Daily GK Updates: 9th Oct 2014

1.    France's Patrick Modiano wins literature Nobel 

i. Patrick Modiano of France, who has made a lifelong study of the Nazi occupation and its effect on his country, was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday.

ii. The Swedish Academy gave the 8 million kronor (USD 1.1 million) prize to Modiano "for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation." 
iii. Modiano, 69, whose novel "Missing Person" won the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1978 was born in a west Paris suburb two months after World War II ended in Europe in July 1945. 
iv. His father was of Jewish Italian origins and met his Belgian actress mother during the occupation of Paris.

v. He has published more than 40 works in French, some of which have been translated into English, including "Ring of Roads: A Novel," ''Villa Triste," ''A Trace of Malice," and "Honeymoon." 

vi. He has also written children's books and film scripts and made the 1974 feature movie "Lacombe, Lucien" with director Louis Malle. 
vii. He was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000.

viii. Literature was the fourth of this year's Nobel prizes. The prize is named after Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, and has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will.

2.    Finance Ministry allocates Rs 520 crore to NABARD

i. The Union Finance Ministry has allocated 520 crore rupees to NABARD to create warehousing infrastructure for agricultural commodities in West Bengal.
ii. Giving this information in Kolkata, the Chief General Manager of NABARD, Smt. T.S.Raji Gain said that after West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh has got 500 crore rupees for the said purpose.

3.    Railways' Revenue earnings up by over 12 per cent

i. Railways revenue earnings have gone up by over 12 per cent during first six months of this fiscal.
ii. The total approximate earnings during the period were about Rs. 73,404 crore compared to Rs. 65,526 crore during the same period last year.
iii. The total earnings from goods during the period were about Rs. 48,772 crore as against Rs. 44,162 crore during the same period last year, registering an increase of 10.44 per cent.
iv. However, the total approximate number of passengers booked during this period were around 4253 million compared to 4255 million during the same period last year, showing a decrease of 0.06 per cent.

4.    Bandhan Bank appoints FIS Intl to develop core banking tool

i. The upcoming Bandhan Bank has appointed FIS International, one of the largest banking and payments technology solutions provider globally, to develop its core banking software solutions.

ii. According to a release issued by FIS, the global major will help Bandhan by providing and managing a fully integrated banking and payments platform through a totally outsourced delivery model.

iii. This will include the core banking, channel solutions, treasury, trade finance, and an entire suite of payments services that includes debit card management and interback connectivity.

iv. Bandhan, the country’s largest micro-finance institution, was granted an “in-principle” banking licence by the Reserve Bank of India earlier this year.

v. Bandhan is expected to start banking operations by September 2015 with about 600 branches and operations across 27 states.

5.    Union MNRE signed MoU for setting up first-ever Offshore Wind Power Project in India

i. Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 1 October 2014 for setting up a Joint Venture Company to undertake the first-ever Offshore Wind Power Project in India along the Gujarat coast.

ii. he offshore wind power project along the Gujarat coast will be of about 100 MW capacity.

iii. Subsidy to be provided for setting up of evacuation and transmission infrastructure including financial support for carrying out studies such as wind resource assessment, Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), oceanographic survey and Bathymetric studies.

6.    Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg arrived in New Delhi, to meet PM tomorrow

i. ounder of social site Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg arrived in New Delhi on a two day visit from 9 October to 10 October 2014.

ii.  His aim behind the visit is to take help of India in connecting people of the world.

iii. During his visit, one of his big engagements is his meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi as a person is a supporter of social media as he thinks that it is a mean to reach out to people.

iv. In terms of users, India is the second-largest market of social network outside the US but one that generates little revenue. 

v. Zuckerberg said that even in developed countries, about 25 percent women are not connected with social media as compared to men. Whereas, in context of India about 69 percent people are not connected with the social network and as they don’t know that they can connect with the world through internet.

7.    Ocean Health Index for the year 2014 released

i. Ocean Health Index (OHI) 2014 was released by the National Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at UC Santa Barbara, Califronia, US on 30 September 2014. The Index, third in the series, was released in partnership with Conservation International.

ii. As per the OHI 2014, the overall health score of the Oceans of the world stands at 67 out of 100.

iii. The third annual OHI for the first time includes scores for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean plus the 15 other ocean regions beyond national jurisdiction (high seas areas).

8.    India overthrow from No. 1 spot in ICC ODI ranking 

i. India’s thrashing at the hands of the visiting West Indies team in the first ODI at Kochi, has dethroned it from the top tanking in the ODI format of the ICC. South Africa replaces India at the top with 113 points. 
ii. India and Australia are at second and third places respectively. However, Australia has a chance to climb up in the ranking if it wins the remaining ODIs against Pakistan. The Kangaroos play Pakistan in Dubai tomorrow.

9.    German Ambassador lauds PM; extends support to Ganga mission 

i. German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner on Thursday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ambitious 'Clean India campaign' and Ganga rejuvenation plan while extending his country's full support to the missions.

ii. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Ganga rejuvenation priority is an excellent example that India is thinking big. Clean Ganga Fund is a brilliant idea," Steiner said at the inauguration of three-day trade exhibition IFAT India 2014, organised by trade show company Messe Munchen's IFAT India. 

iii. The German Ambassador said his country is standing ready to support India's mission towards clean Ganga, adding that a German scoping mission has already started working in this regard this week. 

iv. Major clean-up efforts of all stakeholders in Germany generated technical know-how and decades-old experience. We would like to share these with India, together with state-of-the-art solutions developed by German companies. We also want to help to raise public awareness," he said.

10.  India likely to have 600 million broadband users by 2020: Ericsson

i. The mobile broadband subscriber base in India could grow to 600 million by 2020 from around 100 million now with 20 per cent of them using 4G, according to a white paper released here by Ericsson.

ii. The report says the share of data in the overall revenue of telecom operators will rise from 10-12 per cent in 2013 to 35-40 per cent in 2020, forcing operators to make substantial investment to improve infrastructure.

iii. “Mobile broadband will be the platform on which the ‘Digital India’ vision can be delivered. For this, we will need the release of additional spectrum in the relevant bands. This will contribute to affordability of services, and harmonization of spectrum will allow a lower-cost device ecosystem to evolve. 

iv. On the occasion, Ericsson announced the Indian launch of two new products to optimise indoor coverage — the Radio Dot System and the RBS6402 picocell — thereby, completing its Small Cell Portfolio for the Indian market.

11.  Veteran journalist M V Kamath passes away, PM condoles death

i. Veteran journalist M V Kamath died at his native place Manipal in Karnataka on Thursday after a brief illness.

ii. He was 93 and was admitted to hospital for the past few days. 
iii. Kamath, former chairman of Prasar Bharti and recipient of Padma Bhushan, was born in Udupi on 7th September 1921. 

12.  ISRO's PSLV-C26 to be launched on Oct 16

i. The launch of ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C26, is now scheduled for October 16 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

ii. The launch window of the mission opens at 01:32 hours Indian Standard Time (IST) and lasts till 01:47 hours IST. The lift-off is scheduled at the opening of the launch window at 01:32 hours IST.

iii. PSLV-C26 will carry the 1,425 kg Indian Navigation Satellite IRNSS-1C.

iv. IRNSS-1C, the third satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, has already been integrated with PSLV-C26 and the final phase of checks is progressing.

13.  India among top 5 financial contributors to Ebola response

i. India is among the top five contributors to the UN Ebola response with a contribution of U.S. $ 12.5 million, according to a fact sheet released by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry here.

ii. The U.S. with U.S. $ 113.8 million tops the list to the UN Ebola response. It is followed by the European Union ($ 55.5 million), Canada ($ 31.9 million), Netherlands ($ 21 million) and India with $12.5 million.

iii. The world’s largest outbreak of Ebola has killed 3,865 people out of 8,033 infected so far this year, according to the WHO’s latest count