GK Updates - 21 June | Banking Quiz

Railway passenger fares increased by 14.2 percent and freight charges by 6.5 percent

I.Indian Railways on 20 June 2014 increased the passenger fare by 14.2 percent in all classes and freight charges by 6.5 percent. The revised rates will be effective from 25 June 2014.

II.Under the passenger fare hike, there was a flat 10 percent increase in all classes and an additional 4.2 percent increase under fuel adjustment component (FAC)-linked revision scheme has been made. With this one of the biggest hike, the cash-strapped railways will be able to garner 8000 crore rupees annually through the pre-budget decision.

III.The Railways had earlier issued a notification on May 16 effecting hike in passenger fare by 14.2 percent across the board and freight charges by 6.5 percent from May 20. However, it was withdrawn by the UPA government in light of the Lok Sabha elections.

Meenakshi Lekhi takes oath as NDMC member

I.BJP MP from New Delhi constituency Meenaksi Lekhi today took oath as an NDMC member and made a slew of announcements ranging from construction of flats for economically weaker sections to making the posh NDMC area plastic-free.

II.Lekhi, who defeated Congress heavyweight Ajay Maken in her debut Lok Sabha election, took oath as New Delhi Municipal Council member today after the civic body received an official notification from the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday.

III.According to the NDMC Act 2011, the MP from the constituency and MLAs from New Delhi and Delhi Cantonment Assembly constituencies automatically become members of the council.

Noted Hindi poet Kedar Nath Singh selected for Jnanpith Award 2013

I.Noted Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh on 20 June 2014 was chosen for the prestigious Jnanpith award for 2013. He is the 10th Hindi writer to receive the honour and is the 49th recipient of Jnanpith award.

II.Kedarnath Singh (80-year-old) was born in Balia of Uttar Pradesh and is known for his work Abhi bilkul abhi and Yahan se dekho. With this he joined the league of noted Hindi writers who have won Jnanpith award

• Sumitra Nandan Pant

• Ramdhari Singh Dinkar

• Sachidananda Vatsyayan

• Mahadevi Varma

• Naresh Mehta

• Niirmal Verma

• Kunwar Narayan

• Amar Kant

• Sri Lal Sukla

South Canara District Central Bank targets ₹12,000-cr biz in 5 years

I.The South Canara District Central Cooperative (SCDCC) Bank Ltd is targeting a business of ₹12,000 crore in the next five years.

II.Addressing presspersons in Mangalore on Saturday, MN Rajendra Kumar, president of the bank, said that the bank is planning to cross a business level of ₹5,000 crore during 2014-15. The bank did a business of ₹3,411.65 crore during 2013-14.

III.Giving details about the performance of the bank, Kumar said the bank recorded a gross profit of ₹18.66 crore in 2013-14 as against ₹17.76 crore in 2012-13.

IV.Stating that the net NPA (non-performing asset) of the bank stood at 1.78 per cent during 2013-14, he said the plan is to bring it down below 1 per cent by the end of the current financial year.

V.At present, the bank is heavily dependent on the agriculture portfolio for its business. It also plans to focus on corporate banking in the coming years, he said.

UBI launches merchant payment service on mobile phones

I.Kolkata-based United Bank of India (UBI) on Friday rolled out its merchant payment service on mobile phones using the IMPS (immediate payment service) merchant payment service offered by the National Payment Corporation of India.

II.The service will now allow customers to have round-the-clock (24x7) merchant payment services including mobile recharge, utility payments and ticketing facilities, among others.

III.The merchant payment service on mobile phones was inaugurated at the bank’s head office by Sanjay Arya, Executive Director of the bank.

IV.UBI has all the alternate banking delivery channels (ATMs, debit cards, Internet banking & mobile banking) and plans to route over 50 per cent of its total transactions through these modes, Arya was quoted according to the bank’s release.

Flipkart urges small textile units to explore eComm opportunity

I.Flipkart’s current focus is on expanding the home and kitchen catalogue, Ankit Nagori, Vice President – Marketplace said.

II.Briefing presspersons about the eCommerce portal’s plans, he said the expansion in the home and kitchen catalogue would include furniture and expansion in product selection in the said category.

III.Nagori was in the city to apprise MSMEs on the advantages of growing their business through eCommerce.

IV.The workshop was conducted by Flipkart in association with Texpreneurs Forum, the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore and Sripuram, a registered charitable trust.

V.Emphasising the advantages that the micro and small manufacturing units located in this region would derive from registering with Flipkart, he said “it would help entrepreneurs become self-reliant and scale their business manifold within a short span of time”.

Inaugural Tang Prize winners for 2014 announced

Tang Prize Foundation announced the inaugural Tang Prizes on 18 June 2014. The Prize will be given in four categories of Sustainable Development, Sinology, Biopharmaceutical Science and The Rule of Law.

Tang Prize 2014 winners

• Sustainable Development - Gro Harlem Brundtland former Premier of Norway

She was awarded for her innovation, leadership and implementation of sustainable development that laid out the scientific and technical challenges.

• Sinology – Chinese American, Historian Yu Ying-shih

He was awarded for his mastery of and insight into Chinese intellectual, political, and cultural history with an emphasis on his profound research into the history of public intellectuals in China.

• Biopharmaceutical Science - James P Allison of US and Tasuku Honjo of Japan

They were awarded for their discoveries of CTLA-4 and PD-1 as immune inhibitory molecules, revealing ways to harness our incredibly powerful immune system to fight cancer and marking the beginning of the immunotherapy revolution.

• The Rule of Law - Albie Sachs, former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa

He was awarded for his contributions to human rights and justice around the world. He is a lawyer and human rights activist who spent his lifetime fighting apartheid, helped write the new Constitution of South Africa.

Syndicate Bank targets ₹10 lakh crore business by 2020

I.Syndicate Bank is targeting a business of ₹10 lakh crore by 2020, according to SK Jain, Chairman and Managing Director.

II.Replying to a query on the bank’s long-term plans by a shareholder at the 15th annual general meeting at Manipal on Friday, Jain said the bank had conducted a two-day workshop called ‘Nayi Synd III.Disha’ in January. As many as 134 staff members and executives of the bank who deliberated upon various weaknesses and strengths of the bank at the workshop, have suggested strategies for the future.

IV.The workshop set the bank a business turnover target of ₹10 lakh crore by 2020. This would mean an average annual growth rate of 18 per cent till 2020. The bank is following the plans suggested in that workshop, Jain said.

India can grow at 6% without overheating: World Bank

I.The Indian economy has the potential to grow at only around 6 per cent without showing some effects of overheating, given current levels of workforce, total factor productivity and investments, a World Bank economist has posited.

II.Although the economy can, and has grown at well above the potential rate, a sustainable increase in the growth potential is possible only when there is an uptick on one or more of the contributors to growth potential — labour, productivity and capital — said Andrew Burns, an economist with the Bank and lead author of the lender’s ‘Global Economic Prospects 2014’ report.

III.The report, which was released in New Delhi on Friday, has reduced its global growth forecast by 0.5 per cent but said that the growth momentum is rising, powered by a recovery in developed economies.

IV.Despite a slowdown, developing countries in South Asia are continuing to outperform global developing country average, the report said. India’s growth is expected to accelerate on the back of a revival in developed economies, which is expected to double the contribution of advanced economies to global import demand growth.

V.It added that stable or falling commodity prices, including energy, will help developing countries like India to accelerate growth.

Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal bifurcated to create Alipurduar district

I.Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal was bifurcated on 20 June 2014 to create Alipurduar district of the state. With this Alipurduar will become the 20th district of the state from 25 June 2014.

II.The announcement of bifurcation of the district was made by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the State Assembly. The decision of division has been taken for better administration and also due to long standing demand of people of the district.

III.With this bifurcation, Jalpaiguri Sadar and Mal Bazar subdivisions along with nine of the 17 existing police stations will be a part of Jalpaiguri district. While other eight existing police stations will fall under the new district of Alipurduar.

Gro Harlem Brundtland awarded Tang Prize in sustainable development

I.Gro Harlem Brundtland was awarded with the first Tang Prize in sustainable development. The Tang Prize was given to her by the Tang Prize Foundation on 18 June 2014.

II.She is a former Prime Minister of Norway and was awarded the prize for her innovation, leadership and implementation of sustainable development. She is known as the Godmother of sustainable development.

RBI allows foreign investors to access currency futures

I.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Friday, allowed foreign investors to access the currency futures market for hedging their currency risks while also partially reversing the restrictions put last year on banks proprietary trading in the exchange traded currency futures.

II.The RBI said foreign portfolio investors could participate in the currency futures market by taking long or short position to the extent of $10 million without having to establish any underlying exposure.

III.“A foreign portfolio investor cannot take a short position beyond $10 million at any time and to take a long position beyond $10 million in any exchange, it will be required to have an underlying exposure,’’ the central bank said in the release.

IV.The central bank said the responsibility of ensuring the existence of the underlying exposure shall rest with the foreign investor.

V.The RBI also partially reversed the restrictions put on banks’ proprietary trading, allowing them to take long or short position of up to $10 million without establishing any underlying exposure.

VI.In July last, at the peak of the rupee crisis, the central bank had barred all banks from taking any proprietary positions in the currency futures market.

VII.For banks, which want to take positions over $10 million will be required to establish the existence of an underlying, the central bank said in the release.

FIFA suspends Colombian referee Humberto Clavijo

I.FIFA has suspended Colombian assistant referee Humberto Clavijo for making incorrect decisions during the World Cup’s Mexico-Cameroon clash on June 13 at the Arena das Dunas, Natal.

II.The referee disallowed two goals for Mexico in the first half by Giovani dos Santos, yet Mexico ended winning the game 1—0, reports EFE.

III.FIFA said Clavijo will be replaced by Ecuador’s Christian Lescano.

IV.Meanwhile, it was also announced that Argentine referee Nestor Pitana will officiate in the United States vs Portugal game while German Felix Brych will officiate in the Russia vs Belgium match.