GK Updates - 21 Jan | Banking Quiz

1.Sudhir Gupta is new TRAI Secretary
i. Telecom regulator TRAI today got a new Secretary, Sudhir Gupta, ahead of it releasing the final guidelines of spectrum trading and auction of CDMA radio waves.
ii. Gupta, a principal adviser with TRAI, has been elevated to the post of Secretary.
iii. In the past 10 years at TRAI, Gupta has played a key role in almost all the key regulations, recommendations and directions. This include mobile number portability regulation, rules to curb pesky calls, quality of service standards.
iv. He has been responsible for formulating recommendations related to spectrum auctions, 3G and later BWA spectrum auctions. These two had helped government garner over Rs 1 lakh crore.

2.Bashar al-Assad regime likely to face war crime charges
i. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime could face war crimes charges in international court, after top war crime prosecutors claimed to have direct evidence of "systematic torture and killing" of about 11,000 detainees by his forces.
ii. Lawyers acting for the Arab state of Qatar released a report, which includes thousands ofphotographs of the dead bodies of detainees allegedly killed in government custody, many of whom severely malnourished and showing signs of strangulation, the Independent reports.
iii. According to the report, the evidence came from a military policeman, who worked secretly with a Syrian opposition group and later defected and fled the country.

3.Amul launches India’s first ‘milk ATM’
i. Automatic teller machines not only dispense money, ATM-like machines also vend other products such as chocolates and soft drinks. But Amul has gone a step further: it will now sell milk through “Any Time Milk” vending machines.
ii. The pilot project of this 24x7 ATM began with the installation of a vending machine at the gate of Amul Dairy in Anand town of Gujarat on Sunday.
iii. To start with, we plan to set up these ATMs at each of the 1,100 ‘mandalis’ (village-level milk collection centres) in Kheda and Anand districts where we market Amul, Ramsinh Parmar, Chairman, Kheda District Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known as Amul Dairy.
iv. For a Rs 10-currency note, which this machine will read through a sensor, the ATM would dispense a 300 ml pouch of Amul Taaza milk.
v. The ATM, fitted with refrigeration facility, has a capacity to hold 150 pouches at a time.

4.RBI’s Anand Sinha demits office
i. With Anand Sinha relinquishing his charge as Deputy Governor on Monday, the Reserve Bank of India has re-allocated his portfolios among the remaining three Deputy Governors — K.C. Chakrabarty, H.R. Khan and Urjit Patel.
ii. Sinha was in-charge of eight departments, including Departments of Banking Operations and Development, Risk Management, Information Technology and Expenditure and Budgetary Control.
iii. Sinha was on an 11-month extension as he was dealing with the process of issue of new bank licences in the private sector. In the race for this top-level vacancy at the RBI are Executive Directors: B. Mahapatra, R. Gandhi, P. Vijaya Bhaskar, G. Gopalakrishna and Deepali Pant-Joshi.

5.RBI sets up expert panel to review bank boards’ governance
i. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday announced that it had set up an expert panel to review governance of bank boards and make recommendations.
ii. Headed by former Axis Bank CEO PJ Nayak, the panel will review the RBI's regulatory guidelines on ownership of banks and representation in their boards, among other things.
iii. The eight-member panel will also determine if there is any clash of interest in board representation. In addition, it will assess and review the `fit & proper' criteria for all categories of directors of banks.
iv. The panel will also review guidelines on composition of boards that vary immensely between public-sector, private-sector and foreign banks.
v. The panel has been set as large finance companies like IDFC and big corporate houses like Birla Group and L&T are seeking a licence to enter the banking sector.
vi. The expert panel is expected to submit its report within a period three months from the date of its first meeting.

6.Foundation day: Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya celebrate statehood
i. Today is the foundation day of three North Eastern States of - Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya.
ii. These states got full statehood on this day in 1972. In Manipur the day is celebrated as "Manipur Divas". The state has always been a favourite tourist destination.

7.It professionals launch new education website
i. A group of young IT professionals has launched a new software-based website intending to enhance the quality of the education system and to enrich campus life in an innovative way. (http://www.backyard.in) is an online educational cum social networking service like Facebook.
ii. It will help everyone in an educational institution- including the principal, administrators, faculties and students in enhancing the quality of education and the software will tie the whole college in a logical thread, Sarathi Sabyasachi Sahoo, the leader of the group, said.
iii. Sahoo, an IT professional who worked with Yahoo for five years said: We have taken 40 technical and management colleges and two colleges in the city into consideration at the initial stage.
iv. Before developing the software, a survey was conducted by our team members in various technical colleges in the city and we got a good response to the idea.
v. The software has the module to manage the hall of fame, notice board, library management and in the admin part.
vi. Various feature of this website include advance search bar, genuine id for students, user friendly interface, performance graph for students in terms of subjects, latest news update on the dashboard, question and answer section (where a student can ask any question on any subject under the courses of study and this can be answered by the concerned teacher or any other student).
vii. The website also provides facilities like in-built chat and message, unlimited photo upload and information about the college events, news and holidays, he said.

8.Jains granted minority status
i. The Jain community was accorded minority status by the central government on Monday, which will enable them to avail of benefits in government schemes and programmes.
ii. The decision to grant minority status to the community of about 50 lakh was taken at a meeting of Union Cabinet in New Delhi on Monday, a day after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi took up this issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
iii. The Jains became the sixth community to have minority status after Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis.
iv. Once recognised as a minority, Jains would get a share in central funds earmarked for welfare programmes and scholarships for the minorities. They can also manage and administer their own educational institutions.
v. Under Section 2 (c) of National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, five religious communities -- Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis are declared as minority communities through a government notification issued in October 1993.

9.Jind and Karnal becomes part of NCR zone
i. The National Capital Region Planning Board, NCRPB, has approved the inclusion of Jind and Karnal districts of Haryana in the National Capital Region, NCR.
ii. An official release said, the approval was given by the 34th meeting of NCRPB which was held in New Delhi on Monday under the chairmanship of Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath.

10.Aus Open: Sania Mirza loses in doubles quarter final
i. In Australian open Tennis Tournament, the sixth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean duo of Sania Mirza and Cara Black bowed out to the top seeded Italian pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 2-6,6-3,4-6 in Women's Doubles, Quarter Final on Tuesday.
ii. In Men's Singles World number 3 David Ferrer crashed out of the Australian Open. In Quarter Final match Spaniard David Ferrer lost to Czech Thomas Berdych 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6.
iii. In Women's Sinlges China's World Number four Li Na and Canada's Eugenie Bouchard today stormed into the semi-finals of the season's first Grand slam.

11.India retains number two spot in ICC Test rankings
i. India continued to hold its number two spot behind South Africa in the latest ICC Cricket Test rankings issued in Dubai on Monday.
ii. India with 117 points are followed by Australia with 111 while leaders South Africa have 131.
iii. England with 107 points are at the fourth position.

12.Bouchard, Li into Australian Open semifinals
i. Eugenie Bouchard has reached the semifinals in her first trip to the Australian Open, beating 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 on Tuesday to set up a showdown with fourth-seeded Li Na.
ii. The result means two-time Australian Open finalist Li, who beat Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-2 in an earlier quarterfinal featuring two women who’ll turn 32 next month, will have to face a teenager for the third time in the tournament.
iii. The 19-year-old Bouchard, the first Canadian to reach the Australian Open semifinals, played with composure against former No. 1-ranked Ivanovic, who started the season with a title at Auckland, New Zealand, and produced a major upset to eliminate top-ranked Serena Williams in the fourth round.