chi nese President Xi Jinping is set to unveil a
$46 billion infrastructure s pending plan in
Pakis tan tha t is a centerpiece of Bei jings
ambiti ons to open new trade and transport
routes a cross Asia and challenge the U.S. as the
dominant regional power.
ii . The plan will be known as the China Pakis tan
Economi c Corridor.
iii. Chi na sees a his tori c opportuni ty to redra w
the geopoliti cal map by s ucceeding where the
U.S. has la rgel y failed.

6. E-Samiksha launched to monitor rail projects

online
i . Wi th an aim of moni toring implementa tion of
va rious ongoing projects including Rail Budget
proposals, railwa ys toda y launched E-Samiksha ,
an online moni tori ng mechanism.
ii . Now ea ch and every project i mplementa tion
can be moni tored on real -time basis, Railwa y
Minis ter Suresh Prabhu said here a fter
launching the s ys tem.
iii. Designed by NIC, the softwa re is currentl y
being used by Ca binet Secreta riat, PMO a nd
other Ministries for moni toring progress
implementa tion of va rious programmes and
follow-up of meetings .

i v. Apa rt from budget-rela ted projects , the ESa miksha can also be used for moni toring the
infrastructure ta rget and boa rd meeti ng followup.
7. Bharatiya Mahila Bank inks MoUs with LIC,
New India Assurance
i . Bha ra ti ya Mahila Bank Ltd has entered i nto
MoUs wi th New India Assurance Company Ltd
and Life Insurance Corpora tion of India to
provide insurance cover to i ts a ccountholders.
ii . The i nsurance covers a re being provi ded
under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Suraksha Bima
Yojana and the Pradhan Mantri Jeeva njyoti
Bi ma Yojana s chemes respecti vel y.
iii. The insura nce option is volunta ry a nd comes
a t a premium of Rs . 12 for the PM Ja n Suraksha
Bi ma Yojana and Rs . 330 for the PM Jeeva njyoti
Bi ma Yojana .
i v. The a ge eligibility under the former is 18-70
yea rs a nd under the la tter 18-50 yea rs . The
enrolment period under the s chemes will be
from June 1, 2015, to August 31, 2015.

Daily GK Updates - 22nd April 2015

1. Indira, Rajiv names dropped from two Hindi
awards
i . The BJP-led NDA government has dropped the
na mes of former Prime Mi nisters Indi ra Ga ndhi
and Ra ji v Gandhi from two awa rds for
propa gating Hindi.

ii . The Indi ra Ga ndhi Ra jbhasha Puraska r and

Ra ji v Gandhi Rashtri ya Gyan-Vigya n Maulik
Pus tak Lekhan Puraska r, launched more than

two decades ago, ha ve gi ven wa y for Ra jbhasha

Ki rti Puraska r and Rajbhasha Gaura v Puraska r.
iii. The two a wa rds ha ve been dis continued by
the Union Home Mi nistry, whi ch ins tead
launched two new schemes for doing
outstanding work for promoting the progressi ve
use of offi cial language.
2. H.L.Dattu to head NJAC
i . The si x-member NJAC headed by the Chief
Jus ti ce of India H.L. Da ttu will be consti tuted by
the center.
ii . Na tional Judicial Appointments Commission
(NJAC) is a body responsible for the
appointment and trans fer of judges to the
hi gher judi cia ry in India .

iii. The Commission is esta blished by a mending

the Cons ti tution of India through the ninetyninth cons ti tution a mendment vi de the
Cons ti tution (Ninety-Ninth Amendment) Act,
2014 passed by the Lok Sabha on 13 Augus t
2014 a nd by the Ra jya Sabha on 14 Augus t
2014.
3. Sesa Sterlite renamed as Vedanta Ltd

Da y, the yea r when the worl d leaders will pass a

binding clima te change trea ty in Pa ris in
December
2015.
i v. The trea ty will be a dopted to make sure the
future of Ea rth, our planet and the survi val of
life
on
i t.

i . Metals and mining conglomera te Sesa Sterli te

has changed i ts name to Vedanta Ltd to better
align wi th i ts interna tional identity Vedanta
Res ources .
ii . Sesa Sterlite is a subsidiary of Vedanta
Res ources Pl c, UK.
iii. The company produces and processes oil and
gas , zinc, lead, sil ver, copper, i ron ore,
alumini um a nd commercial power a nd is
present in India, South Afri ca, Namibia , Ireland,
Aus tralia, Liberia and Sri Lanka .
i v. Cai rn India, Hindustan Zinc Ltd and BALCO
a re the subsidiaries of the company.
4. International Mother Earth Day observed

i . Interna tional Mother Ea rth Da y was observed

gl oball y on 22 April 2015 with the theme Its our
turn
to
lead.
ii . The theme hi ghlights the need for change and
seeks to inform the communi ties and leadership
tha t a ction needs to be taken on cli mate by
promoting a goal of envi ronmental awa reness
through developing sus tainable initia ti ves and
gal va nizing every human to pledge Acts of
Green.
iii. This is the 45th anni versa ry of the Ea rths

1. Railway launches mobile app for paperless

unreserved tickets
i . Moving ahead i n line wi th digi tal India ,
railwa ys launched mobile appli ca tion for
paperless unreserved ti ckets.
ii . Railwa y Mi nister Suresh Prabhu introduced
from here the mobile app for paperless
unreserved ti cketing for commuters in Egmore
and Ta mbra m suburban sections in Chennai
under Southern Railwa y zone.

iii. Developed by Centre for Railwa y Informa tion

Sys tems (CRIS) "utsonmobile" - the paperless
unreserved ti cketing fea ture in mobile
appli ca tion aims to elimi nate the need.
i v. The applica tion provi des necessary on -screen
alerts to guide the passenger during the booking
process.
2. Shah Ruk h Khan honoured with Dadasaheb
Phalke Film Foundation Award

5. Tamil Nadu govt cancels plot allotted for

Coca-Cola
plant
i . The Tamil Nadu government on Monda y
cancelled allotment of land for Hindus tan Coca Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd to set up a bottling uni t
in Perundurai , the Sta te Indus tries Promotion
Corpora tion of Ta mil Nadu Limi ted (SIPCOT)
complex in Erode distri ct, ami d growing protests
by local residents over possible exploi ta tion of
groundwater.
ii . The Tamil Nadu government took the
decision to cancel the lease a greement, blaming
the fi rm for "not compl yi ng with the terms ".
iii. It was on June 21, 2013, SIPCOT allotted the
land fi rs t a nd a fter two amendments in the
agreement, a lease deed was executed a nd
registered fi nally by HCCBPL on Janua ry 23,
2014.
6. Kudermukh and Rajaji National Parks
Declared
as
Tiger
Reserves:
Centre
i . The Na tional Tiger Conserva tion Authority
(NTCA) has a ccorded fi nal approval to two
na tional pa rks i .e. Kudermukh Na tional Pa rk in
Ka rna taka and Ra ja ji Na tional Pa rk in
Utta rkha nd for being decla red as ti ger reserves .

ii . In a ccordance to this approval , Ra ja ji Na tional

Pa rk is decla red as India 's 48th Tiger Reserve.
Wi th this noti fica tion, Utta rakhand got i ts
Dail y GK Update - 23rd April 2015
i . Boll ywood a ctor Sha h Rukh Kha n was
honoured wi th the Dadasaheb Phalke Film
Founda tion Award 2015 for his performance in
the movie Happy New Yea r. The a wa rd
ceremony was held in Mumbai.
ii . Actor Rajkumma r Rao won the presti gious
awa rd for his performance i n the cri ti call y
a cclaimed fil m Ci tylights , whi ch was released in
2014.

ii . Actress Huma Qureshi bagged an a wa rd for

her memorable performance in the movie Dedh
Ishiqya .
iii. Boll ywood a ctors Shreyas Talpade, Ti ger
Shroff, a ctress Ja ya Pra da, si nger Udi t Na ra yan
and Pankaj Udhas were also felici ta ted wi th the
awa rd.
3. JBM Group enters solar power sector

second tiger reserve after the Corbett Ti ger

Reserve.
iii. The noti fi cati on was announced by
Utta ra khand Chief Minis ter Ha rish Ra wat while
releasing logo of the Ra jaji Tiger Reserve.
i v. The Raja ji Na tional Pa rk tha t ca me i nto
exis tence in 1983 is spread a cross three distri cts
of Utta rakhand namel y Ha ridwa r, Dehradun and
Pauri Ga rhwal in an area over 820 squa re km.
7. Pakistan confers Nishan-e-Pakistan on
Chinese
president
Xi
Jinping
i . Pakistan conferred the Nishan-e-Pakis tan, i ts
top ci vilian awa rd, on Chinese President Xi
Jinping, lauding his "outs tandi ng contri bution in
the promotion of the rela tionship between the
two
countries ".
ii . President Ma mnoon Hussain conferred the
awa rd on 61-yea r-old Xi during a ceremony held
at
the
President's
House.
iii. The ceremony was attended by Pri me
Minis ter Nawa z Sha ri f, federal ministers ,
members of the Na tional Assembl y and Sena te,
the three servi ce chief and the Chinese
delegati on.
i v. The a wa rd was gi ven for Xi 's contributi on in
promoting China 's rela tionship wi th Pakis tan. Xi ,
also the General-Secreta ry of the ruling
Communist pa rty, was gi ven a wa rm wel come
on his a rri val in the President's House in a
tradi tional horse ca rriage.

i . Auto component-maker JBM Group

announced i ts entry into the sola r energy sector
wi th plans to inves t Rs 1,600 crore i n the next
three yea rs.
ii . The group plans to invest Rs 1,600 crore over
three yea rs and ha ve a combined capa ci ty of
300 MW under the newl y formed enti ty - JBM
Sola r (P) Ltd, the company said in a sta tement.
iii. JBM Sola r plans to be an i ndependent power
producer (IPP) wi th focus on both, ground
mounted and solar rooftop projects.
4. Union Cabinet approves lowering of age of
Juveniles from 18 to 16 years for heinous
crimes
i . Union Cabi net has approved lowering of a ge
of juveniles from ei ghteen to sixteen yea rs for
heinous cri mes. Decision in this rega rd was
taken by Union Cabinet meeting chai red by
Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi .
ii . The ca binet also approved to i ntroduce
Amendment to the Juvenile Jus ti ce (Ca re a nd
Protection of Children) Bill, 2014. This
amendment will propose and add special

provisions to ta ckle heinous offences like

murder and ra pe commi tted by juveniles in the
age group of 16-18 yea rs .
iii. The proposed bill will amend the Juvenile
Jus ti ce Act, 2000. The pa rent Act clea rl y defines
and classifies offences as serious , petty a nd
heinous and defines differentia ted processes for
ea ch classified ca tegory.

i v. While the amendments in the bill adds

provisions tha t in case a heinous cri me
committed by a person between 16 and 18
yea rs , will be exa mined by the Juvenile Jus ti ce
Boa rd (JJB) to assess if the cri me was commi tted
as a child or as an adul t.

5. World Bank
Management and
program

established Pollution
Environmental Health

i.
World
Bank
es tablished
Pollution
Mana gement and Envi ronmental Heal th (PHEM)
progra m. The progra m was offi ciall y launched
on Global Ci tizen 2015 Ea rth Da y in Washington,
D.C.
ii . The 45 million US Dolla r PMEH progra m will
ini tially run from 2015 to 2020 and focus
pri ma ril y on ai r quality mana gement in
countries fa cing rapid urbani za tion and strong
needs for pollution aba tement measures, but
also ta ckle water and land pollution.
iii. In pa rti cula r, the progra m will focus on ai r
quality management in fi ve ma jor urban areas
in India , China , Egypt, Nigeria and South Afri ca .

6. Djokovic wins Monte Carlo Masters

i . The top-ranked Serb won the fi rs t big cla ycourt tournament of the season wi th a 75, 4
6, 63 win over Tomas Berdych in the final of
the Monte Ca rlo Mas ters.
ii . Djokovi c broke a gain for a 40 lead, but the
eight-ti me Gra nd Slam cha mpion failed to hold
his serve i n the next game.
iii. Djokovi c, became the fi rst pla yer i n tennis
his tory to win the fi rst three Mas ters
tournament of the yea r a fter completing the
Indian Wells-Miami sweep this spri ng.

Daily GK Update - 24th April 2015

1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
redefined priority sector loan norms
i. RBI has modulated PSL norms whi ch s tipula te
tha t banks opera ting in India mus t offer 40% of
all loans to fa rmers , small entrepreneurs and socalled weaker sections of society.
ii. The old norms had s tipulated tha t 13.5% of
agri cul ture loans should be gi ven to the farmers
di rectl y as crop loans and the rest, 4.5%, could
be i ndi rect loans to the fa rm sector, to allied
industries such as food processing and fertilizer.
Now, RBI has abolished the dis tinction between
di rect and indi rect loans .

iii. RBI has introduced a sub-ta rget within the

18% sha re of agri culture. Banks mus t gi ve 8%
loans to small and marginal fa rmers .
iv. Social infrastructure, s uch as s chool and
heal thca re fa cili ties in s maller towns , and
renewable energy ha ve been included i n the
basket of priori ty loans .
2. Indian-American Vivek Murthy takes over as
US
Surgeon-General
i. 37-yea r-old Indian-Ameri can Vi vek Murthy
was sworn-in as the US Surgeon General by Vi ce
President Joe Bi den a t a ceremony, becoming
the younges t-ever in-cha rge of the country's
publi c health. Murthy, who took the oa th on the
Gi ta , is now the hi ghes t ranking Indian Ameri can in the US President Ba ra ck Obama
Administra tion.

ii. He succeeded Boris D. Lushniak who had

served as Surgeon General from 2013 to
December
2014.
iii. The Surgeon General of the Uni ted Sta tes is
the opera tional head of the U.S. Publi c Heal th
Servi ce Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) a nd thus
the leading spokesperson on matters of publi c
heal th in the federal government of the Uni ted
Sta tes .
iv. The U.S. Surgeon General is nomi nated by
the President of the Uni ted Sta tes and
confi rmed by a majori ty vote of the Sena te. The
Surgeon General serves a four-yea r term of
office.
3. India among unhappiest countries in the
world
i. People from countries as di verse as Bhutan
and Pa kistan a re much happier than Indians ,
a ccording to the Worl d Happiness Report 2015.
ii. India is one of the unhappiest countries in
the world. It ranks 117 out of the 158 countries
surveyed for the report.
iii. In the South Asian region, the country fa res
better than Nepal (121s t ra nk), Myanma r
(129th), Sri Lanka (132nd) and Afghanis tan
(153rd).
iv. The top country in the list is Swi tzerland wi th
a s core of 7.587; India is a t 4.565.

Minis ter in cha rge of Finance or Ta xa tion or any

other, nomina ted by ea ch Sta te government.
5. Rajya Sabha clears bill to protect rights of
transgenders
i. The Rajya Sabha , unanimousl y handed a
personal members bill to prote ct the ri ghts of
the group.
ii. The personal member bill supplies for the
formula tion and i mplementa tion of a complete
na tional coverage to gua rantee general
improvement and wel fa re of tra nsgenders by
the State.
iii. There a re 58 clauses and 10 chapters in the
Bill depi cting different aspects of transgenders
life from childhood to olda ge, so tha t they a re
supported and integra ted in the society.
iv. A Na tional Trans gender Welfa re Commission
and a special trans gender court will also be set
up.
6. 24 April: National Panchayati Raj Day
i. Na tional Pa ncha ya ti Ra j Da y was observed
a cross India on 24 April 2015. The da y is
observed to ma rk the passing of the
Cons ti tution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 tha t
came into force wi th effect from 24 April 1993.

4. GST moved in Lok Sabha

i. The long-pending Goods and Servi ces Ta x

(GST) Bill was moved in the Lok Sa bha for
consideration amid s ti ff resistance by several
Opposition pa rties.
ii. The Bill seeks to es tablish a GST Council
tasked wi th opti mising ta x collection for goods
and servi ces by the State and Centre.
iii. The Council will consist of the Union Finance
Minis ter (as Chai rman), the Union Minis ter of
Sta te i n cha rge of revenue or Finance, and the

ii. The Amendment ins ti tutionalized Pancha ya ti

Ra j through the Village, Intermedia te and
Dis tri ct levels Pancha ya ts. This regis ters a
defining moment in the his tory of
decentraliza tion of poli ti cal power to the
grassroots
level .
iii. On the da y, the bes t performi ng Gra m
Pancha ya ts and Gram Sabhas were honoured
wi th Pancha ya t Sashaktika ran Awa rd 2015 a nd
Rashtri ya Gaura v Gra m Sabha Award 2015.

Daily GK Update - 25th April 2015

1. 7.9-earthquake leaves Nepal devastated
i. A massi ve 7.9-magni tude ea rthquake s truck
east of Pokha ra in Nepal on Sa turda y, ca using
wi despread dama ge to buildings i n the ca pital
Ka thmandu and killing more than 100 people in
the country.
ii. The US Geologi cal Survey (USGS) initiall y said
the temblor measured a t 7.7 but la ter upgra ded
i t to 7.9-magni tude. It said the qua ke hi t a t
11:56 a m local time (0611 GMT) a t a shallow
depth of 15 km.

iii. The quake was followed by a t leas t four

afters hocks ranging in magnitude from 6.6 to
4.8.
iv. It was the wors t quake in the Hi malayan
na tion in over 80 yea rs , the worlds s tronges t
ea rthquakes since 1900
v. Tremors were also fel t in north and eas t
India. The tremors were fel t in mos t cities ,
including Delhi, Guwaha ti, Pa tna, Ranchi ,
Kol ka ta and Jaipur.
2. Delhi govt to launch Labour Development
Mission on May 1
i. The Delhi government toda y a nnounced tha t
i t will launch 'Labour Development Mission' on
Ma y 1, aimed a t ensuring pa yment of noti fied
mi nimum ra tes of wages to all contra ctual
workers in the na tional capi tal.
ii. "The Delhi government is in the process of
ca rryi ng out a review on the issue of contra ctual
employees to finalise a poli cy framework," Delhi
Labour Minister Gopal Rai said during a publi c
hea ring wi th contra ctual workers a t Shah
Auditorium.
iii. Rai also directed all employers , i ncluding
contra ctors , to upload the details of thei r
employees such as category, na ture of work,
bank a ccount numbers , pa yment details etc on
thei r websites .
iv. To ensure pa yment of notified minimum
wa ges to workers a nd bring transpa rency in the
s ys tem, the employers were also di rected to pa y
wa ges to workers by ECS/Cheque.

i. India has deli vered three mili ta ry choppers to

Kabul weeks ahead of the fi rs t visi t by
Afghanistan President Ashra f Ghani to New
Delhi since ta king over cha rge.
ii. Minis ter of Sta te for Defence Rao Inderji t
Si ngh informed the Pa rliament that India has
al ready dispa tched the three una rmed
heli copters to Kabul .
iii. The choppers are sui ted for opera tions from
hi gh alti tude regions as well as a reas wi th
di ffi cult terrai n and unprepa red landing a reas,
for whi ch Afghan pilots and techni cians ha ve
been trained.
4. Bank of India, New India and Star Union tie
up for Social Security Scheme
i. Bank of India has pa rtnered with insurance
companies New India Assurance Co and Sta r
Union Dai -ichi Li fe Insurance to roll out the
governments social securi ty insura nce s chemes .
ii. The New India Assurance and Sta r Union Daii chi Life Insurance Company will issue a group
policy to the bank and the policy would s ta rt on
June 1, 2015 for one year. Enrol ment is likel y to
s ta rt from Ma y 1,

iii. An a ccounthol der has to gi ve a uto -debi t

request form to the bank and will get
a cknowledgement- cum-certifi ca te by the bank
immedia tel y. The claim reques t will be
forwa rded through the respecti ve bank bra nch
for settlement of claim.
5. World Malaria Day observed
i. World Mala ria Da y (WMD) was observed on
25 April 2015. The theme for the 2013-2015
campaign is Inves t in the Future. Defea t Malaria .

ii. The da y is observed to recognise the global

efforts to control malaria . It is an occasion to
hi ghlight the need for continued inves tment and
sus tained politi cal commitment for malaria
control and elimina tion
iii. World Malaria Da y was i nsti tuted by World
Heal th Organi za tion (WHO) Member Sta tes
during the 2007 Worl d Health Assembl y.
iv. WMD is one of eight offi cial global publi c
heal th campaigns currentl y ma rked by the
World Heal th Organi zati on (WHO), along wi th
World Health Da y, World Blood Donor Da y,
World Immuni zati on Week, Worl d Tuberculosis
Da y, Worl d No Toba cco Da y, World Hepa titis
Da y and Worl d AIDS Da y.
6. Japan set to host continental champions in
2015 and 2016
i. FIFA confirmed tha t Japan will hos t the 2015
and 2016 edi tions of the FIFA Club Worl d Cup,
the tournament tha t has been held a nnuall y
since 2005 a mong the champions of ea ch
member confedera tion.

ii. Ja pan has hos ted si x of the las t 10 events ,

wi th the United Ara b Emi ra tes hosti ng in 200910 and Morocco hos ting 2013-14.
iii. Bra zil hos ted the fi rst editi on of the
tournament, pla yed under a di fferent forma t,
ba ck in 2000.
7. Paula Radcliffe to receive London Marathon
Lifetime Achievement Award
i. World record holder Paula Radcliffe will
recei ve the inaugural John Disley London
Ma ra thon Li fetime Achievement Awa rd a fter
she completes the 2015 London Ma ra thon.
ii. The three-ti me winner will run what is
expected to be her final competi ti ve ra ce a t the
35th London Ma ra thon.
iii. Radcli ffe will be presented wi th the trophy
by John Disley, who co-founded the event wi th
Chris Brasher in 1981.

3. India delivers 3 Cheetal helicopters to

Afghanistan

Daily GK Update - 26th April 2015

1. Marathi novelist Bhalchandra Nemade bags
50th Jnanpith Award
i . Modi awa rded the 50th Jnanpi th Awa rd to
eminent Ma ra thi littera teur Bhalchandra
Nemade whose several books , includi ng Kosala
and Hindu, ha ve influenced Indian wri ting.
ii . He was presented a wa rd comprising of 11
lakh rupees and a ci ta tion plaque and a bronze
repli ca of Sa raswa ti by Prime Minister Na rendra
Modi .

gl obalisation, asserting the value of a wri ter's

na ti ve heri ta ge, and langua ge.
i v. Seventy-si x-yea r-old Nemade hails from
Jalgaon.

iii. Nemade's contributi on res ts in ini tiating

Deshi va d, a theory of nati vis m that nega ted

2. Bank of Baroda ties up with UAE Exchange

for instant money transfer
i . Bank of Ba roda , a leading Indian public sector
bank, has tied up wi th UAE Exchange to offer an
ins tant cash trans fer fa cility to NRI cus tomers .

ii . UAE Exchange, a global remi ttance and

forei gn exchange company, serves over 7.9
million cus tomers worldwide and currentl y has
over 750 branches a cross 32 countries .

iii. Following the a greement, customers can

send money to thei r desi red bank a ccounts in
Ba nk of Ba roda in India , wi thin minutes .
i v. Bank of Ba roda has a network of more than
5,000 bra nches a cross Europe, US, Afri ca , Asia
and Aus tralia a nd in fi nancial centres like New
York, London, Dubai, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
3. Another strong tremor hits Nepal

i . A powerful tremor measuring 6.7 magnitude

s truck Nepal a gain, a ccording to US Geological
Survey (USGS).
ii . The government has al ready decla red
emergency in affected a reas and announced a
relief pa ckage of Rs .500 million.
iii. Tremors were also fel t in Utta r Pradesh,
Odisha , Wes t Bengal , Assam and Jha rkhand.
4. FIU detects over Rs. 7,800 cr black money
i . Government detected a whopping over Rs
7,800 crore of illegal monies within the country

and abroad during 2013-14 as the eli te Fi nancial

Intelligence Uni t (FIU) found all-time hi gh cases
of suspi cious tra nsactions in the countrys
economic channels.
ii . The a gency also recei ved a total of 87,79,082
Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs ), 3,01,804
Counterfei t Currency Reports (CCRs ) and 80,616
Non-Profi t Organisa tion Tra nsaction Reports
(NTRs).
iii. CTR is fund movement of the value of more
than Rs. 10 lakh in one tranche or a series of
transa ctions internall y connected to ea ch other
in ei ther Indian currency or forei gn in the
countrys banking or any other channel .
i v. A CCR pertains to an i ns tance of usage of
fa ke currency i n any ba nk by an enti ty while
NTRs pertain to filing of dossiers by Non Governmental and non-profi t organisations wi th
rega rd to thei r economi c opera tions .
5. Anil Kapoor conferred with Master
Deenanath Mangeshkar Award 2015
i . Boll ywood a ctor Anil Kapoor conferred wi th
pres ti gious Mas ter Deenana th Mangeshka r
Awa rd 2015.

Dilip Pra bha valka r was also bes towed wi th the

pres ti gious Mas ter Deenana th Mangeshka r
Awa rd 2015.
iii. Mas ter Dinanath Mangeshka r Awa rd was
ins ti tuted in 1999 in memory of Dinana th
Mangeshka r, father of La ta Mangeshka r.
6. Ratan Tata picks up stake in Xiaomi

i . Iconi c business leader Ra tan Ta ta has a cqui red

a sta ke in Chinese handset maker Xiaomi , the
fi rs t investment by any Indian in the
sma rtphone maker.
ii . Mr. Ta ta, who reti red as head of over $100
billion conglomera te i n December 2012 a nd
currentl y serves as chai rman emeri tus of Ta ta
Sons , has emerged as a ma jor venture ca pital
inves tor since his reti rement.
iii. He has al ready made personal investments in
homegrown e -commerce pla yers like Snapdeal ,
Urban Ladder, Blues tone and Ca rdekho.com.
i v. In December last yea r, Xiaomi raised $1.1
billion, valuing the firm a t $45 billion. Often
touted as the Apple of China , the company has
grown to become a major competi tion to global
giants like Samsung and Apple.

ii . He was presented the awa rd by noted

his torian and wri ter Ba basaheb Pura nda re.
Apa rt from Anil Ka poor, vetera n Ma ra thi a ctor

Daily GK Update - 27th April 2015

1. Government to amend Child Labour
Prohibition Act
i . The government plans to push through an
amendment to the Child La bour Prohibi tion Act
in the current session of Pa rliament, whi ch will
allow children below the a ge of 14 to work in
select famil y enterprises i f i t doesn't hamper
thei r education.
ii . The bill will retain the proposal of a complete
ban on child labour i n any organisati on, big or
small .

iii. Children between 14 a nd 18 years will not be

allowed to work in ha za rdous industries .
According to the labour minis try offi cial, this
provision is in conformi ty wi th the ILO
conventi on
i v. India has seen a sha rp drop in the number of
child labourers in the last decade, down to 4.3
million from 12.6 million.
2. Capgemini acquires iGATE for $4 billion
i . Ca pgemini and iGATE ha ve entered into a
defini ti ve merger a greement under whi ch
Capgemini will a cqui re i GATE for a cash
consideration of $48 per sha re.
ii . the transaction will a mount to $4 billion and
is expected to be immedia tel y accreti ve to

Capgeminis normalized Ea rnings Per Sha re

(EPS)1.

iii. i GATE is US-lis ted IT servi ces company

headqua rtered in New Jersey.
i v. This transa ction would lead to a group wi th
an es tima ted combined revenue of 12.5 billion
in 2015, an opera ting ma rgi n above 10 per cent
and a round 190,000 employees.
3. CJI refuses participation to choose NJAC
i . Chief Jus ti ce of India H L Da ttu has refused to
pa rti cipa te in a three -member panel for
selecti ng two eminent persons in the sixmember Na tional Judi cial Appointments
Commission (NJAC).

ii . The fi ve-judge consti tuti on bench, headed by

Jus ti ce J S Kheha r, whi ch is heari ng the issue of
consti tutional validi ty of the new law on
appointment of judges to higher judicia ry, was
told by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi tha t
Da ttu has wri tten to Pri me Minister Na rendra
Modi that he would not pa rticipa te in the
meeting of the panel till the ma tter is decided
by the a pex court.

iii. The three -member panel comprises Chief

Jus ti ce of India, Prime Mi nister a nd the Leader
of Opposi tion, who a re authorised to select a nd
appoint two eminent persons in the si x-member
NJAC for appointment of judges to higher
judi cia ry.
4. All MAT tax claims under DTAA to be settled
in a month
i . Central Boa rd of Di rect Ta xes will settle all
mi nimum alterna te ta x (MAT) ma tters of FIIs
coming under the a mbi t of Double Ta xa tion
Avoi dance Agreements within a month of filing
of claims.

ii . The move is aimed a t qui ckl y resol ving the

controversial ta x issue fa cing forei gn portfolio
inves tors.
iii. The Income Ta x Depa rtment has sent noti ces
in 68 cases to FIIs for pa yment of dues totalling
Rs 602.83 crore towards Mini mum Al ternate Ta x
(MAT).
i v. Central Boa rd of Di rect Ta xes said several
FIIs, whi ch ha ve recei ved income from
transa ctions in securi ties, claim such i ncome as
exempt from ta x under the DTAAs signed
between India and thei r countries of residence.
5. Bharatiya Mahila Bank Wins The Asian
Banker Achievement Award 2015

i . Bha ra ti ya Mahila Bank (BMB) has won The

Asian Banker Achievement Awa rd 2015.
ii . The awa rd was presented to the BMB in the
Technology Implementati on ca tegory of Bes t
Outsourcing Project (New Bank).
iii. Usha Ananthasubra manian, Chai rman and
Mana ging Di rector of BMB recei ved the a wa rd
a t a function held in Hongkong as a pa rt of The
Asian Banker Summi t 2015.

i v. BMB is India s fi rs t all-women publi c sector

bank and was formall y launched on November
19, 2013. It's obje cti ve is to focus on the
banking needs of the women and promote
economic empowerment.
6. DIPP notifies 49 per cent FDI in pension
sector

i . The government has raised the limi t of forei gn

di rect i nves tment in pension sector to 49 per
cent in line wi th the FDI cap in the insurance
sector.
ii . In purs uance of the enactment of Insurance
Regula tory & Development Authori ty Act, i v.
2013, government has decided to permit FDI in
the pension sector.
iii. The FDI ca p in the sector has been hiked to
49 per cent a nd that i ncludes forei gn
inves tment in the forms of FPI, FII, QFI, FVCI,
NRI and DR.
i v. All inves tments i n the pension sector,
however, will ha ve to abide by the pension
sector regula tor PFRDA.

7. BCCI to nominate Rohit Sharma for Arjuna

award
i . The Boa rd of Control for Cri cket in India (BCCI)
has nomina ted Rohi t Sha rma for the Arjuna
awa rd for 2015. Rohit has had an excellent last
yea r for India in interna tional cri cket.
ii . Si nce Janua ry 1, 2014, he has a vera ged 55.05
from 21 i nnings with 3 centuries and 5 fifties ,
wi th the epi c 264 his highest s core.
iii. The decision to nomina te Rohi t was taken in
the BCCI working committee meeting in Kol kata .

Mergers of Banks - Soon to be a reality

While India claims to ha ve es caped the global
fi nancial crisis, PSBs are in a mess toda y because
they were bi g lenders to many mega-s cams ters
of the UPA regime and shaky i nfras tructure
projects (telecom, coal, power, real ty and SEZ).
The finance minis try is looking a t the
possibility of merging a t least fi ve s tate -run

GYAN SANGAM

P.J.Nayak committee - RBI ha d appointed a

committee under former Axis Bank
chai rman PJ Na ya k for improving
governance in the sector. The panel had
recommended the government gi ve up i ts
control over these banks and reduce s take
in these to less than 51 per cent.

banks - from Andhra Bank, Bank of

Maha rashtra , Dena Bank, Punjab & Si nd
Ba nk, Vija ya Bank, and Uni ted Bank of India
- wi th la rger PSUs a fter their performance
and bad asset levels i mprove.

Besides Basel, domes ti c banks need to

merge or organi call y grow into la rger
enti ties in the long term before the
fi nancial ma rket is opened up to forei gn
banks .
US a nd European countries ha ve long been
demanding greater a ccess to the Indian
fi nancial ma rket in return for concessions
in the servi ces sector.

The move has been recommended by the

Working Group on Consolidati on and
Res tructuring of PSBs (public sector banks).
Offi cials said smaller banks would be
merged wi th larger banks, whi ch needed a
presence i n regions where the smaller
banks were strong.

Loss-making PSU banks ha ve been simila rl y

merged wi th the profi table ones to crea te
la rger enti ties .To nudge the banks , the
government has already decided tha t onl y
profi table banks with a good performance
record will be reca pitalised.
A provision of Rs 9,555 crore has been
ma de this fis cal for the recapi talisation of
PSU banks , including the Na tional Bank for
Agri cul ture a nd Rural Development, the

Export-Import Bank of India, India

Infras tructure Fina nce Company and Small
Indus tries Development Bank of India.
Las t yea r, a provision of Rs 11,200 crore
had been made for recapi talisation, but a
mere Rs 6,990 crore was infused i nto
banks , including the SBI, Bank of Ba roda ,
Punjab Na tional Bank, Cana ra Bank and
Syndica te Bank.
For reading more of Basel - III CLICK HERE

The smaller unlisted subsidia ries a re almos t

100 per cent owned by the SBI and
merging them should not pose any major
problem as thei r functi oning is similar to
tha t of the pa rent.
The move, officials said, will crea te a la rger
SBI, gi ving the country's la rges t bank much
more fi nancial muscle.

banks to help them exi t businesses where

they were not s trong or were unprofi table.
Subsequentl y, these banks would be asked
to concentra te on pa rti cular segments .
Ea rlier, the government had merged the
Sta te Bank of Hyderabad wi th the Sta te
Ba nk of India . There was also a move to
merge some of the other SBI subsidiaries
wi th the Sta te Bank of Pa tiala seen to be
next in the queue.

Case of SBI

Disadvantages of the mergers -

The merger and consolida tion of la rge PSBs, i f i t

ever happens , will further reduce the number of
banks i n the country and kill competi tion. This is
bad for the consumer, because banks will
opera te even more like a ca rtel in tha t situati on.
We also need to mobilise publi c opinion on the
ci rcums tances in whi ch ha vi ng big banks ,
capable of fundi ng la rge i nfras tructure projects ,
is in Indias i nterest.
The bi g lea rning from the global financial crisis is
tha t banks tha t a re too bi g to fail a re bailed out
by the exchequer and the enti re country pa ys
the pri ce.
References The Telegraph

SBI has fi ve associa te banks, namel y Sta te

Ba nk of Bikaner and Jaipur, Sta te Bank of
Hyderabad, Sta te Bank of Pa tiala, Sta te
Ba nk of Tra va ncore, besides Sta te Bank of
Mys ore
SBI is wai ting for all associate banks to turn
in better resul ts in the next financial yea r.
So, we would like them to s tabilise and
come out a t a pa rti cula r level .
The government has in the pas t toyed wi th
the idea of merging the associates of the
Sta te Bank of India wi th i t or creating an
"SBI-2" by merging some of these
associates . Some associa tes such as the
Sta te Bank of Indore were merged with the
SBI in the past.

The dri ve to crea te larger Indian banks

s tems from the need to compl y wi th new
Basel norms tha t would ki ck off by 2019
and crea te large enti ties capable of taking
on competi tion from forei gn banks wi th
the opening up of the domes tic fi nancial
sector.
Ba nks will need to raise almost Rs 4.5 lakh
crore in Tier-1 capi tal , including Rs 2.4 la kh
crore in equi ty capi tal, by Ma rch 2019
under the Basel III norms .
Offi cials said a t present the focus would be
on assessing the loan portfolios of small

BASEL - III - It's aftermath and effects

Hello Readers,
Many of you had some doubts in BASEL - III and
asked me to provi de you guys the requi red pos t.
So, here we a re providing you the same. Hope
you like the pos t!!
What are the Basel-III norms?
These are rules wri tten by the Bank of
Interna tional Settlement's Commi ttee on
Ba nking Supervision (BCBS) whose manda te is
to define the reform a genda for the gl obal
banking communi ty as a whole. The new rule
pres cribes how to assess risks , and how much
capi tal to set aside for banks in keeping wi th
thei r risk profile.

What are the changes which have been made

to the way in which capital is defined?

Going by the new rules, the predominant

component of capi tal is common equity and
retained ea rnings . The new rules restri ct
inclusion of items such as deferred ta x assets ,
mortgage-servi cing ri ghts and inves tments in
fi nancial ins titutions to no more than 15% of the
common equity component. These rules aim to
improve the quanti ty and quality of the capi tal.
What do these new rules say?
While the key capi tal ra tio has been raised to
7% of risky assets , a ccording to the new norms ,
Tier-I capi tal that includes common equity a nd
perpetual preferred stock will be raised from 24.5% s ta rted in phases from Janua ry 2013 to be
completed by Janua ry 2015. In addi tion, ba nks
will ha ve to set aside another 2.5% as a
contingency for future s tress. Banks tha t fail to
meet the buffer would be unable to pa y
di vi dends , though they will not be forced to
raise cash.
How different is the approach now?

The new norms a re based on renewed focus of

central bankers on ma cro-prudential stabili ty.
The gl obal financial crisis following the crisis in
the US sub-pri me ma rket has prompted this
change in approa ch. The previous set of
guidelines, popula rl y known as Basel II focused
on ma cro-prudential regula tion. In other words ,
gl obal regula tors a re now focusing on financial
s tability of the s ys tem as a whole ra ther than
mi cro regulation of any indi vidual bank.
How will these norms impact Indian banks?
Indian banks a re not likel y to be impa cted by
the new capi tal rules . The a ggrega te capital to
risk-wei ghted assets ra tio of the Indian banking
s ys tem s tood at 13.4%, of whi ch Tier-I capi tal
consti tuted 9.3%. As such, RBI does not expect
our banking s ys tem to be signi fi cantl y stretched
in meeting the proposed new capital rules , both
in terms of the overall capital requi rement and
the quality of capi tal. There ma y be some
nega ti ve impa ct a rising from shi fting some
deductions from Tier-I a nd Tier-II capital to

common equity.
Daily GK Update - 28th April 2015

1. Maharashtra collaborates with Israel on

Smart Cities
i . In a key stri de i n collabora tion between the
Sta te and Israel , Maha rashtra Chief Minis ter
Devendra Fadna vis and Tel Avi v Ma yor Ron
Huldai a greed to coopera te in building sma rt
ci ties.
ii . Ma ha rashtra has decided to crea te
sus tainable and friendl y urban spa ces tha t
integra te the use of technology, social media ,
communi ty pa rtici pation and e -governa nce to
build s ma rt ci ties of Maha rashtra like Nagpur,
Mumbai , Amra va ti , Aurangabad and Nashik to a
gl obal s tanda rd.

iii. Mr. Fa dna vis will attend an exhibi tion on

agri cul tural technology, Agri tech Is rael 2015,
a nd explore a reas of co-opera ti on including in
emergency
prepa rati ons
and
crises
ma nagement technologies .
i v. Agri tech Is rael 2015 is one of the worl d's
mos t i mporta nt exhibi tions in the field of
agri cul tural technologies.

2. Haryana announces Rs 1,092 crore farmer

compensation
i . Ha rya na Chief Mi nister Ma noha r Lal Kha tta r
announced compensati on of Rs 1,092 crore to
fa rmers a ffected by inclement weather
condi tions , to be disbursed by Ma y 15.

ii . Of the total a mount, Rs 720 crore will be

provided by the Centre while res t will be
provided by the sta te government.
iii. 3.17 lakh acres was hi t wi th crop loss
between 76 to 100 per cent, 1.92 lakh a cres
wi th crop loss between 51 to 75 per cent and
8.24 lakh a cres between 25 and 50 per cent.
3. Chennai-born Raja Rajeswari is New Yorks
first Indian-American woman judge
i . Chennai-born Ra ja Rajeswa ri has been swornin as a cri minal court judge in New York by
Ma yor Bill de Blasio.
ii . She beca me the fi rs t India-born woman to be
appointed a judge in New York Ci ty.

in Bronx County, and Anil C. Singh of New York

County Supreme Court, 1s t Distri ct.
4. TMC emerges clear winner in Bengal civic
polls
i . The Trina mool Congress (TMC) party retained
control of the Kolka ta Muni cipal Corpora tion
(KMC) apa rt from emerging the winner in 73
other muni cipal bodies in Wes t Bengal .
ii . The TMC extended i ts tall y in KMC from 93
seats in 2010 to 115 this yea r, out of a total of
144 seats .
iii. The BJP mana ged to secure onl y seven seats ,
trailing the Left Front, whi ch claimed twi ce as
ma ny.
5. 5.5 Magnitude Earthquake Jolts Pakistan's
Northwest
i . Pakis tan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provi nce was
hi t by a 5.5 magni tude ea rthquake, with the
epi center close to the border with Ta jikista n.

iii. Ms . Rajes wa ri, 43, who had migra ted to the

U.S. from Chennai as a teena ger, previ ousl y
worked wi th the Ri chmond County Dis tri ct
Attorneys Offi ce for her enti re ca reer in several
bureaus includi ng Cri minal Court, Na rcoti cs ,
Supreme Court, a nd the Sex Cri mes Special
Vi ctims Burea u, where she last served as Deputy
Chief.
i v. Currentl y, there a re two male judges of
Indian des cent i n ci vil court settings Ja ya
Madha van on the New York Ci ty Housing Court

ii . Tremors were also felt i n other regions such

as Malakand and Swa t, leading to fears a mong
locals as i t comes da ys a fter the devasta ting
Nepal ea rthquake, tha t has killed over 4000.

iii. The depth of the ea rthquake was 144

kilometres , a ccording to the meteorological
depa rtment.
6. Corporation Bank, New India Assurance
Company signs MoU on PMSBY
i . Corpora tion Bank a nd New India Assurance
Company Ltd signed a memorandum of
unders tanding (MoU) for i mplementi ng Pra dhan
Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana [PMSBY], central
government`s s cheme to provide security
agains t personal a ccidental risk and permanent
or partial disability.
ii . Under PMSBY, Bank`s Aadha r-linked SB
a ccount holders will be eli gible for covera ge
agains t
personal
a ccidental
risk,
permanent/pa rtial physi cal disability up to Rs 2
lakh. One has to pa y a nominal premium of Rs
12 plus servi ce ta x.

iii. New India Assurance Company Ltd will issue

a mas ter poli cy under group insura nce s cheme,
whi ch is volunta ry for the cus tomers .
i v. The social securi ty s cheme is meant for all
Aadha r linked SB a ccount holders who a re not
covered under any other s ocial securi ty s cheme,
whose a ge is in between 18 to 70 yea rs can
enroll in to the s cheme by pa yi ng a premium
amount, a bank communique here s ta tes .

Daily GK Update - 29th April 2015

1. Cabinet clears anti corruption law
i . Bringing corruption into the heinous cri me
ca tegory, the Union Ca binet on Wednesda y
approved offi cial a mendments to an anti -gra ft
legislation enhancing the penalty under i t to a
ma xi mum of seven yea rs imprisonment from
the present fi ve yea rs .
ii . The proposed amendments to the Prevention
of Corruption Act, 1988 provides for more
s tringent punishment for the offences of
bri bery--both for the bribe gi ver and the bribe
taker.

ii . The Cabinet has approved the Sma rt Ci ties

Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvena tion
and Urban Trans forma tion of 500 cities
(AMRUT) wi th outla ys of Rs .48,000 crore and
Rs .50,000 crore respecti vel y.
iii. Under the Sma rt Ci ties Mission, ea ch
selected ci ty would get central assistance of
Rs .100 crore per yea r for fi ve years . Sma rt Ci ty
aspi rants will be selected through a Ci ty
Challenge Competi tion'.
i v. Sma rt Ci ty Action Plans will be i mplemented
by Special Purpose Vehi cles(SPV) to be crea ted
for ea ch ci ty and s ta te governments will ensure
s teady s tream of resources for SPVs .
3. Rs 1,000 minimum pension under EPS to
continue

iii. The offi cial a mendments propose to confer

the powers of a tta chment upon the trial Court
(Special Judge) ins tead of the Distri ct Court.
i v. The proposed amendments would fill in
percei ved gaps in the domes tic anti -corruption
law and also help in meeting the country's
obliga tions under the Uni ted Nati ons
Convention Agains t Corrupti on (UNCAC).
2. Union Cabinet approves Atal Mission for
Rejuvenation
i . The Union Cabinet chai red by Pri me Minis ter
Shri Na rendra Modi toda y a pproved Central
Government spending of about one lakh crore
on urban development under two new urban
missions over the next fi ve yea rs .

i . The Ca binet approved the continua tion of Rs

1,000 minimum monthl y pension for pensioners
under the Employees' Pension Scheme beyond
the financial yea r 2014-15.
ii . The decision to continue wi th the pension on
perpetual basis was taken at a meeting of the
Cabi net chai red by Pri me Minister Na rendra
Modi .
iii. The Cabinet also approved corresponding
grant of continuous annual budgeta ry s upport
for i mplementing the minimum pension, whi ch
will be to the tune of Rs 850 crore per yea r on a
tapering basis.
4. Flipkart acquires Appiterate

i . Online ma rketpla ce Flipka rt has a cqui red

Delhi -based mobile engagement and ma rketing
automa tion company Appi tera te.
ii . Appi tera te s ta rted as an A/B tes ting product
for na ti ve mobile apps later on expanded into a
full-fledged mobile ma rketing automa tion
pla tform.
iii. Post the a cquisition, Appi tera te's mobile
ma rketing automa tion pla tform will be
integra ted into Flipka rts mobile app.
5. World Women Chess: Harika wins silver,
bronze for Humpy
i . D Ha ri ka and Koneru Humpy ca me up wi th
fi ne indi vidual performa nces to win sil ver and a
bronze respecti vel y.
ii . Indian eves finished fourth i n the womens
world team chess champi onship.

iii. China was beaten in the final round by

Georgia, who finished the event wi th an
impressive 17 poi nts to clinch the gold medal .
Georgia drew just one and won the remaining
eight ma tches in this round-robin contes t.

6. Delhi government gives nod to farmer

scheme named after Gajender Singh

i . The Delhi government toda y ga ve approval for

the setting up of a fa rmer compensa tion
s cheme to be named a fter Ga jender Singh, who
allegedl y committed sui cide during an AAP rall y
on April 22.
ii . The government has also decided to gi ve job
to a member of Gajendra's famil y and ma rtyr

s tatus for hi m, as demanded by the fa rmer's

ki n.
iii. The decisions were ta ken during a Cabinet
meeting toda y, chai red by Chief Minis ter Arvi nd
Kejri wal.
i v. Si ngh, a 41-yea r-old fa rmer from Ra jas than,
allegedl y commi tted sui cide by hangi ng hi mself
from a tree duri ng a n AAP rally agains t the land
ordinance.

ii . The powerful version of the cryogenic engine

was s uccessfull y ground tes ted a t the Li quid
Propulsion Sys tems Centre (LPSC).
iii. The tes t was conducted for 635 seconds a nd
i t was successful , Vikra m Sa rabhai Spa ce Centre
sources in Thi ruva nanthapura m.
i v. India has till now been dependent on forei gn
launch vehi cles to send hea vier satellites to the
requi red orbits .

7. ISRO successfully tests indigenous cryogenic

engine with four-tonne capacity
i . An i ndi genous cryogeni c engine, tha t will help
India put satelli tes of upto four tonnes in
geos tati ona ry orbi t, was tes ted s uccessfull y a t
ISRO's propulsion complex at Mahendra giri in
Ti runel veli dis tri ct, Tamil Na du.

Daily GK Update - 30th April 2015

1. Govt withdraws PDMA, RBI Bill provisions
from Finance Bill
i . Finance Mi nister Arun Jai tley withdrew the
clauses from the Finance Bill pertaining to
setting up of the proposed Public Debt
Mana gement Agency (PDMA) a nd the
amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act.

ii . The government in consul ta tion wi th the RBI

will prepa re a detailed roadmap sepa ra ting the
debt management functi on and the market
infrastructure from the RBI.
iii. The enti re chapter on PDMA (Chapter VII) in
the Fi nance Bill is being dropped, in addi tion to
the changes proposed in sections 45U and 45W
of the RBI Act.
i v. Ha ving an independent debt management
office is also the bes t interna tional pra cti ce in
countries like US a nd UK nei ther public debt is
ma naged by central bank nor is regulation of
GSec, Currency a nd Deri va ti ve wi th the central
bank.
2. India and Japan sign action plan for
investment and trade prom otion
i . India and Japan on Thursda y signed an a ction
agenda for boos ting i nves tment and tra de.

ii . Commerce Mi nister Ni rmala Si tha raman a nd

Japanese Minis ter of Economy, Trade a nd
Indus try Yoichi Mi yaza wa signed the a ction
agenda for India-Japan i nves tment and trade
promotion
a nd
Asia-Pa cifi c
economi c
integra tion.
iii. The five agenda points included in the
action agenda are:
1) Development of selected townships in India
as Japanese i ndus trial townships .

2) Promotion of inves tment and i nfras tructure

development.
3) Further devel opment and coopera tion in
informa tion technology.
4) Enhancing cooperati on in s tra tegic sectors .
5) Asia-Pa ci fi c economi c integra tion.
3. RBI fines 3 banks Rs 4.5cr
i . The Reserve Bank of India on Thursda y
imposed a fine of Rs 1.5 crore ea ch on Dena
Ba nk, Bank of Maha rashtra and Oriental Bank of
Commerce and cautioned eight other publi c
sector banks following i ts investi ga tion into last
yea r's fi xed deposit fraud.
ii . The fi xed deposit fraud invol ved the
perpetra tors forging fi xed deposit certifi ca tes of
la rge organiza tions and misusing cash credi t
fa cili ties agains t them.

iii. The fraud, whi ch ran into several hundred

crores, a ffected organiza tions such as Mumbai
Metropoli tan Regional Devel opment Authority,
South Indian Educa tion Society and Ja waharlal
Nehru Port Trus t.
i v. The banks cautioned by the RBI a re Central
Ba nk of India , Bank of India, Punjab a nd Sind
Ba nk, Punjab Nati onal Bank, Sta te Bank of
Bi kaner & Jaipur, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India
and Vi ja ya Bank.
4. Mamata declares Nadia first 'open
defecation-free' district in India
i . Wes t Bengal Chief Minis ter Mama ta Banerjee
decla red Nadia as the fi rs t Open Defeca tion
Free (ODF) distri ct in the country.
ii . Thanking UNICEF and the World Bank for
helping the dis tri ct a chieve this fea t, Ms .
Ba nerjee decla red April 30 as the Ni rmal
Ba ngla Di was to be observed in the yea rs to
come.
iii. UNICEF India representa ti ve Da vid
Mcloughlin congra tulated the people of the
dis tri ct for a chieving the goal .
5. Parliament Passes Amendment to Regional
Rural
Banks
Bill
i . Ra jya Sabha passed the Regional Rural Banks
(Amendment) Bill , 2014. Wi th this , the bill has

been passed by both houses of the Pa rliament.

It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 18 December
2014.
ii . The Regional Rural Banks (Amendment) Bill,
2014 tha t seeks to amend the Regional Rural
Ba nks (RRB) Act, 1976 was introduced by the
Union Minis ter of Finance, Arun Jai tley.
iii. It seeks to amend the RRB Act, 1976 whi ch
mainl y provides for the incorpora tion,
regula tion and winding up of Regional Rural
Ba nks
(RRBs).
i v. It removes the fi ve yea r li mit cap tha t was
put on the sponsor banks to assist the upcoming
RRBs under the RRB Act, 1976. As per the Act,
sponsor banks were liable to train pers onnel
and provide mana gerial and financial assistance
for the fi rst fi ve yea rs .
6. Pak court jails 10 men for 25 years over 2012
attack on Malala Yousafzai
i . A Pakis tani court jailed 10 men for 25 yea rs
ea ch on Thursda y for invol vement in the 2012
shooting of teenage a cti vis t Malala Yousafzai ,
ta rgeted for her ca mpaign a gainst Taliban
efforts to deny gi rls educa tion.

ii . Malala was seriousl y wounded and airlifted to

Bri tain for trea tment, where she now li ves.
iii. Since then, Malala has become a s ymbol of
defiance in the fight against militants opera ting
in ethni c Pashtun a reas in northwest Pakis tan.
She won the Nobel Pea ce Pri ze in 2014.