Daily GK Update - 1st May 2015

1. Canara Bank ties up with Life Insurance
Corporation
i . Cana ra Bank has entered into a
memora ndum of unders tanding wi th Life
Insura nce Corpora tion of India for offering
the Pradhan Ma ntri Jeevan Jyoti Bi ma Yojana
insurance cover to all i ts eligible cus tomers .
ii . The bank has also pa rtnered wi th the
Uni ted India Insurance Company for offering
the Pradhan Ma ntri Suraksha Bi ma Yojana
insurance cover.
iii. According to the MoU, LIC will offer a life
cover of 2 lakh in case of dea th of the insured
person a t a nominal premium of 330 per
annum.
i v. All sa vings bank a ccount holders i n age
group of 18 to 50 yea rs can a vail themselves
of product.
ii . The Finance Mi nistry is considering easy
ta xa tion form whi ch an assessee can do
things himself and does not ha ve to run to
va rious advisers .
iii. As i t s tands , the new ITR forms , incl uding
the ITR-1 and ITR-2, requi re an assessee to
furnish the number of bank a ccounts held by
the indi vi dual.
4. Reform implementation to determine
rating upgrade
i . India s soverei gn ra ting will depend on
implementa tion of policies by its leaders to
improve the business envi ronment for the
pri va te sector and for i nfras tructure growth
a ccording to ra ting agency Moodys .
6. Dr. Pramod Patil and Dr. Ananda Kumar
won 2015 Whitley Awards for wildlife
conservation
i . Two Indians ha ve been awa rded with the
pres ti gious Whi tley Awa rds for their
contribution to wildlife conserva tion.
ii . Dr Ananda Kumar, a conserva tionist from
India, was a wa rded the pri ze, in honour of
his work using innova ti ve communica tion
s ys tems to enable huma n-elepha nt
coexis tence in southern India.
iii. Another winner of the Whitley Awa rd,
dubbed 'Green Os car' is Dr Pramod Pa til. He
has been awa rded for his work to protect the
i coni c grea t Indian busta rd in the Thar
Desert.

2. BARC India TV viewership rating

i . Broadcas t Audience Resea rch Council
(BARC) India, launched two yea rs a go to
measure and assess TV viewers hip i n India,
has announced i ts fi rs t data for week 16 of
2015.
ii . As per BARC da ta , Sta r Plus was the leading
Hi ndi general entertainment cha nnel (GEC) in
the Hindi-spea king ma rkets (HSM), Zee
emerged as a s trong pla yer in the regional
channels such as Ma ra thi and Telugu, Aa j Tak
was the leader i n Hindi news (HSM) and
Times Now led in the English News ca tegory
(All India ).
iii. BARC India will moni tor 12,000 sample
households using a s tra tified random
sampling technique. This will go up to 20,000
reporting homes.
i v. BARC India was set up as a collabora tion
between advertisers and the TV broadcas ters
to replace TAM (Television Audience
Measurement) media research data .
3. Extremely simplified income tax return
form
i . An extremel y si mplified income ta x
return form will soon replace the
controversial 14-page ITR tha t sought
informa tion like all bank a ccounts and
forei gn trip details.
1. John Kerry's visit to Sri Lanka
i . U.S. Secreta ry of State John Kerry a rri ved in
Sri Lanka to offer support for newl y elected
President Mai thripala Si risena a fter years of
tensions with the former government of
President Ma hinda Ra japaksa over human
ri ghts .
i v. HRH The Pri ncess Royal presented the
awa rds and ea ch of them recei ving a Whitley
pri ze worth 35,000 a t a ceremony in
ii . Moodys , whi ch has gi ven the lowest
London.
inves tment grade ra ting to India , named
regula tory complexity a nd weak social and
7. Seychelles becomes 161st member of
physi cal infras tructure as challenges before
World Trade Organisation
the country.
i . Seychelles, an a rchipelago of 90000
iii. Lower global commodity pri ces support
inhabi tants beca me the 161s t member of the
Indias growth and balance of pa yments, but
World Tra de Organiza tion (WTO). It is one of
i ts banking s ys tem would pose sovereign
the s mallest na tions among the WTO
risks over the medium term i f asset quality
members .
and capi talisation levels do not improve.
ii . This approval by WTO ended Seychelles
20-yea r long wai t to become a member of
5. India extends e-tourist visa scheme to 31
WTO since i t had applied for WTO
more countries
members hip in Ma y 1995.
iii. Seychelles also became the 33rd
government to a ccede to the rules-based
mul tilateral trading s ys tem through Article
XII negotia tions since the WTO was
es tablished in 1995.
i v. It should be noted tha t the Protocol of
Accession was signed by former Seychelles
i . India will provide e-touris t visa to 31 more
Minis ter of Tra de, Finance and Inves tment
countries , i ncluding France and Ca nada,
Pierre Laporte and WTO Di rector General
enabling the ci ti zens of these na tions easy
(DG) Roberto Azevedo.
entry to the country.
ii . The e-touris t visa had been launched in
November las t yea r for 45 countries from
nine designa ted Indian ai rports.
iii. Wi th the la test a ddi tion, the total number
of countries under this s cheme will go up to
76. By the end of current financial year
Government intends to exte nd the s cheme
to 150 countries .
Daily GK Updates - 2nd May 2015
ii . It is the fi rst ti me in a decade tha t a U.S.
secreta ry of s ta te has visi ted Sri Lanka.
iii. Kerry will dis cuss U.S. interest in
expa nding trade and investment wi th Sri
Lanka.
i v. Sri Lanka exports roughl y $2.5 billion in
goods, mostl y textiles, to the Uni ted Sta tes a
yea r. i . The a rmy is set to get an a rtillery boost
wi th a proposal being moved to raise si x new
2. Tata Power, L&T to supply mobile artillery
regiments of the i ndigenous Pina ka Mul ti -
system to the Army

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Launcher Rocket Sys tem (MLRS), a
formidable s ystem designed to annihilate
enemy ta rgets wi th a blanket of precisely
guided rockets .
ii . Ta ta Power and La rsen & Toubro (L&T) will
get a major sha re of the Rs 1,950-crore
contra ct tha t is to be approved by the
defence ministry as they a re the prima ry
ma nufacturers of the mobile a rtillery s ys tem,
along wi th s tate -run Bha ra t Ea rth Movers
(BEML).
iii. From the exis ting capa ci ty of 1,000
rockets a yea r, the government has
sanctioned an increase to 5,000 rockets
annually.
3. CRPF to adopt village in earthquake-hit
Nepal
i . pa ra -mili ta ry force CRPF has deci ded to
adopt a village in the Himala yan country.
ii . The CRPF has decided to adopt Ka ri kat
village nea r Bi rganj in Nepal to provide
people immedia te relief and help i n its
recons truction.
iii. The para -mili ta ry force has set up a
medi cal ca mp for ea rthquake vi cti ms and
was also distri buting dail y need i tems like
ri ce, tea, bis cui t, candle etc.
CNR Rao conferred with Japan's highest
civilian award
i. Eminent s cientist a nd Bha ra t Ratna
awa rdee Chinta mani Na gesa Rama chandra
Ra o was conferred with Japans hi ghest
ci vilian awa rd the Order of the Rising Sun,
Gold and Sil ver Sta r.
ii. He was bestowed wi th this awa rd for his
outstanding contributions to s cience and
Indo-Ja panese s cience coopera tion.
iii. Rao is a Na tional Resea rch Professor,
Linus Pauling Research Professor. He is also
the Honora ry President of Jawaha rlal Nehru
Centre for Advance Scienti fi c Research,
Bengaluru and a former Chai r of the Japan -
India Science Council.
A Book titled China Conf ucius in the
Shadows written by Poonam Surie released
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4. Buenos Aires is worlds bookstore capital
i . The ci ty has more bookstores per capita
than any other ma jor ci ty in the worl d,
a ccording to a recent s tudy by the World
Ci ties Cul tural Forum, an organiza tion that
works to promote cul ture.
ii . Wi th a popula tion of 2.8 million people
wi thin the ci ty limi ts, there are 25 bookstores
for every 100,000 people, putting Buenos
Ai res fa r above other world cities like
London, Pa ris, Madrid, Mos cow and New
York. The closest is Hong Kong, whi ch has 22
books tores per 100,000 people.
5. Goldman Sachs invests in Foodpanda
i . Mobile food deli very app Foodpanda on
Fri da y announced raising of fresh funds to
the tune of $100 million (about Rs. 635 crore)
in a financing round led by Goldma n Sa chs .
ii . Its inves tors incl ude Rocket Internet (52
per cent s take), Phenomen Ventures,
Investment AB Kinnevik and i MENA Holdings.
Acti ve in over 580 ci ties globall y, Foodpanda
has pa rtnered with over 60,000 res taurants.
iii. In India , the company has pa rtnerships
wi th more than 3,000 res taurants , incl uding
bra nds such as Pi zza Hut, Subwa y, Ni rula s,
Daily GK Update - 3rd May 2015
i. A Book titled China Confucius in the
Shadows was released by the Vi ce President
M. Ha mid Ansa ri on 1 Ma y 2015. Confucius
was considered as the mos t efficient a uthor
in Chi nese his tory.
ii. Book has been wri tten by Poonam Surie.
Poona m Surie is an Adjunct Fellow at the
Ins ti tute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi .
iii. The book hi ghlights tha t in the evol ving
socio politi cal milieu of China ; interpreting
Confucian philosophy as being non-
confronta tionis t, benevolent and wi th values
such as filial piety and ha rmony could help
the current politi cal regime deal with such
problems as corruption a nd rising
inequalities.
Four Indians to be conferred with 2015
Spring Imperial Decorations of Japan
i . Four Indians will be conferred wi th the
Spring Imperial Decora tions of Japan whi ch
were announced on 29 April 2015.
Faasos , Baskin Robbi ns and Ammi s Bi rya ni.
6. Nitin Gadkari Dedicates to the Nation
Two Major Highway Projects in the North
East
i . Union Mi nister of Road Transport and
Hi ghwa ys Shri Ni tin Gadka ri toda y dedi cated
to the na tion two major Highwa y projects in
the North Eas t a t a function nea r Shillong.
ii . The projects considerabl y ease the tra vel
from Guwaha ti towa rds Shillong and other
pa rts of the North Eas t. These include
Shillong Bypass and four laning of Joraba t-
Ba ra pani Section of NH-40.
iii. The Shillong Bypass connects NH 40 and
NH 44 (New NH 6) and will deconges t the
tra ffi c in the ci ty of Shillong from trucks and
hea vy vehi cles coming from or moving
towa rds North Eas tern pa rts of Assam and
other sta tes -Mizoram and Tripura.
i v. The 48.76 Km Bypass begins from NH 40
a t Umiam in Ri-Bhoi Distri ct and ends on NH
44 (new NH 6) a t Ma wryngkneng in East
Khasi Hills Distri ct. The bypass was
constructed by NHAI on BOT (Annui ty)
mode.
ii . These Indians a re a mong the 85 foreign
recipients who will recei ve the awa rd a t the
Imperial Palace i n Tokyo on 8 Ma y 2015. The
awa rds will be conferred by Emperor of
Japan Akihi to.
The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver
Star -
Thottuvelil Krishna Pillai Aiyappank utty
Nair (75): He is a former Advisor and
Princi pal Secreta ry to the Pri me Minister
of India Manmohan Singh.
Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao
(80): He is the Honora ry President of
Jawaha rlal Nehru Centre for Adva nce
Scientifi c Research, Bangalore and a
former Chair of the Japan-India Science
Council .
The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver
Rays
Nikunj Parekh (74): He is the President
of Indo-Japanese Associa tion, Mumbai
and Di rector of Bonsai Study Group of
Indo-Ja panese Association, Mumbai.
The Orders of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and
Silver Rays
Topgay Bhutia (64): Former local
employee of the Embassy of Japan in
 India was awa rded for his contribution
to the a cti vi ties of the Japanese
overseas establishment.
Surender Singh took over as Director
General of CISF
i. Senior IPS offi cer Surender Si ngh took over
as Di rector General (DG) of central
pa ra milita ry force Central Indus trial Securi ty
Force (CISF).
ii. Surender Singh is a 1980-ba tch police
officer of Wes t Bengal cadre. Ea rlier, he
served as a Special Di rector in the
Intelligence Bureau (IB) before getting the
new assignment.
iii. His tenure will end i n Augus t 2016. He
succeeded Arvind Ranja n.
iv. CISF is the la rgest industrial securi ty force
in the worl d. It is directl y under the Union
Minis try of Home Affai rs a nd its
headqua rters a re a t New Delhi .
Rajasthan government allocates 12 crore
rupees for Project Great Indian Bustard
i. Ra jasthan Fores t depa rtment has allotted
more than twel ve crore rupees for a bi rd
conserva tion programme, Project Great
Indian Bus ta rd (GIB).
ii. For this project Japan Bank is going to
provide financial support of three crore
rupees.
iii. Under the GIB Project, closures will be
ma de a t many pla ces in Khudi rasla , Pokhran
and Shahga rh of Jaislmer dis tri ct for safe
habi ta t of bi rd. In order to regula rl y moni tor
the bi rd informa tion chips will ins talled.
Direct tax collection falls short by 14% in
2014-15
i. The di rect ta x collection by the government
during 2014-15 fell short of the ta rget by
about 14 per cent wi th Rs . 6,96,200 crore
revenue coming to i ts ki tty.
ii. The Income Ta x Depa rtment whi ch collects
a va riety of ta xes like Income Ta x and
Corpora te Ta x collected approxi matel y Rs.
6,96,200 crore in the fis cal ending Ma rch 31,
2015.
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iv. The Grea t Indian Busta rd locally called as exempla ry performance in any job or
Goda wan is also the sta te bi rd of Ra jas than. profession.
ii. Na dal recei ved the honour from the
Status of the Great Indian Bustard Spanish Prime Mi nister Ma riano Ra joy Brey
The Grea t Indian Bus ta rd presentl y is a t the PMs offi cial residence Moncloa Palace
confined to onl y ei ght pockets in 6 in Madrid.
Indian s ta tes- Rajas than, Guja ra t, iii. Ra fael Nadal is 14-ti me Grand Slam singles
Maha rashtra , Madhya Pra desh, cha mpion out of whi ch he has won the
Ka rna taka and Andhra Pradesh. French Open for a record nine times . He is
The la rges t populati on is found in often called The King of Cla y a nd is currentl y
Jaisalmer, Ba rmer, and Bi kaner dis tri cts ranked World Number Besides, he has won
of Ra jasthan the 2008 Ol ympi c gold medal in singles, a
record 27 ATP World Tour Mas ters 1000 and
Grea t Indian Busta rd is the Sta te Bi rd of
15 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments.
Ra jas than and locall y is called as
Goda wan.
It is listed as cri ti cally endangered
species by the Interna tional Union for
the Conserva tion of Na ture (IUCN) Red
da ta list.
IGI adjudged World's Best Airport
i. Delhi s Indi ra Gandhi Interna tional Ai rport
(IGIA) has been adjudged the worlds best
Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeats Manny
ai rport for the yea r 2014.
Pacquiao to win World Welterweight Title
ii. In this rega rd, Ai rports Council
of Boxing
Interna tional (ACI) presented the Ai rport
i. Ameri can boxer Floyd Ma ywea ther Jr. has
Servi ce Quality (ASQ) awa rd to IGIA under
won the uni fied World Welterwei ght ti tle of
the ca tegory of handling 25 to 40 million
World Boxing Council , World Boxing
passengers per annum.
Organisation and Worl d Boxing Associa tion.
iii. IGIA had s cored 4.90 on a s cale of 5 points
ii. To wi n this ti tle he defeated Manny
measured by 300 members of the ACI ASQ
Pa cquiao from Philippines on a unanimous
benchma rking progra mme. It s hould be
decision wi th Judges Scores of 118-110, 116-
noted tha t, IGIA has bettered its ranking
112 a nd 116-112 in 12 rounds of i ntense
from second position for three consecuti ve
boxing.
yea rs 2011, 2012 and 2013 to emerge on top
iii. The legenda ry bout termed as Fight of
in 2014.
the Century was pla yed a t i coni c MGM
iv. Ai rport Servi ce Quality (ASQ) is the key to
Grand, Las Vegas. This fight was also the
unders tanding how to increase passenger
hi ghes t watched a nd mos t revenue
satis facti on and i mprove business
genera ting with almost 400 million dollars of
performance. While the ACI is a trade
all time.
association of the worlds ai rports and was
founded in 1991.
Tennis player Rafael Nadal received Golden
Medal for Merit in Work of Spain
i. Ace tennis pla yer Ra fael Nadal on 1 Ma y
2015 recei ved the Golden Medal for Meri t in
Work. Golden Medal is one of the top civilian
honours of Spain whi ch ai ms to hi ghlight an
Daily GK Updates - 4th May 2015
Gold imports jump 19.5% at $34.32 billion in
FY15
i. Gold imports surged 19.5 per cent to rea ch
USD 34.32 billion in 2014-15 due to declining
pri ces and easing of restri cti ons by the
Reserve Bank.
ii. Imports of the metal were USD 28.7 billion
the previous fis cal, 2013-14.
iii. The a chieved collecti ons a re about Rs.
9,000 crore less or 14 per cent short of the
projected ta rget of Rs . 7,05,000 crore.
iv. The collections a re, however, 19 per cent
more than the last fiscal . In 201314, the
mopup was Rs. 5,83,000 crore.
iii. Increase in gold i mports i mpa cts the
countrys trade defi ci t, whi ch has rea ched
USD 137 billion in 2014-15, and the current
a ccount defici t (CAD).
iv. The i mports almos t doubled in Ma rch to
USD 4.98 billion whi ch pushed the trade
defi ci t to a four-month high of USD 11.79
billion for the month, a ccording to the
Commerce Minis try da ta .
v. India is the la rges t importer of gold, whi ch
mainl y ca ters to the demand of the jewellery
industry.
Future Group's Retail Business to Merge
With Bharti Retail
i. Future RetailBSE 12.06 % Ltd said on
Monda y i t had a greed to merge i ts retail
opera tions with ri val Bha rti Retail Ltd to
crea te one of India's biggest retail chain wi th
more than 570 s tores a cross the country.
ii. Under the deal structure, approved by the
boa rds of the two companies, the retail
business of Future Retail will be merged wi th
Bha rti Retail. The combined entity will own
the retail opera tions of both the companies .
iii. In the second s tep, infras tructure,
inves tments and assets of both the
companies will be combined to crea te a new
enti ty to be called Future Enterprises Ltd.
World Press Freedom Day observed globally
i. World Press Freedom Da y is annually
observed on Ma y 3 to i nform the
1. The Union Cabinet approved the 119th
Constitutional Amendment Bill on Land
Boundary Agreement (LBA) between India
and Bangladesh.
i . Under the land boundary a greement, India
and Ba ngladesh will exchange several
encla ves whi ch a re under ea ch other's
adverse possession. The bill also includes the
terri tories in Assam in addi tion to terri tories
of Wes t Bengal , Tri pura and Meghala ya.
ii . The bill will need ra ti fi cati on by the
Pa rliament a nd would also require
ra tifi ca tion of a t least 50 percent of the s tate
legislatures before i t comes into effect.
iii. Ea rlier in 2013, the bill in rega rd to this
was pla ced in the Rajya Sabha and
subsequentl y was referred to a select
committee, whi ch was headed by Shashi
Tha roor of Congress . La ter, the commi ttee
unanimousl y recommended implementa tion
of the deal .
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international community tha t freedom of the
press a nd freedom of expression are
fundamental human ri ghts .
ii. This yea r, the theme of World Press
Freedom da y is Let Journalism Thri ve!
Towa rds better reporting, gender equality
and media safety in the digi tal age.
iii. World Press Freedom Da y was proclaimed
by the UN General Assembl y in December
1993, following the recommendation of
UNESCO's General Conference i n 1991. Si nce
then, 3 Ma y is celebra ted worl dwide as
World Press Freedom Da y.
Tennis player Rafael Nadal received Golden
Medal for Merit in Work of Spain
i. Ace tennis pla yer Ra fael Nadal recei ved the
Golden Medal for Meri t in Work. Golden
Medal is one of the top ci vilian honours of
Spain whi ch aims to highlight an exempla ry
performance in any job or profession.
Daily GK Update - 5th May 2015
2. Surface-to-air short range Akash missile
system inducted into Indian Army
i . Electroni cs Corpora tion of India Li mited
(ECIL), in pa rtnership wi th Bha ra t Dynamics
Limi ted (BDL), is suppl ying cri ti cal electronic
s ys tems for Akash Weapon Sys tem (AWS)
inducted into the Indian Army.
ii . 'Akash' is a surfa ce-to-ai r missile
indi genousl y developed by the Defence
Resea rch Development Labora tory (DRDL),
under Integra ted Guided Missile
Development Progra mme (IGMDP).
iii. The fi rst off production models (FOPM) of
these s ys tems were success full y realised and
deli vered by ECIL in close associa tion wi th
DRDL.
3. Microsofts E du-Cloud to make learning
fun
ii . Nadal recei ved the honour from the
Spanish Prime Mi nister Ma riano Ra joy Brey
a t the PMs offi cial residence Moncloa Palace
in Madrid.
iii. Rafael Nadal is 14-time Grand Slam singles
cha mpion out of whi ch he has won the
French Open for a record nine times . He is
often called The King of Cla y a nd is currentl y
ranked World Number 5.
Indian Railway girls clinch 5th National
Hockey Championship title
i. Railwa y Sports Promotion Boa rd (RSPB)
ha ve won the 5th Na tional women hockey
cha mpionship ti tle.
ii. In the fi nal ma tch pla yed a t the Master
Cha ndgi Ra m sports s tadium a t Saifai, Utta r
Pradesh the the RSPB gi rls tea m defeated
Hockey Jha rkhand by 12-2 goals .
iii. For the RSPB, Sa unda rya Yendala s cored
three goals in the final ma tch while Sunita
Lakra and Lilima Minz s cored two goals ea ch.
Anuradha Devi , Ma nmeet Kaur, Anupa Ba rla,
Poona m Ba rla, and Deepgra ce Ekka s cored
one goal each for the winning team.
i . Mi crosoft India unveiled Edu-Cl oud, a cloud
computing-based offering, designed to offer
di gital lea rning and teaching in s chools and
hi gher educa tional ins ti tutions through
vi rtual lea rning platforms in India.
ii . Mi crosoft India Chai rman Bhaskar
Pra manik said Edu-Cl oud is expected to
benefi t 10 lakh tea chers and 60 lakh s tudents
in over 1,500 ins ti tutes over the next 18
months.
iii. The company has also announced a tie -up
wi th the Chaitanya group of educational
ins ti tutions , which will adopt Edu-Cloud.
i v. In the last 10 yea rs , Mi crosofts educa tion,
skill development, entrepreneurshi p and
di gital litera cy programmes ha ve touched
over 5 crore people in 20 different s ta tes of
India.
4. MoneyGram Ready to Handle Electronic-
Mode Remittances in India
i . NASDAQ-listed MoneyGra m is ready to
handle remittances through electronic
modes in India as soon as the government
allows such transa ctions through a series of
electronic modes such as online, ATM and
phone banking.
ii . It would happen when the government
allows transa ctions to be managed through a
series of electroni c modes such as online,
Automa ted Teller Ma chines (ATM) and
phone banking.
iii. In 2013, India recei ved $70 billion in
remi ttances topping the list in Asia, followed
by China a t $59 billion a nd the Philippines at
$27 billion, a ccording to the World Bank
da ta .
i v. The top countries sending money into
India are those i n North Ameri ca , the Middle
East, the UK and Europe, a ccording to the
two MoneyGram executi ves .
5. Offering whole internet f or free not
sustainable: Mark Zuckerberg
1. LS approves GST Bill
i . The l ong-pending GST bill was approved by
Lok Sabha a fter a walkout by Congress even
as government vowed to compensate s tates
for any revenue loss and assured tha t the
new uni form indi rect ta x ra te will be much
less than 27 per cent re commended by an
expert panel .
ii . The Consti tution Amendment Bill to
implement the Goods and Servi ces Ta x (GST),
ori ginall y mooted by the UPA, was passed by
352 votes agains t 37 a fter the government
rejected the opposi tion demand of referring
i t to Standi ng Commi ttee.
iii. By subsuming most indi rect ta xes levied
by the central and sta te governments like
excise, servi ce ta x, VAT and sales ta x, the
pan-India goods and servi ces ta x (GST)
regime has proposed to fa cilita te a common
ma rket in the country.
i v. Ta xes on alcohol make up a major chunks
of s tate revenues -- for ins tance, in Kerala it
contributes 22 percent of revenue, while in
Tamil Nadu i t yields a bout Rs .21,000 crore
per yea r.
2. Government declared 11 pacts that
signed between India, Germany at
Hannover fair
i . Indian companies including HMT and Essel
Group ha ve signed 11 MoUs wi th German
fi rms tha t will help boos t foreign fund i nflows
as well as domes ti c manufa cturi ng.
ii . The pa cts were signed last month a t the
Ha nnover trade fai r. Pri me Minister
Na rendra Modi and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel had inaugura ted the fai r in
Germany las t month.
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i . Facebook is opening up Internet.org, whi ch memora ndum of unders tandi ng for
provides connecti vi ty to people in devel oping development of Chabaha r port.
na tions , to outside appli ca tions following a
controvers y over i ts limi ted set of online
servi ces .
ii . Internet.org would opera te as a free
pla tform so anyone can build free basic
servi ces , but tha t the full internet would not
be included.
iii. NDTV, Newshunt and Clea rtrip had also
announced tha t they were wi thdra wing from
iii. Ira n has also proposed a free-trade
Internet.org on the same da y.
agreement wi th India , a trade minis try
6. India to tie up with Iran for Chabahar source said. Rupee-denomina ted trade wi th
Iran, s ta rted in 2012 beca use of
i . India and Iran agreed in 2003 to develop a
compli ca tions a rising from sancti ons , has
port a t Chabaha r on the Gulf of Oman, near
almos t doubled Indian exports to Tehran in
Iran's border wi th Pa kistan, but the venture
has made little progress because of Wes tern the pas t two yea rs to $4 billion.
sanctions on Iran.
ii . Shipping Minis ter Nitin Gadka ri will tra vel
on a da y-long tour to Ira n to sign a
Daily GK Update - 6th May 2015
4. Real estate bill sent to select committee
of Rajya Sabha
i . A uni ted Opposition forced Government to
send the controversial Real Es ta te Bill that
seeks to regulate real ty business, to a 21-
member select commi ttee of Ra jya Sa bha,
whi ch has been asked to submi t i ts report by
iii. These Memorandum of Unders tandings
the fi rst week of the Monsoon Session.
(MoUs) a re expected to increase FDI flows to
ii . The government brought a motion to refer
India, bring in new technology, help growth
the bill to Select Commi ttee, chai red by BJP
of manufa cturing sector and create
member Anil Madha v Da ve.
employment opportuni ties in the country
iii. The government had brought the bill
thereby boos ting i ts economy.
ea rlier in this session after taking the view of
i v. Instrumentati on Ltd signed a pa ct wi th
all stakeholders . However, a mid lot of
German-based KE Kauer Engineering for
cri ti cim the bill was dela yed even after the
producti on of control val ves . Vikra m Solar
recommenda tions of the Sta nding
inked MoU with Fra unhofer Insti tute for
Commi ttee.
sola r energy s ys tems .
v. Hi ndus tan Ma chine Tools (HMT) inked
5. Salman Khan Finally Loses Celebrity Cover
sepa ra te pa cts with FT Ma chine Tools and
i . Actor Salman Khan, sentenced to fi ve years
Eni t GmbH for collabora tion in engineering
for killing a homeless man in a hi t-and-run in
sector.
2002, will not go to jail for now. He has been
allowed to go home till Frida y, when the
3. Narendra Modi set to revive Vajpayee
Bomba y Hi gh Court will hea r his appeal for
government's FIIA project
bail .
i . The Foreign Inves tment Implementa tion
ii . A Mumbai court this morni ng rejected Mr
Agency, a brainchild of the former Va jpa yee
Kha n's claims that i t was his dri ver who was
government, is set to get a new lease of life
a t the wheel of his Toyota La nd Cruiser when
under Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi .
i t ran into a group of homeless men sleeping
ii . The a gency's role will be reinvented and
outside a Mumbai bakery. One man, Nurullah
expa nded to handhold foreign inves tors and
Mehboob Sha ri f, died, four were injured.
keep ta b on sectors that ha ve end-use
opera tional condi tions .
iii. The Minis try of Finance and the
Depa rtment of Indus trial Poli cy and
Promotion ha ve had discussions on FIIA
pla ying a more effecti ve role as the
government looks to boos t capi tal flows into
the country. iii. Mr Khan broke down i n court after
i v. The Reserve Bank of India, the hea ring he was sentenced to fi ve yea rs i n jail.
administra ti ve ministries in cha rge of sectors, The court said all seven cha rges agains t him -
the depa rtment of economi c affairs , whi ch including culpable homi cide - had been
houses the Foreign Inves tment Promotion proven. The ma ximum sentence he could
Boa rd, and DIPP ha ve all expressed di ffi cul ty ha ve got was 10 yea rs.
in moni toring sectoral condi tions . i v. Mr Khan, 49, then a pplied for bail to the
Bomba y High Court, which has said he will
not be a rrested till Frida y.
v. He is under trial in Rajas than for shooting
an enda ngered black buck ga zelle in 1998. He
spent a week in jail in 2006 in Jodhpur before
being granted bail. If convi cted, he fa ces a
ma xi mum sentence of 7 yea rs.
6. World Asthma Day 2015 observed
i . World As thma Da y 2015 was observed
gl oball y on 5 Ma y 2015. Theme of the yea r is
You Can Control Your As thma and sub-theme
is Its Time to Control As thma.
ii . World As thma Da y ta kes pla ce on the fi rst
Tuesda y of Ma y. The inaugural Worl d As thma
Da y was held in 1998.
iii. The da y is annuall y organi zed by the
Gl obal Initia ti ve for Asthma (GINA) to
improve as thma a wa reness and ca re a round
the world.
i v. An awa reness dri ve and a conti nuing
medi cal educa tion (CME) were held a t the
Coi mba tore Medi cal College Hospi tal (CMCH) iii. The greenfield hydro electri c project
to ma rk the World As thma Da y. consisting of four uni ts of 82.5 MW ea ch is
being set up by Alaknanda Hydro Power
7. Bhel commissions GVK's hydro-power Corpora tion Ltd ( GVK Group).
project in Uttrakhand i v. The project is designed to utilise the
i . State-owned power equipment maker Bhel wa ters of Ri ver Alaknanda by wa y of a
has commissioned GVK Group's 82.5 MW di version da m.
greenfield hydro electri c project in v. Bhel said power genera tion from Shrina gar
Utta ra khand. HEP is likel y to resul t i n reduction of
ii . Bha ra t Hea vy Electri cals Ltd said in a greenhouse gas emissions.
regula tory filing that i t has "successfully
commissioned the fi rs t unit of 82.5 MW at
the upcomi ng Shri naga r Hydro Electric
Project (HEP) in Utta ra khand".

Daily GK Update - 7th May 2015

1. Lok Sabha passes Juvenile Justice Bill
i . The central government on Thurs da y
moved the Juvenile Justi ce Bill in the Lok
Sa bha whi ch will allow children in the 16-18
age group to be tried as adul ts i f they commi t
heinous cri mes .
ii . According to da ta from Na tional Crime
Records Bureau, cri mes by juveniles in the
age group of 16-18 yea rs ha ve i ncreased,
especially in certain ca tegories of heinous
cri mes.
iii. The bill s tates tha t in case a heinous crime
has been commi tted by a person i n the age
group of 16-18 yea rs i t will be examined by a
Juvenile Jus tice Board to assess if the crime
was commi tted as a 'child' or as an 'adul t'.
i v. The legislation, whi ch would replace the
exis ting Juvenile Jus ti ce Act, 2000, was
proposed i n view of increasing number of
serious offences being commi tted by persons
in the age group of 16-18 yea rs .
2. Election 2015: Party leaders cast votes in
general election
i . A total of 650 Wes tmins ter MPs will be
elected, wi th about 50 million people
registered to vote.
ii . There a re more than 9,000 council seats
being contes ted a cross 279 English local
authori ties.
iii. Bri tain's ruling Conserva ti ves and the
opposi tion Labour Pa rty were tied wi th
support a t 33 per cent.
i v. There a re a total of 59 Indian -origin
candi dates in the fra y from the Tories (17),
Labour (14), Liberal Democra ts (14), Green
Pa rty (4), Uni ted Kingdom Independence
Pa rty- UKIP (3), Independents (2) and one
ea ch from the s maller pa rties like All Peoples
Pa rty, Chris tian Movement for Great Bri tain,
Na tional Liberal Pa rty, Socialist Labour Pa rty
and Young Peoples Pa rty.
3. Indian Cabinet Approves Amendments to
Whistleblowers Act
i . The uni on cabinet on Wednesda y approved
amendments to the Whis tlebowers
Protection Act, 2011 aimed at s trengthening
safegua rds agains t disclosures .
ii . The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in
December, 2011 and by Ra jya Sabha in
Februa ry last yea r. The bill has recei ved the
assent of the president in Ma y last yea r.
iii. The amendments would address concerns
rela ting to na tional securi ty a nd the
amendment bill will be moved during the
budget session of pa rliament.
4. Rajya Sabha unanimously passes
Bangladesh land deal
i . In a histori c s tep, the Rajya Sabha passed
the bill to opera tionalise the Land Bounda ry
Agreement wi th Bangladesh, and the
entailing exchange of encla ves between the
two countries.
ii . The Cons titution (One Hundred and
Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 2013, was
unanimousl y passed by the upper house,
wi th 180 votes in fa vour and none a gainst i t.
iii. Moving the bill for passage, External
Affai rs Minister Sushma Swa raj cla rified that
no movement of popula tion was
necessita ted by the exchange of encla ves.
i v. In 2011, then Prime Minis ter Manmohan
Si ngh and Bangladeshi Premier Shei kh Hasina
had signed the land swap deal known as the
Land Bounda ry Agreement (LBA).
5. India home to 56 of the worlds 2000
powerful companies
i . India is home to 56 of the worlds 2000
la rges t a nd mos t powerful public companies,
a ccording to the Forbess a nnual list which is
topped by the US wi th i ts sha re of 579
companies .
ii . Mukesh Ambani -led Reliance Indus tries
leads the pa ck of 56 Indian companies in the
2015 Forbes Global 2000 list.
iii. Forbes said tha t for the fi rs t ti me, Chinas
four bi gges t banks own the top four s pots
and the South Asian giant is home to 232 of
the worlds la rges t companies, adding more
spots than a ny other country in the world
and surpassing Japan for the fi rs t time.
i v. The other Indian companies on the lis t are
Oil and Na tural Gas ranked 183, Ta ta Motors
(263), ICICI Bank (283), Indian Oil (349), HDFC
Ba nk (376), NTPC (431), Ta ta Consul tancy
Servi ces (485), Bha rti Ai rtel (506), Axis Bank
(558), Infos ys (672), Bha ra t Petroleum (757),
Wi pro (811), Ta ta Steel (903) and Adani
Enterprises (944).
6. Cabinet gives nod to revise DTAA with
South Korea
i . The Union Ca binet ga ve i ts nod for revising
the existing double ta xa tion a voida nce
agreement (DTAA) wi th South Korea.

6
ii . The new a gree ment will among other
things provi de for effecti ve exchange of
informa tion for ta x administra tion purposes.
It will also ha ve limi ta tion of benefit clause so
tha t the benefi ts of the DTAA a re a vailed of
by genuine residents of both the countries.
iii. This Cabinet nod assumes signi fi cance as it
came da ys before the Pri me Minister
Na rendra Modi's offi cial visi t to South Korea.
The exis ting double ta xa tion a voida nce
conventi on between the two countries was
signed i n 1985 for the a voidance of double
ta xa tion and for the prevention of fiscal
evasion wi th respect to ta xes on income for
the ci tizens of both the countries.
. framework as an i mporta nt s tep in fra ud risk
7. Geeta Phogat wins bronze in Asian
champions hip
i . Geeta Phoga t won a bronze medal in the
Women's Frees tyle 58kg ca tegory in the
Senior Asian Wrestling cha mpionship in
Doha .
ii . She defeated Vietnam's Thi Loan Nyguen
by Fall verdi ct in the bronze medal pla y-off.
iii. En-route to the bronze medal pla y off,
Geeta los t in pool bout onl y to Kaori Icho of
Japan, the Ol ympi c gold medallist.
Dail y GK Updates - 8th Ma y 2015
1. Conservatives win majority in UK
elections
i. Da vid Ca meron has returned to Downing
Street wi th the Tories ha ving defied polls and
won the general election.
ii. The Conserva ti ves a re expected to get a
37% sha re of the na tional vote, Labour 31%,
UKIP 13%, the Lib Dems 8%, the SNP 5%, the
Green Pa rty 4% and Plaid Cymru 1%.
iii. Labour has been hammered in Scotland
by the SNP, wi th Ni cola Sturgeon's pa rty
seizing 56 of the nation's 59 sea ts. Jim
Murphy, leader of the Scottish Labour Pa rty,
and shadow foreign secretary Douglas
Alexander both los t thei r sea ts to the SNP.
2. RBI puts in place new mechanism for
banks to check loan fraud
i. The RBI put in place a new framework to
check loan fra ud incl uding by wa y of ea rl y
wa rning signals a t banks and red flagging of
a ccounts , while s windlers will ha ve no a ccess
to further banking finance.
7
ii. The central bank will set up a Central
Fra ud Registry tha t can be a ccessed by all
banks to identify borrowers ha ving
committed frauds with any bank in the pas t.
iii. The CBI and the Central Economic
Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) will also share
thei r da tabases with banks .
iv. The concept of a Red Flagged Account
(RFA) is being introduced in the current
control .
3. Govt gets SC notice on PSB chief criteria
i. The Centre's new appointment norms for
publi c sector bank chiefs capping the age
a t 55 yea rs and manda tory three -yea r boa rd
level experience has come under judicial
s crutiny wi th the Supreme Court.
ii. A bench of Jus ti ces A R Da ve a nd R K
Agrawal issued noti ce to the Centre and the
Reserve Bank of India seeking thei r response
on a PIL filed by a reti red ba nker who alleged
tha t the poli cy was intended to pa ve the wa y
for pri va te ba nkers to lead the country top
banks - Punjab Na tional Bank, Bank of India,
Ba nk of Ba roda, Cana ra Bank and IDBI Bank.
iii. The upper age limi t for the pos t was 58
yea rs but the government decided to a mend
the rules, a rguing tha t it was pa rt of a plan to
professionalize bank boa rds .
iv. The rules fi xed the age limi t for MDs &
CEOs a t 45-55 yea rs wi th 15 yea rs of banking
experience out of whi ch three yea rs should
ha ve been a t the boa rd level.
4. Jitan Ram Manjhi announces new party as
Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM)
i. Expelled JD(U) leader and former Chief
Minis ter Ji tan Ra m Manjhi toda y announced
launching of a new pa rty "Hindus tani Awam
Morcha " (HAM) whi ch he said would contest
alone all the 243 seats in coming Biha r polls.
ii. He named former Biha r minis ter Shakuni
Cha udha ry as Biha r President of the HAM.
iii. Na mes of 108 leaders were announced in
the Biha r unit of the pa rty. It comprises
former Union minis ter Devendra Prasad
Yada v, ex-MP Braha mdeo Ana nd Paswan and
former s ta te ministers a nd Legislators like
Ga nesh Yada v, Ra m Kuma r Yada v, Om
Pra kash Paswan, K D Yada v and Ramchandra
Prasad Singh.
5. Pakistan helicopter crash kills foreign
envoys
i. An a rmy heli copter has crashed i n a
mountainous pa rt of northern Pa kistan killing
seven people, including the Philippine and
Norwegian ambassadors .
ii. The di ploma ts fl ying i n the ill-fa ted MI-17
were headed for a li ttle advertised but
extremel y exci ting inaugura tion ceremony of
a ski chai rlift, built in the breathtaking resort
of Nal ta r, in northern Pakis tan.
iii. Pakis tani Prime Minis ter Nawa z Sha ri f was
s cheduled to a ttend the inaugura tion, but his
ai rcraft turned ba ck from Gilgi t a fter reports
of the crash.
6. AK Jyoti, appointed as Election
Commissioner
i. Achal Kumar Jyoti , a former Guja ra t Chief
Secreta ry, was appointed as the Election
Commissioner.
ii. 62-yea r-old Jyoti's tenure will commence
from the da y he assumes his cha rge.
iii. He reti red from acti ve servi ce in Janua ry,
2013 before servi ng in va ri ous capaci ties in
Guja rat. He was also pos ted a t the Kandla
Port Trus t between 1999 and 2004.
7. Prime Minister releases commemorative
coin on Swami Chinmayananda Saraswati
i. Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi on Frida y
released a commemora ti ve coin to ma rk the
bi rth centena ry of Swa mi Chinma yananda.
ii. Swami Chinma yananda was a renowned
Hi ndu spi ritual leader a nd tea cher who had
inspi red the forma tion of a global nonprofit
organisati on called Chinma ya Mission to
spread the knowledge of Advai ta Vedanta.
iii. Swami Chinma ya nanda born as
Balakrishna Menon on 8 Ma y 1916 pioneered
works in the field of educati on and social
reform. He died on 3 August 1993.
iv. He saw the need to incul ca te India's great
cul ture and spi ri tual tradi tions, through the
English medium, a mong an eli te class of
people, who had moved a wa y from this
heri ta ge.
8. Jitu Rai wins 'Sportsperson of the Year'
Award at TOISA
i. Ace ma rksman Jitu Rai was decla red the
Sportspers on of the Yea r' at the Times of
India Sports Awa rds in a gli ttering ceremony
tha t was gra ced by the legenda ry Ca rl Lewis.
ii. 'Fl yi ng Sikh' Milkha Singh recei ved the
'Li fetime Achievement Awa rd' from the
'Ol ympian of the century' and Times Group
MD Vineet Jain in a ceremony tha t was
a ttended by the who and who of India's
sporti ng fra terni ty.
iii. Besides Lewis a nd Milkha, prominent
fi gures from the sporting world included
former Indian cri cket captain Soura v
Ga ngul y, Ol ympi c bronze medallists boxer
MC Ma ry Kom, shuttler Saina Nehwal and
CWG gold medallist s quash pla yer Dipika
Pallikal.

Daily GK Update - 9th May 2015

1. INS Sardar Patel commissioned
i. A s tra tegi cally i mportant new Na val base
INS Sarda r Pa tel was commissioned in
Porbanda r.
ii. The base was commissioned by Guja rat
Chief Minis ter Anandiben Pa tel .
iii. Ms . Pa tel unveiled the plaque a nd read
the commissioning wa rrant of the new base
whi ch is second in the s tate for the Indian
Na vy after INS Dwa rka near Okha .
iv. Guja ra t has a coas tline of 1600 km
interspersed with 43 ports . Of these, Kandla
being a major port, 11 a re intermediate and
31 a re minor ports .
2. Russia celebrates victory day
i. Vi ctory Da y is Russia's mos t i mporta nt
secula r holida y, both commemora ting the
Soviet Union's huge suffering in the war and
hi ghlighti ng Russia's portra yal of i tsel f as a
force for pea ce and securi ty.
ii. Chi nese President Xi Jinping was the most
prominent world leader to a ttend the Vi ctory
Da y pa rade.
iii. Mr. Modi , duri ng his visi t from Ma y 14-16,
will also announce the setting up of a Yoga
College in China .
iv. India will provi de Yoga specialis ts and help
Chi na to bring about a s tanda rdisa tion of
Yoga techniques .
4. MoUs worth Rs 24,000 cr signed during
PM Narendra Modi's visit to Chattisgarh
i. In a big push for infras tructure
development in Chhattisga rh, MoUs worth Rs
24,000 crore were signed a t Dantewada .
ii. Here is a list of the MoUs tha t were si gned:
MoU between Government of Chha ttisga rh,
NMDC, IRCON and SAIL for 140 km rail line
between Rowgha t and Jagdalpur. Es ti mated
project cos t: Rs 2,000 crore.
MoU between Minis try of Steel , Government
of Chha ttisga rh, SAIL a nd NMDC for 3 million
ton Ul tra Mega Steel Plant with an
inves tment of a pproxi ma tel y Rs 18,000 crore.
MoU between Government of Chha ttisga rh
and NMDC for Slurry Pi peline and 2MTPA
Pellet Plant a t Na ga rna r in Basta r Dis tri ct
wi th an investment of Rs 4,000 crore.
MoU between Government of Chha ttisga rh
and SAIL for setting up 1MTPA Pellet Plant at
Dalli-Rajhara , Balod Distri ct wi th an
inves tment of Rs 826 crore.
iv. The PMSBY will offer a renewable one
yea r a ccidental death cum disability cover of
Rs two lakh to all the savings bank a ccount
holders in the age group of 18 to 70 yea rs for
a premium of Rs 12 per annum.
6. India Posts's e-commerce centre set to
start operations
i. To cash in on growing online shopping
trend, India Pos t Delhi ci rcle will s tart i ts e -
commerce centre from 11th Ma y 2015.
ii. Considering the ra pid growth of e -
commerce business in the country in the
recent pas t, the Depa rtment of Pos ts,
through Delhi Pos tal Ci rcle has taken up a
project to es tablish the e-commerce centre
a t Safda rjang, New Delhi .
iii. The centre is to be dedi ca ted to the
na tion by Ra vi Shanka r Prasad, hon'ble
mi nister of communi ca tions a nd informa tion
technology.
iv. The centre is ca pable of handling 30,000
pa rcels or a rti cles per da y and pa rcels
collected from the e-commerce cus tomers,
processed and dispatched wi thin 24 hours to
respecti ve des tina tion through quickest
a vailable flight or train, as the case ma y be.
7. Now Whatsapp the money to your friends

iii. Russia showed off new ma chines of wa r,
including a highl y sophis tica ted tank, i n the
annual Vi ctory Da y mili ta ry pa rade through
Red Squa re tha t ma rks the surrender of Nazi
Germany a nd the Red Army's key role in the
defea t.
3. Modi to inaugurate first Gandhian studies
centre in China
i. The fi rs t centre for Gandhian s tudies in
Chi na will be inaugura ted a t Shanghais
Fudan Uni versi ty by Prime Mi nister Na rendra
Modi .
ii. The Centre for Ga ndhian Studies will be
es tablished at the Fudan Uni versity in China
and the s ta ff for i t will be provided by Indian
Council of Cul tural Rela tions (ICCR).
5. PM Modi to unveil 3 social security
schemes in Kolkata
i. Pri me Minis ter Na rendra Modi will launch
three social securi ty s chemes pertaining to
insurance and pension in Kolka ta .
ii. While two insurance s chemes - Pradhan
i. Axis Bank, the country's thi rd largest
Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana
pri va te sector bank now fa cilita tes insta nt
(PMSBY) a nd Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti
Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) will provide insura nce trans fer of money on va rious social media
channels like Wha tsapp, Facebook, Twitter,
cover in the unfortuna te event of dea th by
Email lis t and phone conta ct list.
any cause or disability due to an a ccident,
the pension s cheme - Atal Pension Yojana ii. The ba nk's Ping Pa y servi ce competes wi th
other banks digi tal products like ICICI Bank's
(APY) will a ddress the old age income
Pockets a nd HDFC Bank's Chillar.
securi ty needs.
iii. The trans fer of funds is ins tant while in
iii. The convenient deli very mechanism of the
other platforms there is a waiting period of
s chemes is expected to address the problem
30 mi nutes to one da y
of very low penetra tion of li fe or a ccident
iv. The person to person funds transfer
insurance and old age income securi ty
through Ping Pa y would happen via NPCI's
products in the country.

8
Immedia te Pa yment Servi ce (IMPS) and
currentl y the transa ction li mi t is at Rs 50,000
per da y.
8. Sakshi, Lalita win bronze in Asian
Wrestling Championship
i. Sa kshi Malik and Lalita bagged bronze
medal in Women's Frees tyle 60kg and 55kg
ca tegories, respecti vel y, even as Babita
Kuma ri lost out on a thi rd-place finish in 53kg
Shashi Kapoor has been conferred with
prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award 2014
i. The awa rd was bes towed upon hi m by
Union Information and Broadcas ting Minister
Arun Jai tley a t a special function held in
Pri thvi Theatre in Mumbai, Maha rashtra .
ii. He is the 46th film pers onality to recei ve
this honour and thi rd member of his
illustri ous famil y after fa ther Pri thvi raj
Kapoor (1972- Pos thumousl y) and elder
brother Raj Kapoor (1987).
About Shashi Kapoor
Born as Balbi r Ra j Pri thvi ra j Kapoor on
Ma rch 18, 1938 in Kolka ta, Wes t Bengal.
Sta rted a cting in films as a child in late
1940s . Since then he has appea red in
160 movies al together, 12 being in
English and the res t in Hindi .
His Boll ywood debut as a lead a ctor was
in the film Dha rmputra (1961). His best
known performances as child a rtist were
in Aag (1948), Awaa ra (1951) and
Sa ngra m (1950). He is also bes t-known
for his performances in Hindi films like
Jab Jab Phool Khile, Deewar and
Kabhi Kabhie. Ameri can and British
fil ms : The Householder (1963),
Shakespea re Wallah (1965), Bomba y
Talkie (1970), Hea t and Dus t (1982), The
Decei vers (1988), Side Streets (1998)
etc.
Apa rt from a cting in movies, he also had
worked as a film di rector, assista nt
di rector and film producer.
WHO declares Liberia Ebola-free
i. WHO has hailed Liberias Ebola era dica tion
efforts as an enormous development in the
long crisis and monumental a chievement as
the vi rus has killed more than 4,716 people
in the country alone.
ii. Now, Liberias neighbous Guinea and
Sierra Leone a re onl y two countries fi ghting
to s top Ebola outbreak since i t bega n in
December 2013.
Criteria for declaring a nation Ebola-free
9
di vision of the Senior Asian Wres tling
Cha mpionship in Doha .
ii. Lalita was defeated by North Korea's Han
Kum-ok 3-9 in the semifinal but she managed
to settle for a bronze medal in the end in her
ca tegory.
iii. In a total of fi ve rounds in the 60kg
ca tegory, Sakshi won two of her bouts to
claim the thi rd position.
Daily GK Update - 10th May 2015
WHO can decla re a country Ebola Dea fl ympi cs a re held every 4 yea rs and
free, i f no new cases a re reported often considered as the longes t mul ti -
over two i ncuba tion periods of sports event, excl uding the Ol ympi c.
vi rus i .e. 21 da ys . To qualify for the Deafl ympi cs , a thletes
In case of Liberia , no new cases of mus t ha ve a hea ring loss of a t least 55
Ebola were reported in pas t 42 decibel (dB). In order to maintain
da ys i .e. twice the number of days equality and same level in parti cipa tion
the vi rus requi res to incubate. The among a thletes , hea ring aids , cochlear
last confi rmed dea th in Liberia was implants a re not allowed during the
reported on 27 Ma rch 2015. ga mes .
Navneet Rajan Wasan appointed as DG of
Police Research & Development Bureau
i. The post of Director General (DG) of
Bureau of Poli ce Resea rch and Development
had been l yi ng va cant since Ma rch 2015
following the reti rement of Rajan Gupta .
Haryana Government has decided to include ii. Presentl y, Wasan is working as Special
Deaflympics in its Sports Policy Di rector General in the Na tional Inves tiga tion
i. Ha rya na Government has deci ded to Agency (NIA). He is a 1980-ba tch IPS officer
of the Andhra Pra desh ca dre.
include Dea fl ympi cs in i ts Sports Poli cy in
order to boos t the morale of di fferentl y- Other Appointment- Indian Pos tal Service
abled sports persons in the s tate. Decision in (IPoS) offi cer Sheuli Burman was appointed
this rega rd was taken during a s tate ca binet as the Chief Vigilance Offi cer (CVO) in the
Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), Bangalore.
meet chai red by Chief Minis ter Manoha r Lal
Kha tta r.
ii. Wi th this inclusion, Deafl ympian medalists Book titled Unbelievable Delhi to
now will be able to get cash rewa rds, jobs Islamabad written by Prof Bhim Singh
and other benefits from the s tate released
government. i. Book ti tled Unbelievable Delhi to
Islamabad authored by senior Advoca te Prof.
About Deaflympics Bhim Singh was released on 8 Ma y 2015 by
Vi ce President M Hamid Ansa ri in New Delhi.
ii. The book, a tra velogue is an effort ini tiated
by the lawyers of India and Pakistan to work
jointl y to ensure tha t Pakis tani prisoners
languishing in Indian jails a re trea ted in
a ccordance wi th the spiri t of the Cons ti tution
of India . Si milarl y, the same trea tment
should be mended for the Indian prisoners
on Pakista n and they should be gi ven fair
trials.
Dea fl ympi cs is an Interna tional Ol ympic
Commi ttee (IOC) sanctioned event, at
whi ch deaf a thletes compete a t an elite
level .
The fi rs t event of was held i n Pa ris in
1924. It is the fi rst internati onal sporting
event for a thletes wi th a disability.
Previousl y, i t was known as World
Ga mes for the Dea f and International
Ga mes for the Deaf.
Organised by the International
Commi ttee of Sports for the Dea f,
(French- Commi ttee Interna tional des
Sports des Sourds) since fi rs t event.

1. KV Kamath appointed BRICS bank
president
i. Eminent banker K.V. Ka math was on
Monda y appointed as head of the USD 50
billion New Development Bank being set up
by the fi ve emerging economies of BRICS
grouping.
ii. Mr. Ka math will ha ve a fi ve -yea r term of
the bank, whi ch is likel y to be operationalised
wi thin one yea r.
iii. About NDB - The New Development Bank
(NDB), formerl y referred to as the BRICS
Development Ba nk, is a mul tilateral
development bank opera ted by the BRICS
s tates (Bra zil , Russia, India , China and South
Afri ca) as an al terna ti ve to the exis ting US-
domina ted World Bank a nd International
Moneta ry Fund. The bank is set up to foster
grea ter financial a nd development
coopera tion a mong the fi ve emerging
ma rkets .
2. President Muk herjee inaugurates
`Namaste Russia` festival in Moscow
i. President Pra nab Mukherjee, currentl y on
his four-da y offi cial visi t to Russia, has
inaugura ted a fes ti val of Indian Cul ture
'Na maste Russia' in Mos cow.
ii. As pa rt of the festi val , the Russian Minis try
of Cul ture will support the ini tiati ves of the
Indian Council for Cul tural Relations (ICCR) in
sending Indian tea chers of music a nd da nce
to regional centres in Russia from Ma y 2015
to October 2015.
iii. Special emphasis will be on encoura ging
the pa rti cipa tion of youth of both the
countries in cultural exchanges .
iv. The logo for the fes ti val was designed by a
young Russian from the Russian town of
1. GST bill referred to select committee
i . The government a nd opposi tion pa rties
agreed to refer the cons titutional
amendment bill on goods and servi ce ta x
(GST) to a 21-member select committee of
the Rajya Sabha .
ii . The commi ttee will submi t i ts report on
the last da y of the fi rs t week of Pa rliaments
monsoon session.
10
Daily GK Updates - 11th May 2015
Krasnoya rsk, who succeeded in an open
competi tion pa rti cipa ted by both Indians and
Russians.
3. Jayaram Jayalalitha cleared of corruption
charges
i . An appeals court in southern India has
a cqui tted powerful regional poli tician
Ja ya ram Ja yalalitha of corruption cha rges,
clea ring the wa y for her to return to public
office.
ii . The High Court of Ka rna taka deli vered its
verdi ct on the appeal by former Ta mil Nadu
chief minister J Ja yalalitha challenging a
special court order convi cting her i n the
disproporti ona te assets case.
iii. Supporters from Ja yalalitha 's pa rty
cheered, set off fi re cra ckers a nd danced in
the s treets of the Ta mil Nadu s ta te capi tal of
Chennai , her hometown, a fter the Ka rnataka
Hi gh Court in Ba ngalore deli vered i ts verdi ct.
4. China becomes world's top crude buyer
i. Chi na overtook the Uni ted Sta tes as the
world's top importer of crude oil for the fi rst
time in April , and i ts purchases a re expected
to remain s trong despi te a slowing economy,
wi th fa r-reaching consequences for gl obal oil
and commodi ties ma rkets .
ii. Chi na is al ready the world's bi gges t energy
consumer, wi th oil by fa r the la rges t traded
energy ma rket.
iii. The Saudi-led decision by the
Organiza tion of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) in November 2014 not to
cut production despi te the slide in oil prices
has been largel y moti va ted by an effort to
defend ma rket sha re against outside
competi tors li ke Russia or US shale
producers .
Daily GK Updates - 12th May 2015
committee.
5. Rosberg wins Spanish GP
i. Ni co Rosberg has finall y got the better of
Mercedes teamma te Lewis Hamil ton this
season, winning the Spanish Grand Pri x.
ii. A crowd of 86,700 wa tched the ra ce, wi th
a total of 189,000 specta tors a ttending the
Ca talunya ci rcuit.
iii. McLa rens misery conti nued as two-time
F1 cha mpion Ferna ndo Alonso reti red just
short of halfwa y wi th faul ty brakes on the
tra ck.
6. May 11: National Technology Day
i. Every yea r, `Na tional Technology Da y is
observed a cross India on Ma y 11.
ii. This da y glori fies the importance of science
in da y-to-da y li fe and moti va tes students to
adopt s cience as a ca reer option.
iii. Na tional Te chnology Da y is being
commemora ted to celebra te the anni versa ry
of fi rs t of the fi ve tes ts of Opera tion Shakti
(Pokhran-II) nuclea r tes t whi ch was held on
11 Ma y 1998 in Pokhran, Rajas than.
iv. Apa rt from Pokhran nuclear tes t, on this
da y fi rs t indigenous ai rcraft Hansa-3 was test
fl own a t Bangalore and India also conducted
successful test fi ri ng of the Trishul missile on
the same da y.
7. Andy Murray beats Rafael Nadal to win
Madrid Masters final
i . Andy Murra y claimed his fi rs t vi ctory over
Ra fael Nadal on cla y to win the Madrid
Mas ters .
ii . The Bri ton had never bea ten Na dal i n six
previous meetings on the surfa ce but won 6-
3 6-2 to s tun the home crowd.
iii. Defending champion Nadal was aiming for
a record fifth win in Madri d but Murra y
outclassed his Spanish opponent to lift his
fi rs t Mas ters ti tle on cla y.
iii. The commi ttee will be headed by
Bhupendra Yada v, a Bha ra ti ya Jana ta Pa rty
(BJP) MP and a pa rty general secreta ry.
Members of major politi cal pa rties incl uding
BJP, Shi romani Akali Dal , Congress, Bahujan
Sa maj Pa rty, Sa majwadi Pa rty and Ja na ta Dal
(United) will be represented in the
i v. After passing the bill in the Lok Sabha , the
government has fa ced problems in the upper
house. The government, whi ch has 62
members in the 244-member house, needs
162 members to support the bill for its
clea rance.
2. Nepal earthquake, magnitude 7.3, strikes
near Everest
i . A ma jor ea rthquake has s truck eastern
Nepal , nea r Mount Everes t, two weeks after
more than 8,000 died in a devasta ting quake.
ii . The US Geologi cal Survey said it had a
ma gni tude of 7.3. An ea rthqua ke on 25 April,
centred i n western Nepal , had a ma gni tude
of 7.8.
iii. The tremor was also fel t in northern India
and Bangladesh, and was centred eas t of the
Nepalese ca pital Ka thmandu, in a rural area
close to the Chi nese border.
3. LS passes Black Money Bill with
Opposition support
i . A s tringent law imposing 120 per cent ta x,
jail term of up to 10 yea rs and penalty on
undiscl osed foreign assets and income to
deal wi th the black money mena ce was
passed in Lok Sabha Monda y by voi ce vote
and wi th support from the Opposition.
ii . The Congress a rgued tha t the Undisclosed
Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of
Ta x) Bill, 2015, is a finance bill.
iii. However, Speaker Sumi tra Mahajan
agreed to Finance Minister Arun Jai tleys
a rgument tha t i t is a money bill, in whi ch
case approval of the Upper House is not
ma nda tory.
i v. Under the proposed law, there would be a
short compliance window wi thin whi ch
persons wi th undiscl osed income abroad can
come clean by pa ying 30 per cent ta x a nd 30
per cent penal ty. Once the window closes,
anyone found ha ving undeclared overseas
wealth would be requi red to pa y 30 per cent
ta x, 90 per cent penal ty and fa ce criminal
prosecution.
4. Justice Cyriac Joseph appointed NHRC
acting chief
11
i . President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed
Jus ti ce Cyria c Joseph as a cting Chai rman of
Na tional Human Ri ghts Commission (NHRC).
ii . His appointment comes after then
Chai rman of NHRC Justi ce K.G. Balakrishnan
completed his tenure.
iii. Presentl y, Jus ti ce Cyria c Joseph is member
of NHRC. He hails from Kaiphuza village of
Kotta yam distri ct i n Kerala and was a Judge
of the Supreme Court from 2008 to 2012.
i v. Jus tice Balakrishna n, the former Chief
Jus ti ce of India , completed his tenure as the
si xth and the longes t servi ng NHRC
Chai rperson. Duri ng his tenure, he was
ins trumental in charti ng out several new
ini tiati ves towards promotion a nd protection
of human ri ghts in the country.
5. MIDC inks MoU with SIDBI to raise Rs
200-crore fund for MSMEs
i . Maha rashtra Indus trial Development
Corpora tion (MIDC) has inked memorandum
of unders tanding (MoU) wi th s tate -run Small
Indus tries Devel opment Bank of India (SIDBI)
to provide eas y finance to mi cro, small and
medium enterprises (MSMEs) for their
growth.
ii . The MoU was signed Ananta P Sa rma, MD
and CEO of SIDBI and MIDC CEO Bhushan
Ga grani in the presence of Maha rashtra Chief
Minis ter Devendra Fadanvis in Nashik,
Maha rashtra .
iii. As per the MoU, both signa tory pa rties
ha ve jointl y crea ted funds to the tune of 200
crore rupees to provide immedia te finance to
the MSMEs.
i v. Of the total amount, the MIDC has
contributed 75 crore rupees , while SIDBI has
provided the remaining 125 crore rupees.
6. India-born Nikesh Arora named Japan's
SoftBank Corp president
i . Indian-born Ni kesh Arora was on 11 Ma y
2015 appointed as the President of Japans
mul tina tional telecommuni ca tions and
internet company SoftBank Corp.
ii . As per the announcement made at the
companys ea rning conference, he will also
be the Representa ti ve Di rector of SoftBank
Corp.
iii. Before the present eleva tion, he had been
the Vi ce Chai rman of the company and the
Chief Executi ve Offi cer (CEO) of SB Group US,
Inc. (former SoftBank Internet and Media,
Inc.) since September 2014.
i v. He succeeds Masa yoshi Son, Chai rman
and CEO of the Softbank Corp.
v. Ea rlier, Arora worked in Google for 10
yea rs and left the company as the Senior Vice
President and Chief Business Offi cer before
joining SoftBank Corp. in 2014.
7. Canara Bank launches mega CASA
campaign
i . Cana ra Bank has launched a mega CASA
(current a ccount, savi ngs a ccount) ca mpaign
in Bengaluru wi th the CanBa nk men and
women wi th thei r logo colour caps flooding
the nook and corners of the ci ty to sell their
products .
ii . Executi ve directors P S Rawa t and
Ha rideesh Kuma r spea rheaded the ca mpaign.
iii. The enti re ci ty was di vi ded into 16 clus ters
covering 173 branches . Ea ch clus ter was led
by the rank of a General Mana ger from head
office.
8. Hyderabad to host global pharma summit
i . Hyderabad will pla y hos t to a four-da y
gl obal pha rma expo and summit from Jul y
23.
ii . Wi th Innova tion and Advances as i ts
theme, the event will delibera te on a range
of issues, from pha rma ceuti cal technology to
educati on, indigenous drugs and drug
regula tory a ffai rs , besides serving as a
pla tform for joint ventures and project
collabora tion.
iii. Renowned pha rma ceuti cal experts will be
addressing the Indo-Global Pha rma Expo and
Summi t 2015, being organised by Indus
Founda tion, in associa tion wi th FTAPCCI and
OMICS group, a ccording to S.B.
i v. Anumolu, president of the Founda tion.
More than 4,000 delega tes a re expected to
a ttend the event, whi ch will serve as a one
s top s tage for showcasing lates t
technologi cal devel opments .
9. Indian- origin Priti Patel gets British
cabinet rank
i . Indian-origin Tory MP Pri ti Pa tel has been
appointed minister of s ta te for employment
in Bri tish Prime Minis ter Da vid Cameron's
new cabinet.
 ii . Pa tel , who called her new pos ting a t the
depa rtment for work and pensions "a real
pri vilege", won the recent elections by
1. President Pranab Mukherjee appoints
new Governors in six states
i. President Pranab Mukherjee on 12 Ma y
2015 appointed Governors in six s ta tes. Their
appointments will take effect from the dates
they assume cha rge.
Following are newly appointed Governors
Jharkhand: Former Odisha Mi nister Droupadi
Murmu was appointed as Governor of
Jha rkhand. She will repla ce Dr Syed Ahmed.
Manipur: Dr Syed Ahmed has been
trans fered to Manipur for remaining period
of his term.
Arunachal Pradesh: J P Ra jkhowa was
appointed as Governor of Aruna chal Pra desh.
He will repla ce Lt. General (Retd.) Ni rbha y
Sha rma .
Mizoram: Lt. General (Retd.) Ni rbha y Sha rma
has been trans ferred and a ppointed as
Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of
his term.
Tripura: Ta tha gata Roy will be the Governor
of Tripura .
2. Centre okays Rs. 20,000-crore budget for
Namami Gange scheme
i. The Ca binet approved the flagship
Namami Gange programme, whi ch
integra tes the efforts to clean and protect
the Ri ver Ganga in a comprehensi ve manner.
ii. The progra mme has a budget outla y of Rs.
20,000 crore for the next 5 yea rs .
iii. The amount was a signi fi cant four-fold
increase over the expenditure alloca ted to
the task of cleaning the Ganga over the past
30 yea rs .
iv. The progra mme would be implemented
by the Na tional Mission for Clean Ganga
(NMCG), and i ts sta te counterpa rt
organisati ons , tha t is , the Sta te Progra mme
Mana gement Groups (SPMGs).
v. Na mami Gange will focus on pollution
aba tement interventions, namel y
interception and di version and treatment of
was te wa ter flowing through open drains via
bio-remedia tion/ appropria te in-situ
trea tment/use of i nnova ti ve
12
securing 58% of the votes from Wi tha m.
iii. She was the exchequer secreta ry to the
treasury from Jul y 2014 to Ma y 2015. The 43-
Daily GK Update - 13th May 2015
technologies/sewage trea tment plants
(STPs )/effl uent trea tment plant (ETPs ).
3. Houses nominate members for Joint
Committee on land bill
i. Ra jya Sabha on Wednesda y na med 10
members , i ncluding Di gvi ja ya Singh of
Congress and Trinamool s Derek OBrien, to
the Joi nt Commi ttee tha t will look into the
controversial Land Acquisi tion Bill.
ii. The 30-member Joint Commi ttee of Lok
Sa bha and Ra jya Sabha would submi t its
report on the fi rst da y of Monsoon Session
on the bill which has al ready been passed by
the Lower House.
iii. The government, whi ch had promul gated
ordinance twi ce on the bill since December
last a fter i t fa ced si milar resis tance ea rlier,
had a greed to refer i t to the commi ttee after
NDA allies Shi v Sena and Akali Dal joi ned the
Opposition in Lok Sabha to oppose the
measure.
4. Retail inflation eases to 4-month low
i. Retail i nfla tion in April softened further and
fell to a four-month l ow of 4.87 per cent as
pri ces of food i tems , vegetables and fruits
turned cheaper.
ii. The retail infla tion, measured on the basis
of Consumer Pri ce Index (CPI), was revised
upwa rds to 5.25 per cent from 5.17 per cent
in Ma rch 2015.
iii. Food inflation, based on Consumer Food
Pri ce Index, fell to 5.11 per cent during the
month from 6.14 per cent in Ma rch.
iv. Fall in food infla tion was mainl y dri ven by
frui ts , vegetables , milk and rela ted products .
5. HSBC cuts India ratings to underweight
i. In the fi rs t ma jor downgra de for Indian
ma rkets in the pas t one yea r, global
brokera ge HSBC changed i ts sta nce on the
country to underweight, sa ying corporate
ea rnings ma y remain muted, monsoon could
be weak a nd odds a re a gainst further rate
cuts .
yea r-old was fi rs t elected the MP for Wi tham
in Ma y 2010.
ii. HSBC further said tha t India has be come
the second mos t expensi ve and one of the
mos t over-owned ma rkets in Asia .
iii. The downgra de comes a t a time when
Indian ma rkets a re already under a cute
pressure, prima ril y because of foreign
inves tors turni ng hea vy sellers on concerns
rela ted to the controversial MAT levy and
dela y in the ambi tious indi rect ta x (GST) and
land reforms.
6. Reliance Jio to raise $750 million from
Korean company
i. Reliance Indus tries has signed up for a
$750 million loan, ba cked by Korea Trade
Insura nce Corp, to pri maril y finance the
procurements for i ts i nfras tructure rollout
from Samsung Electroni cs and Ace
Technologies Corp.
ii. It has a door-to-door tenor of 12 yea rs,
including a two-yea r a vailability period and a
10-yea r repa yment peri od therea fter.
iii. Reliance Jio Infocomm is setting up a pan-
India telecom network for 4th genera tion
Net servi ces , communica tion servi ces and
other digi tal servi ces in a reas like educa tion,
heal thca re, security, financial servi ces,
government-ci ti zen i nterfa ces and
entertainment.
7. BRICS Cup from next year, first one to be
held in India
i. Coi nciding wi th the BRICS (Brazil , Russia,
India, China and South Afri ca) summi t next
yea r in India , an under-17 football
tournament will be pla yed between the
na tions .
ii. As a lead-up to the 2017 under-17 FIFA
World Cup, India will use the competi tion to
tes t i ts infras tructure and on-field
prepa rati on.
iii. FC Ba rcelona or Qa ta rs under-17 side
ha ve been mooted as possible pa rti cipants
due to thei r links wi th the Uni ted Nations
body.
iv. The tournaments launch was
a ccompanied by the signing of a
Memorandum of Unders tanding between
the Associa ted Cha mbers of Commerce
(ASSOCHAM) a nd the Brazilian
representati ves.

Punjab becomes first state to issue Soil
Health Cards to farmers
i . Punjab has become the fi rst s ta te in India
to issue Soil Heal th Ca rds (SHCs ), a Union
Government ini tia ti ve to all fa rmers in the
s tate.
ii . In this rega rd, every distri ct of s ta te has
been assigned mobile soil tes ting lab. These
labs will take soil sample from every fa rm
and issue a digi talised soil health details .
iii. Presentl y, s tate government has 66 such
labora tories and has capability to tes t 3.5
lakh s oil samples annuall y. Sta te government
also has made manda tory for these labs to
check soil heal th on qua rterl y basis.
i v. It will help fa rmers i n maintaining the
balanced heal th s tructure of the soil and
educate them to use ri ght quanti ty of
fertilisers in order to prevent soil from
becoming a rid.
v. Pri me Minis ter Na rendra Modi had
formally launched the na tionwide Soil
Heal th Ca rd Scheme in Februra ry 2015 in
Sura tga rh, Ra jasthan.
Disinvestment: Cabinet nod for IOC, NTPC
stake sale may fetch Rs 13,600 crore
i . The government will sell its 10 per cent
s take in blue -chip Indian Oil Corpora tion
(IOC) and 5 per cent in power producer NTPC
to mop up a bout Rs 13,600 crore in this
fis cal s fi rst disinves tment approval .
ii . The approvals a re pa rt of Rs 41,000 crore
disinves tment ta rget for the current financial
yea r.
iii. Buoyed by diesel pri ce deregulation, the
government is looking a t selling s take in
1. Modi's Visit to China
i . Pri me Minis ter Narendra Modi announced
tha t India will grant e -visas to Chinese
tourists .
ii . Agreements between India and China
1. Protocol for es tablishment of consula tes in
Chengdu and Chennai
2. Coopera tion in voca tional educa tion and
skill development and setting up of Maha tma
Ga ndhi insti tute on skill devel opment i n India
13
Daily GK updates - 14th May 2015
Indians la rgest fuel retailer IOC for the ii . The report finds tha t gl oball y, life
second ti me in 13 months . Sale of 24.27 expecta ncy a t bi rth has increased by si x years
crore shares , or 10 per cent sta ke, in IOC for both men and women since 1990.
would mop up close to Rs 8,000 crore at
current ma rket pri ce.
i v. Decision in this rega rd was taken by Union
Cabi net Meeting chai red by Prime Minister
Na rendra Modi in New Del hi.
v. Currentl y, Union government holds 74.96
per cent in NTPC and 68.57 per cent in IOC.
Lok Sabha passes Negotiable Instruments
iii. Since 1990, child dea ths ha ve al most
(Amendment) Bill
hal ved falling from an esti ma ted 90 deaths
i . The Lok Sabha passed the negotiable
per 1000 li ve bi rths to 46 dea ths per 1000
Ins truments (Amendment) Bill , which aims at
li ve bi rths in 2013. Yet the world will not
ma king filing of cases more convenient for
a chieve the MDG ta rget of reducing the
pa yees if cheques bounce.
dea th ra te by two-thi rds .
ii . The government fa ced questions from its
i v. In India, li fe expectancy grew by eight
own members and allies over whether the
yea rs between 1990 and 2013. While India
Bill's provisions could be used by corporates
has sha rpl y reduced i ts infant mortality
to ha rass common people.
between 2000 and 2013, i t still contri butes
iii. The Bill was passed by a voi ce vote, wi th
for the mos t i nfant dea ths globall y. Non -
Minis ter of Sta te for Fina nce Ja yant Sinha
communi cable diseases are the top killers,
insisting tha t i t would boost the "integrity of
fi nancial s ys tem" and not lead to the followed by communi cable diseases and
injuries .
ha rassment of the common man.
i v. The Bill was necessita ted due to a
Supreme Court order tha t cases against WPI inflation dips to record (-)2.65 per
i . Deflationa ry pressure continued for the
those ha vi ng defaul ted on thei r cheque
si xth month in a row wi th inflation dropping
pa yments could onl y be filed in courts under
to a new low of (-)2.65 per cent in April,
whose jurisdi ction the bank a ccount of the
mainl y on a ccount of decline in pri ces of fuel
a ccused fell.
and manufa ctured i tems even as food prices
increased.
RBI plans IT wing as financial crimes rise in
cyber space
i . The Reserve Bank is planning to set up an
informa tion technology wing to fa ce the
rising challenges comi ng from the cyber
world.
ii . It can be noted that online frauds in the
fi nancial sector ha ve been on the rise and
hundreds of gullible people ha ve been
defrauded by crooks, using thei r s tolen credit
and debit ca rd informa tion. ii . Inflation, as measured on the Wholesale
iii. The cyber thieves ha ve even been using Pri ce Index (WPI), has been in the negati ve
RBI logos to send out mails to cheat zone since November, 2014.
cus tomers . iii. The deflationa ry trend has bolstered the
case for a ra te cut by the Reserve Bank, as
India way behind on WHO health targets retail inflation has also eased and indus trial
i . India has met onl y four of ten health producti on is down.
ta rgets under the Millenium Development
Goals (MDG).
Daily GK Update - 15th May 2015
3. Consul ta ti ve mechanism on coopera tion in
trade negotia tions
4. Coopera tion between Forei gn Minis try and
and Central Committee of Communist Pa rty
of China (CCCPC)
5. Acti on plan between na tional railwa y
administra tion of China and Indian Railwa ys
6. Memora ndum of Unders tanding on
educati on exchange progra mme
7. Coopera tion in the fields of mining and
mi nerals
8. Space coopera tion outline
9. Sa fety regulations on i mporting Indian
rapeseed meal
10. Broa dcasting a greement between CCTV
and Doorda rshan
11. Agreement for coopera tion in the field of
tourism
12. Memorandum of Understanding on
es tablishing India -China think tanks forum
13. Memorandum of Unders tanding between
NITI Aa yog and Development Research
Centre
iii. Two MoUs between Indian Council for
Cul tural Relations (ICCR) a nd Yunnan Mi nzu
Uni versi ty and another wi th Fudan Uni versi ty
were signed on the es tablishment of a yoga
college and centre for Gandhian and Indian
s tudies , respecti vel y.
2. Rajyavardhan Rathore inaugurates India
Pavilion at 68th Cannes Film Festival
i . Minis ter of Sta te for Informa tion and
Broadcas ting Ra jya va rdhan Singh Ra thore
inaugura ted the India Pa vilion a t the 68th
Cannes Interna tional Film Fes ti val .
ii . The government is channelising that
objecti ve through ca mpaigns like 'Make in
India and Skill India, and realises tha t the
fil m indus try is an important pa rt of these
campaigns gi ven i ts tremendous potential
towa rds job crea tion.
iii. The session also saw unveiling of the 46th
IFFI, 2015 regula tions and India Film Guide
by Ra thore.
i v. The India Fil m Guide is a comprehensive
booklet wi th i nformation on policy ini tia tives
by the government pertaining to fil m sector,
the listing of Indian companies a t Cannes
Fil m Ma rket.
3. Google in talks with Arunachal govt for
Chromebook laptops in schools
i . Global tech giant Google is in discussions
wi th the Aruna chal Pradesh government to
run a pilot for depl oying Chromebook laptops
for s chool s tudents.
ii . The pilot is proposed to be run in s chools
in two ci ties Itana gar and Zi ro.
1. Egypt's ousted President Morsy
sentenced to death
i. An Egyptian court has sentenced ousted
President Mohammed Mors y to dea th.
14
iii. Chromebook is a laptop running Googles
Chrome Opera ting Sys tem. The devi ces are
designed to be used pri ma ril y while
connected to the internet wi th most
appli ca tions and da ta residing in the cloud.
4. SBI Launches NFC-Enabled Contactless
Debit and Credit Cards
i . State Bank of India joined i ts pri va te sector
ri vals to launch conta ctless ca rds using la test
nea r field technology (NFC).
ii . Called the SBIinTouch ca rds , these
conta ctless debi t and credi t ca rds a re more
secure and hassle-free to use a t mercha nt
outlets or ATMs and use the NFC technology,
whi ch enables users to ma ke pa yments by
wa ving or ta pping the ca rd nea r the
conta ctless reader ins tead of s wiping or
dipping i t.
iii. Pri va te lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank
ha ve al ready launched such NFC ca rds .
i . Talented Indian youngs ter Tejaswi ni Sa gar
i v. Launching the ca rds , SBI chai rperson
Arundha ti Bha tta chrya said the bank has
al ready issued 1.08 la kh new ca rds to its
cus tomers in the ei ght la rges t metros and the
remaining cus tomers will get the ca rds in the
following months .
5. RBI allows transactions upto Rs 2000
without second factor authentication
i . In a move tha t will promote 'tap and pa y'
electronic pa yments, the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) said that bank can allow
cus tomers to transa ct wi th conta ctless ca rd
upto Rs 2000 wi thout cus tomers punching a
sepa ra te PIN for authentica tion.
ii . The 'tap a nd pa y' refers to the use of nea r-
field communi cati on ( NFC) technology,
enabling users to ma ke pa yments by wa ving
or tapping the ca rd nea r the contactless
reader ins tead of s wiping i t.
iii. Prior to this relaxa tion, after tapping the
ca rd a t a point of sale ma chines , the
cus tomer ha d to punch their PIN number as
an addi tional fa ctor authenti ca tion to a void
any chances of fra ud.
i v. Tap a nd pa y refers to the use of nea r field
communi ca tion technology in pa yment ca rds
Daily GK Updates - 16th May 2015
ii. Judge Shaaban el-Sha mi referred his death
sentence on Mors y and more than 20 others
to the nations top Muslim theologian, or
mufti, for his non-binding opinion.
iii. The ous ted leader al ready is serving a 20-
yea r sentence following his convi cti on on
April 21 on cha rges linked to the killing of
protes ters outside a Cai ro presidential palace
in December 2012.
where ins tead of the tradi tional s wiping of
the ca rd and punching in pa yment details, all
the cus tomer needs to do is wa ve a ca rd in
front of an a cceptance devi ce for the bill to
be settled.
6. MHRD Gave Nod For Setting Up IIIT in
Nagpur, Maharashtra
i . Union Minis try of Human Resource
Development (MHRD) ga ve a n in-pri nciple
approval for setting up an IIIT (Indian
Ins ti tute of Informa tion Technology) in
Nagpur, Maha rashtra .
ii . It will be the fi rs t IIIT to be set up in the
s tate.
iii. The IIIT will join a ba tch of national
ins ti tutes whi ch a re set to come up in the
ci ty, namel y the All India Ins ti tute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) a nd Indian Insti tute of
Mana gement (IIM).
i v. The setting up of these hi gher educational
ins ti tutions in Na gpur is aimed a t i mproving
educati onal infras tructure in the ba ckwa rd
Vida rbha region.
7. Tejaswini Sagar wins gold at Under-15
World School Chess Championship
won her maiden world ti tle ba gging the gold
in the under-15 ca tegory of World School
Chess Championship tha t concluded in
pa tta ya .
ii . Needing a las t round win and one
fa voura ble resul t, the Aurangaba d-girl
defea ted Ka vi nya Mi yuni Ra japaksa of Sri
Lanka in the ninth and final round.
iii. Tejaswini was aided by the resul t on the
top boa rd as overni ght leader Irina
Ba rba yeva of Russia los t to Alisa Kozyba yeva
of Kaza khs tan in the final clash.
i v. For the record, Tejaswini s cored seven
points out of a possible ni ne, winning si x,
dra wing two and losing one ga me.
2. Airtel clinches $2.5 billion Chinese
financing deals
i. Bha rti Ai rtel has recei ved financing
commitments of up to USD 2.5 billion from
Chi na Development Bank and Industrial and
Commercial Ba nk of China , with an a verage
ma turi ty of a bout nine yea rs .
ii. This is the single -larges t bilateral
commitment by Chi na Development Bank to
any telecom opera tor globally and the largest
bila teral commi tment to a pri va te Indian
company.
iii. Bha rti Airtel a nnounced a s tra tegic
collabora tion wi th China Mobile, under
whi ch the two companies will work towards
growth of the Long-Term Evoluti on (LTE)
ecos ys tem and evol ving mobile technology
s tanda rds .
3. Arun Shrivastava assumes charge as
Syndicate Bank MD and CEO
i. Arun Shri vas ta va assumed cha rge as
Mana ging Di rector & CEO of Syndi ca te Bank.
ii. He was Executi ve Di rector of Bank of India,
looking a fter Finance, Stra tegy & Pla nning,
La rge Corpora te & Mid Corpora te Business,
Corpora te Debt Res tructuring, Project
Fi nance & Syndi ca tion, Credi t Monitoring &
Asset Recovery, Publici ty & Publi c Relations
portfolios of the bank.
iii. Ea rlier, Shri vas ta va was overseeing the
forei gn subsidiaries BoI Indonesia and
Botswana and joi nt venture India Zambia
Ba nk.
iv. He is a Certi fied Associa te of Indian
Ins ti tute of Bankers and AIBM. He sta rted his
ca reer as di rect recrui t offi cer i n Bank of
Ba roda in 1979.
4. Modi inaugurates ICICI Bank's first branch
in China
i. Top pri va te sector lender ICICI Bank
opened i ts fi rst bra nch in China , whi ch was
inaugura ted by Pri me Minister Na rendra
Modi .
ii. The new branch would begin with 17
banking professionals handling different
PM Modi on Three Day Visit to China: In Detail
Pri me Minis ter Na rendra Modi visited China
this week to build friendship between the
two Asian giants despite a long his tory of
disputes and ri val ries , along wi th some areas
of coopera tion, especiall y in the economic
sphere.
PM Na rendra Modi "believes" tha t his three -
da y visit to China will deepen bilateral ties
and crea te a milestone for the relations
between developing countries in Asia and
a round the world.
DAY 1
PM Modi s fi rs t leg of his high-octane China
visi t in Xian promised a ri ch ha rves t of
positi ve optics as Chinese President Xi Jinping
went on record as sa ying that Modi was the
15
functions including corpora te banking,
opera tions , finance and treasury.
iii. Some publi c sector banks incl uding SBI,
UCO Ba nk, Ca na ra Bank a nd Allahabad Bank
ha ve also expanded thei r presence i n China
in the recent yea rs to tap growing trade
fl ows between the two countries .
5. PM Modi extends e-visa for Chinese
nationals
i. Brushing aside objections , Prime Minister
Na rendra Modi announced gra nting of e -visa
(electroni c visa also called visa on a rri val)
fa cili ty to the Chinese na tionals in Bei jing
even as he urged China to "reconsider its
approa ch" to issues tha t ha ve long strained
ties and compli ca ted business between the
two Asian giants .
ii. Pledging to improve his tori call y weak
economic links between thei r countries , India
and China also signed 24 deals worth over
$10 billion, including MOUs in the a rea of
skill development, railwa ys , establishing
sister rela tions between ci ties of the two
countries among others.
iii. Modi's announcement on e -visas took
everyone by surprise as onl y a couple of
hours before ha d India's forei gn se creta ry S
Jaishanka r said ca tegori call y, "We are
expa nding i t (e-visa ) bit by bi t. Wi th rega rd to
Chi na , no decision has been taken yet on
extending e-visa ."
6. Shakuntala Gamlin takes charge as Delhi
chief secretary despite CM Arvind Kejriwal's
directive
fi rs t forei gn leader whom he had recei ved in
his home provi nce Xia n. Mr. Modi has been
gi ven a tra ditional welcoming ceremony. It
came as a reciprocation of sorts since Xi
hi mself had begun his maiden India trip eight
months ago in Ahmedabad, in Modi s na ti ve
s tate Guja ra t.
i. Senior Indian Administra ti ve Servi ce (IAS)
officer Sha kuntala Gamlin on Sa turda y took
cha rge as a cting Chief Secreta ry of Delhi
Government despi te being asked by the Chief
Minis ter not to do so.
ii. A senior Delhi government official said
tha t in his letter to Gamlin, Delhi Chief
Minis ter Arvi nd Kejri wal had said tha t her
appointment is a gainst the set rule.
iii. Lt Governor Na jeeb Jung ga ve the
addi tional cha rge of Chief Secreta ry to
Ga mlin, a 1984-ba tch IAS offi cer, hours after
she wrote a s ca thing letter to Jung claiming
tha t s he was pressurised by a senior
bureaucra t in Chief Mi nister's offi ce not to be
in ra ce for the pos t due to her alleged
proximi ty to BSES dis coms.
7. Gagan Narang wins World Cup bronze,
earns India quota for Rio Olympics
i. Ga gan Nara ng won the bronze medal in the
50m Ri fle Prone Event of the ISSF World Cup
a t Fort Benning in USA, ea rning hi mself a
quota pla ce for the 2016 Ri o Ol ympi cs.
ii. Na ra ng, who won the bronze in 10m Rifle
a t the London Ol ympi cs , shot 185.8 overall to
secure thi rd place behind gold medalist
Mi chael McPhail (208.8 points ) of USA and
Ole Kris tian Bryhn (206.3) of Norwa y.
iii. The other quota pla ce from the event
went to McPhail.
iv. Ea rlier in the competiti on, Na rang and
India's onl y indi vidual Ol ympi c gol d medallist
Abhina v Bindra , had failed to qualify for the
10m Ri fle final.
v. Na rang is thi rd Indian s hooter to make the
Ri o cut a fter Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela.
"You received me very warmly in your
hometown. I am very glad to receive you in
my hometown," Xi told Modi in Chinese.
Modi, in Hindi, responded, "This is an
honour to 125 crore Indians whom I am
representing as Prime Minister."
After thei r meeting, Xi Jinping a ccompanied
Modi to several ancient si tes in Xi'an. He also
hosted a banquet for him in a building on the
ancient ci ty wall .
DAY 2
On the Da y 2 of Modi's visit, India and China
signed a record 24 a greements in key
sectors , including in railwa ys and educa tion.
Protocol for setti ng up Consula tes-General at
Chengdu and Chennai besides an MoU on
consulta ti ve mecha nism for coopera tion in
trade negotia tions were among the 24
agreements signed in the presence of Modi
and his Chinese counterpa rt Li Keqiang. An
a ction plan between the Indian Railwa ys and
Chi na Na tional Railwa ys on enhancing
coopera tion in the railwa y sector was also
signed.
Here's the complete lis t:
Protocols between India and China on
the es tablishment of consula tes-general
a t Chengdu and Chennai and the
extension of the consula r dis tri ct of the
consulate general of India i n Guanzhou
to include Jiangxi provi nce.
MoU between the minis try of skill
development a nd entrepreneurship of
India and the ministry of human
resources and social securi ty of China on
coopera tion in the field of vocational
educati on and skill devel opment.
Action plan on coopera tion in setting up
of the Maha tma Gandhi National
Ins ti tute for Skill Development and
Entrepreneurs hip in
Ahmedabad/Ga ndhina ga r in Guja rat.
MoU between India and China on
consulta ti ve mechanism for coopera tion
in trade negotia tions .
MoU on coopera tion between the
mi nistry of external affai rs of India and
international depa rtment of the central
committee of the Communist Pa rty of
Chi na .
Action plan between the National
Railwa y Administra tion of China and the
mi nistry of railwa ys of India on
enhancing cooperati on in the railwa y
sector. (2015-16).
MoU on educa tion exchange
progra mme.
MoU between the minis try of mines of
India and the ministry of land and
PM's social security schemes: Canara Bank
rolls out awareness campaigns across Delhi
i. Building on the s uccess of Pra dhan Ma ntri
Jan Dhan Yojana , the s ta te-owned Canara
Ba nk on Sunda y rolled out awareness
campaigns a cross Delhi on the Prime
Minis ter's three la test social securi ty
s chemes.
ii. Roadshows were held in 16 clus ters a cross
Delhi to promote the three new social
securi ty s cheme -
16
resources of China on the coopera tion
in the mini ng and minerals sector.
Spa ce Coopera tion Outline (2015-2020).
Protocol on heal th and safety
regula tions on importing Indian
rapeseed meal between the export
inspection council, minis try of
commerce and i ndus try of India and the
general administra ti on of quality
supervision, i nspection and qua rantine.
MoU between Doorda rshan and China
Central Television on coopera tion in the
field of broadcasting.
Agreement between the ministry of
tourism of India and the national
tourism adminis tra tion of China on
coopera tion in the field of touris m.
MoU on es tablishing India -China think-
tanks forum.
MoU between India's Ni ti Aa yog and the
Development Research Centre, State
Council of China .
MoU between India's ministry of ea rth
s ciences and the China Earthquake
Administra tion concerning coopera tion
in the field of ea rthquake s cience and
ea rthquake engineering.
MoU between India's ministry of ea rth
s ciences and the Sta te Oceanic
Administra tion of China on coopera tion
in the field of ocean s cience, ocean
technology, clima te change, polar
s cience and cryosphere.
MoU on s cientifi c coopera tion between
Geological Survey of India , ministry of
mi nes of India and the China Geol ogical
Survey, mi nistry of land a nd resources
of China in geoscience.
MoU between the minis try of external
affai rs of India and minis try of foreign
affai rs of China on establishment of
s tates /provincial leaders' forum.
Agreement on the es tablishment of
sister-s tate/province rela tions between
s tate government of Ka rna taka and
provincial government of Si chuan of
Chi na .
Agreement on es tablishment of sister-
ci ty relations between Chennai and
Chongqing of China .
Agreement on es tablishment of sister-
ci ty rela tions between Hyderabad and
Qingdao of China .
Daily GK Update - 17th May 2015
Pradhan Mantri Jeeva n Jyoti Bima
Yojana (PMJJBY)
Pradhan Mantri Sura ksha Bima Yojana
(PMSBY)
Atal Pension Yojana (APY).
iii. For the Delhi region, Cana ra Ba nk has
enrolled the ma xi mum number of persons
(1,12,929 li ves ) under the PMSBY a mong all
banks till da te. Even in the case of PMJJBY,
Cana ra Bank is leading the league table wi th
74,512 li ves enrolled up to Ma y 13 this yea r,
Agreement on es tablishment of sister-
ci ty relations between Aurangabad and
Dunhuang of Chi na.
MoU between the Indian Council for
Cul tural Rela tions and Fudan Uni versi ty
on the es tablishment of a centre for
Ga ndhian and Indian s tudies .
MoU between Indian Council for
Cul tural Rela tions and Yunnan Mi nzu
Uni versi ty on the es tablishment of a
yoga college.
DAY 3
On the thi rd da y of his visit to China , Prime
Minis ter Na rendra Modi met CEOs of top
Chi nese companies i n Shanghai. Taking ties
to a new level, 21 Memorandum of
Unders tandings were si gned between Indian
and Chinese companies.
Modi who i ntera cted wi th CEOs of 22
companies , invi ted them to pa rti cipa te in his
'Make in India' ca mpai gn and lis ted the 5F
formula . He said, "I ha ve come to sa y to you
Make i n India. The 5F Formula - From Fa rm
to Fibre to Fabri c to Fashion to Foreign! India
and China can together gi ve something to
the world."
In a ma jor takeawa y, Bha rti enterprises and
IL&FS signed deals worth $2.5 billion and $3
billion respecti vel y.
In the three days that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has been in China, he has
announced a slew of bilateral agreements
ranging from finding a political solution
to the border issue, to strengthening
cultural ties. We hope that this visit to one
of the most powerful country in the world
will be fruitful in both political and friendly
manner.
da ta a vailable wi th the Delhi Sta te level
Ba nkers ' Commi ttee showed.
CII welcomes biz outcomes of Modis China
visit
i. According to CII, Prime Mi nister Na rendra
Modi s visi t to China has redefined the
economic pa rtnership between the two
la rges t and fastes t-growing devel oping
economies in the worl d.
ii. Wel coming the business outcomes of the
visi t, i t said: Pri me Mi nister Modi s visi t to
Chi na has redefined the economic
pa rtnership of the two larges t and fastes t-
growing developing economies in the world.
iii. In the presence of the Pri me Mi nister at
the India-China Business Forum in Shanghai,
Indian and Chinese companies exchanged 24
agreements for coopera ti on totalling $22
billion, including inves tments and financing
a cross sectors, the s ta tement said.
iv. Chinese ini tia ti ves in the sectors of
railwa ys , skill development, public health and
medi cal educa tion will further build on
economic coopera tion between the two
countries , i t added.
Govt contains fiscal deficit at 4% of GDP;
beats its own target
i. The Government has managed to res tri ct
the fiscal defi ci t to 4 per cent during 2014-15,
whi ch is even bel ow the revised esti mate
announced in the budget. Fis cal defi cit is
di fference between the i ncome and
expendi ture of the Government.
ii. The fis cal defi cit a t the end of 2014-15,
s tands a t Rs . 5,01,880 crore whi ch is 98 per
cent of the projected fi gure in RE (Revised
Es tima te) 2014-15. Fiscal defi cit as a
percentage of GDP is 4 per cent as against
the RE of 4.1 per cent (4.4 per cent for the
previous yea r i .e. 2013-14).
Revenue Deficit
The revenue defi ci t also ca me down to 2.8
per cent as a gainst the revised esti ma te of
2.9 per cent. This defi ci t refers to misma tch
in the projected ea rning ad expendi ture.
Si nce the Government managed to collect
more ta xes than it was expecting, i t impa cted
At a glance: Narendra Modi's 1 year as PM
16th Ma y ma rked 1 yea r since Na rendra
Modi was sworn in as the 14th Prime
Minis ter of India . The Na tional Democra tic
Alliance (NDA) took cha rge on 26 Ma y and
formed India s strongest government after
almos t thi rty yea rs. Led by Modi, the BJP
i tself mana ged to win 282 seats out of 543
seats of the Lok Sabha. For a simple ma jori ty
merel y 272 sea ts were requi red. The
overwhelming performance of the NDA
gushed confidence i nto PM Modi.
Na rendra Modi s campai gns ga ve an
impression tha t he could jus t wa ve a ma gic
wa nd and sort of issues prevailing in the
17
positi vel y not jus t the revenue but also fiscal
defi ci t too.
Income
Ta x authori ties mana ged to collect over Rs.
12.45 lakh crore duri ng the 2014-15, whi ch is
9 per cent more than 2013-14. This collection
is 9.8 per cent of GDP. Such ea rnings whi ch
also comprise of disinves tment s tands at Rs.
43,439 crore wi th an increase of 4 per cent.
Expenditure
In terms of plan expenditure, the RE was Rs.
4.68 lakh crore, but actual was Rs. 4.36 lakh
crore. Simila rl y, non plan expendi ture came
down to Rs . 11.91 lakh crore from the RE of
of Rs . 12.13 lakh crore.
India grants $1 bn credit to Mongolia;
deepens defence ties
i. India toda y announced a US$ one billion
credit line to Mongolia for infras tructure
development as they upgraded thei r ties to
Stra tegi c Pa rtnership and agreed to
deepen defense coopera tion besides
expl oring potential for tie ups in a reas like
the ci vil nuclea r sector.
ii. The two Pri me Mi nisters signed a joi nt
s tatement committi ng to further consolidate
bila teral ties and upgrade the comprehensive
pa rtnership to s tra tegic pa rtnership and
agreed to renew thei r Treaty of Friendl y
Rela tions and Coopera tion.
iii. The two sides inked 13 other pa cts that
includes one on enhanci ng coopera tion in
border gua rding, polici ng and surveillance,
ai r servi ces , cyber securi ty and new and
renewable energy.
Airtel clinches $2.5 billion Chinese financing
deals
i. The funds will help the company further
di versi fy i ts global financing pool a nd invest
in growth of data networks.
country. It seemed as though he would be
able to control inflation, pri ce hi ke, boost
GDP, eradi cate poverty and push awa y
terrorism in a flash. But on the pra cti cal side,
all of it is not possible a t one go.
ii. Bha rti Ai rtel has recei ved financing
commitments of up to USD 2.5 billion from
Chi na Development Bank and Industrial and
Commercial Ba nk of China , with an a verage
ma turi ty of a bout nine yea rs .
iii. The company signed the term sheets for
the fi nancing options in the presence of
Pri me Minister Na rendra Modi , who is
currentl y on an offi cial visit to China .
Infosys to open first overseas campus in
China
i. As India pressed China to open i ts ma rkets
for Indian IT fi rms, technol ogy ma jor Infosys
on Sunda y a nnounced es tablishing i ts fi rst
overseas centre outside India in China wi th
an inves tment of about USD 120 million to
tap in the burgeoning Chinese ma rket.
ii. An MOU i n this rega rd was signed
between Infos ys and the local Chinese
provincial government a t the India-China
Business Forum, whi ch was a ddressed by
Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi in Shanghai
on Sunda y.
iii. The devel opment centre, to be
es tablished in Chi nas Guizhou provi nce, wi th
a s taff capa city of about 4,500 will help to
focus on Chinese and global ma rkets.
Rome Masters 2015: Winners
Women's Singles - Ma ria Sha rapova
Men's Singles - N. Djokovi c
Women's Doubles - Ti mea Babos and
Kris tina Mla denovi c
Men's Doubles - P. Cuevas and D.
Ma rrero
Si mpl y getting a clea r mandate is not enough
for one to prove themselves . The true test
lies in governance tha t would eventually win
confidence of the people .
Be i t for the good or bad, Modi s government
has ini tiated trends that break the traditional
wa y of the previous government. The Prime
Minis ter has set out to res tore the
ins ti tutional balance of power.
Arguably 100 days is not enough to assess
anyone, let alone a government that has to
deal with 1.25 billion people.
But jus t for the record, we a re compiling
sepa ra te lis ts of issues on which Na rendra
Modi and his government ha ve been
appreciated and cri ti ci zed:
1. There was a time when i t was not usual to
see government offi cials coming to their
offices on ti me. But now, wi thin a span of
100 da ys , times ha ve changed. Peons,
bureaucra ts a nd minis ters ha ve to rea ch
office by 9:30 am No exceptions .
To ca p i t all , Union Minis ters gi ve surprise
visi ts to thei r offi cers . Punctuality is
rewa rded and letha rgy is repri manded.
Minis ters politel y ask la te comers to rest at
home.
2. Throughout Na rendra Modis election
campaigns , he spoke about mini mum
government and ma xi mum governance. Lok Sabha working 117 percent of the
Keepi ng to his words, the Prime Minister has
had 17 depa rtments and ministries clubbed
into seven ca tegories to ensure smoother
execution of work. More administra ti ve
res tructuring is i n process . This will also
ensure speedy decision making.
3. The sta rk difference in the functioning of
Manmohan and Modi s government is clea r.
Many projects that had been s talled by ha ve
now been clea red. UPA government had set
up 62 GOMs and EGOMs . But Modi has had
them all removed. For qui ck clea rance of
legal cases, National Da ta Li tiga tion Grid has
been set up.
4. Na rendra Modi had ridi culed Rahul
Ga ndhi s concept of ha vi ng 1.25 billion
wa tchdogs in the country to ensure
a ccountability. He has gi ven stern emphasis
to a ccountabili ty. Mi nisters in the PMO know
tha t they a re being cl osely observed. Modi
burns the midnight oil everyda y for the
country, thus he expects his comrades to
follow sui t.
5. Veteran leaders like L K Adva ni and Murli
Manoha r Joshi ha ve been sidelined. In
contrasts to Congress tha t yet clings on to
the Gandhi fa mily a nd seems vulnerable wi th
them, Na rendra Modi has taken a
courageous step by ma king wa y for other
leaders to prove thei r worth. Adva ni and
Joshi ha ve been dropped from the
Pa rliamenta ry boa rd too. Instead Modi has
handed over the Pa rtys baton to his closest
18
aide Ami t Shah, ho is now the President of
the BJP.
6. Na rendra Modi s grea test gi ft is his a rt of
ora tory. Moreover he knows how to use i t,
when to use it and where to use it.
While the NDA government was being
severel y cri ti ci zed for pri ce hike, CSAT issue,
etc, Modi mesmeri zed the na tion from the
Ra mpa rts of the Red Fort on Independence
Da y. He s poke about sa nita tion, women
empowerment, and unity of SAARC nati ons.
He rea ched out to the world to make in
India and use Indias skill and resources . He
spoke fi ne words on communal harmony and
pea ce. Once again, he won millions of hea rts .
7. This Budget Session has proved to be most
producti ve during the last decade wi th the
s cheduled working hours and the Rajya
Sa bha reported a producti vi ty of 101
percent. The government failed to ensure
passage of the controversial Land Acquisition
Bill as also key reform measure of GST amid
s tiff resistance from opposi tion.
Key Bills Passed by Parliament during the
Budget Session (February 23- May 13, 2015)
The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014: The
Bill introduces certain amendments in
rela tion to Rela ted Pa rty Tra nsactions, fraud
reporting by audi tors , making common seal
optional , and jurisdi ction of special courts to
try certain offences etc.
The Black Money Bill/Undisclosed Foreig n
Income and Assets ( Imposition of Tax) Bill,
2015: It penalizes the concealment of foreign
income, and provides for cri minal liability for
a ttempting to evade ta x in rela tion to foreign
income.
The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill,
2015: La ys out the procedure for a uction of
coal blocks that were cancelled by the
Supreme Court i n September 2014 and
enables pri va te companies to mine coal.
The Mines and Minerals (Development and
Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015: Allows
auction as a method for granting mining
leases for both bulk minerals and notified
mi nerals. Also extends mini ng leases from 30
yea rs to 50 yea rs .
The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill,
2015: Raises the limi t of forei gn holdings to
49% in an Indian insurance company and
allows entry of foreign reinsurers (companies
tha t insure insurance companies).
8. Modi s foreign policies ha ve found
approval too. He i nvi ted all the nei ghboring
leaders to his s wea ring- in ceremony,
including Pakis tans Pri me Minis ter Nawab
Sha rif.
The following international trips were made
by Narendra Modi during 2014-15:
Bhutan
Brazil
Nepal (2)
Japan
United States
Myanmar
Australia
Fiji
Seychelles
Mauritius
Sri Lanka
Singapore
France
Germany
Canada
China
Mong olia
9. There has been hi gher visibility of growth
as the Indian economy regis tered a GDP
growth of 5.7 per cent in the April-June
qua rter of 2014-15. The Indian economy
registered i ts highes t growth i n nine qua rters
this financial yea r.
10. Indian ma rkets ha ve witnessed thei r best
peri od in the pas t 100 da ys after the NDA
government took cha rge on 26 Ma y, 2014.
Both the Sensex and the Nifty ha ve managed
to hi t fresh record highs almost on a daily
basis. The S&P BSE Sensex has rallied nea rl y 9
per cent since the time Modi government
came to power. The S&P BSE Sensex has
been the bes t performing ma rket a mong the
ma jor global ma rkets, up over 27 per cent so
fa r i n the yea r 2014, supported by s trong
gl obal liquidi ty and expecta tion of pro -
growth reforms from the newl y-elected Modi
government. According to experts , one thing
whi ch s tands out since NDA took over the
cha rge is the fa ct tha t business confidence is
ba ck.
Modi government has been criticized for
following reasons:
1. Talking about poli cies, the Congress
a ccuses the government of simpl y following
up UPAs policies . To a certain extend, it does
seem like gi ving old things in new pa cka ges.
The BJP was a gainst FDI while they were in
Opposition. They held protests and dis rupted
the Pa rliament session agains t UPAs
proposal . But of la te they ha ve taken a
complete u-turn by i nvi ting FDI in railwa ys,
defense and insurance. Simila rl y the UPA
government had launched a s ubsidy s cheme
on the basis on Aadha r ca rd. Through this it
was manda tory to open bank a ccounts . The
NDA government has appa rentl y taken out a
new version of the Aadhar Ca rd in the form
of Jan Dhan Yojna .
2. The BJP has been cri ti cized for pra cti cing
politi cs of vendetta . They made i t clea r from
the very beginni ng tha t they wanted all the
governors appointed by the UPA government
to be replaced wi th thei r own people. The
government sa cked Kamla Beniwal a ged 87.
She was the governor of Gujara t who sha red
hostile relationshi p with Na rendra Modi
while he was the Chief Minister of the Sta te.
They fi rs t had her transferred to Mi rzoram
for a couple of da ys before transferri ng her.
Narendra Modi reaches South Korea,
economic and trade cooperation high on
agenda
i. Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi a rri ved in
South Korea on the las t leg of his three -
na tion visit duri ng which he will hol d talks
wi th the South Korean leadership aiming to
gi ve a fillip to economic a nd trade
coopera tion.
ii. A slew of agreements a re expected to be
signed duri ng the visit including one on
Double Ta xati on Avoida nce Convention,
coopera tion i n shipping and logisti cs,
audiovisual co-production, transport,
hi ghwa ys and electri c power development in
new energy indus tries .
iii. The Prime Minis ter, who flew in from
Mongolia after his three-da y visi t to China ,
will hold talks on the enti re ga mut of
bila teral, regional and global issues wi th
President Pa rk Geun-hye and explore wa ys to
upgra de coopera tion in di versified a reas.
6th National Conference on Nuclear Energy
held in New Delhi
i. Si xth edi tion of Na tional Conference on
Nuclea r Energy held in New Delhi . The theme
19
3. Despite disapproval of the Supreme Court,
and continuous demands of the Congress,
the government a damantl y refused to gra nt
the Congress position of Leader of
Opposition.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumi tra Maha jan said
tha t she was merel y following the
consti tution. The Supreme Court expressed
concern over a ppointment of Lokpal that
requi red the presence of LoP. NDA
government decided to provide Z-plus
securi ty to Muza ffarnaga r ri ots a ccused
Sa ngeet Som. His case is pending in the High
Court. This move not jus t drew sha rp
cri ti cisms but i t also raises ques tions on BJP
appa rent move to promote pola ri zed poli ti cs.
Modi led government also appointed Utta r
Pradeshs controversial fi gure
Adi tya nath, MP of Gorakhpur, to lead
Daily GK Updates - 18th May 2015
of this edi tion was Nuclear Energy: a Clean
Energy option.
ii. It was organi zed by Associated Chambers
of Commerce and Indus try of India
(ASSOCHAM), one of the apex trade
associations of India .
iii. The conference discussed the issue
rela ted to the s ta tus of Nuclear Energy in
India.
iv. Apa rt from i t va rious issues were also
dis cussed including on nuclea r energy to the
deca rbonisati on of power sector, Cli mate
change & the future of nuclea r energy,
nuclear energy expansion & Make in India .
Centre allocates Rs 5,000 crore for
development of AYUSH
i. The government has allocated Rs 5,000
crore for the growth of Depa rtment of
AYUSH and launched an independent
Na tional AYUSH Mission ai med at ca paci ty
building for the sector.
ii. For crea ting awa reness about Ayurveda,
the Minis try is consideri ng to observe
Ayurveda Da y.
campaign in Utta r Pradesh by-polls. Yogi
Adi tya nath is the one who raked the Love
Jihad issue, which spread communal ha tred
between two communities .
4. Though Na rendra Modi tried to establish
pea ce and ha rmony between India and
Pakis tan by invi ting Sha ri f to his s wea ring- in
ceremony, he failed to maintain diploma tic
rela tions wi th the country. The Pakis tan a rmy
has been viola ting ceasefi re continuously
after Modi government took cha rge, but the
government failed to ta ke necessary steps
agains t i t. On the Pakis tan envoys meet wi th
Kashmi r sepa ra tis ts, India called off the
Secreta ry level meeting but could not bar
Pakis tan from talking to sepa ra tists through
diploma ti c pressure.
Given the challenges, hes done remarkably
well. But its just the start!!!
Yogi
iii. Independent National AYUSH Mission is
launched aiming capa city building for the
sector. The mission will ensure crea tion of a
centre of excellence for Ayurveda , Yoga,
Unani , Siddha and Homoeopa thy
independentl y.
HDFC Bank launches medical benefits
prepaid card
i. HDFC Bank has launched 'HDFC Bank Apollo
Medical Benefi ts Ca rd'.
ii. The bank has pa rtnered wi th Apollo
Hospi tals for this prepaid product, whi ch
allows corpora tes to easily disburse medical
allowance to thei r employees, sa ving time
and cos t.
iii. Wi th the ca rd, the administra ti ve process
of disbursing money is being made qui ck and
simple. Corpora tes ca n load the specified
allowance onto the ca rd each month, whi ch
can be used by empl oyees for medical
expendi ture a t pan-India VISA/ Mas terCa rd
outlets .
iv. The ca rd offers employees a ccess to a
wi de range of addi tional benefi ts in the form
of offers and discounts , and fa cilities such as
free ambulance servi ces .
India to assume Presidency of the 68th
World Health Assembly
i. Minis ter of Heal th & Fa mil y Wel fa re, Ja gat
Pra kash Nadda , will preside over the 68th
Session of the World Health Assembl y (WHA)
a t Geneva as India assumes the Presidency of
the WHA, the hi gh decision ma king body of
the World Health Organisa tion (WHO), after
a gap of 19 yea rs .
ii. The Union Minis ter is leading a high level
Indian delega tion to the WHA, to be held in
Geneva From Ma y 18-27, 2015.
iii. According to a PIB release, the 68th World
Heal th Assembl y is expected to delibera te on
key issues of global interes t i ncluding anti -
mi crobial resistance, ai r polluti on and health,
gl obal health emergency, prepa redness and
surveillance, global stra tegy and plan of
a ction on publi c health, innova tion and
intellectual property, and resea rch and
development in neglected tropi cal diseases.
iv. The Union Minis ter will also pa rti cipa te in
a number of bila teral and mul tilateral
meetings on the sidelines of the WHA
including the Commonweal th Health
Minis ters Meeting, 8th NAM Health
Google help for NGOs working on child
safety
i. Google India has announced support for
three non-governmental agencies from India
working on child safety.
ii. The three organisations are ChildLine India
Founda tion, Ba chpan Ba chao Andolan, and
the Chennai-based Tuli r - Centre for the
Healing and Prevention of Child Sexual
Abuse.
iii. ChildLine provides a toll-free helpline
servi ce (1098) for children in distress , fi rst
launched in 1996, Ba chpan Ba chao Andolan
sets i tself a mission to protect and rescue
children from slavery, tra fficking and forced
labour.
iv. Google will help these organisa tions pilot
sma rt new applica tions of technology wi th $
5,00,000 in grants through Google.org to
ensure tha t children in India remain safe.
IDBI Bank to roll out e-huts
20
Minis ters Meeti ng and BRICS Health
Minis ters meeting.
World's oldest comatose patient Aruna
Shanbaug dead
i. Aruna Shanba ug, the former nurse at KEM
Hospi tal here who was brutall y sexually
assaulted by a wa rd boy a t the fa cility 42
yea rs ago and had been l ying in a vegetati ve
s tate ever since, passed a wa y toda y.
ii. The 66-yea r-old was ba ttling a serious
bout of pneumonia and was on ventilator
support, King Edwa rd Memorial (KEM)
hospital sources said.
iii. She was in the medi cal ICU of the hospital
loca ted in Pa rel a rea of Mumbai.
iv. On November 27, 1973, while worki ng as
a junior nurse a t KEM Hospi tal, s he was
sexuall y assaulted by a wa rd boy. She was in
a vegeta ti ve s ta te since the assaul t. On 24
Janua ry 2011, a fter she had been in this s tate
for 38 yea rs , the Supreme Court responded
to the plea for euthanasia filed by Aruna's
Daily GK Updates - 19th May 2015
i. IDBI Bank has decided to roll out e-huts to
connect wi th the rural popula ce.
ii. The bank has currentl y introduced e -
lobbies whi ch a re next to the branches. The
e-hut concept will be completel y unmanned
units .
iii. e-huts is a concept tha t is widel y a ccepted
in the Wes t, but in India, i t's yet to pi ck up.
Draupadi Murmu sworn in as first woman
Governor of Jharkhand
i. Dra upadi Murmu was s worn in as the fi rst
woman Governor of Jha rkhand. Murmu
succeeds Syed Ahmed, who will take over as
Manipur Governor.
ii. A two-time BJP MLA from Odisha , she was
a minis ter in the Na veen Pa tnaik ca binet
when the Bi ju Jana ta Dal ruled the s ta te wi th
the support of Bha ra ti ya Janata Pa rty.
iii. She headed the BJP's Ma yurbhanj dis tri ct
unit in Odisha a nd had represented
Rai rangpur in the Odisha assembl y.
Jha rkhand Hi gh Court Chief Jus ti ce Vi rendra
Si ngh administered the oa th of offi ce to
Murmu.
iv. Jha rkhand Chief Minis ter Ra ghuba r Das,
his ca binet colleagues , former Chief Minis ters
Shibu Soren and Arjun Munda , Union
Minis ter of Sta te for Rural Development
friend, journalist Pinki Vira ni, by setting up a
medi cal panel to examine her.
Brad Haddin: Australia wicketkeeper quits
one-day game
i. Bra d Haddin, the Australia wi cketkeeper,
has formally announced his reti rement from
ODI cri cket, a da y before lea ving for Test
tours of the West Indies and England.
ii. Amid the Aus tralia team's celebrations
after the World Cup final vi ctory over New
Zealand in Melbourne in Ma rch, Haddin had
revealed tha t he was not going to pla y any
more one-da y games .
iii. Haddin pla yed 126 ODIs and scored 3122
runs a t an a vera ge of 31.53 with two
centuries and 16 fi fties. He also had 170
ca tches and 11 stumpings , the thi rd-most
dismissals for Aus tralia after Ada m Gil christ
and Ian Heal y.
Suda rshan Bha gat a nd a host of other
di gni ta ries were present during the oa th -
taking ceremony.
India Meteorological Department signed
MoU with POSOCO Ltd
i. The India Meteorologi cal Depa rtment
(IMD) under the Union Ministry of Ea rth
Sciences on 18 Ma y 2015 signed
Memorandum of Unders tanding (MoU) wi th
Power Sys tem Opera tion Corpora tion Ltd
(POSOCO) for optimum use of wea ther
informa tion/forecast in the power sector.
ii. All wea ther informa tion provi ded by ESSO-
IMD will be used by the Power Sys tem
Opera tors a cross the India for better
ma nagement of Indian Power Sys tem.
iii. IMD will make a vailable current wea ther
informa tion for the identi fied s tati ons ; and
forecas ts a t di fferent time s cales of
tempera ture, humidi ty, wind speed, wind
di rection and rainfall of the identified
s tati ons/sectors .
Indian-American Harkeert Singh Saini won
Prestigious Police Award in Texas
 for over 90 per cent of urban India and over ii. Ka va ra tti is the last of the four anti -
215,000 villages . subma rine wa rfa re class steal th corvettes
being buil t for India under Project 28.
iii. The corvette, with a displacement of
3,300 tonnes , has a length of 109.1 metres
and measures 13.7-m a t beam.
iv. It was designed by the Di rectora te of
i. Ha rkeert Singh Saini, a n Indian-American Na val Design and buil t by Ga rden Rea ch Ship
policeman in third week of Ma y 2015 won Builders and Engineers .
the pres tigi ous Top Ci vilian Supervisor of the v. INS Kamorta , the fi rs t ship under this
Yea r. project, was commissioned by the Na vy last
ii. Saini who hails from Hoshia rpur dis tri ct of iii. Reliance Jio and Huawei ha ve si gned an yea r. Ka dma tt and Kilta n a re scheduled for
Punjab recei ved his awa rd from Hous ton agreement for 4G devi ces whi ch includes deli very between 2015-2017.
Ma yor Anise Pa rker and Poli ce Chief Charles sma rtphones , ta blets and mifi dongles. It has
A McClelland. signed agreement wi th couple of other
iii. 44-yea r-old Saini shifted to Hous ton in Chi nese devi ce maker as well.
1998 and joined i ts police depa rtment in iv. On Ma y 7, RJi o raised a $750 million
Ma rch 2000. (nea rl y Rs 4,500 crore) loan to procure goods
and servi ces from South Korean fi rms
Reliance Jio inks pact with Huawei for Sa msung Electroni cs and Ace Technologies.
sourcing 4G devices
i. Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom arm of INS Kavaratti launched
Reliance Indus tries (RIL) has signed a pa ct i. Indian Na vy's lates t anti -submari ne wa rfare
wi th Chinese fi rm Huawei for sourcing class s teal th corvette, the INS Ka va ra tti was
va rious 4G devi ces . launched i n line wi th a series of recent
ii. RJio plans to launch 4G servi ce this yea r in developments in India's defence
a round 5,000 towns and ci ties, a ccounting prepa redness .
(Debenture)
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Foreign Visits of PM of India - In Detail - Part I
1. Bhutan - 16 17 June
* Highlights:
Modi made his fi rs t forei gn visi t to Bhutan
following an invi ta tion by
* King Ji gme Khesar Namgyel Wa ngchuck and
Tobga y.
* The visit was called by the media as a
"cha rm offensi ve"
1. India and Bhutan reitera ted their
commitment to a chieving the 10,000 MW
ta rget in hydropower coopera tion
2. Modi inaugura ted one of India's assista nce
projects - the building of the Supreme Court
of Bhutan and laid founda tion s tone of the
600MW Kholongchu Hydro-electri c .
3. India also announced exemption of Bhutan
from a ny ban on export of milk powder,
whea t, edible oil , pulses and non-basmati
ri ce.
4. The two sides recalled the free trade
a rrangement between them and the
expa nding bilateral trade and i ts i mporta nce
in further cementing thei r friendship.
5. Pri me Minis ter Na rendra Modi also
mooted the idea of an annual hill sports
festi val wi th India's northeastern sta tes along
wi th Bhutan and Nepal .
6. Modi announced doubling of scholarships
being provided to Bhutanese students in
India whi ch will now be worth Rs 2 crore.
7. India will also assist Bhutan set up a digital
libra ry which will provide a ccess to
Bhutanese youth to two million books and
peri odi cals.
8. Both India-Bhutan rea ffirmed their
commitment to extensi ve development
coopera tion and dis cussed wa ys to further
enhance economi c ties.
* Key persons --Sushma Swa raj, National
Securi ty Adviser Ajit Doval & Foreign
Secreta ry Sujatha Singh.
2. Brazil - 13 16 July
* Highlights:
In Jul y 2014, he visi ted Brazil for his fi rst
mul tilateral visi t, the 6th BRICS summi t was
held a t the north-eastern bea ch ci ty of
Fortaleza .
22
* In the Fortaleza summi t the group ha ve
agreed to es tablish a financial ins ti tution
ri valing the western domina ted World Bank
and IMF.
* The bank would be na med the New
Development Bank as suggested by the
Indian side but Modi govt failed to ba g the
bank's headqua rter for New Delhi , whi ch
would be loca ted in Shanghai, Chi na.
* La ter the BRICS leader also a ttended an
event in Brasilia where they met the UNASUR
heads of government.
* At the same time, the Mi nistry of External
Affai rs added Spanish to i ts list of available
languages .
* Key persons --BRICS countries prime
mi nisters
3. Nepal - 3 4 August
* Highlights:
Modi a rri ved for a two-da y visi t to Nepal on 3
Augus t. The last visit of an Indian prime
mi nister to Nepal was 17 yea rs ago in 1997
by I. K. Gujral ,
1. India-funded hydroelectri ci ty projects in
Nepal and other i nfras tructure projects in
Nepal
2. Modi became the fi rst foreign leader to
address the Pa rliament of Nepal .
3. He did puja at the fi fth century
Pashupatina th temple
4. Modi announced a credi t assista nce
progra mme of US$1 billion to Nepal
5.* HIT policy:
whi ch s tands for Hi ghwa ys, Informa tion
Technology and Transmission.
* key persons --Nepal Pri me Minis ter GP
Koi rala
* Note1: The last visi t of an Indian prime
mi nister to Nepal was 17 yea rs ago in 1997
by I. K. Gujral .
* Note2: 18th SAARC summi t-ka tmandu-His
fi rs t ever SAARC summit.
4. Japan - 30 August 3 September
* Highlights:
1. Fi rst bilateral s ta te visit outside the
subcontinent.
2. Pledging financial support for building
infrastructure in India.
3. Sti cking to his 'Ma ke in India' slogan
4. Modi ga ve an open invi ta tion to Japanese
companies to consider India as a 'competiti ve
low-cost manufa cturing hub
5. PM Modi 's 3D mantra --Democra cy,
Demography a nd Demand
6. Bullet trains : Wi th Japan committi ng to
fund bullet trains, the dream of running hi gh -
speed trains on Indian tra cks is now a step
closer.
7. Special Stra tegi c Gl obal Pa rtnership': Japan
and India ha ve upgraded thei r pa rtnership to
the level of 'Special Stra tegi c and Global
Pa rtners hip' wi th the signing of a defence
pa ct for regional s tability a nd Tokyo's
decision to double FDI in India.
8. Ci vil nuclea r deal remains elusive - Despite
last-mi nute negotia tions , the two sides could
not na rrow down differences over Tokyo's
insistence for a tougher safe-gua rd regime
and "no nuclea r tes t" clause in the bilateral
agreement.
5. United States: 26 30 September
* Highlights:
1. Modi deli vered his maiden speech in the
si xty-ninth session of the Uni ted Nations
General Assembl y on 27 September 2014,
2. India's long s tanding demand of a
permanent membership in Securi ty Council
3. He had also a rgued why UN should serve
as G-All for global governance ins tead of
several pa rallel sub-groupings like G7, G20
etc.
4. Modi -Obama joint s ta tement-coopera tion
in va rious fields including defence,
intelligence, counter-terrorism, Afghanis tan,
spa ce explora tion and s cience
5. Madison Squa re Ga rden pi tch-3D Ma ntra,
skill development, talent pool and India's
bri ght economic prospects .
6. Comprehensi ve on International
Terrorism' by the UN a nd offered India's pro -
a cti ve role in it ci ting India as a vi cti m of
terrorism for decades .
7. Demand Shari f has ma de in his address at
the UNGA on 26 September, on Kashmir
rela ted mater he s ta ted tha t his govt is ready
for 'bilateral talk'
8. Modi commented briefl y on climate
change and use of clean energy, in this
rega rds he also asked world leaders and UN
officials for observing Yoga Da y
9. Modi fas ted during a Whi te House dinner
in his honor.
10. Sma rt ci ty assistance -- AJMER,
ALLAHABAD, VISIKAPATNAM--CISCO
* key persons-- oba ma , ban-ki -moon
6. Myanmar - 1113 November
* Highlights:
1. Modi a ttended East Asia Summi t--9th
summi t -Na ypyidaw
2. Importance All the countries supported
the East Asia summit decla ra tion on Islamic
s tate (terror group).
3. And also asserted tha t an international
pa rtenership is requi red for a comprehensive
response a gainst terrorism.
4. The summi t also rejected any linkage
between religion and terrorism.
5. They ha ve also said tha t i t should be
ensured that cyberspa ce and spa ce remain a
source of connecti vi ty a nd prosperity a nd not
new threa ts of confli cts .
* key persons-- ASEAN COUNTRIES PM
7. Australia - 1418 November
1. Fi rs t ti me,Aus tralian and Indian Prime
Minis ters ha ve made reciprocal visits in the
same yea r.
2. The Pri me Minis ter of India, Na rendra
Modi , paid a n offi cial visit to Aus tralia from
16-18 November 2014, following the G-20
Summi t.
3. Priori ty a reas such as resources,
educati on, skills, agri cul ture, infras tructure,
inves tments , financial servi ces and heal th
4. CECA_Comprehensi ve Economic
Coopera tion Agreement be brought to an
ea rl y concl usion to realise the potential of
commercial relati ons .
5. Aus tralian inves tment in cold chain
s tora ge, energy, infrastructure and other
sectors can do for the Indian economy.
coming years will enhance India s energy
securi ty.
b. coopera te on clean coal technologies
c. defence, counter-terroris m, cyber policy
8. They a nnounced collabora tion on
rejuvena tingthe Ganga Ri ver- two-wa y
exchanges and coopera tion i n ri ver basin
planning .
9. MoU on Arts and Cul ture, whi ch will create
a framework for deeper cul tural
exchanges ,world-class Sports Uni versi ty.
* key persons-- TONY ABOTT --PM
8. Fiji - 19 November
* Highlights:
1. In more than 33 years Modi beca me the
fi rs t Indian head of government to visi t Fiji
after Indi ra Gandhi's visit in 1981.
2. There he also a ttended a 'Forum for India -
Pa cifi c Island coopera tion' along with leaders
from all 14 Pa ci fi c islands nations .
* key persons--Frank Bainima rama--PM

6. India will hold a Make i n India event in

Aus tralia in 2015 and organise shows in gems
and jewellery, engi neering and
pha rma ceuti cals to showcase Indias
ma nufacturing ca pabilities.
7. KEY* - a . Ci vil Nuclear Agreement signed in
September.Aus tralian suppl y of uranium in
Foreign Visits of PM of India - In Detail - Part II
Hello Readers, B. Ma pping i ts hydrology reserves # Indian line of credi t of $ 200 million ini tially
C. launched a coastal surveillance ra dar meant for the light railwa y tra nsit s ys tem to
One of our ardent Reader "Mr. Cool" has project to boos t securi ty cooperati on wi th projects in the water and e nergy sector
shared the below given informative post the island nation
with us. We hope that you all will like it. D. Provi de free of cost visas for three months
for i ts ci tizens and ma king i t a vailable to
1. Seychelles - 10 - 11 March them on a rri val .
Note__*Modi , the fi rs t Indian Prime Minister
* Highlights: to visi t Seychelles in 34 yea rs.
A. AGREEMENTS: Total 4 * Indi ra Gandhi was the last pri me minister
* Hydrography to visi t Seychelles in 1981.
* Renewable energy * key person---President James Alix Mi chel * Ocean Economy
* Infrastructure * Cul tural Coopera tion
* Development and sale of na vi gati on cha rts 2.Mauritius - 11 13 March * Homeopathy
and electroni c na viga tional cha rts * Agri cul ture and Coopera tion-- i mporta tion
* Tri ck --HRD-"I" * Highlights: of fresh mango from India
AGGREMENTS: Total 5 * Sea and Ai r Transporta tion Fa cilities at
A. India Offers $500 Million Credi t to
Agalega Island of Ma uri tius
Mauri tius During PM Modi's Visit, 5 Pa cts
B. Modi was the Chief gues t a t the Ma uritian
Si gned Na tional Da y on 12 Ma rch

23
C. India -Mauri tius Double Ta xa tion
Avoi dance Agreement (DTAA) is being
revised amid concerns tha t Mauri tius .
D. Mauri tius has been one of the biggest
sources of Foreign Di rect Investment (FDI)
into India.
* key persons --PM of ma uriti us--
ani ruthJugnauth
3. Sri Lanka - 13 14 March
* Highlights:
4 agreements wi th Sri Lanka :
* Cus toms pa ct to balance trade,
* Credit line of more than $300 million,
* Currency s wap a greement
* Visa on a rri val for Sri Lankan na tionals in
India.
A. Educa tional exchanges wi th banaras
uni versity
B. Announcing a new line of credi t of $318
million for Sri Lankan railwa ys .
C. Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank
of Sri Lanka ha ve a greed to enter into a
currency s wap a greement of $1.5 billion
D. Energy coopera tion, Indian Oil Corp. Ltds
Sri La nkan subsidia ry, Lanka IOC Pl c. and
Ceylon Petroleum Corp.
E. Stands ready to help Trincomalee become
a regional petroleum hub.
F. Joint venture project between the Ceylon
Electri city Boa rd (CEB) and NTPC Ltd of India.
G. Comprehensive Economi c Pa rtnership
Agreement (CEPA) between the two
countries .
NOTE: *Modi said adding tha t tourism
ci rcui ts would be developed along the
Ra ma yana Trail in Sri Lanka and a Buddhist
pilgri mage ci rcui t in India .
* Pri me Minister Na rendra Modi toda y
fla gged off a train servi ce a t the north -
western Sri Lankan town of .The newl y-
constructed 63-km railwa y tra ck between
Madhu Road a nd Talaimanna r Pier is the last
segment of the 265-km long
* During this tri p Modi also visi ted to Jafna in
the Northern Province
* 27,000 new homes to Tamils in jafna
dis tri ct
* Modi is the fi rs t Prime Mi nister to visit Sri
Lanka on a bilateral visit since Raji v Gandhi in
1987.
* key persons --president -Mai thripala
Si risenaRa nil
pri me mins ter --Wi ckremesinghe
4. Singapore: 29 March
* Highlights:
24
A. Prime Minis ter Modi a ttended the s ta te -
funeral of Lee Kuan Yew,
* The fi rs t Prime Minis ter of Singapore.
* There, a t the sidelines , he met several
world leaders includi ng Is raeli President. *It
was his fi rs t visi t to Singapore and he is
expected to visit again during
the la ter pa rt of the yea r for golden jubilee
celebra tion of India -Singapore diploma tic
rela tion.
5. France: 9 12 April
* Highlights:
* 20 pa cts signed between India and France
* India, Fra nce sign 17 agreements during
PM Na rendra Modi s visi t__
# Pa rti cipa te i n the Make In India progra mme
in defense, ci vil nuclea r power and food
processing
* India asked France to suppl y 36 Rafale
fi ghter jets in fl y-awa y condi tion
A. Including on the stalled nuclea r project in
Jaitapur in Ma ha rashtra
B. MoU was signed between La rsen and
Tubro and AREVA
C. Re-engineering a greements were inked
between NPCIL and Areva whi ch intend to
bri ng cla ri ty on all techni cal aspects of the
plant so tha t all pa rties
D. MoU on coopera tion between the
Minis try of Youth Affai rs and Sports and
French Ministry of Sports , Youth Affai rs,
Public Educati on and Communi ty Li fe.
E. Si gned agreements i ncreasing bilateral
coopera tion in the economi c sector.
F. MoU on coopera tion in the field of
renewable energy between the Ministry of
New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and
Fra nces Mi nistry of Ecol ogy, Sustainable
Development and Energy.
G. Railwa y protocol between Indian Minis try
of Railwa ys and French Nati onal Railways
(SNCF) was also inked, seeking to establish
coopera tion between Indian and French
Railwa ys for semi-high speed rail and sta tion
renova tion on upgrada tion of the Delhi -
Cha ndiga rh line to 200 kmph
H. MoU between ISRO and French National
Centre for Spa ce Studies (CNES) on the Indo-
French Megha Tropiques satelli te whi ch was
launched on boa rd the Indian launch vehicle
PSLV on October 12, 2011.
I. Other agreements signed were in the fields
of energy, culture, touris m, conserva tion,
Ayurveda, s kill development and s cience and
technology.
* French President Fra ncois Hollande.
6. Germany: 12 14 April
* Highlights:
The PMs visit to Germany was widel y
covered by the media there especiall y his
inaugura tion of the famous Hannover
industrial fair along wi th German Chancellor
Angela Merkel .
A. Both leaders spoke in fa vour of a free
trade a greement between the European
Union and India. PM Modi said that this was
important for the expansion of India as a
ma nufacturing hub.
B. The joint s tatement by both countries
recognized the es tablishment of a working
group on urban development.
C. PM Modi promised to set up a mechanism
to help German companies inves t and do
business in India something tha t he has
done onl y for Japan and the US.
D. While addressing a diaspora event in
Berlin, PM Modi said tha t India would lead
the wa y i n dealing wi th clima te change. He
added tha t India is not answera ble to the
world in relation to climate change.
E. Make in India lion is a s ymbol of new India-
Modi a t India Pa vilion.
F.The two countries said s tronger
educati onal exchanges will be encouraged
along wi th collabora tions between
uni versities
* Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi addresses
the Indian communi ty during a reception
hosted by the Indian Ambassador in Berlin
* Germany chancellor--- a ngela merkel
7. Canada: 14 16 April
* Highlights:
* The fi rs t offi cial visi t by an Indian PM in
over 40 yea rs , is a sure si gn that relations
between our two countries a re reaching new
hei ghts .
A. The visi t, whi ch resulted in several new
bila teral agreements and commercial deals
worth over $1.6 billion.
B. These include energy, railwa y
transporta tion, educa tion a nd skills
development, spa ce cooperati on, and
ma ternal, newborn and child heal th.
C. One of the commercial a greements signed
was for a Canadian company, Ca meco, to
suppl y over 3.175 million kg of uranium
concentra te to India over the next fi ve years
for the genera tion of electri ci ty.
D. India is currentl y Canada s larges t trading
pa rtner in South Asia and merchandise trade
between our two countries has more than
doubled over the past 10 yea rs , rea ching
record heights of almos t $6.5 billion i n 2014.
E. Co-chairs of the Fra mework Working
Group of the G-20.
*** Note: Forei gn Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreement, a nd a Comprehensive
Economi c Pa rtnership Agreement,
* LAST VISITOR -- cannada is smt. INDIRA
GANDHI
* key person --Stephen Ha rper-PM
8. China: 14 16 May
* Highlights:
Modi will undertake a three -na tion tour of
Chi na , Mongolia and South Korea from Ma y
14 to 19.
*According to offi cials, the visi t is aimed at
gi ving a boos t to the Eas t Asia poli cy ali gning
i t wi th Ma ke in India ini tiati ves and bringing
momentum to the countrys forei gn poli cy in
the s tra tegi call y signifi cant region.
1. Hungarian author Laszlo Krasznahorkai
wins Man Booker Prize
i . Hunga rian wri ter Laszlo Krasznahorkai won
Bri tain's Man Booker Interna tional Pri ze for
ca reer a chievement.
ii . Bes t known i n Germany and Hunga ry,
Kras znahorkai is the a uthor of Sata ntango
(1985), which was later made into a film, The
Melanchol y of Resistance (1998) and Seiobo
There Below (2008).
iii. The Man Booker Interna tional Pri ze,
worth 60,000, is awa rded for an
a chievement i n ficti on on the world s tage. It
is presented once every two yea rs to a li ving
author for a body of work published ei ther
25
A. During the Modi 's visi t, India would seek
grea ter market a ccess, removal of non-tari ff
ba rriers and investments in sectors such as
defence.
B. Chi na has already signed MoUs to set up
industrial pa rks in India .
C. India wants grea ter market access for its
products i ncluding textiles , pha rma ceuticals
and bovine mea t.
D. Chi na, which is conducti ng a feasibility
s tudy into a $36 billion bullet train project
from the capi tal in the north to Chennai in
the south
E. The country i mports about 65 per cent of
bulk drugs from China for i ts generic
medi cine indus try but s tri ct regula tory
procedures in the nei ghbouring country res t
F. Both countries ha ve an unsettled bounda ry
of 3,488 km tha t often a cts as an i rri tant to
the ties.
G. Asian Infrastructure Inves tment Bank,
whi ch is seen as a counter to the US, Japan
domina ted Asian Development Bank, is likel y
to a nnounce funding for infras tructure
projects in India during the visit of PM Modi,
leading role in India becoming a founding
member of the bank.
* key persons--Xi Jinping
9. Mong olia: 16 17 May
* Highlights:
Daily GK Updates - 20th May 2015
ori ginall y in English or a vailable i n translation
in the English language.
2. Centre to launch agri-training programme
in 593 Sansad Adarsh Grams
i . Centre is planning to launch soon an a gri -
training progra mme i n 593 villages under the
Sa nsad Ada rsh Gra m Yojana , one of the
fla gship s chemes of Pri me Minis ter Na rendra
Modi .
ii . The nodal Agri culture Mi nistry is working
out the training programme guidelines for
implementa tion in ea ch village adopted by
Members of Pa rliament under the Sansad
Ada rsh Gra m Yojana (SAGY).
A. Mongolia and India a re keen to move
forwa rd on the MoU for Uranium s uppl y that
the two countries had entered in 2009.
B. Mongolia is keen on Indian helping the
country in cyber securi ty.
C. Help in border pa trolling is another area
where the two countries will be s tepping up
the ties.
# Pri me Minister to visi t Mongolia and during
his visi t talks on Uranium suppl y to India
likel y to get boos t
* Key pers on --Chimed Saikhanbileg--PM
10. South Korea: 18 19 May
*Highlights:
A. His visit to South Korea has a definite
Make in India angle to i t.
B. India is keen on getting inves tment and
going for joint manufa cturing in a reas where
South Korea has a technologi cal edge.
C. In the manufa cturi ng sector, South Korean
companies including Sa msung, LG and
Hyundai tha t ha ve s trong presence in India.
D. Infras trcuture developments .
* key pers on --President Pa rk Geun-hye ,
pri me minis ter--Lee Wan-koo
iii. The a gri -training programme, to be
conducted for two da ys in ea ch village, will
be i mplemented by the Na tional Centre of
Organi c Fa rming and Central Fertiliser
Quali ty Control and Training Ins titute along
wi th the support of the s tate governments .
i v. SAGY, which was launched in October
2014, is a rural devel opment progra mme
tha t prima ril y focuses upon the development
in villages .
3. Government to award road projects
worth Rs 3 lakh crore
i . In a big push for infras tructure
development, the government plans to
awa rd Rs 3 lakh crore of road projects this
yea r as i t looks to more than double hi ghwa y
construction to 30 km per da y.
ii . Besides the plans to upgrade and expand
Na tional Hi ghwa ys , govt. is planning a 1,000-
km Chaar Dhaam Ya tra project to connect
the four hol y towns of Ya munotri , Gangotri,
Kedarna th and Badri nath wi th hi ghwa ys a t a
cos t of Rs 11,000 crore.
iii. Ministry is planning to build 5,000-km of
roa d network all along the borders and
coas tal a reas under a new s cheme to be
called 'Bha ra t Mala' a t a cost of Rs 50,000
crore.
4. 25 companies to sell shares for the first
time
i . The government has drawn up a list of 25
s tate-owned companies tha t could sell
sha res to the public for the fi rs t ti me,
possibly raising more tha n a thi rd of India's
record di ves tment ta rget for the fis cal yea r.
ii . They include profit-making a rms of Coal
India and ONGC tha t could help the
government get a round Rs 25,000 crore in
total .
iii. The unlis ted fi rms ma y include ONGC
Videsh, Southern Coalfields, Bha rat
Broadband, KIOCL and Ma zagon Dock.
SBI partners with PayPal
i . The country's la rges t bank announced a
pa rtnership wi th di gital pa yments fi rm,
Pa yPal so tha t the Cus tomers of State Bank
of India (SBI) can now use thei r debit ca rds
on Pa yPal for buying products from overseas
websites .
ii . The pa rtnership will also allow SBI's Mi cro
Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME)
cus tomers to use Pa yPal's secure pa yment
solutions.
iii. SBI has also announced a pa rtnership wi th
e-commerce fi rm, Amazon.com, i n India.
India continues to lead in global confidence
index
i . India continued to lead the global
confidence i ndex in anticipa tion of
improvement in the economy through
reforms and s timulus announced by the
central government.
ii . Indias consumer confidence s core rose to
130 followed by Indonesia (123) and
Philippines (115).
iii. Eighty per cent urban Indian respondents
indi ca ted tha t the s tate of personal finances
was good or excellent in the firs t quarter of
2015.
i v. The Nielsen Global Survey of Consumer
Confidence and Spending Intentions,
es tablished in 2005, measures consumer
confidence, ma jor concerns , and spending
intentions a mong more than 30,000
respondents wi th Internet a ccess in 60
countries .
Meghalaya, Tripura governors sworn-in
26
i v. Recentl y the cabinet commi ttee on
economic a ffairs (CCEA) approved a 10 per
cent s take sale in the country's biggest
refiner and fuel retailer Indian Oil Corp. and 5
per cent in power producer NTPC.
5. India's economic growth to surpass
China's in 2015-16: UN report
i . India's economi c growth is projected to
surpass tha t of China's , wi th the GDP
Daily GK Update - 21st May 2015
i . Senior BJP leader V Shanmugana than was
toda y sworn-in as the Governor of
Meghala ya a t the Ra j Bha van.
ii . Chief Jus ti ce of the Meghala ya High Court
Uma Nath Singh adminis tered the oa th of
office to Shanmugana than at a solemn
ceremony a ttended by Chief Mi nister Mukul
Sa ngma and mos t of his cabinet colleagues .
iii. Ta thaga ta Roy on 20 Ma y 2015 was sworn
in as the 16th Governor of Tripura in
Aga rtala .
Chief Jus ti ce of the Tripura Hi gh Court Mr. Jc.
Deepak Gupta administered the oa th of
office to him as per the provisions of Arti cle
159 of Consti tution of India .
i v. He replaced Padmanabh Balkrishna
Acha rya , Governor of Nagaland, who had
held the addi tional cha rge of Tripura .
SEBI sets new norms for mutual funds
managing offshore assets
i . Ma rkets regulator SEBI on Wednesda y
simpli fied norms for domes ti c mutual funds
to manage offshore pooled assets, dropping
i ts "20-25 rule" whi ch requi res a mini mum of
20 inves tors and a cap of 25 percent on
inves tment by an indi vi dual, for funds from
low-risk forei gn inves tors .
ii . In a noti fi cati on sayi ng the new regulations
would be called the Securi ties and Exchange
Boa rd of India (Mutual Funds) Regula tions ,
2015, SEBI said the res tri ctions would not
appl y "i f the funds managed a re of Ca tegory I
forei gn portfolio inves tors (FPIs ) and/or
Ca tegory II forei gn portfolio investors whi ch
expected to zoom by 7.7 per cent in 2016,
a ccording to a UN report whi ch said India will
help a ccelera te economi c growth in South
Asia.
ii . Chi na is projected to grow by 7 per cent in
2015 and 6.8 per cent next yea r.
iii. The report termed South Asia's economic
outlook as "la rgel y fa vourable" since most
economies a re expected to experience a
s trengtheni ng of growth in 2015-16 on the
ba ck of s tronger domes ti c consumpti on and
inves tment.
a re appropria tel y regulated broad based
funds".
iii. SEBI has classified FPIs into three
ca tegories, with the fi rs t two being low-risk
forei gn insti tuti ons that include sovereign
wealth funds, pension funds , banks , mutual
funds, insurers , multila teral ins ti tutions and
well-regulated foreign enti ties, including
portfolio managers .
Infosys is first Indian company to join RE100
global renewable energy campaign
i . The Clima te Group announced tha t Infos ys ,
one of India's la rgest Informa tion Technology
corpora tions has become the fi rs t Indian
company to join RE100, a global platform for
ma jor companies committed to 100%
renewable power.
ii . As pa rt of i ts commi tment to RE100,
Infos ys aims to become ca rbon neutral by
2018.
iii. The company is already working to reduce
i ts per ca pita electri city consumption by 50
per cent from i ts 2007-2008 levels and
source all i ts electri ci ty from renewable
resources by 2018.

TN CM O Panneerselvam resigns, makes
way for Jayalalithaa to take over
i. Ta mil Nadu chief mi nister O Panneersel vam
handed over his resigna tion to Governor K
Rosiah, making wa y for AIADMK chief J
Ja yalalithaa to ta ke over the administra ti ve
reins .
ii. Popula rl y referred to as 'ca reta ker CM',
this was Pa nneersel vam's second s tint as
Tamil Nadu chief minister, both for brief
peri ods .
iii. In a meeting, all 151 MLAs of the pa rty
unanimousl y re -elected Ja yalalithaa as the
legislature pa rty leader, pa ving the wa y for
her to become the s ta te chief mi nister for
the fifth ti me. She is expected to be sworn in
to the chief minis ters pos t on 23 Ma y.
Government relaxes FDI norms for NRIs,
PIOs, OCI
i. Aiming to a ttra ct overseas funds,
government decided tha t non-repa triable
inves tments by NRIs, OCIs and PIOs will be
trea ted as domes ti c investments and will not
be subject to forei gn di rect inves tment ca ps.
ii. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime
Minis ter Na rendra Modi , ha d approved
amendments , including changes in defini tion
of NRIs , to be i ncorpora ted in the FDI policy.
iii. Inves tments by NRIs under under
Schedule 4 of FEMA regula tions will be
deemed to be domes ti c investment a t par
wi th the inves tment made by residents, an
official s ta tement said.
iv. The Ca binet's decision is expected to
resul t in increased investments a cross
sectors and grea ter inflow of foreign
exchange remi ttance leading to economic
growth of the country.
v. The government had ea rlier raised the FDI
limi t in sectors s uch as defence, insura nce,
real es ta te, railwa ys and medi cal devi ces.
Obama Names Yale Professor to Key
Administration Post
27
Daily GK Update - 22nd May 2015
i. Akhil Amar, an Indian Ameri can professor
a t Yale Uni versity, was nomi nated by
President Ba ra ck Oba ma to the National
Council on the Humani ties, a key
administra tion pos t.
ii. Akhil
Reed Ama r is the Sterling Professor of Law
and Politi cal Science at Yale, a posi tion he has
held since 2008, where he teaches
consti tutional law.
iii. He has been a professor a t both Yale Law
School and Yale College since 1985 and has
held va ri ous professorships , incl uding
Southma yd Professor from 1993 to 2008,
professor from 1990 to 1993, associate
professor from 1988 to 1990, a nd assista nt
professor from 1985 to 1988.
Finance Ministry sanctions Rs 5,223-crore
fuel subsidy for IOC, BPCL
i. Indian Oil Corp (I OC) will get Rs 2,932 crore
subsidy a nd Bha ra t Petroleum Corp Ltd
(BPCL) Rs 2,291 crore for selling fuel below
cos t in Q4 of 2014-15, but Hindustan
Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) will not get any
support.
ii. The Finance Minis try has sanctioned Rs
5,223 crore fuel subsidy for the January-
Ma rch qua rter to cover almos t all of the
revenue loss tha t the two retailers suffered
on selling domesti c cooking gas (LPG) and
kerosene at government ra tes.
iii. Wi th this , the total subsidy provided by
the government in 2014-15 goes up to Rs
27,308 crore. For the firs t three qua rters , the
government had provided Rs 22,085 crore.
iv. The fuel retailers had l ost a total of Rs
72,314 crore on selling diesel (up to October
17), LPG and kerosene a t government ra tes,
whi ch were wa y below cost in 2014-15.
IAF's Mirage-2000 lands on Yamuna eway in
successful runway trial
i. In a n a ttempt to pra ctise using hi ghways
for emergency landings , an IAF Mi rage 2000
jet successfull y tes t landed on the Yamuna
Expresswa y in Utta r Pradesh.
ii. According to IAF, the aircra ft made a
pra ctise approach on the highwa y, coming
down to a height of 100 metres before
landing off the next approa ch.
iii. The opera tions were conducted wi th
a cti ve support from the government of Uttar
Pradesh, Yamuna Expresswa y Authori ty, toll
authori ties of JP Infra tech and Ci vil Police.
iv. The IAF has plans to acti va te more such
s tretches on hi ghwa ys in the future.
Gujarat government signs pact with ZTEsoft
for smartcity projects
i. Guja rat government and Chinese software
fi rm ZTEsoft ha ve entered into an a greement
for sma rtci ty projects in the s ta te.
ii. The memora ndum of understa nding
(MoU) was si gned i n Shenzhen during visit
Guja rat Chief Mi nister Anandi Ben Pa tel wi th
Pri me Mi nister Na rendra Modi to China .
iii. The agreement was signed by Gujara t's
Indus tries Commissioner Ma mta Verma and
ZTEsoft CFO Xu Shan i n presence of Guja rat
CM along wi th other s tate officials.
iv. Chinese telecom gea r ma ker ZTE's
softwa re a rm, ZTEsoft, and Guja rat
government will jointl y work to find the
ta rget ci ty a nd a rea and a fter technical
closure, both team will work together to set
up a trial project i n the s ta te.
IRCTC Partners With MyDala To Offer Deals
To Ticket Buyers
i. Ti cketing arm of Indian Railwa y IRCTC
doesnt seem to lea ve any opportuni ty to
capi talise its rea ch and tra ction. After
pa rtnering wi th Ama zon a nd Pa ytm, the
government-owned ti cketing portal has
pa rtnered wi th mydala to provide deals and
offers to customers .
ii. The pa rtnership will gi ve tra velers a ccess
to the best deals and offers while booking
thei r ti ckets .
iii. This pa rtners hip is an IRCTCs move to
deli ver signi fica nt improvement in customer
experience. This is the thi rd pa rtnership in a
row this yea r by IRCTC.

Jayalalithaa sworn in as Tamil Nadu CM for
fifth time
i . AIADMK supremo Ja yalalithaa sworn in for
the fifth ti me as Ta mil Nadu chief minister,
nea rl y ei ght months after she was forced to
quit over corruption cha rges .
ii . Governor K Rosaiah ga ve oa th to
Ja yalalitha at the Madras Uni versi ty
Centena ry Audi tori um. Actor Ra jinikanth, ICC
Chai rman N. Srini vasan and Union Minister
Pon Radha krishnan attended the ceremony.
Daily GK Update - 23rd May 2015
i . World's la rges t s teel maker ArcelorMi ttal
and SAIL inked a pa ct to jointl y set up a steel
plant in India for the fast growing automoti ve
sector.
ii . The MoU, the fi rs t step towards
es tablishing the JV, was signed in London by
ArcelorMi ttal Chai rman & Chief Executi ve i v. The selection of the theme also underlines
Lakshmi Niwas Mi ttal and SAIL Chai rman CS the adoption of the Gangwon Decla ra tion at
Verma. the 12th meeting of the Conference of the
Pa rties to the Convention on Biol ogical
Di versity (CBD) in South Korea in 2014.

Parvinder Singh Batth, becomes first Sikh

iii. Along wi th Ja ya , 28 others were sworn in
as Minis ters . Ja yalalithaa will hold the
portfolios of home, poli ce, public, all India
servi ces , general admi nistra tion and dis tri ct
revenue officers.
i v. As for portfolio alloca tions , Ja yalalithaa's
trus ted lieutenant O Panneersel vam has
been gi ven Finance and Publi c works, whi ch
he held previousl y too. Na tham R
Viswana than will continue to hold electri ci ty,
prohibi tion and excise portfolio.
iii. The proposed JV will cons truct a sta te -of-
the-a rt cold rolling mill and other
downstrea m finishing fa cilities in India that
will offer technologicall y advanced steel
products to India 's ra pidl y growing
automoti ve sector, said a joint sta tement by
the two companies.
Bank of India ties up with MasterCard to
launch three cards
i . Sta te-run lender Bank of India tied up wi th
Mas terCa rd to launch three new ca rds and
also two new banking solutions for i ts ca rd
holders .
ii . The bank launched Business Debit
Mas terCa rd, Plati num Credi t Mas terCa rd and
Interna tional Tra vel Mas terCa rd to improve
cus tomers pa yment experiences .
mayor in United Kingdoms Wokingham
Borough Council
i . Pa rvinder Singh Batth, an Indian-origin
Conserva ti ve pa rty councillor was chosen as
the ma yor of Uni ted Ki ngdoms Wokingham
Borough Council.
ii . With this , he beca me the fi rs t Sikh to hold
the Ma yors posi tion in UK. He succeeds
Councillor Ulla Ka rin Clark for this pos t and
will serve till 2016.
iii. Pa rvinder Singh Ba tth previ ousl y had
served as Deputy Ma yor of borough of
Woki ngha m in Berkshi re in south east
England.
i v. He was born in Indian s ta te of Punjab in
the fa rmers fa mil y. La ter he had mi gra ted to
Uni ted Kingdom.

BSE drops Tata Power from Sensex; Lupin to

come in

i . Pri va te sector electri ci ty producer Tata

Power will move out of the s tock ma rket
benchma rk index Sensex and will be replaced
by drugma ker Lupin .
ii . Besides, Adani Power would be dropped
from the S&P BSE 100 index, while va rious
changes ha ve been made to a hos t of other
BSE indi ces as well.
iii. The S&P BSE-100, an index of the top 100
listed companies in the country, would see
Aurobindo Pha rma and Ta ta Motors (DVR)
coming i n, while the S&P BSE-200 would get
fi ve new entries -- Aja nta Pha rma , Suzlon
Energy , Dewan Housing , NCC India and Tata
Motors (DVR).
i v. Those moving out of BSE-100 include
Sa nofi India , Hindustan Copper , Amtek Auto
, Jaipra kash Power Ventures .
SAIL, ArcelorMittal ink MoU to set up steel
plant in India
iii. It will also offer two banking solutions - In
Control for spend mana gement and
Mas terCa rd rewa rds program for its
cus tomers .
UN observed International Day for
Biological Diversity
i . The United Nations (UN) observed the
Interna tional Da y for Biologi cal Di versi ty
(IBD) on 22 Ma y 2015. The theme for the
yea r 2015 is Biodi versi ty for Sustainable
Development.
ii . This yea r theme hi ghlights the releva nce of
biodi versi ty in achieving the goal of
sus tainable development.
iii. It also highli ghts the i mporta nce of efforts
ma de to es tablish a set of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs ) as pa rt of the UN
Pos t-2015 Development Agenda (2015-
2030).

28
 Schemes launched by Modi Government: In Detail
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana
The s cheme will be a one yea r cover,
renewable from yea r to yea r, Accident
Insura nce Scheme offering a ccidental death
and disability cover for dea th or disability on
a ccount of an a ccident.
The s cheme would be offered / administered
through Publi c Sector General Insura nce
Companies (PSGICs ) and other General
Insura nce companies willing to offer the
product on simila r terms wi th necessary
approvals and tie up wi th Banks for this
purpose.
Highlights of the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha
Bima Yojana (Pmsby Scheme 1 for
Accidental Death Insurance) are
Eligibility: Available to people in age
group 18 to 70 yea rs with bank a ccount.
Premium: Rs 12 per annum.
Payment Mode: The premium will be
di rectl y auto-debited by the bank from
the s ubs cribers a ccount. This is the onl y
mode a vailable.
Risk Coverage: For a ccidental death
and full disability Rs 2 Lakh a nd for
pa rtial disability Rs 1 Lakh.
Additional Eligibility: Any pers on ha ving
a ba nk a ccount a nd Aadhaar number
linked to the bank a ccount can gi ve a
simple form to the bank every yea r
before 1s t of June in order to joi n the
s cheme. Name of nominee to be gi ven
in the form.
Terms of Risk Coverage: A pers on has to
opt for the s cheme every yea r. He can
also prefer to gi ve a long-term option of
continuing in which case his a ccount will
be auto-debited every year by the bank.
29
Who will implement this Scheme? The
s cheme will be offered by all Public
Sector General Insurance Companies
and all other i nsurers who a re willing to
join the s cheme and tie-up wi th banks
for this purpose.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana
The s cheme will be a one yea r cover,
renewable from yea r to yea r, Insura nce
Scheme offeri ng li fe insura nce cover for
dea th due to a ny reason.
Here are the key highlights of this scheme:
Eligibility: Available to people i n the age
group of 18 to 50 and ha ving a bank
a ccount. People who join the s cheme
before completing 50 yea rs ca n,
however, continue to ha ve the risk of
life cover up to the a ge of 55 years
subject to pa yment of premium.
Premium: Rs 330 per annum. It will be
auto-debited i n one instalment.
Payment Mode: The pa yment of
premium will be directl y auto-debited
by the bank from the subscri bers
a ccount.
Risk Coverage: Rs 2 Lakh in case of
dea th for any reason.
Terms of Risk Coverage: A pers on has to
opt for the s cheme every yea r. He can
also prefer to gi ve a long-term option of
continuing, in whi ch case his a ccount
will be auto-debited every yea r by the
bank.
Atal Pension Yojna (APY)
The s cheme will be launched on June 1 2015
and focus is on the unorganised sector. A
pension provides people wi th a monthl y
income when they a re no l onger ea rni ng. A
Subs criber recei ves pension based on
a ccumula ted contribution out of his current
income.Under the Atal Pension Yojna
Scheme (APY), the subs cribers ,under the age
of 40, would recei ve the fi xed monthl y
pension of Rs. 1000 to Rs 5000 a t the age of
60 yea rs , depending on thei r contri butions .
To make the the pension s cheme more
a ttra cti ve, government would co-contribute
50 per cent of a subscri bers contribution or
Rs 1,000 per annum,
Eligibility for APY: Atal Pension Yojana
(APY) is open to all bank a ccount holders
who a re not members of any s ta tutory
social securi ty s cheme.
Age of joining and contribution
period: The mi nimum age of joining APY
is 18 yea rs and ma xi mum age is 40
yea rs . One needs to contribute till one
a ttains 60 yea rs of a ge.
Enrolment agencies: Al l Points of
Presence (Servi ce Providers) and
Aggrega tors under Swa valamban
Scheme would enrol subscri bers
through setup of Na tional Pension
Sys tem.
if person joined Atal Pension Yojna at 35
yea rs , he will contribute till a ge of 60
yea rs ie 25 yea rs .
If he wants monthl y pension of Rs 1000
he would contribute Rs 181 a month. On
his dea th his wi fe would get Rs 1000 per
month and a fter her death the
nominees will get 1.7 lakh.
If he wants monthl y pension of Rs 3000
he would contribute Rs 543 a month. On
his dea th his wi fe would get Rs 3000 per
month and a fter her death the
nominees will get 5.1 lakh.

India-Singapore bilateral naval exercise
SIMBEX-15 commences in Singapore
i. Bila teral na val exercise SIMBEX-15 between
India and Singapore commenced on 23 Ma y
2015 in Singapore and concluding on Ma y 26,
2015.
ii. This edi tion of na val exercise will gi ve
tradi tional emphasis on anti -submarine
wa rfa re (ASW) and more complex mari time
exercises . It will invol ve va ri ous fa cets of
na val opera tions such as ai r and surface
pra cti ce fi ring, ai r defence, ma riti me securi ty
and sea rch & res cue opera tions.
iii. For this edi tion of exercise, Indian na vy is
represented by
INS Satpura- a n indigenousl y buil t
guided missile s tealth friga te wi th
integral heli copter.
INS Kamorta- an indi genous anti-
subma rine wa rfa re (ASW) corvette.
P 8I Aircraft- It is a long Range Ma ri ti me
Reconnaissance Anti - Subma rine
(LRMRASW) ai rcra ft.
Indian film Masaan wins critics prize at 68th
Cannes film festival
i. Indian film Masaan has won the pres tigious
cri ti cs pri ze in the Un Certain Rega rd
ca tegory a t the 68th Cannes Film Fes tival
after i t was premiered on Ma y 20, 2015.
1. China sets up "largest" g old fund for
nations along Silk Road
i . China, the world's bigges t gold producer,
has set up a gold sector fund invol ving
countries along the ancient Silk Road whi ch is
expected to raise $16.1 billion.
ii . The fund, led by Shanghai Gold Exchange
(SGE), is expected to raise an es tima ted 100
billion yuan ($16.1 billion) in three phases.
iii. About 60 countries ha ve invested i n the
fund, whi ch will in turn fa cilita te gold
purchase for the central banks of member
s tates to increase thei r holdings of the
preci ous metal.
i v. The fund will inves t in gold mining in
countries along the Silk Road, whi ch will
increase explora tion in countries such as
Afghanistan and Ka zakhs tan.
30
Daily GK Update - 24th May 2015
ii. The film is di rectoral debut of Neeraj
Gha ywan and a joint production of Manish
Mundra , Ma cassar Productions, Arte Fra nce
Cinema , Sikhya Entertainment & Phantom
Fil ms.
iii. It s ta rs Vi cky Kaushal , Shweta Tri pathi
along wi th Ri cha Chadda and Sa nja y Mishra.
The film is a na rra ti ve set based in Varanasi
and i ts cha ra cters connected with the Indians posthumously chosen for UN's
Ga nga . prestigious Dag Hammarskjold Medal
iv. The cri ti cs prize in the Un Certain Rega rd i. Two Indian pea cekeepers ha ve been
ca tegory runs pa rallel to the competition for chosen pos thumousl y for Uni ted Nati ons
the main pri ze, Palme dOr i n the film Da g Hamma rs kjold Medal. They a re La nce
festi val . Naik Nand Ram and Ra ju Joseph.
ii. Both of them a re among the 126 poli ce,
mili ta ry and ci vilian pers onnel who ha ve
been pos thumousl y awa rded a pres tigious
UN medal .
iii. They ha ve been chosen for this a wa rd for
thei r coura ge and sa cri fi ce while servi ng in
UN peacekeeping opera tions in 2014 a nd lost
Tanishq Abraham 11-year old Indian-
thei r li ves as a resul t of hos tile a cts , acci dents
American creates record by graduating from and disease.
California College
iii. Lance Naik Nand Ra m had served wi th the
i. Ta nishq Abraham, 11-yea r-old Indian-
UN Orga niza tion Stabiliza tion Mission in the
Ameri can child prodigy crea ted a record by
Democra ti c Republi c of the Congo
gradua ting from California College wi th three
(MONUSCO). While, Ra ju Joseph had served
associate degrees in s cience, ma ths and
in a ci vilian capa ci ty wi th the UN Mission in
forei gn langua ge s tudies. South Sudan (UNMISS).
ii. He is na ti ve of Sa cramento, California and
younges t to gra dua te from the American
Ri ver College (ARC), i n Sacra mento,
California .
iii. In 2014, he also had crea ted a record by
becoming one of the younges t ever in the US
to gradua te high s chool .
Daily GK Update - 25th May 2015
2. Government Clears 21 FDI Proposals of Mumbai , Maha rashtra , Guja ra t, Andhra
Worth Rs 281 Crore Pradesh, Chennai , Ta mil Nadu and Kerala .
i . The government has cleared 21 foreign i v. The goal of Internet.org is to allow more
di rect i nves tment (FDI) deals worth Rs 281 people to experience the benefi ts of being
crore but deferred Kotak Ma hindra Bank's online.
proposal to hike foreign investment limi t in
the bank to 55 per cent. 4. Nobel Awardee mathematician John
ii . FDI proposals under approval route are Forbes Nash Jr. died
clea red by the Foreign Inves tment Promotion
Boa rd (FIPB).
iii. Proposals invol ving inves tment of more
than Rs 3,000 crore a re gi ven fi nal cleara nce
by the Cabi net Commi ttee on Economic
Affai rs (CCEA).
3. Facebooks Internet.org attracts 8 lak h i . John Forbes Nash Jr., the Princeton
users in India Uni versi ty mathema ti cian, died along wi th
his wi fe i n a ca r crash. He was 86. His taxi
i . Social media giant Fa cebook has ga rnered 8
crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike in
lakh users in India for i ts Internet.org
Monroe Township when the dri ver lost
ini tiati ve tha t has been in the thick of the net
control .
neutrality controvers y.
ii . Os ca r-winning film, A Bea utiful Mi nd was
ii . Fa cebook had pa rtnered telecom ma jor
inspi red by his li fe.
Reliance Communi ca tions to offer free a ccess
iii. Nash born on 13 June 1928 was an
to over 30 websites wi thout da ta cha rges to
Ameri can ma thema ti cian who became
users in India .
fa mous for his game theory, differential
iii. Internet.org servi ce is a vailable for
Reliance cus tomers in seven telecom ci rcles geometry, and pa rtial di fferential equati ons,
whi ch provided an insight into the factors
tha t, govern chance and events inside
complex s ys tems in dail y life.
5. Mum bai Indians saunter to second title
win
i . Mumbai Indians put up an all-round show
to outshine Chennai Super Ki ngs by 41 runs
in the final to win the Indian Premier League
2015.
ii . Mumbai Indians completed one of the
mos t rema rkable turna rounds in the ei ght-
yea r his tory of the Indian Premier League by
trans forming a terri ble s ta rt to the
tournament - they were a t the bottom of the
table for the fi rs t two weeks - into a title win.
iii. CSK had won the toss in final summi t had
chosen bowl fi rst. MI by batti ng firs t had set
the ta rget of 202 to thei r opponent tea m.
However the CSK failed to rea ch the ta rget
Latest Welfare Schemes launched by Narendra Modi
Friends .. Here is the list of la test s chemes &
plans announced by Na rendra Modi led
Union Government during the past few
months. This will be hi ghl y useful for all
upcoming competi ti ve exa ms.
1) Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
Launched on: 28 Augus t 2014 Ai m: Ambitious
s cheme for comprehensive financial inclusion
by providing bank accounts , insura nce cover
and a debi t ca rd to all the citi zens of the
country. Minis try/Depa rtment in cha rge of
the s cheme: Depa rtment of Financial
Servi ces , Mi nistry of Finance
2) Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev
Jayate Karyakram
Launched on: 16 October 2014 Ai m: To
crea te an envi ronment conduci ve to
industrial devel opment while also ensuring
transpa rency in the labour sector.
Minis try/Depa rtment in cha rge of the
s cheme: Labour Mi nistry
3) Bal Swachhta Mission
Launched on: 14 November 2014 Aim:
Na tionwi de sani ta tion ini tiati ve for s chools as
pa rt of Swa chh Bha rat Mission.
Minis try/Depa rtment in cha rge of the
s cheme: Minis try of Women and Child
Development.
4) Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen
Kaushalya Yojana
Launched on: 25 September 2014 Aim: Aims
a t training 10 lakh (1 million) rural youths for
jobs in three yea rs , tha t is, by 2017.
Minis try/Depa rtment in cha rge of the
s cheme: Ministry for Rural Development.
5) Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana
for urban and rural poor
31
s core. This is the second IPL ti tle tri umph for
MI a fter thei r maiden win in the season six in
2013.
Man of the Ma tch: Rohi t Sha rma .
Captains of the two tea ms Mumbai
Indains: Rohi t Sharma .
Chennai Super Ki ngs : Mahendra Singh
Dhoni .
Looking at the Other highlights of IPL
2015:
Pla yer of the Tourna ment: Andre Russell
(KKR).
Orange Cap awa rded to: Da vid Wa rner
(Sunrisers Hyderabad).
Purple Cap awa rded to: Dwa yne Bra vo
(CSK).
Emerging Pla yer of the Season: Shreyas
Iyer (Delhi Da redevils).
Mos t Valuable Pla yer: Andre Russell
(KKR).
6. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of
Germany won Monaco Grand Prix of
Launched on: 25 September 2014 Ai m: Aims
a t allevia ting urban and rural poverty
through enhancement of li velihood
opportuni ties through skill development and
other means . Minis try/Depa rtment in cha rge
of the s cheme: Union Ministry of Housing &
Urban Poverty Alleviation & Union Minis try
of Rural Development.
6) Digital life certificate 'Jeevan Pramaan'
for pensioners
Launched on: 11 November 2014 Aim:
Reti red employees of government and PSUs
can now digi tall y provide proof of his
exis tence to authori ties for continui ty of
pension every yea r i nstead of requi ring to
present himself physi cally or through a Life
Certi fi ca te issued by speci fied authori ties.
Minis try/Depa rtment in cha rge of the
s cheme: Depa rtment of Electroni cs and IT
7) Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India
Campaign)
Launched on: 2 October 2014 Aim: National
level campai gn by the Government of India
covering 4041 s tatutory towns to clean the
s treets , roads a nd infras tructure of the
country. Aims to a ccomplish the vision of
'Clean India' by 2 October 2019, 150th
bi rthda y of Ma ha tma Gandhi.
Minis try/Depa rtment in cha rge of the
s cheme: All Minis tries & Depa rtments .
8) Make in India global initiative
Launched on: 25 September 2014 Ai m: Aims
to boos t India`s manufa cturi ng sector.
9) Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
Launched on: 12 October 2014 Aim:
encoura ges Members of Pa rliament from
both Houses to identi fy and develop one
village from thei r cons ti tuency as a model
Formula One
i . Mercedes ra cing dri ver Ni co Rosberg of
Germany won the Mona co Gra nd Pri x
Formula 1 Worl d Cha mpionship ti tle by
wi nning the final ra ce held in Mona co.
ii . While Sebas tian Vettel of Germany
representing the Ferra ri tea m s tood a t the
second position, Rosbergs team ma te Lewis
Ha miltion of UK was a t the thi rd posi ton.
iii. It is the tenth overall cha mpionship title
for Rosberg and the second ti tle in the 2015
season ha ving won the Spanish Formula 1
World Championship on 10 Ma y 2015.
i v. Wi th the present vi ctory, he has become
the fourth dri ver to wi n three Mona co Grand
Pri x ti tles in a row. The others were Graham
Hill , Ayrton Senna and Alain Pros t.
village by 2016, a nd two more by 2019,
covering over 2,500 villages of the 6 lakh
villages country-wide. Minis try/Depa rtment
in cha rge of the s cheme: Rural Development
Minis try
10) Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana
Launched on: 10 Jul y 2014 Aim: Help in
genera ting awa reness and i mproving the
effi ciency of delivery of wel fa re services
meant for women with an ini tial corpus of Rs
100 crore.
11) Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti
Yojana
Launched on: 20 November 2014 Ai m: To
provide a ccess of electri ci ty to rural
households a cross the country.
12) Sukanya Samriddhi account
Launched on: 22 Janua ry 2015 Aim: Under
the s cheme, an interes t of 9.2 per cent (FY
2015-16) is provide on deposited a mount
whi ch is ta x free. The a ccount under this
s cheme a sa ving a ccount can be opened by
the pa rent or legal gua rdian of a gi rl child of
less than 10 yea rs of age wi th a mini mum
deposit of Rs 1,000 in any pos t offi ce or
authorised branches of commercial ba nk.
13) HRIDAY (National Heritage City
Development and Augmentation Yojana)
scheme
Launched on: December 2014 Ai m: For
conserving a nd preserving the heri tage
cha ra cters of 12 ci ties . These a re: Amri tsa r,
Va ranasi, Ga ya , Puri , Ajmer, Ma thura,
Dwa rka , Badami , Velankanni , Kanchipura m,
Wa ra ngal (Telangana ) and Ama ra vati
(Andhra Pra desh). Minis try/Depa rtment in
cha rge of the s cheme: Urban Development
Minis try

PM Modi launches 'Kisan TV' for farmers
i. Ma rking the fi rst anni versa ry of NDA
government, Pri me Minister Na rendra Modi
launched Kisan TV a t a functi on held in
Vigya n Bha wan.
ii. In his address, PM s tressed on the need for
improvi ng fa rmers condi tion in the country.
He said if country wants to progress, the
eleva tion of villages and fa rmers is the
s tepping stone.
Daily GK Updates - 26th May 2015
s tate and regional level coordina tors to rea ch
ICICI Launches Voice Password Facility for those small entrepreneurs who a re often cut
Phone Banking off from the banking s ys tem because of a
limi ted branch presence.
ii. This ini tia ti ve is expected to help fina nce
Las t Mile Fi nanciers of small and mi cro
businesses. These businesses would i n turn
genera te almost 10 ti mes jobs compa red to
wha t was being genera ted by the big
companies currentl y.

i. ICICI Bank launched voi ce recogni tion

iii. After coming to power, the NDA
government had a nnounced tha t i t will
launch a 24hour TV channel for fa rmers .
iv. In his Union Budget 2014 speech, Fina nce
Minis ter Arun Jai tley, who now also holds the
cha rge of the I&B mi nistry, had announced
tha t a 24hour TV channel will be dedi cated
to the agri culture sector, for which he had
ma rked an outla y of Rs . 100 crore.
On day one Tamil Nadu CM Jaya okays Rs
1,800-crore for welfare schemes
i. A da y after being s worn in as Chief Minister
of Tamil Nadu for the fi fth time, J Jayalalithaa
on Sunda y announced development and
welfa re schemes worth over Rs 1,800 crore.
ii. Ja yalalithaa launched several s chemes,
including those for improvement of roads,
dri nking wa ter fa cilities and for helping
needy fa milies headed by women.
servi ce whi ch authenti ca tes cus tomers based
on thei r speech patterns and allows them to
execute banking transa ctions through the
bank's call centre in a quick, secure and
convenient manner.
ii. The-fi rs t-of-i ts kind servi ce by a bank i n the
country, i t is a vailable to over 33 million
cus tomers of its sa vings a ccount and credit
ca rd.
iii. Wi th the voi ce recogni tion technology in
iii. MUDRA Banks effort is likel y to transform
pla ce, cus tomers a re no longer requi red to
small enterprises into a Rs. 11 lakh crore
enter their ca rd numbers , PIN and answer
industry, whi ch would gi ve a signifi cant push
securi ty ques tions to authenti cate
to countrys economy.
themsel ves.
iv. The Central government had set up
iv. Thei r voi ce will now a ct as the password
MUDRA Bank to boos t the growth of small
for banking transa ctions through the call
s cale businesses as small entrepreneurs face
centre.
di ffi culty to a ccess banking s ys tem for
v. The voice recogni tion technology works on
va rious reasons . This venture by MUDRA will
voi ce prints , whi ch a re unique to an
help finance s mall and micro businesses at
indi vi dual. It comprises more than 100
the grassroots level .
cha ra cteris ti cs including voice modulation,
speed, a ccent, pronuncia tion whi ch a re
Manoj Mishra appointed as CMD of
impossible to i mita te, thereby enhancing
National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL)
securi ty.
Corporation Bank Cuts Lending Rate

iii. The ma jor thrus t will be for urban and
rural roads . She allocated Rs . 1,000 crore for
urban roads , incl uding those under Chennai
corpora tion limi ts as i t was necessa ry to
repai r roads dug up repea tedl y by va rious
agencies like Metrowater and those
da maged in rains .
iv. For the rural roads , the government will
spend Rs . 800 crore covering 3,500 km of
roa d network of whi ch 50 per cent will be
spent on la ying new bi tumen roads and the
res t for repai ring the da maged roads.
v. As industrialisation of cities increased
housing demand in town pancha ya ts, the
Chief Minister had sa nctioned green houses
for 20,000 fa milies in the ini tial phase. Ea ch
fa mil y will be granted Rs . 2.10 lakh; and poor
in town pancha ya ts li ving in mud or tha tched
houses were eligible for the s cheme to be
implemented by the Ta mil Nadu Slum
Clea rance Boa rd.
i. Sta te-run Corpora tion Bank cut base ra te or
mi nimum lending ra te by 0.25 percentage
point to 10 per cent, a move whi ch will lead
to lower EMIs for i ts customers .
ii. The ba nk has revised the base ra te for
lending from 10.25 per cent to 10 per cent
wi th effect from June 1.
iii. Wi th the reduction, all loans linked to
base ra tes will now become cheaper by at
least 0.25 per cent.
iv. During the month, many banks incl uding
Punjab National Bank, Bank of Ba roda , and
IDBI BankBSE -1.84 % reduced base ra te by
0.25 per cent to 10 per cent.
v. Sta te Ba nk of India, the country's largest
lender, had reduced i ts base ra te by 0.15 per
cent to 9.85 per cent effecti ve April 10.
MUDRA banks partners with 19 regional
coordinators to reach small entrepreneurs
i. Mi cro Units Development Refina nce
Agency (MUDRA) Bank has pa rtnered wi th 19
i. Government has appointed Manoj Mishra
as Chairman and Mana ging Di rector of s ta te -
run Na tional Fertilizers Ltd (NFL).
ii. Mishra , currentl y pos ted as Di rector
Fi nance a t Sta te Trading Corporati on (STC), is
likel y to assume the cha rge of CMD of the
fertiliser fi rm this week.
iii. In September last yea r, government
headhunters Publi c Enterprises Selection
Boa rd (PESB) had recommended Mishra's
na me for the top pos t at NFL. NFL's CMD
post fell va cant after the reti rement of Neeru
Abrol in Februa ry 2014.
Mandeep Kaur wins two gold medals at
World Junior Championship
i. Punjab pugilist Mandeep Kaur Sandhu has
won two gold medals (52 kg ca tegory) on
Sa turda y a t the Women's World Junior
Boxing Championship in Taipei, thus s cripting
a classic ra gs to ri ch s toryline.

32
ii. Indian boxers had a terrifi c outing in the
tournament as they won 7 medals in all,
including three golds , a sil ver and two
bronze.
iii. Fi fteen yea r old Mandeep, who hais from
Cha kka r village, defea ted Ireland's Niamh
Ea rley in the fi nal ma tch by a 3-0 ma rgin to
wi n gold. Mandeep was dominant in her
ca tegory throughout the tournament and
registered some thrilling wins.
ANZ Bank to open 2 India branches by early
2016
i. ANZ Bank will open two more branches in
India by ea rl y next yea r.
ii. The two bra nches woul d be opened at
Gurgaon and Ba ngalore, ANZ Executi ve
Di rector (Interna tional banking) Subhash
DeGamia said. The bank opened i ts fi rst
bra nch in India a t Mumbai four yea rs a go.
iii. In June 2014, Aus tralia New Zealand
Ba nking Group (ANZ) said i t recei ved in -
pri nciple approval from the Reserve Bank of
India to open new branches in Gurgaon and
in outer Bengalore.
iv. Its Mumbai branch offers Indian Rupee
and foreign currency servi ces , working
capi tal and term financing, tra nsaction
banking, global ma rkets, deposits and
advisory servi ces.
v. In addi tion, ANZ's Bangalore-based
opera tions and technol ogy sha red servi ces
hub employs more than 6,000 s ta ff
supporting ANZ's businesses a round the
world.
Four Indians among Forbes worlds 100
most powerful women
i. Four Indians ha ve been named in Forbes
ma gazi nes 12th a nnual list of Worlds 100
mos t powerful women.
ii. They a re
Arundhati Bhattacharya: Fi rs t woman
(a nd younges t) Chai rperson of State
33
Daily GK Updates - 27th May 2015
Ba nk of India (SBI) was placed a t 30th Securi ty Council of India ha ve launched
position. NASSCOM Cyber Securi ty Task Force.
Chanda Kochhar: Ma naging Di rector
(MD) and CEO of India s la rges t pri vate
sector lender ICICI Bank was pla ced at
35th position.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Founder,
Chai rman and MD of Biocon Li mited was
pla ced a t 85th posi tion.
ii. Ra jendra Pa wa r, Chai rman, NIIT will chair
Shobhana Bhartia: Chai rperson and this task force. The task force over a 12 week
Edi torial Director of the Hindustan
peri od will identify the key priori ties and
Times Group was pla ced a t 93rd
build the detailed a ction plan for the sector.
position. It should be noted she has
iii. It aims to improve the cyber securi ty
appea red on the list for the fi rs t time.
industry ma rket sha re of the country from
iii. Top 10 powerful women: German
1% of the IT-BPM industry to 10% by 2025
Cha ncellor Angela Merkel (1s t), Hillary and plans to ha ve a trained base of 1 million
Clinton (2nd), Melinda Ga tes (3rd), US
certi fied cyber securi ty professionals. It also
Federal Reserve Chai r Janet Yellen (3th), GM
expects to build over 100 securi ty product
CEO Ma ry Ba rra (5th), IMF Chief Christine
companies in India.
Laga rde (6th), Bra zilian President Dilma
iv. B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, chairman of
Rousseff (7th), Fa cebook COO Sheryl
Nasscom said tha t the task force will s tudy
Sa ndberg (8th), YouTube CEO Susan Wojci cki
the Indian cyber securi ty ecos ys tem to
(9th) and US Fi rs t Lady Mi chelle Obama
identi fy issues and challenges and develop an
(10th).
a ction plan to address the priori ty issues."
v. It has proposed four working groups whi ch
India gets its first transgender college
focus on indus try development, policy
principal
enablement, technology development and
skill development respe cti vel y.
Nirbhay Sharma sworn-in as governor of
Mizoram
i. Lt general (Retd) Ni rbha y Sha rma was
sworn-in as the governor of Mizoram a t the
Durba r Hall of Ra j Bha va n. Justi ce T Vaiphei,
judge of the Gauha ti high court,
i. In a fi rst in India , Ma nabi Bandopadhya y administered the oa th of offi ce to general
has been appoi nted the fi rs t trans gender
Sha rma .
pri ncipal a t a college in West Bengal . ii. Sta te chief minister Lal Thanha wla, his
ii. Manabi will assume the role of Krishna gar cabinet colleagues, legislators from both the
Womens College principal in Wes t Bengal on ruling Congress and the opposition Mizo
June 9. She is currentl y an associate Na tional Front (MNF), senior offi cials of the
professor in Bengali a t Vi vekananda s tate government and the Army a ttended the
Sa toba rshiki Maha vidyala ya . guberna torial swea ring-in ceremony.
iii. "This decision was taken by the College
Servi ce Commission. I don't interfere in their
decisions . They a re awa re of our open mind. I
am happy wi th this decision," sta te educa tion
mi nister Pa rtha Chatterjee said.
NASSCOM launches Cyber Security Task
Force
i. Na tional Associa tion of Softwa re and
Servi ces Companies (NASSCOM) and Data
iii. General Sha rma, the former governor of
Aruna chal Pradesh, was tra nsferred and
appointed as Mi zoram governor on Ma y 12
by President Pranab Mukherjee, repla cing
West Bengal governor Kesha ri Na th Tri pathi
who took addi tional cha rge of Mi zora m.
iv. He is the eighth governor of Mi zoram
after the then s ta te governor Vakkom
Purushothaman resigned on Jul y 12 las t year
in protes t agains t being trans ferred to
Nagaland.
FM Arun Jaitley announces setting up of NIIF
i. Fina nce minister Arun Jaitley had
announced the setting up of the National
Investment a nd Infras tructure Fund(NIIF) in
the Union Budget. The north bl ock has now
issued a dra ft Cabinet note on i ts forma tion.
ii. The note is likel y to be taken up by the
Cabi net wi thin a month's time.
iii. The Na tional Investment and
Infras tructure Fund is likel y to ha ve an initial
Various Important Schemes Launched by NDA Government
I. Banking & Financial inclusion
A. Pradham Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana:
Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is
Na tional Mission for Financial Inclusion to
ensure a ccess to financial servi ces , namel y,
Ba nking / Sa vings & Deposi t Accounts,
Remi ttance, Credi t, Insurance, Pension in an
affordable manner.
Account can be opened in any bank branch
or Business Correspondent (Bank Mi tr)
outlet. PMJDY a ccounts a re being opened
wi th Zero balance. However, if the a ccount-
holder wishes to get cheque book, he/she
will ha ve to fulfill minimum balance cri teria .
B. Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) (Re-Introduced):
The re-launched Kisan Vikas Pa tra (KVP)
will be a vailable to the investors in the
denomination of Rs . 1000, 5000, 10,000
and 50,000, wi th no upper ceiling on
inves tment.
The certi fica tes can be issued in single
or joint na mes and can be tra nsferred
from one person to any other person /
persons, multiple ti mes . The fa cility of
34
corpus of less than Rs 20,000 crore. Infa ct,
we pi ck up from our sources tha t the initial
capi tal could be approxi ma tel y between Rs
5,000 crore and Rs 10,000 crore.
iv. The finance ministry is likel y to seek the
Pa rliament's nod for supplementa ry funds
once the Cabinet has gi ven i ts nod. The
government is also invi ting forei gn investors
for thei r pa rti cipa tion in the fund.
Sangakkara named CEAT International
Cricketer of the Year, Rahane is Indian
Cricketer of the Year
i. Former Sri La nka captain Kumar
Sa ngakka ra on 25 Ma y 2015 was named as
the International Cri cketer of the Yea r 2015
while the middle order bats man Ajinkya
Ra hane was named as the CEAT Indian
Cri cketer of the Yea r 2015.
ii. Former Indian captain Kapil Dev was
conferred wi th the Interna tional Lifetime
Achievement Awa rd a t the 19th edi tion of
the awa rds.
iii. Rohi t Sharma was gi ven a special awa rd
for his record-breaking 264 made a gainst Sri
Lanka in an ODI at Kolka ta.
List of award winners:
Interna tional Li fetime Achievement
Awa rd - Kapil Dev
Special Benefits under PMJDY Scheme
Interes t on deposi t.
Accidental insurance cover of Rs.1.00 la c
No mini mum balance requi red.
Life insurance cover of Rs .30,000/-
Eas y Tra nsfer of money a cross India
Benefi cia ries of Government Schemes
will get Di rect Benefi t Transfer in these
a ccounts .
After satisfa ctory opera tion of the
a ccount for 6 months , an overdra ft
fa cili ty will be permitted
Access to Pension, insurance products .
Accidental Insura nce Cover, RuPa y Debit
Ca rd mus t be used a t least once in 45
da ys .
Overdraft fa cili ty upto Rs .5000/- is
a vailable in onl y one a ccount per
household, preferabl y lady of the
household.
trans fer from one pos t offi ce to a nother
anywhere in India and of nomina tion
will be a vailable. The certi fi ca te can also
be pledged as securi ty to avail loans
from the banks and in other case where
securi ty is requi red to be deposited.
Ini tiall y the certi fi ca tes will be sold
through pos t offi ces , but the same will
soon be made a vailable to the inves ting
Interna tional Cri cketer of the Year
Kumar Sangakkara
Indian Cri cketer of the Yea r Ajinkya
Rahane
Interna tional Ba tsman of the Yea r
Hashim Amla
Interna tional Bowler of the Yea r
Rangana Herath
T20 Pla yer of the Yea r Dwayne Bravo
Popula r Choice Awa rd Kieron Pollard
Special Performance of the Yea r Award
Rohit Sharma
Domes ti c Cri cketer of the Yea r R Vinay
Kumar
Young Pla yer of the Yea r Deepak
Hooda
Documents required to open an account
under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana
If Aadhaa r Ca rd is not a vailable, then any one
of the following Offi cially Valid Documents
(OVD) is requi red: Voter ID Ca rd, Dri ving
Li cense, PAN Ca rd, Passport & NREGA Ca rd. If
these documents also contain your a ddress,
i t can serve both as Proof of Identi ty and
Address
HIGHLIGHTS:
s cheme for comprehensi ve financial
inclusion la unched by the Prime
Minis ter of India, Na rendra Modi on 28
Augus t 2014
Run by Depa rtment of Financial
Servi ces , Mi nistry of Finance
inaugura tion da y, 1.5 Crore bank
a ccounts were opened under this
s cheme
By 28 Ja nua ry 2015, 12.58 crore
a ccounts were opened, wi th a round
10590 crore
publi c through designa ted branches of
na tionalised banks .
Kisan Vikas Pa tras ha ve unique liquidi ty
feature, where an inves tor can, i f he so
desi res , en cash his certi fi ca tes a fter the
lock-in period of 2 yea rs and 6 months
and thereafter in any block of six
months on pre-determi ned ma turi ty
value. The inves tment made in the
certi fi cate will double in 100 months.
 Rei ntroduction of Kisan Vi kas Pa tra
(KVP) is a wel come s tep not onl y in the
di rection of providing safe and secure
inves tment a venues to the small
inves tors but will also help in
augmenting the sa vings ra te in the
country. The s cheme will also safegua rd
small investors from fraudulent
s chemes. With a ma turi ty period of 8
yea rs 4 months , the collections under
the s cheme will be a vailable wi th the
Govt. for a fai rl y l ong peri od to be
utilized in financing developmental
plans of the Centre and State
Governments and will also help in
C. Sukhanya Samridi Account
Sukanya Samriddhi Account is another
welcome s tep from Govt of India . Honorable
Pri me Minis ter of India, Sh. Na rendra Modi Ji
launched Sukanya Samriddhi Account A
Small Sa vings Scheme on 22nd Janua ry,
2015. It is pa rt of Beti Ba chao Beti
Padhao ini tia ti ve of Government of India
(GOI) also known as BBB.
OBJECTIVE:
Sukanya Sa mriddhi Account, Govt is trying to
gi ve a social message tha t Gi rl Child is not a
fi nancial burden if pa rents of a Gi rl child
secure thei r future through proper financial
planning.
7 Benefits:
Hi ghes t Interes t Rate a mong all Small
Sa vi ngs Schemes offered by Govt of
India: Sukanya Samriddhi Account will
offer interest ra te of 9.1% for current
D. MUDRA Bank Yojana
1. BUDGET SPEECH:
The Pri me Minis ter Na rendra Modi launched
the promised Mi cro Uni ts Development and
Refinance Agency Ltd (MUDRA) Bank on 8
April , 2015 wi th a corpus of Rs 20,000 crore
and a credi t gua rantee corpus of Rs 3,000
crore. The launch was the fulfillment of an
announcement made ea rlier by the Fina nce
35
enhancing domes ti c household financial
sa vings in the country.
* INTEREST RATE - 8.7%
HISTORY:
Kisan Vikas Pa tra (KVP) a certifi ca te sa vings
s cheme was launched by the Government on
1s t April , 1988. The scheme provided fa cility
of unlimi ted inves tment by wa y of purchase
of certi fi cates from post offi ces in va rious
fi nancial yea r i .e. FY 2014-15. It is
hi ghes t among all Small Sa vings
Schemes .
Ta x Sa vings : In order to encourage
people to open Sukanya Samriddhi
Account, Govt has exempted
contribution to this a ccount u/s 80C of
the Income Ta x Act, 1961.
Lock-in Period: In my opi nion this is the
BEST Fea ture of this scheme. The
ma turi ty of a ccount is 21 yea rs from the
da te of opening of the account or
Ma rria ge of the Gi rl Child, Whi ch ever is
ea rlier. For Ma rria ge, Gi rl should be of
18 yea rs a t the ti me of ma rriage. The
opera tion of a ccount is not permi tted
beyond date of ma rria ge.
Purpose of Sukanya Samriddhi Account:
As I mentioned earlier, i t is qui te evident
tha t Sukanya Samriddhi Account is
launched with sole objecti ve of financial
planning for the ma rriage of Gi rl Child.
Social Message is tha t Ma rriage or
Educa tion of a Gi rl Child is not a
fi nancial burden if pa rents plan well in
adva nce.
Ma turi ty Proceeds to be Paid to Girl
Chil d: On ma turi ty of Sukanya Samriddhi
Account, the a ccount balance along wi th
a ccrued interes t will be paid di rectl y to
the a ccount holder i .e. Gi rl Child. It gives
Minis ter Arun Jai tley in his FY 15-16 Budget
speech
2. MUDRA Bank Make a Difference to the
Economy:
As per NSSO Survey of 2013, there a re close
to 5.77 crore small-s cale business uni ts,
mos tl y sole proprietorships , whi ch undertake
trading, manufa cturing, retail and other
small-s cale a cti vi ties. Compa re this with the
organised sector and la rger companies that
employ 1.25 crore indi viduals. Clea rl y, the
potential to ha rness and nurture these mi cro
businesses is vas t and the government
recognises this. Toda y, this segment is
unregulated and wi thout financial support or
denominations. The ma turi ty period of the
s cheme when launched was 5 years and
the money inves ted doubled on ma turi ty.
The s cheme was very popula r among the
inves tors and the percentage s hare of gross
collections secured i n KVP was in the range
of 9 % to 29 % agains t the total collections
recei ved under all Nati onal Sa vings Schemes
in the country. Gross collections under the
s cheme i n the yea r 2010-11 were Rs.
21631.16 crores which was 9 % of the total
gross collections during the yea r. In the year
of i ts cl osure, the s cheme secured gross
collections of Rs . 7575.95 crores (April 2011
to November 2011).
fi nancial independence to Gi rl child
whi ch is currentl y missing in India .
Interes t to be paid even a fter Ma turi ty:
Unlike other financial schemes where
interes t is not paid a fter ma turi ty of the
deposit / investment s cheme. Unique
feature of Sukanya Samri ddhi Account is
tha t even after ma turi ty, if the a ccount
is not closed by the a ccount holder,
Interes t shall be pa yable in the a ccount
till final closure of the a ccount.
Flexi bility to opera te Suka nya Samriddhi
Account: Based on pas t experience,
Government of India has gi ven lot of
flexi bility in terms of a ccount
opera tions . I am listing down few of
them
(a ) Account can be opened wi th initial
deposit of Rs 1000 and therea fter any
amount i n mul tiple of Rs 100 can be
deposited subject to ma x limi t of 1.5 lakh
during financial yea r. Every FY, a min sum of
Rs 1000 should be deposi ted to keep a ccount
opera ti ve.
(b) On a ttaining age of 10 yea rs, a gi rl child
can opera te her a ccount
(c) Account can be closed if i t is proved that
a ccount is ca using undue hardship to the
a ccount holder
(d) Account ca n be transferred a nywhere in
India
cover from the organised financial banking
s ys tem.
3. The principal objectives of the MUDRA
Bank are:
Regula te the lender and the borrower of
mi crofinance and bring s tability to the
mi crofinance s ystem through regulation
and inclusi ve pa rti cipa tion.
Extend finance and credi t support to
Mi crofinance Ins ti tutions (MFI) and
agencies that lend money to small
businesses, retailers , self-help groups
and indi vi duals.
 Regis ter all MFIs and introduce a s ys tem
of performance ra ting and a ccredita tion
for the fi rs t time. This will help las t-mile
borrowers of finance to evalua te and
approa ch the MFI tha t meets their
requi rement bes t and whose past
record is most sa tisfa ctory. This will also
introduce an element of
competi ti veness among the MFIs. The
ul tima te benefi ciary will be the
borrower.
Provide structured guidelines for the
borrowers to follow to a void failure of
business or take correcti ve s teps in
time. MUDRA will help in la ying down
guidelines or a cceptable procedures to
be followed by the lenders to recover
money in cases of defaul t.
Develop the s tanda rdised covenants
tha t will form the backbone of the last-
mile business in future.
A. Krishi Amdani Beema Yojana:
B. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sinchai Yojana:
ensure wa ter s uppl y to fa rmers round
the yea r.
C. Pradhan Mantri Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
The Saansad Ada rsh Gram Yojana was
launched last week, for the development of
model villages. Under the Yojana , Members
of Pa rliament (MPs) will be responsible for
developing the soci o-economi c a nd physical
infrastructure of three villages ea ch by 2019,
and a total of eight villages ea ch by 2024.
The fi rs t Adarsh Gra m mus t be developed by
2016, and two more by 2019. From 2019 to
2024, fi ve more Ada rsh Gra ms must be
developed by ea ch MP, one each yea r. This
36
Offer a Credit Gua rantee s cheme for
providing gua rantees to loans being
offered to mi cro businesses.
Introduce appropriate technologies to
assist in the process of effi cient lending,
borrowing and moni toring of dis tributed
capi tal.
Build a suitable framework under the
Pradhan Ma ntri MUDRA Yojana for
developing an effi cient last-mile credit
deli very s ys tem to s mall and mi cro
businesses.
4. Major Product Offerings:
MUDRA Bank has ri ghtl y classified the
borrowers into three segments : the s ta rters,
the mid-s ta ge finance seeke rs and the next
level growth seekers .
To address the three segments , MUDRA Bank
has launched three loan ins truments :
Shishu: covers loans upto Rs 50,000/-
II. Agriculture & Irrigation Schemes
To gi ve a n impetus to the dying
agri cul tural pra ctice
There is 14 crore hecta res of agri cul tural
land in India, of whi ch onl y 44 per cent
in under i rriga tion
Pradhan Ma ntri Gram Sinchai Yojana
would be introduced so that more
agri cul tural land is i rri ga ted.
Talking about the plight of s mall and
ma rginal fa rmers he said tha t most of
basi c contours of the agri -i rriga tion
progra mme would be on lines of the
PMGSY, under whi ch ea ch i rriga tion
project would be selected for releasing
funds by the sta te government after
seeking nod of the concerned Zilla
Pa rishad.
importance in the wake of poor
implementa tion of va rious i rriga tion
implies tha t a total of 6,433 Ada rsh Grams , of
the 2,65,000 gram pancha ya ts , will be
crea ted by 2024. Key fea tures of the Yojana
a re outlined below.
Objectives:
Key objectives of the Yojana include:
The development of model villages,
called Ada rsh Gra ms, through the
implementa tion of existing s chemes,
and certai n new i nitia ti ves to be
designed for the local context, whi ch
ma y va ry from village to village.
Crea ting models of local development
whi ch can be repli cated in other villages.
Kishor: covers l oans above Rs 50,000/- and
upto Rs 5 lakh
Ta run: covers l oans above Rs 5 lakh and upto
Rs 10 lakh
Ini tiall y, sector-speci fic s chemes will be
confined to La nd Tra nsport, Communi ty,
Social & Personal Servi ces, Food Product and
Textile Product sectors. Over a period of
time, new s chemes will be launched to
encompass more sectors .
5. Some of the Offerings Planned for the
Future:
MUDRA Ca rd
Portfolio Credi t Guara ntee
Credi t Enhancement
them were lea ving the agri cul tural
pra cti ce beca use of the uncertainty over
the produce and returns .
Krishi Amdani Beema Yojana s o tha t the
fa rmers dont bea r any financial burden
if thei r produce gets destroyed due to
unexpected wea ther or for any other
reason.
projects in some s tates despi te release
of central funds by di fferent minis tries
under va rious s chemes for several yea rs.
Besides, wa ter is necessary for fa rmers
as country's 50 per cent of the
agri cul ture land is rainfed.
Identification of villages
MPs can select any gra m pancha ya t,
other than thei r own village or tha t of
thei r spouse, to be developed as an
Ada rsh Gram. The village mus t ha ve a
popula tion of 3000-5000 people i f it is
loca ted in the plains , or 1000-3000
people i f l ocated in hilly a reas.
Lok Sabha MPs can choose a village
from thei r consti tuency, a nd Rajya
Sa bha MPs from the s ta te from whi ch
they a re elected. Nominated members
can choose a village from any distri ct of
the country. MPs which represent
urban cons ti tuencies can identi fy a
village from a nei ghbouring rural
consti tuency.
D. Soil Health Card Scheme for Every Farmer
AIM:
Fa rming as an a cti vi ty contributes nea rl y
1/6th of our Gross Domes ti c Product and a
ma jori ty of our popula tion is dependent on it
for thei r li velihood. Deteri ora ting s oil health
has been a cause of concern a nd that has
been leading to sub opti mal utiliza tion of
fa rming resources. Imbalanced use of
fertilisers , low addition of organi c ma tter and
non-repla cement of depleted mi cro and
seconda ry nutrients over the yea rs , has
resul ted in nutrient defi ciencies and decrease
in soil fertility in some pa rts of the country.
Soil heal th needs to be assessed at
regula r intervals so as to ensure that
fa rmers appl y the requi red nutrients
while taking a dvanta ges of the nutrients
al ready present in the soil.
Government has launched a s cheme to
provide every fa rmer a Soil Heal th Ca rd
in a Mission mode. The ca rd will ca rry
crop wise recommenda tions of
nutrients/fertilizers requi red for fa rms,
ma king i t possible for fa rmers to
improve producti vi ty by using
appropria te inputs .
PM Modi, Shiekh Hasina to inaugurate
Kamalasagar border 'haat'
i. Pri me Minis ter Na rendra Modi and
Ba ngladesh premier Sheikh Hasina will jointl y
inaugura te a border 'haat' (market) at
Ka malasaga r in Tripura 's Sipahi jala dis tri ct,
whi ch borders Brahmanba ria dis tri ct of
Ba ngladesh.
ii. The 'haat' would be jointl y inaugura ted
through video conferencing from Dhaka
during Modi's two-da y visit to Bangladesh
beginning from June 6.
iii. The construction of a ma rket shed and
other infrastructure fa cilities at a cost of Rs.
2.5 crores is almost complete.
iv. Sepahi jala Additional Dis tri ct Magis tra te
Dilip Kuma r Chakma and his Brahmanba ria
counterpart Nazma Begum informed tha t
Indian traders from India and Bangladesh can
37
Central Government provides assista nce
to Sta te Governments for setting up Soil
Tes ting La bora tories for issuing Soil
Heal th Ca rds to fa rmers . State
Governments ha ve adopted innova ti ve
pra cti ces like i nvol vement of agri cul tural
s tudents, NGOs and pri va te sector in soil
tes ting, determi ning a vera ge soil health
of villages, etc., to issue Soil Health
Ca rds.
A Soil Health Ca rd is used to assess the
current s ta tus of soil heal th a nd, when
used over time, to determine changes in
soil health tha t are a ffected by land
ma nagement. A Soil Heal th Ca rd
displa ys soil heal th i ndi ca tors and
associated des cripti ve terms . The
indi ca tors a re typi call y based on
fa rmers ' pra cti cal experience and
knowledge of local natural resources.
The ca rd lis ts s oil heal th indica tors that
can be assessed wi thout the aid of
techni cal or labora tory equipment.
BENEFITS:
The s cheme will provide all 145 million
fa rm owners i n the country wi th a soil
heal th ca rd in the next three yea rs .
The budget allotted Rs .100 crore for
issuing ca rds and an addi tional Rs.56
crore to set up 100 mobile soil tes ting
labora tories a cross the country.
The s oil health ca rd details exis ting
nutrient s ta tus of the soil and crop-wise
Daily GK Updates - 28th May 2015
transa ct selected commodi ties respecti vel y
a t the haat. They met fi ve ti mes since
Ka malasaga r border point was selected.
Mega Food Park Inaug urated at Nalbari,
Assam
i. Minis try of Food Processing Indus tries had
sanctioned a Mega Food Pa rk to M/s North
East Mega Food Pa rk Pvt. Ltd. a t Nalba ri,
Assam.
ii. The Central Processing Centre of the Pa rk
a t Tihu in Nalba ri Dis tri ct of Assam has been
completed a nd was inaugura ted by Honble
Chief Mi nister, Assam, Shri Ta run Gogoi and
Union Minis ter for Food Processing
Indus tries Smt. Ha rsimra t Kaur Badal.
iii. Minis ter of Sta te for Home Mr. Ki ren Ri jiju
was also present to gra ce the occasion.
iv. To gi ve a major boos t to the food
processing sector by a dding value and
reducing food wasta ge and loss at ea ch s tage
recommenda tions of nutrients and
fertilizers requi red, making i t easier for
fa rmers to improve producti vi ty by
using appropriate inputs.
Appl ying fertili zer, bes t quality seeds
and a mple wa te r is not enough. Fa rmers
should nurture thei r soil a nd know what
inputs to use and in what quanti ties ,
Modi said while launching the s cheme.
Sta rti ng s oil heal th labora tories could
be an employment a venue for rural
youth. In Gujara t where every fa rmer
has a soil heal th ca rd unnecessary
expenses on inputs ha ve come down
and fa rmers ha ve sa ved a lot of money.
The agri cul ture ministry released Rs.86
crore for the soil heal th ca rd s cheme. In
compa rison, between 2007-08 and April
2014, the minis try had spent Rs.112
crore on the s cheme. The flagship
s cheme of the ministry has been
sanctioned Rs .568 crore for the next
three yea rs.
Imbalanced use of fertilizer is has led to
declining crop producti vi ty in the
country, further fuelled by a skewed
fertilizer poli cy where urea is hea vil y
subsided, leading to overuse.
While urea consumption i ncreased from
59% to 66% of total consumption in
2012-13 over 2010-11, per hectare
consumption of fertilizer declined from
140kg to 128kg over the same period.
of the suppl y chain wi th pa rti cula r focus on
perishables , Minis try of Food Processing
Indus tries is i mplementi ng a Mega Food Pa rk
Scheme in the country since 2008.
v. Financial assistance upto Rs . 50.00 Crore is
provided for setting up Mega Food Pa rks for
crea tion of modern i nfras tructure facilities
for food processing along the value chain
from fa rm to consumer.
TaxiForSure Ties up With Paytm , Launches
Faster App
i. Ta xi a ggrega tor Ta xiForSure announced a
tie-up with mobile commerce pla tform
Pa ytm to enable Pa ytm users to pa y for the
cab servi ce through thei r prepaid wallet.
According to the company, the new a pp will
enable booking of cabs in a single touch.
ii. Wi th the new partnership, the balance
amount in company's exis ting wallet will be
converted to TFS credit.
iii. Commenting on the move, Arvind Singhal,
CEO of Ta xiForSure, said that currentl y 80 per
cent of our booking comes from mobile
appli ca tions and 35 per cent of the total
pa yment is done through our wallet. Wi th
the pa rtnershi p with Pa ytm, over 70 million
Pa ytm use can pa y Ta xiForSure fa re through
mobile.
Tripura g overnment decides to withdraw
AFSPA from state
i. Tripura government has decided to
wi thdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers
Act (AFSPA), 1958 from the remaining areas
of the sta te.
ii. Decision i n this rega rd was taken during
the s ta te ca binet meeting chai red by Chief
Minis ter Manik Sa rka r in Aga rtala after Police
in i ts la test half-yea rl y review had found no
need to extend the a ct any further.
iii. Now s ta te government will move to the
Union Home Ministry for formal wi thdrawal
of the central Act from sta te whi ch was in
effect for the las t 18 yea rs to curb
insurgency.
India tops in World Hunger List with 194
Million People: UN Report
i. India is home to the hi ghes t number of
hungry people in the world, at 194 million,
surpassing Chi na, a ccording to United
Na tions annual hunger report.
ii. At the global level, the corresponding
fi gure dropped to 795 million in 2014-15,
from 1 billion in 1990-92, wi th East Asia led
by China a ccounting for mos t of the
reductions , UN body Food and Agri cul ture
Organisation (FAO) said in i ts report titled
'The Sta te of Food Insecuri ty in the World
2015'.
iii. India too saw a reducti on between 1990
and 2015, i t added. In 1990-92, those who
were s ta rved of food i n India numbered
210.1 million, whi ch came down to 194.6
million in 2014-15.
iv. The overall anal ysis sugges ted tha t
inclusi ve economi c growth, agri cul tural
inves tments a nd social protecti on, along wi th
politi cal s tability, ca n eradi ca te hunger.
PK Sinha appointed cabinet secretary by
Narendra Modi
38
iv. Union Government had enforced AFSPA in
Tripura a fter the relentless violence and
bloodshed i n tribal a reas of s tate i n Februa ry
1997 . Si nce then, i t was reviewed and
extended in every si x months as per the
provisions of the Act.
v. The last si x-month extension was gi ven in
November 2014 a nd i ts term ends by the end
of Ma y 2015.
Now, a satellite tracking system to tackle
forest fires in Himachal
i. A sa tellite tra cking s ys tem has been set up
to check forest fi res duri ng summers in
Hi ma chal Pra desh.
ii. Under the satelli te tra cking s ys tem,
continuous vi gil was being kept on the
fores ts to ensure tha t the fi re fighting sta ff
rea ched the spot immedia tel y on recei ving
informa tion.
iii. The Fores t Mi nister said that a wareness
campaign was being launched throughout
Daily GK Updates - 29th May 2015
i. Power Secreta ry Pradeep Kuma r Sinha was
appointed as the next Cabinet Secreta ry of
the government. He will succeed Aji t Seth
who has been holding the position for the
last four years .
ii. Sinha, a 1977-ba tch IAS officer of Uttar
Pradesh cadre, has been asked to take over
as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in Ca binet
Secreta riat, an offi cial release said. He will
formally ta ke over the new cha rge on June
13, i t said.
iii. The Pri me Minis ter has approved the
appointment of Sinha as the next Ca binet
Secreta ry wi th effect from June 13. Sinha has
been serving as Power Secreta ry since Jul y
2013.
iv. He has ea rlier served as the Shipping
Secreta ry and has also held several other
important positions in the Union
Government and i n his cadre sta te --Utta r
Pradesh.
Renowned scientist Selvin Christopher
appointed as DG of DRDO
the s ta te for protecti on of fores t weal th from
fi re for whi ch 693 pa rti cipa tory commi ttees
had been cons ti tuted.
Abhinav Bindra qualifies for Rio Games 2016
through Olympic quota
i. Bei jing Ol ympi c cha mpion Abhina v Bindra
qualified for the Rio Ol ympi cs 2016 through
one of the Ol ympi c quotas.
ii. Bindra shot 627.5 to qualify i n the 10m air
ri fle event a t the 1972 Ol ympic Shooting
Ra nge in Hochbrucke.
iii. Bindra is the fourth Indian shooter to
qualify for Ri o Games a fter he clinched one
of the three quotas a vailable to qualify for
the games .
iv. Notabl y, Bindra has had a slow sta rt to the
season, recording bel ow-pa r finishes in the
fi rs t two Worl d Cups a fter he failed to qualify
for the final in Changwon as well as Fort
Benning.
i. Eminent scientist Dr. Sel vin Chris topher has
been appointed as the Di rector General (DG)
of Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) along with the rank of a
secreta ry.
ii. As a DG of DRDO, he will also severe as
Secreta ry a t Depa rtment of Defence
Resea rch and Devel opment (DDR&D) for a
peri od of 2 years from the da te of taking over
the cha rge.
iii. Prior to this appointment, S Christopher
was Di rector of DRDOs Centre for Ai r-Borne
Sys tems (CABS), Bengaluru.
iv. Presentl y, he is also Progra mme Di rector
of Ai rborne Earl y Wa rni ng and Control
(AEW&C) s ys tem. He was fi rs t pioneer fi rst
Indian scientis t who ha d di rected the
ma nufacturing of India s fi rs t indigenous
AEW&C s ys tem.
Researchers Create First Single-Molecule
Diode
i. Led by Indian Ameri can s cientis t Latha
Venkata ra man, a tea m of resea rchers at
Col umbia Engi neering ha ve crea ted an
electronic diode the si ze of a single molecule
tha t performs 50 ti mes better than all prior
diode designs .
ii. Thei r findings whi ch could ha ve real -
world appli ca tions in rega rds to
nanotechnology were published on Ma y
25 i n the paper, Single-Molecule Diodes
wi th Hi gh On-Off Ra tios through
Envi ronmental Control , via the Na ture
Nanotechnology journal .
iii. The idea of crea ting a single -molecule
diode was sugges ted by Arieh Avi ram and
Ma rk Ra tner who theorised in 1974 tha t a
molecule could a ct as a rectifier, a one -wa y
conductor of electri c current.
iv. She and her team a re now working on
unders tanding the fundamental physics
behind thei r discovery and tryi ng to increase
the recti fi cati on ra tios they observed, using
new molecular s ys tems .
90 Percent Of Global Chemical Weapons
Stockpile 'Destroyed'
i. Nobel pea ce pri ze winning organisation
OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibi tion of
Chemi cal Weapons) has a chieved ma jor
miles tone of des troyi ng 90 per cent of the
gl obal chemi cal weapons s tockpile.
ii. OPCW has mentioned tha t a round 65,000
metri c tonnes of decla red chemi cal weapons,
mos tl y from US and Russian a rsenals of cold
wa r era ha ve been destroyed in a safe
ma nner.
Daily GK Update - 30th May-1st June 2015
1. President's visit to Sweden
i . President Pranab Mukherjee a rri ved in
Sweden on the fi rs t leg of his fi ve-da y s tate
visi t to Sweden and Bela rus , the fi rst ever by
any Indian head of Sta te, during whi ch a
number of key a greements on sustainable
development, scienti fi c resea rch a re likel y to
be signed.
ii . During his three-da y Sta te visi t in Sweden,
the President will meet Pri me Minister Stefan
Lofven, the Speaker of the Swedish
Pa rliament, a nd the Leader of Opposition,
Anna Kinberg Batra besides number of
meetings wi th the King and the Queen.
39
iii. It also includes total of 1,300 metric
tonnes of chemi cal weapons removed from
Syria in 2014. The remaining s tockpile is
underwa y in phase of des truction a nd is
s cheduled to be completed before the end of
2020 a nd 2023. The weapons s tockpiles
included ca ches containing chemi cals needed
to make deadl y nerve a gents like Sa rin.
iv. OPCW is an intergovernmental
organisati on, headqua tered in Hague,
Netherlands . The organisa tion promotes,
administers and veri fies the adherence to the
Convention on the Prohibi tion of the
Development, Production, Stockpiling and
Use of Chemi cal Weapons and on their
Des truction (CWC).
23-year-old US-educated Yaduveer crowned
Maharaja of Mysuru
i. In a tradi tional ceremony, US-educa ted
Yaduveer Krishnada tta Cha ma raja Wodeya r,
the adopted s on of Pra moda Devi Wodeya r,
is crowned as the ti tula r head of the
ers twhile Mys uru royal famil y.
ii. The corona tion took place a t Kalyana
Mantap in Amba Vilas Palace in Mysuru at an
auspi cious hour this morning amid Vedic
chants and slogans hailing the Mysuru
royalty and the 23-yea r-old Ki ng as he
as cended the sil ver throne Bhadrasana .
iii. Ya duveer, the 27th King of Wodeya r
dynas ty, will ha ve to wai t until Dasara to
as cend the golden throne, when he will
preside over the khasa (pri va te) durba r,
whi ch is reminiscent of the bygone era .
iv. Pramoda Devi Wodeya r, widow of
Sri kantada tta Na rasimha raja Wodeya r, the
iii. The visi t will focus on innova tion,
sus tainable development, urban
development and s cienti fi c research wi th
both countries exploring wa ys to enha nce
mutual exchange in the a reas of trade and
s cience.
2. Service tax increased to 14%
i . Finance Minis ter Arun Jai tley i n his Budget
had proposed to raise servi ce ta x from 12.36
percent (including educa tion cess) to 14
percent.
last des cendant of the Wodeya r dynasty,
formally adopted Yaduveer Gopal Raj Urs in
Februa ry, after whi ch he was rechristened as
Yaduveer Krishnada tta Chama ra ja Wodeya r.
Bharti Airtel surges 6% after Vodafone stake
sale
i. UK telecom ma jor Voda fone has sold its
4.2% s take i n Bha rti Ai rtel Ltd to Bha rti
Enterprises (Holding) Pvt Ltd for $200 million.
ii. In 2005, Vodafone had pi cked 10% sta ke in
Bha rti Ai rtel. Following i ts entry i nto the
Indian ma rket wi th i ts buyout of Huntchinson
s take in Hutch Essar, Voda fone brought its
s take in Bha ra ti Ai rtel down to 5%.
iii. Voda fone's decision to offloa d i ts s take in
la rges t telecom opera tor i n India, i n terms of
subs cribers base, follows the new unified
li cence (UL) regime i n Department of
Telecommuni cation.
iv. Vodafone's Indian uni t, the country's No.
2 ca rrier, is Bha rti Ai rtel's closest competi tor
in the ma rket.
ii . Some of the key servi ces tha t will a ttra ct
hi gher ta x and hence become cos tlier a re:
railwa ys , ai rlines , ba nking, insura nce,
advertising, a rchitecture, cons truction, credit
ca rds , event mana gement and tour
opera tors .
iii. Jaitley had proposed to raise the service
ta x ra te to 14 percent to fa cilita te a s mooth
transi tion to the Goods and Servi ces Tax
(GST) regime, whi ch the government wants
to roll out from April 2016.
3. New chairman of Engineers India Ltd
i . Sanja y Gupta toda y took over as chai rman
and managing di rector of Engineers India Ltd,
the s ta te-owned engi neering and
consulta ncy, procurement and construction (
EPC) company in hydroca rbons and
petrochemi cals.
ii . Gupta repla ced A K Purwaha who
supera nnua ted yes terda y.
iii. Gupta has about 34 yea rs of experience in
the company ra nging from planning to
implementa tion of mega grass root projects
in the refineries and petrochemi cal sector.
4. K.Sivan-new VSSC chief
i . K. Si van, Distinguished Scientist, ISRO,
assumed offi ce as the 12th Di rector of the
Vikra m Sa rabhai Spa ce Centre (VSSC).
iii. Tainted in the corruption s candal that
engul fed the 2010 Commonweal th Games,
Mr. Bhanot served as secreta ry of AFI for
more than a decade and was the Secreta ry
General of the IOA when i t served a 14-
month suspension by the IOC.
7. Cricket greats Sachin, Ganguly, Laxman
inducted into BCCI's high-powered advisory
panel
i . Former grea ts Sachin Tendulka r, Soura v
Ga ngul y, and VVS La xman on Monda y joined
the BCCI in a newl y-consti tuted advisory
panel to guide the boa rd i n all ma tters
rela ted to the ga me.

ii . He ta kes over from M.S. Da than who has

reti red from servi ce.
iii. Dr. Si van joined ISRO in 1982 in the PSLV
project and has contri buted towa rds mission
planning, design, integra tion, and anal ysis.
i v. He also spea rheaded the Reusable Launch ii . It has been lea rnt tha t Tha kur and
Vehi cle Technology Demons tra tor (RLV-TD) president Jagmohan Dalmi ya will consult
project. In April 2011, Dr. Si van joined the wi th the pa nel on all major cri cketing
GSLV project as di rector. decisions .
v. His leadership led to the successful flight of iii. Boa rd wants ba tsmen to speci fi cally speak
GSLV wi th an indi genous cryogeni c s ta ge. to Tendul ka r before a ny tough international
assignment.
5. Shooter Gurpreet Singh qualifies for Rio i v. Gangul y might well be consul ted for
2016 prepa ring a blueprint for success of the team
i . Former Commonwealth Ga mes gold overseas with La xman working on the bench -
medallist Gurpreet Singh became India's fifth s trength and the new talent coming in
shooter to qualify for the 2016 Rio Ol ympic through the s ys tem.
Ga mes finishing fourth in the 10m Ai r Pistol
ca tegory a t the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol
event being held in Muni ch.
ii . The 28-yea r-old shot a total of 154.8 points
to finish fourth in the Final .
iii. Joao Cos ta of Portugal who shot a total of
201.4 in the event won the gold medal.
i v. The other Indians to ha ve ea rned India the
ea rlier four quota places a re Ji tu Rai , Ol ympic
bronze medallist Ga gan Na rang, Apurvi
Cha ndela and India's onl y i ndi vidual Ol ympic
gold medallist Abhina v Bindra .

6. Bhanot elected Asian Athletics

Association vice-President

i . Sca m-tainted former IOA Secreta ry General

Lalit Bhanot was elected vi ce -President of
the Asian Athleti cs Association (AAA) in polls
held in Wuhan, China.
ii . Recommended by the Athletics Federa tion
of India , Mr. Bha not fought through a 14-
s trong challenge in the elections to be pi cked
as one of the fi ve vi ce -Presidents duri ng the
AAA council on the eve of the Asian
Cha mpionships in Wuhan.

40