ENGLISH NEWS- 22/21.11.2016

DAILY GA UPDATE - 22.11.2016

1. Indian-American felicitated with interfaith leadership award

Azamgarh-born Indian-American entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Islam has been felicitated with the Interfaith Leadership Award for his contributions towards the arts and higher education and support of interfaith dialogue.

2. Pankaj Patel elected Ficci President for 2017

Zydus Cadila CMD Pankaj Patel has been elected president of industry body Ficci(Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry)for 2017 and will take over once the incumbent Ambuja Neotia Group ChairmanHarshavardhan Neotia completes his term next month.

"Patel will take over from Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman of Ambuja Neotia Group, during the Ficci Annual General Meeting to be held on 16 and 17 December," Ficci said.

Pankaj Patel is actively involved in various educational institutions and is on the advisory committees and academic councils of several educational institutions such as Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, IISER, Kolkata, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, The Ahmedabad University and Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies.

Patel is the Executive Chairman, Vice President and Trustee of the Gujarat Cancer Society and Chairman of the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute, a regional Cancer Centre and one of the largest of its kind in India.

3. Ex-Governor of Madhya Pradesh Ram Naresh Yadav dies

Former Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav passed away. He was 90.

Yadav served as the Madhya Pradesh Governor from August 26, 2011 to September 7, 2016. 

The veteran Congress leader was also Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister from 1977-79.

4. Czech film director selected for Lifetime Achievement award

World renowned Czech film director Jiri Menzel will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at this year's International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK).

Menzel, a member of the Czech New Wave, is also a well-known theatre director, actor and screenwriter.

His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography. He received International acclaim in 1967 with his very first feature film "Closely Watched Trains", when it won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Menzel’s controversial film "Larks on a String" was filmed in 1969, but was initially banned by the Czechoslovakian government was finally released in 1990 after the fall of the Communist regime.

5. India successfully test-fires Agni-I ballistic missile

India successfully test-fired its indigenously built nuclear-capable intermediate range 'Agni-I' ballistic missile, capable of hitting a target 700 kms away, from a test range off Odisha coast as part of a user trial by the Army.

The surface-to-surface, single-stage missile, powered by solid propellants, was test-fired from a mobile launcher at 9.15 AM from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island (Wheeler Island), a defence official said.

DAILY GA UPDATE - 21.11.2016

1. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar commissions new warship INS Chennai

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar commissioned INS Chennai, the third indigenously designed guided missile destroyer in the Kolkata class.

Built at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd in Mumbai, the ships construction also marks the end of the Project 15A to build Kolkata-class guided missile destroyers.

Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba, was also present on the occasion.

With an overall length of 164 metres and displacement of over 7,500 tons, INS Chennai is one of the largest destroyers in the Indian Navy’s fleet.

The ship is armed with supersonic surface-to-surface BrahMos missiles and Barak-8 long range surface-to-air missiles.

The ship is going to be assigned to the western fleet after completion of some additional trials of systems deployed on it. It is the final destroyer ship in this class.

The first ship of the class, named INS Kolkata, was commissioned on August 16, 2014, followed by INS Kochi which was commissioned on September 30, 2015.

The third destroyer will be placed under the operational and administrative control of the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command.

2. Former Greek president Stephanopoulos dies at 90

Greece's official Athens News Agency says Constantine Stephanopoulos, a former president of Greece, has died. He was 90.

Known widely by his first name diminutive Costis, Stephanopoulos was president from 1995 to 2005, serving the two full terms allowed by the Constitution.

3. Amitav Ghosh gets life-time achievement award at Lit Fest

Eminent writer Amitav Ghosh was bestowed with the life-time achievement award at Tata Literature Live, the Mumbai LitFest. 

Meanwhile, Arvind Adiga's 'Selection Day' won the book of year in fiction, whereas 'The Gene' penned by Siddhartha Mukherjee won an award in the non-fiction category. 

'Swimmer Among The Stars: Stories' by Kanshik Tharoor and Manu Pillai's 'The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore', were best debut books in fiction and non-fiction categories respectively. 

'Grassroots Innovation: Minds on the Margins and not Marginalised', by Anil Gupta was the business book of the year. 

The LitFest introduced the big little award, a first-of- its-kind initiative to recognise the authors and illustrators of children books. 

Madhuri Purandare was the best author, while Atanu Roy won the illustrator award in this category.

4. Thai Princess conferred first World Sanskrit Award

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand has been conferred the first World Sanskrit Award for her contribution towards promotion of the language.

The award was presented by Vice President Hamid Ansari at a function attended by Union Minister M J Akbar, among others.

The award, instituted by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), is presented to eminent Sanskrit scholars to recognise their outstanding contribution to the study/teaching /research in Sanskrit language and literature.

5. Woman referee receives AFC special award

In a rare development for Indian football, woman assistant referee Uvena Fernandes was awarded the AFC Referees Special Award at a function in Kuala Lumpur.

Uvena received the award from Hani Balan, Deputy Chairman, AFC Referees Committee for her outstanding supervision of the final of U-17 Womens World Cup in Jordan. 

She is the first Indian assistant referee to ever officiate in any FIFA World Cup.

6. India successfully test-fires twin trial of Prithvi-II missile

India successfully test-fired it’s indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile twice in quick succession as part of a user trial by the army from a test range at Chandipur in Odisha.

In salvo mode, the two surface-to-surface missiles which have a strike range of 350 km and are capable of carrying 500 kg to 1,000 kg of warheads were successfully test-fired in quick succession from mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at around 9.35 am, defence sources said.

A similar twin trial had been conducted on October 12, 2009 from the same base where both tests were successful.

The missile is thrusted by liquid propulsion twin engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory to hit its target, they said.

The missiles were randomly chosen from the production stock and the entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed strategic force command (SFC) and monitored by the scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) as part of training exercise, a defence scientist said.

The missile trajectory was tracked by the DRDO radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations located along the coast of Odisha, sources said. The downrange teams on board the ship deployed near the designated impact point in the Bay of Bengal monitored the terminal events and splashdown.

Inducted into Indian armed forces in 2003, the nine-metre-tall, single-stage liquid-fuelled Prithvi-II is the first missile to be developed by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, defence sources said.