Books and Authors - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

ANSWER: Lokmat

Explanation:
The Vice-President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu launched the New Delhi Edition of Marathi daily 'Lokmat' at a function on Dec 14, 2017.

Vice President indicated the media has great power to influence the people and the Fourth Estate should use this freedom of expression to spread harmony and contribute to the nation's development.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu said the media should exercise the freedom of expression with responsibility.

Shri Venkaiah Naidu recalled the history of the Lokmat newspaper, which is entering into its centennial year this day, and its contribution to India's freedom struggle.

Lokmat: Know More

• "Lokmat" is a Marathi language newspaper published from Mumbai, and several other cities in Maharashtra state.
• Founded in 1971 by Jawaharlal Darda, it is the largest selling daily. with 1.3 million copies a day.
• Circulation: 1.3 million Daily (as of Jul - Dec 2015)
• Editor-in-chief: Vijay J. Darda
• Founder: Rajendra Darda
• Founded: December 15, 1971
• Format: Broadsheet

ANSWER: Mamta Kalia

Explanation:
Renowned Hindi scholar and writer Mamta Kalia (77) was chosen for Vyas Samman 2017 for her novel "Dukkham Sukkham".

She was selected by selection committee headed by author Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari.

Dukkham Sukkham published in 2009 is saga of a lower middle-class familys three generations. The literary work focuses on the transition in relations and situations of our society.

Mamta Kalia

• She was born in 1940 in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh. She had received MA in English from Delhi University before taking up lecturership at SNDT Women's University in Mumbai.
• Since 1973, she headed degree college in Allahabad before retiring in 2001.
• She is known for her works in Hindi and English including "Beghar", "Janch Abhi Jaari Hai", "Nirmohi", and "Bolne Wali Aurat".
• Earlier she has received "Yashpal Katha Samman" from Uttar Pradesh Hindi Sansthan, "Ram Manohar Lohia Samman" and "Sahitya Bhushan Samman".

• The Vyas Samman award was instituted by KK Birla Foundation in 1991.
• It is awarded annually to outstanding literary work in Hindi authored and published in past 10 years by an Indian citizen.
• The award carries monetary award of Rs.3.5 lakh, a citation and a plaque.

ANSWER: Sunita Narain

Explanation:
Conflicts of Interest is a book where Sunita Narain gives a personal account of her battles as part of the country's green movement.

The book offers a new understanding of the contests that we face in getting changes on the ground and future challenges.

Penguin India has acquired Sunita Narain's Conflicts of Interest: My Journey through India's Green Movement.

The book is a personal account of India's foremost environmentalist's battles as part of the country's Green Movement.

While outlining the enormous environmental challenges that India faces today, Dr. Sunita Narain will talk about how corporate lobbies and political interests often scuttle their effective resolution.

She will recount some widely reported controversies triggered by research undertaken by her along with her team at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), such as the pesticides in colas report, air pollution research in Delhi, endosulfan research in Karnataka, among others.

The book includes an 'environmental manifesto' in which Dr. Narain lays out a blueprint for the direction India must take, if it is to deal with the exigencies of climate change and environmental degradation.

ANSWER: A Journey Towards Self Reliance

Explanation:
Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman released a coffee table book on the Department of Defence Production (DDP), titled 'A journey towards self-reliance'.

The first ever coffee table book on the department, it chronicles the post-independence years of development, indigenisation and production of arms, ammunition and defence equipment, with a view to achieve self-reliance for the Armed Forces of India.

The contents of the book are a remarkable collection of past and current defence equipment produced in India.

Avid readers will find themselves immersed in a world of illustrations and remarkable photographs, captured at 'the' moments, and revealing relevant texts, which will be of interest to the 'defence technology-savvy' Indians.

The book epitomises the visionary approach of the Government of India seeking to establish India as a global manufacturing hub, under the 'Make in India' initiative.

It lends credence to the sincere efforts put in by thousands of unknown faces, to mould and shape the Indian defence industry.

ANSWER: Lincoln in the Bardo

Explanation:
American author George Saunders won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for fiction on Oct 17, 2017 for Lincoln in the Bardo, a polyphonic symphony of a novel about restless souls adrift in the afterlife.

It is the second year in a row an American has won the £50,000 ($66,000) prize, which was opened to US authors in 2014.

The book is based on a real visit President Abraham Lincoln made in 1862 to the body of his 11-year-old son Willie at a Washington cemetery.

By turns witty, bawdy, poetic and unsettling, Lincoln in the Bardo juxtaposes events from Lincoln’s life and the US Civil War through passages from historians both real and fictional with a chorus of otherworldly characters who are dead, but unwilling or unable to let go of life.

In Tibetan Buddhism, the bardo is the transition state between death and rebirth.

Baroness Lola Young, who chaired the Booker judging panel credited that the novel stood out because of its innovation, its very different styling, the way in which it paradoxically brought to life these almost-dead souls.

Saunders was awarded the prize by Prince Charles’ wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, during a ceremony at London’s medieval Guildhall.

The author said he resisted telling the story of Lincoln, an American icon, for 20 years.

But the novel, which took four years to write, turned out to be pointedly timely in a divided United States.

Lincoln in the Bardo is the first novel by the 58-year-old Saunders, an acclaimed short story writer who won the Folio Prize in 2014 for his darkly funny story collection Tenth of December.

A former oil industry engineer who teaches creative writing at Syracuse University in New York state, Saunders is probably best known outside literary circles for a commencement speech he gave in 2013 with the key message “Try to be kinder.”

Saunders beat five other finalists- New Yorker Paul Auster’s quadruple coming-of-age story 4321; US writer Emily Fridlund’s story of a Midwest teenager, History of Wolves; Scottish author Ali Smith’s Brexit-themed Autumn; British-Pakistani novelist Mohsin Hamid’s migration story Exit West; and British writer Fiona Mozley’s debut novel Elmet about a fiercely independent family under threat.

Saunders is the second American in a row to win the prize, founded in 1969 and until 2013 limited to writers from Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth.

The 2016 winner was Paul Beatty’s The Sellout.

The move to admit all English-language writers spurred fears among some British writers and publishers that Americans would come to dominate a prize whose previous winners include Salman Rushdie, Ben Okri, Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel.

Prize organizers said 30 percent of the 144 books submitted by publishers for consideration this year were American, a figure slightly down from last year.

ANSWER: Gauri Lankesh

Explanation:
Gauri Lankesh posthumously wins Anna Politkovskaya award

Journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead by unknown assailants on September 5, has been posthumously accorded with the prestigious Anna Politkovskaya Award.

This award is instituted by Reach All Women (RAW) in War.

RAW, in a statement, said that it was honoured to award the annual Anna Politkovskaya Award for women human rights defenders from war and conflict zones jointly to Gauri Lankesh posthumously, and to a brave Pakistani activist Gulalai Ismaial, who similarly is fighting against Islamic extremism.

Ms. Ismail has faced the death threats for speaking out against the Taliban in north-west Pakistan.

Gauri is the 12th woman to receive this prestigious award. Nominations Committee members have observed that they were deeply moved by Gauri and Gulalai's bravery and dedication to peace and human rights.

The announcement of the award was an emotional one, as Gauri's brother Indrajit Lankesh, mother Indira Lankesh and close friend M.S. Ashadevi struggled to find words to express their feelings on RAW honouring Gauri with this international award.

Gauri was awarded with Periyar Award posthumously by the Thinkers Forum on September 17 in Bengaluru.

Anna Politkovskaya: Know More

• Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist was killed in 2006 in Moscow for her courage to speak out on behalf of the suffering of the civilians in the war in Chechnya.
• It is not by coincidence that Gauri's work, her personality and the way she was killed for her work reminded us so much of the way Anna lived and died for the truth.
• To mark the anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's murder on October 7, 2006 and to honour Anna and the women like in the world, RAW in War annually presents the award to a female human rights defender from conflict zone.

ANSWER: Hanumant Moreshwar Marathe

Explanation:
Eminent Marathi writer and journalist Hanumant Moreshwar Marathe passed away on Oct 2, 2017 owing to prolonged illness, said doctors operating him.

The 77-year-old writer, popularly known as ‘Ha Mo’, breathed his last at Dinanath Mangeshkar Hospital where he was undergoing heart-related treatment and had difficulty in breathing.

According to his relatives, Marathe was admitted to the hospital few days ago.

Born on March 2, 1940, Marathe wrote many books. Of them, ‘Nishparna Vrukshavar Bhar Dupari’ became very popular.

He started his career with teaching at a college in Kolhapur. He also worked in Tarun Bharat and Kirloskar magazine.

ANSWER: Both b and c

Explanation:
Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Culture released the book entitled “Bhartiya Kala Mein Salil Kridayen Evam Sadyahsnata Nayika”.

It was authored by Dr. Kshetrapal Gangwar and Shri Sanjib Kumar Singh at a function in National Museum.

This is an Art Book based on original research, written in Hindi and published by National Museum after few decades.

Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Labour and Employment presided over the function.

This is a book written to highlight the Indian Art and describes the Water Sports (Salil Kridayen).

This form of art has been the part of Indian Art from time immemorial.

The literary sources and archaeological evidence proves that it was a dear subject for the artist and Literary persons.

Almost all the famous school of art of India bears these kind of sculptures and Paintings.

ANSWER: NITI Aayog

Explanation:
NITI Aayog has developed a Handbook of State Statistics that consolidates key statistics across sectors for every Indian State/UT.

While the State data on crucial indicators is currently fragmented across different sources, this handbook provides a one-stop database of important State statistics.

Starting with Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), the handbook provides sectorial compositions of State economies from 1980-81 to the latest possible year.

Five different GSDP series are available between 1980-81 and now, and this database covers all of them.

It covers statistics on State government finances from 1981 to 2017across indicators such as gross fiscal deficits, revenue deficits, social sector expenditure, capital expenditure etc.

Labour statistics from the national sample surveys (NSS), statistics on labour force participation rates (LFPR), worker-population ratio (WPR) by industry and unemployment rates are also presented.

Data on education covers primary, secondary and tertiary levels including enrolment ratios, schools, enrolment, teachers and performance indicators, among others.

Some of the health indicators covered by the handbook include infant mortality rate (IMR), birth rates, life expectancy, sex ratio at birth, immunisation and institutional deliveries among others.

For certain indicators such as IMR, TFR, birth rates, data from 1971 onwards to 2015 is available.

For other indicators the data series starts in 2005.

Data in the Handbook: Know More

• The final section of the publication provides state-wise estimates of poverty numbers. Data has been presented according to the Lakdawala Methodology (data from 1973-74 to 2004-05) and the Tendulkar Methodology (data from 1993-94 to 2011-12).
• Data is quinquennial, as estimates for poverty are derived from NSS Household Consumption Surveys.

ANSWER: JK Rowling

Explanation:
Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has been named the world's most highly-paid author with earnings of £72.2m ($95m) this year.

The Edinburgh-based writer beat Dan Brown, Stephen King and John Grisham to top Forbes' list of the 10 highest earners in the global industry for the first time in almost 10 years.

Fans recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of her first book.

She has written a further six Harry Potter titles.

Her books have been turned into eight blockbuster feature films, and last year she made her screenwriting debut with a prequel movie, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

The mother-of-three, 52, first began writing about the wizarding world while struggling to make ends meet living as a single mother on benefits in Edinburgh.

The books' popularity soon made her a multi-millionaire and she has since released several other novels, founded children's charity Lumos.

She has amassed more than 11 million Twitter followers keen to keep track of her regularly-shared thoughts on political and social issues.

Aside from Rowling, the US business magazine's list also includes British authors Paula Hawkins and EL James–whose respective novels The Girl On The Train and 50 Shades Of Grey have both been turned into major movies in recent years - while the others are all American.

List organisers added that Game Of Thrones creator George RR Martin, The Fault In Our Stars writer John Green and Divergent trilogy author Veronica Roth, just failed to make the top 10.