Daily GK Potion – 14th and 15th August 2015

1. PM Modi’s New Initiative to Create Jobs: ‘Start up India, Stand up India’
   • Prime Minister Narendra Modi today announced a new campaign “Start-up India, Stand up India” to promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to boost entrepreneurship and job creation.
   • Each of the 1.25 lakh bank branches should encourage at least one Dalit or tribal entrepreneur and at least one woman entrepreneur.
   • The initiative, he said, will give a new dimension to entrepreneurship and help set up a network of start-ups in the country.
   • The Prime Minister also promised to do away with the current practice of interview-based selections for low-skilled government jobs.
2. Five coaches recommended for Dronacharya Award
   • Veteran coaches Swatantra Raj Singh (boxing), Nihar Ameen (swimming) and Harbans Singh (athletics) were among the five coaches recommended for the prestigious Dronacharya Award this year.
   • Swatantra, Nihar and Harbans were recommended under the lifetime category, while wrestling coach Anoop Singh Dahiya and para-athletics coach Naval Singh were included for recent performances of their trainees.
3. Axis Bank launches multi-currency contactless card with Visa
   • Axis Bank will upgrade close to about one-fourth, or 50,000, of its point of sale (PoS) machines so that they can accept debit and credit card payments from contactless cards.
   • The bank launched contactless multi-currency forex cards in partnership with Visa -the payments gateway company
   • Axis Bank would be the first bank to issue multi-currency contactless cards or ‘tap and pay’ cards which can be loaded in 15 currencies such as Swiss Franc and Hong Kong dollar besides the three main currencies -US dollar, Euro and British Pound.
   • Axis Bank has also launched contactless debit and credit cards for its premium customers.
4. IRDA allows banks to tie up with nine insurers
   • The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) has allowed banks to tie up with a maximum of nine insurers from three segments —life, non–life and standalone health insurers — as part of the new bancassurance guidelines.
   • While such a tie-up will not be mandatory on the banks and it has been left to them to take a call on the number of tie-ups.
5. Gas subsidy transfer scheme enters Guinness Book
   • The programme to pay cash subsidy to cooking gas LPG consumers has been recognised by Guinness Book of World Records as the largest cash transfer programme in the world
   • The Direct Benefit Transfer on LPG (DBTL), or Pahal Scheme, was launched in 54 districts on November 15, 2014 and all over the country from January 1, 2015 with a view to cut diversion and subsidised fuel being consumed by unintended segments like restaurants and other commercial establishments.
   • As on today, 13.9 crore LPG consumers have joined the Pahal scheme.
   • Presently, a household is entitled to receive subsidy to buy 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each every year. Cash advance is transfered into the beneficiary account on first enrollment and another installment is given the moment it is used to buy a LPG refill.
6. Hero Cycles Chairman Emeritus Om Prakash Munjal passes away
   • OP Munjal, chairmanemeritus of Hero Cycles and one of the founders of the Hero Group, died on Thursday in Ludhiana.
   • He was 86. Munjal, who led Hero Cycles for almost 60 years, retired from active business roles less than a month ago, leaving the chairmanship of the company to son Pankaj Munjal.
   • Munjal, along with his three brothers including family patriarch Brijmohan Lall Munjal, started a bicycle spare parts business in Amritsar in 1944. They subsequently moved the base to Ludhiana, named the company ‘Hero’ and set up India’s first bicycle manufacturing unit in 1956.
7. Om Prakash Rawat assumes charge as the new Election Commissioner
   • During his tenure at Election Commission, there would be elections to assemblies of Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Puducherry, Assam, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
   • He will have a tenure of more than three years which will end in December, 2018.
   • An EC or a CEC has a tenure of six years in office or till he or she attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
8. Veerappa Moily conferred with Saraswati Sammaan 2014
   • President Pranab Mukherjee has conferred prestigious literary award Saraswati Sammaan for the year 2014 to Dr. Marpadi Veerappa Moily in New Delhi.
   • He was bestowed with this award for his Kannada poem ‘Ramayana Mahanveshanam’ which was first published in 2007. The poem explores the ‘Ramarajya’ or the true principle of the ‘ideal State’ from a secular and modern point of view. It has been translated into English, Hindi, Telugu and Tamil.

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