Daily Current Affairs - 15th October 2014

1) Australian author Richard Flanagan was awarded the prestigious Man Booker literature prize for 2014 on 14 October 2014. Flanagan’s which literary work was chosen for this award? – ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’

Explanation:  The book ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ is set during the building of the so-called Thailand-Burma “Death Railway” in World War II. The other books on the short list were ‘We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves’ by Karen Jay Fowler (American), ‘To Rise Again at a Decent Hour’ by Joshua Ferris (American), ‘J’ by Howard Jacobson (British), ‘The Lives of Others by Neel Mukherjee’ (British} and ‘How to be Both’ by Ali Smith (British). Flanagan was awarded £50,000 ($79,530) cash award under the prize. This was the first time Man Booker Prize was opened up for anyone writing in English regardless of nationality. Previously, the prize was open only to authors from the U.K. and Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.

2) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 13 October 2014 came out with an additional criterion for classifying an urban co-operative bank (UCB) as financially sound and well managed (FSWM). What is this additional criterion? –Implementation of Core Banking Solution (CBS)

Explanation: Till now the UCBs were classified as FSWM banks if they fulfilled criteria such as capital to risk weighted assets ratio of not less than 10%, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of less than 7% and net NPAs of not more than 3%. The new criterion of CBS implementation would henceforth be considered for processing applications received from UCBs for opening of on-site/off-site / mobile ATMs, applications under Annual Business Plans, extension of area of operation, shifting of premises and all other permissions from RBI. The other criteria prescribed by the RBI for classifying a UCB as financially sound and well managed are: net profit for at least three out of the preceding four years, subject to it not having incurred a net loss in the immediate preceding year; no default in the maintenance of cash reserve ratio / Statutory Liquidity Ratio during the preceding financial year; sound internal control system with at least two professional directors on the Board; and regulatory comfort.

3) 432 Park Avenue, a residential tower being constructed in New York, recently came to news. Why? – It became the tallest building in New York when it reached its peak height of 1,396 feet

Explanation: 432 Park Avenue is situated between 56^th and 57^th streets in midtown Manhattan in New York City. When measured by roof height, this super-tall building is now the tallest in New York surpassing One World Trade Center by 30 feet. It is also believed to be one of the tallest residential building in the world and overall third tallest in the United States. 432 Park Avenue comprises of 104 condominium apartments and is being constructed by CIM Group.

4) Woman police inspector from India – Inspector Shakti Devi has been named recipient of the International Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014 by the UN’s Police Division for her exceptional achievements with the UN mission in Afghanistan. She is currently deployed in the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Shakti Devi is associated with the police force of which Indian state? – Jammu & Kashmir

Explanation: This honour has been bestowed on Inspector Shakti Devi for her exceptional achievements in leading the establishment of Women Police Councils in several parts of Afghanistan. The award was delivered during the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) conference held during October 2014 in Winnipeg, Canada.

5) Data released by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) has showed that September of 2014 was the warmest September ever recorded. This September was about 0.78 degrees Celsius above the 1951-80 average temperature for the month. Till now which year’s September had been the warmest ever? – September of 2005

Explanation: This data makes it even more likely that 2014 will become the warmest year on record. It is worth mentioning that in 2014 September followed the warmest August on record. Ocean temperatures have played a large role in this, including the warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean that have accompanied an emerging El Nino.

Richard Flanagan