Daily GK Update - !4th and 15th June 2015

Inflation in negative zone for seventh month

(i) Easing prices of fuel, food items and manufactured goods kept inflation in the negative zone for the seventh consecutive month in May, although prices fell at a slower rate of (-)2.36 per cent as against the previous month.

(ii) The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation was (-)2.65 per cent in April. It has been in the negative zone since November 2014. Inflation in May last year was 6.18 per cent.

(iii) The lower inflation comes amid a forecast of deficient monsoon this year.

(iv) Retail inflation in May, as measured on Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 5.01 per cent, marginally up from the previous month.

(v) Reserve Bank has cut the key interest rate (repo rate) by 0.75 per cent in 2015, and the government has asked banks to reduce their lending rates.

BSNL to launch free roaming today

(i) State-run BSNL will launch free roaming, starting today, which will allow all its mobile customers across the country to receive incoming calls at no cost.

(ii) “Now BSNL mobile customers will not need to carry multiple SIMs and handsets during roaming. 

(iii) They are free to talk as long as they want without worrying of any charges during incoming calls.

(iv) “In fact, it is like a dream of ‘One Nation One Number’ coming true,” BSNL CMD Anupam Shrivastava said in a statement.

(v) One June 2, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had announced that the telco would be launching free roaming scheme from June 15.

Vedanta to buy out minority shareholders in Cairn India

(i) India's largest private miner Vedanta Ltd. has offered to buy out minority shareholders in cash-rich oil and gas unit Cairn India, a move that will streamline debt-burdened parent Vedanta Resources’ operating structure.

(ii) Shareholders in Cairn India, India’s top private oil producer, will get one share in Vedanta Ltd. for every held, the companies said in a joint statement after their boards approved the transaction on Sunday. 

(iii) They will also get one redeemable preference share in Vedanta Limited.

SC cancels All India Pre-Medical Test

(i) Over 6.3 lakh students will have to take fresh test as the Supreme Court on Monday scrapped the All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) 2015 and ordered re-conduct of the examination within four weeks.

(ii) A vacation bench of justices R K Agrawal and Amitava Roy directed the institutions involved in conduct of the examination to render assistance to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in this endeavour within the stipulated period decided by it.

(iii) CBSE was to declare the results of AIPMT, taken by over six lakh students, on June 5.

The court had said, “The bigger issue is that the sanctity of the examination is under suspicion. 

(iv) We want to be doubly sure that there is no alternative but to order re-conduct of the exam,” adding that it did not want to take a decision “in haste”.

Tatkal booking timings changes from today

(i) The timings for booking Tatkal tickets in AC and non-AC classes will change from June 15 as the Railways has staggered the schedule to reduce the load on the ticketing site and booking windows.

(ii) Currently, the booking under Tatkal scheme opens at 10 am on the previous day of journey from train originating station.

(iii) “It has been decided that from June 15, timings for booking of Tatkal tickets will be staggered for AC and non-AC classes to 10 am onwards and 11 am onwards respectively,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Baffled Bolt wins 200 in sluggish time

(i) A baffled Usain Bolt ran his worst turn ever as he barely won the 200 metres at the Adidas Grand Prix meet in a sluggish 20.29 seconds on a warm, windy day at Randall's Island on Saturday.

(ii) Bolt was running into a stiff headwind of 2.8 metres per second that surely affected his time, but the six-time Olympic gold medal winner was bewildered by his sub-standard turn.

(iii) His time was more than a full second slower than his world record of 19.19.