Daily GK Potion – 12th December 2015

 

  1. Author Salman Rushdie Awarded Mailer Prize For Lifetime Achievement
    • India-born author Salman Rushdie has been awarded the prestigious Mailer Prize that honours writers who fully exercise their freedom of creativity and thrive on dialogue and debate.
    • The 68-year-old received the Mailer Center’s Annual Lifetime Achievement Prize at a ceremony in New York
    • The prize is named after renowned American writer Norman Mailer, considered among the most influential writers of the second half of the 20th century.
    • The Norman Mailer Centre recognises writers from all over the world, in all genres, whether established or emerging and the Mailer Prize, the center’s highest award, is given to writers whose work over the years have challenged readers’ perspectives on the world around them
    • Mr Rushdie is the author of twelve novels including the Booker Prize winner Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses.
  2. Varanasi and Jaipur make it to Unesco’s Creative City Network
    • For the first time, two indian cities have made it to the Unesco’s Creative City Network.
    • The PM’s constituency Varanasi and Rajasthan’s capital Jaipur have made it to the network in the categories — City of Craft and City of Music.
    • Launched in 2004, the Unesco Creative Cities Network aims to strengthen cooperation with and among cities that have recognised creativity as astrategic factor of sustainable development as regards economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects.
  3. Wipro wins Graham Bell award for IoT solution
    • Global software major Wipro on Friday announced it had won the Aegis Graham Bell award for developing a solution for the Internet of Things (IoT).
    • The Aegis Graham Bell Award is the country’s innovation award in the field of Telecom, Internet, Media and Entertainment (TIME) and Social, Mobility Analytics and Cloud (SMAC).
  4. Myanmar Launches First Unesco Biosphere Reserve
    • Myanmar has launched the country’s first Unesco Biosphere Reserve — Inle Lake in Shan state, opening a new chapter in its commitment to bio-diversity and eco-system conservation
    • Inle Lake was designated as Myanmar’s first biosphere reserve under Unesco’s Man and the Bioshpere (MAB) programme in Paris in June this year
    • The 489,721 hectares’ Inle Lake is located in Nyaungshwe township, Taunggyi district in Myanmar’s eastern Shan state
    • The wetland ecosystem of this freshwater lake is home to 267 species of birds, out of which 82 are wetland birds, 43 species of freshwater fishes, otters and turtles. Diverse flora and fauna species are recorded.
    • The Inle Lake is reported to be the nesting place for globally endangered Sarus crane.
  5. Indo-Japan Summit: Key pacts on high-speed rail, nuke energy inked
    • India and Japan has inked a number of pacts in key areas of transportation, defence and nuclear energy
    • India’s first bullet train network will come up between Mumbai and Ahmedabad at a cost of Rs 98,000 crore.
    • The strategic pacts were inked after the summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe during which they also discussed international and regional issues of mutual importance including UN security reforms.
    • The two sides also inked agreements – one concerning the Transfer of Defence Equipment and Technology and another related to Security Measures for Protection of Classified Military Information.
  6. National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Recommends to Make it a Permanent and Statutory Body with Powers of Civil Court
    • Annual Report 2014-15 of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis presented to Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment.
    • In the Annual Report, the Commission has made various recommendations for consideration by the Government.  Commission’s main recommendations include
      • Making the Commission a permanent and statutory body with powers of Civil Court to lend it more credibility.
      • The  Contract system should be abolished and also to ensure payment of minimum wages for Safai Karamchari
      • Death victims among Safai Karamcharis should be compensated with a minimum Rs.10.00 Lakh as has already been ordered by the Supreme Court
      • Protection of rights, ensuring risk allowance, implementation of effective financing schemes for rehabilitation of Safai Karamcharis, etc.

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