Today CA : 17/01/2014

1. Ashok Srinivasan winner of The Hindu Prize for 2014

• Ashok Srinivasan won the The Hindu Prize 2014 for his Book of Common Signs, his debut novel.

• The award was presented by Justice Leila Seth on Saturday at The Hindu Lit for Life 2015.

• Ashok Srinivasan began writing at the age of 14, and after courting obscurity for decades, finally decided to publish his collection of short stories Book of Common Signs.

2. Piramal buys Coldstream Labs for Rs. 180 cr

• Piramal Enterprises Ltd has acquired Coldstream Laboratories Inc a specialty pharmaceutical contract manufacturer in $30.65 million (about Rs. 180 crore) deal.(Note: i. Piramal Enterprises Limited, formerly known as Piramal Healthcare Limited, is the flagship company of Piramal Group. The company has the following business units: Piramal Healthcare, Piramal Life Sciences, Piramal Capital & Decision Resources Group.)

• Coldstream is a contract development and manufacturing organisation focused on the development and manufacturing of sterile injectable products.

• Founded in 2007, it is majority owned by University of Kentucky Research Foundation (an affiliate of the University of Kentucky), the note said.

3. R K Tyagi conferred with JGBS-Top Rankers' Excellence Award

• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman R.K. Tyagi conferred with the JGBS-Top Rankers' Excellence Award for CEO of the year 2014.

• He played a key role in 2014 being a successful year for HAL through series of initiatives. The year was dedicated for Integrity, Customer Focus and Quality (ICQ).

4. Govt launches Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes

• Government has launched the Venture Capital Fund and Green Business scheme for Scheduled Castes.

About the Scheme -

• It is a Social Sector Initiative to be implemented nationally in order to promote entrepreneurship among the Scheduled Casts who are oriented towards innovation and growth technologies.

• The fund has been launched with initial capital of 200 crore rupees .

• The initiative also aims to increase financial inclusion for SC entrepreneurs and to motivate them for further growth of their communities.

• Under the scheme, financial assistance upto 15 crore rupees will be provided to the SC entrepreneurs for a period upto 6 years.

• The Green Business Scheme focuses to provide the loan for unit cost up to 1 lakh rupees at concessional rate of interest and will be provided to Scheduled Castes for activities such as e-rickshaw, Solar Pump and Solar energy powered implements.

5. President launches pulse polio immunization programme

• President Pranab Mukherjee today launched the Pulse Polio Immunization Programme by administering polio drops to children at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

• Children of less than 5 years of age will be given polio drops as part of the Government's drive to sustain polio eradication from the region. The National Immunization Day will be held tomorrow(Note: India has been implementing the Pulse Polio Programme since 1995.)

• The South-East Asia region of WHO has been certified on 27th of March last year as 'polio free', which means transmission of polio virus has been interrupted in this block of 11 countries including India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka for the last three years.

• India is mindful of the risks of importation of polio virus from these countries and high level of immunity in the population needs to be maintained.

6. 8th India-Japan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue held in New Delhi

• The 8th India-Japan Foreign Ministers' Strategic Dialogue held in New Delhi today. 

• Both the leaders discuss about the Tokyo Declaration issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Tokyo in September last year.

• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida deliberate a range of key issues including joint production of amphibious aircraft US-2, removing hurdles to finalise a civil nuclear deal. 

7. Sri Lanka's new Foreign Minister arrive India

• Sri Lanka's new Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera is arriving in New Delhi today on a three day visit to India.

• During the visit he will meet Ms Swaraj and will call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This will be the first high level exchange between India and Sri Lanka since Maithripala Sirisena government came to power on 8th of this month.

8. Viktor Troicki win Sydney title

• Viktor Troicki of Serbia defeat Mikhail Kukushkin in a straight set 6-2 6-3 to win the Sydney International on Saturday.

• The 28-year-old right-hander, who returned to action last July after serving a one-year ban for missing a dope test, took just over an hour to claim his second career ATP title.

9. Sania Mirza, Bethanie Mattek-Sands win Sydney doubles title

• Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won doubles title at the Sydney International Tennis Tournament.

• This is Sania's first title of the season and 23rd of her career. 

• They defeated top-seeded Americans Abigail Spears and Raquel Kops-Jones in the summit clash 6-3, 6-3 yesterday.

• It was fifth WTA title for Sania and Bethanie together.

10. Book titled The Red Sari written by Javier Moro released

• "The Red Sari" an unauthorized biography of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, written by Spanish author Javier Moro released.

• The book describes Sonia Gandhi's life journey form childhood to the congress party president.