Tuesday, July 30, 2013

DAILY GK UPDATE 30TH JULY

1.    RBI keeps key interest rates unchanged
i. The Reserve Bank of India has decided to keep all the key rates unchanged in its first quarter monetary policy review for 2013-2014 today.
ii. Weighed down by a weak rupee, the RBI chose to keep all key interest rates unchanged and asked the government to take urgent steps to reign in the high current account deficit.
iii. The RBI has stated that the biggest risk to the macroeconomic outlook stems from the external sector and the monetary policy’s stance is intended to address these risks from external shocks.
iv. Today's monetary policy review is the last for RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao, whose term will end in early September, unless it is extended.
v. The next mid-quarter review of monetary policy for 2013-14 will be put out on September 18, 2013. 
Vi. The second quarter monetary policy review for 2013-14 is scheduled on October 29, 2013.

Interest Rates are as Follows:
1. The repo rate was kept unchanged at 7.25 percent.
2. Reverse repo remains at 6.25 percent.
3. Cash reserve ratio unchanged at 4.00 percent
4. Keeps Marginal Standing Facility rate at 10.25 percent.
5. Bank rate stands at 10.25 percent.
6. SLR - 23%

2.    RBI lowers GDP growth projection for current fiscal to 5.5 pc
i. The Reserve Bank has lowered the growth projection for the current fiscal to 5.5 percent from its earlier estimate of 5.7 percent and asked the govt to undertake policy measures to improve investment climate.
ii. The RBI in its annual policy in May had projected the economy would grow at 5.7 percent.
iii. The government in February estimated 6.5 percent growth for 2013-14.
iv. RBI Governor said: "Without policy efforts to address the deterioration in productivity and competitiveness, the pressures from wage increases and upward revisions in administered prices could weaken growth even further and exacerbate inflation pressures,"
v. The country's economic growth hit a decade low of 5 percent in the last fiscal on account of poor performance in the farm, manufacturing and mining sectors.

NOTE: Earlier this month, the Asian Development Bank lowered its growth projection for India to 5.8 percent in calendar 2013 from 6 percent estimated earlier, citing the slow progress of economic reforms.


3.    Telangana may be a reality from 2014 !
i. As the UPA Coordination Committee and the Congress Working Committee, both headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, are likely to take a decision in favour of creating a new State of Telangana on Tuesday, plans are being worked out to form the 29th State of the country from January 1, 2014.
ii. It is to be seen whether the new State encompasses two districts of Rayalaseema (Anantapur and Kurnool) or consists of only 10 Telangana districts with Hyderabad being declared as the joint capital for some time till Andhra Pradesh created and developed its own State headquarters.
iii. The functioning of police in Hyderabad will be brought under the Central government for some time.
iv. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, APCC president Botsa Satyanarayana and Deputy Chief Minister Rajanarasimha have been asked to be in Delhi on Wednesday and make themselves available for consultation.
v. Informed sources said if everything goes well, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 might be introduced in Parliament as per Article 3 of the Constitution after going through the formalities that include getting the views of the existing Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.
vi. The Bills relating to formation of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand were approved by Parliament in August 2000 and the new States came into existence in November that year during the NDA regime.

4.    "Metro Man" chosen for Lokmanya Tilak award
i. "Metro Man" E. Sreedharan has been selected for the prestigious Lokmanya Tilak award for 2013 for his outstanding contribution to society.
ii. Name of Sreedharan, considered as the architect of the ambitious Delhi metro project, was announced on Monday by Deepak Tilak who heads the Lokmanya Tilak Trust.
iii. The Padmashree laureate is also credited for pulling off the Konkan Railway project.
iv. The award comprising a gold medal, a citation and Rs one lakh cash, will be conferred on Sreedharan on 1st August, 

5.    All bank branches to have one ATM before March, 2014: FM
i. Public sector banks have been asked to set up ATMs in all branches by March, 2014 to enable customers in rural pockets to do banking round-the-clock, Finance Min P Chidambaram has said.
ii. Inaugurating the 5999th branch of Punjab National Bank at nearby Tirupattur, he said orders had been issued to all nationalised banks in this regard and their CMDs had been asked to implement the same in the current financial year.
iii. The Finance Minister has also asked banks to take steps to set up 8,000 branches in the country, especially in rural areas.
iv. Last year 6,000 branches were opened, he said while speaking at a function on Saturday night in connection with PNB branch inauguration.
v. He said banks had also been directed to disburse crop loans to farmers and offer advances to purchase agriculture equipment.

6.    ONGC in pact to explore sharing RIL facility at K-G basin 
i. Indian multinational oil and gas company, Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has signed an agreement to explore hiring Reliance Industries' unutilised production facilities on the east to quickly bring to production its gas finds in the Krishna Godavari basin.
ii. ONGC has made nine gas finds in its KG block KG-DWN-98/2, which sits next to RIL's flagging KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block. The state-owned firm plans to club these with discoveries in another neighbouring block to begin production from 2016-17.
iii. ONGC "inked a Memorandum of Understanding with RIL to explore the possibility of sharing the latter's infrastructural facility in the East Coast," the two firms said in separate but identical statements.
iv. RIL has pipeline and other facilities capable of handling gas output of 80 million standard cubic meters per day.
v. "The MoU aims at working out the modalities for sharing of infrastructure, identifying additional requirements as well as firming up the commercial terms,
vi. ONGC plans to produce about 6 to 9 mmscmd of gas by mid-2017 from G-4, KG-DWN - D & E fields in the first phase. 

7.    Mamnoon Hussain elected as Pakistan's 12th Prez
i. India-born Mamnoon Hussain, a close aide of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Tuesday was elected as the 12th President of Pakistan and will replace incumbent Asif Ali Zardari in September.
ii. Hussain emerged as a clear winner in the one-sided contest with ex-judge Wajihuddin Ahmad of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party, state media reported.
iii. Born in the historic city of Agra, Mr. Hussain, who belongs to the Urdu-speaking ethnic group that migrated from India during partition in 1947, was the candidate of the ruling PML-N.
iv. Over 1,000 members of the national Parliament and four provincial assemblies cast their ballots for the largely ceremonial head of the state.
v. Pakistan has so far had 11 Presidents, out of which five were military generals. Four of them illegally got powers through coups, whereas the first President, Major Sikandar Mirza was elected in 1956 after the first Constitution was adopted.

8.    US-India to train agri experts for 3 African nations
i. The second triangular partnership programme involving India, the US and African nations, which aims to improve agricultural productivity and support market institutions in Kenya, Liberia and Malawi was launched in Jaipur on Tuesday.
ii. Under the 'India-US-Africa triangular agricultural training programme', supported by the US government's global hunger and food security initiative 'Feed the Future', 180 agricultural professionals from the three African nations will be provided marketing and extension management training at two institutes.
iii. Training to 90 students will be provided at Chaudhury Charan Singh National Institute of Agricultural Marketing (NIAM) in Jaipur and at the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management in Hyderabad to as many students.
iv. United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Food Security Office Director Bahiru Duguma launched the training programme at NIAM Jaipur where representatives from the African countries will be given training on agriculture business management and marketing.
v. The participants from these countries include representatives of government, NGOs, agriculture professionals and also students. Knowledge gain in the training programme will be helpful for them to improve situation in agriculture and marketing

9.    Google kicks off Start Searching India campaign
i. Google India on Tuesday introduced its 'Start Searching India' campaign in Bhopal to help internet users get the most out of the web with its search tool.
ii. "Internet is no longer restricted to the domain of working professionals and is fast emerging as a life enriching tool catering to the varied needs of the people from all walks of life," Google India's Director Marketing, Sandeep Menon said on the occasion.
iii. The objective of the campaign is to help Indian users save time, by showing how they can get instant and to-the-point answers to their most common queries
iv. Presenting the top search trends that the people of Bhopal search for most using using Google Trends (www.google.com/trends), he said that e-governance is doing well in Madhya Pradesh with 'mponline.com and vyapam.com' figuring in the top five web searches.

10.  Amjad Ali Khan to be honoured with Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavna Award
i. Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan will be honoured with the 21st Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavna Award for promotion of communal harmony peace and goodwill. 
ii. The award carries a citation and cash prize of five lakh rupees.
iii. Khan will be presented with the award on 20th of next month, the birthday of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, in New Delhi.

11.  Angelina Jolie Holywood's higest-paid actress: Forbes
i. Angelina Jolie returns to the top of the Forbes' highest paid actress list after a three year break since her last big-budget movie "The Tourist".
ii. Jolie, 38, who opted a double mastectomy early this year after finding out that she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, has estimated earnings of USD 33 million between June 2012 and June 2013, reported Forbes magazine.
iii. The "Salt" star, who will be seen next in "Maleficent", has beaten the likes of this year's Oscar's Best Actress Jennifer Lawrence (USD 26 million) and Kristen Stewart (USD 22 million) of the "Twilight" series.
iv. Actress Emma Stone, who featured in the celebrity top 100 for the first time, came in at number five with her USD 16 million worth of earnings.

12.  Meilutyte sets world mark in 100m breaststroke
i. Lithuanian breaststroke specialist Ruta Meilutyte on Monday became the first swimmer to break a world record at the 15th FINA World Championships as she won the 100 metres in one minute 04.35 seconds.
ii. The 16-year-old Olympic champion swam in the semifinals in the Palau Sant Jordi pool in Barcelona on Monday was 0.10 of a second faster than American Jessica Hardy's record from 2009. 
iii. Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom and Australian Christian Sprenger won the women's and men's 100m breaststroke, while Brazilian Cesar Cielo continued his domination of the sprints with gold in the 50m butterfly.

13.  World Cup 2015 to open with India-Pak clash
i. Defending champions India will take on arch-foes Pakistan in their opening match of the 2015 ICC cricket World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29.
ii. Placed in the relatively easy Group B, India, who won the 2011 event after defeating Sri Lanka in the final in Mumbai, will start their title defence on February 15.
iii. “World Cup is a very special event for every cricketer because it only takes place every four years. Having tasted success in Mumbai in 2011, we’ll be working very hard to retain it.

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