DAILY GK UPDATE 1st JUNE

1.    Avinash Chander is new DRDO chief  

i. Avinash Chander, the man behind Agni series of missiles, was on Friday appointed as the new Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister and Director-General of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). 

ii. He will also hold the post of Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development.

iii. He succeeds V. K. Saraswat, whose term ended on Friday.

About Avinash Chander

i. Avinash Chander, an eminent missile scientist, is the chief architect of the long range ballistic missile system Agni.

ii. Dr. Chander, who was recently awarded Padma Shri, was behind the successful development of 5000-km range Agni-V, enabling the nation to join the elite club of five advanced nations.

iii. Avinash Chander joined DRDO in 1972 after completing graduation in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi.

iv. Dr. Chander, who obtained M.S. in Spatial Information Technology from JNTU, Hyderabad, is also Vice-President of the Aeronautical Society of India. 

v. He has received numerous awards and honours, including DRDO Scientist of the year and Agni Self-Reliance Award.

2.    Infosys appoints Narayana Murthy as Executive Chairman 

i. In a major top management re-shuffle, Infosys today appointed Mr. N R Narayana Murthy as executive chairman of the Board. He would serve as board chairman for 5 years. He will be the executive chairman with effect from June 1. 

ii. His son, Rohan Murty, will assist him in his role as chairman. The company said Narayana Murthy will create a chairman's office to assist him during his tenure and has requested the Board to permit him to put together a team for this function.

iii. K V Kamath, who was appointed non-executive chairman on Murthy's retirement in 2011, will step down from his position and take up the position of lead independent director effective June 1.

iv. Narayana Murthy said,"This calling was sudden, unexpected, and most unusual. But, then, Infosys is my middle child. Therefore, I have put asides my plans-in-progress and accepted this responsibility.

v. S Gopalakrishnan would be re-designated executive vice chairman effective June 1, and would primarily focus on key client relationships and broader industry issues. 

vi. S D Shibulal would continue to be the Managing Director and CEO.

vii. During his five year term, Murthy would draw a token compensation of Re 1 per year.

3.    Nicobar Islands declared world biosphere reserve

i. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has declared and designated the Nicobar Islands in India as a world biosphere reserve under its Man and the Biosphere Programme.   
ii. Such reserves are established by Member countries.

iii.  The UNESCO basically recognizes them under the programme to promote sustainable development based on local community efforts and sound science.

iv. The World Biosphere Reserves are considered as sites of excellence, where new and optimal practices to manage nature and human activities are tested and demonstrated.

v. The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain located in the eastern Indian Ocean.
vi. The island chain is home to 1800 animal species and some of the world's most endangered tribes.

vii. The Nicobar Islands are part of a great island arc created by the collision of the Indo-Australian Plate with Eurasia.

NOTE:Great Nicobar joins the reserves at Simplipal (Orissa), Nokrek (Meghalaya), Pachmarhi (Madhya Pradesh), Nilgiri (Tamil Nadu), the Gulf of Mannar (Tamil Nadu), Sunderban (West Bengal) Nanda Devi (Uttarakhand) and Achanakmar-Amarkantak (Madhyapradesh and Chhatisgarh) which are already on UNESCO's list.

4.    LPG subsidy in bank accounts from today in 18 districts 

i. Starting 1st June, cooking gas (LPG) consumers in 18 districts will get Rs 435 in their bank accounts when they book an LPG cylinder as the government rolls out its ambitious direct benefit transfer programme to cut its fuel subsidy.

ii. The scheme was to be rolled out in 20 districts initially but the launch in Mysore in Karnataka and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh has been put off by a month due to assembly and Parliamentary by polls.

iii. After the launch of the scheme, consumers in 18 districts like North Goa and Pondicherry will get Rs 435 in their bank accounts every time they book for an LPG refill.

iv. These consumers then will have to buy cooking gas at market price which is double the Rs 410.50 rate for a 14.2-kg bottle in Delhi.

NOTE: i. The government intends to extend the scheme to rest of the country before end of the year but wants to see results in the 20 districts first.

ii. The 20 districts selected have high Aadhaar or unique identification number penetration.

iii. The government anticipates a saving of Rs 8,000 to 10,000 crore in LPG subsidy annually after the scheme is rolled out all over the country.

iv. After three months, that is from 1st September, only consumers having Aadhaar and banks accounts linked to them will get cash subsidy and the rest will have to buy LPG at market price

5.    France and Germany agree on 'full-time' euro group chief

i. Germany and France have proposed a full-time president for the euro group as they agreed to cooperate more closely to overcome the debt crisis and to kick-start growth and job creation in the single currency area.

ii. At a meeting in Paris on Thursday to work out a common strategy for the next European Union summit in Brussels at the end of June, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to give top priority for tackling youth unemployment, promoting competitiveness and intensifying economic and fiscal policy coordination.

iii. The two leaders proposed the creation of a 6 billion-euro (USD 7.8 billion dollars) fund for the euro zone to finance concrete projects in the area of tackling youth unemployment and promoting competitiveness.

iv. A full-time president of the euro group should have sufficient funds at his disposal to take decisive steps towards creation of new jobs, enhancing growth and fostering competitiveness of the industry.

6.    World No-Tobacco Day observed on 31^st May 

i. World Health Organisation (WHO) has earmarked 31st May as 'World No Tobacco Day', to make people aware about the risks associated with tobacco usage and reduce its consumption

ii. Tobacco consumption in the form of gutkas and cigarettes is causing irreparable damage to our society and economy.

iii. The theme of this year's 'World No Tobacco Day' is "Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship."

iv. Tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death globally. The impact of tobacco usage depends on the number of years the person is addicted to tobacco and intensity of usage.

v. People who are addicted to tobacco consumption at an early age have higher tar formation that increases the risk of diseases such as heart attack and oral cancer.

vi. All over the world various campaigns have been launched coinciding with the anti-tobacco day to educate the public about the dreadful impacts of smoking habit and resultant diseases. 

7.    US imposes sanctions on Iran's petrochemical industry

i. The United States has blacklisted eight Iranian petrochemical companies in its latest move aimed at curbing Teheran’s nuclear program.

ii. The blacklisted companies are either owned or controlled by the Iranian government

iii. These include Bandar Imam Petrochemical Co, Bou Ali Sina Petrochemical Co and Mobin Petrochemical Co.

iv. It is for the first time that US treasury department has imposed sanctions against petrochemical companies, which are the largest source of foreign earnings for Iran.

v. The United States has also imposed sanctions on a food and beverage company based in the gulf region for engaging in transaction for the purchase of petrochemical products from Iran.

8.    Justice Kaul takes oath as new CJ of Punjab & Haryana high court

i. Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul today took oath as the new Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chindigarh.

ii. Justice Kaul was administered the oath of office by Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia at a ceremony held at Haryana Raj Bhavan.

iii. The post of the Chief Justice had fallen vacant on April 11 after former Chief Justice A K Sikri was elevated as a Supreme Court judge.

iv. Justice Kaul, 54, earlier served as the senior most judge of the Delhi High Court and was the acting Chief Justice there in September last year.

9.    Rahul bags three golds in Asian Youth Weightlifting

i. Ragala Venkat Rahul swept all the three gold in the boys 77 kilogram category as India continued to shine at the 15th Asian Youth Weightlifting Championships on the fourth day in Doha yesterday.

ii. Rahul lifted 132 kilogram in snatch and 157 kilogram in clean and jerk for a total lift of 289 kilogram en route to winning all the gold on offer in the weight category.

10.  Premlata Agrawal, first Indian woman mountaineer to scale 7 continental peaks

i. Ace woman mountaineer Premlata Agrawal has become the first Indian woman mountaineer to scale the seven continental peaks after climbing Alaska's McKinley Peak. 

ii. With this, she became the first Indian woman mountaineer to step on the highest peak of North America.

iii. The Seven Summits present different challenges that have to be overcome with extreme and testing fortitude. Summiting all of them is regarded as one of the world's biggest mountaineering challenge.