Current Affairs Questions & Answers - June 22, 2016

ANSWER: Carol Lindstrom

Explanation:
Genpact announced the appointment of ex-Deloitte vice chairman Carol Windstorm to the board of directors with immediate effect. Recently retired from Deloitte, Windstorm led strategic relationship management at the firm. She was also president of the Deloitte Foundation and member of Deloitte & Touche Board of Directors for six years.

• She served on the DTT Global Board of Directors for 8 years and held many management and client leadership positions during her Deloitte career
• Company’s principal shareholder Bain Capital has evaluated acquisition of NASDAQ listed IT services firm Syntel, creating speculation about billion dollar consolidation move in the Information Technology Services industry
• Bain along with Genpact looked at a possible acquisition of Syntel some months ago

ANSWER: Russian Olympic Committee

Explanation:
Athletes who have qualified will compete as members of the team of Russian Olympic Committee, according to IOC President Thomas Bach.

• Bach dismissed the idea that Russian track and field stars could compete under neutral or Olympic flag as indicated when IAAF extended the ban on Russian track and field stars on 17th June 2016

ANSWER: Mindshare

Explanation:
Mindshare is one of India’s full service media agencies and part of GroupM and it has bagged Grand Prix in the Glass Lions category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2016 for its 6 Pack Band campaign

• The Glass Lions is a Lion for Change, created in partnership with Lean In dot organ to recognise work positively affecting gender inequality, injustice or imbalance.
• Campaign was an initiative for HUL’s Brooke Bond Red Label Tea in association with Y Flims

ANSWER: World Investment Report 2016

Explanation:
India has retained the ranking as the tenth highest recipient of FDI in 2015 receiving USD 44 billion in investment that year compared to US $35 billion in 2014, as per the UN

• World Investment Report 2016 released by UNCTAD found India also jumped a place in terms of attractiveness as a business destination in 2015 to sixth place with 14 percent of respondents naming it as destination of their choice

ANSWER: Bajaj Finance Ltd

Explanation:
Future Group has entered into a collaboration with Bajaj Finance Ltd, the retail lending arm of Bajaj Finserv to enable customers to convert purchases into equated monthly instalments

• Both companies have come out with co-branded EMI Network card launched in Mumbai.
• Credit facility is available to customers of Future Group brands on minimum purchase of INR 5000 to maximum of INR 3 lakhs- payment can be made in a period of 3 months to two years

ANSWER: Fastfilmz

Explanation:
Aircel has partnered with Bengaluru based Fastfilmz to permit customers in TN to see regional movies on the go. Integrated customers can approach the nearest retailer or Aircel store and ask for Aircel-Fastfilmz scratch card, downloading the application and getting a 14 day free subscription trial period

• Partnership permits Aircel customers to access library of 400 latest Tamil and Telugu movies

ANSWER: Vijay Mallya

Explanation:
Controversial industrialist Vijay Mallya has quit as Chairman of BayerCrop Science Ltd promoted by Bayer AG

• He also resigned as director of the company
• Company has accepted his resignation
• He was appointed Chairman of the Board in 2004 in the month of March

ANSWER: Nikesh Arora

Explanation:
Nikesh Arora considered the top contender to succeed SoftBank Group Corp, founder and CEO Masayoshi Son will be handing over his current post as President of the Japanese company

• This became clear after Son clarified Arora won’t get the top job in the near future
• Development comes 24 hours after Arora was given a clean chit in an internal investigation for alleged irregularities in SoftBank Indian investments Housing dot com and Oyo Rooms.
• Arora is a former Google executive who made headlines as one of the top paid company officials in the world
• Arora made valuable contributions to SoftBank such as the monetisation of a stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and sale of stake in gamemnaker Supercell.
• In May SoftBank said it aimed to sell US $7.9 billion of its stake in Alibaba.
• Arora joined SoftBank from Google where he was Chief Business Officer
• SoftBank invested in growth stage companies in India such as Snapdeal, Ola and Oyo

ANSWER: Reusable Launch Vehicle

Explanation:
Following the success of the Reusable Launch Vehicle-TD in the previous month, ISRO is testing a scramjet engine associated with air breathing propulsion

• Test flight of the indigenously developed scramjet engine will take place at Sriharikota’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
• Called Advanced Technology Vehicle, the test platform will comprise a scramjet engine associated with a two stage sounding rocket- RH 560
• Vehicle is being characterised and fabricated at VSSC and ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri
• Air breathing engine will be released at a height of 70 km and ignited during coasting phase.
• Apart from the hypersonic ignition at Mach 6, ISRO sustained the combustion for 5 seconds
• Maintaining combustion in this condition is a technical challenge as the fuel has to be ignited in milliseconds

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
Candidates taking various exams for recruitment into Central government will now be able to access scores and rankings through a dedicated portal.

• Government has approved the proposal of Niti Aayog in this regard
• Results are to be available for public viewing unless the candidate has opted out of the disclosure scheme at the time of filing applications
• NIC will be developing a website Integrated Information System for Public Recruitment Agencies, according to DoPT
• The integrated website will also have links to numerous recruiting agencies like UPSC, SSC etc own web pages

ANSWER: 10

Explanation:
Twitter known for its 140 character limit on tweets and is now permitting users to post longer videos of 140 seconds. The microblogging site indicated some publishers can create videos as long as 10 minutes

• The microblogging site also launched a new mobile app allowing publishers to analyse interactions with followers called Twitter Engage
• It recently acquired AI firm Magic Pony
• Videos had previously been restricted to 30 seconds
• 140 second limit will apply to video streaming service Vine of Twitter which earlier had a six second limit

ANSWER: Dongla

Explanation:
Shadows of objects vanished in Dongla village, Ujjain district for a minute on account of the typical astronomical position of Sun on 21st June- the longest day of the year

• Sun was positioned on Tropic of Cancer on northern hemisphere around 12:28 pm
• Position was exactly atop the Dongla village where the Tropic of Cancer has passed creating a phenomenon where object shadows vanish for a minute
• This rare occurrence is seen once a year on solstice which is the longest day of the year
• Monday (June 21 2016) was the longest day in the northern hemisphere of 13 hours 34 minutes and shortest night of 10 hours 26 minutes
• Sun assumes the unique position as the earth is tilted 23.5 degrees
• The entire movement of the Sun and shadow less period was studied using a Shanku Yantra or vertical gnomon
• This is a traditional astronomical device installed by Sawai Raja Jaisingh of Jaipur in 1719 and with the help of the shadow of the gnomon, the angle of elevation and zenith distance of the sun can be determined.
• At Dongla village, Tropic of Cancer and ancient Indian Time Meridien meet and on June 21 solstice, the shadow of the gnomon vanishes

ANSWER: Mori

Explanation:
Mori village in East Godavari district in AP will be developed as a smart village of the international standards

• Partners in the project on 19th June 2016 announced the prototype will be ready by mid December 2016
• Mori is a cashew exporting village in AP’s East Godavari district
• Project involves the use of digital tools, real time data and uninterrupted internet connectivity
• To provide 24/7 power supply, USP will be in place

ANSWER: Thithi

Explanation:
Kannada movie Thithi in the third week of June 2016 won two awards- Best Film and Best Script Writers under the Asia New Talent Awards Category at the 19th Shanghai International Film

• The film premiered at the 68th Locamo International Film Festival and won the Golden Leopard honour in the Filmmakers of the Present category and the Swatch First Feature award
• Film has also won numerous other awards at film festivals held in Mumbai, Palm Springs, Marrakech etc
• It is drama film comprising non professional actors from villages in Mandya district in Karnataka

ANSWER: SBI

Explanation:
SBI is the only Indian entity in the list. It includes global giants like Barclays, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse and BoA.

• Report looks at investments into companies involved in production of cluster munitions
• 158 financial institutions invested over 28 billion US dollars in the seven companies researched in the report between June 2012 and April 2016.
• These 7 companies are China Aerospace Science and Industry, China Aerospace Science and Technology, Hanwha (South Korea), Norinco (China), Orbital ATK (US), Poongsan (South Korea) and Textron (US).
• Maximum number of banks are from the US

ANSWER: Virginia Raggi

Explanation:
Virginia Raggi a leading member of populist anti corruption movement M5S or Five Star Movement was on June 20, 2016 elected as Rome’s first female mayor

• She is the first candidate from that party, M5S to be elected to Rome’s mayorality
• Raggi who will turn 38 in July is also the youngest mayor in the country’s history
• M5S is a political party founded by comedian turned political leader Beppe Grillo
• With this win, the party emerged as main opposition to centre-left PM Matteo Ranzi

ANSWER: Boeing

Explanation:
Tata Advanced Systems Limited and Boeing on June 18, 2016 celebrated the laying of a fresh facility in Hyderabad for JV named Tata Boeing Aerospace

• JV has also been established to co-produce Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages and other aero structures and pursue integrated systems in aerospace
• Facility has been under development for pursuing a framework agreement between the two companies in July 2015
• The JV location is in Adibatla IT and Aero SEZ (TATA Aerospace SEZ) about 50 km from Hyderabad
• Manufacturing aerospace and defence products like UAVs are essential here.
• It will also produce Ah-64 fuselage on a global scale and has been flown or selected for acquisition by US and 15 other nations including India

ANSWER: None of the above

Explanation:
The world’s oldest professional footballer, Japan strike Kazuyoshi Miura has beaten his record as the oldest goalscorer in J-League history

• The 49-year-old footballer is in his 31st season as a professional
• He scored 22nd minute into he game and Yokohama FC lost to FC Gifu on 2-1 in the latest record he broke.
• The 49-year-old, who is in his 31st season as a professional, netted a header as his side Yokohama FC succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at home to FC Gifu in the Japanese second division.
• Miura, who goes into record as being the oldest footballer and oldest goal scorer in Japan’s professional league, is arguably Japan’s first superstar in football.

ANSWER: Flipkart

Explanation:
Online retail company Flipkart has topped LinkedIn’s “top attractors” list of the most sought after company by professionals across India

• The second and third ranked companies are Amazon and Capgemini
• Apple has topped LinkedIn’s Top Attractors list of most sought after companies by professionals across the world
• Apple is the world’s largest IT company by revenue and total assets and the world’s second largest mobile phone manufacturer

ANSWER: 21st June

Explanation:
PM Narendra Modi celebrated the second International Day of Yoga at Chandigarh on 21st June where he joined around 30,000 participants in mass Yoga demonstration

• PM said all people have been connected with Yoga and the world is coming together to promote this ancient Indian art
• PM Modi also said that with zero budget, Yoga provides health assurance and does not discriminate between the rich and the poor.

ANSWER: Only a and b

Explanation:
In a demonstration of India’s ‘Act East’ policy and Indian Navy’s increasing footprint and operational reach, Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri, Shakti and Kirch under the Command of the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet, Rear Admiral S V Bhokare, YSM, NM have arrived on June 21 at Busan on a four day visit, as part of deployment of the Eastern Fleet to the South China Sea.

• During the visit, the IN ships will have professional interaction with the Republic of Korea (ROK) Navy
• Bilateral relations between India and Republic of Korea are characterised by historical and cultural contacts dating back to ancient times
• Both countries have signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, with special emphasis on shipbuilding and electronics hardware manufacturing.
• In addition, both countries have forged ties in the field of military R&D, with MoU signed between Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)