Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Jan 28, 2016

ANSWER: Rice

Explanation:
India has overtaken Thailand as the largest rice exporter in the world. It is the world’s largest rice exporter in 2015, shipping 10.23 MT according to a top Thai rice exporters body Thai Rice Exporters Association. Thailand has exported 9.8 MT of rice in 2015 down 10.8% Y-O-Y. They attributed downturn to global economy contraction with high rice demand and Thailand ended up second position in terms of overall exports. Vietnam won the third position globally while China was the leading importer of rice.

ANSWER: AP, Kerala

Explanation:
Railways has signed an MoU with AP and Kerala for project execution. MoUs were signed with Kerala and AP governments for forming JV companies for faster implementation of rail projects in states. JV companies will have 51% stake of respective state governments and 49% stake of the railways. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu at the MoU signing ceremony indicated growing demand for numerous railway lines in many states.

ANSWER: Connected Learning Initiative

Explanation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tata Institute of Social Sciences connected with the Tata Trust to launch CLIx (Connected Learning Initiative) for alleviating learning experience for secondary school students through effective use of ICT. While the first phase encompasses 1000 state run schools across 4 states, it will expand to other states soon. Initially, the focus will be on Hindi, English and Telugu content for subjects such as English Science and Maths. Such online learning technologies can transform education.

ANSWER: KBACE Technologies

Explanation:
Cognizant Technology Solutions headquartered in the US announced the acquisition of privately held KBACE Technologies, specialising in cloud strategy, integration and implementation. This is one of the largest reference bases of Oracle Cloud App customers across the world. It is a leading Oracle Cloud partner. Acquisition strengthens and empowers the digital capabilities of this IT company.

ANSWER: Bokanyi Consulting

Explanation:
Kellton Tech, a Hyderavad based firm has acquired Houston based enterprise Bokanyi Consulting which is a cloud and analytics services provider. This purchase has been carried out through internal accruals. Bokanyi, which offers a suite of analytics solutions and specialises in SAP HANA implementations, clocked revenue of about $8 million last year and catered to customers across 12 nations.

ANSWER: P2P

Explanation:
HCL Technologies Limited, India’s 4th largest software services firm has acquired UK based Point to Point Limited and Point to Point Products Ltd jointly referred as P2P for USD 11 million. Deal also includes contingent payments subject to specific financial milestones.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Teabox, the international speciality tea company, is the latest to received funding from Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons. This is the 4th start-up in 2016 to receive the attention of Tata, after Tracxn, Dogspot and Cashkaro.

ANSWER: Corruption Perceptions Index

Explanation:
Denmark remained atop Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index in the second consecutive year when it was perceived as the least corrupt nation in the world scoring 91 points of 100 while North Korea and Somalia remained at the bottom with a score of 8. US rose to 16th spot with 75as score, tying with Austria.

ANSWER: Arindam Sengupta

Explanation:
Arindam Sengupta, the managing editor of TOI succumbed to cancer after a brief and brave battle against the disease. He was 61 years old at the time of his death.

ANSWER: Jobability.org

Explanation:
A job portal for persons with disabilities has been launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Launching the portal, Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot said the Government has given very high priority to skill training programme for Persons with Disabilities and has a target for skilling five lakh persons in next 3 years. The skill training will be provided by a network of 200 clusters of “Training Partners with financial assistance of government. A time bound action plan has been prepared for this purpose, the Government will also pursue private sector for providing them job after the training, he said.