Daily GK Update 27th June 2014

1.    FIFA bans Suarez for 4 months for biting opponent

i. FIFA banned Uruguay striker Luis Suarez from all football activities for four months on Thursday for biting an opponent at the World Cup, a punishment that rules him out of the rest of the tournament and the start of the upcoming English Premier League season.

ii. The ban also covers Uruguay’s next nine international games, which goes beyond the next four months and rules him out of next year’s Copa America. FIFA also fined the Liverpool striker 100,000 Swiss francs ($112,000).

iii. Suarez bit the shoulder of Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini during Uruguay’s 1-0 win in the group stage, but escaped unpunished as the referee did not see the incident.

iv. “Such behavior cannot be tolerated on any football pitch and in particular not at a FIFA World Cup, when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field,” Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee, said in a statement.

v. Uruguay federation president Wilmar Valdez said it was “a severe punishment.” “It feels like Uruguay has been thrown out of the World Cup,” Valdez said in Rio.

Note: This is the third time Suarez has been banned for biting an opponent after similar incidents with Ajax in the Dutch league and Liverpool. He was given a 10-match ban by the Premier League for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic in April 2013.

2.    35th National Games in Kerala from Jan 31 to Feb 14

i. 35th National Games will be held in different venues of Kerala from 31st of January to 14th February,next year.

ii. The dates were announced Indian Olympic Association President N Ramachandran in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Sarbanand Sonowal,who was present during the occasion, formally gave approval to the dates.

iii. Speaking on the occasion,Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said construction on the National Games Village,which can accommodate 5000 people is almost complete.He said the Centre has allocated 120 crore rupees for the National Games .

iv. The State Government is spending crores of rupees to build up world class sports facilities,for the smooth conduct of the National Games.

3.    Poland's Wroclaw city named 2016 World Book Capital

i. Poland’s Wroclaw city will be the World Book Capital (WBC) for 2016 in recognition of its promoting the publishing and bookselling industries, Unesco said Thursday.

ii. Civic leaders in Wroclaw have developed an excellent programme that will promote reading among the wider public all through the year,” Unesco director general Irina Bokova said in a statement.

iii. Wroclaw — the largest city in western Poland — was selected “in light of the strong assets of its programme in terms of quality and variety” and in particsular, “for its special focus on grass-root community involvement, as well as promotion of publishing, bookselling industries and libraries at regional and international levels”.

iv. Since 2001, Unesco has been naming a city as the “World Book Capital” for its quality of programmes to promote book and reading.

Note: Indian capital Delhi got the honour in 2003. Wroclaw became the 16th city to be designated as the WBC.

ii. Nigeria’s Port Harcourt is the WBC for 2014 while South Korea’s Incheon city named for 2015.

4.    RBI to remain open on July 1 to facilitate public transactions

i. This year the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made special provision to remain open on July 1, 2014 to facilitate settlement of market transactions as well as to facilitate the transactions of the general public.

ii. Normally, the RBI remains closed for public transactions every July 1 on account of its annual closing of accounts.

iii. The Reserve Bank’s accounting year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30.

5.    UCO Bank bags SKOCH award

i. Kolkata-based UCO Bank has been awarded the “Platinum SKOCH Inclusion & Deepening Award 2014” for “excellence in banking”. The award was presented by MP Minakshi Lekhi to Arun Kaul, CMD, UCO Bank.

ii. According to a release issued by the bank, it has adopted 18 villages across 10 States for the uplift of below-poverty-line households. It has trained 46,659 persons, of which 27,000 have become economically self-reliant with a credit linkage of Rs590 crore.

6.    Exim Bank partners with ICCR for setting up a Chair at Lagos Business School

i. Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) on Friday entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) for establishment of a Chair for financial management in Lagos Business School, Nigeria.

ii. The MOU was exchanged between Yaduvendra Mathur, Chairman & Managing Director, Exim Bank and Satish C Mehta, Director General, ICCR.

iii. “This initiative of ours is at the behest of the commerce ministry. This is the first time we are supporting a Chair. The idea came from ICCR and was sent to the commerce ministry, said Mathur, who saw Nigeria as a strategic country for India.

iv. Mathur said that Exim Bank would provide ₹20 lakh each year for three financial years as part of its support to the Chair.

v. This move comes on the heels of Exim Bank providing a $ 100 million line of credit to Nigeria in May 2014 for power sector investments.

7.    DU rolls back FYUP, reverts to three-year structure 

i. Under pressure from UGC to act on its directive, the Delhi University on Friday scrapped its controversial four-year undergraduate programme and reverted to the previous three-year structure. 

ii. In a statement, DU Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh asked principals of various colleges affiliated to the varsity to start admissions for the new session. 
"In line with the directive of the UGC, the University has decided to roll back the FYUP. Consequently, the admission process shall be conducted under the scheme of courses that were in force in the academic session 2012-13 in all the colleges of the University of Delhi," Singh said. 
iii. The decision puts an end to the uncertainty over the admission process for 2014-15 which was triggered due to the stand-off between DU and UGC over FYUP. 
iv. Over 2.7 lakh students have applied for admission to more than 54,000 seats in 64 colleges of the varsity. v.
v. The admissions were to begin on June 24 but have been delayed due to the stalemate. 
vi. Singh said DU recognises the need of the hour and it is of "paramount importance" to protect the interests of the students by ensuring the start of the admission process. "It is expected that the principals of our colleges shall assist in devising and ensuring a speedy completion of the admission process," he said.

8.    France announced to honour Shahrukh Khan with Legion of Honour

i. France announced to honour Shahrukh Khan with Officer of the Legion of Honour for his contribution to Cinema.
ii. The award of Officier de la Legion d'Honneur (Officer of the Legion of Honour) is the highest honour among Civilians nd Military bestowed by France on French citizen as well as foreigners.
iii. He will be honoured with Legion of Honour during the visit of French foreign minister Laurent Fabius to India on 30 June 2014. 

Note: Shahrukh Khan is the second Bollywood actor after Amitabh Bachchan to be honoured with Legion of Honour. Amitabh Bachchan received the honour in 2007.

9.    Union Government granted Navratna Status to EIL and NBCC

i. The Union Government granted Navratna status to Engineers India Ltd (EIL) and National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC).

ii. Department of Public Enterprises under the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises granted the navratna status to enhance the greater financial and operational autonomy.

iii. The Navratna status to two Central Public Sector (CPSEs) will provide the companies greater leeway in deciding on business propositions such as forming joint ventures or taking call on projects involving major investments.

Criteria for Navratna status
i. Having Schedule A and Miniratna Category-1 status.
ii. Having at least three Excellent or Very Good Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ratings during the last five years.

iii. Having a composite score of 60 or above out of 100 marks based on its performance during the last three years on the following six identified efficiency parameters such as Net Profit to Net Worth, Manpower cost to cost of production or services, Gross margin as capital employed, Gross profit as Turnover, Earnings per Share and Inter-Sectoral comparison based on Net profit to net worth.

10.  Punjab to seek Rs 700 cr from NABARD for development projects

i. The Punjab government on Friday said it will seek funds to the tune of Rs 700 crore from NABARD for various development projects in the state.

ii. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal gave nod to a comprehensive plan for seeking financial assistance from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) under RIDF XX for the year 2014-15.

iii. Presiding over a meeting here, Badal impressed upon NABARD officials to sanction loans liberally for funding various development projects especially in the rural sector.

11.  French Foreign Minister to visit India

i. In an effort to reach out to the new Indian Government, Laurent Fabius, the French Foreign Minister begins a visit India from this Sunday.

ii. Sources said that the Foreign Minister will be the first western leader to meet the new Government. "This is something we appreciate very much," the source added.

iii. During the visit the entire gamut of relations will be looked at. There will also be two side events -- one on higher education during which the French Minister will have an opportunity to meet Indian students going to France.