Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Feb 04, 2017

ANSWER: Legislature party leader

Explanation:
AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala was on 5th Feb 2017 elected as legislature party leader by MLAs during a party meeting. This was paving way for her to become next Tamil Nadu CM.

"Chinnamma all set to become the Next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu," AIADMK said in a tweet.

Panneerselvam proposed Sasikala's name at the meeting of AIADMK legislators.

Earlier, Panneerselvam and other ministers met Sasikala at the Poes Garden residence of late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa where Sasikala continues to live.

The ostensible purpose of the meeting was to discuss the government's activities, issues pertaining to various constituencies and the manner in which Jayalalithaa's birth anniversary on February 24 is to be celebrated.

The meeting was called a day after Sasikala appointed some former ministers and others who were earlier shunted out by Jayalalithaa to various party posts.

AIADMK: Know More

• Abbreviation: AIADMK
• Founder: M. G. Ramachandran
• Founded: 1972
• Split from: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
• Ideology: Social democracy, Populism, Paternalism
• Political position: Centre
• ECI Status: State Party
• Alliance: National Democratic Alliance (1998-1999 & 2004-2006); Third Front (2008–present)

ANSWER: 3D printer

Explanation:
A Madrid park made history with the installation of the first ever pedestrian bridge created from a 3D printer.

The pioneering bridge was created by a team from the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, a Barcelona based research and education center that worked with a contingent of architects, mechanical and structural engineers, and municipal representatives to bring the design to life.

The 40ft bridge spans a stretch of water in the Castilla-La Mancha park in Alcobendas, north of the Spanish capital.

It has beaten a 3D printing construction project, a steel bridge coming up over a canal in Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, the Madrid bridge is made up of eight parts, each one comprising layers of fused concrete powder micro-reinforced with thermoplastic polypropylene.

The 3D printed bridge, which reflects the complexities of nature's forms, was developed through parametric design, which allows to optimize the distribution of materials and minimize the amount of waste by recycling the raw material during manufacture.

It's a milestone for the construction sector at international level, since, to date, this technology has not been applied in the field of civil engineering.

ANSWER: Alibaba Group

Explanation:
Chinese online retailer Alibaba Group opened its Australian and New Zealand headquarters in Melbourne on 4^th Feb 2017.

This marks its first expansion in the region as it seeks to tap growing global demand for products from the two countries.

The group's billionaire founder Jack Ma said he hoped the e-commerce giant would help Australian and New Zealand businesses expand.

There are more than 1,300 Australian and 400 New Zealand brands on Alibaba's Tmall and Tmall Global.

Alibaba Group's vision for the ANZ region is to build the entire operating infrastructure needed to enable local businesses to expand globally.

Further growth is planned in the areas of cloud computing, payments, digital entertainment and logistics.

Alibaba also signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia Post aimed at streamlining logistics between Australia and China.

It aims at developing the first Australian marketplace within Alibaba's Lazada eCommerce Network in Southeast Asia.

ANSWER: 1635

Explanation:
Scientists have found what they believe is the world's oldest emoji. This is a smiley face scrawled in a legal document dating back to 1635.

A lawyer reviewing municipal account documents in a village next to the Strazov Mountains of Slovakia, signed his go-ahead by drawing a small circle with two dots and a line.

This is an image recognized today as a smiley-face emoji.

The discovery makes it the world's oldest known emoji.

This emoji certainly one of the oldest in the Trencin region, according Peter Brindza, head of the National Archives in Slovakia.

Previously, the oldest known smiley face was in a 1648 poem, "To Fortune" by Robert Herrick, from England in 1648.

The new find beats that by 13 years.

ANSWER: Vikram Limaye

Explanation:
Leading stock exchange National Stock Exchange has selected IDFC chief Vikram Limaye as its new CEO and Managing Director.

This is two months after the sudden exit of Chitra Ramkrishna from the top post.

NSE’s board gave approval for Limaye’s name for the top position.

Limaye was chosen by a selection panel and his appointment approved by the board of India’s largest stock exchange.

The appointment of Limaye, 50, currently CEO and MD of IDFC Ltd, an infrastructure financing firm, will have to be cleared by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Limaye will succeed Chitra Ramkrishna, who left NSE owing to personal reasons on 2 December, a little more than a year before her tenure was to end.

Following her resignation, the board of NSE appointed Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd chairman Anand Mahindra, former Reserve Bank of India deputy governor Usha Thorat, founder of Dhruva Advisors Llp Dinesh Kanabar and former Infosys Ltd director Mohandas Pai consulted to choose Ramkrishna’s successor.

J. Ravichandran, who used to serve as group president of finance and legal and company secretary at NSE, was named the interim MD and CEO.

He will serve in the position until Limaye takes charge.

Limaye, who will be the first NSE CEO from outside the founding team that set up the exchange in the 1990s, will have his hands full at the helm.

The stock exchange has filed a draft prospectus with the regulator for an initial public offering after a long battle with existing shareholders who had wanted the bourse to list earlier.

Sebi is currently examining allegations against NSE that it gave preferential and unfair access to some brokers on its algorithmic trading platform.

Sebi is also studying a forensic audit report on this issue prepared by Deloitte India.

Limaye was also named to a four-member committee formed by the Supreme Court to manage the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Limaye has served as the head of IDFC for four years.

A chartered accountant with a master’s degree in business administration, Limaye started his career with Arthur Andersen in Mumbai in 1987.

He has worked in the audit and business advisory services groups of Arthur Andersen and EY and the consumer banking groups of Citibank and Credit Suisse.

ANSWER: Anand Kumar Gupta

Explanation:
Anand Kumar Gupta has taken over the charge as director commercial at NTPC.

As director commercial, he will be responsible for the activities relating to commercial, international and domestic business development and consultancy business of NTPC.

Gupta (56 years) is graduate in electrical engineering from Moti Lal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad.

He has a career spanning over 36 years of contribution in the company in various positions including those of executive director – incharge of commercial and executive director (Engineering).

He has a career spanning over 36 years of outstanding contribution in the Company in various positions including those of Executive Director - incharge of Commercial and Executive Director (Engineering).

He also headed Business Development Department of NTPC and plant operations and maintenance at station.

Gupta made major contributions in development of international business for NTPC.

He was responsible for evolving commercial strategies for changing business scenario, development of new projects and improving plant operations.

As Director (Commercial), he will be responsible for the activities relating to Commercial, International and Domestic Business development and Consultancy business of NTPC.

NTPC Ltd has informed BSE that in pursuance of Article 41 of the Articles of Association of NTPC Limited, Ministry of Power vide its Office Order dated February 03.

As part of his post, he will be responsible for the activities relating to Commercial, International and Domestic Business development and Consultancy business of NTPC.

NTPC: Know More

• Type: PSU
• Public company
• Traded as: BSE: 532555; NSE: NTPC; BSE SENSEX Constituent; CNX Nifty Constituent
• Industry: Electric Utility
• Founded: 1975
• Headquarters: New Delhi, India
• CMD: Gurdeep Singh
• Products: electrical power; natural gas
• Services: Electricity generation and distribution, natural gas exploration, production, transportation and distribution

ANSWER: Sanjeev Sanyal

Explanation:
Sanjeev Sanyal, economist, author and former global strategist and Managing Director of Deutshe Bank, has been appointed as the principal economic adviser in the finance ministry.

A notification by the department of personnel and training (DoPT) on Feb 3 2017 said Sanyal has been appointed on contract for a three-year period from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until further orders.

He has authored several books such as:

- Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India’s Geography, The Indian Renaissance: India’s Rise After a Thousand Years of Decline,

- The Incredible History of India’s Geography and

- The Ocean of Churn.

He will effectively serve as the deputy to Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian.

Sanyal, an alumnus of Delhi’s Shri Ram College of Commerce and the University of Oxford, has worked extensively in global financial markets.

The World Economic Forum named him the Young Global Leader 2010.

Sanyal is also an Advisor at Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund.

• He is an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies (Singapore);
• Visiting Fellow at Oxford University (UK),
• Chief Advisor at Asia-Pacific to the John Templeton Foundation,
• Director of the Green Accounting for Indian States Project, and
• Member of the Governing Council of the Economic Society of Singapore.

In 2008, CNBC have him the title of a "Young Turk" in recognition of his contributions to Asia's financial markets.

The Singapore government honoured him as a Young Leader 2014 at the World Cities Summit held in June 2014.

Ila Patnaik, professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), a government funded think-tank, was the previous Principal Economic Advisor.

Sanjeev Sanyal: Know More

• Sanjeev Sanyal is an Indian economist, bestselling writer, environmentalist, and urban theorist.
• He is widely regarded as one of Asia's leading economists.
• He was Deutsche Bank's Global Strategist and a Managing Director till 2015.
• A Rhodes Scholar and Eisenhower Fellow, he was named "Young Global Leader 2010" by the World Economic Forum at Davos.
• He is also the author of four best selling books.

ANSWER: Prince Charles

Explanation:
British royalty Prince Charles has launched a new Digital Green App.

This is for Indian farmers. The app aims to help them sell their crops online. It is part of the prince's charity initiatives for India.

The 68-year-old British royalty provided details of the app part of the Rural Livelihoods Fund created by the British Asian Trust in 2017.

The trust is also in the process of setting up a development impact bond for promoting children's education in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Through this initiative, locally led solutions such as digital app will permit farmers to sell crops and arrange transport for crops online.

The Prince of Wales is the founder and president of BAT. This organisation works towards empowering people in South Asia by harnessing the diaspora in the UK.

This innovative idea will be supported by the Indian government and the Rabo Bank.

According to BAT, India has 25 per cent of the world's small farms, around 118 million in total.

It also holds that more than 50 per cent of Indians rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.

Small holders live mostly In poverty. Prince Chalres launched the Indian focused fund in 2016.