DAILY GK UPDATE 27TH JUNE

1.    Bankim Chandra's birth anniversary today

i. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee – composer of India’s national song- Vande Mataram, was born on 27th June 1838 in Kanthalpara village (West Bengal).

ii. A Bengali writer, poet and journalist, Bankim Chandra wrote 13 novels and several satirical, scien

tific and critical works in Bengali.

iii. His works were widely translated into other regional languages of India as well as in English.

iv. His most famous novel, Anandamath, served as an inspiration to patriots during the Indian Freedom Movement.

v. The chant “Vande Mataram” was coined in this political novel. Originally a Bengali and Sanskrit ‘stotra’, the chant personifies India as a mother goddess.

vi. In 1892, the British government honoured him with the title ‘Ray Bahadur’.

vii. The great novelist passed away on 8th April 1894. 

2.    Kevin Rudd sworn in as new Australian Prime Minister

i. Kevin Rudd has been sworn in as prime minister of Australia for the second time, a day after he ousted Julia Gillard as leader of the Labor Party.

ii. Kevin Rudd conserved his dramatic return after a leadership ballot on 26 June 2013 in which Gillard, the country’s first female premier, was forced to leave in a party-room vote and announced her retirement from politics. 

iii. After a leadership ballot on Wednesday in which Gillard, the country’s first premier was deposed in a party room vote, the 55 year old Rudd sealed his dramatic return.

iv. However, Rudd could face his first test today if the opposition move a parliamentary motion of no confidence in the minority Labor government, which is dependent of the support of independents.

v. There are seven crossbenchers in the House of Representatives and Rudd needs to secure the support of the majority, which he should achieve with at least five expected to get behind him.

More About Kevin Rudd

i. Kevin Michael Rudd is the 26th Prime Minister of Australia, as well as Leader of the Labor Party.

ii. Earlier he held the position of Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010, and Labor Leader from 2006 to 2010; he is the first former Prime Minister to return to the office since Robert Menzies in 1949.

iii. He worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1981 to 1988, where he became Chief of Staff to the Labor Premier of Queensland, Wayne Goss.

3.    Elbegdorj Tsakhia wins Mongolia presidential election

i. Mongolia's president has won a second four-year term, providing a mandate for his efforts to crack down on corruption and further integrate the landlocked north Asian nation into international society.

ii. Tsakhia has won a second term in the presidential election, with 50.22% of the vote while Baterdene Badmaanyambuu of opposition received 41.48%

iii. The first female candidate for the presidency, Udval Natsag, had 8.3% of the votes in Thursday’s election.

iv. The result, an affirmation of Elbegdorj's efforts to root out corruption in the nation of 3 million people, whose fortunes are being transformed by a boom in mining for coal, copper, gold, and other resources.

v. Despite a good economic growth, corruption, inequality and inflation have worsened.

vi. However, Elbegdorj has pledged to integrate the landlocked north Asian country in the international society.

4.    India retains world's 3rd most attractive FDI destination slot

i. According to survey conducted by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), India has retained its position as the world's third most attractive destination for investment by transnational corporations (TNCs) during 2013-15.

ii. The survey based on responses of 159 companies, India was ranked after China and United States.

iii. The World Investment Report 2013 by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) revealed that the ranking of top five host economies of the world remained unaltered since 2012. China was still leading the list of top most destination for investment with 46 percent respondents agreeing on it. This was followed by US, which got 45 percent agreeing votes. 

iv. Indonesia and Brazil are also among the top five investment destinations as responded by TNCs. As per the survey, developing countries make up four of the top five host economies.

v. Apart from this, six out of top 10 prospective host countries were also from the developing world. Thailand and Mexico appeared in this list for the very first time. 

vi. As far as the developed countries were concerned, Japan climbed up three positions because of its reconstruction efforts after 2011 tsunami as well as expansionary monetary policies, which led to increased attractiveness of the country for foreign investment in the medium term. 

vii. In the meanwhile, Australia, Russia and United Kingdom came down the rankings in comparison to 2012 survey, while Germany gained two positions.

5.    Muthoot Finance to Establish White Label ATMs

i. Muthoot Finance got in-principal approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for establishing as well as operating White Label ATMs (WLAs).

ii. The White Label ATMs (WLAs) are the ones which are not owned and operated by the bank but by another non-bank entity.

iii. By paying a stipulated fee, anyone can use it for the purpose of financial transaction with any other bank branch.

iv. As the part of RBI’s Scheme A, Muthoot decided to establish 9000 ATMs. According to this scheme, Muthoot Finance will establish 1000 ATMs in first year, 2000 in second year and 6000 in third year. 

v. Muthoot Finance already began the process of identification of sponsor banks. Apart from this, the company has also decided to finalise the network of ATMs all over India.

vi.RBI decided to have more WLAs in tier-III to tier-VI centres of Muthoot Finance. 

RBI guidelines under Scheme A

i. Under this scheme, RBI gives the approval in case a company establishes a minimum of 1000 ATMs in first year, twice the number of first year in second year as well as thrice the second year’s installation in third year.

ii. Under the Scheme A, for every 3 WLAs installed in tier-III to VI centres, one WLA is allowed to be installed in tier-I to II centres. Out of the total WLAs installed in tiers-III to VI centres, at least 10 percent should be installed in tier-V & VI centres. 

iii. As of now, only the banks were allowed to establish the ATMs as the extended delivery channels. Then, RBI allowed even the non-banking entities to establish, own as well as operate the WLAs for expansion reach in tiers-III to VI.

6.    CAD touches record high of 4.8% in 2012-13

i.CAD touched a record high of 4.8 pc of GDP in 2012-13 on rising gold and oil imports, though still better than market expectation, bringing relief to the govt which is struggling to arrest the sliding rupee.

ii. Current Account Deficit (CAD) which is the difference between the outflow and inflow of foreign currency, however, moderated sharply to 3.6 percent of GDP in the last quarter of 2012-13 fiscal after it touched a historic high of 6.7 percent in the October-December quarter. It was 4.4 percent in the March quarter of 2011-12.

iii. The CAD was at USD 78.2 billion (4.2 percent) in 2011-12 fiscal, but a higher oil and gold imports pushed it up to USD 87.8 billion (4.8 percent) last fiscal, RBI data said.

iv. The central bank's comfort level for CAD is 2.5 percent of GDP.

v.The Finance Ministry, meanwhile, said "the short-term increase or decrease in CAD should not be a cause for either optimism or pessimism".

vi. The Rupee had touched a record low of 60.76 to a dollar on Wednesday. After the CAD data, the domestic currency recovered to 60.23 to the dollar.

7.    Kerala CM to receive UN award today

i. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will receive the United Nations Global Award for Public Service from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon at a ceremony to be held in Bahrain on Thursday.

ii. Chandy would leave for Bahrain Thursday morning to receive the award, to be given at the valedictory function of the United Nations Public Service Forum and Awards ceremony

iii. The UN ceremony is taking place in Bahrain based on the theme 'Transformative e-Government and Innovation: Creating a Better Future for All' from 24th to 27^th June.

iv. This is for the first time that the UN award for public service is being distributed at a venue in a Gulf country.

v. Chandy was selected for his mass contact programme from among entries from 50 Asia-Pacific countries.

vi. Chandy's mass contact programme has been widely lauded as a unique democratic experiment in which the Chief Minister of an Indian state met thousands of people directly without any intermediaries.

vii. He received up to 5.5 lakh petitions, of which around three lakh were resolved, and distributed financial assistance of Rs 22.68 crore as part of the programme.

viii. Since 2003, UN has been giving the award as part of its programme for Public Service Day, observed on 23th June .

8.    Remembering RD Burman on his 74th birth anniversary

i. Birth Anniversary of the music legend Rahul Dev Burman and fondly known as Pancham Da is being observed on Thursday.

ii. Music Maestro RD Burman still stays in our hearts through his lively music.

iii.  R.D. Burman's musical experiments and innovativeness made him one of the most beloved musicians of his era.

iv.  Pancham Da started his journey with Chhote Nawab in 1961 and worked in Bollywood for 33 years.

v.  RD Burman became highly popular with the Kishore Kumar songs in Rajesh Khanna-starrer movies.

vi. Kati Patang (1970), a musical hit, was the beginning of a series of the 1970s films directed by Shakti Samanta of Aradhana fame.

vii. He brought a refreshing change with his extraordinary musical work like Raat kali, the sensual cabaret number Piya tu ab toh aaja, the ultimate hippie anthem Dum maro dum and the classical Raina beeti jaaye

9.    Federer, Sharapova crash out on black Wednesday at Wimbledon

i. Seven-time winner Roger Federer and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova suffered humiliating Wimbledon defeats on an injury-cursed black Wednesday which turned the All England Club upside down.

ii. Defending champion Federer, the third seed, lost to Ukraine's world number 116, Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) in his worst Grand Slam defeat for a decade.

iv. Sharapova, the third seed, slumped to a shock 6-3, 6-4 loss to Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher De Brito, the world 131.

v. The defeats came just two days after Rafael Nadal had exited in the first round.

vi. Women's world number two Victoria Azarenka and men's sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were amongst the casualties which eased the title paths of Serena Williams and Andy Murray.

vii. Federer's defeat ended his run of 36 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final appearances, having not gone out of a major before the last eight since the 2004 French Open.

10.  Bhupathi, Sania advance in Wimbledon

i. Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza, along with their respective partners, advanced to the second round at Wimbledon on Wednesday, another Indian, who enjoyed a winning day at the All England Club, was Rohan Bopanna.

ii. Bopanna and his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin, who are seeded 14th, defeated Finland's Jarkko Nieminen and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 7-6 2-6 7-6 in their men's doubles opener.

iii. Bhupathi and his partner Julian Knowle beat Leonardo Mayer and Alberto Ramos to move to the second round of the men's doubles while the sixth seed Indo-US pair of Sania and Liezel Huber put paid to the hopes of Czech Republic's Renata Voracova and Klara Zakopalova in the women's doubles event.

11.  Indian cricket team leaves for Jamaica for ODI tri-series

i. After lifting the Champions Trophy with a remarkable unbeaten run, the victorious Indian cricket team on Wednesday departed for Jamaica to compete in an ODI tri-series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka starting June 28.

ii. The first three matches of the series would be played in Jamaica from June 28 to July 2 before the action shifts toTrinidad from July 5 to July 11. India will open their campaign against the West Indies on June 30.