Daily GK: 3rd December 2014

1.    Anil Sinha takes over as new CBI Chief

i. Mr. Sinha is the third consecutive chief of the agency from Bihar following Ranjit Sinha and A.P. Singh

ii. Anil Kumar Sinha, a 1979-batch IPS officer, on Wednesday took over the reins of the Central Bureau of Investigation at a time when the agency is facing criticism from courts over its handling of probe in coal allocation and 2G scams.

iii. Mr. Sinha, 58, has been with the agency as a Special Director for the past 21 months and supervised the Saradha chit fund probe.

iv. He has a tough task cut out to restore the credibility of the CBI, which has drawn flak from various courts, including the Supreme Court which had once called it a “caged parrot”.

2.    SBI Cards ties up with Future Group to offer co-branded card

i. SBI Cards has tied up with Future Group company Fashion at Big Bazaar (FBB) to offer a co-branded CREDIT CARD, ‘Styleup’.

ii. The new Styleup card offers a lifetime flat 10 per cent discount on fashion apparel, fashion accessories and footwear at all FBB and Big Bazaar stores and the customers will also get 10 times the rewards on all Big Bazaar purchases besides other discounts and rewards.

iii. “SBI Cards is the only free-standing CREDIT CARD company in the country.

iv. All others are parts of banks SBI Cards has been seeing strong year on year growth in the last few years. The tie-up with the Future Group is to fuel this performance by entering into the high growth retail sector that is expected to increase to more than US$ 800 billion by 2015,’’ Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson, State Bank of India said, adding that the offering would create value for customers and is a “win-win situation for both partners.’’

3.    World Bank, ADB to assist AP in Hudhud cyclone relief works

i. Teams from World Bank and ADB now on a visit here have assured the Andhra Pradesh Government to assist the State in Cyclone Hudhud rehabilitation works.

ii. The World Bank Country Director Omno Rahl and Country Director of Asian Development Bank (ADB) Theresakho today called on State Chief Secretary IYR Krishna Rao at the secretariat for an update on the relief and rehabilitation works of the cyclone Hudhud damages in the state.

iii. During the meeting some of the Secretaries made presentations on cyclone Hudhud relief and rehabilitation works.

iv. The World Bank team lead by Tarun Bajaj, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs participated in an hour long presentations by Secretaries on the rehabilitation works of cyclone.

4.    Sachin Tendulkar to lead Kerala in a run ahead of National Games

i.  Sports-mad Kerala will launch itself into a frenzied run ahead of the start of 35th National Games here with brand ambassador and cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, no less, in the lead.

ii. Styled Run Kerala Run, the group run is being organised across the State to celebrate the historic event when the State is hosting the Games after a gap of 28 years.

iii. The run will be taken out between January 20 and 22, 2015, to declare solidarity with the Games and welcome sportspersons, sports organisers, and sports lovers from different parts of the country.

iv. The National Games will be held from January 31, 2015 to February 14, 2015.

5.    Central Bank to raise Rs. 626.23 cr from preferential issue to LIC

i. Central Bank of India today said it would raise about Rs. 626 crore through preferential allotment of shares to country’s largest insurer LIC to FUND business growth.

ii. The capital raising committee of the board approved raising of additional equity capital by issuance of up to 8.28 crore shares at Rs. 75.55 a equity, Central Bank of India said in a statement.

iii. Thus, the bank would raise Rs. 626.23 crore by allotting shares on preferential basis to LIC. This would be subject to approval of Government of India, Reserve Bank of India, shareholders and other statutory authorities, it said.

6.    Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait Delhi branch offers full-fledged services

i. Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) has launched full-fledged services from its fourth branch in India located at New Delhi. The branch will cater to its Non-Resident Indian (NRI) clients.

ii. Earlier in August this year, the bank had launched soft or partial services from the branch located in the national capital, said a bank official.

7.    India improves rating on global corruption index 

i. India has showed some improvement in addressing corruption this year, ranking 85th among 175 countries as against 94th last year, graft watchdog TransparencyInternational India (TII) said on Wednesday. ii. Denmark retained its position as the least corrupt country in 2014 with a score of 92 while North Korea and Somalia shared the last place, scoring just 8, it said. 
iii. In India's neighbourhood, China moved to 100th place, down from 80th last year, while Pakistan and Nepal were at 126th position. 

iv. Bangladesh was 145th and Bhutan 30th in the ranking. Sri Lanka was ranked 85th with India.  v. Afghanistan was at a bleak 172. 

8.    Cricket world bids tearful adieu to Phil Hughes

i. Tearful tributes were paid to young Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes at his funeral today. Thousands gathered at the ceremony which was held at Hughes' former school in his coastal home town of Macksville. The procession moved through the streets with players and other mourners walking behind.
ii. The Australian players later formed a guard of honour and the hearse. The coffin was carried by pall bearers, Phillip's father, his brother, Australian skipper Michael Clarke, Mitchell Lonergan, Matthew Day, Aaron Finch and Tom Cooper. A lone cricket bat rested against the coffin.
iii. Eyes welled up all around and mourners, including Clarke, broke down while reading out tributes to Hughes, who died last week after being hit on the head by a bouncer during a domestic game. Indian stand-in skipper Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Team Director Ravi Shastri were present in the ceremony.
iv. Million others mourned the death of talented cricketer through live television feeds of his funeral.

v. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also joined the world in bidding farewell to Hughes. Mr Modi said in a tweet that Hughes will be missed and his game and exuberance won him fans all over.