DAILY GK UPDATE - 6th April

1.    First phase of Lok Sabha elections begins tomorrow

i.  The battle lines have been drawn for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in five seats in Assam on Monday. 

ii. Five constituencies in Assam � Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur � and Tripura (West) in Tripura will go to the polls on Monday.

iii. Campaigning has already ended in these constituencies and the candidates have mounted door-to-door contact with the electorate, seeking their votes.

iv. The Congress, BJP, Trinamool Congress, AIUDF, AGP, AAP, SUCI, CPI (M), AIFB and SP are contesting five seats in Tezpur, Koliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur in the Congress-ruled State.

v. Among the 51 candidates are Union Ministers Ranee Narah and Paban Singh Ghatowar, former Union Minister and sitting MLA Bijoy Krishna Handique, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi�s son Gourav Gogoi and Bhupen Kumar Bora for the Congress.

Timings for Lok Sabha voting - 7 am to 6 pm

i. In order to ensure maximum voting in the Lok Sabha election beginning Monday, polling will be held for the first time from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

ii. The only exception will be the north-eastern region where polling will start at 7 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. However, Manipur and Nagaland will vote from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. due to security reasons.

iii. The Election Commission has also decided to hold voting in four Maoist affected constituencies in Jharkhand (Rajmahal, Dumka, Godda and Dhanbad) from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
iv. The nine-phase Lok Sabha election begins Monday and will end May 12. The vote count will take place May 16.

2.    Australian eves complete hat-trick of World T20 titles

i. Australian eves once again proved their supremacy in women�s cricket as they completed a hat-trick of ICC World T20 titles with a comprehensive six-wicket win over England in the final in Mirpur on Sunday.

ii. Australian captain Meg Lanning smashed her way to 44 off 30 balls, helping her team surpass a paltry target of 106 with as many as 29 balls to spare.

iii. Lanning�s innings had four boundaries and two sixes. The first six -- a lofted shot over long-off ropes off seamer Anya Shrubsole -- was a treat to watch. It was a copybook backlift and one can�t take away anything from that shot although the boundary ropes have been brought in by at least 10 yards for the women�s final.

Brief Scores

England Women 105/8 in 20 overs (Heather Knight 29, Sarah Coyte 3/11, Elysse Perry 2/13).

Australian Women 106/4 in 15.1 overs (Meg Lanning 44, Elysse Perry 31 no).

Australian women�s team won by 6 wickets.

3.    Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Anja Niedringhaus shot dead in Afghanistan

i. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Anja Niedringhaus on 4 April 2014 shot dead by a policeman in Afghanistan. She was 48. She was killed while covering the 2014 presidential election in Afghanistan.

ii. Anja Niedringhaus was a German photojournalist working for the Associated Press. She was the only woman on a team of 11 AP photographers that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for coverage of the Iraq War. That same year she was awarded the International Women's Media Foundation's Courage in Journalism prize.

4.    President Obama nominated PIO Sunil Sabharwal as US Alternate Executive Director of IMF

i. President Barack Obama on 4 April 2014 nominated Sunil Sabharwal as the next US Alternate Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He is currently working as independent investor in the payments sector.

About Sunil Sabharwal

i. His earliest known job was at European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where he worked from 1992-1996, eventually becoming its Principal Banker before leaving. 

ii.   In 1997, Sabharwal joined GE Capital, leaving in 2003 while he was the company�s Managing Director.

iii.  From 2003-2006, he was Senior Vice-President of Strategic Investments at First Data Corporation, Western Union.

5.    India secure World Group Play-offs berth in Davis Cup Tennis

i. India today secured a World Group Play-offs berth in Davis Cup Tennis, as it defeated hosts South Korea, 3-1 in the second round of the Asia Oceania Group-I tie at Busan.

ii. Needing just one win from 2 Reverse Singles matches on the final day of the tie, Somdev Devvarman defeated Yong-Kyu Lim, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 to take India to the World Group Play-offs. The other Reverse Singles match was scheduled to take place between Sanam Singh and Hyeon Chug.

iii. In the lone Doubles match yesterday, the duo of Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni prevailed over Hyung-Taik Lee and Lim Yong-Kyu in four sets to give India a crucial 2-1 lead.

6.    Writer-environmentalist Peter Matthiessen dies

i. Peter Matthiessen, a rich man�s son who rejected a life of ease in favour of physical and spiritual challenges and produced such acclaimed works as The Snow Leopard and At Play in the Fields of the Lord, died Saturday. He was 86.

ii. Matthiessen helped found The Paris Review, one of the most influential literary magazines, and won National Book Awards for The Snow Leopard, his spiritual account of the Himalayas, and for Shadow Country. 

iii. A leading environmentalist and wilderness writer, he embraced the best and worst that nature could bring him, whether trekking across the Himalayas, parrying sharks in Australia or enduring a hurricane in Antarctica.

iv. Matthiessen was born in New York in 1927, the son of Erard A. Matthiessen, a wealthy architect and conservationist. �The Depression had no serious effect on our well-insulated family,� the author would later write.