Daily GK - 4th March 2013 Study Material

1.    Rio to be sworn in as Nagaland CM 

i. Neiphiu Rio will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Nagaland for the third consecutive term on 5th March at the Raj Bhavan in Kohima.

ii. Governor Nikhil Kumar will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Rio, who was earlier elected as leader of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) legislature party,

NOTE: Rio is the only leader to have led the regional party to victory in the Assembly elections for the third time in the 50-year history of Nagaland statehood.

2.    Rajeev Shahare Appointed As the New High Commissioner of India to Maldives

i. Rajeev Shahare was appointed as the new High Commissioner to Maldives replacing D M Mulay.

ii. At present, Shahare is a Joint Secretary in the West Asia North Africa division of Ministry of External Affairs. 

iii. D M Mulay, on the other hand, has now been appointed as the India’s Consul General in New York.

NOTE: The appointment of Rajeev Shahare came at a time when bilateral relations between India and Maldives are suffering because of termination of contract to GMR for Male International Airport modernisation.

3.    President releases stamp on Parachute Regiment's bicentenary

i. President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday released a stamp to commemorate the bicentenary celebrations of Army's 3 Para (Special Forces) unit.

ii. "Mukherjee released a commemorative stamp on the occasion of bicentenary celebrations of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) at a function at the Rashtrapati Bhavan,"

iii. The stamp has been released in honour of the significant contribution made by the unit in ensuring the security of the nation and to inspire its men to tackle challenges which have in the past and will in the future continue to bring glory to the nation.

4.    India and Portugal decide to further boost bilateral economic activities

i. India and Portugal today decided to further boost and energise bilateral economic activities in various fields including, health, tourism, sports management, food and hospitality sectors. You are reading current affairs on http://jobentra.blogspot.com.

ii. This was announced by External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid after hour long delegation level talks with visiting Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Sacadura Cabral Portas at the Hyderabad house in New Delhi

iii. Visiting Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Sacadura Cabral Portas said, discussions are also on finalising a Double Taxation Agreement between the two countries. 

iv. He also welcomed investments from India to strengthen economy of Portugal.

5.    SK Varma, the Veteran Journalist Passed Away

i. SK Varma, the former news editor of The Indian Express died on 3 March 2013 in New Delhi following a cardiac arrest. Varma was aged 90 years. 

NOTE: SK Varma began his career during Quit India movement with the Patna Times. Thereafter, he moved to Indian Nation. By the end of World War II, he shifted to the Punjab Mail and also worked with the Daily Herald as a sub-editor. 

6.    Services retain 67th Santosh Trophy title

i. Services defended Santosh Trophy title after they defeated the hosts Kerala 4-3 in penalty shootout in the summit clash of the 67th edition of the National Football Championships in Kochi on Sunday.

ii. The two sides were locked in a goal-less draw in the regulation and extra time and Services players held on their nerves to emerge champions in front of 35,000 crowd at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi.

Indian women finish fifth in wrestling World Cup

i. Geeta Phogat stood fifth in the senior women’s wrestling World Cup in Mongolia.

ii. Geeta, who took part in the 59kg category for the first time, won all her bouts against her opponents from Japan, Canada, Mongolia and Belarus.

iii. In the fifth-sixth place classification match, India defeated Belarus 5-2 for the fifth position.

iv. China won the gold while Mongolia and Japan settled for silver and bronze respectively.

7.    Deepika Kumari named 'sportsperson of the year' by Tata Steel

i. Ace woman archer Deepika Kumari has been named the state's 'Sportsperson of the year' for her outstanding achievements world over.

ii. The announcement was made by Tata Steel on the occasion of 174th birth anniversary of its founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata on Sunday.

iii. It was the third consecutive time when Deepika, who recently topped the National Senior Ranking Archery Tournament held in Hyderabad, was given the honour.

NOTE: Deepika, who has decided to skip the forthcoming Asian Grand Prix scheduled to be held from 9th March to 15^th March at Bangkok due to her ongoing intermediate examination, was not present.

8.    Nadal win Mexican Open

i. Rafael Nadal blasted past top-seed and defending champion David Ferrer 6-0, 6-2 in Saturday’s final of the Mexican Open in a powerful performance that indicated he has quickly returned to near his best after a long-term knee injury.

ii. Ferrer was a three-time defending champion and had won 19 straight matches in this event, but he could find no answer to Nadal, losing to his Spanish compatriot in just one hour and five minutes.

NOTE: The women’s final was similarly one-sided with Italy’s Sara Errani beating Carla Suarez-Navarro of Spain 6-0, 6-4.

9.    Novak Djokovic won the ATP Dubai Open Tennis title

i. World Number one Novak Djokovic has won the ATP Dubai Open Tennis title.

ii. He defeated third seed Czech Republic’s Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-3 in the finals in Dubai last night.

NOTE: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and his French partner Michael Lloldra bagged the doubles crown defeating Serbian-Swedish duo of Nenad Zimonjic and Robert Lindstedt 7-6, 7-6 in straight sets.

10.   India all out for 503 at tea, lead by 266 runs

i. Cheteshwar Pujara scored his second double hundred and shared a record partnership with Murali Vijay as India took a huge 266-run first innings lead against Australia on the third day of the second cricket Test, in Hyderabad on Monday.

ii. Despite failure of the other middle-order batsmen, India scored a commendable 503 in their first innings and the tea break was taken after the fall of last wicket.

iii. India's newest 'Run-Machine' Pujara scored a magnificent 204 and Murli Vijay well-made 167 runs.

NOTE: Brief Scores: Australia 237 for 9 dec. and 74 for 2 (Ed Cowan 26*; Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 42) trail India503 (Murali Vijay 167, Cheteshwar Pujara 204; Xavier Doherty 3 for 131, Glenn Maxwell 4 for 127) by 192 runs.