GK Updates - 21 July | Banking Quiz

Cricket: India wins Lord's Test against England by 95 runs

I. India beat England by 95 runs in the second cricket test at Lord's to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

II. Ishant Sharma claimed 7 wickets to bowl India to their first overseas win since 2011.

III. It was also India's second victory and the first since 1986 at Lord's. Ishant Sharma, who finished with career-best figures of 7 for 74, was declared Man of the Match.

IV. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Indian cricket team for their victory.

V. The first test at Nottingham had ended in a draw. The third test will begin on Sunday at the Rose Bowl in Southampton.

Modi visits Bhabha Research Centre

I.Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his maiden visit to the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai on Monday.

II.He visited the Dhruva research reactor, which produces fissile materials for the country.

III.He was briefed by RK Sinha, Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and other top officials on the DAE’s extensive R&D and education programmes.

Google Maps now in Hindi

I. Search giant Google today launched its Google Maps in Hindi seeking to make its navigation service more useful for users locally.

II. Google Maps in Hindi will be available for desktop and android mobile phone users, who will be able to see Hindi names for cities, localities, important roads and routes as well as popular points of interest such as public parks and schools.

III. Launching the service nationally from Jaipur, Suren Ruhela, Product and Program Management Director, Google, said, the service may be made available in regional languages based on the feedback of this initiative.

IV. By launching Google Maps in Hindi today, hopefully Indians can explore and navigate the world around them more easily, whether these are people who already use Maps to find their way around day-to-day or Hindi-speakers coming online for the first time,” he said.

Furore in Parliament over judicial appointments

I.Amid a furore created by AIADMK members in Parliament for the second day running, the Government today admitted that a Supreme Court collegium during the UPA rule had recommended extension of a judge in Tamil Nadu who was under a cloud of corruption.

II.“Name the DMK Minister at the Centre,” shouted agitated AIADMK members who stormed the Well of the Lok Sabha as they were not satisfied with the response given by Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, forcing two adjournments of the House.

III.The Rajya Sabha also saw disruption on the issue, with AIADMK and DMK members clashing on the matter when it assembled for the day, leading to a brief adjournment.

IV.Responding to AIADMK members’ demands in the Lok Sabha, Prasad said in 2003, the collegium had “certain reservations” and had made some enquiries and decided that the case of this judge should not be taken up.

V.But later during the UPA rule, a clarification was sought by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as to why he should not be recommended. The collegium again said he should not have been recommended at all.

VI.Later, the Justice Department of the Law Ministry wrote a note to the collegium following which it said that his case could be considered for some extension, Prasad said, adding the matter stood there thereafter.

Vinay Pawar appointed Executive Director of TiE Hubli

I.The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) Hubli chapter’s governing body has appointed Vinay Pawar as the Executive Director of TiE Hubli.

II.Pawar has been an active member of TiE for the last three years and is an Entrepreneur and is currently a Director, Cool Canopy Ltd.

III.“He has excellent credentials to serve in an administrative capacity, and I appreciate his willingness to accept this responsibility to grow our Chapter,” said Vivek Pawar of Sankalp Semiconductor.

YES Bank, Transfast launch instant money transfer service for NRIs

I. YES Bank and international money transfer company Transfast, have launched an online money transfer service with instant deposits to NRI customer accounts with any bank in India.

II. This service facilitates real-time deposit of funds to all banks currently connected to the National Payments Corporation of India’s (NPCI) platform for inward remittances and is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year, YES Bank said in a statement.

III. Arun Agarwal, Group President, International Banking Division, YES Bank, said, “YES Bank is proud to partner with Transfast in introducing this innovative technology to transfer money from the USA and Canada to India at lightning speed. This service will provide great convenience to our customers in North America and provide an instant credit confirmation to them for deposits into their recipients’ accounts.”

Y Sudharshan Rao appointed as Chairman of ICHR

I. Yellapragada Sudharshan Rao on 25 June 2014 was appointed as Chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). He replaced Basudev Chatterjee. He would serve the council for a term of three years.

II. Y.S. Rao taught at Department of History, Kakatiya University. He had worked at Kakatiya University for about 40 years. He had vast experience in teaching and researching.

III. He guided eight PhD and 15 MPhil students and has about 40 research papers published in various national and international journals to his credit.

Andhra CM likely to release white paper on irrigation sector

I.Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu, is expected to release a white paper on irrigation sector later today.

II.This will be the fourth such white paper to be released by Naidu. He had earlier come out with white papers on power, infrastructure and finance sectors.

India's child sex ratio drops: UN report

I. India needs to take urgent action following a sharp fall in its child sex ratio, a United Nations report said Tuesday.

II. The study named "Sex Ratios and Gender-Biased Sex Selection: History, Debate and Future Directions", says the child sex ratio in India has deteriorated from 976 girls to 1,000 boys in 1961, to 927 girls in 2001 and to 918 girls in 2011.

III. The report has been constituted by the United Nations Women with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

IV. UN Women is the United Nations organisation dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.

V. It also says India is among the few countries where the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) for girls is worse than boys.

VI. The other countries are Nepal and Bangladesh.

Government launches scheme to minimize wastage of fruits, vegetables

I. The government has launched a scheme for technology upgradation, establishment and modernization of food processing industries across the country to minimize wastage of perishable fruits and vegetables.

II. Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said the National Mission of Food Processing will be implemented during the 12th Plan period to set up primary processing centres, collection centres besides technology upgradation, establishment and modernization of such industries.

III. "These schemes of the mission are implemented by the state governments and they have full powers to receive sanction and release funds to the eligible applicants," she said in Lok Sabha.

RBS appoints Brijesh Mehra as Country Executive for India

i.Royal Bank of Scotland has announced the appointment of Brijesh Mehra as Country Executive for India with immediate effect.

ii.Brijesh is currently Head of International Banking for India and South-East Asia. As Country Executive for India, in addition to overseeing the bank’s risk and governance framework, Brijesh will assume overall management oversight for all the businesses of the bank in the country, RBS said in a statement.

iii.Having worked with RBS for 20 years now, Mehra will also chair the India MANCO and the India Client Board. Further, he will continue as the Head of the India Coverage business of the newly formed Corporate and Institutional Banking Division (the erstwhile Markets and International Banking arm), which includes Debt Financing, Transaction Services and Risk Management.

iv.He will report to Sanjeev Kumar, Head of Coverage, Asia-Pacific, and Richard Place, Head of Transition & Network APAC, for in-country governance and controls.

Sania Mirza: Brand Ambassador of Telangana

I. The Chief Minister of Telangana K. Chandrasekhara Rao bestowed the Brand Ambassadorship of the new State on India's tennis star Sania Mirza in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

II. He wished her to notch the number one ranking in international tennis and bring laurels to Telangana.