DAILY GK UPDATE - 8th April

1.    Ram Navami being celebrated today with religious fervor & gaiety

i. Ram Navami, the birth of Lord Ram is being celebrated today with religious fervor and gaiety. 
ii. President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have greeted the people on the occasion.

 

2.    Saradha scam: ED seizes assets worth Rs 140 cr; issues notices

i. Widening its probe into the multi-crore Saradha chitfund scam, the Enforcement Directorate has issued summons to numerous entities even as it has attached assets worth Rs 140 crore of individuals and firms on money laundering charges.

ii. The central probe agency has also issued a notice asking general public “to furnish information and particulars of properties, both movable and immovable as well as bank accounts, in West Bengal and other places, if any, related to Saradha group known to them, with specific details” to it.

iii. The agency’s zonal office in Kolkata recently issued summons to close to 15 people involved in the funds transactions of the scam that was being perpetrated largely in West Bengal, Odisha and Assam and came to the fore early last year after duped investors raised their voice of grievance.

iv. The agency has till now issued attachment orders on all equity shares of all 224 companies of the Saradha group, insurance policies in the name of Sen and his wife, numerous land properties and plots, 390 bank accounts and equity shares of a TV channel run by the beleaguered group.

3.    Lok Sabha elections in Meghalaya tomorrow

i. Elections will be held for two Lok Sabha seats in Meghalaya tomorrow which will decide the fate of 10 candidates, including NPP chief P A Sangma, sitting Congress MP Vincent Pala, former student leader Paul Lyngdoh and church leader P B M Basaiawmoit.

ii. The Shillong seat will witness a multi-cornered contest among the ruling Congress, the United Democratic Party and an independent candidate supported by two smaller regional parties,while the ruling Congress will contest against the P A Sangma-led National People’s Party for the Tura seat.

iii. P A Sangma held the Tura seat eight out of 10 times, while the Congress won the Shillong seat seven times between 1977 and 2009. Since 1996, the Congress candidate consistently won the Shillong seat.

iv. Of the electorate of 15,53,028, women voters numbering 13,512 are in the majority. There are 343 sensitive polling booths out of 2,562, of which 85 per cent were in the militant-hit Garo Hills region and classified as hyper sensitive.

4.    Arunachal Pradesh now on India's railway map

i. The Arunachal capital was on Monday put on the country's railway map with the first passenger train of about 400 commuters arriving at Naharlagun near Itanagar. 

ii. The train with 10 passengers and two goods compartments, towed by a diesel engine, left Dekargaon at 7am and arrived here at 12.30pm, covering a distance of 181 km. 

iii. "It is a great day for Arunachal Pradesh," C D Sharma, who had bought the first ticket for Naharlagun at Dekargaon railway station for Rs 35 said

iv. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced introducing train service in his package for the state on January 31, 2008. 

v. The engine made its maiden trial run from Harmutty to Naharlagun terminus on January 14 last while a high level team led by the Planning Commission member (North East and Power) B K Chaturvedi had inspected the Harmutty-Naharlagun on January 17 last.