GK Updates - 13 Jan | Banking Quiz

Sachin Pilot appointed Rajasthan Congress chief

The Congress on Monday appointed Sachin Pilot and Arun Yadav as presidents of the party’s units in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh respectively.

The major rejig, ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, will see greater responsibilities to party leaders seen as close to Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.

Both the young leaders’ immediate task will be to revamp the party in their respective States, where the Congress lost badly to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recently held Assembly elections.

Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan together have 54 Lok Sabha seats. Both the big parties fight each other in the States and the Congress had won about 33 seats in the States. Retaining these seats will be a major challenge for the party.

Meanwhile, the party leadership hailed the choice of Pilot. “He is a young and dynamic leader, who has proved his popularity. He comes from a very good family with his father and mother having already served the citizenry of the State. I am sure he will give a clear direction to the PCC in Rajasthan,” AICC general-secretary in charge of Rajasthan Gurudas Kamath said.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tennis: Australian Open begins in Melbourne

There, seeking precious solitude and perspective, the Serbian unwinds in tranquillity at odds with the cacophony of the Australian Open just across the Yarra.

Habitual rather than superstitious, Djokovic stretches, meditates and basically chills out away from grand slam combat.

To the world No.2, the routine is as vital as practice court toil.

With a record of four title triumphs since 2008 and 35 wins from his past 37 matches at Batman Ave, who would possibly question the drill?

"It's my favourite place," the defending champion chuckled. "I love parks around the world. The Botanical Gardens are right up there in the top three of my favourite parks.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Veteran South Indian film actress Anjali Devi dies at 85

Veteran actor Anjali Devi — who defied conventional film industry wisdom that married women cannot be leading stars on screen as early as the 1940s — died of cardiac arrest in a city hospital on Monday. She was 86, and is survived by two sons.

One of the earliest stars of the black and white era in South India and a contemporary of the likes of Kannamba, Krishnaveni, Bhanumathi, Sowcar Janaki and Savithri, the actor was known for her bold portrayals and held her own in both glamorous roles, when she played the vamp, and the pious ones in mythological features.

Her biggest source of encouragement was her husband Adhi Narayana Rao, whom she referred to as “guru, father, mother … everything” during an interview to The Hindu in 2011. When she was hesitant to take up to her first film role in 1946, just after the birth of her second son, it was he who encouraged her to take it up.

Veteran actor Anjali Devi — who defied conventional film industry wisdom that married women cannot be leading stars on screen as early as the 1940s — died of cardiac arrest in a city hospital on Monday. She was 86, and is survived by two sons.

One of the earliest stars of the black and white era in South India and a contemporary of the likes of Kannamba, Krishnaveni, Bhanumathi, Sowcar Janaki and Savithri, the actor was known for her bold portrayals and held her own in both glamorous roles, when she played the vamp, and the pious ones in mythological features.

Her biggest source of encouragement was her husband Adhi Narayana Rao, whom she referred to as “guru, father, mother … everything” during an interview to The Hindu in 2011. When she was hesitant to take up to her first film role in 1946, just after the birth of her second son, it was he who encouraged her to take it up.

Veteran actor Anjali Devi — who defied conventional film industry wisdom that married women cannot be leading stars on screen as early as the 1940s — died of cardiac arrest in a city hospital on Monday. She was 86, and is survived by two sons.

One of the earliest stars of the black and white era in South India and a contemporary of the likes of Kannamba, Krishnaveni, Bhanumathi, Sowcar Janaki and Savithri, the actor was known for her bold portrayals and held her own in both glamorous roles, when she played the vamp, and the pious ones in mythological features.

Her biggest source of encouragement was her husband Adhi Narayana Rao, whom she referred to as “guru, father, mother … everything” during an interview to The Hindu in 2011. When she was hesitant to take up to her first film role in 1946, just after the birth of her second son, it was he who encouraged her to take it up.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

American Hustle' wins big at Golden Globes 2014

A couple of glamour guys, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matthew McConaughey, and two very respected actresses, Cate Blanchett and Amy Adams, won big acting awards at the 71st annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday.

Meanwhile, “American Hustle” and “12 Years a Slave” were named best comedy or musical and best drama respectively, leaving the Oscar race as wide open as it was before the ceremony.

“All right, all right, all right. It’s a surprise,” said McConaughey upon accepting the award for best actor in a motion picture drama for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club,” in which he plays a small-time rodeo rider in the 1980s who contracts AIDS. It was in fact somewhat of a surprise since he beat out Robert Redford and Tom Hanks. The actor then gave a spirited acceptance speech, acknowledging his Hollywood icon competition.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12 Years a Slave' wins Golden Globe for best dramatic film

Director Steve McQueen celebrates winning Best Motion Picture - Drama for 12 Years a Slave at the 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave emerged as the two strongest contenders for the Oscars after the Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out its Golden Globes on Sunday night.

The 1970s-set caper took three major prizes in the film section of the awards show. The slavery survival story won just one, but it was a best film award.

American Hustle, based on a real-life FBI sting operation against corrupt public officials, took two awards for acting – best actress (comedy or musical) for Amy Adams and best supporting actress for Jennifer Lawrence – as well as best film (comedy or musical). 12 Years a Slave, the critically-lauded adaptation of Solomon Northup's "slave narrative", took the other top prize – best film (drama).

In a major surprise Chiwetel Ejiofor, hot favourite for the best actor (drama) award for his portrayal of kidnap victim Northup, was defeated by Matthew McConaughey, star of Dallas Buyers Club, which tells the real-life story of Ron Woodroof's attempts to treat Aids with illegally smuggled medications.

Dallas Buyers Club, in fact, outdid 12 Years a Slave as the only film other than American Hustle to take more than one award, after Jared Leto carried off the best supporting actor gong.

In an indication of how many strong contenders there are in this years' awards season, the remaining awards were spread evenly around other titles.

Cate Blanchett won best actress (drama) for portraying a neurotic socialite forced to relocate to San Francisco in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EPFO approves raising Provident Fund interest rate to 8.75%

Retirement fund body EPFO on Monday decided to increase the rate of interest on Provident Fund deposits to 8.75% for 2013-14, a move that will benefit about 5 crore subscribers.

"We have decided to recommend to the government 8.75% rate of interest for 2013-14 to its subscribers," labour minister Oscar Fernandes told reporters after a meeting of the EPFO trustees.

The Central Board of Trustees, which is the apex decision-making body of the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), met on Monday and approved the interest rate.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RTI applicants need not provide their address: Centre

Government departments should notinsist on seeking address of an RTI applicant if a post box number is being provided to them for communication, the Centre has said.

The Ministry of Personnel has written to all central government ministries or departments, who act as public authorities mandated with providing information on RTI applications made to them, citing a judgement by Calcutta High Court in this regard.

"When the legislature thought it fit, the applicant need not disclose any personal detail, the authority should not insist upon his detailed whereabouts particularly when post box number is provided for establishing contact between him and the authority.

"In case the authority would find any difficulty with the post box number, they may insist upon personal details.

However, in such case, it would be the solemn duty of the authority to hide such information and particularly from their website so that people at large would not know of the details," the High Court judgement said

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ICRA assigns ‘AAA(hyb)’ rating to SBI’s Rs 2,000-cr Basel III bonds

ICRA has assigned a ‘AAA(hyb)’ rating with stable outlook to State Bank of India’s Basel III compliant Tier II Bonds aggregating Rs 2,000 crore.

This is the first Tier II capital instrument, compliant with the Basel III Capital Regulations, to be issued by SBI, the largest bank in India.

The Basel III Tier II bonds issued by banks are expected to provide their depositors and senior creditors an additional layer of protection, the credit rating agency said.

Hybrid subordinated instrument

The letters “hyb” in the parenthesis suffixed to a rating symbol stand for ‘hybrid’, indicating that the rated instrument is a hybrid subordinated instrument with equity-like loss-absorption features; such features may translate into higher levels of rating transition and loss-severity vis-à-vis conventional debt instruments.

The RBI guidelines on Basel III Capital Regulations in May 2012 introduced stringent clauses for the debt capital instruments so that loss absorption kicks in before the “public injection of funds”.

“While both Tier I and Tier II Basel III compliant instruments have loss absorption features, the triggers for Tier II instruments, which also have loss absorption features, are meant to be invoked at the point of non-viability, and therefore, are likely to protect depositors and senior lenders on a gone concern basis,” ICRA said in a statement.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Andhra Pradesh bags conservation award

The Petroleum Conservation Research Association under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has selected Andhra Pradesh for the award of best performing State amongst the big states for the oil and gas conservation programmes.

The award will be presented by M.Veerappa Moily, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas in New Delhi on January 16, according to a statement from State Energy Conservation Mission. The fifth high-level meet of State Energy Conservation Mission, to be chaired by the State Chief Secretary P.K.Mohanty, will be held on January 16.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Polio in India officially eradicated: Government

India on Monday marked three years since its last case of polio was reported, a major public health success for a country that until recently accounted for most of the world’s cases.

“Proud day for all of us as Indians,” Junior Home Minister RPN Singh wrote on Twitter. “India is polio-free for three years.” That is the official time period without a case for a country to be considered free of a disease by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The achievement was due to a massive immunisation programme, Health Ministry spokeswoman Manisha Verma said, adding that the WHO was to formally certify India polio-free on 11 February after checking the data.

“India was once thought to be the most difficult country in which to achieve polio eradication,” the Global Polio Eradication Initiative said in a statement.

In 2009, India’s 741 polio infections accounted for nearly half the world’s total. But a public immunization campaign made 2010 a turning point with only 42 cases.