GK Updates - 19 April | Banking Quiz

Point Wise

1. Abdelaziz Bouteflika won the Presidency for the fourth time consecutively in Algeria on 18 April 2014. He belongs to National Liberation Front party.He won the presidential election with a huge 81 percent of the vote. In 2008, he won the elections with 90 percent of the vote.

2. Capital market regulator of India, the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 17 April 2014 issued detailed corporate governance norms for listed companies. The norms have been launched for stricter disclosures and protection of investor rights, including equitable treatment for minority and foreign shareholders.
SEBI has amended clauses 35B and 49 of the listing agreement and the new rules will be effective from 1 October 2014. The norms requires companies to set certain things, namely
• The listed companies need to provide the option of facility of e-voting to shareholders on all resolutions proposed to be passed at general meetings
• To get shareholders approvals for related party transactions
• Establish whistle blower mechanism
• Elaborate disclosures on pay packages
• Have at least a woman director on their boards

3. Astronomers on 17 April 2014 announced that they have discovered an Earth-size planet, named Kepler-186f. The planet is located in the habitable zone—a range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the planet's surface. It is a part of the Kepler-186 system, which is located about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.

4. World Heritage Day was observed on 18 April 2014

5. New business premium in the life insurance segment increased by 12 per cent in the year ended March 31, 2014, compared to the previous year, according to T S Vijayan, Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).

6. Dial 1064 to complain against Delhi Police If you found any corruption. This toll-free helpline number, allocated exclusively to the Delhi Police, is operated by the Vigilance Department of the Delhi Police.

7. Stark Communications has been chosen ‘Agency of the Year’ at the Pepper Creative Awards 2014 hosted jointly by The Advertising Club Cochin and Pepper Creative Awards Trust. Its tally included one gold, six silvers, seven bronzes and seven finals.

8. Usha launches Tisva brand in Delhi, which has forayed into designer and utility range lighting segment under ’Tisva’ brand, is looking at 20 exclusive stores by September this year.

9. Banks may be allowed to act as corporate agents for multiple insurers. In a bid to ensure that banks offer more choice in insurance products through their branches, a proposal is likely to be made to allow banks to tie up with multiple insurers, as corporate agents.A committee set up by the Finance Ministry to break the deadlock in insurance broking is likely to suggest this model as an alternative to the broking model, which most banks have been hesitant to take up, said a senior industry official close to the development.

10. XP shutdown: Switch to free software, say FSMI activists. Activists of the Free Software Movement of India say you had better switch to free software that can easily substitute the proprietary, costly licences of Microsoft. “When you migrate, it involves a lot of cost on hardware upgrades and migration. Besides buying the OS copy of a higher version, users need to upgrade their hardware so that their systems can support the new OS,” Y Kiran Chandra, General Secretary of the Free Software Movement of India.

11. The SpaceX company returned to orbit on 18 april 2014, launching fresh supplies to the International Space Station after more than a month’s delay. The Dragon cargo ship will reach the orbiting lab on Sunday Easter morning. That pushes urgent spacewalking repairs to Wednesday; NASA wants a bad computer replaced before something else breaks. This was the second launch attempt this week for SpaceX.NASA’s commercial supplier had a leaky rocket valve on Monday.