The Daily GK: 02 April 2012

Gen VK Singh : Chief of Army Staff (COAS)
Ravi Rishi : London-based NRI businessman & Chairman of Vectra Group, the major stakeholder of Tatra Group that is supplying Tatra trucks for Indian Army
Arabinda Rajkhowa : Chairman of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)
NKP Salve : Veteran Congress leader, cricket administrator & former BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) President; Passed Away
CBI Day : April 1 since on this day of 1963 DP Kohli was appointed the first Director and the country's prime investigating agency was named Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
First ever CBI Day reception was held, hosted by CBI Director AP Singh at 22 Tughlaq Crescent, his official residence

Kofi Annan : UN's & Arab League's Special Envoy to Syria
Bashar al-Assad : Syrian President
BRICS : Group of Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa
Pranab Mukherjee : Union Finance Minister
Asif Ali Zardari : Pakistan President to visit India; his first visit since he took over as President in 2008
Vijay Bahuguna : Uttarakhand CM

He kept 18 major portfolios with him while distributing portfolios to his cabinet members

Indian netizens stay connected to Internet close to 8.4hrs a day : Survey by Norton security of Symantec

Online users spend close to 12.9hrs a week browsing Web, 9.7hrs a week on social networking & 6.1hrs a week checking mails

Asks US allies belonging to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to strengthen defences to cope up against Iran's ballistic missile programmes
GCC comprise the six oil-rich nations Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar & Oman

Asks China's support for hydropower & civilian nuclear projects in Pakistan as its is currently facing energy crisis
Asks for setting up an umbrella Pakistan-China Power Cooperation

Declared Good Friday as a holiday in recognition of a request by Pope Benedict XVI
After Cuba's 1959 revolution, then leader Fidel Castro ended religious holidays
He reinstated Christmas to honour a request by Pope John Paul in 1998

Geeta won an Olympic Quota by winning Gold in 55kg category in the Asian qualifying event in Astana, Kazakhstan

Geeta emerged first ever Indian woman wrestler to qualify for Olympics through qualification process
Freestyle wrestlers Amit Kumar (55kg) & Yogeshwar Dutt (60kg) have got the Olympic berth earlier from the Asian qualifying event

Men's Doubles : Leander Paes/Radek Stepanek (Ind/Czech) bt Max Mirnyi/Daniel Nestor (Belarus/Canada)
Leander Paes : only 24th player in ATP World history to win 50 doubles titles

Brother International Rally of Whangarei, New Zealand : Chris Atkinson (Aus) won the rally driving a Skoda Fabia for Team MRF of India
Panasonic Open Golf : Digvijay Singh claimed the title
New Central scheme proposed under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for providing free generic drugs at a cost of Rs.30,000cr for next 5 years
Highest ever hundi collection of Rs.5.73cr registered at Lord Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala
18th century portrait of the 18th century Indian artist Bagta sold at $302,500 at an auction at Bonham's Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art sale

Mohamed Waheed Hassan : Maldivian President
Mohamed Aslam (former Maldives Cabinet Minister) & Ibrahim Ismail (Adviser to the ousted President Mohamed Nasheed) urged International Community, led by India, to issue a diplomatic threat to current Mohamed Waheed regime

They are on tour of India for campaigning support for early elections in Maldives & alert the world against human rights violation perpetrated by current Maldivian regime

Sree Maheshwar Hydel Power Corporation Ltd (SMHPCL) asked Union Ministry of Environment & Forests to raise water level of Maheshwar Dam (in the plains of Narmada Valley, Madhya Pradesh) to 154 metres

Madhya Pradesh State Government gave nod to raise levels
Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) oppose government's move to raise water level that it could claim lives of hundreds & thousands of villagers of the area

The Daily GK