Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Aug 07, 2017

ANSWER: Revised Accreditation Framework

Explanation:
In its efforts to remain relevant and globally acceptable, NAAC has taken cognizance of the changing trends in higher education, stakeholder perceptions and feedback.

This is besides the avalanche of experience gained from its accreditation exercise involving more than 11,132 institutions [518 Universities and 10614 Colleges] till July 2017, which stand in good stead in all its endeavours.

Over the last few months, NAAC has conducted several rounds of stakeholder interactions, a National Workshop and Meetings of several Working Groups for the preparation of the Manuals for Universities, Autonomous Colleges and Affiliated Colleges.

The draft framework was pilot tested on select Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) across the country.

A National Consultation on the Revised Accreditation Framework was held on 25th April, 2017 at New Delhi. Shri Prakash Javadekar, Minister for Human Resource Development, Government of India, inaugurated the programme in which eminent academicians and educationists actively participated.

The Revised Accreditation Framework which became operational in July 2017, is ICT enabled, objective, transparent, scalable and robust.

The new framework is a subtle combination of System Generated Scores (SGS) with a combination of online evaluation (70%) and Peer evaluation (30%).

This would usher in high level of transparency.

The Revised Framework is more ICT intensive and ‘outcome based’.

The current grading pattern of NAAC (A++, A+, A, B++, B+, B, C, D) would be continued for accreditation.

A system of applying minimum qualifiers for achieving a grade has been designed and will be implemented.

For example, Universities should score a minimum of 3.01 in Criteria 1, 2 and 3 for achieving a “A” “A+” “A++”grade.

NAAC: Know More

• National Assessment and Accreditation Council, an autonomous body, has been established by the University Grants Commission in 1994.
• This is in pursuance of the recommendations made by the National Policy of Education, 1986 and the Programme of Action (POA), 1992 which lay special emphasis on evaluating the quality of higher education in India.
• The prime mandate of NAAC, as envisaged in its Memorandum of Association (MoA), is to assess and accredit institutions of higher learning, universities and colleges or one or more of their units, i.e., departments, schools, institutions, programmes, etc.
• The NAAC functions through its General Council and Executive Committee where educational administrators, policy makers and senior academicians from a cross-section of system of higher education are represented.
• Under the new methodology introduced by NAAC w.e.f. 1st April, 2007, the higher education institutions are assessed and accredited by a two-step approach. In the first step, the institution is required to seek ‘Institutional Eligibility for Quality Assessment (IEQA)’ and the second step is the assessment and accreditation of the institute under the grades ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ for accredited institutions; and ‘D’ for those which are not accredited. NAAC has identified seven criteria.

ANSWER: Mohammad Mustafa

Explanation:
Senior bureaucrat Mohammad Mustafa was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director in Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Mustafa, a 1995 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, is at present Joint Secretary in Department of Financial Services.

The Appointments Committee of the cabinet has approved his appointment to the post for three years, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) indicated.

SIDBI

• Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) was set up on April 2, 1990 under an Act of Indian Parliament.
  It acts as the Principal Financial Institution for the Promotion, Financing and Development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector and for Co-ordination of the functions of the institutions engaged in similar activities.
• The business domain of SIDBI consists of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which contribute significantly to the national economy in terms of production, employment and exports.
• MSME sector is an important pillar of Indian economy as it contributes greatly to the growth of Indian economy with a vast network of around 5.1 crore units, creating employment of about 11.7 crore, manufacturing more than 6,000 products.
• It is contributing about 45% to manufacturing output and about 40% of exports in terms of value, about 37% of GDP.
  The business strategy of SIDBI is to address the financial and non-financial gaps in MSME eco-system.

ANSWER: JK Rowling

Explanation:
Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has been named the world's most highly-paid author with earnings of £72.2m ($95m) this year.

The Edinburgh-based writer beat Dan Brown, Stephen King and John Grisham to top Forbes' list of the 10 highest earners in the global industry for the first time in almost 10 years.

Fans recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of her first book.

She has written a further six Harry Potter titles.

Her books have been turned into eight blockbuster feature films, and last year she made her screenwriting debut with a prequel movie, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

The mother-of-three, 52, first began writing about the wizarding world while struggling to make ends meet living as a single mother on benefits in Edinburgh.

The books' popularity soon made her a multi-millionaire and she has since released several other novels, founded children's charity Lumos.

She has amassed more than 11 million Twitter followers keen to keep track of her regularly-shared thoughts on political and social issues.

Aside from Rowling, the US business magazine's list also includes British authors Paula Hawkins and EL James–whose respective novels The Girl On The Train and 50 Shades Of Grey have both been turned into major movies in recent years - while the others are all American.

List organisers added that Game Of Thrones creator George RR Martin, The Fault In Our Stars writer John Green and Divergent trilogy author Veronica Roth, just failed to make the top 10.

ANSWER: Sharada

Explanation:
Veteran actor and national award winner Sharada has been selected for this year's Prem Nazir Award.

The award, carrying a purse of INR 75,000, a statuette and a citation, was instituted by people of Chirayankeezhu, Nazir's hometown in the district, in memory of Kerala's evergreen actor.

It will be presented to Sharada by devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran at a function at Chirayankeezhu on August 15.

Sharada had won three national awards with the first being for her performance in 1968 tragedy film 'Thulabharam'.

She also won the award for Swayamvaram (1972, Malayalam) and Nimajjanam (1978, Telugu).

Actor T P Madhavan will be presented INR 50,000 cash award announced by Chirayankeezhu panchayat.

ANSWER: Silk protein

Explanation:
Scientists from IIT Guwahati have synthesised mats made of silk-proteins and bioactive glass fibres that they believe can assist the growth of bone cells and repair worn-out joints in arthritis patients.

The disease most commonly affects joints in the knees, hips, hands, feet, and spine and is marked by the breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bones.

Left untreated, it can cause severe pain, swelling, and eventually limited range of movement.

Current clinical treatment methods are limited by lack of viable tissue substitutes to aid the repair process

To develop a suitable tissue substitute, scientists looked into the natural bone-cartilage interface and tried to mimic it synthetically in lab conditions.

Knee osteoarthritis is the most common bone and joint disease in India. The available clinical grafts were expensive.

The scientists used silk, a natural protein to fabricate electro-spun mats to mimic the cartilage portion and bioactive glass to develop a composite material, similar to the natural tissue.

For the mat, scientists used a kind of silk easily available in northeast India.

Muga [Assam] silk is endowed with properties that enhance the healing process.

The researchers adopted a green fabrication approach for the developing the silk composite mats - electrospinning.

It is similar to knitting, except that it utilises electric high-voltage force to draw ultrafine fibres.

A layer by layer approach was followed, where the bone layer was first formed, on top of which the cartilage layer was developed.

The resulting composite mat resembled the architecture of the bone-cartilage interface.

To assist the regenerative process, the mats would be grafted in the defected joint with cells harvested from the patient.

ANSWER: Venkaiah Naidu

Explanation:
Over 98% voting was recorded in the 2017 vice-presidential election.
98.21% polling was registered for the election with 771 out of 785 MPs casting their votes. 11 votes were found to be invalid.

381 votes was the quota set to win the polls. M. Venkaiah Naidu emerged victorious 516 votes, whereas opposition nominee Gopalkrishna Gandhi has secured 244 votes.

Vice president-elect M Venkaiah Naidu will be remembered for his contribution in some of the flagship schemes of the Modi government such as Smart City Mission and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana that was undertaken by the housing and urban affairs ministry.

Besides Smart City Mission and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Naidu will be remembered for floating schemes such as Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).

In a first in the country, Naidu also adopted a competition based selection of smart cities for the mission.

In another first, Naidu ensured preparation of five-year comprehensive action plans for urban infrastructure development.

He laid emphasis on putting a time frame for achieving the results as against the open-ended approach of the past, the official added.

With his efforts, as against about 13 lakh affordable houses sanctioned during 2004-14, over 21 lakh houses were approved when he demitted office in a period of fewer than three years, the official said.

Besides, AMRUT action plans of all 500 mission cities for 2015-20 already stand approved.

As against only INR 32,000 crore project investment approved for affordable housing during 2004-14, over INR 1 lakh crore investment has been approved during the period of Naidu.

In another first, Naidu introduced approving state action plans for three years (2017-20) under AMRUT, doing away with the need for states to come to Delhi every year for approval of annual plans.

The competition-based selection of cities under smart city mission and ranking of cities and towns under 'Swachh Survekshan' since 2016 has resulted in a spirit of healthy competitive federalism/

The historic Real Estate (Regulation and Development ) Act, 2016 was also passed, ending eight-year-long hibernation in Parliament.

Naidu is also credited with merging the two ministries of urban development, and housing and urban poverty alleviation, giving birth to the new ministry of housing and urban affairs.

Naidu was the urban development and housing and urban poverty alleviation minister since May 2014 till he demitted office on being declared the NDA's vice presidential candidate.

He had also held portfolios of parliamentary affairs and information and broadcasting for around a year.

Staying true to his love for acronyms, Vice President elect M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said that India stands for 'Integrated National Development Impacting All Indians'.

About Venkaih Naidu

• Born in 1949 in Chavatapalem in Nellore district, Naidu was a “swayamsevak” in the RSS and joined ABVP during his college days.
• He came to the spotlight for his role in “Jai Andhra” movement of 1972 and became the convenor of the anti-corruption Jayaprakash Chhatra Samiti in 1974.
• He held street protests against the Emergency.
• Naidu was Rural Development Minister in the Vajpayee government between 2000-02.
  In Modi's government, first he was Parliamentary Affairs Minister as well as the Housing and Urban Development.
• From Parliamentary Affairs, he was shifted to Information and Broadcasting Minister which portfolio he held till he was nominated as the Vice-Presidential candidate.

ANSWER: NITI Aayog

Explanation:
Economist Dr. Rajiv Kumar has been appointed as the new vice-chairman of the government think tank NITI Aayog.

Present vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya had stepped down earlier this month.

The Columbia University professor will be returning to the U.S. to rejoin academia.

The spokesperson added that Dr. Vinod Paul, paediatrician at AIIMS, has also been appointed as a member of the NITI Aayog.

Dr. Kumar, who holds a DPhil in economics from Oxford and a Ph. D from Lucknow University, has served as director and chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), and has earlier worked with the Asian Development Bank.

He was also a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research.


Kumar, a former CEO of Delhi-based think-tank Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), will replace Arvind Panagariya.

Kumar is currently the founding director of Pahle India Foundation, a non-profit research organisation that specialises in policy-oriented research and analysis.

He is also chancellor of the Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics in Pune.

Until January this year, he was a senior fellow at Centre for Policy Research (CPR), and is widely regarded for his work in the areas of India’s economy and national security.

Before coming to CPR, he was Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

He has also served as Director and Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and chief economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), as well as in positions with the Asian Development Bank, the Indian Ministry of Industries, and the Ministry of Finance.

His latest books are: Modi & His Challenges (2016), Resurgent India: Ideas and Priorities (2015) and Exploding Aspirations: Unlocking India's Future (2014).

Kumar will take over as the second Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog.

Panagariya will demit office on August 31 at the nascent institution that was set up in January 2015 replacing the erstwhile Planning Commission.

The NITI Aayog is currently drafting a 15-year long-term plan, which will replace the practice of five-year plans.

The five-year plan system will be discontinued after the end of the 12th five year plan in 2017, ending six-decade old policy framework inspired by the Gosplan-aided industrialisation.

Kumar will also likely head the NITI Aayog panel that is modernising India’s labour data to give a more realistic picture about the jobs market in an economy characterised by a large informal sector.

Kumar concurrently serves as:

• a government-nominated independent director on Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India,
• a member of the International Board of Management of King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre, Riyadh;
• director, Institute of Human Development, Delhi;
• director, Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow;
• independent director on the Board of DHFL; and member, Advisory Board of CISCO, India.

In the past, he served as the Indian government’s nominee on the boards of Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and Asia (ERIA) Jakarta.

He was also on Central Board of the State Bank of India (SBI), Mumbai; Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi; Part Time Member, National Security Advisory Board (2006-2008).

He was also Part Time Member Economics, TRAI, New Delhi (2007-2010).

ANSWER: BHARAT 22

Explanation:
The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley announced a new Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) by the name BHARAT 22.

Bharat 22 consists of 22 stocks of CPSE's, PSB's & strategic holding of SUUTI .

Compared to energy heavy CPSE ETF, Bharat 22 is a well diversified portfolio with 6 sectors (Basic Materials, Energy, Finance, FMCG, Industrials & Utilities).

The Bharat 22 Index will be rebalanced annually. ICICI Prudential AMC will be the ETF Manager and Asia Index Private Limited (JV BSE and S& P Global) will be the Index Provider.

In the Budget Speech of 2017-18, the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley had promised to use ETF as a vehicle for further disinvestment of shares.

The target for CPSE’s disinvestment in 2017-18 was set at INR 72,500 crore. During the current Financial Year 2017-18, the Government has realised approx INR 9,300 crore through nine disinvestment transactions so far.

Globally ETF Assets have grown significantly.

Globally today there are 4 trillion dollar worth Assets Under Management (AUM).

These are expected to touch $7 trillion by 2021.

Large Investors (Sovereign/Pension Funds) prefer investing in ETFs due to the benefits of ETF being Low cost & Less risky; being Highly Liquid assets; Transparent Investment and that these can be traded at Real Time Market Price

Highlights of Growth of ETF market in India

• Flexibility in Investment guidelines of PF to invest in equity/ETF
• ETF Assets Under Management (AUM) has grown ∽5 times in last 3 years
• ETF has been a preferred instrument for investment by PF's following flexibility given to them by govt. for their investments.
• Government raised INR 8500 crore by divesting through CPSE ETF in FY'16-17.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Department of Space and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-National Physical Laboratory (NPL), Ministry of Science and Technology, in New Delhi.

The MoU provides for time and frequency traceability services to ISRO by CSIR-NPL

The scope of this MoU is the rendering by CSIR-NPL, of all the necessary actions, necessary to support the following:

• Time and Frequency Traceability services from National Time Scale of CSIR-NPL to IRNWT-I and IRNWT-II of ISTRAC/ISRO through Two-way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer (TWSTFT).
• Time and Frequency Traceability services from National Time Scale of CSIR-NPL to IRNWT-I and IRNWT-II of ISTRAC/ISRO through GNSS CV.
• Annual audit of IRNWT-I and IRNWT-II as per ISO/IEC 17025 for ensuring correctness and accuracy of the time traceability.

The MoU came into force from date of signing of the agreement in Aug 2017 and shall remain valid for a period of 5 years thereafter.

Subsequently, the MoU will be renewed on mutual agreement between CSIR-NPL and ISTRAC/ISRO.

Scientists of two premier scientific institutions, NPL and ISRO, have made great efforts in this direction and he applauded them for their contribution.

This is very important landmark and an occasion to acknowledge the great contribution of our scientists.

NPL has one of the five Atomic Clocks in India and the people should be encouraged to visit the laboratories and understand science and its contribution to the development of the country.

The main success of Department of Space is that India has consistently widened the space technology use to various fields.

ISRO has achieved many milestones in the recent past e.g. successful launching of highest number of satellites, completion of 1,000 days of Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), launch of South Asia Satellite etc.

ISRO has already signed MoUs with various ministries and departments which is contributing to the social applications of space technology.

The ISRO has signed MoU with Ministry of Agriculture for Geo-MNREGA, with Ministry of Railways for guarding the railway crossings.

ISRO is also contributing to the Smart City Programme and other initiatives.

ANSWER: National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute

Explanation:
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology & Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest & Climate Change inaugurated the new Administrative and Research Buildings of two national institutes under the administrative control of Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology.

Government of India set up two institutes namely National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) and Centre of Innovative and Applied Bioprocessing (CIAB) in Mohali, Punjab.

These institutes with state of the art equipment will enables scientists/students to exploit the biotechnological tools to address the problems related to quality of food and malnutrition with full enthusiasm and zeal.

It will aim towards getting inspiration from the legacy and contributions of champions in the field of science and technology.

Both the institutes are to address the problems of hunger & malnutrition and to bring nutritional revolution in the country through biotechnology research and innovation for Food and Nutrition Security.

NABI is the first Agri-Food and Nutritional based Biotechnology Institute, which has been set up by the Dept. of Biotechnology in the Knowledge City, Sector 81, Mohali.

CIAB has been set up adjacent to NABI and is the first institute dedicated to generation of secondary agriculture bioproducts through value addition to unutilised and underutilised biomass.

Both the institutes area part of agri-food cluster in the Knowledge City, Mohali along with its neighbouring institutes, like; IISER, ISB, INST and Biotech Park.

The campus comprises of laboratory buildings, 15 acres of land for field experiments, a large glass house, transgenic net houses, office area, housing, guest house, research scholar hostel, utilities and other requisite services.

Total entire area of the campus is 50 acres.

The building complex of CIAB has a total floor space of 77000 square feet built at a cost of INR Forty three crores whereas NABI has a total floor space of 3,17,500 square feet built at a cost of INR one hundred and thirty five crores.

The institutes apart from providing quality research in the field of agricultural biotechnology and bio processing also provide innovative technologies in the field of food processing.

NABI is playing an important role in conducting motivational course to the students of local schools to increase their awareness in life sciences.

Their products of nutritionally rich crops and processing of crop residues in useful products will be provided to the local farming communities to increase their income.

The industry ready specialized products like high anthocyanin have already been taken by local industries under specific MOU.

They are acting as nodal agencies for local organization in the areas Agri food and nutritional biotechnology.

ANSWER: US India strategic partnership forum

Explanation:
Aug 1, 2017 marks the official launch of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), a nonprofit corporation focused on stimulating business relations between the U.S. and India, and enhancing the strategic relationship between the two countries.

USISPF is committed to creating the most powerful strategic partnership between the U.S. and India.

Promoting bilateral trade is an important part of USISPF's work.

USISPF's mission reaches far beyond this. It is about business and government coming together in new ways to create meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens.

USISPF's leadership and Board have been carefully selected based on their unique expertise and strong government and business relationships in both the U.S. and India.

Mukesh Aghi will lead USISPF as President and Gaurav Verma will serve as Chief Operating Officer.

USISPF's Board of Directors will include:

• Chairman John Chambers (Executive Chairman, Cisco),
• Vice-Chairs Punit Renjen (Global CEO, Deloitte LLP)
• Edward Monser (President, Emerson Electric),

Board Members:

• Indra Nooyi (Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo),
• Ajay Banga (President & CEO, MasterCard),
• Ambassador Susan Esserman (Partner, Steptoe & Johnson),
• Secretary William Cohen (Chairman & CEO, The Cohen Group),
• Purna Saggurti (Chairman of Global Corporate & Investment Banking, Bank of America Merrill Lynch),
  Ambassador Frank Wisner (International Affairs Advisor, Squire Patton Boggs).

The launch of USISPF represents a new chapter in the US-India relationship, and a US-India partnership to new heights by prioritizing mutual opportunities that will benefit businesses, governments, and citizens in both countries.

About the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF):

• USISPF was established in 2017 by a group of industry leaders in both countries who are committed to creating a powerful strategic partnership between the U.S. and India.
• A non-profit organization, USISPF is focused on driving economic growth, job creation, innovation, inclusion, and entrepreneurship in the U.S. and India.
• USISPF has a strong presence in the U.S. and India, including in New York, Washington DC, Silicon Valley, Mumbai and New Delhi.

ANSWER: Mumbai

Explanation:
The Maharashtra government has launched a motorbike ambulance service to provide swift medical assistance to patients.

Designed as an emergency first responder medical service, the ambulances, available through ‘108’ free helpline, have teams of paramedics providing treatment, especially in places inaccessible to larger ambulances, to patients during the golden hour.

As part of a pilot project, 10 motorbike ambulances were launched at Marine Drive in south Mumbai yesterday by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray.

Motorbike ambulances will be useful in Mumbai during peak hours of traffic and in Melghat like regions where 4 wheeler ambulance can’t reach.

Under the first phase of the project, these motorbikes have been deployed in Bhandup, Malad, Mankhurd, Dharavi, Nagpada, Charkop, Goregoan, Thakur Village, Kalina and Khar- Danda.

They are being operated by BVG (Bharat Vikas Group), a leading integrated service provider.

After receiving a call at 108 control room, the nearest motorbike ambulance would be pressed into service.

After reaching the spot, the paramedic would stabilise the patient till the four-wheeler ambulance arrives to attend him/ her.

The Royal Enfield motorbikes have been converted into ambulances with emergency medical equipment.

This would be a free-of-cost service.

ANSWER: Bengaluru

Explanation:
Bengaluru is all set to get India’s first dedicated helicopter-taxi (heli-taxi) service.

Announced on 4th Aug 2017 the service, expected to take off in three months, will be operated by Thumby Aviation Private Limited. Initially, the services will be between KIA and Electronics City/

This is where a heliport is expected to come up. Estimates by the company peg the travel time at around 15 minutes.

In the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, for instance, which is similar in size to Bengaluru, there are 300 helicopters operating as heli-taxis.

The services would be launched with one Bell 407 chopper with a seating capacity of six.

They will also look at ferrying passengers to Whitefield and to the HAL airport as well in the near future.

The prices, which are yet to be fixed, are likely to be calculated based on the interest shown.

Current fares for an air-conditioned taxi between KIA and Electronics City range between ₹1,500 to ₹2,500 for a 50-km ride.

The travel time could be 90 minutes to three hours depending on traffic. KIA is also open to supporting other companies that would like to take up similar heli-taxi services to and from the city.

The city has around 90 helipads in multi-storeyed buildings.