GK Updates - 25 Jan | Banking Quiz

1.Australia Open: Li Na becomes first Chinese woman to clinch title
i. Li Na made it third time lucky in the Australian Open final, beating Dominika Cibulkova 7—6 (3), 6—0 on Saturday to become the oldest woman to clinch the title in the Open era.
ii. Li, who turns 32 next month, lost Australian Open finals to Kim Clijsters in 2011 and Victoria Azarenka last year. In between, she won the 2011 French Open to become the first Chinese woman to win a major.
iii. In both her previous Australian Open appearances, Li won the first set but went down in three. Against Azarenka last year, she stumbled and twisted her ankle, and needed a medical timeout after hitting her head on the court.
iv. She had no such trouble against No. 20-seeded Cibulkova, going on a roll to win the last eight games.

2.LPG Connection Portability Scheme launched
i. The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas launched LPG Connection Portability Scheme across the country on 22 January 2014. The scheme covers 480 districts in the country and all possible LPG markets which have multiple LPG distributors.
ii. Under the scheme an LPG consumer can switch to the distributor of his or her choice within a cluster of LPG distributors in the vicinity.
iii. To facilitate LPG to consumers Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have made more than 1400 clusters distributors.
iv. The Procedure to opt for portability is very simple. No transfer fee or additional security deposit will be charged for transfer of connection under the scheme.
v. In October 2013 OMCs together launched LPG connection Portability Scheme as a pilot project in 24 districts covering 13 states. The OMCs in India are Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

3. India Posts to start rolling out ATMs from February
i. In anticipation of getting a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India, the Department of Posts will roll out its own ATMs, with the first of them set to be functional on February 5 across three cities.
ii. “The first of the ATMs would be rolled out simultaneously in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore,” Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and IT, said, after inaugurating a data centre for the postal department.
iii. Following which, the postal department is planning to rollout 3,000 ATMs. About 1,000 machines would be introduced in the first year. The remaining 2,000 would be rolled out within six months to one year after the initial phase of rollout.

4.Vakrangee gets white-label ATM licence
i. Vakrangee Ltd has received the Reserve Bank of India’s final authorisation of the White Label ATM licence.
ii. Under this licence, Vakrangee is entitled to set up and run minimum 15,000 ATMs across the country in the next three years, sources close to the development said.
iii. White-label ATMs are those which are not run by the banks but by a non-banking entity in its own brand name (like Vakrangee ATM) after passing through all the stringent qualification and due-diligence process undertaken by the RBI.
iv. These ATMs will have all the functionalities like that of a bank-run ATMs.
v. For the ATM business, Vakrangee will focus more towards sub Tier-III towns with huge potential.
vi. The White-Label ATM business is a strategic fit for Vakrangee’s current business of rural bank branch management wherein brick and mortar bank branches (as common business correspondents) are set up by this company for the public sector banks.

5.Scientist Mashelkar, yoga guru Iyengar get Padma Bhushan, cricketer Yuvraj gets Padma Shri
i. Renowened scientist R.A. Mashelkar, yoga guru B.K.S. Iyengar, actors Vidya Balan and Paresh Rawal, sportspersons Yuvraj Singh, P. Gopichand and Dipika Pallikal are among the personalities who have been awarded the Padma awards ahead of the Republic Day.
ii. While Mashelkar and Iyengar have been conferred with Padma Bhushan, actors Balan and Rawal have been awarded the Padma Shri awards
iii. Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, ace shuttler Gopichand and squash player Pallikkal have got Padma Shri awards. Dipika recently entered the top 10 in the WSA rankings, the official women's squash world rankings.
Note:The Padma awards, India's highest civilian honours, are given in three categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri and announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

6.Japanese PM Shinzo Abe arrives in New Delhi
i. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, who will be chief guest at this year's Republic day Parade, arrived here on a three-day official trip to India.
ii. Abe, accompanied by his wife Mrs Akie Abe, is visiting India on the invitation of PM Manmohan Singh.
iii. During his three-day trip (25 -27 Jan), Abe is scheduled to hold talks with PM Manmohan Singh for the Annual Summit between India and Japan.
iv. The delegation-level talks between the two PMs is expected to cover economic issues, and international topics like Afghanistan and UN reforms, said reports.

7.French First Lady visits India
i. French First Lady Valerie Trierweiler will make her first public appearance since it emerged President Francois Hollande was cheating on her with an actress, with a trip to India next week for charity work.
ii. Trierweiler was hospitalised for a week after news broke of Hollande's affair with 41-year-old French actress Julie Gayet, and has since been holed up in a presidential retreat outside Paris as her future remains unclear.
iii. She will visit Mumbai for two days from Monday on a trip organised by French relief organisation Action Against Hunger (ACF) which had been planned long in advance.
iv. In Mumbai, Trierweiler will visit a hospital where ACF has a feeding project for malnourished children and witness a training programme for medical staff.
v. She will be shown around the city by French actress Charlotte Valandrey, who is involved in the cause of promoting organ donations and transplants
8.Dr. Tej Vir Singh won the UNWTO Ulysses Prize
i. Dr. Tej Vir Singh from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh won the 2013 UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge on 22 January 2014.
ii. Dr.Singh is the professor and Founding Director of the Centre for Tourism Research & Development (CTRD) in India.
iii. Dr. Singh started the first Himalayan tourism training course, as the Founding Director of the Institute of Himalayan Studies and Regional Development at the University of Garhwal.
About UNWTO Ulysses Prize
The UNWTO Ulysses Prize is given to a distinguished scholar, whether in academia, government or private industry, for outstanding contributions to innovation and knowledge in tourism.

9.Shane Warne to mentor Australia's spinners for World T20 Tournament
i. Australia has appointed Shane Warne as a specialist spin consultant on 23 January 2014 to support Darren Lehmann ahead of Australian campaign in World Twenty20 to be played in Bangladesh. His role in the team will be to train the spinners of the squad.
ii. Warne will join the squad of the team for the three-match series against South Africa at the conclusion of the Test tour in March 2014. Australia has to play three T20 games against South Africa on 9, 12 and 14 March 2014.
iii. George Bailey is the captain of the Australian Twenty20 cricket team and at present the team is ranked at eighth position in the list of International Cricket Council.
iv. The coach of the Australian cricket team Lehmann considers that the role of Warne in the game will be a crucial turning point for the team.

10.Aviation ministry removed V.P.Agrawal from position of AAI chairman
i. The Aviation Ministry removed V.P.Agrawal as chairman of the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) on 24 January 2014.
ii. Alok Sinha has given additional charge as AAI chairman. Alok Sinha is a joint secretary in the Aviation Ministry.
iii. V.P. Agrawal took over as chairman on 1 January 2009 for a period of five years. His tenure was ended on 31 December 2013, but he was allowed to continue in the post.

11.Third ODI between India & New Zealand end in tie
i. The third cricket one-dayer between India and New Zealand ended in a nail-biting tie at Auckland today. Chasing a stiff target of 315 runs, India needed just two runs off the last ball but could manage just a single.
ii. Ravindra Jadeja very nearly pulled off a sensational victory with some lusty hits but could not take India home in the last over as the third one-dayer against New Zealand ended in a nail-biting tie to keep the visitors afloat in the five-match series in Auckland today.
iii. The tie also ensured that India remained in the number one position in the ICC ODI rankings, having regained it yesterday following Australia's defeat to England in the fourth one-dayer.
iv. The score could have been much bigger had there not been not a minor collapse towards the end of the innings which pegged the Kiwis back to some extent.
v. The scores: New Zealand 314 all out in 50 overs. India 314 for nine in 50 overs.
vi. At present, the hosts lead the 5-match series Two-Nil.

12.Richard Quest won 2013 UNWTO Lifetime Achievement Award
i. UNWTO awarded CNN’s Richard Quest the 2013 UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement on 22 January 2014.
ii. The UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented during the UNWTO Awards Ceremony held in Madrid, Spain.
iii. The Award recognizes Mr. Quest’s reporting across the globe on CNN, which has showcased the challenges and successes of the tourism industry - raising it into the mainstream of the international agenda.
About UNWTO Lifetime Achievement Award
The UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement is conferred to recognize a lifetime achievement of individuals with visionary leadership and significant contribution throughout the nominee’s career as an inspirational role model for the development at the local, national, regional or international level.