Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Jun 15, 2017

ANSWER: Jairam Ramesh

Explanation:
A book titled Indira Gandhi: A Life in Nature authored by Jairam Ramesh was released on 10 June 2017 at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum in New Delhi.

The book was launched by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the presence of former ministers, bureaucrats and environmentalists.

The first copy of the book, published by Simon & Schuster, was presented to the Congress President, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former minister Karan Singh and Priyanka Gandhi.

The book talks about Indira Gandhi’s life-long communion with nature and how that defined her very being.

In the book, Ramesh goes on to explain why and how she came to make a private passion a public calling; how her views on the environment remained steadfast even as her political and economic stances changed; how her friendships with conservationists led to far-reaching decisions to preserve India’s biodiversity, among other incidences.

The book offers a lively, conversational narrative of a relatively little known but fascinating aspect of Indira Gandhi’s tumultuous life.

Jairam Ramesh: Know More

• Born on 9 April 1954, Jairam Ramesh is an Indian economist and politician belonging to Indian National Congress.
• He has been serving as a Member of Parliament representing Andhra Pradesh state in the Rajya Sabha since June 2004.
• From May 2009 to July 2011, he served as the Indian Minister of State (Independent Charge) at the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

ANSWER: IRDAI

Explanation:
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has announced taking over the management of the Sahara India Life Insurance Company.

Insurance regulator, IRDAI in an order issued in New Delhi on 12 June 2017 said that Subrata Roy run insurer was “acting in a manner” prejudicial to the interest of subscribers.

IRDAI appointed one of its general managers, RK Sharma, as administrator to manage the affairs of the insurer with “immediate effect”.

IRDAI appointed RK Sharma (GM (F&A-NL)) the administrator of Sahara India Life Insurance Company by exercising the powers granted under section 52 A of the Insurance Act, 1938.

The Administrator shall conduct the management of the business of the insurer as per applicable provisions of the Insurance Act, 1938.

The regulator said it has “reasons” to believe that Sahara India Life Insurance Company “is acting in a manner likely to be prejudicial to the interest of holders of life insurance policies”.

IRDAI further said it will be the endeavour of the administrator to ensure the servicing of the policyholders and managing the affairs of the insurer in a smooth manner as far as feasible.

IRDAI: Know More

• Website: irdai.gov.in
• Founded: 1999
• Sector: Insurance
• Headquarters: Hyderabad
• Agency executive: T.S.Vijayan (Chairman)
• Type: Statutory corporation

ANSWER: Panama

Explanation:
Central American nation, Panama has cut its long-standing ties with Taiwan, choosing to establish diplomatic relations with China instead.

The Panamanian government said that it recognised there was “only one China” and considered Taiwan part of it.

The switch was made official with Panama’s foreign minister signing a communiqué with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on 13 June 2017 in Beijing.

The move leaves Taiwan with just 20 diplomatic allies.

Panama was upgrading its commercial ties with China and establishing full diplomatic links with the second most important customer of its key shipping canal.

Further, signing up to Beijing’s “One China” principle would generate a great potential in all areas including investment and job creation.

Chinese foreign minister described the development as a historic moment and said that Panama’s decision was in complete accordance with its people’s interests and in keeping with the times.

The move has come at a time when China has stepped up its efforts to isolate the self-governing island that it considers as a part of its own territory.

Taiwan’s government said it was sorry and angry over Panama’s decision and added that it would not compete with China in its “diplomatic money game”.

Taiwan would immediately end cooperation with Panama and evacuate their embassy and technical personnel from the country.

One China Policy: Know More

• The People’s Republic of China (PRC) supports ‘One-China policy’, which states that Taiwan and mainland China are both a part of China and that the PRC is the only legitimate government of the region.
• It uses this policy to prevent the international recognition of the Republic of China that includes Taiwan as an independent sovereign state.
  Earlier, Taiwan used to participate in international forums under the name “Chinese Taipei”.
• With the emergence of the Taiwanese independence movement, the name ‘Taiwan’ is being increasingly employed on the island as well as off it.
• However, since the election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, China has grown deeply suspicious of the nation.
• The Chinese government has tried to hamper Taiwan’s independence route by poaching its diplomatic allies and hampering its participation in international forums.
• In December 2016, China won over the support of African island nation Sao Tome and Principe, another ally of Taiwan.
• Taiwan had as many as 30 diplomatic allies in the mid-1990s and its remaining formal ties are with mostly smaller and poorer nations in Latin America and the Pacific.

ANSWER: Fifth

Explanation:
FM Arun Jaitley co haired Fifth India-Korea Financial Dialogue with the newly-appointed Deputy Prime Minister and the Finance Minister of the Republic of Korea, Kim Dong-yeon.

Shri Jaitley is the First Foreign Dignitary to be received in his tenure.

Kim emphasized the importance that the new Government of ROK attaches to the development of the special strategic partnership with India.

The two Ministers reviewed the international economic situation, and India-Korea bilateral economic ties in that context.

They agreed that in the face of uncertainty and the risk of rising protectionism, there was an urgent need for the two countries to increase efforts to stimulate investment flows, support for infrastructure development, and bilateral trade among others.

As the world’s fastest growing large economy, India offers Korea important opportunities to deploy its capital and technologies in India, and for India, South Korea’s interest in finding new openings to diversify its economic partnerships offers India great opportunities.

Signing of Agreements to establish US$ 9 billion in concessional credit and US$ 1 bn in ODA funding for infrastructure development projects in India were next.

This implemented a decision taken during the State Visit of Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi to South Korea in May 2015.

With this, Republic of Korea became one of the First non-G-7 countries to become an Official Development Assistance (ODA) contributor in India.

Both the Ministers also agreed to consider deploying part of this fund towards the Smart City projects in India.

They also agreed to establish a mechanism at senior official levels, to identify good infrastructure projects in India, to draw upon these funds.

The signing of the Inter-Governmental Agreement on Strategic Partnership in Defence Production, and the finalization of a Make-in-India Project to manufacture 155mm Self-Propelled Artillery Guns in India, was also discussed as the two countries looked forward to the expansion of this relationship through Policy Dialogue (a 2+2 dialogue) and through service-to-service ties.

ANSWER: Interest Subvention Scheme

Explanation:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) for farmers for the year 2017-18.

This will help farmers getting short term crop loan up to Rs. 3 lakh payable within one year at only 4% per annum.

The Government has earmarked a sum of INR 20,339 crore for this purpose.

The interest subvention will be given to Public Sector Banks (PSBs), Private Sector Banks, Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) on use of own funds.

It will also be provided to NABARD for refinance to RRBs and Cooperative Banks.

The Interest Subvention Scheme will continue for one year and it will be implemented by NABARD and RBI.

The objective of the scheme is to make available at ground level, agricultural credit for Short Term crop loans at an affordable rate to give a boost to agricultural productivity and production in the country.

Scheme Features: Know More

The salient features of the scheme are as follows:

The Central Government will provide interest subvention of 5 per cent per annum to all prompt payee farmers for short term crop loan upto one year for loan upto INR 3 lakhs borrowed by them during the year 2017-18. Farmers will thus have to effectively pay only 4% as interest. In case farmers do not repay the short term crop loan in time they would be eligible for interest subvention of 2% as against 5% available above. The Central Government will provide approximately INR 20,339 crore as interest subvention for 2017-18. In order to give relief to small and marginal farmers who would have to borrow at 9% for the post harvest storage of their produce, the Central Government has approved an interest subvention of 2% i.e. an effective interest rate of 7% for loans upto 6 months. To provide relief to the farmers affected by natural calamities, the interest subvention of 2% will be provided to Banks for the first year on the restructured amount. In case farmers do not repay the short term crop loan in time they would be eligible for interest subvention of 2% as against available above.

Source: PIB

Impact:

Credit is a critical input in achieving high productivity and overall production in the agricultural sector.

The Cabinet’s approval of a sum of INR 20,339 crore to meet various obligations arising from interest subvention being provided to the farmers on short term crop loans, as also loans on post harvest storages meets an important input requirement of the farmers in the country.

This institutional credit will help in delinking the farmers from non-institutional sources of credit, where they are compelled to borrow at usurious rates of interest.

Since the crop insurance under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is linked to availing of crop loans, the farmers would stand to benefit from both farmer oriented initiatives of the Government, by accessing the crop loans.

An important initiative of the government is market reforms, with a view to ensuring that the farmers benefit from remunerative prices for their produce in the market.

The electronic National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) that was launched by Government on April, 2016 aims at integrating the dispersed APMCs through an electronic platform and enable price discovery in a competitive manner, to the advantage of the farmers.

While the farmers are advised to undertake on-line trade, it is also important that they avail themselves of post-harvest loans by storing their produce in the accredited warehouses.

The loans are available to Kisan Credit Card (KCC) holding small and marginal farmers at interest subvention of 2 per cent on such storages for a period of upto six months.

This will help the farmers to sell when they find the market is buoyant, and avoid distress sale. It is, therefore, needful for the small and marginal farmers to keep their KCCs alive.

The Government is keen in improving income of the farmers, for which it has launched several new initiatives that encompass activities from seed to marketing.

The credit from institutional sources will complement all such government initiatives like Soil Health Card, Input Management, Per Drop More Crop in Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojana (PMKSY), PMFBY, e-NAM, etc.

Interest Subvention Scheme: Know More

• The scheme has been running since 2006-07. Under this, the farmers can avail concessional crop loans of upto INR 3 lakh at 7% rate of interest.
  It also provides for an additional subvention of 3%.
• Prompt Repayment within a period of one year from the date of advance. As a measure to check distress sale, post-harvest loans for storage in accredited warehouses against Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs) are available for upto 6 months for KCC holding small & marginal farmers.
• During the year 2016-17, the volume of short term crop loan lent stood at INR 6,22,685 crore, surpassing the target of INR 6,15,000 crore
• Government provides Interest subvention to different banks and cooperatives for short term crop loan extended by them to farmers at concessional rate of 7% and in case of timely repayment, an additional subvention of 3%.
• In effect, crop loans are available to farmers at 4% rate of interest. The scheme also envisages other benefits including interest at concessional rate of 7% for storage in ware houses accredited by Warehousing Development Regulatory Authority (WDRA) for upto 6 months post harvest for avoiding distress sale.
• This provides institutional credit to the farmers and disengages them from non-institutional sources of credit, where they are prone to exploitation by private money lenders.
• All short term crop loan accounts will be Aadhaar linked from current year.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal to introduce a Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017.

The Bill would provide for a comprehensive resolution framework for specified financial sector entities to deal with bankruptcy situation in banks, insurance companies and financial sector entities.

The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance, Bill 2017 when enacted, will pave the way for setting up of the Resolution Corporation.

It would lead to repeal or amendment of resolution-related provisions in sectoral Acts as listed in Schedules of the Bill.

It will also result in the repealing of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961 to transfer the deposit insurance powers and responsibilities to the Resolution Corporation.

The Resolution Corporation would protect the stability and resilience of the financial system; protecting the consumers of covered obligations up to a reasonable limit; and protecting public funds, to the extent possible.

The Government has recently enacted the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("Code") for the insolvency resolution of non- financial entities.

The proposed Bill complements the Code by providing a resolution framework for the financial sector. Once implemented, this Bill together with the Code will provide a comprehensive resolution framework for the economy.

Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill: Know More

• The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill, 2017 seeks to give comfort to the consumers of financial service providers in financial distress.
• It also aims to inculcate discipline among financial service providers in the event of financial crises by limiting the use of public money to bail out distressed entities.
• It would help in maintaining financial stability in the economy by ensuring adequate preventive measures, while at the same time providing the necessary instruments for dealing with an event of crisis.
• The Bill aims to strengthen and streamline the current framework of deposit insurance for the benefit of a large number of retail depositors. Further, this Bill seeks to decrease the time and costs involved in resolving distressed financial entities.

ANSWER: Netherlands

Explanation:
Fishers off the coast of the Netherlands got quite a shock when they caught what has now been confirmed as the first case of conjoined twin harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena).

With a single body and two fully grown heads, this is a case of partial twinning, or parapagus dicephalus.

The sighting is extremely rare: these male porpoises are only the 10th known case of conjoined twins in cetaceans, a group of animals that also includes whales and dolphins.

“The anatomy of cetaceans is strikingly different from terrestrial mammals with adaptations for living in the sea as a mammal. Much is unknown.

Adding any extra case to the known nine specimens brings more knowledge on this aspect.

The fishers who made the discovery returned the twins - which were probably already dead when caught - to the ocean.

They believed it would be illegal to keep such a specimen, but were able to produce a series of photographs useful for research.

The twins died shortly after birth, because their tail had not stiffened - which is necessary for newborn dolphins to be able to swim, says Kompanje.

Other signs of their age were a flat dorsal fin that should have become vertical soon after entering the ocean water, and hairs on the upper lip, which should fall out shortly after birth.

Partial twinning can happen in one of two ways: two initially separate embryonic discs can fuse together or the zygote can only partially split during the early development process.

This case concerns the second known case of twinning, the first case of conjoined twins in Phocoena phocoena, the fourth known case of parapagus dicephalus in a cetacean species and the tenth known case of conjoined twinning in a cetacean species.

Conjoined Twins: Know More

• Not much is known about what causes conjoined twinning in cetaceans.
• In humans, conjoined twins are identical twins that are physically attached to each other.
• In healthy identical twins, an embryo splits into two after fertilization, but in conjoined twins, this process abruptly stops before the separation is complete.

ANSWER: Kanpur

Explanation:
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur will confer a doctorate on former sprint queen PT Usha, who missed a medal by a whisker at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

The degree, Doctor of Science (honoris causa - a degree awarded as a mark of esteem) will be conferred on June 16 to mark the 50th convocation of the prestigious institute of the country.

This is her second doctorate - in 2002, Kannur University had conferred D.Lit on her.

For the former sprinter, the news came at an opportune time when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate her synthetic track stadium through video conferencing on June 15.

Usha (52) was in news recently when she declined an offer from Bollywood to do a biopic on her. She said she will not do this until the country wins a gold medal in Olympics athletics.

Running a private sports school, Usha School of Athletics near Kozhikkode, she is busy training young athletes eyeing 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The newly-built synthetic track will be a big push. It will help budding athletes for international events.

Grooming youngsters for more than two decades, her school has produced some of the best women athletes of the country, including Tintu Luka, Jisna Mathew and Jessy Joseph.

ANSWER: Verizon

Explanation:
Telecom giant Verizon has acquired Yahoo’s core business for $4.48bn (£3.51m), thus ending Yahoo’s two-decade long run as an independent company.

Verizon is the No.1 wireless operator in the US. Salient Highlights Verizon will combine Yahoo with AOL which was bought by it two years ago to establish a venture called Oath.

The Oath is a division in Verizon’s Media and Telematics organisation. Oath owns more than 50 brands such as HuffPost, TechCrunch and Tumblr.

With the acquisition, Yahoo’s chief executive Marissa Mayer has resigned.

Verizon has not indicated how it proposes to use the Yahoo brand which is used by millions of people worldwide.

But it has stated that it will keep the names Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Mail and more.

Yahoo’s acquisition brings to an end a long decline of its market value which peaked at $125 billion in 2000.

The remainder of Yahoo which is not acquired by Verizon will change its name to Altaba Inc. It will become a holding company with 15.5% stakes in Chinese Internet giant Alibaba and a 35.5% holding in Yahoo Japan Corp.

It will begin trading under the ticker symbol “AABA.” Thomas McInerney, a Yahoo board member will be made as Altaba’s chief executive officer.

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
India has ratified two key global conventions for combating child labour as a step towards creating full respect for fundamental rights at work.

India has deposited the instruments of ratification of the two fundamental ILO Conventions with the International Labour Office (ILO). The two key conventions are related to the elimination of child labour- the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No 138) and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).

India has become the 170th member of ILO to ratify the Convention No. 138, which requires the member parties to set a minimum age under which no one should be employed in any occupation, except for light work and artistic performances.

India has become the 181st member of ILO to ratify Convention No 182 which requires state parties to prohibit and eliminate worst forms of child labour, including slavery, forced labour and trafficking; the use of children in armed conflict; the use of a child for prostitution, pornography and in illicit activities such as drug trafficking; and hazardous work.

The elimination of Child Labour from the country is also essential to achieve Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The ratification of these conventions will help in achieving Goal 8 of the sustainable development goals which aims at complete eradication of child labour by 2025 and calls for prohibition and elimination of its worst forms.

The government has recently amended the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 which came into effect in September 2016. This amendment prohibits employment of children below 14 years in any occupation or process.

It also prohibits the employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years) in hazardous occupations and processes. The government has also strengthened the National Child Labour Project.

It is a rehabilitative scheme that provides bridge education and vocational training to adolescents.

ANSWER: Nag

Explanation:
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired anti-tank ‘Nag’ missile in Rajasthan.

The test was conducted by scientists of the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Missile Complex at Hyderabad, Defence Laboratory at Jodhpur, High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) at Pune and Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) at Pune.

The anti-tank Nag missile is one of the five missile systems developed by the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) under the integrated guided missile development programme (IGMDP).

The four other missiles developed under this programme include Agni, Akash, Trishul and Prithvi.

The Nag missile is a third generation anti-tank guided missile which works on “fire and forget” principle.

The anti-tank Nag missile has been equipped with the highly advanced Imaging Infrared Radar (IRR) seeker along with integrated avionics.

This technology is possessed by very few nations. It also possess advanced passive homing guidance system.

The missile has been designed mainly to destroy modern main battle tanks and other heavily armoured targets.

Nag can be launched from land and air-based platforms.

The helicopter launched version known as helicopter-launched NAG (HELINA) can be fired from Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH) and HAL Rudra attack helicopter.

The land-based version of the missile is at present available for integration on the Nag missile carrier (NAMICA).

DRDO: Know More

• Founded: 1958
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Motto: "Strength's Origin is in Science" (Sanskrit)
• Minister responsible: Arun Jaitley, Defence Minister of India
• Agency executive: Dr.S.Christopher, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D;
• Annual budget: 135.9 billion INR (US$2.0 billion, 2016–2017)