G.K Pg. 11 – 20
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G.K Pg. 11 – 20 _________________________________________________________________________________ Dalai Lama wins 1.1 million pounds Templeton Prize: The Dalai Lama was today named as the winner of the prestigious Templeton Prize 2012 for his exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader has vigorously focused on the connections between the investigative traditions of science and Buddhism as a way to better understand and advance what both disciplines might offer the world, a release from the John Templeton Foundation said. The 1.1 million pounds prize will be presented to the Dalai Lama at the St Paul's Cathedral in London on May 14. Hi all ! I am listing out some important awards and achievements given recently: 21st Vyas Samman Award: # Prof Ramdarash Mishra for his poetry collection "Aam Ke Patte". # 2.5 lakh prize money # Instituted by KK Birla Foundation # for outstanding work in Hindi V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award: # Veteran filmmaker Mike Pandey # He is known for acclaimed documentaries like The Last Migration-Wild Elephant Capture in Sarguja, Shores of Silence, Vanishing Giants and Khullam Khulla. # The award was given at the Mumbai International Festival 2012. # It carries a citation, a trophy and cash prize of 5 lakh Rs and is given in the memory of legendary filmmaker V. Shantaram. Barack Obama honours Amartya Sen with US Humanities Medal # Economist Dr. Amartya SEn was given 2011 National Humanities Medal. # For his insights into the causes of povery, famine and injustice. # 1st Indian citizen to receive this award Pride of India Award: # Union Minister for Labour and Employment Mallikarjun Kharge # For his over 4 decades of publicn service # Presented jointly by the Indian American Friendship Council(IAFC) and India Association of North Texas(IANT) in Dallas S.R. Jindal Prize: # Mr. A.P.J. abdul Kalam for his contributions in science and technology # Justice N. Santosh Hegde for his service in social development. # Instituted by Sitaram Jindal Foundation, it carries a cash prize of 1 crore Rs Lata Mangeshkar Award: # Veteran Hindi film music composer Rajesh Roshan # Given by Madhya Pradesh govt Israel's First Presidential Awards of Distinction: # Music conductor Zubin Mehta, who is the music director of Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO). Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Awards: # Entrepreneur of the Year: Rahul Bhatia, Group Management Director, InterGlobe Enterprises. # Lifetime Achievement: Deepak Parekh, Chairman, HDFC. # Services: Analjit Singh, Founder and Cairman, Max India Group. # Consumer Products: Dr. Anand Burman, Chairman, Dabur India. # Startup: Dr. B. S. Ajaikumar, Founder and Chairman, Healthcare Global Enterprises. # Business Transformation: Deep Kalra, Founder and CEO, Makemytrip(India). # Lifesciences and Healthcare:Dr. Desh Bandhu Gupta, Lupin Current Affairs Update - March 29 2012 1. Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy has been selected among the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time by the Fortune magazine list. This list is topped by Apple’s late chief Steve Jobs and It includes Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 2. India’s central government has stayed the hanging of Balwant Singh Rajoana following pressure from Punjab’s state government and clemency plea from Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal. 3. India has test fired its Surface to Surface cruise missile “Brahmos” from it Chandipur test range. It can carry 200-300 kgs of nuclear weapon for up to 300 km distance. 4. Kingfisher Airlines has appointed three independent directors to fill in the vacancies caused by recent exits. It has appointed Manmohan Singh Kapur,Lalit Bhasin and Shrikant Ruparel as new independent directors. A few more points to boost our info : why Indian Aviation industry is in such a bad shape ( reference CAPA, India report 2012 ) 1.Highly punitive fiscal regime in India : cost of aviation turbine fuel in India is 60 % more than international benchmark. , service tax , withholding tax etc 2.Increasing cost environment 3. India's policy and regulatory framework : no strategic plan . 4. foreign investment allowed but foreign airlines not allowed till now. Awareness part 2 Qn 1 : who is the chairman of SEBI ? (IIFT 2011 Qn ) Ans : U.K.Sinha Related info: 1)Upendra kumar sinha (IAS ,Bihar cadre) was appointed as SEBI chairman in 2011 for a period of 5 years . 2)SEBI (securities and exchange board of India) was formed by the Govt. of india in 1992. 3)It is the regulator of securities market in india.( laws of stock exchange etc) 4)headquarter :bandra curla complex, Mumbai Qn 2: The president of world bank ,(father and mother of all bank , bit filmy ) who visited India on 29th march 2012. Ans : Robert Zoellick. Qn3: Who is the president of ASSOCHAM ? Ans: Rajkumar dhoot. ( not bhoot ) Related info: 1)Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) is one of the trade organisation of india. The organisation represents the interests of trade and commerce in India, and acts an interface between industry, government and other relevant stakeholders on policy issues. 2)members : over 200000 companies. 3)estb: 1920 4)headoffice :New Delhi Hope it helps a bit. Correction and suggestions are most welcome. CUBA : pope benedict XVI is on a maiden visit to Cuba .This has been the 1st papal visit after 14 years .Visit to cuba follows his trip to Mexico. CUBA is on the verge of transforming its governance , as communism is no more working there .Churches in Cuba are playing an active role in this transformation , working along with Government .Pope's visit to Cuba is seen by some some people as an attempt to assert the healthy relationship that Churches and government share at present . Havana -capital of cuba Raul castro (Brother of fidel Castro)- president of cuba Cuba has dual currency system.2 different currencies are accepted as legal tender. I> CUC(Cuban convertible Peso) II > CUP(Cuban Peso) Bay of pigs 1961 Invasion : This invasion was against Cuban govt of Fidel castro in 1961 by Cuban exile .This operation was endorsed by US Govt .At that time kENNEDY was the president of US DEFENCE CONTROVERSY : the recent contoversy surrounding Ministry of defence is about procurement of Substandard trucks from Czech firm TATRA(Not TATA :-)). Indian PSU BEML(Bharat Earth movers limited) impots these trucks from TATRA, do some value addition and finaly deploy them to indian army HUNGARY PRESIDENT : Hungary president Mr Schmitt has been accused of Plagiarism for his thesis "Analysis of the Programme of the Modern Olympic Games", submitted in 1992 to Budapest College of Physical Education FOXCONN REPORT : Foxconn is a chinese company , which supplies different products including accessoris to Apple inc , HP ,Microsoft etc. Foxconn employs 1.2 million workforce. Last year the company was dogged with the scandal of not paying salary to its employees on time , unsafe work environment and violation of labour rights.Employees of Foxconn used to work 60hrs a week in spite of the fact that as per chainese law they sholud not work for more than 49 hours a week Following this Apple inc has sought for an investigation of working condition by an independent agency USFLA(US fair labor association) blacklisted companies by MOD The six blacklisted companies include the Singapore Technologies, Israeli Military Industry, Germany's Rheinmetall Air Defence, Corporation Defence of Russia, Delhi-based TS Kisan and Co Pvt Ltd and RK Machine Tools of Ludhiana. Some important fact about TempleTon prize: First recipient is mother Teressa in 1973 Monetary value exceeds Nobel Prize. Intially named as "TempleTon prize for progess in religion" .Award renamed in 2001 as "Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities". Given in memeoy of Businessman turned philanthropist Jhon TempleTon Some Important News... 1)Germany will be the first country to phase out its all Nuclear Plant by 2022 2)Every Government school come under RTE-Right To Education except Navodya Vidalya 3)UNESCO removed danger tag from Manas National Park, Assam 4)2012 is named as "International Year of Co-operation" by United Nations. 5)World Book Fair 2012- New Delhi 6)International Kite Festival 2012- Rajasthan on 28 March which is Rajasthan Day I would suggest you people to purchase hard copies of Pratiyogita Darpan monthwise and follow it religiously.Try to start the process now itself and don't wait for September. IIFT/SNAP GK sections may or may not stress on Current Affairs , but by doing this you will find yourself in a completely different league during your GD-PI process. It's always better to be overprepared than underprepared. Here are the links to download pdf copy of PD... December 2011 issue December 2011.pdf January 2012 issue PD JAN2012 ENG www.bankofsharing.com.pdf OAs of SET ABC: On 24 January, 2012, the Union Cabinet of India renamed the Mana Airport at Raipur as the ___ Airport, Raipur. 1. Swami Vivekananda 2. Ramakrishna Paramhamsa 3. Mahatma Gandhi 4. Jawaharlal Nehru Pavan K. Verma’s latest book set in contemporary India and in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, was launched in the New Delhi by the Queen Mother of Bhutan- Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuck- in January 2012. Which is the book is being referred to here? 1. When Loss is Gain 2. Ghalib: The Man 3. The Great Indian Middle Class 4. The Times The Planning Commission of India on 18 January 2012 approved the Rudrasagar development scheme which is related to which of the following states of India? 1. Tripura 2. Bihar 3. Uttar Pradesh 4. Assam Who among the following diplomats was conferred with the first S K Singh Award for excellence in the Indian Foreign Service on 6 January 2012? 1. Ashwin Shastri 2. Ranjan Mathai 3. Shivshankar Menon 4. D Bala Venkatesh Verma Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on 11 January 2012 launched the signature tune of the Indian Customs Pragati ki Dhadkan in New Delhi.