Daily GK Updates: 17th Oct 2014

1.    International Day for the Eradication of Poverty observed today

i. International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was observed across the world on 17 October 2014.

ii. The theme for the day was Leave no one behind: think, decide and act together against extreme poverty.

iii. The 2014 theme recognises and underscores the demanding challenge of identifying and securing the participation of those experiencing extreme poverty and social exclusion in the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which will replace the Millennium Development Goals.

iv. The day was observed to promote people’s awareness on the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide.

Note: On the other hand, Argentina, Luxembourg, South Korea, Australia and Rwanda will step down from their seats on 31 December 2014 to make way for the newly-elected members.

2.    RBI inks MoU with Kenya's central bank for info exchange

i. The Reserve Bank has signed a pact with Central Bank of Kenya for exchange of information and supervisory cooperation.

ii. "The Reserve Bank of India signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information with the Central Bank of Kenya on October 16, 2014," RBI said in a release.

iii. With this, RBI has signed 22 such MoUs and one Letter for Supervisory Co-operation, it added.

iv. The MoU was signed by RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and Central Bank of Kenya Governor Njuguna Ndung'u.

3.    Nabard sets up Rs 2,000 crore fund for mega food parks

i. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) will commence direct lending to food processing industries in mega food parks and designated food parks by end of October. The Bank has set up a fund with a corpus of Rs 2,000 crore for this purpose, a top bank official said.

ii. "The government announced in this year's budget setting up of a Fund and gave the responsibility to Nabard to promote food processing sector through mega food parks. Nabard has been allocated Rs 2,000 crore fund, which will be utilized to lend to state government entities and private sector," Nabard Chairman Harsh Kumar Bhanwala told Business Standard.

iii. He said the guidelines have been approved and will be released at the stakeholders? meeting in Mumbai on October 29, 2014. "Once guidelines are released, we will start accepting proposals from the state governments and the private companies and issue sanctions thereafter," he said.

iv. Under the new Fund, Nabard would provide loans for a period of seven years at an attractive interest rate of 7.8 per cent to 8 per cent. Nabard would provide loans for large food chains and food processing units in a food park and also for creation of infrastructure at food parks, he said.

4.    Cap of 3 free ATM transactions may apply in cities near metros

i. If you are staying in a city abutting one of the six metros then you may not get to enjoy the convenience of five free transactions a month at other bank ATMs in the city of your residence.

ii. Reason: banks are planning to consider cities lying on the outskirts of the six metros as part of the metros and rationalise the number of free transactions (from five to three per month) with effect from November 1.

iii. In August, the RBI had identified six metros — Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad — for the purpose of rationalisation of the number of free transactions for savings bank account customers at other banks’ ATMs.

iv. The central bank also said that at other locations — other than the six metro centres mentioned above — the present facility of five free transactions for savings bank account customers will remain unchanged.

v. With the RBI asking banks to determine the jurisdiction of the six metros, bankers are of the view that since cities on the periphery of the metros have also seen proliferation of ATMs such areas too should be included within the jurisdiction of metros.

Note: This reduction will, however, not apply to small / no frills / Basic Savings Bank Deposit account holders, who will continue to enjoy five free transactions.

5.    Indigenously developed cruise missile 'Nirbhay' test-fired

i. India's indigenously developed nuclear capable sub-sonic cruise missile 'Nirbhay', which can strike targets more than 700 kms away, was on Friday test-fired from a test range at Chandipur near in Balasore (Odisha).

ii. "The missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher positioned at launch pad 3 of the Integrated Test Range at about 10.03 hours," said an official soon after the flight took off from the launch ground.  It is the second test of the sub-sonic long range cruise missile 'Nirbhay' from the ITR. 
iii. The maiden flight, conducted on March 12, 2013 could not achieve all the desired parameters as "the flight had to be terminated mid-way when deviations were observed from its intended course," sources said. 
iv. India has in its arsenal the 290 km range supersonic "BrahMos" cruise missile which is jointly developed by India and Russia. 
v. But 'Nirbhay' with long range capability is a different kind of missile being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). 

6.    Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela elected as non-permanent members of UNSC

i. Venezuela, Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand and Spain on 16 October 2014 were elected as non-permanent members of United Nations Security Council (UNSC). 
ii. They were elected after member states voted in support of these five nations after three rounds of voting. All these five new members received over two-thirds of the votes cast in a secret ballot. 
iii. The new members of the Security Council will begin their two-year appointment on 1 January 2015 and will serve on the Council until 31 December 2016. 
iv. These nations will join five other non-permanent members, namely Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania and Nigeria. 

7.    Pak accounts for 80 % of polio cases globally: WHO

i. World Health Organisation has said Pakistan, with 206 new polio cases this year, accounts for nearly 80 per cent of polio cases globally. 
ii. In its progress report WHO said Pakistan remains the greatest single risk to eradicating the crippling disease due to a ban imposed by militants on immunisation.

iii. The number of new polio cases this year has surpassed its earlier peak of 199 cases detected in 1999.

iv. Pakistan, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, are the only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic. 

v. The WHO in May imposed travel restrictions on people travelling from Pakistan to other countries.
vi. India, a polio-free country, was the only nation which imposed such restrictions even before the WHO took action against Pakistan.

8.    Indian-born scientist Sanjaya Rajaram received World Food Prize 2014

i. An eminent Indian scientist Dr Sanjaya Rajaram received the World Food Prize 2014 for his scientific research that led to a prodigious increase in world wheat production by more than 200 million tons building upon the successes of the Green Revolution.
ii. Rajaram is credited with developing the Veery lines of wheat in the 1980s which were used to breed locally adapted high-yielding varieties in various wheat-growing countries. 

iii. PBW-343, a workhorse wheat variety grown in about 10 million hectares of India was based on the Veery material that was bred at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) under Rajaram. 

9.    Tamil poet Iqbal named for Singapore's highest cultural award, Cultural Medallion

i. Indian-origin Singaporean poet and writer KTM Iqbal on 15 October 2014 was named for the 2014 Cultural Medallion, the highest cultural award of Singapore. He will be awarded by the Tony Tan, the President of Singapore.
ii. Along with the award, Iqbal will get 80000 Singapore dollar grants, which can be used to fund artistic endeavours over their lifetime.
iii. This award will be the highest recognition for the 74-year-old Tamil poet. His achievements include more than 200 children's songs written for Radio Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as seven collections of poetry.
iv. Iqbal is a poet, whose compositions are studied in schools and some of them have appeared in the subway stations as part of efforts to bring the arts close to the community

10.  Kohli, Raina propel India to 330 for 6

i. Notching up a sublime century, Virat Kohli on Friday reassured that he is back in form to help India post 330 for six against the West Indies in the fourth and final One-day International, here.

ii. Kohli (127) along with Suresh Raina (71) and opener Ajinkya Rahane (68) made batting look easy on a pitch that was expected to favour fast bowlers. It was Kohli’s first hundred across formats since February, following which he experienced the first lean patch of his career.

iii. The West Indies pace attack was decent but overall the unit put up a lacklustre effort on the field after captain Dwayne Bravo decided to field.