International Organizations, Defence, Books & Authors, World History

Notes:
The book “Lincoln in the Bardo” has been authored by George Saunders, the Folio prize-winning author. The novel is a tale of death and beyond that captures the grief of Abraham Lincoln over the death of his 11-year-old son Willie while the Civil War raged on in the United States of America (USA). The book draws a parallel line between the lives of Willie’s ghost and a similar uncertain state of Lincoln, after the boy’s death. In simple words, the novel is a confrontation with the mysterious beyond the inevitable death, a question that has haunted humankind, and the way death can bring even the head of a nation to his knees.

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International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on 27 January every year. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the death of an estimated 6 million Jews and others by the Nazi regime.

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The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval battle fought on October 21, 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars. It was fought between a British fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson and a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain, near the Cape of Trafalgar. The British fleet emerged victorious, despite being outnumbered by the combined French and Spanish forces. The battle was a significant victory for the British, as it effectively ended the threat of a French invasion of Britain and cemented British naval dominance for the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was also notable for the death of Nelson, who was killed during the fighting.

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The BIS was formed in 1930. The main actors in its establishment were the then-Governor of The Bank of England, Montagu Norman, and his German counterpart Hjalmar Schacht, later Adolf Hitler’s finance minister. The Bank was originally intended to facilitate reparation payments imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War. The need for the bank was suggested in 1929 by the Young Committee, and was agreed to in August of that year at a conference at the Hague. A charter for the bank was drafted at the International Bankers Conference at Baden Baden in November. The charter was adopted at a second Hague Conference on January 20, 1930

Notes:
Saint Surdas, revered for his intense devotion to Lord Krishna, is the author of Sahitya Ratna. Blind from birth, he belonged to the Saguna School of the Bhakti Kal. Apart from Sahitya Ratna, Surdas has also composed Sur Sagar (Ocean of Melody), and Sur Saravali. His works, primarily centered around his spiritual affection for Lord Krishna, are celebrated for their melodious and devotional undertone.

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Home Guards, under State/UT Acts, recruit all Indian citizens aged 18-50 from varied professions. They serve voluntarily in emergencies like natural disasters and epidemics, contributing spare time to community safety. Both men and women can join, regardless of occupation or educational qualification, within the specified age.

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Atin Bandyopadhyay (85), the renowned Bengali writer, has passed away in Kolkata on 19th January, 2019. Born in 1934 in Dhaka, he had taken up various jobs as a sailor, school teacher, factory manager, journalist to finally became a writer. He won the 2001 Sahitya Akademi award for his compilation of short stories ‘Panchashati Galpo’. His masterpiece is considered to be a four-part tetralogy on the Partition: “Nilkantha Pakhir Khonje”, ”Manusher Gharbari”, “Aloukik Jalajan” and “Ishwarer Bagan”.

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INS Trishul acquired by Indian Navy has been built by Russia. INS Trishul (F43) is the second frigate of the Talwar class of the Indian Navy. Trishul, the guided missile frigate, joined the arsenal of Indian Navy.

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Amitav Ghosh is a renowned Indian author known for his rich and complex novels that weave together personal stories and historical events. His literary works also include “The Shadow Lines”, “The Hungry Tide” and the “Ibis Trilogy”. Ghosh’s novels have been translated into more than twenty languages and have won him numerous awards. His unique literary style blends historical detail, political commentary, and elements of the surreal.

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Dadabai Naoroji who is known as the grand old man of India is a critique of the drain of wealth. He explained the British exploitation of Indian wealth and Indian resources through his book “Poverty and un-British rule in India”.