Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Jan 20, 2017

ANSWER: Neopalpa donaldtrumpi

Explanation:
Scientists have officially named a new endangered species of moth as Neopalpa donaldtrumpi.

It is found in parts of Southern California and Baja, Mexico.

It is named US president-elect Donald Trump.

The adult of the new discovered species stands out with yellowish-white scales on the head showing an amusing resemblance to Donald Trump’s hairstyle.

This was thus justifying scientists name for it.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Scientists have named three relatively little-known diseases, MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome), Lassa fever and Nipah virus the next potential global health emergency threat.

In this regard, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) has committed 460 million dollars to speed up vaccine development for the diseases.

CEPI aims to have 2 new experimental vaccines ready for each disease within 5 years in order to be prepared incase of their global outbreaks.

CEPI is a public-private coalition that aims to derail outbreaks of epidemics by speeding development of vaccines.

It is funded by the Wellcome Trust, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, World Economic Forum (WEF).

Other funders are Government of Norway and Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of S&T, Government of India.

What is MERS?

• Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory disease.
• It is caused by a novel coronavirus (MERS-CoV).
• It was first identified in Saudi Arabia in 2012.
• Typical MERS symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath.
• Pneumonia is common, but not always present.
• Gastrointestinal symptoms, including diarrhoea, have also been reported.
• Approximately 36% of reported patients with MERS have died (WHO, 2017).

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
Jammu and Kashmir Assembly passed a unanimous resolution calling for the return of those who have migrated, including Kashmiri Pandits on 19th Jan 2017.

Former CM and National Conference working president Omar Abdullah proposed to move a resolution.

It seeks to favour the return of all sections of people who have migrated in the last 27 years.

Speaker Kavinder Gupta read the resolution.

Hundreds of Kashmiri Pandit families left the Valley when militancy broke out in 1989.

ANSWER: Professor C.V. Vishveshwara

Explanation:
Prof. Vishveshwara who did pioneering work on black holes, passed away on Jan 16th 2017 after a period of illness.

He was nearing 78 years.

In the 1970s, while at University of Maryland, he was among the first to study “black holes” even before they had been so named.

His calculations succeeded in giving a graphical form to the signal that would be emitted by two merging black holes.

This was the waveform detected in 2015 by the LIGO collaboration, and contain the so-called quasi normal modes.

The modes are a ringdown stage that sounds like a bell’s ringing sound that is fading out.

ANSWER: Alok Verma

Explanation:
3 member collegium led by PM Narendra Modi and CJI J. S. Khehar appointed Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Verma as the next director of the CBI.

The third member in the panel, Congress leader Mallikaarjuna Kharge opposed the appointment.

The 1979 batch IPS officer from Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre has been appointed CBI Director for a period of two years following appointment by ACC

Verma took charge of Delhi Police chief post in February 2016. Anil Sinha was the previous CBI director.

1984 batch IPS officer from Gujarat cadre was presently looking after CBI work as interim director.

Kharge reportedly gave his dissent note of selecting Alok Verma for the CBI Director citing that he

59 year old Verma, who was due to retire from service in July this year. He will now have a fixed tenure of two years as CBI Director.

He had worked in various positions in Delhi Police. He also held posts in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Mizoram and in the Intelligence Bureau.

He took charge of Delhi Police from B S Bassi last year, after relinquishing the charge of DG of Tihar Jail.

Verma is the 27th Director of CBI.

The other strong contender IPS officers were:

• MHA special secretary Rupak Kumar Dutta,
• Maharashtra Director General of Police Satish Mathur and
• ITBP Director General Krishna Chaudhary.

ANSWER: Rumen Radev

Explanation:
Bulgaria's new president, Rumen Radev, took his oath of office on 19^th Jan 2017. He will take over the post from Rosen Plevneliev.

Radev is the country's fifth democratically elected president. He was sworn in at a ceremony in Parliament on 19th Jan 2017.

The swearing in ceremony also incorporated Vice-President Iliana Yotova.

53-year-old Radev is the former chief of the Bulgarian Air Force.

He defeated the ruling center-right party's candidate in a November election.

This triggered an early parliamentary vote to be held in the spring.

Radev indicated that he will work for improving social systems and the economy.

Bulgaria is a Balkan country of 7.2m.

It joined EU 10 years ago. The country is the poorest member of the 28 nation bloc.

Bulgaria's presidency is primarily ceremonial.

The head of state has no executive powers and all major policies must be approved by parliament.

But the popular election gives the post more influence and authority.

Radev's first task will be to appoint a caretaker government after Prime Minister Boiko Borisov's center-right coalition government resigned.

He also has to dissolve parliament and set a date for general elections.

ANSWER: Xiao Nan

Explanation:
For the first time, a robot journalist made its debut. The robot wrote a 300 characters long article in just under a second, in a Chinese daily.

The article was published in Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily. It was focused on the Spring Festival travel rush.

Author Xiao Nan took a single second to complete writing the peace and wrote both long and short stories.

The robot journalist developed by Peking University has stronger capacity for data analysis. It is quicker in writing stories.

Robot journalists will be able to supplement the role of editors and reporters in newspapers and related media however.

ANSWER: Both a and c are the same

Explanation:
Indian Space Research Organisation has successfully realigned the orbit of its Mars Orbiter Mission 'Mangalyaan.'

The aim is to ensure that the study is not affected by long-duration eclipse.

The duration of the eclipse was so long that the Mangalyaan's battery capacity would have got exhausted due to lack of sun rays.

ISRO therefore, manoeuvred to change the orbit of Mangalyaan and reduced the duration of eclipse.

MOM still has 30kg fuel left, and with realignment it will work longer.

The correction in the trajectory of Mangalyaan was required to keep the power supply strong during the eclipse.

It is caused by shadow of Mars falling on it for 7-8 hours so that it could continue to function longer.

This is because Mangalyaan's battery cannot support long-duration eclipse.

Know More About Mangalyaan

• Name: Mangalyaan
• Mission type: Mars orbiter
• Operator: ISRO
• Website: www.isro.gov.in/pslv-c25-mars-orbiter-mission
• Manufacturer: ISAC
• Launch mass: 1,337.2 kg
• BOL mass: ˜550 kg
• Dry mass: 482.5 kg
• Payload mass: 13.4 kg
• Dimensions: 1.5 m (4.9 ft) cube
• Power: 840 watt

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
This bicycle may be a low-cost, eco-friendly alternative to 2 wheeler motor vehicles. To reduce air pollution, scientists have designed the solar powered bike.

Bikes can switch between solar energy powered motor and pedals. Cost is pegged around INR 12 to 15,000.

India is the sixth largest motor vehicle manufacturer in 2014-2015, producing 23.4 million vehicles during that period.

2 wheeler production reached 18.5 million units in 2015. The vehicles have doubled in number in the past 20 years and have become a massive source of air pollution in urban India.

Major air pollutants emitted from vehicles include CO, nitrogen oxide and particulate matter.

Increasing air pollution has serious health effects, estimates pointing to 10 percent deaths per year from this.


Solar assisted bikes can reduce overall 60 percent of the vehicle pollution in the country. This comprises a brushless DC motor.

There is an electric throttle for speed control. The solar energy is stored by a lead acid battery.

The solar panel is mounted on a bicycle carrier and solar panels of any specification are used based on which energy is released.

With power supply from the solar panel to the hub motor, the wheels rotate and move. The rider can choose between pedals and motor or opt for both together.

Bicycle speed and other features can be customized to suit user needs.

ANSWER: 2

Explanation:
Only 2 of 10 most polluted cities are covered by government's real time air quality monitoring system.

Delhi and Faridabad are covered by the system.

More than one billion are unprepared for toxic episodes.

The country's air is now deadlier than China. Lack of real time monitoring ensures that current pollution levels cannot be checked.

Moreover, the government is unable to issue public warnings.

Around 88 million Indians or 7 percent of the population live in 33 cities that have online air pollution monitoring in real time.

Less than 10 percent of India's 380 urban agglomerations are covered.

The GoI runs monitoring networks covering more than 200 cities and towns. Measurements are not taken more than twice in a week and not available in real time.

Manual monitoring system means samples should be first sent to the lab to be assessed.

Government in China has built a particle pollution monitoring network covering 400 cities and including 1,500 monitoring stations, all posting data online in real time.

All of the Indian cities in the top 10 are experiencing levels of the particulate PM10 three-and-a-half times the annual legal limit.

It is also 10 times above international guidelines,.

4 of the top 10 most polluted cities are found in Jharkhand where there are coal mines.

Not a single city in northern India met international safety guidelines for particle pollution in 2015.

Less than 10% cities met India's national air quality standards, which are 3 times as high as the WHO safety guideline.

Moreover, coal consumption almost doubled and oil consumption increased 60 per cent from 2005 to 2015.

Emissions from coal-based power plants were the largest source of increase in SO₂ and NOx emissions in the country.

These are two key pollutants contributing to India's particle pollution levels.

TERI and CSE have started calling for a national action plan on air pollution to expand measures to reduce emissions from key polluting sectors–power plants, industry, agriculture and transport– beyond individual cities.

National crisis has caused new emission standards and the launch of the National Air Quality Index.

National Air Quality Index: Know More

• Air Quality Index (AQI) gives air quality information to people.
• There are six AQI categories, namely Good, Satisfactory, Moderately polluted, Poor, Very Poor, and Severe.
• The proposed AQI will consider eight pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, O3, NH3, and Pb.
• For this short-term (up to 24-hourly averaging period) National Ambient Air Quality Standards are prescribed.
• Based on the measured ambient concentrations, corresponding standards and likely health impact, a sub-index is calculated for each of these pollutants.
• The worst sub-index reflects overall AQI.