Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Aug 30, 2016

ANSWER: PV Sindhu

Explanation:
The largest paramilitary force CRPF has taken the decision to appoint Olympic silver medallist OV Sindhu as the brand ambassador and bestow the honorary rank of Commandant on the ace badminton player.

• Official sources indicated the force moved a formal proposal to this effect
• Sindhu will be honoured and presented the rank badges and camouflage combat fatigues of the CRPF at the ceremonial event
• Sindhu has been informed and her consent has been obtained by the CRPF
• Commander rank in the CRPF equals the position of a Superintendent of Police/SP and such an officer commands a battalion of 1000 personnel when posted in field operations
• About 3 lakh strong personnel strong force, mainstay for anti Naxal operations and numerous internal security duty tasks in the country, choose Sindhu for honour as appointment will motivate personnel to do better and send the message of women empowerment
• Being the brand ambassador of the force, Sindhu would be asked to hold motivational sessions with troops when she is not playing or training and her message will be send to personnel deployed across the nation
• Central Reserve Police Force also has the credit of raising the first all woman battalion in a central paramilitary and a police force way back in 1987 and at present has 4 such contingents with three in active duties
• Border guarding force BSF has appointed cricketer Virat Kohli as brand ambassador.
• Sindhu won a historic silver in the women’s singles badminton at recently concluded Rio Olympic Games and was conferred recently with the nation’s highest sporting honour- The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna along with Olympic star wrestlers Sakshi Malik, gymnast Dipa Karmakar and shooter Jitu Rai.

ANSWER: Chief Learning Officer

Explanation:
As per sources, Bhaduri will start his own executive coaching company.

• Bhaduri is the man behind Wipro initiatives like the global 100 program
• He created the pipeline using unconventional training methods like taking the IT major’s employees have been in Wipro for 7 years
• Bhaduri has worked with Wipro since 2009 and prior to that worked with Microsoft as their HR director
• Bhaduri has also worked with Pepsico, Colgate and Mudra communication. He brought to Wipro global coaches such as Ram Charan and innovation heads like Bill Fisher
• He also tied up with Wharton to groom future leaders for Wipro

ANSWER: Both b and c

Explanation:
Poland’s Olympic champion Anita Wlodarcyzk broke her world record in the hammer throw on 28th August with a throw of 82.98 metres in Warsaw.

• She set the new mark at Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Event at the Polish capital on a day where she had three throws over the 80m mark
• No other thrower has gone over 80m and Anita has won it 11 times in total
• 31 year old’s new record beats her previous best of 82.29m as she won the Olympic gold at Rio earlier in the month

ANSWER: Orbitofrontal cortex

Explanation:
Scientists have found the brain region implicated in carrying out complex plans, learning how a setting or situation has changed since last seen

• The area of the brain has been implicated in high order thinking
• Findings refine the previous hypotheses since the region of the brain provides intellectual flexibility
• It’s not just the flexibility area, it is your model of how the situation works
• Knowing when to change that model- whether you are moving from zone to zone in a virtual safari or place to place in the habitats of their evolutionary predecessors would have given our ancestors an advantage over animals that behave by the same rules in all situations
• There’s an adaptive advantage of having a brain that can say the world works differently in different situations but then you need to be able to figure out which area is relevant right now
• That is what the orbitofrontal cortex is associated with

ANSWER: Myanmar

Explanation:
Myanmar set out a new path after decades of military rule while India promised wholehearted support in every step of its journey as two countries resolved to deepen ties and actively cooperate to combat terrorism and insurgent activities in the region.

• PM Narendra Modi held extensive talks with Myanmarese President U Hitin Kyaw in the first top level engagement with the new government of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and conveyed India’s full support to Myanmar’s internal peace process
• Two sides have inked 4 MoUs to boost cooperation in connectivity, medicine and renewable energy besides resolving to deepen ties in range of sectors including agriculture, banking and power
• PM Modi also said both sides recognised each other’s security interests remained sensitivity to each other’s strategic interests and concerns
• Myanmar is considered one of the strategic neighbours of India and it shares a 1640 km long border with a number of NE states including the militancy infested Nagaland and Manipur
• India has been raising issue of NE militant outfits having training camps in Myanmar
• AYUSH Ministry has signed an MoU on cooperation in the field of traditional medicine with the ministry of health and sports government of Myanmar in New Delhi
• MoU was signed by Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Myanmar Mr U Kyaw Tin-both countries have a heritage of religious, linguistic and ethnic ties
• Myanmar has a substantial population of Indian origin and is the gateway to South East Asia and ASEAN with which India had been seeking greater economic integration through the Look East and Act East Policy.
• Relationship of the two countries have been marked by close contacts with highest political level including cooperation in the field of health and medicine
• MoU will enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries in areas of traditional medicine.
• Agreements signed will also facilitate the construction and upgrade of 69 bridges and the Kalewa Yargi road section of the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway project.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
West Bengal assembly has adopted a resolution to rechristen the state’s name. It would be known as Bangla in Bengal, Bengal in English and Bangal in Hindi.

• The new name will require a constitutional amendment to effect the change
• In Bengali language, the state is currently referred to as Paschim Bengal which translates into West Bengal
• Renaming would change it to Bangla in Bengali
• This would blend well with the change in the spelling of the state capital
• During the time of partition, British province of Bengal had split into West Bengal and East Pakistan (formerly east Bengal) which became part of Pakistan and later became Bangladesh in 1971
• West Bengal is redundant now as there is no East Bengal
• Punjab was divided into West and East but called just that by both India and Pakistan following the partition
• Ms. Banerjee, the CM of the state has urged the centre to pass the resolution through the Parliament
• Consent of the Parliament is necessary to affect a name change
• In September 2011, the State Assembly has passed a resolution changing the name of the State to Paschim Banga both in Bengali and English

ANSWER: 7th

Explanation:
Sania Mirza and Monica Nicelescu on 28th August 2016 won the Doubles title at the Connecticut Open in New Haven in the US.

• In the final clash, the Indo-Romanian team defeated Ukraine and Taiwanese pair Kateryna Bondarenko and Chuang Chia Jung
• The pair won the game 7-5, 6-4
• This is their first title together
• Sania and Nicelescu partnered in 2010 and played one tournament together before calling time on their partnership
• Sania recently parted ways with Swiss Martina Hingis after a hugely successful partnership

ANSWER: Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument

Explanation:
US President Barack Obama on 27th August 2016 expanded the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument off Hawaii.

• He thereby created the largest marine reserve in the world
• Announcement quadruples in size of the existing monument originally created by President George W Bush in 2006
• Existing Marine National Monument will expand by 442781 square miles, bringing the total protected area of the expanded monument to 582578 square miles
• White House said that the expansion is helping to protect more than 7000 species including whales, sea turtles, coral reefs, deep sea marine habitats and more
• It will improve the ecological resources in the waters off the northwest Hawaiian islands by dealing with ocean acidification and warming.
• Expansion will improve ocean resilience, help the region’s distinct physical and biological resources adapt and create a natural lab to permit scientists to monitor and explore the impact of climate change on fragile ecosystems
• Expansion will prohibit commercial resource extraction activities including commercial fishing and future mineral extraction
• Non-commercial fishing such as recreational fishing and removing of fish and other resources for Native Hawaiian cultural practices is allowed in the expansion area by permit
• Scientific research is also permitted in the reserve
• Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument was originally created in 2006 by President George W. Bush and designated as the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010
• Since then, new scientific exploration and research has revealed new species and deep sea habitats as well as important ecological connecting between existing monuments and adjacent waters

ANSWER: 29th August

Explanation:
International Day Against Nuclear Tests was celebrated across the world on 29th August 2016 with an aim to raise people awareness on the need to prevent nuclear catastrophes to prevent adverse effects on humankind, the planet and the environment.

• Day was first celebrated in 2010 and since then, has been observed by coordinating activities across the world such as seminars, symposia, instruction and media broadcasts
• UNGA declared 29th August as the International Day against Nuclear Tests by adopting resolution 64/35 on December 2, 2009
• The resolution was initiated by Kazakhstan with large number of sponsors and cosponsors to ensure closure of the Nuclear Test site on 29 August 1991.
• Day is meant to inform and educate people against banning nuclear weapon tests.

ANSWER: Laptop

Explanation:
John Ellenby, Britishborn computer engineer who played a vital role in paving the way for the laptop computer died in San Francisco

• He died at the age of 75 and is known for pioneering Grid Systems and working as its CEO
• The team under him produced a clamshell computer with orange electroluminescent flat panel that was introduced as the compass and went to market in 1982
• Compass is now widely acknowledge as being far ahead of its time.
• Grid Compass was the first successful clamshell laptop computer
• It became a valuable tool for corporates, espionage astronauts as well as government spies
• Compass came with advanced and expensive data storage capacity called bubble memory and found an enthusiastic customer in the secret service
• Ellenby graduated from University College London and spent a year in LSA before coming up with the idea of laptop computers.

ANSWER: Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Education Society

Explanation:
On National Sports Day (August 29 2016) Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Society has been bestowed with National Sports Award Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraksar for Sports for Development by Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports.

• The society organises the famous Subroto Club Football Tournament and over the past 6 decades, has made considerable contribution towards the development if sports in the country
• The Subroto Cup was named after IAF’s first Chief of Staff, Late Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee OBE
• Conducted by the IAF, it his the largest football tournament for school children with 35000 national and international groups participating
• The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee also awarded the prestigious Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award to Shri Harbhajan Singh, IG, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), in recognition of his life time contribution in the field of mountaineering here today. Shri Harbhajan
• Singh is 12th Himveer of the ITBP to be awarded with this respected adventure honour. He was part of 3 successful Mt. Everest Expeditions of ITBP. He also led 16 Indian and International level expeditions and has climbed and unfurled National Flag on different mountain peaks, to become one of the accomplished mountaineer of the Country.
• He is also a Padma Shri awardee and winner of the President Police Medal for Distinguished Service and President Police Medal for Meritorious Service. Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) has conferred him permanent membership for his remarkable contribution in the field of Mountaineering and adventure sports.

ANSWER: Andhra Pradesh

Explanation:
The scheme was launched at Tirupati and aims at patient satisfaction for assessing quality of services provided by healthcare family.

• The Health Minister informed that the ICT-based Patient Satisfaction System (PSS) “Mere Aspataal / My Hospital” for implementation in public and empanelled private hospitals, is envisaged to empower the patient by seeking his / her views on quality of experience in a public healthcare facility.
• He further added that a multi-channel approach will be used to collect patients’ feedback i.e. web portal, mobile application, Short Message Service (SMS), Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS).
• The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matriva Abhiyan (PMSMA) has been launched to provide fixed day assured quality ANC services to pregnant women on the 9th day of every month across the country.
• These services will be provided by obstetricians and physicians. A key pillar of this program is voluntary partnership of private doctors.
• India has successfully eliminated Maternal and Neonatal Tentanus in May 2015
• India’s Under-5 mortality rate and Maternal Mortality Ratio has declined at a higher percentage than the global average
• Free Drug Services Initiative, Free Diagnostics Services Initiative, quality assurance programme and Kayakalp awards reduce fragmentation of healthcare, improve quality of care and reduce non friendly health budgets.
• Appreciating the National Health Mission, Shri Kamineni Srinivas, Minister of Health, Medical and Family Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh, stated that health of Indians has taken a big leap with NHM. The Minister highlighted various steps taken for pregnant women, reducing Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Rate and reducing out-of-pocket expenditure for the patients. He also appreciated the Centre’s help for free drugs and diagnostics for the poor and telemedicine schemes. “There is an overall improvement in hospitals. We must learn from each other and improve our strategies collectively,” the Minister said.

ANSWER: New Delhi

Explanation:
SAARC member states convened to achieve essential ingredients for decision making and policy planners at the SAARCSTAT 8th meeting of heads.

• The meeting was held in New Delhi
• Emphasis was on greater regional cooperation for mutual development, to accelerate free trade in goods and services in the Region.
• It is essential to put into operation simplified and transparent rules of origin; implementation of trade facilitation measures; harmonisation of standards relating to Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) and sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures; harmony, streamlined and simplified Custom procedures; elimination of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers;
• Also discussed were policy initiatives for comparable statistics and smooth & efficient transit and transport facilities, which will provide an opportunity to the SAARC Members countries to review the implementation of the recommendations made in International Merchandise Trade Statistics (IMTS) 2010 and Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services (MSITS) 2010 and help in better understanding of the existing economic statistics frameworks and guidelines such as the System of National Accounts (2008 SNA), Balance of Payments (BPM6) and the Guidelines on Integrated Economic Statistics.
• Reducing asymmetry in states data was also a goal.