Cherrapunji regained the World record for highest rainfall in 48 hours

1.    Cherrapunji regained the World record for highest rainfall in 48 hours

i. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) panel on 4 April 2014 announced that Cherrapunji in India regained the world record for highest rainfall in 48 hours with 2493 millimeters. The previous highest rainfall in Cherrapunji was recorded on 15–16 June 1995.

ii. The previous world record for 48-hour rainfall was held by La Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. La Reunion Island holds the record with 2467 millimeters from April 1958.  L Reunion is a French island with a population of 840974 inhabitants located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Mauritius

iii. La Reunion is frequently hit by tropic cyclones and received large amounts of rainfall over its mountains. It continued to hold the record for the most rainfall over periods of 12-hours and 24-hours from 1966. The record of highest 72 hours and 96 hours was made in 2007. 

iv. Cherrapunji is situated on a plateau in the state of Meghalaya at an average elevation of 1484 metres (4 869 ft), facing the plains of Bangladesh.

2.     ING Vyasa launches m-banking application

i. ING Vyasa on Wednesday officially announced the launch of its mobile banking application, which is believes will help drive higher user engagement.

ii. Besides features such as checking balance, funds transfer and bill payments, the application offers ability to scan and store cheques issued, lets users buy and send gift vouchers from various brands and ATM branch locater.

iii. Customer will require a single channel to access all digital platforms, including mobile and internet banking.

iv. The app has been developed in partnership with technology giant IMB, using latter’s Worklight Platform.

3.     Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor plan by March next

i. The comprehensive integrated master plan for development of Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor (CBIC) will be ready by March 2015, according to Masanori Nakano, Japanese Consul-General.

ii. Venu Srinivasan, IJCCI past president, said that Tamil Nadu would be the greater beneficiary of Indo-Japan co-operation. Japanese firms such as Nissan, Yamaha and Toshiba are likely to set up their units along the proposed Chennai-Bangalore corridor.

iii. Toyota also has some investment plans for Hosur. IJCCI would set up a knowledge bank on Japan to disseminate information about Japan, said its president, N. Krishnaswami.

iv. Japanese firms are also interested in developing infrastructure projects such as Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and CBIC, among others. We are interested in increasing co-operation between the two countries.”

4.    Shahnaz Shaikh to coach Pak hockey team

i. Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has appointed Olympian Shahnaz Shaikh as the senior teams' coach.

ii. Pakistan failed to qualify for the World Cup to be held in the Netherlands in June -- a humiliating first for the four-time former champions. 

iii. Pakistan have also won three Olympic gold medals but fell to seventh position in the 2012 London Olympics. 

iv. They were 12th and last in the 2010 World Cup in India. 

v. Shaikh, who has had two unsuccessful stints as coach, said his first target would be to defend the Asian Games title which Pakistan won in China in 2010.