DAILY GK Current Affair UPDATE - 29th May 2014

1.    Al Sissi set to be elected as Egypt's new President

i. In Egypt, former Army Chief, General Abdel Fattah Al Sissi is all set to be elected as the new President of the country. 
ii. The preliminary results after counting of votes have shown that Al Sissi is heading for a landslide victory. 

iii. Sissi’s campaign quoting judicial sources engaged in the counting of votes said that he has got 93 percent votes. 
iv. His rival Hamdeen Sabbahi is reported to have secured only 2.9 percent votes. Although the results are announced by the Judges supervising polling centres across the country, they are still considered unofficial as they must be verified and then announced by the Presidential Elections Commission.

v. The Presidential election in Egypt this time was marked by a low voter turnout of around 44 percent even though the polling was extended by one more day. Pro Morsi Islamist alliance led by Muslim Brotherhood boycotted these polls. 
vi. This was the second Presidential election in three years in Egypt. For the first time in the history of Egypt, elections were monitored by foreign observers from European Union.

2.    RBI directive on foreign currency accounts

i. The Reserve Bank of India has directed banks to: convert credit balances in any inoperative foreign currency (FC) denominated deposit into Indian rupee if the former remains not in use for three years from the date of maturity of deposit.

ii. Thereafter, the depositor shall be entitled to claim either the said Indian rupee proceeds and interest or the foreign currency equivalent (at the prevalent exchange rate) of the Indian rupee proceeds of the original deposit, the RBI added.

iii. The RBI further said in case of inoperative foreign currency denominated deposit not in use for three years and having no fixed maturity period, the bank should give three month notice to the depositor and convert the deposit from the foreign currency to Indian rupee.

3.    Syria has suffered $143.8-bn economic loss due to civil war: UN

i. Syria has suffered $143.8 billion in economic losses due to the continuing civil war in the country, according to a new UN report.

ii. The joint report by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research and the UN says that even as the death toll from Syria’s three-year civil war continues to rise, the country’s human development has also suffered immense collateral damage -- the economy has been gutted, the healthcare system is in ruins, and education facilities are "teetering".

iii. According to the report, titled 'Squandering Humanity', covering the last two quarters of last year, three out of four Syrians now live in poverty, with more than half the population - 54.3 percent in 2013 - living in extreme poverty.

iv. Syria is now blighted by joblessness and overwhelmed by unemployment," said Alex Pollock, director of micro-finance for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which worked with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Syrian Centre for Policy Research to compile the report.

4.    BEML rolls out 50th metro train set of Bangalore Metro Rail

i. BEML, a public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Defence, has rolled out the 50th Metro Train Set of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL).

ii. With this roll-out, BEML has fulfilled the supply of BMRCL 2 RS-DM contract.

iii. BEML, which forayed into the manufacture and supply of hi-tech metro cars in 2002, has since been supplying metro coaches. The company so far supplied more than 700 metro cars to Delhi Metro, Bangalore Metro and Jaipur Metro.

iv. At a function held at the company’s Bangalore Complex, Pradeep Singh Kharola, Managing Director of BMRCL, rolled out the 50th Metro Train Set.

v. N M Dhoke, Director (Rolling Stock), and P Dwarakanath, CMD of BEML, were present along with executives and employees of the company.

5.    Modi quits Vadodara LS seat, retains Varanasi

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today quit his Vadodara Lok Sabha seat, choosing to retain Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP recorded a landslide victory bagging 71 of the 80 seats in the recent elections.

ii. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was also elected from two seats in Uttar Pradesh, has quit from his pocket-borough Mainpuri and has retained Azamgarh.

iii. Under rules, a member who has been elected from two Lok Sabha constituencies, has to vacate one of the seats within 14 days of the declaration of result. With Lok Sabha results out on May 16, the deadline was to expire today.

iv. Parliament sources said the resignation of the two leaders had been received and was under process.

v. The Prime Minister had won Vadodara with a near record margin of 5.7 lakh, which was the biggest in this Lok Sabha polls. BJP has won all the 26 seats in Gujarat.

vi. In Varanasi, Modi was challenged by the Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, whose entry into the fray had turned it into one of the most keenly watched battles of these elections. In the end, however, Modi’s nearest challenger Kejriwal was swept away when he lost by more than 3.7 lakh votes.

6.    Rajnath Singh takes charge as Home Minister

i. Rajnath Singh, under whose stewardship BJP has stormed to power with its highest-ever tally, today took charge as the Union Home Minister.

ii. The 62-year-old Singh, who was elected from the Lucknow Lok Sabha Constituency, has succeeded Sushilkumar Shinde in the crucial ministry that handles the country’s internal security and the task of guarding its international borders with Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

iii. Before assuming charge, Singh paid floral tributes to the country’s first Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, at his statue near Parliament.

iv. He was welcomed with flower bouquets by a number of senior ministry officials led by Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami.

7.    Raju takes charge as Civil Aviation Minister

i. Civil Aviation Minister Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju today took charge of his Ministry. 
ii. Talking to reporters, Mr. Raju said, he will try to create a level-playing field for all players and make the sector more people-oriented. 
iii. On airlines running on major losses, the Minister said, he will examine the reasons behind this and find ways to check them.

8.    Pinaka rockets successfully test-fired

i. The unguided rocket system is meant to neutralise large areas with rapid salvos. With a battery of six launchers, the system can fire 12 rockets in 44 seconds.

ii. Indigenously developed Pinaka rockets, capable of destroying enemy positions at 40 km-range with rapid salvos, were on Thursday successfully test-fired thrice from a multi-barrel launcher at an armament base in Chandipur-on-sea, near Balasore in Odisha.

iii. Three rounds of Pinaka rockets were successfully tested from the proof and experimental establishment (PXE) today at Chandipur,” about 15 km from Balasore, they said.