Daily GK Potion – 31st January 2015

  1. Krishna Chaudhary appointed new ITBP chief
    • Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Krishna Chaudhary will take over as the new Director General (DG) of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
    • He succeeds Subhas Goswami who retired on December 31, 2014.
  2. RBI forms High Powered Committee on Urban Co-operative Banks
    • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a High Powered Committee under chairmanship of R Gandhi, Deputy Governor of RBI, to re-examine and recommend appropriate set of businesses, size, conversion and licensing terms for the Urban Cooperative Banking Sector.
    • The Committee will submit its report within three months from the date of its first meeting.
  3. Hockey India selects Paul van Ass as men’s team coach
    • Paul van Ass, the 54-year-old’s impeccable coaching record was reason to appoint him as coach of national men’s hockey team.
    • Former assistant coach of Australian women’s team and head coach of Australian men’s developmental squad, Anthony Thornton of New Zealand was named as the women’s coach.
  4. Commemorative Postage Stamp on Swachh Bharat

    • The government of India released Commemorative Postage stamps on the theme of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to mark the Martyrdom Day of Mahatma Gandhi today.
    • The design for the stamps were selected through a competition among the children on the theme.
    • Swachh Bharat Mission was launched by the Prime Minister on the 2nd October, 2014 on the occasion of Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
      postage_stamp_swachh_bharat_abhiyan
  5. J&K govt announces Rs 1,102 crore flood package
    • Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the rehabilitation of flood victims and the restoration of the public infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, which saw massive devastation caused by floods in September last year.
    • An amount of Rs. 1102.56 crore has been sanctioned from the National Disaster Response Fund to meet expenditures incurred by the State Government for the immediate restoration of public infrastructure consequent of the devastation caused by the floods.
  6. Coal India Ltd sale brings in Rs 22.6K cr
    • The government on Friday mobilised Rs 22,557.63 crore by selling 10 per cent stake in Coal India Limited (CIL), making it the biggest ever disinvestment exercise by any state-run company in the country.
    • The stake sale registered bids worth Rs 24,210 crore, the biggest so far.
  7. Base year change: Per capita income rises to Rs 6,699/month in FY14
    • India’s per capita income, a gauge for assessing standard of living, for 2013-14 is up at Rs 6,699 per month for 2013-14 as against the earlier estimate of Rs 6,198.33 after the government updated the base year for measuring national accounts.
    • Government made changes in the national accounts calculation methodology by revising the base year to 2011-12 from 2004-05.
    • In 2012-13 and 2011-12, the per capita income per month were estimated at Rs 5,966.08 and Rs 5,359.67 respectively.
    • The change in base year for computing national accounts helped push up the economic growth rate for 2013-14 to 6.9 per cent.
  8. Serena Williams wins Australian Open

    • Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova in the final at the Australian Open to fetch the title.
    • This is her 19th Grand Slam.
      serena_williams
  9. Bravo quits Tests after four years in wilderness
    • West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has announced his retirement from Test cricket, after four years in the wilderness and just weeks after being sacked from the One-Day International (ODI) squad.
    • He has played 40 Tests but had not suited up for the West Indies since December 2010.
    • He was recently axed as one-day captain and dropped from the team for the tour of South Africa as well as the ICC World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
      Dwayne_Bravo