Today's GK (11-9-13)

African Union Commission's Delegation visited India

A four-member delegation led by Ambassador Jean-Baptiste Natama, Chief of Staff of the Bureau of the AUC Chairperson from the African Union Commission (AUC) visited India during 4-7 September 2013.

During the visit the Plan of Action of the Enhanced Framework of Cooperation of the second India Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-II) was launched in New Delhi on 6 September 2013. The Joint Plan of Action takes stock of present state of progress of the implementation of IAFS-II decisions and charts out the contours of future India Africa cooperation. An interactive session was co-chaired by Sudhir Vyas, Secretary (West), MEA and Ambassador Natama. The Heads of African Missions in New Delhi and the representatives of various Indian implementing agencies participated in the interactive session for a detailed review of the progress in implementation of IAFS decisions.

During their stay in New Delhi the visiting delegation held deliberations with senior officials in the Ministries of Agriculture and Commerce & Industry. The delegation also visited National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC); Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT); Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd. (TCIL); and Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS). The delegation met with the representatives of various implementing agencies including Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS), Solar Energy Centre (SEC), National Institute of Design (NID) et.al.

Jhumpa Lahiri’s book the Lowland shortlisted for Man Booker 2013

The Lowland, the book of Jhumpa Lahiri was shortlisted among the six books for the Man Booker Prize 2013. Lowland was published by Bloomsbury. The other five novels shortlisted for the award include:

• We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo published by Chatto & Windus
• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton published by Granta
• The Harvest by Jim Crace published by Picador
• A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki published by Canongate
• The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín published by Penguin

Other Works of Jhumpa Lahiri

• Her first novel was The Interpreter of Maladies published in the year 1999. It won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
• The Namesake published in 2003 was her second novel
• In 2008 she wrote the novel named Unaccustomed Earth

The final winner of the Man Booker Prize 2013 would be announced on 15 October 2013. Book entitled, Bring up The Bodies by Hillary Mantel was the winner of the 2012 Booker Prize.

The Man Booker Prize

The Man Booker Prize promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize, was launched in 1969, aims to promote the finest in fiction by rewarding the best novel of the year written by a citizen of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. To maintain the consistent excellence of the Man Booker Prize, judges are chosen from a wide range of disciplines, including critics, writers and academics, but also poets, politicians and actors, all with a passion for quality fiction.

The winner of the Man Booker Prize receives £50,000 and, like all the shortlisted authors, a cheque for £2,500 and a designer bound copy of their book. Fulfilling one of the objectives of the prize - to encourage the widest possible readership for the best in literary fiction - the winner and the shortlisted authors now enjoy a dramatic increase in book sales worldwide

Ministry of Power to Fast Track 95 Hydro Power Projects With Capacity of 40000 MW

Minister of State for Power (Independent Charge) Jyotirditya Scindia declared on 10 September 2013 that the Union Government of India would fast-track around 95 hydro power projects with the capacity of 40000 MW in order to push the power sector of India.

These hydro-power projects are waiting for the clearances from various authorities such as Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Central Water Commission (CWC) and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). These projects will be fast-tracked and the Minister of State for Power (Independent Charge) would be approaching the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) in order to deal with the infrastructure issues.

In addition, the Ministry also planned to seek the approval of the Union Cabinet in order to pull the debt recast plan for state electricity boards for accommodating the recent liabilities from some units, such as Bihar and Jharkhand. In the year 2012, the Union Government of India approved the debt restructuring of state electricity boards

Afghanistan pips India to win SAFF title

India’s bid to win a hat-trick of SAFF Football Championship titles went up in smoke on Wednesday as they lost 0-2 to Afghanistan in the final.

For Afghanistan, it was a moment they had waited for two years having found the defeat in Delhi a hard to swallow.

A fleet of Afghan parliamentarians arrived in the afternoon to cheer their team and one of them even went onto the extent of announcing an apartment and USD 25,000 each for the whole squad if they happen to win the match.

Just like their semifinal match, Afghanistan got the much-needed goal as early as the eighth minute when right-wing back Mustafa Hadid beat opposition left-back Syed Rahim Nabi as he got a lot of open space down wide right to enter the penalty box and passed it on to Belal Arezo. Belal managed to hoodwink stopper back Arnab Mondal with a pass for Mustafa Azadzoy to slot it past Subrata Paul.

India played better after conceding the goal as there were a flurry of attacks with some fine build-ups with assistance from Mehtab Hossain in the central midfield and Farncisco Fernandes down right.

In the 19th minute, Mehtab provided a long ball, which saw the burly Robin trying to hustle past a defender but Afghan custodian Masur Fagiryar came out of his charge to avert the danger.

In the 35th minute, Mehtab’s pile driver was brilliantly saved by Fagiryar and Jeje’s shot from the rebound was saved in the goalline by rival captain Fakhruddin Amiri.

After the change of ends, Jeje almost singlehandedly bulldozed into the Afghan territory though the left flank but couldn’t keep it in play.

Chhetri finally came in the 60th minute and almost immediately scored as he played a one-two with Francisco before his feeble shot was saved by the goalie.

However, in the counter, Afghans struck a telling blow scoring the second goal in the 63rd minute when Belal raced past Arnab and Gourmangi with only Paul to beat. His placement was well intercepted by Paul but Sanjar Ahmadi lobbed it and the goalkeeper failed in his bid to tip it over crossbar.

Down 0-2, Chhetri tried a long ranger in the 65th minute, which hit the horizontal, but the Indian team seemed to fizzle out with the passage of time.

Isro unveils orbiter for Mars mission, launch in Oct-Nov

BANGALORE: India's upcoming Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) seeks to reveal whether there is methane, considered a "precursor chemical" for life, on the Red Planet, key officials behind the ambitious venture said on Wednesday.

A Methane Sensor, one of the five payloads (scientific instruments) onboard the spacecraft, would look to detect the presence of the gas, MOM Project Director Arunan S said.

He said the sensor was aimed at understanding whether life existed on Mars or if it would have life in future.

"Methane is fundamentally base for life on any planet," he said.

M Annadurai, Programme Director, IRS & SSS (Indian Remote Sensing & Small, Science and Student Satellites), said: "Most probably we will be able to answer whether there is presence of Methane. If it's there, yes; if it's not, not there. If it's available, where it's available".

After a media preview of the Mars orbiter at Isro Satellite Centre here, where it is being given final shape, officials of the space agency indicated that the aim is to launch the mission on October 21, weather permitting.

The launch window is from October 21 to November 19. MOM is a Rs 450 crore mission - Rs 110 crore for building PSLV-C25 that would launch the Rs 150 crore spacecraft, with the remaining amount spent on augmenting ground segment, including those required for deep space communication.

Once launched from the spaceport of Sriharikota, the spacecraft would go around the earth for 20-25 days before embarking on a 9-month voyage to Mars. The minimum life of the spacecraft around Mars is six months but it would certainly outlive it, as similar satellites orbited by other countries have sometimes lasted six-seven years, Arunan said

Director of ISAC S K Shivakumar and Arunan defended the MOM, saying the thrust is on self-reliance and building technological base for future inter-planetary missions and there is nothing like undertaking the mission on our own, even though there have been similar ventures by other countries in the past.

India's MOM would look at Mars from a different perspective, Arunan said.

Isro has addressed many challenges in the coming mission, particularly on communication, navigation, power and propulsion systems.

As there is a communication delay of 20 to 40 minutes, full-scale autonomy has been built into the satellite which means that in the event of contingency the spacecraft would take decisions on its own and put it on safe mode without a ground intervention. The ground segment then can diagnose the problem and correct it.