Daily GK Potion – 11th and 12th May 2015

1. PM Modi inaugurates India’s largest blast furnace plant in Burnpur
   • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dedicated the modernised and expanded IISCo Steel Plant of Steel Authority of India to the nation.
   • SAIL has spent Rs 16,000 crore to expand the plant’s capacity to 2.9 million tonnes per annum from 0.85 million tonnes.
     
2. Congress leader KV Thomas renominated PAC chairman
   • K V Thomas has been renominated as PAC chairman till April, 2016.
   • Since 1967, the post of the PAC Chairman has been held by a senior member of the main Opposition party.
   • The PAC, constituted every year, may consist of not more than 22 members — 15 from Lok Sabha and not more than seven members from Rajya Sabha.
3. India Post sets up e-commerce centre, targets online players
   • India Post on Monday launched a mobile application and an e-commerce centre at Safdarjang, New Delhi that will handle e-retailing exclusively.
   • Equipped with modern technology, the India Post centre will be capable of handling 30,000 parcels per day.
   • Online companies such as Amazon, Paytm, Yepme, Snapdeal and the like are already using the Postal Department’s services for their parcels.
   • The mobile app for India Post is Android-based and includes features such as real-time tracking, post office search and postage calculator.
   • India Post has over 1.55 lakh post offices, of which more than 1.39 lakh are in rural areas.
4. Kamath to head BRICS bank
   • India has named private banker K. V. Kamath as the first head of the new development bank the BRICS group of emerging market economies is setting up.
   • Mr. Kamath’s five-year term is to be followed by a Brazilian and then a Russian.
   • The BRICS had agreed to set up the $100 billion development bank last year, a step that was at the time seen as one that could challenge the dominance of the West in the international financial system.
   • Mr. Kamath, a veteran banker, with an eight-year stint at the Asian Development Bank, spent 13 years as ICICI Bank’s head during which it went on to become India’s second largest bank. At present, he is Non-Executive Chairman for ICICI Bank and also software services company Infosys.
5. MIDC inks MoU with SIDBI to raise Rs 200-crore fund for MSMEs
   • Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has inked memorandum of understanding (MoU) with state-run Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to provide easy finance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for their growth.
   • As per the MoU, both signatory parties have jointly created funds to the tune of 200 crore rupees to provide immediate finance to the MSMEs.
   • Of the total amount, the MIDC has contributed 75 crore rupees, while SIDBI has provided the remaining 125 crore rupees.
6. Satish Reddy appointed as Chairman of National Safety Council
   • Satish Reddy, Chairman, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, has been appointed as the new Chairman of the National Safety Council (NSC).
   • Reddy takes over the Chairmanship from Venu Srinivasan, who steered the workings of the Council since July 2011.
   • The National Safety Council is the apex body set up by the Govt. of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment, to generate, develop and sustain a voluntary movement on safety, health and environment at the national level.
7. Indian-American professor, Sivanadane Mandjiny, wins USD 12,500 teaching award
   • An Indian-American Professor at the University of North Carolina in US has won a USD 12,500 award for excellence in teaching.
   • Chemistry professor Sivanadane Mandjiny was named UNC Pembroke’s recipient of the UNC Board of Governors 2015 Award for Excellence in Teaching.
   • Mandjiny joined the faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Physics in 1996 as a teaching associate and earned tenure in 2006. He became department chair in 2011 and continues in that role today.
8. Justice Cyriac Joseph appointed NHRC acting chief
   • National Human Rights Commission Member Justice Cyriac Joseph was on Monday authorised to act as the Chairperson of the Commission until the appointment of a new Chairperson in place of Justice K.G. Balakrishnan who has completed his tenure.
   • Justice Balakrishnan, the former Chief Justice of India, completed his tenure as the sixth and the longest serving NHRC Chairperson.
   • He was a Judge of the Supreme Court from 2008 to 2012.
9. Lok Sabha passes Black Money Bill with Opposition support
   • A stringent law imposing 120 per cent tax, jail term of up to 10 years and penalty on undisclosed foreign assets and income to deal with the black money menace was passed in Lok Sabha.
   • Under the proposed law, there would be a short compliance window within which persons with undisclosed income abroad can come clean by paying 30 per cent tax and 30 per cent penalty.
   • Once the window closes, anyone found having undeclared overseas wealth would be required to pay 30 per cent tax, 90 per cent penalty and face criminal prosecution.
   • There could be a two-month window to declare overseas assets and income and a six-month period to pay tax and penalty.
10. Nepal earthquake: Dozens die in new tremor near Everest
    • A major earthquake has struck eastern Nepal, near Mount Everest, two weeks after more than 8,000 people died in a devastating quake.
    • At least 37 people have been killed and more than 1,000 injured, officials say. At least 17 have also died in India.
    • It had a magnitude of 7.3, compared with the 7.8 of the 25 April quake.
    • The latest tremor was also felt in northern India and Bangladesh. It was centred about 76km (47 miles) east of Kathmandu, in a rural area close to the Chinese border.
11. Canara Bank launches mega CASA campaign
    • Canara Bank has recently launched a mega CASA (current account, savings account) campaign in Bengaluru with the CanBank men and women with their logo colour caps flooding the nook and corners of the city to sell their products.
    • The entire city was divided into 16 clusters covering 173 branches. Each cluster was led by the rank of a General Manager from head office.
    • Executive directors P S Rawat and Harideesh Kumar spearheaded the campaign along with Bengaluru Metro Circle General Manager Ravindra Bhandary and his team.
    • The mega CASA campaign will continue till May 23.

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