DAILY GK UPDATE 22ND OCTOBER

1.    Bangalore ranked India’s top business destination

i. Bangalore, known as India’s silicon city, has been ranked as the country’s top business destination, followed by Chennai, Mumbai and Pune in terms of infrastructure, human capital, city culture and basic quality of living, says a survey.

ii. While Delhi does not figure on this list, Noida and Gurgaon from the National Capital Region have been ranked 17th and 19th respectively.

iii. The survey, conducted by Global Initiative for Restructuring Environment and Management (GIREM) and real estate consultancy firm DTZ, also found that smaller cities like Indore (5th), Bhubaneswar (6th) and Coimbatore (7th) are competing with top metros in the race to be ideal business destinations.

iv. The list includes a total of 21 top business destination in the country. Ahmedabad has been ranked 8th, followed by Nagpur at 9th and Kochi at the 10th place.

v. “The ranking provides companies across industries and sectors with insights for future investment opportunities,” Prasad added.

vi. The ranking rated the cities based on factors such as human capital, energy, water, transport, housing, healthcare, climate, office space availability and city culture, which constitute the basic eco-socio-economic parameters critical in determining the growth of the city.

2.    Tata Steel won a New Contract to Supply Britain's Network Rail

i. Tata Steel on 21 October 2013 won a new contract to supply Britain's Network Rail with more than 95 percent of its rails for at least five years. 

ii.  It could supply more than 1 million tonnes of rail under the contract. The company's Scunthorpe plant is the present supplier to Network Rail.

iii. It produces steel for construction and infrastructure. The plant's future would have been affected had the contract not been renewed.

iv. The Tata Steel Group, with a turnover of 24.82 billion US dollars in Financial Year 2012- 2013, has over 81000 employees across five continents and is a Fortune 500 company. 

3.    2nd India-Philippines Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation Held at Manila

i. The 2nd meeting of the India- Philippines joint commission on bilateral cooperation was held on 21 October 2013 in Manila.

ii. The meeting was co-chaired by the Albert F. Del Rosario, Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines and the Salman Khurshid, Minister of External Affairs of the of India.

iii. During the meeting they discussed on political, defense, security, economic and cultural cooperation, and reviewed the progress of the Joint Working Groups on Trade and Investment, Tourism, Agriculture, Health and Medicine, Joint Committee on Renewable Energy and of the Joint Defense Cooperation Committee. 

4.    Justice Rajesh Kumar Agrawal Appointed as the Chief Justice of Madras High Court

i. Justice Rajesh Kumar Agrawal (60), the acting Chief Justice of Madras High Court appointed as the regular Chief Justice of Madras High Court on 21 October 2013.

ii. The President of India also appointed seven of the eight names recommended by the Supreme Court collegium of judges headed by the Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam as Judges of the Madras High Court.

‘iiii. The names of the seven Judges were R. Mahadevan, K. Kalyanasundaram, P.N. Prakash, S. Vaidyanathan, Pushpa Sathyanarayana , V. Ravi and G. Chockalingam.

5.    Laxmikanta Mahapatra appointed Chief Justice of Manipur High Court

i. Justice Laxmikanta Mahapatra was on 21 October 2013 sworn in as Chief Justice of the Manipur High Court at Raj Bhava in Imphal, Manipur. He was appointed by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.

ii. Governor Ashwani Kumar administered the oath of office to Justice Laxmikanta Mahapatra. Justice Mohapatra would act as acting chief justice of the high court till appointment of a full time chief justice.

iii. The post of chief justice of High Court of Manipur remained vacant after the first chief justice Abhay M Sapre was transferred as chief justice of the Gauhati High Court.

6.    Lalu Prasad, Jagdish Sharma disqualified from Lok Sabha

i. RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD(U) leader Jagdish Sharma have been disqualified as Lok Sabha members following their conviction in the fodder scam.

ii. While Prasad stands disqualified for a total of 11 years — five years of jail term and six years subsequent to his release, Sharma stands disqualified for ten years — four years in jail and six more years after that as per electoral laws.

iii. Theirs is the first disqualification from the Lok Sabha after the Supreme Court struck down a provision that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts.

iv. Lok Sabha Secretary General S. Bal Shekar has issued the notifications disqualifying Lalu and Sharma.

v. The Election Commission has also been intimated about the disqualification and the subsequent creation of vacancies in the Lok Sabha.

Note: 5-year-old Prasad, convicted in the fodder scam, was sentenced to five years in prison and imposed with a fine of Rs. 25 lakh. He was till now an MP from Saran in Bihar.

7.    Kanwar Deep Singh Elected as the President of the Indian Hockey Federation

i. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) on 21 October 2013 unanimously elected Kanwar Deep Singh as the president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for a four-year term.

ii. He was succeeded by Dinesh Reddy, Andhra Pradesh's Director General of Police (DGP).

8.    Sania Mirza in Top 10 of World Women’s Doubles Rankings

i. Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza came into the top 10 of the world women's doubles by gaining two spots to ninth place in the latest WTA Team Rankings issued on 21 October 2013.

ii. Sania Mirza jumped from 11th spot to 9th spot. The 26-year-old Sania moved up as a result of other players dropping points.

iii. Italians Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci hold on to the joint number one ranking, while Su-Wei Hseih climbed two spots to number four and Katrina Srebotnik moved one spot higher to number three. 

iv. Sania Mirza had won back-to-back titles as she lifted the China Open trophy, followed by another triumph in Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo in the month of October 2013. Her partner Cara Black of Zimbabwe too gained a position to be at number 13.