DAILY GK UPDATE 5TH APRIL

1.   3rd SAARC ministerial meet on poverty alleviation begins today

i. Representatives from eight SAARC countries including India will be participating in the third ministerial meet on Poverty Alleviation, set to start on Friday in Nepal.

ii. It will review achievements in the sector in the South Asian region.

iii. Regional poverty profile, SAARC Development Goals, regional and sub-regional investment projects as well as the vision of SAARC Post 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are expected to be discussed during the ministerial meeting, according to SAARC Secretariat.

iv. At least six Finance and Economic Development ministers from the SAARC region are expected to take part in the meeting.

v. Despite, efforts made at the regional level to reduce poverty, the number of poor people have increased to 600 million in the SAARC region mainly due to lack of labour intensive production policy and growing income disparity among the people of the region, according to SAARC Secretariat.

vi. Prior to ministerial meeting, SAARC Secretary-level meeting will also be held in Nepal on Thursday.

vii. A five-member Indian delegation will be joined by representatives from seven other SAARC countries in the meeting, 

NOTE: Addressing a press meet on the eve of the meeting, SAARC Secretary General Ahmed Saleem expressed the hope that Nepal will be able to host the 18th SAARC Summit in Kathmandulater this year despite the ongoing political transition in the country.

2.    106th birth anniversary of Babu Jagjivan Ram

i. Babu Jagjivan Ram popularly known as Babuji, was a freedom fighter and a social reformer hailing from Bihar in India and Nation pays homage to this great leader on 5th April which is his 106th birth anniversary.

ii. He was a loyal follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy of peace and non-violence.

iii. Jagjivan Ram proved his mettle on his own and rose to be the nation’s Deputy Prime Minister.

About Jagjivan Ram:

i. Jagjivan Ram was born at Chandwa near Arrah in Bihar in 1908.

ii. He went to Aggrawal Middle School in Arrah in 1920 at the age of 12, where the medium of instruction was English. Soon he came face to face with caste discrimination.

iii. He became, at 38, the youngest minister in Jawaharlal Nehru's provisional government in 1946.

iv. He still holds a record as a minister without a break for as many as 34 years.

v. Babuji, as he was popularly known, made his legislative debut at the age of 29, in 1937, as a member of the Bihar Legislative assembly.

vi. He was Defence Minister during the Indo-Pak war of 1971 that ended in the liberation of erstwhile East Pakistan into an independent Bangladesh.

3.    Bankers request RBI to slash CRR by 50 bps

i. Bankers on Thursday requested the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut cash reserve ratio (CRR) - portion of deposits that banks keep with RBI - by 50 basis points (bps) in its upcoming annual policy review on May 3.

ii. Chiefs of banks said that lower CRR would help them decrease lending rates, which would ease liquidity and boost investment.

NOTE: i. CRR is currently at 4 per cent. It may be noted here that banks do not earn any interest on their CRR deposits with the central bank.

ii. Since January last year, the central has decreased CRR by 200 basis points.

4.    Prez to inaugurate Golden Jubilee celebrations of CBI

i. President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Central Bureau Investigation and deliver a lecture on 'Good Governance - Empowering Institutions, Society and Public' on Saturday.  

ii. He will also unveil Golden Jubilee logo and present the President's Police Medals for Distinguished Services besides the DP Kohli Award for the Best Detective Constable of the agency.

iii. Mukherjee will also honour former Directors of CBI.

NOTE: i. The agency had come into being on April 1, 1963 through a Home Ministry notification which converted erstwhile Special Police Establishment into CBI as need was felt for it to not only probe bribery and vigilance cases but also those panning across state and national boundaries.

ii. "The prestigious DP Kohli Memorial lecture is organised annually by the CBI in the honour of its founder Director. iii. Late Kohli was the Head of Special Police Establishment and Central Bureau of Investigation from 1955 to 1968.

5.    Harsher punishment for traffic rule violators: SC to govt

i. The Supreme Court has asked the Centre and state governments to make punishment for traffic rules violation harsher, by introducing the provision for impounding vehicles and increasing the amount of fine to Rs 10,000. 

ii. The bench also asked the governments to "drastically" restrict the use of red beacon by VIPs and to provide it only to the heads of political executive, legislature, judiciary and persons holding constitutional posts.

iii. The apex court also asked the governments to impose a total ban on use of sirens except in vehicles of police, army and fire fighters and ambulances.

iv. "Nobody bothers about fine. In this country no one takes law seriously unless harsher measures are taken for violation of law," a bench of justices G S Singhvi and Kurian Joseph observed after it was told that amount of fine imposed for most of the violation of Motor Vehicles Act is around Rs 100.

v. "Having red beacon on vehicle has become a fashion and status symbol.Enforce a fine of Rs 10,000 for misuse of beacon by the people who are allowed to have red light on their cars," the bench said.

6.    Pakistan polls: Nomination papers of Pervez Musharraf rejected

i. Pervez Musharraf's nomination papers for a parliamentary constituency inPakistan's Punjab province were today rejected, even as the Supreme Court decided to hear a petition seeking the former military ruler's trial for sedition.

ii. The Returning Officer for a parliamentary constituency at Kasur in Punjab rejected 69-year-old Musharraf's nomination papers for the 11th May general election on the ground that the signature did not match the one on his national identity card.

iii. Reports said a lawyer, Javed Kasuri Advocate, too had objected to Musharraf's candidature on the ground that the former President had violated Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution, which specify that candidates should have a "good character" and be "sagacious, righteous and non-profligate".

7.    Rahi Sarnobat clinches gold in ISSF World Cup

i. Rahi Sarnobat scripted history by becoming the first Indian Pistol Shooter to clinch a gold medal in the ISSF World Cup in Changwon, Korea on Friday.

NOTE: i. Anjali Bhagwat, Gagan Narang, Sanjeev Rajput, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Ronjan Sodhi and Manavjit Singh Sandhu have won gold medals in the ISSF World Cups for India.

ii. According to the new competition rules, top eight players from the preliminaries qualify for the semifinals where points are given according to the number of inner 10s scored by a shooter in each series of five shots.

8.    IPL 2013: RCB defeated Mumbai Indians by two runs

i. Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Mumbai Indians by just two runs in a thrilling Indian Premier League match at Bangalore last night. 

ii. Put into bat, Chris Gayle, with an unbeaten 92 off just 58 balls,single handedly powered Bangalore to a competitive 156 for five in the allotted 20 overs. 

iii. Chasing 157 for victory, Mumbai finished with 154 for five in the stipulated overs.

iv. In today's fixture, Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on Pune Warriors in Hyderabad at 8 PM.

9.    Dravid receives Padma Bhushan

i. Batting great Rahul Dravid received India's third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, from President Pranab Mukherjee during a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan's Darbar Hall Friday.

ii. The 40-year-old will be leading Rajasthan Royals against the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Saturday. The prolific batsman scored 13,288 runs in 164 Tests at an average of 52.31 and amassed 10,889 runs in 344 ODIs, averaging 39.16.

iii. Former boxer Ngangom Dingko Singh and rower Bajrang Lal Takhar received the country's fourth highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri.

10.  Renowned Historian Professor Bratindra Nath Mukherjee Died

i. Padma Shri Awardee Professor Bratindra Nath Mukherjee, the renowned historian and an epigraphy expert died at his residence in Kolkata on 4 April 2013.

ii. The 79 year old and the person who deciphered several ancient scripts, is now survived by his wife and son. 

About Bratindra Nath Mukherjee

i. He authored more than 50 books and wrote about 700 articles in different national and international journals.

ii. He was among few of the scholars from India, who knew Central Asian Lanuages like Sogdian (an Eastern-Iranian language at present Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), Brahmi, Shell and Kharoshti 

iii. He was a numismatist and wrote two volumes on it named Coins of Bengal and Numismatic Art of India

iv. He served as the Professor in the Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta

11.  NIA registers murder case against Italian marines

i. NIA has registered a murder case against two Italian Marines for allegedly killing two Indian fishermen off Kerala coast last year.

ii. The Home Ministry had handed over the case to National Investigation Agency through an order on Thursday evening.

iii. NIA has booked the marines--Massimiliano Lattore and Salvatore Girone--under sections 302 (Murder), 307 (Attempt to murder), 427 (mischief) along with section 34 (Common intent) of IPC.

iv. The law deals with cargo ships, maritime navigational facilities whose personnel indulge in offences committed in sea.

v. The maximum penalty in this section is death in case the action by those onboard has resulted in killing.

NOTE: The agency has alleged fishermen Jelastin and Pinku were shot dead by the two the two marines onboard 'Enrica Lexie'--an Italian ship, 31 Nautical miles from North-West of Neendakara Costal Police Station, in Arabian Sea on 15^thFebruary, 2012.