Daily GK Update - 27th April 2015

BCCI nominates Rohit Sharma for Arjuna award

(i) Indian batsman Rohit Sharma on Monday expressed delight about the BCCI’s decision to recommend his name for the government’s prestigious Arjuna Award and said that he felt “honoured“.

(ii) BCCI took the decision to put forth Roihit’s name to the government for the Arjuna Award at its working committee meeting in Kolkata on Sunday.

(iii) The 27-year-old Mumbaikar scored a brilliant 264 against Sri Lanka last season — the highest score by anyone in the world in ODI cricket — at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. 

(iv) He is the only batsman to have scored two ODI double hundreds — his first one coming against Australia in 2013.

Indian-origin scientist wins Heinz Award

(i) An Indian-origin scientist at MIT, who has developed artificial human microlivers for drug testing, has won a prestigious $2,50,000 Heinz award for her work in tissue engineering and disease detection.

(ii) Sangeeta Bhatia at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has been named the recipient of the 2015 Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy, and Employment. 

(iii) The award includes an unrestricted prize of $ 2,50,000.

Note:- The Heinz Awards annually recognise individuals for their extraordinary contributions to arts and humanities; environment; human condition; public policy; and technology, the economy, and employment.

Pashupatinath temple unharmed in Nepal quake

(i) The famous 5th century Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu survived the massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake that flattened several World Heritages like iconic Dharhara tower and Darbar Square in Nepal. 

(ii) The Pashupatinath Temple is safe, we have checked the shrine many times and it has developed no cracks,” a devotee at the temple said.

(iii) The temple, one of the seven monument groups in UNESCO’s designation of Kathmandu Valley as a cultural heritage site, is the oldest Hindu temple in Kathmandu dating back to 400 AD.

(iv) The sacred Hindu temple is dedicated to Pashupatinath (Lord Shiva) and is located on the banks of the Bagmati River. 

(v) It suffered minor cracks on its boundary wall when the quake jolted Nepal, killing over 3,600 people.

World Chess: India loses to Georgia

(i) India went down 1.5-2.5 to Georgia in the seventh round of the women’s world team chess championship at Chengdu, China, on Sunday. 

(ii) India has six points and is placed sixth.

(iii) Georgia is top of the table with 13 points, followed by Russia (11), China (nine) and Ukraine (eight), with two rounds remaining.

(iv) Padmini Rout’s loss to Meri Arabidze, rated 72 points below, proved costly for India. Koneru Humpy, Dronavalli Harika and Soumya Swaminathan drew their games with Bela Khotenashvili, Lela Javakhishvili and Melia Salome.

Sudan's al-Bashir re-elected with 94 % of vote

(i) Sudan’s Election Commission says President Omar al-Bashir has won re-election with 94 per cent of the vote, extending his 25-year rule despite war crimes charges and multiple insurgencies.

(ii) The Election Commission puts turnout at 46.4 per cent and denies widespread reports of low participation. 

(iii) Al-Bashir, who took power in a bloodless Islamist coup in 1989, is the only sitting head of state facing genocide charges at the International Criminal Court. The charges stem from the conflict in Darfur.

DK Police launch helplines for women, children and elderly

(i) The Dakshina Kannada District Police on Monday launched the services of helplines for women, children and senior citizens (1091, 1090 and 1098) in its jurisdiction.

(ii) Speaking to presspersons after the launch, Superintendent of Police S.D. Sharanappa said 1098 is linked to missing child bureau too. 

(iii) The help lines have been launched in coordination with several government departments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), he said.

(iv) While volunteers of NGOs would attend to calls between 10 am and 5.30 pm every day, department personnel would attend to calls during the rest of the period. 

(v) The help lines thus would be functional round-the-clock throughout the year.

Supreme Court strikes down Bhavani Singh's appointment

(i) The Supreme Court on Monday struck down the appoint

ment of Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh and declared that the interference of the Tamil Nadu government in his appointment was a manifestation of the government's "anxiety" about the future. 

(ii) The court held that Karnataka is the sole prosecuting agency in the pending appeals filed by the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, and three others against their conviction in the Rs. 66 crore disproportionate assets case.

(iii) A three-judge Bench, led by Justice Dipak Misra, directed the Karnataka government to file its written submissions by April 28 in the Karnataka High Court where the appeals are pending.

(iv) The Bench further directed the High Court judge to take no heed of the arguments made by Mr. Singh.

Waive farm loans, open farmers’ bank: Opposition

(i) Government should waive farm loans and open exclusive banks for farmers on lines of the women’s bank, to help tide over the agrarian crisis facing the country, Opposition parties demanded in Rajya Sabha on Friday.

(ii) A JD(U) member also wanted the two major parties -- BJP and Congress, to join hands to implement the recommendations of the M S Swaminathan Committee to provide much-needed succour to farmers, if they can do so on allowing FDI in insurance and corporate globalisation.

(iii) Crop insurance, he said, should be a responsibility of the Centre and state governments and Food Corporation of India (FCI) should procure all foodgrain, irrespective of quality, brought by farmers.

(iv) K C Tyagi (JD-U) said Gajender’s suicide was “a sacrifice for the cause of farmers of the entire nation” and held various ministries responsible for their current plight.

Shamini qualifies for main draw at World TT Championships

(i) India enjoyed a profitable opening day as Shamini Kumaresan qualified for the main draw of the women’s singles event at the World Table Tennis Championships here on Monday.

(ii) Shamini qualified by topping her group which included Gillian Edwards of Scotland and Nino Neridee of Venezuela.

(iii) She defeated Gillian Edwards 11—7, 9—11, 11—3, 13—11, 8—11, 11—8. She then scored a 11—7, 11—3, 8—11, 11—3, 7—11, 11—8 win over Nino Neridee.

(iv) The other two women players Mouma Das and Manika Batra are already in the main draw based on the world ranking.

South Korea's prime minister steps down over bribery scandal

(i) South Korea’s president has accepted the resignation of her prime minister on account of a bribery scandal.

(ii) Prime Minster Lee Wan Koo offered to quit last week, two months after taking the country’s second highest post. 

(iii) He was at the heart of a corruption scandal involving a dead businessman and other high-profile figures

(iv) Businessman Sung Wan-jong said before committing suicide this month that he gave 30 million won ($27,390) to Lee in 2013. Lee has denied the allegation.

(v) President Park Geun-hye’s office said on Monday she accepted Lee’s resignation but gave no further details.

South Asia has world’s most skewed gender wage gap: UN report

(i) South Asia has the world’s most skewed gender wage gap and is among the few regions where the gender labour force participation gap is both large and growing, a new report from UN Women has found.

(ii) Globally, only half of women participate in the labour force, compared to three quarters of men; in India only a third of women are in the labour force. “In developing regions, up to 95 per cent of women’s employment is informal, in jobs that are unprotected by labour laws and lack social protection,” the report says.

(iii) Simultaneously, women shoulder the bulk of the burden of unpaid care work; in India, for instance, women do nearly six hours of unpaid care and housework every day as compared to half an hour for men, UN Women found. 

(iv) While on average globally, women are paid 24 percent less than men, the gaps for women with children are even wider. 

(v) In South Asia, the gender pay gap is 35 per cent for women with children compared to 14 per cent for those without.