DAILY GK UPDATE 16TH JULY

1.    B.S. Bassi to be New Delhi Police Chief

i. Bhim Sain Bassi will take over as the new Police Commissioner of Delhi on August 1. 

ii. Bassi will take over from the present incumbent Neeraj Kumar, who will retire on July 31. 

iii. Bassi is a 1977 batch IPS officer. He was director general of Goa Police, and was appointed Special Commissioner(Traffic) in Delhi Police in 2011. 

iv. Bassi will retire from service in February 2016. Born on February 20, 1956, Bassi joined the IPS on July 12, 1977 and  served as special commissioner (vigilance), joint commissioner (southern range) and additional commissioner (northern range) of Delhi Police.

2.ADB projects India’s growth rate at 5.8% in 2013

i. Slow progress of economic reforms is expected to pull down India’s growth to 5.8 per cent in 2013 from 6 per cent projected earlier, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report said on Tuesday.

ii. ADB in April had projected a growth rate of 6 per cent for India in 2013.

iii. The growth rate, it added, is expected to accelerate in 2014 as slower inflation provides some scope for monetary easing that could boost investment and consumption.

iv. Meanwhile, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in Jaipur said on Tuesday that India was likely to clock over 6 per cent growth in the financial year 2013-14, in the backdrop of government taking host of steps to boost sagging economy.

v. “In India, slow progress in pushing through the reforms needed to ease business bottlenecks means growth is likely to be 5.8 per cent this year, slower than the previously forecast 6.0 per cent,” the report ‘Asian Development Outlook Supplement’ said.

3.SC summons Chief Secretaries of 4 states

i. Supreme Court has summoned Chief Secretaries of four states UP, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra for failing to take steps on police reforms.

ii.   They have been asked to appear before the Apex Court on 31st of this month and apprise the court of reasons for not implementing the much needed reforms.

iii. The Court was hearing the matter suo motto after the incident of Tarantaran in Punjab few months back, where some cops were captured on camera beating a woman.

iv. Earlier Court had also issued notices to all the states on implementation of reforms as per an earlier Prakash Singh case.

v. In one of the strongest observations- Justice G S Singhvi added- Unless some officers are convicted and sentenced for contempt of court nothing is going to change.

4.Santosh B Nayar is New CEO of IFCI

i. Santosh B Nayar has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Industrial Financial Corporation of India.

ii. The IFCI was the 1st specialised financial institution setup in India to provide term finance to large industries in India.

iii. Anurag Jain, Government Director, has handed over the charge of CEO & MD to Nayar.

iv. The main objective of IFCI is to provide medium and long term financial assistance to large scale industrial undertakings, particularly when ordinary bank accommodation does not suit the undertaking or finance cannot be profitably raised by the concerned by the issue of shares.

5.India Becomes Largest Nigerian Crude Oil Buyer

i. India has overtaken the USA as the top buyer of Nigerian crude oil.

ii. Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria Mahesh Sachdev said recent statisticsshowed that India had been buying more of Nigeria’s crude than the US over the last three months.

iii. On the bilateral trade, the present figure stands at $10 billion, even as the total investment of India in Nigerian economy could be valued at USD 16.6 billion.

iv. India has recently reduced its dependence on Iranian oil in the wake of the US and European sanctions on the import of oil from the Iran.

6.Indian Air Force drops Sachin Tendulkar as brand ambassador

i. After two years of what appeared to be a healthy association, the Indian Air Force(IAF) has dropped the legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar as its brand ambassador.

ii. Sachin Tendulkar has been replaced with the basic trainer aircraft Pilatus after their association failed to yield the desired results.

iii. The IAF is using Pilatus' images to galvanise more personnel.

iv. The IAF has entered into a deal for 75 Pilatus with Switzerland, wherein 14 Pilatus aircrafts have already reached India, and the pilots are being trained on them in Hyderabad.

v. In 2011 Sachin was conferred with the Indian Air Force's honorary rank of Group Captain to honour his achievements in the sport.

vi. He also became the first sportsperson to be conferred a rank by IAF and the first personality with no aviation background to receive the honour.

7.Afridi becomes first player in ODIs to claim 350 wickets and score 7000-plus runs

i. Shahid Afridi  became the first cricketer in the ODI history to achieve a unique double of recording 7000 runs and collecting 350 wickets.

ii. Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi marked his return to international cricket with a dazzling show as he single-handedly demolished West Indies in the first ODI of the five-match ODI series on Sunday.

iii. The 33-year-old first rescued the Pakistan innings with a brisk knock of 76 and then later registered the second best bowling figures in the ODIs by dismissing seven West Indian batsmen.

iv. Apart from Afridi, the only other player to score 7000-plus runs and collect 300-plus wickets in ODIs is former Sri Lankan all-rounder Sanath Jayasuriya.

8.Photo ID must to buy acid, shopkeepers need licence to sell

i. The Central government has submitted its guidelines to regulate the sale and purchase of acid to the Supreme Court.

ii. According to the guidelines, no one will be able to purchase acid without submitting a photo ID. Also, shopkeepers who sell acid will have to obtain a licence to do the same.

iii. The guidelines come after the Supreme Court hauled up the government for not having done enough to check the sale and purchase of acid to curb the incidents of acid attacks.

iv. The Apex Court had given the government time till July 16 to submit the guidelines and had said that if the government failed to draw up the guidelines, the court would draw up the necessary regulations itself.

v. The court had also directed the government to give details of how it was helping victims of acid attacks.