Daily GK Update: 14th October, 2015

1. Jamaican writer Marlon James won the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction

i. Jamaican writer Marlon James on 13 October 2015 won the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings. With this, James became the first Jamaican author to win the prize in its 47-years of history.

ii. James was honoured with the prize money of 50000 Euros, a trophy and a designer bound edition of his book. He was also awarded with additional 2500 Euros for being shortlisted for the prize.

iii. James’s name was shortlisted from a list of writers including Sunjeev Sahota, Chigozie Obioma, Hanya Yanagihara, Anne Tyler, Tom McCarthy and Marlon James.

iv. First awarded in 1969, the Man Booker Prize is recognised as the leading award for high quality literary fiction written in English. The award promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize is the world's most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and publishers.

2. Arun Jaitley chosen 'Finance Minister of the Year, Asia' by Emerging Markets

i. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was chosen as 'Finance Minister of the Year, Asia' by London-based publication Emerging Markets in October 2015.

ii. The magazine in an article said that Jaitley too deserves some recognition for India’s relative economic success over the last 18 months. It says that without his decisions and stewardship of India’s financial direction, India would not have achieved what it has.

iii. Apart from this, Atiur Rahman, the Governor of Bangladesh Bank was named as the Central Bank Governor of the Year, Asia 2015. He was awarded for generating considerable strength and resilience in the economy of Bangladesh.

iv. In 2014, the magazine had named governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan for Central Bank Governor of the Year award for Asia. In 2010, it also chose Pranab Mukherjee as 'Finance Minister of the Year, Asia'.

3. Reliance Power appointed N Venugopala Rao as CEO

i. Reliance Power on 13 October 2015 appointed N Venugopala Rao as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with immediate effect. Rao, who has obtained an MBA degree in Finance & Marketing, holds a rich experience of about 35 years in project development, project finance, project planning, contracts management and Finance & Accounts.

ii. Prior to the appointment, Rao was the CEO of Sasan Power Limited, a 100 percent subsidiary of Reliance Power, which developed the world’s largest integrated coal mine and power project, Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP), with an investment of nearly 27000 crore rupees.

iii. Reliance Power Limited, a part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in Navi Mumbai.

iv. The company was established to develop, construct and operate power projects in the Indian and international markets.

4. Delhi government launched Bill Banvao, Inaam Pao scheme

i. The Delhi Government on 13 October 2015 launched Bill Banvao, Inaam Pao scheme to encourage people to receive or demand proper bills for purchases.

ii. Citizens will be eligible for the scheme only on a bill or cash memo/retail invoice of not less than 100 rupees for purchases made from a registered dealer in Delhi. The maximum prize to be given under the scheme is 50000 rupees.

iii. To avail the reward, the purchaser can upload the bill/cash memo on the website of the Department of Trade and Taxes within seven days of purchase.  A snapshot of the bill can also be sent to the designated number of the department through Whatsapp. After the bill is sent to the department, a unique ID will be generated for each bill and sent to the customer via SMS.

iv. The bill must include the registration number (TIN) of the dealer, full name of each item purchased, rate of tax charged against each and total sale value (excluding VAT). The winner will be selected through a computerised draw of lots using the unique IDs generated against each bill received by the department.

5. Green Indian Mission plans approved for 4 states

i. Union Environment Ministry has approved annual plans of National Mission for Green India (GIM) of four states viz. Kerala, Mizoram, Manipur and Jharkhand. In this regard, National Executive Council (NEC) has approved the Perspective Plans (PP) and Annual Plan of Operations (APOs) of GIM submitted by 4 states.

ii. The approval has been granted for alternative energy devices such as biogas, LPG, solar devices, biomass-based systems and improved stoves. These devices in turn will help to reduce pressure on forests and provide carbon emission benefits, along with health and other associated benefits.

iii. GIM is one of the 8key Missions outlined under National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). It aims at protecting, enhancing and restoring India’s decreasing forest cover and responding to climate change by a combination of mitigation and adaptation measures.

iv. The mission acknowledges the influence forests on environmental amelioration through climate change mitigation, water security, food security, biodiversity conservation and livelihood security of forest-dependent communities. It hinges on decentralized participatory approach by involving grass root level communities and organizations in decision making, planning, implementation and monitoring.

6. China operationalises Zam Hydropower Station on Brahmaputra in Tibet

i. China has operationalised the Zam Hydropower Station built on Brahmaputra River which has raised concerns in India over the likelihood of disrupting water supplies of River.

ii. The dam is considered to be the world’s highest-altitude hydropower station and largest of its kind. Annually it will produce produces 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. The power station is located in the Gyaca County of Tibet and is considered as the largest in this region.

iii. It has six stations to harnesses the rich water resources of Brahmaputra River which is known as Yarlung Zangbo River in Tibet and flows through Tibet into India and later into Bangladesh.

iv. Over India’s fears China mentioned that these projects are run-of-the-river and are not designed to hold water. But India is still concerned over China’s ability and dominance to release water in times of conflict which can pose serious risk of flooding.

7. India climbs 16 places in WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index

i. In a rather dramatic turnaround, India has climbed a spectacular 16 places to the 55th position among 140 economies in this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index, ending five years of decline.

ii. The list was topped by Switzerland, followed by Singapore, the US, Germany and the Netherlands. Among the larger emerging markets, South Africa progressed seven places to 49th place, while China held steady at 28, Indonesia was 37th (down three) and Brazil was 75th, the WEF said.

iii. India’s dramatic reversal is largely attributable to the momentum initiated by the election of Narendra Modi, whose pro-business, pro-growth and anti-corruption stance has improved the business community’s sentiment toward the government.

iv. The quality of India’s institutions is judged more favourably (60th, up 10), although business leaders still consider corruption to be the biggest obstacle to doing business in the country.

v. In a bid to help India leapfrog into the top 50 in the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings by 2017 from the low 142nd (out of 189 countries), the Modi government, with the help of the bank, has carried out a state-wise assessment of implementation of business reforms.

8. Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo wins record fourth Golden Boot

i. Cristiano Ronaldo has received a record fourth Golden Boot after topping Europe's goalscoring charts for the 2014/15 season. The Real Madrid star scored 48 goals in 35 La Liga appearances last term to win the honour for the third time at Madrid, with his other triumph coming during the 2007/08 season at Manchester United.

ii. It means Ronaldo becomes the first player in the awards' illustrious 47-year history to win the accolade four times.

iii. Long-term adversary, Barcelona maestro Lionel Messi, was edged out into second place, with his 43 goals in 38 Primera Division games unable to secure a fourth Golden Boot of his own.

iv. Ronaldo is level with Raul in Madrid's all-time leading scorer charts with 323 goals and has the chance to surpass the Spaniard when Levante travel to the Bernabeu on Saturday.

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