Day To Day Current Affairs - 7th December 2014

Day To Day Current Affairs - 7th December 2014

1.    Kotak Mahindra Bank launches savings bank account for customers of 55 years and above

i. Kotak Mahindra BankBSE 0.38 % (KMB) today announced the launch of Grand, a savings bank account tailored exclusively for customers of 55 years and above.

ii. According to a press release issued by the bank, Grand has been designed keeping in mind their need for hassle-free banking, financial independence and personal attention.

iii. According to the release, customers will earn 6 per cent pa on savings balance of over Rs 1 lakh and 5 per cent on balances up to Rs 1 lakh.

iv. To earn higher return on their balances, they can sign up for the Kotak ActivMoney facility, which converts savings account balance above a certain amount into term deposits.

2.    India sets new world record for largest human flag

i. India today set a new world record for the largest human flag, formed by over 50,000 volunteers, beating the previous record held by Pakistan.

ii. The event saw about 1.5 lakh volunteers, mainly youth, turn up for the event at YMCA Grounds here even as 50,000 of them formed the tricolour, Governor of Rotary 3230, organiser of the ‘My Flag My India’ campaign, ISAK Nazar, told reporters here.

iii. The Guinness World Record for the largest human flag was previously held by the Sports Club of Lahore with 28,957 people forming the flag, he said.

iv. “This is the first record (of its kind) in independent India and our aim was to infuse patriotism and nationalism in the present generation and next-generation youth,” he said, adding, youngsters formed the crux of the participants.

3.    Modi, Mukesh Ambani most searched personalities in 2014: Yahoo

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Mukesh Ambani feature amongst the most searched personalities online this year, according to search engine Yahoo.

ii. According to the seventh edition of Yahoo India’s ‘Year in Review’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the list of ‘High and Mighty? the Political Top 10’ in 2014, followed by his aides Arun Jaitley (Finance and I&B Minister) and BJP President Amit Shah.

iii. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav have also been named in the list.

iv. The review is based on users’ daily search habits and an editorial selection of what they read, recommended and shared most on Yahoo in India.

v. “The slew of reforms and Modi’s efforts to improve diplomatic ties were of ongoing interest to Yahoo users. ‘Make in India’ made it to the top of the list of Biggest Financial Events of the Year,” Yahoo said

4.    Dev Shah becomes world champion in Under-7 category in World Schools Chess Championships

i. Seven-year-old Dev Shah of Mumbai has become the youngest rated chess player from India.

ii.  Dev Shah has become the world champion in the Under-7 category in the World Schools Chess Championships that concluded recently at Juiz de Fora in Brazil. 
iii. Dev, a trainee of South Mumbai Chess Academy and student of Dhirubhai Ambani School, was among three boys who scored the highest score. The Mumbai boy was ruled the victor on account of a better aggregate score

5.    Mandatory for PSUs to procure 20 percent of products manufactured by MSME: Govt

i. Government today said that it will be mandatory for Public Sector Undertakings, PSUs from 1st April, 2015 to procure 20 percent of the products manufactured by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME.

ii. He said, so far only 32 PSUs have met 20 percent procurement limit. The Minister said that the government is also considering of imposing a penalty against the PSUs and other departments for failing to meet the required limit of procurement of MSME products.

6.    India forex reserves up $ 1.432 billion to $ 316.311 billion

i. India's forex reserves surged by 1.432 billion US dollar to 316.311 billion dollar in the week ended 28th November.

ii. A RBI press release has informed that foreign currency assets, a major part of the overall reserves, increased by 1.424 billion dollar to 290.822 billion dollar in the reporting week. In the previous week, total reserves had declined by 672.4 million dollar to 314.878 billion dollar.
iii. The country's gold reserves remained unchanged at 19.738 billion dollar. The Special Drawing Rights increased by 6.4 million dollar to 4.229 billion dollar, while the country's reserve position with the IMF also rose by 2.5 million dollar to 1.521 billion dollar during the week.