Total Gk Update 4 October 2013

Total Gk Update 4 October 2013

Indian universities sign MoUs with Belgian varsities

Top Indian universities signed MoUs with three Belgian varsities for exchange of professors and students to expand bilateral cooperation in the field of education, Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Hyderabad University signed MoUs with three Belgian Universities, namely, Ghent University, University of Libre and University of Leuven for exchange of professors and students.

President Pranab Mukherjee, in his opening remarks during talks with Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupa, said India attaches great importance to its relations with Belgium and hoped that the two countries would strengthen economic ties.

Cabinet approves creation of Telangana as 29th state, Hyderabad to be joint capital

creation of a separate Telangana state from out of Andhra Pradesh and decided that Hyderabad will be the joint capital of the two states for 10 years.

Over two months after the Congress Working Committee put its seal of approval, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the Home Ministry for creation of the 29th state and decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to work out modalities.

The Cabinet approved a GoM that will go into the issue of a special financial disbursement that may be required from the central government for the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh, for building its capital and to cater to special needs of the backward regions.

The new state will have a geographical area of 10 of the 23 districts of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

ADB cuts India's growth forecast to 4.7 percent

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Wednesday sharply lowered its forecast on India's economic growth to 4.7 percent for this year from its earlier projection of 6 percent.

In an update of its flagship annual economic publication, Asian Development Outlook 2013, the ADB said the Indian economy has been under pressure with the recent depreciation of the rupee and capital outflows adding to structural constraints which are weighing heavily on its prospects for returning to a high growth path.

In the first quarter of 2013-14 expanding at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis, ADB revised down its growth forecast to 4.7 percent from 6 percent projected in April," the Manila-based lender said.

According to the multilateral lender, elections and a new government in early 2014-15 may help give fresh impetus to resolving structural problems.

Govt. of India Appointed a Committee to Define FDI and FII

Government of India appointed on 2 October 2013 a four member committee headed by Arvind Mayaram, Economic Affairs Secretary .

The committee was set up to clear the ambiguity between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII).

The committee will look into the difference between them and it will also give definition of FDI and FII.

iv. The other members of the committee were the Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the Deputy Reserve Bank of India Governor and a whole time member of market regulator SEBI. 

Sun Pharmaceutical Entered Into Joint Venture with Intrexon Corporation

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries India's biggest drug maker by market capital and USA based Intrexon Corporation, a leading player in synthetic biology announced on 2 October 2013 to establish a joint venture to develop controllable gene-based therapies for the treatment of eye diseases.

The joint venture will helpful for Sun Pharma's  to increase their global capabilities and experience in developing and manufacturing complex dosage forms .It will also enhance their specialty pharmaceuticals for niche therapy areas. 

The partners will initially work on  age related macular degeneration ( AMD)(a medical condition that causes partial or full loss of vision among older adults), glaucoma(a kind of eye disease) and retinitis pigmentosa(an eye disease that causes severe vision loss and at times even blindness).

ASI and Google Signed Agreement for Launching 100 Heritage Sites Online

The Union Ministry of culture launched on 3 October 2013 a unique project to put 100 most important Indian heritage sites online.

The sites include the Taj Mahal, Khajuraho , Ajanta and Ellora caves.

Under the project Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) signed an agreement with Google to create 360 degree online imagery of 100 of India’s most important heritage sites.

According to the agreement detailed imagery of the identified heritage sites will be placed over the Internet for public viewing.

The imagery of the heritage sites will be available on Google Maps and the World Wonders site within the Google Cultural Institute. 

This will facilitate people to virtually view and explore these areas.

The project will make the experience of visiting heritage sites online more enjoyable and also bring them to the notice of billions of people connected globally via the Internet.

Mythily Sivaraman Wrote A Book Haunted by Fire Essays On Caste, Class, Exploitation And Emancipation

The book titled Haunted by Fire: Essays on Caste, Class, Exploitation and Emancipation authored by Mythily Sivaraman released in International Centre in New Delhi on 1 October 2013.

The book focused on essays range from agrarian unrest, caste oppression, land, labour and wages, the centrality of class struggle, the early promise of change, the radical course of left struggles, the coercive apparatus of the state, issues of impunity and the way the Emergency worked out on the ground.

About Mythili Sivaraman: Mythili Sivaraman is a Women Rights Activist.

She is currently one of the Vice Presidents of the All India Democratic Women's Association (Women's wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist)).

She worked as a Research Assistant in the Permanent Mission of India to the UN (July 1966 to mid-1968).

Dubai to have world’s largest crystalline man-made lagoon

A multinational company plans to launch the world’s largest man-made lagoon costing a whopping $7 billion.

Crystal Lagoons Corp., developer of patented technology for giant crystalline lagoons, has signed a deal to construct the lagoon, covering 40 hectares, almost four-times bigger than the world’s largest existing lagoon.

Located in the upscale Mohammed Bin Rashid City, in the heart of Dubai, the lagoon will form an integral part of the $7 billion project.

The new lagoon with its expansive beaches will offer swimming, water sports and other water based leisure activities.

Crystal Lagoons will also take part in Cityscape Dubai, which takes place from 8-10 October 2013.

With the announcement of its new Dubai project, Crystal Lagoons is also on the way to securing its third Guinness World Records’ title for the world’s largest swimming pool, building on the success of its San Alfonso del Mar, Chile, and Sharm El Sheik, Egypt.

RINL-Railways sign agreement for Rs 1100 crore rail wheel factory at Raebareli

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) and Indian Railways has signed a agreement to set up what is possibly the country's largest wheel plant at an investment of Rs 1,100 crore in Rae Bareli. 

The forged wheel plant is due to come up at Lalganj, Raebareli, close to the Rail Coach Factory in Uttar Pradesh. 

It and will produce one lakh forged wheels per annum in the first phase for locos and high speed trains at an investment of about Rs 1100 crore.

The capacity of the plant will be doubled in the second phase for production of over 2 lakh wheels per annum. The factory is slated to become operational in 36 months from order placement date and will provide employment to about 500 to 600 people. 

The unit will have an added locational advantage due to its proximity with the Rail Coach Factory, Raebareli.

RINL will supply Steel Cast Rounds to the Wheel Plant from its state of the art new Caster being installed with German technology at its unit at Visakhapatnam. 

The agreement between RINL and Indian Railways was signed in the presence of union steel minister Beni Prasad Verma and union railway minister Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi on Thursday.

Smartphone maker HTC today said it plans to introduce handsets at prices lower than Rs 10,000 for the first time, targeting emerging markets like India. 

"There is a business case for launching sub-Rs 10000 handsets. This is targeting emerging markets like India, Indonesia and China

The sub-Rs 10,000 handset was likely to give a boost to company's plan for three-fold jump in market share in smartphone to 15 per cent.

Banks to offer cheaper loans to costumer for electronic products

Having festival season, the government today decided to enhance capital infusion into the PSU banks over and above what was provided in the budget to enable them to extend more credit to auto and consumer durables sectors to stimulate demand and combat slowdown.

Finance ministry statement said--

"Based on the discussions, government has decided in principle to enhance the amount of capital to be infused in PSU banks

While the government has been emphasising on measures for incentivising growth, the RBI in its policy review last month had hiked interest rates by 0.25 per cent.

The additional amount of capital will be provided to banks to enable them to lend to borrowers in selected sectors such as two-wheeler, consumer durables, etc at lower rates in order to stimulate demand