Monthly GK

Capsule
For All Exams (Specially For Banking Exams)

June 2015
Banking Awareness
By- Varun Prakash

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 Daily GK Update 31st May-1st June 2015
1. President's visit to Sweden
i. President Pranab Mukherjee arrived in
Sweden on the first leg of his five-day
state visit to Sweden and Belarus, the first
ever by any Indian head of State, during
which a number of key agreements on
sustainable development, scientific
research are likely to be signed.
ii. During his three-day S tate visit in
Sweden, the President will meet Prime
Minister Stefan Lofven, the Speaker o f
the Swedish Parliament, and the Leade r
of Opposition, Anna Kinberg Batra
besides number of meetings with the King
and the Queen.
iii. The visit will focus on innovation,
sustainable development, urban
development and scientific research with
both countries exploring ways to enhance
mutual exchange in the areas of trade
and science.
2. Service tax increased to 14%
i. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his
Budget had proposed to raise service tax
from 12.36 percent (including education
cess) to 14 percent.
ii. Some of the key services that will
attract higher tax and hence become
costlier are: railways, airlines, banking,
insurance, advertising, architecture,
construction, credit cards, event
management and tour operators.
iii. Jaitley had proposed to raise the
service tax rate to 14 percent to
facilitate a smooth transition to the Goods
and Services Tax (GST) regime, which the
government wants to roll out from April
2016.
3. New chairman of Engineers India
Ltd
1. RBI lowers repo rate to 7.25 per cent
i. The Reserve Bank of India in its second
bi-monthly policy announced on has
reduced the policy repo rate under the
liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25
2
i. Sanjay Gupta today took over as 6. Bhanot elected Asian Athletics
chairman and managing director o f Association vice-President
Engineers India Ltd, the state-owned
engineering and consultancy, procurement
and construction ( EPC) company in
hydrocarbons and petrochemicals.
ii. Gupta replaced A K Purwaha who
superannuated yesterday.
iii. Gupta has about 34 years o f
experience in the company ranging from
planning to im plementation of mega i. Scam-tainted former IOA Secretary
grassroot projects in the refineries and General Lalit Bhanot was elected vice-
petrochemical sector. President of the Asian Athletics
Association (AAA) in polls held in Wuhan,
4. K.Sivan-new VSSC chief China.
i. K. Sivan, Distinguished Scientist, ISRO, ii. Recommended by the Athletics
assumed office as the 12th Director of the Federation of India, Mr. Bhanot fought
Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). through a 14-strong challenge in the
elections to be picked as one of the five
vice-Presidents during the AAA council on
the eve of the Asian Championships in
Wuhan.
iii. Tainted in the corruption scandal that
engulfed the 2010 Commonwealth
Games, Mr. Bhanot served as secretary
of AFI for more than a decade and was
the Secretary General of the IOA when it
ii. He takes over from M.S. Dathan who
served a 14-month suspension by the
has retired from service.
IOC.
iii. Dr. Sivan joined ISRO in 1982 in the
PSLV project and has contributed towards
7. Cricket greats Sachin, Ganguly,
mission planning, design, integration, and
Laxman inducted into BCCI's high-
analysis.
powered advisory panel
iv. He also spearheaded the Reusable
i. Former greats Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav
Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrato r
Ganguly, and VVS Laxman on Monday
(RLV-TD) project. In April 2011, Dr. Sivan
joined the BCCI in a newly-constituted
joined the GSLV project as director.
advisory panel to guide the board in all
v. His leadership led to the successful matte rs related to the game.
flight of GSLV with an indigenous
cryogenic stage.
5. Shooter Gurpreet Singh qualifies for
Rio 2016
i. Former Commonwealth Games gold
medallist Gurpreet Singh became India's
fifth shooter to qualify fo r the 2016 Rio
Olympic Games finishing fourth in the
10m Air Pistol category at the ISSF
World Cup Rifle/Pistol event being held ii. It has been learnt that Thakur and
president Jagmohan Dalmiya will consult
in Munich.
ii. The 28-year-old shot a total of 154.8 with the panel on all majo r cricketing
decisions.
points to finish fourth in the Final.
iii. Joao Costa of Portugal who shot a iii. Board wants batsmen to specifically
speak to Tendulkar before any tough
total of 201.4 in the event won the gold
medal. international assignment.
iv. Ganguly might well be consulted fo r
iv. The other Indians to have earned India
the earlier four quota places are Jitu Rai, preparing a blueprint for success o f the
team overseas with Laxman working on
Olympic bronze medallist Gagan
Narang, Apurvi Chandela and India's the bench-strength and the new talent
coming in through the system.
only individual Olympic gold medallist
Abhinav Bindra.
Daily GK Update - 2nd June 2015
basis points from 7.5 per cent to 7.25 pe r unchanged at 4.0 pe r cent of net demand
cent with immediate effect. and time liabilities (NDTL).
ii. It has decided to keep the cash reserve
ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks

iii. It has decided to continue to provide
liquidity under overnight repo s at 0.25
per cent of bankwise NDTL at the LAF
repo rate and liquidity under 14-day
term repos as well as longer-term repo s
of up to 0.75 per cent of NDTL of the
banking system through auctions and
continue with overnight/term variable
rate repo s and reverse repos to smooth
liquidity.
iv. the reverse repo rate under the LAF
stands adjusted to 6.25 per cent, and the
marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and
the bank rate to 8.25 per cent.
2. Bangladesh Liberation War award for
Vajpayee
i.
Bangladesh is set to honour former Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for his
outstanding support fo r the countrys
independence from Pakistan in 1971
when he was a Lok Sabha member.
ii. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also
approved a proposal to honour the
families of the members of Indian armed
forces for sacrificing their lives for the
cause of Bangladeshs independence.
iii. Bangladesh will hand over Vajpayees
Friends of Bangladesh Li beration War
Award to Prime Minister Narendra Modi
during his upcoming visit to the country
from June 6.
3. RBI lowers GDP growth forecas t to
7.6% for FY16
i. The Reserve Bank of India has marked
down the projection for output growth fo r
2015-16 from 7.8 per cent in April to 7.6
per cent.
ii. The RBI stated that strong food policy
and management would be impo rtant to
1. The First Bank in India Bank of
Hindustan
2. First Governor of RBI Mr. Osborne
Smith
3. First Indian governor of RBI Mr. C
D Deshmukh
3
help keep inflation and inflationary
expectations contained over the near
term.
iii. Assuming reasonable food
management, inflation is expec ted to be
pulled down by base effects till August
but to start rising thereafter to about 6.0
per cent by January 2016.
4. BIS App launched
i. Union Food and Consumer Affairs
Minister Ram Vilas Paswan launched a
BIS App to register complaints against
sub-standard quality of ISI marked
products and Hallmark jewellery.
ii. Operation of godowns under Food
Corporation of India (FCI) has been made
online to increase transparency in the
functioning of the corporation.
iii. Mr Paswan said government has
decided to continue food grain allocation
for other welfare schemes for the poor.
Saying that food grains older than a
year and a half are not kept in the
godowns.
5. Ericsson partners Sterlite for smart
city initiatives in India
i. Under the agreement, Ericsson will
collaborate with Sterlite to design a
roadmap and deploy solutions.
ii. The alliance will design, deploy,
integrate and manage solutions in areas
like communications, public safety, sm art
grid solutions and intelligent transport.
iii. Sterlite is working closely with the
Government to drive sm art sustainable
city initiatives and supports Digital India
programme.
iv. Solutions covered in the agreement
include communications (Wi-Fi networks
and fibre deployment), public safety
(video situational awareness solutions and
emergency response), intelligent transport
(traffic m anagement and fleet
management) and smart grid solutions
(smart grid communications and sm art
metering).
The First Among All Banks
4. First Bank to Introduce ATM in India
HSBC
5. First Bank to introduce saving Bank in
India Presidency bank in 1830
6. First Bank to Introduce Cheque system
in India Bengal Bank 1784
6. Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa sworn -in as
Arunachal Pradesh Governor
i. Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa was sworn -in as
the 19th Governor of Arunachal Pradesh.
ii. President Pranab Mukherjee had
appointed him as Governor on May 12,
2015 after then Governor Lt General
(Retired) Nirbhay Sharma was
transferred to Mizoram.
iii. Mr. Rajkhowa is a retired Indian
Administrative Service (IAS) officer from
1968 batch. He is the former Chief
Secretary of Assam and had re tired from
service in 2004.
iv. Mr. Rajkhowa has authored a book,
Central Vigilance Mechanism with special
reference to P.S.Es, and also had
contributed by writing number of articles
to leading newspapers.
7. Ravi Shastri to continue as Indian
team director
i. Former captain Ravi Shastri was on
Tuesday retained as director of the
Indian cricket team for the tour o f
Bangladesh starting June 10.
ii. Shastri, who served as team director
during the tour of Australia and the
subsequent World Cup earlier this year,
is a stop-gap arrangement for the short
trip.
iii. Mr. B. Arun, assistant coach (Bowling)
and Mr. R. Sridhar, assistant coach
(Fielding), will assist Mr. Shastri during the
tour.
7. First Bank to introduce Internet
Banking ICICI BANK
8. First Bank to introduce Mutual Fund
State Bank of India
9. First Bank to introduce Credit Card in
India Central Bank of India
10. First Foreign Bank in India
Comptoire dEscompte de Paris of
France in 1860
11. First Joint Stock Bank of India
Allahabad Bank
12. First Indian bank to open branch
outside India in London in 1946 Bank
of India
13. First Indian Bank started with
Indian capital Punjab National Bank
Daily GK Update - 3rd June 2015
1. USA Freedom Act Passes
i. The Senate passed the USA Freedom
Act today by 67-32, marking the first
time in over thirty years that both houses
of Congress have approved a bill placing
real restrictions and oversight on the
National Security Agencys surveillance
powers.
ii. The Bill ends a system exposed by
former National Security Agency (NSA)
contractor Edw ard Snowden. The spy
agency collected and searched records
of phone calls looking for terrorism leads
but was no t allowed to listen to their
content.
iii. The new law would require companies
such as Verizon Communications Inc and
AT&T Inc, to collect and store telephone
records the same way that they do now
for billing purposes.
2. Snowden awarded freedom of
expression prize in Norway
i. Former security contractor Edward
Snowden won a Norwegian prize for
freedom of expression.
ii. The Norwegian Academy of Literature
and Freedom of Expression said the 31 -
year old fugitive had won the Bjornson
Prize named after a Norwegian Nobel
literature laureate "fo r his work
protecting privacy and for shining a
4
14. First Regional Rural Bank name
Pratham a Grameen Bank was started
by Syndicate Bank
15. First Universal Bank in India
ICICI Bank
16.
First bank in India listed in New York Stoc
k Exchange (NYSE) ICICI Bank
17.
First Bank in India to launch Talking ATMs
critical light on US surveillance of its
citizens and others."
iii. The academy requested assurance s
from the Norwegian government that
Snowden would not be extradited to the
US if he travelled to Norway to receive
the 100,000 kroner ($12,700, 11,500
euros) prize money.
iv. Snowden was awarded Sweden's
Right Livelihood Award in 2014 but chose
to accept it by video link rather than
leaving his exile in Russia.
3. Sepp Blatter resigned
i. Outgoing Fifa president Sepp Blatter is
now part of the corruption probe by US
prosecutors.
ii. Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro
nominated Diego Maradona for the job.
iii. Jordanian Prince Ali bin al Hussein will
stand in new elections for the presidency
of world football's governing body.
iv. FIFPro welcomes the decision of FIFA
president Sepp Blatter to resign as this
creates an overdue and unique
opportunity to fundamentally refo rm the
governance of football.
4. 2004 Nobel Chemistry winner Irwin
Rose dies
i. Irwin Rose, a biochemist who shared the
2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for
discovering a way that cells destroy
unwanted proteins the basis fo r
developing new therapies for disease s
such as cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis
has died. He was 88.
ii. Rose had a formidable intellect and
unwavering curiosity about fundamental
for diffe rently able person
Union Bank of India
18.
First Bank in India to launch its own Paym
ent Aggregators State Bank of India.
(SBIePay)
19. Countrys first all woman bank
Bhartiya Mahila Bank
20. First India bank Got ISO Canara
Bank
biological and chemical processes that
are the foundation for life.
iii. Rose, along with Israelis Aaron
Ciechanover and Avram Hershko, won the
Nobel for discovering how plant and
animal cells marked old and damaged
proteins with a kiss of death molecule
the polypeptide ubiquitin.
iv. Rose was born in Brooklyn, New York,
on July 16, 1926, and spent much of his
career as a researcher at the Fox Chase
Cancer Center in Philadelphia.
5. Jaipur Metro s tarts operations
i. Jaipur Metro, touted as one of the
fastest built metro systems in the country,
was thrown open to public today.
ii. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje
flagged off the inaugural train on 9.6 km
long route from Mansarovar to
Chandpole.
iii. Jaipur Metro commenced its regular
commercial operations from all its 9
stations-- Mansarovar, New Aatish
Market, Vivek Vihar, Shyam Nagar, Ram
Nagar, Civil Lines, Railway Station, Sindhi
Camp and Chandpole.
iv. To encourage people to travel in the
metro, upto 15 per cent discount has
been offered on smart cards, which can
be recharged using Jaipur Me tro website
or Ticket Vending Machines installed at
all stations.
6. Govt notifies FDI policy relaxations
for NRIs
i. Non-repatriable investments by NRIs,
OCIs and PIOs will be treated as
domestic investments and will not be
subject to foreign direct investment caps.
ii. It has been decided to amend the
definition of NRIs as contained in the FDI
policy and also to provide that for the
purposes of FDI policy, investment by
NRIs under Schedule 4 of FEMA
regulations will be deemed to be
domestic investment at par with the
investment made by residents.
iii. The government has also notified
increase in FIPBs power to recommend
foreign investment proposals of up to R s
3,000 crore from the earlier Rs 2,000
crore.
7. US Defence Secretary Ashton B.
Carter arrives in India
i. After delivering the keynote address at
the crucial Shangri La dialogue in
Daily GK Update - 4th June 2015
1. India, Belarus agree on road map for
stronger ties
i. India and Belarus decided to work
together on defence and security issues
as President Pranab Mukherjee met his
Belarusian counterpart and agreed on a
17-point road map aimed at
strengthening mutual trust and confidence.
ii. The President discussed a host o f
issues, including increasing trade ties,
besides boosting co-operation in mining,
education and heavy machinery with Mr.
Lukashenko.
iii. Under the agreement, the two
countries will enhance coordination in
science and technology, energy sector,
metals and mining, potash fertilizers, give
boost to raw material in textile sector,
extend cooperation by Belarus in
modernisation of public electric transport
system in India, agriculture and agro
procession.
2. India Signs Legal Agreement with the
World Bank for IBRD Loan of US$ 400
Million
i. The Loan and P roject Agreements fo r
World Bank (IBRD) assistance of US$ 400
million for Tamil Nadu Sustainable Urban
Development Project were signed
between the Government of India/
Government of Tamil Nadu and World
Bank.
5
Singapore, US Secretary of Defence
Ashton Carter arrived in India.
ii. he will hold meetings with PM
Narendra Modi, Defence Ministe r
Manohar Parrikar, External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj and National
Security Advisor Ajit Doval. During his
visit.
ii. The Loan Agreement was signed by
Shri Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary,
Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry
of Finance on behalf of Government of
lndia and Mr. Onno Ruhl, Country
Director, Wo rld Bank (lndia) on behalf o f
the World Bank.
iii. The objective of the project is to
improve urban services in participating
Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in a financially
sustainable manner and to pilot im proved
urban management practices in selected
cities.
iv. The total project size is US$ 600
million, out of which World Bank support
is US$ 400 million.
3. India, US ink new defence
framework accord
i. India and the US signed a new
strate gically important 10-year defence
framework pact envisaging joint
development and manufacture of
defence equipment and technology
including jet engines, aircraft carrier
design and construction.
ii. Both sides also finalised two project
agreements for hi-tech mobile power
source and next generation pro tective
suits for chemical and biological
warfare.
iii. The two countries will be signing the
Defence Framework Agreement (DFA)
that will define the US-India defence
cooperation over the next decade.
iv. During Carters ongoing visit, the two
sides will assess the progress made in
these
pathfinder projects next generation
Raven Minis UAVs, roll-on roll-off kits fo r
C-130s, mobile electric hybrid power
source and Uniform Integrated Pro tection
Ensemble Increment.
iii. The framework also recognises the
transform ative nature of the Defence
Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
4. Ex-IB chief is Prime Ministers special
envoy on counter-terror
i. The government has appointed the
former Intelligence Bureau Chief Asif
Ibrahim to a key post in the Prime
Ministers office.
ii. Mr. Ibrahim, who retired in December
2014, will be the PMs Special Envoy on
Countering Terrorism and Extremism, with
a charter to liaise with governments in
West Asia, Af-Pak and South East Asia.
iii. As Director IB, Mr. Ibrahim started
work on the governments new counter
radicalisation strategy in 2014, which
was triggered by the Islamic State
takeover of parts of Iraq and Syria.
5. SBI associate merger proposal irks
employee's unions
i. Even as the State Bank of India
management starts deliberating mergers
of its associate banks with the parent, the
employees' union is planning a series of
bank strikes protesting against such a
move.
ii. More than 50,000 employees did no t
work on Thursday at about 6,000 bank
branches of five SBI group banks as All
Associate Banks of SBI, the employees'
union, called a strike.

iii. So far SBI has merged State Bank of
Surastra and State bank of Indore in past
few years. Plans are on the anvil to
follow the same process with State Bank
of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore,
State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of
Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank o f
Patiala.
6. Jayalalithaa announces aid for
Cauvery delta farmers
i. Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa
on Thursday announced a financial aid o f
Rs 41 crore for farmers in the Cauvery
delta region to improve the kuruvai
cultivation (short-term cultivation).
Dear reade rs, today we are providing
you the highlights of the one of the most
important topic of General
awareness section, i.e. the Priority Sector
Lending. It is very relevant for all the
upcoming banking exams, IBPS/SBI/RRB
etc. and also being asked in the banking
interviews.
Highlights of PSL
It means provide credit to the needy
sectors of the society. The sectors are:
Agriculture
Micro and Small Enterprises
Education
Housing
Export
Weaker Sections
Social Infrastructure
Renewable Energy
Targets under PSL
Agriculture: 18 pe rcent of ANBC. Out
of this 18 percent, a target of 8 percent
of ANBC is for Small and Marginal
Farmers, to be achieved in a phased
manner i.e., 7 per cent by March 2016
and 8 per cent by March 2017.
Weaker Sections: 10 percent of ANBC.
Micro Enterprises: 7.5 percent of ANBC
has been prescribed for Micro
Enterprises, to be achieved in a phased
6
ii. The 'kuruvai package' announced by
the government includes financial
assistance to farmers and free supply of
micro nutrients.
iii. Farm machines will be leased out to
farmers free of cost. Besides, three phase
power would be provided for 12 hours
per day for irrigation.
iv. The ground water level had gone up
considerably due to good rain. As such, to
encourage kuruvai cultivation, a package
of assistance to the tune of Rs 40.97
crore will be extended to the farmers.
7. India jumps six places in FIFA
rankings
i. India has jumped six places to 141st
position in the latest rankings released by
world footballs governing body FIFA.
ii. India was previously placed 147th in
the rankings list. Iran (41) is the top -
ranked Asian team in the list, followed by
Japan (52) and South Korea (58).
iii. World Champions Germany continued
to head the rankings. Belgium jumped to
second place, a place above World Cup
runners-up Argentina.
iv. Five-time world champions Brazil are
fifth, a spo t below Colombia. Brazil is
followed by the Netherlands, Portugal
(seventh), Uruguay (eighth), and France
(ninth).
8. De Villiers crowned South African
cricketer of the year
PRIORITY SECTOR LENDING
manner i.e. 7 pe rcent by March 2016
and 7.5 percent by March 2017.
Overall PSL Target fo r Domestic
Bank/Foreign Bank with more than 20
Branches: 40 percent of Adjusted Net
Bank Credit.
Overall PSL Target for Foreign Bank
with less than 20 Branches: 40 percent
of Adjusted Ne t Bank Credit to be
achieved in a phased manner-
2015-16 32
2016-17 34
2017-18 36
2018-19 38
2019-20 40
Categorization of MSME according to
MSME ACT 2006
Manufacturing Sector (Goods)
Investment in plant
Enterprises
and machinery
Micro Does not exceed twenty
Enterprises five lakh rupees
More than twenty five
Small lakh rupees but does
Enterprises not exceed five crore
rupees
More than five crore
Medium
rupees but does not
Enterprises
exceed ten crore
i. AB de Villiers won as m any as five
awards, including the South African
Cricketer of the Year for a second
consecutive time at a gala function,
hosted by Cricket South Africa (CSA) in
Johannesburg.
ii. The 27-year-old batsm an was named
the ODI Cricketer of the Year, Cricketers
Cricketer of the Year, SA Fans Crickete r
of the Year and also got the So Good
Award for scoring the fastest century in
the histo ry of ODI cricket against the
West Indies in December 2014.
iii. Morne van Wyk won the T20 Cricketer
of the Year, Dale Steyn received the
Delivery of the Year and Rilee Rossouw
was named the SA Newcomer of the
Year.
rupees
Service Sector
Enterprises Investment in equipment
Micro Does not exceed ten lakh
Enterprises rupees
More than ten lakh rupees
Small
but does not exceed two
Enterprises
crore rupees
More than two crore
Medium
rupees but does not
Enterprises
exceed five crore rupees
Other Facts:
Farmers with landholding of up to 1
hectare are considered as Marginal
Farmers. Farmers with a landholding of
more than 1 hectare and upto 2 hectare s
are considered as Small Farmers.
Scheduled Commercial Banks having
any shortfall in lending to priority secto r
shall be allocated amounts fo r
contribution to the Rural Infrastructure
Development Fund (RIDF) established with
NABARD.
For Renewable Energy, bank loans up
to a limit of Rs.15 crore to borrowers for
purposes like solar based power
generators, etc. For individual households,
the loan limit will be Rs.10 lakh per
borrower.
 For Housing, banks can provide loans to
individuals up to Rs. 28 lakh in
metropolitan centres (with population of
ten lakh and above) and loans up to Rs.
20 lakh in other centres for
Daily GK Update - 5th June 2015
1. Infy appoints Seshasayee as
Chairman
i. Infosys Limited announced that the
Companys Board have approved the
appointment of R. Seshasayee as Non-
Executive Chairman of the Board with
immediate effect.
ii. K.V. Kamath will be stepping down
from his position as Chairman of the
Board and as an Independent Director o f
the Company, consequent to his
nomination as President of the BRICS New
Development Bank.
iii. Mr. Seshasayee has been an
Independent Director on the Companys
Board since January 2011 and is the
chairperson of the Audit Committee. Mr.
Seshasayees other board positions
include Non-Executive Vice Chairman of
Ashok Leyland Ltd. and Chairman of
IndusInd Bank Ltd.
2. Essel, Rajas than government ink Rs
4k crore pact for solar parks
i. Essel Group formed a 50:50 joint
venture (JV) with the Rajasthan
government to set up solar parks in the
state.
Daily GK Update - 6th June 2015
1. India, Bangladesh make history with
land swap
i. India and B angladesh on Saturday
sealed a historic agreement that will
settle a 41-year-old land boundary
dispute through exchange of te rritories,
removing a major irritant in bilateral ties.
ii. The two sides exchanged documents
regarding the Land Boundary Agreement
(LBA) that was passe d unanimously by the
Parliament last month in the presence of
Mr. Modi and his Bangladeshi
counterpart Sheikh Hasina.
7
purchase/construction of a dwelling unit
per family.
Export credit will be allowed up to 32
percent of ANBC for Foreign banks with
less than 20 branches in India.
ii. The solar parks will be se t up in
Bikaner and Jaisalmer re gions with an
investment of Rs 4,000 crore.
iii. Solar Park Project in Rajasthan will be
India's turnkey project in the renewable
energy space which will aid the clean
energy initiatives of the Government of
Rajasthan.
3. Mahindra business city to be carbon -
positive
i.
A 'green' integrated business city
pioneered by the Mahindra Group has
drawn a ro ad m ap of becoming climate
positive in 10 years, a distinction which
places India on the world map.
ii. Mahindra World City Jaipur (MWCJ),
spread across 3,000 acres on the Delhi-
Mumbai corridor, has become the first
project in Asia and sixth in the world
to commit to a carbon-positive road
map as part of the C40 Cities Climate
Leadership Group.
iii. projected to reduce 8 lakh tonnes of
carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in about
10 years to become climate-neutral.
4. Prince Harry knighted
i. Prince Harry was today knighted by his
grandmo ther the Queen as a sign of her
personal esteem.
iii. The exchange of documents paves
way for the operationalisation of the
1974 India-Bangladesh LBA that
provides fo r exchange of 161 enclaves
between the two countries. A to tal 111
border enclaves will be transferred to
Bangladesh in exchange for 51 that will
become part of India.
For Education, banks can provide loans
to individuals for educational purpose s
including vocational courses upto Rs. 10
lakh for studies in India and Rs. 20 lakh
for studie s abroad.
ii. The fifth in line to the throne was m ade
a Knight Commander of the Royal
Victorian Orde r in a private ce remony at
Buckingham Palace.
iii. The Order w as founded in April 1896
by Queen Victoria as a w ay of
rewarding personal service to her, on her
own initiative rather than by ministerial
recommendation and remains entirely
within the Sovereign's personal gift.
5. Snapdeal-Tata Housing s ells hous e
worth Rs. 1.1 cr
i. E-commerce firm Snapdeal and Tata
Housing, which have partnered to sell
homes online, have announced their
largest transaction worth Rs. 1.1 crore
hours after commencing the sale of
premium and luxury apartments.
ii. Snapdeal is also exploring alliance s
for providing options such as site visit
facilities and documentation services.
iii. Snapdeal real estate category has
grown 400 pe r cent in the last six months
and currently comprise a portfolio of
residential projects from developers
across India including Tata Value Homes,
Tata Housing, DLF, Sobha Developers,
Godrej Properties, Mantri Developers,
and Purvankara.
iv. Under the agreement, India will have
an advantage of 500 acre s and 10,000
acres will go to Bangladesh.
2. Naidu performs bhoomi pooja for AP
capital
i. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu
and his wife Bhuvaneswari performed
bhoomi pooja at around 8.49 a.m. for the
new capital Amaravati at
Mandadam village in Guntur district.
ii. Chief Minister's son and Telugu Desam
Party (TDP) workers welfare committee
convener Nara Lokesh; Union Ministers
Nirmala Sitaraman and Sujana
Chowdary were among those present for
the ceremony.
iii. The ancient city of Amaravathi is being
developed separately from the new
capital zone as a heritage town with
funds from the Centre.
3. RPower to inves t $3 bn in
Bangladesh power plant
i. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power on
Saturday signed an agreement to invest
$ 3 billion in setting up a mega power
plant and a floating LNG import terminal
in Bangladesh which faces acute power
shortages.
ii. Reliance Power will set up a 2 million
tonnes a year floating LNG import
terminal as well as 3,000 megawatt
power plant, according to a
memorandum of understanding (MoU)
signed by Sameer Gupta, Executive vice-
president of Reliance Power.
iii. The company will invest in an
integrated facility comprising of 3,000
MW of LNG based combined cycle
power plant and LN G Terminal with a
Floating Storage and Re-gasification Unit
(FSRU).
Daily GK Update - 7th and 8th June 2015
1. K.V. Chowdary is new CVC; Vijai
Sharma new CIC
i. Former Chairman of the Central Board
of Direct Taxes, K.V. Chowdary, was on
Monday, appointed as the new Central
Vigilance Commissioner, while the senior-
most Information Commissioner, Vijai
Sharma, is the new Chief Inform ation
Commissioner.
ii. A selection panel headed by the Prime
Minister, which includes leader of the
principal opposition party, and senior
cabinet ministers selects the CVC, CIC,
vigilance commissioners and information
commissioners.
iii. The Central Vigilance Commission is
headed by a CVC and comprises two
vigilance commissioners and todays
appointment constitutes the full
Commission.
iv. In the CIC, there are vacancies of four
Information Commissioners. The
incumbents are Basant Seth,
Yashovardhan Azad, Sharat Sabharw al,
Manjula Prasher, M A Khan Yusufi and
Madabhushanam Sridhar Acharyulu.
8
4. Govt picks new DRDO chief,
scientific advisor to defence minister
i.
The government Thursday appointed S
Christopher, 59, as Secretary,
Department of Defence Research and
Development-cum-Director Ge-neral,
Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO).
ii. G S Reddy, 51, has been appointed as
scientific advisor to the Defence Minister.
iii. DRDO has been functioning without a
full-time head since January 31, when
Avinash Chander resigned.
5. South Korea Tes ts New Ballistic
Missile
i. South Korea successfully test fired a
ballistic missile capable of hitting targets
anywhere in North Korea.
ii. The test demonstrated im proved
ballistic missile capability that can strike
2. Yes Bank reappoints Rana Kapoor as
MD
i. Yes Banks shareholders have approved
12 resolutions which included the re-
appointment of Rana Kapoor as MD &
CEO of the bank with a majority vote of
99.97%, sans the vote of the Madhu
Kapur family.
ii. In the banks annual general meeting
on Saturday, the shareholders also
approved through a special resolution the
issuance of non-convertible debentures
and bonds up to Rs 10,000 crore and
also increased the borrowing limit of the
bank to Rs 50,000 crore from Rs 30,000
crore currently.
iii. The bank got a majority vote to
increase the combined foreign portfolio
investors (FPI) and foreign institutional
investors investment (FII) limits to 74% o f
the paid-up capital of the bank.
iv. Shareholders also re-appointed M R
Srinivasan as non-executive non-
independent director (previously the
chairman of Yes Bank) with a majority
vote. Also, Diwan Arun N anda and Ajay
Vohra have been appointed as
independent directors.
3. Federal Bank slashes base rate by 25
bps to 9.95%
i. Federal Bank today cut the base rate,
or the minimum lending rate, by 0.25 pe r
cent to 9.95 per cent.
all parts of North Korea swiftly, and with
precision, in the event of armed
aggression or provocation.
iii. The Hyunmoo-2B is an upgraded
version of the Hyunmoo-2A, both of which
were developed by the state-run Agency
for Defense Development (ADD).
6. Dravid for India Under-19 coach
i. BCCI has announced Rahul Dravid as
the coach of India A team and Indian U
19 cricket team.
ii. Working with the under-19 and 'A'
teams might be the perfect solution as
Dravid can make a tangible contribution
without placing too much demand on his
time.
iii. Dravid had a short stint as mentor o f
the Indian team before the series in
England last year and several players
spoke highly of their interactions with the
former India captain.
ii. The new rates will be effective from
June 18, 2015.
iii. Soon after RBI's second bi-monthly
policy review for 2015-16 on June 2, a
number of banks, including large st public
sector lender SBI, have cut the minimum
lending rates.
iv. Among others, Allahabad Bank, Dena
Bank, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank
of India and Syndicate Bank have
announced cut in base rates.
4. IOC to invest Rs 15,000 crore to rais e
Panipat refinery capacity
i. Indian Oil Corp, nation's largest oil firm,
plans to invest about Rs 15,000 crore in
raising capacity at its Panipat refinery in
Haryana by 34% to 20.2 million tonnes
(MT) by 2020.
ii. IOC owns and operates eight refineries
and has only a few weeks back added
ninth refinery at Paradip in Odisha.
iii. Its eight re fineries have a cumulative
refining capacity of 54.2 MT of crude oil
and addition of 15 MT at Paradip
refinery has helped it regain the top
refiner slot in the country.
iv. Essar Oil is the only other private
refiner having a 20 MT a year unit at
Vadinar in Gujarat.
v. Panipat Refinery was commissioned in
1998 with a capacity o f six MT pe r
annum. The refining capacity was
doubled to 12 MT in 2006 and then
raised by a further three MT to 15 MT in
2010.
5. Deutsche Bank makes John Cryan
CEO after co-CEOs Anshu Jain, Juergen
Fitschen quit
i. Deutsche Bank appointed John Cryan
as its new CEO on Sunday after co-chief
executives Anshu Jain and Juergen
Fitschen resigned following criticism from
investors.
ii. John Cryan, 54, has been on the banks
supervisory board since 2013 and was a
former chief financial officer of UBS. He
will replace Anshu Jain from July 1 and
become the sole CEO when Juergen
Fitschen steps down next year, the bank
said.
iii. Making Anshu Jain directly responsible
for cutting Deutsche Banks costs by 4.7
billion euros ($5.2 billion), selling its
Postbank retail business and paring back
its investment bank put huge pressure on
the former trader.
6. SpiceJet signs deal to sell tickets to
waitlis ted railway travellers
i. IRCTC's public relations officer Sandip
Dutta explained that the Railways have
entered the tie-up with SpiceJet and Go
Air.
ii. It enables a train traveller whose ticke t
is wait-listed to cancel the train ticket and
Daily GK Update - 9th June 2015
1. NCR gets bigger; Jind, Karnal and
Muzaffarnagar districts added
i. The sprawl of the National Capital
Region (NCR) just got bigger as the nod
has been given for the inclusion of
Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh
and the Jind and Karnal districts of
Haryana as part of the conurbation.
9
instead get on to a flight o f either airline
by paying some incremental fee.
iii. There are no fixed sectors to which the
scheme applies, no fixed number o f
tickets either airline must make available
to IRCTC and no fixed rates.
iv. This scheme only applies to tickets
booked at least three days prior to the
date of the journey, these train tickets can
only be cancelled on a specific website
and flight tickets are available only for
the day of the train journey or a day
prior to it.
v. SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh pointed
out that this tie-up is promising fo r the
airline and he expects "significant"
passenger volumes to be generated
through this scheme.
a major international event by winning
7. Stan Wawrinka stuns Novak
Djokovic and Serena Williams wins
French Open after beating Lucie
Safarova in final
championships to finish third behind China
i. Williams emerged with a 20th grand
slam title thanks to a 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2
victory over the Czech Lucie Safarova.
ii. The American is now two short of Steffi
Graf, the open era leader, and four off
Margare t Court, the all-time leader
ii. Urban Development Minister M
Venkaiah Naidu announced the decision
for including the three districts in NCR
afte r chairing a meeting today of the
National Capital Region Planning Board
(NCRPB) here.
iii. Naidu said that a committee has been
appointed to look into the demands fo r
the inclusion of more areas in NCR.
iv. The Union minister said that before
including any area, the view of the
particular state government will also have
to be taken.
v. Haryana Chief Ministe r Khattar said
that with the inclusion of Jind and Karnal
in NCR, 57 per cent of the state's area
had become part of the entity.
iii. Her win over Safarova was her fifth
three-set victory of a tournament that was
a struggle almost from day one.
iv. Stan Wawrinka played magnificently
in a 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 victory at Roland
Garros.
v. Wawrinka, 30, brought an end to
Djokovic's 28-m atch winning streak as he
claimed his second Grand Slam title.
vi. The victory makes him only the second
Swiss to win at Roland Garros afte r
Roger Federer, the m an he beat in the
quarter-finals.
8. Tintu Luka finally strikes gold as
India finishes 3rd at Asian Athletics
Championships
i. Tintu Luka bagged her maiden gold in
the women's 800m finals as India finished
with five medals on the final day o f
competitions to sign off third in the 21st
Asian Athletics Championships here
today.
ii. India secured a medal haul of 4 gold,
5 silver and 4 bronze in the
(15, 13, 13) and Qatar (7, 2, 1). Japan
(4, 3, 11) and Bahrain (3, 3, 2) finished
fourth and fifth respectively.
iii. This was India's best finish after 2007
in Amman, Jordan where the country was
placed second.
National record holder Luka clocked her
season's best timing of 2:01.53 to clinch
the gold at Wuhan Sports Center.
iv. This was 26-year-old Luka's first
individual title in a major international
event after breaking into the scene in
2008-09 with a lot of promise under the
tutelage of the legendary P T Usha.
2. Indias first State-of-the-Art Tier-I Oil
Spill Response Centre inagurated by
Gadkari
i. Tackling pollution and oil spills in and
around Mumbai will now become much
easier, as Union Minister of Road
Transport & Highways and Shipping,
Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the Indias
first of its kind S tate-of-the-Art Tier-I Oil
Spill Response Centre for Mumbai &
JNPT Harbour
ii. The OSRC which is equipped with
State-of-the-Art equipment in operational
readiness for combating Tier-I oil spill
upto 700 tones, ensures adequate
protection to the public health and
welfare and to the marine environment.
iii. The facility which is funded by
Participating Oil Companies (POCs) and
MbPT has taken the responsibility of
tendering and monitoring of Tier -I OSR
facility.
iv. The area of operation includes the
water limits of the Mumbai Port Trust
MbPT, JNPT and ONGCs facilities at
Nhava and Uran.
v. The OSRC will be monitored on 24/7
basis and is also equipped with skilled
and trained personnel and wireless
communication facilities for immediately
responding to any oil spill.
3. 7th International junior shotgun:
Anantjeet wins s keet gold
i. Anantjeet Singh Naruka beat Lari
Pesonen of Finland 12-11 in the skeet
match for gold in the 7th International
junior shotgun cup that concluded in
Orimattila, Finland
ii. After having qualified at the bottom
with a modest score of 110, following
rounds of 21, 22, 21, 25 and 21,
Anantjeet kept getting better, as he
wriggled his way through to the gold
medal match by winning a three-way tie
in the shoot-off to challenge the Finn.
iii. Compatrio t Angadvir Singh Bajw a,
who had topped the qualification with
119 following a series of 23, 24, 24, 24
and 24, won the shoot-off for the bronze
medal 6-5 against Matteo Chiti of Italy.
iv. Angadvir and the Italian had sho t
three each in losing the shoot-off for the
gold medal match with Anantjeet who
shot 4, after the three were tied on 13 in
the semifinals.
4. Government extends Bank of Baroda
interim chief Ranjan Dhawan's term for
3 months
i. The government has further extended
the term of Bank of Baroda's (BoB)
interim MD & CEO Ranjan Dhawan for
three months while Bank of India will be
headed by its Executive Director B P
Sharma for the same duration.
ii. Dhawan, the senior-most Executive
Director of BoB, was given this additional
charge in February.
iii. The post of a full-time MD & CEO at
BoB has been lying vacant since July
2014 when the then Chairman and
Managing Directo r S S Mundra was
appointed RBI Deputy Governor.
iv. Sharma's appointment comes into force
from June 8, 2015, and will be till the
appointment of a regular MD & CEO o r
further o rders, whichever is earlier, it
added.
10
5. R C Tayal appointed as new Director
General of National Security Guard
i. Senior IPS officer R C Tayal has been
appointed as the new chief of the elite
counter-terror force National Security
Guard (NSG).
ii. The 1980-batch Assam -Meghalaya
cadre office r is at present serving as the
Special Director General in paramilitary
CRPF and is heading its fo rmation in
Jammu and Kashmir.
iii. He is expected to serve as NSG DG
till August next year when he is scheduled
for superannuation.
iv. NSG was raised in 1984 as a federal
contingency force with a specific aim to
undertake counter-terro r and counter-
hijack operations and it was late r tasked
to protect high -risk VVIPs.
6. EPFO to invest 5% of funds in equity
market
i. In a m ajor policy shift, the Central
Board of Trustees of the Employees
Provident Fund Organisation has decided
to park 5 per cent of its funds in the
equity market.
ii. Union Labour Minister Bandaru
Dattatreya said the decision was in line
with the suggestions made by Finance
Minister Arun Jaitely that the EPFO invest
up to 15 per cent of its funds in the
equity market.
iii. In another major announcement, the
Minister said the Central Board o f
Trustees of the Employees State Insurance
Corporation, at its latest meeting,
decided to invest funds available with it
from the contribution of employees
through portfolio managers on the lines of
the EPFO.
iv. Employees interests would be the
priority o f the EPFO and care would be
taken in the equity investments, the
Labour Minister added.
7. Isro Bags Space Pioneer Award for
Mangalyaan Mars Orbiter Mission
i. The country's low-cost Mangalyaan
Mars orbiter mission which is in
rendezvous with the Red Planet for an
extended period has been presented
with the Space Pioneer award for the
year 2015 by
the US' National Space Society.
ii. Space Pioneer award for the year
2015 was pre sented to Indian Space
Research Organisation (Isro) in the
Science and Engineering category during
the 34th Annual International Space
Development Conference held at Toronto
in Canada during May 20-24, 2015,
Bengaluru-headquartered Isro said on its
website.
iii. The Isro spacecraft was launched on its
nine-month-long odyssey on a
homegrown PSLV rocket from Sriharikota
in Andhra Pradesh on November 5, 2013
and had escaped the earth's
gravitational field on December 1.
iv. The spacecraft is under 'solar
conjunction' at Mars, which means the
spacecraft, which is orbiting Mars, is
behind the sun as viewed from the Earth.
8. RBI debt recast norms: Banks will be
left holding the bag if no buyers for
firms turn up
i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
permitted banks to take control of 51
percent of stake in a company that has
failed to recover financial health even
afte r a period of financial re structuring,
typically due to management inefficiency
or other factors.
ii. This provision, part o f the strate gic
debt restructuring exercise (SDR), is
aimed at ensuring promoters of defaulted
companies have more skin in the game.
iii. The RBIs move is part of a
coordinated action plan with m arkets
regulator, Securitie s and exchange board
of India (Sebi), which in March had
allowed banks to convert part or full
debt of listed defaulter companies into
equity.
iv. Both the RBI and Sebi have made the
process easier for banks and become
aggressive in taking control of defaulter
companies.
v. For companies too, this will offer relief
since they will be free from interest
payments once the debt is converted into
equity. However, such a relief might come
at the cost of losing management control.
9. ICICI Bank Appoints MK Sharma As
Non-Executive Chairman
i. ICICI Bank on Tuesday said that its
board has approved the appointment o f
MK Sharma as non-executive chairman
for a period of five years.

India - Bangladesh Land Bill Agreement - A Brief
On 6th June Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and his counterpart from
Bangladesh Ms. Sheikh Hasina ratified
the Indo Banglade sh Land Boundary
agreement. This w as a historic move from
both the countries as this was a bottleneck
in the cordial relations be tween the two
neighbouring nations.
The agreement will contribute to a stable
and peaceful boundary and create an
environment conducive to enhanced
bilateral cooperation. It will result in
better management and coordination of
the border and strengthen our ability to
deal with smuggling, illegal activities and
other trans-bo rder crimes. Let us read a
bit more about topic.
The Plot -
The enclaves on India and
Bangladesh borde r were used as stakes
in card or chess games centuries ago
between two regional kings, the Raja o f
Koch Bihar and the Maharaja of
Rangpur. As far as history records, the
little territories were apparently the result
of a confused outcome of a 1713 treaty
between the Kingdom of Koch Bihar and
the Mughal Empire. Possibly, the Kingdom
and the Mughals ended a w ar without
determining a single boundary for what
territories had been gained or lost.
A deal was originally agreed in
1974 by Indira Gandhi of India and
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh.
Under the agreement, India retained the
11
ii. Mr Sharma will replace KV Kamath
who would shortly ste p down from the
board consequent to his nomination as the
first president o f the BRICS New
Development Bank.
iii. Mr Sharma was fo rmerly the vice
chairman of Hindustan Unilever Limited
(HUL).
iv. e is an independent director of several
companies and has been a member of
Berubari Union No. 12 enclave while
Bangladesh retained the Dahagram and
Angorpota enclaves with India providing
access to it by giving a 178-metre 85
metre corridor, called the Teen Bigha
Corridor. But following the assassination
of Sheikh Mujib in 1975, it was no t
implemented.
The terms of the long-awaited treaty
The two countries will swap up to
200 tiny enclaves, a move that should
improve the lives of many inhabitants who
live in squalid conditions.
In the exchange of enclaves,
India will transfer 111 enclaves with a
total area of 17,160.63 acres to
Bangladesh, while Bangladesh would
transfer 51 enclaves with an area o f
7,110.02 acres to India. While on paper,
the exchange of enclaves be tween India
and Banglade sh may seem like a loss of
Indian land to Bangladesh, the actual
scenario is quite diffe rent as the enclaves
are located deep inside the territory of
both countries and there has been no
physical access to them from either
country.
Around 50,000 people who are
thought to live in the landlocked islands
lack many basic services such as schools,
clinics or utility services because they are
cut off from their national governments.
Each country will now begin to
administer enclaves on its territory and
enclave citizens will be able to choose
where they want to live and which
nationality they would prefer
In planning the agreement, an
elaborate process of consultation with
people in the areas involved was carried
out, including through the visit of an
IndiaBangladesh delegation to some of
government committees relating to
corporate law and corporate
governance, ICICI Bank said in a
statement.
v. He is currently an independent directo r
of two subsidiaries of the Bank, ICICI
Lombard General Insurance Company
and ICICI Prudential Asset Management
Company.
the enclaves and Adverse Possessions in
May, 2007. The feedback received
indicated that the people residing in the
areas involved did no t want to leave
their land and would rather remain in the
country where they had lived all their
lives.
Advantages
The major features of the 2011 Protocol
regarding the IndiaBangladesh boundary
are also its advantages. These are as
follows:
As the Protocol is the outcome of
bilateral negotiations, it is mutually
acceptable and durable and paves the
way for settlement of the long pending
land boundary issues.
It takes into consideration the
situation on the ground and the wishes of
the people.
It takes into account the views of
the concerned State Governments and
has their written consent.
The exchange of enclaves will
mitigate major humanitarian problems as
the residents in the enclaves and others
on their behalf had o ften complained o f
the absence of basic amenities and
facilities.
The settlement of Adverse
Possessions will lead to tranquillity and
peace along the border.
The Protocol provides for a
comprehensive package solution involving
give and take on both sides.
It represents a perm anent
solution to a decades old issue.
The newly demarcated
boundaries are a fixed boundary,
thereby adding to ce rtainty regarding
the future.
 A settled boundary reduce s
friction, helps neighbours consolidate
mutually beneficial exchanges and
promotes confidence in building bette r
relations.
Daily GK Update - 10th June 2015
1. RBI issues draft norms on rupee -
linked bonds overseas
i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on
Tuesday said that Indian corpo rates,
eligible to raise external commercial
borrowings (ECBs), are permitted to issue
rupee- linked bonds overseas.
ii. Corporates which are, at pre sent,
permitted to access ECB, under the
approval route, will require prior
permission of the RBI to issue such bonds
and those coming under the automatic
route can do so without prior permission
of the RBI.
iii. The RBI proposed that the subscription,
coupon payments and redemption might
be settled in foreign currency.
iv. It also stipulated the coupon on the
bonds should not be more than 500 basis
points above the sovereign yield of the
Government of India security o f
corresponding maturity as per the
FIMMDA yield curve prevailing on the
date of issue.
2. Government to Give Rs 6,000 Crore
Interest-Free Loans to Sugar Mills
i. The government has approved interest-
free loans for cash-strapped sugar mills
to help them pay nearly 30 per cent o f
the record Rs 21,000 crore they owe to
cane farmers, many of whom are
struggling with huge debts as the first
country-wide drought in six years looms.
ii. Sugar cane prices, meanwhile, have
jumped over the years due to the populist
policies of state governments to raise
minimum support prices fo r farmers.
iii.
Mills in India, the world's biggest sugar
producer after Brazil, have been
lobbying the government for months
seeking relief as prices of the sweetener
have fallen below the cost o f production
due to ample supplies.
Daily GK Update - 11th June 2015
12
It paves the way for close r
engagement and mutually beneficial
relations between India and Bangladesh
and the region;
This also helps on issues of
strate gic concern, including security
iv. The federal government earlier this
year approved a subsidy to export raw
sugar, although that failed to boost
shipments amid a global glut.
3. Small traders' body CAIT to launch
ecommerce platform
i. Afte r fighting tooth and nail with online
retailers, the apex body of small traders,
Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT),
has decided to launch its own ecommerce
portal in the next three months.
ii. Named 'e-Lala', the propo sed portal
will provide a direct interface between
sellers and consumers and there will be
no third agency which will be involved in
any transaction, thereby eliminating the
commission component which the sellers
need to pay.
iii. The proposal was recently discussed at
the national governing council meeting of
CAIT. The body has constituted a
committee under the chairmanship of its
national president BC Bhartia to
implement the plan.
iv. It will be the first ecommerce portal in
the country by the traders fo r the traders.
It will be a location-based portal wherein
traders from different cities will be
registe red under their respective
category of items.
v. Consumers will have the option to buy
either online or from the physical store o f
the chosen seller
4. Microsoft begins rebranding of Nokia
Priority Stores
i. In order to increase its presence in
emerging markets like India, Microsoft on
Wednesday kick-started rebranding o f
Nokia Priority Stores as Microsoft Priority
Resellers.
ii. India is the first country among
Microsoft's global marke ts to roll out the
new look for its retail outlets.
iii. This is perhaps one of the biggest
rebranding exercises undertaken by a
mobile manufacturer and we wanted
India to lead the way being a priority
market for us. For many consumers, the
rebrande d shops will be their first
cooperation and denial of sanctuary to
elements inimical to India.
While land will be exchanged,
the Protocol does not envisage the
displacement of populations.
experience of Microsoft as a consumer
hardware manufacturer.
iv. While existing Nokia stores would
transform into Microsoft Priority Resellers,
housing only Microsoft products, the multi -
branded re tail stores will be rechristened
as Microsoft Mobile Resellers.
5. Kapil Mishra to Succeed Jitender
Tomar as Delhi's Law Minister
i. Delhi Jal Board vice chairman Kapil
Mishra will succeed Jitender Tomar as
Delhi's law minister. A letter has been sent
to the president in this regard.
ii. Mr Tomar had stepped down on
Tuesday after being arrested over
allegations that he had faked his law
degree.
iii. Mr Mishra, the legislato r from
northeast Delhi's Karaw al Nagar, was
placed in the crucial Jal Board to help
realise the Aam Aadmi Party 's election
promise of providing cheap water to
Delhiites.
6. SEBI cracks down on 200 illicit fund -
raising activities in 1 year
i. Stepping up action against illicit fund -
raising in a big way, SEBI has cracked
down on nearly 200 such activities in last
one year relating to fraud against
gullible investors and recovered Rs. 25
crore.
ii. SEBI has passed close to 200 orders in
last one year against illegal fund-raising
activities and barred individuals and
companies from mobilising money from
public.
iii. The Securities Laws Amendment Act,
which was notified by the government in
August 2014, empowers SEBI to pass
orders for attachment of properties,
arrest of defaulters and to access call
data records.
iv. A majority of o rders against deemed
public issues were in West Bengal, Uttar
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
The same for CIS activities are in Tamil
Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
1. Union Cabinet gives nod to
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal
(BBIN) Motor Vehicle Agreement
i. Union Cabinet meet chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has approved
the signing of Banglade sh, Bhutan, India
and Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicle
Agreement.
ii. The agreement which is similar to the
SAARC Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA)
seeks to regulate the vehicular traffic o f
passenger, personal and cargo amongst
BBIN countries.
The agreement will be signed on 15th
June 2015 at the Transport Ministe rs
meeting in Thimpu, Bhutan.
iii. BBIN agreement aims to promote safe,
environmentally sound and economical
efficient road transport in the sub -region
of BBIN. It also seeks to help each
member country to create an institutional
mechanism for regional integration.
iv. BBIN agreement will benefit member
nations for mutual cross border movement
of passenger and goods for overall
economic development of the region.
For implementation of this agreement
each signato ry member will bear its own
costs.
2. Senior scientist Dr. Srivari
Chandrasekhar appointed as Director of
CSIR-IICT
i. Dr. Srivari Chandrasekhar was
appointed Director of CSIR-Indian
Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) a
premier research institute of Union
Government based in Hyderabad,
Telangana.
ii.
He was named appointed to the top post
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is
ex-officio Chairman of Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
functioning under Union Ministry of
Science and Technology.
iii. He has made significant contributions
in diverse areas of organic chemistry with
a special emphasis total synthesis o f
biologically active natural products, on
chiral chemistry and pharmaceutical
products.
iv. He also has developed technologies
for synthesis of latest anti-tumor and
13
abortive drug mesoprostol, anti -
tuberculosis drug bedaquiline and drug
for treatment of schizophrenia asenapine
etc. Apart from above contributions, he
also has more than 250 publications with
5,000 citations to his credit.
3. 26 African countries create TFTA:
Cape Town to Cairo free-trade zone
i. African countries have signed a histo ric
The Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA)
that facilitates creation of Africas largest
free-trade zone.
ii. This free-trade zone will cover 26
countries in an area from southernmost tip
of African continent i.e. Cape Town (South
Africa) to Cairo (Egypt) in the north.
iii. The pact was signed in Egypt will
intent to ease the movement of goods
across 26 member countries which
represent more than half the continents
GDP. TFTA pact combines existing three
trade blocs among the African nations viz
Southern African Development Community
(SADC), East African Community (EAC),
Common Market for Eastern and Southern
Africa (COMESA).
iv. It will remove trade barriers on most
goods, making them cheaper and
stimulating $ 1 trillion worth of economic
activity across the region of more than
600 million people.
4. Indian-Origin Surgeon General Vivek
Murthy Pres ented With Pride of
Community Award
i. Indian-origin US Surgeon General
Vivek Murthy has been presented with
the Pride of the Community Award by a
prominent Hindu advocacy group.
ii. Receiving the award by the Hindu
American Foundation at its 12th Annual
Day reception at Capitol Hill, Mr Murthy
said that he draw s inspiration from the
life of Swami Vivekananda.
iii. HAF also awarded Anantanand
Rambachan, Professo r of Religion at St
Olaf College, Dharma Seva award;
Harpreet Singh Mokha of the Department
of Justice, the Mahatma Gandhi Award
for the Advancement of Pluralism; and
Senator Mark Kirk and Rep Joe Crowley,
HAF's Friend of the Community awards.
5. Stanford scientist Manu Prakash
makes water based computer
i. Manu Prakash, who amazed the world
last year by building a pape r
microscope, has now come up with a
computer that works by moving wate r
droplets. P
ii. rakash is an assistant professo r of
bioengineering at S tanford University
and he has developed the wate r
computer with the help of two of his
students. He was born in Meerut, India.
iii. What Prakash did was devise a
system in which tiny water droplets are
trapped in a magnetic field. When the
field is rotated or flipped, the droplets
move in precise direction and distance.
This became the basis o f the compute r
clock, which is an essential component of
any computer.
iv. Computer clocks are responsible fo r
nearly every modern convenience.
Smartphones, DVRs, airplanes, internet -
without a clock, none of these could
operate without frequent and serious
complications.
6. Reliance Capital names Gopkumar
as CEO of broking, distribution
business
i. Reliance Capital, part of Anil Ambani -
led Reliance Group, today said it has
appointed B Gopkumar chief executive
of its broking and distribution business.
ii. Gopkumar, who succeeds Vikrant
Gugnani, has over 20 years of industry
experience. He has handled various
assignments across varied functions,
including direct sales, priority banking,
marketing, pro duct development, broking
and distribution.
iii. Reliance Capital's broking business --
Reliance Securities -- provides a varied
customer base with access to equities,
equity options, wealth management
solutions and mutual funds.
7. CAD shrinks massively to 0.2 per
cent in Q4
i. The countrys current account deficit
(CAD) narrowed sharply to USD 1.3
billion, or 0.2 per cent of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP), in the fourth quarter of
the last financial year on a sequential
basis mainly on account of a lower trade
gap.
ii. The CAD shrank to 1.3 per cent of GDP
for full financial year 2014-15.
iii. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, CAD
narrowed sharply to USD 1.3 billion (0.2
per cent of GDP) in fourth quarter of
financial year 2014-15 from USD 8.3
billion (1.6 per cent of GDP) in the third
quarter
8. Forbes list: Dhoni only Indian among
world's richest athletes
i. Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the
only Indian sportsman in Forbes
magazine's 100 highest-paid athlete s in
the world.
ii. Dhoni has been ranked 23rd on the
Forbes list of The World's Highest-Paid
Daily GK Update - 12th June 2015
1. Second border haat opens in
Sipahijala district of Tripura
i. The second border haat (rural market)
was opened for common people at
Kamalasagar in Sipahijala district of
Tripura bordering Brahmanbaria district
of Bangladesh.
ii. The haat was jointly inaugurated by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his
Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina by
video-conferencing from Dhaka on June
6, 2015. This m arket is se t up at the zero
line of the international border with one
part on the Indian side and the other in
Bangladesh.
iii. Initially it will facilitate bilateral trade
of 16 shortlisted locally produced goods.
These goods include agricultural and
horticultural crops, spices, minor forest
products excluding timber, fish and dry
fish, dairy and poultry products, co ttage
industry items, wooden furniture,
handloom and handicraft items.
iv. People residing within a distance of 5
km from along the border are entitled to
do business at the haat which will take
place once in a week initially. No local
taxes would be levied on the goods sold
in the haats and currencies of both the
countries would prevail.
v. First border haat was inaugurated on
Srinagar- Purba border area in January
2015 by Union Commerce and Industries
Minister Nirmala along with her
Bangladeshi counterpart Tofail ahmed.
14
Athletes 2015 dropping a notch from his
ranking of 22 last year.
iii. Dhoni's total earnings stood at $31
million, including amount from
salary/winnings at $4 million and
endorsements worth $27 million.
iv. The earnings figures include salaries,
prize money and bonuses paid out
between June 2014 and June 2015
Winners of French Open
2015
Winners of Roland Garros that is played
on clay court. French open commonly
known as Roland Garros is held over two
weeks between late May and early June
at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris,
France.
2. Renewable energy targets quadruple
globally in 10 years: IRENA
i. IRENA is an intergovernmental
organization to promote adoption and
sustainable use of renewable energy. It is
a global hub for renewable energy
cooperation and info rmation exchange
within its member nations.
ii. The International Renewable Energy
Agency (IRENA) has announced that in
past one decade renewable energy
targets have quadruple globally.
iii. It was mentioned IRENA Renewable
Energy Target Setting report which was
released by IRENA Director-General
Adnan Z. Amin on the side lines of
IRENAs 9th Council meeting in Dubai.
iv. As per report, 164 countries have
adopted at least one type of renewable
energy target compared to 43 countries
in 2005. All nations are adopting
renewable energy targets to meet
multiple objectives including energy
security, environmental sustainability and
socio-economic benefits.
v. The majority of 150 countries have
focused committed renewable energy
targets on the electricity sector The
numbers of countries setting renewable
targets for the heating and cooling secto r
have increased to 47 from 2 countries in
2005.
3. RBI allows NRIs to subscribe chit
funds
i. Reserve Bank of Indian has allowed
non-resident Indians (NRIs) to invest in chit
fund to encourage flow of capital into the
country. Decision in this regard w as taken
Winners of French Open 2015
Mens Singles Stan Wawrinka of
Switzerland
Womens Serena Williams of USA
Singles
Mens Ivan Dodig of Croatia
Doubles and
Marcelo Melo of Brazil
Womens Lucie Safarova of
Doubles Czechoslovakia and
Bethanie
Mattek-Sands of USA
Mixed Mike Bryan and
Doubles Bethanie
Mattek-Sands of USA
afte r RBI had revised the extant
guidelines for subscription to the chit
funds in consultation with the government.
ii. Henceforth, NRIs on non-repatriation
basis will be allowed to invest in chit fund
without any ceiling. However, the
subscription to the chit funds by NRIs will
be mandatorily brought in through normal
banking channel, including through an
account maintained with a bank in India.
iii. The state government may permit any
chit fund to accept subscription from NRIs
on non-repatriation basis. It will be
permitted by the registrar of chits or an
officer authorized by the state
government in accordance with the
provisions of the Chit Fund Act, 1982.
iv. Earlier in May 2000, RBI had barred
NRIs from investing in a company or firm s
engaged in the business of chit fund.
Apart from this decision, RBI also
extended the scheme allowing airline
companies to raise external commercial
borrowings (ECB) for working capital as a
permissible end-use under the approval
route. Now, the ECB scheme will continue
till March 31, 2016.
4. Legendary actor Sir Christopher Lee
passes away
i. Legendary English actor, singer and
writer Sir Christopher Lee passed away
in London, United Kingdom. He was 93.
The veteran actor was famously known as
the master of horror for his famous
villainy acting roles in numerous movies
such as Dracula, The Wicker Man, James
Bond, Lord of the Rings trilogy etc.

ii. Christopher Lee was born in London in
1922 Film career: His on screen acting
career began in 1947 afte r he had the
Rank Organisation where he was trained
as an actor. His career spanned more
than 7 decades. His famous acting roles
include Francisco Scaram anga in The Man
with the Golden Gun (1974), Saruman in
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001
2003), The Hobbit film trilogy (2012
2014), Count Dooku Star Wars trilogy
(2002 and 2005) and S tar Wars: The
Clone Wars (2008).
iii. He also is known for his best
performance portraying of Pakistans
founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the
biopic Jinnah (1998). Music career: Lee
was also known for his singing ability. He
had recorded various opera and musical
pieces between 1986 and 1998.
iv. He also had recorded symphonic metal
album Charlemagne: By the Sword and
the Cross in 2010 after he had worked
with several metal bands since 2005.
Awards and Honours: He was knighted in
2009 for services to drama and charity
and was awarded the Bafta fellowship in
2011 and Spirit of Metal award (2010)
5. Union Government scraps import
duties on AIDS drugs and test kits
Daily GK Update - 13th June 2015
1. AP launches Mee Bhoomi digital
depository of land records
i. The Andhra P radesh government has
launched `Mee Bhoomi', a digital
depository of land records.The portal,
http://meebhoomi.ap.gov.in/, makes all
land details along with Adangal/Pahani
and 1-B details, available to the people.
ii. It also lists de tails of land owners,
area, assessment, wate r source, soil type,
nature of possession of the land,
liabilities, tenancy, and crops grown. One
can also view individual/ village adangal
and 1B details on the website.
iii. Besides the survey number or pattadar
number, it also gives the option of
entering the Aadhaar card number to
15
i. Union Government has scrapped
customs import duties for drugs and test
kits use d to treat Human
immunodeficiency virus infection and
acquired immune deficiency syndrome
(HIV/AIDS).
ii. In this regard Central Board of Excise
and Customs (CBEC) has issued a notice
that will remain in effect till March 2016.
This decision will help to cut prices of
AIDS drugs across the country and thus
help directly in Governments national
program to fight the disease.
iii. It will also make import raw materials
that are used to make antire trovirals
under the national program cheaper. This
tax exemption will be applicable to
certain first-line and second-line
antiretroviral drugs which are used to
treat adults and children.
iv. Apart from drugs certain diagnostic
kits and equipment are also exempted
from tax. In India more than 2.1 million
HIV/AIDS patients are provided with
daily antire trovirals for free from state -
run distribution centres which are
operated by National AIDS Control
Organisation (NACO).
6. C.S Verma s teps down as SAIL C MD
i. State-owned SAIL on Thursday said C.
S. Verma had relinquished the charge as
Chairman and Managing Director on
completion of his tenure and Steel
Secretary Rakesh Singh has assumed the
charge till a re gular incumbent is
appointed.
ii. Mr. Ve rma was appointed CMD of the
countrys largest steel producer for a 5-
year term in June 2010 by the previous
UPA government, and was eligible for an
view land details. Users can also search
for their field measurement book (F.M.B)
on the website. The details of any
transactions will also be updated on the
website.
iv. With respect to grievances related to
land, people can register a complaint at
the closest Mee-Seva centre, which will
process the same within 15 days.Making
the portal mobile-friendly, the
government has also launched an Android
app.
2. RBI allows FII buying in Kaveri Seed
i. The stock of Kaveri Seed Company will
see some buying interest on Monday, as
the Reserve Bank of India on Friday said
foreign portfolio investors could now
invest up to 49 per cent of the companys
equity base.
ii. The RBI decision follows foreign
investor shareholding falling below the
revised threshold limit. Acco rding to
exchange data, at the end of March
2015, FIIs held 22.26 per cent stake in
the seed major.
extension till he attained the
superannuation age of 60 years in
September 2019.
iii. The governments not extending his
tenure to the top job makes him the first
Maharatna PSU head to be denied an
extension during the current NDA regime.
7. TCS, Infosys face US probe for H-1B
visa violations
i. The US government has opened an
investigation against two of the biggest
Indian outsourcing companies for possible
violations of H1-B visa rules, acco rding to
a media report.
ii. The Department of Labour has opened
the investigation against Tata Consultancy
Services and Infosy s for possible
violations of rules for visas for foreign
technology workers under contracts they
held with an electric utility Southern
California Edison
iii. The power company had recently laid
off more than 500 technology workers
amid claims that many of those laid off
were made to train their replacements
who were immigrants on the temporary
work visas brought in by the Indian firms
iv. The move by the Labour Department
comes days after the NYT had reported
that hundreds of employees at
entertainment giant Walt Disney were
laid off and replaced with Indians
holding H1-B visas.
3. Dick Costolo resigned as CEO of
Twitter Inc
i. Dick Costolo on 11 June 2015 resigned
as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of
Twitter Inc after serving the company for
five years. Costolo will demit the office of
CEO on 1 July 2015.
ii. Twitter co-founder and Square Inc's
CEO Jack Dorsey will take over as the
Interim CEO of the company on 1 July
2015 and will stay until a replacement is
found.
iii. Costolo joined the company in 2009
as its Chief Operating Officer. In 2013,
he helped the company to go public and
recently he struggled to attract new users
to the service.
4. 50-lakh penalty on Future Generali
i. The Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority of India (IRDAI)
has imposed a penalty of 50 lakh on
Future Generali Life Insurance Company.
ii. The regulator, which had examined 34
charges on a variety of aspects related
to business, said the company had
violated many norms, including not
settling huge number of claims in respect
of the group insurance schemes,
continuation of corporate agency even
afte r expiry of licence, use of unlicensed
entities for procuring business and
distribution of gift vouchers procured
from Big Bazar, one of the group
companies.
iii. It has been asked to pay the penalty
within 15 days, according to an orde r
issued by IRDAI Chairman TS Vijayan.
5. Wes Hall inducted into ICC Hall of
Fame
i. Former West Indies fast bowler Wes
Hall was inducted into the ICC Cricke t
Hall of Fame during the lunch break on
RBI issued final guidelines for 6 -year
and 13-year Interest Rate Futures
i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued
the final guidelines for the 6-year and
13-year cash settled Intere st Rate Future s
(IRF) on government securities with
residual maturity of 4-8 years and 11-15
years respectively under the Interest Rate
Futures (Reserve Bank) (Amendment)
Directions, 2015. For this purpo se, RBI
16
the opening day of the Sabina Park Test
between West Indies and Australia.
ii. He became the fourth cricketer to
receive the honour this year after Betty
Wilson, Anil Kumble and Martin
Crowe.Hall, 77, received his
commemorative cap from fellow Hall of
Famer Courtney Walsh, and is now the
18th cricketer from the Caribbean to be
bestowed with the award.
iii. Hall, who played 48 Tests for West
Indies between 1958 and 1969, said he
was "privileged" and "honoured" to
receive the award which put him in the
company of the "many greats of the
game"
6. China launches freight train service
connecting Europe
i. China today launched a freight train
service between its northeastern city of
Harbin and Europe, opening a new trade
route to Europe covering a distance of
nearly 10,000 kms.
ii. The train left Harbin, capital o f
Heilongjiang province, carrying 49
containers o f domestic goods such as
electronic products and auto parts worth
US$ three million from northeast and
north China, state-run Xinhua news
agency reported.
7. In Haryana village, contest of selfies
with daughter to save girl child
i. Haryana's Bibipur village, which w ants
The Women's World' added to its name,
has now come out
Daily GK Update - 14th June 2015
amended the Interest Rate Future s
(Reserve Bank) Directions, 2013 dated 5
December 2013.
ii. For the 6-year cash settled IRF
contracts, the underlying shall be a
coupon bearing government security of
face value of 100 rupees and the
residual maturity of 6-year IRF is
between 4 and 8 years on the expiry of
futures contract.
iii. For the 13-year cash settled IRF
contracts, the underlying can be a
coupon bearing government security of
face value of 100 rupees and residual
maturity will be between 11 and 15
years on the expiry of futures contract.
iv. Moreover, the RBI also expanded the
residual maturity for the existing 10-year
with a unique idea to continue its effo rts
to create gender-neutral atmosphere in
the state.
ii. The village panchyat has decided to
organize a best selfie with daughte rs'
contest to honour the winning family with
a trophy, certificate and Rs 2,100 as cash
prize.
iii. The panchayat has invited parents to
send their selfies to the village sarpanch
on WhatsApp by June 17 while the
winner family would be announced afte r
two days.
iv. Village sarpnach Sunil Jaglan said
they that had already received more
than 120 entries in past four days afte r
they announced the contest.
8. Utility bills valid proof of address to
open account: RBI
i. Bills for postpaid mobile service, piped
gas and water supply can now be
submitted as proof of address fo r
opening account with banks or o ther
financial institutions, the Reserve Bank
said today.
ii. Utility bill which is not more than two
months old of any service provider
(electricity, telephone, postpaid mobile
phone, piped gas, water bill) for the
limited purpose of proof of address are
deemed to be Officially Valid Documents
(OVDs) under 'simplified measures.
cash settled IRF from 9-11 years to 8-11
years to provide market participants a
greate r choice and flexibility to hedge
their intere st rate risk across different
tenors.
US becomes world's largest oil
producer, says BP Report
 VK Singh inaugurates first India-China
Yoga College at Yunnan Minzu
University, China

i. World Blood Donor Day is being

i. As pe r recently released report by
British Petroleum (BP) Energy Company,
United States (US) became the worlds
largest oil producer in 2014 surpassing
Saudi Arabia.
ii. Production: US had produced 11.6
million barrels of oil per day (bpd) i.e.
15.9% more oil in 2014. While, Saudi
Arabia was placed second position as it
had produced 11.5 million bpd in 2014.
Russia was placed at third position with
10.8 million bpd oil production.
iii. Natural Gas Production: US also has
surpassed Russia as the worlds largest
producer of natural gas.
iv. Consumption: China had remained
the worlds largest growth market fo r
energy in 2014
v. Facts related to India: Indias oil
production gad declined by 1.3% at
895,000 bpd, while the consumption had
increased by 3% to 3.8 million bpd. India
has shown 7.1% rise in energy
consumption.
Government sacks Dr. Bimal Roy,
Director of Indian Statistical Institute
i. Union Ministry of Statistics and
Programme Implementation (MOSPI) has
sacked Dr Bimal K Roy as the Director of
Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). He was
removed from the office on charges of
indiscipline one-and-a-half months before
the end of his term.
ii. Professor Sanghmitra
Bandyopadhayay now will re place Dr
Bimal K Roy as the Director of ISI. With
this appointment she has become the first
woman to lead the institute.
iii. Roy who is a renowned cryptologist
was appointed Director o f ISI in August
2010. In April 2015, he was conferred
with Indias fourth highest civilian honour
Padma Shri for his contribution in the
discipline of literature and education.
i. Minister of State (MoS) for External
Affairs V K Singh inaugurated first India -
China Yoga College at Yunnan Minzu
University in Kunming, China.
ii. This is first Indian government institution
related Indian spiritual art form i.e. Yoga
in China inaugurated ahead of the first
UN Yoga Day to be observed on June
21.
iii. The Yoga College was established in
lines with the MoU for e stablishing the
Yoga College signed during the Prime
Minister N arendra Modis visit to China in
May 2015.
iv. This college seeks to provide
certification courses in the Indian spiritual
art with them Indian teachers who are
going to help in curriculum development
and training.
Government launches Migrant Resource
Centre in Chennai
i. Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) was se t
up in Chennai by the Union Ministry of
Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) and
Tamil Nadu state government.
ii. The MRC will provide migrants and
overseas Indian workers with information,
advice, counseling and guidance on all
aspects of overseas employment.
iii. Following are suppo rt functions o f
MRCs
Dissemination of information on
safe and legal migration.
Dissemination of information
regarding status of recruiting agents
along with other service providers.
Registration and response to
complaints and grievances within the
redressal forum of MOIA.
To offer counseling support in
form of walk in or telephone and email
support.
iv. Note: It is the fourth such MRC in India
set up by MOIA. The first MRC was
established in 2008 in Kochi, Kerala by
MOIA. Later, fully functional MRCs in
Hyderabad (Telengana & Andhra
Pradesh), Gurgaon (Haryana) were
established.
14th June: World Blood Donor Day
observed across the world on 14 June to
raise the public aw areness about the
need for safe blood donation.
ii. The theme of this years campaign is
Thank you for saving my life. This years
campaign encourages donors all over the
world to donate blood voluntarily and
regularly with the slogan Give freely,
give often. Blood donation matters.
iii. Objective
To spread awareness about the need for
safe and secure blood supplies.
Provide an opportunity to draw public
attention to the importance of blood
donation for saving lives.
Recommendations of Bibek Debroy
Committee on restructuring of Indian
Railways
i. The committee has suggested measure s
for restructuring the Railway Board and
its departments so that policy making is
separated from day-to-day operations.
ii. Recommendations of Bibek Debroy
committee
Establishment of an independent
regulator Railway Regulatory Authority
of India (RRAI) with a separate budge t
and to be independent of the Ministry.
RRAI will decide on tariffs to
revamp the cash-strapped railway s.
Railway Budget should be
phased out with gross budgetary support
to Indian Railways.
No privatisation of Indian
Railway but allowed participation of
private sector in the railway projects.
State governments should be
asked to entirely fund the Government
Railway Police (GRP).
The recommended changes
should be implemented only by Union
Railways ministry in the first five years
including the resolution of the social cost
issue.
iii. Background: Union government had
constituted the high-level committee in
September 2014 to re structure the
Railways and suggest ways for resource
mobilisation. It was seven-member panel

17
headed by eminent economist and NITI
Aayog member Bibek Debroy. The other
6 members are former cabinet secretary
Daily GK update 15 June 2015
BSNL launched free roaming today
i)State-run BSNL will launch free
roaming, starting today, which will allow
all its mobile customers across the country
to receive incoming calls at no cost.
Now BSNL mobile customers will not
need to carry multiple SIMs and handse ts
during roaming.
ii)They are free to talk as long as they
want without worrying of any charges
during incoming calls.
In fact, it is like a dream of One Nation
One Number coming true, BSNL CMD
Anupam Shrivastava said in a statement.
One June 2, Telecom Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad had announced that the
telco would be launching free roaming
scheme from June 15.
iii)The company also clarified that it has
not received any communication from
sectoral regulato r TRAI regarding the
roaming scheme.
We have not received any such
communication from TRAI.BSNL has
announced this scheme with the consent of
Minister o f Communications & IT, Ravi
Shankar Prasad who himself had
announced it in a press conference held
on June 2. TRAI has no objection to it,
Shrivastava said
Ameising Luikham takes over as New
Secretary, Department of Public
Enterprises
Shri Ameising Luikham, IAS (MN:1981)
today took over as Secretary,
Department of Public Enterprise s in the
M/o Heavy Industrie s & Public
Enterprises . Prior to this he was working
as Secretary, North Eastern Council,
Ministry of Development of North Eastern
Region.
Shri Luikham's appointment is vice Shri
Kapil Dev Tripathi, IAS (AM:1980) who
already have been appointed as
Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and
Natural Gas.
18
K M Chandrasekhar, Gusharan Das, Ravi
Narain, Partha Mukhopadhyay, Rajendra
Sheila Kaul, former Governor of
Himachal Pradesh, died
i) Former Governor of Himachal Pradesh,
ex-Union Minister and Congress leader
Sheila Kaul died after a brief illness on
14 June 2015. She was 100.She is now
survived by sons Gautam Kaul, a retired
IPS officer, and Vikram Kaul, an
international sports administrator,
besides daughte r Deepa Kaul, a former
Information Minister in UP.
ii) She was married to renowned botanist
Kailash Nath Kaul, who established the
National Botanical Research Institute in
Lucknow. Kaul, sister-in-law of
Jawaharlal Nehru, was oldest surviving
former Parliamentarian.
iii) She was elected as a Member of
Parliament (MP) for five times in 1971,
1980 and 1984 (from Lucknow) and in
1989, 1991 (from Rae Bareli).
Nasscom signs MoU with IESA
i)The National Association of Software
and Services Companies (Nasscom) on
Monday signed an MoU with India
Electronics and Semiconductor Association
(IESA) to speed up 'Make in India' and
'Digital India' agenda fo r electronic
system design and manufacturing (ESDM)
and IT.
ii)The aim is to create a common agenda
that will guide the Government and
industry to construct policies and an
environment leading to the creation of
ESDM and IT products, solutions and
brands out of India.
Vinay Shenoy, Chairman, IESA, said: "By
joining forces, we are now better able to
address 'Device-Infrastructure-
Application' and the interplay between
them. Initial focus areas are likely to be
policy frameworks, enabling capability
build-up, knowledge sharing, eco-system
discovery and promotion.''
Kashyap, Ajay Tyagi and Ajay Narayan
Jha.
Under the MoU, both industry
associations will bring key stakeholders
and partners from industry, Government,
academia and investment community
closer and identify key areas of
investment.
FDI in services sector up 46% in 2014-
15
i)With the government taking ste ps to
improve ease of doing business and
attracting investments, FDI inflows into the
services sector grew by over 46% to
$3.25 billion in 2014-15.
ii)The services sector, which includes
banking, insurance, outsourcing, R&D,
courier and technology testing, had
received foreign direct investment (FDI)
worth $2.22 billion in 2013-14.
However, the total foreign inflow in
2014-15 in the services sector was low
as compare d to 2012-13 when it was
$4.83 billion, according to the
Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion (DIPP) data.
iii)The government has announced a
series of steps such as fixing timeliness
for approvals to improve the ease of
doing business in the country and
attracting domestic as well as foreign
investments.
In step with the growth in FDI in important
sectors like services, overall foreign
inflows in the country too rose by 27% to
$30.93 billion during the previous fiscal.
The amount was $24.29 billion in 2013-
14.
Wholesale price inflation dips in May
i)Wholesale inflation at (-)2.36 per cent
in May as against (-)2.65 per cent in
April.
Inflation remained in negative territory
for the seventh month in May, registering
a decline of 2.36 per cent on account of
subdued prices of food items, fuel and
manufactured goods.The Wholesale
Price Index (WPI) based inflation was
() 2.65 per cent in April.
It has been in the negative zone since
November 2014. Inflation in last May
was 6.18 pe r cent.
ii)The lower inflation comes amid a
forecast of deficient monsoon this year.
In contrast to IMDs fo recast of 12 per
cent deficient rainfall, the onset of
monsoon has been reasonably strong so
far.
Citigroup said that overall the monsoon is
still a risk factor but we expect CPI
(retail inflation) to undershoot RBIs Jan-
16 projection by 40bps and average 5
per cent in 2015-16. This is likely to
create room for further 25 bps cut in
current fiscal.
iii)The CPI inflation had inched up
marginally in May to over 5 per cent
from 4.87 per cent in the previous month.
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)
launched India Nuclear Insurance Pool
(INIP)
i)The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)
on 12 June 2015 launched the India
Nuclear Insurance Pool (INIP).The INIP
has become the 27th such insurance pool
in the world as countries such as France,
Russia, South Africa and the U.S. have
Daily GK Update - 16th June 2015
1. Union Government launched
Augmented Reality Application named
Sakaar
i. The Union Minister of State
(Independent Charge) Development of
North-Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra
Singh on 15 June 2015 launched an
Augmented Reality (AR) application
named Sakaar to highlight the
achievements of the Department of
Space.
ii. The application has been developed
by Development and Educational
Communication Unit (DECU) of ISRO for
Android devices.
iii. Sakaar consists of 3D models of
MOM, RISAT, rockets (PSLV, GSLV Mk-
III); videos of INSAT 3D-predicting
cyclones, GSLV D5/Cryo, Mars Orbiter
Mission (MOM) orbit insertion, launch
video of MOM, 360 degree animated
view of MOM; Anaglyph of Mars
surface.
iv. Augmentation is in real time and the
information is overlaid on the live view of
the devices camera. Essentially, AR
requires three elements:
Android device with back camera
AR application
19
put in place such similar risk transfer
mechanisms.Features of India Nuclear
Insurance Pool (INIP)
ii)It will cover the risks of liability of
nuclear operators and suppliers under
Section 6(2) and Section 17 of the Civil
Liability for Nuclear Dam ages (CLND)
Act, 2010 respectively.
It provides three types of policies viz.,
tier 1 policy for operators, tier 2 policy
for turn key suppliers and tier 3 policy
for suppliers other than turn key supply
Union Government launched website
to connect employers, job seekers
i)Union Minister fo r Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra on 15
June 2015 launched a digital
Employment Exchange for Industries (EEX)
portal eex.dcmsme.gov.in which will
connect employers and job seekers.
ii)The portal will help in linking Make in
India initiative with Skilled India one.The
AR Markers.
2. PM Narendra Modi launched book
titled Education of Muslims by
Professor JS Rajput
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15
June 2015 launched a book titled
Education of Muslims: An Islamic
Perspective of Knowledge and Education
Indian Context edited by Profe ssor JS
Rajput.
ii. The book is aimed at informing and
educating policy-makers, scholars and
readers about role of Islam in pursuit of
education and knowledge.
iii. The book contains 16 articles written
by various scholars and historians
including JS Rajput on wide ranging
issues related to understandin g of Islam
religion, role of Islam and its educational
institutions (madrasas) in dissemination of
knowledge and educational status of
Muslim children in India among others.
iv. JS Rajput is an accomplished
educationist and historian. He is a former
director of National Council of
Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) and Chairman, National Council
for Teacher Education (NCTE).
3. UN elected Denmark's Mogens
Lykketoft to head General Assembly
employers and job seekers can now
registe r at www.eex.dcmsme.gov.in.
Nearly, two lakh job seekers have
already registered themselves with the
EEX.
iii)There are large units in the country
which are dependent on MSMEs, but the
absence of skilled manpower results in
non-competitiveness of MSMEs and
Indian industry as a whole.
Until and unless, the skilled hands do not
find the appropriate jobs and the
appropriate employer, it
will lead to frustration and skepticism to
the entire skilling program of this country.
Therefore, it is utmost im portant that
these skilled hands ge t a platform where
they can find livelihoods for themselves.
This online portal will enable industrial
units in finding suitable manpower and
will help job seekers in finding suitable
jobs.
i. The United Nations General Assembly
(UNGA) on 15 June 2015 elected
Denmark's Mogens Lykketoft as its
President fo r its upcoming 70th session in
September 2015.
ii. He will have tenure of one year and
succeeds Uganda's Sam Kute sa to
preside over the 193-member body.
iii. Lykketoft presently is the speaker of
Danish Parliament since 2011 and is a
member of the Social Democrats party.
iv. Earlier from 1993 to 2001, Lykketoft
served Denmark as its Foreign and
Finance Ministers.
4. LIC Nomura Mutual Fund CEO Nilesh
Sathe appointed member, life at IRDAI

i. The government has appointed Nilesh
Sathe, Chief Executive Officer of LIC
Nomura Mutual Fund Asset Management
Company, as the member-life of
insurance regulato r IRDAI.
ii. The post was lying vacant since the
retirement of S Roy Chowdhury in
February 2014.
iii. Sathe will be joining the Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority
of India (IRDAI) on July 1 and have a
four-year long tenure at the Hyderabad-
headquartered insurance sector
watchdog.
Daily GK Update - 17th June 2015
1. Govt okays 16 FDI proposals worth
Rs. 6,751 cr.
i. The government on Wednesday
approved 16 foreign investment
proposals, including those of Torrent
Pharmaceuticals and Star India Private
Limited, amounting to Rs. 6,750.86 crore.
ii. The proposals were cleared during the
FIPB meeting held on May 28
iii. Broadcaster Star India Private Limited
has been given approval for further
issuance and transfer o f shares to its
foreign collaborator and acquisition of
another Indian company engaged in
broadcasting secto r on a slump sale
basis.
iv. Syngene International has been
allowed to raise foreign investment to 44
per cent from 10 per cent by initial
public offering of equity shares to FIIs,
FPIs and NRIs.
2. Book titled Modi - Incredible
emergence of a s tar in Chinese
language written by Tarun Vijay
i. A book on Prime Minister Narendra
Modi titled Modi Incre dible emergence
of a star written in Chinese language by
Tarun Vijay
ii. The book was published in July 2014
by Sichuan Universitys South Asia Study
Centre.
20
iv. Sathe held various positions in LIC,
which include Executive Director
(marketing) and Senior Divisional
Manager in Mumbai.
5. Indian Railways names Haridwar
Mail as Yoga Express
i. Indian Railways has named Haridw ar
Mail as Yoga Express with an immediate
effect.
ii. In this regard the train No
19031/19032 Ahmedabad-Haridwar-
Ahmedabad famously known as
Haridwar Mail has been christened as
Yoga Express.
iii. This decision was taken by Indian
Railways before celebration of first
International Yoga Day on 21st June
which will be observed as global event.
6. Sunil Chhetri becomes first Indian to
score 50 international goals
i. Prolific striker Sunil Chhetri on Tuesday
became the first Indian footballer to
score 50 international goals during his
iii. The book is a biography based on the
life and economic vision of Narendra
Modi.
3. ASCI launches mobile app to curb
misleading advertisements
i. In a bid to address misleading
advertisements, the Advertising Standard
Council of India (ASCI) launched its
consumer complaint mobile application
ASCIonline, to provide consumer
complaint se rvices on a mobile app
besides providing the facility online.
ii. Talking about the initiative, Narendra
Ambwani, ASCI chairman said, One of
the goals of ASCI is to provide
convenient access for lodging complaint
and hence this launch of mobile app."
iii. Lodge complaints by simply providing
advertisement details and objection.
Users can also attach the files like image
or video or YouTube link of that
advertisement.
iv. Status of complaints and complaint
tracking also m ade sim ple and use r-
friendly.
4. Archana Ramasundaram out of CBI,
appointed Director of NCRB
team's 2018 World Cup qualifying
match against Guam.
ii. Chhetri's feat, though, came in a losing
cause, as India suffered their second
successive defeat in the preliminary joint
qualification second round.
iii. Former captain Bhaichung Bhutia stays
at the second spot with 42 goals in 107
matches while IM Vijayan has 40 goals
from 79 games. This meanwhile, was
Chhetri's 87th match.
iv. For the record, it was Chhetri who
scored India's all the goals in the team 's
four joint preliminary round 2018 World
Cup qualifying games so far.
i. Senior IPS officer Archana
Ramasundaram has been moved out of
the CBI and appointed as Director,
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
ii. Ramasundaram, a 1980 batch Indian
Police Service (IPS) officer of Tamil Nadu
cadre, was appointed as Additional
Director in CBI in February last year
amid controversy.She was not assigned
any work on the direction of the Supreme
Court, which is hearing a writ petition
against her appointment.
iii. The Appointments Committee of
Cabinet (ACC) has approved late ral shift
of Ramasundaram from the post of
Additional Director, CBI to hold Director
General or equivalent level post at the
Centre.
iv. Ramasundaram 's appointment last
year had generated quite a controversy
as the CBI locked horns with Central
Vigilance Commission (CVC) and Home
Ministry over the choice.
5. Charles Correa, face of
contemporary architecture in India
passes away

i.
Indias greatest contemporary architect
Charles Correa passed aw ay in Mumbai
following a brief illness. He was 84.
ii. He was Chief Architect for Navi
Mumbai along with Shirish Patel and
Pravina Mehta from 197075.
iii. He also had served as first Chairman
of the National Commission on
Urbanization and was appointed by then
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985.He
is founder o f Mumbais Urban Design
Research Institute (established in 1984)
dedicated to protect the environment
and improve lives of urban communities.
iv. He had been awarded the Padma
Shri (1972), Padma Vibhushan (2006) by
Government of India. He was also
awarded Royal Gold Medal for
Architecture (1984) by the Royal Institute
of British Architects, 7th Aga Khan Award
Daily GK Update - 18th June 2015
1. Union Cabinet gives nod to
introduction of Bureau of Indian
Standards Bill, 2015
i. Union Cabinet meeting chaired by
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
approved introduction of Bureau of
Indian Standards Bill, 2015 in coming
session of Parliament.
ii. The Bureau will perform its functions
through a Governing Council consisting of
President and other members.
iii. Mandatory certification regime:
Empower government to bring
mandato ry certification regime for
article s, processes or services which it
considers necessary.
iv. Simplified conformity asse ssment
schemes: In order to allow ease of doing
business, the bill allows multiple types of
simplified assessment schemes. It includes
Self Declaration of Conformity (SDOC)
against any standard which will give
multiple simplified options to
manufacturers.
v. Mandato ry hallmarking: provisions
related to compulsory hallmarking of
precious metal articles. S trengthening
penal provisions: It will help for better
and effective compliance of law and
21
for Architecture (1998), Praemium
Imperiale of Japan.
6. Election Commission suspends
recognition of PA Sangma-led National
Peoples Party
i. Election Commission of India (ECI) has
suspended recognition of the PA
Sangma-led National Peoples Party
(NPP) which was a recognized state
party in Meghalaya.
ii. The recognition of NPP was suspended
under para 16A of the Election Symbols
(Reservation and Allotment) Orde r, 1968
afte r the party failed to file the election
expenditure statement incurred in 2014
Lok Sabha elections.
iii. At present NPP has one Lok Sabha
member- PA Sangma from Tura
constituency from Meghalaya. It also has
4 members in Rajasthan Legislative
assembly and 2 in Me ghalaya
Legislative assembly.
7. BSNL to set up 40,000 wi-fi hot spots
India
i. State owned telecommunications giant
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)
has announced to set up 40,000
enable compounding of offences for
violations.
2. Odisha State Co-op Bank launches
Bank on Wheels
i. Intervening directly the Odisha State
Co-operative Bank is going to launch the
Bank on Wheels to help farmers get
loans on their doorstep. Twenty vans with
ATM facility will move around 20 remote
and tribal pockets in Keonjhar, Koraput,
Kalahandi, Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh and
Sambalpur districts for the purpose.
ii. The Centre has provided Rs 6 cro re, at
the rate of Rs 30 lakh for each vehicle, to
agriculture department for the scheme
under Rashtriya Krishi Bikas Yojana.
iii. Anyone can withdraw money from the
mobile ATMs though the scheme is meant
for farmers
3. Union Cabinet approves Solar Power
capacity target to 1 lakh MW under
JNNSM by 2022
i. Union Cabinet approved increasing
Indias solar power capacity target
under the Jawaharlal Nehru National
Solar Mission (JNNSM) to 1 Lakh Mega
Watt (MW) by 2022.
Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) hot spots acro ss
the country.
ii. This project will come in lines with new
digital architecture which is part o f Union
Governments flagship Digital India
Programme. The 40,000 wi-fi hot spo ts
project will be entailed with an
investment of about 6,000 crore rupees.
The project is likely to be completed by
2018.
iii. It was announced by Union Minister of
Communications & IT Ravi Shankar
Prasad after launching the Wi-Fi facility
at Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.
iv. BSNL has installed the Wi-Fi facility at
the premises of Taj Mahal as part o f the
Union Governments plan to provide free
internet services at major tourist places
across country.
ii. 1 Lakh Mega Watt (MW) target
principally will comprise of 40,000 MW
from Rooftop and 60,000 MW through
Large and Medium Scale Grid
Connected Solar Power Projects.
iii. After meeting this ambitious target,
India will become one of the largest
Green Energy producers in the world by
surpassing several developed countries.
iv. These projects will help in generation
of additional 2000 MW capacity of
Grid-connected solar power projects and
create employment of about 12,000
people in rural and urban areas. It will
also help to reduce about 3.41 Million
Tonnes (MT) of carbon emissions into the
open environment every year.
4. Union Government decided to
increase number of work days under
MGNREGA in drought hit areas
i. The Union Government on 17 June
2015 decided to increase the number of
workdays under Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (MGNREGA) from 100 days to 150
days in drought-affected areas o f the
country.
ii. The decision to increase the wage
days in drought-affected areas was
taken as Government is expecting an
increase in demand for wage-based
employment due to drought affecting
regular agricultural activities in some
places.
iii. Earlier in February 2014, previous
government led by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, the number of
workdays under MNREGA w as increased
from 100 days to 150 days for tribal
areas who have received land rights
under the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
5. CEA-led committee to suggest GST
rates, report likely in two months
i. A committee headed by the Chief
Economic Adviser (CEA) will recommend
the possible rate s of Goods & Services
Tax (GST), slated to be introduced from
April 1 next year.
ii. The setting up of two committees to
facilitate implementation of the new
indirect tax regime. The other will be a
Steering Committee under the co-
chairmanship of the Additional Secre tary
in the Revenue Department and Member
Secretary, Empowered Committee of
State Finance Ministers.
SBI launches online forex platform
i)State Bank of India (SBI), the countrys
largest bank, has launched SBI eforex,
an Internet-based platform that enables
customers to book their foreign exchange
transactions online.
ii) This smart platform facilitates the
customers of the bank to obtain forex
rate s without having to physically visit the
branch.
iii) SBI eforex is an innovative platform
incorporating robust security features
and is designed to be user-friendly, fast
and convenient. It is a highly flexible
product offering the facility to the
customers to customise and set their own
limits for deal size, daily transaction
limits etc. Details of all deals done are
made available to the users on a real-
time basis.
iv) Under the forex segment, SBI had
recently launched 'Fx Out' which enables
22
iii. The CEA-led committee will
recommend possible tax rates under GST
that would be consistent with the present
level of revenue collection of the Centre
and States.
iv. While making recommendations, this
Committee would take into account
expected levels of growth of economy,
different levels of compliance and
broadening of tax base under GST. The
Committee would also analyse the
sector-wise and State-wise impact of
GST on the economy.
6. Op DOGA to secure Yoga Day
event
i. Foolproof security arrangements made
at the venue of the International Yoga
Day event on Rajpath this weekend have
been dubbed Operation DOGA a
combination of the words, dog and Yoga
- in line with the magnitude of the
deployment of security dogs for the
purpose.
ii. As the venue around India Gate-
Rajpath will be visited by close to
40,000 people, including Prime Minister
Narendra Modi this Sunday, its
Daily GK update: 19 June 2015
sending of foreign currency remittances
from any its branches in India.
Gandhi medals to mark his 33 years of
freedom s truggle
i) Now among the various Gandhi
souvenirs and memorabilia that has been
sold and collected for over the past half
a century, will be added a set of limited-
edition medallions highlighting milestones
in his 33 years (1914-1947) of freedom
struggle.
ii) Alok Goyal, a Kolkata-based
numismatic dealer, has created a series
of medals on Father of the Nation. So
far, he has marketed five such medals
beginning with Gandhis return to India
from South Africa in 1914.
iii) The sixth in the series to will hit the
market on June 20 to commemorate 75
peripheries and core areas have
already been handed over for security
checks to an undisclosed number of
canine troops.
iii. The ITBP, nominated as the national
centre for excellence for sniffer and
police dogs training, has put on job a
special breed of Belgian Shepherd,
Malinois, who gained prominence across
the world after they reportedly
participated in the strike of the U.S.
Navy SEAL commandos on Al-Qaida
chief Osama Bin Laden.
7. Beno Zephine becomes first 100%
blind officer in IFS
i. The 25-year-old from Chennai w as
informed by the external affairs ministry
on Friday that she has been inducted into
the Indian Foreign Service, the first 100
per cent visually-challenged pe rson to
gain entry into the 69-year-old se rvice.
ii. Former diplomats have hailed the
decision to allow 100 per cent visually
challenged people into the service.
iii. She was working as a probationary
officer for state bank of India.
years of Netaji's last meeting with
Gandhiji before leaving India in early
1941. Each of the series will have just
500 medals and are being sold at Rs.
1,000 a piece.The next two in the series
would be on Gandhi-led civil
disobedience movement and the
movement against untouchablility.
iv)Goyal-designed Gandhi medals were
being manufactured a private German
mint. He earlier had marketed
commemorative coins with divine icon of
Lord Venkate swara, in association with a
Lichenstein company Coin Invest Trust and
under a license from the Republic of
Palau.
China and Australia formally sign free
trade agreement
i)China and Australia have signed a
trade agreement that is set to increase
market access for Australian beef and
wine exporters while boosting Chinese
carmakers and electronics producers who
wish to sell their goods to Australians.
ii) One flashpoint is the inclusion of an
investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)
clause, which grants fo reign companies
the right to sue governments for
breaching commitments in such
agreements.
The Australian union movement has also
raised concerns about the acce ss to be
granted to Chinese citizens under labour
market provisions.
iii) The Australian prime minister, Tony
Abbott, said the agreement would give
each nation unprecedented access to
each others m arkets and pointed to the
reduction in tariffs imposed on trade.
It removes barriers to Australian
agricultural exports across a range of
products, including beef, dairy, lamb,
wine, horticulture and seafood,
India offers Tanzania expertise in
natural gas sector
i) India on Friday offered its expertise to
Tanzania in development of its
potentially rich natural gas sector and
decided to extend e-tourist visa to
people of the African nation even as the
two countries signed eight MoUs to
expand engagements in diverse
areas.During extensive talks P rime
Minister Narendra Modi had with
Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho
Kikwete, both the countries also decided
to establish a Joint Working Group to
strengthen cooperation in counter
terrorism.
ii)The MoUs signed included a loan
agreement between Exim Bank and
Tanzanian government on a line of credit
for $ 268.35 million for extension of a
pipeline project and cooperation in the
field of hydrology, tourism and
agriculture.India is the largest trading
partner of Tanzania in Africa with
bilateral trade in 2013-14 being more
than $4 billion.
Union Government launched weather
alert service NO WCAST
Daily GK Update -20 June 2015
Sushma Swaraj leaves for New York
for International Yoga Day event
23
i) Union Agriculture Minister Radha
Mohan Singh launched a weather alert
service named NOWCAST.NOWCAST
will be used to send SMS alerts on
extreme weather data like hailstorm,
thunderstorm and squall originated by
India Meteorological Department (IMD)
to over one crore farmers whose mobile
numbers are registered on governments
mKisan portal.Further, the mKisan portal
will send warning SMS s to farmers
located in affected district/blocks. These
warnings will help the farmers to take
precautionary measures as needed and
feasible.
ii)The SMS will be sent in English, Hindi
and regional languages as per farmers
request.This technological break-through
is a collaborative effort be tween mKisan
Portal developed by DAC, weather
technologies adopted by IMD and GIS
Portal of NIC.
iii)Radha Mohan Singh also launched
Insurance Web-Portals for Farmers
(www.farmer.gov.in/insurance) that will
enable farmers to insure their crops
under three schemes.
iv)Prevailing provisions under which
farmers can insure their crops are
National Agriculture Insurance Scheme
(NAIS)
Modified National Insurance Scheme
(MNAIS)
Weather based Crop Insurance Scheme
(WBCIS)
Besides, Coconut Palm Insurance Scheme
(CPIS) also is applicable in some parts of
the country.
Aakar Patel appointed as Executive
Director of Amnesty International India
i) Journalist and writer Aakar Patel
appointed as Executive Director of
Amnesty International (AI) India. He will
head AI Indias operations and its efforts
to end human rights abuses in India and
worldwide.Patel as the organizations
chief political advisor, strategist and
spokesperson will give direction to its
goal of being an independent, effective,
and deep-rooted organization in India.
ii) Patels previous work includes
India: Low Trust Society (2015)
Rights and Wrongs, a repo rt on the
2002 Gujarat riots which he co-authored
Worked as a columnist with
publications in India and Pakistan
Television and radio work as an
independent expert
India set for World Yoga Day on 21
June 2015.
i) International day of yoga is also called
as the world yoga day. United N ations
General Assembly has declared 21st of
June as an International Yoga Day on
11th o f December in 2014.Launching a
particular date of practicing yoga all
across the world and celebrating as
yoga day was initiate d by the Indian
Prime Minister to the United Nations
General Assembly.
ii) Official name of this day is UN
International Yoga Day and also called
as Yoga Day. It is a worldwide event
celebrated by the people of all countries
through practicing yoga, meditation,
debates, meetings, discussions, varie ty of
cultural perform ances, etc.World Yoga
Day or International Day of Yoga would
be celebrated by the people throughout
the world first time on 21st of June in
2015, at Sunday.
iii) In a country-wide campaign, the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is
organising yoga sessions for India Inc on
Sunday (June 21), the International Day
of Yoga. Thousands of representatives of
industry, including CEOs, employees and
family members, are rolling out their
yoga mats to participate in the event.

i)External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
today left for New York where she is
going to participate in the International
Yoga Day event being organised by the
Indian Mission at the United Nations.
ii)She will represent India next week in
Nepal at a global donors' conference
aimed at raising funds for the
earthquake-hit country(Nominated by PM
Shri Narendra Modi).
Haryana launches Village Mentoring
Project(VMP) to uplift villagers.
i)The Haryana Government today
launched a Village Mentoring Project
(VMP) to improve healthcare and
education of the villagers with a special
emphasis on girl child.
ii) The project would create awareness
among the villagers about various issues
including educating girl child, health,
financial matters etc
China launched worlds first electric
passenger aircraft BX1E.
i)China launched the worlds first electric
passenger aircraft named BX1E that
could be used in pilot training, tourism,
meteorology and rescue operations.
ii)The aircraft was designed together by
Shenyang Aerospace University and
Liaoning General Aviation Academy
located in the northeastern Liaoning
Province of China.
Serbia edge Brazil in final to clinch Fifa
U-20 World Cup title.
24
i) Serbia pulled off a historic 2-1 win in
extra time to beat heavily favoured
Brazil in the final of the Fifa Under-20
World Cup in Auckland on Saturday.
ii) Serbia, playing in the FIFA U-20
World Cup for the first time as an
independent nation, will leave as its
champions.Auckland's North Harbour
Stadium. Nemanja Maksimovic's decisive,
118th-minute goal se ttled the final 2-1 in
favour of the delirious Serbians, and left
five-time champions Brazil to settle for
silver.
Brightest Galaxy in Early Universe
named after Cristiano Ronaldo as CR7
i)Scientists in third week of June 2015
named a newly discovered galaxy after
Portuguese football player Cristiano
Ronaldo. The galaxy was labeled as
CR7 (COSMOS Redshift 7).
ii)CR7 is three times brighter than the
brightest distant galaxy known till now,
called Himiko. This brightest galaxy was
discovered in the early universe that
contains the first generation of stars. For
this discovery, they used ESOs Very
Large Telescope (VLT).
PM to launch 3 flagship schemes for
urban revamp on June 25.
i) The three big ticket projects Smart
Cities Mission, Atal Mission for
Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT) and the
Housing for All, now named as
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY),
are worth Rs. four lakh crore.
ii)It marks a red-letter day in the history
of urban development in the country with
the simultaneous launch of AMRUT, PMAY
and Smart Cities Mission.
iii) The Prime Minister will also release
operational guidelines for the three
urban missions beside s unveiling logos
and tag lines, according to a senior
Urban Development Ministry official.
Nikesh Arora appointed SoftBank
President
i)India-born former Google executive
Nikesh Arora has been appointed the
President of Japans telecommunications
giant SoftBank Corp that paid the rising
star a whopping US$135 million fo r the
financial year 2014.
ii)Arora, 47, who earlier held the vice
presidents post, was appointed
company president and chief operating
officer at a general meeting of
shareholders here yesterday.
India Unlimited to boost synergies
between Indian and Swedish
entrepreneurs.
i)India Unlimited - a platform for
connecting India and Sweden in every
field where both stand to gain.
ii)Seeking synergies between Swedish
and Indian entrepreneurship, Indian
mission in Sweden has launched India
Unlimited platform.
iii)The aim of the platform India
Unlimited is promoting Brand India in
Sweden and Brand Sweden in India.
State Government initiative to make
Arunachal an organic state.
i) In a bid to make Arunachal Pradesh a
hundred per cent organic state, the State
government decided to launch State Soil
Health Mission.The programme aims at
proper documentation of soil health and
preparation of soil map.
ii)Arunachal Pradesh government which is
among the top five states for devolution
of powers to Panchayati Raj, has
initiated steps to strengthen the urban
local self-governance to enhance
revenue base of urban local bodies.
 Daily GK Update - 21st and 22nd June 2015
1. India sets two Guinness world records on
International Yoga Day
i. India has set two Guinness world records
(GWR) in Rajpath yoga event held on the eve
of first International Yoga Day led by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
ii. First record is the largest number of
participants- 35,985 people had
participated in largest yoga demonstration at
a single venue i.e. Rajpath yoga event.
iii. Second is the most number of nationalities
at a single event People of 84 nationalities
performed yoga at one place.
iv. The awards were received by Union
AYUSH Minister Shripad Yesso Naik from
representatives of Guinness World Records.
v. In this event all participants of all ages had
performed various yoga exercises on the
entire two-km stretch from Rafi Marg crossing
near Vijay Chowk to India Gate. This mass
yoga event has broken previous world record
on mass yoga exercise which was set by
29,973 students from 362 schools on
November 19, 2005 led by Vivekananda
Kendra at Jiwaji University Gwalior.
2. Vocalist Sanjay S ubrahmanyam selected
for Sangita Kalanidhi award 2015
i. One of the foremost south Indian classical
vocalists, Sanjay Subrahmanyam has been
selected for the Sangita Kalanidhi award
2015. It will be bestowed upon him when he
will preside over the 89th annual conference
of the Academy which will be held between
December 15, 2015 and January 1, 2016.
ii. With this, he is seventh artistes to be
conferred with the award before completing
50 years of age. Others are Ariyakudi
Ramanuja Iyengar, Maharaj apuram
Viswanatha Iyer, Musiri Subramani a Iyer,
G.N. Balasubramaniam, Semmangudi R.
Srinivasa Iyer, M.L. Vasanthakumari and M.
Balamuralikrishna
25
iii. Sangita Kal anidhi is a prestigious award
bestowed annually upon an expert of
Carnatic Music by the Madras Music
Academy. The awards name has been
derived from Sanskrit which means treasure
of Music and art in English. This honour is
considered one of the highest awards in
Carnatic music.
3. International Yoga Day: Stamps, coins
and commerce
i. The government of India has released
stamp s and coins of the denomination of
Rs.10 and Rs.100 on International Yoga Day
(IYD) on June 21.
ii.The Department of Posts is bringing out
stamp and the finance ministry coins.
iii. Also, on IYD, the Discovery Channel has
telecasted a short film 'The Story of Yoga' to
take viewers through a journey of
rediscovering the Indian ancient practice.
4. HAL delivers Orbiter Craft Module
Structure of Chandrayaan- 2 to ISRO
i. HAL has delivered Orbiter Craft Module
Structure of Chandrayaan-2 to ISRO Satellite
Centre (ISAC).
ii. The Orbiter Craft Module structure is a 3
tonne category bus structure made out of a
central composite cylinder, shear webs and
deck panels
iii. The Chandrayaan-2 mission is aimed at
placing an Orbiter around the moon and
sending a Lander and Rover to the surface of
the moon. It will be launched by a Geo-
Stationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-
MKII).
iv. HAL has partnered and supported ISRO
throughout its journey by providing hardware
for satellites, SLV, ASLV, PSLV, GSLVMKII and
GSLV MKIII (LVM3).
5. National vendor development
programme in Bengaluru
i. Peenya Industrial Assocation (PIA) will hold
PIA: Expo 2015 - National Vendor
Development Programme at Bengaluru from
June 25-27.
ii. Peenya Industrial Complex is one of the
biggest industrial complexes housing about
8,500 MSMEs and spread over an area of
45 sq. km. It is surrounded by a dozen
peripheral industrial estates, employing about
8.5 lakh people, out of which about four lakh
are women employees.
iii. This years PIA Expo:2015 is being held
held at Dr Prabhakar Kore Convention
Center, Yeshwanthpur, Bengaluru.
6. Overnight Liquid Transaction facility on
NSEs Web-based Mutual Fund platform
began f unctioning
i. National Stock Exchange (NSE) on 22 June
2015 operationalised the Overnight Liquid
Transaction facility on its web-based Mutual
Fund Service System (MFSS) platform. The
platform was l aunched on 19 June 2015.
ii. The facility allows the participants to place
purchase and redemption orders
simultaneously in liquid schemes. This facility
will only be available on MFSS Web based
platform and in Physical mode only.
iii. Earlier in May 2015, a similar product was
introduced by Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
which has so far seen daily transactions of
worth 400-500 crore rupees.
7. Federer Wins Weber Title for Eighth Time
i. Roger Federer showed he was ready for
Wimbledon by defeating Andreas Seppi of
Italy, 7-6 (1), 6-4, on Sunday in Halle,
Germany, to claim his record-setting eighth
Gerry Weber Open title.
ii. It was Federers fourth title of the season,
after wins at Brisbane, Dub ai and Istanbul,
and a timely boost for Wimbledon eight days
before the tournament begins.
iii. Andy Murray claimed his 34th career title
and third title of the season with a 6-3, 6-4
victory over unseeded Kevin Anderson in the
final of the grass-court Queens Club
tournament in London. Murray joined John
McEnroe, Boris Becker, Andy Roddick and
Lleyton Hewitt as four-time winners of the
event.
8. Nico Rossberg of Mercedes wins
Austrian Grand Prix of F1

i. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg from
Germany has won the Austrian Grand Prix
Formula One (F1) World Championship title.
It is Rosbergs eleventh overall championship
title and the third win in the 2015 season.
Daily GK Update - 23rd June 2015
1. Maharashtra topped the list of States and
UTs in IPR filing in 2013-14: IBEF report
i. India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) in the
third week of June 2015 released a report
on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) filing in
India during 2013-14.
ii. While Maharashtra topped the list of
states and Union Territories (UTs), Bengaluru
was the top city in IPR filing.
iii. Indian Institute of Science (IISc),
Siddaganga Institute of Technology,
Tumakuru and Indian Sp ace Research
Organisation (ISRO) figured in the top 10
scientific bodies and institutions with 32, 24
and 12 filings respectively.
iv. India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), is a
trust established by the Department of
Commerce, Union Ministry of Commerce and
Industry.
2. SoftBank Corp, Bharti Enterprises Limited
and Foxconn formed a JV named SBG
Cleantech Ltd
i. Japan headquartered telecommunications
and Internet major SoftBank Corp, Bharti
Enterprises Limited and Taiwan-based
Foxconn Technology Group on 22 June 2015
formed a Joint Venture (JV) named SBG
Cleantech Limited. This JV is aimed at
promoting the adoption of clean and safe
energy in India.
ii. SBG Cleantech will be a harbinger of solar
and wind energy. The venture will invest in
developing renewable energy plants across
India. SBG Cleantech will be committed to
contribute to Union Government's mission of
24x7 power for all and achieving 100GW
solar and 60GW wind target by 2022.
iii. SBG Cleantech will have Manoj Kohli, a
Bharti Enterprises Limited veteran, as its
executive chairman and Raman Nanda will
be the Chief Executive Officer of the
company. The company will be
headquartered in Delhi.
26
ii. First was the Spanish Formula 1 World
Championship title won on May 10, 2015
and second was Monaco Grand Prix on May
24, 2015. Nico Rosberg had also won the
Austrian Grand Prix of 2014 season which
was maiden win for Mercedes on this track.
iii. Lewis Hamiltion (Mercedes) from United
Kingdom was placed at the second position.
Felipe Massa (Williams) from Brazil was
placed at the third position. Sebastian Vettel
(Ferrari) from Germany stood at the fourth
position.
9. Former Indian women hockey captain
Shashi Bala passes away
i. Former Indian women hockey team c aptain
Shashi Bala passed away on 21 June 2015.
Shashi was killed in a car accident along with
her son in Kahma village of Punjab. ii. She
3. Rajasthan topped the list of States
commissioning grid connected Solar Power
projects
i. Rajasthan topped the list of states
commissioning grid connected solar power
projects in the country with an installed
capacity of 1147 megawatt. The list was
released by the Union ministry of New and
Renewable Energy on 4 June 2015.
ii. Gujarat, which remained the undisputed
leader in solar energy generation till 2014,
came second with an installed capacity of
1000MW.
iii. The state has also si gned MoUs with power
developers like SunEdison, Adani Enterprises,
Reliance Power and Azure Power that will
generate 14000 MW solar power. National
Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is
already in the process of commissioning 680
MW in the state.
4. Sister Nirmala Joshi, successor of Mother
Teresa passes away
i. Sister Nirmala Joshi, former Superior
General of Missionaries of Charity passed
away in Kolkata after brief illness at the age
of 81.
ii. She had taken over as Superior General in
March 1997 after the death of Mother
Teresa.
iii. Sister Nirmala was elected as Superior
General of the Missionaries of Charity six
months before Mother Teresas death
(September 5, 1997).
was a former hockey player and had made
international debut in 1987.
iii. She had captained Indian hockey team for
women in Women Hockey World Cup
Qualifier held in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1997.
She was also team member of the Indian
hockey team for women in 1998 World Cup
played at Netherlands.
iv. She was bestowed with the Padma
Vibhushan, Indias second highest civilian
award in 2009 for her services to the nation.
5. Kerala Government declares June 22 as
Snake Bird Day
i. Kerala Government has declared June 22
as Snake Bird Day in a bid to protect the
endangered species which is also known as
Indian darter. The formal announcement was
made by State minister for forest
Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan at a function
organised by Snake Bird Foundation in
Thiruvananthapuram.
ii. It is water bird which is also known as
Indian darter (Anhinga melanogaster). It has
large slender long-necked water bird and is
mostly black with silver wing markings.
iii. As per IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species, Snake Bird is classified as Near
Threatened species. Threat: Its population is
moderately declining owing anthropogenic
reasons like pollution, drainage, hunting and
the collection of eggs and nestlings.
iv. It inhabits in shallow inland wetlands
including rivers, lakes, swamps and reservoirs.
In case of India there are over 1500 snake
birds in which majority are found in Kerala.
These species usually nests atop tall trees
near wetl ands.
6. Maharashtra declares Blue Mormon as
State butterfly
i. Maharashtra has officially declared Blue
Mormon species as State butterfly as p art of
state symbols. Decision in this regard was
taken in State Wildlife Board meeting
presided by Chief Minister Devendra
Fadnavis in Mumb ai.
ii. With this, Maharashtra became the first
State in the country to have a State butterfly.
iii. Blue Mormon (Papilio polymnestor) is the
second largest butterfly species in terms of
size, after the southern birdwing (Troides
minos).
iv. Blue Mormon has black, velvet wings with
bright blue spots. The lower ends of its wings
are black. Its body has some red spots on one
side. Distribution: It is only found (endemic to)
in Sri Lanka, Western Ghats of Maharashtra,
South India and coastal belts of the country.
Daily GK Update - 24th June 2015
1. India emerges as third largest FDI source
for United Kingdom
i. India has emerged as the third largest
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) source for
United Kingdom (UK) in 2014-15.
ii. It was revealed in recently released report
Inward Investment Report 2014-15 of UK
Trade and Industry (UKTI). This FDI source was
based in terms of number of projects i.e.
source of inward investment.
iii. US has remained the largest source of
inward investment for UK with a total of 564
projects in 2014-15 and was followed by
France (124 projects) and India (122
projects).
iv. During the year 2014-15, the FDI from
India increased by 65 per cent and has
resulted in creation of 7,730 jobs as well as
protection of 1,620 jobs in UK. Sector wise
Indian companies had invested in healthcare,
agriculture-technology, food and drink.
2. SEBI simplifies IPO norms
i. To help investors and companies in IPOs,
SEBI today halved the listing time to six days
from the date of the public offer and also
allowed a larger number of firms to tap the
fasttrack route for raising funds.
ii. Currently, the companies are required to
list their shares on the stock exchanges within
12 days of the last date of the IPO (Initial
Public Offer) process, thus keeping the funds
locked in for a longer period of time.
iii. The shorter time period, which would come
into effect from January 1, 2016, would also
help reduce the costs associated with the
public offering, SEBI Chairman U K Sinha said
after a meeting of the regul ators board.
3. India ranked 143rd in Global Peace
Index, wasted $340 billion due to violence
27
i. The research firm based in Australia has
ranked India as the 143rd out of the 162
nations listed in the Global Peace Index.
ii. The economic impact of containing and
dealing with the consequences of Indias
levels of violence was estimated to cost the
national economy $341.7 billion in 2014.
iii. The peace index also indicated that since
the last eight years India has f allen 6% in the
ranking due to the deteriorations in
indicators measuring deaths from external
conflict, political terror and perceptions of
criminality.
4. Five banks to lead NTPCs debut masala
bond offering
i. Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC
and SBI Capital Markets are being tipped to
lead NTPCs debut issuance of offshore
rupee-linked bonds.
ii. The five lenders also led NTPCs US dollar
offering last November, when it raised $500
million through a 10-year Reg S-only bond
priced to yield 205bp over Treasuries.
iii. NTPC, the countrys largest power
company, is among a handful of Indian
companies waiting to raise funds through this
new market once the Reserve Bank of India
finalises guidelines on such issues.
iv.The offshore notes, also called masala
bonds, will be issued under Indias external
commercial borrowing guidelines.
5. EPFO makes UAN mandatory for all
employers under its pur view
sanction to sign an agreement with Graf to
i)Employee Provident Fund Organisation
(EPFO) has notified an order to make
Universal Account Number (UAN) mandatory
for all its employers. It will be mandatory for
all employers covered under the Employees
Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions
Act, 1952.
ii)The UAN facility was launched by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi in October 2014. It
is portable throughout the lifetime of an
employee and removes the need for
employees to apply for PF transfer claims
while changing jobs
iii) EPFO is a statutory body of Union
Government under the aegis of Ministry of
Labour and Employment.its headquarter
Headquarters New Delhi.
6. Union Government launches Bhuvan
Ganga Mobile App to aid Clean Ganga
Mission
i)Union Government has launched Bhuvan
Ganga Mobile Application and Web Portal
to aid flagship mission to Clean Ganga.
ii) The app and webportal was launched by
Union Minister of Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma
Bharti in New Delhi.
iii)Bhuvan Ganga application: It will facilitate
public to upload pictures of pollution sources
of the Ganga River for further action by the
authorities concerned. It will also serve
platform for people to monitor pollution in
river Ganga and enable decision makers to
prioritize interventions.
iv) Bhuvan Ganga Portal: It is deployed as
part of Indian Space Research Organisations
(ISROs) Bhuvans geoportal with all
geospatial layers related to Ganga River. It
will be used as a tool to support decision
making and planning for the Clean Ganga
Mission.
7. Steffi Graf appointed Kerala's brand
ambassador for Ayurveda
i)Tennis legend Steffi Graf was on
Wednesday appointed the Ayurveda brand
ambassador of Kerala.
ii) The Kerala tourism department was given
become Ayurveda brand ambassador as
part of the department's 'Visit Kerala
Scheme', Chandy said.
iii) The tourism department had already held
discussions and reached an agreement with
the German former World number one tennis
player, who had bagged 22 Grand slam
single titles.
iv) Kerala's Ayurveda, an ancient system of
health care which is famous for its holistic
effect on body and mind, attracts a large
number of people from the country and
abroad every year.
 Daily GK Update - 25th June 2015
1. PM Narendra Modi launches Smart Cities
Mission, says Centre committed to urban
India
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday
unveiled three mega flagship schemes aimed
at developing cities and towns as "new
engines for growth".
ii. The three projects -- 100 smart cities, Atal
Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban
Transformation (AMRUT) and Housing for All -
will ring in a new urban era, which will entail
an investment of over Rs 3 lakh crore in the
next five years.
iii. The Smart City project seeks to enhance
quality of life in 100 selected cities with 24
hour water and power supply, world class
transportation system, better education and
recreational facilities, e-governance and
environment-friendly atmosphere, among
others. The Smart City project will be based
on PPP model, Naidu said.
iv. AMRUT seeks to ensure basic infrastructure
for 500 cities with a population of above one
lakh. Ensuring water supply to each
household, sewer connections, sanitation and
solid waste management, provision for roads
and public transportation beside
implementation of reforms in urban
governance would be the focus under the
scheme.
2. 11 Indian companies in Forbes Asia's
'Best Under A Billion' list
i) As many as 11 Indian companies including
Avanti Feeds LtdBSE 0.37 % and Borosil
Glass WorksBSE 0.11 % are ranked among
top 200 Asia Pacific corporations in Forbes
Asia's 'Best Under A Billion' list.
ii) The list covers public companies with annual
revenue of $5 million to $1 billion, Forbes
said, adding that they should also have
positive net income and should be publicly
traded for at least a year.
iii) Companies from mainland China & Hong
Kong (84) as well as Taiwan (36) dominated
this year's list accounting for 60 per cent of
the top 200 publicly-traded companies in the
Asia Pacific region.
iv) With 11 companies, India was ranked
fourth on the list after South Korea which has
17 firms in the coveted list.
3. State Bank of India appoints Anshula
Kant as CFO
28
i) State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday
announced the appointment of Anshula K ant
as its chief financial officer (CFO). Kant has
been designated as the deputy managing
director and CFO of the bank, SBI said in a
filing on BSE.
ii) She joined SBI as a probationary officer in
1983 worked under various departments of
the bank. Prior to her appointment, P.K.
Gupta was the CFO.Gupta moved to SBI
Capital as chief executive officer.
iii) Kant has been designated as the deputy
managing director and CFO of State Bank of
India.
4. India leads FDI in South Asia with 34
billion investment in 2014
i)ndia leads regional inflow of Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) in South Asia accounting for
$34 billion investment during 2014 and the
upward trend is likely to continue this year
also, according to a UN report which placed
China as the world's largest FDI recipient.
ii) "FDI inflows to the country (India) surged
by 22% to about $34 billion" improving its
position to 9th top host country for FDI in
2014, over its rank of 15th in 2013, the
UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2015
says.
iii) India is likely to maintain an upward trend
in 2015 as economy recovery gains ground.
5. Union Cabinet gives nod to rename SECI
as Renewable Energy Corporation of India
i) Union Cabinet has given nod to rename
Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) as
the Renewable Energy Corporation of India
(RECI).
ii) Apart from this decision, Union Cabinet
also gave approval to SECI to convert into
Section 3 Company by applying to the
Registrar of Companies (ROC) from a Section
8 Company under the Companies Act, 2013.
This decision will help SECI or renamed entity
RECI.
iii) SECI is a not-for-profit company under
Section-25 of the Companies Act 1956. it
was Established in 2011 as a facilitation and
implementation institution dedicated to Solar
Energy sector. Operates under: the aegis of
Union Ministry of New and Renewable
Energy,its Objective is to develop Solar
Technologies and ensuring inclusive solar
power development throughout India.
6. Zaheer Abbas appointed as ICC
President
i) Former Pakistan cricket team captain
Zaheer Abbas has been selected the new
President of International Cricket Council
(ICC) for one year term.
ii) He will be 13th President of ICC and
succeeds Mustafa Kamal of Bangladesh who
had resigned from the post of ICC President
in April 2015.
iii) Decision in this regard was taken during
the ICC Annual Conference week in
Barbados. Zaheer Abbas was a right-handed
batsman. He had played 78 Tests and 62
One-Day Internationals (ODIs) in his 22-year
long illustrious career spanning from 1969 to
1985. He had scored 5,062 runs in Test
career and 2,572 runs in ODI career. He also
had represented Pakistan in three World
Cups in 1975, 1979 and 1983. He also
captained Pakistan in 14 Tests and 13 ODIs
matches. In his career, he had scored 108
centuries.
iv) He was the only Asi an batsman to score
100 first-class centuries and was also first
batsman to score three consecutive centuries
in ODIs.
7. Axis Bank launches de bit car d with
enhanced security features
i)
Axis BankBSE -0.11 % has launched a debit
card equipped with improved security
features, aimed at attracting more customers
towards cashless transactions, which would
also help bringing down the bank's
operational cost.
ii) The card christened as Secure+ offers
three key features, which come at a cost of Rs
300 a year."This product should become the
primary debit card for the bank to offer.
iii) While you can deactivate or re-activate
card with the touch of a button on Axis Bank
Daily GK Update - 26th June 2015
1. RBI extends deadline for exchanging
pre-2005 currency notes till December
2015
i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
extended the date to exchange pre-
2005 bank notes till December 31, 2015
for third time.
ii. RBI had set the last date for public to
exchange these notes as June 30, 2015.
RBI has urged people to deposit the old
design notes in the bank accounts or
exchange them at a bank branch.
iii. pre-2005 notes have fewer security
features as compared to 2005 and post-
2005 currency notes. It will also remove
fake currency notes in circulation which
were being pumped in Indian economy
were copies of pre-2005 notes.
iv. The spillover effect of the RBIs
decision will be to flush out black money.
Money has value only as long as it is a
medium of exchange and store of value.
v. A disincentive for cash hoarders
With the RBIs announcement, currency
hoarders will be left with no option but to
liquidate their unaccounted holdings by
spending or exchanging them.
29
mobile app, you can also block Axis Bank or
other bank cards kept in a wallet, which is
lost.
iv) Customers can now block all the cards in
her/his wallet with a single phone call. You
can either intimate Axis Bank about other
card details in advance or can do the same
after your wallet is lost.The card also offers
fraud protection subject to a maximum limit of
Rs 75,000.
8. Inderjeet Singh, Jinson Johnson won
gold at Asian Athletics Grand Prix
i) Inderjit Singh and Jinson Johnson of India on
23 June 2015 bagged gold at the first leg of
the Asi an Athletics Grand Prix in Bangkok,
Thailand.
ii) Inderjit won the gold in Shot Put by
throwing 19.83 meters while Johnson won the
gold in 800 meter event with a time of
1:48.52.
iii) This was Inderjeet's second gold in an
international event in June 2015, having won
the shot put event at the Asian Championships
in Wuhan, China on 3 June 2015.In the first
leg, India won a total of eight medals which
included 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 5 Bronze
medals.
9. R Ashwin breaks into top 10 of ODI
bowlers rankings
i) Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has
jumped two places to the 10th position in the
ICC bowlers rankings issued today.
2. Exim Bank lends $268 million to
Tanzania to extend water pipeline
i. Export-Import (Exim) Bank has
extended a line of credit of $268.35
million to Tanzania for financing
extension of Lake Victoria pipeline.
ii. With this agreement, Exim Bank has
now in place 198 LOCs, covering 63
countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America,
Europe, Oceania and the CIS, with cre dit
commitments of over $12.10 billion,
available for financing exports from
India.
iii. Till date, the bank has sanctioned an
aggregate amount of $2.33 billion for
19 projects valued $3.75 billion under
the BC-NEIA.
3. India, US ink pacts to enhance
cooperation in health sector
i. India and United States have signed a
series of agreements on health in order
to enhance cooperation in health sector.
The multiple areas covered under such
ii) Ashwin, who bagged six wickets in the
three ODIs against Bangladesh, was Indias
leading wicket-taker in the just-concluded
three-match series against Bangladesh and is
also the only Indian to feature in the top-10
list.
iii) Bengal medium-pacer Mohammed Shami,
who missed the series, which was Indias first
bilateral loss to Bangaldesh (1-2), due to
injury is the only other Indian bowler in the
top-20 list at the 12th position.
iv) In the batting chart, Virat Kohli tops the
Indian players list at the fourth position as
opener Shikhar Dhawan, who was the leading
run-getter in the series with an accumulated
score of 158, dropped a place to seventh.
v)Dhawan still stays well clear of skipper
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who occupies the
eight spot in the table led by South Africas
AB de Villiers.
vi)Suresh Raina has also improved his ranking
by two places to 18th.
agreement include cancer research,
medical infrastructure development and
application of new diagnostic
technologies.
ii. MoU on cancer research, control,
prevention and management: To develop
collaborative re search projects on
population-based cance r control and
implementation science.
iii. MoU on collaboration in
Environmental, occupational Health and
Injury Prevention and Control: Further
enhance cooperation in the fields of
environmental and occupational health
along with injury prevention and control
research.
iv. Set up mechanism of antimicrobial
resistance which also include the
applications of systems biology.
4. Ericsson appoints Paolo Colella as
new head of region India

i. Ericsson has announced the
appointment of Paolo Colella as new
Head of Region India. In this new role,
Paolo will also take a seat on Ericssons
Global Leadership Team, reporting to
the Chairman o f Region India and Senior
Vice President Asia-Pacific, Mats H
Olsson.
ii. Chris has successfully managed
Ericssons operations in India during his
two year stint in the country and enabled
the India operations to grow into the
largest employee base for Ericsson in the
world.
iii. Paolo Colella, who assumes his new
role effective September 1, 2015, has
been responsible for Ericssons Consulting
and Systems Integration practice
globally for around six years.
5. Union Government exempts
educational ins titutions from prior
green nod
i. Union Government has exempted
builders from obtaining prior green nod
for construction of Universities, School,
College and Hostel facilities.
ii. In this regard Union Ministry of
Environment, Forests and Clim ate Change
(MoEFCC) has issued a circular to exempt
green nod for educational institutions
provided they should follow sustainable
environment practises of construction.
iii. Besides, educational institutes MoEFCC
has exempted builders from obtaining
prior green nod for construction of
Daily GK Update - 27th June 2015
1. BRICS bank to be operational by end of
2015: South Africa
i. The emerging market BRICS nations will
have their own development bank by the end
of the year.
ii. "The New Development Bank is expected
to be operational by end of 2015," the South
African finance ministry said in a statement
that announced the nomination of South
African banker Leslie Maasdorp as vice
president of the bank and parliamentary
ratification of two treaties concerning the
lender.
iii. The BRICS nations - Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South Africa - which represent 40
per cent of the world's population and a
30
industrial sheds. It also exempts godowns
and buildings which are connected with
production related and o ther associated
activities of the unit in the same premise.
iv. in this circular MoEFCC had clarified
that prior environment clearance is
mandato rily required for construction of
Medical Universities and institutes having
hospital facilities.
6. Mobile tower set up at 16,000 feet in
Ladakh
i. State-run BSNL, with the Army's
assistance, today operationalised a
mobile tower at an altitude of 16,000
feet in Eastern Ladakh region of Jammu
and Kashmir.
ii. The mobile tower at Chongtash has
been established with assistance from the
Indian Army's Trishul Signallers in terms
of transportation, setting up and
rearward connectivity.
7. NCR to have a second airport;
Aviation ministry makes Jewar as first
choice
i.
The civil aviation ministry on Thursday
took an in-principle decision to have a
second airport in the National Capital
Region (NCR). Among the probable sites
for the airpo rt, the ministry zeroed in on
Jewar, keeping in view the fact that
availability of land is a big problem.
ii. On the UP governments choice of
having an airport in Firozabad, the
minister said the purpose of a second
quarter of its economic output, decided in
2013 to create their own development bank
to step up lending for the infrastructure
projects needed to close the gap with the
industrialised world.
The bank, which will be headquartered in
Shanghai, is expected to have up to $100
billion in capital.
iv. The inaugural meeting of the board of
governors of the New Development Bank will
be held in the Russian city of Ufa on July 7 to
confirm the appointment of the management
of the lender.
2. India ranked best for investment
i. A ranking of destinations for attractiveness
to foreign investors has placed India at the
top among 110 countries. China has secured
the 65th position and the U.S. is at the 50th.
In the 2014 index, India was at the sixth
position and Hong Kong was number one.
airport near Delhi would be defeated if
an airport comes up in Firozabad.
iii. With the population of NCR (National
Capital Region) 8 crore, covering Delhi,
Gurgaon, Faridabad and Meerut in
western Uttar Pradesh, using only one
airport, there is an urgent need for a
second airport.
8. Satnam Singh Bhamara: All about
India's firs t NBA player
i. Satnam Singh Bhamara, the first Indian-
born player to be drafted in the NBA
League, was introduced to basketball by
his father, who is a farmer.
ii. Picked by the Dallas Mavericks in the
2015 NBA Draft, Singh has made
history. But, there's a long way to go.
iii. Born in Ballo Ke, a village in Punjab
where there are no basketball courts and
no cable television, he started playing
the game at an early age. At the age of
12, he was sent to the government-
funded Ludhiana Baske tball Academy,
where he spent two years aw ay from
home studying and training and honing
his basketball skills.
iv. In 2010, at age 14, Singh was one of
29 Indian athle tes in three sports who
moved to the United States to get
trained at the renowned IMG Academy
in Bradenton, Florida, as part of a new
scholarship programme to promote,
develop, and manage sports and
entertainment in India.
ii. The ranking is based on an index for
baseline profitability that assumes that three
factors affect the ultimate success of a foreign
investment: how much the value of an asset
grows; the preservation of that value while
the asset is owned; and the ease of
repatriation of proceeds from selling the
asset.
iv. The index combines measures for each of
these factors into a summary statistic that
conveys a countrys basic attractiveness for
investment.
3. Govt to infuse additional Rs 11,500 cr in
PSU banks in FY16
i. Government is likely to infuse additional
USD 1.8 billion (about Rs 11,500 crore) in
public sector banks this fiscal over and above
USD 1.2 billion earmarked in the Budget,
Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said on
Friday.
ii. The government has earmarked Rs 7,940
crore in the Budget for recapitalisation of
PSU banks for the current fiscal.
iii. The government has already started
assessment of c apital requirement of public
sector banks. It has already received
presentation of 14 public sector banks.
iv. According to an estimate, public sector
banks would need an additional capital of Rs
2.40 lakh crore by 2018 to meet the Basel III
capital adequacy norms.
4. Mboweni heads for Brics bank
i. Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene announced
on Friday that former Reserve Bank governor
Tito Mboweni has been appointed as the non-
executive director to the board the Brics New
Development Bank (NDB).
ii. He added that Cabinet had endorsed the
nomination of Leslie Maasdorp for vice-
president of the NDB. Maasdorp recently
parted ways with AdvTech where he was
chief executive. He was previously the
president of Merrill Lynch for southern Africa.
iii. The management of the NDBs will be
appointed at the board of governors
inaugural meeting on July 7 Nene said. The
NDB is expected to be up and running by the
end of the year.
Daily GK Update - 28th and 29th June 2015
1. China-led AIIB development bank
holds signing ceremony
i. China has hosted the signing ceremony
of the Asian Infrastructure Investment
Bank (AIIB), a new international financial
institution set to rival the World Bank and
Asian Development Bank.
ii. Delegates from 50 countries signed
article s that de termine each member's
share and the bank's initial capital.
iii. The AIIB, which was created in
October by 21 countries, led by China,
will fund Asian energy, transport and
infrastructure projects.
iv. The AIIB will begin with authorised
capital of $50bn (31.8bn), eventually
to be raised to $100bn. China will hold
a 30.34% stake making it the largest
shareholder of the bank, Reuters quotes
China's Finance Ministry as saying.
31
5. Link Intime launches apps to give
investors real-time info
i. To give real-time information, securities
registry service provider Link Intime India Pvt
Ltd has l aunched two unique mobile
applications, one for investors and the other
for client companies.
ii. The bLink app provides the latest
information across all client companies
serviced by Link Intime to investors. The app
will provide information about IPO allotments,
details of shareholder meetings, dividends
declared and book closure period,
undelivered articles, failure of credits of
dividend/ interests, and failure of credit of
shares/ bonds into investors accounts, among
others.
iii. An investor can add up to 10 DP accounts
under one login. The InSta Link app, for
authorised corporate clients of Link Intime,
gives an overview of the latest available
holdings of shareholders of the company
under various categories and changes thereof
in the immediate past seven days.
6. HDFC Securities mobile trading app
available in 11 languages
i.
HDFC Securities, a subsidiary of HDFC
BankBSE -0.23 % has launched its mobile
trading app in 11 different regional
languages.
ii. Language arriers or lack of research and
advice should not be reasons for not investing
2. J Jayalalithaa launches first phase
of Chennai Metro
i. First phase of Chennai Metro service
was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister J Jayalalithaa after she flagged
off inaugural train.
ii. The first phase of Metro service covers
the 10-km overhead (elevated) stretch. It
connects Alandur in south Chennai to
Koyabedu in the north.
iii. The metro service will bear capacity
of 1276 passengers with four coaches. It
will cover seven stations in the stretch.
They are Koyambedu, Arumbakkam,
Vadapalani, Chennai Mofussil Bus
Terminus, Ashok Nagar, Ekkattuthangal.
iv. The Corridor 2 or second phase of this
metro connecting Chennai Central and St.
Thomas Mount is will be ready by end
in the future. Ap art from English the app will
be available in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati,
Punjabi, Assamese, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu,
Kannad a, Mal ayal am and Oriya.
iii. HDFC Securities has had a call centre
running which services customers in ei ght
different languages. The mobile apps in
multiple languages along with call centres will
give lot of comfort to investors.
7. ICC amends rules in a bid to restore
balance in ODIs
i. In a bid to restore the bal ance between bat
and ball, the ICC today decided to scrap the
batting Powerplays and allow five fielders
outside the 30-yard circle in the last ten overs
of an innings in one-dayers.
ii. The rule changes will come into effect for
series starting on or after July 5, the ICC said
in a media release issued today.
iii. The ICC Board during its Annual
Conference here adopted these
recommendations which were made by the
ICCs cricket committee headed by the former
India captain Anil Kumble in Mumbai this
May.
iv. The ICC Board also reviewed and
adopted the Integrity Working Partys
recommendations to allow a greater role for
a central Anti-Corruption Unit and pave the
way for greater coordination of preventative
and investi gative activity around the world
with a unified vision to keep cricket clean.
2015. The whole project is implemented
by Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL). It
was approved by then Congress-led
UPA government in 2009.
3. India, Thailand sign multiple
agreements including double taxation
avoidance treaty
i. India and Thailand on Monday signed
a number of important agreements,
including the double taxation avoidance
treaty, and exchanged instruments of
ratification on the extradition treaty
inked in 2013, which provides fo r the
legal framework for seeking extradition
of fugitive offenders.
ii. The tax treaty provides for the
framework to avoid double taxation and
prevention of fiscal evasion with respect
to taxes so as to promote bilateral
economic cooperation.
iii. On the last day of her three-day visit,
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
co-chaired the 7th meeting of the India-
Thailand Joint Commission for Bilateral
Cooperation.
iv. The extradition treaty signed between
the two countries in 2013 provides for
the legal framework for seeking
extradition of fugitive offenders,
including those involved in terrorism,
transnational crimes, economic offences
etc.
4. President conferred Punyabhushan
Award on Prataprao Pawar
i. President Pranab Mukharjee on 26
June 2015 conferred Punyabhushan
Award on Prataprao Pawar, Chairman
of Sakal Media Group (SMG) at
Balgandharva Auditorium in Pune.
ii. Pawar is the 27th recipient of the
Punyabhushan award and his name w as
selected for the award by a committee
led by scientist Raghunath Mashelkar.
Besides, President also felicitated five
veteran freedom fighters in the function.
iii. The Punyabhushan (Pride of Pune)
award constituted by Tridal, Pune is
annually announced by the
Punyabhushan Foundation on 23 March
with a view to commemorate the memory
of Indian revolutionary martyrs Bhagat
Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru.
iv. It is awarded to an eminent
personality from the field of art, music,
culture, science, industry, social se rvice, or
sports in the city of Pune Maharashtra,
India. The award carries a memento and
cash prize of 1 lakh rupees.
5. Transcendence: My Spiritual
Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji
written by Abdul Kalam
i. Book titled Transcendence: My Spiritual
Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji
authored by former Pre sident Dr APJ
32
Abdul Kalam and Arun Tiwari w as approved automatic weather station
released on 15 June 2015. installed in each block of these districts.
7. Topalov wins title
i. A quick but frustrating draw for
Viswanathan Anand proved enough for
Veselin Topalov to claim the Norway
Chess 2015 title in Stavanger, Norway,
on Thursday.
ii. In Transcendence, the authors Dr
Kalam and Arun Tiwari have mapped a
journey of self-realization reflected in
the eyes of Pramukh Swamiji, painting a
delightful fusion of spirituality, science
and leadership.
iii. His candid vignettes (literature) from
life on the centre stage of Indian
technology and societal missions, Indian
politics and world affairs are interwoven
with revelations of a profound connection
ii. All the expectations of a thrilling
with Swamiji. battle for the title between the two
iv. Pramukh Swamiji Maharaj, one of the
leading players of the elite field came to
most inspiring spiritual figures of modern naught once Topalov managed a safe
times and the fifth spiritual successor of
position arising out of the Queens
Bhagwan Swaminarayan, is the inheritor Gambit Declined.
of a legacy of Gunatit gurus hearkening
iii. But in the biggest surprise result of the
to the early nineteenth century. Pramukh competition, Jon Ludvig Hammer
Swamiji became a friend of the eleventh
upstaged World champion Magnus
president of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
Carlsen in the battle between two home
players.
6. Bajaj Allianz launches weather-
based crop insurance 8. Jwala Gutta, Ashwni Ponappa win
i. Private insurer Bajaj Allianz has
womens doubles title of Canada Open
launched a weather-based crop Badminton tournament
insurance scheme for orange crops in
i. Indian pair of Jw ala Gutta and Ashwni
Nagpur, Hingoli and Washim districts of Ponappa won the womens doubles title
Maharashtra.
of the Canada Open Badminton
tournament.
ii. In the finals m atch played at Calgary,
Canada they defeated Dutch pair of
Eefje Muskens and Selena Piek in straight
games of 21-19, 21-16. It is their first
title of this season.
iii. Michelle Li of Canada won the
ii. womens single title, by defeating Kaori
The index-based insurance policy will Imabeppu of Japan by 21-17 25-23
cover losses incurred by orange fruit- score in the final match.
growing farmers due to deviation in
weather conditions and has been
approved by Central and the State
government, a company release issued
here said.
iii. The company has also launched a
campaign to create awareness about the
scheme in three districts.
iv. The losses would be assessed on the
basis of pre-defined and government-
approved term sheets and actual
weather data received from an
 Daily GK Update - 30th June 2015
1. Indian Railways, Indian Army
among worlds bigges t employers :
WEF Study
i. Two Indian organizations, India Army
and Indian Railways are among the
worlds biggest employers. It was
revealed in a research published by the
World Economic Forum (WEF). Both
organisations employ around 2.7 million
people together.
ii. Indian Railways was placed at 8th
position with 1.4 million staff, while Indian
Army was placed at 9th position with 1.3
million employees in the list of worlds
biggest employers.
iii. US department of Defense: It is the
worlds biggest employer with over 3.2
million employees.
iv. Peoples Liberation Army (PLA):
Chinese military is 2nd biggest employer
with 2.3 million employees.
2. Bharti Airtel becomes 3rd largest
mobile operator in world
i. Sunil Mittal -led Bharti Airtel has
become the worlds third largest mobile
operator with 303 million subscriber.
ii. With operations in 20 countries, Bharti
Airtel, which is present in India,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Africa, has
become the third largest mobile
operator in the world in terms o f
subscribers, the company said in a
statement.
iii. Quoting latest data published by
World Cellular Information Service
(WCIS), it said Airtel has over 303 million
mobile subscribers across its operations
and has moved up one position in the
global rankings.
iv. China Mobile, according to WCIS, is
the top mobile operator in the world with
626.27 million subscribers. Vodafone
Group of UK ranks second with 403.08
million subscribers.
3. IDFC appoints former CAG Vinod Rai
as independent director
i. Infrastructure financing firm IDFC today
appointed former Comptroller and
33
Auditor General of India (CAG) as
independent director.
ii. The appointment has been made with
immediate effect.
iii. Rai also worked as Financial Services
Secretary. He was directo r on several
boards including the State Bank of India,
ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, and Life Insurance
Corporation of India.
4. Afghan prez Ghani nominates firs t
female judge to Supreme Court
i. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani
nominated a female judge to the
Supreme Court on Tuesday in an
unprecedented move that has ange red
some Islamic conservatives.
ii. Anisa Rasouli, the head of the Afghan
Women Judges Association and a former
juvenile court judge, was the only female
nominated to the nine-member bench
afte r the announcement was delayed due
to opposition by a group of Islamic
conservatives earlier this month.
iii. President Ghani's wife Rula stepped
into the limelight during the presidential
election last year and has been actively
campaigning for women's rights since
then.
5. Nadia district in West Bengal wins
UN Public Service Award 2015
i. Nadia district in West Bengal has won
the United N ations Public Service Award
2015 in the category of improving
delivery of public services for or
eliminating open defecation in the district.
ii. The award was pre sented by the
acting Secretary General of the UN Lenni
Montiel to District Magistrate of Nadia
and Sabhapati of Nadia Zilla Parishad in
Medellin, Colombia.
iii. It was a collaborative effort with the
United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
and World Bank along with state
government and local governments.
iv. The programme was initiated in 2013.
In one-and-half-years, toilets were built in
5 lakh households and over 200 cluste r
toilets in public places.
6. HDFC Bank launches '30-min auto',
'15-min 2-wheeler' loans
i. Country's second largest private secto r
lender HDFC Bank on Monday launched
'30-min auto ' and '15-min 2-wheeler'
loan schemes, for which customers have to
provide only their biometric details.
ii. The 30-minute auto loan is available
for HDFC Bank customers, as well as
others. With this technology-enabled
solution, loans for two-wheelers can also
be approved within 15 minutes
iii. Any person willing to avail a loan can
walk into an auto dealership or any other
touch points of the bank and provide the
Aadhaar card number and fingerprint, it
said.
7. Rahul Agarwal is Lenovo India MD
i. Technology major Lenovo on Monday
said it has appointed Rahul Agarwal as
the Managing Director o f its India
operations with immediate effect.
ii. Agarwal succeeds Amar Babu, who will
now take on a regional mandate as Chief
Operating Officer, Asia Pacific and
Chairman, Lenovo India.
iii. Rahul Agarw al takes charge at a time
when Lenovo is gearing up for its next
phase of growth, diversifying beyond PCs
into the smart connected devices while
maintaining a strong PC focus
8. Adelaide Oval to host cricket's firs t
ever day-night Tes t
i. Australia and New Zealand will play
cricket's first day-night Test in Adelaide
from late November.
ii. The Test, running November 27-
December 1, will feature pink balls that
Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland
believes will hold up to Test match play.
iii. The Test is one of six at home for the
Australians - three each against New
Zealand and West Indies - from
November 5 until January 7.
 Some Other Important Topics
List of Current Indian Governors
State Name Took office (tenure length)
Andhra Pradesh E. S. L. Narasimhan 28 December 2009 (5 years, 179 days)
Arunachal Pradesh Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa 1 June 2015 (24 days)

Assam Padmanabha Acharya 12 December 2014 (195 days)

Bihar Keshari Nath Tripathi 27 November 2014 (210 days)

Chhattisgarh Balram Das Tandon 25 July 2014 (335 days)

Goa Mridula Sinha 31 August 2014 (298 days)

Gujarat Om Prakash Kohli 16 July 2014 (344 days)

Haryana Kaptan Singh Solanki 27 July 2014 (333 days)
Himachal Pradesh Kalyan Singh 28 January 2015 (148 days)
Jammu and Kashmir Narinder Nath Vohra 25 June 2008 (7 years, 0 days)
Jharkhand Draupadi Murmu 18 May 2015 (38 days)
Karnataka Vajubhai Vala 1 September 2014 (297 days)
Kerala P. Sathasivam 5 September 2014 (293 days)
Madhya Pradesh Ram Naresh Yadav 8 September 2011(3 years, 290 days)
Maharashtra C. Vidyasagar Rao 30 August 2014 (299 days)

Manipur Syed Ahmed 16 May 2015 (40 days)

Meghalaya V. Shanmuganthan 20 May 2015 (36 days)
Mizoram Nirbhay Sharma 26 May 2015 (30 days)
Nagaland Padmanabha Acharya 19 July 2014 (341 days)
Odisha S. C. Jamir 21 March 2013 (2 years, 96 days)
Punjab Kaptan Singh Solanki 22 January 2015 (154 days)
Rajasthan Kalyan Singh 4 September 2014 (294 days)
Sikkim Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil 20 July 2013 (1 year, 340 days)
Tamil Nadu K. Rosaiah 31 August 2011 (3 years, 298 days)
Telangana E. S. L. Narasimhan 2 June 2014 (1 year, 23 days)
Tripura Tathagata Roy 13 May 2015 (43 days)
Uttar Pradesh Ram Naik 22 July 2014 (338 days)
Uttarakhand Krishan Kant Paul 8 January 2015 (168 days)

West Bengal Keshari Nath Tripathi 24 July 2014 (336 days)

CURRENT LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS AND ADMINISTRATORS OF UNION TERRITORIES

Najeeb Jung, a former IAS officer and vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, is the 20th Lieutenant Governor of Delhi.

Office And Union Territory Name Took office

(tenure length)
Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands A. K. Singh 8 July 2013 (1 year, 352 days)
Administrator of Chandigarh Kaptan Singh Solanki 22 January 2015 (154 days)
Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli Ashish Kundra 18 August 2014 (311 days)
Administrator of Daman and Diu Ashish Kundra 18 August 2014 (311 days)
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung 9 July 2013 (1 year, 351 days)
Administrator of Lakshadweep H. Rajesh Prasad 7 November 2012 (2 years, 230 days)
Lieutenant Governor of Pondicherry A. K. Singh 18 July 2014 (342 days)

34
 LIST OF NATIONAL PARKS OF INDIA
National parks in India are IUCN category II pro tected areas. India's first national park was established in 1936 as
Hailey National Park, now known as Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand. By 1970, India only had five national parks. In 1972,
India enacted the Wildlife Pro tection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard the habitats of conservation reliant species. Furthe r
federal legislation strengthening protections fo r wildlife was introduced in the 1980s. As of April 2012, there were 112 natio nal
parks. All national park lands then encompassed a total 39,919 km2 (15,413 sq mi) , comprising 1.21% of India's to tal surface
area.
A total of 166 national parks have been authorized. Plans are unde rway to establish the remaining scheduled parks. All
of India's national parks are listed below alongside their home state or territory, area and the date that they were establis hed.
See Protected areas of India fo r an overview of all Indian protected
Name State Established Area (in km) Notability
Campbell Bay National Park Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1992 426.23
Galathea National Park Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1992 110
Mahatma Gandhi Marine
Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1983 281.50
National Park
Middle Button Island National
Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1987 0.64
Park
important bird area as
attributed by BirdLife
Mount Harriet National Park Andaman and Nicobar Islands 46.62
International, new species frog
named Rana CharlesDarwini
North Button Island National Park Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1979 144
Rani Jhansi Marine National Park Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1996 256.14
Saddle Peak National Park Andaman and Nicobar Islands 1979 32.55
Dugong, Dolphin, Water Monitor
South Button Island National Park Andaman and Nicobar Islands 5
Lizard, Blue Whale
Papikonda National Park Andhra Prade sh 2008 1012.85
Sri Venkateswara National Park Andhra Prade sh 1989 353
Mouling National Park Arunachal Pradesh 1986 483
Namdapha National Park Arunachal Pradesh 1974 1985.24
Dibru-Saikhowa National Park Assam 1999 340
Indian
Kaziranga National Park Assam 1905 471.71 rhinoceros, UNESCO World
Heritage Site
Manas National Park Assam 1990 500 UNESCO World Heritage Site
Nameri National Park Assam 1978 137.07
Orang National Park Assam 1999 78.81
Valmiki National Park Bihar 1976 898.45
Wild Asian Buffalo, Tiger
Indravati National Park Chhattisgarh 1981 1258.37
Reserve, Hill Mynas
Kanger Ghati National Park Chhattisgarh 1982 200
Mollem National Park Goa 1978 107
Blackbuck National Park,
Gujarat 1976 34.08
Velavadar
Gir Forest National Park Gujarat 1965 258.71 Asiatic lion
Marine National Park, Gulf of
Gujarat 1980 162.89
Kutch
Vansda National Park Gujarat 1979 23.99
Kalesar National Park Haryana 2003 100.88
Sultanpur National Park Haryana 1989 1.43
Pin Valley National Park Himachal Pradesh 1987 807.36
Great Himalayan National Park Himachal Pradesh, 1984 754.40 UNESCO World Heritage Site
Only area where Kashmir stag is
Dachigam National Park Jammu and Kashmir 1981 141
found[1]
Hemis National Park Jammu and Kashmir 1981 4400
Kishtwar National Park Jammu and Kashmir 1981 400
Salim Ali National Park Jammu and Kashmir 9.07

35
 Tiger, Sloth
Bear, Peacock, Elephant, Sambar
Betla National Park Jharkhand 1986 231.67
deer,mouse deer and other
animals.
Hazaribagh National Park Jharkhand 1954 183.89
chital, gray langurs, Indian giant
squirrel, Gaur,leopard, Sambar
Bandipur National Park Karnataka 1974 874.20 deer, indian elephants, honey
buzzard, red-headed
vulture and other animals.
Bannerghatta National Park Karnataka 1974 106.27
Kudremukh National Park Karnataka 1987 600.32
Nagarhole National Park Karnataka 1988 643.39
Eravikulam National Park Kerala 1978 97
Mathikettan Shola National Park Kerala 2003 12.82
Periyar National Park Kerala 1982 305
Silent Valley National Park Kerala 1980 237
highest known Tiger population
Bandhavgarh National Park Madhya Prade sh 1968 446 in India, White Tiger, 1336
species of endemic plants
Kanha National Park Madhya Prade sh 1955 940
Madhav National Park Madhya Prade sh 1959 375.22
Mandla Plant Fossils National
Madhya Prade sh 1983 0.27
Park
Panna National Park Madhya Prade sh 1981 542.67
Pench National Park Madhya Prade sh 1977 758
Sanjay National Park Madhya Prade sh 1981 466.7
Satpura National Park Madhya Prade sh 1981 524
Van Vihar National Park Madhya Prade sh 1983 4.45
Chandoli National Park Maharashtra 2004 317.67
Gugamal National Park Maharash tra 1987 361.28
Navegaon National Park Maharashtra 133.88
Sanjay Gandhi National Park Maharashtra 1969 104
Tadoba National Park Maharashtra 1955 625
Keibul Lamjao National Park Manipur 1977 40 only floating park in the world
Sirohi National Park Manipur 1982 41.30
wild water buffalo, red panda,
elephant and eight cat species,
Balphakram National Park Meghalaya 2013 220
including the tiger andmarbled
cat
UNESCO World Biosphere
Nokrek National Park Meghalaya 47.48
Reserve
Murlen National Park Mizoram 200
Phawngpui Blue Mountain
Mizoram 1992 50
National Park
Ntangki National Park Nagaland 1993 202.02
Mangroves, Saltwater crocodile,
white crocodile, Indian python,
Bhitarkanika National Park Odisha 1988 145 black ibis, wild pigs, rhesus
monkeys, chital and other
animals
Nandankanan Zoological Park Odisha 1960 4.006
Tiger, Leopard, Asian elephant,
Sambar, Barking deer, Gaur,
Simlipal National Park Odisha 1980 845.70
Jungle cat, Wild boar, and other
animals.
Harike Wetland Punjab 1987 86
Darrah National Park Rajasthan 2004 250

36
Desert National Park Rajasthan 1980 3162
Keoladeo National Park Rajasthan 1981 28.73 UNESCO World Heritage Site
Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary Rajasthan 1960 288.84
Ranthambore National Park Rajasthan 1981 392
Sariska Tiger Reserve Rajasthan 1955 866
Khangchendzonga National Park Sikkim 1977 1784
Guindy National Park Tamil Nadu 1976 2.82
Gulf of Mannar Marine National Tamil Nadu 1980 6.23
Park
Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary
Tamil Nadu 1989 117.10
and National Park
Mudumalai National Park Tamil Nadu 1940 321.55
Mukurthi National Park Tamil Nadu 2001 78.46
Palani Hills National Park Tamil Nadu 736.87
Kasu Brahmananda Reddy
Telangana 1994 1.42
National Park
Mahavir Harina Vanasthali
Telangana 1994 14.59
National Park
Mrugavani National Park Telangana 9.1
Dudhwa National Park Uttar Pradesh 1977 490.29
Gangotri National Park Uttarakhand 1989 1552.73
Govind Pashu Vihar Wildlife
Uttarakhand 1990 472.08
Sanctuary
Jim Corbett National Park Uttarakhand 1936 1318.5
Nanda Devi National Park Uttarakhand 1982 630.33 UNESCO World Heritage Site
Rajaji National Park Uttarakhand 1983 820
Valley of Flowers National Park Uttarakhand 1982 87.50
Buxa Tiger Reserve West Bengal 1992 760
Gorumara National Park West Bengal 1994 79.45
Jaldapara National Park West Bengal 2012 216
Neora Valley National Park West Bengal 1986 88
Singalila National Park West Bengal 1986 78.60
Sundarbans National Park West Bengal 1984 1330.12 UNESCO World Heritage Site

DICGC- Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation

Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation is a
100% subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India. It was established
on July 15, 1978 under Deposit Insurance and Credit
Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961 for the purpose of providing
insurance of deposits and guaranteeing of credit facilities. It
insures all bank deposits, such as saving, fixed, current, recurring
deposits for up to the limit of Rs. 100,000 of each deposits in a
bank.
(iii)Inter-bank deposits;
(iv) Deposits of the State Land Development Banks with the
State co-operative bank;
(v) Any amount due on account o f any deposit received outside
India
(vi) Any amount, which has been specifically exempted by the
corporation with the previous approval of Reserve Bank of
India.

Banks which are insured by DICGC: Maximum deposit amount insured by the DICGC:
Commercial Banks: All commercial banks including branches of Each depositor in a bank is insured upto a maximum of
foreign banks functioning in India, local area banks and Rs.1,00,000 (Rupees One Lakh) for both principal and interest
regional rural banks are insured by the DICGC. amount held by him in the same capacity.

DICGC insured?
In the event of a bank failure, DICGC protects bank deposits
that are payable in India. The DICGC insures all deposits such
as savings, fixed, current, recurring, etc. except the following
types of deposits.,,
(i) Deposits of foreign Governments;
(ii) Deposits of Central/State Governments;
Does the DICGC insure jus t the principal on an account or
both principal and accrued interest?
The DICGC insures principal and interest upto a maximum
amount of Rs. One lakh.
Are deposits in different banks separately insured?

37
 Yes. If you have deposits with more than one bank, deposit
insurance coverage limit is applied separately to the deposits in
each bank.
Can the bank deduct the amount of dues payable by the
depositor?
Drips of foreign currency-Foreign Accounts
Drips of foreign currency: Only potion for the ailing
rupee
As rupee continues to plummet, now trailing at 64.42 per
USD, recently the apex bank has made some changes in the
interest rates of FCNR (B) account. This step has been taken
to bolster the tardy foreign export credit inflow. This is
sufficed to say that Indias rupee strength overtly depends on
the amount of foreign currency, mostly dollar. The more
dollars trickle in, the stronger is the rupee.
Here, this article is presenting you precise but succinct
information about types of foreign accounts available in
India.
Many NRIs are often faced with the situation of maintaining
a Rupee account in India. To encourage Non Resident Indians
(NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) staying abroad
to invest in India, the Govt. has allowed these Individuals to
open 3 types of NRI Account in India:-
NRE
NRO
FCNR(B)
1. NRE Account i.e. Non-R esident External Account is a rupee
denominated account and the amount in this type of account
is freely repatriable. This type of NRI Account can either be
in the form of Savings, Current, Recurring or Fixed Deposit.
As this form of NRI Account is rupee denominated, the
investor will have to convert Foreign Currency into Rupees
and in case he intends to take the funds back to his home
country, he will again have to convert the Rupees into Foreign
Currency This fo rm of NRI Bank Account is best suited for
overseas savings which have been remitted to India by
converting the foreign currency into INR.
Joint Holding: NRE account can be jointly held with another
NRI but not with resident Indian. On the other hand NRO
account (discussed below) can be held with NRI as well as
resident Indian (close relative) as defined under Section 6 of
the Companies Act 1956.
2. NRO Account i.e. Non-Res ident Ordinary Account is a rupee
denominated account and can be in the fo rm of savings or
current or recurring or fixed deposit. The income which is
deemed to accrue or arise in India can be deposited only this
type of account. Examples of such forms of incomes are Rent,
Dividend and Commission etc. the interest earned in NRO
account and credit balances are subject to respective income
38
Yes. Banks have the right to set off their dues from the amount
of deposits. The deposit insurance is available after netting of
such dues.
Can any insured bank withdraw from the DICGC coverage?
No. The deposit insurance scheme is compulsory and no bank
can withdraw from it.
tax bracket and are also subject to applicable wealth tax
(Govt. has done away with this tax and subsumed it in
indirect tax system in the form service tax.)
Such incomes cannot be deposited in NRE Account. Moreover,
the interest earned on this form of account is also taxable as
compared to NRE and FCNR Account in which Tax on Interest
is not levied in India. TDS on the amount accrued in the form of
Interest is applicable in NRO account.
Choose N RE accounts if you:
(Primary reason) want to park your overseas earnings remitted
to India converted to Indian
Rupees;
want to maintain savings in Rupee but keep them liquid;
want to make a joint account with another NRI;
want Rupee savings to be freely repatriable
Choose NRO account if you:
(Primary reason) want to park India based earnings in Rupees
in India;
want account to deposit income earned in India such as rent,
dividends etc;
want to open account with resident Indian (close relative)
3. FCNR (B) stands for Foreign Currency Non Resident Account
(Banks) and can only be opened in Foreign Currency and not
in the Indian Currency. It is a form of fixed deposit on which
regular interest is paid. As Intere st Rates in India (approx 7-
8%) are much higher as -compared to the interest rates in
western countries (approx 1-2%), m any NRIs invest their
surplus funds in fixed deposits in India through this type of
NRI Account Another benefit of this type of NRI Bank Account
is that the investor will not have to bear any risk of
fluctuations in the foreign currency. Say for e.g.: Mr. A invests
$10 in this form o f NRI Account and the Interest Rate is 10%
p.a., he would get $ 11 at the end of the year irrespective
of the Rupee-Dollar exchange rates. And therefore in this
form of NRI Bank Account, he is free from any foreign
exchange risk.
This type of NRI Bank Account can be opened for a minimum
of 1 year and a maximum of 5 years. Moreover, the interest
earned on this form of NRI Bank Account is also exempted from
tax in India.
NB. The Foreign Currency Non-Resident (FCNR(B)) scheme
was introduced with effect from May 15, 1993 to replace
the then prevailing FCNR(A) scheme introduced in 1975,
where the foreign exchange risk was borne by RBI and
subsequently by the Govt. of India. The FCNR (A) scheme was
withdrawn in August, 1994 in view of its implications fo r the
What are NPAs (Non Performing Assets):
A mortgage in default would be considered non-performing,
afte r a prolonged period of non-payment(90 days).
The lender will force the borrower to liquidate any assets that
were pledged as part of the debt agreement. If no assets
were pledged, the lenders might w rite-off the asset as a bad
debt and then sell it at a discount to a collections agency.
Here is an example to help you understand what NPAs are
and how Banks counter it-
Mr. X decided to start a business for that he needed money
(the fuel) , X had 25% of the money in his pocket, he decided
to go through the route of Initial Public Offering(IPO) to
generate 25% more by offering his company shares to public ,
the remaining 50% he borrowed from Lena bank
by mortgaging his papas land.
Days passed and the company started to do badly then to
worse and the loan installments lapsed month on month, Lena
bank issued warning but X continued the bad practice for more
than 90 days (condition for NPA) and the bank labeled X as
defaulter and the loan as a Non Performing Asset.
Now what X will do?
He could take his case against the bank to Debt recovery
tribunal (DRT- A court for such cases).
39
central banks balance sheet and quasi-fiscal costs to the
Government.
By- Banking Awareness
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All About NPAs
What are Lena banks options?
In 2002, Govt. gave banks a lifeline called as SARFAESI
Act (Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and
Enforcement of security interest Act)
With this Act Lena bank has the power to take possession of
Mr.Xs property or can transfer this to some other ownership.
What bank will do with the acquired property?
Bank can use this for their own purpose like , opening a new
branch on it, installing of ATMs etc.
Bank can advertise in newspapers for the auction of the
property acquire d and could auction them on any pre
decided day.
Bank can sell the property to ARC (Asset Reconstruction
Company), these are registered companies unde r RBI, they
buy such assets from banks and sell them at higher prices
to gain profits.
NOTE- Total amount of NPAs are around 4.4% of the total assets
of banks in India and expected to increase to 4.7% till the end of
FY15