GK and current affairs by Vikram singh

Philip Roth wins Man Booker International Prize 2011

2011-05-19T23:38:00.000-07:00

Philip Roth is today announced as the winner of the fourth Man Booker International Prize at a press conference at the Sydney Opera House. Roth was chosen from a list of 13 eminent contenders.

The Man Booker International Prize, worth £60,000, is awarded for an achievement in fiction on the world stage. It is presented once every two years to a living author for a body of work published either originally in English or widely available in translation in the English language. It has previously been awarded to Ismail Kadaré in 2005, Chinua Achebe in 2007 and Alice Munro in 2009.

Philip Roth is a literary giant and one of the world's most prolific, celebrated - and controversial - writers. Born in March 1933 in New Jersey, Roth is best known for his 1969 novel Portnoy's Complaint, and for his late-1990s trilogy comprising the Pulitzer Prize-winning American Pastoral (1997),
I Married a Communist (1998), and The Human Stain (2000).

Indian born writer Rohinton Mistry (India/Canada) is also in 13 which are nominated for Man Booker Prize

Recent awards

2010-12-16T06:33:00.000-08:00

A social and political activist Ms.Aruna Roy awarded the prestigious lal Bhadur shastri award for her transparency and people right to information . She is also the founding member of MKSS.
Eminent malayli litterateur ONV kurup and noted urdu poet Akhlaq khan shahryar has been chosen for the Jnapith award for year 2007 and 2008 respectively.

New Appointmaints

2010-12-16T06:25:00.000-08:00

A.N Tiwari has been appointed as new Chief information commissiner (CIC) of India,Tiwari is a 1969 Batch IAS officer and former secretary of department of personal traning.He served as a secretary of former vice president Bhairon singh Shekhwat.
U.N.sinha has been appointed as new chief of SEBI( Security and exchange board of india).
P.J Thomas has been appointed as new chief vigilance commissioner.
Amar pratap singh has been appointed as new CBI director.
K.vijay kumar has been appointed as new director general of CRPF.
S.Y qurashi has been appointed as new chief election commissioner of India.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2010 Liu Xiaobo

2010-10-08T04:44:00.000-07:00

Liu Xiaobo

The Nobel Peace Prize 2010 was awarded to Liu Xiaobo "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China".

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 Mario Vargas Llosa

2010-10-08T04:42:00.000-07:00

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 was awarded to Mario Vargas Llosa " for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat".

Chemistry Nobel prize-2010

2010-10-06T04:02:00.000-07:00

American Richard Heck ,japanese researchers Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki won the 2010 Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for developing a chemical method that has allowed scientists to make medicines and better electronics.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the award honours their development of "palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic systems."

Andre Geim, Konstantin Novoselov win Nobel prize in physics

2010-10-05T05:12:00.000-07:00

Two Russian-born scientists shared the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for 'groundbreaking experiments' with the thinnest, strongest material known to mankind — a carbon vital for the creation of faster computers and transparent touch screens.

Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, two professors at the University of Manchester in Britain, demonstrated the exceptional properties of graphene, a form of carbon that is only one atom thick, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

Experiments with graphene could lead to the development of new superstrong materials and innovative electronics, the academy said in announcing the 10 million kronor ($1.5 million) award.

"Graphene transistors are predicted to be substantially faster than today's silicon transistors and result in more efficient computers," the academy said in the citation. "Since it is practically transparent and a good conductor, graphene is suitable for producing transparent touch screens, light panels and maybe even solar cells."

Geim, 51, is a Dutch national while Novoselov, 36, holds British and Russian citizenship. Both are natives of Russia and started their careers in physics there.

Novoselov is among the youngest winners of a prize that normally goes to scientists with decades of experience. The youngest Nobel laureate to date is Lawrence Bragg, who was 25 when he shared the physics award with his father William Bragg in 1915.

In a telephone interview with reporters in Stockholm, Geim said he was shocked by the announcement but planned to go to work as usual on Tuesday. He said he wasn't among the Nobel Prize winners who 'stop doing anything for the rest of their life'.

Geim last year won the prestigious Korber European Science Award for his discovery of two-dimensional crystals made of carbon atoms, particularly graphene, which 'has the potential to revolutionize the world of microelectronics', the University of Manchester said.

Nobel prize for Medicine-2010 for IVF technology

2010-10-04T03:48:00.000-07:00

The British test tube baby pioneer Professor Robert Edwards has been awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine.

Cambridge physiologist Prof Edwards, now 85, and the late Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecologic surgeon, developed IVF technology in which egg cells are fertilised outside the body and implanted in the womb. Dr Steptoe died in 1988.

The groundbreaking work led to the birth of the world's first test tube baby, Louise Brown, in 1978.Mike Macnamee, chief executive of Bourn Hall, near Cambridge, the IVF clinic which Prof Edwards founded, said: ''Bob Edwards is one of our greatest scientists. His inspirational work in the early '60s led to a breakthrough that has enhanced the lives of millions of people worldwide.''Bob Edwards is held in great affection by everyone that has worked with him and was treated by him. I am really pleased that my great mentor, colleague and friend has been recognized in this way.'' Prof Edwards has previously said: ''The most important thing in life is having a child. Nothing is more special than a child.''One of his proudest moments was discovering that 1,000 IVF babies had been born at Bourn Hall since Louise Brown.

He recalled the thrill of relaying this to a seriously ill Dr Steptoe, shortly before Dr Steptoe's death. ''I'll never forget the look of joy in his eyes,'' Prof Edwards said.

A spokeswoman for Prof Edwards said he was not well enough to give interviews.

Lal Bahadur Shastri Award

2010-10-04T01:35:00.000-07:00

President Pratibha Patil presented the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academia and Management to Aruna Roy, social and political activist, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

The award carries a prize of Rs. 5 lakh, a plaque and a citation stating that the award was conferred on Ms. Roy for her “arduous journey and dedication towards the issue of the common man.”
It noted that the most significant of Ms. Roy’s efforts had been the campaigns for transparency and the people’s right to information, which began in the early 1990s, and, more recently, the right to work campaign.
“These [two] broad-based collective campaigns helped ensure the passage of the Right to Information law and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act [now the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act] by Parliament in 2005.”
Instituted by the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management with a view to upholding the vision of the late Prime Minister, each year the award honours an Indian, residing either in the country or abroad, who is an exceptionally outstanding and distinguished business leader, management practitioner, public administrator, education or institution builder, for his or her sustained individual contributions and achievements of high professional order and excellence.
Born in Chennai in 1946, Ms. Roy is a member of the second National Advisory Council, set up by the Central government to advise it on social policies, and the Central Employment Guarantee Council, an advisory body to oversee the implementation of the MGNREGA.
Ms. Roy is also a founder member of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) and a member of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information, the National Alliance of People’s Movements and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties.
A post-graduate in English literature, she served as an officer of the Indian Administrative Service till 1975, when she resigned to join the Social Work and Research Centre set up by her husband in Tilonia, Rajasthan, and subsequently established the MKSS along with Shankar Singh and Nikhil Dey.

CWG-2010

2010-10-04T01:28:00.000-07:00

Host city: New Delhi, India
Motto:Come out and play
Nation participating: 71 commonwealth teams
Athletes participating: 6081
Events: 260 events in 17 events
Officialy opend by: Prince Charles, prince of Warles, and Pratibha Patil
Main stadium: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium
Mascot: Shera
Song: jiyo utho bado jeeto

THE G-20 Summit

2010-08-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

The Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors was established in 1999 to bring together systemically important industrialized and developing economies to discuss key issues in the global economy. The inaugural meeting of the G-20 took place in Berlin, on December15-16, 1999, hosted by German and Canadian finance ministers.
The G-20 is the premier forum for our international economic development that promotes open and constructive discussion between industrial and
emerging-market countries on key issues related to global economic stability. By contributing to the strengthening of the international financial architecture and providing opportunities for dialogue on national policies, international co-operation, and international financial institutions, the G-20 helps to support growth and development across the globe.
The G-20 is a forum for cooperation and consultation on matters pertaining to the international financial system. It studies, reviews, and promotes discussion (among key industrial and emerging market countries) of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability, and seeks to address issues that go beyond the responsibilities of any one organization. With the G-20 growing in stature since the 2008 washington summit, its leaders announced on September 25, 2009, that the group will replace the G8 as the main economic council of wealthy nations

Nuke-capable Prithvi-II test fired successfully

2010-06-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

India on Friday successfully test-fired its indigenously developed, nuclear-capable, ballistic missile Prithvi-II from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur, about 15 km from Balasore off the Orissa coast.The missile mounted on a mobile launcher was blasted off from the launch complex-3 in the ITR at around 6:50 am, defence sources said.
"The trial of Prithvi-II, conducted by the Army, has gone through nicely," ITR Director S P Dash said With a maximum striking range of 350 km, Prithvi-II is capable of carrying a pay-load of 500 kg.The test firing of the surface-to-surface missile, which has already been inducted into Indian armed forces, was a users trial by the Army's specialised group "strategic force command" (SFC), the sources said.Prithvi, the first ballistic missile developed under the country's prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), is propelled by liquid propulsion twin engine With a length of nine metre and one metre diameter, Prithvi-II uses an advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory. the Indian Army.The entire trajectory of the trial was tracked by a battery of sophisticated radars and electro-optic telemetry stations positioned in different locations for the post-launch analysis, the sources said.The trial was conducted in the presence of Army officials and scientists as part of an exercise to well acquaint the personnel with various aspects of the sophisticated missile, they said.The last trial of the Prithvi-II missile was successfully conducted from the same site on March 27, 2010.

David Cameron becomes the PM of UK

2010-05-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

After a general election ,David Cameron becomes the Prime minister of UK,he belongs to the conservation party . At the age of 43 Cameron became the youngest British Prime Minister in 198 years.

Nuclear capable Agni2 missile test fired succesfully from Wheelers island of Orissa coast

2010-05-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

BALASORE (Orissa): Nuclear-capable Agni-II missile, with a range of 2000 km, was on Monday successfully test-fired by the Army as part of user trial from the Wheelers Island off Orissa coast.

The trial was conducted from a rail mobile system in Launch Complex-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) at around 9.15 am, defence sources said soon after the versatile surface-to-surface missile blasted off.
Agni-II was developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory along with other DRDO laboratories and integrated by the Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad, the sources said.
The missile is part of the Agni series which includes Agni-I with a 700 km range and Agni-III with a 3,500 km range, they said, adding that Agni-I has already been inducted and Agni-III is in the process of induction.

The first trial of Agni-II was carried out on April 11, 1999. Though some of the subsequent trials were successful, the user trial conducted on May 19, 2009 and the first night trial on November 23, 2009 from Wheelers Island could not meet all the parameters, they added.

personalities in News

2010-02-14T04:54:00.000-08:00

AR Rahman
A. R. Rahman was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to a musically affluent Mudaliar Tamil family. His father R. K. Shekhar, was a Chennai based composer and conductor for Malayalam films. Rahman lost his father at a young age and his family rented out musical equipment as a source of income. He was raised by his mother Kareema (Kashturi).He then converted to Islam in the year 1989 at the age of 23 and changed his name to Rahman. During these formative years, Rahman served as a keyboard player and an arranger in bands such as "Roots", with childhood friend and percussionist Sivamani, John Anthony, Suresh Peters, JoJo and Raja. Rahman is the founder of the Chennai-based rock group, "Nemesis Avenue".He played the keyboard and piano, the synthesizer, the harmonium and the guitar. His curiosity in the synthesizer, in particular increased because, he says, it was the “ideal combination of music and technology". He began early training in music under Master Dhanraj. At the age of 11, he joined, as a keyboardist, the troupe of Ilaiyaraaja, one of many composers to whom musical instruments belonging to Rahman's father were rented. Rahman later played in the orchestra of M. S. Viswanathan Ramesh Naidu and Raj Koti, accompanied Zakir Hussain, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan and L. Shankar on world tours and obtained a scholarship to the Trinity College of Music where he graduated with a degree in Western classical music.
AWARDS
Won 2 Oscars. Another 38 wins & 20 nominations and won 2 Grammy award and conefermed Padama Bhusan
G. Madhavan Nair

G. Madhavan Nair is the Former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation and Secretary to the Department of Space, Government of India since September 2003. As from IAC2009, he becomes the President of the International Academy of Astronautics.Nair was born at Neyyattinkara near Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. He graduated with a B.Sc. in Engineering (1966) from College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala University with specialization in Electrical & Communication Engineering.Nair is a leading technologist in the field of rocket systems and has made significant contribution to the development of multi-stage satellite launch vehicles, achieving self-reliance in independent access to space using indigenous technologies. Nair and his team have advanced their work in the face of several challenges in the regime of technology denials by adopting several innovations and novel techniques to realise world class launch vehicle systems. Specifically, as Project Director, he led the development of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) which has since become the workhorse for launching mainly Indian remote sensing satellites.As Director of ISRO’s largest R & D Centre, the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, he also saw India’s Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) successfully come to fruition. Further, as Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre of ISRO, he played a central role in the design and development of the crucial cryogenic engine for GSLV.

PM congratulated DRDO scientists to launch Agni-3

2010-02-14T04:18:00.000-08:00

The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has congratulated the scientists at DRDO on the successful launch of Agni-III missile

SCIENCE and Technology news

2010-02-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

97th indian science congress held at TVM kerla in jan 2010 the theme of this year congress was " science and Technology of 21st century National perspective"

GK and current Affairs for Civil services

2010-02-08T04:21:00.000-08:00

PADMA BIBHUSAN AWARDS
Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishan (science and Technology)
Yagga Venugopal Reddy(public Affairs)
Pratap chandra Reddy (Trade and industry)
Umayalpuram k.sivaraman (Art)
Ebharim alkazi(Art)
Zohra segal (Art)
PADMA BHUSAN given to 43 persons
PADMASHREE given to 81 persons