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.

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DAILY GK UPDATE 20 & 21ST OCTOBER

1.    U N Security Council Elected 5 New Non-Permanent Members

i. Chad, Chile, Lithuania, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia elected to seats as non-permanent members by the United Nations Security Council in the 15-member Council on 17 October 2013.

ii. These members have been elected for two-year term which would start from January 2014.

iii. The New Council members will replace Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan and Togo.

iv. Non-permanent members Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, the Republic of Korea and Rwanda will remain on the Council until the end of 2014. India had served as a non-permanent member at the council in 2011-2012.

v. There are six principal organisations of UN which maintains peace and security of the world.

1. The Organisations are-General Assembly. 2. The Security Council. 3. The Economic and Social Council. 4. The Trusteeship Council,

5. The  International Court of Justice and 6. The Secretariat.

2.    Canara Bank launches CASA Carnival

i. Canara Bank, Pune Circle has launched a CASA Carnival in all its branches in Pune and in 14 districts of Maharashtra, to mobilise Savings and Current Accounts through door-to-door and shop-to-shop campaign.

ii. The Pune Circle of the Bank has a target of mobilizing 10,000 SB accounts and 500 Current Accounts during this fortnight long CASA Carnival which was flagged off by K Bhaskar, Deputy General Manager, Pune Circle, on October 19.

3.    Tarun Chugh appointed MD of PNB Metlife

i. Private life insurer PNB MetLife today said that it has appointed Tarun Chugh as Managing Director of the company.

ii. Chugh joins PNB MetLife from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance where he served as their Chief of Distribution, Operations and Marketing for India and was responsible for day-to-day management of all the business functions.

iii. Chugh will start with MetLife as soon as he has fulfilled his obligations to his current employer and his appointment is subject to regulatory approval, said the company in a release.

iv. Rajesh Relan, the present MD, will be appointed as Head of Bank Distribution for the Asia region.

4.    Name approved for TATA-SIA joint Airline venture

i. The proposed aviation venture of TATA with Singapore Airlines(SIA) has got corporate Affairs  Ministry’s approval to use the name “Tata SIA Airlines Ltd.”which plans to offer full-service passengers sevices on domestic and international routes.

ii. Tata Group had applied on the ministry’s electronic platform,MCA21, to register this name.

iii. Tata Group will hold 51% stake in the company while Singapore Airline would have 49%.

iv. The two Partners are making the initial investment of USD 100 million to launch the airline,which may take off next year, after getting all clearances.

5.    Earlier attempts by TATA Group to enter in Aviation Business

i. In February this year, Tatas had announced a partnership with Malaysia’s AirAsia for a low-cost carrier in India, wherein Arun Bhatia’s Telestra Tradeplace was  third partner.

ii. It was the third attempt by Tatas and SIA to enter the Indian civil aviation sector. Tatas have a long history of association with civil aviation in India. JRD Tata had started Tata Airlines in 1932, which was later in 1946 renamed as Air India and was subsequently nationalised in 1953.

6.    Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana pension scheme for overseas workers in Dubai

i. India will launch its ambitious pension scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana for over five million overseas workers in Dubai next week. 

ii. The scheme will be formally launched by Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi at the Indian Consulate in Dubai on Monday. 

iii. A statement issued by the Indian Consulate General in Dubai said the UAE is the first foreign nation where the scheme is being launched officially.

7.    Kudankulam pact unlikely; India, Russia to sign agreements today 

i. India and Russia have made substantial progress in reaching an agreement on units 3 and 4 for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, and deliberations between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and Rosatom are currently in the final phase.

ii. The settlement of legalities in the final agreement will not make it in time for the signing to take place during this visit by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to Russia.

iii. At the summit, India and Russia are to sign several agreements including one on Transfer of Sentenced Persons that will facilitate the process of social rehabilitation of sentenced persons of the other country by providing the opportunity to serve their sentences in their country under certain conditions.

8.    India & Bangladesh talks on Customs Co-operation start today\

i. The bilateral talks between India and Bangladesh on Customs Co-operation begin today.

ii. India's Revenue Secretary Sumit Bose and Chairman of Bangladesh National Revenue Board Muhammad Ghulam Hossain are leading the respective sides.

iii. The 2-day talks constitute the ninth round under the Joint Group of Customs, a bilateral framework between the two countries.

9.    Lata Mangeshkar gets Yash Chopra memorial award

i. Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar has been conferred with the first Yash Chopra Memorial Award for her contribution to cinema.

ii. She was presented the award by Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on saturday, at a function in Mumbai.

iii. Lata, who has been unwell for the last three days, made it a point to attend the function where industrialist-politician T Subbarami Reddy announced a national award in the memory of the legendary filmmaker.

iv. "In our first year, we are giving this (award) to Lata Mangeshkar for her immense contribution to cinema. 

Note: Lata Mangeshkar is the first recipient of the award constituted by TSR Foundation of T Subbarami Reddy.

ii. Yash Chopra (80) died in Mumbai on October 21 last year.

10.  Facebook becomes Google advertising ally

i. Google-owned online ad-placing service DoubleClick announced that the way has been cleared to include space at Facebook. 

ii. Google had previously been shut out of the social network's advertising network, with no reasons given for the exclusion or the change of heart. 

iii. Word that the Internet titan's online advertising reach would extend to Facebook came as Google shares breached USD 1,000 for the first time. 

iv. Google stock was priced at USD 1,011.41 at the close of the Nasdaq yesterday and continued to climb in after-market trades. 

v. Facebook shares also hit a new all-time high on Friday and closed at USD 54.22 a share. 

vi. DoubleClick Bid Manager is a way for marketers to buy online ad space at websites across the Internet. 

vii. Shares of Internet search and advertising titan Google soared past the USD 1,000 mark after a quarterly earnings report showed that it was smoothly building its presence in the mobile area while advertising earnings rose all around, with particular help from Google's YouTube website. 

11.  Shreekant Javalgekar Resigned as the Managing Director and CEO of MCX

i. Shreekant Javalgekar resigned as the Managing Director and CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) on 19 October 2013.

ii. Multi Commodity Exchange is the only commodity exchange in India which is listed on a stock exchange.

iii. Multi Commodity Exchange was promoted by Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies India Ltd (FTIL), which also promoted the now-defunct National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL).

12.  Four Indians Listed in Fortune Top 50 Women Business Leaders-2013

i. Four Indians, Chanda Kochhar, Chitra Ramkrishna, Shikha Sharma, Naina Lal Kidwai have made to 2013 Fortune magazine's global list of top-50 women business leaders. The list was released on 20 October 2013 by Fortune magazine, US.

ii. ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar has been ranked 4th, followed by National Stock Exchange chief Chitra Ramkrishna at 17th, Axis Bank's Shikha Sharma at 32nd and HSBC's Naina Lal Kidwai at 42nd place among the Indians on the international list of most powerful women in business.

iii. This list is topped by Brazilian energy giant Petrobras' CEO Maria Das Gracas Foster, followed by Turkish conglomerate Sabanci Holding's Guler Sabanci at the second place and Australian banking giant Westpac's CEO Gail Kelly at the third.

13.  Mahatma Gandhi's prison 'charkha' to be auctioned in UK

i. One of Mahatma Gandhi's most prized possessions, the 'charkha' he used in Yerwada Jail, will go under the hammer at a prestigious British auction house on November 5 with the minimum bid set at 60,000 pounds.

ii. The charkha (spinning wheel) used by Gandhi while he was in the prison at Pune during India's freedom struggle, was given to the American Free Methodist missionary Revd Floyd A Puffer. 

iii. Puffer was a pioneer in Indian educational and industrial cooperatives. He invented a bamboo plow that was later adopted by Gandhi.

iv. Gandhi presented the charkha to Puffer for his work in Colonial India. 

v. Mullock's will auction over 60 Gandhi-related artifacts. Highlights include important documents, photographs and books, including an early publication advising German Jews to take up 'Satyagraha' during the holocaust. 

vi. Most notable of them are a 19th century painting of Tipu Sultan, a British school painting of the Sultan's daughter dated 1837, an early account dating to 1805 of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, the lion of Punjab and a rare miniature Koran printed for Muslim soldiers who fought alongside allied forces in the First World War. 

14.  Congress MP Rashid Masood disqualified from Rajya Sabha

i. Convicted Congress leader Rashid Masood today became the first MP to lose his seat 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.

ii. 66-year-old Masood was held guilty in a case of corruption and other offences in September.

iii. His conviction was the first after the Supreme Court struck down a provision in the electoral law that provided immunity to MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification.

iv. Lok Sabha MPs Lalu Prasad and Jagdish Sharma, both convicted in the fodder scam, are set to be formally disqualified as the Lok Sabha secretariat is likely to follow suit.

15.  World's first fully bionic man created: Walks, talks & breathes 

i. Scientists have developed the world's first robot human made entirely of prosthetic parts and he can walk, talk and even has a beating heart. 

ii. The robot, which cost almost USD 1 million to build, was assembled from prosthetic body parts and artificial organs donated by laboratories around the world.

iii. Roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of Shadow Robot Co in England put together the bionic man. 

iv. To support his prosthetic legs, the bionic man wears a robotic exoskeleton dubbed "Rex," made by REX Bionics in New Zealand. 

v. The bionic man also has a nearly complete set of artificial organs, including an artificial heart, blood, lungs (and windpipe), pancreas, spleen, kidney and functional circulatory system. 

vi. The bionic man made his US debut at New York Comic Con October 10-13 and will be on display at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC this fall.

16.  Norh and South Zone declared joint winners of Duleep Trophy

i. North Zone and South Zone were declared joint winners of the Duleep Trophy this year after the fifth day's play of the final match was also called off without a ball being bowled in Kochi on Monday.

ii. Only 10 overs -- on the second day on October 18 -- were possible in the five-day match as wet ground conditions at the Nehru Stadium due to persistent rain played spoilsport.

iii. The city again experienced a morning shower and the umpires decided for a delayed start of the final day. The umpires inspected the ground at around 2:45pm and decided to call off the match.

iv. It was the fourth instance in the history of Duleep Trophy when the title has been shared.

v. Previous instances were West Zone/South Zone in 1963-64), North Zone/West Zone in 1988-89 and Central Zone/West Zone in 1997-98.

17.  Dipika Pallikal Won Macau Open Squash Title 2013

i. India's ace Squash player Dipika Pallikal on 20 October 2013 won the Macau Open title at Macau, China.

ii. In the title clash Dipika stunned former World Number One Rachel Grinham of Australia, 12-10, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9. This was Dipika Pallikal's seventh Women's Squash Association title. 

iii. The Macau Open 2013 is a squash tournament held in Macau, China on 15 to 20 October 2013. It is part of the PSA World Tour and the WSA World Tour. The prize money for the Macau Open is 35000 Dollars.

iv. Dipika Pallikal (Born on 21 September 1991 at Chennai) is an Indian squash player. She is the first Indian woman to break into the top 10 in the WSA rankings.

18.  Jorge Lorenzo won Australian Grand Prix 2013

i. Jorge Lorenzo won the Australian Grand Prix on 20 October 2013 at the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix in Phillip Island.

ii. The strong contender Marc Marquez was disqualified for delaying a compulsory pit stop. Lorenzo of Yamaha, won a race shortened to 19 laps by 6.9 seconds from Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and veteran Valentino Rossi.

iii. Marquez was disqualified five laps from the finish after staying on the track one lap longer than permitted before he took a pit stop.

19.  Renowned Musician Madhuri Chattopadhyay Died

i. Renowned musician Madhuri Chattopadhyay died on 19 October 2013. She breathed her last at her Kolkata residence after suffering for a prolonged period.

ii. She was 73. Apart from film songs she had innumerable records. She was from West Bengal. She contributed immensely in the field of Bangla music.

iii. Madhuri sang a few songs for Salil Chowdhury, and each one of them was a masterpiece. Songs such as Nijere haraaye khunji and Oi je sabuj bono bithika were unforgettable. Madhuri had an unique voice with quite a range.

20.   Malyalam music legend K Raghavan no more 

i. Renowned music director K Raghavan, who brought originality and local flavour to Malayalam cinema music, in a career spanning over five decades, died in a hospital on Saturday. 

ii. He was 99. Raghavan was unwell for some time and was admitted to the co-operative Hospital in his hometown Thalassery in north Kerala few days back, family sources said. 

iii. Known as Raghavan Master among colleagues and fans, he did not copy Hindi and Tamil tunes. 

iv. Raghavan shot to fame with the 1950s hit "Neelakkuyil", a realistic movie directed jointly by Ramu Karyat and P Bhaskaran, which won the President's silver medal. 

v. Raghavan sang one of the most popular songs in that film, set in the tune of Mappila songs. 

vi. He was a recipient of several honours, including Padma Shree and Kerala Government's highest film honour J C Daniel award. 

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