DAILY GK UPDATE 4 - 5TH August

1.    Arundhati Bhattacharya appointed Managing Director of SBI

i. Arundhati Bhattacharya on 2 August 2013 was appointed the managing director and chief financial officer of the State Bank of India(SBI).

ii. She is the first female managing director at SBI which is India's largest bank. Arundhati succeeded Diwakar Gupta who retired a couple of days ago.
iii. The SBI has four managing directors, five deputy managing directors and 18 chief general managers apart from its chairman.

iv. Its other managing directors are A. Krishna Kumar, Hemant G. Contractor and S Visvanathan.

v. SBI chairman Pratip Chaudhuri will be retiring in September 2012.

2.    Samantha Power sworn in as New US Ambassador to United Nations

i. Samantha Power on 2 August 2013 took oath to the office of US ambassador to United Nations.

ii. Vice-President, Joe Biden administered her, the oath to the office in a ceremony at the White House.

iii. Samantha Power succeeded Susan Rice, now the President Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser.

iv. Earlier, Samantha Power served as the Foreign Policy Adviser to Obama during his 2008 election campaign, and subsequently worked as an adviser in the White House.

v. Samantha Power started her career as a journalist and won a Pulitzer Prize for her book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide in 2003

3.    Iran’s new President Rouhani takes oath

i. Hassan Rouhani, a moderate cleric who was a surprise winner in the recent elections, took oath on Sunday as Iran's seventh President at a ceremony attended by a galaxy of world leaders, including Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India.

ii. The 64-year-old former nuclear negotiator, who has committed himself to greater international engagement for Iran which is battling sanctions over its nuclear programme, was administered the oath in Milli Majlis, the Iranian Parliament.

iii. Rouhani was officially endorsed by the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Khamenei on Saturday for a four-year term.

iv. Reflecting warm bilateral ties, Hamid Ansari flew into the Iranaian capital by a special plane to represent India at the ceremony

v. Ansari was earlier India's ambassador to Iran.

vi. In his first appointment after assuming office Rouhani named Mohammad Nahavandian, a 58-year-old businessman with a doctorate in economics from George Washington University in Washington, as his chief of staff, state-run IRNA news agency reported.

4.    Haryana driver's daughter earns US $50000 scholarship

i. A daughter of a driver employed with the Haryana government has bagged a scholarship of USD 50,000 for pursuing a PhD in Chemistry from University of South Carolina, USA.

ii. Poonam Dhull (24), daughter of Sureshpal, working as a driver in the Public Relations Department, hails from Bhana village in Kaithal district.

iii. The young woman completed her senior secondary from OSDAV Senior Secondary School, Kaithal and pursued her B.Sc. (Medical) and M.Sc. in Chemistry from Panjab University, Chandigarh, before taking up research work on "Structure-activity relationships in a-fluorohydrins and their derivatives: A structural investigation."

iv. Congratulating Poonam, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, expressed hope that she will excel in academics and bring laurels to the state.

v. Poonam gave the entire credit of academic success to her father and mother Sheela Devi.

vi. "Despite coming from a humble background, my parents supported me and my younger brother and sister and always encouraged us to put in our best efforts," she told reporters in Chandigarh.

5.    Jadeja first Indian after Kumble to top ODI bowlers' list

i. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja on Sunday became the first Indian bowler to top the bowlers' chart in the latest ICC ODI Player Rankings after former captain Anil Kumble claimed the pole position way back in 1996.

ii. Jadeja, who took five wickets in five matches during India's recently-concluded ODI tour of Zimbabwe, has leapt four places to join West Indies' off-spinner Sunil Narine on top of the list.

iii. This is the first time Jadeja is heading the bowlers' chart.

iv. Kumble had topped the table for 11 matches in NovemberDecember 1996. Overall, Jadeja is the fourth India bowler after Kapil Dev (March 1989), Maninder Singh (December 1987-November 1988) and Kumble to claim the number-one spot in ODIs.

v. The series against Zimbabwe also turned out to be a big one for India's leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who has rocketed 47 places to 32nd spot after bagging a record 18 wickets.

6.    World Badminton Ch’ships 2013 begins in China

i. The BWF World Badminton Championships 2013 kicked off in Guangzhou, China today. World Number 3 Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, P. Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram are the Indian shuttlers who are participating in the 7-day tournament.

ii. Saina and Sindhu advanced to the Women's Singles second round, as they got a bye in their opener.

iii. In the Men's Singles, P. Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram are yet to play their first round matches. While Kashyap will meet Raul Must of Estonia, Ajay Jayaram will play 12th seed Wing Ki Wong of Hong Kong.

iv. The Indian shuttlers who ended on the losing side were, the duo of Aparna Balan and Arun Vishnu and the pair of Tarun Kona and Ashwini Ponnappa, both in the Mixed Doubles category.

v. In the Women's Doubles, the Indian team of Pradnya Gadre and Ashwini Ponappa and the pair of Aparna Balan and Siki Reddy N. will play their opening round matches today.

7.    India Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

i. A Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed between India and Japan on 16^th February 2011 and it came into force from 1^st August, 2011.

The salient features of India-Japan CEPA are as follows:

ii. The Agreement is most comprehensive of all the agreements concluded by India so far as it covers more than 90% of the bilateral trade between India and Japan.

iii. Japan and India have liberalized 92 % and 87.16% of tariff lines at six digits respectively.

iv. The agreement covers Goods, Services, Rules of Origin, Movement ofNatural Persons, Telecom, Financial services, Investment, IPRs, Government Procurement, Sanitary and PhytosanitaryMeasures, Customs Procedures and Cooperation in other Areas.

v. India has offered only 17.4% of tariff lines for immediate reduction of tariff to zero duty, as against 87% of tariff lines offered by Japan for zero duty on 1^st August, 2011.

vi. CEPA provides for an institutional mechanism to encourage and improve Business/investment environment.

8.    Two New Major Ports Being Set Up

i. The Government has decided to set up two new major ports – one each at Sagar in West Bengal and the other at Dugarajapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

ii. In respect of the Sagar Port, RITES has estimated capital cost (including connectivity project) at Rs. 7820 crores.

iii. The tentative cost for Dugarajapatnam has been estimated at Rs. 7988 croreby the Technical Committee set up by Ministry of Shipping.

iv. In respect of Ports at Sagar and Dugarajapatnam, the concessions are targeted to be awarded in the financial year 2014-15. 

v. The Government has initiated a series of measures to modernise Major Ports in the country.

vi. During the current financial year (till date) total number of projects awarded is 5 involving a capacity addition of 48.59 MTPA with an investment of Rs. 2045.25 crores. 

9.    India win historic bronze at junior women hockey World Cup

i. Indian girls created history by winning country's first ever bronze medal in the junior women hockey World Cup as they pipped England 3-2 on penalties, riding on striker Rani's dazzling show, in Monchengladbach, Germany on Sunday.

ii. 18-year-old Rani scored India's only goal in the regulation time and then found the net twice in the penalty shoot-out to script India's memorable victory.

iii. India had surprised top teams in the competition and they finished their campaign in superb manner. England girls could consider themselves unlucky as they were pipped in the bronze medal match by South Korea in the last edition of the championship in Boston.