GK Updates - 8 April | Banking Quiz

SAP appointed Ravi Chauhan as MD for India

1.Ravi Chauhan on 7 April 2014 was appointed as Managing Director for SAP India. He will take the charge immediately. He will report directly to Adaire Fox-Martin, President of SAP Asia Pacific Japan.

2.He had joined SAP after four years at Juniper Networks, where he had last served as Managing Director for India and South Asia. Before Juniper, Chauhan held leadership roles at Nortel Networks.

3.SAP innovations in cloud, mobile and social platforms are increasingly catered to the workplace of the future and the global networked economy with applications and solutions across all industries.

Itanagar got its first passenger train

1.The Arunachal capital was today put on the country's railway map with the first passenger train of about 400 commuters arriving at Naharlagun near here.

2.The train with 10 passengers and two goods compartments, towed by a diesel engine, left Dekargaon at 7 AM and arrived here at 12.30 PM, covering a distance of 181 km.

3."It is a great day for Arunachal Pradesh," C D Sharma, who had bought the first ticket for Naharlagun at Dekargaon railway station for Rs 35 said.

4.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced introducing train service in his package for the state on January 31, 2008.

5.Informing about the arrival of the train, Chief Minister Nabam Tuki during an election rally here yesterday announced that Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express would be introduced soon to link Arunachal to national capital Delhi.

6.The ambitious 20-km railway line project had missed its target of December, 2011.

Mickey Rooney, the American film actor died

Mickey Rooney, an American film actor and entertainer died on 7 April 2014. He died in California at the age of 93.

Jhumpa Lahiri's "Lowland" shortlisted for 2014 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction

1.Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian American novelist Jhumpa Lahiri's "Lowland" has been shortlisted for this year's Baileys Prize, the UK's only annual book award for fiction written by a woman.

2."The Lowland", which is about the lives of brothers Subhash and Udayan, their choices and their fate, was described by Helen Fraser, Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2014 Chair, as "Moving and vivid, an unforgettable story of two brothers and the different paths they take. A novel about how political passion can destroy lives."

3.Earlier known as the Orange Prize, the winner will be announced on June 4 in London and presented with a cheque for USD 30,000.

India's Heena Sidhu clinched World's No. 1 spot in 10 mts air pistol event

1.Heena Sindhu, the Indian shooter on 7 April 2014 clinched the World’s Number One spot in 10 meters air pistol event. By achieving this fete, she became the first Indian pistol shooter to be ranked at the top position in the list.

2.Sindhu clinched the first spot in the rankings list by replacing the world champion Zorana Arunovic of Serbia with total pf 1699 rating points. Zorana is now placed at the second position in the list with 1514 points. China’s Wenjun Guo with 1190 points is placed at the third position.

3.The rankings was released by International Shooting Sport Federation claimed that Sindhu was successful in achieving the World Number 1 spot through her performances in the recent events.

Ashish Bose foremost demographer died at 83

1.Ashish Bose, veteran demographer, 83, died in New Delhi due to illness on 7 April 2014. Asish Bose was best known for coining the term BIMARU in one page of research paper to then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

2.BIMARU refer to the four grossly under-developed states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the 1980s. Later it was expanded to BIMAROU which included the Orissa. Bose argument was to control the population of country the government should focus on these states as they accounted for more than 40 percent of country’s population.

3.He headed the Population Research Centre at the Institute of Economic Growth. He wrote 25 books on population and development such as Growing old in India: Voice Reveal, Statistics Speak and Darkness at Noon: Female Foeticide.

Dhoni named captain of ICC World T20 team

1.Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain of Indian cricket team on 7 April 2014 was named as the captain of the ICC World T20 team. The selected team for the ICC World Team includes other Indians like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin.

2.The World Team includes four players from India, two from both South Africa and West Indies, and one representative each from Australia, Netherlands and Sri Lanka. Players selected under the list of 2014 ICC World Team of the Tournament

VK Murthy, the renowned cinematographer died

1.VK Murthy, the renowned cinematographer and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee died on 7 April 2014 at his residence in Shankarapuram. He was 91 and was famous for his camera work in Guru Dutt’s classics like Pyaasa and Sahib, Bibi Aur Ghulam.

2.Now he is survived by his daughter Chaya Murthy.

Google unveils ‘Know your candidates tool’

1.Google has launched a new tool as part of its elections portal offering ‘google.co.in/elections’, called ‘Know Your Candidates’.

2.The new tool will allow citizens to access relevant information about political candidates contesting from their constituency and their incumbent Member of Parliament.

3.This tool integrates publicly available information sourced from Indian organisations such as the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PRS Legislative Research and Liberty Institute India, Google said in a statement.

4.The tool will provide valuable information for each sitting Lok Sabha MP and contesting candidates such as their disclosed educational background, financial details and social media presence (wherever available), including video bios of the candidates provided by Ping networks.

Saradha scam: ED seizes assets worth Rs 140 cr; issues notices

1.Widening its probe into the multi-crore Saradha chitfund scam, the Enforcement Directorate has issued summons to numerous entities even as it has attached assets worth Rs 140 crore of individuals and firms on money laundering charges.

2.The central probe agency has also issued a notice asking general public “to furnish information and particulars of properties, both movable and immovable as well as bank accounts, in West Bengal and other places, if any, related to Saradha group known to them, with specific details” to it.

3.The agency’s zonal office in Kolkata recently issued summons to close to 15 people involved in the funds transactions of the scam that was being perpetrated largely in West Bengal, Odisha and Assam and came to the fore early last year after duped investors raised their voice of grievance.

4.The agency has asked those involved in the case, including some sitting and former MPs and their family members, to present themselves or send their authorised representatives for recording of their statements under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act before April 25.

5.The notices come in the backdrop of the agency, last week, attaching Rs 105.62 crore assets of various entities involved in the case including Saradha Director Sudipta Sen and his wife Piyali.

6.It had attached Rs 34 crore worth of assets earlier in the same probe.

‘Business optimism index rises in second half of 2014'

1.Business Optimism Index for the second quarter of this year has improved as there has been a positive shift in India Inc’s sentiment despite economic uncertainty, says a Dun & Bradstreet report.

2.BOI, which measures the pulse of the business community, stands at 154.5 for Q2 2014, an increase of 9.1 per cent as compared to Q2 2013.

3.For calculating the composite BOI, each of the six parameters - net sales, net profits, selling prices, new orders, inventories and employee levels - is assigned a weight. The parameter weights are then applied to these ratios and the results aggregated to arrive at the Composite Business Optimism Index.

4.Five of the six optimism indices - volume of sales, new orders, net profits, selling prices and inventory levels - saw an increase as compared to Q2 2013, the report said.

5.“There has been a positive shift in business sentiment amongst India Inc. Even as business sentiment continues to be impacted by economic uncertainty, a sense of confidence appears to be slowly returning,” said Kaushal Sampat, President & CEO, Dun & Bradstreet - India.

US plans to allow spouse of H-1B visa holder to work in America

1.Spouses of H-1B visa holders with technical skills may be allowed to work in the US under a new initiative by the Obama administration to attract the best and brightest from across the world.

2.The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will soon publish several proposed rules that will make the US more attractive to talented foreign entrepreneurs and other high-skill immigrants who will contribute substantially to the US economy, create jobs, and enhance American innovative competitiveness, the White House said in a statement.

3.“These proposed regulations include rules authorising employment for spouses of certain high-skill workers on H-1B visas, as well as enhancing opportunities for outstanding professors and researchers,” it said yesterday.

4.“These measures build on continuing DHS efforts to streamline, eliminate inefficiency, and increase the transparency of the existing immigration system, such as by the launch of Entrepreneur Pathways, an online resource center that gives immigrant entrepreneurs an intuitive way to navigate opportunities to start and grow a business,” it said.

5.From the statement, it appears that spouses of H-1B visas are unlikely to get a blanket approval to work in the US. Only certain category of spouses of H-1B visa holders — mainly from the science and tech category — are likely to get the nod.

China approves sale of Nokia handset business to Microsoft

1.Finnish telecommunications group Nokia said on Tuesday it had cleared another hurdle in its sale of its handset business to US software giant Microsoft after securing approval from Chinese authorities.

2.Following the European Commission and the US Justice Department, China’s Ministry of Commerce becomes the latest regulator to approve the €5.44-billion ($7.2 billion) deal unveiled in September.

3.Nokia said it expected the deal to be completed this month.

4.It consists of €3.79 billion for Nokia’s devices and services divisions and €1.65 billion for its patents.

5.Nokia was the world’s leading mobile phone maker until smartphones from Apple as well as companies using Google’s Android operating system overtook it.

6.Upon completion of the sale, Nokia will consist of the network infrastructure and services division NSN and the mapping services unit HERE.

SBT launches new deposit product

1.State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has launched ‘Anupama,’ a new deposit product as a Vishu-Easter festival offer to its customers.

2.The deposit carries an interest rate of 9.25 per cent for 1,111 days with an annualised return of 10.52 per cent.

3.Senior citizens will get 9.55 per cent with 10.9 per cent as annualised return. Domestic, corporate and NRI customers are eligible to benefit from this scheme.

4.The minimum deposit amount will be Rs 10,000 or in multiples of Rs 1,000 thereafter. Demand loan and overdraft facilities are available on this deposit. It is available through all branches of SBT.

India Infoline AMC appoints Prashasta Seth as CEO

1.India Infoline Asset Management Company today appointed Prashasta Seth as its Chief Executive. Seth has over 14 years of experience and has been with the IIFL Group for the past six years.

2.He has been managing and advising pooled assets and client portfolios specifically focusing on developing investment strategies, generating stock ideas and creating actionable research reports

NetApp appoints Jay Bhow as VP of Engineering

1.NetApp has appointed Jay Bhow as vice president of Engineering.

2.He will be based out of Bangalore and in this role, Bhow will be responsible for NetApp’s global Quality Engineering function for its Data ONTAP storage operating system, the company said in a statement.

3.With over 25 years of industry experience, Bhow joins NetApp from Oracle India, where he was vice president of the Retail Global Business Unit.