The Daily GK: 23 March 2012

Rolled back the proposed rail fare hike for second class suburban (by 2ps/km) & non-suburban (by 3ps/km), sleeper class (by 5ps/km), AC chair car and AC 3-tier (by 10ps/km)
Proposed hike for First class (by 10ps/km), AC-2 (by 15ps/km), AC-1 (by 30ps/km) left untouched
Decisions to raise platform ticket to Rs.5 stands
Both Houses ratified the proposals and passed the Railway Budget

CK Chandrappan : Communist Party of India (CPI) Kerala State Secretary; Passed Away
India votes for UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution against Sri Lanka for its alleged rights violations during war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

Public Investment Board of the Union Finance Ministry nod for Kochi Metro Rail Project

Ajit Singh : Union Civil Aviation Minister
Kerala to implement automated driver-less Pod-cars linking rail and bus terminals with major work centres in Thiruvananthapuram & Kottayam

Pod-cars are part of innovative transport mode called Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) System
On call point-to-point service with 6 persons to an A/C pod of speed 40 km/hr
Payment using smart cards
It runs on elevated guideways most probably to share corridors with the proposed Mono Rail
KM Mani : Kerala Finance Minister allocated Rs.25 lakh in 2012-13 state budget for preliminary work on the PRT System

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to release 100-note bundles of Rs.1,000 denomination that are not numbered in regular sequence to prevent circulation of counterfeit currency
President Pratibha Patil presented the Padma Awards 2012

Padma Shri : SN Priyadarsan (Film Director), Hareendran Nair (Founder & MD of Pankajakasthuri Group), Kalamandalam Sivan Namboodiri (Koodiyattom instructor & performer), Suresh Hariram Advani (Oncologist)
Padma Bhushan : Mira Nair (Film-maker), Murugappa Vellayan Subbiah (Industrialist), Jatin Das (Painter)

Bashar al-Assad : Syrian President
The New England Journal of Medicine : the oldest continuously published general medical periodical & most prestigious in the world

China voices strong support to Sri Lanka against UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka

Comptroller & Auditor General estimated a loss of Rs.10.67 lakh crore due to failure of government to auction coal blocks

Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party Chief) and four others unanimously elected to the Rajya Sabha as contestants withdrew from the elections on the last day of withdrawal

He was honoured with the International Jurists Award 2012 for his contribution to the advancement of the Bar & the Bench

Supreme Court rejected a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by Ashok Pande, an advocate, seeking recall of Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal and imposed exemplary costs of Rs.1 lakh on the petitioner for wasting the court's time
Narendra Modi : Gujarat CM
Jst RA Mehta : Gujarat Lokayukta appointed by the Governor without the CM's consent
Ashwani Kumar : Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs & Planning

To set up a technical committee to revise methodology of estimating poverty
Committee to work under the basis of Hashim Committee report and the upcoming Socio-Economic Caste Census

Abhijit Sen Committee : Set up in last October jointly by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh to rework on methodology for poverty estimation
GE Vahanvati : Attorney General
Section 377 : Criminalises sexual activity against order of nature
China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) conducted first-of-its-kind live-fire air attack drill on Qinghai-Tibet plateau

Put forward a plan to halt violence and start a political process to end crisis in Syria without asking President Bashar al-Assad to step down
UN Security Council unanimously backed the plan

Joint-venture of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (TIDCO) & other LNG suppliers
Capacity of 5 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA)
Estimated cost of Rs.4,320 crore
IOC-TIDCO signed pact
RS Butola : IOC Chairman
N Sundaradevan : MD of TIDCO

Arup Roy Choudhary : CMD of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)
Centre asked Central Mine & Planning Design Institute (CMPDI) to hire a consultant for expert advice on methodology to put up coal blocks under competitive bidding process
Government cleared 16 FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) proposals worth Rs.233 Cr

Picks Finacle universal banking solution of Infosys to transform its core banking software

N Srinivasan : President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
Sanjay Jagdale : BCCI Secretary
Pakistan clinched the Asia Cup beating Bangladesh at Sher-E-Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka
London High Court ordered Force India to pay 846,000 Euros in fees owed to an aerodynamics company Aerolab for development work
Sourav Ganguly officially named Captain-cum-Mentor of IPL Team, Pune Warriors
G Asok Kumar : Joint-Secretary of Civil Aviation Ministry

A devastating fire ravaged large parts of the market, though no casualties were reported

India has highest number of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases in South East Asia : World Health Organisation (WHO)

The Daily GK