Daily GK Update 6th March 2015

President Pranab Mukherjee accepts Raosaheb Dadarao Danve's resignation

(i) President Pranab Mukherjee accepted the resignation of Minister of State for Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution, Raosaheb Dadarao Danve, from the Union Council of Ministers.

(ii) President, as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accepted the resignation of Danve with immediate effect, Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a communique.

(iii) A four-time member of Lok Sabha from Jalna in the Marathwada region, Danve has risen through the ranks after entering politics at the panchayat level. He has said he will concentrate on party affairs in the state. 

NPCI links 15 crore bank accounts with Aadhar

(i) National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organization for all retail payments system in India, said on Friday that it reached a major milestone of successfully linking 15 crore bank accounts with Aadhaar number.

(ii) It is expected that soon all beneficiaries of all types of government subsidiaries / benefit transfers will be brought under the linkage program.

(iii) The current focus is on linking the bank accounts of 17 crore DBTL (direct benefit transfer) beneficiaries with Aadhaar numbers, latest by June 30, 2015,” NPCI stated in a press release.

WHO recommends annual vaccination to fight swine flu

(i) Annual vaccination is the most effective solution for combating seasonal influenza infections such as swine flu, which has killed more than 1,200 people this year in India, the World Health Organisation has said.

(ii) It is recommended that people get a flu vaccine even during seasons when drifted viruses are circulating. 

(iii) It’s because vaccination can prevent some infections and can reduce serious ailments that can lead to hospitalisation and death,” stated the Geneva-based agency.

(iv) The flu vaccine has been designed to protect against three or four influenza viruses and some of these viruses may circulate later in the season, the WHO said in a report.

(v) According to the Union Health Ministry, as on March 4, the number of those who have contracted the disease has reached 23,153.

Randeep Surjewala made in charge of AICC communication department

(i) The Congress on Thursday made Randeep Surjewala in charge of the AICC communication department, a post which fell vacant after Ajay Maken was appointed Delhi Congress president. Surjewala, a former Haryana minister, pipped many senior Congress leaders who were lobbying to become the chairman of the department.

(ii) Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed Randeep Surjewala as in charge of the communication department till further notification,” general secretary in charge of organisation Janardan Dwivedi said.

(iii) The names of several leaders including that of Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Jaipal Reddy and Salman Khurshid were doing the rounds as possible successors to Maken.

Sushma Swaraj leaves for Sri Lanka ahead of Modi visit

(i) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday left for Sri Lanka to lay the ground for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the island nation next week.

(ii) Modi will be in Sri Lanka on March 13-14, during which he will hold meetings with President Maithripala Sirisena and other senior leaders across the political spectrum.

(iii) Modi is to address the Sri Lankan parliament on March 13. His will be the first state visit by an Indian prime minister after 1987 when then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi visited the island nation.

Srinivasan man could be Dalmiya's new assistant

(i) A proposal may be presented to the BCCI's working committee for Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) treasurer Biswarup Dey to be appointed as executive assistant to the newly elected board president Jagmohan Dalmiya. 

(ii) The BCCI is also likely to persist with Ranjib Biswal as the chairman of the IPL governing council because a little over a month remains for the tournament's eighth season to begin. Anil Kumble is set to continue as the technical committee chairman.

(iii) BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, however, said he was not aware of the proposal. "I haven't received any request or communication in this regard," Thakur told ESPNcricinfo.

(iv) During Srinivasan's three-year term as BCCI president, Mayank Parikh worked as his assistant from the board's headquarters in Mumbai. 

RBI Guv Raghuram Rajan says CPI target band could tighten in 5-10 years

(i) Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has said the target band for retail inflation could tighten much further in the future as the central bank becomes more comfortable with it.

(ii) The RBI has glide path of 6 per cent for 2015 and 5 per cent for January 2016. Inflation for January stood at 5.11 per cent and analysts are expecting it to hover around 5.5 per cent in February.

(iii) Rajan had said RBI will seek to bring the inflation rate to 4 per cent by the end of a two-year period starting 2016- 17.