The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2014 has been awarded to the French author, Patrick Modiano, “for the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation”.
The last time a French author won a Nobel for Literature was in 2008 when Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio won.
Modiano has also been the recipient of other awardsincluding Grand prix du roman de l’Academie francaise in 1972 and the 2010 prix mondial Cino Del Duca by the Institut de France for lifetime achievement. In 2012, he won the Austrian State Prize for European Literature.
Patrick Modiano
Modiano was born on July 30, 1945 in a suburb of Paris. He studied at the Lycée Henri-IV in Paris. His private geometry coach, Raymond Queneau, was also a writer and had a significant influence on Modiano’s career. His writings are in French, though some have been translated into English and other languages.
He made his writing debut in 1968 with La place de l’étoile. His first work was widely discussed and well known but it hasn’t been translated into English. Most of his work centres around ambiguous themes such as memory, oblivion, identity and guilt. His stories also tend to be of an autobiographical nature and draw upon his city and its history. Some of Modiano’s works have been translated into English, among them Les boulevards de ceinture (1972; Ring Roads : A Novel, 1974), Villa Triste (1975;Villa Triste, 1977), Quartier perdu (1984; A Trace of Malice, 1988) and Voyage de noces (1990; Honeymoon, 1992). His latest work is the novel Pour que tu ne te perdes pas dans le quartier.
Other than an author of novels, Modiano has also written children’s novels and movie scripts.
Central Government defers countrywide rout ofoll National Food Security Act for six months
The Centre has deferred the rollout of the NationalFood Security Act for the second time in a year. The deadline of October 2014 has been extended for another six months
Background
The National Food Security Act was passed in July 2013. At that time, states were given one year to identify beneficiaries and put in measures to provide subsidized foodgrains to them. However, after a year’s time, most states had still not made progress. Hence, an extension of another four months till October was given. But, since many states have still not managed to put the required infrastructure in place for implementation of the provision of the National Food Security Act, another extension of six months has been given by the Central Government.
Lack of readiness
A large number of states wanted the nation wide rollout of the National Food Security Act to be deferred because they were not ready to implement it. The onus of identifying the beneficiaries was put on the states by the National Food Security Act. Many states have yet to finalise the beneficiaries, and there has been a lot of debate on how to identify them. Also, most states who weren’t implementing their own foodgrain distribution programs have to establish infrastructure from scratch. Information about fair price shops have to be digitised and godowns built to store enough foodgrains for such a far-reaching program. 11 states and Union Territories, namely Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan,Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra,Karnataka, Delhi and Chandigarh have partially or fully implemented the National Food Security Act. However, many of the large states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have not yet put the required mechanism in place.
Mark Zuckerberg visits India-stresses connectivity for whole world
Founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, is in New Delhi on a two day visit to India. He will launch the global internet project, Internet.org in Delhi.
While in India, Zuckerberg met PM Modi and later spoke of Digital India initiative and said it was a positive development. His visit comes months after the visit of Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg.
Internet.org
Internet.org is a global partnership between leaders in the field of technology, NGOs, local communities and experts who work together to bring internet connectivity to the two-thirds of world’s population that doesn’t have access to internet now.
Through Internet.org, Zuckerberg aims to make internet more accessible and affordable to all people around the world. In the next five years, the project aims to provide internet connectivity to 5 billion people in the world.
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