DAILY GK UPDATE 31TH JULY

1.    Yes Bank first to hike rates after RBI move

i. Yes Bank became the first lender to hike lending and deposit rates.

ii. Yes Bank said it would hike its deposit rates by 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent in select tenors effective from 1August 2013

iii. Yes Bank took this step following the RBI’s decision to keep key policy rates unchanged and cut growth forecast.

iv. This provides an opportunity for retail depositors to lock in higher rates on term deposits.

v. The bank has also decided to hike its base rate by a quarter percent to 10.75 percent effective from Thursday. This will make lending by the bank costlier.

NOTE: i. In the first quarter review of the monetary policy, the RBI had left all key policy rates unchanged to support the Rupee to stay stable.

ii. The repurchase, or the repo rate, the interest that commercial banks pay to the RBI on short-term borrowings, has been left unchanged at 7.25 percent, and so has the reverse repo rate at 6.25 percent

2.    Govt. in search of New RBI Chief

i. The government is in search of a successor to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao as he does not want an extension in his term.

ii. Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters that Subbarao had told him that he wanted to move on and would not like to be considered for an extension.

iii. P Chidambaram said, "Dr. Subbarao had met me a few weeks ago and said he would like to move on and he would not like to be considered for another term. I accepted. So now we are in search mode."

iv. Sixty-three-year-old Subbarao's ongoing term will come to an end in September this year. He was appointed as RBI governor in September 2008.

v. As per some media reports, the government wants to make no big change as the country has been in the grip of several economic challenges , including depreciation in the value of rupee, a record-high current account deficit and sluggish GDP growth.

vi. India's GDP growth rate slipped to a decade low of 5 per cent in the last financial year. It was well below the ten-year average of around 8 per cent.

3.    Prasar Bharti and Australian Network signed an Agreement

i. Prasar Bharati and the Australian Network on 30 July 2013 signed an agreement to strengthen the partnership between the two public broadcasters

ii. The accord was signed by Prasar Bharti CEO Jawahar Sircar and ABC International CEO Lynley Marshall in New Delhi.

With the agreement, ABC International will be available on DD Direct plus from 1 November 2013.  It will allow the channel to be shown along with 59 other channels on Doordarshan's DTH platform

iii. The partnership between the two public broadcasters will help build better understanding between people of both the countries.

iv. The partnership between Prasar Bharati and the Australian broadcaster will cover other areas like co-production activities, exchange of TV programmes, exchange of radio programmes and aspects.

4.    Union Government to launch Bharat Mobile Scheme

i. The Union government of India on 30 July 2013 planned to launch Bharat Mobile Scheme under which one member of every rural household who has completed 100 days of work under MGNREGA can get free mobile device.

ii. The new scheme is aimed at empowerment. The mobile may be provided per household preferably to a woman and the handset will come with a three-year warranty.

iii. The mobile device for The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act workers will be non-transferable as it will also be customized for transfer of benefits of different government programmes like direct cash transfers scheme.

iv. According to initial proposal, selected telecom operators will be asked to provide mobile devices. –

v. Distribution would be done by the service providers in coordination with district administration.

vi. The mobile numbers in the device is expected to work as first level authentication to identify and inform the beneficiary of scheme, sources said. Around 5 crore households have been provided work in year 2012-13.

vii. The proposal for Bharat Mobile Scheme was mooted by Planning Commission of India.

5.    India and Afghanistan signed MoUs under SDP Scheme

i. India and Afghanistan on 30 July 2013 signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) in Kabul for implementing 60 projects in ten Afghan provinces under the Small Development Projects (SDP) scheme.

ii. The MoUs signed by Afghan Minister of Economy Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal and Indian Ambassador Amar Sinha in Kabul are related to the third phase of the SDP scheme and will be completed in the next four years.

iii. 100 million dollar SDP scheme was announced during Prime Minister’s visit to Afghanistan in May 2011. The first two phases of the scheme with a total outlay of 20 million dollars are nearing completion.

iv. The scheme has been designed by Indian government to address the developmental needs of mainly rural communities in far-flung areas of Afghanistan.

6.    Free insurance scheme for CNG public transport vehicles’ drivers

i. A free insurance scheme covering nearly 3 lakh drivers of public transport vehicles run on Compressed Natural Gas-CNG was launched in the national capital today. 

ii. The Indraprastha Gas Limited Suraksha Yojana was jointly launched by Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M Veerappa Moily and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

iii. The scheme will cover all drivers against death or permanent disability arising out of accidents caused while driving bus, taxis, auto rickshaws and RTVs. 

iv. A sum of 1.5 lakh rupees will be paid to the nominee of the driver in case of death. An additional amount of 25,000 rupees per child will be paid towards education allowance, subject to a maximum of 50,000 rupees.

7.    Franklin wins worlds 100m backstroke gold

i. Missy Franklin followed the gold medal she won in the women's 100-metre backstroke in London a year ago with another triumph in the event at the World Championships.

ii. As in London, the 18-year-old American beat Australia's Emily Seebohn to the silver while Japan's Aya Terakawa finished third to ensure that the podium Tuesday was an exact repeat of that in the 2012 Olympics, reports Xinhua.

iii. Franklin, who already has a gold from the women's 4x100 metre relay, led the entire race and clocked 58.42, ahead of Seebohn's 59.06 and Terakawa's 59.23. The triumph means Franklin is the first ever woman to win an Olympic gold and then follow it up with a World Championship gold.

8.    Sebi asks SC to punish Sahara chief 

i. Sahara Group Chairman Subrata Roy along with the directors of two group companies Sahara India Real Estate Corp Ltd (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) should be punished for violating the Supreme Court's order directing them to return investors' Rs 24,000 crore, capital market regulator Sebi told the apex court.

ii. The market regulator's lawyer Arvind Datar argued in the Supreme Court Subrato Roy couldn't escape liability by claiming that he was only a shareholder and not a director in the two companies.

iii. Datar also quoted documents showing that Roy hold 70 per cent stake in both SIRECL and SHICL, and he could therefore appoint a majority of directors, instruct them on how to act and control policy.

iv. The lawyer also accused Roy and the directors of SIRECL and SHICL of willfully defying the Supreme Court's orders dated August 31st and December 5, 2012, to return the investors' money.

v. Under the Contempt of Courts Act, a person guilty of competing a court's order can be slapped with a jail term of up to six months plus a fine.

9.    Mahendra P Lama appointed IGNOU pro-vice-chancellor

i. Professor Mahendra P. Lama has been appointed the new pro-vice-chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU), an official statement from the varsity said Wednesday.

ii. Lama, 52, was the founding vice-chancellor of Sikkim University set up in 2007, thus becoming the youngest vice chancellor of a central Indian university at the age of 45.

iii. Lama has been nominated by the president to executive boards of various leading education institutions like IGNOU, National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) and Hyderabad University

iv. "He is presently nominated by the government as a member of the steering committee of the coveted South Asian Forum set up by the heads of the states and governments at the 16th SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) summit in 2010," the statement said.