Daily Current Affairs – 23rd January 2015, Friday

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1. Jhumpa Lahiri wins DSC
Prize for 2015

i. Indian-American author Jhumpa
Lahiri won the DSC Prize for Literature for her book, The Lowland.

ii. The DSC prize is one of South
Asia’s top literary awards.

iii. The Prize celebrates writing on
the South Asian region from writers across the globe and is given to the best
novel or translation into English of a work on or about the region.

iv. The prize was given by Pulitzer
Prize-winning poet Vijay Shesadri.

2. SBI launch “Chota
ATMs” in Kerala

i. State Bank of India, in partnership with Ezetap,
the mobile point-of-sale service provider, has launched Chota ATM in Kerala.

ii. Chota ATM will allow kirana store owners,
taxi drivers, small businessmen, etc. to turn
their mobile device into both a cash withdrawal point as well as a credit/debit
card payment terminal.

iii. Kerala is an important tourist destination
and a number of small and medium businesses catering to this sector can benefit
from the mPOS technology for accepting payments or to offer cash, C.V.
Venkatesh, General Manager, SBI said.

3. Saudi King
Abdullah passes away

i. Saudi Arabia’s
King Abdullah passed away today. He was 90 years old.

ii. He had joined
hands with the US to fight against al-Qaeda and sought to modernise the
ultraconservative Muslim kingdom with incremental but significant reforms,
including nudging open greater opportunities for women.

iii.Abdullah was
selected as crown prince in 1982 on the day his half-brother Fahd ascended the
throne.

iv. He became the de
facto ruler in 1995 when a stroke incapacitated Fahd.

4. Arunachal became the first state in the country
to launch web-based education programme

i. Arunachal Pradesh today became the first
state in the country to launch a web-based educational programme for all
schools. The programme was formally launched by the state Chief Minister Nabam
Tuki.

ii. The State government has started the
programme in collaboration with Google.

iii. Christened as the Chief Minister’s Global
Education Programme, the education system would initially be launched in 50 to
100 schools in the state.

iv. The system is a solution built for teachers
and students through Chrome books to bring the power of the web into classroom.

5. Kerala to get first International Institute
of Music

i. An International Institute of Music will soon
open in Kerala. The institute would be built and managed by a trust run by Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad
Ali Khan and his family.