DAILY GK UPDATE - 13 - 14th April

1.    Ambedkar Jayanti: 123rd birth anniversary of B.R Ambedkar 

i. Today is the 123rd birth anniversary of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, observed as Ambedkar Jayanti every year in India. On this day homage is paid to Babasaheb’s statue at the Parliament by the President, Prime Minister and other dignitaries. 

ii. Ambedkar was born on April 14, 1891 to the Ramji Maloji Sakpal and Bhimabai in a poor Mahar family in Mhow, Central Provinces, British India (Madhya Pradesh). He died on December, 6 in 1956 at the age of 65. 

iii. He was popular among the people by the name ‘Babasaheb’ because of his great contribution towards the Indian society. He served throughout his life as a jurist, philosopher, social activist, politician, historian, anthropologist and economist as well as revivalist for the Buddhism in India. He became the first law minister of the Independent India and drafted the Constitution of India.

iv. He continued his social revolution till the end of his life through Buddhism. He was honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 1990. 

2.    Bank of India loans $200 mn to Air India for purchase of 3 Dreamliners

i. Bank of India (BoI) has become the first Indian bank to extend a bridge loan of $200 million to Air India to finance the purchase of two Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Confirming the development, a senior official of the airline said that the London branch of the bank had come forward to extend funds to acquire the Boeing 787 aircraft.

ii. The funds raised from BoI will be used to acquire the 13th and 14th B-787 aircraft which the airline is to take delivery of.

iii. Like in the past, the state-owned carrier will go in for a sale-and-lease-back mechanism, a common route adopted by several airlines to acquire expensive assets like aircraft. The Boeing website shows that a Boeing 787 retails for $ 211-288 million.

iv. The actual price of the aircraft varies from airline to airline depending on the number of aircraft ordered.

3.    India becomes net steel exporter after 6 yrs

i. India became net steel exporter in 2013-14 after a gap of six years and is likely to maintain the momentum in 2014-15 as producers are looking to dock more overseas shipment to tide over subdued domestic consumption.

ii. Total steel exports by India during the last fiscal stood at 5.59 million tonnes (MT), as against imports of 5.44 MT, Joint Plant Committee (JPC), a unit of the Steel Ministry, said in a report. 

iii. India, now the world's fourth largest steel maker, had been a net steel importer since 2007-08 and the trend continued till 2012-13 with 7.9 MT of imports and 5.2 MT of exports. Before 2007-08, India's exports were more than its imports. 

iv. About 4.1 percent higher exports and 31.3 percent decline in imports helped India become net exporter of steel. 

v. India's steel consumption grew by just 0.6 percent in 2013-14, its lowest in four years, to 73.93 MT, impacted by a slower expansion of the domestic economy and lower imports. 

Background

Presently, India is the fourth largest steel maker. India had been a steel importer from 2007-08 to 2012-13. About 60 percent of the country's total steel demand is made by the Construction sector and about 15 percent is consumed by automobile sector.

4.    India & China hold 6th round of Strategic Dialogue in Beijing

i. Top diplomats of India and China today held the sixth round of Strategic Dialogue at Beijing, reviewing the status of bilateral relations and exploring new initiatives to deepen the emerging ties. 

ii. Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh co-chaired the talks with her Chinese counterpart Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin. 

iii. A host of issues including mutual concerns over stability in Afghanistan in the backdrop of the US plans to withdraw its troops from there besides India's over 35 billion dollar trade deficit with China were expected to figure in the dialogue. 

5.    Green Economy Summit gets underway in Dubai today

i. The Green Economy Summit gets underway in Dubai today. The four daylong meet is a part of the annual "Water, Energy, Technology and Environment Exhibition (WETEX) 2014". 

ii. More than 1500 exhibitors from 34 countries including India are taking part in the exhibition to showcase the best in renewable or green energy solutions. 

iii. The Green Economy Summit aims to promote capacity building and highlight effective policies, legislation and new opportunities for transition to a green economy. 

iv. Prominent experts from energy, finance and business sectors, in addition to government leaders, international organizations and the private sector will take part in the summit.

6.    Book entitled The Accidental Prime Minister released

i. The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh authored by Dr. Sanjaya Baru.

ii. A memoir entitled the 'The Accidental Prime Minister: the making and unmaking of Manmohan Singh' authored by Sanjaya Baru was released on 11 April 2014.

iii. The book has highlighted the difference between the good governance and bad governance by comparing UPA regime under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and NDA regime under Atal Viharee Vajpayee. 

iv. The memoir has also highlighted the fact that how the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) suffered from the duality of control and responsibility that affected the overall policy decision making.

v. The writer in the book had also claimed that the key appointments to the cabinet and the PMO were also decided by Sonia Gandhi.

vi. According to him, he wrote the book with a motive to let people know the success and failure of Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of India. 

Note: i. Sanjaya Baru was the media advisor of the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh between 2004 and 2008.

ii. The book has been published by Penguin India.

7.    Baroda wins Mushtaq Ali T20 title

i. Baroda beat Uttar Pradesh by three runs to regain the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy in a thrilling last-ball finish at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.

ii. Chasing a challenging target of 145, Uttar Pradesh needed 11 runs off 7 balls but lost the plot as the batsmen at the crease, Praveen Kumar and Upendra Yadav, couldn’t manage to overhaul the target and UP finished at 141 for six.

8.    Nadal leads ATP rankings

i. Rafael Nadal maintained first place lead in the men’s tennis rankings ahead of Novak Djokovic into the first clay-court Masters of the season starting on Monday in Monte Carlo.

ii. Nadal has 13,730 points to Djokovic’s 11,680, with Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka third on 5,760 points.

9.    Williams tops WTA rankings

i. Serena Williams continued to hold a huge lead over Li Na in the latest women’s tennis rankings issued by the WTA.

ii. Williams has 12,375 points, Li 7,585, and Agnieszka Radwanska remained third on 5,980 points. Jelena Jankovic rose from ninth to eighth, at the expense of Maria Sharapova.

10.  Gaurav Gill won Vinz Whangarei Car Rally

i. Delhi based MRF driver, Gaurav Gill won Whangarei Rally by a lead of 11.9 seconds on 13 April 2014.

ii. It is his first title in New Zealand and sixth career victory in FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). He was driving in his Skoda fabia S2000 for team MRF. He had won APRC championship in 2013 too.

iii. European champion, Jan Kopecky (Czech Republic) obtained second position. He is another MRF Skoda driver.

iv. Gill won all six stages in the final race which is a tough target to achieve.  Overall, 14 stages and 220.87 kms were covered. 

11.  Santoso won OUE Singapore Open 2014

i. Simon Santoso (Indonesia) won the OUE Singapore Open 2014 for the first time on 13 April 2014.

ii. He defeated Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia), badminton’s world number one player by 21-15, 21-10 in final match held in Singapore.  Santoso won 300000 US Dollars for this victory.

12.  Dipika Pallikal loses in Texas Open Squash final 

i. Dipika Pallikal stumbled on the final hurdle against Egyptian teenager Nour El Sherbini in the title clash of the Women's Champion Fiberglass Texas Open in Houston, USA on Monday. 

ii. Eyeing maiden major title of her career, world No 12 Dipika faltered against the 18-year-old qualifier 7-11, 11-5, 7-11 to lose in 48 minutes. 

iii. The 22-year-old Dipika was celebrating the biggest Tour final of her career - while world junior champion El Sherbini was continuing the form of her life which had seen the youngster reach last month's WSA World Championship final after upsetting world No 1 Nicol David. 

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