Current Affairs Questions & Answers - July 31, 2016

ANSWER: Electronic National Agricultural Market

Explanation:
An inter-ministerial panel mandated to recommend a roadmap to double farmer’s income by 2020 is set to be released in September. Highlighting measures to boost farm output and farmers income, more funds have been allocated under numerous schemes such as PMKSY and hence there are no provisions for a separate and distinct agriculture budget.

• As regards e-NAM or electronic national agriculture market, 23 mandis in 8 states have been integrated and a total 200 mandis will be brought to online platform by September.
• By 2020, the move is to double farmer’s income. An inter-ministerial committee was set up in April to study and recommend the doubling of income for farmers.
• Broad mandate of the panel is to examine the current income level of farmers/agri labourers and measure the historical rate of the growth of current income level as well as assess the required growth rate to double the income of farmers.
• The panel will recommend various strategies to be adopted to attain the target and also suggest an institutional mechanism to review and monitor the implementation of the realised goal.
• Committee is a dynamic one and will be making recommendations from 2016 Kharif itself.
• Ministry has held that to double farmers income from 2016-2017 to 2021-2022 in real terms, the desired compound annual growth rate will be much higher than attained so far
• Government is also aiming to reorient the agricultural sector by shifting from pure production based to income based considerations for farmers.

ANSWER: NASA

Explanation:
US space agency NASA has ordered a second mission from space transport services company SpaceX to take astronauts to the International Space Station/ISS.

• Commercial crew flights from Florida’s Space Coast to the International Space Station will restore American human spaceflight launch capacity and increase the time US crews can dedicate to scientific research while helping astronauts to prepare for deep space missions including the journey to Mars.
• Under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability, this is the fourth and final guaranteed order NASA will be making.
• SpaceX met the criteria for this latest award after completing interim developmental milestones and internal design reviews for its Crew Dragon spacecraft, Falcon 9 rocket and associated ground systems.

ANSWER: President

Explanation:
Infosys has elevated Rajesh Krishnamurthy executive VP and head of energy and utilities and telecom as President.

• Krishnamurthy has replaced Sanjay Purohit as head of consulting.
• He is now president besides 3 others elevated this year- Ravi Kumar, Mohit Joshi and Sandeep Dadlani.
• Krishnamurthy is also heading the Europe division of Infosys.

ANSWER: Project Shiksha

Explanation:
Microsoft has equipped more than 7.7 lakh government school teachers with IT skills across 12 states in India under Project Shiksha programme launched in 2003.

• The Microsoft India Citizenship Report 2015-2016 highlights the attainments of Microsoft citizenship initiatives including Project Shiksha, Project Saksham, Project Jyoti and YouthSpark.
• Project Saksham has reached out to 81 central/state universities through 24 states training 3800 faculty members since 2011.
• Project Jyoti helped to establish over 1700 enterprises by youth in the country.
• Microsoft is also running digital literacy initiative under the YouthSpark programme for marginalised communities with critical focus on young girls and women.

ANSWER: Maitree

Explanation:
Indo-Thailand Military Exercise Maitree concluded at Krabi, Thailand. Exercise commenced on 15th July 2016 under Royal Thailand Army.

• 90 soldiers of the Indian Army and Royal Thailand Army took part in the two week long exercise.
• This included combined training, weapons familiarisation and equipment used by countries, analysis of groups, drills and tactics while operating in counter terrorism environment and modalities of Area domination operations in urban environment apart from operations like Cordon, Search and Seek and Destroy Missions.
• Combined training helped the two nations to evolve common tactical procedures and drills to improve interoperability.

ANSWER: Sruthi Palaniappan

Explanation:
Sruthi Palaniappan became the youngest delegate to attend the Democratic National Convention.

• The 18 year old high school graduate is set to join Harvard University to study the government.
• Father Palaniyappan Andiappan also attended the convention as a member of credentials committee.
• Sruthi became one of four delegates elected by the district convention directly to the national convention that permitted her to bypass the election at state level.

ANSWER: AK Mittal

Explanation:
Term of the present Railway Board Chairman AK Mittal has been extended for another two years.

• Mittal was appointed on December 31, 2014, and his tenure was supposed to end on July 30 this year.
• Before this, he was Member Staff in the Railway Board.
• Current chairman Railway Board Shri AK Mittal has been reappointed as the new Chairman Railway Board for the period of 2 years till he attains the age of 62 years w.e.f 1.08.2016.
• AK Mittal was earlier GM of South Western Railway and was looking after the additional charge of General Lanager, South Central Railway, SCR (HQ Secunderabad).
• Mittal is a Bachelor of Engineering and an officer of 1976 batch of Indian Railways Services of Stores.

ANSWER: before

Explanation:
Central Board of Direct Taxes has decided that for tax purposes, a person would be deemed to have attained a certain age on the day preceding their birthday rather than the birthday itself.

• The issue is vital for those turning 60 to 80 years of age on April 1, since these two ages bring income tax exemptions with them applicable to senior and very senior citizens.
• CBDT in exercise of powers under section 119 of the Act holds that person born on April 1 would have been considered to attain a particular age on March 31, the day proceeding the anniversary of his or her birthday.
• Individuals will now benefit from senior citizen exemptions in the year they turn 60 rather than in the next year.

ANSWER: Ashok Leyland

Explanation:
R. Seshasayee has resigned from the board of Ashok Leyland, the flagship company of the Hindujas and resigned his position as non executive vice chairman.

• His resignation has been accepted.
• Seshasayee has indicated he would like to set down for the younger generation. A CA, he was an iconic figure in Ashok Leyland’s brand image.
• Starting his career with Hindustan Unilever in 1971, Seshasayee joined Ashok Leyland in 1976.
• He was made executive vice chairman in 2011.

ANSWER: Jeff Bezos

Explanation:
Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos has removed Warren Buffet as the third richest person globally with estimated annual worth of USD 65.3 billion according to Forbes real time wealth tracker.

• Buffet’s worth was pegged at USD 64.9 billion.
• Bezos has surpassed Buffet as the third richest person on the planet.
• Amazon has reported robust Q2 earnings with the company posting a profit of USD 857 million up from USD 92 million a year back.
• Amazon revenue also jumped up 31 percent to USD 30.4 billion topping analyst estimates of 29.5 billion.
• The stock has climbed, nothing up 11 percent gains this year and 41 percent over the past 12 months.
• Bill Gates is the richest person in the world with net worth of USD 75 billion.
• Zara’s Amancio Ortega is the second richest Indian in the world with net worth of USD 67 billion.

ANSWER: MANAK

Explanation:
Department of Science and technology has renamed a popular outreach programme aiming to interest children in science and research as well as innovation.

• INSPIRE or Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research) has now been rechristened MANAK (Millions Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge) from 2017.
• Since the scheme was conceived in 2010, close to 13.85 lakh students have been funded as per the official website.
• The aim is reformulation of existing programme and stress upon original ideas to use technology to solve problems.
• The National Innovation Fund will also be involved in the projects.
• INSPIRE awards is part of the larger INSPIRE programme to attract and retain talent in the field of science proposed since 2010.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar and Union Minister of HRD Shri Prakash Javadekar have released three books on the life of former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on July 27, 2016.

• The books entitled Prerna Nu Zamu: Dr Abdul Kalam (in Gujarati) “ Dr. Kalam: Prerna Ki Udaan” (in Hindi) and “Do You Know Dr APJ Abdul Kalam” (in English).
• Shri Parrikar held that Dr. Kalam was known for “thinking big to dream and putting energy to achieve that dream.”

ANSWER: Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

Explanation:
Third meeting of the Joint Committee at the Secretary level was held under the India Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement on 28th July 2016.

• Two sides discussed bilateral trade related issues and economic relations.
• Indian side highlighted various issues needed to be addressed by the Japanese side for providing greater market access to India products in Japan especially items with great potential such as sesame seeds, pharmaceuticals and marine products.
• India also sought recognition of Indian Organic Standards by Japan.
• Japanese side raised several issues pertaining to taxation and investment concerns by the Japanese companies investing in India.
• Both sides stressed the need for higher cooperation to provide market access to India products in Japan and facilitation of Japanese investments in India.

ANSWER: Dhananjai Mohan

Explanation:
State forest department has formed a committee headed by Chief Conservator of forests Dhananjai Mohan to hear grievances of villagers following inclusion of three ranges of Terai East of Uttarakhand as buffer zone of Phillibit Tiger Reserve of UP.

• This marks the first time when the reserve forest of the state is going to become the buffer zone of a tiger reserve of some other state.
• NTCA or National Tiger Conservation Authority has given approval for inclusion of three ranges as buffer zones of reserve.

ANSWER: High Tech Start Up & Other New Business Platform

Explanation:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has proposed considerable changes for startup listing platform to enhance its appeal for new age firms going public in local markets.

• Regulator indicated that based on feedback received from market participants, the decision has been taken to relax rules and rename the institutional trading platform as High Tech Start Up & Other New Business Platform.
• The proposal has been to eliminate the rule which says no single shareholder shall own more than 25 percent after listing, which many promoters were not comfortable with and has increased the allocation of shares more for HNIs and corporates.
• Earlier only 25 percent was reserved for HNIs and corporates.
• The hike in the limit on share allotment to individual institutional investors has gone up from 10 to 25 percent.
• Regulator also proposed to permit market making compulsory for at least three years for IPO of less than INR 100 crore.
• There is no provision mandates market making currently. Under the current rules, startups can also list on the separate institutional trading platforms of stock exchanges.
• Platform has not attracted a single start up for listing so far.
• SEBI has now eased the rules.
• Regulator has also proposed lock in for pre-issue shares held by venture capitalists and employees under the ESOP scheme for six months following the IPO
• Proposal has also been made to lower minimum trading lot from 10 to 5 lakh.

ANSWER: JN Singh

Explanation:
Gujarat government has appointed JN Singh a 1983 batch IAS of Gujarat cadre as new Chief Secretary of the State in place of GR Aloria superannuating on July 31.

• Order was issued by the personnel department headed by additional Chief Secretary Anil Mukim.
• Dr. Singh was currently Chief Secretary (Finance) and also officiating as MD of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation.
• In Gujarat, he was MD of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd, principal secretary revenue and additional Chief Secretary finance and personnel

ANSWER: Venkatesh

Explanation:
Venkatesh has been appointed as the new Chief Election Officer of UP on 30th July.

• He is a 1988 batch IAS officer.
• He was charged with the responsibility of conducting the crucial assembly elections in politically sensitive states in early 2017.
• He replaced Arun Singh as the Chief Election Officer of UP.
• A native of Vizag, he is charged with the responsibility of conducting crucial Assembly elections in the politically sensitive state in early 2017.

ANSWER: Shambhu Singh Yadav

Explanation:
UP Governor Ram Naik has given approval for appointment of retired IAS officer Shambhu Singh Yadav as the deputy Lokayukta of the state.

• Governor gave his approval following mutual agreement between CM and Retd. Sanjay Mishra on the name of Sambhu Singh Yadav for the post.
• Swatantra Singh was appointed uplokayukta on October 1, 2007 and served until the close of the term in September 2015.
• Yadav is a 1997 batch IAS officer who served as special secretary to former CM MS Yadav in the SP government in 2003 and made Akhilesh’s secretary again in 2012.