RK Dhowan takes over as new Navy chief

1.    RK Dhowan takes over as new Navy chief

i. Robin K Dhowan on Thursday took over as chief of the Indian Navy nearly two months after D K Joshi quit the post in the wake of a series of mishaps.

ii. Admiral Dhowan, 59, who has been the acting Navy chief since Joshi's exit, has been appointed the Chief of Navy Staff superseding Western Naval Commander Shekhar Sinha. 

iii. He will have a tenure of 25 months, retiring in May 2016. Sinha was the senior-most Vice Admiral but he has been edged out of the race, apparently because majority of the 14 mishaps, including two major submarine accidents, took place under his command during the last 10 months. 

iv. Defence Minister A K Antony had recommended the name of Dhowan, who was in contention for the top job along with Western Naval Commander Sinha and Eastern Commander Anil Chopra. 

v. A navigation and direction specialist, Dhowan is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College and Naval War College, Rhode Island, USA. 

About Admiral Dhowan 
• As per a Defence Ministry release, Dhowan is a navigation and direction specialist and he has commanded frontline warships INS Khurki, INS Ranjit and INS Delhi.

• He has also served as Chief Staff Officer (Operations) Headquarters Western Naval Command.

• As a Flag Officer, he had commanded the Eastern Fleet

• He has served as the Chief of Staff at Headquarters Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam

• He is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy

As per the rule of National Defence College, Admiral Dhowan will be succeeded by Commandant Vice Admiral Sunil Lamba in May 2016 as the Navy Chief.

2.    SBI launched Tab banking to facilitate opening of Saving Accounts

i. State Bank of India on 15 April 2014 launched digital banking facilities for the convenience of SBI customers. 

ii. SBI has launched the facility of TAB banking for customers opening of Savings Bank accounts and another for Housing Loan applicants.

iii. SBI will offer its valued customers the facility of opening accounts at their door step through Tab Banking. The sales staff of SBI will visit the customers at their home and with the use of the tablets they will get the formalities completed.

iv. These will be loaded on the CBS and the account number will be sent to the customer through SMS/e-mail. This will provide convenience and time saving to the customer for opening accounts with SBI. 

v. SBI will also offer TAB banking facility at the place of the Housing Loan applicant, for in-principle approval of home loan. 

3.    Inflation based on WPI reached 3-month high of 5.7% in March 2014

i. Inflation based on Wholesale Price Index (WPI) reached a 3-month high of 5.7% in March 2014. This hike was driven up by increases in prices of food items and fuel costs. 

ii. The inflation in the food items based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) shot up by 9.9% in the same month against 8.12 percent of February 2014. The overall WPI-based inflation dropped to a nine-month low of 4.68% in February 2014. The WPI-based inflation is on decline since December 2013.

iii. On the other hand, the retail inflation measured by Consumer Price Index (CPI) in March 2014 was recorded at 8.31% from 8.03% in February 2014. This rise was caused mainly on account of a rise in fruit and vegetable prices.

iv. The latest data released by the government said that the January 2014 inflation number has been revised to 5.17% as against earlier estimate of 5.05 percent.