Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Dec 04, 2016

ANSWER: Dec 2nd

Explanation:
National Pollution Control Day 2016 was observed on Dec 2nd 2016 in India with the aim to make people and industries aware about the Pollution Control Acts.

The day is observed each year to honour thousands who lost their lives in the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and were several affected on account of leakage of poisonous gas from Union Carbide plant in Bhopal.

This is considered one of the worst tragedies in the world’s industrial history and people continue to witness physical and mental disabilities on account of this catastrophe.

Bhopal gas tragedy happened on the night of 2-3 Dec 1984 due to discharge of poisonous gas Methyl Isocyanate(MIC) and other chemicals.

The leakage was from the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, MP.

Due to the leakage, more than 5 lakh persons were exposed to the poisonous MIC gas. 2259 died immediately. Later, the MP government declared 25,000 people dead because of gas related diseases. Toxic waste lying in the now defunct Union Carbide plant has still not been disposed of.

Efforts to Curb Pollution

• National Pollution Control Board is the main governing body to curb pollution.
• It carries out checks on industries to assess if they are following environmental regulations or not.
• In Nov 2016, the Paris Agreement on climate change entered into force.
• This marks the first time governments have agreed to control global temperature rise.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2016 was observed across the world on Dec 3rd 2016.

The theme for the day was “Achieving 17 Goals for the Future We Want”.

In 2016, the goal of the IDPD is assessing the current status of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and SDGs.

The day lays the foundation for greater inclusion of people with disabilities.

Observance of the day coincides with the 10 year anniversary of the adoption of the CRPD.

The CRPD is a widely known international treaty put forth by the United Nations.

About International Day of Persons With Disabilities

• This is an international observance promoted by the UN.
• Date of commencement: 1992
• Till 2007, it was called International Day of Disabled Persons.

Day is observed to mobilise support for differently abled persons to have:


• Dignity
• Rights
• Well being

ANSWER: Yash Bharti Award

Explanation:
12 eminent personalities were honoured with the Yash Bharti Award 2016 in Lucknow, UP on Dec 1, 2016.

• With this, the total of 77 people have received the award.
• The Yash Bharti Award is the highest award of the state of Uttar Pradesh; it was constituted by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government

List of Awardees


• Lt. Gen (Retd.) AK Singh
• Dr Manzur Hasan (cardiologist)
• Atul Tiwari (film writer)
• Dr. Deen Muhammad Deen (Hindi literary figure)
• Suhas LY: DM of Azamgarh (he also won gold medal in Beijing Paralympics)
• Dr. Abbas Raza Naiyyar (HOD, Dept of Urdu, Lucknow University)
• Murad Ali Khan (trap shooter)
• Naseeruddin Shah (actor)
• Archana Satish (anchor)
• Shikha Dwivedi (anchor)
• Rachna Govil (sports)
• Pramod Kumar Choudhary (activisit)

About the Yash Bharti Awards


• Instituted by Mulayam Singh Yadav Government in 1994.
• The award carries a cash prize of INR 11 lakhs, a citation and a shawl.
• The award was temporarily discontinued by the BSP government from 2007 to 2013.

Conferred by the UP government for excellence in:


• Literature
• Fine Arts
• Folk and classical music
• Sports

ANSWER: International Children’s Peace Prize

Explanation:
Award winning Indian teen environmentalist Kehkashan Basu has held that ecologists should not lose hope, despite the scepticism of leaders such as Donald Trump regarding climate change.

Ms. Basu born to Indian parents living in Dubai also shared optimism for environmental activism at the Hague where she was awarded the prestigious International Children’s Peace Prize.

She was honoured for her child-run organisation Green Hope based in the UAE which now has more than thousand volunteers in 10 nations across the globe.

The teen founded Green Hope at the age of 12 and within 4 years, she managed to execute several successful environmental projects.

This includes planting 5,000 trees in Colombia, France, Mexico, Nepal, Oman and the US. Aside from planting trees, Green Hope also cleans up mangrove swamps around the UAE.

Ms Basu’s work drew attention to the threats facing fragile coastal forests.

Mangroves are considered vital to coral reefs and fisheries and serve as an important buffer for coastal cities against rising sea levels and storm surges.

These species are facing deforestation rates 3-5 times higher than the average global forest loss.

Ms. Basu was inspired by her grandmother’s rooftop garden in Kolkata.

She received the prize from 2006 Nobel Peace laureate and anti poverty campaigner and founder of Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus.

About the International Children’s Peace Prize

• The prize is annually awarded to a child who fights courageously for children’s rights.
• Organising authority: KidsRights
• Prize award: 100000 euro or USD 106,000 investment for projects in winner’s home country.

Past winners:


• Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai (also the prize’s first recipient)
• Nkosi Johnson, South African campaigner who worked for children suffering from HIV-AIDS

ANSWER: Hillary Clinton

Explanation:
Democrat leader Hillary Clinton honoured singer Katy Perry with the Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award at the UNICEF Gala.

Clinton made an appearance at the UNICEF Annual Snowflake Ball to give the award to Perry.

Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (Katy Perry) was born in Oct 1984. She is an American singer and songwriter.

After singing in church during her childhood, she first pursued a career in gospel music. Perry signed with Red Hill Records and released her debut studio lamb Katy Hudson under her birth name in 2001.

She has since then carved a successful career for herself in music since then.

UNICEF - United National Children’s Fund

• Created by UNGA
• This is a UN program.
• Date of creation: 11th December 1946
• Headquarters: New York City
• Objective: Humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing nations.
• CEO: Anthony Lake
• President: Sven Jürgenson
• Founders: Herbert Hoover, Maurice Pate

ANSWER: 15

Explanation:
Union Govt on 30th December 2016 approved the inclusion of 15 new castes and modification of 13 others in the Central OBC list.

Amendments were approved by the Union Cabinet following a proposal put forward by the National Commission of Backward Classes.

It suggested 28 changes with respect to 8 states namely Maharashtra, J&K, Assam, HP, MP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

In the 28 changes, 15 were new additions, 9 were subcastes of already existing castes and 4 were corrections.

The amendments enable people belonging to the newly added castes to avail the benefits of reservation in Government services and Central Educational Institutions

They will also be able to enjoy the benefits of various welfare schemes launched by the Union Government.

About the National Commission of Backward Classes

• Established: 14th August, 1993.
• Indian statutory body examining requests for inclusion/exclusion of any class of citizens in backward class lists.

The commission comprises 5 members including:


• Chairman : Judge of SC/HC
• Social Scientist
• Two experts
• Member Secretary (also ex Secretary to GoI)

Term of all members is three year

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Mahindra Group and IBM have announced the development of a blockchain solutions that has the potential to reinvent supply chain finance across India.

By enhancing security, transparency and operational processes, this cloud based application is one of the first kind in India outside of traditional banking.

It is set to transform the supplier to manufacturer trade finance transactions through the permission distributed ledger, according to the company.

The blockchain based supply chain finance solution will enable parties involved in the transaction to act on the same shared ledger.

Each party updating only their part of the process, ensuring efficiency, consistency, trust and transparency while safeguarding sensitive information.

Mahindra Group & IBM

• The Mahindra Group pioneered the use of block chain to drive future growth
• Headquarter – Mumbai, India
• CEO: Anand Mahindra
• Main Subsidiaries: Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra.

IBM (International Business Machines Corporation)


• Located in: American multinational technology company.
• Headquarters: Armonk, New York
• Operations: 170 countries
• Founded: June 16, 1911
• Revenue: 81.74 billion USD (2015)
• Founder: Charles Flint

ANSWER: Praful Patel

Explanation:
All India Football Federation won the AFC Developing Member Association of the Year Award at the Asian Football Confederation Annual FC Awards 2016 at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi.

AFC Vice President Ali Kafashian gave the award to AIFF President Praful Patel.

This award is given to the member association for the identification of its professional leadership and governance.

It also assesses Member Association’s exceptional contribution to the evolution and promotion of the game at all levels within the specific country.

FIFA is the international governing body of football which oversees these awards

Fédération Internationale de Football Association is the international governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer.

It is responsible for the organisation of the major tournaments of football, namely the World Cup in 1930 and Women’s World Cup commenced in 1991.

FIFA

• Founded: 1904
• Headquarters: Zurich
• Membership: 211 national associations
• Member countries are one of 6 regional confederations into which the world is divided namely Africa, Asia, EU, North and Central America and Caribbean, Oceania and South America.

ANSWER: Usain Bolt

Explanation:
Sprinter Usain Bolt won an unprecedented sixth IAAF male athlete of the year award on 2nd Dec 2016.

Ethiopian Almaz Ayana received the female award after record setting 10000m gold in Rio.

Bolt previously won in the years – 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013.

He was rewarded for a top performance that saw him claim 3 gold medals (100, 200 and 4x100m relay) at Rio Olympics for the third consecutive Games

The 30-year-old dominated the 100m in 9.81 sec and came back four days later with 19.78 sec victory in the 200m to secure a third straight Olympic title over both distances, making this the first record of its kind.

He also led Jamaica to victory in the 4x100m in 37.27 sec, the fourth fastest of all times.

His 9.81 sec gold medal winning performance in Rio was the second fastest in the world and 19.78 sec in the 200m the third fastest.

Bolt ended his season unbeaten in six individual finals, making history as the first athlete to win 3 consecutive Olympic triples.

Bolt competed against British sprinter Mo Farah (who attained the Olympic double double in the 5000m and 10000m) and South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk ( known for Olympic gold medal winning run in the 400m beating Michael Johnson)

Know Ethiopian Female Sprinter Almaz Ayana

• Age: 25 years
• She claimed the prize after smashing the 10,000m world record
• She also was the 5000m champion in 2015.
• Rome: 14:12:59 run which the second fastest performance of all times
• Ethiopian Olympic Trials: 30:07:00 run, fastest ever debut over the distance for 10,000m.
• Rio: World record of 29:17:45 for a 10,000m run.

ANSWER: Playing It My Way

Explanation:
Cricketing sensation Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography “Playing It My Way” has won the Crossword Book of the Year award (autobiography category). It is penned by well known cricket historian and writer Boria Majumdar.

The book chronicles the life and career of Tendulkar in his own words, smashing the records in the publishing world.

Book has been acclaimed by former players and fans alike.

It also entered the Limca Book of Records for being the best selling adult hardback book across fiction and non fiction categories

The book was also a commercial success logging up INR 13.51 crore

Tendulkar is the most celebrated cricketer in the modern era

ANSWER: YES Bank

Explanation:
YES Bank launched digital banking service SIMsePAY where account holders can make money transfers, pay utility bills and offer other mobile banking services without the need for smartphones or the internet.

The private sector bank has launched the service in partnership with the District Cooperative Bank, Dehradun and plans to launch it across the nation.

This will cater to a large section of the Indian population who remain unbanked or underbanked due to lack of smartphones or internet.

Close to 650 million feature phones in use.

The bank will also involve banking correspondents to spread the services further.

About SIMsePAY

• This is a wafer thin sticker pasted on SIM cards of TSPs
• It can be pasted on any SIM- standard, micro or nano.
• Sticker installs SIM Tool Kit based app which can be accessed by the customer on any mobile phone without the requirement of internet connectivity.
• Bank said the sticker would be linked to co-branded prepaid wallet or card which can be loaded to INR 50000.
• It runs through the cooperative bank account of the consumer.

Transactions performed include:


• National electronic funds transfer
• Immediate payment service based fund transfers
• Check balances
• Mini-statements

ANSWER: 12.79

Explanation:
Gross revenue of TSPs (Telecom Service Providers) rose by 12.79 percent to INR 73,344 crore in April-June 2016 period as against a year ago.

Gross revenue and Adjusted Gross Revenue of Telecom Service Sector for the quarter ended June 2016 has been INR 73,334 crore and INR 53383 crore, according to TRAI.

AGR and GR increased by 10.34 and 7.33 percent in the reported quarter as compared to the previous quarter.

YOY growth in GR and AGR over the same Q1 in the previous year INR 65,030.31 crore and 47,134.27 crore respectively.

Access Services contributed to 83.84 percent of the total AGR of telecom services.

In Access Services, GR, AGR, License Fee and SUC rose by 9.2, 12.21, 13.35 and 12.42 percent.

Pass Through charges, which are revenues earned by telecom operators and passed into the account of the other operator such as interconnection charges and roaming revenue fell by 0.67 percent in Q1 2016.

Monthly Average Revenue per User for Telecom services based on AGR rose from INR 126.91 in quarter ending March 2016 to INR 140.88 in the reported quarter.

Prepaid ARPU for GSM service per month rose to INR 108 in reported quarter form INR 107 in Jan-March period and postpaid ARPU per month rose to INR 495 in June quarter from INR 488 in previous quarter.

License fee paid rose to INR 4314 crore during this period; quarterly and YOY growth rates were 11.43 and 14.05 percent.

ANSWER: National Stock Exchange

Explanation:
Chitra Ramkrishna stepped down as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Stock Exchange. The 53-year-old had more than 15 months of her five year term as CEO left.

Group President J. Ravichandran held charge as CEO with immediate effect.

Ramkrishna was part of the team that set up the exchange in 1992. She was appointed as joint MD in Sept 2009. She was elevated to the post of MD and CEO in April 1, 2013.

She was the first woman MD and CEO of NSE.

NSE has set up a selection committee to search and recommend a candidate for post of CEO and MD. Main contenders are Ashish Chouhan and Rajnikant Patel

Ramkrishna was recently named Chairperson of the board of World Federation of Exchanges.

A CA by profession, she started her banking career with IDBI in 1985.

NSE is preparing for an IPO.