Current Affairs Questions & Answers - June 27, 2017

ANSWER: K. Kasturirangan

Explanation:
The HRD ministry has constituted a new nine-member panel headed by space scientist K Kasturirangan to frame a new National Education Policy (NEP).

The other members of the panel include chosen experts and educationists from wide-ranging backgrounds.

The panel includes former IAS officer K.J. Alphonse Kanamthanam, who was instrumental in making Kerala’s Kottayam and Ernakulam districts achieve 100% literacy.

Another member of the panel will be Ram Shanker Kureel who has wide experience in the field of agricultural sciences and management.

He is also the Vice-Chancellor of Baba Saheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences, Mhow, Madhya Pradesh.

The committee also comprises of M.K. Shridhar, former member secretary of the Karnataka State Innovation Council, T.V. Kattimani, an expert on language communication, Dr. Mazhar Asif, professor of Persian at Guwahati University, Krishan Mohan Tripathi, a former director of education, Uttar Pradesh, mathematician Manjul Bhargava from Princeton University and Vasudha Kamat, former vice chancellor of Mumbai’s SNDT University.

The panel members belong to different sections and regions of the country reflecting the diversity of the country.

New Education Policy Committees

• In 2015, Narendra Modi Government had set up a committee under former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian to chalk out a new education policy.
• This committee had submitted its report in May 2016. The committee had presented its report in two volumes with around 90 suggestions.
• The other important past committees in Education includes Radhakrishnan Commission (1948-49) on higher education; Mudaliyar Commission (1952) on secondary education and the Kothari Commission (1964-66).
• The Kothari Commission had a mandate to advise the government on the development of education at all stage and in all aspects.
• The Kothari Commission’s report was used to formulate the Education Policy of 1968.

ANSWER: Skill India

Explanation:
The World Bank has cleared a USD 250-million loan to aid the Skill India mission.

The loan amount would be used for making Indian youth more employable through reskilling.

The USD 250 million Skill India Mission Operation (SIMO) is set to increase the market relevance of short-term skill development programmes (3-12 months or up to 600 hours) both at the national and state levels.

It will help the government of India to better equip the young workforce with employable skills.

SIMO will be a six- year programme in support of National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (2017-23).

Under the programme, persons in the age group of 15-59 will acquire skill training irrespective of their employment status.

This will benefit 1.2 crore youngsters in the age bracket of 15 and 29 years who are entering the labour market every year.

The programme is expected to benefit approximately 15,000 trainers and 3,000 assessors.

The programme has also a mandate to offer placement and entrepreneurship opportunities to women and increase their exposure to skill training.

Need for Programme: Know More

• As per the official estimates, India is in need of additional 109 million skilled workers to work in 24 key sectors by 2022.
• SIMO will support the government’s vision of increasing women’s participation in the labour force and increase greater off-farm employment.
• Higher skilled labour force will have an improved employment opportunity to raise their earnings.

World Bank: Know More


• World Bank World Bank is one of five institutions created at the Breton Woods Conference in 1944. World Bank is part of the United Nations system, but its governance structure is different.
• World Bank’s headquarter is situated at Washington DC. World Bank provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.
• World Bank comprises only two institutions viz. the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).
• In contrast, World Bank Group comprises three more viz. International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

ANSWER: Both of the above

Explanation:
Nashik’s army doctor Srinivas Gokulnath and Nagpur’s doctor Amit Samarth has created history by becoming the first Indians to complete the 4,900-km Race Across America (RAAM) in the solo 18-59 age category.

While Srinivas Gokulnath finished the distance of 4941 kms in 11 days and 18 hours, Samarth took 11 days and 21 hours to finish the race.

Among the 9 persons who managed to finish the race, Gokulnath stood 7th while Samarth finished at number 8.

The race was won by Christoph Strasser.

Srinivas Gokulnath is an aerospace medicine specialist and had participated in the 2016 edition of RAAM. However, he withdrew from the event after covering 2447 km.

Gokulnath also has a national record for cycling 4,000km from Leh to Kanyakumari in 16 days in 2014. His feat got into the Limca Book of Records. Dr Amit Samarth is also a doctor and has a Master’s Degree in Public Health.

In the three decades old history of RAAM, only three Indians had attempted RAAM solo but so far no one was able to finish the event in the solo category.

RAAM: Know More

• RAAM is considered as the toughest cycle race in the world.
• It is about 30 percent longer than the Tour de France and the riders have to pedal over 400 km a day to finish the race in 12 days.
• The riders are allowed to rest for only a couple of hours a day. Racers have to pedal 2447 km across 12 states and climb over 1,70,000 vertical feet.
• The route traverses through three major mountain ranges (Sierra, Rocky and Appalachian) and crosses four of America’s longest rivers (Colorado, Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio).

ANSWER: Unmanned

Explanation:
ISRO’s satellite-based chips are set to alert people at unmanned rail crossings.

Satellite-based chip systems developed by ISRO will be used to alert road users at unmanned level crossings about approaching trains.

These chips will also help the railways in tracking train movement on a real-time basis. Initially, on a pilot basis the ISRO-developed integrated circuit (IC) chips will be installed in the Mumbai and Guwahati Rajdhani trains.

Hooters will be installed at 20 unmanned level crossings on Rajdhani routes for Guwahati and Mumbai.

The system will warn the road users by hooters once a train approaches an unmanned level. The hooters will get activated when the train is present at a distance of about 500 metres from the level crossing, warning both road users as well as the train driver near the crossing.

The sound of the hooters will become louder as the level crossing nears, and finally it will become silent after the passage of the train.

In a phased manner, more trains would be equipped with the ISRO-developed integrated circuit (IC) chips.

The satellite based system will also be used for tracking trains about their movement on real time basis. It will be useful to passengers as at present the movement of trains are tracked manually.

Safety at Unmanned Crossings: Know More

• Safety at unmanned level crossings is a matter of concern for the Indian Railways as around 40% of accidents involving the railways happen in unmanned crossings.
• India has a total 10,000 unmanned railway crossings in the country.
• The railways has set a target for eliminating all the railway crossings in the next 2-3 years. It has eliminated 1,148 unmanned crossings in 2014-15 and 1,253 in 2015-16.
• The new technology will also help Indian railways at the time of train accidents as it can be used to get details about the exact location of trains and topography.

ANSWER: Manushi Chillar

Explanation:
What was a much-awaited prestige for many, has finally found its suitable bearer. Yes, the new face of India has been chosen–Miss Haryana Manushi Chhillar has been declared Miss India 2017.

Days of hard work and dedication of 30 aspirants of the coveted title, culminated in the grand finale, held on the night of June 25, at Yash Raj Film Studio, Mumbai.

At the judges’ panel were seated some of the leading faces of the fashion and Bollywood fraternity.

Those given the task of choosing the winner included Arjun Rampal, Manish Malhotra, Illeana D’ Cruz, Bipasha Basu, Abhishek Kapoor, Vidyut Jammwal and Miss World 2016 Stehanie Del Valle.

Besides walking the ramp for fashion designers, each of the contestants had to go through rounds of screening, before the winner was chosen.

Contestants had to voice their opinion on various social issues and awareness.

Miss Jammu and Kashmir, Sana Dua, and Miss Bihar, Priyanka Kumari were declared the first and second runner-up respectively.

ANSWER: Most 300 plus totals

Explanation:
As India set West Indies a challenging target of 311 in the second one-dayer in Port of Spain, it also set the record for the most 300-plus totals in ODIs.

India’s 310 for 5 in the 43 overs a side match on Sunday was the 96th time that it had posted a score exceeding 300, surpassing Australia who had made over 300-plus runs 95 times.

West Indies Cricket Team

• West Indies cricket team, officially known as the Windies, is a multi-national cricket team representing the Caribbean region, a chain of 15 mainly English-speaking Caribbean countries, British dependencies and non-British dependencies.
• Coach: Stuart Law
• Location: Caribbean
• Test: 8th
• Captains: Carlos Brathwaite, Jason Holder

ANSWER: Anish Bhanwala

Explanation:
Indian shooter Anish Bhanwala won a gold medal at the ISSF Junior World Championship in the 25m Standard Pistol category, creating a junior world record.

The previous record was held by Denis Koulakov, who shot a score of 574 in a competition held in Finland in 2002.

Anish broke the record with a score of 576 in three rounds. Anish had previously won a bronze medal at the Junior Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol event at the 27th Meeting of the Shooting Hopes which concluded in May.

India finished with a highly commendable tally of 11 medals from the renowned international shooting competition in the Rifle and Pistol disciplines.

This is the fourth consecutive year for Suhl as the host of the Junior International Shooting Sport competition, having previously hosted the ISSF Junior Cup in 2014 and 2015, and the ISSF Junior World Cup in 2016.

In 2016, the city in Thuringia welcomed the ISSF World Championship Running Target competition.

The first junior competition of the year – ISSF Junior World Championship Rifle/Pistol in Germany has seen about 500 shooters participate from 65 different countries, collecting almost 1000 starts. India have sent out a 31-strong contingent for the event.

Among the big international stars is Istvan Peni of Hungary, who recently won a gold medal in the ISSF Senior World Cup in Gabala a couple of weeks back.

This Junior Championship event is set to be the talented Hungarian Rifle shooter’s last Junior event.

ANSWER: 26 June

Explanation:
The 2017 International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was observed on 26 June 2017.

The day was observed with the theme Listen First – Listening to children and youth is the first step to help them grow healthy and safe.

The theme for the year is an initiative to increase support for prevention of drug use that is based on science and is thus an effective investment in the well-being of children and youth, their families and their communities.

On 7 December 1987, the United Nations general Assembly (UNGA) via resolution 42/112 decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

It was decided to observe the day as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.

This resolution recommended further action with regard to the report and conclusions of the 1987 International Conference on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

In April 2016, the United Nations held a Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs. This session marked an important milestone in achieving the goals set in the policy document of 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem.


The plan defined action to be taken by Member States as well as goals to be achieved by 2019. Measures to address demand and supply reduction and to improve access to controlled medicines while preventing diversion.

It also cover the areas of human rights, youth, children, women and communities; emerging challenges, including new psychoactive substances; strengthening international cooperation; and alternative development.

The text puts new emphasis on proportionate national sentencing policies and practices for drug-related offences, and features a strong focus on prevention and treatment.

ANSWER: 25 June

Explanation:
The 2017 Day of the Seafarer (DotS) was observed on 25 June 2017 by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) with the theme ‘Seafarers Matter’.

This year’s theme aims to particularly engage ports and seafarer centres to demonstrate how much seafarers matter to them.

The idea is for ports and seafarer centres to share and showcase best practices in seafarer support and welfare, and organise special activities for seafarers on the day.

Day of Seafarer: Know More

• The Day of the Seafarer (DotS) was established in a resolution adopted by the 2010 Diplomatic Conference in Manila.
• The Day was proclaimed with an aim to recognize the unique contribution made by seafarers from all over the world to international seaborne trade and civil society as a whole.
• The resolution encourages governments, shipping organizations, companies, shipowners and all other parties concerned to promote the Day of the Seafarer and take action to celebrate it meaningfully.

ANSWER: Bright Nights

Explanation:
Scientists have solved the centuries-old unexplained mystery of “bright nights”, the unusual glow that appears in the sky after dark and lets observers see distant mountains, read a newspaper or check their watch.

Researchers suggest that when waves in the upper atmosphere converge over specific locations on the Earth, it amplifies naturally occurring airglow, a faint light in the night sky that often appears green due to the activities of atoms of oxygen in the high atmosphere.

Generally, it is not easy to spot the airglow but on bright nights it produces an unexplained glow that can be seen with the naked eye.

There is a lot of written record about the unusual glow in historical observations.

Historical accounts of bright nights go back centuries. European newspapers and the scientific literature carried observations of these events in 1783, 1908 and 1916.

Bright Nights do exist and they are a part of the variability of airglow that can be observed with satellite instruments.

The historical record is so coherent, it goes back over centuries and the descriptions are very similar.

Modern observations of bright nights from Earth are practically nonexistent due to pollution. Even dedicated airglow researchers have never seen a true bright night.

However, even before the advent of artificial lighting, bright nights were rare and highly localised.

Researchers could see bright night events reflected in airglow data from the Wind Imaging Interferometer (WINDII), an instrument once carried by NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (1991-2005).

They searched for mechanisms that would cause airglow to increase to visible levels at specific locations.

Airglow comes from emissions of different colours of light from chemical reactions in the upper reaches of the atmosphere.

The green portion of airglow occurs when light from the sun splits apart molecular oxygen into individual oxygen atoms.

When the atoms recombine, they give off the excess energy as photons in the green part of the visible light spectrum, giving the sky a greenish tinge.

To find factors that would cause an increase in airglow and create bright nights, researchers searched two years of WINDII data.

They identified 11 events where WINDII detected a spike in airglow levels that would be visible to the human eye, two of which have been described in detail in the study.

These events were four to 10 times brighter than normal airglow and could be responsible for the bright nights observed throughout history.