Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Apr 06, 2017

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
This is the first set of Anti-Doping Rule Violation statistics under the revised WADA Code and third such report in its history since 2013.

The worrying sign for India is that the number of dope offenders has been increasing in the last three years.

India had 91 and 96 Anti-doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

An ADRV is a doping offence committed by an athlete or athlete support person, which results in certain consequences or sanctions.

It is derived from adverse analytical findings (AAFs), commonly known as ‘positive’ results.

Of the 117 Indian offenders of 2015, two are non-analytical ADRVs, which refer to cases that do not involve the detection of a prohibited substance by a WADA-accredited laboratory.

Instead there are instances like failure to submit to a test, possession, use or trafficking of a prohibited substance by athletes and support personnel.

Out of the 115 analytical ADRVs, 78 are committed by male athletes, while 37 are by female.

Among individual sports, weightlifting has taken over athletics as the dirtiest with a whopping 56 Indian lifters (32 male and 24 female) punished for doping.

Athletics contributed the second highest number of dope offenders with 21 (14 male and 7 female).

This was followed by boxing (8), wrestling (8), cycling (4), kabaddi (4), aquatics (3), powerlifting (3), judo (2), wushu (2), rowing, bodybuilding (1), hockey (1), football (1) and street and ball hockey (1).

Among the NADOs, India’s National Anti—Doping Agency recorded 109 ADRVs, the second highest behind Russia’s (127).

The NADA took 5162 samples during 2015, out of which 110 tested positive for banned substances - AAFs. But there was no sanction in one case.

A total of 229,412 samples were received and analysed in 2015 by WADA-accredited laboratories worldwide. Out of these, 2,522 samples were reported as AAFs.

There were a total of 1,929 ADRVs (1,901 from athletes and 28 from athlete support personnel) out of which 1,649 are analytical findings and 280 from ‘evidence - based intelligence’ non - analytical findings.

Out of 1649 are Analytical ADRVs, 1304 cases (79 per cent) were of male and 345 female (21 per cent); 390 (24 per cent) were from out - of - competition tests and 1259 in - competition (76 per cent); 1644 urine and five blood.

The dope offenders belong to 80 sports/disciplines and 121 nationalities.

Among sports disciplines worldwide, bodybuilding overtook athletics in contributing the highest number of dope cheats with 270 such cases.

Athletics is second at 242, followed by weightlifting (239), cycling (200), powerlifting (110), football (108), rugby union (80), boxing (66), wrestling (57) and basketball (39).

Just like the increase in the number of Indian dope offenders, the worldwide figure also showed an upward trend.

WADA: Know More

• Headquarters: Montreal, Canada
• President: Craig Reedie
• Purpose: Anti-doping in sport
• Motto: Play True
• Official language: English, French
• Founder: Dick Pound

ANSWER: April 5

Explanation:
April 5 marks the National Maritime Day of India.

On this day in 1919 navigation history was created when SS Loyalty, the first ship of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, journeyed to the United Kingdom.

The National Maritime Day was first celebrated on 5th April, 1964.

The strategic geographical position of the Indian sub-continent with vast expanse of the seas around naturally led to seafaring even in the days of the Indus Valley civilisation dating back to circa 3000 BC.

Since time immemorial Indians have displayed a remarkable interest in seafaring and maritime activities.

The shipbuilding industry in India had shown great progress so long as sailing ships with wooden hull were in vogue.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
The Centre on April 3, 2017 notified the constitution of the National Board of Electric Mobility (NBEM).

It also nominated six members of eminence and expertise from the automobile industry into it, including Vikram Kirloskar (Toyota Kirloskar Motors), Vinod Dasari (Ashok Leyland), Pawan Goenka (Mahindra & Mahindra and Sudarshan Venu (TVS Motors).

The nominated members will have a tenure of two years or until further government order, whichever is earlier. The members can be re-nominated for additional terms, if needed.

The Board will be chaired by the Secretary, the Department of Heavy Industry.

It will comprise senior bureaucrats as members, including secretaries in the Departments of Economic Affairs, Revenue, Power, Road Transport and Highways, and Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The Cabinet chaired by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had on March 31, 2011, cleared the proposal for the launch of NBEM and the National Council for Electric Mobility (NCEM).

The NBEM will examine, formulate and propose short- as well as long-term plans and contours of the mission programme on electric mobility, its objectives, quantifiable outcomes and roles and responsibilities of the various stakeholders.

It will propose and recommend policy guidelines and government interventions and possible strategies for promoting electric mobility and for encouraging manufacture of electric vehicles in the country.

One of its key functions will be to explore and recommend collaborations and tie-ups for technology acquisitions, obtaining technical experts and explore possible agreements with leading R&D centres globally.

This will facilitate availability of technology to the domestic industry.

The Board will coordinate and resolve difference of opinion, if any, among Ministries.

It will examine, recommend, monitor and review electric mobility-related R&D projects and pilot projects and also evaluate and propose business models for popularising electric mobility.

It will also formulate strategies and give directions to the various ministries and other stakeholders for implementing the decisions of NCEM.

The Board may, as deemed fit, also constitute sub-committees for looking into various specific aspects, the notification added.

ANSWER: Jhargram

Explanation:
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on April 4, 2017 announced Jhargram as a new district of the State.

Carved out of four Assembly seats of Paschim Medinipur district, Jhargram was once a hotbed of Maoist activity.

Lalgarh, which comes under the new district, had become a “liberated zone” after the Left Front government reclaimed the area through a joint operation with Central forces in June 2009.

Also on the anvil are a university at Jhargram, along with an archery academy, nine colleges and six hospitals.

Jhargram is the State’s 22nd district.

In February, the Mamata Banerjee government had made Kalimpong a separate district after carving it out of Darjeeling district.

In June 2014, Alipurduar, of Jalpaiguri district, became the 20th district of the State.

The State government has plans to bifurcate Bardhaman district into a rural and an industrial belt, and also make Sunderbans, spread over North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas, into a separate district.

According to the State government, creating new districts helps in administrative convenience and brings services closer to the people.

Jhargram: Know More

• The new district comprises eight blocks, nine police stations and one municipality.
• It has a population of around 11,37,000 and four Assembly constituencies - Jhargram, Gopiballavpur, Nayagram and Binpur.
• While R Arjun was appointed as Jhargram district magistrate, Abhishek Gupta was named the SP.
• CM announced that a budget Rs 200 crore has been sanctioned for development projects to be undertaken in the area.
• Around 35,000 people have been recruited in the police from Jangalmahal.

ANSWER: Malvika Sinha

Explanation:
The Reserve Bank has appointed Malvika Sinha as Executive Director following the appointment of B P Kanungo as Deputy Governor.

Sinha took charge on April 3.

As Executive Director, she will look after foreign exchange department, department of government and bank accounts and internal debt management wing.

Kanungo was Executive Director of the Reserve Bank before being elevated to the post of Deputy Governor.

Sinha had joined the Reserve Bank in 1982 and as a career central banker served in the areas of regulation and supervision, foreign exchange and government and bank accounts.

Prior to being promoted as ED, she was Principal Chief General Manager, Department of Cooperative Banking Supervision in the Reserve Bank.

Sinha holds a Masters Degree from University of Bombay and has done her Masters in Public Administration. She is also a Certificated Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers.

ANSWER: Tim Berners Lee

Explanation:
Berners-Lee who invented the World Wide Web is this year’s recipient of the A.M. Turing Award, computing’s version of the Nobel Prize.

He is 61.

The award, announced by the Association for Computing Machinery, marks another pinnacle for the British native, who has already been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and named as one of the 100 most important people of the 20th Century by Time magazine

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the organization that awards the $1 million prize, announced the Turing Award winner earlier this week.

The computer science rockstar has picked up more than a dozen major prizes and honorific titles over the years; for instance, he's earned a place in the Internet Hall of Fame and has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

That invention not only transformed the world in unimaginable ways but was also a technically and conceptually challenging feat, ACM noted.

Berners-Lee invented the unique system for locating data on the web (such as the now-ubiquitous URLs that help users navigate to a specific page).

He also created early versions of web browsers and envisioned the way all of these conceptual pieces would fit together,

Berners-Lee began his work on the invention of the World Wide Web in response to a practical problem: Back in 1989, physicists at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), home of the largest atom smasher in the world, were having trouble sharing their data.

Berners-Lee earned a physics degree from the University of Oxford in 1976.

He was at a series of companies before winding up at CERN and, in 1994, founded the World Wide Web Consortium.

WW Consortium is dedicated to making common guidelines and standards for all things internet-related.

Timothy Berners Lee: Know More

• Born: 8 June 1955,
• London, United Kingdom
• Awards: Internet Hall of Fame, Royal Medal, more
• Important Books: Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web by its Inventor.
• Education: The Queen's College, Oxford (1973–1976), Emanuel School (1969–1973)

ANSWER: Railway tariffs

Explanation:
The Union Cabinet approved a proposal on April 5, 2017 for setting up an independent regulatory agency for railways which will recommend revision of tariffs.

This is intended to depoliticise the revision of passenger fares.

After merging the railway budget with the Union Budget, the move is seen as another step in reforming the state-run transporter.

It also aims at making the process of revision of both passenger and freight fares transparent.

The regulator will have only recommendatory powers, but it could pave the way towards revising passenger fares, which are at present highly subsidised.

Freight rates are likely to come down as the cost is likely to be balanced against higher passenger fares, officials said. S

The regulator will lay down principles and rules for determining tariff in passenger and freight segments in a transparent manner.

The regulator will also ensure fair play and a level playing field for private or foreign players.

Private investment in the railways has been low be cause of uncertainties and frequent policy changes.

The regulator will also lay down standards for efficiency and performance which will lead to customer satisfaction in both passenger and freight services.

The authority will also be mandated to check deviations, if any , from the laid-down performance standards and suggest remedial measures which will empower customers -both passengers and freight operators.

The authority will also suggest guidelines for determining track access charge which will ensure better utilisation of dedicated freight corridors.

Railway Regulatory Agency: Know More

• The authority, to be set up by August 1 this year, will have a chairman and three members and can engage experts from different areas.
• The government chose the executive order route to ensure setting up of the regulator at the earliest, said an official.
• The independence of the regulator will be ensured through a separate budget and a stringent appointment and removal process for the chairman and members.
• The appointment will be done by the Centre from the panel of names recommended by the search-and-selection committee headed by the cabinet secretary and the rail board chairman, DoPT secretary and chairman of any other regulatory agency nominated by the cabinet secretary as members.
• The chairman and members will have a tenure of five years and can be removed by the Centre on grounds such as insolvency , conviction, misbehaviour, physical and mental incapability.

ANSWER: Child marriage

Explanation:
German cabinet on April 5, 2017 moved to ban child marriages after the recent mass refugee influx brought in couples where one or both partners were under 18.

The new law is set to be approved by July. It is a protective move for annulling child marriages of foreign minors.

It will allow youth welfare workers to take into care underaged girls even if they were legally married abroad and, if deemed necessary, separate them from their husbands.

The age of consent for all marriages in Germany will be raised from 16 to 18 years. Currently in some cases an 18-year-old is allowed to marry a 16-year-old.

Foreign marriages involving spouses under 16 will be considered invalid, and those involving 16 or 17-year-olds can be annulled by family courts.

Rare exceptions are possible, for example when one of the spouses suffers from a serious illness - but only if the couple are now both adults and both want to stay married.

The draft law would also punish with a fine any attempts to marry minors in traditional or religious rather than state ceremonies.

There were 1,475 married minors registered in Germany last July - 361 of them aged under 14 - according to the latest figures released after a parliamentary request.

Of these 1,152 were girls, said the interior ministry.

The largest group, 664 children, came from Syria followed by 157 from Afghanistan, 100 from Iraq, and 65 from Bulgaria.

But certain underage couples that have their own children, who could then be considered born out of wedlock and lose certain entitlements and inheritance rights.

Government in Germany: Know More

• Government: Federal parliamentary republic
• President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier
• Chancellor: Angela Merkel Legislature
• Upper house: Bundesrat
• Lower house: Bundestag

ANSWER: Russia

Explanation:
Russia has floated its newest nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine.

The launch of Kazan, considered a counterpart to U.S. Seawolf and Virginia-class, comes as Moscow claims its submarine fleet has increased combat patrols to levels last seen during the Cold War.

The Kazan is the first upgraded Project 885M Yasen-class attack submarine.

Equipped eight vertical missile launchers, it can deliver Kalibr or Oniks antiship and land-attack cruise missiles – particularly significant after Russian ships and submarines fired long-range missiles from the Caspian and the Black Sea into Syria in 2016.

For the first time in Russian shipbuilding, the torpedo tubes are located not in the bow but just forward of the sail or fin, making room for a large Irtysh-Amfora spherical sonar system in the bow.

The Yasen subs also have six 650mm and two 533mm torpedo tubes that can also deploy mines and launch underwater drones.

Russia: Know More

• Capital: Moscow
• Currency: Russian rouble
• President: Vladimir Putin
• Population: 143.5 million (2013) World Bank
• Prime minister: Dmitry Medvedev

ANSWER: Raman Roy

Explanation:
IT industry body NASSCOM has appointed Quatrro CMD Raman Roy its Chairman for 2017-18.

It has also named Rishad Premji, Wipro Chief Strategy Officer and son of technology czar Azim Premji, as the Vice-Chairman.

Roy, who served as the Vice-Chairman in the previous fiscal, will take on the new role from April 6.

He takes over the mantle from C P Gurnani, Managing Director and CEO of Tech Mahindra.

Nasscom expects 8-10% industry growth in FY18

Building India's innovation edge is another key priority and the industry body plans to scale up start-ups and centre of excellence initiatives to the next level.

The over USD 140 billion Indian IT industry faces a number of headwinds like growing protectionism from various countries and business shifts towards digital.

Nasscom sees 20-25% less IT jobs in the next three years

Roy, along with Rishad and Chandrashekhar, will lead Nasscom to carry out its diverse array of priorities.

The leadership team will also work towards further strengthening various sector councils and focus on enhanced member outreach and involvement.

NASSCOM: Know More

• Founded: 1 March 1988
• Membership: 2300+
• Purpose: Trade association
• Chairman: Raman Roy
• Headquarters: Chanakyapuri, New Delhi
• Founders: Dewang Mehta, Nandan Nilekani

ANSWER: BIOTA

Explanation:
The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala has launched a mobile app to track and gather data on distribution of flora and fauna.

This is aimed to help research scholars and scientists in the field of conservation and research.

Biodiversity app BIOTA was developed by researchers at CV Raman Laboratory of Ecological Informatics at IIITM-K.

This has been set up for higher education and research in the area of information technology.

A version of this app was also launched by the National Biodiversity Conference.

ANSWER: Germany

Explanation:
Germany has launched a new military unit dedicated to thwarting cyberattacks and responding if necessary.

The unit, which will be fully operational by 2021, will bring together information technology experts from other branches of the military, and also include new specialists.

In all, it's envisioned to have some 13,500 soldiers and civilians by summer.

The unit is being put under command of a lieutenant general with an initial 260 troops under his command.

The Defence Ministry says the military experiences thousands of cyberattacks of varying degrees of severity on its servers every day.

Germany: Know More

• Capital: Berlin
• Code: +49
• President: Frank-Walter Steinmeier
• Key Cities: Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Düsseldorf.
• Official language: German