Important Autobiographies by Indians

Important Autobiographies by Indians.

1. The Test of My Life ‐ Yuvraj Singh
2. Wings of Fire ‐ APJ Abdul Kalam
3. Courage and Conviction ‐ Gen VK Singh
4. A Shot at History ‐ Abhinav Bindra
5. The Race of My Life ‐ Milkha Singh
6. One Life Is Not Enough ‐ K Natwar Singh
7. The Substance and The Shadow ‐ Dilip Kumar
8. The Unbreakable ‐ Mary Kom
9. Playing It My Way ‐ Sachin Tendulkar
10. Not Just an Accountant : The Diary of the
Nation's Conscience Keeper ‐ Vinod Rai
11. Straight from the Heart ‐ Kapil Dev
12. All From Memory ‐ BV Acharya
13. Matters of Discretion ‐ Inder Kumar Gujral
14. My Country My Life ‐ LK Advani
15. Truth, Love & a Little Malice ‐ Khushwant Singh
16. Jakhan Choto Chilam ‐ Satyajit Ray
17. Lucknow Boy: A Memoir ‐ Vinod Mehta
18. And then One Day : A Memoir ‐ Nasiruddin Shah
19. Sunny Days ‐ Sunil Gavaskar

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2016 Pulitzer Prizes Announced

2016 Pulitzer Prizes Announced 

The 2016 Pulitzer Prizes were announced on 18th April in the US. It is an award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States.

It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of American (Hungarian-born) Joseph Pulitzer who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher, and is administered by Columbia University in New York City.


The prizes are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories. In this award, twenty of the categories, each winner receives a certificate and a US$10,000 cash award and the one winner in the public service category of the journalism competition is awarded a gold medal.


Here is the list of some winners.

Breaking News Reporting – Los Angeles Times Staff

Investigative Reporting – Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier of the Tampa Bay Times and Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Explanatory Reporting – T. Christian Miller of ProPublica and Ken Armstrong of The Marshall Project

Local Reporting – Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner of the Tampa Bay Times.

National Reporting – The Washington Post Staff

International Reporting – Alissa J. Rubin of The New York Times

Feature Writing – Kathryn Schulz of The New Yorker

Commentary – Farah Stockman of The Boston Globe

Criticism – Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker

Editorial Writing – John Hackworth of Sun Newspapers, Charlotte Harbor, FL

Editorial Cartooning – Jack Ohman The Sacramento Bee

Breaking News Photography – Mauricio Lima, Sergey Ponomarev, Tyler Hicks and Daniel Etter of The New York Times and Photography Staff of Thomson Reuters.

Feature Photography – Jessica Rinaldi of The Boston Globe

Fiction – The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove Press)Drama – Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda

History – Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T.J. Stiles (Alfred A. Knopf)

Biography – Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan (Penguin Press)

Poetry – Ozone Journal by Peter Balakian (University of  Chicago Press)

Nonfiction – Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS by Joby Warrick (Doubleday)

Music – In for a Penny, In for a Pound by Henry Threadgill (Pi Recordings)

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Impact of Non Performing Assets

1. What is the impact of Non Performing Assets (NPA) in the banking sector on the over all economy? What has union budget done to resolve this issue?

The NPA in the public sector banks is estimated to be at little over 6%. 11 public sector banks have declared losses after a long time  due to NPAs. The problem has substantially increased in the post crisis period.
NPA impact on the overall economy will be as follows –
1. Restrictions on the investment
2. Growth recovery is obstructed
3. Loans to the agricultural sector will decrease
4. Repo rate reduction does not result in reviving the investment cycle
5. There will be high inflation and large fiscal deficits (IMF)
The measures under taken by the 2016 budget to handle this twin balance sheet problem are –
1. Allocation of 25,000 crore as part of the recapitalisation process , if needed more will be allocated. ( it is a direct measure)
2. introduction of a comprehensive code of resolution of financial firms
3. Amendments in SARFAESI (The Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest)Act 2002 to enable the sponsor of an ARC(Asset Reconstruction Company) to hold up to 100% stake in the ARC and permit non institutional investors to invest in securitization Receipts.
4. Amendment to the Debt Recovery Tribunal law and making them functioning online
5. Introduction of comprehensive central legislation to deal with the menace of illicit deposit taking schemes
6. Increasing members and benches of the securities appellate tribunal
7. Increasing the amount sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana
These measures would help the credit flow and remove credit constraints for real sector. In addition, there is also a need for -
a. Implementing the PJ Nayak Committee recommendations on the Review of Governance of Boards of Banks in India.
b. Continuing the fiscal consolidation measures
c. Banks have to adjust the liquidity to their assets

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Mini Moon

The moon will appear to be smaller in size on full moon day on Thursday, a phenomenon known as 'Mini Moon' which will recur only after 15 years.

On Thursday at 9.35pm IST, the moon will be close to its apogee - the farthest point in its orbit around the earth which is a distance of around 406,350 km from the earth.
On an average the moon is 384,000 km away from the earth.

"When the full moon happens tomorrow it will still be very close to its farthest point from the earth. So it will be smaller than an average full moon," Debiprosad Duari, Director of M P Birla Planetarium, Kolkata, told PTI on Wednesday

Sky-gazers in India will however not be able to see the 'Mini Moon' at its precise apogee, which will happen at 10.55am on Thursday, due to the presence of daylight.

However, at night the view of the 'Mini Moon' will only be a shade lighter, he said.

The next time when the moon will be farther than tomorrow will be on December 10, 2030, he said.

The colour of the celestial body will be its usual silvery pearl and not any shade of pink or green as was being rumored over the Internet, Duari said.

Compared to a super-moon, a phenomenon when the moon is nearest to the earth, the mini moon will be 14 percent smaller in size.

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