GK Updates 1-2 June

Telangana: Festivities unabated on Day 1 of new state – Now 29th State

I.Continuous burst of fire-crackers, songs highlighting the sacrifices made during the 60-year-old Telangana struggle and optimism.

II.These are the hallmarks of unabated celebrations in Hyderabad and 10 districts of Telangana, the 29th state which was born at the stroke of the midnight hour.

III.After a long midnight celebration, the new State eagerly waited for the swearing-in of its first Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao.

IV.The road from the Gun Park where Rao paid homage to martyrs early this morning, to the Raj Bhavan, where he took oath later was busy with people. Pink TRS flags dotted the road.

V.Same is the scene in different parts of the city. In Osmania University, the hub of Telangana movement, students burst fire crackers to mark the formation of the first State Government.

VI.In the Arts College premises, Law College, Engineering College and others places, students were seen greeting and congratulating each other.

KCR sworn in as first CM of Telangana

I.K Chandrasekhara Rao, popularly known as KCR, was today sworn in as the first Chief Minister of Telangana, the 29th State of the Indian Union.

II.The 60-year-old chief of the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS) was administered the oath of office by Governor ESL Narasimhan at an austere function at the Raj Bhavan at 8.15 a.m.

III.KCR put together a compact team of 11 council of ministers, which includes his son KT Rama Rao and nephew T Harish Rao. The other important members include Etela Rajender, Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Nayani Narasimha Reddy, and Mohammed Ali. Women were conspicuous by their absence in the first list of the Cabinet.

IV.Earlier, Narasimhan was sworn in as the first Governor of Telangana by the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Kalyan Jyothi Sengupta. The President's rule was also officially lifted.

V.Having led the 14-year-old agitation for separate statehood with the help of students and the Telangana Joint Action Committee's committed support, KCR began his day by paying a visit to the Gun Park, the site for many struggles and protests and offering tributes to the martyr's memorial.

Government abolished all GoMs & EGoMs for greater accountability and empowerment

I.Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India on 31 may 2014 abolished existing nine Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoMs) and 21 Groups of Ministers (GoMs).

II.With the abolition of all GoMs and EGoMs now all the decisions related to critical policy matters will be taken up by the Ministries and Departments. This will help in infusing greater accountability and transparency.

III.In case of Ministries facing any difficulty they will be assisted by the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s office in decision making process.

IV.Earlier during the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh, the GoMs and EGoMs were a preferred route to decide on critical policies which led to delays in decision-making due to inter-ministerial tug-of-war.

RBI may keep key interest rate unchanged tomorrow

I.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may maintain the status quo with regard to the key interest rate in its monetary policy review on Tuesday in view of the need to curb inflation, which has remained stubbornly high.

II.RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Sunday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is believed to have discussed the macroeconomic situation.

III.Mr. Rajan kept the policy rate unchanged at 8 per cent at the previous review on April 1 as inflation, especially of food items, hovered at over 8 per cent. Food inflation in April stood at 9.66 per cent and retail inflation at 8.59 per cent.

IV.The bi-monthly policy review on Tuesday is the first after Mr. Modi assumed office on May 26.

V.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in a Facebook posting, has stressed on reviving growth momentum and containing inflation.

VI.India’s economic growth remained below the 5 per cent mark for the second year in a row at 4.7 per cent in 2013-14, although industry is hopeful of a rebound with a stable government headed by Mr. Modi.

VII.The RBI is “expected to keep the interest rates unchanged” tomorrow, Senior Economist with Dun & Bradstreet India Arun Singh said.

RBI may cut interest rate by 25 bps: Assocham survey

I.The RBI on Tuesday may cut rates by 25 basis points at its first credit policy review after the Narendra Modi-led government assumed charge as governor Raghuram Rajan tries to strike a balance between fighting inflation and reviving growth, says an Assocham poll.

II."A small, though symbolic cut in interest rates of say, 25 basis points, looks on cards," the survey of economists and CEOs said.

III."While the RBI is an autonomous central bank and the monetary policy is its sole prerogative, it is expected by a large number of corporate leaders and economists that the central bank chief would show much more pragmatism," Assocham said.

IV.RBI is scheduled to unveil its credit policy on June 3.

V.Around 76 per cent of the respondents in the 125-sized sample survey said that RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan is walking a tight rope as he "knows the mind" of the new government, which has been projected as pro-growth.

VI."The RBI governor's job would become much easier as he along with others can see much higher level of commitment to reduce the inflation, both at the whole-sale price inflation (WPI) and retail level," Assocham President Rana Kapoor said.

VII.India's economic growth has remained below the 5 per cent mark for the second year in a row at 4.7 per cent in 2013-14.

Gambhir the best IPL captain this season: Akram

I.Attributing Kolkata Knight Riders’ second Indian Premier League title triumph to Gautam Gambhir’s leadership skills, the team’s bowling coach Wasim Akram said he is the best among all the IPL captains this season.

II.“It means a lot to the team when the skipper is performing well. It adds to the security and the self belief. He has led his troops very well. I believe he was the best captain in this IPL,” Akram told the IPL’s official website.

III.Kings XI Punjab rode on an unbeaten 115 from Wriddhiman Saha to post 199 for 4 in 20 overs but Gambhir was never unnerved and backed his bowlers. Akram was all praise for his captain’s positivity.

IV.KKR became only the second IPL team after Chennai Super Kings to win the tournament twice and Akram credits excellent teamwork for the outcome.

Jaitley appointed as India's Governor on ADB board

I.Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been appointed as India's Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank.

II.This appointment has come into effect from May 27 and Jaitley has replaced erstwhile Finance Minister P Chidambaram for this post.

Loans to MSMEs: FICCI, IDBI Bank sign pact

I.FICCI-CMSME, an affiliated body under the umbrella of FICCI, and IDBI Bank, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to make organised finance facility available for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across the country at competitive interest rates.

II.The MoU was signed by A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and FICCI-MSME, and by B K Batra, Deputy Managing Director, IDBI Bank.

NASA captures gigantic eruption on Sun

I.NASA’s newest solar observatory has captured a colossal coronal mass ejection erupting from the Sun in extraordinary detail.

II.According to the US space agency, during the time of the ejection observed on May 9, a curtain of solar material erupted outwards at speeds of 1.5 million miles per hour.

III.The field of view for this imagery is about five Earths wide and about seven-and-a-half Earths tall.

IV.This was the first CME observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS, which was launched in June 2013 to peer into the lowest levels of the Sun’s atmosphere with better resolution than ever before.

V.“We focus in on active regions to try to see a flare or a CME,” said Bart De Pontieu, the IRIS science lead at Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, California.

Haryana raises award money for defence personnel

I.Haryana government today announced to increase award money for defence personnel who are recipients of country’s prestigious medals.

II.The increase in award money being given under the war time gallantry awards is about six times, an official spokesman said in a statement here.

III.The recipient of Paramvir Chakra would get a financial assistance of Rs 2 crore instead of Rs 31 lakh each given earlier.

IV.Similarly, the recipient of Maha Vir Chakra would get Rs 1 crore instead of Rs 21 lakh, recipient of Vir Chakra would get Rs 50 lakh instead of Rs 15 lakh while recipient of Sena Medal, Nausena medal, Vayu Sena Medal (bravery) would get Rs 21 lakh instead of Rs 7.50 lakh, he said.

V.Recipient of Mention-in-Dispatches would get Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 5.5 lakh given earlier, the spokesman said.

Solar plane completes first test flight for world round-trip

I.The sun-powered airplane Solar Impulse 2 successfully completed its maiden flight on Monday in Switzerland, one year before its planned trip around the world, the project team said.

II.The project’s Swiss initiators, the pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, plan the first solar-powered circumnavigation of the earth, after having crossed North America with the airplane’s previous model last year.

III.Piccard, Borschberg and other pilots are planning to make the trip starting in March 2015 in numerous legs.

IV.The four-propeller airplane has a wingspan of 72 metres, which makes it wider than a jumbo jet. It weighs only 2.3 tonnes.

E S L Narasimhan sworn in as Governor of Telangana

I.Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan was today sworn in as the Governor of Telangana, the country’s 29th state.

II.Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta administered the oath to Narasimhan, who will be the common Governor to Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh.

III.Hyderabad will be the joint capital of Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh.

9th edition of SIMA TexFair 2015 in January 2015

I.The 9th edition of SIMA Tex Fair 2015 and second in the series of SIMA Farm to Finish Expo is scheduled at the Codissia Trade Fair Complex between January 9 and 12, 2015.

II.SIMA Chairman T Rajkumar said that the association decided to conduct the events at the beginning of the year to enable suppliers and users plan their investments and renew their business.

III.The association has formally commenced stall bookings for the proposed event.

IV.The organisers are hoping that there would be over 200+ stalls, right from cotton farm to finishing, textile machinery, spares, accessories and so on.

Tapan Sikdar dies at 70

I.Former Union Minister of State and BJP leader Tapan Sikdar passed away at AIIMS this morning. He was 70.

II.Sikdar, who was MoS Telecom in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet between 1999 and 2002, was also the MoS Chemicals and Fertilisers from 2002 to 2004.

III.He twice won from the Dum Dum parliamentary constituency (in West Bengal) and was the MP in 12th and 13th Lok Sabha.

IV.He, however, was unsuccessful in winning the seat in 2004, 2009 and 2014.

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Kings XI Punjab to win IPL 2014 for second time

I.The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on 1 June 2014 won the seventh edition of Indian Premier League 2014 by defeating Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by three wickets in the final played at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. This is the second title triumph for KKR after their maiden win back in 2012.

II.Batting first Wriddhiman Saha century in 49 balls helped KXIP to set a mammoth score of 199 run to be chased by KKR. Batting second as chasers, KKR’s Manish Pandey fuelled a match-winning 94 off 50 balls.

III.With this win, Kolkata Knight Riders that choose to field first after winning the toss has now joined Chennai Super Kings, as a team that has claimed two IPL trophies. Earlier, KKR defeated Chennai Super Kings in the final match in 2012.

• Man of the Match: Manish Pandey

• Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena, Bruce Oxenford, S Ravi, CK Nandan

• Referee: Roshan Mahanama

Captains of the two teams

• Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir

• Kings XI Punjab: George Bailey

The previous winners of the IPL are as follows

• IPL Season 1: Rajasthan Royals

• IPL Season 2: Deccan Chargers

• IPL Season 3: Chennai Super Kings

• IPL Season 4: Chennai Super Kings

• IPL Season 5: Kolkata Knight Riders

• IPL Season 6: Mumbai Indians