DAILY GK UPDATE: 22ND JANUARY

1.    Bhutan King is Chief Guest at R-Day Parade:

i. Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck is to be the chief guest at this year's Republic Day parade. 
ii. The King and Queen of Bhutan will pay a State visit to India from 23rd to 30th of this month.

iii. During his visit the Bhutan king will meet with the President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

iv. The Bhutan King is also to be the chief guest at the Confederation of Indian Industry Partnership Summit-2013 to be held at Agra from 27th to 29 of this month.
NOTE: King's visit will contribute to further strengthening and expanding the close bilateral relations between the two countries. The unique and special relations between the two neighbouring countries are characterized by everlasting friendship, deep understanding and mutual trust.

2.    India, Lanka sign two pacts at end of Jt. Commission meet:

India and Sri Lanka today signed two agreements including one on combating International Terrorism and Illegal Drug and Human Trafficking.

An agreement on Avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion was also signed by visiting Srilankan foreign minister G L Peiris and his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid in New Delhi.

NOTE: The agreements were singed at the end of 8th round of joint India - Srilanka joint commission meeting which reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relationship. Both the countries also inked the agreed minutes of the Joint Commission meeting.

3.    Govt. declared use of MGNREGA linked Post Office Accounts for Direct Cash Transfer:

i. The Union Government of India in the third week of January 2013 amended the August 2008 notification to allow MGNREGA beneficiaries to receive other Government benefits and deposits in their post office saving account.

ii. With this order of the Union Finance Ministry more than 3.5 crore post office accounts in existence has turned up to be ready for the Aadhaar-linked Cash Transfer Scheme of Government of India.

iii. Earlier, the accounts linked with the MGNREGA workers of the country were used for receiving the wages under the rural employment guarantee scheme.

NOTE: i.The Aadhaar number would be used for authentication of the identities of the beneficiaries under the new Direct Cash Transfer initiative.

ii. There exists of a total of 8.26 crore MGNREGA accounts in the country and out of this 43 percent (3.5 crore) of the accounts exists in post offices of India.

4.    OP Chautala: jailed for corruption

i. The ex-chief minister of the Indian state of Haryana Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay, also a politician, have been sentenced to 10 years in jail for corruption.

ii. Last week Chautala and 54 others were convicted of forging documents to hire 3,206 teachers between 1999 and 2000.

iii. Prosecutors said well-qualified candidates were rejected in favour of those who offered bribes for jobs.

iv. It is estimated that the scam was worth about 1.5bn rupees ($28m; £18m).

NOTE: Chautala is the leader of the Indian National Lok Dal party and the son of former deputy prime minister Devi Lal.

The scandal only came to light in 2008 when the federal Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed charges against Chautala and the others.

5.    Ikea wins Indian agency approval for stores:

i. India's foreign investment agency has approved Ikea's entry into the Indian market, bringing the Swedish firm closer to being the first major foreign retailer with wholly owned outlets.

ii. kea plans to open 25 stores, investing about $2bn (£1.3bn) over the next 15 to 20 years.

iii. The proposal now needs approval from the federal cabinet.

iv. The government is committed to play a constructive role in encouraging FDI (foreign direct investment) specially in areas which create jobs and provide technological advancement," trade minister said.

NOTE: Last year India changed its policies to allow some foreign retailers to own 100% of their Indian subsidiaries.

It also allowed foreign multi-brand retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour, to own as much as 51% of outlets.

6.    State Bank of India pitches for cut in repo rate, CRR

i.Pitching for a cut in interest rates and cash reserve ratio by the Reserve Bank, SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri today said the move will boost investment and growth.

ii.He said "As RBI's monetary policy reviewis slated on January 29, we have already requested for a cut in cash reserve ratio by up to 100 basis points (1 per cent) and repo rate by 50 basis points (0.5 per cent),".

iii. Lowering of interest rates, would considerably improve the investment climate which remained sluggish.

iv. Rise in investment would also brighten the employment scenario by giving a boost to economic activities, the SBI chief said, warning that India might face an Europe-like situation if the prevailing scenario continues.

7.    Google may soon replace passwords with 'physical keys'

i. Search giant Google is set to kill off passwords and is experimenting with USB keys, mobile phones and even jewelry that can act as a physical 'key' to give users access to their account.

ii. Google Vice President of Security Eric Grosse said: we feel passwords and simple bearer tokens such as cookies are no longer sufficient to keep users safe," the pair write in their paper.

iii. To log, users simply place the tiny Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive into their computer.

iv. The firm is also believed to be experimenting with wireless chips that are already built into some mobile phones, and can even be built in jewelry.

v. "One option uses a tiny USB key called a YubiKey. When the user plugs the key into a latop, they are automatically logged into all of their Google accounts - without ever having to type in a password," .

8.    Kohli became the Quickest Indian and Second at World Level to complete 4000 ODI Runs

i. The Indian Cricketer Virat Kohli on 19 January 2013 completed his 4000 runs in One day International cricket tournament.

ii. He is the 12th Indian batsman and 84th at world level to reach this milestone.

iii. By scoring these runs in just 93 innings, he became the first quickest from India and second at world level to accomplish this milestone.

iv. Viv Richards, the West Indies player reached this milestone in 88 innings in the year 1985and is placed at the 1st position in the list of crickets to touch the mark of 4000 runs in less number of innings.

v. Both Richards and Kohli played in 96 matches to reach the score.

vi. Before Kohli, the former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly had this record of scoring the fastest 4000 runs in ODI in 110 matches and 105 innings.

9.    Li Na storms into semi-finals in Australian Open Tennis:

Li Na of China storms into the semi-finals in the womens singles on Day 9 of the Australian Open Tennis

The Chinese Ace seeded 6th caused an upset when she beat fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets 7-6, 6-3.

Li will now await the winner of the other all Russian quarter-final between Ekaterina Makarova and Maria Sharapova.

10.  14yr old Narayanan holds Chinese GM Shanglei to draw

India's latest International Master (IM) 14-year-old S L Narayanan became the youngeststar, as he held Chinese Grand Master Lu Shanglei to a draw in the ninth round in the Chennai Super Kings 5th International Grandmaster chess tournament 2013 at Chennai.

11.  4th ODI: India vs England to be played at Mohali tomorrow

The fourth One-Day International Cricket match between India and England will be played at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, tomorrow.

At present, India lead the five-match series 2-1.