GK Updates - 15 July | Banking Quiz

Jayalalithaa announces 10,000 flats, residential township in Chennai, other towns

I.Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today announced the construction of 10,000 flats in Chennai and other towns in the State at a cost of Rs 825 crore besides developing a satellite township at Kadambur near here.

II.“To fulfil Vision 2023 Plan and under the slum-free cities plan of the Union and State governments, the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board will build 10,000 flats in Chennai and other towns at a cost of Rs 825 crore during the first phase,” Jayalalithaa said in a suo motu statement in the Assembly.

III.While the Centre would share 50 per cent, the State would bear 40 per cent of the cost and beneficiaries would pitch in with 10 per cent of the construction expenditure.

IV.She had ordered reconstruction of 534 TNSCB (Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board) tenements at Nochikuppam here at a cost of 48.06 crore, she told the House.

Modi meets Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of BRICS Summit

I.In a significant development, China today invited India to attend a summit of Asia and Pacific (APEC) leaders as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Xi Jin Ping and discussed various issues, including the need to resolve the boundary question in an amicable manner.

II.The two leaders, who arrived almost at the same time here last evening for attending the BRICS Summit, engaged shortly thereafter for what was described as "good discussions and good meeting".

III.The meeting was scheduled for 40 minutes but it went on for 80 minutes as it was a freewheeling discussion without any constraints.

IV.The two leaders appeared well-prepared for the meeting as both of them referred to the statements made by the other before they assumed power, Akbaruddin said.

V.He quoted Xi as saying that "when India and China meet the world watches us".

Ashok Hinduja, Microsoft India chief call on KCR

I.Ashok Hinduja of Hinduja Group, Microsoft India Chief Bhasker Pramanik and renowned agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan called on Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao here today.

II.The visit of Ashok Hinduja assumes importance in the backdrop of the Hinduja National Power Project, a 1040 mw thermal power project, getting ready for commissioning later during the year. The Telangana Government is in the process of finalising plans for power purchase agreements with the Hinduja group promoted project.

III.The Microsoft official met with the Chief Minister on the proposed visit of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to the city later during the year.

Jayawardene announced retirement from Test Cricket

I.Mahela Jayawardene, the former skipper of Sri Lankan cricket team, announced his retirement from Test cricket on 14 July 2014. He will retire from Test Cricket after the home series against Pakistan in August 2014.

II.The 37-year-old, Lankan batsman, will play two Tests against South Africa on 16 July and 24 July 2014, followed by a two-match series against Pakistan in August 2014.

III.He communicated his written decision to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Ashley De Silva. However, Jayawardene will represent the country in the one-day format.

SBI shares up over 4% on cut in FD rate

I.Shares of SBI today rose by over 4 per cent after it slashed the interest rate on short-term fixed deposits up to 179 days by 0.5 per cent.

II.The scrip of the country’s largest bank ended the day at Rs 2,517, up 4.35 per cent on the BSE. During the day, it surged 4.56 per cent to Rs 2,522.20.

III.At the NSE, SBI’s stock climbed 4.34 per cent to close the day at Rs 2,515.70.

IV.SBI was the top performer among the blue-chip stocks on both Sensex and Nifty.

V.The interest rate on fixed deposits between 7-179 days has been reduced to 7 per cent from 7.5 per cent, SBI said in a statement.

President appointed Governors of five states

President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 14 July 2014 appointed Governors of five states, namely Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Nagaland.

People, who have been appointed as the Governors by the President are

• Ram Naik as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh

• Balramji Dass Tandon as the Governor of Chhattisgarh

• Keshari Nath Tripathi as the Governor of West Bengal

• Om Prakash Kohli as the Governor of Gujarat

• Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya as the Governor of Nagaland

Govt urges UPSC to postpone Civil Services preliminary exam

I.Amid demands by Civil Service aspirants for scrapping the CSAT test, Government today urged the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to postpone the preliminary exam scheduled next month till there is clarity on the syllabus and exam pattern.

II.“We are also urging upon the UPSC and the committee that was constituted to look into the matter that not only a report be constituted at the earliest, considering the urgency of the matter and the concern of all sections of the society... they should also consider postponing the date of the preliminary examination,” Union Minister Jitendra Singh told reporters outside Parliament.

III.The prelims entrance exam is scheduled to be held on August 24.

IV.Yesterday, ABVP activists had staged protests outside the UPSC office demanding scrapping of Civil Services Aptitude Tests (CSAT), saying such a pattern was putting Hindi language aspirants at a disadvantage.

V.Singh, who is also Minister of State for Department of Personnel and Training and Prime Minister’s Office, said, “Till the report about the final conclusions in the matter is out, these young guys and girls would not be able to make out the kind of preparation they have to do for the exam.

VI.“Therefore, till there is a clarity over the syllabus and exam pattern they should be given sufficient time. It is quite legitimate on their part that we are suggesting to concerned authorities to consider postponement of the preliminary examination of IAS (UPSC) exams,” he said.

Emirates NBD appoints Sharad Agarwal India chief

I.Emirates NBD has appointed Sharad Agarwal as the Chief Representative and Country Head for India.

II.Agarwal will oversee the West Asia-based bank’s presence in India, and take overall responsibility for increasing market awareness about the bank.

III.Emirates NBD’s strategic objective is to capture a greater share of bilateral trade flows, and identify other business opportunities.

IV.India has emerged as one of the biggest trading partners of the United Arab Emirates, with trade volumes between both nations reaching $75 billion in 2012-2013, the bank said in a statement.

V.The growing India-UAE economic and commercial relations provide further impetus to Emirates NBD’s operations in India.

World-renowned conductor Lorin Maazel died at 84

I.Lorin Varencove Maazel, the American conductor of classical music, violinist and composer died on 13 July 2014 at his home in Castleton, Virginia. He died due to complications following pneumonia. He was 84 and is survived by four daughters, three sons and four grandchildren.

II.Apart from conducting, he also composed music, produced an opera based on George Orwell’s novel, 1984.

South Africa’s Nobel-winning novelist Nadine Gordimer dies

I.South African Nobel Prize-winning writer and anti-apartheid activist Nadine Gordimer, who became an icon through her unique insights into the country’s social agonies, has died at the age of 90.

II.Through 15 novels, several volumes of short stories, non-fiction and other works published in 40 languages around the world, Gordimer eviscerated white-minority rule under the apartheid system and its aftershocks once democracy had been achieved in 1994.

III.The writer, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991, died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Johannesburg yesterday, her family said.

Google Glass creator Babak Parviz joins Amazon

I.The developer behind Google Glass and other technologies has left Google to work for the online retailer Amazon, according to multiple media reports on Monday.

II.Babak Parviz confirmed the move to Cnet.com. Over the week-end, he posted on his Google Plus account: “status: super excited! :)” — along with the Amazon logo.

III.He went on to say he would “work on a few other things now,” but did not go into detail about what his role will be at Amazon.

IV.Parviz, who led the team that developed the Google Glass headset, was also working on a glucose-tracking contact lens, Cnet.com reports.

V.Parviz holds a doctorate degree in electrical engineering and worked for Google since 2010.

VI.The online retailer Amazon has developed its own tablet and recently introduced its first smartphone.

Pradeep Hejmadi appointed Zee TV business head

I.Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) has appointed Pradeep Hejmadi as Business Head-Zee TV.

II.Pradeep will be responsible for the overall functioning of Zee TV and will report to Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises.

Retail inflation fell to 30-month low of 7.31 percent in June 2014

I.Retail inflation fell to a 30-month low of 7.31 percent in June 2014 from 8.28 pecent in May 2014. The retail inflation went down mainly on account of lower prices of food items that includes vegetables, cereals, and meat.

II.Earlier in January 2012, the retail inflation was at its lowest at 7.65 percent.

III.On the other hand, Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation (or Headline inflation) fell to 5.43 percent in June 2014 as against 6.01 percent in May 2014. The decline was mainly on account of fall in prices of food items and vegetables with the exception of potatoes and onions.

Haryana Governor gave assent to Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee Bill 2014

I.Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia on 14 July 2014 gave his assent to Haryana Sikh Gurudwaras (Management) Bill, 2014. With this, the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras (Management) Bill, 2014, will be notified as an Act.

II.The Act cleared the decks for the state government for creation of a separate committee for managing the Sikh Gurdwaras in the state.

III.The Bill was passed on 11 July 2014 by the Haryana Legislative Assembly. The Bill stripped the powers of Amritsar-based Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), an apex Sikh body, to control and manage 11 historical Sikh shrines and their assets worth crore across Haryana.

IV.Earlier, the Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda had said that a separate committee will be set up in the state under the new law for management of Sikh religious places and their properties in the state.

Brazil Football Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari resigned

I.Luiz Felipe Scolari, the football coach of Brazil on 14 July 2014 resigned after Brazil failed to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup. His resignation was confirmed by the Country’s Football Federation Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (CBF).

II.Scolari, a former Brazilian defender, became the coach of Brazil football team for the first time in 2001. He guided the team to win FIFA World Cup 2002. In the 2002 final played in Yokohama, Japan, Brazil defeated Germany 2-0 to win the Cup for the fifth time.

World Cup final sets Twitter record

If you were one among those who tweeted the winning moment of the football World Cup in the early hours of Monday, then you just became a part of a Twitter record. Your tweet would have been one among the six lakh-plus tweets generated at that minute.

Tweeting like mad

I.Germany’s winning moment in the final match with Argentina recorded 618,725 TPM (tweets per minute). Twitter looks at the moments in TPM. Such a TPM contains at least one World Cup-specific keyword.

II.Prior to this, the semi-final match between Germany and Brazil had held the record for the highest TPM in the World Cup event. In that match Germany’s fifth goal against Brazil at the 29th minute by Sami Khedira, assisted by Mesut Ozil, recorded 580,166 TPM.

Big numbers

I.However, the host Brazil’s loss against the Germany in the semi-final match generated the highest real-time tweets during the entire World Cup. That match recorded 35.6 million tweets, and the final match came second with 32.1 million tweets.

II.Another significant development is the number of real-time tweets during the World Cup. According to the Twitter blog, more than 300 million tweets were sent out during the group stage. Though the blog is yet to update the latest figures, a compilation of various tweets from Twitter shows more than 177 million real-time tweet conversations after the group event. A conservative estimate will put the total number of real-time tweets at 477 million during the one-month World Cup event.