Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Jan 24, 2017

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
As per the National Health Mission, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is launching population based prevention, screening and control programme.

It is for five common non-communicable diseases.

These are Hypertension, Diabetes, and Cancers of oral cavity, breast and cervix.

On February 4th coinciding with World Cancer Day, Union Health and Family Welfare Minster is to launch the programme.

The training of frontline workers- the ASHA and ANM which will be initiated. In some sub-centres, population based screening will also start.

Protocols for treatment, referrals and follow-up on these disease conditions will be provided.

In the first phase, the population based screening component will be rolled out in 100 districts in 32 states and UTs.

Around 1000 sub-centres are undertaking screening before March 31st 2017.

ASHAs will also be capturing information on major risk factors. This is so that persons at risk could be counselled on leading healthy lifestyles to prevent onset of NCDs.

Eventually, Chronic Obstructive Respiratory diseases will be included. The programme will be scaled up to cover other districts.

Support to states will also be provided for community health promotion and prevention efforts, and referral and treatment.

What are NCDs?

• Non-Communicable diseases (NCDs) are not transmitted by the infected person.
• These include Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) such as heart attacks and stroke, Diabetes, Chronic Respiratory Diseases (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases and Asthma) and Cancer.
• The above account for over 60% of all mortality in India.
• Of these, nearly 55% are premature mortality.
• This imposes a financial and social cost on families and the country.
• According to the WEF, India stands to lose $ 4.58 trillion between 2012 and 2030 due to NCD.

ANSWER: Naqsh Lyallpuri

Explanation:
Renowned Urdu poet and lyricist Naqsh Lyallpuri passed away. He was aged 88.

He was born Jaswant Rai Sharma on 24 February 1928 in Layallpur Punjab (now in Pakistan).

Since his childhood, he was inclined towards Urdu literature.

His first break as a lyricist was in the 1952 film ‘Jaggu’ where he had given lyrics to the song ‘Agar Teri Aakhon Se Aakhein Mila Doon’.

Since then, he went on to be the lyricist for films like ‘Chetna’,’Tumhare Liye’, ‘Aahista Aahista’ and ‘Gharonda’ amongest many others.

In 2005, he had written lyrics for the ‘Taj Mahal- An eternal love story’ and also for ‘Yaatra’ in 2006.

ANSWER: Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold Title 2017

Explanation:
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal won the 2017 Malaysia Masters Grand Prix Gold title.

She won in the women’s singles category, marking her overall 23rd title.

In the final match held at the Sibu Indoor Stadium in Sarawak, Malaysia she defeated Thailand’s Pornpawee Chochuwong by 22-20, 22-20 score.

Other category winners

• Men’s Singles title: Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong.
• Men’s Doubles title: Berry Angriawan and Hardianto.
• Women’s Doubles title: Jongkolphan Kititharakul and Rawinda Prajongjai.
• Mixed Doubles: Tan Kian Meng and Lai Pei Jing.

Saina Nehwal: Know More


• Born: 17 March 1990 at Hisar district
• Height: 1.65 m
• Coach: U. Vimal Kumar
• Awards: Padma Bhushan, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri.
• Olympic medal: Badminton at the 2012 Summer Olympics - Women's singles

ANSWER: CNS Enzhou

Explanation:
China (People’s Liberation Army Navy) has commissioned its 31^st Type - 056 class corvette stealth warship named CNS Ezhou.

It features good manoeuvrability, a high-level of automation and stealth capability.

It is capable of attacking aircraft, ships and submarines.

It will be based in China’s East Sea Fleet in a naval base in Fujian province.

It will perform coastal patrol, fishery escort, anti-submarine and anti-ship operations.

At present, Russia has the world’s largest corvette group that consists of about 80 vessels, but most of them were built in the 1980s and 1990s.

Russian fleet cannot compete with the China’s Type - 056 in terms of technology and equipment.

China’s fleet is now claimed to be the biggest force of modern corvettes of all navies.

Stealth Ship: Know More

• A stealth ship is a ship which employs stealth technology.
• It uses these construction techniques in an effort to ensure that it is harder to detect.
• Stealth ship cannot be detected by one or more of radar, visual, sonar, and infrared methods.
• Wake and acoustic signature reduction (Acoustic quieting) are unique to stealth ships' design.

ANSWER: Kerala Gramin Bank

Explanation:
The Kerala Gramin Bank (KGB) launched a novel programme “FI@School.”

Ths aims to propagate financial literacy among school children.

Under this programme, financial literacy clubs will be formed at every school.

It is implemented jointly with NABARD and Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI), Amsterdam.

Total 602 branches of the bank will identify and enter into a virtual tie up with a school in its locality.

It will organise various programmes such as account opening camps at schools, junior debit card distribution, financial literacy related classes.

It will also organise distribution of financial literacy booklets, competition on financial literacy, etc.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Scientists have developed a new method for medical testing.

This may lead to faster diagnosis of HIV, Lyme disease, syphilis and rotavirus infections.

Researchers combined cutting-edge nanoscience with a magnetic process discovered more than 170 years ago to create the method for speedy medical tests.

The team coated nanoparticles with the antibody to BSA, or bovine serum albumin. This is an antibody which is commonly used as the basis of a variety of diagnostic tests.

By mixing the nanoparticles in a test solution, the BSA proteins preferentially bind with the antibodies coating the nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles were used with an iron core and applied a magnetic field to the solution, causing the particles to align in a particular formation.

As proteins bind to the antibody-coated particles, the rotation of the particles becomes sluggish, which is easy to discover with laser optics.

The discovery, if commercialised, could lead to faster test results for HIV, Lyme disease, syphilis, rotavirus and other infectious conditions.

At the core of the research are nanoparticles - tiny particles that are one-billionth of a meter.

Application of Faraday Rotation: Know More

• The interaction of a magnetic field and light is known as Faraday rotation.
• This is a principle discovered by scientist MichaelFaraday in 1845.
• Putnam adapted it for biological use.
• Method could be used to produce biochemical immunology test results in as little as 15 minutes, compared to several hours for ELISA, or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
• This is currently a standard approach for biomolecule detection.

ANSWER: 7

Explanation:
Turkish parliament approved 7 of 18 constitutional amendments in the first round of voting to move Turkey to an executive-presidential system.

All 7 articles received more than 330 votes. That number is the required majority to take constitutional amendments to referendum.

The changes will bring an increase to the number of lawmakers represented in parliament to 600 from the current 550.

Elections will be renewed every five years instead of four.

Parliamentary elections will be held simultaneously with presidential elections.

The new system enables the elected president to keep links with his or her political party and will be permitted to run it.

The Turkish parliament has also approved the constitutional reform bill that includes strengthening the powers of the presidency.

Mr Erdogan, who could now retain presidency till 2029, says the reform will provide stability in the European Union candidate country. His opponents fear authoritarian rule.

Bill was approved with 339 votes, parliament said ; it needed 330 deputies in the 550-member assembly to support it in order to go to a public vote.

Mr Erdogan assumed the presidency - a largely ceremonial position - in 2014 after over a decade as prime minister.

Turkey has also been hit by a spate of deadly bombings and gun attacks by Islamic State and Kurdish militants over the past year and a half.

Turkey: Know More

• Capital: Ankara
• President: Recep Tayyip Erdogan
• Currencies: Turkish lira sign, Turkish lira
• Official language: Turkish

ANSWER: Nepal

Explanation:
Landlocked country Nepal has launched a 10 year plan to cut reliance on vegetable imports from India.

Though the western part of this nation has seen a rise in commercial vegetable farming, vegetable imports from India have continued to rise.

Region imports vegetables worth INR 55 billion each year from India.

Potatoes worth INR 370 million were annually imported. Green vegetable imports is pegged at INR 180 million.

Birgunj and Gadda Chauki are the two most important Indian trading outposts with Nepal.

Vegetable is cultivated in the following areas : Belauri, Krishnapur, Jhalari, Mahendranagar and Mahakali.

Production barely meets local demand.

The aim is to propose modern farm techniques to boost productivity, and making the country self-reliant in food.

Government has targeted making the country self-sufficient in maize and fish by the next three years.

Self reliance is sought in fruits like bananas, papaya and litchi by four years.

Towards its end, the project envisages becoming self-sufficient in fruits like kiwi, apple and orange.

Nepal Government: Know More

• Government: Federal parliamentary republic
• President: Bidhya Devi Bhandari
• Vice President: Nanda Kishor Pun
• Prime Minister: Pushpa Kamal Dahal
• Speaker of House: Onsari Gharti Magar
• Chief Justice: Sushila Karki
• Legislature: Parliament

ANSWER: UP, Rajasthan and MP

Explanation:
Inspite of freebies like books, bikes and uniforms, along with enrollment scholarships, MP is among top three states in the country with the least number of school going girls.

As per the Annual Status of Education Report 2016, in some states, proportion of out of school girls aged 11-14 remains more than 8 percent.

These include Uttar Pradesh (9.9%), Rajasthan (9.7%) and MP (8.5%).

Report was released by Pratham Education Foundation.

Proportion of out of school girls in MP was at 6.2% during 2014.

This has now increased to 8.5%.

There are currently 122 lakh schools in MP.

Status report also revealed the condition of poor quality of education and infrastructure in the state.

Education status report also found 2.9% girls in 7-10 years of age were not enrolled in schools. 29% girls in the age group of 15-16 years were out of schools during 2016.

2.9% of the students of class eight in state failed to even read letters while 13.5% of them were able to read standard-one level text.

64.3% students of class eight could read letters meant for class-II but not above.

6.7% of class-five and 1.6% students of class-eight of the state have even failed to recognise the digit - one to nine.

Similarly, 8.1% students of class-eight even fail to read English capital letters.

This percentage is 18.4 for class-five students.

Now, more students of these classes are attending coaching as this percentage of those not attending coaching has now reduced to 64.6%.

This Pratham Education Foundation report also revealed that the fraction of ‘out-of-school’ children (age 6-14) has increased between 2014 and 2016.

These include MP (from 3.4% to 4.4%), Chhattisgarh (from 2% to 2.8%), and Uttar Pradesh (from 4.9% to 5.3%).

In nine states, the level of English reading of private schools has also improved.

These are Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Assam, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

ASER Survey: Know More

• Survey was completed in a period of 100-days and with help of about 150-master trainers, who further trained other partners at district level.
• The sample size is bigger than the NSSO.
• Foundation has been conducting this survey every year since 2005, except 2015.

ANSWER: NK Singh

Explanation:
The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Committee headed by Shri NK Singh presented its report to the FM on 23rd Jan 2017.

Singh is the former Revenue and Expenditure Secretary and former Member of Parliament

Other Members of the Committee included:

• Dr. Urjit R. Patel, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI),
• Shri Sumit Bose, former Finance Secretary,
• Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser and
• Dr. Rathin Roy, Director, National Institute of Public Finance & Policy (NIPFP)

Government had constituted a Committee in May, 2016 to review the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act.

The Committee had wide ranging Terms of Reference (ToR) to comprehensively review the existing FRBM Act.

This is in the light of contemporary changes, past outcomes, global economic developments, best international practices and to recommend the future fiscal framework and roadmap for the country.

Committee’s views on certain recommendations of the Fourteenth Finance Commission and the Expenditure Management Commission were also sought.

These primarily related to strengthening the institutional framework on fiscal matters as well as certain issues connected with new capital expenditures in the budget.

Various stakeholders were also consulted for the report.

ANSWER: Rubber Soil Information System

Explanation:
Commerce & Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman launched the Rubber Soil Information System (RubSIS).

RubSIS is an online system for application of appropriate mix of fertilizers to specific plantations of robber growers based on the soil nature.

It was launched in New Delhi on 23rd Jan 2017.

RubSIS has been developed by Rubber Research Institute of India, under the Rubber Board in partnership with three agencies namely:

• Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala
• National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning, ICAR and
• National Remote Sensing Center, ISRO

The system brings soil data to the rubber growers and recommends the optimum mix and quantities of chemical fertilisers required by his holding.

It is a cost effective tool for scientific management of rubber growing soils.

It also promotes sustainability by preventing excessive use of chemical fertilisers and resulting soil degradation.

RubSIS will also lead to reduction in the cost of rubber production, increase in productivity and reduction of environmental pollution.

Scientific and user friendly, this tool has been launched in Kottayam, Kerala.

Kottayam is the largest rubber growing district of India.

The system will be extended to the entire rubber growing areas of Kerala and TN this year.

Rubber Plantations in India: Know More

• First rubber plantations in India were set up in 1895 on the hill slopes of Kerala.
• However, rubber cultivation on a commercial scale was introduced in 1902.
• Kerala is the largest producer of natural rubber with Kottayam, Kollam, Ernakulam, Kozhikode districts being responsible for production.
• Tamil Nadu is the second largest producer of rubber but lags far behind Kerala.
• Nilgiri, Madurai, Kanniyakumari, Coimbatore and Salem are the chief rubber producing districts of Tamil Nadu.
• Karnataka's Chikmagalur and Kodagu are the main producing districts.
• Tripura and Andaman & Nicobar Islands also produce small quantities of rubber.
• In India, consumption of rubber is almost always higher than the production and the production.