Current Affairs and Gk -March 2013 Part-2

Halland
Sweden’s Princess Lilian, the Welsh-born model who lived with her lover Prince Bertil for 30 years before they were married, has died at the age of 97. Prince Bertil was popular in Sweden where he was dubbed “Prince Charming” by the media for his long romance with Lilian. He died in 1997 aged 84 with Lilian at his bedside.

Britain
The Falkland Islands are an archipelago located in the South Atlantic Ocean. The islands are the contentious issue between Argentina and Britain as both claim sovereignty over them. In a recently conducted referendum, most of the islanders wanted to stay with Britain.

Tan Tweng Eng
Malaysian author Tan Tweng Eng has won this year’s Man Asian Literary Prize for “The Garden of Evening Mists,” set in the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Malaysia.

Rajasthan
Welspun Energy has commissioned Asia’s largest solar power project at Jodhpur district in Rajasthan. This is the largest solar project to be developed by Welspun Energy till date and is also the largest PV power plant in India. The entire 50 MW solar project, located near Phalodi, Jodhpur District was developed in three phases of 15 MW, 15 MW and 20 MW. The PV project will generate total electricity of 90 million kWh or units annually and supply clean energy to power 25 million families.

Landing of Indian troops in Mauritius
The Top Secret ‘Operation Lal Dora’ — which remains highly classified to this day — was conceived in 1983 with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s approval and called for the amphibious landing of troops from the 54th Division to help the Mauritian Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth fight off a challenge from his radical rival Paul Berenger which New Delhi feared might take the form of an attempted coup.

Subir Gokarn
Subir Gokarn, the former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been named the first director of research for Brookings India. He will also serve as a Brookings Senior Fellow. Subir Gokarn had recently completed his term as a Deputy Governor of the RBI. The Brookings India was launched in January in New Delhi to focus on policy issues related to India and the world. Brookings India is the India Centre of The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC.

Sri Lanka
Away from the current political turmoil, in the quiet hills of Sri Lanka, plans are afoot to build a temple for goddess Sita at Divurumpola, near Nuwara-Eliya, a place believed to be associated with the Ramayana. It is where Sita underwent ‘Agni Pariksha’ (test by fire). Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chauhan mooted the project in September 2012 when Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Sanchi to inaugurate the University of Buddhist-Indic Studies. Mr. Chauhan offered to fund the project, sanctioning Rs. 1 crore.

Classical dancer
Padma Bhushan-winning Kathakali exponent Kalamandalam Ramankutty Nair, 88, passed away. Disciple of Pattikanthodi Ravunni Menon, a legendary Kathakali mentor, Ramankutty Nair was one of the truest exponents of ‘Kalluvazhi Chitta,’ the school propagated by Ravunni Menon. For the purity of his style and the trail he blazed as a practitioner and teacher of ‘Kalluvazhi Chitta,’ Ramankutty Nair was known as ‘Panini of Kathakali.’ He became famous for his role of Parasurama in ‘Sita Swayamvaram,’ which became his trade mark in his early days. He was the most appreciated for his enactment of Ravana, Duryodhana, Keechaka and other negative heroes in the category of performance called ‘katthi vesham.’