DAILY GK UPDATE - 18th March

1.    Russia suspended from G-8: France

(i)France�s foreign minister says that leaders of the Group of Eight world powers have suspended Russia�s participation in the club amid tensions over Ukraine and Russia�s incursion into Crimea.

(ii)The other seven members of the group had already suspended preparations for a G-8 summit that Russia is     scheduled to host in June in Sochi.

(iii)France�s Laurent Fabius on Tuesday, saying on Europe-1 radio that �concerning the G-8 ... we decided to suspend Russia�s participation, and it is envisaged that all the other countries, the seven leading countries, will unite without Russia.

2.    Gyan Correa bagged the Gollapudi Srinivas National Award 2013

(I) or his debut film as a director, The Good Road in Gujarati.

(ii)This film was selected from 20 nominations across many languages including Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

(iii) The award that comprises of a cash prize of 1.50 lakh rupees and a memento and will be presented to Gyan Correa on 12 August 2014 at a ceremony at the Music Academy, Chennai. The jury that selected The Good Road for the award consisted of director Vasanth, Editor Sreekar Prasad and actor Kushboo. 

About Gollapudi Srinivas National Award

Gollapudi Srinivas National Award has been instituted by Gollapudi Srinivas memorial foundation in memory of late Gollapudi Srinivasa, who died while directing his first film Prema Pustakam (Book of Love) in 1992. He died at the age of 26 in an accident on 12 August 1992.

3.    India nominated Rani-ki-Vav and GHNP for UNESCO�s World Heritage Site Status

(i)India nominated Rani-ki-Vav located in Patan, Gujarat and the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Himachal Pradesh for UNESCO�s World Heritage Site Status for 2014.

(ii)The World Heritage Committee will convene in Doha, Qatar, in June 2014 to review the nomination and take a final decision.

About Rani-ki-Vav & Great Himalayan Park

(i) Rani-ki-Vav is an 11the century stepwell and it is one of the finest examples of stepwells in Gujarat. It was constructed by Queen Udayamati of the Solanki dynasty.

(ii) The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) is located in the western part of the Himalayan Mountains in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh. The GHNP was initially constituted in 1984 and declared as a National Park in 1999.

(iii)The Park is known for its biodiversity. It has more than 25 forest types, 800 kinds of plants and is home to more than 180 bird species.

4.    Hinduja brothers emerged as 3rd richest family in Britain

(i) A research report entitled A Tale of Two Britains published by anti-poverty charity Oxfam has ranked Hinduja brothers as third richest family in Britain.

(ii)The report released on 17 March 2014 claimed that the London-based Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja have a combined wealth of 10 billion dollars and this report was based on the latest list from Forbes Magazine.

The five top richest Britons listed in the report are

(i) The Duke of Westminster is the richest

(ii)  The David and Simon Reuben

 (iii) The Hindujas

(iv) The Cadogan family

(v) Sports Direct retail boss Mike Ashley

5.    Russian President signed decree, recognised Crimea as Sovereign State

(i) Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia on 17 March 2014 signed a decree that recognises Crimea as a sovereign state. This signing of the decree has paved a way for absorption of Crimea into Russia.

(ii) The signed decree said that Russia has taken into account the referendum of Crimea in which about 97 percent of the voters backed breaking away from Ukraine. Crimean residents voted in support of seceding, seeking to join Russia.
(iii)The signing of the decree came after the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine declared itself as an independent state. On the other hand, the deputy Prime Minister of Crimea has announced that the region has set up a new central bank, which is expecting to get 30 million US dollars in support from Russia

6.    India is the world�s largest arms importer: SIPRI

(i)A new data on international arms transfers released that India�s import of weapon systems is three times more than Pakistan and China.

(ii)The report published by as Swedish Think Tank, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has  claimed that India continues to be the largest buyer of arms in the world. 

(iii)The new data has ranked China and Pakistan second and third respectively as the largest arms importer. China was replaced as the world�s biggest arms buyer by India in 2010. Overall, the volume of international transfers of major conventional weapons grew by 14 percent between 2004�08 and 2009�13.

7.    CII West: Tamboli new Chairman, Kirloskar deputy chief

(i) Chetan Tamboli, Steelcast Ltd�s Chairman, and Sanjay Kirloskar, CMD of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, have been elected Chairman and Deputy Chairman, respectively, of Confederation of Indian Industry, Western Region.

(ii)They were elected to their posts at the first meeting of the CII Western Regional Council 2014-15, held in Mumbai last week, according to a press release here.

(iii)Tamboli was Deputy Chairman of CII Western Regional Council for 2013-14, and a past chairman of CII Gujarat State Council.

(iv)Kirloskar is on the Board of Trade, Government of India, and also a member of the Government-Industry  joint task force. He also heads CII�s ASEAN Committee.

8.    ING Vysya Bank appoints Uday Sareen as Deputy CEO

(i) Private sector lender ING Vysya Bank announced the return and appointment of Uday Sareen as Deputy CEO, Head of Wholesale Banking and Strategy with effect from April 1, 2014.

(ii) Sareen will head the Bangalore-based bank's Wholesale Banking, including Financial Markets business, and also steer the business strategy across the bank.

(iii) Uday Sareen joined ING Vysya Bank in July 2007 and as Country Head of Retail Banking then, played a key role in its transformation from a south-based bank to a strong retail franchise with a national footprint. In December 2012, he was deputed to ING Di-Ba in Germany as its Chief Strategy Officer.

9.    NMPT gets new chief

(i) PC Paridataken  charge as Chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) Prior to this, he was Deputy Chairman of Chennai Port Trust since January 2011. He also worked as Deputy Chairman of Mormugao Port Trust from November 2008 to December 2010.

(ii) He is a graduate in commerce and law and Associated Member of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of India. On assuming charge, he held discussions with all the departments, labour representatives and users of the port and sought their cooperation for the overall development of NMPT,

10.  Bailey to captain Kings XI Punjab

(i)Australia�s T20 captain George Bailey will lead Kings XI Punjab in the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League, the franchisee announced on Tuesday.

(ii)Bailey was one of the four Australians purchased by the franchise at the players auction on February, along with Mitchell Johnson, Glenn Maxwell and Shaun Marsh. His price tag of Rs 3.25 crore ($531,000 approx).

(iii)  bailey is a great cricketer who has showcased his leadership skills as a captain of Australian cricket team as well. We are hopeful that his performance and guidance will lead the team to great success this season according to the selector.