Current Affairs Questions & Answers - July 17 & 18, 2016

ANSWER: 1.27

Explanation:
India’s merchandise exports rose after 18 months by 1.27 percent Y-O-Y to USD 22.57 billion.

• The gulf between exports and imports widened to 8.11 billion as exports rose 30.68 billion.
• In May, the deficit stood at USD 6.27 billion.
• Full quarter deficit stood at 19.23 billion down from USD 32.22 billion during the same quarter in the previous year.
• The RBI released services data indicating that the country’s net services export was pegged at USD 5.53 billion for May and 11.24 for the first two months of the financial year.

ANSWER: USD 1.228 billion

Explanation:
The foreign exchange reserves fell to USD 361.943 billion in the week to July 8 on account of declining foreign currency assets, according to the RBI.

• Reserves surged by USD 2.374 billion to USD 363.171 billion.
• Foreign currency assets a major component of overall reserves fell by USD 1.218 billion to USD 337. 493 billion.
• RBI data indicated that SDR with IMF was down USD 3.6 million to USD 1.484 billion and the serve position fell by USD 5.9 million to USD 2.389 billion.

ANSWER: 7

Explanation:
Belgian player Justine Henin and Russian Marat Safin were honoured as inductees in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island.

• 7 time grand slam singles winner Henin and twice grand small champion Safin were joined in festivities by French player Amelie Mauresmo who was also inducted into the hall of fame.
• Henin was the first Belgian to be elected to the shrine
• Mauresmo, a Wimbledon champion and the first French woman to reach world number one also joined the Hall of Fame

ANSWER: Online purchase of goods and services by central government ministries and departments

Explanation:
Commerce Ministry has launched an e-marketplace for online purchase of goods and services by numerous central government ministries and departments.

• Move is aimed at creating transparency and streamlining the government procurement of goods and services
• DGS&D haas developed a portal for the purpose.

ANSWER: Caratlane

Explanation:
Titan company, part of the salt to steel conglomerate TATA Group has invested INR 357 crore for 62% stake in online jewellery retailer Caratlane.

• The acquisition values Caratlane at INR 575 crore.
• Titan which makes watches and jewellery under the Tanishq brand indicating it has picked up a majority stake in Chennai based company.
• Titan will be acquiring 19,142,545 shares and this is the second such deal where a retail player has invested in an e-commerce firm.
• Earlier, Future Group purchased furniture retailer Fabfurnish.

ANSWER: Docking

Explanation:
SpaceX launched another load of space station supplies for NASA including a critical docking port required by new US crew capsules to debut next year.

• Unmanned Falcon rocket is scheduled to lift off on 18th July.
• Aboard the rocket is a replica of the docking port destroyed in a SpaceX launch accident in the previous summer.
• This is the second port NASA needing two of the three ports for crew capsules under development by SpaceX and Boeing.

ANSWER: Beijing

Explanation:
The virulent Beijing strain was found in multi-drug resistant TB cases in Sikkim and Mumbai.

• Doctors have found the strains from TB patients indicate 95 percent are drug resistant.
• Mumbai is India’s TB capital.
• Genome sequencing of strains found in TB patients in Mumbai has displayed a lot of drug mutation making the case difficult to treat.

ANSWER: 4

Explanation:
Air quality in China’s largest cities continued to improve the first 6 months of 2016 according to the environment ministry of the country.

• China’s largest 338 cities have experienced more clean air days in the first half compared with the same period of 2015.
• 76.7 percent of January to June days had clean air.
• This is an increase of 4 percentage points from the earlier year.
• In the capital city of Beijing, levels of PM 3.5 fell 17.9 percent from the earlier year.

ANSWER: Yatra

Explanation:
Yatra Online Inc and Terrapin 3 Acquisition Corporation on 14th July 2016 entered into a definitive agreement for merger.

• Transaction values Yatra at USD 218 million.
• Yatra will also be listed on the NASDAQ stock market under the symbol YTRA following completion of this transaction
• Founded in the year 2006, Yatra is one of the fastest growing consumer travel platforms and online travel agents in India with more than 4 million customers.
• It is the most trusted e-commerce travel brand in India and has won three awards at the Ministry of Tourism National Tourism Awards ceremony

ANSWER: Aadhaar (Targeted delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016

Explanation:
The Union Government has notified the UIDAI (Terms and Conditions of Service of Chairperson and Member) Rules to provide legal shape to Unique Identification Authority of India.

• The rules have been framed as per provisions of Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) Act 2016 for the appointment of chairperson and members.
• The UIDAI chairman will be selected on the basis of recommendation of a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary.
• UIDAI was set by by GoI in January 2009 under the control of the Planning Commission.

ANSWER: Fide Women’s Grand Prix Trophy

Explanation:
Indian Grand Master Harika Dronavalli won the Fide Women’s Grand Prix Trophy in Chengdu, China.

• She won against Russia’s Olga Girya winning her maiden career GP title.
• Dronavalli was born in January 1991 and is an Indian chess grandmaster.
• Harika earned the Grandmaster Title in July of 2011 and has won the Commonwealth Women’s Championship three times

ANSWER: Joseph Antic

Explanation:
Joseph Antic, a silver medallist in mens hockey for Rome Olympics for India passed away after the unveiling of the mens and women squad for the Rio Olympics.

• Joseph Anthony Antic was born in 1931 and was an Indian field hockey player from AP.
• The former hockey player was also among the coaches of the Indian team which won the world cup in 1973.

ANSWER: Terrain imaging for diesel dRivers INfra-red, Enhanced optical & Radar Assisted system

Explanation:
TRI-NETRA system shall be made of high resolution optical video camera, high sensitivity infra-red video camera and additional radar based terrain mapping system.

• The three components of the system shall act as the three netras or eyes of the locomotive pilot.
• TRI-NETRA is designed to see the terrain in inclement weather by combining images captured by the three sub systems to create a composite video image to be displayed on the computer monitor in front of the Loco Pilot.

ANSWER: 11th Inter-State Council meeting

Explanation:
The 11th meeting of the Inter-State Council has been held under the chairmanship of India’s PM Narendra Modi.

• The Inter State Council meeting had many firsts- one of these is that for the first time, a meeting of the Inter-State Council has covered a wide range of topics for common interest of States and Centre.
• Earlier the meeting had focused on just one or two sectors.
• The meeting has been held after a gap of 10 years.

ANSWER: Dipika Pallikal

Explanation:
Dipika Pallikal Karthik prevailed over the defending champion Joshua Chinappa to regain women’s title in the 73rd Senior National Squash Championship.

• Men’s title was captured by top seed Saurav Ghoshal for the record 11th time, defeating fourth seed Harinderpal Singh Sandhu.

ANSWER: Martin Klizan

Explanation:
Martin Klizan won the German Open , his second title this year beating Pablo Cuevas 6-1,6-4.

• Seventh seeded Klizan rolled through the first set and took 84 percent of his first serve points to seal the second title after Rotterdam.

ANSWER: Le Corbusier

Explanation:
Structures included as world heritage sites by Le Corbusier include Maison Guiette, in Antwerp, Belgium, the National Museum for Western Art in Tokyo among others.

• The famous Swiss French architect has been immortalised and is famous for his vision of the house as a machine for residing in.
• He was born Charles Edouard Jeanneret at Le Cahux De-Found, Switzerland.
• He adopted the surname Le Corbusier from his material grandfather Lecorbusier.

ANSWER: Uttarakhand

Explanation:
The first industrial park of its kind for women entrepreneurs was launched by Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat of the Federation house to attract women business leaders and encourage them to initiate startups in the state.

• Event was organised by FICCI Ladies Organisation/ FLO.
• FLO was set up in 1983- it has its HQ in New Delhi.