Daily GK Updates - 16th April 2014

1.    Vice Admiral Robin K Dhowan likely to take over as next Navy Chief 

i. Vice Admiral Robin K Dhowan is most likely to be the next chief of the Indian Navy with reports on Wednesday suggesting that the Defence Ministry has recommended his name to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the coveted post. 

ii. The post of Navy chief has been lying vacant for nearly two months since DK Joshi suddenly quit in the wake of a series of mishaps that hit the naval forces recently. 
iii. Vice Admiral Dhowan, who has been the acting Navy chief since Joshi's exit, was in contention for the top job along with Western Navy Commander Shekhar Sinha and Eastern Commander Anil Chopra.

iv. Vice Admiral Sinha is the senior-most among the three but he has been edged out of the race, apparently because majority of the 14 mishaps, including two major submarine accidents, took place under his command during the last 10 months.

v. "The Defence Ministry has recommended the name of acting chief Vice Admiral Robin Dhowan for the appointment and the Prime Minister's Office will go through the file before taking a final decision on the matter," top government sources said

2.    5^th phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow; 12 states go to polls 

i. The fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls will witness 121 constituencies spread over 12 states going to polls on April 17. 

ii. Top leaders of political parties made their last ditch effort to woo the voters as the deadline to wind up the campaign ended at 5 PM. 
iii. Campaigning for 77 Odisha Assembly seats also ended Tuesday evening and voting will be held on 17th April along with the Lok Sabha polls. 
iv. This phase of polling will witness votes being cast for the maximum number of seats in the ongoing general elections. 
v. While, seven seats of Bihar is going to polls on Thursday, 3 constituencies of Chhattisgarh will exercise their franchise. 

vi. Whole Karnataka state will cast their votes on this day. 20 seats of Rajasthan, 19 of Maharashtra, 11 each of Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, 10 of Madhya Pradesh, six of Jharkhand, four of West Bengal will also witness polling on this day. 
vii. Udhampur constituency of Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur's lone parliamentary constituency will also exercise their franchise on 17th April. 

3.    ‘Ship of Theseus’ named best film at National film awards

i. Anand Gandhi’s debut film Ship of Theseus was on Wednesday named the best feature film while Milkha Singh’s biopic Bhaag Milkha Bhaag was declared the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment at the 61st National Film Awards.

ii. The best actor award was shared by Shahid actor Rajkumar Rao and Suraj Venjaramoodu for Malayalam film Perariyathavar while Hansal Mehta was named the best director for Shahid, again a biopic on slain lawyer-activist Shahid Azmi.

iii. Geetanjali Thapa was named the best actress for Hindi film Liar’s Dice Saurabh Shukla was declared the best supporting actor for court-room drama Jolly LLB which was also named the best Hindi film.

iv. The best supporting actress award is shared by Amruta Subhas and Aida El-Kashef for Astu (Marathi) and Ship of Theseus (English-Hindi).

v. An 11-member jury, headed by noted directed Saeed Akhtar Mirza announced the awards on Wednesday.

vi. The National Film Awards along with Dada Saheb Phalke honour, which will go to lyricist-director Gulzar this year, are likely to be given by President Pranab Mukherjee on May 3.

4.    PC Parakh authored book Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths released

i. Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths: authored by PC Parekh 
ii. A memoir entitled "Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and other Truths" authored by former Coal Secretary PC Parakh was released on 14 April 2014 in New Delhi. In the book the author has claimed that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was running a government in which he had little political authority.

iii. The writer has said that the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh was unable to prevent his junior ministers from blocking a move towards a transparent system during the bidding for the coal blocks.

iv. He also said that the coal scam would have been avoided if the Prime Minister pushed for certain reforms like e-marketing and open auction of coal blocks.  

v. PC Parekh claimed that he drew inspiration for writing a book from Premchand’s literary work Namak Ka Daroga. The book has been published by Manas Publication.

5.    Basel Committee issued Final standards to curb exposures of banks to customers

i. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on 15 April 2014 issued Final standards for measuring and controlling large exposures of banks to customers. These standards will take effect from 1 January 2019

ii. The committee consisted of banking supervisors from nearly 30 countries. The committee framed a new rule limiting how much business a bank can undertake with a single customer.

Highlights of the guidelines

• Guidelines were aimed to minimise the risk of fallout from a counterparty going default without imposing excessive burdens on financial firms.
•   The framework was designed so that the maximum possible loss a bank could incur if such a default were to occur would not endanger the bank's survival as a going concern. 
•   In cases where the bank's counterparty is another bank, large exposure limits will directly contribute towards the reduction of system-wide contagion risk. 
•  The framework will also contribute to strengthening the oversight and regulation of the shadow banking system by extending the scope of coverage to exposures to funds, securitisation structures and collective investment undertakings.
•  The existing rule leaves it to supervisors to impose a 25 percent cap on exposures, meaning each exposure cannot be more than a quarter of the bank's total regulatory capital holdings. 

6.    SBI launches new scheme for fashion boutique owners

i. The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a financing scheme for women fashion boutique owners.

ii. Labelled ‘boutique financing’, the scheme is designed to offer working capital expenses as well as term loan for boutique owners.

iii. Chief General Manager of SBI (Bengal Circle) Sunil Srivastava said the bank has identified the growth potential of the segment.He said the bank would give loans at a concessional interest rate and the maximum loan to be made available would be Rs 50 lakh for a period of seven years.

iv. Owners would also get overdraft facilities, he added.

7.    CBI Sports Integrity Unit to probe betting, fixing and other fraud in sports

i. The CBI has set up a Sports Integrity Unit to check betting and fixing in sports. 
ii. Speaking at a function in New Delhi yesterday, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha said that the unit is intended to investigate and inquire into matters related to sports fraud, combating malpractice in sports and coordinating with sports federations and law enforcement agencies.
iii. Mr. Sinha said the agency will also be engaging with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports so that a law to deal with corruption in sports is put in place at the earliest.

8.    Srinivasan’s name in Mudgal report; can’t discharge any duty in BCCI: SC

i. The Supreme Court today said that the suspended Chief of BCCI N. Srinivasan's name figures in the inquiry report submitted by the Justice Mukul Mudgal committee on February 10. The apex court said that Srinivasan cannot discharge any function inside BCCI. 

ii. The court added that any probe into allegations made by Mudgal committee which enqiured into the IPL scam, against 13 people including N Srinivasan should be done by BCCI itself to maintain its institutional autonomy. 

iii. On Tuesday, Srinivasan had appealed to the Supreme Court to reinstate him as BCCI chief. He was removed from the post on March 28. The court said its interim order will stand.
iv. The Apex Court also said that Sundar Raman can continue as the Chief Operating Officer of the Indian Premier League. The interim BCCI president Sunil Gavaskar has recommended that Sundar Raman can continue, the court informed

9.    Gupta loses to Iturrizaga in Dubai finale

i. Grandmaster and former world junior champion Abhijeet Gupta missed out on a podium finish after losing to Eduardo Iturrizaga of Venezuela in the 9th and final round of 16th Dubai International open chess tournament that concluded in Dubai.

ii. Having done all the hard work, Gupta fell at the final hurdle and had to be content with a fourth place finish on 6.5 points.

iii. Romain Edouard of France won the tournament defeating top seed Anton Korobov of Ukraine in the final round game.

iv. The French Grandmaster ended on a high scoring eight points out of a possible nine and this was amongst his best performance ever. Edouard, for his efforts, gets the winner’s cheque of $10000.

10.  Mumbai Indians take on Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 7 opener

i. Fighting for credibility after being left devastated by a spot-fixing scandal, the glamorous but controversial Indian Premier League will roll out its seventh edition from Wednesday with the promise of putting cricket first while keeping the drama and glitz to a bare minimum.

ii. Defending champions Mumbai Indians, captained by Rohit Sharma, will square off against 2012 winners Kolkata Knight Riders, led by veteran opener Gautam Gambhir, in the event-opener at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Dubai.

iii. The UAE is hosting the high-profile T20 event's first leg from April 16 to 30 owing to a clash of dates with the Indian general elections and security concerns emanating from that.

iv. The tournament will return to India on May 2 after being assured of security in states where voting would be over by that time.

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