Daily GK Update 20th February 2015

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Soil Health Card Scheme

(i) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 February 2015 launched the nationwide Soil Health

Card Scheme in Suratgarh town of Sriganganagar district, Rajasthan. 

(ii) The nationwide scheme will help farmers to scientifically analyse the soil of farms in the country. 

(iii) The scheme aims at helping farmers in improving productivity by appropriate use of nutrients or fertilisers. 

(iv) Under the plan, 14 crore Soil Health Cards will be issued to farmer of the country in a span of 3 years. 

(v) Around 3 crore farmers will be covered under the project in financial year 2014-15.

Vistara launches maiden flight service to Goa

(i) Tata’s full service passenger carrier Vistara Friday launched its maiden flight between New Delhi and Goa and said that it will expand its fleet to six aircraft by April.

(ii) The airline had earlier announced the launch of new services to Goa and Hyderabad from February 20 and March 1, respectively.

(iii) The company, which initially started operations with 68 flights weekly in January, is expected to operate 164 flights a week by March.

(iv) The joint venture (JV) airline between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines started commercial operations from January 9.

Labour trafficking suit: Indian workers awarded $14.1 million

(i) A federal court has awarded $14.1 million to five Indian workers who were brought to the U.S. as guest workers but then subjected to squalid conditions in isolated, guarded labour camps and denied immigration benefits that they were allegedly promised n return for paying recruiters between $10,000 and $20,000 in fees.

(ii) When the workers arrived in the U.S., they, however, discovered that the recruiters’ promise of green cards were false, and that they would have to live in the cramped quarters of “man camps” adjacent to the shipyard, with no option to switch to other jobs or return home to heaving debt.

(iii) Signal International said in a statement that it “strongly disagrees” with Wednesday’s verdict and is considering an appeal. It had said last month that it was confident the evidence would demonstrate “this case involves paid workers who could leave their job at any time, were well paid and free to come and go as they pleased.”

Amartya Sen to leave Nalanda post

(i) Nobel laureate Amartya Sen on Thursday withdrew his candidature for a second term as Chancellor of Nalanda University in Bihar, since the Narendra Modi government had not given its approval to his nomination.

(ii) It is hard for me not to conclude that the government wants me to cease being the Chancellor of Nalanda University after this July,” Dr. Sen said.

(iii) Dr. Sen said academic governance in the country remained “deeply vulnerable to the opinions of the ruling government,” where it chose to make political use of special provisions in a university’s statute.

CCI approves Kotak Mahindra Bank’s purchase of ING Vysya

(i) India’s antitrust regulator has approved Kotak Mahindra Bank’s record $2.4 billion purchase of ING Vysya, it said in an order published on Friday. 

(ii) Kotak had announced its plan to buy ING Vysaya in November 2014, in what analysts predicted was the beginning of a long-awaited consolidation in a crowded banking sector.

(iii) The deal is the first major bank takeover since top privately held lender ICICI Bank bought Bank of Rajasthan more than four years ago.

Prime Minister presented Krishi Karman Awards 2013-14 to State Government functionaries

(i) The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 February 2015 presented Krishi Karman Awards 2013-14 to State Government functionaries. 

(ii) The awards were presented during the launch of the Soil Health Card scheme nationwide at Suratgarh, Rajasthan.

(iii) The Prime Minister presented the Krishi Karman Awards to State Government functionaries led by Chief Ministers of States and progressive farmers belonging to the states of Punjab, Odisha, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat. 

(v) The Commendation Awards were also presented to the State Government functionaries led by Agriculture Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Karnataka. 

Nitish Kumar to be sworn in as CM on February 22

(i) Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar was on Friday invited by governor Keshari Nath

Tripathi to form the government in Bihar after Jitan Ram Manjhi quit as chief minister.

(ii) Nitish and his team of ministers will be sworn in on February 22, Raj Bhavan officials said.

(iii) Earlier, Nitish promised good governance once he takes over as chief minister and apologised for his decision to quit last year after his party's rout in the Lok Sabha elections.