Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Apr 06, 2016

ANSWER: CASHe

Explanation:
Tslc Pte Ltd, a financial tech company has announced the launch of mobile only lending platform CASHe providing users personalised experience to borrow cash.

• The financial platform was launched by Arjun Kapoor
• Others present at the event included Dr. Rakesh Mohan and Suhel Seth.
• CASHe uses up to date proprietary technology mining the social network of the borrower to arrive at a Social Loan Quotient and loan eligibility amount.

ANSWER: April 7th

Explanation:
The World Health week has commenced from 5th April and is being held to commemorate the World Health Day on April 7th 2016. Ministry will also launch numerous health initiatives including those on TB, diabetes and communicable as well as non communicable diseases.

ANSWER: Asia Pacific Remote Sensing Symposium

Explanation:
Minister of State Independent Charge for Development of North Eastern Region, Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated a 3 day global conference and exhibition on space under the aegis of Asia Pacific Remote Sensing Symposium. He also lauded participation of Space Scientists from France, Japan and China. The symposium has been organised by Ministry of Earth Sciences and SPIE as well as ISRO.

• The symposium is being hosted by Indian Society of Remote Sensing
• Around 100 global participants and 300 domestic participants have taken part in the initiative.

ANSWER: National Institutional Ranking Framework

Explanation:
This is the first ranking in the nation for higher educational institutions. History has been made as the National Institutional Ranking Framework was launched. This is one of the latest challenges in the field of higher education- a ranking system.

• The rankings are arrived at following detailed analysis and validation of data submitted by more than 3600 higher educational institutions. Academic institutes will be assessed on parameters such as teaching, learning, professional performance and collaborative research.

ANSWER: 93%

Explanation:
Unique Identification Authority of India has generated 100th crore Aadhaar registration on April 4, 2016. This marks the first such landmark.

• Recently a historic legislation Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits, and Services) Act 2016 has been notified by the Government.
• Aadhaar now covers 93% of the people above 18 years of age

Some of the other Aadhaar achievements:

• More than 100 crore people have Aadhaar
• 3.96 Crores (93%) of adults in India have Aadhaar
• 22.25 Crore (67%) Children of age 5-18 Years have Aadhaar
• 2.30 Crore (20%) Children of Age 0- <5 years have Aadhaar
• Every day more than 5-7 lakhs people get enrolled for Aadhaar.
• Aadhaar is now the largest online digital identity platform in the world.

ANSWER: Grauer’s gorilla

Explanation:
Population of the world’s largest primate Grauer’s gorilla found in DRC or Democratic Republic of Congo has fallen by 77% in 20 years according to a fresh report

• From an estimate of 17,000 in 1998 to 3,800 in 2016, the gorillas have been victims of warfare, mining and illegal hunting
• The research was done by scientists from Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute working with the Wildlife Conservation Society, Flora and Fauna International and the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature.
• Grauer's gorilla, Gorilla beringei graueri, is found only in forests of the eastern DRC.
• Males can weigh more than 400 pounds, making this the largest gorilla subspecies and hence the largest primate in the world.
• Another species of gorilla, the Western Gorilla, G. gorilla, is found in central Africa west of the Congo River.

ANSWER: Gatimaan express

Explanation:
India’s first semi high speed train has been christened as Gatimaan express. It is capable of running at maximum speeds of 160 KMPH introduced on the Indian Railway system from April 5th 2016. The launch of the train heralds a new era of high speed rail travel in India.

ANSWER: 1966

Explanation:
President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee on April 5th 2016 presented the National Geoscience Awards 2014 at a Rahstrapati Bhawan function.

• The National Geoscience Award for Excellence was conferred on Prof Ashok Kumar Singhvi
• The award is given to professionally qualified geo scientists, engineers or technologists and academicians with significant contribution in field of earth sciences.

ANSWER: Iceland

Explanation:
Numerous politicians, celebs and criminals have been implicated in a 11 million strong cache of leaked files showing how the rich stored their money using offshore assets and illegally saved on tax.

• Iceland’s PM Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson' resigned- he and his wife were implicated in the scam
• Leak has been dubbed Panama Papers by ICIJ or International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a non profit group in the US which originally published them
• Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca has been the creator of some of the world’s biggest shell firms
• 12 current and former world leaders as well as 128 prominent figures are those named in the records

ANSWER: Microcephaly

Explanation:
2 Vietnamese women have contracted Zika virus linked to rare birth defect microcephaly

• This marks the first case of Zika infections in the nation
• Zika is carried by mosquitoes, which transmit the virus to humans.
• Zika has not been proven to cause microcephaly in babies, but there is growing evidence that suggests a link with this condition associated with small heads that can result in developmental problems.
• Brazil said it has confirmed more than 860 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers.

ANSWER: Vedanta

Explanation:
Mining conglomerate Vedanta said its subsidiary Talwandi Sabo Power (TSPL) has set the Guinness World Record for planting 2,08,751 saplings at a single location in less than an hour. The mass plantation drive was organised in Mansa (Punjab) on October 30, 2015.

Vedanta is a LSE listed company.

ANSWER: UK

Explanation:
The announcement has been made that standardisation of vocational education is crucial in bringing about a level in the efficiency of the skilled workforce. Ministry of Skill Development chosen UK standards to benchmark Indian Skills standards since all the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries recognise UK skill certification.

• 2 MoUs were signed between NSDC and Association of Colleges (UK) and NSDC and UK Awarding Organisation City & Guilds and Pearsons Education.
• These MoUs were signed to enable sharing of best practice, staff exchange and development of new models to increase employer engagement and investment in skills.
• The Transnational Standards will highlight the gaps in Indian Standards against the UK standards.
• Further the UK Awarding organisation, City & Guilds and Pearsons, in association with Indian SSCs will certify the trainees on the gap.

ANSWER: 0.25

Explanation:
A host of measures have been introduced to smoothen liquidity supply so banks can follow productive sectors for lending and have an accommodative stance going ahead

• Weak private investment in face of low capacity utilisation has spurred the need for a reduction in policy rate by 0.25 percent and introduced a host of measures to smoothen liquidity supply
• RBI’s repo rate or the rate at which it lends to the financial system has come down to 6.5 percent- this cut is in line with expectations as the stock market has reacted, however the BSE Sensex was down 300 points
• A host of measures were also taken on the liquidity front with the narrowing of the policy rate corridor to 0.50 percent from earlier 1 percentage point.

ANSWER: Stand Up India Scheme

Explanation:
PM Narendra Modi launched Stand Up India Scheme to promote entrepreneurship among SC, ST and Women entrepreneurs

The Kaushal Kendra (Skilling Center) under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana in Noida also came up

• The Scheme is intended to facilitate at least two projects per bank branch, on an average one for each category of entrepreneur.
• It is expected to benefit at least 2.5 lakh borrowers within 36 months.
• It provides for refinance window through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with an initial amount of INR 10000 crore and credit guarantee mechanism through the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC).