Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Jan 21, 2017

ANSWER: Govardhan Eco

Explanation:
ISKCON’s Govardhan eco village located in Wada taluka in Thane district (Maharashtra) was conferred the UNWTO Award for Innovation in the category of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO).

The award was presented to the village for taking innovative measures of ’sustainable tourism’ in country at the annual UN World Tourism Organisation

(UNWTO) Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Tourism held at Madrid in Spain on 20th Jan.

This is for the first time India has won such recognition from the UN in the NGO sector.

13^th UNWTO Awards Winners

UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge

• Awardee of the category: Geoffrey Wall

UNWTO Award for Innovation in Public Policy and Governance

• Innovative use of e-tourism - Egypt´s strategy 2020, Advisory Council of the Tourism Ministry, Egypt
• Invat.Tur, Valencia Region Tourism Board, Spain
• Social progress index in tourism destinations in Costa Rica, Instituto Costarricense de Turismo, Costa Rica
• Strategies for development of sustainable tourism in Guanajuato, Guanajuato Ministry of Tourism, Mexico

UNWTO Award for Innovation in Enterprises

• Adding Color to lives, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Belgium
• Ecobnb: The community of sustainable tourism, Ecobnb, Italy

UNWTO Award for Innovation in Non-Governmental Organizations

• Culture heritage: Tools for sustainability of a World Heritage Site, Petra National Trust, Jordan
• A Sustainable Tourism Supply Chain, Fundación Tropicalia, Dominican Republic
• Govardhan Eco Village - Eco Tourism as a Catalyst for Rural Development, Govardhan Eco Village, India

UNWTO Award for Innovation in Research and Technology

• Carmacal carbon calculator for travel packages, Dutch Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (ANVR), The Netherlands
• Encyclopedia of tourism, Ulysses Foundation, Spain
• Tourism 4.0, Turismo de Portugal IP, Portugal

UNWTO Ethics Award

• Awardee of the category: ILUNION HOTELS

ANSWER: Hong Kong

Explanation:
Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China has withdrawn the visa-free facility for Indians.

Now Indians will have to complete a pre-arrival registration.

Henceforth, Indian Nationals will require Pre-arrival Registration.

Thus, Indian nationals must successfully complete pre-arrival registration online before they can visit or transit Hong Kong if seeking to enter the region during transit.

The Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals will be implemented on January 23.

The online service for Pre-arrival Registration for Indian Nationals is now open,.

Indians must apply before they can visit or transit the HKSAR visa-free (if seeking to enter the HKSAR during transit).

Pre-arrival registration is not required for Indian nationals in direct transit by air and not leaving the airport transit area.

A Pre-Arrival Registration is normally valid for a six-month period or until the expiry date of the Indian passport linked to it, whichever is earlier, it said.

Till now Hong Kong has permitted Indians to enter with valid passport for a period up to 14 days without a visa. But the facility has been withdrawn.

Hong Kong: Know More

• Hong Kong is an autonomous territory, and former British colony, in southeastern China.
• Currency: Hong Kong dollar
• Government: Multi-party system
• Chief Executive: Leung Chun-ying
• Chief Justice: Geoffrey Ma
• Chief Secretary for Administration: Matthew Cheung
• Financial Secretary: Paul Chan Mo-po

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
Astronomer Stephen Kane from San Francisco State University, US has studied an exoplanet called Wolf 1061c .

It was found that it could be habitable. Its orbit changes at a faster rate unlike Earth, which may cause its climate to be quite chaotic.

His study was focused on finding “habitable zones” where water could exist in a liquid state on a planet’s surface.

The planetary system of Wolf 1061c is located 14 light years away.

One of the three known planets in the Wolf 1061 system, a rocky planet called Wolf 1061c, is entirely within the habitable zone.

When scientists search for planets that could sustain life, they are basically looking for a planet with nearly identical properties to Earth.

According to Kane, life is possible on Wolf 1061c under one possibility - the short time scales over which Wolf 1061c's orbit changes could be enough that it could actually cool the planet off.

Exoplanet: Know More

• It is a planet that does not orbit the Sun and instead orbits a different star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf.
• It is also termed as extrasolar planet.
• Starting in 1988, and as of 22 January 2017, there have been 3,565 exoplanets in 2,675 planetary systems.
• Around 602 multiple planetary systems confirmed.
• HARPS (since 2004) has discovered about a hundred exoplanets while the Kepler space telescope (since 2009) has found more than two thousand.
• Kepler has also detected a few thousand candidate planets.

ANSWER: Donald Trump

Explanation:
US President Donald Trump (70) was sworn in as the 45^th President of the United States of America (USA).

He was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice John Roberts.

He succeeded Barack Obama who completed his second four year term.

With this, he became first President of USA without political experience since Dwight D. Eisenhower (34^th President).

Besides, Mike Pence was also sworn-in as the Vice President of the US before Trump.

ANSWER: WEF, UCSB

Explanation:
The World Economic Forum and UCSB’s Marine Science Institute (MSI) have announced a partnership to improve health of world’s oceans and maritime resources.

This partnership will tap the potential of public-private cooperation.

It will usher the 4th industrial revolution to help the international community meet the ocean sustainable development goal.

It will be supported by the Benioff Ocean Initiative for using science to improve ocean health, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to fund advance ocean science, protection and management.

The fundamental intention of this JV is to translate the previously conducted ocean experiments and their suggestions into action.

This will help the members of the undertaking to improve the general oceanic health and marine resources, which annual is around $2.5 trillion.

As per World Wildlife Fund, the annual worth of goods and services produced by the seas and aquatic communities is estimated to be approximate $2.5 trillion.

However, due to the reducing efficiency of oceans to produce services and goods, the livelihoods of around 80% populace of the world are being affected, necessitating protection.

Ocean Economy: Know More

• According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), oceans generate goods and services worth an estimated $2.5 trillion per year.
• This is equivalent to the 7th largest economy in the world.
• Ocean and seas, have acquired 97% of the entire earth.
• Rather than creating life-saving oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the presence of oceanic community is also benefiting the global economy.
• Therefore, World Economic Forum and the Marine Science Institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) has started a joint venture.
• It is for protecting the marine life and aquatic communities across the globe.

ANSWER: Bihar

Explanation:
Bihar government launched Nasha Mukt campaign to make the state addiction-free.

This was marked by formation of over 11 thousand km long human chain across the state.

It is claimed to be world’s largest human chain and broke previous record of 1050 km human chain formed in Bangladesh.

The campaign will herald a new era in the state as no one will be permitted to use intoxicating substance and tobacco products.

Over 2 crore people participated in this human chain that covered all panchayats of the state.

Apart from satellite, drones and low flying aircraft will also be used for taking images of the human chain.

CM Nitish Kumar said 'nasha mukti' in Bihar would herald a new era in the country as no one will be permitted to use intoxicating substance and tobacco products.

He said Bihar will become an ideal state of the country as dreamed by Mahatma Gandhi.

ANSWER: UAE

Explanation:
India and the UAE held the first meeting of their strategic dialogue in New Delhi to elevate the bilateral relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The meeting was co-chaired by Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs M J Akbar and MoS in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of UAE Anwar Gargash.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed several issues ranging from cooperation in the areas of trade and investments to expanding the bilateral cooperation.

Also explored were new areas under the strategic partnership.

This was in the areas of energy security and renewable energy, defence and security, electronics and IT and space.

ANSWER: Bull taming sport

Explanation:
The Union Government has Tamil Nadu government’s proposal to promulgate an ordinance to hold Jallikattu, a traditional bull taming sport.

The Union Ministries of Home, Law and Environment has vetted the state’s draft ordinance and cleared the amendment.

Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao has promulgated an Ordinance (as per Article 213 of Constitution).

This was paving way for resuming Jallikattu game in the state.

With the ordinance, people from Tamil Nadu now for conducting the bull-taming game that banned by Supreme Court in May 2014.

Earlier, Central government had given for the draft of the state ordinance after it was endorsed by President, enabling the approval of the state Governor.

Jallikattu: Know More

• Jallikattu is bull-taming sport.
• It is an age-old annual event celebrated during Pongal (Harvest festival).
• It is celebrated in in Tamil Nadu.
• It is one of the oldest living ancient traditions practiced in the modern era.