GK Updates - 30 July | Banking Quiz

TCS official IT consultancy partner for Singapore Marathon ’14

I.Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said on Wednesday that it has been appointed as the official IT consultancy partner of the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2014 (SCMS).

II.TCS will provide a mobile application and technology support for the event, it said in a statement.

III.The race is the latest addition to the broad portfolio of major running events that TCS sponsors and supports worldwide like the TCS NYC Marathon, Chicago, Mumbai and Amsterdam Marathons, as well as the Bangalore World 10K.

IV.“This is a first time relationship with a major running event for us in the Asia Pacific region, and our Singapore and regional teams look forward to participating along with our clients and partners,” Vish Iyer, President, Asia Pacific, TCS said.

V.The ‘Race App’, to be developed by TCS, will be made available to all participants in the build-up to race day on December 7, 2014.

Piramal Enterprises, Dutch pension fund ink pact to invest $1bn in infra cos

I.Piramal Enterprises Ltd (PEL) and Dutch pension fund asset manager APG Asset Management have announced a strategic alliance for investing in rupee denominated mezzanine instruments issued by infrastructure companies in India.

II.With a target investment of $1 billion over the next three years, PEL and APG have each initially committed $375 million for investments under this alliance.

III.This is one of the largest private sector commitments to the infrastructure sector in India and one of the single largest commitments to date by a foreign investor to the infrastructure sector in India, the two partners said in a release.

IV.In a statement, Ajay Piramal, Chairman, PEL, said, “This is an opportune time to be creating an aligned pool of capital to target what we believe to be very compelling funding opportunities in the infrastructure sector in India. The alliance is consistent with PEL’s long-term plan and vision of playing a contributing role towards investments that promote growth. This is the single largest investment of APG in the unlisted space in India till date.”

V.Dick Sluimers, CEO of APG, added, “The strategy of the alliance to focus on mezzanine investments in infrastructure projects in India ticks the right boxes for our pension fund clients in terms of risk-return profile and high cash flow visibility.”

GSFC launches neem-coated urea

I.State-promoted Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (GSFC) on Wednesday announced the launch of neem-coated urea to make it eco-friendly and a natural fungicide.

II.In its pursuit of excellence, and in due compliance with the guidelines of the Government of India’s Department of Fertilizers, GSFC has commenced neem-coated urea production, the listed company said in a statement here.

III.GSFC would produce 35% of its total urea production as neem-coated.

IV.A company spokesman said GSFC had in place the necessary in-house infrastructure for manufacturing this product in the current financial year, at a nominal capital cost. Due to neem coating, urea will now have an added value of being an eco –friendly natural fungicide in soil over and above nitrogen nutrients which would benefit the crop immensely.

V.Simultaneously, it will prevent the misuse of urea for industrial purpose down the line as neem-coated urea creates foam and odour, the company said. Commercial production of this product has started and the product is now available for sale to the farmers.

IAF received 6th C-17 Globemaster III aircraft

I.Indian Air Force on 28 July 2014 received its sixth C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. This aircraft was received by the Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley at the Palam Airbase in New Delhi.

Benefits of the C-17 Globemaster III aircraft

I.The C-17 Globemaster III aircraft will enhance the operational potential of the Indian Air Force (IAF) with its payload carriage and performance (about 75 tonnes). It would also augment the strategic reach of the nation during operations to about 4500 kms during disaster relief and other similar missions.

II.The first Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Aircraft was received by India on 18 June 2013 at Hindon Airbase in Uttar Pradesh in India.

Lifetime award for Amara Raja chief

RN Galla, Chairman, Amara Raja Batteries, was honoured with the “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his contribution to the Indian lead acid battery industry at the International Conference & Exhibition on Lead & Lead Batteries organised by the India Lead Zinc Development Association. He was awarded at a meeting held at Hotel Lalit, New Delhi. The award has been handed to recognise Galla’s extraordinary contributions to the industry, according to a statement.

Bhiwandiwala appointed as Additional Director at Mahindra CIE

Mahindra CIE Automotive in a communication to the stock exchange said that the Board of Directors of the company at its meeting on July 29 appointed Zhooben Bhiwandiwala as an Additional Director.

AP launches energy efficiency pilot

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, has approved the implementation of energy-saving pilot projects in partnership with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL). The energy-saving projects will be taken up both in the domestic and agriculture sectors by improving demand side management. The Government has permitted EESL to carry out sample surveys in Srikakulam, West Godavari, Guntur and Anantapur districts and follow them up with pilot projects for taking up demand side management-based Efficient Lighting Programme in all households. Based on the sample survey, a Detailed Project Report will be submitted by EESL on the replacement of around 36,000 agriculture pump sets in 13 mandals where feeder segregation has taken place, ensuring transparency. According to a statement, Ajay Jain, State Energy Secretary, has instructed the discoms to submit proposals to AP Electricity Regulatory Commission about the revenue sharing model between discoms, on behalf of the Government, and EESL. EESL, a joint venture of NTPC Ltd, PFC, REC and Power Grid, has assured the Government that it will invest between ₹500 crore and ₹1,000 crore.

The Vijay Mallya Story written by K Giriprakash published

I.The Vijay Mallya Story written by K Giriprakash was published by Penguin Books Limited in 2014. K. Giriprakash is the Chief of Bureau, The Hindu Business Line.

II.The book is an intriguing story of the life of Vijay Mallya, an Indian industrialist with a history of ground-breaking success. The book tells about even the lesser known facts and stories from the professional events of Mallya’s life.

III.The making of this industrial tycoon, his success story, the story of his decline with the downfall of Kingfisher, and a lot of important events from his life are presented in the book.

IV.The book also tells about the various names by which Vijay Mallya was referred. These include the King of Good Times, The Liquor King of India, and King of Good Thrones. The book also presents the details about his presence in the Rajya Sabha (or the Upper House) of the Indian Parliament, his ownership of IPL team Royal Challengers, Bangalore and many other professional roles which he donned.

Arup Raha takes over as Chairman, CoSC

I.IAF chief, Arup Raha, today took over as the Chairman, Chiefs of Staffs Committee, from incumbent Gen Bikram Singh who is retiring tomorrow.

II.The Chairman, Chiefs of Staffs Committee is the senior-most military officer in the country.

III.Raha was handed over the baton of the CoSC by Gen Singh at a ceremony in South Block, Defence officials said.

IV.Raha, 59, will hold the office for a period of 29 months and would probably be the longest-serving officer in the chair.

V.He has got the long tenure because of the resignation of former Navy Chief Admiral, DK Joshi, in February after a series of accidents involving naval warships.

VI.Raha will continue in office till December 2016 and is expected to push for increasing jointmanship among the three services as the CoSC.

The Lives of Others written by Neel Mukherjee shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2014

I.The Lives of Others authored by Neel Mukherjee was shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2014 in the fourth week of July 2014. Neel Mukherjee is a Kolkata-born British Indian writer and this is his second novel.

II.The novel is set in 1960s Bengal and revolves around a man's extremist political activism during troubled times. The Novel is published by Granta which has so far sold 300000 copies in the United Kingdom and almost 500000 copies worldwide.

III.His first novel was Past Continuous which was joint winner of the Vodafone-Crossword Award, India's premier literary award for writing in English for best novel of 2008.

IV.In 2013 another book set in Kolkata, The Lowland written by Jhumpa Lahiri was, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2013. But it lost to The Luminaries written by Eleanor Catton of New Zealand. The Lowland is a story of a young man's tryst with the Naxalite movement at the cost of his family.

Bangladesh freedom fighter Bir Bikrom UK Ching Marma died

I.Bir Bikrom UK Ching Marma, the well known Bangladeshi freedom fighter died on 25 July 2014. He was 76. He died at Chittagong Medical College Hospital due to brain stroke.

II.He was given state honour at his Langipara home, about 2 kilometres from the district town, in presence of top officials of district administration, police and army.

III.U K Ching was the only person of ethnic minority origin to be awarded Bir Bikrom for his contribution to the country’s Liberation War in 1971. He belonged to the Marma community.

Sushilarani Patel, a Classical singer died at 96

I.Sushilarani Patel, the renowned classical singer of India died at her Bandra home on 24 July 2014 due to heart attack. She was 96. She in 2002 became a Sangeet Natak Academy laureate.

II.Patel, a widow of Baburao Patel was living alone in her Bandra home since his death in 1982 and was cared by her disciplines as she had no close relatives. Baburao Patel was the person, who ran India’s first Bollywood trade journal FilmIndia.

SBT awards student scholarships

I.State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has earmarked an amount of ₹2 lakh to support a scheme for scholarships to 10 meritorious students belonging to HIV-affected families.

II.SBT had tied up with the Kerala State AIDS Control Society in the scheme announced last year. Jeevandas Narayan, Managing Director, SBT, handed over the scholarship amount for this year to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, last week, in the presence of Health Minister VS Sivakumar at the former’s office.

Inoperative A/c norms should be followed strictly: EPFO

I.Retirement fund body EPFO has asked its field formations to strictly follow guidelines while settling claims out of inoperative accounts in order to reduce the risk of frauds.

II.Provident fund accounts, which fail to make contributions for 36 continuous months to the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), are classified as inoperative accounts.

III.“Instructions shall be followed scrupulously for settlement of claims out of inoperative accounts. All care shall be taken to reduce the risk of frauds and to ensure that claims are authentic and the payments are made to genuine claimants,” an EPFO office order to field staff said.

CWG 2014: Rai wins gold, silver for Narang; lifter Thakur bags silver

I.Pistol King’ Jitu Rai kept his reputation intact by clinching the gold medal before Gagan Narang and Gurpal Singh claimed a silver each to continue the shooters’ heroics while young Vikas Thakur overcame pain to bag silver in weightlifting on the fifth day of competitions in the 20th Commonwealth Games here today.

II.The 26-year-old Rai, world number 4 in the event, gave ample display of his class by taking the honour in the men’s 50 m pistol event as the Indian shooters continued to dominate the ranges.

III.Gurpal Singh also took the spotlight with his silver-winning effort in the same event while Narang, taking part for the first time in the 50 m rifle prone event, had to be content with a silver as the shooters did the bulk of the medal shopping during the day.

IV.Writhing in pain, Thakur produced the lift of his lifetime to clinch the bronze in men’s 85kg weightlifting, as Indian lifters continued their spectacular show.

V.Thakur lifted 333kg (150+183) to bag the silver while Richard Patterson of New Zealand won the gold with a total lift of 335kg (151+184). Canada’s Pascal Plamondon was third with 333kg (151+182), but Thakur bagged the silver on lesser bodyweight.

VI.Meanwhile, a dominant Indian women’s hockey team annihilated hapless Trinidad and Tobago by a whopping 14-0 margin in its third game of the Games.