Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Apr 23, 2016

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
India began the probe into steel dumping by 4 countries. India has initiated the probe into the dumping of various steel products by countries such as China, Korea and Japan. SAIL, JSW Steel, Essar Steel India and JSW Steel Coated Products have filed a petition before the Directorate General of Anti Dumping and Allied Duties for inflation of anti-dumping investigation. Players have also suggested imposition of anti dumping duty on alleged dumped import of cold rolled/cold reduced flat steel products of iron or non alloy steel. DGAD is the nodal agency for investigations.

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
Following soaring temperatures in Kerala, scientists have striven to create one of the coolest places in Asia known as the new Cold Atom Lab at ISRO inertial systems unit which will be the first of its kind in Asia. This was inaugurated by ISRO chairman AS Kiran Kumar. It also marks the silver jubilee year or completion of 25 years at IISU.

• Scientists at this facility use laser beams to cool fundamental particles or rubidium atoms
• The laser beams split into two with the laser interferometer, one of which moves clockwise and the other anti-clockwise and meet at a point.
• The wave nature of the atoms leads to an interference pattern where tow waves carrying energy meet up and overlap
• Atom is then magnetically trapped and radio waves are used to cool the atoms 100 times lower
• Radiofrequency radiation slices away the hottest atoms from the trap; only the coldest remain
• It was Satyendra Bose and Albert Einstein who predicated the existence of such atoms at extremely cold temperatures.

ANSWER: 175

Explanation:
Historic agreement on climate change had marked a major milestone with close to 175 countries including India signing it on opening day. World leaders made it clear more action was needed. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has indicated the world is in a race against time. The planet is heating up to record levels and glaciers are melting.

• The agreement is to enter into force once 55 nations representing close to 55% of the global emissions have formally joined it, a process expected to take up till 2020.
• China, the top carbon emitter in the world said it would finalise domestic procedures to ratify the agreement prior to the G20 summit in China in the month of September.

ANSWER: 24th April 1990

Explanation:
The Hubble was launched into the earth orbit by the STS-31 space shuttle crew on April 24, 1980. Astronomers have unveiled an image of the bubble blown into space by a massive hot star 7100 light years from earth.

• The Hubble is currently making its 26th revolution around the home star
• Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) is 7 light years across and one and a half times the distance from the Sun to the nearest stellar neighbour, Alpha Centauri
• It is located in the constellation Cassiopeia.
• The seething star forms this Nebula which is 45 times more massive than the Sun
• Gas on the star gets hot and escapes into space as a stellar wind moving at over 4 million miles per hour

ANSWER: Greece

Explanation:
This launched the torch relay for the first ever South American games. The Olympic Games this time have been overshadowed by the political crisis in Brazil. Rio games would be a message of hope in troubled times. The 4 month Olympic torch relay will cross part of Greece and numerous Brazilian cities before arriving at Marcana Stadium in Rio.

ANSWER: White Cheeked Macaque

Explanation:
A new primate species in India has been discovered by biologists and wildlife photographers at the time of the bird watching trip to Ajnaw district in Arunachal Pradesh. A team of ornithologists and associate professors discovered this during the birdwatching trip.

• The White Cheeked Macaque has been differentiated from other macaque species such as Rhesus Macaque, Arunachal Macaque, Assamese macaque and Tibetan macaque.
• The White Cheeked Macaque was discovered in Tibet in 2015 and the species is new to science.

ANSWER: Guy Hamilton

Explanation:
Well known director Guy Hamilton who directed 4 James Bond movies passed away on 20th April 2016 in Mallorca, a Spanish island. He was 93 years old at this time. He created vintage James Bond movies starring Roger Moore and Sean Connery.

ANSWER: Sri Lanka

Explanation:
EU has lifted a 15 month long ban on Sri Lankan fisheries exports. Before the ban was imposed in January 2015, EU accounted for one third of the fishing exports in Sri Lanka in terms of volume and 40% of the exports in terms of revenue against total fish export earnings of USD 267 million in that year, from which Sri Lanka got USD 108 million from Europe. Ban was imposed because Sri Lanka engaged in illegal fishing.

ANSWER: BRICS

Explanation:
National Institute of Technology has earned the distinction of being one of 12 institutes of India to sign an MoU with member countries of BRICS namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. NIT involves the study of computer sciences and information science. It has a strong background in the study of water resources and pollution treatment.

• MoU among BRICS is for creating a BRICS Network University which facilitates sharing strengths, exchange of students and facility as well as long term courses including PhD programmes.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Rashtrapati Bhavan on 22nd April 2016 approved a list of 6 nominated members to the RS including Senior BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy, Test cricketer and BJP MP Navjot Sindhu and boxing legend Mary Kom. Economist and former member of the NAC Narendra Jadhav has been nominated for an RS seat along with journalist Swapan Dasgupta and Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi.

ANSWER: Chad

Explanation:
Deblyidress Debby was on 21st April 2016 elected as President of Chad, and has become the incumbent president with fifth term in office in a victory which was lopsided. In the 2016 election, Idriss Deby of the Patriotic Salvation Movement party secured 61.56 percent of the vote in the first round runoff. Opposition leader Saleh Kehzabo finished in second place, followed by Laokein Kourayo Mbahiherem.

• Deby is also the AU chairperson and was elected by the Assembly of Heads of State of AU in January 2016 for a single year term.

ANSWER: Second

Explanation:
India has witnessed a rise of 156% in social media scams with every 6th scam impacting an Indian, according to security software firm Symantec. The Symantec Internet Security Threat Report has found India to be the most targeted country in Asia and the second in the world.

• Scamming using social media or social engineering is going on at a massive rate in India, with India ranking second in the Asia Pacific- Japan region as a source of malicious activity.
• India was once considered the spam capital of the world and now ranks 18th as a source of spam.
• It continues to rank as the third top source of malicious activity including spam, malware, bots and hosts for phishing.

ANSWER: 2 crore

Explanation:
The Petrol and Natural Gas ministry marked the achievement of one crore consumers joining the GiveItUp movement started at the Urja Sangam conclave. Via the GiveItUp initiative, government of India has urged well off customers to surrender their subsidy and help poor families having no LPG connection through subsidy savings.

• More than 60 lakh connections have been given to the BPL families as part of this initiative.

ANSWER: PROVe

Explanation:
National Institute of Ocean Technology has used the indigenously developed PROVe to map coral reefs in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

• Coral reef biodiversity is around 11,000 sq km and was seriously affected during the 2004 Tsnumai.
• ROV can be used to map 4 to 6 sq k of coral reefs in a day.

ANSWER: Harriet Tubman

Explanation:
US Treasury Department announced on April 20, 2016 that the image of an American abolitionist and anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman will appear on a series of USD 20 bills.

• Tubman because the first African-American and the first woman in more than a century to appear on US paper currency.
• Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist, humanitarian and armed scout and spy for US Army during the American Civil War
• She will replace Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the US to appear as the portrait in a USD 20 bill.

ANSWER: More than 170

Explanation:
Three day international yoga fest ended on a celebratory note and was the start of the International Day of Yoga 2016 celebrations. More than 170 nations sponsored the resolution on International Yoga Day in the UNGA.

ANSWER: Ashok Lahiri

Explanation:
A sub committee has been set up under Dr. Ashok Lahiri to interact with trade and industry on the imposition of central excise duty on jewellery. Other members of the committee include:
1. Shri Gautam Ray
2. Shri Rohan Shah, Legal Expert
3. Shri Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce
4. Shri Alok Shukla, Joint Secretary, Tax Research Unit, CBEC