Today's GK (6-11-2013)

Axis Bank ties up with FICO

Axis Bank has tied up with FICO to use FICO Falcon Fraud Manager solution to enable detection and prevention of fraud in its consumer banking portfolio, including credit and debit cards, ATM transactions and the merchant acquiring business. This follows hacking of debit card data from ATMs in Mumbai by fraudsters and this data being used to make duplicate cards to withdraw cash abroad. — Special Correspondent

New GTA chief to be elected today

The Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) will elect a new Chief Executive of the regional autonomous body on Wednesday.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which has control over all the 45 seats of the GTA, had elected party’s assistant general-secretary Benoy Tamang as the Chief Executive after party president Bimal Gurung resigned from the post in the last week of July to devote his time to the Gorkhaland movement

Gandhiji’s charkha sold for £1,10,000 at London auction

A portable teak charkha belonging to Mahatma Gandhi that he used while in Yerwada prison, and in 1935 gifted to the American Free Methodist missionary Reverend Dr. Floyd A. Puffer (1888-1965) was auctioned for £1,10,00 at the Mullocks auction house here on Tuesday. Its guide price was £60,000-£80,000.

The charkha was part of a cache of several lots of Gandhiji-related memorabilia including a draft Will that he signed on September 23, 1926, which was auctioned for £20,000, several postcards, photographs, posters, stamps, books on Gandhi, and even a bust of his.

According to the catalogue, the origins and operation of the Yerwada charkha are described in American monthly Popular Science in December 1031 as “a portable spinning wheel that folds into a bundle about the size of a portable typewriter and has a handle for carrying. When unfolded for use, it is operated by turning a small crank, which runs the two wheels and spindle of the device.”

After he was released from prison in 1933, he presented the charkha to Rev Puffer and his wife who worked as missionaries close to Wardha. He visited them several times from 1934 onwards, and established his own ashram in Wardha in 1936.

Dawn to dusk

For a man who consistently declares himself an agnostic, Khushwant Singh dwells a lot on prayers. Meet him and the conversation often turns to life after life — or whether there is such a thing. And then, not long back, he came out with “The Freethinker’s Prayer Book” (Aleph Book Company - 2012), and a few years earlier he had translated “Japji - The Immortal Prayer-Chant” (Abhinav Publications). But then, if a declared aspirant of God is a searcher, so too is one who turns away from the beaten path. The best searcher is often one who won’t swallow ‘received wisdom’ wholesale. And with Singh, it is always a pleasure to hear or read his lucid explanations that refer — without pomposity — to his vast reading and researches that have taken him through cultures and religious scriptures from near and far. His latest offering to the thinking world is another book of translated prayers, “The Japji and The Rehras: The Morning and Evening Prayers of the Sikhs”, published by Rupa.

These are translations into lyrical English of the Japji, the prayer (never sung but recited) composed by Guru Nanak and found at the beginning of the Guru Granth Sahib — the holy book of Sikhism — and of the Rehras, which is a compilation of verses by five of the ten Gurus of Sikhism.

In his introduction, Singh explains his position in a nutshell — “I am not a religious man, but I call myself a Sikh and am proud to be one.” — and puts Sikhism in its historical and philosophical context, as influenced by Hinduism and Islam, the two major religions of Punjab. But if it was the bigotry that over time polluted all organised religions and pushed Singh into his own search, it is easy to see how the essence of Sikhism appeals to him, as teaching “all that I value: tolerance, simplicity, equality, service to the community and to all humanity.” He also points out that if it has, like other creeds, “been misinterpreted by bigoted and cynical people” that is the fault of such people, not of the faith.

Singh quotes a verse that praises Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, as “the King of Fakirs” who is a guru to the Hindu and a pir to the Muslim. It was not just Guru Nanak who had this quality. The Granth Sahib, or Adi Granth, rather than being a series of injunctions or strictures, offers hymns composed by the Gurus as well as other saint poets such as Baba Farid, Meera and Kabir, and this eclectic quality is attractive.

Eclectic too is Khushwant Singh’s oeuvre. From significant works of history like “A History of the Sikhs” to thinly veiled memoirs and his own obituary, from path breaking novels like “Train to Pakistan”, to, well, the less literary stuff, the nonagenarian author and columnist continues to put his views across cogently and with blissful indifference to what anyone may think of him.

SBI raises lending rates by 0.20 per cent

Home, auto and consumer loans are expected to become costlier with the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) raising its lending rates by 0.20 per cent with effect from Thursday.

The bank has revised the base rate or the minimum lending rate to 10 per cent from 9.80 per cent, SBI said in a statement.

At the same time, the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) was also raised by 0.20 per cent from 14.55 per cent to 14.75 per cent.

Upward revision in the lending rate by SBI may prompt others public and private sector banks to follow suit.

The decision came a day after HDFC Bank raised the base rate by 0.20 per cent to 10 per cent.

Earlier this month, SBI raised fixed deposit rate by 0.2 per cent on select maturity.