Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Aug 17, 2016

ANSWER: GST Bill

Explanation:
Bihar Assembly ratified the Constitution Amendment Bill on GST . Bihar is the first non NDA government to pass the GST following its ratification by BJP ruled Assam.

• The Constitution (122nd) Amendment Bill 2014 on GST has already been passed by both houses of the Parliament.
• It now has to be ratified by at least 15 state legislatures before the President can notify the GST council which will decide the new tax rate and other issues.
• Central government has set a deadline of April 2017 for its rollout.

ANSWER: National Committee on Trade Facilitation

Explanation:
Union Government on 12th August 2016 constituted the National Committee on Trade Facilitation. Committee seeks to develop a pan India roadmap for trade facilitation as per the TFA or Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organisation.

• On April 22, 2016, India ratified the TFA which was the result of the Bali Package 2013 or Ninth Ministerial Conference of the WTO.
• It is an inter-ministerial body on trade facilitation which will be the national level body that will facilitate domestic coordination and implementation of TFA provisions.
• This will synergise the various trade facilitation perspectives across the nation and the focus will be on outreach programme for sensitisation of stakeholders.
• Committee will have a 3 tier structure with the main national committee for implementation of TFA.
• It will also be headed by Union Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha at apex level.

ANSWER: Masood Khan

Explanation:
Retired diplomat Masood Khan was elected President of Pakistan occupied Kashmir by the freshly constituted Legislative Assembly of PoK.

• Khan who belongs to the suburb of Rawalpindi in PoK was nominated by Pakistan Muslim League led by PM Nawaz Sharif.
• Masood will have a 5 year term securing 42 votes. Rival candidate Chaudhry Latif Akbar got only 6 votes
• Khan joined the Pakistan Foreign Service in 1980 and retired in 2015 after serving as Pakistan’s permanent rep to the UN.

ANSWER: Nagpur

Explanation:
Larsen & Toubro has been identified as the implementation partner to convert Orange City of Nagpur into the nation’s first large scale integrated Smart City as per Letter of Intent handed over by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis to representatives of the company

• The modifications will be leveraged to cover the tire city and following Jaipur, this is a positive step for L&T.
• Markets have reacted favourably to the announcement with Larsen & Toubro trading up INR 7.95 or 0.53 percent from its previous closing.

ANSWER: HDFC

Explanation:
Times Internet, the digital arm of the TOI group and private sector lender HDFC Bank has entered into a partnership to launch co branded debit cards.

• This is the second co branded credit card launched by Times Internet with HDFC Bank after launching the co branded credit card for the entertainment segment in 2013.
• The Times Points HDFC Bank Debit Card will offer customers amazing deals in online space and rewards for engaging with Times Internet sites.
• Customers will also get personal accidental death cover up to INR 10 lakh, international air accident death cover of INR 50 lakh and zero liability cover of INR 1 lakh on fraudulent and skimming transactions.
• Card will have a daily shopping limit of INR 2.75 lakh and ATM withdrawal limit of INR 1 lakh.

ANSWER: Giles Scott

Explanation:
British sailor Giles Scott won the Finn gold medal in the medal race on 16th August 2106.

• Slovenia’s Vasilij Zbogar took silver while Caleb Paine of the US secured the first medal for sailing for the nation with a bronze
• Simone Biles won the gold medal for her scintillating floor exercise to garner a record equalling fourth gold in the Olympics at Rio on 16th August 2016.
• She captured the floor with 15.996 points while Aly Raisman earned 15.500 points to gain another gold meal for the US.
• Amy Tinkler from Britain secured bronze
• 19-year-old Biles became the first woman in 32 years and fifth overall to win 4 gold medals at a single Games event.
• Polish sportswoman Anita Wlodarcyzk on 15th August 2016 broke her own world record to win the gold at Rio Olympics.
• Her winning mark was 82.29m
• China’s Wenxiu Zhang won the silver medal with mark of 76.75 m and Sophie Hitchon of Great Britain won bronze.
• Anita is the first woman to throw the hammer at over 80m
• Soviet Union’s Larisa Latynina, Hungry’s Agnes Keleti, Czechoslovakia’s Vera Caslavska and Romania’s Ekaterina Szabo were the only other women to have won gold at a single game apart from Anita.
• In what was Bahrain’s first Olympic gold medal, Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet won the gold in women’s 3000 metres steeplechase.
• She won the race in the second quickest time of 8:59.75 seconds as against Russia’s G. Samitva-Galkina’s world record of 8:38.16.

ANSWER: India Nuclear Insurance Pool

Explanation:
The India Nuclear Insurance Pool on 12th August 2016 launched India’s first Nuclear Supplier’s Insurance Policy.

• New India Assurance Company Limited and INIP will issue the policy and administer the claims on behalf of the pool.
• INIP has become the 27th insurance pool in the world as countries like France and the US have put similar risk transfer mechanisms in place.
• The policy will cover the risks of liability of nuclear operators and suppliers under Section 6(2) and Section 17 of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages (CLND) Act, 2010 respectively.
• It provides three types of policies viz., tier 1 policy for operators, tier 2 policy for turn key suppliers and tier 3 policy for suppliers other than turn key suppliers.

ANSWER: Indonesia

Explanation:
President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee has extended greetings and felicitations to Government and people of the Republic of Indonesia on the 71st anniversary of their independence day i.e August 17, 2016.

• The current president of the Republic of Indonesia is Joko Widodo
• The two nations believe in “Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” (Unity in Diversity) and share warm and friendly relations.
• The partnership is bolstered by robust strategic engagement, defence and security cooperation, comprehensive economic partnership, cultural and people to people linkages and cooperation in response to common challenges.
• This is known as the 5 pronged approach.
• Apart from this, August 17 was also the National Day of the Republic of Gabon whose current president is Ali Bongo Ondimba.
• Cooperative bilateral relations are shared between India and Gabon.

ANSWER: Pune

Explanation:
India’s first bio-CNG plant will be inaugurated in Pune and set up by Pune based Primove Engineering Private Limited.

• This plant will use agricultural residue to generate CNG which can be used as automobile fuel.
• 600 million tonnes of agricultural waste is generated per year in the country with lack of use of its residue, most of it is wasted.
• Using agriculture residue for CNG generation was seen as a way to reduce disposal of agricultural waste which is a major concern in the country.
• Process of generation of CNG from agricultural waste involves treating water with a special bacterial solution.
• After this, the gas generated is cleaned and compressed for use in vehicles.
• Plant is located in Pirangut, Pune
• It has been set up as a Proof of Concept centre i.e it can be replicated elsewhere.
• Company has invested around INR 4.5 crore in the plant and applied for a process patent for it. Close to INR 15 crore investment is needed for 5 tonne standalone plants
• This is an instance of use of bio-CNG for the first time in India; Bio-CNG was used as automobile fuel in Europe as a matter of practice.

ANSWER: Joao Havelange

Explanation:
Joao Havelange served as head of FIFA from 1974 to 1998 and handed over the reins to Sepp Blatter.

• He resigned in 1998 following an investigation into allegations bribes had been accepted to grant lucrative contracts at numerous world cups to the marketing company ISL.
• He remained honorary president of FIFA till 2013.
• He was also a member of IOC till he resigned on December 2011.
• He was heading the FIFA Presidency when Brazil won the World Cup under his reign in 1958, 1962 and 1970.