DAILY GK UPDATE - 3rd July : 1. Michelle Howard became first female four-star admiral in US Navy i. Michelle Howard became the first female four-star admiral in US Navy. She is the first women admiral in 236 year old history of US Navy. ii. Vice-Admiral Michelle was promoted to the highest rank of four-star admiral at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial in US on 1 July 2014. The Promotion ceremony was presided over by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. iii. Howard is perhaps best known for leading Task Force 151, which oversaw counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden conducted in April 2009 to rescue captured Capitan Richard Phillips by Somali pirates. 2. India became the first Country to Ratify the Marrakesh Treaty i. India became the first country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty to facilitate access to published works for persons who are blind and visually impaired ii. Dilip Sinha, the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, handed over the Instrument of Ratification to Francis Gurry, Director General, WIPO. The instrument was handed over at a ceremony held during the 28th Session of SCCR (Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights) in WIPO Headquarters. Marrakesh Treaty and its goalThe Marrakesh Treaty formally is the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities, and was signed in Marrakesh, Morocco, on 28 June 2013. 3. Sardar Singh to lead India in Commonwealth Games i. There were few surprises as Hockey India (HI) selected a 16-member side, led by Sardar Singh, for the 2014 Commonwealth Games that would be held in Glasgow, July 23-Aug 3. ii. Most the players of the squad, that finished ninth in the Hockey World Cup, barring goalkeeper Harjot Singh, midfielders S.K Uthappa, Jasjit Singh and forward Mandeep Singh. iii. The two new players in the Commonwealth Games side are midfielder Danish Mujtaba and forward Gurwinder Singh Chandi. While Sardar will be leading the side Sreejesh will be his deputy. 4. Coffee-Table book titled First Citizen: Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan released i. First Citizen: Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan: published by The Week Magazine. ii. A coffee-table book titled First Citizen: Pranab Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan was released on 2 July 2014 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. The book’s first copy was received by Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India. iii. The book has been published by The Week Magazine and was released by Dr. Karan Singh in the presence of Pranab Mukherjee and Philip Mathew, the Managing Editor of The Week. iv, The foreword of the book has been written by the President in which he has written about The Raisina Hill and the buildings in and around Rashtrapati Bhavan. 5. Narendra Modi says Facebook a tool for governance, better interaction i. With the government using social media like never before, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday told Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandbergthat direct communication with people is critical for governance. ii. The Prime Minister said on his Facebook page that he had a very fruitful meeting with Sandberg, who called on Modi to discuss her ideas about connectivity. iii. Modi, describing himself as an avid user of social media, said on his page that a platform such as Facebook can be used for governance and better interaction between the people and governments. I also talked about how Facebook can be used to bring more tourists to India. iv. Sandberg is on her first visit to India after becoming COO of the worlds most popular social networking site. 6. Asian Development Bank clears $350 million funding for 2 projects in India i. Asian Development Bank has made financial commitment of USD 350 million in loan and equity investment for two energy projects in India. ii. The ADB has approved a multi-tranche loan facility of USD 300 million to help Indias Assam state continue its drive to eliminate power sector inefficiencies that are hurting consumers and the economy, the multilateral lending agency said in release today. iii. In an equity investment of USD 50 million in a renewable energy company ReNew Power Ventures Private Ltd, it would help India meet clean energy targets. iv. The ADB has made an equity investment of USD 50 million in a leading Indian renewable energy company ReNew Power Ventures Private Limited, underscoring ADBs commitment to help India meet its clean energy targets, it said in a separate release. v. The three tranches USD 300 million loan facility will fund generation and distribution upgrades as well as contribution of a 120-megawatt hydro power plant. 7. CARE Ratings places Dhanlaxmi Banks s bonds under watch i. CARE Ratings has placed rating for Dhanlaxmi Banks tier II bonds under credit watch after private sector lender reported loss of Rs 252 crore for financial year 2013-14. ii. Its capital adequacy (under Basel III) stood at 8.67%, below minimum regulatory requirement of 9% at end of March 2014. These factors would trigger the lock-in clause pertaining to the Upper Tier II Bonds, CARE said. iii. Kerala-based bank subsequently raised equity capital of Rs 29.64 crore in April, 2014. It would improve capitalization, rating agency said. iv. Bank has requested the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to service the coupon on the Upper Tier II bonds. Jayakumar said bank was awaiting approval from the RBI. These upper Tier II bonds carry rating of BB+. v. The rating of Upper Tier II Bonds takes into account its sensitiveness to banks capital adequacy ratio and profitability during the tenure of the instrument. The rating factors in additional risk arising due to existence of lock-in clause in this instrument. 8. Semi-Bullet Train Sets New National Speed Record i. An Indian passenger train set a new national speed record of 160 kilometres an hour (100 miles an hour) on Thursday during a test between the capital and the Taj Mahal city of Agra. ii. The introduction of high-speed links and bullet trains were one of the key poll campaign promises of Indias new right-wing prime minister, Narendra Modi, who won elections in May. iii. Thursdays test, part of the governments plans to upgrade the ageing rail network, saw the train complete the 200 kilometres between New Delhi and Agra in around 90 minutes. The top speed clocked at 10 kilometres more than the previous record. iv. This is now the fastest train in India, Delhi divisional railway manager Anurag Sachan told AFP from inside the train. We are recording all technical parameters during the trial run and hope to introduce it to the public by this November. v. Despite setting a new record, the train is still some way from the Japanese Shinkansen admired by Modi which reach speeds of 320 kilometres an hour. 9. Aiming to trim financial burden, SBI to open 5K new ATMs i. Even as the uncertainty over chargingusers for ATM transactions continues, nations largest lender State Bank of India today said it will be launching up to 5,000 new ATMs this fiscal. ii. The move is aimed at helping improve the debit cards-to-ATMs ratio for the bank and may also possibly help it save money expended on ATM interchange fees. iii.We are planning to add about 3,000-5,000 ATMs this fiscal, managing director for national banking A Krishna Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of a bank event here. iv.He said the number could also go up as it is the availability of the required number of machines which is the biggest issue when it comes to increasing the network. v.The bank closed FY14 with 43,515 ATMS and in spite of the large network, had paid an interchange fee of a whopping Rs. 991 crore to other banks as the number of its customers using other bank ATMs was more than customers of other banks making use of the SBI network.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 13:07:07 +0000
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