Current Affairs Questions & Answers - July 31, 2017

ANSWER: 29 July

Explanation:
The International Tiger Day (also known as Global Tiger Day) is celebrated every year on 29 July to raise awareness for tiger conservation.

The goal of observance of the day is to promote the protection and expansion of the wild tigers habitats and to gain support through awareness for tiger conservation.

On this occasion, special programmes are being organized all over the globe by many international organisations including the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), the IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) etc. organized events.

The International Tiger Day was founded in 2010 at the St. Petersburg Tiger Summit.

The summit had issued St. Petersburg Declaration on Tiger Conservation with an aim to double the big cat population by 2022.

The tiger is the largest of the world’s big cats with its distinctive orange and black stripes and beautifully marked face.

It is has been founded that in the last century 97% of all wild tigers had disappeared due to many factors including habitat loss, hunting and poaching, climate change.

According to WWF, only 3,890 tigers are left in the world, of them, India with more than 2500 tigers has the highest number.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
The Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC) has become the world’s first completely ‘green’ Metro system for adhering to green building norms for its residential colonies.

In this regard, Delhi Metro has secured the platinum rating for adherence to green building norms for its 10 residential colonies from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

The Delhi Metro is a metro system serving Delhi and its satellite cities of Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida and Ghaziabad in National Capital Region (NCR).

It is the world’s 12th longest metro system in length and 16th largest in ridership.

It is built and operated by DMRC, a state-owned company with equal equity participation from Union Government and Government of Delhi.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has financed 60% of the project cost in the form of soft loan under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

In 2008, DMRC was the first railway project in the world to be registered by the United Nations under the CDM, enabling it to claim carbon credits.

In 2015, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had registered DMRC as the world’s first transport sector project under the Program of Activities (PoA), making it the managing entity for all other Metros of India.

IGBC: Know More

• The IGBC is part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) formed in 2001.
• It offers a wide array of services including developing new green building rating programmes, green building training programmes and certification services.
• It also organises Green Building Congress, its annual flagship event on green buildings.
• It closely works with several State Governments, Central Government, World Green Building Council, bilateral multi-lateral agencies in promoting green building concepts in the country.

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has released Operational Guidelines for Planning and Implementation of Family Participatory Care (FPC) for improving newborn health.

The guidelines are for all stakeholders involved in the process of planning and delivering newborn care.

They will serve as a guiding document for those intending to introduce FPC in their facility as an integral part of facility based newborn care.

Family Participatory Care/ FPC has emerged as an important concept of health care as it provides partnership between health care staff and families in care of sick newborns admitted in the Special Newborn Care Units (SNCU).

Under it, the capacities of parents-attendants are built in newborn care through a structured training programme (training guide and audio-visual module).

Sick and newborn are highly vulnerable and require careful nurturing in order to survive the neonatal period and first year of life.

Under National Health Mission (NHM), more than 700 state of the art SNCU have been established across the country to provide 24 X 7 comprehensive care to the newborns by dedicated trained staff.

When parents are trained, during the stay of their babies in the hospital, to provide supportive care to their newborns, it will help in not only to improve survival of the babies after discharge but also cater psycho-social and developmental needs of the newborn.

The Operational Guidelines provides details of infrastructure, training, role of health care providers and steps in the operationalisation of FPC in the newborn care unit.

It also addresses various aspects of attitudes, infrastructural modifications and practice that will help in establishing FPC at SNCU.

It also includes sensitization of State and District Managers on FPC, prioritization of SNCUs for initiating FPC, making required infrastructural enhancement in SNCU, creating family participatory care environment in SNCU.

It also seeks to ensure availability of supplies for parents-attendants, role of healthcare providers for FPC implementation, training of SNCU staff for SNCU and institutional support for FPC.

The guidelines will be shared with the states for implementation to further improve the quality of care provided in the SNCUs across the country.

ANSWER: China

Explanation:
China has successfully produced natural gas from methane hydrate, also known as “flammable ice”, in an experimental project in the South China Sea (SCS).

As part of the experiment, a drilling platform had produced a total of 309,000 cubic metres of natural gas from gas hydrate in 60 days.

Methane hydrate has been identified as a potential new gas source for China, with the South China Sea thought to contain some of the world’s most promising flammable ice deposits.

India, Canada and US are also believed to be looking at hydrates as an alternative energy source.

Flammable ice (also known as methane hydrate or methane clathrates) consists of methane trapped within water crystals.

It is the world’s largest natural gas resource is trapped beneath permafrost and ocean sediment where low temperature and moderate pressure combine to trap methane in this specific way.

The methane hydrate is highly flammable and energy-intensive fuel as one cubic metre of the compound can releases about 160 cubic metres of gas.

It can break down into water and methane after temperature is raised or pressure is lowered.

It is likely to be the world’s last great source of carbon-based fuel and has potential to be a revolutionary energy source that could cater future energy needs.

Its vast deposits exist underneath all oceans around the globe, especially on the edge of continental shelves.

ANSWER: Hambantota

Explanation:
Sri Lanka has signed a US $1.1 billion deal to sell a 70% stake of the strategic Hambantota deep-sea port to China.

Hambantota port is a deep-water port in the southern tip of Sri Lanka. It sits close to busy east-west shipping lanes connecting Europe and Asia.

The deal was signed between Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and China Merchants Port Holding Co. (CMPort).

Under the 99-year lease agreement, CMPort will invest up to US $1.1 billion in the port and marine-related activities.

CMPort will be only responsible for commercial operations, while the SLPA will handle port’s operations, security and services.

Expanding the network of Chinese military and commercial facilities and relationships along its sea lines of communication extending from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan, this has raised India's apprehensions.

These sea lines run through several major maritime choke points such as the Strait of Mandeb, Strait of Hormuz, Strait of Malacca and the Lombok Strait.

This also includes strategic maritime centres in Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Somalia.

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
According to the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2017-2026 report, India is the world’s third-biggest exporter of beef.

Brazil was ranked as the world’s top beef exporter followed by Australia.

The report was released jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation (OECD).

India exported 1.56 million tonnes of beef in 2016. It is expected to maintain its position as the third-largest beef exporter, accounting for 16% of global exports in 2026 by exporting 1.93 tonnes that year.

India imported 363,000 tonnes of beef in 2016 and the amount was projected to stay the same over the decade.

The type of beef exported was not specified, but the exported meat appears to be mostly from buffaloes as the report has specified the animal for imports by Myanmar from India.

It needs to be clarified whether the report classifies even buffalo meat as beef.

The total world beef exports was 10.95 million tonnes in 2016 and it is expected to increase to 12.43 million tonnes by 2026.

Till 2015, India was the world’s largest exporter of beef and had extended its lead over the next highest exporter, Brazil.

OECD: Know More

• Headquarters : Paris, France
• Secretary-General : José Ángel Gurría(2017)
• Abbreviation : OECD; OCDE
• Official languages : English; French

ANSWER: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Explanation:
Senior PML-N leader and former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will run the PML-N government as interim prime minister of Pakistan.

This is until Nawaz Sharif's brother Shahbaz is elected as member of parliament, according to Pakistan media reports.

The Supreme Court Friday disqualified 67-year-old Sharif for dishonesty and ruled that corruption cases be filed against him and his children over the Panama Papers scandal.

The investigation was instrumental in forcing the embattled leader out of office.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to appoint Shahbaz Sharif as prime minister in an informal meeting.

Former petroleum minister Abbasi will be appointed as interim prime minister to run the country until Shahbaz is elected as member of parliament.

The final announcement will be made by Nawaz Sharif in the formal parliamentary party meeting of PML-N which is taking place in Islamabad a day after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.

Party sources had earlier said that Sharif proposed the name of his younger brother Shahbaz.

But Shahbaz, 65, cannot immediately replace his brother as he is not an MP. In order to become the prime minister, he would have to be elected first.

Hence, Abbasi has been named as interim prime minister who will resign once Shahbaz is elected.

Pakistan has seen such arrangements in the past too. During former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf’s time, politician Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was appointed as an interim prime minister until Shaukat Aziz, who was nominated by Musharraf, got elected by the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam (PMLQ).

Shahbaz Sharif is the son of late Mian Muhammad Sharif and brother of Nawaz Sharif.

Currently, Shahbaz is the chief minister of Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab.

He began his political career as a member of the Punjab Assembly in 1988.

Thereafter, Shahbaz became the opposition leader of Punjab Assembly in 1993.

Earlier, from 1997 to 1999, Shehbaz had held the position of Punjab chief minister.

However, he spent years of self-exile in Saudi Arabia, before returning to Pakistan in 2007.

Along with Shahbaz Sharif, Khawaja Asif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal, and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were also in contention to replace Nawaz Sharif.

Nawaz Sharif's decision to step down brought an unceremonious end to his term in power, roughly a year before the scheduled General Election.

Had Nawaz Sharif stayed in power till the scheduled elections, he would have become the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to complete a full five-year term.

ANSWER: Muntra

Explanation:
Government agency Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed India's first unmanned tank that can remotely operate and has named it ‘Muntra’.

The agency has developed the tank in three different variants to tackle any kind of situation- for surveillance, another for mine detection and a third variant for reconnaissance in areas with nuclear and bio threats.

The tank which is a first of its kind in the country has been developed and tested by Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) in Avadi for the army.

The paramilitary has expressed its interest in using them in the areas that have been affected by the Naxals.

Recently two vehicles that have been designed like an armoured tank were recently displayed at the Science for Soldiers exhibition that was organised by DRDO as a tribute to former President APJ Abdul Kalam, who was also known as the Missile Man of India.

During the testing of the vehicle, it was found that its surveillance radar that includes an integrated camera can be used to spy on targets that are 15 km away.

More about the variants of the unmanned tank ‘Muntra’-

Muntra S – This variant has been developed to carry out unmanned surveillance missions.

Muntra M – This variant has been developed for detecting mines.

Muntra N – This variant will be deployed in areas where nuclear radiation or the risk of bio weapons is high.

The tanks have been tested and validated at Mahajan field firing range in Rajasthan.

The Muntra tanks have surveillance radar, an integrated camera along with laser range finder, which can be used to spy on ground target about 15 kilometres away.

Besides heavy weights, the DRDO also showcased a few inventions like a handheld wall penetration radar which if placed on a wall will project on a screen the presence of people inside a building.

DRDO is now working on installing AWAC (Airborne Early Warning and Control System) on an A330 aircraft.

The system is now perfected for use on a smaller Embraer plane.

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
NHB Residex from the National Housing Bank, designed by a technical advisory committee comprising Government representatives, lenders and property market players, is a set of benchmarks that aims to track housing price indicators across Indian cities.

Originally flagged off in July 2007, the index was discontinued in 2015 and was refurbished and re-introduced earlier this month.

It now sports enhanced city coverage (rising from 26 to 50, to be eventually raised to 100), a new base year (2012-13) and new data sources (with data from banks and home finance companies and market surveys).

The NHB Residex currently offers two sets of quarterly Housing Price Indices (HPIs) across the cities it tracks.

List prices of under-construction property, collated through a survey of developers, are captured in the‘ Market HPI’.

Data reported by banks and finance companies that extend home loans, is collated into the‘ Assessment HPI’.

While these two datasets have been released for 50 cities from 2013 to 2017, indices on resale homes, rental values, land prices and building materials are awaited

NHB

• Headquarters : New Delhi, India
• Founded : 9 July 1988
• Industry : Banking CEO: Sriram Kalyanaraman
• Products : Loans

ANSWER: Marian Diamond

Explanation:
Marian Diamond, a neuroscientist who studied Albert Einstein’s brain and was the first to show that the brain’s anatomy can change with experience, has died.

She was 90

Diamond, a professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, died July 25 in Oakland.

Diamond became famous in 1984 when she examined preserved slices of Einstein’s brain and found it had more support cells than the average person’s brain.

Her research demonstrated the impact of enrichment on brain development a simple but powerful new understanding that has literally changed the world, from how we think about ourselves to how we raise our children.

Dr. Diamond showed anatomically, for the first time, what we now call plasticity of the brain. In doing so she shattered the old paradigm of understanding the brain as a static and unchangeable entity that simply degenerated as we age.

On campus, she was known for walking to her packed anatomy classes carrying a flowered hat box containing a preserved human brain.

She regularly encouraged activities, both mental and physical, that enrich the brain, and continued to conduct research and teach until 2014, when she retired at the age of 87.

“If you’re going to live life, you’ve got to be all in,” Diamond said in the 2016 documentary film “My Love Affair with the Brain- The Life and Science of Dr. Marian Diamond.”

ANSWER: 600 million

Explanation:
The Minister for Communications Shri Manoj Sinha said that as per information provided by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there were 422.19 million broadband subscribers and the internet penetration (internet subscriber per 100 populations) was 32.86% in the country as on 31st March 2017.

National Telecom Policy-2012 envisages 600 million broadband connections by the year 2020.

Government has planned the BharatNet project to provide 100 Mbps broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (approx. 2.5 lakh) in the country.

Under first phase of the project, 1 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs) are to be connected by laying underground Optical Fibre Cable(OFC) which is under implementation.

Under Phase-II, targeted to be completed by March 2019, connectivity will be provided to remaining 1.5 lakh GPs in the country using an optimal mix of underground fibre, fibre over power lines, radio and satellite media.

Provision of last mile access to the network and broadband service provisioning shall be through Wi-Fi or any other broadband access technologies in all 2,50,000 GPs in the country.

As on 23.07.2017, the status of implementation of BharatNet is as under:-

No. of GPs where OFC laying is completed : 100,299 GPs

Optical Fibre Cable laid : 221,925 Kms

Broadband Connectivity provided in GPs : 25,426 GPs

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India has constituted a National Steering Committee to initiate a National Programme on “Scientific Validation and Research on Panchgavya” (SVAROP).

Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS), an autonomous Ayurvedic research organization of the Central Government, has undertaken study to evaluate the immune-modulatory activity and safety/toxicity of Panchgavya Ghrita.

This is an Ayurvedic formulation made from cow’s five products (milk, curd, ghee, urine and dung) as mentioned in Ayurvedic classical texts and Ayurvedic Formulary of India, Part I.

Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences has conducted a National Seminar on Panchgavya Chikitsa in the year 2014 for promotion and awareness building and brought out a compilation document of published research papers on Panchagavya and its ingredients.

The published research papers on Panchagavya have been uploaded in the ‘AYUSH Research Portal’ for ready access to the public.