WEEKLY GENERAL AWARENESS UPDATES FOR BANK EXAMS

(For the week 29.04.2012 to 05.05.2012)

Place in News
Hyderabad to host World Agriculture Congress
2013.
Hyderabad will host the World Agriculture Congress
2013 in November 2013.
The World Agricultural Forum, which organized the
biannual event last time in Belgium, chose the city for
the mega global event next year, to be organized for
the first time in the country. The broad theme of the
congress will be Reshaping Agriculture for the
benefit of small and marginal farmers. About 600
delegates
including
government
leaders,
administrators, academicians, CEOS of industry,
farmers, etc., are expected to attend from all parts of
the world.

Awards & Honours

New innings for Sachin in Rajya Sabha
Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar is all set to begin a
new innings as a member of the House of Elders in
Parliament.
Tendulkar, who turned 39, will enter the Rajya Sabha
along with Bollywood actress of yesteryear Rekha
and industrialist Anu Aga.
The nominations of the three eminent personalities
were approved by President Pratibha Patil under
article 80 of the constitution. It allows the President to
nominate 12 members to the 250 member Upper
House.
The names of Tendulkar, Rekha and social worker
Aga were sent by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to
the Home Ministry for approval by the President.
Seventy year old Anu Aga, former chairperson of
Thermax industries, is a member of the Sonia Gandhi
led National Advisory Council.
Yudhvir award
The Chairperson of National Commission for
Protection of Rights of Children (NCPCR), Shanta
Sinha is to be honoured with this years Yudhvir
Memorial Foundation Award.
Shanta Sinha is being given the award for her
pioneering and innovative role in protecting/
promoting child rights. She will deliver a lecture on
Deficit child and Indian Democracy at the award
presentation ceremony.

Economy / Business
Patanjali Ayurved enters retail sector:
Not confining itself to conducting Yoga sessions and
operating Arogya Kendra, popular Yoga Guru Baba
Ramdevs Patanjali Ayurved Limited announced its
entry into the retail sector by launching 100 products,
including cosmetics, toiletries and others.
After launching toothbrush, toothpaste, honey, face
creams and other products in North Indias open
market, Patanjali Ayurved limited launched its
products in South India beginning with Hyderabad.
Compared to other multi-national company products,
these would be cheaper by at least 30 percent.
This difference is because all the raw materials would
be sourced directly from farmers, said Patanjali
Ayurved Limited Chief Managing Director Acharya
Balakrishna.
The objective was to empower people, particularly
farmers, economically through promotion of these
products. Profits would be used to finance initiatives
like health care, rural economy etc. Acharya
Balakrishna said there were plans to set up
manufacturing units in each state with an investment
of about `50 to `100 crore.
Iran oil sector hit by cyber attack:
Irans principal oil terminal on Kharg island in the Gulf
has been disconnected from the Internet along with
facilities in other parts of the country.
The Kharg terminal handles 90 percent of Irans oil
exports, according to the National Iranian Oil
Terminal company.
Irans reaction to the virus attack was a test of
procedures put in place after the country suffered a
massive cyber assault in 2010 by a worm called
stuxnet that reportedly dealt a big blow to the
countrys nuclear programme. Stuxnet, homed in on
computers running uranium enrichment centrifuges at
Irans nuclear facility in Natanz, destroying thousands
of them and setting the atomic programme back by
months.
Vodafone inks pact to buy CWW:
Telecom giant Vodafone, said it had reached an
agreement to buy British firm Cable and Wireless
World Wide (CWW) for about 1.04 billion pound
(about $1.67 billion or `8,800 crore)

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Nestle to buy Pfizers infant nutrition business

Nestle, said it has agreed to acquire Pfizers infant
nutrition business for $11.85 billion, a move that will
enhance the Swiss food giants position in emerging
markets. Both the companies have a significant
presence in India.
Pfizer Nutrition generates 85 percent of its sales from
emerging markets, many of them with large, fastgrowing populations.
Pfizer Nutrition is an excellent strategic fit and this
acquisition underlines our commitment to be the
worlds leading nutrition, health and wellness
company, Nestle CEO Paul Bulcke said.
We will be able to combine well - known brands such
as S - 26 Gold, SMA and promil with our existing
portfolio of trusted and successful brands such as
Nan, Gerber, Lactogen, Nestogen, and cerelac, infant
cereal, Nestle said.
Nestle, which has completed 100 years in India, has
seven manufacturing facilities in the country where its
products are sold in more than 3.5 million outlets.
US investigates Infosys over Visa errors
The US Department of Homeland Security is
investigating Infosys for visa errors adding to the
Indian outsourcing companys legal woes over US
visa irregularities and sending its shares down by 4
percent.
The disclosure buried deep in a filing to the US
Securities and Exchange Commission comes as
Infosys fights separate allegations in US courts that it
misused short term visitors visas to send low cost
workers to the US.
Visas are a growing source of friction between the US
and India, which counts on fast - growing services
exports to prop up growth. Infosys and other Indian
software services exporters send tens of thousands
of workers to the US each year to work with clients on
site.
S & P lowers Indias credit rating outlook to
negative
In a wake-up call to the government to put its act
together on the macroeconomic front, global rating
agency Standard & Poors (S & P) scaled down
Indias credit rating outlook from stable (BBB+) to
negative (BBB -)with a warning of a downgrade if
there is no improvement in the fiscal situation and
political climate. Giving reasons for downgrading
Indias sovereign rating outlook to the lowest
investment grade and just one step away from junk
bond status, S & P credit analyst Takahira Ogawa
said : The outlook revision reflects our view of at
least a one-in-three likelihood of a downgrade if the
external position continues to deteriorate, growth

prospects diminish, or progress on fiscal reforms

remains slow in a weakened political setting.
Rao takes charge at Coal India
S. Narsing Rao, former Chairman of Singareni
Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), took charge as
the Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India
Ltd (CIL). He said that getting environmental
clearances was one of the biggest challenges before
CIL.
House Panel for IRDA probe
Regretting that the government is utilizing state
owned enterprises as milch cows to bridge deficits,
the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance
has recommended that the Insurance regulator IRDA
should look into the purchase of ONGC shares by
Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) at the recent equity
auction to see if the countrys largest insurer had
breached any investment norm.
In its report tabled in Parliament, the panel, headed
by former Finance Minister and senior BJP leader
Yashwant Sinha said: the committee recommends
that the Insurance Regulatory and Development
Authority [IRDA] should enquire into this issue and
investigate as to whether the LIC has violated any
prudential investment norms and exceeded the limit
stipulated by them.
It may be recalled that the government mopped up
`12,767 crore in April 2012 by putting shares of oil
major ONGC on sale through the auction route.
Although the disinvestment exercise was subscribed
to the extent of 98.3 percent, it is significant that the
response of institutional and retail investors was
lukewarm and the LIC ended up subscribing to a
major chunk of the shares on offer. Official data
showed that LIC purchase of shares accounted for
more than 84 percent of the ONGC shares put up for
auction while only the balance was picked up by retail
and institutional investors. Post auction, LICS
shareholding in ONGC stands pegged at 9.48 percent
which, as per IRDA norms for insurers, is just within
the 10 percent cap on stake holding in any company.

Miscellaneous
Singhvi resigns as Congress spokesperson:
Abhishek Manu Singhvi resigned as congress
spokesperson and chairperson of Parliaments
Standings Committee on Personnel, Public
Grievances and Law and Justice days after a video
involving the high profile lawyer was shown on social
media sites.
[On April 13th, the Delhi High Court issued an injunction
against publishing, broadcasting, disseminating or
distributing a CD containing the video.] The injunction,
however was widely defied on the internet. Singhvi
described claims that the video showing him making an

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inappropriate offer of judicial office to a lawyer as a

canard. He added that the video discovered only
something private and consensual giving a cause of
action only to aggrieved family members (who have
stood completely by me).

It may be recalled that last year, the Ministry of

Defence had signed an agreement with the US
government to acquire 10 Boeing C 17 Globemaster
III airlifters.
Iceland ex-Premier is convicted

State of the art cyclone shelters for AP:

Andhra Pradesh is rated by disaster management
experts as highly vulnerable to sea-borne disasters
like cyclones, as it has a coastline of 960 Km, one of
the longest in the country.
Yet no initiative was taken to protect the numerous
habitations lying on the coast on the Bay of Bengal
until the Diviseema tidal wave tragedy occurred in
1977.The 1,100 cyclone shelters constructed along
the coast later in nine districts then are in a
dilapidated condition now. While it is a stupendous
task to rehabilitate these assets, the government has
released a paltry `28 lakh for the purpose.
The union government has now proposed to build
148 state of the art cyclone shelters for the state, at a
cost of `80 lakh each with road connectively to an
equal number of villages listed as the worst-prone,
under a National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project
NCRMP) taken up for Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
Considering the human angle involved, the World
Bank has extended liberal zero-interest assistance for
the NCRMP, a huge sum of `771 crore for Andhra
Pradesh alone.
Boeing Transonic
Hyderabad:

Wind

Tunnel

Facility

in

Global aircraft major, Boeing will be setting up a

Transonic Wind Tunnel, which is estimated to cost
`450crore, in Hyderabad under the offset clause
obligation. Boeing is offering a wide variety of
products and services in defence, space and security
to India.
As per the offset policy of the Defence Ministry,
foreign companies entering into a major contract
would have to source a minimum of 30 percent of its
value from India.
The Transonic Wind Tunnel would be utilized by the
Defence Research and Development Organization
(DRDO) for conducting tests and relating to missiles
and aircraft projects.
Right now, DRDO is depending on the only such
facility in the country at National Aerospace Limited
(NAL). Besides, for hypersonic wind tunnel facility,
the tests were being carried out abroad, either in
Israel or Russia. As a result, lot of projects were in
the queue.
With the proposed Transonic Wind Tunnel facility and
another `350crore Hypersonic Wind Tunnel, also
being set up at Hyderabad by DRDO, the pace of the
R & D projects would get hastened.

The former Prime Minister of Iceland Geir Haarde;

when the nations banking system collapsed, was
convicted on one criminal charge, cleared on four
others and faces no punishment, a special court
announced. The court also said the state would pay
Geir Haardes expenses for defending the case.
The 15 members of a special court founded in 1905
to deal with criminal charges against Icelandic
government Ministers, returned a 500 page verdict,
but only a brief summary was announced in public.
Icelands banking sector ballooned to the tiny nations
annual gross domestic product in a decade of boom,
and debt.
The countrys three main banks collapsed in a single
week during the crisis.
Haarde said neither he nor financial regulators knew
the real state of Icelandic banks precarious finances
until they collapsed.
He said the bankers did not realize that the situation
was as bad as it was. It was not until after the crash
that everyone saw it coming. I reject all accusations
and believe there is no basis for them Haarde
testified.
Traycon Martin case shooter freed on bail
George Zimmerman (28), the Hispanic man who shot
dead African-American Traycon Martin (17) sparking
off the years biggest debate on racial tensions in the
United States, was set free on bail adding another
twist to the nearly two month old saga in Florida.
Zimmerman was released after posting a bail of
$150,000. He is awaiting trial and faces charges of
second degree murder for shooting an unarmed
Martin on the streets. Martin, who was returning
home after buying some candy and drinks, was
observed by Zimmerman, who is said to have been
patrolling the area in his car and who called 911 to
report what he described as a real suspicious guy.
An altercation is said to have occurred and when
authorities arrived they found Martin dead from a
gunshot wound to the chest. Zimmerman claims he
shot him in self defence.
The incident also revived the long standing debate
over Floridas so called stand your ground law,
under which a person suspected of engaging in
deadly violence and claiming self-defense need not
have attempted to retreat or escape the danger he
was facing before striking. Gun control groups have
reportedly described this as the shoot first law.

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Plea for Meningitis vaccine:

The Indian Academy of Pediatrics said that Meningitis
vaccine should be included in the centres Universal
Immunization Programme [UIP] for children below
five years.
The vaccine was being provided free of cost in
developing countries all over the world. But in India the
general public are forced to buy the vaccine for `3,000.
Switch off fridge for three hours:
If all the power consumers in the country switch off
their fridge for three hours during the evening peak
hours, load shedding can be avoided.
Switching off the fridge can reduce atleast 300 mega
watts of electric load during the peak load hours, thus
bridging the supply demand gap
Keeping the fridge switched off during the peak hour
will also bring down the purchase load of Electricity
Boards because the peak load energy purchase costs
go above `15 a unit. It has other advantages as well.
There will be reduction in energy consumption by the
fridge up to 15 percent, thereby cutting down the
electricity bill.
Also making the fridge operate during the low voltage
period reduces the life of the compressor. Thus
switching off the fridge during low voltage hours
increases the life of the fridge by 50 percent, studies
have proved.
This is also applicable to other equipment like water
pump, air conditioners, washing machines, and blenders.
Switching over to high efficiency equipment can further
reduce electricity consumption to a large extent.
Equipment with energy labels having three stars or
above can save much energy. When an old fridge
consumes up to four units a day, a new generation
four star fridge consumes less than one unit a day.
Another field in which revolutionary changes have
occurred is lighting. The ordinary bulb converts two
percent of energy into light and the rest into heat.
Fluorescent lamps and compact fluorescent lamps
[CFL] are much more efficient. Replacing ordinary
tube lights with thinner T8 tubes bring about 10
percent reductions and with still thinner T5 tubes with
electronic chokes can reduce energy consumption by
50 percent.
Century old, hill top mosque falls to mining
greed:
The demolition of a century old roofless mosque on a
hilltop at Pur village in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan
to make way for mining by a private company has led
to outrage - The issue brought into question the waqf
boards role in giving the green signal to a group,
claiming to represent local Muslims, for razing the
mosque.

Jindal Saw Limited, owned by the OP Jindal group,

bought the mosque paying the Anjuman committee
of Pur `65lakh and demolished it on April 19. The
company has produced a receipt issued by the
Anjuman for the payment.
The incident left the community in the village
stupefied - it lodged a police complaint under section
295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent
to insult the religion of any class) of the Indian Penal
code.
The police have since arrested three persons and
recovered the money paid to the Anjuman.
Sudan has declared war on South Sudan
South Sudans leader Salva Kiir accused Sudan of
declaring war as Khartoums fighter jets bombed border
regions in defiance of international calls for restraint.
Several people were wounded in multiple air strikes
on the villages in the souths oil-rich border regions
overnight, reaching around 25 km from the frontline
between the rival armies.
Salva kiir, president of South Sudan, on a visit to
Beijing where he met President Hu Jintao, said his
neighbour in Khartoum has declared war on the
Republic of South Sudan last week. Sudans
President Omar al Bashir threatened to crush the
insect government of the south, and said the time
for talks was over.
Beijing, a key ally of Khartoum, but also the main
buyer of the souths oil has repeatedly called for an
end to weeks of border fighting, which saw the south
seize and hold the key Heglig oil field from Sudanese
troops for 10 days.
Manning calls for dismissal of charges against
him
Bradley Manning, the United States Army Intelligence
officer charged with leaking confidential data to online
whistle blower Wikileaks, called for all charges
against him to be dismissed, as his court martial trial
in Fort Meade, Maryland resumed.
Manning, who has alleged that he was held under
harsh conditions of confinement after his arrest, was
slapped with 22 charges including aiding the enemy,
which is punishable by death
Discussed deal with Cameron: Murdoch Jr.
James Murdoch admitted discussing with Prime
Minister David Cameron, his father Rupert Murdochs
bid to acquire full control of the satellite broadcaster B
sky B in which News corp, Murdochs New-York
based company, has a 39 percent stake. He said he
raised the issue at a private dinner with Cameron
hosted by Rebekah Brooks, former Chief Executive of
his Company, News International.

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His remarks while testifying before a judicial panel

inquiring into media ethics in the wake of the News of
the world phone hacking scandal offered a rare
insight into the Murdoch groups close relationship
with politicians.
The inquiry is chaired by Lord Justice Brian Henry.
RISAT-1s radar can see though clouds
More than two decades after Indias first operational
optical remote sensing satellite went into orbit, the
countrys space capabilities are poised for a big
technological leap with the launch of an entirely
indigenous radar imaging satellite RISAT-1. The
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is
preparing to send the satellite into space aboard the
polar satellite launch vehicle that is scheduled to lift
off from Sriharikota.
The RISAT-1s radar will be able to see through
clouds and work in darkness, conditions that hamper
optical satellites. Its images will be useful for a variety
of applications, from crop forecasting and disaster
management to addressing the countrys strategic
needs.
The RISAT-1 will however be the countrys second
radar imaging satellite. India already operates the
Israeli built RISAT-2 which was launched in April
2009 and appears to have been quickly procured to
meet security requirements.
Pakistan test fires Hatf 4 missiles
Pakistan test fired the nuclear capable Hatf-4 ballistic
missile with improvements to hit targets anywhere in
India.
DMK for Separate Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) said that
India should prevail upon the United Nations to help
carve out a separate Tamil Eelam from Sinhala
dominated Sri Lanka
The DMK said the Indo-Sri Lankan accord was not
th
being ratified and the 13 Amendment (devolution of
powers to ethnic Tamils) was not being implemented.
Noting that DMK Chief M. Karunanidhi has underlined
the need for a referendum for a separate
Tamil Eelam, Balu of the DMK said India should
prevail upon the U.N and other international for to
endorse such a state for ensuring peace and
tranquillity for Tamils.
Clean chit in Bofors case has come too late, says
Amitabh
Expressing happiness over his name being cleared in
the 25 year old Bofors case, megastar Amitabh
Bachchan said the clean chit has come too late. In
an interview to a website, former Swedish police chief
Sten Lindstorm, who led the Bofors probe in his
country, alleged that Indian investigators probing the

scandal during a trip to Sweden in 1990 planted the

Bachchan angle in the case.
Hikaka walks free
Odisha MLA Jhina Hikaka, kidnapped by Maoists
more than a month ago, was released.
The Maoists released the 37 year old tribal legislator
of the ruling Biju Janata Dal on the outskirts of
Balipeta village in Koraput district, as per the decision
taken earlier by a peoples court. According to the
Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee of
the CPI (Maoist), Hikaka had given a written
undertaking in the peoples court that he would resign
from the Assembly and from the Biju Janata Dal to
lead a normal life.
Gilani found guilty of contempt of court
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was held guilty by
the Supreme Court of Pakistan for contempt of court
and sentenced to imprisonment till the rising of a
seven judge bench of the supreme court hearing the
case. Within seconds of reading out its short order,
the Bench rose ending the arrest of the Premier but
triggering demands for his resignation since he is now
technically a convict.
Soon after he walked away from the court a free man,
Gilani convened a meeting of the cabinet which
decided that he would remain in office. All allies of the
Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition were supportive
of this decision. In its order, the court said Gilani is
found guilty of and convicted for contempt of court as
the contempt committed by him is substantially
detrimental to the administration of justice and tends
to bring this court and the judiciary of this country into
ridicule.
As for the sentence, the order said: we note that the
findings and the conviction for contempt of court
recorded above are likely to entail some serious
consequences in terms of article 63 (1) of the
constitution which may be treated as mitigating
factors towards the sentence to be passed against
him.
PSLV C19 puts RISAT 1 in orbit
Indias first indigenously built all-weather Radar
Imaging Satellite, RI SAT-1, with applications ranging
from agriculture to natural disaster management, is
now in polar orbit after its carrier, the PSLV-C19 was
launched with clinical precision from the Sriharikota
space port of the Indian Space Research
Organistation (ISRO)
RISAT-1, weighing 1,858 kg is the heaviest satellite
launched yet by the PSLV. It is a state of the art
active microwave remote sensing satellite carrying a
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) that will operate in
the c - band

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