14 oct gk update

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.

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

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.

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

i. 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.

ii. 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.

iii. 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.

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.

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.

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.

China has operationalised the Zam Hydropower Station built on Brahmaputra River which has raised concerns in India o

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.

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.

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.

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.

i. Cristiano Ronaldo has received a record fourth Golden Boot after topping Europe's goalscoring charts for the 2014/15 season.