Daily GK Update 10th March 2015

India beats Ireland by 8 wickets 

(i) India defeated Ireland by eight wickets in a Pool B cricket World Cup match at Seddon

Park, in Hamilton on Tuesday.

(ii) Opting to bat, Ireland were cruising at one stage with scorecard reading 206 for three but Indian bowlers made a fantastic comeback at the back—end of the innings, claiming as many as six wickets for 32 runs in a phase of 6.3 overs.

(iii) For the first time in the tournament, India’s new ball attack didn’t strike in the opening spell as Porterfield and Paul Stirling batted with a lot of positive intent. Both Yadav and Shami bore the brunt of their wide blades.

(iv) Teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma and Umesh Yadav.

Ireland: William Porterfield (C), Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce, Niall O’Brien, Andy Balbirnie, Gary Wilson, Kevin O’Brien, John Mooney, Stuart Thompson, Alex Cusack and George Dockrell.

'Simpsons' co-creator Sam Simon dies

(i) Sam Simon, a co-creator of The Simpsons, who made a midlife career shift into philanthropy and channelled much of his personal fortune into social causes including animal welfare, has died after a long bout with cancer.

(ii) Simon died on Sunday, his agent, Andy Patman said. He was 59.

(iii) After stints writing for Taxi, Cheers and The Tracey Ullman Show, Simon helped launch The Simpsons in 1989.

Modi greets Omar on his birthday

(i) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday greeted National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on his 45th birthday and wished him a long life, a gesture appreciated by the National Conference working President.

(ii) “Dear @abdullah_omar, wishing you a very Happy Birthday.

(iii) May you be blessed with a long life filled with good health,” he tweeted.

Top 10 borrowers a/c for Rs 28K cr of PSU banks NPA: Sinha

(i) The top 10 borrowers account for Rs 28,152 crore of non performing assets (NPAs) of the state-owned banks, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. 

(ii) As many as 433 borrowers have taken loans of over Rs 1,000 crore and above amounting to Rs 16.31 lakh crore, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. The NPAs comprising ten defaulters amount to Rs 28,152 crore, which in percentage terms is 1.73 percent of total loans, he said.

(iii) The outstanding loan to industry at the end of December 2014 rose to Rs 22.53 lakh crore as against Rs 22.13 lakh crore at the end of March 2014, he said.

Government proposes 9 changes in Land Bill, Opposition wants it to be sent to Standing Committee

(i) Lok Sabha on Tuesday took up for discussion Narendra Modi government's much debated Land Acquisition Bill, which will be put to vote this evening. 

(ii) The Opposition is bent on opposing it despite positive signals from the ruling party to incorporate key changes suggested by various stake holders in the legislation in the "larger interest" of the farming community.

Tarun Gogoi presents Rs 66,142.16 crore Assam budget 

(i) Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today presented a Rs 66,142.16 crore budget for the state for 2015-16 and exempted cancer drugs and medicinal oxygen from VAT but hiked duties on cigarette and liquor. 

(ii) Presenting the budget for the next fiscal, Gogoi said, "Non-Plan expenditure estimates for the financial year are estimated at Rs 39,803.45 crore. 

(iii) Plan expenditure has accordingly been estimated at Rs 66,142.16 crore." 

(iv) "Smoking is injurious to health. Therefore, I propose to impose a cess of Rs 1 per pack of cigarettes to raise funds for improving health services in Assam," Gogoi said. 

Maharashtra's beef ban to boost chicken sales 

(i) Poultry firms expect demand to pick up after a ban on beef in Maharashtra, with other states ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party also aiming to toughen laws on slaughter of livestock. 

(ii) India is the world's second biggest beef exporter, although its majority Hindu community considers cows to be sacred, and Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in power for 10 months, is pushing for legal measures to "protect and promote the cow". 

(iii) Even without a beef ban, India's poultry output has been scaling annual records, as higher incomes boost demand for meat in the world's second-most populous country. 

(iv) Broiler production will hit a new high of 3.9 million tonnes in 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated in October. 

Pakistan has 10 more nukes than India

(i) Pakistan has 10 more nuclear weapons in its arsenal than India with both the countries doubling their stockpiles since 2007, according to Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' data.

(ii) The Nuclear Notebook Interactive Infographic provides a visual representation of the Bulletin's famed Nuclear Notebook, which since 1987 has tracked the number and type of the world's nuclear arsenals.

(iii) According to the infographic, neither of the countries possessed any nuclear warhead until 1997.

Filmstar turned politician Raj Babbar files nomination for Rajya Sabha from Uttarakhand

(i) Filmstar-turned-politician Raj Babbar on Tuesday filed his nomination as the Congress

candidate for the only vacant Rajya Sabha seat from Uttarakhand.

(ii) Soon after filing his nomination, Babbar expressed his gratitude to the party high command as well as the state leadership of the party for reposing confidence in an ordinary party worker like him.