Nagaland chief minister 2014 TiESilicon Valley IT hub US investment

Nagaland chief minister 2014
The Government has appointed Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag, a veteran infantry officer, as the next Army chief to succeed incumbent Gen Bikram Singh after his retirement on July 31.

Senior Naga People's Front (NPF) leader and Minister T.R. Zeliang will be the next Nagaland chief minister replacing Neiphiu Rio.  

The Punjab government has fixed 8.7 per cent interest rate on General Provident Fund (GPF) and Contributory Provident Fund (CPF) for the financial year 2014-15.

The Odisha government has signed an agreement with the TiESilicon Valley as part of its efforts to develop the state as an IT hub and attract US investment.

Investments into Indian shares through participatory notes (P-Notes), a preferred route for HNIs and hedge funds from abroad, slipped to Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April.

The Mahindra Group has opened a new technical centre in the US state of Michigan to facilitate the company’s expansion into automotive markets worldwide and would create 112 jobs with a total capital investment of $2 million.

Nasscom has prepared a five point agenda for the new Indian government to help its IT companies contribute in the development agenda within the country and to enable them in increasing their global foot print.

A portrait of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot by the Taliban for championing education for girls, will be auctioned in New York and sales proceeds will go to Nigerian charities focused on education and advocacy for girls and women.

An Indian-American expert Sujit Choudhry, 44, in comparative constitutional law has been named dean of a top law school in the US state of California

Arihant GK UPDATE 21 May 2013

Anti Terrorism Day

i. Martyrdom of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, also known as Anti Terrorism Day is observed across the country on 21 May 2013. 

ii. The day is celebrated as the 22nd anniversary of martyrdom of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. On 21 May 1991, Rajiv Gandhi died at the hands of terrorists

iii. Anti Terrorism Day is celebrated to create awareness among different sections of people regarding the danger of terrorism and violence and its ill effect on the people.

Chidambaram for merger of banks to create 2-3 global entities

i. Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday favoured mergers in the banking industry so that India can have two-three global sized banks.

ii. "There are other sectors that may well need restructuring .... For example, some banks, including some public sector banks among 26 public sector banks that we have, may be better off merging".

iii. "The need for two or three world sized banks in an economy that is poised to become one among the five largest in the world is rather obvious," he said in the inaugural lecture on the occasion of Annual Day of Competition Commission of India.

iv. In the annual monetary policy, the Reserve Bank of India had said it would release a discussion paper on banking structure in India by end-June 2013.

v. The discussion paper, among other things, would cover issues such as consolidation of large-sized banks with a view to having a few global sized banks and desirability and practicality of having small, localised banks as preferred vehicles for financial inclusion.

India, China steps to reduce trade gap

i. India and China, on Monday, signed a series of memorandum of understandings (MoUs) on pharmaceuticals, buffalo meat and fisheries and an agreement on feed and feed ingredients to address the growing trade deficit.

ii. The trade deficit has increased from $1.08 billion in 2001-02 to $40.77 billion in 2012-13. 

iii. The MoU for the export of buffalo meat from India to China was signed between Chinese General Administration of Quality Supervision and India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). 

iv. The export of buffalo meat is not allowed from India to China and this has been a long-pending issue between the two countries. 

v. The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) and AQSIQ also signed an MoU on co-operation for import and export of fishery products.

vi. The MoU aims to institutionalize co-operation in promoting trade of fishery products. India is expecting to export more to China through this co-operation.

vii. An MoU was also signed between the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products (CCCMHPIE). 

 NTPC set to ink pact for Sampur project in Sri Lanka

i. NTPC is all set to ink agreement for the execution of the proposed 2X250 MW Sampur power project in Trincomale, Sri Lanka, by early next month.

ii. A series of meetings between the officials Ministry of Power, Sri Lankan Government, senior officials of NTPC and with assistance of the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, Ashok Kantha, has finally led to resolution of the outstanding issues and the project is all set to take off with the formal signing of the PPA by next month. 

Yahoo acquires Tumblr

i. Yahoo is buying online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion as CEO Marissa Mayer tries to rejuvenate an Internet icon that had fallen behind the times.

ii. It marks Yahoo’s most expensive acquisition since the Sunnyvale, California, company bought online search engine Overture a decade ago for $1.3 billion in cash and stock.

iii. Yahoo also says that “per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business

iv. Tumblr, a service started six years by Mr. Karp, a high school dropout, now figures to play a pivotal role in Ms. Mayer’s attempt to reshape Yahoo

v. To take on the challenge, Ms. Mayer ended a highly successful 13-year career at Google, which she helped surpass Yahoo as the Internet’s most influential company.Tumblr could help Yahoo recapture some of its cachet with teens and adults in their early 20s, a demographic that has become tougher for Yahoo to reach in recent years as it fell behind the technological curve and struggled to develop compelling services.

v. While Facebook has turned into a mainstream social network where even grandparents now connect family and friends, Tumblr has become one of the places where the cool kids hang out.

Singer Hariharan Conferred With the Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran 2013

i. Singer Hariharan was conferred with the Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran in Indore on 20 May 2013.

ii. The Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran is conferred by the Madhya Pradesh government on playback singer, Hariharan. 

About Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran

i. Madhya Pradesh government instituted the award in 1984. 

ii. The first recipient of this award was music composer Naushad. 

iii. The Lata Mangeshkar Samman Alankaran consists of 2 lakh Rupees as well as citation. 

iv. This was the 28th Annual Lata Mangeshkar Award. 

v.  Hariharan is the Padma Shri recipient as well. He sung various songs in different languages including Hindi, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Marathi.

Dara Singh's son Vindoo arrested

i. Bollywood actor Vindoo Randhawa, son of late wrestler-actor Dara Singh, has been arrested in connection with the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal, the Mumbai police informed on Tuesday.

ii. Vindoo was questioned after he was found to be in contact with the bookies and subsequently arrested today," officials said without revealing any further details.

iii. 49-year-old Vindoo, winner of reality television show Bigg Boss season 3, was on many occasions spotted watching IPL matches and attending post-match parties.

iv. His arrest is the first from Bollywood in connection with the latest scandal to hit Indian cricket.

Indian National Defence University 

i. Indian National Defence University, a dedicated first-of-its-kind institution for training and research in military studies will be set up in Gurgaon on 23 May 2013. 

ii. The sprawling 200 acre campus will be set up in Binola village with an estimated cost of 300 crore rupees.

iii. The proposed institute will be equipped with training and research facilities on all aspects of national security as part of the strategic national policy-making.While one-third of its strength will comprise of civilian students, the remaining seats will be reserved for in-service defence personnel.

Tornado Hits Oklahoma

i. Oklahoma City suburbs, US: 91 people, including 20 children were killed because of huge tornado that went through Oklahoma City suburbs in US on 20 May 2013.

ii. The tornado travelled with the speed of 200 mph or 320 kmph. Apart from 91 killed, 120 are seriously injured.

iii. The President of US, Barack Obama declared the Oklahoma tornado as the major disaster.