Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Dec 23, 2016

ANSWER: 24

Explanation:
Sahitya Akademi on 21st Dec 2016 announced the Sahitya Akademi award for 2016 in 24 different languages.

8 books of poetry, 7 short story compendiums, 5 books of novel, two books of criticism, one book of essay and a book of play have won the awards for 2016.

The awards were recommended by jury members and approved by the Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi under the Chairmanship of Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, President of the Akademi.

Sahitya Akademi

• Abbreviation: SA
• Formation: March 12, 1954
• Headquarters: Rabindra Bhawan, Delhi
• Location: New Delhi, India
• President: Dr. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari
• Parent organisation: Ministry of Culture, Government of India
• Sahitya Akademi award was established in 1954.
• The plaque awarded by the Akademi was designed by Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray.

The awardees of Sahitya Akademi 2016 awards are:



Author	Title of books	Genre	Language
Jnan Pujari	Meghmalar Bhraman	Poetry	Assamese
Nrisinghaprasad Badhuri	Mahabharater Astadahi	Essay	Bengali
Anju (Anjali Narzary)	Ang Maboroi Dong Dasong	Poetry	Bodo
Chhatrapal	Cheta	Short Story	Dogri
Jerry Pinto	Em and the big Hoom	Novel	English
Kamal Vora	Anekek	Poetry	Gujarati
Nand Javeri	Akhar Katha	Poetry	Sindhi
Vannadhasan	Oru Siru Isai	Short Story	Tamil
Papineni Sivasankar	Rajanigandha	Poetry	Telugu
Nizam Siddiqui	Mabad-e-Jadidiat Se Naye Ahed Ki Takhliqiyat Tak	Criticism	Urdu
Nasira Sharma	Paarijat	Novel	Hindi
Gobinda Chandra	Majhi Nalha	Poetry	Santali
Sitanath Acharya	Kavyanirjhari	Poetry	Sanskrit
Bulaki Sharma	Murdjat Ar Dujee Kahaniyan	Short Story	Rajasthani
Swarajbir	Masia Di Raat	Play	Punjabi
Boluwaru Mohammad Kunhi	Swatantryada Ota	Novel	Kannada
Aziz Hajini	Aane Khane	Criticism	Kashmiri
Edwin J.F. D’souza	Kale Bhangar	Novel	Konkani
Shyam Darihare	Barki Kaki at Hotmail Dot Com	Short Story	Maithili
Prabha Varma	Shyamamadhavan	Poetry	Malayalam
Moirangthem Rajen	Cheptharaba Eshingpun	Short Story	Manipuri
Paramita Satpathy	Prapti	Short Story	Odia
Gita Upadhyay	Janmabhumi Mero Swadesh	Novel	Nepali
Asaram Lomate	Aalok	Short Story	Marathi

ANSWER: Nepal

Explanation:
Nepal will hold its first ever military exercise with China on 10th Feb 2017.

The decision to initiate the new level of bilateral engagement was taken during the visit of Nepal’s Army Chief General Rajendra Chhetri to Beijing.

Military exercise has been named Pratikar-1. It will focus on training Nepali forces with extreme situations such as hostage crisis involving international military groups.

The new relationship does not violate the 1950 Indo-Nepal treaty.

Tibet has played a major role in straining ties between India and China, especially after the former provided a haven to Tibetan leader Dalai Lama.

China also has a sensitive border relations with India; the Aksai Chin region in Ladakh is disputed.

China’s growing proximity to Pakistan is also contributing to Indian unease. Despite the ongoing tensions, good trade relations have also been extended.

Nepal had shared a strained relationship with China over the Tibet issue; but recently on Dec 9, 2016, China launched a new cargo service connecting Nepal and Tibet.

Know About NepalPresident: Bidhya Devi Bhandari

Vice President: Nanda Kishor Pun

Prime Minister: Pushpa Kamal Dahal

Speaker of House: Onsari Gharti Magar

Chief Justice: Sushila Karki

Kingdom declared: 25 September 1768

State declared: 15 January 2007

Republic declared: 28 May 2008

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Gujarat government on 21st Dec 2016 announced the Aerospace and Defence Policy 2016.

This policy was announced with the aim to attract investment into fields of aerospace and defence design, development and manufacturing in the state.

Policy announced ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit is offering incentives to investors.

100% reimbursement will be provided on stamp duty and registration charges that are paid for purchase, lease or mortgage of land that is meant for setting up or developing the facility in the areas of aerospace and defence.

Where the manufacturing facility will be established in government lands, the investors will be allotted the land at 50 percent of prevailing market rate decided by the government.

To conduct tests and trials of the equipment that is manufactured in the state, the government will provide all the required assistance for developing the infrastructure on PPP model.

MSME units will be given with a cash subsidy of 25 percent on capital investment for setting up their facility in the Aerospace and Defence sector.

For a period of 5 years, all mega and A&D projects will be entitled to 2 percent interest subsidy on external borrowings.

From the viewpoint of tax, the policy holds that all units would be given reimbursement up to 100 per cent of the Central Sales Tax or net Value Added Tax.

For a period of 5 years, all A&D units would be provided 100% exemption on electricity duty.

This exemption will be provided from the date of commencement of production.

Apart from this, the entrepreneurs will be provided with a subsidy of 50 percent of the construction cost of the R&D centre.

The facility will be provided to encourage research and development activities in the state.

Vibrant Gujarat Summit

• Biennial investors summit in Gujarat.
• Event brings together opinion markers, policy deciders, though leaders, business leaders, investors and corporations.
• Started in 2009.
• Enters 8th edition in 2017
• Vibrant Gujarat 2017 is scheduled to be held from 10-13 January 2017.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin on 21st Dec 2016 topped the ICC Test rankings.

This marks the second time 2 Indian players have topped the ICC rankings. In 1974, left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi and leg-spinner Bhagwath Chandrasekhar were ranked one and two in the rankings, respectively.

Jadeja’s 10 wicket victory against England in the 20th Dec Test match in Chennai made him achieve second position in rankings. Performance earned him 66 points.

Ashwin topped the rankings.

Also, Jadeja gained one place in the recent rankings to reach a career-best third rank in the list of all-rounders, which is also led by Ashwin.

MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for Test Bowlers

Position	Name	Ratings	Country	Highest Rating
1	Ravichandran Ashwin	887	India	904 on 12 December 2016 against England
2	Ravindra Jadeja	879	India	879 on 12 December 2016 against England
3	Rangana Herath	867	Sri Lanka	867 on 10 November 2016 against Zimbabwe
4	Dale Steyn	844	South Africa	909 on 21 December 2014 against West Indies
5	James Anderson	810	England	884 on 31 May 2016 against Sri Lanka
6	Mitchell Starc	805	Australia	805 on 19 December 2016 against Pakistan
7	Josh Hazlewood	804	Australia	815 on 27 November 2016 against South Africa
8	Stuart Broad	803	England	880 on 18 January 2016 against South Africa
9	Neil Wagner	755	New Zealand	760 on 31 August 2016 against South Africa
10	Yasir Shah	754	Pakistan	878 on 18 July 2016 against England

ANSWER: Srinivasa Ramanuja

Explanation:
National Mathematics Day was observed on 22 December 2016 across India.

The day marks the birth anniversary of Indian Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 26 February 2012 declared this day.

The announcement was made at Madras University on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Ramanujan.

The year 2012 was also observed as the National Mathematical Year.

Recognitions and honours conferred on Srinivasa Ramanujan include:

• His birthday is celebrated as 'State IT Day' in Tamil Nadu
• In 1962 ( which is his 75th birth anniversary), GoI released a stamp picturing the great Indian Mathematician Ramanujan.
• Later, a new design of the stamp was released on 26 December 2011 by the India post.
• Annual prize, named SASTRA Ramanujam Prize, is given by SASTRA University of Tamil Nadu.
• In 2016, the awards were conferred on Maksym Radziwill of McGill University, Canada and Kaisa Matomaki of University of Turku, Finland.

Know More About Srinivasa Ramanujan


• Born: 23 December 1887 in TN.
• He was an autodidact (self-taught person) who lived during the British Raj.
• He postulated number theory, mathematical analysis, infinite series, and making formulas and equations.
• Discoveries include Ramanujam Prime and Ramanujam theta.
• Compiled some 3900 mathematical results and equations.
• He along with Godfrey Harold Hardy, a British Mathematician, discovered the smallest number represented as sum of two cubes 1729. This number is known as Hardy–Ramanujan number 1729.

ANSWER: Jeje Lalpekhlua

Explanation:
Shri, Praful Patel, President of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), announced on 21 December 2016 that Jeje Lalpekhlua has been nominated as the 2016 AIFF Player of the Year.

The announcement was made at the AIFF Annual General Body Meeting held at the AIFF Football House in New Delhi.

Sasmita Malik was chosen for the 2016 AIFF Woman Footballer of the Year.

Also, AIFF selected Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Uvena Fernandes for the 2016 AIFF Award for Special Recognition awards.

The former is the first Indian to feature in a Europa League fixture. He represented Stabaek FC in the Europa League.

Uvena is the first Indian Official to officiate in a World Cup final match.

The 2016 AIFF Emerging Player of the Year went to Rowllin Borges, whereas Sanju was selected for the 2016 AIFF Emerging Women Footballer of the Year award.

The Punjab Football Association was honoured with the 2016 AIFF Award for Best Grassroots Programme.

The 2016 AIFF Award for long-time contribution to Indian Football was conferred on Nike.

Pranjal Banerjee from the Indian Football Association won the 2016 AIFF Award for Best Referee.

Joseph Tony was selected for the 2016 AIFF Award for Best Assistant Referee.


About All India Football Federation

• AIFF manages football in India.
• Oversees the Indian national football team and the I-League
• Founded in: 1937
• FIFA Affilitation in 1948.

ANSWER: 9th July, 2013

Explanation:
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung submitted his resignation to the Union Government on 22 December 2016.

He resigned 18 months short of his tenure.

In an official press release, he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for all his cooperation during his tenure as Lt Governor.

He also thanked Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, for his association in past two years and people of Delhi for their support especially during the one year’s President Rule in Delhi.

He was serving Delhi as its 20th LG of the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

He assumed charge of Lt Governor of Delhi on 9 July 2013.

He also served Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) as its 13th Vice-Chancellor between 2009 and 2013.

JMI is a central university in Delhi.

A former civil servant, he was a 1973 batch MP cadre IAS officer.

ANSWER: Japan International Cooperation Agency

Explanation:
Indian Railways, National High Speed Rail Corporation and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on 21 December 2016 signed a Memorandum for General Consultancy.

Under the tripartite consultancy agreement, JICA promotes smooth implementation of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway Project.

The general consultancy concerns providing design and bidding assistance for the public works and systems required for the construction of the project.

JICA will bear the cost of general consultancy up to 2020.

The memorandum is an outcome of the Japan-India Summit level talks in December 2015.

JICA is a governmental agency of Japan that coordinates the official overseas development assistance.

It has 4 missions namely, addressing the global agenda, reducing poverty through equitable growth, improving governance and achieving human security.

To achieve these missions the JICA follows 4 strategies namely., integrated assistance, seamless assistance, promoting development partnerships and enhancing research and knowledge-sharing.

Boosting bilateral relations between India and Japan, JICA is actively involved in infrastructure development and poverty alleviation programmes.

JICA is providing assistance to cement Japan-India cooperation such as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC).

Boosting Japan-India academic-industry networks and human resources development for industries such as manufacturing, it works for stronger Indo-Japan relations.

About the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway Project

• First high speed rail project in India.
• 508 km line linking Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
• Japan offers INR 79,000 crore of the total INR 97636 crore project cost.
• Project completion estimated by 2023.

ANSWER: Ooty

Explanation:
Google, in partnership with Indian railways RailTel on 22nd Dec 2016 launched Railwire Wi-Fi at Udhagamandalam (Ooty).

With this it succeed in fulfilling the commitment to bring high-speed Internet to 100 railway stations by the end of 2016.

With over 5 million monthly users, the Google-Railtel Wi-Fi is helping millions of Indians discover the benefits of Internet with 15,000 first time users connecting to the network every day.

Nearly 1 crore passengers who pass through these stations every day have an access to the free Internet.

The users need to select Railwire as a preferred Wi-Fi network and enter a four-digit OTP (one-time password) to access data services.

The initiative launched in January this year, Google said, will continue to deploy the Wi-Fi at next 300 stations over a period of a couple of years.

Google

• CEO: Sundar Pichai (Since 2015)
• Founded: September 4, 1998, Menlo Park, California, United States
• Revenue: 74.54 billion USD
• Subsidiaries: YouTube, Nik Software, AdMob, ITA Software
• Founders: Larry Page, Sergey Brin

RailTel


• Native name: रेलटेल कॉर्पोरेशनऑफ़इंडियालिमिटेड
• Type: Public sector undertaking (PSU)
• Industry: Telecommunications
• Founded: September 2000;
• Headquarters: 143, Institutional Area, Sector-44, Gurgaon, Haryana, India
• R.K. Bahuguna (Chairman & MD)
• Services: RailTel Services, Carrier Service-Leased Line, NLD for Voice Carriage, Managed Co locations Enterprise Service (MPLS-VPN), Internet

ANSWER: Phytoplankton

Explanation:
NASA space-based sensor that can 'see' through fog, clouds and darkness has given scientists the first continuous look at the boom-bust cycles of polar phytoplanktons, microscopic marine plants

Phytoplanktons are the foundation of the ocean's food web.

The decade-long set of images shows that phytoplankton cycles are more tied to the push-pull relationship between them and their predators than was initially thought.

Commercial fisheries, marine mammals and birds all depend on the phytoplankton.

Phytoplankton also influences Earth's carbon cycle. Through photosynthesis, they absorb a great deal of the carbon dioxide near the ocean's surface. That, in turn, allows CO2 from the atmosphere to go into the ocean.

Satellite-mounted LIDAR instrument, dubbed Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarisation (CALIOP), uses a laser beam to map the ocean's surface and immediate subsurface.

CALIOP monitored plankton in the Arctic and Antarctic ocean waters from 2006-2015

Its measurements show that, as the phytoplankton growth accelerates, the blooms are able to outpace the organisms that prey on them.

Once that acceleration stops, however, the predatory organisms catch up and the bloom ends.

The finding goes against the commonly held belief that blooms begin when phytoplankton growth rates reach a threshold rate and then stop when growth rates crash.

Instead, blooms start when growth rates are extremely slow, and then stop when phytoplankton growth is at its maximum but the acceleration of the bloom has hit its peak.

It is only at this point that the predatory organisms catch up and the bloom terminates.

Study showed in Arctic waters the year-to-year changes in this constant push and pull between predator and prey has been the primary driver of change over the past decade.

It is different in the southern ocean around Antarctica, where changes in the ice cover held more sway.

ANSWER: TanSat

Explanation:
On 22nd Dec 2016, China launched a global carbon dioxide monitoring satellite to understand climate change.

This is after it lifted nearly a week-long red alert for the worst smog that engulfed about 40 cities in the country.

The 620-kg satellite TanSat was put into orbit by Long March-2D rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China's Gobi Desert on 22nd Dec morning.

This was the 243rd mission of the Long March series rockets.

Besides TanSat, the rocket also carried a high-resolution micro-nano satellite and two spectrum micro-nano satellites for agricultural and forestry monitoring.

China is the third country after Japan and the US to monitor greenhouse gases through its own satellite.

The satellite was sent into a sun synchronous orbit about 700 kms above the earth and will monitor the concentration, distribution and flow of CO2)in the atmosphere.

The satellite will help understanding climate change and provide China's policy makers with independent data.

On a three-year mission, TanSat will thoroughly examine global carbon dioxide levels every 16 days, accurate to at least 4 ppm (parts per million), the report said.

The new satellite will enable China to obtain emissions data first-hand and share it with researchers worldwide, Yin said.

The satellite can trace the sources of greenhouse gases and help evaluate whether countries are fulfilling their commitments.

This will impact climate change, carbon reduction and in negotiations with a bigger say on carbon trading.

Beijing lifted the red alert for air pollution as cold air dispersed the smog that has affected the city since Dec 17 which drew strong criticism from public as it disrupted the normal life.

Since December 17 emergency measures such as even-odd car restrictions will end and classes will resume at schools, official media reports said.

China's CO₂ emissions are to peak around 2030, with emissions per unit of GDP cut by 60 per cent of 2005 levels by the same date.

TanSat

• TanSat, Tan being the Chinese word for Carbon, is China’s first mission dedicated to Carbon Dioxide detection.
• It has a payload of two instruments to track the atmospheric CO₂ concentration and variability.
• Funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the TanSat project was initiated in January 2011.
• The 500-Kilogram TanSat spacecraft has the main objective of measuring the atmospheric column-averaged CO2 dry air mole fraction with a precision better than four parts per million.

ANSWER: Vela

Explanation:
An international team of astronomers has found one of the universe's biggest superclusters of galaxies near the Milky Way.

Researchers said the Vela supercluster, which had previously gone undetected as it was hidden by stars and dust in the Milky Way, was a huge mass that influenced the motion of our galaxy.

The gravity of the Vela supercluster may explain the difference between the measured motion of the Milky Way through space and the motion predicted from the distribution of previously mapped galaxies.

Anglo-Australian Telescope was used to measure distances for many galaxies to confirm earlier predictions that Vela was a supercluster.

ANSWER: Peter Navarro

Explanation:
US President-elect Donald Trump named Peter Navarro, an economist who has urged a hard line on trade with China, to head a newly formed White House National Trade Council, the transition team said on 20th Dec 2016.

Navarro is an academic and one-time investment adviser who has authored a number of popular books and made a film describing China's threat to the US economy as well as Beijing's desire to become the dominant economic and military power in Asia.

Navarro, 67, is a professor at University of California, Irvine, and advised Trump during the campaign. He has authored several books including "Death by China: How America Lost its Manufacturing Base," which was made into a documentary film.

Navarro has also suggested a stepped-up engagement with Taiwan, including assistance with a submarine development programme.

He argued that Washington should stop referring to the "one China" policy, but stopped short of suggesting it should recognise Taipei.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control.

Trump has also vowed to pull the United States out of the TPP, a free-trade pact aimed at linking a dozen Pacific Rim nations that President Barack Obama signed in February.

The president-elect has also vowed to renegotiate the NAFTA pact with Canada and Mexico, saying it had cost American jobs.

ANSWER: Farm

Explanation:
The agriculture ministry on 20th Dec 2016 launched an ICAR data centre -connecting 274 specialised institutions and universities -which will act as an information hub for the farm sector and eventually link the rural population with high speed internet network.

The centre will cater to research institutions by providing consultancy , project management, training and other value-added services.

This data centre of ICAR will play an important role in promoting the `Digital India Campaign' in the agriculture sector.

The campaign aims at providing electronic services while reducing the requirements of paper.

Traders of farm produce have recently questioned the wheat production estimate of 93.55 million tonnes for 2015-16 crop year, saying the actual output was around 86 million tonnes.

A mobile app for `Krishi Vigyan Kendra' was also launched.

ANSWER: AYUSH

Explanation:
The Minister of State for AYUSH Shri Shripad Yesso Naik formally inaugurated the North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homoeopathy (NEIAH), an autonomous Institute under Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India, in Shillong, Meghalaya on 22nd Dec 2016.

With this, it became the second Ayurvedic College in the North East Region with a Homeopathy college and the only Central Academic Institute of Ayush.

The NEIAH will also work with priority to popularize Panchakarma and Yoga along with production of para-medical staff for development of skill for youth of this region, the minister said.

The NEIAH has started functioning with one College of Ayurveda and one College of Homoeopathy from the academic session 2016-17.

The objective of the NEIAH is to provide good quality medical graduates in traditional medicine generate employment and promote tourism in the North East.

It is an autonomous Institute under Union Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).

With this inauguration, the institute has become the second Ayurvedic College in the North East Region with a Homeopathy college.

The establishment of this Institute will solve the problem of scarcity of doctors in remote areas of

the North Eastern regions to a great extent.

The NEIAH helps in preserving folk and traditional health practices of the region which is home to rich flora.

It helps in scientific validation of these health practices based on ethnobotanical and scientific research with practical suitability for clinical practices.

The research and development activities of the institute will help in the development of herbal-agro based industry which ultimately promotes the cultivation of medicinal plants in this region.

NEIAH

• It is the only Central Academic Institute of AYUSH in the North East Region.
• Its primary aim is to produce quality human resource in the area of AYUSH in general and the Ayurveda and Homeopathy in particular.
• The institute will suitably help in implementing and improving the execution of national health policies.