Tuesday 8 October 2013

Today's GK(8-10-13)



Indira Gandhi International and Birmingham Airports Signed MoU to Become Sister Airports

Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi and Birmingham Airport, UK on 7 October 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalise a working relationship and commit to developing links between the two cities (Birmingham and Delhi).

CEO of Birmingham Airport Paul Kehoe and Head of Airline Marketing and Route Development of Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) Kiran Jain signed the MoU at the World Routes conference in Las Vegas to become Sister Airports.

• The MoU will allow the sharing information and best practice to enhance links between Birmingham and Delhi and promote tourism and business opportunities at both ends of the route.

• The MoU signifies a formal commitment by both parties to work collaboratively in order to strengthen trade and tourism links between the two cities.

The development followed the recent launch of direct flights between the two airports. Air India had launched a direct flight between Delhi and Birmingham in August 2013 with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

India and Turkey agreed to Resolve Terrorism

India and Turkey on 7 October 2013 agreed to resolve terrorism. Both also agreed to evolve a wider dialogue mechanism to discuss issues of common interest including defence cooperation. Many such aspects of Indo-Turkish relationship were discussed between President Pranab Mukherji and Abdullah Gul, his Turkish counterpart and the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara during former’s visit to Turkey.
During this visit, India conveyed to Turkey India’s concern on terrorism with reference to recent activities of cross border terrorism.
There is a 200 strong Indian diaspora in Turkey. The people-to-people link is a great asset in the building of closer bilateral relations between India and Turkey.

Prithvi-II test-fired successfully

: Nuclear weapons capable surface-to-surface missile Prithvi-II was successfully test-fired for a range of 300 km by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) from Chandipur in Odisha on Monday.
Although the single-stage, liquid propelled missile has a strike range of 350 km, it was tested for 300 km in Monday’s launch. It was picked up randomly from the production lot and fired at 9.15 a.m. by SFC personnel from a road mobile launcher as part of regular training to prove the preparedness of the user.

RBI eases cash squeeze for festive season

Even as Navratri ushers in the festival season, Reserve Bank of India has eased more money into the system to help banks offer affordable lending options to retail customers.
RBI cut the interest rate on Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) by 50 basis points to 9 per cent. MSF is the rate at which banks borrow funds overnight from RBI against approved government securities. Also, banks can now borrow money from RBI for one-week and two-weeks. This new offer of extended period loans is also expected to further ease liquidity in the system. This will also boost the government’s efforts to pump-prime the economy by lending to consumers at a lower rate of interest.

Arundhati , first woman to head SBI

Arundhati Bhattacharya

Arundhati Bhattacharya, who took over as the new chairperson of the State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday, is the first woman to be appointed to the top job at the country’s largest lender. She succeeds Pratip Chaudhuri who retired on September 30.
Ms. Bhattacharya, who has been Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer since August 2013, will hold the office for three years.

Higgs, Englert get Physics Nobel for God particle research

In this July 4, 2012 photo Belgian physicist Francois Englert (left) and British physicist Peter Higgs, answer journalist's questions at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Meyrin near Geneva. The duo were awarded the Nobel physics prize on Tuesday.

The Nobel Prize for physics in 2013 has been awarded to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert, a Briton and a Belgian, "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider".
Almost 50 years ago in 1964, Englert and Robert Brout, who died in 2011, and Peter Higgs independently published their work in the span of a few days. They had described a mechanism making use of what was known about particle physics at that time to try to answer a perplexing problem: How do particles acquire mass?
Higgs and Englert hypothesised a quantum field, which is a distribution of some energy, throughout the universe. When the field is disturbed, waves travel through it. The dimmest possible wave is called a particle. In this field, since called a Higgs field, the associated particle is called the Higgs boson.

Apollo Munich ties up with Canara Bank

Apollo Munich Health Insurance, a joint venture between Apollo Hospitals Group and Munich Health, a part of Munich Re, on Monday, tied up with Canara Bank to distribute its products from the bank’s branches. Under the arrangement, the bank will act as a corporate agent for selling the company’s products, Apollo Munich Health Insurance Chairman Prathap C. Reddy said. — PTI

The Indian Air Force Day Celebrated Across India on 8 October

8 October: The Indian Air Force Day

The Indian Air Force Day is celebrated on 8 October 2013. It is the 81st anniversary of the Indian Air Force. On this day, various celebrations are organised across the country along with parades at the airbases all over India.

About the Indian Air Force

• The Indian Air Force is the air arm of Indian armed forces.
• The primary responsibility of Indian Air Force is to keep the Indian airspace protected as well as conduct aerial warfare during the wars.
• The Indian Air Force was officially established on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary air force of the British Empire. Therefore, every year 8 October is celebrated as the Indian Air Force Day.
• After the independence of India in the year 1947, the Royal Indian Air Force served India and the word Royal was thereafter dropped after India became Republic in the year 1950.
• After the year 1947, the Indian Air Force has been involved in four major wars, two of which included the wars with Pakistan and China.
• The major operations of IAF include Operation Poomalai, Operation Cactus, Operation Meghdoot and Operation Vijay.
• It is important to note that at present, the President of India Pranab Mukherjee serves as the ex-officio Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force.
• The Air Force is commanded by the Air Chief Marshal (ACM), who is the four-star commander and the Chief of Air Staff.

President of India Pranab Mukherjee visited Belgium and Turkey

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, paid a state visit to Belgium from 2 October 2013 to 5 October 2013, at the invitation of the King of the Belgium. It was the first visit by an Indian President to Belgium. The President inaugurated Europalia-India 2013-14 jointly with King Philippe.
After his State Visit to Belgium, the President paid a state visit to Turkey from 5 October 2013 to 7 October 2013, at the invitation of the President of Turkey. It was the third visit by an Indian President to Turkey, after the visits by the President of India in 1993 and 1998.

Ratan Tata, India’s Leading Industrialist Inducted into National Academy of Engineering

Ratan Tata, India’s leading industrialist was inducted into National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in the US for his outstanding contributions to industrial development in India as well as the world. Apart from Ratan Tata, eight Indian-Americans were also inducted in the NAE. 75-year-old Ratan tata, the Chairman Emeritus of the Tata Group was inducted as the Foreign Associate.

About the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)

• The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) was founded in the year 1964.
• It is the private, independent, nonprofit institution which offers the engineering leadership to the US.
• In the year 2013, NAE elected 69 new members and 11 foreign associates, after which the membership of NAE became 2250 and the number of foreign associates became 211.

Karan Thapar Chosen for IPI-India Award for Excellence in Journalism 2013

Karan Thapar, television journalist chosen for the International Press Institute (IPI) – India award for excellence in journalism 2013 on 8 October 2013 for his interviews on the Devil's Advocate programme on CNN IBN.

He was selected by a distinguished jury of editors and publishers headed by the former Chief Justice of India, A. S. Anand. The members of the jury included IPI-India Chairman and The Hindu Editor N Ravi, PTI Editor-in-Chief M K Razdan, Business Standard Chairman and Chief Editor T N Ninan and Malyala Manorama Senior Assistant Editor Riyad Mathew.

Previous winners of the International Press Institute award include The Indian Express, NDTV, Outlook, Tehelka, Tribune and The Week.

About Karan Thapar

• Karan Thapar is an Indian television commentator and interviewer.
• He is conducting programmes like Devil's Advocate, The Last Word on CNN-IBN and India Tonight on CNBC TV 18.
• He also wrote books like Face To Face India - Conversations With Karan Thapar, Sunday Sentiments, Wisdom Tree, More Salt Than Pepper - Dropping Anchor With Karan Thapar, Harper Collins,

About the International Press Institute


• The IPI was founded in October 1950.
• Its members are spread in over 120 countries.
• The International Press Institute is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists.
•It is the institute dedicated to safeguarding the freedom of press, the protection of freedom of opinion and expression, the promotion of the free flow of news and information, and the improvement of the practices of journalism.

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