Daily GK Potion – 3rd March 2015

1. Citizenship bill passed by Lok Sabha
   • A Bill to amend the Citizenship Act, one of the six items on which government had issued ordinances is passed by the Lok Sabha.
   • The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 seeks to remove disparity between Persons of Indian Origin cardholders and Overseas Citizens of India cardholders.
   • The people who apply for Indian citizenship will now be allowed a 30-day break if they have to leave India for some time and their absence from the country will not affect their application for citizenship.
2. Baldev Sharma appointed as chairman of National Book Trust
   • The government has appointed former Panchajanya editor Baldev Sharma as the new chairman of the National Book Trust.
   • The government has cut short the term of incumbent A. Sethumadhavan — better known by his pen name `Sethu’ — by six months.
3. Nadal wins first title of 2015 at Argentina Open
   • Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal defeated local player Juan Monaco to win the Argentina Open, lifting his first title in 2015.
   • Mr. Nadal defeated Monaco in a match that lasted one hour and 27 minutes on Sunday with a score of 6-4, 6-1.
4. Ola acquires TaxiForSure in $200-mn deal
   • Ola Cabs has acquired its smaller rival in the taxi aggregator space, TaxiForSure, in a $200-million (Rs 1,200 crore) cash and equity arrangement.
   • Ola, already a leader in the personal transportation market with a valuation exceeding $1 billion (Rs 6,000 crore) and over 100,000 vehicles on its platform, will become a stronger entity through TaxiForSure’s operator-led model.
   • The TaxiForSure operates in 47 cities, with at least 15,000 vehicles on its platform.
5. Kewal Sharma to be Delhi chief secretary
   • Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Monday approved the appointment of 1983 batch IAS officer Kewal K Sharma as Delhi chief secretary.
   • Sharma has done civil engineering from Regional Engineering College, University of Kashmir. Before becoming the Goa chief secretary.
6. Mo Ibrahim prize: Namibia President Pohamba gets $5m award
   • The outgoing Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba has won the world’s most valuable individual award, the Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership.
   • The $5m (£3.2m) award is given each year to an elected leader who governed well, raised living standards and then left office.
   • Mr Pohamba, a former rebel who fought for his country’s independence, has served two terms as Namibian president.
   • He was first elected in 2004, and again in 2009. He is due to be succeeded by President-elect, Hage Geingob.
7. Railways launches India’s first customer complaint mobile app
   • Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday launched an Android-based customer complaint mobile app besides providing the facility online by launching a complaint management system (Coms).
   • The Coms comprises the mobile app, an online portal backed by a centralised grievance redressal monitoring system and a mobile network messaging facility.
   • With the launch, Indian Railways became the first company in the country to provide customer complaint services on a mobile app.
   • Passengers can also SMS their complaints on the mobile number.
   • Complaints will be provided with a unique complaint ID number (and) complainants can use the unique ID number to track progress of complaints.
8. Government Inks Monetary Policy Deal with RBI on Inflation Control
   • The Reserve Bank of India will aim to bring retail inflation below 6% by January 2016 and to around 4% by fiscal 2016-17, said the government’s monetary policy framework agreement with the RBI.
   • The target of financial year 2016-17 and all subsequent years shall be four per cent with a band of (+/-) 2 per cent.
   • The agreement also requires the RBI to give the government a report in case the target is missed for a specified period.
   • The RBI is also required to make public every six months a document explaining the sources of inflation and the inflation forecast for the period between six and eight months.
   • The new monetary policy committee, which will set the inflation target, will have eight members, including a finance ministry nominee and external members.
   • The RBI governor will head the panel and, as such, will have the veto power in the new monetary policy framework.
     
9. Election Commission launches National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP)
   • The Election Commission of India has launched National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) throughout the country from today with the prime objective of bringing a totally error free and authenticated electoral roll.
   • During the programme, EPIC data of electors will be linked with Aadhar data of UIDAI for the purpose of authentication.
   • Electors have been provided the facility to feed their respective Aadhar number through sms, email, mobile application and National Voters Service Portal (NVSP) using web services through election commission website.
   • Electors can also feed Aadhar number by making a call at 1950 to state call centres or by submitting the details of Aadhar number and EPIC number in a hard copy of duly filled up Form along with photocopy of both the documents, namely EPIC and Aadhar card.
10. INCOIS launches app for fishermen
    • A clutch of products developed by the Hyderabad-based Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), including an Android app for ocean information services, was launched on Tuesday.
    • The app, developed in-house by the INCOIS’ Marine Fishery Advisory Services team is for the benefit of fishermen.
11. Bill Gates named world’s richest person for 16th time
    • Bill Gates has retained his title as the world’s richest person.
    • The fortune of the Microsoft co-founder grew $3.2 billion since last year to $79.2 billion, according to Forbes’ list of 2015’s richest people.
    • Gates has held the title for 16 of the past 21 years.
      
12. Insurance Bill introduced in Lok Sabha
    • The long-pending Insurance Bill – that seeks to increase the Foreign Direct Investment cap in the sector to 49 per cent — was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, despite Opposition objecting to its introduction on the ground that the Rajya Sabha had not allowed its withdrawal.
    • The Congress did not join these Opposition parties in objecting the introduction of the Bill but the party did vote against the motion to introduce it.

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