GK Update - 5th May 2015

Modi to visit China from May 14

(i) Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a three-nation official visit to China, Mongolia and

South Korea from May 14-19.

(ii) In China, Mr. Modi will visit Xian, Beijing and Shanghai from May 14-16.

(iii) He will hold bilateral meetings with the country’s leadership and participate in cultural and business events.

(iv) The Prime Minister will also attend an event organised by the Indian community in China.

In Mongolia, his engagement will be on May 17. This is the first ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Mongolia.

(v) He will then visit to Republic of Korea on May 18-19.

(vi) Mr. Modi will hold bilateral discussions with President Park Geun-hye and meet with important business leaders in Seoul, an official statement said on Tuesday.

Rajasthan Government signed deal with NHM, UNICEF & GAIN to counter malnourishment

(i) Rajasthan Government on 4 May 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Health Mission (NHM), UNICEF and GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition) in Jaipur to tackle the severe problem of malnourishment of the state.

(ii) Initially, the programme will be implemented in thirteen districts in which more than 10000 children have been identified as malnourished. To deal with malnourishment, a special management programme will be organised on the community basis. 

(iii) At present, Rajasthan has 40 malnourishment treatment centres, which are equipped with 10000 beds. It is also facilitated with 107 centres with six beds. 

Baleshwar Ram, former Union Minister passed away

(i) Former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader Baleshwar Ram on 3 May 2015 passed away due to kidney-related ailments. 

(ii) He was 87. He was the leader from Bihar.

(iii) He was the Member of Parliament (MP) of 7th Lok Sabha  from Rosera Lok Sabha Constituency.

Vedanta Limited launched new logo

(i) Minerals and mining giant Vedanta Limited on 4 May 2015 launched its new logo. The logo was co-created by internal stakeholders across geographies and group companies.

(ii) The new logo has some significant changes. The brand name has been changed with the use of two colours leaf green and a shade of Yale blue.

(iii) The colours represent the distinct virtues of Vedanta's professionalism, sustainability, ethics and integrity. 

(iv) The colour green symbolizes Vedanta's ethical credentials and the colour blue reflects Vedanta's un-waivered integrity and professionalism.

(v) A leaf, which represents symbol of life, has been included into the Vedanta globe, signifying commitment to the triple bottom line approach of People, Planet and Prosperity.

Veteran Journalist Amitabha Chowdhury passed away at 88

(i) Amitabha Chowdhury, veteran journalist, writer and renowned Tagore researcher passed away in Kolkata due to prolonged illness. He was 88.

(ii) He was associated with three leading Bengali dailies Anandabazar Patrika, Jugantar and Aajkal for more than three decades.

(iii) He authored around 40 books, which mostly explored various facets of Rabindranath Tagore.

CITD campus to come up at Ongole next year

(i) The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is opening a new Central Institute of Tool Design (CITD) campus at Ongole for the next academic year. 

(ii) It will be the third sub-centre of the CITD in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

(iii) The other two sub-centres are situated in Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. Besides, decks have been cleared for upgrading the infrastructure at the CITD Vijayawada Sub-Centre at a cost of nearly Rs. 2 crore to help a larger number of ITI and engineering students in enhancing their skills. 

(iv) The new facilities at Vijayawada will be ready in about a month.

(v) The CITD Vijayawada Assistant Director S. Venkata Krishna told The Hindu that the certificates issued by the institution had global recognition as it was established by the Indian Government with the help of United Nations Development Program and International Labour Organization.

HDFC Bank increases service charge by as much as 50% on debit cards and IMPS 

(i) India's second largest private sector lender HDFC BankBSE -1.35 % has increased service charges by as much as 43-50% on select products like debit cards, immediate payment service (IMPS) — a real-time money transfer mechanism — as the bank aims to realign its fee structure on par with rivals. 

(ii) Customers will now have to pay Rs 750 for an HDFC Bank platinum debit card against the current annual fee of Rs 500, while a gold debit card will offer the same revised fee structure, excluding applicable taxes.

(iii) New charges will kick in from June 1 this year, but the lender will not charge high-networth individuals (HNIs) and corporate salary account customers holding savings accounts.