GK Updates - 29 May | Banking Quiz

Modi to Cabinet Ministers: Prepare agenda for 100 days

I.The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed all his Cabinet Ministers to prepare an agenda for 100 days.

II.Each of the Minister will have to prepare the time table and fix the priority for 100 days and submit it to the Prime Minister,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told presspersons here. This direction was given at the Cabinet meeting held on Thursday and chaired by Modi. It was also decided that Modi would meet each of the Cabinet Ministers separately and he would also have meetings with the Secretaries.

III.The Prime Minister stressed on governance, efficiency/delivery and implementation. At the same time the ministers were also asked to deal with letters and requests from States on high priority. Similarly, grievances/requests from Members of Parliament and the general public should be handled with more seriousness.

Global gold prices will depend on India’s import policy: S&P DJI

I.The experts at S&P DJI noted that gold as a safe haven investment instrument was slowly losing sheen on account of tapering programme by the US Federal Reserve and improvement in the investment environment. Investors used gold as a store of value in the instances of crisis or inflation to safeguard the real value of the investments.

II.According to Gunzberg, factors such as Indian imports or Chinese local premiums may hold the key to future gold price movement.

III.“Gold may get support if Indian imports improve from lesser restrictions or if the Chinese local premiums increased to about double their current $3 levels over the global benchmark,” maintained Gunzberg.

IV.International spot gold fell to $1,260 an ounce on Wednesday in Singapore, which sets the market trend for Asia. Spot gold dropped to $1,260.74 an ounce, its weakest since February 7.

V.In India, standard gold hit 10-month low of ₹27,535 per 10 grams in Mumbai markets.

BEML rolls out 50th metro train set of Bangalore Metro Rail

I.BEML, a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Defence, has rolled out the 50th Metro Train Set of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL).

II.With this roll-out, BEML has fulfilled the supply of BMRCL 2 RS-DM contract.

III.BEML, which forayed into the manufacture and supply of hi-tech metro cars in 2002, has since been supplying metro coaches. The company so far supplied more than 700 metro cars to Delhi Metro, Bangalore Metro and Jaipur Metro.

IV.At a function held at the company’s Bangalore Complex, Pradeep Singh Kharola, Managing Director of BMRCL, rolled out the 50th Metro Train Set.

Ashok Gajapathi Raju takes charge as Civil Aviation Minister

I.Senior TDP leader Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju today took charge as the new Civil Aviation Minister, assuring that he would strive to create a level-playing field for all players in the crucial infrastructure sector.

II.“We will strive to create a level-playing field for all the players and make the aviation sector more people- oriented,” he told reporters soon after taking over charge at the ministry headquarters in Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan here.

III.He was accompanied by his family members, including his wife, all of whom were greeted with flowers by officials.

Rajnath Singh takes charge as Home Minister

I.Rajnath Singh, under whose stewardship BJP has stormed to power with its highest-ever tally, today took charge as the Union Home Minister.

II.The 62-year-old Singh, who was elected from the Lucknow Lok Sabha Constituency, has succeeded Sushilkumar Shinde in the crucial ministry that handles the country’s internal security and the task of guarding its international borders with Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

III.Before assuming charge, Singh paid floral tributes to the country’s first Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, at his statue near Parliament.

IV.He was welcomed with flower bouquets by a number of senior ministry officials led by Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami.

Nripendra Misra appointed Principal Secretary to PM

I.Nripendra Misra, former TRAI Chairman, appointed Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister with effect from on Wednesday.

II.Nripendra Mishra has had a distinguished career as bureaucrat. He has a reputation of top call efficiency and honesty.

III.Mishra held several top positions in UP and Centre including Principal Secretary to Chief Minister , UNION telecom Secretary and Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority, TRAI. Mishra was Principal Secretary to UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh .

Al Sissi set to be elected as Egypt's new President

I.In Egypt, former Army Chief, General Abdel Fattah Al Sissi is all set to be elected as the new President of the country.

II.The preliminary results after counting of votes have shown that Al Sissi is heading for a landslide victory.

III.Sissi’s campaign quoting judicial sources engaged in the counting of votes said that he has got 93 percent votes.

IV.His rival Hamdeen Sabbahi is reported to have secured only 2.9 percent votes. Although the results are announced by the Judges supervising polling centres across the country, they are still considered unofficial as they must be verified and then announced by the Presidential Elections Commission.

V.The Presidential election in Egypt this time was marked by a low voter turnout of around 44 percent even though the polling was extended by one more day. Pro Morsi Islamist alliance led by Muslim Brotherhood boycotted these polls.

VI.This was the second Presidential election in three years in Egypt. For the first time in the history of Egypt, elections were monitored by foreign observers from European Union.

RBI directive on foreign currency accounts

I.The Reserve Bank of India has directed banks to: convert credit balances in any inoperative foreign currency (FC) denominated deposit into Indian rupee if the former remains not in use for three years from the date of maturity of deposit.

II.Thereafter, the depositor shall be entitled to claim either the said Indian rupee proceeds and interest or the foreign currency equivalent (at the prevalent exchange rate) of the Indian rupee proceeds of the original deposit, the RBI added.

III.The RBI further said in case of inoperative foreign currency denominated deposit not in use for three years and having no fixed maturity period, the bank should give three month notice to the depositor and convert the deposit from the foreign currency to Indian rupee.

Infosys President BG Srinivas resigns

I.In yet another senior management exit, Infosys President BG Srinivas has decided to quit the company.

II.Given that he was one of the contenders for the CEO’s post, Srinivas’ exit has raised eyebrows and increased speculation over whether the nominations committee had chosen to overlook his candidature.

III.This is the fourth Board-level resignation and he is the 10th senior management executive to move out.

IV.It also raises questions on Executive Chairman NR Narayana Murthy’s turnaround strategy and on the possibility of an external CEO or even an outside chance of the return of co-founder Nandan Nilekani.

Modi quits Vadodara LS seat, retains Varanasi

I.Prime Minister Narendra Modi today quit his Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, choosing to retain Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP recorded a landslide victory bagging 71 of the 80 seats in the recent elections.

II.Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was also elected from two seats in Uttar Pradesh, has quit from his pocket-borough Mainpuri and has retained Azamgarh.

III.Under rules, a member who has been elected from two Lok Sabha constituencies, has to vacate one of the seats within 14 days of the declaration of result. With Lok Sabha results out on May 16, the deadline was to expire today.

AirAsia India to launch services from June 12

I.The low-cost airline AirAsia India has announced launching its service from June 12. The airline will start selling tickets from tomorrow.

II.Group CEO of Air Asia Tony Fernandes today tweeted about the sale of tickets and launch date. He will be present in India on June 12. However, he did not disclose about the first route, but it is expected to take off from Chennai.

III.AirAsia India is a three-way joint venture between Kuala Lumpur-based low-cost airline AirAsia, Tata Sons and Arun Bhatia of Telestra Tradeplace. The project involves a foreign direct investment of about ₹81 crore.

IV.AirAsia had got the operating permit on May 7. Currently it has one aircraft in its fleet, and it plans to begin the operations with three planes and ramp up to around 11 by the end of the calendar year.

Apple to buy headphone maker Beats in a $3 bn deal

I.Apple confirmed on Wednesday that it is buying headphone maker and streaming music service Beats for $3 billion.

II.It is the biggest purchase ever for the iconic technology company, which has struggled to maintain growth since the 2011 death of co-founder Steve Jobs.

Mukul Rohatgi appointed as new Attorney General of India

I.The Modi-led Government has appointed senior Supreme Court advocate Mukul Rohatgi as the new Attorney General of India, the top law officer of the country.

II.Rohatgi had served as Additional Solicitor General in the earlier NDA regime.

III.His appointment comes a day after the erstwhile Attorney General Goolam Vahanvati and Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran resigned.

LimeRoad appoints Neha Dhupia as style director

I.Fashion portal LimeRoad.com has appointed bollywood actress Neha Dhupia as its style director.

II.Dhupia will be on the board of directors of LimeRoad, which is promoting itself as a social shopping platform by engaging consumers on the social networking sites.

III.Dhupia will be responsible for sharing her own strong sense of style, and anchoring LimeRoad’s growing scrapbooking community into a space where fresh styles and trends come together to make product discovery for users an absolutely delight.

PNB MetLife launches new term insurance plan

I.Private sector PNB MetLife India Insurance today launched a term insurance plan designed to ensure a guaranteed monthly income for up to 20 years to the family of a customer upon his death.

II.The Met Family Income Protector Plus plan allows one to choose between a lumpsum payout or monthly income in case of the death of the customer, the insurer said in a statement.

III.The customer can also opt for the return of premium at the end of the policy term. This option ensures that the customer gets covered during the policy term and gets back 110 per cent of the premium paid.

JP Morgan Asset Management launches ‘India Top 100 Fund’

I.JP Morgan Asset Management India today launched a new scheme ‘JP Morgan India Top 100 Fund’, which is an open-ended equity growth scheme that seeks capital appreciation by investing in select blue chip and large cap equity stocks across sectors.

II.The new scheme aims to predominantly adopt a bottom-up style of investing and will focus on balancing returns with low degree of volatility.

III.The new fund offer, which will open for subscription from June 2, will close on June 16, 2014.

IV.“We believe there is a set of investors who are looking for capital appreciation but with less volatility. Our Top 100 fund which is a large cap oriented fund is meant for these investors,” Head of Equities of JP Morgan MF India, Harshad Patwardhan said.

New crew of astronauts arrives at International Space Station

I.German astronaut Alexander Gerst reached the International Space Station early on Thursday.

II.The Soyuz rocket carrying a crew of three blasted off on early Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

III.The TMA-13M carried Reid Wiseman of NASA, Maxim Suraev of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency, NASA said on its website.

IV.It arrived at the ISS at around 0147 GMT, around six hours after lift-off.

V.The rocket blasted off at 1:57 am (1957 GMT) and reached orbit just under nine minutes after launch, the agency said.

VI.German-born Gerst will work at the International Space Station for nearly a half year.

First session of 16th Lok Sabha to start on June 4

I.First session of 16th Lok Sabha will begin on June 4 and end on June 11.

II.It will have oath taking by the newly elected 543 members and nomination of Speaker.

India test-fires Pinaka rockets successfully

I.India’s indigenously developed Pinaka rockets were today successfully test-fired thrice from a multi-barrel rocket launcher at an armament base in Chandipur-on-sea, about 15 km from here.

II.“Three rounds of Pinaka rockets were successfully tested from the proof and experimental establishment (PXE) at Chandipur,” defence sources said.

III.Pinaka, which has undergone several tough tests since 1995, has been inducted into the armed forces and the present trials were conducted with some improvements in the system, the sources said, adding some more tests are likely to be held.

IV.The unguided rocket system is meant to neutralise large areas with rapid salvos.

V.The rockets with a range of 40 km and capable of acting as a force-multiplier, were developed to supplement artillery guns, the sources said.

Google to build driverless cars

I.Google has designed a vehicle that requires no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver.

II.The internet technology giant said in a blog post that 100 prototypes of the electric two-seaters that will still retain manual controls will be built and tested for safety beginning this summer.

III.Testing on the fully driverless model is to take place “in California in the next couple of years,” the Silicon Valley-based company wrote.

IV.Google has worked for years to develop self-driving cars that use an array of sensors and computers to navigate streets, but Tuesday’s blog post confirmed speculation that it was manufacturing its own vehicles rather just modifying those made by other carmakers.

V.Google said that by eliminating driver error and fatigue, their cars will be safer than human-controlled vehicles.

VI.Sensors on the Google cars will be able to detect objects more than 200 metres in the distance, the company said. The speed of the first vehicles will be capped at 40 kilometres per hour.

VII.The quick reaction time and high rate of fire of the system give an edge to the Army during a low-intensity conflict situation, they said.

Digital cable subscribers can pay bills online

I.The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has directed Multi-System Operators (MSOs) who operate in digitalised regions to ensure delivery of individual subscriber bills and provide the option for online payment.

II.In its direction, it also said that MSOs should ensure electronic acknowledgement for the bill payment in the areas where Digital Addressable System is implemented.

III.Trai said during its inspections of the MSOs, it found compliance to these regulations and directions as non-satisfactory. These MSOs have to make provisions for online payments option within 45 days.

Amway chief bail plea dismissed

I.Amway India, the direct selling major received a legal setback today. Its bail petition to get relief for its Chief Executive Officer, William S Pinckney was dismissed by a Judge at the Sessions Court in Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh.

II.While rejecting the bail application, the Judge ordered five days police custody from tomorrow. Pinckney will be shifted to the Khammam Jail on Thursday from Kadapa prison, where he was lodged on Tuesday, according to Kurnool police.

III.The Amway Chief, who was arrested by Kurnool Police on Monday evening in Gurgoan and brought to the town, was remanded to 14 days custody by a magistrate on Tuesday. Subsequently, he was shifted to the Kadapa jail.

KKR beats Kings XI Punjab by 28 runs

I.Kolkata Knight Riders stormed into the final of the Indian Premier League on the back of a convincing 28-run win over Kings XI Punjab, with pacer Umesh Patel hogging the limelight with a fine display of fast bowling.

II.Defending 164 on a slow surface that remained under cover for three days, KKR speedsters Yadav (3/13) and Morkel (2/23) shared five wickets between them, while Piyush Chawla also bowled smartly to restrict Kings XI Punjab to 135/8 in 20 overs and hand KKR a record eighth victory on the trot.