DAILY GK UPDATE 2ND July

1.    Govt releases National Cyber Security Policy 2013

i. With an aim to protect information and build capabilities to prevent cyber attacks, the govt released the National Cyber Security Policy 2013 to safeguard both physical and business assets of the country.

ii. The Policy has outlined the roadmap for creation of a framework for comprehensive, collaborative and collective responsibility to deal with cyber security of the country.

iii. The policy has ambitious plans for rapid social transformation and inclusive growth and India's prominent role in the IT global market. It will cater to the cyber security requirements of government and non-government entities at the national and international levels. 

iv. The Minister said there will be multiple places from where cyber war could take place, it will involve individuals, sections of society, businesses, terrorists, drug dealers and those who want to generate violence.

v. The policy will help in safeguarding the critical infrastructure like Air Defence system, nuclear plants, banking system, power infrastructure, telecommunication system and many more to secure country's economic stability.  

vi. "CERT-In will function as an umbrella organisation in enabling creation and operationalisation of sectoral CERTs as well as facilitating communication and coordination actions in dealing with cyber crisis situations

vii. The policy will also establish a mechanism for sharing information as well as identifying and responding to cyber security incidents and for cooperation in restoration efforts.

viii. Earlier, the Government of India on 8 May 2013 approved the National Cyber Security Policy with an aim to create a secured computing environment across the country. 

2.    No discrimination between home & non-home branch customers: RBI to banks

i. The Reserve Bank has directed lenders not to discriminate against their customers and follow a uniform, fair and transparent pricing policy.

ii. RBI said in a directive yesterday that banks should not discriminate between their customers at the home branch and non-home branches under the Core Banking Solutions (CBS) platform.

iii. Accordingly, if a particular service is provided free at a  home branch the same should be available free at non-home branches also.

iv. There should be no discrimination as regards intresol charges-charges levied by banks on customers for products and services-between similar transactions done by customers at the home branch and those at non-home branches.
v. RBI said Intersol charges were not uniform across home and non-home branches and this practice by some banks was contrary to the spirit of its guidelines on reasonableness of bank charges.

vi. The directive also clarified that cash handling charges may not be included under intersol charges.

3.    Govt aims to bring over half of India under e-district scheme

i. In a major push to e-governance at grass root level for transparency, govt has decided to cover 339 of around 620 districts by March next year by a system under which govt. services can be accessed through instruments like mobile phones.

ii. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Monday to discuss provision of government services at district and sub-district levels to citizens in electronic mode across the country.

iii. The programme is planned to be achieved through measurable outcomes in terms of number of transactions, improved service levels, reduced service time and costs for the government and citizens.

iv. Under the e-district programme, internet and mobile phones would be used for delivery of government services like ration card, birth certificate and driving licences in 339 of around 620 districts of the country by March next year.

v. The initiative is a part of e-Bharat programme for which government has received a financial support of around Rs 700 crore from World Bank.

vi. Department of Electronics and IT (DEITY) has already set up mobile application stores which people can use to access government services in e-Districts and also mission mode project run by central government like services related to passports.

vii. At present, government has live 144 mobile applications which people can use for checking status of postal services, aadhar enrolment, rain information etc.

4.    Sujata Singh to be India's next Foreign Secy

i. Sujata Singh, currently envoy to Germany, will be India's next Foreign Secretary following an approval of her appointment by PM Manmohan Singh, ending months of speculation on who will head the foreign services.

ii. Singh, who will be the third woman to head the services after Chokila Iyer and Nirupama Rao, is the daughter of T V Rajeshwar, the former Intelligence Bureau Chief.

iii. Singh is the wife of former Secretary (East) Sanjay Singh, who retired in April this year.

iv. 59-year-old Singh, a 1976 batch IFS officer, was a close contender for the top job along with India's Ambassador to China S Jaishankar, who is a batch junior to her

v. Due to retire in July next year, Singh will now have a two year extension and will succeed Ranjan Mathai who is set to retire on 31^st July.

vi. Though Sujata Singh has not done any diplomatic stint in India's neighbourhood, she was undersecretary looking after Nepal from 1982-1985 before her postings in Europe including Italy and France.

5.    Former Delhi Police commissioner K K Paul was appointed Meghalaya governor

i. Former Delhi Police commissioner K K Paul was appointed Meghalaya governor replacing Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary. 

ii. Paul takes over as Meghalaya Governor from R S Moosahary. A 1970 batch IPS officer, Paul was also Member of Union Public Service Commission from 26^th July 2007.

iii. His wife, Amita Paul, is Secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee.

NOTE: i. Former Southern Army Commander Lt Gen (retd) A K Singh takes over as the new Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Island from Lt. General Bhopinder Singh (Retd.) who completed his five-year tenure in March this year.

ii. Former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President and former Rajya Sabha member Virendra Kataria has been appointed as the new Lt Governor of Puducherry succeeding Iqbal Singh.

6.    Najeeb Jung new Delhi Lt. Governor

i. Jamia Millia Islamia vice-chancellor Najeeb Jung was on Monday appointed Delhi lieutenant-governor replacing Tejendra Khanna.

ii. An IAS officer of 1973 batch from Madhya Pradesh cadre, Jung has served in various capacities for 22 years in different capacities besides working as Senior Advisor for seven years at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

iii. Jung was appointed Vice-Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia in 2009.

iv. Khanna, who was Lt Governor from 1996 to 1998 and 2007 to 2013, had an eventful tenure during which Commonwealth games were held in the national capital.

7.    Tata, Ambani, Birla in race for bank licence

i. Tata Sons, India's biggest business group, and firms controlled by billionaires Anil Ambani and Kumar Mangalam Birla are among the 26 companies that have applied for a licence to open banks.

ii. Ambani's Reliance Capital has applied for a banking licence along with Japan's biggest life insurer Nippon Life Insurance Co and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.

iii. Former Citigroup Inc chief executive Vikram Pandit has teamed up with JM Financial Ltd.

iv. Among public sector entities, India Post and IFCI also submitted applications for bank licence while micro finance institutions like Bandhan Financial Services, Janalakshmi Financial Services too expressed their intention to set up a bank.

v. "The Reserve Bank of India in all received 26 applications," the central bank said after the deadline for applying for a bank licence expired on Monday.

vi. The RBI had issued guidelines for 'Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector' on 22^nd February and came out with clarifications in the first week of June. It is, however, not yet clear how many new bank licences will be issued.

vii. In its clarification, the RBI had said the entities getting licences to open new banks will be given 18 months to open branches, and promoters would have to transfer their holdings to the non-operative financial holding company (NOFHC) in a stipulated period.

viii. Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru had said that he expected new bank licences to be issued by the end of March next year.

ix. Entities which did not apply for bank licence were Power Finance Corporation, Sahara India, SKS Microfinance.

x. India has 26 public sector banks, 22 private sector banks and 56 regional rural banks.

8.    Paes, Bopanna advance in Wimbledon

i. India's Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna breezed into the quarters and pre-quarterfinals of the men's and mixed doubles events with their respective partners at the Wimbledon.

ii. The fourth seeded pair of Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek teamed up to knock out Polish duo Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski 6-4 6-2 6-4 in the third round of the men's doubles event at the All England Club on Monday.

iii. Bopanna paired up with Chinese Jie Zheng to post a straigh-set 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 win over Robert Farah of Columbia and Darija Jurak of Croatia in the second round of the mixed doubles event.

iv. While Paes and Stepanek took 38, 33 and 40 minutes in the three sets to get the better of their opponents, Bopanna and Zheng needed 50 and 35 minutes to clear the hurdle.

9.    Serena Williams eliminated from Wimbledon

i. Defending champion Serena Williams was eliminated in the fourth round of Wimbledon on Monday, failing to close out a see-saw third set before losing 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 to Sabine Lisicki of Germany.

ii. The loss ends Williams’ career-best 34-match winning streak and her attempt to win a sixth title at the All England Club.

iii. Williams was up a break twice in the third set but Lisicki fought back both times and broke again to go up 5-4.

10.  India's first ever dedicated navigation satellite launched

i. In a landmark journey into a new era of space application, India successfully launched its first dedicated navigation satellite using the PSLV which blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.

ii. The country's workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) blasted off at 11.41 PM on Monday night and it ejected IRNSS-1A satellite and placed it in orbit a little past midnight, technically on Tuesday.

iii. "IRNSS-1A, first of the seven satellites, constituting the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) space segment, was launched at a cost of approximately Rs 125 crore," ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan said after the launch.

iv. Consisting of a space segment and a ground segment, IRNSS has three satellites in geostationary orbit and four satellites in inclined geosynchronous orbit and is to be completed before 2015.

v. IRNSS will have a network of twenty one ranging stations geographically distributed across the country and will be wholly controlled by the Indian Deep Space Network at Byalalu, near Bangalore.

11.  India beat Australia by 47 runs in U-19 tri-nation series

i. The Indian under-19 cricket team have won their opening match of the ongoing tri-nation series in Australia. At Marrara Oval in Darwin on Tuesday, they beat hosts Australia convincingly by 47 runs. 

ii. Put in to bat, India were dismissed for 221. Chasing the target, Australia were all out for 174.’

iii. India are the reigning Under-19 ICC Cricket World Cup champions after they beat Australia in the final last year in August in Townsville.

iv. India will next take on New Zealand at the same venue on Thursday.

12.  India take on Sri Lanka in 2nd ODI of tri-nation series in Jamaica this evening

i. India will clash with Sri Lanka today in their second one day international of the tri-nation cricket series, taking place in the West Indies. 

ii. The match will begin at 8 PM Indian Time in Kingston, Jamaica.

iii. In their opening fixture on Sunday, Team India had lost to hosts West Indies by 1 wicket.

iv. Skipper MS Dhoni, who injured his right hamstring during the first ODI, has been ruled out of the tournament.

v. Virat Kohli will lead the Indian side for the remaining matches and Ambati Rayadu has been named Dhoni's replacement.

vi. With 2 wins from as many matches, the West Indies are at the top of the points table with 9 points.