Daily GK Potion – 4th June 2015

1. Life insurance Corporation gets clearance to do business in Bangladesh
   • The Indian state-owned insurance giant will start operations as the joint venture entity LIC Bangladesh Ltd.
   • Its paid up capital will be Tk 1 billion and LIC will hold half of it.
   • The rest will be owned by their Bangladeshi partners, which will be raised from the capital market and local entrepreneurs.
   • In 2013, LIC’s proposal for operation in Bangladesh with a paid up capital of Tk 300 million was rejected by the IDRA.
   • LIC, the market leader in India, has been in the insurance business for six decades and is worth over 15,000 billion Indian rupees.
2. 2004 Nobel Chemistry winner Irwin Rose dies
   • Irwin Rose, a biochemist who shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering a way that cells destroy unwanted proteins the basis for developing new therapies for diseases such as cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis has died. He was 88.
   • 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. The proteins are then chopped to pieces.
   • 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. His Nobel-winning work was done there in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
3. Maneka Gandhi launches IAP HealthPhone programme
   • Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi launched the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) HealthPhone programme in Delhi.
   • The programme is the world’s largest digital mass education programme for addressing malnutrition in women and children.
   • This programme has been launched by the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) in partnership with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, UNICEF and supported by Vodafone India.
   • This programme aims to tackle the challenge of malnutrition in mothers and children across India.
4. CM Vasundhara Raje flags off Jaipur Metro, takes a ride too
   • Jaipur on Wednesday became the fifth city in the country to have metro service when chief minister Vasundhara Raje flagged off the first train before she boarded it for a ride from Mansarover to Chandpole station.
   • Jaipur Metro commenced its commercial operations from all 9 stations — Mansarover, New Aatish Market, Vivek Vihar, Shyam Nagar, Ram Nagar, Civil Lines, Railway Station, Sindhi Camp and Chandpole.
   • The city now joins the elite club of Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata that have metro rail.
     
5. India, US ink new defence framework accord
   • India and the US has signed a new strategically important 10-year defence framework pact envisaging joint development and manufacture of defence equipment and technology including jet engines, aircraft carrier design and construction.
   • The new Framework agreement provides avenues for high level strategic discussions, continued exchanges between armed forces of both countries, and strengthening of defence capabilities.
   • Both India and the United States have finalised two project agreements for joint development of Mobile Electric Hybrid Power Sources and the Next Generation Protective Ensembles.
6. World Bank approves $250 million loan for J&K flood recovery project
   • Multi-lateral lender World Bank has approved $250 million loan for Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project for reconstruction of flood-affected public infrastructure in Jammu & Kashmir.
   • It will also strengthen the capacity of state government to respond and better manage natural disasters in future.
   • The loan has a maturity of 25 years, including a 5 year grace period.
   • It will help rebuild damaged public buildings – hospitals, schools, higher education buildings, fire stations, and selected block and district offices.
7. Kalmadi conferred with Asian athletics top award
   • Suresh Kalmadi has been conferred with the Asian Athletics Association President’s award for his contribution towards the development of athletics in the continent.
   • Kalmadi, who was jailed and later released on bail in connection with the 2010 Commonwealth Games scam, served as president of AAA for 13 years from 2000 to 2013 and was also credited with the introduction of top events like Asian Grand Prix series, Asian Indoor Championships and Asian All Star Meet, besides other competitions.
   • He was named Life President of the AAA in its council meeting in Jakarta in March for his contribution for Asian athletics.
8. De Villiers crowned South African cricketer of the year
   • AB de Villiers won as many 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.
   • Besides being voted the Cricketer of the Year for the second successive season, the South African batting great on Wednesday night bagged four more accolades out of total nine major awards.
   • The 27-year-old batsman was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, Cricketers’ Cricketer of the Year, SA Fan’s Cricketer of the Year and also got the ‘So Good Award’ for scoring the fastest century in the history of ODI cricket against the West Indies in December 2014.

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