Today's GK

A software tool that can control and reduce the outbreak of Mosquito-borne diseases by data mining (Knowledge Discovering) has been developed by scientists of the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) Hyderabad. This IT tool has been validated by the Central Government and taken up for implementation by health authorities in five States of States Gujarat, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Assam and Mizoram in the initial phase which will be extended to all other States in a phased manner.
This technology has been developed by Dr. U.S.N. Murthy, Chief Scientist, Biology Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) and his team by improvising and customising Self Organising Map (SOM), a cluster technique in data mining.

India and Saudi Arabia on 24 July 2013 have decided to set up a Saudi-India Business Network (SIBN) separately in Riyadh and Dammam.
SIBN would act as a catalyst to promote India-Saudi bilateral commerce and trade relations, investment, Business-to-Business interactions and exchanges.
The proposed network would comprise of both Indian and Saudi businessmen, entrepreneurs, industrialists and members of business Chambers.
Membership of SIBN would be open to all Indian and Saudi businessmen and entrepreneurs. Indian and Saudi companies recruiting Indians were also invited to join the Saudi-India Business Network.

His Royal Highness, the new Prince of Britain, also called the Royal Baby was named George Alexander Louis on 24 July 2013. The announcement was made from the Kensington Palace. It was declared that the third-in-line successor to the throne will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.

Significance of the name- George

• The meaning of the name George is earth worker or farmer.
• It is important to note that the name George was highly speculated because this was also the name of six previous British kings. The queen's father, George VI rallied Britain during the World War II.
• George was also the 12th most popular name for boys in England as well as Wales in 2011.
• St. George, a 4th-century Christian martyr, is also the patron saint of England.

Significance of the name- Louis

• Louis is attributed to Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was the Duke of Edinburgh's uncle as well as the last British Viceroy of India before 1947.
• It is important to note that Prince Charles, the father of Prince Williams, was closely related with Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was then assassinated by Irish Republican Army in 1979.

It is said that as per the royal standards, the announcement of the name of His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge was too quick. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh had taken one month for naming Prince Charles.

A sum of 176.98 crore Rupees has been sanctioned for development of kole land, announced by  P. C. Chacko, MP and head of the Thrissur-Ponnani Kole Development Council.
The first installment of Kole Development Package whichcomprises of 123.52 Crore  that will be given from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), sanctioned by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on 19 July 2013.The Other installment is of 53.46 crore Rupees  from the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).

Paradip Port was conferred with the Major Port of the Year award for its excellent performance in the year 2012-13. The award was received by SS Mishra, Chairman, Paradip Port Trust, at the SCOPE International Conference & Exhibition 2013 held in Chennai.
Paradip Port Trust (PPT) handled 56.55 million tonnes of traffic in the year 2012-13. There is an increase from 54.25 million tonnes of traffic in 2011-12. During 2012-13, the port also added 22 million tonnes of capacity, thus bringing the total to 102 million tonnes.
It is important to note that the Paradip Port was also adjudged as the Major Port of the Year during 2009-10 at the Annual Indian Maritime Gateway Awards 2010 ceremony organised by Gateway Media Private Ltd.

The Union Sports Ministry has finalised the selection committee for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Arjuna Awards for sporting excellence for 2012.

The committee will be headed by former world billiards champion Michael Ferreira.

The legendary cueist is an Arjuna awardee (1973) himself; he is also a Padma Bhushan (1983). The other eminent sportspersons on the committee are archer Limba Ram, former India hockey captains Zafar Iqbal and Helen Mary Soy, former national table tennis champion Indu Puri and shot putter Shakti Singh.

The list was approved by Sports Minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday.

Officials from the Sports Ministry and Sports Authority of India will also be part of the committee.

Meanwhile, Ashok Kumar, member of the 1975 hockey World Cup winning side, is likely to head the committee to decide the Dronacharya Award winners for coaching excellence.

If not for Mexico, a Gurgaon based transport company might still be plying trucks for BhartiBSE -0.03 % Walmart, the joint venture of the world's largest retailer in India, moving goods from its distribution centre in Palwal, Haryana, to stores across India. A few months ago, the owner of this company expressed his inability to keep costs down in a meeting with Michael Maxwell, the vice-president for distribution and transportation in Bharti Walmart, as he had to pay off traffic policemen for movement of trucks

This confession led Bharti Walmart to terminate the transporter's services as it violated an American anti-corruption law, which was part of the company's operating procedure all along but had become sacrosanct because of the way its provisions were allegedly flouted by Walmart's Mexican subsidiary and the possible punishments that could follow for its parent in the US.

State Bank of India chairman Pratip Chaudhuri came down heavily on the Reserve Bank of India stating that an interest rate hike would have been less damaging that the central bank's measures to choke liquidity. The statement comes on a day when bond yields shot up and bank stocks were plunged following RBI's second round of measures to drain liquidity to support the rupee.

"The RBI has to check liquidity and we hope it is a shortterm measure. It is always better to hike interest rate than choke liquidity," he said. Speaking to newspersons on the sidelines of the Ficci banking conclave on Wednesday. the SBI chairman pointed out that stability of rupee is the priority of RBI. However, he felt that the objective could be achieved by raising policy rates.

"Interest rate is the proper lever for managing the money market, bond market and Gsec market. Therefore, in order to rein in the prices in the bond market, interest rate which is a much better instrument should have been applied to curb liquidity," he added.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued fresh contempt notices to two Sahara group companies, which are already facing contempt proceedings for violating a August 31, 2012 order directing them to refund Rs 24,000 crore to investors through market regulator Sebi.

On August 31, a bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar had directed Sahara India Real Estate Corporation and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation to refund the amount within three months after finding that they had collected it in violation of rules and regulations. But on December 5, 2012, a bench headed by then Chief Justice Altamas Kabir extended the refund deadline for the Sahara companies after they deposited Rs 5,120 crore and directed them to pay the remaining amount with 15% interest in two installments — one in January 2013 and the second in February. The CJI-headed bench also allowed more time to the Sahara firms to furnish all documents identifying the 2.96 crore investors and with details of refunds.

On Wednesday, Sebi's counsel Arvind Datar said the companies, which were in breach of the August 31 judgment, had also violated the December 5 order. "Saharas have deposited a total of Rs 5,120 crore and willfully and deliberately failed to deposit the first installment of Rs 10,000 crore by the first week of January as per the December 5 order," Sebi said.

Based on GM's recall of 1.14 lakh Taveras, the transport and heavy industry ministries are undertaking an industry-wide assessment.

Government officials said GM India had informed the transport ministry that its internal audit had pointed to breach of emission norms, allegedly because the vehicle weight and the engine during production did not match with that approved by the agencies.

GM's action will impact a vast majority of the Chevrolet Taveras it has produced in the country as it covers vehicles produced since 2005. The company said it has halted the production and sale of Tavera, although the "issues are not safety-related".

A week-long selloff in the shares of Indian banks and finance companies turned brutal on Wednesday, as investors braced for the central bank's currency-defending measures to further squeeze funding markets and bank profitability.

Sell-side analysts said they were advising clients to be cautious on private sector banks that rely heavily on market funding, after the central bank unveiled a second set of measures on Tuesday to drain cash from Indian money markets and defuse speculation against the rupee.

The rupee hit its highest in a week, rallying further from record lows as it secured a respite, thanks to the Reserve Bank of India's efforts to push up rates.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation on Wednesday singled out Afghanistan's Habiba Sarabi, a 57-year-old doctor, for her "bold exercise of leadership to build up a functioning provincial government against great odds."The Foundation also recognised Lahpai Seng Raw from Myanmar, for her "quietly inspiring and inclusive leadership in the midst of deep ethnic divides and prolonged armed conflicts."In addition, the Manila-based foundation honoured Ernesto Domingo, a 76-year-old Filipino doctor who saved millions from life-threatening illness by vaccinating babies against hepatitis B and almost eliminating the chance of their getting infected.

Other winners include Indonesia's independent anti-corruption government body, the Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK), which has a 100-percent rate of conviction of corrupt officials and has recovered $80 million in stolen assets.

 Nepal's Shakti Samuha, a group that combats human trafficking and helped rebuild the lives of thousands of trafficked and abused women, was another winner.

World Bank has agreed to fund the preparation of preliminary master plans of Auraiya Investment Zone and Allahabad-Naini-Bara Investment Zone,Infrastructure and Industrial Development Department (IIDD) principal secretary Surya Pratap Singh said the Uttar Pradesh government was in an advanced stage of notifying two investment zones at Auraiya and Allahabad.

Every effort should be made to increase accessibility of Rashtrapati Bhavan to the public, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday as he launched a new section of digital initiatives on completing his first year in office.

"The common citizens of our country always have the desire and curiosity to know more about the highest constitutional office in the land," he said.

The President said he is very happy to note that a substantial portion of Rashtrapati Bhavan has been opened to public viewing by giving reasonable access to visitors "who want to explore its rich history and architectural heritage and the history leading to the creation of our nation".

"This would serve, in a good measure, to educate the young generation and inculcate in them a sense of pride and nationalism. I would like to see the Rashtrapati Bhavan playing an important role in further spreading this sense of pride amongst the citizens," he said.

As part of digital initiatives, historical speeches, documentaries and newsreels procured from AIR and Films Division have been added to the new-look Rashtrapati Bhavan website. A video, "The Presidency: Glimpses of First Year", will be added to the website which will cover important events over the past one year in the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the President's Estate.

A digital photo library with photographs of the first year of Mukherjee's presidency is being added to the website. Later on, the photo library will contain archival photographs of the first Governor General after Independence Rajagopalachari and Presidents since 1949. It is intended to help archival conservation through digitisation of old photographs and will be implemented in a phased manner through a user-friendly interface.

A face recognition feature was being added to the search engine of the photo library that will enable searching photographs with a given photo in the database and result in all matched photos. The photo library, when completed, is expected to have a database of over three million photographs, President's Press Secretary Venu Rajamony said.

A catalogue of 1525 old and rare books of Rashtrapati Bhavan is being added to the website for the information of public along with select portions of the audio-visual section of the library. The oldest book in the library -- "The Original Works of William Hogarth" -- dates back to 1795.

The audio-visual section includes historical speeches, newsreels and documentaries procured from sources like All India Radio and Films Division.

Rare historical speeches like "Tryst with Destiny" and "Death of Mahatma Gandhi" delivered by Jawarharlal Nehru and speeches of Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Mountbatten, C Rajagopalachari, former presidents and other prominent leaders will also be available in this section.

The films include archival material on the history of the freedom movement, events around independence, departure of Lord Mountbatten from India and funeral of Gandhi, the spokesman said.

Former Gujarat Ranji player Timil Patel has been appointed captain of US's national cricket team for a series against Canada for the Auty Cup. The tour started on Thursday.

The 29-year-old Amdavadi leg-spinner emigrated to the US with his family in 2010 after playing 38 first class games for Gujarat. He made his international debut for the US on November 14, 2012, against Canada in the previous edition of the Auty Cup played in Florida.