Today's GK Update: 9th February 2018

1. Hardayal Prasad appointed SBI Card MD & CEO

• Hardayal Prasad has been appointed as new Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SBI Card.
• He takes over from Vijay Jasuja who retired on 31st January.
• Currently, SBI Card is the country's second-largest credit card (first HDFC Bank) issuer.
• SBI Card has a customer base of over 5.7 million and a market share of 16%.
• Hardayal Prasad joined State Bank of India (SBI) as a Probationary Officer (PO) 1983 Batch , gaining experience in many areas of banking.

Note:

• SBI Cards & Payments Services Pvt. Ltd. (SBICPSL) is a payment solutions provider in India.
• It is incorporated as a joint venture between the State Bank of India, India's largest bank, and The Carlyle Group.

2. NPCI appoints Biswamohan Mahapatra as non-executive chairman

• The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has appointed ‘Biswamohan Mahapatra’ as non-executive chairman for two years.
• He succeeds B Sambamurthy (interim chairman).
• NPCI is an umbrella organization for all retail payments in India, set up with the guidance and support of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks Association (IBA).

Note:

• Its recent work of developing Unified Payments Interface aims to move India to a cashless society with only digital transactions.

Books & Authors

3. HM Rajnath Singh releases book titled “Mere Sapnon ka Bharat”

• The Union Home Minister ‘Rajnath Singh’ has released a book titled ‘Mere Sapnon ka Bharat’.
• It is a compilation of interviews with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee by Tarun Vijay (ex-MP), at a function in New Delhi.

National Affairs

4. CCI slaps Rs 136 cr fine on Google for unfair business practices

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a fine of around Rs. 136 crores on Google (search engine major) for unfair business practices in the Indian market for online search.
• The order has been passed to complaints filed by Matrimony.com and Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) in 2012.
• It was alleged that Google is indulging in abuse of dominant position in the market for online search through practices leading to search bias and search manipulation, among others.
• The penalty amount of around 136 crore rupees translates to 5% of the company's average total revenue generated from India operations from its different business segments for the financial years 2013, 2014 and 2015.

5. NITI Aayog to releases “Healthy States, Progressive India” report today

• Today, NITI Aayog has released a comprehensive report titled, “Healthy States, Progressive India” in the national capital.
• The report is the first of its kind, nation-wide analysis of health systems across the states, including Union Territories.
• The report has been prepared in technical collaboration with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and World Bank.
• Kerala, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have ranked top among the larger states in terms of overall performance.
• Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh are the top three states in the terms of annual incremental performance.
• The State and Union territory have been ranked in three categories namely larger states, smaller states, and Union territories.
• Among smaller states, Mizoram ranked first followed by Manipur and Goa in terms of annual incremental performance.
• Among Union territories, Lakshadweep showed best overall performance as well as highest annual incremental performance.

6. Meghalaya: Mobile Democracy Van deployed to create voters' awareness

• The Meghalaya state Election department has deployed Mobile Democracy Van to create voter’s awareness (over 18.3 lakh).
• The specially designed vans have been deployed in all 3 regions (Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia Hills) loaded with Voters education materials specially EVM and VVPAT.
• Efforts are being made to bring first-time voters to the polling booth on 27th of February.
• The Election Department has also launched campaign appealing new voters to celebrate their 18th birthday by exercising voting rights.

Honours & Awards

7. Indian-origin schoolgirl cracks Maths Hall of Fame in the UK

• Indian-origin school girl Sohini Roy Chowdhury (8-year) has entered the UK’s Mathletics Hall of Fame after solving mathematical puzzles with speed and accuracy.
• She competed ranked 21 with pupils from across Britain and other countries.
• UK’s Mathletics Hall of Fame is an online mathematics-based competitive tool aimed at primary school pupils.
• Sohini joined in the competition this year as a student of Nelson Primary School in Birmingham.
• Their scores are constantly updated and only the world’s 100 best make it to the leader-board.

International Affairs

8. Former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia sentenced to five years in jail

• Former Prime Minister of Bangladesh Begum Khaleda Zia (72-year) has been sentenced to five years in jail in a corruption case in Dhaka.
• In the same case, her son Tarique Rahman and four others have been sentenced to 10 years in jail.
• Opposition BNP (Bangladesh Nationalist Party) chief Zia was sentenced in connection with the embezzlement of 252,000 US dollar in foreign donations meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust.

Note:

• Bangladeshi politician Begum Khaleda Zia was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1991 to 1996 and again from 2001 to 2006.

Sports

9. Khelo India School Games concludes

• The first week-long ‘Khelo India School Games’ concluded in New Delhi with Haryana topped the overall medal tally.
• The Sports Minister, Col Rajyavardhan Rathore presented the top State Haryana with the glittering trophy.
• The Haryana state won 102 medals which include 38 gold and 26 silver medals.
• Maharashtra with 111 medals finished second while Delhi with 94 medals came third.

Note:

• Khelo India School Games was a part of the Khelo India programme which has been introduced by the Sports Ministry to revive the sports culture in the country at the grassroots level and make India a sporting nation.
• 16 sports disciplines including Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Football, Hockey, Judo, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Shooting, Weightlifting and Wrestling were the part of the event.