Daily GK Update 20th June 2014

Rushdie wins Pen Pinter writing prize 

i. Indian-born Booker Prize winning author Salman Rushdie was on Friday named the winner of this year's prestigious Pen Pinter prize for his outstanding literary output and support for freedom of expression. 

ii. The award was established in 2009 by writers' charity English Pen in memory of famous British playwright and Nobel laureate Harold Pinter. 
iii. Maureen Freely, chair of the judging panel, said "This prize is English Pens way of thanking Salman Rushdie not just for his books and his many years of speaking out for freedom of expression, but also for his countless private acts of kindness. 

iv. "The work of Pen, both in promoting the best of world literature and in opposing abuses of freedom, continues to be vitally important, and I'm proud to have been a part of that effort in England as well as the United States," he added. 

v. The New York-based author will be presented with this prize at a ceremony at the British Library in London on October 7 and will deliver an address at the event. His prize will be shared with an "International Writer of Courage", selected by him in association with English Pen's Writers at Risk committee. 
vi. Rushdie is best known for his acclaimed novel 'Midnight's Children', for which he won the Booker followed by the one-off Best of Booker in 2008, and the controversial 'The Satanic Verses' for which he went into hiding in 1989 after it sparked widespread protests by Muslims and a fatwa from Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. 

vii. The author was knighted in 2007 for services to literature. 

2.    Bank of Maharashtra launches digital banking app

i. State-owned Bank of Maharashtra launched MahaSecure, a digital banking app, to enable secure access to Internet banking facilities for both retail and corporate customers of the bank.

ii. MahaSecure will protect Internet banking users from sophisticated online attacks, the bank said in a statement.

iii. Bank of Maharashtra’s initiative to launch the MahaSecure banking app is aimed at ensuring complete safety and trust in Internet banking for all users as there is no dependency on any hardware tokens or SMS. \

iv. The launch of MahaSecure also underlines the fact that the bank intends to offer greater customer convenience through alternative delivery channels such as Internet banking, while ensuring comprehensive security, it further said.

3.    Meenakshi Lekhi named NDMC chairperson

i. BJP leader and Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi on Friday took over as the chairperson of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC).

ii. An official notification regarding the appointment of the New Delhi MP as chairperson of NDMC was received from the Home Ministry late yesterday.

iii. Lekhi takes over from Jalaj Srivastava, a 1984-batch IAS officer who was appointed the NDMC chairperson in August last year.

iv. Lekhi will be the second MP to be part of the Council after amendments were made in the NDMC Act in 2011. Before Lekhi, the Congress MP from New Delhi, Ajay Maken, was its member.

4.    Rail passenger fare hiked by 14.2 per cent

i. Railway passenger fare was today increased by 14.2 per cent in all classes while freight charge was hiked by 6.5 per cent with effect from today.

ii. The decision of the Railways today restores an announcement of May 16, the day Lok Sabha election results came, when the same hike was effected but immediately put on hold.

iii. The Railways had then issued a notification effecting hike in passenger fare by 14.2 per cent across the board and freight charges by 6.

5.    Dipika - Joshana win women's doubles title in Malaysia

i. India bagged its second title at the Tri-Nation squash doubles tournament in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday when Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa emerged winners in the women's doubles final.

ii. Pallikal and Joshana rallied to beat New Zealand's Joelle King and Amanda Landers Murphy 8-11, 11-5, 11-1 at the National Squash Centre. 

iii. Hosts Malaysia was the the other country to participate in the three-day event, seen as a warm-up to the next month's Commonwealth Games.  It was Pallikal's second title in as many days after she won the mixed doubles with Saurav Ghosal. 

6.    India 143rd on Global Peace Index; violence costs $177 bn: Study 

i. Ranking India among 20 most violent places in the world, a global study today said the country's economy took a hit of over Rs 1 lakh crore in containing and dealing with cases of violence last year. 

ii. In the latest annual ranking of Global Peace Index, India has been ranked at 143rd position out of 162 countries surveyed. While India has slipped two positions, Iceland continues to top the list as the world's most peaceful place. However, Syria has replaced Afghanistan as the most violent place

iii. Globally, Pakistan is ranked 154th, while Afghanistan is at 161st position in this year's list. As per the report, India suffers chronically from international tensions and widespread internal conflict.

iv. The GPI is the world's leading measure of global peacefulness produced by the IEP. It gauges on-going domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society, and militarisation in 162 countries by taking into account 22 indicators.

7.    India-born Pratishtha Khanna honoured with Champions of Change

i. India-born Pratishtha Khanna was honoured with Champions of Change by the White House on 17 June 2014. She is one of 10 local Champions of Change honoured for their exemplary leadership in their communities.

ii. The other Champions of Change were Hector of Mexico, Steven of Mexico, Sarahi of United States, Kamal of Morocco, Esther of Taiwan, Dayana Elvira Torres of Colombia, Rhustie of Philippines, Ana Zaragoza of Mexico and Anahi Mendoza of Mexico.

iii. Every week all ten Champions of Change will be invited to the White House to share their ideas to win the future.
All the 10 locals honoured with Champions of Change were beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) programme. It was initiated by the President Barack Obama in 2012.

8.    Rajeev Topno appointed as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi

i. Rajeev Topno was appointed as Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) approved the name of Topno.

ii. He is a 1996 batch Indian Administrative Service officer (IAS) from the Gujarat cadre. He was a part of Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) under former PM Manmohan Singh.

iii. At present he is working as Director in the Prime Minister Office till 28 June 2014.

About Rajeev Topno: i. Topno was a Kutch District Development Officer during Kutch earthquake of 2001

ii. He was chief executive of Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA)

9.    Suarez gives Uruguay 2-1 win over England

i. Luis Suarez scored twice to give Uruguay a 2-1 victory over England at the World Cup on Thursday, making an instant impact on his return from injury to revive his team’s Group D campaign.

ii. The striker lashed in the winner in the 85th minute, after seeing his first-half opener canceled out by Wayne Rooney. The win gave Uruguay’s qualifying chances a major lift and left England’s hopes of advancing to the round of 16 in real jeopardy.

iii. Suarez, who hadn’t played for more than a month after undergoing knee surgery, is the Uruguay player who knows this England side best, having played for Liverpool for more than three years.

iv. Now it is Uruguay back on track going into its game against Italy on Tuesday, when England faces a must-win match against Costa Rica.