Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 25 March 2015

:: National ::

Amitav Ghosh in Man Booker International Prize shortlist

• Amitav Ghosh emerged as the only Indian author among 10 finalists for this year’s Man Booker International Prize for his contribution to English language writing.

• Kolkata-born, 58-year-old Ghosh had narrowly missed out on the Booker Prize in 2008 when he was shortlisted for his work ‘Sea of Poppies’

• The international version of the popular literary prize, to be held in London on May 19, is awarded every two years to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.

• The winner is chosen solely at the discretion of the judging panel and there are no submissions from publishers.

• “This is a most interesting and enlightening list of finalists,” said Jonathan Taylor, Chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation.

• “For the first time authors included in the list are from 10 countries with six new nationalities,” said Taylor.

• The finalists were announced at the University of Cape Town in South Africa by writer and academic Professor Marina Warner, chair of the five-person judging panel.

• “The judges have had an exhilarating experience reading for this prize, We have ranged across the world and entered the vision of writers who offer an extraordinary variety of experiences,” said Prof. Warner.

Queen reigns at National Awards

• Haider , director Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, won the most awards fora feature film.

• Court , a little known quadrilingual film, emerged as the best feature film while Kangana Ranaut was adjudged the best actress for her critically acclaimed and commercially successful title role in Vijay Bahl’s Queen at the 62nd National Film Awards announced.

• Court , directed by Chaitanya Tamhane, depicts the “mundaneness of judicial procedure” and the “heart-wrenching insensitivity of institutional structures.”

• It was released last year in Hindi, English, Marathi and Gujarati and tells the story of the trial of an ageing folk singer charged with abetting the suicide of a sewage worker through his music.

• Srijit Mukherji won the best director and best screenplay awards for the Bengali thriller Chotushkone , a film about four directors coming together for a film with four different stories, all thematically connected by a common thread — death.

• The film also won the best cinematography award for Sudeep Chatterjee.

• Kannada actor Vijay won the best actor award for “his subtle and non-stereotypical” portrayal of a woman trapped in a man’s body for Nanu Avanalla Avalu , a film on transgenders.

• Haider , director Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, won the most awards for one feature film, bagging best music direction and best dialogue (Vishal Bharadwaj), best male playback singer (Sukhwinder Singh for ‘ Bismil ’), best choreography (Sudesh Adhana for ‘ Bismil ’) and best costumes (Dolly Ahluwalia).

• The Priyanka Chopra-starrer Mary Kom , a biopic of the celebrated boxer M.C. Mary Kom, was declared the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment.

• Bobby Simhaa won the best supporting actor award for Tamil film Jigarthanda , while Baljinder Kaur was adjudged best supporting actress for Haryanvi film Pagdi: The Honour .

• For his directorial debut, Bengali filmmaker Aditya Vikram Sengupta won the Indira Gandhi award for best debut film for Asha Jaoar Majhe (Labour of Love).

• Malayalam film Ottaal , based on Anton Chekhov's short story Vanka, was adjudged the best film on environmental conservation and also bagged the best adapted screenplay award (Joshy Mangalnath).

• The jury described the film, directed by Jayaraaj, as “a visual poem”, expressing the “beauty and serenity of the protagonist’s rural environment and a way of life whose value is measured by the poignancy of its loss”.

• Tamil film Saivam won the best female playback singer (Uttara Unnikrishanan) and best lyrics (N.A. Muthukumar) awards for the song ‘ Azhagu ’.

• Three jury panels judged the films before finalising the awardees. Tamil filmmaker P. Bharathiraja headed the feature film panel while The Hindu ’ s Zia Us Salam was part of the panel of judges on film-writing.

India, China agree to maintain peace, tranquillity in border areas

• India and China held the 18th round of talks between the Special Representatives on the Boundary Question in which both sides agreed to take “necessary steps to maintain peace & tranquillity in border areas.”

• In an effort towards demarcating the contentious boundary, both sides also reinforced their commitment to the “three-step process to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution” within the agreed guiding principles.

• At the meeting, India was represented by Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser, and the Chinese representative was Yang Jiechi, State Councillor.

• This is the first meeting of the special representatives after the Modi government assumed office.

• “The Special Representatives continued the discussions to reach a mutually acceptable framework for resolution of the Boundary Question on the basis of the Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles,” a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said.

Akhil Sharma wins Folio Prize (Register and Login to read Full News..)

SC strikes down ‘draconian’ Section 66A (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Twitter Samvad to keep the govt.-citizen conversation going (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International :

Bill curbing Sri Lankan President’s powers tabled

• Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented the draft of a key constitutional amendment — which seeks to prune presidential powers — to the Sri Lankan Parliament.

• Part of the reforms promised by newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena, the draft bill for the 19th amendment was tabled in Parliament after it received Cabinet approval on March 15.

• The draft Bill envisages converting the current presidential form of government to a presidential-parliamentary system. It prunes presidential powers and proposes a two-term limit for the President.

• In effect, it seeks to restore the Sri Lankan Constitution’s 17th amendment, rendered void in 2010 when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power.

• Mr. Sirisena, who unseated Mr. Rajapaksa in the January 8 presidential polls, was elected largely based on his promises to carry out reforms, including the abolition of executive presidency.

• Meanwhile, President Sirisena announced the appointment of a Special Presidential Task Force under former President Chandrika Kumaratunga to address the issues of minorities, particularly the Tamils.

Utah becomes first U.S. State to reinstate execution by firing squad

• Utah became the first U.S. State to reinstate execution by firing squad amidst a spiralling crisis due to lethal drug shortages faced by U.S. prisons, even as the State’s Governor was on the record describing the procedure as “a little bit gruesome.”

• According to Republican Governor Gary Herbert, who signed the law approving the use of the firing squad on Monday, the death penalty would be administered in this manner when no lethal injection drugs was available and the latter would remain the “primary method” of executing inmates.

• Under the law in Utah, inmates would be killed by a firing squad only if the State cannot acquire lethal injection drugs 30 days prior to the scheduled execution date.

• Since 2010, U.S. correctional facilities have struggled to procure a key drug in the three-drug lethal cocktail administered to death row inmates, sedative sodium thiopental, after its sole U.S. producer, Hospira, took its production plants offline in the face of anti-death penalty campaigns and other obstacles.

• In a scramble to procure an alternative, numerous U.S. prisons turned towards foreign suppliers, including from Europe and India, although media reports, led to the Indian suppliers such as Kayem Pharma and Naari pulling out of the supply chain.

• After hitting a dead end, U.S. prisons entered a phase of experimenting with different drug protocols, including in States such as Georgia and Missouri, which relied on the use of a massive overdose of animal euthanasia drug pentobarbital.

• Such manipulations of the drug protocol yielded mixed results, culminating in the botched execution on April 29 last year of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma.

Nobel laureate Yunus summoned for tax dues (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Russia gives fresh licence to CNN (Register and Login to read Full News..)

U. N. invited to observe Nasheed appeal (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

EIH elevates Vikram Oberoi to CEO

• Charting out a succession plan, hospitality major EIH, announced the appointment of Vikram Oberoi, son of Chairman PRS Oberoi, as its next Managing Director and CEO from April 1.

• Besides, Mr. Vikram’s cousin Arjun Oberoi will become Managing Director (Development) at EIH, which runs a chain of luxurious hotels and resorts under the Oberoi and Trident brands.

Freebies to kick-start ‘Make in India’ pitch

• To promote ‘Make in India’ campaign, the Commerce and Industry Ministry plans to ‘give away’ thousands of shirt pins and key chains with the lion logo of this ambitious initiative.

• These articles would be used by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), which has also sought quotations for supply of 400 ‘acrylic lion’.

• “The DIPP requires 5,000 ‘Make in India’ shirt pin and 2,500 ‘Make in India’ acrylic/metal key chain as give away with regard to promotional drive campaign relating to ‘Make in India’,” according to the quotations paper posted on the DIPP’s website.

• Providing details, it has asked for shirt pins should be made up of brass with golden coating while the key chains could be of metal or acrylic material.

• It has also said that the successful tenderer will have to submit an undertaking that only genuine products will be supplied.

• “In case of any default in this regard, the department will be free to take any action against the supplier,” it said. To supervise the quality of the products, the department has hired a “Wieden + Kennedy India” creative agency.

Tata Capital launches Flexi EMI loans

• Tata Capital launched Flexi EMI loans with a choice of customising repayment options, as per the borrowers’ convenience.

• This form of structured loans will be available to borrowers across retail products such as home loans, business loans, car loans and personal loans, which are extended by subsidiaries of Tata Capital.

• With the introduction of this product, Tata Capital aimed to strengthen its focus on customer centricity by providing consumers a degree of flexibility and customisation, said Govind Sankaranarayanan, Chief Operating Officer (Retail Business & Housing Finance), Tata Capital Financial Services.

• Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Sankaranarayanan said the company planned to grow 20-30 per cent in the next financial year.

Railways launches RuPay pre-paid debit card (Register and Login to read Full News..)

ADB too says India will overtake China in growth (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Firms rush to appoint women directors (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Sports ::

Elliott breaks jinx, takes Kiwis to final

• South Africa-born Grant Elliott’s brilliant 84 not out, capped with a stunning six off the penultimate ball, saw New Zealand to a four-wicket win over the Proteas in a cliffhanger World Cup semi-final at Auckland’s Eden Park.

• Elliott’s winning six, off injured South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn, took New Zealand into the World Cup final for the first time — the team having lost at this stage in six previous encounters — and it will play the winner of second semifinal, between Australia and India in Sydney, in Melbourne.

• New Zealand faced a revised target of 298 under the Duckworth-Lewis method after South Africa made 281 for five in 43 overs, which included a near two-hour rain stoppage.

• Skipper Brendon McCullum made a quickfire 59 off 26 balls at the head of the innings. Then came a 103-run partnership between Elliott and Corey Anderson, and New Zealand appeared to have the game in hand with six overs to go.

• But Morne Morkel regained the initiative for South Africa by taking a wicket and conceding only one run in the 38th over, and by the start of the 43rd, and final, over New Zealand required 12 to win.

• They started with a bye, a single, a four to Daniel Vettori, another bye and then Johannesburg-born Elliott, who turned 36 last weekend, smacked Steyn high into the stands as New Zealand, after losing all six of their previous World Cup semi-finals, completed a thrilling win.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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