DAILY GK UPDATE 13TH JULY

1.    Hemant Soren sworn in as ninth CM of Jharkhand

i. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren sworn-in as ninth Chief Minister of Jharkhand in the premises of the Raj Bhavan.

ii. Soren was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Syed Ahmed at the Birsa Mandap.

iii. Apart from Soren, Rajendra Prasad Singh of Congress and Annapurna Devi of RJD also took oath as Cabinet ministers.

iv. The invitation came after the Presidential assent to the Union Cabinet's recommendation to revoke the central rule was received late on Friday night.

v. Hemant Soren on Tuesday staked claim to forming the government, handing over to the governor letters of support of 43 legislators in the 82-member house.

vi. Besides JMM, Congress, RJD, independents and others are also supporting the new coalition. 

2.    Legendary actor Pran died

i. The winner of Dadasaheb Phalke Award and a veteran actor Pran died on 12 July 2013 in a Hospital at Mumbai.

ii. He died at the age of 93 due to multi-organ failure after prolonged illness and is now survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. 

About Pran Kishan Sikand

i. Born into a wealthy family in Old Delhi on 12 February 1920, Pran got his first break in a Punjabi Film, Yamla Jat in 1940, in the undivided India. 

ii. But his debut in Bollywood happened with the film Ziddi, in which he acted along with the evergreen hero of bollywood Dev Anand in 1948. 

iii. Pran served the Bollywood for a career span of more than six decades in more than 350 films and is known for his brilliant performances in films like Ram aur Shyam, Aansoo Ban Gaye Phool, Half-Ticket, Madhumati, Purab aur Paschim, Karz, Zanjeer and Amar Akbar Anthony and many more.

iv. He was conferred with Dada Saheb Phalke Award on 12 April 2013, which was received by him on 10 May 2013 at his residence

v. In 2001 he was awarded with India’s third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan

vi. In 2010 he was named among the Top 25 Asian Actors of All times by CNN

3.    Food security scheme to be launched on August 20

i. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday asked the states ruled by the party to implement in “letter and spirit” the food security scheme, which it sees as a “game-changer” in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. 

ii. Delhi, where Assembly polls are due by year-end, will be the first state to roll out the scheme on August 20, the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. 

iii. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme and the Food Security Act are being considered as major moves by Congress ahead of the 2014 General Elections as was the farmers' loan waiver scheme and MNREGA announced in UPA-I. 

iv. The loan waiver and MNREGA schemes were credited among other things for return of UPA to power in 2009. 

v. Several states, including Congress-ruled Karnataka and Uttarakhand, BJP-governed Chhattisgarh, SP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and JD(U)-run Bihar, could see early roll out of the programme. 

4.    Shalini Singh bags Prem Bhatia award for political reporting

i. Shalini Singh, a Deputy Editor with The Hindu, has bagged the prestigious Prem Bhatia Award for Political Reporting-2013.

ii. She has been selected for her ‘excellent coverage of several key issues,’ particularly her ‘reporting of the telecom and Coalgate scandals.’

iii. S. Nihal Singh, chairman of the four-member jury that decided on the award, said: “We were impressed with Shalini Singh’s meticulousness in pursuing a story to its logical conclusion, which is not a quality to be found in many reporters. 

iv. The whole idea of the award is to recognise journalists who show great promise, and Ms. Singh’s work on the 2G scam, Coalgate and her information-gathering skills made her a fit candidate.”

v. Jaideep Hardikar, a Special Correspondent with The Telegraph, bagged the Prem Bhatia award for excellence in environmental reporting, particularly related to rural and agrarian issues.

vi. The award ceremony will be held on August 11, where the former Foreign Secretary and chairman of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), Shyam Saran, will deliver the 18th Annual Prem Bhatia Memorial Lecture.

vii. Previous award-winners include Harish Khare, Praveen Swami, P. Sainath, Gargi Parsai, Nirupama Subramanian, Pallavi Aiyar and Amit Baruah for their works in The Hindu.

5.    Amar Bose, inventor of Bose audio systems, dead

i. Amar G. Bose, the visionary Indian-American engineer and inventor, famous for making high-quality Bose audio systems bearing his name and speakers for home users, auditoriums and automobiles, is dead.

ii. The billionaire entrepreneur and founder and chairman of the privately held Bose Corporation, died at his home in Wayland, Massachusetts on Friday, The New York Times reported. He was 83.

iii. As company, Bose focused relentlessly on acoustic engineering innovation. His speakers, though expensive, earned a reputation for bringing concert-hall-quality audio into the home

iv. Though his first speakers fell short of expectations, Bose kept at it. In 1968, he introduced the Bose 901 Direct/Reflecting speaker system, which became a best seller for more than 25 years and firmly entrenched Bose, based in Framingham, Massachusetts, as a leader in a highly competitive audio components marketplace.