UPDATE - 15-16th June 1. C Radhakrishnan selected for - TopicsExpress



          

UPDATE - 15-16th June 1. C Radhakrishnan selected for Moortidevi Award 2013 i. C Radhakrishnan, the eminent Malayalam scientist-turned-writer was selected for the prestigious Moortidevi Award for 2013 ii. He has been selected for his novel Theekkadal Katanhu Thirumadhuram. iii. The novel is a biographical account of Thunchat Ramaanujan Ezhuthachan, the person who is regarded as the father of Malayalam language. iv. The novel is an attempt to bring back life to the socio-cultural ambience of 15th century. Radhakrishnan as a person has also contributed to popular science and all branches of literature, mostly fiction. Note: i. Radhakrishnan is the second Malayalam writer to be awarded with the Moortidevi award. The first Malayalam author to win the award was Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri in 2009 for his selected poems. ii. Haraprasad Das was conferred the Moortidevi Award for 2012 for Vamsha, a poetic recreation of the Mahabharata in contemporary idiom, which has been hailed as a post-modern masterpiece. Moortidevi award: Moortidevi award is presented by the Bhartiya Jnanpith and carries cash prize of four lakh rupees, a plaque and a statue of goddess Saraswati. 2. Juan Manuel Santos e-elected Colombia president i. Juan Manuel Santos has convincingly won re-election after Colombias tightest presidential contest in years, an endorsement of his 18-month-old peace talks to end the Western Hemispheres longest-running conflict. ii. Santos on Sunday defeated right-wing challenger Oscar Ivan Zuluaga with 53 per cent-to-47 per cent of valid votes with 99.9 per cent of precincts reporting. iii . The outcome affirmed Santos claim to be steering Colombia to a historic crossroads after a half-century of conflict that claimed more than 200,000 lives, mostly civilians. 3. Shaktikanta Das assumes charge as Revenue Secretary i. Shaktikanta Das, a 1980 batch Tamil Nadu Cadre IAS officer, assumed charge as Revenue Secretary in the Finance Ministry on Monday. ii. He has replaced Rajiv Takru, who has been posted as Secretary in the Ministry of DONER, an official release said.. 4. Ugandan FM elected UN General Assembly President i. Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa was elected president of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly. ii. Kutesa was chosen unanimously Wednesday by the African Union as the only candidate for the presidency of the 69th session. iii. The president-elect will assume office at the start of the 69th session in September, replacing John William Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda, who now leads the current plenary session of the 193 UN member states. iv. Kutesa, 65, is a Ugandan lawyer and politician. He is the current foreign minister in the Ugandan Cabinet, a position he has held since Jan 13, 2005. He was previously the minister of state for investment in Uganda. 5. RBI to soon announce rules for on-tap banking licenses i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would soon come out with policy guidelines for differentiated banking licenses which would be given on tap, deputy governor of the apex bank R Gandhi said. ii. Besides, he criticised banks for not extending financial assistance to the micro, small and medium size enterprises (MSMEs) and asked lenders to consider the working dynamics of this sector while extending credit. iii. The policy guidelines would be put on the public domain first for inviting suggestions from the stakeholders after which applications would be invited, he said. Note: i. On-tap licensing means the RBI window for granting banking permits would be open through the year. ii. The RBI recently awarded licenses to micro-finance institution (MFI) Bandhan and finance major IDFC for setting up full-fledged banks. 6. SBI partners with Ezetap Mobile to launch mPOS solution i. State Bank of India has partnered with payments service provider, Ezetap Mobile Solutions, to deploy mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) solution. ii. SBI plans to deploy 5,00,000 point-of- sale terminals within the next five years, it said in a release. Mobile POS has the power to transform payments and commerce. It can be deployed easily and at low cost in every corner of the country, SBIs deputy managing director S K Mishra said. iii. The SBI-Ezetap platform would allow the bank to provide value-added services for merchants and consumers from a single, secure POS device and application, he added. Note: i. The Ezetap solution turns any merchants mobile device into a point-of- sale that is able to read any type of card and complete any type of financial transaction ranging from a credit card sale to a real-time bill payment, to an ATM cash withdrawal or deposit. ii. The mPOS solution will be made available to the customers of both SBI as well as its associate banks across the country. 7. WPI inflation spikes to 6.01% in May i. The wholesale price index-based inflation for May came in at 6.01 per cent, higher than 5.2 per cent in the previous month. ii. This is also higher than the WPI-based inflation of 4.58 per cent recorded in May 2013. iii. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has moved away from WPI inflation to consumer price index (CPI) inflation as the main anchor for monetary policy. 8. Hockey: Australia beats The Netherlands 6-1 in World Cup title i. Australia retained the men’s hockey World Cup title by outplaying Olympic silver medallists The Netherlands 6-1 in the final at the Kyocera Stadium here on Sunday. ii. Chris Cirielo’s three penalty corner conversions was the feature of the contest that saw Australia retain the trophy they had won in New Delhi in 2010. iii. The successive men’s World Cup title wins was a present the Australian team had promised to their coach Ric Charlesworth, who had won it as a player in 1986 and as a coach four years ago. iv. Playing their fourth successive World Cup final, Australia made up for the disappointment of losing two successive summit showdown to Germany. v. Before Australia clinched their second successive World Cup today, Germany were the only nation to have won two consecutive times. 9. India announces concessions for Bhutan i. Seeking to push further the relationship with Bhutan, India on Monday announced a number of measures and concessions including the exemption of Bhutan from any ban on export of milk powder, wheat, edible oil, pulses and non-basmati rice. ii. The two sides also reaffirmed their commitment to their cooperative partnership and agreed to further promote trade and investment. iii. In a joint statement issued at the end of Prime minister Narendra Modis two-day visit to that country, the two sides also noted that security was of mutual interest and agreed not to allow each others territory to be used for interests inimical to the other. iv. The two sides recalled the free trade arrangement between them and the expanding bilateral trade and its importance in further cementing their friendship. v. The two leaders expressed satisfaction with the completion of the Supreme Court building and the imminent commencement of the construction of the Kholongchhu Hydro- electric Project. 10. India wins opening ODI cricket match against hosts Bangladesh i. India won their opening ODI against hosts Bangladesh by 7 wickets in Mir pur yesterday. ii. The visitors were given a revised target of 150 runs in 26 overs under the Duckworth- Lewis method after rain halted play for more than two hours. India made 153 for 3 in 24.5 overs and won the match. iii. Electing to bat after winning the toss, the hosts made 272 for nine in the stipulated 50 overs. 11. Tejinder Virdee honoured knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II i. Indian origin physicist Tejinder Virdee was honoured knighthood Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II. He was awarded for his work on the Higgs Boson theory. ii. Tejinder Virdee was accorded a Knight Bachelor for his services to science in the Queens Birthday Honours List. List was released to mark the Queens official birthday. iii . Professor Virdee is one of the creators of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) Experiment. The CMS experiment is a part of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva. About Tajinder Virdee i. Sir Tejinder Singh Virdee is an experimental physicist and Professor of Physics at Imperial College London. He is best known for originating the concept of CMS. ii. CMS is a world-wide collaboration which was started in 1991 and now has over 3000 participants from 38 countries. 12. Book titled Warrior State written by T V Paul released i. The book titled Warrior State: Pakistan in the Contemporary World written by T V Paul was presented to the Vice President Hamid Ansari. ii. The book published by Oxford University Press, New York was launched in January 2014. iii. T V Paul is James McGill Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. 13. Indo-French Air Exercise Garuda V concluded at Jodhpur i. Indo-French Air Exercise, Garuda V concluded in Jodhpur Air Base. The exercise between the air forces of both countries started on 2 June 2014 saw various combat roles including Air to Air refueling. ii. The Representatives of the two countries during the 2014 edition of the Garuda V exercise • French Air Force was comprised of 4 Rafales and 1 C-135 French Refueller aircraft • The Indian Air Force (IAF) fielded 4 Su-30MKI, 4 MiG 21 Bison, 4 MiG 27 (Upg) as well as an IL-78 tanker aircraft and an Airborne Warning and control system IL-76 (AWACS) 14. Schumacher out of Coma i. Formula One champion Michael Schumacher was transferred from a French hospital to a facility in Switzerland on Monday after emerging from a coma following his devastating ski accident in December. ii. In a surprise announcement, the retired racing stars spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said he had left hospital in the French Alpine city of Grenoble, where he had been treated since December when he slammed his head on a rock while skiing with his son and friends. iii. The 45-year-old was transferred to a hospital in the Swiss city of Lausanne, hospital spokesman Darcy Christen later told AFP, where he will be undergoing further treatment.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Jun 2014 17:26:32 +0000

Trending Topics



Recently Viewed Topics




© 2015