Daily GK Updates: 23rd Sept 2014

1.    'Liar's Dice' to represent India at Oscars 

i. Hindi film 'Liar's Dice', a road drama starring Geetanjali Thapa and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in lead roles, has been selected as India's official entry to the best foreign film category at the Oscar 2015 awards.

ii. 'Liar's Dice', which is Malayalam actress Geetu Mohandas' feature film directorial debut, beat 29 other films including 'Mary Kom' to represent India at the 87th edition of Oscars next year, Supran Sen, secretary general of the Film Federation of India (FFI), said. 
iii. The other films which were in the race included 'Shahid', 'Queen', 'Mardaani', Marathi films 'Yellow' and 'Fandry' and Bengali films 'Jatishwar' and 'Apur Panchali'. 
iv. The 104-minute feature film was selected by a 12-member jury headed by eminent filmmaker T Hariharan from 30 entries.
v. 'Liar's Dice' follows a young tribal woman living in a village near the Indo-Tibetan border who embarks on a journey with her young daughter to Delhi in search of her missing husband. 

Note: i. The last Indian film that made it to the final five nominees at the Oscars was Ashutosh Gowariker's 'Lagaan'. 'Mother India' and 'Salaam Bombay' are the only other two Indian films to have made it to the top five. 
ii. The 87th Academy awards event will take place in the US on February 22.

2.    Next PBD meet in Gandhinagar to mark Mahatma's homecoming

i. The next Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, the world's largest annual gathering of the Indian diaspora, will be held in Gujarat capital Gandhinagar in January next year to mark 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi's return to India from South Africa, officials said on Monday.

ii. The 13th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) will be held for the first time in Gujarat, at the Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre in Gandhinagar from Jan 7-9. 

iii. Terming the meeting with Sushma Swaraj "very successful", Patel said that the theme of the PBD has been decided to be 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi's return to India from South Africa. Mahatma Gandhi returned to his homeland from South Africa on Jan 9, 1915 and hence all the celebrations at PBD 2015 will be focused on the centenary year of Gandhi's homecoming, Patel added, according to a Gujarat government press statement. 

3.    V.G. Mathew appointed new MD and CEO of South Indian Bank

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 22 September 2014 approved the appointment of V.G. Mathew as Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kerala-based South Indian Bank Ltd.
ii. V.G. Mathew is appointed for a period of three years with effect from 1 October 2014. He will replace V.A. Joseph who will retire on 30 September 2014 after serving the bank for 12 years.
iii. His appointment was made under the Section 35B of the Banking Regulation Act 1949.

4.    Amit Mathew elected as chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulations

i. Amit Mathew on 22 September 2014 was unanimously elected as Chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for the year 2014-15. He is the resident editor and director of Malyala Manorama.
ii. In addition to Mathews, Shashidhar Sinha was elected as the deputy chairman of the ABC for the 2014-15. Shashidhar Sinha is the CEO (India) of IPG Mediabrands and represents the advertising agencies of the Council.

5.    Punjab, tops in CPSE investments

i.  “Punjab, Maharashtra, Bihar and Odisha are the only four states amid top 20 major states in India that have seen a surge in employment generated by the CPSEs while rest of the states have recorded a fall ranging between 3-22 per cent,” said D.S. Rawat, Secretary-General, Assocham.

ii. The number of people employed by the CPSEs (excluding contractual workers) across India came down from about 15.33 lakh to 14.04 lakh during the period, a fall of about eight per cent. “

iii. Gujarat has rank 12^th recorded a decline of over 14 per cent in employment generated by the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) between 2008-09 and 2012-13, apex industry body Assocham said on Tuesday.

iv. The CPSEs investment growth rate was recorded at 9.05 per cent in 2012-13 on year on year basis as compared to 13.42 per cent in 2011-12 and 9.48 per cent in 2010-11 and 15.52 per cent in 2009-10.

6.    Google India launches new campaign to help women get online

i. Search giant Google today launched a new social campaign in association with Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar’s initiative MARD, to increase internet literacy among women in the country.

ii. Google India had first time launched a ‘digital literacy’ initiative campaign called ‘Helping Women Get Online’ (HWGO) in collaboration with Intel, HUL and Axis Bank late last year.

iii. “The first phase has been very successful. In the last 12 months, the number of women using the internet has grown 35 per cent as against 31 per cent by men. This for the first time that women have surpassed men in using internet.

iii. This is just the start of the programme as it’s only 10 months when we launched it (the first phase),” Google India vice president and managing director Rajan Anandan said.

7.    Shooter Abhinav Bindra wins individual bronze

i. Shooter Abhinav Bindra today broke his Asian Games jinx by clinching his first individual medal — a bronze — in the men’s 10m air rifle and then said it could be his last major international competition as he has decided to become a hobby shooter from now on.

ii. The Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallist had a fine sequence of scores barring 9.9 and 9.6 on his 6th and 12th shots, and had to be content with the bronze medal after shooting 10.6 and 10.7 in his last two shots.

iii. The gold medal was won by 18-year-old Chinese sensation Yang Haoran who came into the tournament as the clear favourite after winning the world title at Granada, Spain just prior to the Games.

8.    Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar appointed as ISI chief

i. Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar on 22 September 2014 was appointed as the new head of the Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He will replace Lt-Gen Zaheerul Islam who is scheduled to retire in October 2014.
ii. Rizwan Akhtar was promoted from major-general to lieutenant-general to assume the new role. He is considered as an ally of Army chief General Raheel Sharif.

9.    Google India to launch a nationwide contest to develop a mobile app for PMO

i. Google India on 22 September 2014 announced to launch a nationwide contest to develop a mobile app for Prime Minister’s office (PMO). The contest will be held in collaboration with the citizen engagement platform of the government, MyGoV.
ii. Google is working with the department of information technology and other state governments to draft the outlay of the contest. The contest will showcase how Indians can build a world class app.
iii. Google will also work with the government to encourage digital literacy and internet safety by introducing curriculums for schools, officials and elected representatives