Daily GK Updates - 2nd July 2015

Daily GK Updates

Date: July 2, 2015

NATIONAL UPDATES

        i.         Cabinet clears setting up of online National Agri Market :

This move will provide more options to the farmers for selling their produce. They will be able to sell the farm products both in Mandis and on the online platform.

       ii.        Kerala Tourism holds its 1^st road show in China:

Kerala tourism marked its presence on the streets of Shanghai with a first ever road show aimed at attracting the high spending Chinese tourist as it participated in the Beijing International Tourism Expo (BITE) 2015.

   iii.  Ratan Tata invests in Taxi hailing company OLA. This is Tata’s 8^th investment in an e-commerce company.

       iv.      Industrial Policy 2015 for Chandigarh city launched:

The Governor of Punjab, Haryana and Administrator of Chandigarh Kaptan Singh Solanki released the Industrial Policy for Chandigarh. It is aimed at boosting employment and motivates medium and small industries in the city.

        v.         CCEA approved Pradhanmantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana:

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the Yojana with an outlay 50000 crore rupees over a period of 5 years i.e. from 2015-2020. This yojana aims to provide convergence to existing schemes of water management, thus bringing efficiency to the use of water.

     vi.       ChandrasekharanRamakrishnan appointed as the CFO of TATA Motors’ Group

    vii.       Rahul Yadav sacked as CEO of Housing.com by the board of Directors.

  viii.     Digital Guddi-Gudda Board of Jalgaon district adopted as best practice under BBBP Scheme:

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, on the occasion of Digital India week adopted it as best practice under the BetiBachaoBetiPadhao scheme. The Digital Guddi- Gudda Board is an innovation of district Jalgaon in Maharashtra.

     ix.        U P Singh appointed as Interim CMD of Oil India Limited:

He succeeded S K Srivastava who superannuated on July 1 2015.

       x.         ‘MharaGaon-JagmagGaon’ scheme launched in Haryana:

The Haryana Government launched this scheme aimed at providing 24 hour uninterrupted power supply to rural domestic consumers in a phased manner with their active participation. With this Haryana becomes the state in the country to launch such an innovative voluntary scheme.

     xi.        India banned trade with ISIS, other terror groups linked entities:

India announced a ban on trade with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria linked entities, the Al-Nusra Front and other groups and individuals associated with Al-Qaeda. The move comes in compliance with the United Nations Security Council resolution of Feb 2015 to act against militants active in oil-rich countries to squeeze terror finances.

 xii.         Maharashtra Government signed MoU with Blackstone and Panchsheel SPV for 3 projects worth Rs 4500 crore and generation of around 50000 jobs

  xiii.        Union Government notified dates for Compliance Window under Black Money Act:

It gave three months’ time (till September 30, 2015) for people to declare their undisclosed foreign income and assets to escape prosecution under the new Black Money Law. The notice says that those making the disclosure during this period will have further 3 months’ time till 31^st Dec 2015 to pay the taxes and the penalty on their foreign income and assets.

  xiv.      Dr.Anup K Pujari joins as Secretary, MSME:

He succeeded ShriMadhavLal who superannuated as the secretary of Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

        i.        UK Food Standards Agency gave clean chit to India made Maggi:

FSA OF UK released test results of Maggi manufactured in India and said that levels of lead in the product are well within the European Union permissible levels and it would not be a concern to customers.

      ii.        Cuba becomes 1^st Nation to eliminate mother to child HIV:

Cuba has become the 1^st country in the world to eliminate the transmission of HIV and Syphilis from mother to baby as declared by the WHO.

      iii.       NASA unveils prototype of plane to fly on Mars:

It has unveiled a boomerang shaped aircraft that could be the first to take flight on Mars to look for potential landing sites for future manned mission to the red planet.

    iv.      Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, who is the current commander of the International Space Station, has set a new record for most time spent in space, with a total of 803 days, Russian space agency said.

OTHER UPDATES

FINANCE/BANKING:

i.   Pension regulator to allow private sector NPS to invest in ETFs

Pension regulator Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) will soon allow National Pension System related contributions made by employees of corporate sector (private sector) to be invested in Exchange traded funds

SPORTS:

i.   World Archery Championship: DeepikaKumari to lead Indian Challenge

DeepikaKumari will lead India’s challenge at the forthcoming World Archery Championship to be held in Copenhagen. This championship will be the qualifier for Rio Olympics

ii. Shukla and Akhil shine for India during the 2^nd ISSF Junior Cup Shooting in Germany

ShivamShukla won his 3^rd gold medal while AkhilSheoran added silver to India’s tally at the on-going tournament in Suhl, Germany.

AWARDS:

  i.  Darshan Jain, an Indian- American teacher named for US Presidential

Award

He is named for the US Presidential Award for Excellence Mathematics and Science Technology by President Barack Obama along with other 108 teachers.

ii.  SanjeevGalande selected for G D Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2014

The name was announced by the K K Birla Foundation and he is the 24^th recipient of the award.

Daily GK Update - 1st July 2015

Daily GK Update Introduction

Writing Ability Test (WAT) – All about it!

Writing Ability Test or WAT, as it is popularly known today, has replaced the Group Discussions (GDs) in most of the B-schools’ selection procedure. In 11 of 13 IIMs (6 new IIMs are to start from 2015), WAT has replaced GD.

What is WAT?

WAT is essentially a test of the writing abilities of a candidate. WAT assumes importance because a candidate has to communicate in the written form, most of the times, in his/her professional life. So having a good writing ability comes as an advantage. To add to this, the knowledge of a candidate is also checked in his/ her writing. The more the knowledge, the better the writing.

WAT is mostly asked in two formats viz.

• Essay writing
• Summary writing

Important points:

While WAT appears to be an easy task at the first instance, it definitely requires a lot of attention and meticulous execution. We need to remember that we are WRITING. It can check our creativity, knowledge, logic and language, all in one go!

We suggest the candidates to take care of the following points while attempting WAT:

-          Clarity of thought

 
This is one of the most important things to take care of in WAT. Think a little before you start writing. Remember, it is not a test of scribbling. You need to be sure of what you are writing.

-         Structure

It is quite important to maintain a proper structure while writing. Normally, the flow should be

Idea – Body Text – Conclusion

One normally should start with the idea(s) which one wants to elaborate upon. It should be followed by the content which supports the main idea(s) discussed initially and then finally one should conclude. It is quite obvious that the conclusion should be in line with the idea(s) with which one had started.

-          Flow (Smooth and Logical)

The flow of the article/essay/ summary one writes should be smooth and quite logical. We suggest that one decides the flow in advance i.e. before one starts writing. If done successfully, it will ensure a proper flow and message will come out clearly.

-          Language

It goes without saying one has to take care of the grammar, punctuations, spelling, and other such things while writing. An incorrect language would definitely leave a bad impression on the evaluator and will result into a poor understanding and hence the score too. One also has to ensure that the length of the sentences is not too long.

-          Clear and simple writing

The writing should be legible and enough space should be left between the words. One should also take care that the words used are not very difficult to understand. Usage of simple words and clear handwriting is advisable.

-          Knowledge

Nothing can undermine the importance of this point. Knowledge is the thing which can make a candidate stand apart from others. A good reading habit will definitely come handy while writing.

Keeping these points in mind, one should practice writing on a few topics before attempting WAT as a part of the selection procedure. The more one practices, the more one will be benefited.

A few WAT topics:

-          Essential services like water and electricity should not be privatized.

-          Politics is a money-game, the more you garner the better are your chances of winning.

-          Difficulty shapes a man, as does labour to body.

-          Grass is always greener on the other side.

-          Terrorism is the biggest challenge of this century.

Paridhi Trivedi Parikh | Hardik K. Parikh

Building Careers, Shaping Lives!

(Click on "Join this site" tab on the right-hand side of the page and get instant updates)

Disclaimer: The views mentioned above are based on the authors' opinion and experiences. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on these views/ information.

BASICS OF INTERVIEW - PART # 1

PART # 1 - THE GROUNDWORK

Interviews nowadays form a very important part of the selection process of any company/institute/ organisation. Gone are the days when interviews were just a formality. Today interviews can be the differentiating factor and could result into rejection or selection of a candidate. Hence it is imperative for most of us to tackle it tactfully and eventually successfully too.

We believe, a successful candidate should do his/her groundwork religiously in order to be successful in the interview. So what does the groundwork comprise of? We would categorize it into two parts viz. a) Foundation and b) Building Blocks

a) Foundation

How often have we heard "First impression is the last impression"? Often, one would say. That is it and that is the story. We have to have a very good impression, more so,the first impression. And dear friends, mind well,first our impression is created by our CV/Resume. Hence it is quite important that we have a very clear, attractive and informative CV/Resume. A few things that we should keep in mind while preparing are:

- Clutter free

- Free of grammatical errors

- Properly formatted

- Perfectly demarcated

- As short as possible

- Accurate and correct information

(We will write a special article on CV/ Resume building later).

b) Building Blocks

These are those things which one will essentially require in the interview.

- Basics of your academics

- Detailed knowledge of 2 to 3 subjects from your academics

- Current Affairs

- Knowledge of the relevant company/ institute (where one has applied)

- Knowledge of the industry (sector) in which one is applying

- Work experience related knowledge (if any)

Normally, interviewers have a tendency to ask questions from academics, if the candidate is a fresher. So it becomes quite imperative for you to be thorough with your basics and atleast have in-depth knowledge of 2-3 subjects. And believe us friends, it cannot be done overnight. Spend some sufficient time on it. Current affairs is another area from which questions are asked in the interview. It shows the awareness and preparedness level of the candidate and hence it one of the most favourite sections in many competitive examinations. And obviously, one should not mug up everything mentioned in the above statements but should be well-versed with the topics mentioned above.

The above mentioned parts, if managed successfully, will definitely enable you to be successful in the interviews with practice of things mentioned above.

Read more about interviews in PART # 2...

Paridhi Trivedi Parikh | Hardik K. Parikh

Building Careers, Shaping Lives!

(Click on "Join this site" tab on the right-hand side of the page and get instant updates)

Disclaimer: The views mentioned above are based on the authors' opinion and experiences. We do not take responsibility for any decision that might be taken, based on these views/ information.