Daily GK Study Material - 25th Feb 2013

Published for http://www.jobentra.blogspot.com

1.      Bansal to introduce Rail Budget tomorrow !

     i. All eyes will be on Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Tuesday on whether he yields to pressure of hiking passenger fares yet again or looks at other measures to mobilise resources to offset the burden of the recent diesel price hike.   ii. Bansal had on 22nd January hiked passenger fares across-the- board after the Railways faced a loss of about Rs 25,000 crore in the passenger segment. iii. The Rail Minister held several round of discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and the Planning Commission in connection with the Rail Budget iv. However, sources said a section of the Congress is not inclined towards effecting another round of fare hike as general elections are not far away.

2.    Park Geun-hye sworn –in as 1st women Prez of S. Korea ! i. Ms Park Geun-hye defeated liberal rival Moon Jae and sworn-in as the first women President of South Korea. ii. Taking the oath of office before 70,000 people in front of the National Assembly building in Seoul, Park called on North Korea to "abandon its nuclear ambitions without delay" and rejoin the international community. iii. The 61-year-old is the daughter of former military strongman Park Chung-hee, who ruled South Korea for almost two decades.

3.    Indo-French satellite 'SARAL' launched from Sriharikota !

i. ISRO has launched Indo-French satellite 'SARAL', aimed at oceanographic studies, and six foreign mini and micro satellites onboard ISRO's workhorse rocket PSLV from the spaceport of Sriharikota on Monday.

ii. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C20 is blast-off at 6.01 PM local time from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, 110 kms from Chennai.

iii. This is the 23rd mission of PSLV, which has an impeccable record of 21 consecutive successful flights.

iv. This is the ninth time ISRO is using the 'core alone' variant of the rocket.

v. The 668.5 kgs and 44.4 metres tall rocket will have a lift off mass of 229.7 tonnes.

vi. Besides SARAL, it would put into orbit two micro-satellites UniBRITE and BRITE from Austria and AAUSAT3 from Denmark and STRaND from United Kingdom as also one micro-satellite (NEOSSat) and one mini-satellite (SAPPHIRE) from Canada.

NOTE: i. The ISRO-built SARAL is a 410-kg satellite with payloads -- Argos and Altika -- from French space agency CNES for study of ocean parameters towards enhancing the understanding of the ocean state conditions which are otherwise not covered by the in-situ measurements.

ii. ISRO had initially planned to launch SARAL on December 12 last year but postponed it to carry out additional tests to "address technical issues to ensure reliability".

iii. SARAL will provide data products to operational and research user communities, in support of marine meteorology and sea state forecasting; operational oceanography; seasonal forecasting; climate monitoring; ocean, earth system and climate research.

4.    Raul Castro re-elected as President in Cuba !

i. Raul Castro has been re-elected as Cuba's president, officially to his last five-year term.

ii. "The National Assembly of People's Power approved Army General Raul Castro Ruz as president of the Council of State, and elected Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, as its first vice president.

iii. Raul Castro, now 81, became interim president when his brother, revolution icon Fide took ill in 2006. He then formally became president in 2008.

iv. Diaz-Canel has been one of the eight vice presidents on the Council of Ministers.

5.    Nicos Anastasiades elcted as President of Cyprus !

i. Nicos Anastasiades, the centre-right DISY (the Democratic Rally) party leader won the presidential elections of Cyprus.

ii. Nicos Anastasiades had a very easy-going victory over Communist-backed Stavros Malas who secured 42.5 percent votes in the election. 

About Nicos Anastasiades

i. Nicos Anastasiades is a 66-year old lawyer and a member of the Cyprus’s parliament since 1981. 

ii. Nicos Anastasiades would be replacing the former President of Cyprus, Dimitris Christofias who served the office from 28 February 2008 and will remain into the designation till the end of his term on 28 February 2013.

6.    Argo bags best film award !

i. Ben Affleck's Iranian hostage drama 'Argo rode to victory at the 85th Academy Awards as it took home the coveted best picture trophy despite the actor-director not being nominated in the best helmer category.

NOTE: i. 'Argo' saw off tough competition from eight other films --including 'Lincoln', 'Life of Pi', 'Amour', 'Django Unchained' and 'Zero Dark Thirty'-- to walk away with the top award.

ii. The film, based on real incidents, narrates the near impossible escape story when CIA pulled out six US diplomats from Iranin 1979 by posing as a fake film crew.

iii. It won three trophies --best picture, best adapted screenplay and best editing-- out of its seven nominations.

7.    Ang Lee wins best director Oscar for 'Life of Pi' !

i. Ang Lee has won the Academy Award for best director for his “Life of Pi.”

ii. It’s the second Oscar for Lee, who won in 2005 for “Brokeback Mountain.

8.    Daniel Day-Lewis wins best Actor award !

i. British actor Daniel Day-Lewis, 55, scored a historic third Best Actor Oscar for his turn as the 16th US President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's civil-war set drama 'Lincoln'.

NOTE: He has become the first actor to win the most number of Best Actor Oscars.

His previous Oscars were for 'My Left Foot' in 1989 and 'There Will Be Blood' in 2007.

9.    Jennifer Lawrence wins best Actress award !

i. 22-year-old Jennifer Lawrence emerged a winner for 'Silver Linings Playbook' in a tight best actress race by tripping strong contenders like Jessica Chastain, Emmanuelle Riva, Naomi Watts and Quvenzhane Wallis.

10.  Assam became First Indian State to produce over 500 million kg Tea !

i. Assam became the first state in India to produce over 500 million kilogram tea for two years in a row.

ii. Assam produced five hundred 88 million kilogram of tea in 2012, which is 53 percent of the country’s total tea production. Earlier in 2011, 5 hundred 89 million kilogram tea was produced in the state.

iii. According to an estimate, over seven thousand five hundred crore rupee turn-over was recorded in Assam tea sector in 2012.

iv. It may be recalled that around seven lakh workers are engaged in the tea sector. Fifty percent of them are women.

11.  Rajasthan to establish Kisan & Village knowledge centers !

i. The Rajasthan Government will establish Kisan Service Centers and Village Knowledge centers at all Panchayat headquarters. 

ii. These centers will serve farmers and they would get urban facilities in villages through these centers.

iii. BSNL will provide Internet connectivity in these centers.

NOTE: i. Rajasthan has achieved 80 percent target of target of construction of Rajiv Gandhi Bharat Nirman Seva Kendras which is highest in the country.

12.  CBI Registered Case against Airtel & Tata Comm. for Violating DoT Norms !

i. The Central Bureau of Investigation registered a case against Bharti Airtel Ltd and Tata Communications Ltd, the giant telecom companies for having link up with the Singapore Telecom for the purpose of international calls, thereby violating norms of Department of Telecom (DoT). 

ii. CBI on 24 February 2013 announced that the two companies were charged for causing a loss of around 48 crore Rupees to the Union Government of India since 2004 because of illegal arrangement.

NOTE: i. CBI accused these operators on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy.

ii. Actually, Bharti Airtel Ltd and Tata Communications Ltd had entered into an agreement with the Singapore Telecom for the purpose of international calls, which violates the norms that are laid down by the Department of Telecommunications.

13.  Hari Shankar Singhania, passes away !

i. Hari Shankar Singhania, the leading industrialist died at the age of 79 years.

ii. Hari Shankar Singhania was a Padma Bhushan awardee (in 2003) and was also involved with JK organisation since 1951. 

iii. He was also the chairman of International Chamber of Commerce from the time duration of 1993 to 1994.

iv. He had remained the president of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in 1979-80.

About Hari Shankar Singhania: 

i. Hari Shankar Singhania was born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh on 20 June 1933.

ii. Hari Shankar Singhania achieved various recognitions and award, one of which also includes 2008 Paper Industry International Hall of Fame Award.

iii. He had also won Lifetime Achievement Award for Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship in 2010. 

iv. In 2005, he won Royal Order of the Polar Star by the king of Sweden for contributing towards the Indo-Swedish business relationships.

14.  Sania & Bethanie wins Dubai Tennis Championship 2013 !

i. India's Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie-Mattek Sands won the Dubai Tennis Championship on 23 February 2013. 

ii. The Indo-American duo defeated the second seeded Russian-Slovenian combination of Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik, 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.

iii. Sania bagged her second Doubles title of the season.

NOTE: i. Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova yesterday clinched the Women's Singles trophy.

ii. In the finals, she defeated Sara Errani of Italy, 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 to win her career's 10th title.

15.  Bopanna-Fleming win ATP Open 13 title !

i. Rohan Bopanna won his first title of the season when he combined with Colin Fleming to claim the ATP Open 13 doubles trophy with a straight-sets win over Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi and Jeal-Julien Rojer.

ii. Bopanna and Fleming shared euro 29,000 as prize money and earned 250 ranking points each.

NOTE: i. It was eighth ATP doubles title for Bopanna, who has been ignored for India’s Davis Cup tie against Indonesia.

ii. Last year he won two titles — Paris Masters and Dubai event — with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi.

iii. Bopanna played with Fleming in the absence of regular partner Rajeev Ram.  

16.  Dhoni breaks Sachin's record  !

i. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's record of highest individual Test score by an Indian captain en route his majestic 224 against Australia in the first cricket test.

ii. Dhoni, who reached his maiden double century on Sunday, went past Tendulkar's 217 scored against New Zealand in 1999-00 at Ahmedabad.

NOTE: The India captain however fell eight runs short of equalling Andy Flower's highest individual score by a skipper --- 232 against India.

Highest Individual scores by Indian captains

i.224 Mahendra Singh Dhoni vs Aus (Chennai)

ii. 217 Sachin Tendulkar vs New Zealand (Ahmedabad)

iii. 205 Sunil Gavaskar vs West Indies (Mumbai)

iv. 203 MAK Pataudi vs England (Delhi).

17.  Marina Erakovic Won Her First WTA Title !

i. Marina Erakovic won her first Women's Tennis Association title, US National Indoor Tennis Championship 2013 after beating Germany's Sabine Lisicki in Memphis on 23 February 2013. 

ii. With this victory, Erakovic became the first women from New Zealand to win WTA Title since Belinda Cordwell in Singapore in 1989.

18.  India close to a big victory over Australia !

i. India inched closer towards a comprehensive victory in the first cricket Test against Australia but debutant Moises Henriques delayed the inevitable with an undefeated 75 on a difficult track to take the match into the fifth and final day.

ii. Ashwin grabbed 5 for 90 and his current match haul of 12 wickets helped India reduce Australia to 175 for 9.

iii. The highlight of India's performance was skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's magnificent 224 which enabled the home team to post a mammoth 572 in their first innings, thereby ensuring a lead of 192 runs.