Daily GK update : 14th July 2015

1. IPL scam: Apex court suspends Rajasthan Royals, CSK for two years.

i. The Supreme Court-appointed Justice R.M. Lodha Committee on Tuesday suspended Indian Premier League (IPL) teams Chennai Super Kings (CSK)and Rajasthan Royals (RR) from the League for two years.

ii. The committee on Tuesday also imposed sanctions on Gurunath Meiyappan, and Raj Kundra who were the face of these IPL franchises respectively and were found to have indulged in betting activities. It declared them ineligible for participation from cricket activities for life.

iii. The committee has stressed that the betting activities of these individuals had brought the game of cricket, BCCI and IPL into disrepute.

iv. The Lodha committee was formed by the Supreme Court in its judgment in the IPL betting case on January 22. This judgment confirmed the Supreme Court-appointed Justice Mukul Mudgal committee's findings and held Mr. Meiyappan and Mr. Kundra guilty of betting.

2. Legendary music composer MS Viswanathan passes away.

i.  Legendary music director MS Viswanathan, who had scored music for over 1,000 films, passed away at his residence early this morning following illness.

ii. 88-year-old Viswanathan was being treated at a private hospital here for geriatric problems. The music director is survived by four sons and three daughters.

iii. Born in Palakkad in Kerala, Viswanathan had scored music for over 1,000 films, some of them in association with his partner Ramamurthy. Later they parted ways.

3. Noted artist Sayed Haider Raza conferred with France’s de la Lgion dHonneur.

i. Noted artist Sayed Haider Raza was conferred with highest French Civilian Award Commandeur de la Lgion dHonneur (the Legion of Honour).

ii. Raza was bestowed with this award for his peerless achievements in transcending all boundaries, forging ties between France and India and for continuing artistic quest straddling nations, religions, cultures and philosophies.

iii. Born in 1922 in Madhya Pradesh. He started his artistic career at the age of 12.

iv. la Lgion dHonneur (the Legion of Honour) is the highest civilian award given by the French Government.

4. India and Georgia signed MoU for cooperation in field of Election Management

i)India and Georgia on 13 July 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the field of election management and administration. The MoU was signed by Chief Election Commissioner of India Nasim Zaidi and Tamar Zhvania, Chairperson, Central Election Commission, Georgia.

ii) Till now, Election Commission of India has signed twenty MoUs with Election Management Bodies and international organizations across the world.

iii) Major purpose of the MoU between India and Georgia:

a) Promotion of exchanges of knowledge and experience in electoral processes

b) Exchange of information, materials, expertise and training of personnel

c) Production and distribution of materials pertaining to electoral systems, voting technology, voters’ education and awareness

d)  Participation of women and minorities in electoral process.

5. IT department launched OTP to e-file Income Tax

i) The Income Tax (IT) Department on 13 July 2015 launched One Time Password (OTP) based e-filing verification system for taxpayers. This OTP will help in ending the practice of sending paper acknowledgement, called ITR-V, through post to the I-T Central Processing Centre (CPC) based in Bengaluru.

ii) The facility can be accessed using internet banking, Aadhaar number, ATM and email.Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in its notification said that any taxpayer, whose income is 5 lakh rupees or below per annum and has no refund claims, can straightaway generate the 'Electronic Verification Code' (EVC) for e-filing and validating their Income Tax Return (ITR) through their registered mobile number and e-mail id with the department.

iii) Once logged in on the banking portal, the taxpayer will be sent the EVC to his mobile number provided in the official e-filing web portal of the department which they will put in their ITR for final submission.

6. MoD and MSDE signed MoU to increase employability of ex-servicemen.

i)The Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) on 13 July 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate strategic partnership on skill development and entrepreneurship.

ii) The MoU was signed by the Defence Secretary Shri G Mohan Kumar and his counterpart from MSDE Shri Sunil Arora. The MoU will provide impetus to use the skills of servicemen for the country when they retire from the Armed Forces. 

iii) The MoU will be a harbinger of skill development in the country that will align the Armed Forces and the civilian field.

7. Lt General Man Mohan Singh Rai appointed as Vice-Chief of Indian Army

i) Lieutenant General Man Mohan Singh Rai was on 13 July 2014 appointed as the Vice-Chief of the Indian Army. Rai will succeed Lt Gen Philip Campose, who will superannuate the office on 31 July 2015.

ii) Presently, Rai is working as the Eastern Army Commander. He is from the Corps of Engineers and is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla. He was commissioned from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, on 15 December 1976.

8. Former BSFI president Pashupatinath Roy died.

i)Former Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) President Pashupatinath Roy died on 13 July 2015 following a cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Kolkata. He was 76.

ii) Roy was also the president of West Bengal Badminton Association for more than five decades after he toook over charge from his father B K Roy in late 1960's.

iii) He also served BSFI in various capacities. He was the secretary and advisor at BSFI for some time and later went on to join the Asian body of the game as Secretary and President.

9. Operation Talaash for missing Dornier ends.

i) Thirty-five days after a Coast Guard aircraft on a surveillance sortie disappeared off the Chennai coast with three crew, the search operation has been “terminated” after recovery of human remains, parts of the plane and personal effects.

ii)“Eighty per cent of the aircraft’s parts have been retrieved, besides human bones and wrist watches from the sea bed,” I G Coast Guard S P Sharma said here today, adding the search operation was “terminated” last night.

iii) The authorities have called the families of the crew for carrying out DNA tests for identification of the deceased and collecting the remains and personal effects.