Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 May 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 21 May 2015

:: National ::

Hungarian author awarded Man Booker International

Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai was presented the Man Booker International Prize for 2015 at a ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The 61-year-old writer was on the shortlist of 10 names, which included Amitav Ghosh. The literary prize, worth £60,000 (around Rs. 60 lakh), is given to a living author of any nationality who has published fiction either in English or in English translation.
Unlike the annual Man Booker Prize for fiction, the international prize, given once in two years, is in recognition of a writer’s body of work and overall contribution to fiction rather than of a single novel.
Mr. Krasznahorkai’s novels are known to be complex and demanding — a single sentence can run to a page — and deal with dystopian and apocalyptic themes in which an impending civilisational crisis threatens the world. His novels include Satantango (1985, English translation 2012), The Melancholy of Resistance (1989, English translation 1998), and Seiobo Down Below (2008, English translation 2013).
Satantango was later adapted for a film, in collaboration with the Hungarian film-maker Bela Tarr.
In the 1990s, Mr. Krasznahorkai began spending more time in East Asia, notably in Mongolia, China and Japan, and his writing began to feature themes from the aesthetics and literature of these countries. The Prisoner of Urga and Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens are books on his experiences in China and Mongolia.
In her speech at the award ceremony, Marina Warner, writer and academic, who chaired the judging panel, described Mr. Krasznahorkai as a “visionary writer of extraordinary intensity and vocal range”, and his work as “fiction as epiphany.”
“Laszlo acknowledges Kafka as a precursor, and his own ironies are clear-eyed, with a gift of re-churning reality so that what seems a far-fetched nightmare re-assembles into the all-too recognisable landscape. He can be lethal in his portraits of us human beings, yet also funny — gallows humour, surprisingly light-footed.”
Mr. Krasznahorkai’s translator George Szirtes, who was present, was given a translator’s prize of £15,000. The former winners of the Man Booker International Prize include the late Chinua Achebe of Nigeria, the American author Philip Roth, and Alice Munro from Canada, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013.

:: International ::

Palmyra partly under IS control

Islamic State jihadist fighters took control of the northern sector of the Syrian city of Palmyra, a monitor and activists said, sparking renewed fears over its historic treasures.
“The situation is very bad,” Syrian antiquities director Mamoun Abdulkarim said by telephone.
“If only five members of IS go into the ancient buildings, they’ll destroy everything,” he added, calling for international action to save the city.
Palmyra’s UNESCO world heritage site ruins, including ancient temples and colonnaded streets, are in the city’s southwest.
Hundreds of statues and ancient artefacts from Palmyra’s museum have already been transferred out of the city, Abdulkarim said, but many others — including massive tombs — could not be moved.
It was the second time IS has overrun northern Palmyra, after it seized the same neighbourhoods on Saturday but held them for less than 24 hours.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said IS fighters had seized roughly “a third of Palmyra”.
After fierce clashes on the northern edges of the city, IS entered the northern quarter “without their vehicles.”
Italian police said they had arrested a Moroccan suspected of taking part in the March attack on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis in which 21 foreign tourists were killed.
Abdel Majid Touil (22), was arrested on an international warrant by Italy’s anti-terrorism DIGOS police in the northern town of Gaggiano, officers told a press conference.
Touil, who is wanted for premeditated murder, kidnapping and terrorism, was detained evening. He was living with his mother, a carer, and two older brothers in the town near Milan.

:: Business and Economy ::

Industry expectations ‘not always realistic’: CII chief

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President Sumit Mazumdar feels that a section of Indian industry’s expectations from the Modi government is ‘not always very realistic’ and is impractical.
Talking to after addressing his maiden press meet on becoming CII Chief, Mr. Mazumdar, said: “after years of inaction…it is not correct to expect everything to get done in a year…it is impractical.”
He said that CII had exhorted other industry bodies to look at the positives rather than exhibit impatience as there was ‘no magic wand to undo the past in just a year’.
He hailed the Make-in-India as a landmark initiative in independent India to make the country a manufacturing hub, saying that the government had taken substantial action on easing business.
Responding to a question on areas where action is needed now, he said ‘the ease of business initiative needs to be taken further.’ CII also wanted to see some action on labour reforms. Some action had been initiated but there was more that needs to be done.
“A lot of investment has not come as entrepreneurs are scared to invest…they cannot close down…if business outlook changes for worse,” he observed.
Agriculture and skill development were two other areas that need action, he said.
Admitting that government should look into agriculture, he said that there was need to make the sector less-prone to risks arising out of weather or crop wastage.
“There is need to set up more cold chains to address supply-side issues and modernise the sector. Streamline agriculture.. make it less risky” he said.
CII, Mr. Mazumdar said, would take up one pilot smart city project each in Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.
CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said this was to assist and handhold selected city authorities with knowhow and best practices for capacity-building of urban local bodies. CII had has signed pacts with Siemens, Hitachi and Cisco for knowhow for these projects.

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:: Science and Technology ::

Astra missiles test-fired successfully

After being postponed twice, two indigenously developed beyond visual range air-to-air missiles, Astra, were successfully launched from Su-30 MKI fighter jet in two developmental trials conducted at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Odisha.
In the first trial, the supersonic missile was released when the fighter jet was performing a “very high-g manoeuvre.” In the second trial, the g manoeuvre was higher than in the first exercise.
A Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) missile technologist told that extreme conditions were simulated for the missile’s launch in both trials when it was released at very low and very high altitudes. DRDO scientists plan to conduct another trial to prove the long range capability of the missile.
With, seven developmental trials were conducted and the missile is expected to be inducted by 2016 after a few more tests. The 3.8-metre tall Astra is a radar homing missile and one of the smallest weapon systems developed by the DRDO.

:: Sports ::

Saina Nehwal seeded second

Defending champion Saina Nehwal has been seeded second in the women’s singles competition of the $750,000 Australian Open Super Series badminton tournament that will get underway on May 26.
The world No. 2 Indian will take on a qualifier in her campaign opener.
The other Indian in women’s singles, world no. 11 P.V. Sindhu is unseeded and will face former world champion Chinese Yihan Wang.
Three Indians will compete in the men’s singles competition with world no. 4 Kidambi Srikanth, who has been seeded fourth, taking on Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in his opening match. Commonwealth Games champion P. Kashyap will face Chinese sixth seed Wang Zhengming, while Indonesia Masters winner, H.S. Prannoy will open against China’s Tian Houwei.
India’s men’s doubles pair of Pranaav Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar will meet Cai Yun and Kang Jun, while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will face Dutch pair Samantha Barning and Iris Tabeling.