Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Aug 10, 2017

ANSWER: Sanwar Lal Jat

Explanation:
Former Union minister and BJP parliamentarian Sanwar Lal Jat died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi early on 9th Aug 2017. He was 62.

The Rajasthan politician, who had served as the minister of state for water resources in the Narendra Modi government, breathed his last at 6.15 am after being in coma for over a week.

He had suffered a cardiac arrest during a meeting chaired by BJP president Amit Shah in Jaipur on July 22.

A five-time MLA, Jat was a mass leader and a close confidant of Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje.

Born in a peasant’s family at Ajmer’s Gopalpura village, the politician made his Lok Sabha debut in 2014 by defeating Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot from Ajmer.

Despite being appointed as a Union minister after that, he was dropped during a cabinet reshuffle.

Jat did not start his career as a politician. His first job - after completing his post-graduation in 1977 - was that of a supervisor with the Ajmer dairy.

Later, he became a lecturer at the local government college.

Although Jat had been politically active since his college days, his first big breakthrough came only in 1990 - when he won his first assembly election from Bhinai on a Janata Dal ticket.

When the party split the same year, he decided to join the BJP. In 1993, he was appointed as a minister of state with independent charge of relief and rehabilitation in the Bhairon Singh Shekhawat government.

Jat retained his seat in 1998 and 2003, and despite losing the polls in 2008, he made a comeback in December 2013 by winning from the Nasirabad constituency.

The chairman of the state farmers’ commission, he frequently raised rural issues - mostly related to agriculture - in the Rajasthan assembly.

Jat was a farmers’ leader who had made an immense contribution to the state as MLA, MP and minister.

ANSWER: Mimaansa

Explanation:
A MUMBAI-BASED organisation that works on assisting children who suffer from learning disabilities (LD), was awarded in the Young Innovators Challenge 2017 event.

This was hosted by 3M India and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for its work with students of municipal schools in Thane.

The aim of the challenge was to come up with unique ideas to tackle India’s social and economic problems.

Mimaansa, started in 2012 by Pooja Joshi, a former French teacher and now psychotherapist, works on offering early intervention for children with learning disabilities.

This is including a remedial programme focused on alternative teaching strategies by skilled special educators.

Mimaansa also offers teacher training programmes for municipal school teachers to help them identify and help students with LD, and counselling programme for children with LD.

Joshi shared how that as a teacher, she was never told what the term “special” child actually meant.

After a volunteering stint with children, she decided to start Mimaansa.

Mimaansa currently employs 12 ground staff, including counsellors and special educators who are trained to work with students impacted with LD.

ANSWER: Devendra Jhajharia

Explanation:
Two-time Paralympic gold-medallist Devendra Jhajharia became the first paralympian to be recommended for the country’s highest sporting honour - the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award.

Jhajharia’s name was recommended along with former Indian hockey team captain Sardar Singh.

The 36-year-old Jhajharia, who is the first Indian to win two Paralympic gold medals (Athens 2004 and Rio 2016), was the first choice of the awards selection committee headed by Justice (Retd) C K Thakkar.

Jhajharia won his medals in the javelin throw (F 46) event.

The committee has picked 31-year-old hockey midfielder Sardar as its second nominee for the top honour and has suggested that both Jhajharia and Sardar be considered for the award jointly.

The final call on this would be taken by the Union Sports Ministry.

Besides, the awards selection committee has recommended 17 names for the Arjuna award.

The list includes Indian cricket team regular Cheteshwar Pujara, women’s team World Cup star Harmanpreet Kaur, Paralympic medallists Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Bhati, golfer SSP Chawrasia and hockey player SV Sunil.

ANSWER: Motorhead

Explanation:
A team of scientists unveiled an extinct, sea-dwelling crocodile from the Jurassic period on Wednesday, which they named in honour of Motorhead lead singer Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister who died in 2015.

Lemmysuchus was about 5.8 metres long and had a skull longer than a metre - similar to a modern-day saltwater crocodile to which it is only distantly related.

It would have been one of the largest coastal predators of its time. The teeth were large and blunt, perfect for crushing prey such as turtles.

Lemmy’s croc was dug up at Peterborough in England in the early 20th century.

But it was recently re-examined and found to have been incorrectly lumped with other sea crocodiles from the area.

Lemmysuchus obtusidens lived around 164 million years ago and was a member of an extinct group of marine crocodile relatives called teleosaurs.

Given that it belonged to a unique group, the creature “needed a new scientific name,” said the statement.

Lemmy died in December 2015 at the age of 70 in Los Angeles.

He formed Motorhead, a metal band, in 1975.

ANSWER: www.ncertbooks.ncert.gov.in

Explanation:
Shri Upendra Kushwaha, Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India has launched a NCERT’s Web portal for supply of textbooks to schools and individuals in New Delhi on Aug 9, 2017.

The portal will ensure better distribution of textbooks across the country and will also address the apprehensions, on the part of schools and parents, regarding unavailability of NCERT textbooks.

The schools will be able to log on to the portal, by entering their respective Boards’ affiliation numbers and other details, till 8th September 2017 for placing their orders for the session 2018-19.

The Web Portal can be accessed at www.ncertbooks.ncert.gov.in.

At the time of placing the orders, the schools are not required to make the payment; the payment can be made just before the supply.

The schools will also have the option of directly procuring textbooks either from their nearest NCERT vendors or from the Regional Production-cum-Distribution Centres (RPDCs) of the NCERT’s located at Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, and Bengaluru.

Very soon the portal will also be opened to the individual buyers.

The NCERT textbooks can also be downloaded, free of cost, from the NCERT’s website www.ncert.nic.in; one can access the digital versions of NCERT’s textbook by logging onto ‘epathshala’ or through mobile applications.

NCERT also gives copyrights to different States/Union Territories for printing of its textbooks.

Fifteen States and UTs have been given copyright for the session 2017-18.

ANSWER: 75th

Explanation:
On the occasion of 75th Anniversary of the Quit India Movement and the Azad Hind Fauj, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Culture and Tourism inaugurated an exhibition “Quit India and Azad Hind Fauj - 75th Anniversary (1942-2017)” in the National Archives of India, Janpath, New Delh on Aug 9, 2017.

‘Quit India Movement’ was an important milestone in the Indian Freedom Movement which made the entire nation determined to attain freedom from the British rule.

Millions of Indians responded to Mahatma Gandhi’s clarion call and the mantra of ‘Do or Die’.

Gandhi Ji and prominent freedom struggle leaders were all arrested on 9th August, 1942. D

The exhibition will continue till 1st September 2017. The exhibition is based on public records, private papers, photographs, newspaper reports and proscribed literature banned by the British Government which came out during the last phase of freedom movement.

Some of original papers are on display in this exhibition.

The exhibition has large digital content which can be accessed through interactive mode.

The film presenting the passing of the “Quit India Resolution”, arrest of freedom struggle leaders, the role of INA and Subhash Chandra Bose is also on display.

The exhibition is spread over four sections namely:

1. The Prelude to the Quit India Movement
2. The Actual Movement
3. The Impact of the Movement and
4. The Indian National Army and Azad Hind Fauj.

The Prelude to the Quit India Movement:

• The Section displays documents/reports pertaining to the coming of the Cripps Mission to India and its failure, Gandhiji’s description of the offer of the Mission as “post-dated cheque”.
• The section also depicts the All India Congress Committee resolution of 14 July 1942 at Wardha and its adoption on 8 August 1942 in Mumbai.

The Actual Movement:


• This section includes the coining of the term “Quit India” and “Do or Die” by Yusuf Mehar Ali, besides Gandhi’s message in his own words ‘Karenge Ya Marenge – Mat Puccho Kyon’.
• Depicting the calendar of events, the section also highlights the role of important personalities like Sarojini Naidu, Suchita Kripalani, Aruna Asaf Ali, Ram Manohar Lohia, Jai Prakash Narayan, J.B. Kripalani and Usha Mehta (who was instrumental in setting up private radio broadcast).

ANSWER: Goa

Explanation:
The state cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to amend the Goa, Daman and Diu Preservation of Trees Act, 1984 for inclusion of coconut palm as tree and ‘state tree’.

It was also for exempting commercial tree plantations from the provisions of the Act.

As per the cabinet note, the state government has decided to include coconut palm as tree in the Goa, Daman and Diu Preservation of Trees Act, 1984 to regulate felling of coconut trees.

In the 2008 amendment to this Act, a new Section 1-A was inserted to include coconut as tree under the Act, but was omitted later in amendment done in 2016 as it was leading to some confusion.

Hence, it is now deemed appropriate to include coconut palm in the definition of the tree under Section 2(j) in Chapter 1 of the Act.

The government has also decided to declare coconut as ‘state tree.’

Since there is no provision at present in the Act to declare a tree as a ‘state tree,’ a new Section 7A, which shall define the ‘state tree,’ is being included.

Further, there is no special provision in case a horticulturist/farmer wants to replace existing coconut trees, which are non-productive or which can cause damage to property and endanger lives.

Hence, a new Section 8A after Section 2 is proposed to be included to appoint agriculture officers and issue guidelines for management of coconut plantations for aforesaid purpose.

The cabinet note stated that further, there is no existing provision to exempt commercial tree plantations from the provisions of Goa, Daman and Diu Preservation of Trees Act, 1984, which may have been discouraging people from raising plantations of commercially profitable tree species.

Hence, it is proposed to insert a new Section 32A exempting cultivation for commercial plantations, with appropriate guidelines.