DAILY GK UPDATE 13TH FEB.

1.    World Radio Day was observed today:

i. World Radio day was observed today to increase awareness about the importance of Radio.
ii.The multi-purpose medium is an important source of information in those areas which are sometimes too remote to get a newspaper delivered.

iii. Across the world, the number of radio stations is increasing and the cost of broadcasting is decreasing.

NOTE: United Nations General Assembly endorsed the 2011 resolution adopted by the UNESCO General Conference, proclaiming the 13th of February as World Radio Day, the day United Nations Radio was established in 1946.

2.    NCAOR Science Meet begins in Goa

i. The Fourth Open Science Meeting of the International Past Global Changes community organised by National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean research (NCAOR), began at Dona Paula near Panaji in Goa today.

ii. The Theme of the conference is "The Past: A compass for the future Earth".

iii. Over 4000 delegates from 44 countries are attending the Conference that will discuss and deliberate on climate changes of the past.

iv. The four day conference will go a long way to enhance knowledge on global warming, climate change due to global warming for the protection of natural resources such as air, water and others.

3.    Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty Appointed As the Chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi

i. The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee appointed Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty as the chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi on 12 February 2013.

ii. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty is the IAS officer of 1970 batch and retired from the designation of Secretary to Government of India.

NOTE: i.Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty will retain his position till 31 December 2017.

ii. Chakravarty also served in Madhya Pradesh government.

iii. He had also remained member-secretary of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and director general of the National Museum, New Delhi apart from vice chancellor of the National Museum Institute.

About Lalit Kala Akademi:

Lalit Kala Akademi or the National Academy of Fine Art is fine art institution of Government of India with an objective to promote, develop as well as spread the culture of Indian fine art. It receives funds from Ministry of Culture.

4.    Parle-G Became the First Indian FMCG Brand to Cross 5000 Crore Rupees Mark

i. Parle-G in February 2013 became the first Indian FMCG brand that crossed 5000 crore Rupees mark in terms of retail sales in one year.

ii. Parle Products were launched in 1939 when the British ruled India.

iii. Factually, Parle Products in 2012 sold 5010 crore rupees worth glucose biscuits at the retail price, surpassing the domestic sales of Godrej products and Dabur, while at the same time also selling thrice more products than Maggi.

iv. This means that Parle Products sold over 100 crore packets of the glucose biscuits every month, or 14600 crore biscuits in 2012.

NOTE: i.Parle-G that has less than 1 billion dollar sales in a year, but even then it has good lead over its rivals such as Hindustan Unilever's Wheel and Ghari Detergent.

ii. Parle-G’s share increased from 67 percent in 2002 to 79 percent in 2012. Comparatively, shares of Britannia's Tiger and ITC's Sunfeast brand fell down.

5.    India and Japan held talks to Strengthen Cooperation in Tourism Sector

i. India and Japan on 12 February 2013 decided to strengthen cooperation in tourism sector and explore the new areas and opportunities in the sector by working together in different fields like the field of human resource development, investment in the tourism sector, exchange of tour operators and exchange of information related to tourism.

ii. The decision was made during a meet of the Japanese Senior Vice-Minister of Tourism, Hiroshi Kajiyama with the Union Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi in India. The two also discussed issues related to singing of an agreement/MoU.

iii. India and Japan had been an important tourism market for each other in the recent past and Japan accounts to be among the top ten inbound tourist generating market for India.

NOTE: i. Japanese Tourists in India are interested in visiting to places connected to Buddhism in India.

ii. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had extended a loan of 7331 million Japanese Yen that is equivalent to 299 crore rupees for development of the Ajanta Ellora Conservation and Development Program – Phase II.

iii. The Ministry of Tourism is going to hold road shows in Tokya and Osaka on 18 February 2013 and 20 February 2013, respectively.

6.    Retail inflation rises to 10.79 pc in Jan

i. Rising for the fourth consecutive month, retail inflation remained in double digits at 10.79 per cent in January, driven by higher prices of vegetables, edible oil, cereals and protein-based items.

ii. The retail inflation had stood at 10.56 per cent in December, 9.90 per cent in November and 9.75 per cent in October, 2012.

iii. In urban areas, retail inflation rose to 10.73 per cent in January from 10.42 per cent in the previous month.

iv. The CPI for rural population increased to 10.88 per cent during the month from 10.74 per cent in December.

NOTE: i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its monetary policy last month had slashed its key interest rates by 0.25 per cent and released Rs 18,000 crore additional liquidity into the system to perk up growth through reduced cost of borrowing.

ii. The RBI has forecast the March end WPI inflation at 6.8 per cent.

7.    Tripura ready for Assembly election tomorrow

i. The people of Tripura are ready to exercise their democratic rights as the elections to the state assembly are slated on 14th February.

ii. Altogether 249 candidates are in the fray for the Thursday election.

iii. The main contest will be between the Left Front and its allies and the Congressand its partners.

8.    Delhi first in country to introduce e-court fee in all district courts

i. Delhi has become the first state in the country to introduce e-court fee in all its district courts,"

ii. Describing it as a major step towards modernising the judicial system, the Chief Minister said, "The e-court fee system will go a long way in overcoming any possibility of stamp scam like the Telgi scam.

9.    Advani creates history, enters pre-quarters of Welsh Open

i. Pankaj Advani on Wednesday created history by becoming the first Indian cueist ever to reach the pre-quarterfinals of the BetVictor Welsh Open Pro Snooker Series, defeating former world champion, England's Shaun Murphy, 4-3 at Newport, Wales.

ii. Eight-time world champion Advani, the only active player to compete at the highest level in both billiards and snooker concurrently in the same season, reigned supreme at the green baize to enter the Round of 16, where he would be facing either 2006 world champion Graeme Dott of Scotland or Ireland's Fergal O'Brien.