Gk Update 27 September 2013

Gk Update 27 September 2013 Current Updates 27 September of World Business

North Sumatra’s tallest volcano, carrying ash eastward

Grey smoke still billowed from the peak of North Sumatra’s tallest volcano, carrying ash eastward. Authorities asked residents to remain alert for other potential eruptions.

Bambang Ervan, spokesman of the Transportation Ministry, said that the eruption delayed six flights at Kualanamu airport in the provincial capital of Medan on Sunday, but operations returned to normal on Monday.

Mount Sinabung’s last eruption in August 2010 killed two people and forced some 30,000 people to flee. It caught many scientists off guard because they had failed to monitor the volcano, which had remained quiet for four centuries.

There are more than 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation. It is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called “Ring of Fire” — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia. 

8 scientists selected for 2013 Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize

Eight eminent scientists have been selected for this year's Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the country's top most award for excellence in Science and Technology.

The winners are Dr Sathees Chukkurumbal Raghavan, Dr Bikramjit Basu, Dr Vijay Balakrishna Shenoy of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Dr Eknath Prabhakar Ghate and Dr Amol Dighe of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Colaba. 

Other winners are Dr Yamuna Krishnan of National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore, Dr Suman Chakraborty, IIT, Kharagpur and Dr Pushkar Sharma, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. 

The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize is named after the founder-Director General of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and carries a cash component of five lakh rupees. It is given annually to young scientists below the age of 45 who have made outstanding contributions in any field of science and technology.

IITs agree to get accredited; JEE format to continue

IITs have agreed to get themselves accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), the premier accreditation body in the country. 

However, considering their high academic standards, IITs have been given the freedom to carry out the review themselves and submit the report to NBA.

IITs have also been asked to work towards reinforcing the brand so that it has better chances of making it to prestigious 'QS Ranking' of best institutions. 

IITs have also decided to continue with this year's format of JEE (advanced) test without any change.

Another proposal is to induct the best BTech students from other Indian institutions at the end of their third year into a PhD programme at one of the IITs. 

The students have to be amongst the top 10% of their institution at the end of the third year. There is also a suggestion to start PhD for people working in industry and they would have to finish course work using National Knowledge Network.

Talking to reporters at the end of the IIT Council meeting on Monday, HRD minister M M Pallam Raju said IITs agreeing for accreditation would help India become a part of the Washington Accord, an international agreement among accrediting agencies of 14 nations that recognizes engineering degree programmes of each other.

Mumbai named world's 2nd most honest city: Reader's Digest survey

India's financial capital Mumbai has been named the world's second-most honest city, according to a survey of 16 cities worldwide.

Finland capital Helsinki bagged the top spot for the world's most honest city in the survey, while Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, proved to be the least honest.

The survey put hundreds of people to test in four continents to find out just how honest they were by dropping wallets and seeing how many would be returned.

 In the study, 192 wallets were dropped in cities in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. Each wallet contained a cell phone number, a family photo, coupons, business cards and the equivalent of 50 dollars in cash.

The wallets were left in parks, near shopping malls and on sidewalks, and researchers watched to see what would happen.

Of the 192 wallets dropped, 90 - or 47 per cent - were returned, In Helsinki, 11 out of 12 wallets were returned.

In Mumbai, nine out of 12 wallets were returned.

according to the survey by Reader's Digest magazine.

Vaishali Mhaskar, a mother of two, and a stamp vendor, returned a wallet that was left in Mumbai's General Post Office.

Chipmaker Nvidia hires CFO, ends two-year search

Chipmaker Nvidia said on Monday it had appointed a former Cisco and Microsoft executive as its new chief financial officer, ending a search of more than two years after its previous CFO left. 

Colette Kress, who has worked in the technology industry for 24 years, replaces interim CFO Karen Burns, who stepped in after Nvidia's previous CFO David White left in May 2011 for personal reasons.

Nvidia Chief Executive and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang said in a statement that Kress, who most recently was senior vice president and chief financial officer at Cisco's Business Technology and Operations Finance organization, would help the company extend into visual computing, mobile and cloud computing.

International Children's Film Festival will be held in Hyderabad

The 18th International Children's Film Festival (ICFFI), popularly known as 'The Golden Elephant', will be held in Hyderabad from November 14-20. 

The festival will present four competitive sections and the best film would bag the Golden Elephant trophy and Rs 2 lakhs in cash.

The second best feature will bag the Golden Elephant Plaque with Rs 1 lakh in cash. 

Filmmaker Amole Gupte, who is the Chairman of the Children's Film Society, said, "We have received an overwhelming response this year and we aim to make the festival bigger and better than ever before.

The seven-day event will also focus on "Children with Special Needs" through its Open Forum, where filmmakers will interact with activists, educators and parents.

Foreign banks to provide upfront loans for Indian dollar deposits

Foreign banks are pushing to raise billions of dollars from expatriate Indians in response to New Delhi's drive to defend its weak currency, which could mean the government can avoid the need for a sovereign bond or state-backed deposit scheme to attract inflows.

The foreign banks are offering upfront financing for wealthy non-resident Indians (NRIs) to set up dollar deposits in India following various central bank incentives, including cheap dollar/rupee swap rates, private banking sources told Reuters.

This would resurrect a practice which proved successful in drawing in dollars from non-resident Indians (NRIs) in 2000, when the rupee was also under pressure. 

The sources said banks could raise about $11 billion or more.

The foreign banks, including Citi, DBS and Standard Chartered Bank , will officially launch the special bank accounts this week, the private banking sources said.

The scheme is a variation of the foreign currency non-resident bank account (FCNR), which are term deposits non-resident Indians can maintain in five currencies, including U.S. dollars, euros and pounds, at banks onshore and earn a fixed rate of interest. 

Asia Cup Hockey: India lose 2-1 to Korea in SF match

India's dreams of earning a World Cup hockey berth were shattered when they lost 2-1 in a semifinal match of the 8th women's Asia Cup championship in Kuala Lumpur today. 

The Koreans scored both their goals in the first half. Ritu Rani pulled one back for India soon after halftime, but the Koreans held on to their lead. 

The prolific Ritu Rani, who scored seven goals in India's first match against Hong Kong, scored in the 41st minute. She converted a penalty corner. But the Koreans held on to their slender lead to shut the door on the Indians.

The Indian eves had advanced to the semi-finals, after they defeated hosts Malaysia, 2-0 in their third and final Pool-A fixture on Tuesday. 

Earlier, in the opener, India had brushed aside Hong Kong, 13-0, before losing to defending champions China, 0-1.

Govt plans sovereign wealth fund

government is setting up a company — India Overseas Investment Corporation (INOIC) — under the finance ministry on the lines of a sovereign wealth fund to lend financial muscle for securing access to overseas natural resources.

A concept note prepared by the ministry goes beyond the conventional reasons of acquiring energy assets to justify the need for INOIC. 

Other key areas such as food security (also ) requires access to fertilizers to augment food stocks as well as to enhance farm productivity," the note said. 

With INOIC, India will join a select group of economies such as US, Russia, China, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Qatar and UAE that have pushed overseas acquisitions and business through such funds.