Daily GK: 11th November 2014

1. PM arrives in Myanmar to attend ASEAN, East Asia summits

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the Myanmarese capital Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday to attend the ASEAN and the East Asia summits on the first leg of his three- nation tour that will also take him to Australia and Fiji.

ii. Asserting that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is at the core of India's 'Act East' policy, the Prime Minister said before leaving for Myanmar that he was looking forward to discussing with ASEAN leaders how to take "our relationship to a new level, which will supplement our deepening bilateral ties with each member".

iii. "ASEAN is at the core of our Act East Policy and at the centre of our dream of an Asian century, characterised by cooperation and integration," Modi said.

2. Jawed Usmani appointed as State Chief Information Commissioner in UP

i. Jawed Usmani appointed as State Chief Information Commissioner (SCIC) in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

ii. Governor of UP Ram Naik on 10 November 2014 approved appointment of Jawed Usmani as CIC.

iii. A three-member committee, headed by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav selected the name of Usmani and forwarded it to the Governor. 

3. RIP Nokia Lumia, Microsoft officially announces re-branding for smartphones.

i. Microsoft on Friday evening formally announced that it would no longer use brand Nokia for its smartphones. Instead the devices will be called Microsoft Lumia.

ii. Microsoft will continue to use Nokia name for its entry-level phones. "Microsoft will continue to sell Nokia-branded, entry-level category of phones, such as the Nokia 130.

We have licensed the Nokia brand for such devices," said Tuula, senior vice president of marketing for phones at Microsoft.

4. Tendulkar’s book to be published in regional languages

"We look forward to co-publishing this bestseller in Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Assamese, Telugu and Bengali", says Hachette India

i. Due to enormous demand, the publishers of Sachin Tendulkar’s record-breaking autobiography, Playing It My Way has decided to translate the book in Indian regional languages.

ii. Hachette India will be co-publishing Tendulkar’s autobiography after being flooded with interest from several publishers.

iii. “The book has topped 200,000 copies in orders, already pulling ahead of both pre-order and lifetime sales of the top hardbacks — Dan Brown’s Inferno, Walter Issacson’s Steve Jobs and J K Rowling’s Casual Vacancy,” Hachette India in a release.

4. Rajnath Singh adopts Beti village in Lucknow

i. Union Home Minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh has adopted Beti village in the district under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojna.

ii. “The Union Home Minister has adopted Beti village in Sarojini Nagar (Assembly segment) under the model village scheme,” Secretary of BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit Virendra Tiwari said on Tuesday.

iii. Though in Lucknow district, Beti village is not part of the Lucknow parliamentary constituency. It falls in the Mohanlalganj parliamentary constituency.

5. PM launches Jeevan Pramaan - Digital Life Certificate for Pensioners

i. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on Monday launched "Jeevan Pramaan" - an "Aadhar-based Digital Life Certificate" for pensioners, in a move that could eventually benefit over a crore pensioners.

ii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that after the push towards self-certification, this digital life certificate was another enabling mechanism which would benefit the common man.

iii. The proposed digital certification will do away with the requirement of a pensioner having to submit a physical Life Certificate in November each year, in order to ensure continuity of pension being credited into his account.

iv. The Department of Electronics and IT has developed a software application which will enable the recording of the pensioner's Aadhar number and biometric details from his mobile device or computer, by plugging in a biometric reading device.

v. Key details of the pensioner, including date, time, and biometric information will be uploaded to a central database on real-time basis, ultimately enabling the Pension Disbursing Agency to access a Digital Life Certificate.

6. Mannan Kumar Mishra and S. Prabakaran re-elected to Bar Council of India

Mannan Kumar Mishra and S. Prabakaran were on 10 November 2014 re-elected to the Bar Council of India (BCI). Mannan Kumar Mishra was appointed as Chairman and S. Prabakaran as Co-Chairman of Bar Council of India.

Mannan Kumar Mishra

Mannan Kumar Mishra is the Bihar state council’s representative in the Bar Council of India. Mishra is a senior advocate practising in the Supreme Court and Patna High Court.

S. Prabakaran

Prabakaran is practising in the Madras High Court and Supreme Court. He is a member of various committees set up by the BCI including the legal education panel.

7. China-India Development Fund looks to park Rs 30,000 crore in India’s infra projects

i. A private equity fund, christened as China-India Development Fund, amounting to USD 5 billion (over Rs 30,000 crore), has been launched for possible investments in infrastructure projects in India. Over Rs 6000 crore of this fund is expected to flow into Gujarat, official sources said on Tuesday.

ii. The fund launched by Shanghai Entrepreneur Association (SEA) has the support of China India Trade & Investment Centre (CITIC), stated a release from CITIC here.

iii. “Large infrastructure projects in India are not able to find adequate funding. In such a scenario, this fund will help provide the necessary finance. The SEA which has over 100 entrepreneurs is now looking for Indian partners which whom they can cooperate in various ways including joint venture participation for rail, highway, smart city and new city development projects,” said Jagat Shah, secretary general CITIC.

8. India-Israel joint venture missile LRSAM successfully test fired in Israel

i. Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LRSAM), the missile co-developed by India and Israel, was successfully test-fired on 10 November 2014 from a range in Israel. LRSAM is called Barak 8 missile in Israel.

ii. The missile successfully intercepted a manoeuvring air-breathing target mimicking an attacking combat aircraft. The test also validated all the elements related to the naval and land-based variants of the missile including the phased array radar, battle management system, communications and the interceptor.

iii. The test fire was carried by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in the presence of DRDO scientists and officials of the Indian Armed Forces. DRDO chief and Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister Dr Avinash Chander witnessed the test along with IAI President Joseph Weiss and other top officials of the Israel Defence Forces.